Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Why do we have state legislatures do the redistricting, instead of say a commission of judges?

Trabisnikof posted:

Do you realize how your second paragraph kinda counters your first?

Do you believe there are no less-partisan options than having the legislature do it?

quote:

Election officials in 27 states, most of them Republicans, have launched a program that threatens a massive purge of voters from the rolls. Millions, especially black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters, are at risk. Already, tens of thousands have been removed in at least one battleground state, and the numbers are expected to climb, according to a six-month-long, nationwide investigation by Al Jazeera America.

At the heart of this voter-roll scrub is the Interstate Crosscheck program, which has generated a master list of nearly 7 million names. Officials say that these names represent legions of fraudsters who are not only registered but have actually voted in two or more states in the same election — a felony punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison.

Until now, state elections officials have refused to turn over their Crosscheck lists, some on grounds that these voters are subject to criminal investigation. Now, for the first time, three states — Georgia, Virginia and Washington — have released their lists to Al Jazeera America, providing a total of just over 2 million names.

quote:

The three states’ lists are heavily weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel and Kim — ones common among minorities, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, fully 1 in 7 African-Americans in those 27 states, plus the state of Washington (which enrolled in Crosscheck but has decided not to utilize the results), are listed as under suspicion of having voted twice. This also applies to 1 in 8 Asian-Americans and 1 in 8 Hispanic voters. White voters too — 1 in 11 — are at risk of having their names scrubbed from the voter rolls, though not as vulnerable as minorities.

That was the sales pitch. But the actual lists show that not only are middle names commonly mismatched and suffix discrepancies ignored, even birthdates don’t seem to have been taken into account. Moreover, Crosscheck deliberately ignores Social Security mismatches, in the few instances when the numbers are even collected. The Crosscheck instructions for county election officers state, “Social Security numbers are included for verification; the numbers might or might not match.”

In practice, all it takes to become a suspect is sharing a first and last name with a voter in another state. Typical “matches” identifying those who may have voted in both Georgia and Virginia include:

-Kevin Antonio Hayes of Durham, North Carolina, is a match for a man who voted in Alexandria, Virginia, as Kevin Thomas Hayes.

-John Paul Williams of Alexandria is supposedly the same man as John R. Williams of Atlanta, Georgia.

-Robert Dewey Cox of Marietta, Georgia is matched with Robert Glen Cox of Springfield, Virginia.

England Sucks posted:

I just want to say thank you Obama. For being the most ineffectual president in the history of this country. For loving everything up. Being a poor decision maker. A poor fighter. And a weak leader. For not willing to stand up on anything and dragging your whole party into the poo poo heap due to it.

Hillary should have won.

We are now going to have a Republican Majority in the senate. A republican majority in the congress. A republican majority in the state senates of the majority of states in the nation including liberal strongholds like loving WASHINGTON.

You are either going to stand up and block the GOPs bills or you are going to bend over backwards for them. And ultimately it doesn't loving matter which one you do you loving retard because at the end of the day you will either be the the "No" president or the cowardly surrendering one.

There is no win here. The name will stick. You hosed up you loving moron.

And the thing is because of your incompetency. Your stupidity. And your inability to show any kind of backbone the next Democratic Presidential candidate is going to lose to. We will lose the White house and have a Republican Dictatorship.

They will roll back every voting rights law. They will roll back obamacare. They will end social security. They will bankrupt the government as we know it and ensure a dictatorship for the next 20 to 40 years by corporations.

Poor Americans will never have a single chance again. Not that you gave a single poo poo about them anyway.

You think it was racist when Nader called you a Uncle Tom back in 2008? Well guess loving what. He was right.

You weren't fit to be president. You weren't fit to lead this country. You were never fit to stand on your convictions. You are a utter coward. And you have caused the end of America for all its citizens.

You are the worst president in the history of this nation and you will go down in history as a Bourgeoisie traitor you piece of scum.

In 2050 when the violent uprising that places the marxist dictatorship a la Venezuela or Cuba in power with a military figurehead like Chavez or Castro we will have no one to loving thank but you. You loving retard.

By then the corruption that will be inherent in our poor population will be impossible to combat and have become the norm of our culture. We will collapse as a nation because there will be no one fit to run a country any more like in South America. We will have the poor or people who care about the poor in power but they will be too stupid and too corrupt to actually do anything to help the poor.

