Politics

What Trump’s Refusal To Concede Says About American Democracy | FiveThirtyEight

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What Trump’s Refusal To Concede Says About American Democracy | FiveThirtyEight

Not respecting the election results is problematic on its own. But considering the crisis the nation is facing now — a new surge in coronavirus cases — Trump’s actions are particularly dangerous. Now more than ever, an effective transition of power is of the utmost importance.

Not only is Trump blocking his advisers from helping the incoming Biden administration get ready to deal with the pandemic, but the defeated president has largely disengaged from the COVID-19 crisis himself. In terms of managing the virus, America will be functionally without a president for two months.

63 more days of Trump…

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63 more days of Trump…

I think it’s good that it’s good that in a little over a month we will once again have a president who acts like an adult, listens to scientists and the facts. It’s not to say that ideology won’t play a role in the Biden administration or that he should be given a free pass on all issues, but facts matter.

Fuck your feelings!

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Fuck your feelings! 🇺🇸

As the Trump flag says on the pickup truck I see out and about sometimes. The more polite, but still obscene flag I sometimes see hung on farm houses says, No More Bullshit.

At least farmers know what bull shit smells like – it’s a heck of a lot more pungent then ordinary manure. 💩

If anything that Trump has done, it’s that he’s undermined morals and community standards on obscenity. Honestly, I think that’s a good thing, America has long been too much of a puritan society, afraid to discuss things that all humans do – like have sex and poop.

65 more days of Trump.

Breaking Benford

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Breaking Benford

11/13/20 by WNYC Studios

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/115195200
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast20breakingbenford.mp3

In the days after the US Presidential election was called for Joe Biden, many supporters of Donald Trump are crying foul. Voter fraud. And a key piece of evidence? A century-old quirk of math called Benford’s Law. We at Radiolab know Benford’s Law well, and have covered it before. In this political dispatch, Latif and Soren Sherlock their way through the precinct numbers to see if these claims hold up. Spoiler: they don’t. But the reason why is more interesting than you’d expect. This episode was reported by Latif Nasser.