General politics thread (was: General U.S. politics thread)

glennmagusharvey

http://lohud.nydatabases.com/database/troubled-ny-lawmakers

A list of all New York state legislators who've had legal or ethical problems since 2000.  Many involve corruption, though a few involve other things such as driving drunk.

Some of them are particularly fun, in strange ways, such as Malcolm Smith, a former Democratic Senate majority leader who "was charged in April 2013 with conspiracy, extortion and wire fraud as
part of a bribery scheme to petition his way on the Republican ballot
for the New York City mayoral race."  (my emphasis)

At 39 in 15 years, that's more than two a year.  Impressive.

glennmagusharvey

So apparently some person in Dallas Fort Worth decided to troll the local Muslim community put on an exhibition and art contest of parodies of the prophet Muhammad.  In response, said local Muslim community decided to no-sell the trolling and ignore the bait.  An imam interviewed on NPR said that he was playing football with his children in the park and totally forgot about the event until someone texted him about it.

lrdgck

There was that shooting stuff, wasn't it?

glennmagusharvey

Oh, I actually missed the first part of that story.  D'oh.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/04/why-a-woman-named-pamela-geller-organized-a-prophet-muhammad-cartoon-contest/

Yeah, looks like the police don't know who they were yet, but she already attributes them to the ideological war she wants to wage so badly.

InsanityAddict

Turns out it's ISIS: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/prophet-muhammad-cartoon-shooting-isis-claims-responsibility-1.3061250

My money's on pragmatism: the Daesh want their boys to all come to the Caliphate, but I suppose aligning yourself with a few fucks who want to go out guns blazing and follow you on Twatter is always good recruiting material. 

glennmagusharvey

So it is them.

Good to know that they were being stupid fucks, and were also attempting to mess with other people being stupid fucks and failed to do so.

fourteenwings

New Republicans enter the battlefied!:

Anti-Hillary (whose name I haven't bothered to learn) will surely be the most hilarious token female Republican candidate so far. Balancing that we have an actually bad person (Ben Carson) you should never let lead anything (Aside from the usual stuff about climate change and the fact that he is literally crazy there's what he said about gay people, also he let Cuba Gooding Jr. play him in a movie once).

Noimporta

I have a hard time calling someone who has dedicated their lives to saving others, and even made important breakthroughs towards this goal and "actual bad person" so resolutely.

lrdgck

Yes, but... Cuba Gooding, mate.

Noimporta

Jerry Maguire is a masterpiece, and I'll fight anyone who disagrees to the death.

glennmagusharvey

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/10/apologetic-georgia-principal-blames-the-devil-for-racist-remark-at-graduation-ceremony/

...and then her son goes on Facebook, and adds more flowery language to the fire.

glennmagusharvey

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/senate-reverses-course-and-advances-tpp-fast-track-bill

well

fuck

glennmagusharvey

http://images.dailykos.com/i/user/303419/NC_map.html

what

what

what is this bullshit

not one, not two, but THREE locations where there's essentially touch-point contiguity -- where what contiguity there is is dependent on the fact that a road or a river has width and is not an arealess curve

glennmagusharvey

(source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/15/1392715/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Live-Digest-6-15 )

9:33 AM PT (Jeff Singer): CA-31: Back in April, we heard rumors that former Democratic Rep. Joe Baca would switch parties and face freshman Democrat Pete Aguilar as a Republican. Well, Baca registered as a Republican
at the beginning of the month, and he says that he'd consider another
bid for office. The head of the San Bernardino County GOP sounds excited
about having Baca onboard, saying he'd like the former congressman to
"participate at any level he’d like to."

Baca didn't specify any particular office or even mention Aguilar.
Still, if Baca runs, he's going to have his work cut out for him. While
Aguilar only narrowly won last year, this Redlands-area seat is much
more friendly for Team Blue in presidential years. Baca's recent
electoral history (albeit as a Democrat) isn't exactly anything to write
home about either. After redistricting split his old seat in 2012, Baca
ran for the new CA-35 and surprisingly lost to fellow Democrat Gloria Negrete McLeod 56-44. Baca ran for CA-31 last year and took fifth place in the top-two primary with only 11 percent. Baca raised little money and only got any real attention after he called Negrete McLeod a "bimbo." Baca then found time to lose a race for mayor on Fontana (which is located back in CA-35) 61-19 that November.

