October Surprise

[Juan]

At least part of the trouble with these wrong convictions is the crusading nature of so many prosecutors - it's now politically popular to be a "victim's rights advocate."  That's not the role of a prosecutor - a prosecutor is supposed to protect the rights of all people in the political district - including the defendant. 

And the defense lawyers are a part of the problem, too - they are too often off pushing their own political or social agenda, rather than remembering that their role is to defend the constitution and ensure that the prosecutor follows it.

[MV/Liberace!]

At least part of the trouble with these wrong convictions is the crusading nature of so many prosecutors - it's now politically popular to be a "victim's rights advocate."  That's not the role of a prosecutor - a prosecutor is supposed to protect the rights of all people in the political district - including the defendant. 

And the defense lawyers are a part of the problem, too - they are too often off pushing their own political or social agenda, rather than remembering that their role is to defend the constitution and ensure that the prosecutor follows it.

bleh... i hate prosecutors.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I asked a question about suspending elections early on and you responded with a "no" it wouldn't happen. Our marines are being trained for crowd control. Tens of thousands of drones, the kind used in Afghanistan without weapons I hope, are to be deployed over the skies of America. Attacks on gun ownership, high tech nerdy CEOs eagerly working with this administration to spy on every keystroke you enter to be placed into a database. Somewhere on the internet there is a huge list of "words" that will trigger a look by those spying on us. You would not believe some of them. Completely irrelevant to politics but they can be used when discussing them. Labeling returning veterans as potential TERRORISTS yet having a strict taboo on calling an actual terrorist or terrorist supporting organization as TERRORIST. The TEA Party as a "hate" organization full of white supremacists and other assorted intolerant individuals.

October is approaching and much has happened since Zircon started this thread in July.

[Zircon]

Thanks for reminding us Monk.

A lot of talk about polls. The two top polling entities, both for accuracy and integrity are Rasmussen and Pew Research. Those are the ones to watch. Gallup finished 23rd out of 25 in accuracy. "Newsweek" was last.

I continue to think a "national emergency" would make this administration ponder over the idea of at least delaying them. A potential World War breaking out in Iran/Israel/Iraq/Egypt/Libya/Syria would tend to disrupt the day-to-day activities - even political ones. I believe that even FDR considered this.

[PB the Deplorable]

... I continue to think a "national emergency" would make this administration ponder over the idea of at least delaying them. A potential World War breaking out in Iran/Israel/Iraq/Egypt/Libya/Syria would tend to disrupt the day-to-day activities - even political ones...

Do you mean delay the elections?

That would be a colossal miscalculation in our current highly charged environment, where each swing state 'undecided' voter is so precious.  Imagine the R's pounding Obama as a Third World Dictator Thug Wannabe every single day from the time the elections were postponed until they were restored (this is actually something the R's should be doing anyway, but that's another story).  People would swarm to the rescheduled polls in a massive turnout and O would be absolutely crushed.

If he is going to do that, he'd better cancel them completely.  Will his troops at Acorn, Occupy, TSA, and SEIU be ready for battle as of Nov 6?  How about Nov 2016?

[Ben Shockley]

Imagine the R's pounding Obama as a Third World Dictator Thug Wannabe every single day...

One doesn't need to imagine it when one can listen to Faux 'News' and 95% of daytime AM talk radio to hear it.

this is actually something the R's should be doing anyway

You mean, more so than they have for the last 4 years?   That stuff is great for making the base more insane than they already are, but it doesn't win moderate voters.   If 4 years of non-stop demonization and dehumanization of Obama can't force his numbers below 50+%, the numbers can't get  below that.

Let me unveil here something I've noticed, that I have interpreted to be a "Republican Theory of Electoral Relativity."
As many of you will know --and some can surely describe better than I-- in Einsteinian relativity in Physics, the more energy is applied to something, the greater becomes the mass of the thing.   Energy → Mass.   Apparently, Republican hopes this year in the Presidential election are based in this theory.
The idea seems to be that, the more fired up the base can be made, the more votes will be produced for the Anti-Obama.   "Energy of Base" → "Mass of Votes."   I don't mean that the Repubs are hoping for more voters to turn out:  No, their message can only resonate with a maximum of X number of voters, and that number has probably been reached.   I am suggesting that they are hoping, believing, wishing --whatever-- that even with a fixed number of voters willing to go for their guy, a high-enough level of energy (manifested as "hate" or "anger") will metaphysically increase the vote result.   Thus explaining the observed tactic of keeping (only) after that rabid base, trying to keep them fired-up, moderates and swing voters be damned.

Will his troops at Acorn, Occupy, TSA, and SEIU be ready for battle as of Nov 6?

Let's try to keep our posts grounded in some kind of intersubjective agreement, okay?   In other words: let's try to stick to some semblance of non-hysterical, non-demon-haunted reality, okay?

