This is how you do it America

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, November 7th, 2020 - 79 comments
Categories: us politics - Tags: ,

Cori Bush is the first Black woman from Missouri to be elected to Congress.

Lots of good stuff in here. Rousing speech, love of place and community, diverse class consciousness, affirming that she is gaining power because of the people and she will take them with her.

Full speech text here.

Meanwhile, another extraordinary moment was yesterday watching media live feeds interrupt Trump’s latest batch of lies about the vote. MSNBC anchor Brian Williams as he crosses to the network’s lawyer 30 secs into Trump’s speech.

Here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States but correcting the president of the United States.

(video clip)

The Irish Daily Mirror was less subtle on Thursday.

CNN presidential results live page

Arizona

Nevada

Pennsylvania

Georgia

North Carolina

Enjoy the discussion.

UPDATE:

Decision Desk HQ called it this morning.

Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273.

Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America.

Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST

 

79 comments on “This is how you do it America ”

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  1. Andre 1
    7 November 2020 at 6:26 am

    Biden is ahead in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and other states adding up to 306 Electoral College votes.

    Georgia is still on a knife edge. Biden's lead is currently 1500ish. There's still some votes to be counted, mostly from Dem stronghold counties, and up to 8900 overseas and military ballots still to come in and be counted (which may lean Repug)

    Pennsylvania is looking secure, and some news orgs have called it for Biden. His lead is currently about 10,000, with the remaining votes mostly from Dem strongholds. Notably, even the mail-in ballots from Repug stronghold counties have favoured Biden.

    Nevada is looking secure for Biden. His lead in now up to around 22,000 with most of the remaining votes to come from Clark County (Las Vegas) which are expected to favour Biden.

    Arizona is looking likely for Biden. His lead is still around 45,000. Almost all the remaining votes to come are from Maricopa County (Phoenix). These last ballots to be counted have been slightly going against Biden, but not anywhere close to enough to put Biden behind in the final count.

    • millsy 1.1
      7 November 2020 at 6:37 am

      Networks are taking their time in calling. I guess they don't want a repeat of 20 years ago, but agonizing. I have been stressing about this for days.

      • Andre 1.1.1
        7 November 2020 at 6:43 am

        Stressing about it for days? Tell me about it. /

        I kinda agree with those that have held off calling it early in these tense times. The consequences of having to withdraw a call could be quite disproportionate. Those networks that called Arizona a couple of days ago certainly look premature to me, even now. Even though it's looking very unlikely they'll be wrong, there's still just a bit too much uncertainty still left.

  2. WeTheBleeple 2
    7 November 2020 at 6:48 am

    Called it Thursday morning. Pennsylvania from the outside for the win. Math rules but really, the composition of mail-in votes, known early, gave it away.

    While America faces tremendous problems it is my opinion their biggest issue is lack of critical thinking. The inability to determine fact from fiction in a market full of cowboys has seen them drop from international cop to international joke.

    The scorn and derision is entirely earned. Their international cop image is akin to their domestic cop image. Murderous and ignorant bullies drunk on power and misguided self adoration.

    Education, and its sources, must be addressed. Or they'll keep acting like the bulk of them are as dumb as fuck, because the bulk of them are as dumb as fuck.

    Well and truly over giving them any benefit of the doubt. Biden is now in the largely impossible position of herding insane cats.

    Yes, they have some amazing people. And nearly 70 million Trumpers.

    • Treetop 2.1
      7 November 2020 at 7:17 am

      Lack of critical thinking sums up the fake president. This is why Trump cannot remain for another 4 year term.

    • happynz 2.2
      7 November 2020 at 7:47 am

      Harsh, but true.

    • RedLogix 2.3
      7 November 2020 at 8:02 am

      Education, and its sources, must be addressed.

      The best educated Americans are exceptionally capable; the problem is that most ordinary people can only access a rather second rate system that serves them very poorly. It's a very patchy system, great in parts, bloody awful most other places.

      Their entire university system is under considerable stress; ridiculously expensive, too many poor value badly conceived courses and increasing online competition. Plus COVID is complicating campus life a lot. Altogether not a rosy outlook.

