“That must be wonderful; I don’t understand it at all!” – Moliere

Great quote. It’s give-or-take three hundred and fifty years old, but seriously, it should be emblazoned on a red trucker hat and sold at a Trump rally. It perfectly interprets the starry-eyed demeanor of the far-far-right rally attender.  If it be uttered from thine own mouth, then it surely be truth…regardless of whether it makes a lick of sense.

Trump’s Fallen Star

The Hollywood Reporter received word that the West Hollywood City Council unanimously voted “aye” in favor of a resolution to remove President Donald Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Since 2016 Trump’s star has been vandalized five times, twice destroyed – most recently in July. The resolution enumerates a dirty-laundry list of Trump’s personal, political and presidential failures as justification for their decision.

“The City Council will consider adopting a resolution urging the Los Angeles City Council and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to remove President Donald J. Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, due to his disturbing treatment of women and other actions that do not meet the shared values of the City of West Hollywood, the region, state, and country.”

The document also includes Trump’s child incarceration border debacle, his insistence on trusting pal Putin over logic and the IC’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, and dis-inviting transgender individuals from serving in the military (Are we still talking about a plaque?).  The Chamber was unmoved by public outrage over Bill Cosby’s guilty verdict, it is unlikely they will consider Trump’s behavior differently.

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WV’s Mobile Voting Initiative for Deployed Service-members.

Bad, bad, bad idea. We the people need our vote tally paranoia staunched, not compounded by hackable devices untested in a crucial election.

While many states and districts plan on going with old-school paper ballots to deter hackers, West Virginia’s Secretary of State entrusts a 3-year-old start-up to competently collect votes from overseas troops using a mobile app. Voatz does not currently have a Wikipedia page and it’s About page is woefully unsatisfying.

At least, they make it complicated.

The app was developed by the Boston-based Voatz, and requires voters to register by taking a photo of government-issued ID and a selfie video of their face, then upload them using the app.

Facial recognition software will compare the photo and video to make sure they show the same person before approving them to vote using the app. Blockchain tech is used to make each ballot anonymous and record it.

However, Voatz’s response to TechCrunch doesn’t make me feel any better.

With each election we’ve learned something new, and we will continue to take the time necessary to ensure that the voting process is secure for voters. As with the implementation of all new election technologies, the implementation of mobile voting will be a process. It is not something that can, nor that we want to, happen overnight.

Implementation of the app statewide is not mandatory. It will be considered by each county individually. So there’s that.

Thoughts?

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Happy Wednesday, RedStaters! Welcome to RedState’s only Daily open thread. If you like looking up at night, the Perseid Meteor Shower promises to be a doozy this weekend. Especially Saturday the 11th when 60 to 70 shooting stars are expected per hour. Enjoy!