1. #38926
    Ultimate Member Malvolio's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by achilles View Post
    The state of California has reached a settlement with plaintiffs who wanted the state to stop requiring kids to try to invoke dark Aztec gods as part of ethnic studies, and will pay the plaintiff's legal expenses. Sadly, kids in the future will never experience the joys of summoning a demon who feeds on human hearts in order to kill their enemies like we all did when we were kids.

    I stress this is actually a thing, and that...er....the Aztecs did not live in California, which has many of it's own tribes who must not be good enough or something. Pity, I would have liked to learn about them as a kid.

    Which raises a question I have. When I was in school, we were not taught a single thing about the rich history of this state, which in European terms stretches back to the 1530s or so in what is today San Diego, (bet you didn't think it was that old). Kids in CA have to learn that stuff from Huell Howser, our late lamented informal state cheerleader, bard, and teacher, on PBS. Our history is the stuff of movies and our kids don't get taught it.
    I went to public school in NYC and all we learned about the history of our city was Peter Minuet buying Manhattan from the natives for $24, Peter Stuyvesant being the governor of NY when it was a Dutch colony, and that he had a wooden leg, and then it skips to George Washington being inaugurated in NYC, which was the US capitol at the time. That covers maybe one or two lessons. It wasn't until much later that my g/f's grandmother gave me a book on the history of New York. It was there that I learned that many New Yorkers were neutral during the Civil War, and that during Colonial times, for a term or two, New York City had a crossdressing mayor.
    Watching television is not an activity.

  2. #38927
    Ultimate Member Gray Lensman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malvolio View Post
    I went to public school in NYC and all we learned about the history of our city was Peter Minuet buying Manhattan from the natives for $24, Peter Stuyvesant being the governor of NY when it was a Dutch colony, and that he had a wooden leg, and then it skips to George Washington being inaugurated in NYC, which was the US capitol at the time. That covers maybe one or two lessons. It wasn't until much later that my g/f's grandmother gave me a book on the history of New York. It was there that I learned that many New Yorkers were neutral during the Civil War, and that during Colonial times, for a term or two, New York City had a crossdressing mayor.
    I at least learned stuff about the War of 1812 (helps that one of the pivotal battles is named after the county seat), the Iroquois Confederacy, and some oddities of the American Revolution (like what Benedict Arnold did before turning coat) way up in Clinton County, NY.
    Dark does not mean deep.

  3. #38928
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malvolio View Post
    I went to public school in NYC and all we learned about the history of our city was Peter Minuet buying Manhattan from the natives for $24, Peter Stuyvesant being the governor of NY when it was a Dutch colony, and that he had a wooden leg, and then it skips to George Washington being inaugurated in NYC, which was the US capitol at the time. That covers maybe one or two lessons. It wasn't until much later that my g/f's grandmother gave me a book on the history of New York. It was there that I learned that many New Yorkers were neutral during the Civil War, and that during Colonial times, for a term or two, New York City had a crossdressing mayor.
    We learned nothing at all about our own state or it's history. Not how state government works, nothing. Which is sad and should be fixed. All kids in all states IMO should learn their state's history and workings.

  4. #38929
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    The California Public Utilities commission is trying to eliminate solar power from the state for some reason, but considerably raising taxes, but only on people who have solar o for their homes or battery storage. Basically, they want to tax it out of existence, which is odd since the state is going all in for solar and wind power. Not very green if you ask me. Make it cheaper to power your home by solar and the use of batteries after dark, not more expensive.

  5. #38930
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by achilles View Post
    The California Public Utilities commission is trying to eliminate solar power from the state for some reason, but considerably raising taxes, but only on people who have solar o for their homes or battery storage. Basically, they want to tax it out of existence, which is odd since the state is going all in for solar and wind power. Not very green if you ask me. Make it cheaper to power your home by solar and the use of batteries after dark, not more expensive.
    Sounds like Big Oil might have a hand in what the commission is doing. Can’t think of any other reason that’s happening.
    Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!

  6. #38931
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    It's 2:55 a.m. and I just figured out how Pence massaged the rules of the Electoral College counting session to avoid introducing the "rival" slates of Trump electors.

    These are the instructions VPs have given out at the start in each of the last 5. Note the difference?
    - Jan 7, 2021 - Twitter Link

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  7. #38932
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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  8. #38933
    Marvel's 1st Superhero Reviresco's Avatar
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    Agreed. It's more of the Big Lie fantasies.


    Quote Originally Posted by Jbenito View Post
    I'm glad Raffensperger is investigating this so we can hopefully put accusations to rest for good. Or not.
    Yes, because wasting my tax dollars on ONE more investigation, after already investigating 250+ bogus Big Lie claims of election fraud since November 2021, not to mention, wasting the resources of the GBI, who could be working on something like murders, rapes, human trafficking, or HARASSMENT AGAINST ELECTION OFFICIALS, is what will put this nonsense of the Big Lie to rest for good. SO. TIRED. OF. THIS. CRAP.

