On My Feed

If it isn’t about WandaVision or Superman my phone doesn’t care, even though WB / DC have a perfect modern Superman, they have squandered him. I’m not a Superman fan, but Cavill seems like the perfect personification of the character. And not until Michael B. Jordan was rumored to play an alternative Superman did anyone care about the Man of Steel. I still haven’t finished Justice League, but I’m utterly confused. I don’t remember much of the first disaster, but this seems to be that plus 2 hours and 2 minutes of more confusion surrounding it.

My feed points to another election coming up for California. In early February, the California secretary of state had verified over 80 percent of the signatures collected, 2 million. According to The Los Angeles Times, registrars have until April 29 to finish reviewing petitions. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis would have to schedule the election between 60 and 80 days after the final certification of signatures, the Times noted. In his State of the State address, Gov. Newsom said California “won’t change course just because of a few nay-sayers and dooms-dayers. So to the California critics, who are promoting partisan power grabs and outdated prejudices, and rejecting everything that makes California truly great, we say this: We will not be distracted from getting shots in arms and our economy booming again. This is a fight for California’s future,” he said. Many of the signatures for the petitions have been gathered by volunteers.

I wanted to learn more about the Recall process. California is one of 19 states that allow voters to remove state officials before the end of their term. No reason is necessary, the only requirement to put a recall on the ballot is enough voter signatures. That number must be 12% of voters in the last election for the office, and must include voters in at least five counties. Voters would be asked two questions: Do they want to recall Newsom, yes or no? And, if more than 50% of voters say “yes,” who should replace him? There’s no limit on the number of candidates who can run to replace an official on a recall ballot. And whoever gets the most votes wins, even without a majority. So it’s entirely possible that someone could be elected in a recall while winning less than half the votes. Signature verification takes place at the registrar of voters for each of California’s 58 counties. 15 people who do this job, each one assigned a batch of petitions. Then counties report to the Secretary of State how many signatures they received and how many were invalid. After they finish this step (by April 29 for the Newsom recall), voters have 30 days to remove their signatures from the petitions if they want.

Newsom spokesman Dan Newman calls recall supporters “a strange mishmash of people who are motivated for different reasons….You’ve got some pro-Trump, anti-mask, anti-vaccine extremists, along with opportunistic and ambitious Republican politicians who would like to be governor.” Newsom’s strategy: Unite Democrats by portraying the recall as a fringy MAGA-inspired movement full of QAnon conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Interesting tactic considering roughly a quarter of California voters are not registered with either major party. So a key factor will be how much support Newsom hangs onto from liberal voters who don’t feel loyalty to him or the Democratic party. One theory is that Newsom would be better positioned to beat back the recall if the options to replace him are too conservative for most California voters. “If they want to hold onto the governorship… it would be in Democrats’ best interests not to put up an alternate candidate,” said Democratic political consultant Marva Diaz, an editor of the nonpartisan California Targetbook. This strategy is made obvious by the high profile politicians that voiced support and parroted the claims this is a GOP power grab attempt. Bernie, Brooker, Alex Padilla, and Kamala to name them. Newsom is unpopular with a variety of people, if the party were to have another Democrat or worse a Progressive on the ballot Newsom would most likely not survive. After all the campaigning for pandering to Kamala Harris’ White House and the D.C. Establishment I wouldn’t expect them to abandon him like they did Cuomo in New York.