Author Topic: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins  (Read 37013 times)

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Offline ironbite

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #210 on: November 28, 2018, 04:12:17 am »
The fact that it was this competitive and this close should be a surprise though.

Ironbite-not that I had any doubts about her winning reelection

Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #211 on: November 30, 2018, 07:03:42 pm »
Meanwhile, Bruce Poliquin, who lost re-election in ME-02 due to Maine's use of Hare (he had a plurality on first preferences but lost when the independent candidates' votes were redistributed) is throwing a hissy fit and trying to have the whole thing thrown out because the system is unconstitutional.

EDIT: Also, the Republicans probably cheated because of course they did, and even the Republicans agreed.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article222436915.html

The North Carolina State Board of Elections, composed of four Democrats, four Republicans, and one Independent, has refused to certify the results of the election for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District as evidence has come to light that Republican campaign volunteers committed voter fraud with absentee and mail-in ballots. The Board's vote was unanimous, 9-0.

Among other acts, the volunteers are alleged to have thrown away ballots marked for Democratic candidate Dan McCready, or to have crossed out McCready's name and written in Republican candidate Mark Harris instead.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2018, 11:56:48 pm by dpareja »
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

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Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline ironbite

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #212 on: December 02, 2018, 03:26:21 pm »
GEE REPUBLICANS COMMITTING VOTER FRAUD TO WIN!?  WHO WOULD'VE THUNK IT!?

Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #213 on: December 02, 2018, 03:34:21 pm »
GEE REPUBLICANS COMMITTING VOTER FRAUD TO WIN!?  WHO WOULD'VE THUNK IT!?

Projection extraordinaire.

EDIT: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/04/republicans-democrats-michigan-wisconsin-voting-midterms
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/wisconsin-repoublicans-weaken-governor-attorney-general-1.4933168

Another form of vote theft: Now that Democrats have won statewide offices in Wisconsin, the outgoing legislature and lame-duck Republican Governor are changing the rules to strip the executive offices of power.

Oh, you voted for something we don't like? That's nice, now we'll change the nature of the position so you effectively voted for something other than what you thought you were voting for. And then we'll point out how the new Governor was unable to get anything done (and not mention that it's because we emasculated him).
« Last Edit: December 05, 2018, 06:59:54 pm by dpareja »
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline Askold

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #214 on: December 06, 2018, 03:11:06 am »
The dude in Wisconsin is at least honest about being a total dickhead. There's an interview where he literally says that they are making the changes because they want to prevent liberal politics being made.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #215 on: December 06, 2018, 03:34:48 am »
The dude in Wisconsin is at least honest about being a total dickhead. There's an interview where he literally says that they are making the changes because they want to prevent liberal politics being made.

They know they don't have to bother to hide it any more. The media never calls them out for it (never mind that states with heavily Democratic legislatures, like Massachusetts, don't do this when the voters elect people like Gov. Baker), and if they didn't try to stop the Democrats their base would get angry at them and they'd lose their primaries, which is more important than the general since they drew the maps so finely after winning in 2010.

In Michigan, meanwhile, the attacks are being made on voter-passed initiatives. (There were a few where they decided to circumvent the voters by passing a law to implement the initiative... then repealing it in the lame-duck. Michigan's rules are such that if the legislature passes the initiative into law before it's voted on, it's not on the ballot, but such a law, if passed by the legislature, can be repealed by a simple majority, but if passed by the voters, requires a three-fourths majority of the legislature to repeal. Hence, stop the people from voting on it entirely and get rid of it later.)

In fact, here's how badly gerrymandered the Wisconsin state districts are: in the State Assembly, Democratic candidates got around 53% of the vote, to about 45% for Republican candidates. Republicans lost one seat from the previous election, dropping from 64 to 63, even though their vote share dropped from 51.7% and the Democratic share rose from 45.5%. (I should note that many Democratic-held districts are not even contested by anyone--of the thirty-six now held by Democrats, one was a flip from 2016, and of the thirty-five they already held, twenty-seven were uncontested, three were contested only by third party candidates, and five were contested by Republicans.)
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline Kanzenkankaku

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #216 on: December 09, 2018, 07:29:53 am »
Gee, only now that a democrat is governor, only now are republicans doing anything resembling the "small government" they have boners for?

Offline DarkPhoenix

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #217 on: December 10, 2018, 02:38:05 pm »
Gee, only now that a democrat is governor, only now are republicans doing anything resembling the "small government" they have boners for?

Because these dickheads have never, ever cared about "small government"; they just want the government to worry about two things: funding the military to invade other countries and forcing everyone to follow Modesty Culture rules?  Otherwise, everything should be left to the "Free Market" (read: rich oligarchs who want even more money)...

Offline Kanzenkankaku

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #218 on: December 16, 2018, 04:34:46 am »
Gee, only now that a democrat is governor, only now are republicans doing anything resembling the "small government" they have boners for?

Because these dickheads have never, ever cared about "small government"; they just want the government to worry about two things: funding the military to invade other countries and forcing everyone to follow Modesty Culture rules?  Otherwise, everything should be left to the "Free Market" (read: rich oligarchs who want even more money)...

Yeah that's the point. They don't care about small government and I was making fun of that fact.

Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #219 on: January 05, 2019, 06:57:18 am »
On the list of "small things you don't always notice":

Martha McSally, who just lost to Kyrsten Sinema for US Senator from Arizona, gets to be a Senator anyway.

