Trump's America

[Frelga]

And we're getting rid of Scott Walker!

I saw that. What is the name of schadenfreude's more vicious cousin?

Also, the President sounds a lot more optimistic about the Democrats' ability to get their act together than I am.

Trump says working with House Dems will increase chances of progress over when Republicans were in charge. "The Democrats do stick together very well."..."I think it could be very good for me politically... "it could be a beautiful type of bipartisan situation."

https://twitter.com/scottshafer/status/ ... 7434813441

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think Mr. Trump's tune is going to change once they start actually doing things like investigating him and his cronies, and demanding that he actual turn over his tax returns.

Even before January when the new Congress gets sworn in, I think his eldest son will have gotten indicted and Mr. Trump will lose it.

[RoseMorninStar]

One of my FB friends commented that Democrats will be responsible for getting Trump to fulfill one of his campaign promises: to release his taxes.

Frelga: I'm not sure what you are implying. Envy?
Sadism? Almost certainly not (sadism) given my understanding of the word.

Walker has been a Koch puppet and is corrupt. He has hurt voter rights, destroyed environmental protections, sold off public land, weakened unions & workers rights, allowed the roads & infrastructure to decay, and has hurt school systems in the state including the University system. The Russians also targeted him as a possible puppet, which doesn't surprise me as he's not the brightest bulb. I will not be sorry to see him go.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In Arizona, the Democratic candidate for Senate, Kyrsten Sinema, currently is less than 16,000 votes behind the GOP candidate, Martha McSally (850,043 - 834,134). The Green Party candidate, Angela Green, withdrew from the race on November 1 and endorsed Sinema, but still appeared on the ballot, and has received 38,597 votes. If Arizona used the ranked choice system that Maine has adopted, Sinema would almost certainly be the winner. If Green had not been on the ballot, Sinema almost certainly would have been the winner. However, as it stands, unless the uncounted votes go strongly Democratic, McSally will win.

[Dave_LF]

Same old problem: only people who lose elections are motivated to change the system, and they don't have the power.

Ballot measures are a possible solution. Michigan passed two of these yesterday for different but similar problems; going forward, we'll have independent redistricting, automatic/same-day voter registration, and no-questions-asked absentee voting. Both measures passed by large margins despite being vigorously opposed by the local GOP establishment. Which, in a bit or irony, is probably breathing a sigh of relief over that outcome now that it's been disestablished.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

(Dems may not have been favored to take the Senate but having them actually lose seats during this supposed blue wave stings a hell of a lot. It does not give me any confidence for what 2020 holds.)

Actually, there are a lot of encouraging signs in the Senate voting for what 2020 holds for a Democratic candidate. There were 10 states that Mr. Trump won in 2016 in which Democrats were up for reelection. Of those 10 states, the Democrats won in in all of them that have a reasonable likelihood of a Democratic presidential candidate winning in 2020 except in your state of Florida, which is basically split 50/50. Plus another state that Mr. Trump won in 2020 that had a retiring GOP senator, Arizona, also was basically split 50/50. Even without Florida and Arizona, if a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate wins all the states that Clinton won, and also wins Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, all of which were won by Mr. Trump but which the Democrats won yesterday, that person would win handily.

[Primula Baggins]

From your fingers to God's ears, Voronwë.

[Frelga]

Rose, I meant schadenfreude, but angrier.

Here's a good resource for sizing up the blue wave.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... house.html

[River]

So a biochemist is headed to Congress.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[Sunsilver]

So, Michigan legalized recreational pot! My friend from Detroit and I can now (legally) party together, regardless of whose home we're visiting in!

River: LOVE it!

[elengil]

So, Michigan legalized recreational pot! My friend from Detroit and I can now (legally) party together, regardless of whose home we're visiting in!

As a resident of a state which has had legal pot for several years now, just because it's legal does not mean you can get around an employment prohibition on it. So just be aware, you may still be able to be fired for a positive on a drug test through your company, if that's the kind of thing you need to consider.

[Primula Baggins]

And in the United States, if the company you work for has any federal contracts, you're subject to random drug testing, and marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug at the federal level.

