Tom Toles for August 11, 2020

Here in Oregon, the “vote by mail” system has been in operation for many years. It’s efficient, effective, inexpensive, provides a way to check for a legitimate signature on the envelope around the ballot, and is very resistant to malfeasance on the part of voters OR the ones who tally the vote.

Oh, and by the way: We receive  our ballots by mail, but we don’t have to mail them back: The USPO would make us buy a stamp and that’s an illegal poll tax. So we have our choice of mailing them or dropping them off at one of very many lock boxes. So there’s no way that a failure of the mail delivery system would impact most of us.

No, this one looks legit: Президентские выборы в США

Wow! Russia must have lot of electoral votes.

Just as legit as the Belarus election…..

Trump says we can’t wait weeks to count all the votes. We must have a winner declared on election night. Unless he loses and then challenges the results in court. Then we can wait for as long as it takes.

Bub, you have no friends!

Something to think about:

Once upon a time, good ol’ Uncle Joe Stalin, who seemed to know a thing or two about elections, said something to the effect that “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” The Republicans, who are always so very concerned about voter fraud, have clearly learned some things from Uncle Joe.

Then there is this story: It’s apocryphal, but it seems that about the same time some Texas (of course) politician one-upped Uncle Joe. He supposedly allowed that he really didn’t care how the people voted or even who counted the votes. All he wanted to do was choose the candidates.

Tampering with the Mail – {two limerick-verses}

One of his ways to prevail

is to mess with the U S Mail.

With the mail thusly tampered,

the election is hampered.

You’d think this beyond the pale.

… …

Yet Barr will protect him from jail,

even on crimes of such scale.

So an autocrat

in a tinfoil hat

our democra-cee will derail.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{Off-topic:}

Guilty – {4 beats/line}

The Donald is guilty up to the hilt; -

- on deceit and chicanery his doings are built,

and he’s to blame for the crazy quilt

of policies which bigly harm our nation.

{ Trump’s the causation // of much vexation

and aggravation // of a too-long duration. }

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The “Republicans” want to run everything (except Congress) like a business. As a result, we now have the world’s most expensive healthcare system in the world, and with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), millions have already lost their coverage.https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/9466-Figure-1.png

So, why not try to run the postal service like a business as well. If it’s managed as poorly as our privatized healthcare, it too could be the world’s most inefficient. The “Republicans” don’t get that government is a service, not a for-profit business. Nor do they understand that many “non-profits” are profitable.

https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/postal-service

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/nonprofit-hospitals.html

" … What makes an organization a nonprofit has to do with purpose, ownership, and public support. Charitable nonprofits typically have these elements below.

A mission that focuses on activities that benefit society and whose goal is not primarily for profit. Called “exempt purposes,” these activities include “charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals.”

Public ownership where no person owns shares of the corporation or interests in its property.

Income that must never be distributed to any owners but recycled back into the nonprofit corporation’s public benefit mission and activities.

In contrast, a for-profit business typically seeks to generate income for its founders and employees. Profits, made by sales of products or services, measure the success of for-profit companies, and those profits are shared with owners, employees, and shareholders. …"

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-is-a-nonprofit-different-from-for-profit-business-2502472

{Off-topic:}

Remiss – {4 beats/line}

“I’m saving the day,” // The Donald will say,

“doing That and This, // – so I’m not remiss.” -

- But he’s only pretending // {the truth he is bending}.

He just golfs and tweets // and eats and cheats.

His so-called “action” // never gains traction.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Take-off to “From Russia With Love,” by Lionel Bart)

”From Putin With Love”

Verses:

To Donald from Vlad: “A note to you:

We worked to help you Clinton screw.

We helped to make you president,

And you are seldom hesitant

To do me favors, with love.

.

“With practiced skill my troll farms send

False rumors to public mindset bend.

The overtime spent is worth the cost

If your government is corrupt and lost,

And Russia buries you … with love.

.

“It gratifies me to hear the MAGAs cheer

Whenever you strut and smirk and sneer

At rallies where you tell the lies

Together we’ve devised,

Oh, Donald, my dearest love!

.

Chorus:

“I’ve seen countries and cultures

That Russia once owned,

And plan that they’ll be ours once more.

And the Mid East is ripe for the picking

With your sly bad decisions —

Good job! That’s what we pay you for!

.

Verse:

“And now once again an election nears,

My agents are prepared with bold new smears.

This Biden fool doesn’t stand a chance

When you and I continue to dance

Our Ballet Russe pas de deux of love.”

It’s from a rich friend. Campaign donation, wink, wink.

“The people who vote decide NOTHING. The people who count the votes decide EVERYTHING!”

Joseph Stalin, another of Hair Furor’s role models!!

{Off-topic:}

Wealth by Stealth – {1.20 limericks}

The pluto-crats are famed

for callousness unashamed: -

- In stockpiling wealth

by audacity and stealth,

our econo-mee they’ve gamed

and’ve left us Other folks maimed.

… Coda: – {4 beats/line}

Yet the Right-leaning public nonetheless claims

that capitalist vultures have virtuous aims, -

- even while America is crashing in flames.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Yeah, fat head. Rely on El Máximo Puto to have your back. Like Germany and Russia, carving up Poland. And look what happened in two years there.

When you have a president of the United States that is the best that Russian money can buy, why all the surprise? We are just another satellite of Putin’s empire. Why not replace all those Confederate statues and monuments with likenesses of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin and put those three with their puppet, DJT, on Mt. Rushmore. Who wouldn’t travel miles and miles to see that? /s

It’s quite clear that the new post master general’s charge from the Orange TasteeFreez is to undermine the public confidence in the US Postal Service to further suppress the vote. If that doesn’t work, he can use it as a another reason to contest the election. He “wins” either way.

Pretty sad when the president of America admits his post office is full of fraud and can not be trusted. He (trump) brags about the greatness of “his” military.. the best money can buy.. yet runs the mail service into the ground for a lack of funds. Neither the military or the post office were ever intended to turn a profit but were a service for the people..

Traitor Republicans love Russian help in our election.

They are using Putin’s playbook against Biden.

Traitor Republicans love Russian help in our election.

They are using Putin’s playbook against Biden.

Republican sabotage of our Post Office wasn’t enough for the destroyers of the USA.

Many voters in Russia fell out of third floor windows before voting. After the election here some on Wall Street may be jumping out of windows without a Golden Parachute and no safety net.

On another note……..trump made the idiotic statement that Biden is insulting men everywhere for picking a woman as a running mate. No woman should vote for him after that statement!!

Here’s anOther essay that Trumpism is an “existential threat”: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/those-of-us-who-warned-america-that-fascism-was-coming-were-called-hysterical-but-we-were-right-about-trump-all-along/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5114

{Off-topic:}

Dump Him; it’s Overdue

{4 beats/line}

This prez is adept in a grifter’s milieu,

but in steering a nation he steers it askew

{our nation’s interests he’ll misconstrue;

egomaniacal goals he’ll pursue}.

Let’s dump The Donald; – it’s long overdue.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .