IS MAIL-IN VOTING AS FRAUDULENT AS TRUMP SAYS?

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9     1093    4732        1185      246         82

July       1       676    4857        1057      438         92

             5       251    3572          535       421       173

             7       993    5504        1312       479       192

           12       380    4118          659       500       108

           14       935    5414        1341       586       174

           15     1001    5760        1261       614       107

           19       412    4606          715       675         85

           21     1119    5669        1346       671        195

           22     1205    7128        1293     1120        572

           26       450    4307         556       715        114
           28    1266     5589         955       776        190
           30    1485     7023       1544       779        240
           31    1465     6418       1189       783        315
Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193
            2     1123     5601       1048       852        148
            3       467     4430         514       514        213

            4       567     4366         572       810        173
            5     1362     6292       1394       849        345
            6     1311     6832       1322       919        414

Summary:  Another bad day for Humanity.  The World, South/Central America, region around India and Africa are beginning to see an inexorable rise in cases and deaths.

Regarding this dreaded COVID-19 Pandemic, are we using the right strategy?  Temperature checks are almost useless.  Same thing for contact tracing, as if more than 50% of coronavirus cases are asymptomatic, why bother?  However, a good percentage of individuals getting this infection lose their senses of smell and taste.  This was sent to me as something worthy of consideration;

• A new and easy test for the horror of Covid 19 is doing the rounds and it's simple, quick and positive (or negative if you see what I mean). 
• Take a glass and pour a decent dram of your favorite whisky into it; then see if you can smell it.  If you can, then you are halfway there.
• Then drink it. If you can taste it then it is reasonable to assume you are currently free of the virus because the loss of the sense of smell and taste is a common symptom.
•  I tested myself 7 times last night and was virus free every time thank goodness.
• I will have to test myself again today because I have developed a throbbing headache which can also be one of the symptoms. 
• I'll report my results later.

Okay, I'm tossing in a joke early today, and this is the only one I'll use today, unless you consider Donald Trump, in general.

Switching to professional sports, have you noticed that the bubble concept used by the NBA has worked?

• So does this mean if you stay home, the disease will go away?  Yes, that would work, for that is the ultimate social distancing step.  Unfortunately, the world economy is not just seen on TV.
• In addition to living in one spot, maybe more than anything else, every player takes a quick COVID-19 test every day!  They get almost immediate results.
• Wait a minute you say, why are they getting special treatment?  Well, be smart and buy your own test kit with reagents and swabs, something they did.  

• Just one of too many innumerable examples of how President Donald Trump has failed the nation.  He should have four months ago used the Defense Production Act with a goal to test everyone every day by now.  If he did that, and only that, school children could now safely go back to school.  How much would that have cost?  A whole lot less than the damage to our economy today, with still no clear solution in sight.
• Amazingly enough, according to the AP:

...the number of tests per day slid 3.6% over the past two weeks to 750,000, with the count falling in 22 states. That includes places like Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa where the percentage of positive tests is high and continuing to climb, an indicator that the virus is still spreading uncontrolled.

• You know how low 750,000/tests/day is?  That covers 0.23% of our population, or less than one quarter of one percent of the Nation.  Plus, many of these tests today take several days to more than a week to get results.  The NBA is at 100%!

Speaking of our dotard leader, he keeps insisting that an absentee ballot is safe and wonderful, but mail-in voting is fraught with fraud.  Wrong!!!  For one, mail-in voting has passed the test of time.  It's been used for years, and problems have probably be fewer than in-person voting.  The military has been doing this for a long time, and they usually vote for Republicans.  The overwhelming consensus is that mail-in voting is not fraudulent.

Does he know that an absentee ballot is sent by mail?  In any case, even Donald Trump's lawyers say that absentee and mail-in voting is the same thing.

Historically, southern states have long placed hurdles to African-American votes to minimize their participation in the process. From identification bottlenecks to minimal support for booth locations in minority neighborhoods, it takes real effort to actually vote in those states, and others.  Trump knows this and is afraid that these voters tend to vote for Democrats.  There is no way that states will change their rules by November 3.  However, what prevents anyone in their state just to just ask for an absentee ballot?

So what is Trump doing?  He started by placing Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser as Postmaster General.  His task?  To close post offices and eliminate overtime.

What is Absentee Voting?

Absentee voting (aka “mail-in voting” and “by-mail voting”) is conducted by mail-in ballot before the day of Election Day. All states will mail a ballot to voters if certain conditions are met. The voter may return the ballot in person or by mail. Some states will let voters apply for an absentee ballot in person before Election Day and then vote the ballot that same day.

• Seventeen states require voters to provide an excuse for voting by absentee ballot.
• Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia offer no-excuse absentee voting.
• Five states have elections that are held by mail-in ballot.

Get your absentee ballot

Select your state:AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

You can get this type of information from this site, but for Alabama, for example:

Alabama absentee ballot rules

You need to include a copy of your ID with this form. Check our Voter ID Laws page for a list of acceptable forms of ID

No absentee ballot application may be mailed in the same envelope as another voter's absentee ballot application.

COVID-19 info

• According to guidance issued by the AL Secretary of State, any Alabama resident concerned about COVID-19 may apply for an absentee ballot for the upcoming municipal elections.
• COVID-19 Resources Related to Voting, Alabama Secretary of State
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Alabama Public Health

You can review the rules in your state at that link.

This Trump tactic will just piss-off potential voters and will hurt him more than if he had kept his mouth shut on this issue.

One more thing about November 3.  The Republicans are trying to get Kanye West on the ballot of battleground states.  Might work.  You know how George Bush the Older got beaten by Bill Clinton in 1992.  Ross Perot.  You know how George Bush the Younger beat Al Gore in 2004?  Ralph Nader.  What this does is seal an African-American vice-presidential partner for Joe Biden.  I still think, though, that a black female from a battleground state should be the main criterion.  Today, Biden seems to have Kamala Harris (who is too important now as a senator, and from California anyway, which will go Democratic this year) and Susan Rice, who does not represent any state, except that she contemplated running against Senator Susan Collins in Maine.

I'll close today with my adventures at the Ala Wai Golf Course yesterday.  Beautiful day:

I took two rest stops, first to have my apple lunch, thus skipping holes #6 and #7.  Then, my stamina was not quite back, so I rested on holes #13, #14 and #15, by waiting under this shack:

No problem, right?  Wrong!  This is a bumblebee shack:

Earlier this year, on hole #2 I got two bumblebee stings.

Oh well, I escaped any sting this time.  Pearl's Sunburst is just about fully bloomed:

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