      • WeTheBleeple 2.3.1
        7 November 2020 at 8:19 am

        It's like the education divide reflects the economic divide. OK, it's not like it does – it does.

        I reckon a huge part of white angst, reflected as Trumpism, is the broken promise of the American dream disproportionately hurts white Americans as their expectations were a lot higher than POC who are used to being suppressed or at best overlooked.

        All the drongos running around advising that you don't need an education because: look at me I'm an influencer/you tuber/useless stain on humanity and I make a living…

        Education as a path to overwhelming debt. Capitalism eating itself.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.3.1.1
          7 November 2020 at 11:32 am

          Education as a path to overwhelming debt. Capitalism eating itself.

          And we're heading down the same path of massive debt with no way out unless this government finally starts working from the assumption that capitalism doesn't work.

          All the drongos running around advising that you don't need an education because: look at me I'm an influencer/you tuber/useless stain on humanity and I make a living…

          It also doesn't help when many with an education also don't get ahead.

      • Stuart Munro 2.3.2
        7 November 2020 at 9:23 am

        I think the media's role in education has been neglected too. Fox has been leading people astray, not cultivating an informed and critical audience.

        • woodart 2.3.2.1
          7 November 2020 at 2:29 pm

          rupert murdoch, an aussie who jumped ship to be british, then jumped ship again to be an american, has, through fox, single handedly caused the divided states of america to take the greatest leap backwards of any major country, since the late ayotolah khomeini, took iran backward.

    • Treetop 2.4
      7 November 2020 at 8:15 am

      Do you think that social media plays a part in people not using critical thinking?

      • WeTheBleeple 2.4.1
        7 November 2020 at 8:22 am

        Absolutely. I recall the early days of the web. We were in forums/interest groups learning at an unprecedented pace. Then social media arrives… my science forums barely see me anymore, too busy being distracted by nonsense.

        So many idiots pushing idiocy. Unprecedented levels of dickhead.

        • Treetop 2.4.1.1
          7 November 2020 at 8:38 am

          So true what you say about social media. It is hard to tell the difference sometimes between fact and fiction.

    • Anne 2.5
      7 November 2020 at 9:34 am

      Said it in a nutshell WTB. About time somebody did.

      I've been getting heartily sick of media commentators – especially the US – skirting around the edges of the truth about Trump and letting him get away with verbal murder. Many were so weak and insipid and allowed themselves to be bullied and terrorised by him.

      They should have come to me for advice. An American (ex Marine Corps) bullied and terrorised me when I worked at the RNZAF base at Whenuapai back in the Eighties and early 90s. I stood up to him and eventually won. 😉

    • Craig H 2.6
      7 November 2020 at 4:17 pm

      I posted this elsewhere but may as well copy it here too…

      https://www.votespa.com/About-Elections/Pages/Counting-Dashboard.aspx is the Pennsylvania election reporting dashboard. According to that, there are 9,091,371 registered voters, of whom 4,229,163 are Democrat, 3,543,158 are Republican and 407,519 are "other". CNN's exit polling for Pennsylvania shows that registered voters are voting for their party at a rate of 90%+, but that independents are voting for Biden by 51%-43%.

      The dashboard is updating as reporting continues, but as I write this, there were 3,099,581 mail ballots issued, 2,629,342 (28.9% of registered voters) cast, 2,465,841 counted and 163,501 remaining to count. Of those, 1,702,207 were issued to Democrats, 624,732 for Republicans, 210,946 no affiliation, 80,889 other, 8,051 for Libertarians, 2,517 for Greens.

      The biggest county is Philadelphia with 1,129,425 registered voters (12.42% of all registered voters), of whom 857,041 are registered as Democrats and 130,590 as Republicans.

