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87 comments :
I am with you Ken.
Also is there anything you or other like minded writers, actors etc... can do regarding Mel Gibson?
Can you please start a petition to stop him from directing "The Wild Bunch" or getting any more projects.
Here is this anti-Semite, racist pig getting offers and opportunities but others struggle.
Isn't it time someone like you or along with a group of people stood up and questioned Hollywood?
Please.....
What Ken said.
The sad truth is that many Republicans don't care about rape victims. In the 2012 election, there was even a Republican who said women who become pregnant as a result of rape actually wanted it to happen because a woman can only become pregnant if her body is enjoying the experience. This is what has become of the party of Lincoln.
Lindsey Graham is also particularly despicable. Even if there was video showing Dr Ford being sexually assaulted, he and the rest of the Republicans would say she brought it on herself because of the way she was dressed.
Here's to the mid terms and then hopefully 2020.
Thanks for this today, Ken. I'm right there with you.
Important things to keep in mind, because if people vote overwhelmingly for Democrats both for House and Senate there are solutions.
First Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) would take over chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee. He has committed to investigate the crap out of Kavanaugh, including impeachment.
That means also having enough Dems on the Senate side to vote for his removal after impeachment in the House.
Also, Democrats rightly have begun talking about a "court packing" plan once a Democrat retakes the White House in 2020.
The fact that there are nine justices on the Supreme Court is not bound by the Constitution. It is merely in law and laws can be changed.
Indeed, the number of justices has varied over time. The idea now would be to enlarge the Court beyond nine to some larger number.
That would allow a Democratic president to nominate those additional justices, shrinking the influence of conservatives on the Court.
Lastly, there is the matter of sending Sen. Susan Collins down to defeat in 2020.
Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, said "Me" when another former Obama aide asked for takers to oppose Collins.
Rice then followed up by saying that "wasn't an announcement."
But I think we should persuade Ms. Rice to go ahead and take the plunge. Her family is from Maine.
For what it's worth on a personal note, many years ago I appeared on a public affairs show and Ms. Rice was also on the panel.
This was several years before Obama and at the time, Ms Rice was at a Washington think tank.
But coming away from that brief personal interaction, I was very impressed.
I'm not sure how to do it personally, but I would like folks to draft Ms Rice into the race.
Maine has become more blue over the decades... especially in presidential years. I say we take advantage of this opportunity.
Susan Collins has shown herself to be no moderate. I can already see the TV spots against her, explaining she gave the last vote in favor of a sexual predator. She is no friend to women.
I know you get plenty of people who complain when you get political, so I just wanted to chime in say amen, I agree 100%. Fuck them all, and let's vote them all out.
Also, to any of your readers in North Dakota: please vote for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. She is behind her Republican opponent in the polls in a red state. But she courageously voted no on Kavanaugh regardless.
Thank you, Sen. Heitkamp.
I've talked to a few non-voters, and some get quite lofty about their non-action. The gist of their argument seems to be that they're ABOVE all this partisanship, gliding above the emotionally-motivated mob like the true individualists they are. It's the same sort of thing you hear from people who like to tell me how scummy the people who make movies are, which gives them a chance to look down on creators in general while not having to deal with the obstacle course of the system.
Nobody is above what's happening these days, and you're either happy about it and willing to disregard who gets hurt, or willing to have empathy and feel bad enough to try to break the cycle. Non-voting means non-feeling, but the latter doesn't take you off the same boat we're all in, much as some wish it's that easy.
And all workers of either gender who want a fair shake in our increasingly corporatized society. I understand the importance of women's issues such as abortion rights and they shouldn't be ignored, but turning this into a gender war will ultimately be self-defeating.
Are people who don't agree with you, allowed to buy your scripts and stage plays based on the scripts?
Will there be a caveat stating this on your website?
Don't want any misunderstandings later on, when a set a people who hold contrary political views stage your play and then you come to know of it and then problem arises.
Please let me know, as I would be buying the play "Going Going Gone" and that will be used by (some) actors and director who are not having the same views as yours.
Thanks in advance.
Grant.
Amen, brother.
Ken, for the past week or so, there seems to be problem with the comments posting. Is there some technical glitch with the blog, that comments don't appear for a long time?
Sometimes it appears on the next day.
Assuming that current anger, etc., successfully pushes enough Democrats, liberals, progressives, etc., to win in 2018 and again in 2020, we can never again fall back to a lack of enthusiasm in subsequent elections.
Otherwise we will find ourselves back in the same kind of hole.
