Republicans

[Brian Peacock]

That's troubling.

[JimC]

If Trump could speak French, he would definitely say:

"l'état, c'est moi"

[L'Emmerdeur]

The Republican party in 2018.

'Rep. Steve Alford cites belief blacks more susceptible to marijuana'

When Zach Worf, president of the Finney County Democrats, argued that legalizing marijuana could be a financial boon to cash-strapped Kansas, [State Rep. Steve] Alford told him he should look to the 1930s, the latter part of the prohibition era, for a history lesson. Alford said that a reason for the tightening grip on potential intoxicants at that time was to shield Americans from the consequences of drug abuse by “African Americans.”

“Basically any way you say it, marijuana is an entry drug into the higher drugs,” Alford said. “What you really need to do is go back in the ’30s, when they outlawed all types of drugs in Kansas (and) across the United States.

“What was the reason why they did that?” he continued to a crowd of about 60 people, none of whom were black. “One of the reasons why, I hate to say it, was that the African Americans, they were basically users and they basically responded the worst off to those drugs just because of their character makeup, their genetics and that. And so basically what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to do a complete reverse with people not remembering what has happened in the past.”

Alford was referring to a period when a man who became known for his fight against marijuana, as well as for his racism, was appointed the founding commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). His name was Harry Anslinger. Under Anslinger’s leadership, the FBN came to be considered responsible for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, regulating cannabis and further taxing it to the ultimate detriment of the hemp industry that was booming at the time.

From 1930 to 1937, Anslinger campaigned for prohibition against the use of the cannabis plant. He postulated that marijuana caused crime and violence, saying, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

[Brian Peacock]

Where as whites are more susceptible to chilled white wine and tax evasion.

[JimC]

He postulated that marijuana caused crime and violence, saying, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

The implication here is that white men are naturally good at crime and violence, and that his concern was that reefers caused black people to move in that direction as well...

[Tero]

Roy Moore, Trump, Tax Cut, marijuana, WHATEVER, even HEALTHCARE is not about the THING itself, it is about abortion:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/secret-pr ... w?ref=home

[L'Emmerdeur]

Yeah, I'm not cheering for a Trump impeachment and removal from office because in my opinion Pence could very well be even worse for the United States, though conceivably not for the world as a whole.

Meanwhile, Republicans in North Carolina, the state that was assessed to be a failure as a democracy, have just got a black eye from a US District Court.

'Federal judges rule NC electoral map unconstitutional'

A North Carolina federal court on Tuesday struck down the state’s GOP-drawn congressional map, saying the districts result in partisan gerrymandering, according to multiple reports.

In a nearly 200-page opinion, the three-judge panel ruled that state Republicans drew excessively partisan districts when previously ordered to redraw the state’s congressional map.

“Having concluded that the 2016 Plan violates the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution, we now must determine the appropriate remedy,” the court wrote in its opinion.

The court ordered the state to ensure that no further elections are conducted under the 2016 map and to redraw the map before the 2018 midterm elections.

[Brian Peacock]

What would be the legal justification for such a redrawing L'Emmy?

[Scot Dutchy]

Mostly they claim population shift but as in Britain it is political. The tories in the fifties once back in power redrew the boundaries making huge inner city constituencies which Labour and small rural ones which voted tory and even today not every vote in Britain is not of equal weight and gerrymandering still occurs.

[Seabass]

2018.

[Svartalf]

arpaio is an even bigger phony, he's job, a parody of justice all by his ugly self

[L'Emmerdeur]

What would be the legal justification for such a redrawing L'Emmy?

Very briefly: State legislatures bear responsibility for drawing state legislative district maps, and while nothing prevents a state legislature from creating a non-partisan commission to draw the districts, to my knowledge that rarely if ever happens in practice. New maps are normally drawn every ten years in response to census results.

In 2016 a US District Court ruling ordered a redrawing of North Carolina's state legislative district map due to the finding that it was racially gerrymandered. I would say that by implication it was gerrymandered to benefit the Republican party: the map that was the subject of the ruling was drawn by an earlier Republican controlled state legislature.

The Republicans, still being in control of the state legislature in North Carolina, drew a new map in 2017 which was again challenged. The ruling of January 8 upheld the challenge.

I don't know if I've answered your question and if not I'd be happy to try again in response to a clarification from you. My summary above skipped over a lot of detail but I believe it's accurate as far as it goes. If you want to subject yourself to a more detailed analysis, you can find it here. That source will likely tell you more than you ever wanted to know about this topic.

[Brian Peacock]

Cheers for the link. I'll probably save it for a rainy day.

[Tero]

The invisible thing that we did not see for 12 years (what happened in Kansas: they are all Republicans)
It's just a label.

Guns babies and Jesus: how to be Democrat in rural America
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... ana-216273

But I’d say they do not need to oppose abortion as they rule reguonally in blue populated states. There this is not an issue:

“We say we’re diverse and tolerant,” former Indiana State Rep. Dennie Oxley said, “but we’re really not tolerant of certain groups.”

“Some in the party, especially from metro areas, are not tolerant of other opinions, especially on guns and abortion,” Minnesota State Rep. Jeanne Poppe said. “It’s OK, if you’re liberal, to be intolerant.”

There's actually room here for a third party. unlike the Freedom Caucus, these rural democrats would actually pass laws with the real democrats from time to time. They are not against federal jobs in the rural areas (fish and wildlife, national parks, weather stations etc). The issues are more jobs and wages than tax. Tax is more to do with republicans and the Pelosi democrats.

[Tero]

Medicaid is too costly! And we just cut revenue, so Maine, you are on your own:



Donna Wall cares for her three adult autistic children at her home in Lewiston, Maine. It's a full-time job. Sons Christopher and Brandon have frequent outbursts, and the stress of tending to them can be overwhelming.
When her twin sons turned 18 a year and a half ago, Maine's Medicaid program dropped her health insurance. Wall is considered a "childless adult" in Maine and other states that didn't expand Medicaid, and so she isn't eligible for coverage. She can no longer get her antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. She can't see her psychologist or a doctor to check up on a troubling spot on her eye.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/09/news/ec ... index.html