1. #29761

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    It was on this date in 2015 that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Troy Mader, a former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives who after being appointed to his position, garnered the attention of the media after he complained too much about “dangerous” animals on the endangered species list, and they found essays he wrote online where he compared environmentalists to Hitler wanting to commit genocide. A few other reporters noted that his own country and music CD featured a rant in the insert where most give thanks to their bandmates featured complaints about how society has too much tolerance nowadays, and before long, reporters dug up a copy of a book Mader wrote back in 1987 where he reported false information about the spread of HIV and AIDS, and claimed that homosexuals willfully spread the HIV virus and want to have sex with children. Not surprisingly, in his first primary campaign to win office, Mader was defeated, and rebuffed by the voters of his district.


    In both 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the current U.S. House Representative from Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, Blaine Luetkemeyer, who has sponsored legislation to try and deregulate community banks altogether, and to enable the payday loan industry to undertake some of the most predatory practices outside of the mafia, in terms of radical loan interest rates. Hell, he introduced legislation back in 2014 that would have made it easier for payday lenders to launder money (Gee, call me crazy, but I don’t think the average voter in his district wanted him to put effort towards something like that). And for most of his four terms in office, Rep. Luetkemeyer kept his mouth shut, his head down, and didn’t make much in the way of headlines. He broke that streak in a big way, though, in March 2016, when he chimed in about Senator Elizabeth Warren, a notorious thorn in the side of Wall Street executives, in less-than-flattering, terms that show he has trouble using simile and metaphor. You see, he referred to Sen. Warren as “the Darth Vader of the financial services world”, and added that Wall Street should “find a way to neuter her.

    All right, first off, someone who stands up to big banks is hardly a Darth Vader, as he was all about crushing a rebellion, not the empire. Second, she’s a lady, and ladies don’t get neutered, look it up if you’re having trouble with female anatomy, Blaine. Third, I don’t need to defend Elizabeth Warren, because she responded and sufficiently handed Luetkemeyer his own ass on a plate, with her kindest remark being that the former bank regulator (who didn’t regulate banks so well) was “a Wall Street Yes-man”. Elizabeth Warren is not the only female lawmaker who Luetkemeyer has ever taken issue with, though, as he was frequently seen campaigning with “Fire Pelosi” signs during the Tea Party Wave in 2010. (It’s almost like he has a problem with women in authority, or something.)

    So other than Blaine Luetkemeyer having a huge hard-on for big money interests and seems turned off by the idea of women having equal rights. But his whole voting record is pretty much garbage, including votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, for bans on abortion at 20 weeks (including ones without exceptions for rape or incest), two votes to defund Planned Parenthood, votes against Dodd-Frank or regulations upon the oil industry after the Deepwater Horizon spill, votes against raising the debt ceiling (which would have collapsed the global economy), voting for not just the 2013 Government Shutdown, but voted to keep it closed rather than reopen it, votes against LGBT rights such as hate crime protections or anti-discrimination protections, and oh yeah… a vote for every attempt to repeal the successful Affordable Care Act.

    For whatever reason, Luetkemeyer does not seem to ever develop a reputation as a stooge for the 1%, and his district s re-elected him in the 2020 elections with 69% of the vote. That’s probably because in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, Missouri’s 3rd District has a +13 Republican lean. Back in Washington for a seventh term, Luetkemeyer has jumped right back on the leash his corporate banking supporters keep him on:



    Blaine Luetkemeyer never stops thinking with his wallet, as evidenced only a couple weeks ago when he tried gaslighting everyone on Twitter by claiming that keeping children out of school classrooms together during the Covid-19 pandemic until they can be safely vaccinated is somehow “harmful to students’ health”, before he immediately gave the game away and said that it was also that “the economy could feel the affect of school closures for years to come.

    Don’t get it twisted, this man gives f*** all about the health of children and all about his and his pals’ stock portfolios. So f*** him.
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  2. #29762
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Despite his statewide loss, Donald Trump carried 31 Senate seats to Biden's 25, as well as 94 House districts compared to 86 for Biden. That divergence between the statewide outcomes and the legislative results is only one way, however, to illustrate the power of the GOP's gerrymanders—and how tough it would have been for Democrats to have flipped either chamber under these maps.
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/202...than-the-state

  3. #29763
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    Queen Elizabeth II insisted on cutting a cake using a ceremonial sword at an event on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

    When told there was a knife available instead, the monarch replied, “I know there is! This is something that is more unusual.”
    Unfortunately, she used the sword upside down. Guess she'll never rank very high among the sword-wielding Royals of reality or fiction. But I like her willingness to think outside the box.
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  4. #29764

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    Queen Elizabeth II insisted on cutting a cake using a ceremonial sword at an event on the sidelines of the G7 summit.