Republicans can never get the upper hand in enthusiasm to vote in midterm and off-year elections again.
We need to move to Mississippi and vote.
Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
I'm just glad Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and "Saturday Night Live" are still on the air...
I'll let Ken answer your question if he wants. But from my perspective, it's apples and oranges.
There is Ken's work as a playwright and there is his blog. Two different products.
If Ken posts a political view on his blog, that's his prerogative given he owns the blog.
You are free to agree or disagree...or choose not to read the article at all if you prefer.
Ken hasn't made his politics a secret nor should he. He need not justify posting such an opinion.
You can enjoy his plays or not regardless of what is posted on the blog.
Thanks for the blog Ken.
Also allow few comments from the other side to appear, let's see what those scums say and give them back in their terms or try to convince them if they have moderate views.
I agree, Ken. If we don't watch out we will be back in the 1950's. And have to start the fight all over again.
Absofuckinglutely!
Theo, Ken or others can't stop Mel Gibson, when biggies like Ari Emanuel themselves couldn't.
He has made lots of money for many in the industry and also is a good director whose movie are box office hits, so "Hollywood Greed" overrides everything.
In the lawless town called Hollywood, Mel Gibson, Harvey Weinstein, Les Moonves are the bosses.
There are local Maine Democrats who've indicated they plan to challenge her. They'd be more palatable to the state electorate than a carpetbagger.
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion, since there is absolutely nothing elected Republicans will not forgive or overlook if it means advancing the "cause". If you really want to be discouraged, take a drive across country. I just got back from doing that, and have to report that since the last time many years ago that I did it, there have been GIANT crosses erected and American flags, many grossly oversized, flying everywhere, and every TV in all the lodgings' lobbies are tuned to FOX News. The new Christianity, like the new Republicans, is completely different from that of my youth.
While I know there are non-voters who fail to vote for the ignorant reasons you cite.
However, there are Americans who don't vote but would like to. First of all, a number of Republican controlled states which have begun to institute voter ID laws. Those laws are often difficult for many folks to understand how to comply or have the wherewithal to comply. If you are low income, for instance, you might have trouble getting to sites where you can get a required form of ID. People need to help more folks manage this so they can get an ID and get to a polling place.
There are also folks who can't get time off on Election Day. We need to educate these folks on early or absentee voting and help them successfully take advantage of these alternatives to vote.
Republicans are all about keeping keeping anyone who is not wealthy and white from voting.
On the keg is half full side, the only positive thing I can say about this abomination of an administration is that, after 8 years of knowing we had someone responsible, smart, decent and a beacon of integrity in the White House, we (the majority) got complacent and let go of the the wheel. Now we are woke.
Elections are about energy, and this callous malignant misogynist racist narcissist has succeeded in harnessing the most counter energy I have ever witnessed in 50 years of following politics. There is a reckoning coming. It starts this November.
Rice a carpetbagger? Woahhhh......😲😲😲
This is a Facebook event I posted about voting.
https://www.facebook.com/events/591257911325832/
The goal is to find out when early voting begins in your county (if you have it at all), and show up when the polls open on Day One. Have the news shows reporting that the polling places are flooded with people, from the get-go.
Well Michael even in a lawless town, such assholes are not welcome.
Celebs like Sarah Silverman have raised their voices against this Anti-Semite piece of shit.
https://twitter.com/SarahKSilverman/status/1044482401617895424
I am requesting Ken and others to speak out so that the united voice is heard and he is kicked out FOREVER from Hollywood.
No, Rice is no carpetbagger... her family is in Maine. Her mother grew up in Maine and went to college there.
Indeed, ironically , several years ago, when President Obama nominated her, Sen. Collins introduced her at her confirmation hearing and enthused about Rice's deep ties to Maine.
Please let me know, as I would be buying the play "Going Going Gone" and that will be used by (some) actors and director who are not having the same views as yours.
Five bucks says you have no such intention.
And if you do, and buy the play (play along with me now; this is your fantasy). of course the actors and director would be free to not participate. How much would you be paying them? That might make a difference.
It never ceases to amaze me that many lower middle class and working class voters seem to think that Trump will improve their lives.
The heir of a real estate empire who has lied that he's a self-made man? The guy who boasts to everybody within earshot that telling tall tales will get you sympathies with the plain folk? The narcissist who was never able to hold his end of a discussion and gets sidetracked all the time when entering a serious discourse?
