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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
They can only cheat if they have power, Republicans in power would never agree to abolish the Electoral College (it would require a constitutional amendment) ergo for it to be viable they would need to not be in power and thus would be unable to cheat.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Servant of the Omnissiah
Good grief, how many seats is the GOP losing? I'd expected the Democrats to take 25 seats or so, but they're stomping their way to close to 38.
Blue Wave? More like Blue Typhoon.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Considering the speed, it feels more like a rising blue tide.
Agreed. 1894 or 1932 could be called typhoons. 1948 could be called a flood. This falls under 'ebbs and flows'. A good sign for the Dems, but not even as big as 2010 was for the 'Pubs.
A procrastination in of itself
In how they scored in the popular vote it’s actully bigger then 2010, but that’s gerrymandering for you.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
That's the thing to keep in mind, the deck is stacked in the GOP's favor. That's part of what makes this situation so infuriating, the bar for the GOP is ridiculously low.
The Mod with the Migraine
Hyde-Smith's 'public hanging' joke shakes up Mississippi runoff
Obviously this should be prefaced with "It's Mississippi", but the race is expected to be low-turnout, and Mississippi is the blackest state in the country so...
We'll see how this goes.
I don't know how reliable a source this is, but if accurate then apparently the NRA is having some money trouble:
https://www.thetrace.org/rounds/nra-kills-coffee/
“The whole building was freaking out,” said one former employee who remains in contact with current staffers. Three other sources familiar with the gun group’s operations confirmed the story to The Trace.
The coffee cutback is the just latest indication that the NRA is hurting for cash. Membership revenue declined by $35 million last year, and the NRA recently rolled out its second dues increase in as many years. In May, the gun group sued Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, claiming that his state’s zealous regulatory efforts against its Carry Guard insurance program had cost the NRA “tens of millions of dollars” in lost revenue, legal fees, and other damages. (A federal judge recently ruled that the suit can go forward.)
Perhaps the most vivid evidence of belt-tightening at the NRA was its drastically reduced spending on the 2018 midterm elections. The group shelled out just under $10 million on House and Senate candidates this cycle — less than half of what it spent on congressional races in 2014 and 2016.
The Carry Guard litigation and midterm spending, however reduced, have drained resources away from day-to-day operations, one former staffer said. “Money is going from the programs to fight the legal battle,” the staffer said. “They’re draining money from general operations to push over to [the NRA’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action]. They want the money to be able to push the agenda.”
According to NRA insiders, the austerity campaign has been led by Josh Powell, the group’s executive director for general operations. The coffee cuts, sources say, are part of Powell’s effort to overhaul the organization’s budget to make up for lost revenue. Powell, sources say, is scrutinizing every expense and contract with the help of the group’s new treasurer, Craig Spray.
“Josh is going to greatly reduce education and training and slash the number of the NRA’s publications down to one magazine,” said a source close to the gun group’s leadership. The group currently maintains six publications, including four print magazines.
Powell is an unlikely budget hawk. A Trace investigation into his business history last month found a trail of defaulted debts, including 20 lawsuits for more than $400,000 from jilted vendors.
When The Trace asked the NRA about the cuts, the gun group did not dispute them. “The historical fact is nobody returns investment and results in defending Second Amendment freedoms like the NRA,” Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesperson, said. “We will continue to honor our commitment to our members by carefully managing financial and professional resources, including reviewing vendor contracts — in an effort to maximize their value in support of our mission.”
Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified the chief defendant in the NRA’s lawsuit regarding Carry Guard. It is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, not Mario Cuomo.
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I seem to have lost my world's smallest violin, much like the NRA seems to have lost their Russian backers. Sad.
Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
Oh, bother.
It's fitting that such a morally bankrupt organization might become financially bankrupt.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Why did they even need four magazines in the first place?
Well, the US could keep the electoral college IF it would ensure that the membership in it represents the size of the population in the various states.
