Poll of the Day > Texas is in play, and Republicans are losing their s*&t over it

(+) Yeah! (+)

Saw reference to the "Biden bus" in another topic, so figured I'd look it up...

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/31/biden-trump-texas-bus/

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a Friday incident in which a group of Trump supporters, driving trucks and waving Trump flags, surrounded and followed a Biden campaign bus as it drove up I-35 in Hays County, a law enforcement official confirmed to The Texas Tribune Saturday.
The confrontation, captured on video, featured at least one minor collision and led to Texas Democrats canceling three scheduled campaign events on Friday. The campaign officials cited safety concerns for the cancellations.
The highway skirmish came as Democrats close ground in a state that is polling like a potential battleground in the race for president. Recent polls indicate the presidential race in Texas between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden is tight, with some national prognosticators calling it a toss-up.
Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas [Friday] instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harms way, said Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director for the Biden campaign.

But that's just clear cut violence and physical intimidation, so let's jump to another crime that's more subtle and disgusting:

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/31/harris-county-drive-thru-votes/

For 18 days of early voting, Harris County residents waited in line, had their identities verified by poll workers, and cast their votes in a presidential election that has seen record-breaking early turnout.
But for the nearly 127,000 people who did so at drive-thru polling places instead of in traditional indoor sites, many are now watching with fear as a wealthy conservative activist, a Republican state representative and two GOP candidates aim to throw out their ballots at the last minute. In the states most populous and largely Democratic county, drive-thru voters are left anxiously awaiting court decisions before Election Day on Tuesday that could force them to go back to the polls. Likely many more are unaware of their votes' potential demise.

Two lawsuits by the group of plaintiffs have been filed in recent days after a similar challenge was already rejected by the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court.
We thought it was fine, and then I see these stories, she said, referring to the lawsuits seeking to toss the votes. We can both still go on Tuesday and vote if we have to, but I want to know. If my votes going to be thrown out, when are we going to know thats the case?

"But ...but... this has never been done before, so it's understandable these lawsuits were filed so close to the election!"

Harris County first tested drive-thru voting in the July primary runoffs with little controversy, and the countys 10 drive-thru centers were established for the fall election to make early voting easier for people concerned about entering polling places during the pandemic. Voters pull up in their cars, and after their registrations and identifications have been confirmed by poll workers, are handed an electronic tablet through their car windows to cast ballots.

"Oh...."

Now, let's learn who's behind this shit:

The plaintiffs, all Republicans, are conservative activist Steven Hotze, state Rep. Steve Toth of The Woodlands, congressional candidate Wendell Champion and judicial candidate Sharon Hemphill.
Hotze is an active GOP donor and is one of the most prolific culture warriors on the right. He's a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage and was a key figure in the unsuccessful push for the 2017 "bathroom bill" in the Texas Legislature. This year, he has filed numerous lawsuits seeking to overturn Gov. Greg Abbotts coronavirus restrictions and block Harris Countys efforts to make it easier for people to vote. And he left a voicemail for Abbotts chief of staff this summer telling him to shoot and kill people protesting the in-custody death of George Floyd.

Hopefully based on prior attempts by this fucking psychopath that failed, this also will. But being so close to the election and leaving those 127K voters in limbo is especially vile.

Teeing up a massive potential disenfranchisement of Harris County voters, the Republicans are asking the courts to not only declare drive-thru voting illegal in Texas, but to throw out the votes cast at such polling locations. An earlier legal challenge against drive-thru voting brought by Hotze, Hemphill and the Harris County Republican Party was rejected by the Texas Supreme Court last week.
(Voters who used the drive-thru option are subjected to the same verification requirements as those who vote in traditional polling places.)
Harris County officials have continued to defend the legality of the program, and noted that the Texas secretary of states office had approved of drive-thru voting. Keith Ingram, the states director of elections, said in a court hearing last month in another lawsuit that drive-thru voting is a creative approach that is probably okay legally, according to court transcripts.

Because when democracy doesn't get you what you want, the only logical thing to do is prevent the people you disagree with from voting.