A guy who tried to avoid taxes as best as he could for most of his life, who spent money of his foundation for vanity projects and who used a mark-up scheme to inflate the rents of his tennants suddenly claims that his life-long dream has been to improve the earning situation of lower income families.
Sure. That'll be the day.
Here is what Sen. Collins herself about Susan Rice's connection to Maine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130316002337/https://www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/weekly-column?ID=e0e5dbd8-802a-23ad-43b1-106176dc9682
I say we should go all in convince Susan Rice to officially take on Susan Collins. The best Susan will win.
Love the blog and the readers comments Ken.
After many of your previous blogs being derailed by trolls comments, this blog is the ideal one where you have filtered their comments. I commend you for that.
Many media news outlet sites are horrible, where we are outnumbered in the comments section.
But here, no such issues. Wish other sites follow suit and blank them out - that's what they deserve.
There are several variations of this quote, but this seems to be the most common one. "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it." That applies to BOTH ends of the political spectrum.
M.B.
Right on Ken. I just saw Bill Maher in concert last night. He talked about how this presidency is changing his personality. I feel the same way. Haven't been the same in 2 years.Janice B.
Grant, For a partial answer to your question go to Ken's archives and read the following blogs: "Something I need to say" Thur. 6/21/18, "Time for another RANT" Tues. 4/3/18 and "GO AWAY WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!" Tues. 3/13/18. There may be more, but I only went back that far.
M.B.
Working class worries are real. Yes, unemployment is down but price increases in housing and fuel in particular are outpacing wage growth.
Democrats need to do better offering solutions. That's why Bernie Sanders remains so popular. And why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came out of nowhere to oust an incumbent Dem and has drawn such attention.
Frankly, although she would have been certainly preferable, Hillary did a lousy job reaching working class voters.
I wish I could vote more than once and it would not be for any of those shitheads.
I have to say the following:
I am a 49 year old American male. I have never voted in my life. When people would ask me why, I would reply that I didn't feel that I knew enough about politics to make the right choices.
And throughout my life, my political viewpoints have changed (unlike some people who seem to religiously choose one team and never consider the consequences of that choice). My mother was a Democrat, so, growing up that's the team that I thought I was on. Then, my college friends were conservative, so I listened to that viewpoint and thought I might be a conservative on economic issues, but a liberal on social issues. And I read some more extreme books which led me to think that I might be a libertarian.
But this last decade, with the rise of Fox News and the normalizing of horrid behavior by the Republican party has made me realize that, no, there is good and there is evil, and the Republicans are evil, the purest evil that one can imagine. (Not all Republicans, necessarily, but all Trump supporters and all who think Fox News is an actual news channel.)
And all it takes for evil for triumph is for good to do nothing.
So, though I've never voted before in my life, this year, I registered to vote.
Mike, I hope you aren't putting Democrats on the same level as Republicans. That would be a false equivalency.
By embracing Trumpism and the politics of fear and division, Republicans have gone off a cliff.
You might not agree with Democrats all the time but right now they are the only sane political party out there.
Thank you. Love you.
It is the same distraction the Republicans have become expert. His nomination for the SC was only one part about Dr. Ford. Do I think she is correctin her memories? Yes. Do I think he remembers? No. But there are cases pending for the court that will gave devastating affects, re: Gamble v US. These types of cases will protect Trymp and his rich friends from prosecution.
Pam, St. Louis.
Ken, even though you said you were too pissed to write, that may be the best posting you ever wrote. And to Matthew Kugler, very well said, but you missed one:
GOP: "We're gonna kill your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!"
AMERICA: "Yeah!"
Apparently it's all worth it to Republican voters, just for the joy of supporting racists.
Hey, Ken, on an unrelated (but more fun) topic, since you're an old radio hand, I thought I'd pass on this website in case you weren't aware:
https://formatchange.com
It catalogs audio from the minutes a given station switches formats.
I visited there myself this week as WIAD switched from a "fresh hits," basically Top 40 format to a classic hits format (basically heavy on '80s hits).
In the process, the station laid off most of its on-air talent, unfortunately.
Anyway, enjoy. You might some changes on some of your favorite stations and enjoy the nostalgia.
I don't think we should give up on Kavanaugh. David Brock of Media Matters said in 2010 he was working on a project for Hillary about impeaching Clarence Thomas. So impeaching Kavanaugh is certainly possible. They just get the House or FBI to do a full investigation to bring out more accusers, showing that Brett lied. Don't worry about the Senate- once the lies are revealed, they will be all over themselves trying not to get hurt politically. So find some more women, and not like the liars they brought out claiming gang rape parties. Real women making accusations like Ford's. Shouldn't be too hard to find people to claim that.
