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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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Yeah, that would not go over well in the current environment. Republicans already accuse Democrats of denigrating rural voters and their opinions, if we started redistricting things in a way that gave little to no say I can imagine there would be a huge public relations disaster.
Edited by Ludlow on Nov 7th 2018 at 1:43:22 AM
I'd argue that just having a formula and system to point at, rather than actual rotten boroughs with standardised, predefined, indicating borders visible on a map, is what has made gerrymandering almost... normal.
And, that's kind of a worse situation to have than the boroughs. -_-'
Edited by Euodiachloris on Nov 7th 2018 at 9:47:27 AM
Thanks to amendment Y and Z, Colorado now has a system where an independent commission which contains equal numbers of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents must now draw and approve of new house districts. This means that, if everything goes as plan, there won't be a partisan bias in our districts going forward.
Maybe people in other states should look at getting similar amendments placed on their ballots for 2020?
Edited by Ludlow on Nov 7th 2018 at 1:54:44 AM
Goddammit WE TOLD YOU SO. Almost like... republicans will take a real republican over a fake one... and Dems won’t turn out for you if you throw them under a bus...
One thing with Sessions to consider - depending on how quick the GOP tries rushing things, they might have a replacement installed before the new Congress gets sworn in. So it's not "It's nothing to worry about", but it's also not full-blown You Can Panic Now either.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Michigan and Colorado did enact such rules during this vote, Utah might as well, that vote apparently hasn't been called yet.
Note that this won't stop attempts by parties to influence the map in their favour, nor is it always easy to find a reasonable map due to competing priorities, e.g do you want similar voters and towns to cluster or do you want them dispersed? Are districts strictly geometric or not?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanAlso parties have an inclination towards trying to produce safe seats for themselves.
It's still completely ridiculous that in the short term, despite there being a well-defined chain of command within the DoJ and a post that exists to be "take over if the AG is for some reason unable to perform any or all of their duties", the president can appoint someone with all the power and influence of that post in an acting measure without any sort of vetting or confirmation hearing thus bypassing the backup that they themselves installed in the first place.
I almost forgot that Missouri did pass Amendment 1 which also overhauls the districting process ... but in that case fairness/competitiveness is explicitly prioritized over geometry, thus odd shaped districts still exist.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanFascinating thread
by civil rights activist Bree Newsome analyzing the state of democracy in America.
Choice quote:
Edited by wisewillow on Nov 7th 2018 at 5:34:26 AM
https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/
Whitaker would need to have a conflict of interest before he'd recuse himself. Sessions recused himself because he was, himself, a person of interest to the investigation, being involved with Trump's 2016 campaign.
Like I said, time's up. Mueller needs to act now or everything might be lost.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 7th 2018 at 4:18:06 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.But he is not, himself, a subject of investigation. If happening to know a dude who was related to the investigation constituted a conflict of interest, then Trump would be right in claiming that Mueller has to recuse himself because of his connection to James Comey.
But he's not. Because it doesn't. Don't expect to see Whitaker recusing himself any time soon; he was brought onboard specifically to not do that.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 7th 2018 at 4:23:50 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.https://twitter.com/GeorgiaDemocrat/status/1060297388609490947
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He said in the past that he would want to defund and limit the investigation, and that those remarks are most likely part of the reason why he got the job, there are ample reasons why he would need to recuse himself.
Btw, doesn't he need to get confirmed first?
Edited by Swanpride on Nov 7th 2018 at 3:33:31 AM
There is no reason why Rosenstein can't continue overseeing the investigation. Other than the obvious corrupt one.
You know what, I don't really want the Democrats to impeach Trump. I want them to investigate him and his cronies six ways to Sunday while also putting forward positive changes regarding Health care aso. The Senat might stop them BUT if it does the Democrats can point to Republicans voting against those changes the population want in the next election. Meanwhile they need to do whatever possible to repair the voting system.
This way there is a good chance to not just vote out Trump in two years, but take a huge win over the Republicans at the same time. And yes, I know that Trump can still do a lot of damage in the meantime, but the Democrats can block him at every turn while also pointing out how corrupt his demands are.
Edited by Swanpride on Nov 7th 2018 at 3:50:26 AM

We should reintroduce the concept of Rotten Burroughs.
Do we have an American name for it?
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.