It also wouldn't help Baca that Paul Chabot, the Republican who
narrowly lost to Aguilar last year, is seeking a rematch. Chabot
probably wouldn't hesitate to remind voters that while Baca was a
conservative Democrat, he was still a Democrat. Or he can just read from
Baca's website, which has yet to be
updated to reflect his new party: "Former Congressman Joe Baca was the
only Member of Congress from the Inland Empire who stood with President
Obama's Stimulus Package and Affordable Care and Patient Protection
Act." I doubt Republican primary voters will appreciate that.

I think I hear this guy mentioned in this video.  Do you?

lrdgck

You know what, I expected you guys to be a little more enthusiastic over that recent US court gay marriage ruling.

fourteenwings

#ijbm was, at least.

Stormtroper

^^ So did I. Although I don't think we have many USers, do we? I can only think of Glenn.

lrdgck

Perhaps he didn't want to spoil the thread with positivity. But really, don't we have others? (edit: meant people, but threads is fine too.)

Stormtroper

Is Bee from the US? I can't remember.

Nyktos

He is.

glennmagusharvey

I did tune into the radio just to see the reaction to that.

Though I also tuned in to see if there were other SCOTUS rulings, actually.

Like the other day when there were two rulings, one on the Affordable Care Act and the other (I think?) on low-income housing or something.

There's another ruling that election junkies are on the edges of their seats waiting for and that's because it's on a case regarding redistricting.

glennmagusharvey

Supreme Court upholds Arizona's independent redistricting commission, dealing blow to Republicans

WOOHOO

Republican state legislators contended that the word "legislature" means
the literal representative legislature, which would preclude the voters
themselves from directly instituting rules that would determine the
electoral rules. Legal scholars are divided over the issue, but some of
them gave very compelling reasons
to agree with the defendants. They argue that the concept of the
legislature also encompasses the electorate itself, saying the term does
not refer to a specific representative body but rather to those who are
empowered to make laws. In a state that permits citizens to put forth
ballot initiative like Arizona, this means the voters themselves, and
the Supreme Court agreed with this interpretation.

FYI, Arizona has an independent redistricting commission that was created by ballot proposition in 2000:

The AIRC was created when voters approved Proposition 106 in 2000, 56.1
percent to 43.9 percent. Proposition 106 amended the Arizona
Constitution to create a bipartisan commission independent of the state
legislature that would be tasked with redrawing congressional and
legislative lines following the decennial census.

Thus, at issue at the Supreme Court was the following clause of the U.S. Constitution:

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections
for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed
in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Con
gress may at any time by Law make or alter such
Regulations . . . .” Art. I, §4, cl. 1.

Specifically, whether "Legislature" means solely the body of elected officials who happen to be in power at the time, or the broader electorate as a whole that has direct lawmaking authority.  In the case of a state that lets citizens do things like ballot initiatives, the term "Legislature" could refer to the entire population of the state's citizens, and it seems that that was upheld here.

Looking through the decision briefly, I noticed an amusing bit of flaming.

Curiously, JUSTICE  SCALIA, dissenting on standing, berates the Court for “treading upon the powers of state legislatures.”  He forgets that the party invoking federal-court jurisdiction in this case, and inviting our review, is the Arizona State Legislature.

(Take that!)

Bee

Stormtroper wrote: »

Is Bee from the US? I can't remember.

Yes.  What I wasn't, was on IJBM this past week.

About time, etc.

glennmagusharvey

Back in 2013, Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes made headlines when he tried to
convince the NRCC not to support Richard Tisei or Carl DeMaio because they were gay.
The NRCC didn't listen and spent on both men, though they ended up
losing anyway. Now New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett is the one taking up
the no gays allowed cause, but with a new twist. Politico reports that
Garrett is refusing to pay his dues to the NRCC
because they've recruited and supported gay candidates, and he even
told his caucus that he's declined to send the NRCC money in past years
for this very reason.

The NRCC and Garrett have reached a compromise. Garrett will donate
to the group's building and recount efforts, but not to the NRCC
directly. But this isn't the first time Garrett has locked horns with
his party's leadership: Back in January, he refused to vote for John
Boehner in the speakership race. But while Forbes could get away with
his behavior without any real electoral consequences, Garrett may not be
so lucky. Garrett represents a northern New Jersey seat that only voted
for Romney by a 51-48 margin, and he faces a credible challenge from former Clinton aide Josh Gottheimer.

