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2016/01/08 09:59:42
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
This is the same guy who is also under fire over the lead poisoning in the water right ?
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2016/01/08 15:59:53
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
agnosto wrote: Eventually....I'm sure that comforts the people he would prefer to rob of healthcare today. So genius.
Um... the PPACA repeal would simply be that the enrollment in November wouldn't happen. It wouldn't *just* render the plans defunct if a repeal does goes through.
From what I can see... this repeal leaves in the more popular stuff, like:
-no insurance to deny on pre-existing conditions
-no lifetime maximum
-others...
This. is. stupid.
How do they actually expect things to work if they keep the stuff everyone loves, but takes out the part that actually funds it? I know, "Unfunded Liability!" that's how. It will make Medicare Part D look like a grade-school raffle.
And they say Democrats are fiscally irresponsible. By the maker!
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2016/01/08 16:50:48
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Trump supporters sue Virginia over GOP loyalty pledge
RICHMOND — Three African American pastors who support Donald Trump filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday over a requirement that GOP primary voters sign a statement affirming that they are Republicans — a plan the presidential front-runner has condemned.
The plaintiffs say the loyalty pledge will discourage minority voters and those who are poor from casting ballots in Virginia, where voters do not register by party. Signing the vow will create long lines at the polls, imposes “the burden of fear and backlash” and amounts to a literacy test, according to the lawsuit.
The Virginia Republican Party recently decided voters who want to help choose the Republican presidential nominee must first sign a statement that says: “My signature below indicates I am a Republican.”
Virginia Beach attorney Chester Smith said his clients — Stephen A. Parson Sr., Bruce L. Waller Sr. and Leon Benjamin — are Richmond-area pastors who decline to say if they have supported Democrats in the past. The complaint was filed in Newport News, but it will be heard in Richmond, he said.
“I imagine they ascribe to a lot of the message that Donald Trump brings and . . . the idea of making the country great again and making values important again,” Smith said.
The lawsuit names the three members of Virginia’s Board of Elections as defendants because they finalized and will oversee the administration of the pledge at the polls. Martin Mash, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Elections, declined comment.
Trump brought the issue to national prominence last week when, in a series of tweets, he called the oath a “suicidal mistake” that would “disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters. BAD!”
In a statement from Trump’s campaign, the celebrity billionaire said he had nothing to do with the lawsuit but that he supports the pastors’ cause.
“If they don’t stop excluding people, the party is doomed,” Trump said. Democratic presidential candidate “Hillary [Clinton] and the Democrats love this. The Republican Party in Virginia keeps losing. They really need to be smart and win for a change.”
The pledge could be particularly damaging to Trump, whose unorthodox candidacy has attracted voters disenchanted with traditional party politics, experts have said.
Trump’s criticism has exacerbated division within the state GOP, whose governing body voted for the pledge in September. Several activists who previously supported the pledge have since reversed their position and advised the party to withdraw it.
“It’s time to pull the plug on this disaster,” Russ Moulton, an influential conservative activist, said of the oath last week.
Despite recent attempts to impose a pledge in presidential primaries, the last one was instituted in 2000, according to party officials.
GOP officials declined to comment Wednesday on whether the public outcry and the lawsuit have caused them to reconsider.
Last week, John Findlay, executive director of the Virginia GOP, sent party officials talking points insisting that the pledge, which the party calls a “statement of affiliation,” is intended to prevent Democrats from choosing the party’s nominee.
“For reasons unknown to our Party at this time, Donald Trump has decided that this [is] an attack against his campaign,” he said in the email. “Let me be very clear, the statement of affiliation is not designed to favor or hurt any candidate whatsoever.”
The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, says the pledge violates the Voting Rights Act, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the First Amendment and state law.
The pledge will cause long lines, the suit says, and poor people, who the lawsuit says are disproportionately black and Hispanic in Virginia, cannot afford to wait for hours to vote. The lawsuit also says the problems are exacerbated by Virginia’s history of slavery, poll taxes and school segregation.
Homosexuality is the #1 cause of gay marriage.
kronk wrote: Every pizza is a personal sized pizza if you try hard enough and believe in yourself.
sebster wrote: Yes, indeed. What a terrible piece of cultural imperialism it is for me to say that a country shouldn't murder its own citizens
BaronIveagh wrote: Basically they went from a carrot and stick to a smaller carrot and flanged mace.
2016/01/08 17:35:14
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2016/01/08 18:19:02
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Trump supporters sue Virginia over GOP loyalty pledge
RICHMOND — Three African American pastors who support Donald Trump filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday over a requirement that GOP primary voters sign a statement affirming that they are Republicans — a plan the presidential front-runner has condemned.
The plaintiffs say the loyalty pledge will discourage minority voters and those who are poor from casting ballots in Virginia, where voters do not register by party. Signing the vow will create long lines at the polls, imposes “the burden of fear and backlash” and amounts to a literacy test, according to the lawsuit.
The Virginia Republican Party recently decided voters who want to help choose the Republican presidential nominee must first sign a statement that says: “My signature below indicates I am a Republican.”
