29 thoughts on “Picture This”

  1. Bill recaps the top stories of the week, including the arrest of a suspected “MAGA Bomber” and Republican hysteria over migrant refugees.

  3. Houston chronicle:
    AUSTIN — Some straight-ticket voters have reported that voting machines recorded them selecting the candidate of another party for U.S. Senate, exposing a potential problem with the integrity of the state’s high-profile contest between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O’Rourke and leading good government groups to sound the alarm.
     
    Several Democratic voters, for example, have complained the voting system indicated they were about to cast a vote for Cruz, a Republican, instead of Democrat O’Rourke as they prepared to send it. Some said they were able to get help from staff at the polling place and change their votes back to what they intended before finalizing their ballots.
     

    Most of the 15 to 20 people who have complained to the state so far said that their straight-ticket ballot left their vote for U.S. Senate blank, according to Sam Taylor, communications director for the Secretary of State. A spokesman for the Texas Civil Rights Project said the group has received about a half dozen complaints, mostly of Democratic straight ticket voters whose ballots erroneously included a vote for Cruz, and one Republican straight ticket voter whose ballot tabulated a vote for O’Rourke.

    The problem occurs on the Hart eSlate voting machine when voters turn a selection dial and hit the “enter” button simultaneously, according to the state. Eighty-two of the 254 counties in Texas have these machines, although complaints have only come from Fort Bend, Harris, McLennan, Montgomery, Tarrant and Travis counties, according to Taylor.
    The issue with the eSlate machine first surfaced in the 2016 presidential election. The Secretary of State’s office described it as user error at that time, and said the same of this year’s problems in an advisory sent to election workers issued this week.
     
    “It does pop up from time to time,” said Taylor. Voters should “double and triple check and slow down” before casting their ballots, he said.
     

     
    Although the state sent the advisory, the Civil Rights Project contends that more should be done to ensure voters understand the potential for wrongly recorded votes.
     
    The group is pushing the state to post advisories to inform voters at the polls about the problem, and how to detect it.
    “This is not an isolated issue but a symptom of a wider breakdown in Texas’s election systems,” said Beth Stevens, the organization’s voting rights director. “Texas voters should have full confidence that when they use a voting machine they are indeed casting their ballot of choice.”
     
    The Hart eSlate voting machines in Texas were last certified in 2009, meaning most of this equipment is at least that old, Taylor said. Upgrading the machines is costly: $50 million would just cover costs to upgrade machines in Harris, Dallas and Tarrant Counties, he said.

     
    “It wouldn’t even put a dent” in the cost of upgrading machines statewide, Taylor said.

     
    Harris County officials have echoed that the issue is a voter error and not a problem with the machines. Some voters who have tried to cast a straight ticket ballot for Republicans have also found the machine erased the vote for Cruz and records no selection for U.S. Senate.
     

  8. from heavy.com:
    The audio, from Broadcastify, captured officers relaying the suspect’s alleged comments to dispatch. It was not immediately clear from authorities how many people were shot or deceased. However, CBS Pittsburgh reported that at least eight people were dead.
     
    “Suspect talking about all these Jews need to die. We’re still communicating with him,” said one officer on the dispatch audio. A short time later, another officer followed up with a similar disturbing comment.
     
    “The suspect is talking about killing Jews. He doesn’t want any of them to live,” said another officer. One officer said the shooter claimed to be heading to his vehicle when he “engaged officers responding.”
    Police confirmed that there are multiple victims.
     
    “We have multiple casualties,” Pittsburgh police confirmed in a press conference. “We have dispatched to active gunfire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.” Police asked neighbors to shelter in place.
     
    There are more people wounded and two officers were shot, reported CBS Pittsburgh, adding that the suspect is a white male who was crawling and wounded. A Saturday service was underway at the synagogue when the mass shooting occurred.
    Reporter Myles Miller, of PIX11, noted, “For those who don’t know, Squirrel Hill is Pittsburgh’s largest Jewish neighborhood. Tree of Life * Or L’Simcha is perhaps the biggest congregation in the area.”

    According to dispatch audio, there was a shot officer down on the second floor, and a military style package was found. Officers referred to multiple weapons, including an AR-15. Officers were negotiating with the suspect to surrender. Scanner traffic is always preliminary and subject to change as more information comes out. Authorities have not yet formally provided details from the scene, including weaponry and any comments he may have made about Jews, because they were still clearing the building on the morning of October 27, 2018. They were referring to devices while clearing the synagogue. Authorities were flying a drone over the building to see if they could have an access point to check out a “device.”

     

  9. Another shooting?

    Where were the good guys with the guns?