We could maybe then consider bringing such charges against other nominees. If you don't have to identify the place and time, and it's just what you remember, then no one can be charged for perjury for lying about it. We could get a whole bunch of Cabinet members removed.
Thanks for getting involved.
Although it's been often overused to say but I think this election is the most important, certainly in our modern history (ie 20th century onward).
Please convince any others to get out to vote---now is not time to sit on the sidelines.
A. Men. I'd be voting this year no matter what, just 'cause I think it's important to do so in general. But yeah. This administration just continues to pile on more and more and more reasons for why I'm especially anxious to do so this time around. You'd think the fact that Trump's approval ratings are in the 30s and Congress' ratings are even lower than that would clue these people in about what people really think of them right now, but apparently not.
I'm wary of counting my chickens before they hatch, mind, 'cause, well, we remember what happened the last time we did that. But I will be thrilled if people do get out and we send a HUGE wake-up call to this sham of an administration and we get to say goodbye to a lot of these idiots come November.
Joe, impeachment of Kavanaugh is very much on the table. Once Dems take the House, they will have subpoena power.
As I said earlier, Jerrold Nadler will take over on House Judiciary and very much has Kavanaugh in his sights.
Also, initial talk has begun also impeaching Neil Gorsuch, President Dump's first nominee to the Supreme Court.
The rationale for impeaching Gorsuch is that was a violation of his oath to defend the Constitution, just to take that seat given Merrick Garland did not get any "advice and consent" from the Senate
I would go even further to say that should Special Counsel Bob Mueller report collusion between Dump and Russia in the 2016 election, all of Dump's lifetime appointments should be removed (ie judges he has installed throughout the federal judiciary.
Pam, Kavanaugh could well enough been too drunk to remember his attack on Dr Ford but he surely knows the night it occurred (very likely July 1, 1982), so he was flat out lying to say he doesn't remember Dr Ford or the get together where the attack took place.
Correction: That should have read Ms Rice attended college in Maine, not her mother.
Thanks for this, Ken. While I always vote, I have a real motivation to get out this time. Not only do I want to officially register my disagreement with the direction of our government over the past two years but I also want to help my representative get a promotion. If the Democrats retake the House, my congresswoman becomes a committee chairperson. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters. That's the committee that that oversees the securities, insurance, banking, and housing industries. Think that idea might give Trump, McConnell, et al. a bit of the agita? Me too.
Grant said...
Are people who don't agree with you, allowed to buy your scripts and stage plays based on the scripts?
Will there be a caveat stating this on your website?
Don't want any misunderstandings later on, when a set a people who hold contrary political views stage your play and then you come to know of it and then problem arises.
Please let me know, as I would be buying the play "Going Going Gone" and that will be used by (some) actors and director who are not having the same views as yours.
Thanks in advance.
Chilling words. There's nothing more ominous than a veiled 15-dollar threat.
That's supposed to be funny but it's actually really the truth. The main motivator for President Dump's core supporters really is white grievance... basically that supposedly everyone is getting ahead at the expense of white people.
That's the reason for the wall, travel bans, attacks on immigrants, etc.
It's total BS but that's the motivation.
I'm the exact sort of guy who, on the surface, would look like a Trump supporter. I'm a former Army paratrooper, a retired police officer, rode a Harley, and am a middle class white guy. Up until 2016 I was politically apathetic, but I have to hand it to Trump and his minions; they got me off the sidelines to register as an independent, to cast a vote for ANYONE besides Trump or one of his Republican enablers. I wouldn't even describe myself as particularly progressive, and often the rhetoric from those further left than I am drives me absolutely nuts, yet I won't vote for any Republican for ANY office for as long as Trump sits in the White House. It's not even a left/right issue; Trump is the absolute worst choice for a leader of a democratic country. The fact that Republicans, who love to position themselves as the moral authority in this country, seem perfectly comfortable with each and every one of Trump's moral and ethical failures tells me they don't deserve to be in positions of power. I could accept a voter going red in 2016 when given the choice of Trump or Clinton, but if you're still an unconflicted Trumpist after two years of the clown college that used to be called the White House, you're not a supporter, you're a collaborator.
Republicans aren't really interested in what most Americans think of them. That's why they are all about keeping people from voting by imposing stupid barriers like voter ID.
They care only what the wealthy and donor class (ie Koch brothers) want.