[BigDave]

The October suprise could be the beginnings of a Nuclear war

[Eddie Coyle]

The October suprise could be the beginnings of a Nuclear war

I've heard that in...October, 1962(Cuba)
                                     October, 1973 (Yom Kippur War- we were DEFCON 3 on 10/23)
                                     October, 1980 (Afghan, Iran, Reagan's comin...
                                     October, 1983  (Cold War hysteria, Beirut, Grenada)
                                     October, 2001  (9/11 just happened)
                                     October, 2002   (Saddam's "arsenal" grows)

[Eddie Coyle]

 
       Didn't think it would be the jobs report...best month since '83! 

[BigDave]

       Didn't think it would be the jobs report...best month since '83! 

Because they don't count you as unemployed after 3 months

[PB the Deplorable]

The monthly unemployment rates are calculated from household survey results using a specific definition of 'unemployment' - which is 'unemployed and curently looking'.  The Census Bureau conducts the survey interviews and the Dept of Labor makes estimates using the survey numbers and reports them

http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

The rate for a specific month is always revised after a month, and then the following month, as real data come in.  These revisions are often significant to the point of making the original numbers useless.  I'm going to predict that wil be the case this time. 

The number to keep an eye on is the total number of employed non-farm workers.  This number is the same as it was when Obama took office.


I think a corrupt campaign that didn't mind calling Romney a felon, a murderer, and a tax cheat wouldn't mind putting out phoney job statistics.

[Juan]

I was very surprised to learn that the unemployment rates were determined by a telephone survey - not from the actual claims for unemployment.   That makes the unemployment rate nothing but a poll - probably as flawed as any other polls. 

I've said in the past, with some disagreement in this forum, that the government can't know if I'm looking for a job or not.  This seems to show that they don't even try.

[ACE of CLUBS]

Being a non-American, and really glad that I'm non-American ...... just a few observations, if I may:


Obama has printed money by the ton, this has de-valued every asset that the American people have worked for......do you think that he's finished de-valuing your assets yet?  If I was an American citizen, I'd sure be pissed....


He has bailed out companies that aren't producing the majority of their products in America - and employing Americans.


He obviously doesn't have the credentials to manage the economy, and how can America sustain another four year term from this 'piker' ...?

[Sardondi]

Being a non-American, and really glad that I'm non-American ...... just a few observations, if I may:


Obama has printed money by the ton, this has de-valued every asset that the American people have worked for......do you think that he's finished de-valuing your assets yet?  If I was an American citizen, I'd sure be pissed....


He has bailed out companies that aren't producing the majority of their products in America - and employing Americans.


He obviously doesn't have the credentials to manage the economy, and how can America sustain another four year term from this 'piker' ...?

Hey, would you like to vote next month? Apparently it's okay. Obama clearly wants illegal aliens to vote, since the Dept of Justice isn't defending any voter ID laws anywhere. Just think about that: you've got to have ID to get into a campaign rally for the President, or even to borrow a library book, but not to vote as a citizen. Something is very, very wrong in this country.

[Pragmier]

In Florida, the weak link is in the registration process. No proof is required of citizenship when we register. Citizenship is not required for a driver's license - so how would asking for an ID stop a non-citizen? I don't see it's effectiveness unless you're dealing with voter impersonation.

[stevesh]

We can only hope that voter fraud is roughly equal between the two major parties, though the left seems to be a little better at it.

[analog kid]

Hey, would you like to vote next month? Apparently it's okay. Obama clearly wants illegal aliens to vote, since the Dept of Justice isn't defending any voter ID laws anywhere. Just think about that: you've got to have ID to get into a campaign really for the President, or even to borrow a library book, but not to vote as a citizen. Something is very, very wrong in this country.

Borrowing a library book isn't a right written into the constitution. Voting is. Why would an illegal alien risk capture and deportation just to vote in another country? Do you have evidence that this has happened in any significant way, shape or form? Is your shaky theory rally worth disenfranchising millions of legitimate voters?

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has had to intervene in every swing state to keep Republicans from instituting arbitrary and unconstitutional voting limitations, like that of early voting, absentee voting, and indiscriminate voter purging that targets predominantly students and the elderly. This is acceptable to the right based on conspiracy theories with no evidence to support them.

[Sardondi]

...Why would an illegal alien risk capture and deportation just to vote in another country?...

Gee, maybe because federal judges are ordering that no one may be asked to identify themselves? And why vote? Because they have an interest in keeping in power an administration which has extended rights ordinarily associated with citizenship to not just legal aliens, but illegal aliens as well.

Then there are illegal alien "interest groups" (can you say La Raza?) which urge - and who knows what beyond "urging" - voting by illegals. And finally there's the old GOTV money - "get out the vote" - which is the cash-for-voting that has gone on unabated since voting began in urban areas.

