Politics 2: Electric Boogaloo — Page 568

https://gizmodo.com/heres-a-sneak-peek-of-donald-trump-in-disneys-hall-of-p-1821401877

Agreed, you can’t even see the marionette strings on the fake one.

Whoah. A recount in the Virginia General Assembly has flipped another seat to the Democrats, making it a 50-50 split, with the Democratic Lieutenant Governor breaking ties.

This is huge for so many reasons. There’s already a legal challenge to the existing gerrymander, so the legislature is likely to be ordered by the courts to redraw district boundaries. And even if they don’t, the Supreme Court has already ruled that off-year redistricting is perfectly okay for no reason at all, as long as you don’t violate the normal rules around district lines. So I suspect Virginia will have new districts drawn before the next election, regardless of how the court case goes.

Why does this matter? Virginia is a state where Democrats easily win statewide offices, and Republicans easily dominate the Legislature (usually hovering around a veto-proof margin). Even in general assembly races, Democrats regularly outpoll Republicans there by a large and growing margin, with only the gerrymander keeping them out of power. Basically, with an unbiased map, Virginia would be “bluer” than California. And I hope the Democrats don’t just turn the tables and gerrymander themselves into safety–they’re already safe with no gerrymander.

The Republicans are likely going to have to win back their majority by actually getting more votes than Democrats. In Virginia. Good luck with that.

EDIT: Argh. R’s still control the Senate there. Nevertheless, if the court orders a redrawn map, the House can now hold out for an unbiased map, and if they don’t get it, they can happily let the courts draw the lines.

IMO, the odds of Mueller making it through January are hovering around 20 to 1 against. The odds of Congress not doing anything meaningful to stop it are dead certain. How good’s the Schneiderman backup plan? I suspect we’ll find out soon.

In related news, we’re seeing that even though the pawns Putin’s put into place in Poland and Hungary are clownish idiots, the overall plan is working. The EU waited too long to sanction either nation for undermining basic democratic institutions, and neither can be stripped of EU voting privileges without unanimous agreement among all other nations. Which means by turning two members initially, Putin can take his time in slowly spreading fascism throughout the rest of Europe and adding to his growing stable of new vassal states.

In case you didn’t see the Virginia race is now a tie.

I don’t buy the assumption that Virginia is “bluer than California.” Clinton won by five-point margin in Virginia last year, similar to how Obama performed. Meanwhile, in California, Clinton beat Trump by a whopping 30 points, seven points wider than Obama’s victory over Romney there in 2012. Similar gap in their 2012 Senate elections. While you could say that Virginia is a blue state, it’s not bluer than California.

State law says the winner of a tied House race will be determined by lot — leaving the fate of the chamber to what is essentially a coin toss.

Nice to see you, Warbler!

I am well. Life has had great ups and downs. How are you?

https://twitter.com/seanilling/status/942975588435943424

I sat down with Jill Stein during the campaign. Interviewed her. Trust me when I tell you: her campaign was a sham. She was a sham. The whole damn thing was a sham.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/emmaloop/the-senates-russia-investigation-is-now-looking-into-jill

yhwx said:

I don’t buy the assumption that Virginia is “bluer than California.”

Depends what you mean by blue. California Republicans have won statewide offices and have recently run a legislative body with clear popular mandates. Virginia Republicans have been losing handily for a while now, with the gerrymander covering up for their unpopularity. At the national level, you’re right – California is bluer. But at the statewide level, I think California is still pretty purplish. Probably because your so-called “sane” Republicans like Schwarzenegger still hold some leverage in California, if not nationally, and your California Democrats like Gray Davis could easily be confused with a Republican elsewhere in the country.

And here’s a good example of why courts are so critical to a functional democracy:

The DOJ recently charged peaceful protesters with rioting and destruction of property, because other people at the same protest rioted and destroyed property. The first six defendants have been found not guilty on all charges. Because even the prosecution stated they didn’t actually do any of the things they’re being charged with. But they were protesting Trump, so were charged anyway.

We’re not Poland yet.

Big stories:

U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, U.N. freaks out.

ISIS defeated, now what?

Tax bill (soon law) to give most people a tax cut

In Iraq, at least.

Well in to the Dutch journalist here - showing up the new US Ambassador to the Netherlands (Pete Hoekstra)…

https://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/944158714835107840 (video included)

‘Just perfect.
Dutch journalist to new US Ambassador: you said there were ‘no go zones’ in Netherlands, where are they?
Ambassador: That’s fake news, I didn’t say that
Journalist: We can show you that clip now.
Ambassador: Err…’

Pete Hoekstra - Former Chairman House Intelligence Committee there.

https://thinkprogress.org/new-pro-trump-ad-features-little-girl-thanking-trump-for-letting-us-say-merry-christmas-again-11131bee0a79/
They’re spending One Million dollars on this ad campaign. Maybe they could have donated to a charity or something? And here I was feeling guilty for buying myself a Christmas present!
I’m sure the little girl was coached. Say the line, and we’ll give you a puppy! 😛

SilverWook said:

https://thinkprogress.org/new-pro-trump-ad-features-little-girl-thanking-trump-for-letting-us-say-merry-christmas-again-11131bee0a79/
They’re spending One Million dollars on this ad campaign. Maybe they could have donated to a charity or something? And here I was feeling guilty for buying myself a Christmas present!
I’m sure the little girl was coached. Say the line, and we’ll give you a puppy! 😛

The cult of imaginary victimhood got him elected. He may as well run a “President Clinton’s ATF thugs are going to lock all white people in FEMA trailers and make them inhale chemtrails until they become gay” ad, but I guess this is more seasonally appropriate.

I hope SNL does their own version.

What a jackass.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/its-very-gold-the-presidential-coin-undergoes-a-trumpian-makeover/2017/12/22/23c8b11e-e5bb-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpcoin405pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

For two decades, the commander in chief has doled out distinguished-looking coins as personal mementos. Now, the presidential “challenge coin” has undergone a Trumpian transformation.

The presidential seal has been replaced by an eagle bearing President Trump’s signature. The eagle’s head faces right, not left, as on the seal. The 13 arrows representing the original states have disappeared. And the national motto, “E pluribus unum” — a Latin phrase that means “Out of many, one” — is gone.

Instead, both sides of the coin feature Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

The changes don’t stop there. In addition to his signature, Trump’s name appears three times on the coin, which is thicker than those made for past presidents. And forget the traditional subdued silver and copper: Trump’s coin, a White House aide marveled, is “very gold.”