Triple Espresso of Coffee Talk

[forty_three]

Make sure you don't use your Arabic numerals when getting the ratio for dilution.

I bet there is an episode of the educational show "Arthur" that deals with doing science without Arabs.

Alabama won't air 'Arthur' episode that shows same-sex wedding - CNN


Oh.

I... I just...

It seems like these people are proud of being the opposite of intellectual.

Texas House passes 'Save Chick-fil-A' bill

So by the same token, the government will agree to leave religion out of the argument about whether or not the business named "Planned Parenthood" is allowed to operate?

 

[mooger_35]

What a day for Mr. Carson


"Reclaiming my time."

"You don't get to do that."

"Oh."

 

[blindbaby]

He was under the gun, so he took it on the run.

/Sorry, that's the wrong REO as well

Blame it on REO.

 

[thedddd]

Blame it on REO.

I surprised he didn’t come out and state REO speedwagon sucks.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Make sure you don't use your Arabic numerals when getting the ratio for dilution.

 

[forty_three]

 

[forty_three]

Nevada Poised To Become 15th State To Ditch Electoral College

If they get the majority of available electoral college votes to agree, then the electoral college essentially vanishes. They have agreement from states that hold 199 votes.

71 more to go.

 

[dash]

I surprised he didn’t come out and state REO speedwagon sucks.

Heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another that Ben Carson is a dummy.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Nevada Poised To Become 15th State To Ditch Electoral College

If they get the majority of available electoral college votes to agree, then the electoral college essentially vanishes. They have agreement from states that hold 199 votes.

71 more to go.

But critics of the effort say it could make rural states irrelevant in choosing the president and would give even more power to highly-populated states like California and New York. Presidential candidates might even forgo campaigning in many states, they say.

My new favourite thing in politics is when someone says something as a negative in a way that makes it sound as positive as it actually is.

/it’s even more ironic when politicians forego campaigning in states like NY and CA for that exact reason already.

 

[dare2be]

But they already forego most states now. Most campaigning now is done in about a half-dozen "battleground" states where the slim majority can switch. You single out NY and CA, but that happens in TX and about 40 other states as well.

Perhaps the most equitable way to do it is treat the popular vote as a "51st" state, with an electoral vote count equal to the average number of electors in each of the 50 states.

 

[Darkstone42]

But they already forego most states now. Most campaigning now is done in about a half-dozen "battleground" states where the slim majority can switch. You single out NY and CA, but that happens in TX and about 40 other states as well.

Perhaps the most equitable way to do it is treat the popular vote as a "51st" state, with an electoral vote count equal to the average number of electors in each of the 50 states.

I think allowing electoral college votes to be ascribed proportional to popular vote in each state might also help, as a compromise. At the very least, it means candidates don't have to focus so exclusively on battleground states, since the gains to be achieved a lot smaller when you're splitting 20-some votes roughly evenly instead of the winner-takes-all.

 

[forty_three]

But critics of the effort say it could make rural states irrelevant in choosing the president and would give even more power to highly-populated states like California and New York. Presidential candidates might even forgo campaigning in many states, they say.

My new favourite thing in politics is when someone says something as a negative in a way that makes it sound as positive as it actually is.

/it’s even more ironic when politicians forego campaigning in states like NY and CA for that exact reason already.

If it makes candidates stop spending so much time in Ohio, then I am all for it.
Swing State Hell - Ohio Votes - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Video Clip) | Comedy Central

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

I think allowing electoral college votes to be ascribed proportional to popular vote in each state might also help, as a compromise. At the very least, it means candidates don't have to focus so exclusively on battleground states, since the gains to be achieved a lot smaller when you're splitting 20-some votes roughly evenly instead of the winner-takes-all.

The difficulty I always see in that is the lack of consistency and the much greater difficulty it presents when splitting a large state.

If you allocate based on congressional districts like Maine does, you're subject to the same risks as presented by gerrymandering. NC voted 50-46 but our Congressional delegation was 10-3 and both of our Senators were Rs. While a 12-3 breakdown would have obviously been different - and arguably better - than the actual 15-0 allocation, it provides an even greater incentive to forever gerrymander the state.

 

[Comeds]

I bet there is an episode of the educational show "Arthur" that deals with doing science without Arabs.

Alabama won't air 'Arthur' episode that shows same-sex wedding - CNN

Is this the Dudley Moore or Russell Brand version of Arthur? I'm all for the Brand one being banned.

 

[Darkstone42]

The difficulty I always see in that is the lack of consistency and the much greater difficulty it presents when splitting a large state.

If you allocate based on congressional districts like Maine does, you're subject to the same risks as presented by gerrymandering. NC voted 50-46 but our Congressional delegation was 10-3 and both of our Senators were Rs. While a 12-3 breakdown would have obviously been different - and arguably better - than the actual 15-0 allocation, it provides an even greater incentive to forever gerrymander the state.

I wasn't thinking of breaking it down by district. The whole state's popular vote decides the split. Completely decouples the result from gerrymandering, and heightens the minority voice.

I think it would do wonders for voter turnout in typically uncontested states, too. People would actually feel like their votes mattered, since it could more easily be the difference between an electoral vote going on way or the other.

 

[Comeds]

Maybe it would help if they modernized/standardized the primary elections and caucuses it would help too.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Federal government names organizations that will help spend $660M journalism fund | CBC News

This is basically just creating state-sponsored media. What possible reason could there be for Unifor to be on that panel?

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

I wasn't thinking of breaking it down by district. The whole state's popular vote decides the split. Completely decouples the result from gerrymandering, and heightens the minority voice.

I think it would do wonders for voter turnout in typically uncontested states, too. People would actually feel like their votes mattered, since it could more easily be the difference between an electoral vote going on way or the other.

I see what you're saying there. Unfortunately, for now at least, it's generally been the larger and bluer states that are on-board with the idea of the popular vote campaign, but none of them are ever going to change until they can be assured that their sway isn't going to be diluted.

For exampe, while any individual person in CA may feel that their vote carries more weight under an allocation method, the state as a whole will never switch unless they either get enough other states on board as they're trying to do, or to get a Constitutional amendment that mandates it, because CA isn't going to cede ~35% of it's electoral votes (which would, BTW, be equivalent to about the 7th highest number) if they don't get Texas to cede ~45% of theirs, plus a bunch of the small (Wyoming, Alaska, the Dakotas, etc.) to give up (usually) 1/3 of their votes.

I'm also worried about the consequence of "gerrymandering" the cutoffs. How do you allocate SD's 3 votes when the margin of victory was 63-27? 63% isn't far off from 2/3, but obviously 27 is pretty far away from 1/3 and then you have to figure out what to do with third party candidates where 5% in Wyoming is worth nowhere near 1/3 so you presumably round them down, but 5% in CA is worth 2.75 EVs, so you presumably round them up?

 

[puckhead]

Blame it on REO.

that movie had terrific boobs
like, remember-them-30-years-later quality boobs

 

[blindbaby]

that movie had terrific boobs
like, remember-them-30-years-later quality boobs

I watched it in a theater when it first came out. There were definitely a few times in the movie where it wouldn't have been appropriate to get up and go for popcorn, if you know what I mean.