US Election Watch Thread 2024

[Mort Walker]

She can not be stopped, not in the Dem world of wokeness. Black/mixed race women can not be denied in any primary unless you have some LGBTQ+ candidate. It will be fun.

Don't underestimate how bad of a candidate she is for any political office. There is no genuineness in her character.

[vera_k]

Vote counting continues, with some chaos thrown in. This article goes into detail on where some districts are ignoring court orders on how votes are to be counted.

In Pennsylvania, the Election Litigation Continues, With a Twist

As a Senate recount plays out, at least four counties are ignoring an order from the State Supreme Court that undated or misdated mail ballots cannot be counted.

[sanman]

Trump's security-related picks provoke oppobrium

[vijayk]

She can not be stopped, not in the Dem world of wokeness. Black/mixed race women can not be denied in any primary unless you have some LGBTQ+ candidate. It will be fun.

She can play LGBTQ too if need arises ... she will say she is Bi and Californians will fall for such nonsense

[Yagnasri]

or can identify any of the 400+ LGBTQ+ things.

[Tanaji]

or can identify any of the 400+ LGBTQ+ things.

It used to be 77 something. Is it 400+ now?

[Yagnasri]

When I last read it was 400+. I do not remember where I read it, though.

[Kedar]

Harris would not survive against other prominent California Dems in 2026 including Newscum in a primary race.

Newsom will have termed out in 2026 and cannot run for governor again. He has already been termed out as Lieutenant-Governor, SF Mayor. Likely no US senatorial job vacant. Practically jobless so will run for President in 2028. If he is the Democratic nominee then four more years of Republican guaranteed.

[Vayutuvan]

... Legally is there still a possibility of Prez Trump being stripped of the office
I.e., Mami assured of the Oval Office!

No, IMO that is out of the question now. Such fears had some basis before the election, when many people felt that Dem voter fraud ops would lead to much closer election results and the results would be touch-and-go.

True that. PA Dem Senate candidate Casey (48.6% share) is refusing to concede to McCormick (48.8%). That is a close race. Look here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... r-AA1uckSy

As the contested Pennsylvania Senate race barrels towards a $1 million recount, Democratic officials in a few blue counties are openly admitting to counting disqualified ballots in defiance of state law and court orders.

The Associated Press has called the race for Republican Sen.-elect Dave McCormick, who currently holds a 26,000 vote lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. But Casey has refused to concede and insisted that every vote be counted. The close margin – within one percentage point – triggered an automatic recount under Pennsylvania law.

Yet the critical question is which votes should be counted? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled before the election that mail ballots lacking formally required signatures or dates should not be included in official results. However, Democratic officials in Philadelphia and surrounding Bucks, Centre and Montgomery counties are ignoring that court order.
"I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country," Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, said Thursday as she and other Democrats voted to reject a GOP-led challenge to ballots that should be disqualified.
"People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Officials estimate there are fewer than 80,000 provisional ballots left to be counted across the Keystone State, less than two percent of the vote, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. While the chance that Casey could make up his deficit is small, his attorneys and McCormick's have repeatedly clashed at county commissioner meetings this week as local officials have debated over whether to count small handfuls of ballots.

Democrats insist they are acting in good faith in believing that rejecting someone's vote because of a clerical error violates their constitutional rights.

In Montgomery County, for example, officials deliberated for 30 minutes over whether about 180 provisional ballots without secrecy envelopes should be counted. The Inquirer reported that several of these votes came from the same precincts, suggesting an error made by poll workers.

Democratic board chair Neil Makhija voted to accept the ballots so that voters would not be disenfranchised. But other members of the board, including one Democrat and a Republican, voted to reject the ballots on the advice of county attorneys who determined the law clearly states they should not be counted.

"We’re talking about constitutional rights and I cannot take an action to throw out someone’s ballot that is validly cast, otherwise, over an issue that we know ... is immaterial," Makhija said during Thursday's meeting. The board ultimately voted to count a total of 501 contested ballots.

Similar disputes over hundreds of votes have played out in Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties.

Separately, there is ongoing litigation over undated mail ballots or those submitted with an incorrect date on the outer envelope. Several local Democratic officials have said an incorrect date should not be grounds to disqualify a person's vote. Lower courts have agreed with that reasoning, but Pennsylvania's high court has determined the law requires correct dates for mail ballots to be counted.

The McCormick campaign and Republican National Committee have asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reaffirm its Nov. 1 decision to stop Democrats from including undated mail ballots in their final tallies. The Casey campaign and the Pennsylvania Department of State have countered with legal motions arguing that the counties should be left alone and that the high court need not intervene as the challenges work their way through the appellate process.

The open defiance of court precedent has prompted Republicans to cry foul.

"Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: Democrats in Pennsylvania are brazenly trying to break the law by attempting to count illegal ballots. They are doing this because they want to steal a senate seat," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley wrote on X.

He said the RNC has filed four lawsuits contesting county decisions on undated ballots and vowed to "fight for as long as necessary" to ensure that McCormick's victory is upheld.

"This is the exact kind of left-wing election interference that undermines voter confidence," Whatley said.