Germany solves the whole question of giving every federal state a fair say with the "Bundesrat". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesrat_of_Germany
It has actually more of a say than the electoral college, but the important aspect here is how it is put together: City states have three votes, smaller state four, middle seized ones five and the big ones six. It is not completely fair if you look at it from a population perspective (NRW for example is so densely populated it represents nearly a quarter of the population of Germany, but it it has less then one sixth of the votes), but I think it offers a nice balance between giving smaller states a voice without having a situation in which they can easily outvote bigger and more populated states.
Doesn't the US already has something along the line with the House? I mean, the more districts, the more people represent a state, right? Isn't there a way to somewhat translate this on the stupid electoral college? (It would be better to just remove it altogether if you ask me, but I guess that would be more difficult).
Oh, and in case it hasn't been posted yet: It looked that way for a week now, but Katie Porter has now officially flipped the seat in California. And in California 39th, you know, the seat which was at 50/50 yesterday, Democrat Cisneros has taken the lead over Kim!
Edited by Swanpride on Nov 15th 2018 at 11:48:27 AM
Edit: To the judge who mocks Florida, I'd say I disagree about nothing being done to solve the "problem" of elections being so close they so often land in recount territory: Ex-con re-enfranchisement is a big step forward.
Edited by Medinoc on Nov 15th 2018 at 8:55:48 PM
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
The problem the judge has with Florida isn't the narrow votes but that the state has repeatedly had problems with vote counting.
A procrastination in of itself
@Swan, the US actually has three tilts that give smaller states more power. Firstly in the house each state is guaranteed one whole seat regardless of size (meaning that similar to the EU with ME Ps the smaller members have more per-voter representation), secondly in the senate (the equivalent of the German upper chamber that you mentioned) each state has equal representation in the form of two senators each (though senators are elected instead of being direct state government representatives like in Germany), and thirdly with the electoral college (where each state’s electoral college votes are the combined total of their house seats and their senate seats (so 2)).
It’s the triple tilt that makes the situation so galling, one I could understand, but three!
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
On a different note...Fox has really lost it now. According to them, I am living in a radical country. Well, the healthcare for all isn't exactly free, but free college for all (check), no ICE (check - our Italian-style Ice is delicious, though) and getting to 100% green energy is very much a goal (we are one third there).
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
We're what? 😲
Edited by 3of4 on Nov 16th 2018 at 11:18:00 AM
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Fox news ran a segment calling four new democrats (female and three of them with scary foreign sounding names) the most "radical" of the new batch because they run on free healthcare, free college education, the abolishment of ICE and a new green agenda (mostly related to a renewable energy supply).
Which brings me to the conclusion that our country is completely radical.
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Given that our Interior Ministry is considering sending Refugees back to Syria as we speak....I'd say close but not wholly 😛
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Doesn’t Germany have the same functions as ICE just broken up across a bunch of agencies? Obviously there’s not the same level of racism at play, but I know the Federal and State police both have border guard units and there’s the ZKA for customs enforcement.
Has anyone mentioned Marcia Fudge’s semi-challenge of Pelosi yet? I’m thinking Pelosi might not be the best choice and that someone else should officially challenge her.
They should have sent a poet.
Abolishing ICE is not about abolishing border control, it is about putting the control back to where it belongs, border patrol. So no, Germany doesn't have an agency which is quite like ICE, the responsibility is shared between different agencies. We have ICE though...it stands for "Inter City Express" (a train which connects our cities for fast travel).
Edited by Swanpride on Nov 16th 2018 at 4:21:35 AM
ICE doesn’t control the border. USBP does, though I’ll add that they’re not great either.
ICE is similar to the ZKA in Germany for the most part in that customs enforcement is a large part of what it does, ICE just has the added immigration stuff. I believe immigration in Germany is handled by non-law enforcement agencies, which is how it should be.
Edited by archonspeaks on Nov 16th 2018 at 4:33:43 AM
They should have sent a poet.
Katie Porter has been declared the winner of California's 45th district. She is the first Democrat to win this seat ever.
Gil Cisneros is now on the lead for the 39. Is he wins then Orange County is ours.
Edited by Parable on Nov 15th 2018 at 6:13:39 AM