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Violence and voter suppression and intimidation are not tactics of somebody who thinks he's going to win. I've been saying for 3 years now that the 2020 election would be an absolute shitshow, and people said I was crazy. I said fucking six months ago that there would be so many people trying to vote in unprecedented numbers, that there would be far right terrorism surrounding the election to try and stop it, and again I was told I'm crazy. It was so fucking obvious that this shit was coming, I don't know how more didn't see it.

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you see pcup

you were told all that by the people who think that stuff is okay to do

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papercup posted...

Violence and voter suppression and intimidation are not tactics of somebody who thinks he's going to win. I've been saying for 3 years now that the 2020 election would be an absolute shitshow, and people said I was crazy. I said fucking six months ago that there would be so many people trying to vote in unprecedented numbers, that there would be far right terrorism surrounding the election to try and stop it, and again I was told I'm crazy. It was so fucking obvious that this shit was coming, I don't know how more didn't see it.

I, however, said "Yeah, maybe. We'll see, and hopefully not, but maybe." Here we are, and sure enough. Now to see who calls this fake news or a liberal hoax.

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I've been thinking this was a possibility for a while now.

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If they steal the election, this law and order president is gonna be dealing with the largest riots this country has ever seen

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likehelly posted...

you see pcup

you were told all that by the people who think that stuff is okay to do

Including the president, who responded to the bus incident with his approval.

Mead posted...

If they steal the election, this law and order president is gonna be dealing with the largest riots this country has ever seen

The cops will just gleefully see that as a huge opportunity to indiscriminately shoot a metric fuck ton of U.S. citizens. Basically their wet dream.

I think TX will probably go red again this time, but that eventually it'll follow VA and trend more blue.

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From what I heard as of thursday for friday more people had voted early in Texas than had voted at all in 2016. That terrifies republicans, just think about that. More people using their American rights terrifies republicans! They know how horrible their platform is and how unbelievable it is that people would want to vote for them. So instead of trying to earn votes they just rely on assaulting our rights.

And it's funny TX isn't going to go blue this year, but 2024 is a different story.

streamofthesky posted...

The cops will just gleefully see that as a huge opportunity to indiscriminately shoot a metric fuck ton of U.S. citizens. Basically their wet dream.

That won't make it better.

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1322971872003301379

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KJ StErOiDs posted...

I think TX will probably go red again this time, but that eventually it'll follow VA and trend more blue.

I'm skeptical a bit.
Literally all it would take is for Republicans to stop portraying Hispanics as tapists and murderers, and eat into even just 10% of their votes, and they have Dems shut out in Texas again.
Dems take their vote for granted going forward, but a lot of them are socially conservative and/or Christian and could easily be brought under the GOP's fold.
This year, w/ all the rage towards Trump, might honestly be the Dems' best shot at it. Of course, that's assuming Republicans do start trying to improve Hispanic outreach...

BlackScythe0 posted...

From what I heard as of thursday for friday more people had voted early in Texas than had voted at all in 2016. That terrifies republicans, just think about that. More people using their American rights terrifies republicans! They know how horrible their platform is and how unbelievable it is that people would want to vote for them. So instead of trying to earn votes they just rely on assaulting our rights.

Yup. Anything w/ a shred of moral integrity would vote such barbarians out of office even if they agreed w/ them politically, just because trying to block people's fundamental rights is abhorrent to anybody w/ basic human decency.

That won't make it better.

I mean...if Trump wants to go full on tyrrany, I'm not sure the moderates and left can prevent it by force. It's genuinely terrifying to think about. Counting entirely on the military to ignore their overall right-leaning political stances and actually obey their oath of service, to defend the Constitution...NOT the president.

papercup posted...

Violence and voter suppression and intimidation are not tactics of somebody who thinks he's going to win. I've been saying for 3 years now that the 2020 election would be an absolute shitshow, and people said I was crazy. I said fucking six months ago that there would be so many people trying to vote in unprecedented numbers, that there would be far right terrorism surrounding the election to try and stop it, and again I was told I'm crazy. It was so fucking obvious that this shit was coming, I don't know how more didn't see it.

My friend. They do this literally every election. This is not new at all.

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Eat Man posted...

