Cont: 2024 Election Thread part 3

[Pacal]

Yeah, funny that, almost as if...

Apparently some idiot Texas Politician has proposed that identifying / claiming to be Trans become a felony.
No words!

 

[Safe-Keeper]

I'm not even surprised.

 

[Armitage72]

Apparently some idiot Texas Politician has proposed that identifying / claiming to be Trans become a felony.
No words!

One of the webcomics I read currently has a storyline in which two secondary characters, college-age best friends who are a pansexual man and a nonbinary person, are leaving Texas because they're worried they'll be next.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

One of the webcomics I read currently has a storyline in which two secondary characters, college-age best friends who are a pansexual man and a nonbinary person, are leaving Texas because they're worried they'll be next.

Link?

 

[Armitage72]

Link?

Something Positive
The storyline I mentioned started here.

ETA: I just noticed that a couple comics have broken/missing "Next Comic" links, so check the archive to not miss any.

 

[Tero]

Tens of millions of seniors (see the graph) were conned by Trump. Who they had for 2017-2020. Why would he not do the same wrecking of cabinets/departments he did in 2017?

Esa Jarvi (@esa55jarvi) on Threads

Tens of millions of seniors (see the graph) were conned by Trump. Who they had for 2017-2020. Why would he not do the same wrecking of cabinets/departments he did in 2017?

www.threads.net

 

[Tero]

I can sort of answer that myself. Not from my own brain, but seniors I know. They have memory problems. Short term memory (psychology) has started to go. But I will define a term: shortish memory. Depending on the individual, it is somewher in the 1-3 year range. For politics, they remember this unimportant stuff that came to their phone about Biden. And they vagueley remember Covid. Those memories will fluctuate wildly, covid. But they do not remember 2020 well when they come to the 2024 election. They remember most vividly the last two years of Biden. So they have completely forgotten the conman Trump. And it's masses of foreigners coming over the border, a good 50% of them rapists and Venezuelan gang members and tattoos! The MAGA people have the tattoos. The ones over 65 and voting (largely Republicans, many Democrats choose to live their lives and interact with family and forget poltics except for that one November week) only captured fear in the assessment of our future. And that someone else (illegals!) was taking our Social Security under Biden. Better to vote Trump, then.

 

[Tero]

The stolen election. sixteen posts do claim a connection of voting machines to Musk.

lisalynsimonsonart
19h

Replying to @lisalynsimonsonart
We’re supposed to believe that in all the battleground states, Democratic voters were so disillusioned by Vice President Harris’s platform that they voted blue down ballot—but flipped to Trump at the top of the ticket? Not in early voting. Not by mail. With exception to Nevada, only on Election Day. And only after a certain threshold of ballots had been cast—where VP Harris’s numbers begin to diverge from her own party, and Trump’s suddenly begin to surge.

Lisa Lyn Simonson (@lisalynsimonsonart) on Threads

We’re supposed to believe that in all the battleground states, Democratic voters were so disillusioned by Vice President Harris’s platform that they voted blue down ballot—but flipped to Trump at the top of the ticket? Not in early voting. Not by mail. With exception to Nevada, only on Election...

www.threads.com

lisalynsimonsonart
19h
Enter the ballot scrubbing platform BallotProof. Co-created by Ethan Shaotran, a longtime employee of Elon Musk and current DOGE employee, BallotProof was pitched as a transparency solution—an app to “verify” scanned ballot images and support election integrity. With Palantir's AI controlling the backend, and BallotProof cleaning the front, only one thing was missing: the signal to go live. September 2024: Eaton and Musk Make It Official Then came the final public

lisalynsimonsonart
19h
In September 2024, Eaton formally partnered with Elon Musk. The stated purpose? A vague, forward-looking collaboration focused on “grid resilience” and “next-generation communications.” But buried in the partnership documents was this line: “Exploring integration with Starlink's emerging low-orbit DTC infrastructure for secure operational continuity.” The Activation: Starlink Goes Direct-to-Cell

Lisa Lyn Simonson (@lisalynsimonsonart) on Threads

Enter the ballot scrubbing platform BallotProof. Co-created by Ethan Shaotran, a longtime employee of Elon Musk and current DOGE employee, BallotProof was pitched as a transparency solution—an app to “verify” scanned ballot images and support election integrity. With Palantir's AI controlling...

www.threads.com

 

[dudalb]

SOrry, I need a lot more proof then that, even though I cannot stand Musk.
Frankly, wack election conspiracies sound no better coming from the left then the right.