Getting an ID is not rocket science. Your attitude is exactly what George W. Bush said was the soft bigotry of low expectations. I trust our fellow citizens can figure out how to get an ID.
Thank you. Women are feeling kind of alone at the moment, at least the ones I know. We're all so angry and sad. It's nice to see men standing up being angry too. I wish it wasn't necessary and our country would come to its senses.
And I am ALL FOR Maxine Waters running any damn thing she pleases!
Since we seem to be in a theatrical frame of mind here, how about a quote from a famous American play:
"... you have no sense of responsibility toward anybody or anything and that is a tragedy in a man and it is a disaster in a President!"
Gore Vidal wrote The Best Man in 1960; Donald Trump was (or at any rate should have been) in high school.
You take you prophecy where you can get it, I guess …
The answer, in this case at least, is simple. You do the play as written, reflecting the author's intent as expressed in the play and any accompanying notes. Sometimes the author's "views" are not present in the play in any form. Doubt anybody will call you gay for producing "The Importance of Being Ernest".
You can't impose your own views on the play; at least not with modern plays where the author's intentions are usually easy to confirm. You can't make the poker players in "The Odd Couple" voice partisan political jokes. You can't make the Pigeon Sisters unsympathetic hookers, nor can you sterilize them into old sitcom "nice" girls. You can't juggle it to present either Felix or Oscar as a commendable hero with the other a bad example.
I'm not sure what kind of problems you anticipate. Trust you're not thinking of a program note or announcement to the effect that the author is a libtard and you resent performing him, even if the play is innocent.
If a play needs too much "correction" to be acceptable to you, maybe you shouldn't be doing it at all. A qualified exception might be made for plays where something no longer means what it once did, or otherwise seems to reject human progress. "The Fantastiks" originally had a comedy song titled "Rape". Once upon a time that was considered clever and naughty. Since then the authors composed a replacement song more in keeping with the rest of the show.
If you're looking for an excuse to simply stand on stage and self-righteously yell your opinions at the audience, don't bother with a play. There's a wide spectrum of people who do that without befouling an author's work. The beauty is, if few buy tickets and nobody stays to applaud, you can write angry posts about being a genius punished by Them.
Finally, it's if any consolation the playwright usually won't object to your views if you leave them offstage, providing you're not on TV advocating drunken rape.
1. Yeah, I totally agree, and suesea7's additions ae correct.
2. A real problem, as has been alluded to, is Voter suppression
Here is a link to an explanation of how we need court packing now to reduce the influence of President Dump's illegitimately seated conservative justices:
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/2/17513520/court-packing-explained-fdr-roosevelt-new-deal-democrats-supreme-court
Sean MacDonald said:
I am a 49 year old American male. I have never voted in my life... there is good and there is evil, and the Republicans are evil, the purest evil that one can imagine... this year, I registered to vote."
Keep in mind that I say this as a proud liberal myself: Sean, you're a moron.
Because you waited until 49 to vote. Because you think my sweet old aunt is the purest form of evil because she ticks off the boxes with an "R" next to them. And because I get the feeling you're agreeing with Ken not on principle, which I could respect, but because that's the way the wind happens to be blowing in the comment section.
Read a book, learn to think critically and for yourself, and then join me and my fellow liberals in voting Trump out.
Wow.
With respect to Janet Ybarra and others:
Court packing is a bad idea, no matter who does it.
Reason: the balance always shifts, however long it might take; and when it does, the result is always backfire - you end up with the opposite of what you really want.
Court packing is what the RightWing is doing now - Trump's payoff for "winning" the election.
A blue-wave revenge packing would be every bit as bad - and would inevitably backfire, as noted above.
With regard to Mr. Justice-to-be Kavanaugh:
Once he gets to the Court, he faces a choice:
Will he be a Judge - or will he be a Political Hack?
When he got the Chief Justice slot, John Roberts was expected to follow the RightWing playbook, starting with overturning Roe v. Wade.
Instead, Roberts taught us the phrase stare decisis ("Let the decision stand.").
Roberts is just the most recent Republican Supreme to frustrate the RightWing by "not being Republican enough" - following in the footsteps of Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, and so many others, dating back to Tom Dewey's '48 running mate Earl Warren.
Of course, I'm not saying that once Kavanaugh gets to the High Bench, that he'll suddenly turn honest; what I am saying (I hope) is: don't rule anything out yet.
In the meantime, we have to work on the real problem, the one that won't go away:
Between now and 2020, the Electoral College must be abolished.