RIP America. Thanks Obama.

richardfun posted:

Now we of course all know about the scourge that is voter fraud, but apparently, the Republicans have been fighting it even more thoroughly than I previously thought or knew about. Not sure if this has been posted before, but if not, this Al Jazeera piece is well worth the read.

Jim Crow Returns


This is especially inspired.

England Sucks posted:

I just want to say thank you Obama. For being the most ineffectual president in the history of this country. For loving everything up. Being a poor decision maker. A poor fighter. And a weak leader. For not willing to stand up on anything and dragging your whole party into the poo poo heap due to it.

Hillary should have won.

We are now going to have a Republican Majority in the senate. A republican majority in the congress. A republican majority in the state senates of the majority of states in the nation including liberal strongholds like loving WASHINGTON.

You are either going to stand up and block the GOPs bills or you are going to bend over backwards for them. And ultimately it doesn't loving matter which one you do you loving retard because at the end of the day you will either be the the "No" president or the cowardly surrendering one.

There is no win here. The name will stick. You hosed up you loving moron.

And the thing is because of your incompetency. Your stupidity. And your inability to show any kind of backbone the next Democratic Presidential candidate is going to lose to. We will lose the White house and have a Republican Dictatorship.

They will roll back every voting rights law. They will roll back obamacare. They will end social security. They will bankrupt the government as we know it and ensure a dictatorship for the next 20 to 40 years by corporations.

Poor Americans will never have a single chance again. Not that you gave a single poo poo about them anyway.

You think it was racist when Nader called you a Uncle Tom back in 2008? Well guess loving what. He was right.

You weren't fit to be president. You weren't fit to lead this country. You were never fit to stand on your convictions. You are a utter coward. And you have caused the end of America for all its citizens.

You are the worst president in the history of this nation and you will go down in history as a Bourgeoisie traitor you piece of scum.

In 2050 when the violent uprising that places the marxist dictatorship a la Venezuela or Cuba in power with a military figurehead like Chavez or Castro we will have no one to loving thank but you. You loving retard.

By then the corruption that will be inherent in our poor population will be impossible to combat and have become the norm of our culture. We will collapse as a nation because there will be no one fit to run a country any more like in South America. We will have the poor or people who care about the poor in power but they will be too stupid and too corrupt to actually do anything to help the poor.

RIP America. Thanks Obama.

Antti posted:

I didn't get through the second paragraph when I thought, "That list must be full of names like 'Juana Rodriguez' with no further identifiers like DOBs attached." Boy howdy.

quote:

Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is against same-sex marriage and believes that LGBT workplace protection would cost too much money

quote:

The ad was bought by the National Rifle Association, and for some reason, ended up on Grindr, to the embarrassment of the campaign, which told the Beast that they had “not paid for or placed that ad.”

Grindr confirmed that a third-party ad network had placed Cotton’s face on the ad, and that they would remove it immediately. “While we do have safeguards in place to monitor for ads on third party networks, we do serve billions of ads on our network, so there is the occasional chance that ads like this may appear,” they added.

England Sucks posted:

I just want to say thank you Obama. For being the most ineffectual president in the history of this country. For loving everything up. Being a poor decision maker. A poor fighter. And a weak leader. For not willing to stand up on anything and dragging your whole party into the poo poo heap due to it.

Hillary should have won.

We are now going to have a Republican Majority in the senate. A republican majority in the congress. A republican majority in the state senates of the majority of states in the nation including liberal strongholds like loving WASHINGTON.

You are either going to stand up and block the GOPs bills or you are going to bend over backwards for them. And ultimately it doesn't loving matter which one you do you loving retard because at the end of the day you will either be the the "No" president or the cowardly surrendering one.

There is no win here. The name will stick. You hosed up you loving moron.

And the thing is because of your incompetency. Your stupidity. And your inability to show any kind of backbone the next Democratic Presidential candidate is going to lose to. We will lose the White house and have a Republican Dictatorship.

They will roll back every voting rights law. They will roll back obamacare. They will end social security. They will bankrupt the government as we know it and ensure a dictatorship for the next 20 to 40 years by corporations.

Poor Americans will never have a single chance again. Not that you gave a single poo poo about them anyway.

You think it was racist when Nader called you a Uncle Tom back in 2008? Well guess loving what. He was right.