Virginia Beach attorney Chester Smith said his clients — Stephen A. Parson Sr., Bruce L. Waller Sr. and Leon Benjamin — are Richmond-area pastors who decline to say if they have supported Democrats in the past. The complaint was filed in Newport News, but it will be heard in Richmond, he said.
“I imagine they ascribe to a lot of the message that Donald Trump brings and . . . the idea of making the country great again and making values important again,” Smith said.
The lawsuit names the three members of Virginia’s Board of Elections as defendants because they finalized and will oversee the administration of the pledge at the polls. Martin Mash, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Elections, declined comment.
Trump brought the issue to national prominence last week when, in a series of tweets, he called the oath a “suicidal mistake” that would “disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters. BAD!”
In a statement from Trump’s campaign, the celebrity billionaire said he had nothing to do with the lawsuit but that he supports the pastors’ cause.
“If they don’t stop excluding people, the party is doomed,” Trump said. Democratic presidential candidate “Hillary [Clinton] and the Democrats love this. The Republican Party in Virginia keeps losing. They really need to be smart and win for a change.”
The pledge could be particularly damaging to Trump, whose unorthodox candidacy has attracted voters disenchanted with traditional party politics, experts have said.
Trump’s criticism has exacerbated division within the state GOP, whose governing body voted for the pledge in September. Several activists who previously supported the pledge have since reversed their position and advised the party to withdraw it.
“It’s time to pull the plug on this disaster,” Russ Moulton, an influential conservative activist, said of the oath last week.
Despite recent attempts to impose a pledge in presidential primaries, the last one was instituted in 2000, according to party officials.
GOP officials declined to comment Wednesday on whether the public outcry and the lawsuit have caused them to reconsider.
Last week, John Findlay, executive director of the Virginia GOP, sent party officials talking points insisting that the pledge, which the party calls a “statement of affiliation,” is intended to prevent Democrats from choosing the party’s nominee.
“For reasons unknown to our Party at this time, Donald Trump has decided that this [is] an attack against his campaign,” he said in the email. “Let me be very clear, the statement of affiliation is not designed to favor or hurt any candidate whatsoever.”
The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, says the pledge violates the Voting Rights Act, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the First Amendment and state law.
The pledge will cause long lines, the suit says, and poor people, who the lawsuit says are disproportionately black and Hispanic in Virginia, cannot afford to wait for hours to vote. The lawsuit also says the problems are exacerbated by Virginia’s history of slavery, poll taxes and school segregation.
The pastors will lose that lawsuit. The primary isn't public it belongs to the Republican Party and they can make whatever rules they want. It only affects registered Republicans and having a political affiliation isn't required for participation in the actual general election which is where the state and federal election laws are applicable.
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
2016/01/08 18:52:32
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
And open primaries allow activists to influence a Party decision they have no intention of following through with.
Prestor Jon wrote: It only affects registered Republicans and having a political affiliation isn't required for participation in the actual general election which is where the state and federal election laws are applicable.
No, it also affects anyone who isn't registered as a Republican but still wants to vote for a Republican in the Primary.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/01/08 19:01:39
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
2016/01/08 20:45:56
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2016/01/08 20:45:59
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
He didn't even do an Oval Office speech defending the ACA before ceremoniously feeding the bill to a bald eagle? I thought that was the whole point, make him defend it.
What a failure by the GOP.
2016/01/08 21:02:35
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
d-usa wrote: He didn't even do an Oval Office speech defending the ACA before ceremoniously feeding the bill to a bald eagle? I thought that was the whole point, make him defend it.
That'll be something to see for sure...
What a failure by the GOP.
Nope. That's a success. It telegraphs the voters that had there been a Republican President, it would've been repealed.
Just wait for the tsunami of political ads about this...
Live Ork, Be Ork. or D'Ork!
2016/01/08 21:07:57
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Nope. That's a success. It telegraphs the voters that had there been a Republican President, it would've been repealed.
What does that actually accomplish? The only people who have a rabid enough hatred for Obamacare that they'll vote solely for whoever pledges to repeal it are the those who would vote Republican no matter what anyway.
If anything, all it shows is that the GOP continues to be out-of-touch. They shouldn't be catering to the deep-Republican base, they should be catering to the moderate and moderate-democrat crowd.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/01/08 21:08:30
2016/01/08 21:14:31
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Nope. That's a success. It telegraphs the voters that had there been a Republican President, it would've been repealed.
What does that actually accomplish? The only people who have a rabid enough hatred for Obamacare that they'll vote solely for whoever pledges to repeal it are the those who would vote Republican no matter what anyway.
If anything, all it shows is that the GOP continues to be out-of-touch. They shouldn't be catering to the deep-Republican base, they should be catering to the moderate and moderate-democrat crowd.
Nah... this is good. It’s promising that the GOP House and Senate did this.
Would I rather they use to power of the purse and force a constitutional brawl? Yes.