 

[jimbob]

SOrry, I need a lot more proof then that, even though I cannot stand Musk.
Frankly, wack election conspiracies sound no better coming from the left then the right.

US vote counting fails on the "must be transparent and be seen to be valid" requirement.

You don't get such complaints in the UK, because the candidates or their representatives can watch the whole process except for the casting of the votes, which are done on paper with a pencil, and put in the ballot box by the voter. Voting machines are inherently less transparent in the vote counting.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

US vote counting fails on the "must be transparent and be seen to be valid" requirement.

You don't get such complaints in the UK, because the candidates or their representatives can watch the whole process except for the casting of the votes, which are done on paper with a pencil, and put in the ballot box by the voter. Voting machines are inherently less transparent in the vote counting.

And things like 'hanging chads' wouldn't be an issue in tne UK, and certainly wouldn't go to the courts as any clear intention to vote for a particular candidate is accepted in a review of all 'non standard' ballots by the candidates. A ballot paper on which 'Bastard' had been written next to every name except one, declared 'Not A Bastard' was accepted as a vote for the 'Not A Bastard'. I can see Reform Ltd trying to challenge individual votes in very close races but it would have to be on a vote by vote basis if it was accepted at all and they won't be able to discount large number of votes for technical reasons.

 

[dudalb]

US vote counting fails on the "must be transparent and be seen to be valid" requirement.

You don't get such complaints in the UK, because the candidates or their representatives can watch the whole process except for the casting of the votes, which are

But that does no prove the fixing of voting machines on a mass basis
And of course you sound just like a Trump supporter, since they want on site one day voting.
H

 

[Mojo]

But that does no prove the fixing of voting machines on a mass basis
And of course you sound just like a Trump supporter, since they want on site one day voting.
H

No, we have postal votes in the UK.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

No, we have postal votes in the UK.

And there's no reason why it has to be one day voting.

 

[jimbob]

But that does no prove the fixing of voting machines on a mass basis
And of course you sound just like a Trump supporter, since they want on site one day voting.
H

What @Mojo said, we also have postal and proxy votes (indeed, for the last local election, my ex wife asked me to be her proxy).

We also have the various Representation of the People acts that aim to ensure fair voting, overseen by the apolitical and independent Electoral Commission.

Each polling station serves a small number of potential voters and their are accessibility requirements (including transport links) and requirements to ensure capacity to service the numbers of voters if there is a high turnout. All polling stations open from 07:00 to 22:00 but those queuing to vote by 22:00 will be allowed to vote even after 22:00. In my adult life, voting in four different constituencies both urban and semi rural, and in strong Labour, strong Tory, and marginal constituencies, I don't think I have queued for more than 5 minutes, and probably closer to 2 minutes most times.

But again, my point isn't that there's evidence of US elections being rigged, but that it's difficult to prove that they are not. Elections need to be fair and they need to be seen to be fair. And the proof needs to be easy for the average voter to understand. The fact that there is such confusion about the validity of US elections, shoes that this last requirement is not being met. And that is allowing the President to misuse it and claim fraud.

 

[Tero]

Substack covers the same EATON

Then came the final public breadcrumb:
In September 2024, Eaton formally partnered with Elon Musk. The stated purpose? A vague, forward-looking collaboration focused on “grid resilience” and “next-generation communications.”

But buried in the partnership documents was this line:

“Exploring integration with Starlink’s emerging low-orbit DTC infrastructure for secure operational continuity.”

On October 4, Republican-linked Chain Bridge launched its IPO. Reuters notes the considerable risks if Republican electoral fortunes change.

And given what we’ve learned about Rupert Murdoch and his participation in Musk’s “billionaire brain trust” meetings, the $787 million check cut to Dominion Voting Systems looks less like a settlement and more like a payoff.

Then, on October 30, 2024—just days before the election—Musk activated 265 brand-new low-Earth-orbit (LEO) V2 Mini satellites, each equipped with Direct-to-Cell (DTC) technology capable of processing, routing, and manipulating real-time data, including voting data, through his satellite network.

DTC doesn’t require routers, towers, or a traditional SIM. It connects directly from satellite to any compatible device—including embedded modems in “air-gapped” voting systems, smart UPS units, unsecured auxiliary hardware, and any equipment meant for transmission within the election reporting pipeline.
Now back to Tripp Lite, which to most was just a hardware brand selling battery backups, surge protectors, and power strips—on the outside, nothing for most Americans to be concerned about. But in America’s elections, Tripp Lite devices were something else entirely.

They are physically connected to ES&S central tabulators and Electionware servers, and Dominion tabulators and central servers, across the country. And they aren’t dumb devices. They are smart UPS units—programmable, updatable, and capable of communicating directly with election systems.

ES&S systems—including central tabulators and Electionware servers—rely on Tripp Lite UPS devices. ES&S’s Electionware suite runs on Windows OS, which automatically trusts connected UPS hardware.

Meaning if Eaton pushed an update to those UPS units, it could gain root-level access to the host tabulation environment without ever modifying certified election software.

How a Last Minute Change to Election Equipment Uncovered a Stolen Election

The Architecture of a Takeover

thiswillhold.substack.com

That's all I got. Picture there of devices and satellites. Or red thingies. It does not show Musk satellite.

 

[Andy_Ross]

At the last general election in the UK there were 30,853 polling places.

In my area of Redcar & Cleveland as a whole has a population of around 140,000 people and had 86 polling places.

Guisborough a town of around 15,000 people had 10 polling places.

PDF list of polling places in Redcar & Cleveland linked

The smallest polling place by number of voters on the roll was at Bellamy Pavilion, Kirkleatham, with 166.

The largest was Zetland Methodist Church Hall, The Crescent, Redcar with
2141 voters on the roll

link

 

[P.J. Denyer]

At the last general election in the UK there were 30,853 polling places.

In my area of Redcar & Cleveland as a whole has a population of around 140,000 people and had 86 polling places.

Guisborough a town of around 15,000 people had 10 polling places.

PDF list of polling places in Redcar & Cleveland linked

The smallest polling place by number of voters on the roll was at Bellamy Pavilion, Kirkleatham, with 166.

The largest was Zetland Methodist Church Hall, The Crescent, Redcar with
2141 voters on the roll

link

I don't think I've ever been more than about ten minutes walk from my polling station, my current one is pretty big, it serves about 6000 people, we have a big retired population here so turnout is high but spread across the day, five minute wait possibly? The next village along, one mile away, has it's own station for 104 voters. The smallest I can see in my parliamentary constituency seems to be around 85 people.

For anyone who doesn't know, UK polling stations are mostly set up in community centres and schools but in smaller communities if facilities like that aren't avaliable they'll use whatever's avaliable, a pub for example.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Redcar & Cleveland has a mix of dense urban areas on the edge of Middlesbrough, a market town on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and small rural villages. You can see the mix of polling station types in the PDF.

When I was a kid our village school was a polling station, we got a day off even though it only used one room.

Several polling stations in my area are split in to two or three. When you arrive you are directed to the one for your particular poll number. It reduces queues.

 

[SteveAitch]

For anyone who doesn't know, UK polling stations are mostly set up in community centres and schools but in smaller communities if facilities like that aren't avaliable they'll use whatever's avaliable, a pub for example.

In one case - a car boot!