      If it is accepted that:

      • the largest urban area will fully report last (it's still counting and reporting a few polling stations for election day votes)
      • mail-in votes will report later because Pennsylvania counts them after the election day ballots because they take longer (each ballot has to be checked for validity as well as counted)
      • mail-in votes make up 28.9% of registered voters (so will be a higher portion of actual votes cast because not all registered voters will have voted)
      • registered Democrats voted 90% for Biden according to exit polling
      • registered Democrats make up 64.7% of mail in voters and 78.9% of registered Philadelphia voters

      To me it follows that a large portion of later votes will go Democrat, even in Republican counties because Democrats were a huge majority of mail in voters.

  3. Dennis Frank 3
    7 November 2020 at 7:35 am

    Looking good for Biden now, and Trump's claims of voter fraud seem desperate. I presume he's just recycling what he learnt from his dad as a kid – dad being in thick with the NYC Dem machine, back when US democracy was the best that money could buy.

    But what a pathetic shambles the US vote count system still is. No wonder folks don't trust it. And yet they don't trust internet voting either. The Swiss have been using it almost 20 years and folks there still don't trust it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Switzerland

    the credibility of American elections is being questioned again, and this time, the doubts are coming in from the POTUS himself. And somewhere we agree with him. Voting as we know it cannot be fully trusted.

    Traditional voting is often subject to speculations for either corruption if there are paper votes or phishing malpractices if it is an online voting system. While both the mechanisms have their pros and cons, one huge step towards securing our elections could be with blockchain e-voting – a concept popularized by Thailand in 2018.

    A Blockchain voting app would naturally offer transparency in terms of validating the accuracy of the trail of inputted votes. In such a blockchain-based e-voting system the entries would be time-stamped and encrypted before being secured with private keys. This might sound futuristic to baby boomers and Gen-X, yet, the truth is that the upcoming elections will be dominated by millennials and Gen-Z.

    The Bitcoin Blockchain… takes a minimum of 10 minutes to update and broadcast the new transactions to the network. Ethereum is still faster. Imagine hearing who the public elects as its leading representative, within minutes of concluding the final round of votes. It’s possible with Blockchain.

    https://appinventiv.com/blog/role-of-blockchain-in-voting/

  4. Phillip ure 4
    7 November 2020 at 7:42 am

    Cnn is reporting the trump camp 'in a frenzy' as it sinks in that it is nearly all over..and as an aside..I have been relaxed about this since day one…it has all unfolded as predicted..

    • Ad 4.1
      7 November 2020 at 8:02 am

      Very little of either the Senate or Presidential vote has gone as predicted.

      • Andre 4.1.1
        7 November 2020 at 8:08 am

        I think perhaps our various Nostradumbasses are making assertions about how good their personal 'predictions' have been.

        • Phillip ure 4.1.1.1
          7 November 2020 at 8:26 am

          No nostrodamus-style predictions…just math..and a basic knowledge of the american political systems..and the demographics there…but sneer on macduff..eh..?…

      • Phillip ure 4.1.2
        7 November 2020 at 8:20 am

        Red wave followed by blue wave was predicted/happened…the massive amount of early voting..(with trump telling his supporters not to early vote..) just underlined that blue wave..and when I say 'as predicted' I am talking about how I read it…not what the pundits/pollsters said…those pollsters/pundits who again got it so wrong…this really is a dark moment for that dark art…I wasn't paying close enough attention to the senate races to have a call on them…and isn't it kinda interesting how both nz and u.s. are 50/50 divided on progressive/reactionary lines…we are not that different..

        • WeTheBleeple 4.1.2.1
          7 November 2020 at 8:28 am

          If you paid enough attention, you could have set up a bookies and cleaned up. A lot of it was predictable. Not via crystal ball, but math, and patterns. The mail-in votes gave 'seers' a huge advantage in most states. Only Arizona was still up in the air (not following pattern) when others called it.

          And you also sneered at me accusing me of smoking something when I called it Andre. A little investigation was right at your fingertips.