But given that shutdown theaters is unpopular across the political spectrum, this is a great precedent for them to follow one year from now with a Republican President. (as unlikely that to happen).
Nope. That's a success. It telegraphs the voters that had there been a Republican President, it would've been repealed.
What does that actually accomplish?
Gives the Republicans something to use in contested elections. It is useful in local as well as national campaigns. It also puts vulnerable Democrats on the spot in areas where the ACA is unpopular.
This is actually useful, unlike Ted Cruz's government shutdown stunt which pretty much backfired.
2016/01/08 21:33:11
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
I agree. In modern elections the game is to motivate your base, and this Repeal thing gives a glimmer of hope tot eh base. it will motivate them to get out there. However, it might do the same to the Dems base as well.
It reminds me of the time they put Same-Sex Marriage Ban as a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Minnesota in a non-election year. It motivated the R base to go out and vote, but it motivated the D and I base more and the R's were crushed. They lost both houses where they once had comfortable control of both, in an off election year too. Without the Amendment, i am pretty sure things would have been different since R's are more motivated in off year elections.
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2016/01/08 21:45:43
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Easy E wrote: I agree. In modern elections the game is to motivate your base, and this Repeal thing gives a glimmer of hope tot eh base. it will motivate them to get out there. However, it might do the same to the Dems base as well.
It reminds me of the time they put Same-Sex Marriage Ban as a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Minnesota in a non-election year. It motivated the R base to go out and vote, but it motivated the D and I base more and the R's were crushed. They lost both houses where they once had comfortable control of both, in an off election year too. Without the Amendment, i am pretty sure things would have been different since R's are more motivated in off year elections.
The knife cuts both ways. The dems can say, "They want to take your healthcare away!"
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2016/01/08 21:47:49
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Easy E wrote: I agree. In modern elections the game is to motivate your base, and this Repeal thing gives a glimmer of hope tot eh base. it will motivate them to get out there. However, it might do the same to the Dems base as well.
It reminds me of the time they put Same-Sex Marriage Ban as a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Minnesota in a non-election year. It motivated the R base to go out and vote, but it motivated the D and I base more and the R's were crushed. They lost both houses where they once had comfortable control of both, in an off election year too. Without the Amendment, i am pretty sure things would have been different since R's are more motivated in off year elections.
The knife cuts both ways. The dems can say, "They want to take your healthcare away!"
An old tired tactic that's for sure:
Live Ork, Be Ork. or D'Ork!
2016/01/08 21:51:02
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2016/01/08 22:08:08
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Well.......does that mean more Bills are going across Obama desk that he either veto's or signed. Republican House and Senate are going to try to put more Bills on his desk then the Harry Reid? I think I remember that Ryan said something about more Bills on Obama desk then Harry Reid, even the ones Reid had on his desk collecting dust?
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2016/01/08 23:39:09
Subject: The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Jihadin wrote: Well.......does that mean more Bills are going across Obama desk that he either veto's or signed. Republican House and Senate are going to try to put more Bills on his desk then the Harry Reid? I think I remember that Ryan said something about more Bills on Obama desk then Harry Reid, even the ones Reid had on his desk collecting dust?
Ryan plans do do what the Republicans did to Clinton in his last term. Push a bunch of legislation favored by the Republican base as well as moderate/undecided voters and let the President either veto them (campaign issue) or pass them (huzzah! we win). This is how Clinton would up with a balanced budget and welfare reform.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/01/08 23:41:57
2016/01/09 00:10:53
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
Quote from chromedog
and 40k was like McDonalds - you could get it anywhere - it wouldn't necessarily satisfy, but it was probably better than nothing.
2016/01/09 00:50:52
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
It's funny because the Republican Party of Virginia tried to do this before a primary in 2011 but scrapped it after they got serious backlash. I wouldn't be surprised if they renege on this, too.
d-usa wrote: "When the Internet sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending posters that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing strawmen. They're bringing spam. They're trolls. And some, I assume, are good people."
2016/01/09 04:25:28
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
This is the same guy who is also under fire over the lead poisoning in the water right ?
Yes, the same guy.
He switched Flint, Mi's water from the Detroit river to the Flint river. Then he switched it back when it was proven that led levels had skyrocketed. But damage was done and the pipes are ruined.
As someone who works for a library in Michigan, this frightens me and infuriates me.
He is limiting the access to information and the ability for people to educate themselves on matters that affect them and that they can vote on. He is making it so that a librarian, and library, could face legal repercussions for providing information to the tax paying public about what is on the ballot. The people pay for us to be there to help them access all the tools/information they need to understand certain subjects better.
This is Orwellian.
I'm back!
2016/01/09 04:48:00
Subject: Re:The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition
A thought occurred to me today. The whole point of that Republican pledge to support whomever the party nominates was basically to keep Trump in line, to prevent him from spinning off into a 3rd party candidacy when he inevitably doesn't get the nomination, thus splitting the Republican vote. But...what if it goes the other way? What if Trump actually does win the nomination? Can you just imagine Rubio, Jeb, and others being forced to publicly support Trump?
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