    Do you have a link where Raffensperger has actually launched an investigation or this propaganda group True the Vote has actually surrendered any evidence. Because according to this fact check at USA today, this is probably more fabrication by Trump supporters of the Big Lie, as they haven't given the state any evidence to investigate.

    True the Vote has not identified the name of the person who claims he was paid $10 for each ballot he collected and delivered, and the group did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. Raffensperger told The National Desk, “We’re going to have to subpoena 'John Doe' because that’s where the information is” and “no one knows who that person is.”
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...on/9128609002/
    Last edited by Reviresco; 01-17-2022 at 08:08 PM.
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  9. #38934
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Recent polls suggest Democrats are losing support, and Republicans have one of their best approval ratings in decades.

    A new Gallup survey tracked the party affiliations of Americans throughout 2021. In the 1st quarter of the year, Gallup found that 49 percent of America leaned towards the Democrats while 40 percent favored the GOP — giving the Democrats their strongest advantage in the Gallup poll since 2012.

    While the data remained steady for Democrats in the 2nd quarter of 2021, their slice of the electorate went down to 45 percent by the 3rd quarter, while Republicans went up to 44 percent. And by the 4th quarter, Democrats were down to 42 percent while the Republicans overtook them at 47 percent. In all, the poll tracked 14 point negative shift for Democrats through the year.

    “Both the nine-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter and the five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter are among the largest Gallup has measured for each party in any quarter since it began regularly measuring party identification and leaning in 1991,” said Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones. “The GOP has held as much as a five-point advantage in a total of only four quarters since 1991. The Republicans last held a five-point advantage in party identification and leaning in early 1995, after winning control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the 1950s.”
    Jeff Maurer, a former writer at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has suggestions for how Democrats can improve their brand.
    You know what would really help voting rights legislation? A few more Democrats in the Senate. And what would help that happen? Democrats spending less time looking like hyperventilating idiots who are in thrall to our activist base. Quixotic campaigns full of exaggerated rhetoric don’t further progressive causes; they fuel Fox News segments and make it harder for Democrats to win. It would have been nice if we could have delivered a bill on Martin Luther King Day that makes it easier to vote. But, failing that, we should have cut our losses and left ourselves in a better position to pass that bill at some point in the future.
    He notes potential mistakes on messaging with the election reform rules.
    Personally, I think that “we’re making it easier to vote” is a winning message. Voting is a hassle. You have to either get up early on a Tuesday in November (a total non-starter as far as I’m concerned) or ask your boss for time off. Your boss might respond by saying: “Yes! You may go and not be paid for the time that you’re gone.” Voting usually takes place in an elementary school cafeteria, the very place where you became skeptical of the concept of society to begin with. Any sense of grandeur or awe that you might get from participating in the democratic process is undercut by the unmistakable smell of tater tots and overcooked vegetables. I feel like people would be glad to be told: “You can skip that. Vote early, vote by mail, drop it in a drop box — the Democratic Party wants to reduce the duration and intensity of the pain in your ass.”

    Unfortunately, that message was, at best, a secondary message in this fight. The message we chose to go with was basically: “This is exactly the same as Jim Crow and nothing less than the future of democracy is at stake.” To call this argument “overwrought” would be a massive understatement — calling our rhetoric “overwrought” would be like calling Baywatch “a little horny.” Yeah…ya fuckin’ think so?

    The first problem with our argument is that it’s needlessly exclusionary. Instead of talking about voting access as something that affects everyone — which it does — we portrayed it as something that mostly affects Black people. That’s not really accurate; while some provisions (especially in Georgia) appeared to target Black voters, most of the laws states passed sought to decrease turnout by making it harder to vote. These laws affect everyone, not just Black people. For God’s sake: Alaska was one of the states that made voting harder; do people really think that lawmakers were trying to suppress the Black vote in Alaska? If their goal was to keep Black Alaskans away from the polls, they could have just passed the Kevin Is Not Allowed To Vote act and been done with it.

    My second problem with our argument is that we overstated the danger by a factor of about a billion. Instead of making the case for common-sense measures to increase voting access, we acted as though this was the most crucial moment for the republic since Pickett’s Charge. This amounted to a rookie debating mistake: If your argument is sound, don’t overreach and give your opponent something to quibble with.
    Sincerely,
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  10. #38935
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    Can you quote the comment you're responding to?
    Sincerely,
    Thomas Mets

  11. #38936
    Braddock Isle JB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reviresco View Post
    Agreed. It's more of the Big Lie fantasies.