Not "reformed"; that would be like rewriting the Infield Fly Rule.
All the things that are wrong with the way we select our Presidents come directly from the Electoral College:
Red State/Blue State
Gerrymandering
"Regional Strategies"
Local election "laws" that artificially restrict access to voting
- and any number of other idiocies that I can't call to mind just now -
- the Electoral College is the root source of all of it.
- … and it has to go now.
"Thus endeth the Lesson."
Thank you, Janet Ybarra, for correcting me. I couldn't edit, so I appreciate your fixing that.
Pam, St. Louis
I agree with you on the Electoral College but without Democrats court packing, then conservatives will have control of the Supreme Court for maybe 20 years. Considering how Republicans achieved that advantage that would not be fair to Americans in the majority.
President Dump's nominees were put there by a president not representing the majority of Americans and Senate Republicans who do not representation the majority of the American populace.
@ Donald Benson
I would point out that once upon a time rape also meant "the forcible abduction" (Rape of the Sabine Women)
that is what the song in The Fantastics referred to.
Don't worry, I intend to vote.
I have to agree with Mike Doran as far as packing the court goes. It's the same problem that occurs when a President uses the power of the Executive Order to circumvent Congress; all that results in is a flurry of new executive orders being written by the incoming president to abolish the old ones by the old President. We've already seen it with Net Neutrality. We've also seen the "Biden Rule", which started during the Bush presidency, being used as a weapon by Republicans against the nomination of Merrick Garland during Obama's presidency. When our leaders do business this way, all it does is introduce a constant sense of impermanence in government. If they passed some law to increase the number of justices so candidates favorable to the Democrats could be seated, where's the end of that slippery slope? I guarantee anything like that will come back to haunt the party that started it, once they're out of power.
I don't even think they need to end the Electoral College; they just need to end the individual states' option for winner take all, where a majority guarantees you the entire state's electoral votes. Electoral votes cast in proportion to the proportion of the votes in each states' elections would eliminate the problem that in a red or blue state, the other parties' votes end up being meaningless.
Well, that was a profane and insulting rant. I hope you feel better after a while and I hope you come to moderate these views, not necessarily on Kavanaugh or Trump, but on your fellow citizens who disagree with you politically. Anyway, keep up the great blog, it is well written and quite interesting. All the best from one of your readers.
@mike doran and others: Would love to get your take on two radical ideas I have that I almost never see discussed. They kinda go together . . .
1.) Voting takes place over two days. And when I mean two days, I mean forty-eight consecutive hours. This allows a fairer chance to access the polls for those with less than mainstream work schedules. Have poll centers manned or womaned by high school students, inactive military, and all interested volunteers. Pay them damn well, and make sure only the best coffee and pizza is provided for them.
In exchange for that . . .
2.) Ban all early voting with the exception of military or approved in advance medical need. An election should be the snapshot of the vox populi on a very precise Moment In Time. I have never been comfortable with either party making last minute strategy changes based on what they "think" the early vote is telling them.
To any and all concerned:
Some of you (many of you, I hope) are perhaps familiar with a site called 270towin.com.
You can find a convenient visual history of the Electoral College, with interactive maps showing you how the votes went.
When 2020 rolls around, there will be an interactive state-by-state map you can use to see which states will make which combination of EVotes, to make the 270 total; in a close election, some swing states can go back and forth multiple times over the course of the election cycle (as they have regularly in our recent past).
What I'd like to call your attention to is a page titled Gaming The Electoral College, which has interactive maps wherein you can change how states can vary their EVotes in four different ways; one of the alternative methods is (I think) the method proposed by Aaron Sheckley in his comment.
What I'm asking is for everybody who reads this to visit 270towin.com, and find the Gaming The Electoral College page (you have to use the Search feature).
Read this page carefully, and then use the interactive maps to determine just how the alternate methods would have affected the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Elections -
- and the results might surprise you.
And if after this, any of you still believe that this Hellzapoppin' system can possibly be reformed …
… well, that's when I just give up.
How could this happen?!? I don’t understand. Every Republican voted in his favour? None of them had any scruples?!?
We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder. That includes early voting. It's popular here.
"The answer, in this case at least, is simple. You do the play as written, reflecting the author's intent as expressed in the play and any accompanying notes. Sometimes the author's 'views' are not present in the play in any form..."
