Posts by Russell Brown
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Widespread reports of voting machine failure in New York. Probably not evil, given that it's New York, just fucking hopeless.
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First exit poll finds healthcare and Trump disapproval motivating voters.
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Hard News: The Midterms, in reply to Emma Hart,
The whole American ingrained attitude to voting just… astounds and saddens me. We’re the greatest democracy in the world! But generally we do not give a shit about voter suppression!
The NYT had a story recently in which certain academics and economists were happy to say that lots of people voting wasn't necessarily a good thing. It's staggering that it's actually considered respectable to argue that.
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It hasn't taken long for voting systems to start failing.
The NYT cites problems in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Arizona. And that's not even counting polling places where there are simply far too few machines to meet predictable demand.
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A fairly chilling reminder of a key battle for representation currently before the courts – the White House's plan to add a citizenship question to America 2020 Census:
If the Trump administration wins its fight to add a citizenship question to the census, it will clear the way for Republicans to execute a major power grab they’ve sought for years that could entrench their electoral advantage with rural whites while undermining the representation of urban and diverse populations.
While the legal battle over adding the citizenship question, now underway in a federal courtroom in New York City, is burrowing into statistical methodologies and sound survey practices, the practical political impact could be enormous, studies have shown.
On the horizon, if the citizenship question is allowed to stay on the 2020 census, is a giant legal battle over whether states can then use the data it produces to draw legislative districts based on the number of citizens rather than total population. It sounds like a wonky distinction, but it’s one with huge consequences for how Republicans in certain states will be able to consolidate their political power, while diminishing the voting power of communities with significant numbers of non-citizens.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Return of the…, in reply to Gareth Shute,
Nice one Gareth – I actually missed that pic! That was a lovely afternoon.
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Up officially now after a false start on Vimeo: the new mix of The Beatles' 'Glass Onion', from the anniversary edition of The White Album, with a cool video to match:
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Oh, and one more. Hardy Fox, co-founder of The Residents, died this week. Here he is is being interviewed by Dick Driver in 1986:
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Evan Olmstead not named in the 2019 Blues squad. Boo.
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Hard News: Lost Men, in reply to Kevin McCready,
I know nothing about Bowers but presume he’s also mentally ill; if that’s the case calling him monster should be reconsidered.
I looked at his social media. He had become a monster.