    I just voted for a gun control initiative on our WA ballot. Convinced it was the right vote.

  11. So when the future vp is the vp , Mr. Cracker would like to be the Secretary of Fun.

    Here he is at his 90th birthday party which he turned into a fundraiser for his friend, the woman at the keyboard.  Three years ago she was hit by a drunk driver and hadn’t played until this party.  They raised over $10k

     

  13. She was future vp back then……now she’s a VP as of last week.

    Spent a lot of time teaching her “watch”.

  15. I double-checked my machine & it showed Dem candidates before I pushed the vote button.

    Very busy place, but no line, which is good since I wouldn’t be able to handle much of a wait.  They are running it like a well-oiled machine.

    People were all in & out quickly, so I assume straight-party voters. This is a very diverse area, so I assume this zip code will go Dem.

  16. On behalf of Mr. Cracker  thank you.

    We have a friend who is about to be 101 and when Mr C was complaining about being 90 she told him to “suck it up –ninety is nothing”

     

  17. Only a moron thinks the death penalty is a deterrent ..let me correct that …..”a fucking moron”*

    He must be senile – does he not remember saying people chanting “Jews will not replace us” are good people?

    *Thank you Rex Tillerson I guess he has decided a no interview policy is best

  19. wonkette:  8 Dead In Shooting At Synagogue. Can All This Shit Please Stop Now?

     
    8 people are dead after a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooter is still alive and has surrendered. Reportedly, he told police officers that “All these Jews need to die.”
    According to people on Twitter who have been listening to the police scanner, the suspect is 46 year old Robert Bowers, an avowed neo-Nazi with a profile on Gab dedicated to how much he hates Jewish people. Note the 1488 number on whatever that thing is in his profile photo. (Update 12:31pm: CBS has confirmed)
    [….gab profile page…]

    And a closeup of his last post, in which he stated that HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) — a non-profit dedicated to helping refugees, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people.” He wrote “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
    For the last few weeks, conservative media and Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, have been pushing the conspiracy theory that the refugees attempting to seek asylum in America are actually MS-13 members and “Middle Eastern terrorists” who are actually coming here to “invade” our country and do all manner of horrible things to us. Looks like this guy believed them.
    The Gab profile has since been deleted, but there are multiple screenshots and an archive of his social media activity.
    Bowers appears to be a neo-Nazi of the Christopher Cantwell variety — believing that even Trump is not far-right enough to his liking.
    […his comment on trump…]
    8 people are dead. 8 human beings are dead. There are assholes over on 4chan celebrating this right now, in between people calling it a “false flag.” This shit has gone too far. It wasn’t cute to begin with and it’s not cute now, and if we don’t start taking radicalization seriously, it’s only going to get worse. These are not just lonely men in their basements blowing off some steam because they don’t feel special enough anymore. These people are actually dangerous. They kill people.
    Update 12:45pm: Trump has, naturally, responded to the shooting by suggesting that this would not have happened had the people at the synagogue, who were there celebrating a bris, been armed.
     

  20. Rachel introduced us last night to “trumpenkriegers”

    Rachel Maddow looks at the violent, racist, extremist groups that seek out street violence in the name of supporting Donald Trump, and wonders what will happen when Trump-inspired extremists collide with Trump-pressured law enforcement.

  21. the hill:
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the leading newspaper in the third-largest county in Texas, on Friday endorsed Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) in his Senate race against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R).
    “U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz represent the hard left and right of American politics,” the editorial board wrote. “Neither stands in the middle ground, where the real work is done to lead America.”
    “But only O’Rourke seems interested in making deals or finding middle ground. That is why the El Paso Democrat would make the best senator for Tarrant County’s future, and the future of Texas,” the editorial board continued.
    […continues…]

  22. SFB and the NRA managed to blame the victims for not having good guys with guns inside.  I tweeted to ask if Jared & Ivanka should take AR-15’s next Saturday to synagogue.

    11 dead fortunately no children since this was a bris.

     

  24. Trump is holding a rally tonight.  He is a heartless shit who incited the hateful & the mentally ill to do harm.  Shame on him, his administration, and,  his political supporters like Yertle, Nunes, Ryan…

  26. It appears today’s evil asshat was not a Trump supporter, because Trump wasn’t horrible enough for him.

  29. Good people on both sides – yep, I remember that. I caught a bit of SFB’s trying to act as if he gave a shit about 11 Jewish Pittsburghers getting killed by a RW nut. He sounded sooooo concerned – reading lines someone else wrote – taking care to politicize his call for unity by criticizing democrats and pandering to RW gun nuts, and did so quickly so he wouldn’t miss his pep rally for Mike Bost tonight. Despicable prick.

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