        • Phillip ure 4.1.2.2
          7 November 2020 at 8:55 am

          And actually I wouldn't have a clue what the pundits were saying…I switched off all online/media a couple of years ago ..a marker of that 'off' is that it was only about a week ago that I saw an image of the covid guy who has been appearing next to ardern all this year…I had him with blond/sandy hair .and chubbier..heh..!..(I relied on rnz audio as my only source of 'news')…and I have rediscovered reading books…and in a big way..I have been/am wallowing in them…I was aware pollsters were predicting a big win for biden..but that is about all the attention I have paid to them.

  5. Ad 5
    7 November 2020 at 8:01 am

    Putin's impending resignation will be one of the bigger gifts President-Elect Biden will ever be given.

    He will be able to re-set that relationship from a position of greater strength.

    Looking forward to the WHO Covid-19 Report coming out so Biden can royally shank Xi Jinping as well.

    That would be a good start for State.

  6. Phillip ure 6
    7 November 2020 at 8:20 am

    Red wave followed by blue wave was predicted/happened…the massive amount of early voting..(with trump telling his supporters not to early vote..) just underlined that blue wave..and when I say 'as predicted' I am talking about how I read it…not what the pundits/pollsters said…those pollsters/pundits who again got it so wrong…this really is a dark moment for that dark art…I wasn't paying close enough attention to the senate races to have a call on them…and isn't it kinda interesting how both nz and u.s. are 50/50 divided on progressive/reactionary lines…we are not that different..

  7. dv 7
    7 November 2020 at 8:56 am

    This is an interesting site

    https://alex.github.io/nyt-2020-election-scraper/battleground-state-changes.html

    Updates every 15 mins, shows the lead, and the % needed for the looser to win and the % of the vote they are getting.

    • dv 7.1
      7 November 2020 at 9:07 am

      The site shows that Trump looks like only getting Alaska and N Caroline, while Biden gets Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona.

    • Treetop 7.2
      7 November 2020 at 9:15 am

      Trump hates the postal votes, over 100 million postal votes. As long as there is a date stamp of 3 November 2020 the vote is legal. As for the counting rules each state has their own process. Trump did nothing about the counting process prior to the election. Notice how he is being selective about which states he wants a recount on.

      • greywarshark 7.2.1
        7 November 2020 at 11:48 am

        The trouble with the closing dates re the postal votes is that different states have different rules; they are self-governing in many things. So it requires questioning and further thought to ascertain which states are being referred to when Trump makes a general announcement.

        That stretch of thought is beyond people who have their minds fixed and decided on what is true and right, and filter everything through that calcified stone.

  11. Whispering Kate 11
    7 November 2020 at 10:45 am

    Even if Trump is frogmarched out of the Whitehouse he will still continue to keep influencing and ruling the Trump followers from his Twitter Account. He is a master at it and is addicted to his daily edicts he pours out to his people. Unless he can be removed from Twitter I cannot see this cretin shutting up any time soon. It is going to be a difficult time for the new President to keep the ship steady if the witterings and mutterings of this cretin continue on Twitter influencing his faithful to protest and cause mayhem throughout the four year term.

    Its time for my family to quit the US while they can. I can see a storm abrewin' in the land of "the free".

    • weka 11.1
      7 November 2020 at 11:05 am

      Twitter will probably be more willing to apply its rules once DT is no longer president.

      • RedBaronCV 11.1.1
        7 November 2020 at 4:46 pm

        Twitter have a policy about not saying awful things and they ban if it goes on.

        Major public figures though get their posts labelled as incorrect and they halt the spread of them. Done I guess on the grounds that you have a right to know if your leader is racist sexist etc. So when Trump is no longer president the harder outcomes apply – banning etc. I saw some where in the media that a third party had created an account that just simply copied all Trumps tweets and the bans on posting etc where apparently pretty swift.

    • ianmac 11.2
      7 November 2020 at 4:25 pm

      Read today that important people like the President gets a license to say dodgy stuff – up to a point, then a warning label can be pasted on the item.

      But once the President is defrocked, then the rules of banning and/or fining apply like the do for mortals.

