Reach for the Stars @antares@qoto.org

@tersenurse Thump is convicted in multiple courts but appeals are still ongoing on election night. Biden's health has deteriorated as the campaign has gone on and he was briefly hospitalized the month before the election. A third party candidate takes 28% of the popular vote nationally but fails to win any electoral college votes. Biden wins the election night count, with Trumps name not appearing on 4 blue state ballots. GOP controlled house uses that as a pretext to to refuse to certify the votes from those states and elect Trump as president with only 36% of the national popular vote.

@MisuseCase @davidtoddmccarty Of course at the time Lincoln was elected he was the part of a new #ThirdParty. The Republican Party was formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery, drawing from the antislavery wing of the Whig Party and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery Democratic Party members. Perhaps we should be like the political abolitionists and not choose between parties who no longer represent our values -- if they ever did.

Look who decided to drop by for a visit. Greetings to our friends across the pond in the #RAF who brought a few A400M Atlases to our local airfield today. #planespotting

@mdylanbell This is not "defend its self" this is retribution and [EthnicCleansing](https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-call-for-resettling-gazas-palestinians-building-settlements-in-strip/). The IDF is, by their own count, killing civilians at a faster rate then the Germans during the London Blitz.

I am glad that congress is not funding this genocide and I have repeatedly expressed to my congresscritter that they should not pass a Likud funding bill and certainly not if it comes with ethnic cleansing at our own boarder as the price.

@mdylanbell Iowa Caucuses are in 11 Days. We are choosing our party candidates Right Now!

@mdylanbell This was Biden and Biden alone. Nothing forced him to make these sales. "[Biden Administration Again Bypasses Congress for Weapons Sale to Israel](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/world/middleeast/biden-us-israel-weapons-sale.html)"

@mdylanbell

Then he better get out on the campaign trail and tell people about it, because if the election were held today he'd lose to Nikki Haley by a wopping 17%!

On the other hand "Generic Democrat" beats Trump by 10%

@pmonks Further, if you don't believe the polls, that is all the more reason not to believe that Biden and Trump are inevitable.

#Vote and change the course of history for the better.

@pmonks This far out? The Iowa Caucuses are *11 days from today*! People will be voting for presidential candidates a week from Tuesday! Super Tuesday is less than 60 days from now.

NOW is the time to pay attention and VOTE in the primaries!

According to the most recent polls #Biden is the only candidate #Trump has any chance of beating, and Trump is the only candidate that Biden has a chance of beating. The first party to ditch their stubborn old fart will win in a landslide. #USPOL

Important #NewLaw went into effect January 1 in #California :
"2806.5. (a) A peace officer making a traffic or pedestrian stop, before engaging in questioning related to a criminal investigation or traffic violation, shall state the reason for the stop. The officer shall document the reason for the stop on any citation or police report resulting from the stop."

No more "Do you know why I pulled you over?" from #cops in California.

@Robminchin My quick google search says that there is a 5 x 10^6 km difference between Aphelion and Perihelion. Is this enough to make a noticeable weather difference near the equator where axial tilt is not such a big factor?

Also is there some force that keeps the line of apsides close to the solstices or is it just our luck to be alive at a time when they coincide?

@freemo Here it is without any difficult Arabic words. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/31/israeli-minister-reiterates-calls-for-palestinians-to-leave-gaza