Dr. Gonzo

@Eco - I didn't know where to put this... so I figured this was the closest thread So my question is... can the House of Representatives investigate a Senator?

#1 is a bit fucked up. All of my family in Iran are probably more impacted by who is the US President than most actual Americans. Americans might not realise the scope of their vote (sadly), but they're a super power so who their leader is makes a big difference to the rest of the world. The sentiment from #2 is all fine and dandy, until you consider the arsehole's going to be demanding we accept meat that would be considered substandard in the UK currently in any trade deal and are wanting to NHS in jeopardy over a future trade deal. I think there's a question on whether America deserves to be as important as it is to the global economy based off the views of their voters... but there's no question this decision is going to make a huge impact on a lot of people around the world outside the US. Arguably, a bigger impact than it will for a ton of people living in the US.

I've just been googling "US Election" and it's got a pretty good thing keeping track. But New York Times has a slightly different one that's been free (at least in the US) for people without subscriptions. I've been flipping between both. It's important to note though, Google is using Associated Press for it's results - Associated Press & Fox called Arizona for Biden on day one - even though it's pretty tight in Arizona. Most of the media in the US (other than Fox news) is using a hybrid of AP & Edison Research (which hasn't called Arizona yet) - so if you go to New York Times or Washington Post. If we go with AP though, Nevada would be enough to decide it for Biden. But it's looking unlikely that we'll get the final results from Nevada today (although Biden widened the slight gap... a bit).

Every time I check, Georgia gets closer and closer.

If our 3 keepers are locked in as Southgate's top 3 keepers for England... we may a bit of a problem if Pickford's poor form stops him from playing regularly for Everton and if he might need replacing in the national team. Pope was one of the better keepers in England last season - but right now he's at the bottom side in the Premier League... so I can understand if there's big reservations starting Pope for England. And then, like you say... Henderson doesn't play anymore. I also agree with this. Tammy Abraham's not playing well and for the "squad" options rather than the main starters for the nation team... I'd rather go with people who are in form than just pick players signed to big clubs but don't play very much.

Rumours are that United have approached Poch - apparently they're still reluctant to sack Solksjaer this early in the season, but want to have someone lined up when the axe finally falls down on him.

Wolves are starting a Rocket League team https://esportsinsider.com/2020/11/premier-league-club-wolves-announces-entry-into-rocket-league/ I'd love to be a pro RL player. Too bad I'm nowhere near good enough

Nevada is where Las Vegas is. Why the fuck are they so slow at counting?

Did they even need to do that? The system they made was already geared to only be democratic for landowners. Maybe there were too many landowners for their liking? I think back then, weirdly, it actually probably took a bit power away from the south. It was an agrarian society, so the plantation states were the economic powerhouses. And perversely slaves were counted toward a state’s population in terms of representatives/electoral college votes.

I’ll quote you because @RandoEFC’s post was long and me quoting a long post might lead to me writing an even longer post and nobody wants that. Most people I know here hate it. I could see why people would like it in states like Wyoming where you get 1 electoral vote per person... but I think places that their is disproportionately made weaker hate it. As a foreigner, I’ve never understood what the point is. It’s an inherently undemocratic impediment to selecting a president.

I’m not so sure. I know the Reese-Mogg’s of society have a wet dream of the UK being as right wing as the modern GOP, but I still think most Tories would most closely align with moderate Democrats than with the Trumpian GOP. You’re right the right wing media campaign would sort of gloss over all the terrible shite that Trump does and normalise it. But isn’t a normalisation or Trump exactly what happened in the US? Actually you’re probably right, it wouldn’t matter he’s too radical for what his party would be here. The media would fall along and the electorate would as well, giving the parties no choice. I think there’s an awful lot of similarity in the voters of the US & UK tbh

As an English in America, all I can really say is both US and UK politics depress the shit out of me.

Persepolis are absolutely fucked for the AFC CL final. So many of their best players have left since the semi-final (probably in part to the economy in Iran tanking)

@Eco what happens if the Senate ends up 50-50?

"Not as bad as Hitler" is a pretty amusing campaign slogan

I think some sorting machines were also dismantled. They actually closed my local post office here after the budget cuts! My wife's ballot was received a few weeks ago and was counted... but she only had it mailed to her and then she dropped it off at our local library (all public libraries in the county were where the official ballot dropoff boxes were. I do think having a ballot tracker is a pretty cool thing - mailing ballots seems to be a pretty good way for voters to vote. My wife could just google shite for the local candidates/propositions/local measures she wasn't sure on how she wanted to vote, look at who supported what & who paid what and could get pretty good breakdowns. There is an awful lot on these ballots, I was pretty surprised by that the first time I saw her get one in the mail. And a lot of the things people vote on are, tbh, things you don't really hear about until the misleading campaign ads come out. I imagine voting in person doesn't lead to as informed voting as voting from home does.

In Georgia is there a blank space? On my wife's ballot here there were 2-3 blank spaces for some positions (including President). What's weird though is when you write someone in... there's no real space to write in a VP candidate. Kanye wrote himself in on the CA ballot I think

US Postal Service officials have been called into court to explain why they didn't conduct a sweep for 300k missing mailed ballots.

Oh Trump's asking for a recount in Wisconsin now

I think Stalin's got a higher death count & the 3 Paschas (spelling?) from the Ottoman Empire & Pol Pot in Cambodia are pretty up there on the list of genocidal fuckheads from fairly recent history. Tbh that sounds a lot like Los Angeles Iranians. Before meeting some of them, I'd never met any Iranian immigrant that supported crippling sanctions on Iran or outright bombing Iran - pretty much all of them hate the regime in Iran, but nobody wants to do that to their friends and family that are still back home. Not so true about the Tehrangeles Iranians I met, who were actually pretty keen on the idea of bombing their homeland. But one of the guys I met claimed to be the grandson of the former head of SAVAK (which kind of disgusted me the way he said it with pride)... they're people who desperately want the Iranian monarchy to come back and think that's the best future for Iran. Whereas in the Persian community back home, people I know that DID like the Shah accept that he was/is unpopular with large segments and if there's to be a better future for Iran it'll come with ditching authoritarians altogether rather than going back to the old style of a slightly less repressive authoritarian. And those LA Persians I know ALL voted Trump. Which makes sense if you like the Shah, I think Trump and the Shah have a lot in common. Weirdly, I think Pence would get on pretty well with Khomeini/Khameini and other Iranian hardliners from the present day This is encouraging... ... but why hasn't Wisconsin officially been declared then? Is the website I'm looking at just not updating?

I think from the early counts of mail-in votes, in places like Michigan Biden shot right up after something like 10% or mailed ballots were counted. But I’m not 100% on it tbh.

At least nobody got shot and the weird voter suppression caravans were only confined to one day over the weekend. Yesterday could have gone worse, even though it should have gone better. Regardless of whether Trump loses or not, I still can’t help but feel America’s failed a character test here.

Are you in charge of taxation in Spain?

Fair point. I didn’t ever think Florida would go for Biden though, and I’m not sure his campaign did either

Jesus would just be considered an unwashed socialist to many of these people if they ever met him