Democrats have defended their actions and pointed out that McCormick himself had argued to count contested ballots when he trailed celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

In that case, McCormick’s lawyer told a state judge that the object of Pennsylvania’s election law is to let people vote, "not to play games of ‘gotcha’ with them."

There are potentially thousands of mail-in ballots with wrong or missing dates on the return envelope across the state, though most counties have not moved to count them.

A state-mandated recount must be finished by noon on Nov. 26. Officials have said they do not expect the process to change the outcome of the race by more than a few hundred votes.

Both McCormick and Casey were in Washington, D.C., this week. Casey participated in official Senate business and cast votes on the floor while McCormick attended new member orientation and met with other members of the new Republican majority...

[sanman]

Photo of Trump’s Inner Circle Reveals ‘Deep Truths’ About how Election Was Won by Ex-Dems: Elon Musk

https://nypost.com/2024/11/18/us-news/p ... musk-says/

[srin]

I don't understand this tradition of "calling the result" by the media, and one of the candidates conceding the election.
Doesn't the US have an independent election commission to announce the results?

[vera_k]

That's just the press searching for an audience. Results are certified at the county and state levels. No central election authority, so each election office can do things differently.

[disha]

Comma,La/MammaLa (as she likes herself to be called/as her twitter profile indicates) in her short campaign

* Raised 1.6 Billion Dollars (Yes, that is a Billion with a
* And still in debt by $20M
* $12 Million on private jets *while* talking about global warming and climate change as existential strength
* $20 Million on celebrity endorsements (like $5M to Beyonce and $1.5 to Megan Thee Stallion and her team to do butt twerking/wiggling)
* More than half million dollars to recreate sets for talk shows and more than $2 million dollars to recreate an entirely new venue
* $9000 on premium icecream like Sweet Lucie's
* Almost $1 Million on ad-space on Las Vegas Sphere (and losing Nevada by 3% of vote margin)

Even Pelosi's dog No-Khaana was disgusted with the spending.

[Kati]

Latino advocates grapple with Hispanic vote shift and its impact on policy agenda

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/tru ... wtab-en-us

[Mort Walker]

Comma,La/MammaLa (as she likes herself to be called/as her twitter profile indicates) in her short campaign

* Raised 1.6 Billion Dollars (Yes, that is a Billion with a
* And still in debt by $20M
* $12 Million on private jets *while* talking about global warming and climate change as existential strength
* $20 Million on celebrity endorsements (like $5M to Beyonce and $1.5 to Megan Thee Stallion and her team to do butt twerking/wiggling)
* More than half million dollars to recreate sets for talk shows and more than $2 million dollars to recreate an entirely new venue
* $9000 on premium icecream like Sweet Lucie's
* Almost $1 Million on ad-space on Las Vegas Sphere (and losing Nevada by 3% of vote margin)

Even Pelosi's dog No-Khaana was disgusted with the spending.

Not to mention that the Harris campaign paid over $25K to each and various SM influencers on X, TikTok & YouTube. BTW, Trump offered to pay off the debt out of the Harris campaign because it's mostly owed to small business owners. He has money left over out of his $381M, but only spent $346M. His offer was turned down.

[Kati]

Key Intelligence Watchdogs Resign in Wake of Trump’s Win

https://www.pogo.org/investigations/ic- ... estigation

[Vayutuvan]

Key Intelligence Watchdogs Resign in Wake of Trump’s Win

https://www.pogo.org/investigations/ic- ... estigation

@Kati ji, Please do quote parts of it. I might do it in a bit though. It is very partisan in that Brennan and Bolton are sounding alarm over the new appointees including T. Gabbard. I don't trust either of them, so do majority of the voters (Trump won the popular vote as well.)

[Vayutuvan]

[sanman]

Musk, Top Trump Advisor Clash Over Cabinet Picks

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/18/trump- ... iser-clash

Elon Musk has quickly become an influential figure in President-elect Trump's inner circle, but there are signs of tension between Musk and a longtime Trump adviser over Cabinet appointments to the new administration.

Why it matters: The friction between Musk and Boris Epshteyn — a top adviser who's pushed for Cabinet picks that include Matt Gaetz for attorney general — surfaced in public last week. It signaled a rivalry stemming from Musk's growing influence on the president-elect, to the dismay of some Trump loyalists.

• Musk — who fueled Trump's election effort by giving at least $119 million — has questioned whether Epshteyn has had too much influence in Trump's selections, especially his top Justice Department picks and the White House counsel, three people familiar with the conversations told Axios.

• At the same time, Musk has begun to push for his own Cabinet favorites.

• Epshteyn has bristled at Musk's questioning the qualifications of Epshteyn's favored candidates, two of the sources said

...

Musk, meanwhile, is making a late push for Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick to be chosen for Treasury secretary instead of fund manager Scott Bessent, a Wall Street favorite who met with Trump in Florida on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas (Lutnick) will actually enact change," Musk posted on his X platform. "Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt."

[sanman]

[ramana]

Now that the US election is over am locking this thread.
Thanks for participating.

Ramana