You weren't fit to be president. You weren't fit to lead this country. You were never fit to stand on your convictions. You are a utter coward. And you have caused the end of America for all its citizens.

You are the worst president in the history of this nation and you will go down in history as a Bourgeoisie traitor you piece of scum.

In 2050 when the violent uprising that places the marxist dictatorship a la Venezuela or Cuba in power with a military figurehead like Chavez or Castro we will have no one to loving thank but you. You loving retard.

By then the corruption that will be inherent in our poor population will be impossible to combat and have become the norm of our culture. We will collapse as a nation because there will be no one fit to run a country any more like in South America. We will have the poor or people who care about the poor in power but they will be too stupid and too corrupt to actually do anything to help the poor.

RIP America. Thanks Obama.

England Sucks posted:

I just want to say thank you Obama. For being the most ineffectual president in the history of this country. For loving everything up. Being a poor decision maker. A poor fighter. And a weak leader. For not willing to stand up on anything and dragging your whole party into the poo poo heap due to it.

Hillary should have won.

We are now going to have a Republican Majority in the senate. A republican majority in the congress. A republican majority in the state senates of the majority of states in the nation including liberal strongholds like loving WASHINGTON.

You are either going to stand up and block the GOPs bills or you are going to bend over backwards for them. And ultimately it doesn't loving matter which one you do you loving retard because at the end of the day you will either be the the "No" president or the cowardly surrendering one.

There is no win here. The name will stick. You hosed up you loving moron.

And the thing is because of your incompetency. Your stupidity. And your inability to show any kind of backbone the next Democratic Presidential candidate is going to lose to. We will lose the White house and have a Republican Dictatorship.

They will roll back every voting rights law. They will roll back obamacare. They will end social security. They will bankrupt the government as we know it and ensure a dictatorship for the next 20 to 40 years by corporations.

Poor Americans will never have a single chance again. Not that you gave a single poo poo about them anyway.

You think it was racist when Nader called you a Uncle Tom back in 2008? Well guess loving what. He was right.

You weren't fit to be president. You weren't fit to lead this country. You were never fit to stand on your convictions. You are a utter coward. And you have caused the end of America for all its citizens.

You are the worst president in the history of this nation and you will go down in history as a Bourgeoisie traitor you piece of scum.

In 2050 when the violent uprising that places the marxist dictatorship a la Venezuela or Cuba in power with a military figurehead like Chavez or Castro we will have no one to loving thank but you. You loving retard.

By then the corruption that will be inherent in our poor population will be impossible to combat and have become the norm of our culture. We will collapse as a nation because there will be no one fit to run a country any more like in South America. We will have the poor or people who care about the poor in power but they will be too stupid and too corrupt to actually do anything to help the poor.

RIP America. Thanks Obama.

England Sucks posted:

In 2050 when the violent uprising that places the marxist dictatorship a la Venezuela or Cuba in power with a military figurehead like Chavez or Castro we will have no one to loving thank but you. You loving retard.

Cliff Racer posted:

Read his custom title, you idiots, its not a lie.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

Luigi Thirty posted:

My dad was reading the local newspaper today. Buried below the fold of page 8 of the classifieds is "public notice" from the city supervisor of elections (a Republican shill) is ~notice of challenged voter registration~ and a list of a bunch of names. It says in the fine print at the bottom that if you don't show up to the city elections office and provide proof of your eligibility to vote, your name will be purged from the Florida voter rolls. Who the hell is going to see that?

Oh, right.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

quote:

New Quinnipiac poll: Crist 43%, Scott 40%, Wyllie 8%, Undecided 9%

Independent voters prefer Crist by 47 percent to 29 percent with 16 percent for Libertarian Adrian Wyllie. In the last Q poll last week, Scott and Crist were tied, with Crist receiving 41 percent of independents and Scott 38 percent.

quote:

Partners with a powerful Washington, D.C., law firm aren't registered as Florida lobbyists, but that hasn't stopped them from wining and dining Attorney General Pam Bondi the past four years to discuss clients.

Bondi dropped suits or declined to investigate cases after numerous behind-the-scenes interactions with the firm, Dickstein Shapiro, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

A Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald review shows none of the partners were registered to lobby in Florida, meaning their advocacy may have violated state law. They won't be prosecuted unless someone files a sworn complaint with the state.