This whole thing is probably too inside baseball to influence voters,
but Boehner and the NRCC aren't going to forget Garrett's stunts. If
Garrett needs help next year, the GOP establishment will need to decide
if they want to dump money to air ads on ultra-expensive New York City
television to aid someone they don't like, or if it's better to spend
that money elsewhere and let Garrett twist. The NRCC has already effectively abandoned
Iowa's Rod Blum for his disloyalty, so they're quite willing to punish
members if they don't think it will put their majority at risk. Of
course, it's far from guaranteed that Garrett will be in real danger
next year and even if he is, the GOP may decide that it's better to put
up with him than risk a Gottheimer victory. We'll just need to see.

sauce: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/16/1402969/-New-Jersey-congressman-to-NRCC-You-fund-gay-Republicans-so-I-won-t-fund-you

FYI, as the blurb observes, Scott Garrett is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 5th district of New Jersey, the state's northernmost district and one basically located next to New York City.  It seems to be "mostly rural" geographically but have its population core close to the city, making it weakly Republican on the presidential level.  As the article also notes, the New York City media market is a major city media market with quite expensive TV advertising rates.

glennmagusharvey

Whoa.

3:19 PM PT (David Nir): Voting: This is a great idea. California's Democratic-controlled legislature is about to pass a measure that would consolidate many local elections with state elections, in order to help boost turnout. Here's how the law
would work: Starting in 2018, if voter turnout in a given "political
subdivision" (such as a city or a school board) is less than a quarter
of the average turnout for that same subdivision in the last four
statewide general elections, then that jurisdiction will be required to
hold any future elections at the same time as the state does.

This is awesome because it would undoubtedly boost voter turnout, so
of course Democrats were in favor of the legislation while Republicans
mostly opposed it. What's more, if it's successful, California could
serve as a model for other states that face pitiful turnout in local
elections (which is basically almost all of them). The Senate and
Assembly have both passed slightly different versions of the law, so
once those differences are ironed out, the bill will go to Democratic
Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. He doesn't seem to have said
anything publicly about it whether he supports the idea, but it would be
a shame if he killed it.

Soiurce: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/20/1403188/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Live-Digest-7-20

glennmagusharvey

A person who appears to be almost completely unknown to the political scene seems to have won the nomination of the Democratic Party to run in the general election for the governorship of Mississippi.  A truck driver and retired firefighter named Robert Gray took 51% against two opponents (who took about 30% and 20% each), not only defeating them but averting a runoff (because >50%).  Gray appears to have spent no money on his campaign so far.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2015/aug/05/robert-gray-truck-drivers-seat-challenge-gov-phil-/

This will be interesting.

glennmagusharvey

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/08/05/dem-nominee-governor-wins-spite/31194069/

Well, he seems like a nice person.  Also at least coherent and conscious of the fact that he's running a campaign.  That's a start, I guess.

glennmagusharvey

"Republican covers up actual straight sex scandal with fake gay sex scandal"

fourteenwings

... nicely done (except for the being found out part)?

glennmagusharvey

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/12/1411411/-A-Democrat-just-picked-up-a-Republican-seat-in-Georgia-by-running-against-anti-gay-discrimination

Georgia's 80th State House District ought to be safely Republican. Mitt Romney carried it by a 56-43 margin, and in a special election, when Democratic turnout almost always suffers, the GOP shouldn't have had to flex a muscle to keep this seat in their hands.

But on Tuesday night, Democrat Taylor Bennett not only won, he crushed his Republican opponent, former Brookhaven Mayor Max Davis, by a 55-45 spread—despite getting outspent 2-to-1. And not only that, Bennett rode to victory by explicitly running on his opposition to a proposed "religious freedom restoration act," citing his mother and sister, both of whom are gay.

A big part of Bennett's victory was due to the district: Though it's
heavily Republican, it's located in Atlanta's wealthy northern suburbs,
the kind of place where anti-gay attitudes are very much out of fashion.
In fact, the lawmaker that Bennett will succeed, Mike Jacobs, actually
torpedoed the last version of RFRA that went before the legislature by
amending the bill to include an anti-discrimination clause—and Jacobs is
a Republican. (He was later appointed to a judgeship, prompting this
special election.)

RFRA wasn't the whole story: Bennett, an employment lawyer, also
enjoyed some minor celebrity status as a former star quarterback at
Georgia Tech. And then there was the matter of sexual harassment allegations against Davis, who was accused of "spraying a women's buttocks with an aerosol can filled with air freshener," then allegedly threatening to fire that same woman (a city employee).

Bennett's win isn't only a victory for gay rights. Georgia Democrats
are still deep in the minority in the state legislature, but now they
have 61 seats in the 180-member state House, which means that
Republicans can no longer achieve super-majorities on their own. As a
result, the GOP should have a much harder time advancing any amendments
to the state constitution.

Bennett will immediately have a huge target on his back, as he just
became the only Democrat to represent a Romney seat in the entire state
of Georgia, but for now, he and his supporters get to celebrate a
big—and important—accomplishment.

My emphases.