Ben Dukes

SAG-AFTRA | Actor | Writer | Producer | Repped by @bohemiagroup1 | UGA Letterman - Go Dawgs! - Tweet mostly about UGA Football and Life in the Film/TV industry.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@MuseZack It's as good a reason as any.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@kevinbrueck Joe ain't doing 60 Minutes. They may WANT him to, but it's not his thing AT ALL. What's he gonna do... reach 10% of his typical audience size on stories he doesn't care about?

He calls ALL the shots for his life. Guy has FuckYou money. There is zero upside for him.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@sircalebhammer Legend.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Richard Riordan was the last non-democrat to hold the LA Mayor's office, and he left office in 2001.

In only ONE Mayoral election since has the Mayor received higher than 60% of the vote (55% of voters are registered Democrats) ... Garcetti's re-election, where he received over 80% of the vote.

For the last 25 years, the Democrat Party has had a stranglehold on City Hall... and the result is rampant homelessness, drug use, poor infrastructure, etc.

But the party's messaging of "we're the only people who can save you" is so strong, or their voters so gullible, that they can continue to pull the votes.

As a political independent, I find this unfathomable.. but I've never been one for ideological/party capture.

Angelenos are so sold on the idea that Republicans are evil, that they will stand by and watch their city fall apart rather than vote for the change it so desperately needs. They think the Democrat Party is here to save them... when it's the Democrat Party that has brought them to where they are.

It's truly wild. Bass has nothing to be embarrassed about. She's doing her best. As they all have, I'm sure.

Their best just sucks, and the electorate should be embarrassed for not recognizing it.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

So many pundits saying Karen Bass should be embarassed that Spencer Pratt could end up facing her in the 2026 LA Mayoral Election in November.

No.

The Voters of Los Angeles, who have consistently voted for leaders who have allowed the city to devolve as it has, should be embarrassed.

And they should change their voting patterns.

But most will not. Most will pretend that the fault only lies in the ineptitude of the people they elect, and not in themselves for electing them.

Take your hand off the stove, kid. It's on fire.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@GovPressOffice It's a policy choice for it not to happen. Change the policy... or, sense this Governor is done, get your party buddies to do it.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@Elex_Michaelson I'm interested in learning more about the software - what has to exist for the system to throw a flag. While you were watching - do you have a rough idea of the percentage of envelopes that were flagged for human inspection?

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Is what you think, what you think... or what you feel?

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@Elex_Michaelson I think the decision to allow an extra week of arrivals is the biggest issue. The optics of impropriety could be severely decreased if they'd just enforce a "everything has to be at the counting center on Election Day."

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

I feel like life would be better if more people held a deep understanding of Monty Python.

Also, Life of Brian is criminally underwatched today.

[Dangerous Thoughts @DangerousThinkg]

Monty Python would be cancelled today

Society has lost its collective mind

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Re: “Voter Fraud” in CA:

There is nothing that makes the likelihood of later-counted votes being fraudulent any higher than earlier-counted votes.

The system is woefully inefficient, because the priority in CA is “count every single ballot” NOT “count every ballot on time.”

Would it be better if Mail-In Ballots needed to be RECEIVED AT THE ELECTION CENTER on election day? Yes. It would. It would eliminate the late count talking point, it would let people vote, get a result, and move on. The weeks-long ambiguity is infuriating.

But, CA wants to be sure people have ample ways to vote on the day-of, ostensibly to “protect the rights of citizens.” The simplest change of “Election Day is literally the last day. If it is received after that, it won’t count - plan accordingly” does not disadvantage anyone, and would solve the issue.

Not only that, but giving a reasonable expectation of “this is your civic right, and your civic duty - you should take it seriously and be responsible with your time” shouldn’t be a high bar to clear, and shouldn’t be viewed as “unfair.” You simply put on all the materials MUST BE RECEIVED BY ELECTION DAY - IF MAILING, ALLOW 7 BUSINESS DAYS. If people can’t do that, oh well, their vote doesn’t count this time. It’s CA, there will be another vote in 6 months.

But, the idea that CA Dems needs to sit around and wait for night 1 numbers so they’ll “know how many votes to create” is silly. If they’re going to create fake ballots en masse, enough to sway elections of any size, they should be doing it throughout the entire process. They’re no more likely to get caught early than late.

I have problems with the election system, and with the electorate - but let’s not pretend there’s a big warehouse of people furiously filling out ballots after the first results come in. If they’re doing it, they’ve been doing it for weeks, as polling data showed things moving in the wrong direction.

It shouldn’t be hard to understand that in a state that leans hard to the Democrat side, there will be pockets that skew that direction HARD. It’s weird that those areas always seem to get their ballots in late, especially when those areas are usually the urban centers… presumably where mail and ballot boxes are CLOSER to the counting house, as opposed to say, farm communities in NorCal, but it’s not out-of-pocket to think that these left-leaning areas would break the previously established pattern of votes by nature of their near unanimity of policy preference.

It is certainly strange that only approximately 50-60% of California can get their vote in by Election Day.

I have problems with our elections process, not the least of which is the apparent lack of interest in shoring it up from the party who has a stranglehold on the electorate.

Perhaps that’s by design, or perhaps the leaders are simply high on their own supply, and are so certain of their righteousness that they can’t envision changing anything at all. Things are working perfectly, right? After all, THEY are in office.

And apparently, they’ve done something to inspire absolute blind loyalty from people watching their cities fall into decay, their homes get burned to the ground or slide down hills, their gas prices outpace any other state in the contiguous 48, their bridges go unmaintained, their energy prices soar, housing construction get held up in permitting for years, and their primary industry fly to other states.

The electorate for some reason happily signs up for more of all that.

But, you know, weather.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

The people telling you AI is going to destroy the economy also told you computers would shut down on Jan 1 2000 because they wouldn't know what to do with the year "00."

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Whew. Close one.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

It's not so much that it takes CA too long to count ballots (it does)... it's not even that the assumption is always that democrats vote later (they do)... it's that somehow we can get the first 65% done in less than 24 hours... but it's gonna take a week or more for the rest?

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@pedrobangingi @GeorgeFoster72 you'll notice I said, "for me"

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@JosephKahn tell it to really break your balls, to look at your script from the POV of a top film exec who will absolutely not greenlight anything that isn't a surefire hit.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Me searching for the window to replace the door God shut.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

@kevinbrueck No one is illegal with stolen weed!

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

Found out yesterday that in Mexico, weed is legal.

Unless you're visiting from another country. It remains strictly illegal for non-citizens.

Imagine that.

[Ben Dukes @BenDukes]

I'm sure that "Rewards" programs that have expiring points do, in the aggregate, inspire people to buy more often from the store so that they can use the rewards before they expire.

They inspire me to avoid that store, for trying to game me.