    • McFlock 11.3
      7 November 2020 at 5:17 pm

      Look on the incredibly optimistic side – they're not supposed to have twitter access in prison…

  12. AB 12
    7 November 2020 at 10:59 am

    Unless both the two Georgia Senate races which will now go to runoff in January, flip to the Democrats, shouldn't we be talking about 'President Elect Mitch McConnell'? Biden inherits a catastrophic mess with constrained ability to do much about it. As the economic fallout from Covid deepens and deaths climb past 300k in January, why would the psychopath McConnell support any new stimulus bill – rather than let Biden take the blame for the carnage? While it's a huge relief that Biden has squeaked through with the presidency, the down-ballot under-performance of his campaign is a looming disaster.
    And yes – Cori Bush is fabulous, but still represents a tiny sector of that party.

    • weka 12.1
      7 November 2020 at 11:06 am

      she's not on her own.

    • ianmac 12.2
      7 November 2020 at 7:16 pm

      Be interesting to see if there is a significant shift of support one way or the other in such a by-election. Could be a resounding win/defeat with a vital effect on being to operate or not with/without Senate.

    • happynz 12.3
      7 November 2020 at 7:21 pm

      Doubtful that there would be "president-elect Mitchell McConnell ". The line goes VP, Speaker of the House (currently Pelosi) and then the Senate Pro Tem dumbfuck Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.

  13. WeTheBleeple 13
    7 November 2020 at 11:02 am

    The American liberals dream is nihilistic oblivion. They've made their bed but they won't be getting any sleep.

    Each half of the binary screwing the populace while extracting all that they can. They've got nothing left and will turn on others soon as they can to detract from an utterly failed state. Plenty of limp-wristed liberals already gurning to start shit with China. Like they've got some high ground to stand on. Pathetic as usual aka BAU.

    Biden had one thing he ran on – Not Trump. That is the foundation upon which he plans to rebuild America. Ridiculous.

    • Anne 13.1
      7 November 2020 at 11:22 am

      Biden had one thing he ran on – Not Trump. That is the foundation upon which he plans to rebuild America. Ridiculous.

      OK. There's an element of truth he is going to win because he isn't Trump. But give him a chance to prove his worth as President. With Obama back on stage to assist him I'm hopeful. As for the Senate: I don't think they'll get much kudos if they try and obstruct his presidency too much and there's a few Senate seats up for grabs in the near future.

      • WeTheBleeple 13.1.1
        7 November 2020 at 12:19 pm

        'Good Presidents' dole out crumbs. 'Bad Presidents' take them away again. Meanwhile the entire loaf is being carved up behind the facade.

        Yes, those crumbs are meaningful to those who have nothing. But the robbery is still being committed.

        I can see the Senate shooting themselves in the foot. Then they can flip it, and shoot the other foot.

      • Phillip ure 13.1.2
        7 November 2020 at 1:00 pm

        Maybe biden will have the opposite of obamas' time…in that he lost the senate so was kinda impotent after that…save for invading countries/toppling governments…maybe biden will gain the senate midway on his term…and I wonder if biden will follow obamas' or trumps' lead as far as invasions etc. go..?..I hope he follows the only good example trump displayed…he didn't invaded countries/start wars…whereas obama..?..not so much…eh..?..something else of interest is to see the roles bernie and Elizabeth warren get…remember how warren stood aside at just the right time..and biden was suddenly a contendor..?…promises will have been made…

      • Gabby 13.1.3
        7 November 2020 at 6:45 pm

        Not sure that Bitch McTurtle gives much of a shit for kudos. He's set for the next 6 years.

  14. joe90 14
    7 November 2020 at 12:07 pm

    Flinging poo as instructed but I can't say anything about the poo.

    https://twitter.com/Biden_Army/status/1324842003524390915

    • weka 14.1
      7 November 2020 at 1:08 pm

      fuck that's desperate. I can understand she doesn't want to be out there on her own though, lol.

  15. greywarshark 15
    7 November 2020 at 12:29 pm

    This is one fro the good people of America who care about each other, and their country's progress to better… whatever it needs.

  16. The Al1en 16
    7 November 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Trying to find the cartoon president intro to Colbert's election night show and found this new one instead

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