    Unfortunately, she used the sword upside down. Guess she'll never rank very high among the sword-wielding Royals of reality or fiction. But I like her willingness to think outside the box.
    "I'm a ninety-something monarch, peasant, don't tell me what I can and can't cut a cake with. Lizzie Dos FTW!" *chop*
    Last edited by worstblogever; 06-12-2021 at 06:36 AM.
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  5. #29765
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    Queen Elizabeth II insisted on cutting a cake using a ceremonial sword at an event on the sidelines of the G7 summit.



    Unfortunately, she used the sword upside down. Guess she'll never rank very high among the sword-wielding Royals of reality or fiction. But I like her willingness to think outside the box.
    Other world leaders will remember that more.

    How much of this is the result of geographic sorting, and how much of this is the result of traditional gerrymandering, intentionally drawing districts to diminish the Democratic vote.

    Democrats tend to tend to live in highly densely populated regions, so they'll dominate in Atlanta, Macon, Columbus and Augusta.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...t-suburbs.html

    Republicans did also get a higher percentage of the vote in the state legislative races, an indication that Trump is a weaker than usual candidate and/ or that Biden is stronger than usual. Republicans won the popular vote for the Georgia state senate 54.58% to 45.42%, and the Georgia state house 51.31% to 48.66%.

    Quote Originally Posted by Farealmer View Post
    This thread has been going long enough that peoples birth years are going to be page numbers.
    Depends on how you measure it. I've got it set up to be 40 posts a page, but it may get there soon enough, even for me.

    Quote Originally Posted by worstblogever View Post
    A second Trump administration.

    Got any other questions with answers that are easy to predict?
    I don't think the answer is easy to predict. Different people may have different responses. One thing I've realized on the forum is the way that people who have broadly similar views can often have very different answers on a specific question. A mistake people often make in political discussions is to assume that everyone else has the same perspective they do.

    You may think the first term of the Trump administration was full-blown fascism, and others may think that while it was bad, it wasn't quite on that level. It seems to be an interpretation on which reasonable people can disagree, so it would still be worth considering how it met the definition, and where someone else could draw the line.
    Sincerely,
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  6. #29766

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mets View Post
    I don't think the answer is easy to predict. Different people may have different responses. One thing I've realized on the forum is the way that people who have broadly similar views can often have very different answers on a specific question. A mistake people often make in political discussions is to assume that everyone else has the same perspective they do.

    You may think the first term of the Trump administration was full-blown fascism, and others may think that while it was bad, it wasn't quite on that level. It seems to be an interpretation on which reasonable people can disagree, so it would still be worth considering how it met the definition, and where someone else could draw the line.
    Do you have to keep your hands over your eyes, do you just shut the lids, or do you have your head buried in the sand or somewhere else to miss things like, oh, the story currently being investigated about Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to investigate his political opponents to the extent of seeking the communications of the teenage children of those members of Congress?

    If you don't identify that as fascism, or say, Lafayette Park being cleared for a photo op with a Bible, or any of the other signs, you might as well be goose-stepping yourself.

    Not that you have a pattern of also making excuses for outright white nationalists on this forum, as well. Can't tell if you're lying harder to the rest of us about what values you have, or just yourself at this point.
    Last edited by worstblogever; 06-12-2021 at 06:43 AM.
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  7. #29767
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mets View Post
    How much of this is the result of geographic sorting, and how much of this is the result of traditional gerrymandering, intentionally drawing districts to diminish the Democratic vote.

    Democrats tend to tend to live in highly densely populated regions, so they'll dominate in Atlanta, Macon, Columbus and Augusta.
    Pretty much any time anyone mentions the pernicious impact of gerrymandering, Mets runs to 'geographic sorting' as his go-to excuse for why it's not a big deal.

    The party that wins the popular vote in a state *should* have a larger share of the House and Senate. That's how it's supposed to work. Weirdly, lines are drawn in a lot of states to make sure that doesn't happen, using excuses like 'geographic sorting' to help cover up the nakedly unrepresentative nature of the legislative bodies.
    Last edited by Tendrin; 06-12-2021 at 07:15 AM.

  8. #29768

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    Pretty much any time anyone mentions the pernicious impact of gerrymandering, Mets runs to 'geographic sorting' as his go-to excuse for why it's not a big deal.

    The party that wins the popular vote in a state *should* have a larger share of the House and Senate. That's how it's supposed to work. Weirdly, lines are drawn in a lot of states to make sure that doesn't happen, using excuses like 'geographic sorting' to help cover up the nakedly unrepresentative nature of the legislative bodies.
    Gaslighting, per usual.