Jon Kyl (former Senator from Arizona, appointed again to replace John McCain) stepped down a while ago and Doug Ducey, the Republican Governor, appointed McSally to serve until the seat can be filled in a special election in 2020. (Of course, Sinema gets to serve through 2024.)

Thing is, McSally was probably the least bad choice--replacing McCain by appointment was always going to be a tall order, and choosing Kyl was the least bad choice (being the state's only living former Senator) and as for McSally, Kyl had to be replaced by a Republican (by state law, I believe, never mind Ducey's political affiliation), and she'd just won the Republican primary for Senate and the general was close--less than three percentage points separated the two and Sinema did not win an outright majority.

On a lighter note, though, Sinema's victory did mean that a homophobic bigot and evangelical Christian had to swear in a bisexual atheist on a law book.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline tygerarmy

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #220 on: January 06, 2019, 02:44:29 am »
On a lighter note, though, Sinema's victory did mean that a homophobic bigot and evangelical Christian had to swear in a bisexual atheist on a law book.

I saw this all over Facebook, that's awesome.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #221 on: January 06, 2019, 03:50:06 am »
On a lighter note, though, Sinema's victory did mean that a homophobic bigot and evangelical Christian had to swear in a bisexual atheist on a law book.

I saw this all over Facebook, that's awesome.

Well, she's only "religiously unaffiliated", so it's possible she's not actually an atheist, but... Personally I want to see someone use a copy of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. (Or, better, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.) Sen. Sinema chose the book, I believe, because it contained both the Arizona and US Constitutions.

Meanwhile, the right wing melted down when Rep. Tlaib (D-MI) was sworn in on a Qu'ran (she was going to use Jefferson's, as Rep. Ellison had, but used her own instead) in traditional Palestinian dress (hand-woven by her mother).

And then they melted down some more when Tlaib gave a speech shortly thereafter and said that they would "impeach the motherfucker". (Plus she supports BDS--which you'd think would be understandable, since she's Palestinian.)

And then they melted down even more because Rep. Omar (D-MN), who swore her oath of office on her grandfather's Qu'ran, was allowed to wear a hijab on the floor.

I saw almost nothing about Rep. Haaland (D-NM) wearing traditional Pueblo dress to be sworn in.

The Republican caucus, on the other hand, was largely white guys in suits. (Most of whom should be in jail, if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is to be believed regarding how stringently they adhere even to what remains of campaign finance law in the US.)

Brings to mind a bit from Clement Attlee (part of his response to Churchill's speech in the 1945 election about how a "Socialist government" would have to use "some form of Gestapo"; I've found Churchill's speech in full but not Attlee's):

Quote
The Prime Minister made much play last night with the rights of the individual and the dangers of people being ordered about by officials. I entirely agree that people should have the greatest freedom compatible with the freedom of others. There was a time when employers were free to work little children for sixteen hours a day. I remember when employers were free to employ sweated women workers on finishing trousers at a penny halfpenny a pair. There was a time when people were free to neglect sanitation so that thousands died of preventable diseases. For years every attempt to remedy these crying evils was blocked by the same plea of freedom for the individual. It was in fact freedom for the rich and slavery for the poor. Make no mistake, it has only been through the power of the State, given to it by Parliament, that the general public has been protected against the greed of ruthless profit-makers and property owners. The Conservative Party remains as always a class Party. In twenty-three years in the House of Commons, I cannot recall more than half a dozen from the ranks of the wage earners. It represents today, as in the past, the forces of property and privilege. The Labour Party is, in fact, the one Party which most nearly reflects in its representation and composition all the main streams which flow into the great river of our national life.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.

Offline ironbite

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #222 on: January 06, 2019, 04:46:11 pm »
And AOC is proving what a badass she is by floating sensible ideas on how to finance a Green New Deal.

Ironbite-and the Right Wing melts down.

Offline Eiki-mun

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #223 on: January 06, 2019, 06:11:45 pm »
And AOC is proving what a badass she is by floating sensible ideas on how to finance a Green New Deal.

Ironbite-and the Right Wing melts down.

Paul Krugman has a great article on that:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/opinion/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tax-policy-dance.html

An excerpt:

Quote
The controversy of the moment involves AOC’s advocacy of a tax rate of 70-80 percent on very high incomes, which is obviously crazy, right? I mean, who thinks that makes sense? Only ignorant people like … um, Peter Diamond, Nobel laureate in economics and arguably the world’s leading expert on public finance. (Although Republicans blocked him from an appointment to the Federal Reserve Board with claims that he was unqualified. Really.) And it’s a policy nobody has ever implemented, aside from … the United States, for 35 years after World War II — including the most successful period of economic growth in our history.

To be more specific, Diamond, in work with Emmanuel Saez — one of our leading experts on inequality — estimated the optimal top tax rate to be 73 percent. Some put it higher: Christina Romer, top macroeconomist and former head of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, estimates it at more than 80 percent.
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Offline dpareja

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Re: The lead-up to the 2018 midterms begins
« Reply #224 on: January 06, 2019, 07:06:06 pm »
The proper marginal rates on the top brackets probably depends on precisely where you draw the income thresholds for the high brackets. (For instance, you'd want the top marginal rate to be lower if it starts at five million than if it starts at ten million.) IIRC the effective rate for those top earners was around 45% back in the 35-year post-WWII period Krugman mentioned.
Quote from: Jordan Duram
It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

Quote from: Supreme Court of Canada
Being required by someone else’s religious beliefs to behave contrary to one’s sexual identity is degrading and disrespectful.