And marijuana stays detectable for months.

[RoseMorninStar]

Wisconsin has a severe gerrymandering issue. A lower court ruled that the 2011 plan was "“an aggressive partisan gerrymander” that locked in a Republican majority in the state assembly under “any likely electoral scenario.” but it still hasn't been fixed. In 2011 Rebublican's 'packed & cracked' Wisconsin districts.

2. What makes the gerrymander in Wisconsin especially bad?

Gerrymandering comes in many varieties, but the kind of gerrymandering that took place this decade in Wisconsin (and a handful of other states) is among the worst. This kind of aggressive gerrymandering doesn’t just pre-determine electoral results, but also locks in a disproportionate and unfair advantage for one party over the other — making maps unresponsive to voters in individual districts and deeply unrepresentative of the electorate as a whole.

At a statewide level, Wisconsin is a quintessential battleground where races are often decided by only a few percentage points. Contrast that to the state assembly map the Republicans drew: In 2012, they won 60 of the 99 seats in the Wisconsin Assembly despite winning only 48.6% of the two-party state-wide vote; in 2014, they won 63 seats with only 52% of the state-wide vote.

This is an odd outcome for a state like Wisconsin, where statewide elections are very close, and voters for both major parties are fairly evenly spread across the state. Voters in Wisconsin, like voters in battleground states in general, are not starkly clustered by party. For example, there are substantial pockets of Democratic voters in places like Vernon County and other rural and small towns, where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton nearly evenly split the vote. The fact that Wisconsin’s Legislature doesn’t reflect this political diversity is, in large part, intentional.

The same sort of aggressive gerrymandering has distorted the U.S. Congress as well. According to a Brennan Center study, these “extreme maps” account for 16 to 17 Republican seats in the current Congress, a sizable portion of the 24 seats Democrats would need to take back the House.

The case (Gill v. Whitford) has been sent back for rearguement. Here's hoping it will be fixed by 2020.

So happy to have scientists, more women, etc.. representing us.

[Sunsilver]

So, Michigan legalized recreational pot! My friend from Detroit and I can now (legally) party together, regardless of whose home we're visiting in!

As a resident of a state which has had legal pot for several years now, just because it's legal does not mean you can get around an employment prohibition on it. So just be aware, you may still be able to be fired for a positive on a drug test through your company, if that's the kind of thing you need to consider.

elengil, I have never had a job where I had to submit to a drug test, and I am currently more or less retired, and Leslee is currently not working.

So, we can party as much as our hearts desire.

But what I posted is really kind of a joke, as neither one of us is into that sort of thing. And she has an impressionable teenage daughter, so she would not want to set a bad example for her.

[River]

And in the United States, if the company you work for has any federal contracts, you're subject to random drug testing, and marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug at the federal level.

And marijuana stays detectable for months.

We only do them after an accident. Though there was a reportable accident in the warehouse last year and if testing happened the R&D team was not included (maybe they were afraid to look, though the joke's on them - we're a bunch of squares).

[Lalaith]

I do the testing on our surgery patients, moms coming in to deliver babies, and any newborns whose mothers test positive. <--That is one of the least favorite parts of my job. (Of course, that testing includes more than THC, but that's the one I see the most.)

Ohio had an issue on the ballot to decrease jail time/sentencing for drug violations. It was a good idea, honestly, but I voted against it because it was put forth as an amendment to our constitution. That seemed problematic to me, with a strong possibility of unintended consequences, and the implementation of the idea would be better served by just passing some laws instead.

[yovargas]

the implementation of the idea would be better served by just passing some laws instead.

I vote against most amendments for this very reason. I think it's an awful way to use a constitution. 12 out of 13 of ours passed anyway though.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Your state does that weird bundling thing with its propositions, too. I find that very weird.

[yovargas]

Ugh, yes. I posted the most egregiously silly one somewhere else - "Amendment #7 - do you want to ban offshore drilling AND public vaping?" I hates it.

[elengil]

In an article that shocks literally no one anymore...
https://apnews.com/877ee1015f1c43f1965f ... leqvia0oWs

A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned.