The Trump Presidency

[gillianren]

Yesterday, the kids and I walked ballots over to the courthouse (our state is vote-by-mail).  There are several initiatives on our ballot that are going to make the Republican leadership very unhappy if/when they pass.

[Ranb]

Talking about 1631, 1634 and 1639?

I like voting by mail.  Haven't stepped in a polling place since 1982.

[Peter B]

Talking about 1631, 1634 and 1639?

I like voting by mail.  Haven't stepped in a polling place since 1982.

Ooh, got to say I like voting at a polling place, you know.

Here in Australia most polling places are primary schools, and most schools take advantage of election day to have a fund-raising sausage sizzle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_sausage).

One interesting little tweak is that for Territory elections, party touts are banned from handing out How-To-Vote cards, while for Federal elections they're allowed. This means that you have to run the gauntlet of the touts in order to enter the polling place, and end up with half a dozen How-To-Vote cards. The funny thing at the last Federal election was that when I went to vote in the morning the touts were all stiffly polite with each other, but by the afternoon when I went to help with the sausage sizzle they were all chatting like old friends, presumably having been lubricated by rounds of coffee in the meantime.

[gillianren]

Talking about 1631, 1634 and 1639?

Oh, yes.  There are signs up all over telling us to vote no on 1639, saying it "criminalizes self-defense."  Because it includes a provision that you have to properly store your assault rifle, should you have one, and that you are liable for the commission of a crime with it.  Not at the same charge, but you are still guilty of not properly securing your weapon.  And clearly that means you can't Protect Your Family.

Apparently our cops also strongly oppose 940, which would do things like mandate deescalation and mental health training and change the standard for use of lethal force; our laws on that latter are the most police-friendly in the country and make it almost impossible to prosecute.

[twik]

And now he changes his mind after he saw the pressure from everyone
Apart from that,what a coward crime indeed.. and what a pathetic explanation from KSA. The Saudi regime should be punished, also the Syrian regime who has killed thousands like Khashoggi, but there is no one to pressure them as should

Their not getting punished for killing hundreds of thousands in Yemen. Why should one more make a difference?
I paraphrase Stalin- A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.

That was the Saudi mistake, forgetting this psychological truth. People blip over the war in Yemen as "too big for us to contemplate." It's a statistic, as the saying goes. But one guy pulled into an embassy and cut up alive? People can put themselves into his shoes. They visualize the saw. They hear the screams. They say, "that could have been me."

If you're going to kill large groups of people, it's bad strategy to let the outside world focus on one. It turns personal.

[raven]

And some further acts by an administration with a severe hate-on for trans* and intersex folks. They want to erase folks like me, pretend we don't exist, pretend we don't matter.
https://thinkprogress.org/health-department-removes-gender-from-its-civil-rights-page-d60f33814b8e/

[Ranb]

Oh, yes.  There are signs up all over telling us to vote no on 1639, saying it "criminalizes self-defense." 

Yeah, that's why it's a good thing to actually read about the initiative.  Not just reading the summary included in the voter guide which can be incomplete.  This year the initiative summaries are greatly improved.

Because it includes a provision that you have to properly store your assault rifle, should you have one, and that you are liable for the commission of a crime with it. 

I know that some gun owners were especially put off by the provision that all semi-auto rifles would be defined as assault rifles.  It was part of the slippery slope.  Later on "they" will say they only want to ban assault rifles.  That is when you find out grandpa's hunting rifle is actually a weapon of terror and not a family heirloom. 

I used to be able to speak with the WAGR, but they're rather xenophobic.  I was promised answers to my questions for a long time before I finally gave up.

[gillianren]

Someone local has been putting up hand-made signs claiming that it's a billionaires' ploy to make you provide a life-long medical privacy waiver, and I have no idea what that's all about.

[Ranb]

Several billionaires have donated money to support the initiative.  https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/see-whos-donating-to-washingtons-big-initiatives/281-608186618

Top Donors supporting I-139:
Paul Allen: $1,226,036
Nicolas Hanauer: $713,018
Leslie Hanauer: $713,018
Connie Ballmer: $600,000
Steven Ballmer: $500,000

The $5 billion donated by supporters is much greater than the $600K donated by the NRA and others who oppose I-1639

It will also amend RCW 9.41.094 which now reads;

Waiver of confidentiality.
A signed application to purchase a pistol shall constitute a waiver of confidentiality and written request that the health care authority, mental health institutions, and other health care facilities release, to an inquiring court or law enforcement agency, information relevant to the applicant's eligibility to purchase a pistol to an inquiring court or law enforcement agency.

Semiautomatic assault rifles will be included along with pistols where the waiver is concerned.

[gillianren]

So basically, your mental health history would be considered relevant in your permit request?  Meaning the NRA push poll I got on our last initiative for gun control, that it would be better to keep guns out of the hands of "dangerous mentally ill people," might actually happen?  And I say this as a mentally ill person who doesn't believe she should have a gun--because suicide is a thing.

[Ranb]

So basically, your mental health history would be considered relevant in your permit request?

Yes.

Meaning the NRA push poll I got on our last initiative for gun control, that it would be better to keep guns out of the hands of "dangerous mentally ill people," might actually happen?

It is supposed to be happening now with pistol purchases from FFL's.

[Bryanpoprobson]

[gillianren]

Ooof, yes.   Someone a friend was arguing with suggested that we couldn't know those were the bomber's stickers; he could've bought the car that way!  I suggested that of course everyone knows you can't take stickers off a used car, and one of my other friends made the joke that it was load-bearing racism.

[LunarOrbit]

I don't care if the stickers come off easily, I wouldn't buy a car from someone that would put them on it in the first place.

[raven]

And now he's saying he can change the US Constitution with an Executive Order,  and is planning  to. If he pulls that off,  the US is effectively a dictatorship,  since it means the US Constitution  can be changed at the whims of one person.