A lot of countries where the whole ID systems are a bit shaky use this system where a finger is dipped in dye once you’ve voted. Some US states should implement that.
(Does not apply in this case, though, as at it was pointed out to me, the issue is that he was in jail or something and thus couldn’t vote. Unlike most countries where people in jails/prisons can vote as they are still people)
He didn’t actually vote 9 times in one election. Voting twice in an election is insanely rare. A bigger issue is votes being miscounted, which accounts for much larger discrepancies than illegal voting. Not that it’s a huge discrepancy, just that illegal voting is so rare
Oh, right, it’s about that weird US thing that people that have been jailed shouldn’t vote.
Because if you’re starving and grab stuff for your children that you can afford, then you shouldn’t vote. It just makes sense, a responsible person should just drown their children to balance their budget.
Wait, then they couldn’t vote either. Curse you voting authority, it’s like you don’t want some people to vote at all!
I just checked and in my home state of PA, convicted felons only lose their right to vote when they’re in prison. If they’re on parole or probation they’re allowed to vote. People convicted of a misdemeanor can vote from jail.
I’m not in the US, but like a lot of the world, I’ve been watching it from afar from quite awhile. And to us it’s both a somewhat familiar and a very strange place. Some of us go there sometimes (I did, several times). It doesn’t really change that initial impression (it didn’t for me at least). To clarify, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like the US. I found it very interesting, I loved the nature (because it’s so empty). But the culture is…
You know those Twilight Zone kind of shows where you think you’re in the same dimension, but you’re actually not? And the longer you stay the weirder and more menacing it gets? That’s the US when you’re from Europe. With the weird religious people popping up all over the place, you noticing all the weird food stuff, all the weird legal stuff, and it goes on and on and on. But there are still Europe folks that go for the so called American Dream. So maybe it’s just me.
Anyway this voting thing is an example of the weirdness of the US to the rest of us (it’s at least true for Europe, but it also works for many more places, as long as you don’t run into dictatorships).
You know those Twilight Zone kind of shows where you think you’re in the same dimension, but you’re actually not? And the longer you stay the weirder and more menacing it gets? That’s the US when you’re from Europe.
Honestly, the “worsening” is a worldwide problem. The US problem is quite peculiar though.
It’s a multi-pronged thing. And also a thing you can look at from a lot of ways. But there are a few that, IMO are important.
We don’t like change (no animals like change)
For the US: History (maybe not in the way you think)
Power
And now, I’ll put some meat on those numbers.
is easy. When geese (or ducks) go to water, they always follow the same path. Block their way, and they’ll go around the blockage and back to the path (even if it means going back) and to the water. Animals (and of course humans) don’t like changing their ways. And these days, everything is changing. The ecosystems are collapsing, so everything is struggling to adapt, the politicians are trying their best to make everybody believe that all is at it ever was.
Whether you believe that is up to you.
The US has an immense advantage which is being away from all the old battlefields. The other one is being mostly empty. Finally, it built a lot of its might by stealing the Old World’s intellectual property (no shame, everybody did it at the time, China still kind of does it), and on slave labour (what? the Romans did it too cough). And of course it got all the people the Old World didn’t want, like the Religious Maniacs. Well, at least they could get lost in the wastelands (so we hoped, didn’t work? well, they’re your problem now).
Ok, so from out Old World point of view, the US isn’t just a bunch of weirdos in a wasteland any more. They’ve grown to be an actual industrial powerhouse. However, what’s really problematic, is that it’s a powerhouse with the equivalent of all the cultists we got rid of at the helm (simplifying here). Now that the US is the major powerhouse. We have to do something about those lunatics.
They’ve already fucked up half of Africa, they’re working on Europe, but it’s unlikely they’re going to achieve anything there…
And that’s before we even get into money (and corruption).
The thing is, we, although now that I think about it, you too, have been fed a lot of indoctrination about the US.
It came with the whole Marshall plan package (that whole thing that was meant to refinance a peacetime US economy, and sell lots of US products in Europe, oh, and also rebuild stuff over there, as long as they pay for it).
But in the 50s and 60s, Europe was inundated with US media showing how awesome they were (it changed a bit in the 70s). It came with lots of US products. But that left a long lasting impression shomehow. Although it’s still true that the US it the place to go to get a project financed. Because thanks to its huge market, its considerably easier to find some financing than in Europe’s very fragmented environment.
