On today’s BradCast, I’m back after a brief health scare over the weekend, and apparently I’ve got a lot to talk about concerning the reported results of last week’s election! [Audio link to show posted below.]
First up: The difference between fake news and real news in our new “post-truth” world, and what the hell can be done about it when fake news comes from even supposedly legitimate corporate news outlets.
Next: North Carolina’s awful Republican Gov. Pat McCrory appears to have lost his re-election bid in a reportedly very close race to Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. But the GOP is demanding a ‘recount’ following the failure of a very popular (if oft-failed) paper ballot optical-scan computer tabulation system…and his voters deserve one.
Then: Should Americans have confidence in the reported results of the Presidential election? Some explanations for disparities between the results and the pre-election polls are not holding up. Voter suppression likely played a role. But what about those magical computer voting and tabulation systems? Were they manipulated? Did they fail? How would we know if they did? Why do the same-day Exit Polls results, once again, differ from the reported election results? And will Americans ever demand that hand-marked paper ballots be publicly counted by actual human beings, instead of by vulnerable computers which often fail and/or report results incorrectly?
If a manual hand-count is needed to determine for certain who voters selected to become NC Governor, don’t U.S. voters deserve no less in determining who will be the next President of the United States? We review what we (so far) know and don’t about legitimate questions some voters (and electronic voting system experts) have about the results of the Trump/Clinton race, as currently reported by computers without virtually any verification by actual human beings.
Finally: With me out sick earlier this week, Desi Doyen joins us for a slightly less snarky Green News Report today!
Welcome back Brad.
Yes we are all glad you are back!
Why is it in our justice system were are all supposed to be innocent until proven guilty but when it comes to our constitutional right to vote we are guilty until proven innocent. We are guilty of being dead, voting in multiple locations, felony convicted, illegal alien … etc. (because someone at the local, county or state level says we are) until we go to our voting officials and clear our name. I think the burden of proof should be on them to prove that you are dead, convicted felon, multiple voter, illegal alien, etc.
If it’s a right, it should not be so easily removed. It should be very hard to prove/remove. Why can’t someone argue that point to a supreme court judge?
Brad, you wondered why, if the primary election was rigged for Hillary, would she lose to Trump? My thought is those who rig elections through electronic voting machines do so for profit. If you were a CEO of a corrupt corporation, would you prefer a Democrat or a Republican in control? I’d guess a Republican. If that’s the case, whom would you prefer to win the Democratic primary–a strong populist candidate or a weak neoliberal candidate? Hillary winning the primary greatly increased Trump’s chances of “winning” the general election with an assist through electronic rigging.
As the world churns for truth in all things human good luck.Democracy is practically a diminished art form with the presents of a Plutocracy Government.