True. But this is perfectly in line with Trump's character and persona. He doesn't care about decorum or playing nice, or any political niceties like that. He wants to always win, never admit defeat and always try and make his opposition look weak and like liars.

Love him or hate him, I think its hard to argue with that.

So in keeping with that, he is doing exactly what his personality would, which is fight to the bitter end with every maneuver he can. Legit or not. Then if he loses, which in this case he will, he will never admit he lost. He'll feel some sort of moral victory for sowing more seeds of doubt in the system itself, with his massive support base, which is basically half the country.

So far 141 million+ total votes counted, with millions left to count. Not sure what the numbers will end up being, but it definitely surprised 2016's totals already. But I guess we will fall short of 172-200 mil.

Post official numbers if you have a good resource. Seems to be a bit hard to find atm. Thanks.

Just over 138 million voted in the entire 2016 election. That seems to mean that if 47 million(ish) voted early, then 91 million voted on election day.

If we are already at 100 million+, imagine if we have the same, same day turnout. That would put us close to 200 million voting. Which is phenomenal, considering the US population is estimated at 328.2 million AND 22.3% are estimated to be under 18 years old.

If we turnout, let's say 175 million votes, that would be a voter turnout of 68.9% of all eligible voters. And 200 mil would mean 78.8% turnout of all eligible voters. You would have to go back to literally the year 1900 before we had turnout %s like that.

Compare that to 2016's 60.1% and I would say that's an incredible increase for democracy and political participation.

My entire life we have never eclipsed 2016's turnout. Before then, between let's say 1980 and 2012, we were in the 49-57% turnout range.

I hope we shatter records across the board. But I am aware early voting is seriously on the rise because of covid and social distancing measures. So we could see not as impressive same day turnout. That's possible too. Time will tell.

Getting my numbers from these sources btw:
census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_State...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_...

Social Security's 2021 COLA Could More Than Double -- Here's How

Maybe it'll be a lot better than 1.3% after all. Stay tuned.

Was a pretty amazing contrast between the first and third debate. I'm not used to seeing anything political get markedly corrected after one go. So I congratulate the debate commission on the simple rule change and difference in tone for this final debate. It was way more civil and coherent to watch when both candidates were allowed to speak uninterrupted (for the most part).

As for the content, not sure anyone learned anything. Feel like everything said was a retread of the same talking points both candidates have been hitting on for the last few months. But I suppose if you just watched this single debate and somehow successfully avoided politics before that (hats off to you) then you got a good sense of what each candidate was all about.

To my mind, Biden dispelled all notions that he isn't mentally up for the task. And that he can go toe to toe with Trump and come out looking pretty good. For Trump, I was happy to see him be respectful of the debate rules and that he doesn't appear to be long term effected from getting covid. At his age that's pretty impressive. I know he had access to care most of us wouldn't have, but still.

Honestly I'm surprised all the debates weren't virtual from the beginning. Just from an abundance of caution. I don't have a problem with in-person debates, like the way they did it for the first one. But makes total sense once Trump tested positive to be cautious and go this route.

Since the second debate isn't happening now, I don't know how much that really effects either candidate. To me, the first debate was a disaster. And turned a lot of people off. So Im guessing many Americans might have skipped the second debate anyways, and maybe just watched the highlights, knowing that yet another debate was just around the corner.

The third debate I think is pretty important. Its their last chance to make their case and has high potential for fireworks and honestly, desperation. Could be even more wheels off. So as long as there is one more, I don't think it really effects much to cancel the middle one.

Modest raise once again. The COLA increase for Social Security benefits for 2021 is just 1.3%, or $20/month for the avg benefit check.

This year’s increase is among the smallest ever, and it marks the fifth time since 2010 that there will be an extremely low, or even no, adjustment, according to The Senior Citizens League.

“People who have been receiving benefits for 12 years or longer have experienced an unprecedented series of extremely low cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs),” Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at The Senior Citizens League, said in a statement.

Benefits increased by 1.6 % in 2020, 2.8% in 2019, 2% in 2018, 0.3 percent in 2017 and 0% in 2016.

The increase will take effect in January for Social Security recipients and Dec. 31 for Supplemental Security Income recipients.

I was hoping for a higher than usual raise, sort of a stimulus for economic downturn from 2020. But was expecting this as funds are also harder to come by these days.

Think this raise makes sense fiscally for the SSA program, being that it's so small? Or do you think the govt should have stepped up and adjusted benefits to a more meaningful degree?