"You can't impose your own views on the play; at least not with modern plays where the author's intentions are usually easy to confirm. You can't make the poker players in 'The Odd Couple' voice partisan political jokes. You can't make the Pigeon Sisters unsympathetic hookers, nor can you sterilize them into old sitcom 'nice' girls. You can't juggle it to present either Felix or Oscar as a commendable hero with the other a bad example."
THAT sounds something like Originalism.
Janet, I don't understand the explanation, but Ford's lawyers are saying Ford would have told the FBI July 1st party is not when it happened.
I suspect Ford is lying, based on how her story changes to fit the holes that are revealed in her story. Like the layout of the house changed, and whether she could hear them talking after they left, and even how far away the party was from the country club.
This doesn't matter. The point is she can't be charged for perjury because they can never prove she was making it up. And they can never prove her story wrong because she never had to give who what when where. Lots of people can be impeached or denied appointment based on this. Just find some activists to make up stories, but make them BELIEVABLE. No gang rape parties(that I then attended another ten times).
Read Philip Bump's analysis ... The attack most likely took place on that July 1.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-is-pressed-key-july-entry-his-calendar-only-point/?utm_term=.3023ec9c8a1d
Dr Ford most certainly did not lie. If she were lie, she never would have put Mark Judge in as part of the story.
Kavanaugh most clearly was lying.
Kavanaugh is pretty clearly a predator. He was certainly a drunk.
I'm now looking forward to a Democratic controlled US House launch multiple investigations against him. We will either learn the truth or he will be driven to distraction by so many investigations that he resigns to stop the onslaught.
We need to end this tyranny of the minority...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/10/08/its-official-americans-are-living-under-the-rule-of-a-minority/?utm_term=.b587caecac7c
Packing the Court -- if that doesn't scream "sore loser" then I don't know what does.
The court functions to make the law predictable so people can effectively coordinate their rights and obligations. Adding more Justices gives more opportunities for concurring and dissenting opinions. More tea leaves to read. More, "Justice X said so-and-so, therefore, perhaps the law really isn't Y, or maybe we could persuade other Justices to agree with Justice X?" Furthermore, packing the court is a blatant, explicit, act to make outcomes results-oriented. "We can't win with nine, so let's not make better arguments, let's just change the rules of the game." If you think people are cynical now, just see the cynicism THAT breeds. That helps no one. You want partisan policy makers? Then do what you're supposed to do in America. Vote them in!
Trump is a threat to our national institutions. So, let's pack the court. Let's impeach Justices. Let's abolish the Electoral College. When Trump is gone do those come back?
And of course, Kavanaugh "most clearly" is lying. And the attack (a fact not in evidence, mind you) "most likely" occurred on July 1. That's just neat-o. You have 30 years to come up with a time, place, motive, method, and all the little details that corroborate vile allegations and the best you can come up with is "most likely." Would you like your reputations ruined on such flimsy evidence? My guess is "most likely" not.
Is Ford lying? I don't know. But I do know that sex assault can be traumatic, that memory doesn't function like a DVR, and that in America (or anywhere in the world) a person making a claim (be it whether Coke is better than Pepsi, the Earth revolves around the Sun, Die Hard is a Christmas movie, or Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape me 35 years ago) has the burden of production and the burden of proof. She didn't meet either burden.
Meanwhile, Kavanaugh has spent the last 30 years living up to the burden of distinguished jurist, devoted father, and neighborhood, dorky, goody-two-shoes. No doubt it's because he, and he alone among thousands of sexual predators, possesses the "Sexual Predator Off Switch."
You lost an election.
It hurts.
I get it.
But the solution isn't to try and undo the last election, and it isn't to change the rules of the game. The solution is to offer a compelling candidate who will advance American values and offer sensible solutions to our problems.
Actually, we won the election. Hillary Clinton received 3 million more votes.
For the second time in two decades the popular vote winner did not become president. Clearly, reform is required so the majority can govern.
If you want to get over an election loss and Democrats retake the House and begin impeachment on Kavanaugh.
Since I apparently didn't make it clear before:
The Electoral College IS the problem.
It is the root source of all the other problems.
Gerrymandering.
Regional strategies.
Battleground states.
Enclave states.
Winner-take-all versus mix-and-match.
Racism, status-ism, class-ism, all the other -isms you can name.
The eternal victim mentality that all parties use whenever they can.
The worst part is that getting rid of it would require amending the Constitution - and any of you who remember the ERA from the '80s know that that is all but impossible.
Donald Trump's major "crime" is that his poisonous personality brings out the worst in everyone he comes in contact with - friend and foe alike.