But then we’ve been spared the whole political indoctrination. The level to which the US was indoctrinated is unheard of in the West. Very few countries have gone beyond it worldwide. The whole Cold War Witch Hunt thing has been written in the US psyche as in stone. It’s something that still echoes today. Deformed, but I’m pretty sure you could trace it back to its origins.
And yet, the US is the place where people make silly things. This is IMO such a uniquely US thing, the making of stupid and fun stuff (ok, China has caught up on it, but they’re just copying the concept), that it redeems the US for a lot of things.
So I’ve been to the US, I’ve met lots of great people. I’ve met lots of real bizarro weirdos. It’s a nice place. I wouldn’t ever live there. But I don’t mind visiting every now and then. For now.
This wasn’t a case that ID would fix. He registered illegally and voted under his own name. It wasn’t caught because government information is not shared very well between agencies in the US. Rather than the election officials actually checking, he had to sign a sworn declaration that he was legally allowed to vote as part of his registration, and lying in that sworn declaration is one of the things he was also charged with in this case.
That’s pretty much exactly how I feel. You said you didn’t understand something, so I went and looked it up and explained what I found. Then you started coming at me as if I were defending the guy. I’m not here for that knee jerk reaction. I swear, idk why I even talk to humans anymore.
The sworn statement is there so that when they get caught it is very easy to prosecute them as you can show they put their signature to a false statement.
I understand his thought process: “i voted nine times and they still won, either I suck very hard or they voted more times than me” Sorry mate, reality is hard
I wonder whether he believed the lie that the election was rigged. If he justified it to himself by saying “well, the other side is doing it.” Horrific.
Edit: I made a false assumption that this was 9 votes in the same election, where it was actually 9 different instances where he would have been allowed to vote, were it not for prior conviction. See the comment below (or the article- my bad) for clarification.
Edit 2: removed the piece in my edit about probation, it wasn’t applicable.
He didn’t vote 9 times in the 2020 election (or since then). He was on probation in PA for a felony and couldn’t legally vote in GA, but did anyway. I would assume in 9 different elections. He claims he thought it was legal for him to do so. Had he not been on probation in PA, all his votes would have been legal. (In fact, I believe he should have been able to vote, as I don’t think being convicted of a crime should remove this fundamental right. But that’s kind of besides the point here)
He broke the law and should be punished for it, especially for being one who claims that the people were voting illegally, but even guessing that he was doing this because he thought the 2020 election was stolen makes absolutely zero sense, because the bulk of these times (if not all of them) happened before then.
Ack, even after reading the article I misunderstood. So it would have been legal in one state but was illegal where he actually voted. That’s complicated.
And I don’t mind being corrected! It helps me learn. I hope you have a wonderful day.
To be honest, the headline is really misleading. Yes, people should definitely RTFA, but not everyone has the time to do that and a headline should be specific enough to avoid spreading misinformation.
The title is never going to be specific enough to remove all ability to misinterpret it. The title just tells you what the article is about. The article itself gives you all the necessary details. I agree that it shouldn’t be misleading, and in the case I think it could be improved, but that doesn’t change the fact that one should refrain from passing judgment about what happened based on a headline. If you don’t have the time to read the article, you also lack the time to form an valid opinion about what happened.
Sure, I agree, but unfortunately the human mind is prone to jumping to conclusions, especially when they fit their narrative. One should always be sure of what happened before forming an opinion on it, but sometimes you “get the feeling you’re sure” even when you don’t have all the necessary information.
Just look at how widespread the “Biden doesn’t know the alphabet” thing got when the original was very clearly satire.
I understand that confirmation bias is a hell of a drug. But we are talking about just making sure you are even just mildly informed before forming an opinion you think is valid.
The thing is, a lot of times people think they’re informed enough even when they aren’t. There isn’t a clear indicator of “how informed” you are on any subject, and self-assessment is a faulty thing. The Dunning-Kruger effect probably plays a part in that too.
Not at all. The modern GOP is built on astounding levels of projection about their issues, their behavior, and their secrets.
If someone’s ranting about voter fraud, it’s probably someone like the guy in this article who committed a lot of it.
If someone’s ranting about how horrible taxes are, it’s probably someone who happily takes government handouts without a hint of shame or hypocrisy awareness.
If someone’s ranting about the temptations of gay sex, his name’s probably Larry “Wide Stance” Craig.
Seriously, every accusation they make is a confession. No exceptions.
