The Nevada mail-in ballots finally came in the mail this weekend. I got to look them over on my day off and now I’m taking my ballot in to the drop-off site.
Hey kids, guess what day it is? It’s FUCK TRUMP DAY!
But as I do during elections, I want to go over the various ballot questions each cycle in Nevada, just in case anybody is reading this. And I want to do that before going over the partisan races, because there is less and less suspense each election cycle as to which party to vote for.
Question 1: Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to remove certain provisions governing the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education and its administration of the State University and certain federal land grant funds to provide additional legislative oversight of public institutions of higher education through regular independent audits, without repealing the current statutory election process or other existing statutory provisions relating to the Board of Regents?
So right here, you’re going to see that you will need to consult the election sites – I recommend Ballotpedia – to go over these ballot initiatives, cause the first two at least are wordy, vague and confusing as all hell. Almost as if they were phrased to inspire a negative result.
The Nevada Board of Regents, under the state constitution, is an independent entity that governs the state’s university system, whose members are elected by the public. According to Ballotpedia, a “Yes” vote would remove the Board as a protected entity under the state constitution and render it subject to oversight from the state legislature. The actual amendment would affect Section 4 and Section 8 of Article 11 of the Nevada Constitution, removing Section 7 entirely.
There are points to be made on either side of this, but I voted YES on Question 1, because anybody who pays attention to state politics knows that this particular body is one of the more clear examples of bureaucratic misuse of power. And it’s not like we’re getting much for it.
Question 2: Shall Section 1 of Article 13 of the Nevada Constitution be amended to: (1) revise the description of the persons who benefit from institutions that the State is required to foster and support; (2) replace the term “institutions” with “entities”; and (3) add entities for the benefit of persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities to the types of entities that the State is required to foster and support?
This is another case of vague phrasing where the question is fairly straightforward if you already know the context. The amendment refers to phrasing in state law regarding the care of disabled persons, changing the term “institutions” to “entities” because the former word has a punitive or carceral association. Likewise the wording of the actual amendment removes “the Insane, Blind, Deaf and Dumb” from Article 13 of the Nevada Constitution.
Basically, this is changing the phrasing to more politically correct language. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. For one example, “idiot” was once a clinical term for patients of subnormal intelligence, but is nowadays just considered an insult. So since this will be of some benefit and do no harm, I voted YES on Question 2. It’s the sort of thing even Republicans can get behind, given that they have been increasingly described with words like “insane”, “dumb” and “idiot”, so continuing to use these terms in a clinical context may make them feel like they’re singled out.
Question 3: Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to allow all Nevada voters the right to participate in open primary elections to choose candidates for the general election in which all voters may then rank the remaining candidates by preference for the offices of U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Controller, Attorney General, and State Legislators?
I voted YES on Question 3. I have already gone into great detail as to why I advocate it. But let me make one more point here: We are going to need an alternative to closed primary rounds in partisan elections, not just in Nevada, but in America, because one way or another, after this election, we really won’t have a two-party system anymore. Either Trump will become God-Emperor, and Democrats will be house slaves for the plantation at best, or Trump will lose, and what used to be the Republican Party will lose that much more of its credibility, perhaps permanently. So you’re going to need a process in which an increasingly independent, non-partisan voter base can review candidates without thinking that their party affiliation will matter, because after this year, it won’t.
Question 4: Shall the Ordinance of the Nevada Constitution and the Nevada Constitution be amended to remove language authorizing the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment?
Much like Question 6 (below) this is a case of state advocates heading off a changing federal standard. In fact the current wording deliberately parallels the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment Section 1: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” That middle “except as a punishment for crime” part has historically been used as a loophole to enforce compulsory labor by another name, and in that regard it’s no surprise that the land of the free has 20 percent of the world’s prisoners, and why both Blacks and Whites each make up 40 percent of the prison population even though at the time of study Whites were 64 percent of the American population and Blacks were 13 percent.
Therefore, several states, not just Nevada, have been petitioning to remove the “punishment for crime” clause of their constitutions that forbid slavery. In the context of history, I voted YES on Question 4. Anything that makes this country less of a police state is a good idea.
Question 5: Shall the Sales and Use Tax Act of 1955 be amended to provide an exemption from the taxes imposed by this Act on the gross receipts from the sale and the storage, use or other consumption of diapers?
This is one of those things where you have to get into policy and revenue. It’s fairly relevant. During the presidential campaign Trump declared that he was going to get rid of federal taxes on tips, which is an obvious pander to labor in general and Nevada workers in particular. Harris, who is just as shameless in her own way, quickly followed suit. All of which raises the question of the consequences, such as, wouldn’t businesses just change all jobs to tipped labor, or how you’re supposed to cover the lost revenue.
This gets into the broader question of how taxes are applied. “Progressive” leftist policy has generally been to soak the rich and impose ever-increasing nets of taxes on the grounds that those who have more income can pay more. Trump, meanwhile, is now besotted with the idea of broad-based tariffs on all foreign goods, which are essentially taxes on import businesses that inevitably pass down to the consumer. He and some other right-wingers have stated that US tariff policy in the 19th and early 20th centuries were able to produce prosperity and government revenue without a personal income tax. However the costs to the consumer were such that they helped justify the federal income tax amendment, while later tariffs, such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs, led to trade wars that were a direct factor in the Great Depression.
So it’s one thing to say taxes should be this or so high, but it matters where they are derived and whom they affect. I voted YES on Question 5. It is of course a question on how the State will make up the revenue from diapers, but they ought to be able to get it without grabbing at young mothers or senior citizens.