Cases involving Dickstein Shapiro clients that fizzled in Florida include Accretive Health, a Chicago-based hospital bill collection company shut down in Minnesota for six years because of abusive collection practices; Bridgepoint Education, a for-profit online school that Iowa attorney general Tom Miller said had engaged in "unconscionable" sales practices; Herbalife, which had been investigated by federal and state authorities; and online reservation companies, including Travelocity and Priceline, on allegations that they were improperly withholding taxes on hotel rooms booked in the state.

Since 2011, Dickstein Shapiro has contributed $122,060 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, a super PAC where Bondi sits on the executive committee and that contributed $750,000 to her re-election bid.

Dickstein's partners and a client, ETC Capital, have also directly given $24,750 to Bondi's campaign.

lil mortimer posted:

Even if Crist wins, I'm positive Pam Bondi won't lose:


Her opponent didn't run a single ad on TV. No one really knows who he is. I mean, I'd assume if you vote Crist you'll vote for George Sheldon, but I doubt that actually happens. She's really awful. I think I'd prefer to see her go over Rick Scott.

Joementum posted:

New Quinnipiac poll shows Gardner 46%, Udall 39% in CO SEN while Suffolk-Herald has Baker 46%, Coakley 43% in MA GOV. If the Herald has this in the MoE, rumors of Coakley's demise may be premature.


I was hoping Pex had returned.

Gyges posted:

She's a pretty blonde lady of less that 50 years of age. Of course she's not going to lose.

Ballz posted:

Is it today's Tampa Bay Times? I might look into it for a news story pitch at my work.

Edit: I'm not seeing it. Do you mind posting a picture or PMing me the info?

Luigi Thirty posted:

October 29th Bradenton Herald.



I think this is part of that thing where they purged 6,000 people from the voter rolls using that cross check system a few weeks ago. They said they're not really purged and can still vote but they get provisional ballots (95% of which are challenged and thrown out).

Luigi Thirty posted:

October 29th Bradenton Herald.



I think this is part of that thing where they purged 6,000 people from the voter rolls using that cross check system a few weeks ago. They said they're not really purged and can still vote but they get provisional ballots (95% of which are challenged and thrown out).

SedanChair posted:

...Literally thanks, Obama!

Dr.Zeppelin posted:

8 years in? Sure. 4 years? I'm skeptical. If it only benefited you for one of the five elections you got with it, people wouldn't do it. Political parties tend to be a bit better than that at playing the long game.

Amused to Death posted:

Republicans up 22 points among male likely voters in Colorado with the Democratic lead in women not as large. Democrats, please.stop.doing.anything.about.guns. Don't even say the loving word gun. The people who support gun control don't loving vote.

Jackson Taus posted:

Honestly, the Republicans are gonna say the Democrats are coming to take your guns either way. The NRA will 99% of the time endorse Republicans regardless of what the Democrats do on guns.

Khisanth Magus posted:

2012 election:
Obama gun control history: None at all. Zero. Zilch.
Romney gun control history: Supports and signs assault weapon ban in Massachusetts.

NRA in 2012 election: Vote for Romney, Obama is going to take your guns! Oh, and this gun group in Massachusetts totally supports Romney(*ignores rebuttal from said group that they most certainly do not support Romney*)

Jackson Taus posted:

Honestly, the Republicans are gonna say the Democrats are coming to take your guns either way. The NRA will 99% of the time endorse Republicans regardless of what the Democrats do on guns.

Khisanth Magus posted:

2012 election:
Obama gun control history: None at all. Zero. Zilch.
Romney gun control history: Supports and signs assault weapon ban in Massachusetts.

NRA in 2012 election: Vote for Romney, Obama is going to take your guns! Oh, and this gun group in Massachusetts totally supports Romney(*ignores rebuttal from said group that they most certainly do not support Romney*)

Lutha Mahtin posted:

The NYT Upshot blog has a neat article showing how the different election forecasters have rated the close Senate races over the past few months:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/30/upshot/senate-forecast-comparisons.html

It's interesting to see how 538, NYT, DailyKos, and HuffPo are all pretty similar, but the rest have some kinda wacky things going on.

Joementum posted:

I was hoping Pex had returned.

Dr Christmas posted:

One thing that surprises me is people talking about how the war on women is stale. Why does stuff like that never apply to Republicans' arguments? How does a woman decide that while she was utterly horrified by the things this guy said two years ago, now she'll give him a try?