The Spill: YouTube’s New Election Policies

Technical Difficulties and Election Confusion in Iowa

The Iowa caucus for the Democratic Party was expected to give presidential candidates some sense of how they’re doing Monday, Feb. 3, but technical difficulties led to election confusion. A smartphone app used to report results crashed, and the backup system that was supposed to kick in failed as well.

Sen. Klobuchar went ahead and delivered her victory speech, even though there were no results in, and the rest followed after her. The media, however, focused primarily on the technical failure, calling it incompetence.

As odd as it may be that each candidate delivered their victory speech despite not knowing who actually won the day, the practical outcome is that nothing really changed. All the candidates want to put their best foot forward for the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11. The actual results of the caucus are expected to be released at 4 p.m. Eastern.

YouTube’s New Election Policies: Sift, Sort, and Censor

YouTube announced new rules regarding election material Monday under the heading “How YouTube supports elections.” The new policy forbids “manipulated” or “doctored” videos related to the U.S. election, as well as “deep fakes” and “birther-type conspiracy theories” that question candidates’ eligibility for office. All this, allegedly, is part of an effort to prevent deceptive practices that could possibly mislead people about voting.

The Accused Speaks: State Of The Union 2020

President Donald Trump will deliver the State of the Union (SOTU) Address Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 9 p.m. Eastern. There is an obvious animosity between the current president and the opposition party – the Democrats, in this case, who hold a majority in the House of Representatives but not the Senate. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump along party lines, and the Senate is expected to acquit him also along party lines, though that vote won’t occur until Wednesday, Feb. 5.

Last year, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi  (D-CA) invited President Trump to deliver the SOTU, but then revoked it. There was some speculation as to whether she would do the same again this year. Interestingly enough, while the Constitution requires the State of the Union be delivered to Congress from time to time, it doesn’t have to be in person.

Donald Trump could deliver his address by letter, as presidents have in the past, or even by phone or email, but he won’t. The fact that President Trump intends to deliver the SOTU in person could indicate different things to you, depending on how you feel about him. It could be that he intends to mitigate the negative feelings between the current White House administration and the Democrats in Congress – or perhaps he simply wants to draw some attention away from the impeachment process. Either way, President Trump will address Congress and the nation at 9 p.m. Tuesday night – and the Senate will vote on whether to acquit him or remove him from office the next day.