My friend. They do this literally every election. This is not new at all.

Never seen anyone try to attack a Campaign bus on the road in an organized assault.

Like did you read that article? https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/31/biden-trump-texas-bus/

It's really bad.

Eat Man posted...

My friend. They do this literally every election. This is not new at all.

It's way way worse than it has ever been in my lifetime. This is not normal.

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papercup posted...

It's way way worse than it has ever been in my lifetime. This is not normal.

It's the natural progression of the last twenty years of politics, or at least the last 12 years.

The only surprising thing is that Trump ended up being the chosen one, and I'm sure if the republicans could go back in time they would have picked literally anybody else to be the figurehead.

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streamofthesky posted...

The cops will just gleefully see that as a huge opportunity to indiscriminately shoot a metric fuck ton of U.S. citizens. Basically their wet dream.

police forces actually get outnumbered pretty easily when theres large scale unrest

thats why theyre so grateful that theyve got proudboys standing back and standing by

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adjl posted...

Because when democracy doesn't get you what you want, the only logical thing to do is prevent the people you disagree with from voting.

It worked for the brownshirts. The Venn diagram probably has a lot of overlapping views between the people who accosted the bus and those guys.

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The claim that Texas is in play seems overblown and it's something that people have been saying for three or four elections now. It's more of a "hope" than a reality, although given the fraud-friendly nature of the mail-in election, every non-blue state is in play.

streamofthesky posted...

Saw reference to the "Biden bus" in another topic, so figured I'd look it up...

It's a high profile video where the vehicles are clearly in view. The fact that they don't have somebody already makes the whole thing a little suspect, especially considering bystander interaction in other incidents.

streamofthesky posted...

Literally all it would take is for Republicans to stop portraying Hispanics as tapists and murderers,

Something that's literally never happened, and is based on a complete misrepresentation of remarks which -- ironically enough -- came shortly before an illegal immigrant murdered a woman in California and not only was found not guilty, but was allowed to stay in the country afterward.

papercup posted...

It's way way worse than it has ever been in my lifetime. This is not normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o8LVdTvw8c&list=LLXC-jjghiPyDy895nm-kTAw&index=429

The "this is not normal" meme is so tired by this point. It's been used ad nauseum for years now -- not just the 4 years of Trump, but the 8 of GWB -- to pretend that things are more significant than they are to justify ridiculous responses. And if Americans cave to this kind of nonsense, we'll continue to see these ridiculous claims repeatedly made as a way of trying to bully America into becoming a one-party nation.


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Zeus stopping in for his dose of being wrong.

Y'allqaeda

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papercup posted...

It's way way worse than it has ever been in my lifetime. This is not normal.

How old are you, buddy? That's really cute of you to say.

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I like how it's okay to these Trumpers to impede traffic and cause accidents but if BLM or any cause they don't like does it the world is ending

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Jen0125 posted...

or any cause they don't like does it the world is ending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RgN9ijwE4

Soup_or_Science posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RgN9ijwE4

Is English hard for you

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Jen0125 posted...

Is English hard for you

It was for a couple minutes, but I get it now.

Soup_or_Science posted...

It was for a couple minutes, but I get it now.

Okay

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Jen0125 posted...

I like how it's okay to these Trumpers to impede traffic and cause accidents but if BLM or any cause they don't like does it the world is ending

I'm not even sure if these Trumpers are protesting anything. They're standing in the road for fun, I guess?
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Soup_or_Science posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RgN9ijwE4

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

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https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/02/texas-2020-elections-update/

Now the locks to the Dems' HQ building are being super glued.

So after domestic terrorism they result to high school level "pranks"? Seems like a weird deescalation.

SandTarpit posted...

How old are you, buddy? That's really cute of you to say.

Ugh, if there is one thing that bugs me more than anything, it's when people are condescending pricks. It's really a pet peeve.

It's just a prank bro

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BlackScythe0 posted...

So after domestic terrorism they result to high school level "pranks"? Seems like a weird deescalation.

On a strategic level, it gives them a way to downplay concerns about terrorism ("snowflake Democrats are calling superglued locks terrorism!") but I doubt that much thought went into it.

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