Lol goddamn “every accusation is a confession, no exceptions” is seriously the most braindead, brainwashed take. I mean, fuck, just say “often these accusations are confessions” and you won’t sound so hyperbolic and your statements would ring true. Leaving ZERO room for nuance is just such a bad take, man.
So literally every anti-gay Republican is a closeted homosexual. Not a SINGLE one is just a rabid Christian, or just a bigot. Right? Lol jesus christ
Way to miss the point. Sometimes the confession is just that they’re a raging bigot. Sometimes it’s just a confession of ignorance.
But try to find an accusation leveled by a prominent Republican against Democrats, liberals, progressives, or anyone else they hate that didn’t turn out to be a confession in the last 20 years.
The assholes pushing bullshit about Biden “bribes” were actually just confessing to being easy marks for Russian intelligence. The assholes pushing birtherism were just admitting to being disgusting racists. The assholes calling LGBTQ+ people “groomers” keep getting caught with CSAM.
My point is that while there is nuance to the nature of the hypocrisy and the projection, the bullshit accusations Republicans have been vomiting at everyone they hate for decades keep turning out ironically. To the point that when you hear Republicans use their mouths to shit something out about their hate-targets, you can rest assured that there’s something similarly ironic driving it.
Brainwashed take. Absolutely brainwashed. You’re also completely changing your argument. Im sure I could find a repub accusation that could be taken wholly at face value, and you’d say it was a confession of something else altogether.
How about the Republicans that tanked their careers to break with Trump’s big lie? You think John McCain only spoke out of the sides of his mouth?
Life isnt black and white. Some conservstive would say the same about Dems, and they’d be just as wrong and brainwashed as you are. Bye forever.
Meh. You have no rejoinders to any of my specific examples, so you resort to insults and non sequiturs about things that weren’t accusations in the first place.
If a Republican behaves like John McCain, who didn’t debase himself by hurling stupid accusations at his political opponents, why would you assume I’m lumping that sort of person in with the bullshit-accusations crowd?
I said every accusation is a confession. How the actual fuck do you apply that to someone who isn’t throwing around bullshit accusations in the first place?
Fuck outta here with that illogical claptrap. Goodbye forever? Great. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Here you go, you brainwashed chucklefuck. You think I couldn’t Google every single senator and find accusations levied that aren’t a confession? Now tell me exactly how these are exceptions to your “nO eXcEpTiOnS” braindead take. Literally took 3 seconds to look these up, and you think not a single example exists across the entire political spectrum.
I also note that you didn’t respond to my example of politicians that broke with trump and levied accusations at him, at the cost of their career. NO EXCEPTIONS DERRRR
For the record, I fully expect you to walk this back and tell me how “WELL THESE ARENT THE ACCUSATIONS I MEANT, I MEANT SPECIFICALLY [X]” even though you literally left no room for interpretation, nuance, or exceptions. Which was my exact point, which you clearly do not understand, through the reddit-induced brainwashed fog
Repeatedly doubling down on your “100% no exceptions all Republicans are pure evil” is a path to a more divided America and is only one very small step away from calling for violence. I’m ok calling that person a braindead chucklefuck.
Yeah, I’m kinda done with him. He said he was done with me, after all.
It’s too bad, because I’m pretty sure this is down to a combination of misunderstanding hyperbole and misunderstanding exactly who I was talking about.
The John McCain links are evidence of that, because McCain never hurled unfounded accusations with ironic truths underlying them at anyone.
If, for example, McCain had embraced birtherism, the fact that he himself was born outside of the United States would have been a textbook example. But McCain had too much integrity to do that, so doesn’t fit the profile of accuser/confessor.
For the life of me, I don’t get what’s so hard to understand. The formula is simple: Stupid, mendacious accusation == confession about an ironic, underlying truth. No stupid, mendacious accusation? No ironic, underlying truth.
The formula is simple: Stupid, mendacious accusation == confession about an ironic, underlying truth. No stupid, mendacious accusation? No ironic, underlying truth.
Holy shit, introducing nuance? It’s almost like you understand my point and changed your argument to exactly what I suggested it should have been in the first place, but would never admit that you were wrong! Wow, I’m completely shocked!
“Every accusation…Every single one. No exceptions.” is the same as “stupid, mendacious accusation”. Cause non-“stupid, mendacious accusations” certainly sounds like the literal definition of an exception to “every accusation…every one”
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