Those sound like strong incentives to me. Voter ID laws protects the voters and the integrity of their lawful votes and the voting process. There's a single citizen who can't produce any of the dozen or so acceptable forms of ID permitted by what are actually very loose voter ID laws? Never happen. The only folks who have anything to fear from voter ID laws are those who hope for a sizable vote from illegals.

[PB the Deplorable]

Why do the Democrats seem to assume that blacks are too stupid to figure out how to get an ID?

[PB the Deplorable]

We can only hope that voter fraud is roughly equal between the two major parties, though the left seems to be a little better at it.

Historically it's been the Democrats that use voter fraud to win elections.  'Vote early, vote often' and the idea of dead people staying on the rolls and voting both originated with the same corrupt Chicago political machine that gave us Barrack Obama.

The elections that were stolen that I recall were B-1 Bobs House seat stolen by the votes of illegal immigrant Mexican voters (I'm guessing all very close races that went to the Democrat in areas with substantial illegals were likely stolen), that 2004 Washinton State governors seat - when King County officials kept 'finding' more and more ballots until they had enough for the Democrat to win.  They ended up with more King County votes than voters that year.  Or how about the Minnesota Senate race stolen by Al Franken - he used the same tactic Al Gore tried in 2000:  just keep recounting, include these ballots, exclude those, try to find the combination that gives the Democrat the win, then stop counting - different 'hanging chad' and other dubious ballots were treated differently in different counties - basically if they benefited Franken they were counted and if they didn't, they weren't.  He 'won' by a handful of votes, and this was backed up they the Lib leaning MN State Supreme Court.

Or how about all the tricks used to keep the armed forces overseas from voting, or having their votes count.  I think everyone knows these votes are going to go mostly Republican:  they've tried to not include them on technicalities like tossing them because the military mail doesn't use regular postmarks but the absentee law says 'postmarked' by a certain date, or not making ballots available or not available on time, sent on time, all sorts of dirty tricks.  Nice way to treat our service men and women.

How about Acorn - accused of thousands and thousands of fraudulent registrations - so many that even Holder couldn't ignore all of it and had to prosecute a few.  Or people crossing over the border to vote in a different state, or the Acorn vagabond army of thugs (again) claiming residence in battleground states on election day.  And on and on.

Yeah, those mean Republicans are trying to supress the vote by asking for proof of citizenship when registering, IDs to vote, and purgng the polls of dead people and people that have moved.  How sinister.

[analog kid]

Then there are illegal alien "interest groups" (can you say La Raza?) which urge - and who knows what beyond "urging" - voting by illegals. And finally there's the old GOTV money - "get out the vote" - which is the cash-for-voting that has gone on unabated since voting began in urban areas.

Thanks for the Alex Jones report, but illegal aliens voting in Florida is bullshit.

[PB the Deplorable]

The first post debate Pew Research poll (likely voters) came out, and it's the expected bad news for Obama. 

The previous one had Obama ahead 51-43, now Romney is ahead 49-45.   A 6 point turnaround.   I thought getting an unengaged Obama - who seems to spend more time partying and golfing than anything else away from his tele-prompter would be telling.  With his terrible economic record all he really had to talk about was his ideology, and there is no way he wants to reveal that.

The Pew poll still has Obama ahead with voters on Foreign Policy.  Can't wait for that debate - Obama's handling of issues and relations with the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Middle East Arabs, Isreal, and our allies in Eastern Europe has been awful.   Under Obama it's a dismal time to be a US ally in Asia and Latin America.   I think the governments in Western Europe and places like Venzuela like him - or maybe they just like his weakness. 

Look for his standing in Foreign Policy to take a good sized hit after that debate.   Maybe he can pull out his bullshit Nobel Prize as a prop.

[Juan]

Two things - there is no right to vote in the United States Constitution, only a requirement that states allow equal rights to voting. Some folks don't even realize that they do not vote for presidential candidates at all.

Second - the cited newspaper article regarding illegal voting in Florida is filled with foolishness.  The Secretary of State does not register voters.  The individual counties register voters and run the elections.  The only role of the Secretary of State is to certify the results from each county.

[Thomas Firepickle]

whether it be legal or illegal is irelavanet at this juncture. We need to keep Obama in office for another term. If we don't then our planet will not follow the suns path to Wantangno system. I'm totally fucking drunk but more sick of this two party system and our current choices. I just don't know who to trust anymore. Oh wait, I'm still drunk......

[MV/Liberace!]

I'm totally fucking drunk but more sick of this two party system and our current choices.

FINALLY, we're in agreement.

[The General]

I'm totally fucking drunk but more sick of this two party system and our current choices.

FINALLY, we're in agreement.

See how alcohol brings us all together? Now where's that bottle...

[Sardondi]

You know, man, I really love you. Really. I mean it, man. I really love you. Forever.

Oh, here it is.

[MV/Liberace!]

who wants to see my cock?

[PB the Deplorable]

who wants to see my cock?

Pretty sure no one

[MV/Liberace!]

Pretty sure no one

i'll take that as a no?