    Yes, because wasting my tax dollars on ONE more investigation, after already investigating 250+ bogus Big Lie claims of election fraud since November 2021, not to mention, wasting the resources of the GBI, who could be working on something like murders, rapes, human trafficking, or HARASSMENT AGAINST ELECTION OFFICIALS, is what will put this nonsense of the Big Lie to rest for good. SO. TIRED. OF. THIS. CRAP.

    Do you have a link where Raffensperger has actually launched an investigation or this propaganda group True the Vote has actually surrendered any evidence. Because according to this fact check at USA today, this is probably more fabrication by Trump supporters of the Big Lie, as they haven't given the state any evidence to investigate.



    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...on/9128609002/
    First of all, I'm simply posting what I read. Don't throw a tantrum at the messenger. Save that for the GA secretary of state because I didn't open an investigation.

    And the answer is in the link you provided, the National Desk. He announced an investigation on a podcast so you can literally hear his voice.
    https://thenationaldesk.com/news/ame...lot-harvesting

    Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who had previously been praised by Democrats for withstanding pressure from former President Donald Trump to recalculate vote totals during the 2020 election, revealed Tuesday there is an active investigation into credible ballot harvesting allegations in the state.

    “We’ve actually prosecuted people for ballot harvesting. I’ve had several cases come before me on the state election board,” Raffensperger said on an episode of the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "So we do have some information and we’re going to investigate that."

    Raffensperger noted, however, that a private firm conducted a “statewide ballot harvesting analysis” regarding the 2020 election, which he said showed no irregularities.

    “But that said, if people give us credible allegations we want to make sure that we [investigate], and we have that right now as an ongoing investigation," he said.
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  12. #38937
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    In one of his last acts as Governor, Ralph Northam pardoned state senator Joe Morrissey for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, with whom Morrissey had a sexual relationship when he was 57.

    https://richmond.com/news/state-and-...a47245f0e.html

    Gov. Ralph Northam has pardoned Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, for a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor related to his relationship with a 17-year-old law firm assistant who later became his wife.

    Morrissey, then a delegate, was convicted in 2014. He and his wife, Myrna, are now raising four children.

    Morrissey said he learned of the pardon on Thursday. Northam granted him what’s called a simple pardon.

    “To say that I was extremely pleased with what the governor did would be, perhaps for me, the understatement of the 2022 General Assembly session,” he said.

    “Most importantly, my wife is grateful,” he said.

    And although their young children don’t understand a pardon yet, they’ll be grateful someday for the governor’s action, Morrissey said.

    Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, was Morrissey’s attorney in his pardon request.

    “A simple pardon doesn’t change any legal consequences associated with a conviction, but I think in a lot of ways it serves as a sort of validation that somebody moved on from the situation that led to the crime at issue and has done a lot to redeem themselves,” Surovell said.

    Morrissey, who was 57 in 2014, entered an Alford plea to the misdemeanor count and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with six months suspended. He was allowed to work as a state delegate from Henrico County through a work release program, spending nights in jail in 2015.

    He lost a bid for mayor of Richmond in 2016. In June 2019, he defeated Sen. Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, in a primary.

    Morrissey, a former Richmond prosecutor and local defense attorney, has been disbarred but now wields significant power as a member of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, often scrutinizing judges, and expresses more independent views than other Senate Democrats.

    His license was previously revoked in 2003, and he won reinstatement in 2012 in a 4-3 decision by the Virginia Supreme Court.
    This does not seem to be a wise pardon.
    Sincerely,
    Thomas Mets

  13. #38938
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mets View Post
    In one of his last acts as Governor, Ralph Northam pardoned state senator Joe Morrissey for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, with whom Morrissey had a sexual relationship when he was 57.

    https://richmond.com/news/state-and-...a47245f0e.html



    This does not seem to be a wise pardon.
    Could be worse. He could have been Arnold, who pardoned a murderer on his exit, because the guy's father was a buddy of his and a bigtime state Assemblyman. That was NOT popular among his former subjects, and cost him a lot of respect.

  14. #38939
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by achilles View Post
    Could be worse. He could have been Arnold, who pardoned a murderer on his exit, because the guy's father was a buddy of his and a bigtime state Assemblyman. That was NOT popular among his former subjects, and cost him a lot of respect.
    From a UK perspective, allowing politicians stepping down to pardon random criminals seems beyond bizarre.

    Isn’t there any keenness in US to cease the practice?

  15. #38940
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    From a UK perspective, allowing politicians stepping down to pardon random criminals seems beyond bizarre.

    Isn’t there any keenness in US to cease the practice?
    Well, I'd sign on to stopping that, but I don't think it's a huge issue, as it only comes up once in a while, so it never seems urgent.

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