The real villains here - McConnell, Ryan, Graham, Grassley, et al. - will always be able to find a front man for their misdeeds, even after Trump goes away (and when that happens, it will be his GOP "friends" who make it so).
And in my old age, I have the sinking feeling that (as Bill Dozier used to say on Batman) - The Worst Is Yet To Come!
I hope the worst is not yet to come. Rather, this year marks the year with a new Democratic majority in Congress, we begin taking our government and our nation back.
Let's see how much fun Republicans have when its investigation all the time with them as the targets.
Coram, no I wouldn't like my reputation ruined on such flimsy evidence. I would like the Republicans taken out on flimsy evidence though.
Janet, Ford herself is saying it wasn't the July 1st party, and someone tracked down the house where that party happened. It was in Rockville, more than ten miles from the country club, and is a townhome.
It's easy to want to believe it, but I think we have to face the fact that Ford was lying to stop Kavanaugh from being on the court. What little story she had kept changing. Unfortunately, too many people saw through the lies, and only one Republican voted no. One more and she would have succeeded. This is why I harp on making the story believable. I think Susan Collins or Jeff Flake would have voted no if Avenatti hadn't brought forth someone to claim she was gang raped at a party by Kavanaugh.
Or even if Ford's friend had backed up her story. However, there is the problem that she would have been expected to name the place and date and time and who all was there.
I'm a little surprised no one tried to claim they were told about it at the time, other than the one classmate who said she heard about it at school, which was too obvious a lie(Ford said summertime).
It should be pretty easy to have accusers show up 1 or 2 at a time with vague stories that claim to have been assaulted by a certain Cabinet member or nominee. They can either withdraw or it creates a public image that the Republicans and Donald Trump are predators. Just make the stories BELIEVABLE. At worst it gives Democrats leverage that nominees cannot be placed without being attacked, unless Democrats approve.
Janet, looking forward to it! The only downside is Trump will be negotiating from a position of strength, because he can declassify the FISA order and a whole lot of other documents that show what we were up to in the election spying on his campaign.
I read that the whole reason Giuliani was brought on board was to negotiate this sort of stuff. What Trump crimes get excused in exchange for which Democrats are surrendered to prison, like McCabe.
What I really mean by The Worst Is Yet To Come:
Am I the only one who's noticed that there's a lot of internal dissension within the two Major Parties?
Lots of old-line Republicans who don't care at all for Donald of Orange?
Lots of Democrats who never cared much for the Clintons (either or both)?
Lots of RINOs, lots of DINOs, old-time feuds within long-running political organizations?
It's been happening for years - generations, actually.
Am I the only one old enough to remember the GOP Split in '64, which led directly to the LBJ landslide?
Or George Wallace breaking off the Solid South from years of Dem loyalty in '68?
Or the New Left doing the same in '72, leading directly to the Nixon landslide?
And those are just the Big Ones.
No matter how much ersatz "unity" the Big Parties try to show at any given time, there's always some discontent simmering beneath the surface …
… and when 2020 rolls around, we just might be looking at a full-out split of the Republicans …
… and maybe even the Democrats as well …
… and the Electoral College isn't equipped to handle third-party spoilers on either side, let alone both …
Can't happen, you say?
Check your history; we've had a couple of close calls over the years.
I hope I'm just being needlessly panicked about this …
… you know, the way I was needlessly panicked about Trump two years ago …
McCabe is a registered Republican.
McCabe is a registered Republican.
As is Jim Comey, right?
This is what I mean by a GOP split.
Trump has no loyalty to the Traditional GOP - only to his own circle, who just want to win, no matter what.
If enough of the Old Guard gets sick enough of Trump's ego, they could declare "independence" (or at least "traditionalism", or somesuch), and split off from the mothership.
Or, the Trad Dads could rebel against the Trumpkins, and toss them out - and Trump could try to set up his own "GOP" (which would be neither G nor O, but what the hell).
And if Trump's "base" (which is actually more of a niche, but that's another story) sticks with him, and manages to win a state or two, that would screw up the Electoral College even more than usual …
All that is for 2020 - this fall, we get the Sneak Peek.
Can't wait, can you?
T
Get excited to vote next month.
Here's an inspirational video featuring Sen. Cory Booker:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=683542328711971&id=346299845735336&_rdr
If you think you are a victim of various voter suppression schemes around the country such voter ID or "exact match" (mostly in the red states) you can call the voter protection hotline at (866) OUR-VOTE.
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