RandomNumbers
RandomNumbers's JournalKeb' Mo' - Put a Woman in Charge feat. Rosanne Cash (Official Music Video)
Love this!
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Work Hard and Be Nice
?si=WHq0DW80RnxLF01EJudge rules Wisconsin elections leader is 'legally' in position, handing blow to GOP
Source: The Hill
A Wisconsin judge ruled that the state’s top election leader can legally remain in her position, handing a blow to the Republican-controlled state Senate that tried to oust her.
The GOP-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted in September to fire Meagan Wolfe, the top election official, from her position at the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), after months of threatening to remove her over how she handled the 2020 election.
...
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ann Peacock declared Friday that she agreed with the WEC, which argued that stability in its elections system ahead of the 2024 election would be best for the public. Thus, Wolfe was cleared to remain in the role.
...
Peacock’s decision renders the the state Senate’s statute removing Wolfe as moot. The defendants were also barred under the ruling from taking official actions contrary to the order and their counterclaim and pending motions were nixed.
Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4406904-judge-rules-wisconsin-elections-leader-legally-in-position/
I read this as a final decision that cannot be appealed. (Would love to see discussion from DU legal experts.)
Biden to invoke Cold War-era law to boost medical supplies
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will invoke a Cold War-era measure to boost investment in U.S. manufacturing of medicines and medical supplies that he has deemed important for national defense, the White House said.
The announcement is part of a series of measures the Biden administration is unveiling on Monday to help industrial supply chains and counter several years of historically high inflation.
Biden will authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to use powers under the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to enable investments in "essential medicines," the White House said in a statement.
The areas of investment also include "medical countermeasures," which include supplies that diagnose, prevent, or treat diseases related to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attacks.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-invoke-cold-war-era-law-boost-medical-supplies-2023-11-27/
The resulting conflict over resources will trigger man-made disasters
potentially far worse than massive natural disasters.
Pennsylvania county promises accurate tally after clerical error appears to flip votes for judges
Source: Washington Post
Voters were asked to decide whether Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile should be retained for additional 10-year terms. The “yes” or “no” votes for each judge were switched on a summary displayed to voters before they cast their ballot, said Charles Dertinger, the Northampton County director of administration. If a voter marked “yes” to retain Panella and “no” on Stabile, for example, it was reflected as “no” on Panella and “yes” on Stabile.
Voters noticed the error on the printed voting records produced by the touchscreen machines, and brought it to the attention of poll workers shortly after the start of voting Tuesday morning.
Despite the glitch on the printed summary, voters’ actual choices were properly recorded by the machines’ backend system, and their votes will be tabulated accurately, Dertinger said Thursday afternoon at a news conference in Easton.
...
Omaha, Nebraska-based ES&S acknowledged fault. A company spokesperson, Katina Granger, said the problem was caused by human error, was limited to Northampton County and only affected the judicial retention question.
Read more: https://wapo.st/3FOZGyt
** NO PAYWALL **
This is important because
* at least one right-wing site Gateway Pundit has a nonsense article about this issue; how many RW sites will try to make something out of this?
* It IS important that voters have confidence in the system and understand how issues like this happen and how they are properly rectified to ensure the vote is not corrupted.
* It is VERY important that voters know with this specific type of system, they MUST review their printed summary and let the polling place officials know if there is an issue.
* When election boards are deciding on new voting equipment, it is preferable to implement a hand-marked paper ballot system with a ballot marking device alternative available for voters who need it. The system in Northampton county does not meet these criteria. (See VerifiedVoting.org )
A minor point - in PA, it is very, very rare for a sitting judge to lose a retention election. So of all the possible races to be impacted, this one was a "meh". But imagine this happening in a race for president or senator in a key state. Be ready.
What do you think - Norton vs AVG? (antivirus and utilities, etc)
My old-ish computer is getting creaky and I don't have the expertise, time, or patience to manually do all the hygiene actions it's long overdue for.
My Norton subscription keeps trying to sell me stuff - today it's their Ultimate Utilities package, which would be nice but appears quite pricey. And, they are now tied with Lifelock which I recall at least used to advertise (i.e. support) some pretty nasty RW programming.
Currently available a whole helluva lot cheaper from a reliable source: AVG Ultimate 2021 - 10 devices - 2 years
I'm thinking I should ditch Norton and go with AVG. Looking for a compare from anyone who is familiar with both.
I am not looking for the "best" in individual tools, really want one product that covers all the important things with a simple interface I don't have to think hard about, which is why I went back to Norton many years ago. (And I do NOT want or need any online password "vault" - just more fluff Norton has added lately).
What say you all?
Thanks!
Springsteen : Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006
A little different than Top-40 Springsteen - and quite excellent, IMO.
Pay Me My Money Down (Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006)
Casey (PA) and Manchin (WV) need phone calls. (Re: Women's Health Protection Act)
They are missing from the co-sponsor list of the Senate version of the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021
This is the bill in response to the craven TX law.
We need every Dem senator to get on board. (Then we need to exclude basic constitutional rights from the filibuster. But even that doesn't help if we don't have every D. We might get Murkowski but we can be sure Collins will have "concerns".)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1975/cosponsors
Also check co-sponsors for the House bill and make sure your Congress Critter is there.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3755/cosponsors?r=9&s=1
From across the pond: OK, America, so what the hell happens now?
Excellent bit of writing here. If you enjoy reading Charlie Pierce, you will probably enjoy this bit from Marina Hyde at The Guardian.
Things are surely a mess, but at least we might as well laugh at the parts we can, right? (the rest of the world is, sigh.)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/04/ok-america-so-what-the-hell-happens-now
Still, whatever happens now, no one can argue that a result this close was a repudiation of his way of doing business, so anyone expecting the gibberingly loyal Republican party to tack away from its current psychiatric space for the next couple of decades ought probably to get used to disappointment.
...
Militia fears, a barricaded presidential compound, open calls to disenfranchise voters – it’s a mood very much borrowed from what Trump would call “shithole countries”. As the weeks unfold, please don’t rule out Donald’s two large adult sons – Uday and Schmuday – downing a Black Hawk within the White House autonomous zone. Already, expectations have been so profoundly commuted that if gun-toting convoys of Klansmen aren’t firing celebratory rounds into the sky from vehicle convoys by the time this article is published, it’ll be regarded as a positive.
...
Should Biden edge a victory, thanks to the way the self-styled greatest democracy in the world works, we will have months of grimly incendiary Trump claims that it was stolen. Or, to put it in terms the rest of the planet would understand: this is like winning the World Cup in November, then having the losing captain use it as a toilet for three months before finally handing the brimming trophy over to you in late January.
If, after reading the full article, you wonder why I didn't select your favorite bit ... hopefully you will agree to the difficulty of selecting just 4 paragraphs from this excellent piece.
(really, "Uday and Schmuday" >> how perfect.
)
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHome country: US
Member since: Sat Jun 4, 2005, 09:56 AM
Number of posts: 17,595