Question 6: Should the Nevada Constitution be amended to create an individual’s fundamental right to an abortion, without interference by state or local governments, whenever the abortion is performed by a qualified health care professional until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant individual at any point during the pregnancy?
Pros: Why not?
Cons: Why THE HELL NOT?
Question 7: Should the Nevada Constitution be amended to require voters to either present photo identification to verify their identity when voting in-person or to provide certain personal information when voting by mail ballot?
In other words, this is the “Voter ID requirement” question. I voted NO. It’s not that big a deal, since most of us have ID, but by the same token, it raises the question of why we need this. Especially since the state already mandates sending mail ballots and that in turn indicates that the state has already verified you as a voter. Really, what this is is another attempt by the Trump Party to corner the market. Since they can’t win by majority vote, they have to change the definition of “majority” and pick the voters instead of the other way around. This is especially obvious since, again, we have mail ballot voting and that is designed to address many of the legitimate voter ID issues. The second matter of “provide certain personal information when voting by mail ballot” just makes it that more obvious that they’re looking for a pretext to throw out politically incorrect votes. Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have voted No, I should have wrote in FUCK NO.
Speaking of the Trump Party, this is where I have to get to the partisan federal races. And obviously, I recommend that people vote for Kamala Harris and the Democrats all the way down ballot. Not cause they’re any GOOD, but because they’re not robots of a Sundown Clown and Russian tool, and those are the only two parties that have a chance of winning. That being the case I shouldn’t need to go over the bleeding obvious, but given the polls in this country, and Nevada in particular, apparently I have to.
And that means I have to address the Republicans first. The only reason that things are this fucked up. Not just in this election, but, in analysis, on almost any other public issue you could raise.
It used to be there were a lot of issues I could agree with you on, but in retrospect it seems to me that there used to be issues that you agreed with me on. Like just for one, having a frothing mob of collectivists trying to break into the Capitol to stop an Electoral College certification just cause they didn’t like the result is a bad thing. And you know this cause I’m sure that in 2017 if all the leftists in pink pussy hats had broken into the Capitol waving Soviet flags and screaming to kill Joe Biden for certifying the vote, you’d be screaming bloody murder and demanding that the people who put them up to it be tried for treason. And I’d be there with you. But when the thugs are waving the Stars and Bars, and it’s your hero they’re doing it for, merely trying to impeach him over the affair isn’t just taken as a personal insult to you, but as blasphemy to your god. And apparently the rest of us are supposed to be okay with that, cause Trump is still getting to run.
So please don’t tell me that the system is rigged against you, please don’t tell me you don’t have a choice, and PLEASE don’t tell me that this is a republic and not a democracy. Because a, you don’t want this to be a republic, and b, it clearly is a democracy. Donald Trump tried to destroy the Electoral College process itself, and he’s still getting to run for president. This is not a country where candidates run on qualifications, but on popularity. The only reason a demented career criminal gets to run as a major party candidate for president is because you wanted him there. Despite all the evidence against him on performance and all the expert opinion telling you that he shouldn’t be sent back to the White House and would be better sent to prison.
Because liberals, if you want to know why we have an Electoral College, it’s because the Founders didn’t want stupid, emotional people deciding who is the next president. And conservatives, if you want to know why we need to get rid of the Electoral College, it’s because that institution is the only reason that that result ever occurred.
Now given the weight of factors, especially the early turnout in places like Georgia, I have reason to believe that Harris will eventually win the right number of Electors, but I can’t be certain that she will win state majorities big enough to avoid serious challenge by various Trump Party organizations, most notably the House of Representatives (which would vote for Trump if the Electoral College is hung) or the Supreme Court, which has intervened for Republicans before.
And that just gets to the point that the problem isn’t just Trump, but an entire party that follows him as a political role model. Because as I’ve said, if he didn’t have a cult that wanted him in politics, he’d be just another ratty old bum at the gas station screaming conspiracy theories at you while begging you for change. At least he’d have an excuse for that haircut.
So, Republicans, believe me when I say this. From the bottom of my heart:
Fuck you.
Fuck y’all.
All y’all.
Up the ass.
Fuck your entire party with John Holmes’ dead, AIDS-ridden dick.
So now liberals, Democrats, all of that means that if you don’t want even more violence, if you don’t want Dobbs vs. Mississippi all over the country, on steroids, if you don’t want JD Vance waiting in the wings for when Trump swallows a chicken bone sideways, quit ANY AND ALL OF YOUR FUCKING EXCUSES for why you don’t feel like voting for Harris or voting at all. I don’t care. You think the Palestinians are getting screwed with Biden, you’re gonna love when Trump brings Jared Kushner back to handle Mideast policy. If you’re Hispanic, and you think the Trump economy was better, you’re not going to enjoy it, cause he’s gonna deport you. What? You’re a citizen? You were born here? It won’t matter. I don’t care if you think the economy sucks. I don’t care if I think the economy sucks. Just vote. And get everybody you know who’s not already a Trumpnik to vote Democrat with you, because that’s what it’s going to take to keep the gangster party from stealing this. Make it clear that they will not be able to gin enough states to change the outcome. There are more of us than there are of them, and if we do not wish to live under occupation, we need to prove it once and for all. Just vote. If you’re in Chicago, vote twice.
Vote, Goddammit. Vote these Trump slugs out. ALL of them.
Vote like it’s the last time you’ll ever get the chance.
Just in case.