    We literally had a Republican who did the gerrymandering drop dead, and his daughter give his notes to the press, and yet, and YET, Mets wants us to believe it's just a matter of "geographical sorting" and not a deliberate plan to steal power that isn't representative of our populace's will in a true democracy.
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  9. #29769
    I am invenitable Jack Dracula's Avatar
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    I'm of the opinion that if gerrymandering had no benefit, Republicans wouldn't be doing it.
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  10. #29770
    Mighty Member TheDarman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChadH View Post
    I'm of the opinion that if gerrymandering had no benefit, Republicans wouldn't be doing it.
    How many of these districts reflect the county map to the best degree possible? Are they really compact? Is it really contiguous to form a district connected by a highway?

    In addition, Democrats aren’t the only ones who geographically sort. Republicans are usually stacked in rural areas and the suburban areas have become increasingly competitive during the Trump era. There really is no reason to expect Republicans to outpace their House margins with their share of seats nationwide by almost three percent.
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  11. #29771
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChadH View Post
    I'm of the opinion that if gerrymandering had no benefit, Republicans wouldn't be doing it.
    A Wisconsin State Journal analysis of unofficial vote totals in Wisconsin legislative races Tuesday shows that Democratic candidates received 46% of total votes cast in state Assembly races, but ended up with only 38 of 99 seats after winning two new districts. In state Senate races, Democratic candidates secured about 47% of total votes, but only picked up 38% of the seats on the ballot and now control only 12 of 33 seats.

    Results are considered preliminary until officially canvassed, and The Associated Press has not called all state legislative races yet. The data does not include write-in votes.

    “When people are denying the existence of a very effective gerrymander in Wisconsin, they’re basically asking us to deny what we can see with our own two eyes,” said Anthony Chergosky, UW-La Crosse assistant professor of political science. “You look at the maps, you look at the statistics, you look at the voting patterns, you look at the discrepancy between the popular vote and the number of seats won, and it’s plain as day that this was not just a gerrymandered map, but a very effective one.”
    https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/g...4e7897652.html

    This is not sustainable. For all the carping about how rural white voters are 'unheard', they are deeply overrepresented at state levels across the country due to Republican gerrymandering. So many voters in urban areas go 'unheard', and have their voices and needs ignored in order to pander to these voters due to gerrymandering. It's vile.

  12. #29772
    Mighty Member TheDarman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/g...4e7897652.html

    This is not sustainable. For all the carping about how rural white voters are 'unheard', they are deeply overrepresented at state levels across the country due to Republican gerrymandering. So many voters in urban areas go 'unheard', and have their voices and needs ignored in order to pander to these voters due to gerrymandering. It's vile.
    I’ve always been of the opinion that some discrepancies between statewide vote share and seat allocation is expectable given the system. However, anything beyond 1-2% becomes incredibly suspect and suggests a routine disenfranchisement of voters and their voices. The fact that it regularly reaches 10-15% off in states like Georgia and Wisconsin is truly vile.
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    I am invenitable Jack Dracula's Avatar
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    Setting aside whether gerrymandering is actually effective, the fact that Republicans are willing to game the system and disenfranchise voters simply to gain an upper hand demonstrates their level of ethical decay.

    I'm deeply troubled by this double-play of gerrymandering and multi-state voter suppression and where it'll lead if unchecked.
    Last edited by Jack Dracula; 06-12-2021 at 10:37 AM.
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  14. #29774
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    13 injured in downtown Austin shooting early Saturday; police still searching for suspect

    Authorities have zeroed in on two suspects involved in the overnight mass shooting that left at least 13 people wounded, law enforcement sources confirmed to the Statesman and KVUE-TV.

    Investigators were working shortly after noon to confirmed their identities and getting them into custody, the sources said.

    Up to 13 people were shot early Saturday in downtown Austin in a chaotic scene that left Austin police officers taking some of the wounded in police cars to the hospital.

    The shooter or shooters remain at large, and detectives were working rapidly to view an array of video gathered by bystanders and other cameras near the scene in the 400 block of East Sixth Street to identify any suspects. Authorities say the shooter appears to have fired randomly.
    Austin-Travis County EMS medics responded at 1:25 a.m. to what they described as an "active attack." Medics took four people to the hospital by ambulance, Austin police took six others to the hospital and three were taken by private vehicle, EMS officials said.

    "It was very difficult to contain the scene, it was very difficult for EMS to make their way into this crowd," interim Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon said. "And because of the nature of the injuries, officers had to go ahead and use their police vehicles to put some of these shooting victims into their vehicles and transport them themselves."
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  15. #29775
    Invincible Member numberthirty's Avatar
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    While I get the entire "Gerrymandering Is An Issue That Really Needs To Be Addressed..." angle?

    J.B. Pritzker ran on that very thing. It was a lot of why I voted for him.

    What just wound up happening?

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