Random thoughts #86

Random thoughts #86

Mail-in ballots

I can’t quite make sense of this mail-in ballot kerfuffle. The Constitution leaves elections largely in the hands of the states and a president can’t simply rewrite state election laws on his own. Yet that seems to be exactly what Trump is intent on doing. If the rules for federal elections are going to change, wouldn’t that have to come from Congress, not from an executive order?

As a reminder, the new rules would have required states to redesign their ballot envelopes, hand lists of voters over to the federal government and get sign-off from postal officials before ballots could be mailed to those voters. Doesn’t that sound burdensome? The Postal Service adopted the rules last month, and state and local officials sued, arguing they were unconstitutional and went beyond the Postal Service’s authority. They may be right but this will have to be settled later in another Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling seems to rest on timing. Some states already have sent out ballots and there simply isn’t time to change course. Brett Kavanaugh said as much, writing that “state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the election.” So does that mean the president can impose these changes for the next election? And couldn’t the states just tell him to pound sand?

As far as I can tell, the court never ruled on the constitutional question at all. In his dissent, joined by Thomas, Alito argued that the Postal Service has “broad power to regulate the delivery of mail.” Okay. But what does that have to do with the heart of the matter, which is the White House forcing states to follow its mail-in ballot rules?

Don Jr. certainly isn’t broke

What’s with this Russian oligarch bankrolling Don Jr.’s wedding celebrations? Junior confirmed that Umar Kremlev paid for two nights of post-wedding festivities on a secluded Bahamian island. (How does an island get secluded, anyway?) I’m sure Kremlev did it out of the goodness of his heart and asked for nothing in return. Hasn’t Junior made enough money off his father’s name and influence to pay for his own wedding? Either way, it’s a bad look.

Meanwhile, the president said, “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him.” Yeah. Right. Any boxing fan knows the name: Kremlev took over the International Boxing Association in 2020. And isn’t it strange that neither the president nor the first lady made it to the wedding?

AI in the Gulf

Did you know Iran has crippled AI data centers in the Gulf? Drone attacks have knocked the Amazon Web Services facility in Abu Dhabi and another in Bahrain mostly offline, and clients have had to move their data to other regions while the sites are repaired. As one expert put it, “The value proposition that the Gulf states made to the U.S. government and U.S. tech companies was that they will provide abundant capital, cheap energy and easy construction. The Iran war has really flipped a lot of that math on its head.”

Trump beat the NFL?

Another day, another idle boast. In his speech in Dallas at the GOP’s midterm convention, the president bragged that he “beat the NFL.” Like so much else he says, we all knew that wasn’t true. His speech drew 2.5 million viewers, fewer than Fox’s regular programming. Now the NFL’s numbers are in, and the league is apparently reeling from ratings that are so low: the game drew “only” 25.1 million viewers, the lowest since 2020.

Irish unification?

The president has called for merging the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland, saying it would be “fantastic.” When Ireland won its independence from Britain a century ago, it became a self-governing, Roman Catholic-majority country, while the six counties in the north, which had a Protestant majority, remained part of the United Kingdom. Many people are too young to remember the three decades of violence that followed in Northern Ireland, involving paramilitary groups on both sides as well as British troops. Some 3,600 people were killed in bombings, shootings and other attacks.

Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin said it shouldn’t be a surprise that Trump “takes a different sort of perspective on things.” British politicians, meanwhile, insist that Northern Ireland is indisputably part of the U.K.

Then again, the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have called on the British government to “prepare for, plan and facilitate” constitutional change that could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. “Westminster’s time is coming to an end,” Scottish First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said in a historic joint declaration. The latest British prime minister, Andy Burnham, has said he would not stand in the way of a breakup.

If that happens, Northern Ireland’s future will be settled in Belfast, Dublin and London, and Trump’s wish will hardly matter.

By the way, what’s the deal with the Welsh language? It looks like it was brought to Earth by aliens. It’s a minority language even within Wales, spoken by only about 18 percent of the population. How about translating that to Welsh?

Beth yw hanes yr iaith Gymraeg ‘ma? Mae’n ymddangos fel petai wedi’i chludo i’r ddaear gan estroniaid o’r gofod. Mae’n iaith leiafrifol hyd yn oed yng Nghymru, gyda dim ond tua 18 y cant o’r boblogaeth yn ei siarad.