Discussion for article #230512
Fucking crooks.
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So were their actions felonious? Is anyone going to jail?
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Bet this never makes the MSM news. Sigh.
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The entire political system is in need of adult, non-partisan supervision.
But I am putting my money on ISIL and Mossad vacationing together as a more likely event.
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Reduce the partisan influence on determining Congressional districts by overlaying each state with a square or hexagonal grid of predetermined size. Combine adjacent only squares or hexagons to equalize the population in each district. Let the voters fall where they may.
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Serious question…how do we stop this
Supreme Court…but sadly…not the current one.
They believe that such actions just don’t exist any more. That’s why they gutted the voting rights act…
…and in Texas, just as soon as they did, the state put back into place a plan that a judge had ruled was blatantly drawn to disenfranchise Hispanics. And there were audio tapes of legislators bargaining over how to do it.
Just like Citizens United, if Justice Kennedy says it doesn’t exist or it could not happen, no amount of clear evidence that he is wrong will effect any meaningful change.
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Excellent question! There is no answer to it, either. Neither the Dems nor the Repubs have the inclination to actually follow through in establishing uniform rules by which every single state draws its congressional boundaries. Both sides benefit by the implementation and continuation of the status quo.Neither side will step aside to let a 3rd party do it, either. The ONLY way to achieve fair and honest elections is for the American People to (somehow, hopefully without violence) FORCE Congress to reelvaluate how elections are conducted. Republicans are currently considering changes to the manner in which the Electoral College distributes its votes for the President, too.
It’s one of my pet peeves with our democracy that it is absolutely impossible to make any changes to the way our government functions. Part of that is essential (checks and balances between the three branches). But, as we’re currently witnessing, it could be reputably argued that each branch of our government is actively engaged in the destruction of our democracy by preventing any analysis, study, or attempts at changing BAU. The Tea Party, to their credit, is very (insanely) engaged in trying to make this happen. They’re doing it for all the wrong reasons, and they’re attempting to further destroy our democracy, but they are actively trying to change BAU.
Unfortunately, throughout the history of human civilization, significant changes only occur after decades of suppression and abuse by those in power onto the populace. Those abuses push the populace over the edge, and there’s a revolution that achieves what the public actually wants. The only exception to this that partly defies this history is Thailand. Military Coups in Thailand are quite routine. There is a Monarchy, which is always preserved, but the democratic function of their government often goes too far off in one direction that requires correction by the military. They restore order. A reorganized government is established, and business goes on. This happens so frequently that the Thai public actually thinks very little of it when it occurs. This correction in the form and function and business of their government is expected, tolerated, and even counted on to make things right by the people of Thailand. Rarely is there a violent uprising against the Thai government.
Wasn’t it Thomas Jefferson who wrote that a revolution for a functional democracy was necessary, and even a good idea, every 30 or 40 years?
Just to be clear, i am not, in any way, advocating for a revolution, but only for some sane way in which to change some of the stupid, but legal detriments to our democracy.
Congressional districts should be drawn by a mathematical formula of creating rectangles with equal population from one side of the map to another.
If that causes some small towns to be in two Congressional districts, that’s still better than the current system. Because under the current system, people’s voting power is intentionally weakened for an unrepresentative result.
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“It’s important to remember, as the Miami Herald pointed out, that the emails do not show evidence that consultants directly influenced lawmakers to evade the state’s gerrymandering ban.”
Do they really think we are stupid enough to believe that?
OF COURSE THEY INFLUENCED THE OUTCOME OF THAT GERRYMANDERING WITH THESE SLEAZY TACTICS!!!
LOOK HOW IT TURNED OUT!!!
You would have to be brain dead not to make that leap of simple logic.
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I find it odd that in normal criminal court, circumstantial evidence is as valid as any other type, yet in politics we go out of our way to say “there is no evidence that X did exactly Y” - when it is incredibly clear that it happened when you look at the circumstantial evidence.
There is no reasonable conclusion even without these emails that doesn’t make it clear that Gerrymandering is an attempt to marginalize some voters.
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“Now, newly released emails published Sunday shed light on the lengths
those political consultants went to tweak the state’s congressional
districts in favor of the GOP despite a gerrymandering ban.”
A gerrymandering ban eh? Well that never stopped the GOP before.
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One thing that as a Floridian I think it is important to note.
The law against gerrymandering is NOT a product of the legislature,
either GOP or Democratic. The Florida constitution has a funny little
quirk: the citizens can add an amendment without going through the
legislature. They have to gather a certain number of signatures supporting
the amendment and the amendment goes on the ballot. That’s how
the marijuana amendment got on the ballot. The gerrymandering
amendment was approved by the voters and became law even though
politicians lobbied greatly against it.
It’s a strange little quirk and has caused some rather silly and undoable
amendments to the constitution that have had to be voted off after
folks recognized their absurdity but it has also added some great
ones, including the gerrymandering amendment. This was the first
congressional election held since the law took effect and I’m glad to see
that it is having an effect. The legislature usually finds a way to
sabotage the amendments it doesn’t like, such as failing to fund them.
Thank goodness for Judge Lewis!
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Yes, please.
That may cause issues as well (though I don’t know what they might be) but I can’t see any other way of getting politics out of this process.
And that’s is really something needed.
Sad, isn’t it, that Anthony Kennedy may be the single most powerful person in America?
An appointed, lifetime position no less. Kind of seems like a monarchy, doesn’t it?
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Yes.
Yes, they do think we are all stupid enough to believe that.
On the other hand, they probably don’t really care either way. I’m reminded of the old SNL bit with Lily Tomlin playing the Ma Bell operator…we don’t care…we don’t have to.
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For fear of a black president, a democracy was lost.
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Cheaters cheating, while real voters are locked out… and a few POTENTIAL fake Ballots is the big problem?
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Haha. You must be a youngster. The guilty are never punished.
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