Don't know St Andrews but I've played & stayed at Gleneagles (had the pleasure of one round on the Kings Course)! Anyway, as you were...
No Cal, you keep saying we are certain, and we aren’t. We seem to all accept that there may have been fraud whilst, admittedly, being somewhat sceptical that it can have actually affected the outcome precisely because of Occam’s razor (ie it would need so many people, from both parties, to be involved and would be so hard to cover it up that it is very unlikely). Speaking only for myself I watch with incredulity each time another shambles of a press event is “staged” by the Trump camp (and I include the drunken rambling at the “hearing” - as that’s what they seem to be calling a gathering of nutjob witnesses in front of embarrassed Republican senators, with no testing of so-called evidence or indeed extent of inebriation). Of course I hope they will continue to be a shambles, but not as much as I hope they will stop. Not because they are Republicans, not because they are pro-Trump (though I freely concede I despise him) but because they are deeply damaging to a country and a concept (democracy) that matters to us all. If they actually have some real solid proof then of course it needs to be heard and properly investigated. That would take time I’m sure, probably more time than they have before Inauguration Day. I think it would be good if both sides agreed to an independent investigative panel with appropriate powers, so that in future Americans can have full confidence in their voting system. And that would mean that in the interim Biden would become President, because as things stand, until and unless it is disproved at least to the satisfaction of the State election officials and governors, he appears to have won. Which is what happened in 2002 with George W Bush and Al Gore. Was anyone certain who actually won? No, but at some point all parties just need to accept what the election officials are telling them and move on. The only thing that IS certain here is your innate confidence that no-one other than yourself can be objective. Even while you raise your telescope to your blind eye
I almost totally agree with that. Where we may differ, though, is in our interpretation of the level of certainty behind Biden's win. He was millions ahead in the popular vote and there's no evidence of malfeasance at state level. None of the recounts have had any bearing and no evidence whatsoever has been presented to support the notion that the election was riddled with fraud. Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security has described it as the most secure election in US history. The only reason anyone (by which I mean Trump supporters) has any doubt is that Trump set out long ago to achieve this unprecedented level of distrust should he lose. However, nothing he's alleged has had substance so I see no reason to doubt the results.
I’ll be able to get a foursome to go hopefully, we have a pretty large group of dedicated golfers. Slow play is killing the game, sadly led by a lot of the pros. Ready golf...
New York Times tracking viral misinformation - interesting piece worth a read albeit very lengthy https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/2020-election-misinformation-distortions If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, then it’s probably a duck...
States between them have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on upgrading their electoral processes and security since 2016 (the Putin gambit), let alone the huge sums spent at the federal level. But a sore loser will always be a sore loser.
Its been frustrating to watch as a Brit in living Texas, but most of the people a come across saying that it was massive fraud on the dem side, cannot show any proof to support their view. and were the same people four years ago that said " you lost get over it". My read on it is Trump lost due to his handling of the corona mainly. and he is such a polarizing figure which can work for and against you. its very rare (only 3 times since 1930 ) that an incumbent loses. what is scary is the amount of people i previously thought as intelligent who believe the crazy rumors. there is a good book called "commander in cheat" , and it is mainly about how trump conducts himself on the golf coarse and in business. he is a salesman for sure. the next 6 weeks will interesting . mark
Does seem like the President expects the “scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” tactics used in business to apply to politics. While I’m sure that happens on a regular basis, it can’t happen when it comes to an election. I appreciate all elected officials from both sides who are doing and saying what they have found and not bowing to his pressure.
Recommendation endorsed. Trump is entirely amoral. Winning no matter how or what the cost is his mantra.
Darn it!!!! Looks like Cal is right after all. Incontrovertible evidence of conspiracy to commit major multi-State voter fraud has been uncovered in Florida. https://www.wsbtv.com/news/politics...ng-others-do-same/L6LTC2AHBFDMXPOTZKVMO5ESJQ/ SPOILER ALERT It shows Bill Price, a Republican attorney who lives in Florida, hosting a Facebook Live event where he instructs GOP Florida residents how to pretend to live in Georgia in order to vote for the GOP candidates in the Georgia Senate run offs. He has already registered at his brother's address in Georgia and has sworn to the election authorities that this is his new permanent address. Having been found out, too late he deleted the Facebook event and claimed he had only been joking ... you know, the old faithful comedy defence as practiced by the Dear Leader..
Just a pity mate that he spent the last four years in silence despite the president's outrageous, cruel and undemocratic behaviour. Trump has been just the latest caricature of true Republican values. But, yeah, when his safety and that of his family come under threat he speaks out.
You couldn't make it up. Not only was Giuliani's star witness poll watcher at Four Seasons Landscaping a convicted sex offender, it turns out this star witness in the State Senate Hearing to testify about alleged Dominion cyber crime was herself recently fired from Dominion when her own cyber crime past came to light. Hmm, I wonder what might motivate some drunk to make up stuff like that? Just goes to show how unscrupulous Trump's campaign is. They do not care about the credibility and veracity of their so-called witnesses just so long as they get hours of free air time to spread their lies and rake in the 'defence fund' grift.
Im not sure I have ever heard of an actual second recount. The civil servants are / seem to be, pulling out the stops to behave admirably. I said, when Trump was elected, if the office of Presidency was a Toybox, and the ideal was to pass this box from one leader to the next, caring for and using the toys while slowly increasing their value and condition, then of all the former presidents and runners. Trump is the guy you would trust least. Sure enough. He never once tried to take on the persona or mantle of the office, and work with the toys he had, instead he definitely tried his hardest to make the office him, and now he doesn't want to give back the toys. it remains to be seem what condition they are in.
Trumps legacy and wake up call to the world, is the ease with which he was able to take/buy ( cos he didnt earn it), power, that is used and required to insure a democratic republic, and separate it from state. Walking off with it laughing and collecting support from people enamoured by its potentiality. In my opinion its this very thing that has lead in the past to Empires and facisim on a scale I would never like to see.