2024 Elections

[Vrede too]

RFK Jr. Very "jr." Brings to mind a thought (stolen and paraphrased): I knew Robert Kennedy; I admired Robert Kennedy, and you, "Jr.", are no Robert Kennedy.

I've always thought it a little odd when men carry the "Jr" suffix into adulthood. Sheesh, grow up and use a nickname like Bob, Fitz, Don or Donny. No one should be automatically defined by their daddy their whole life. RFK Jr is 69 years old!

[billy.pilgrim]

These assholes aren't waiting until the actual elections.

Tennessee House Moves to Oust Lawmakers: What You Need to Know https://nyti.ms/3UcyErb

"How did the General Assembly reach this point?
Hundreds of students, parents and teachers have marched to the State Capitol since the Covenant School shooting on March 27 and have held demonstrations at the Capitol to demand action by the legislature to toughen gun laws.

Last Thursday, Representatives Jones, Pearson and Johnson — whose districts are in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, the state’s three largest cities — interrupted the legislature by chanting “No action, no peace” on the House floor. Legislative proceedings were forced to a halt.

The speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, responded by comparing the three lawmakers to the rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol in 2021."

But, but, but, didn't Cammie say that 1/6 was just "peaceful protesters"?

"He called their actions “unacceptable” and a violation of House rules of decorum and procedure. By Monday, he had revoked their ID access to the State Capitol building and had stripped two of the three lawmakers of their committee assignments."

[GoCubsGo]

These assholes aren't waiting until the actual elections.

The people are getting violent.

Oh wait....

[Vrede too]

These assholes aren't waiting until the actual elections.

The people are getting violent.

Oh wait....

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheTNHoller/ ... 9547958276

We should start working on refugee escape and resettlement plans for neoplacebo and billy.pilgrim, just in case. I'd offer NC, but with Gov Cooper term-limited and the Leg just lost, anyhow, it may not be safe harbor anymore.

Democrat Cites Emoji Bullying as She Hands GOP a Veto-Proof Supermajority

[GoCubsGo]

These assholes aren't waiting until the actual elections.

The people are getting violent.

Oh wait....

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheTNHoller/ ... 9547958276

We should start working on refugee escape and resettlement plans for neoplacebo and billy.pilgrim, just in case. I'd offer NC, but with Gov Cooper term-limited and the Leg just lost, anyhow, it may not be safe harbor anymore.

Democrat Cites Emoji Bullying as She Hands GOP a Veto-Proof Supermajority

The Chicago weather would do them in. It might be up to O Really.

[O Really]

Go West, old men.
California is well equipped and prepared to accept refugees from abusive and autocratic places, and San Diego in the past year accepted and resettled over 5,000 refugees, mostly from third-world type places such as yours is rapidly becoming. In addition to a more welcoming and less looney government, you'll find pleasant year-round weather, legal pot shops on what seems to be every corner, and excellent international food and free beach parking. Of course, that comes with a price, with the median house price around $800K and 1-bedroom rent around $2,200. Nevertheless, not having DeSantis or the Tennessee cray-crays should be priceless.

[billy.pilgrim]

These assholes aren't waiting until the actual elections.

The people are getting violent.

Oh wait....

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheTNHoller/ ... 9547958276

We should start working on refugee escape and resettlement plans for neoplacebo and billy.pilgrim, just in case. I'd offer NC, but with Gov Cooper term-limited and the Leg just lost, anyhow, it may not be safe harbor anymore.

Democrat Cites Emoji Bullying as She Hands GOP a Veto-Proof Supermajority

That's fucking sick. Bet she was all q before the election. Look for more similar situations to come

[neoplacebo]

These people are too slick to hold onto. This whole place is nutty as hell. On some days it forces me to start drinking early. I'd say by next month another TN state legislative loon will once again attempt to make the buy bull the official state book. And a law that dogs must open carry guns.

[Vrede too]

These people are too slick to hold onto. This whole place is nutty as hell. On some days it forces me to start drinking early. I'd say by next month another TN state legislative loon will once again attempt to make the buy bull the official state book. And a law that dogs must open carry guns.

The good news is that the TN Leg in Nashville has taken decisive action in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville:

Tennessee House votes to expel 2 of 3 Democratic members over gun protest


Protesters call for gun reform laws and show support for three Democratic representatives who are facing expulsion as legislators start the morning session Thursday at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville....

In an extraordinary move, Tennessee's Republican-led House voted Thursday to expel two of three Democratic lawmakers who recently led a raucous protest from the House floor calling for gun law reforms.

Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, were both removed from the body with votes falling along party lines, in a disciplinary measure that's only been used twice since the 1800s. The votes were 72 - 25 and 69 - 26 respectively. Together, they represent a combined constituency of about 130,000 people.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, who represents about 70,000 Tenneseans, escaped the same fate by a single vote, with a final count of 65 - 30.

Following the failed vote, Johnson was asked by reporters if she thought there was a reason she'd had a different outcome. "I'll answer your question," she said. "It might have to do with the color of our skin."

Both Jones and Pearson are Black and Johnson is white.

Figures.

The expelled lawmakers conceded they didn't follow decorum by walking on the floor — what is called the well — and speaking without being formally recognized.

Republicans said the trio's actions amounted to an insurrection.

Snowflakes.

... A motion was adopted to allow Johnson, Pearson and Jones 20 minutes each to speak on their own behalf, including time for their attorneys.
Law
How the Nashville shooter was able to legally buy 7 guns

Jones was the first of the three to address the chamber, offering an explanation for his actions on the well of the floor on March 30.

"The world is watching Tennessee," he said. "What is happening here today is a farce of democracy." ...

"I represent 78,000 people and when I came to the well that day I was not standing for myself," Jones said. "I was standing for those young people ... many of whom can't even vote yet. Many of whom are disenfranchised. But all of whom are terrified by the continued trend of mass shooting plaguing our state and plaguing this nation."

... Johnson also spoke about her experience as a teacher during a school shooting at a Knoxville high school in 2008. Although she's now retired, Johnson said that she still spends a lot of time on school campuses and that whenever she hears the cry of police siren or an ambulance, she jumps.

"Every single time because you just never get that out of your head," she said.

... "We are losing our democracy in Tennessee," Pearson told WPLN. "This is another example of the erosion of democracy because we spoke up for gun reform. Because we spoke up for people and children who will never become state legislators, who will never graduate from high school and never get engaged, never be able to see or protest for their own lives because they've been killed by gun violence."

... Jones said on CNN that Republicans are using authoritarian methods to silence the opposition. "It's very concerning and it represents a clear and present danger to democracy all across this nation," Jones said. "That should trouble us all."

It is "morally insane," Jones said, to prioritize punishing lawmakers over a procedural breach after a mass shooting at a school.

... House Speaker Cameron Sexton compared the incident to Jan. 6: "What they did today was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, to doing an insurrection in the State Capitol," he said.

... Jones' and Pearsons' seats will become vacant. Because the 2024 general election is more than 12 months away, their districts will hold special elections to fill the seats. The representatives' county commissions can also choose to appoint an interim lawmaker, who would serve until a special election is held.

Representatives who are expelled can return to their office — by being appointed by the commission and/or by running again. The state constitution also says a lawmaker can't be expelled a second time for the same offense.

I hope they run.

Who else has been expelled?

(2016: sexual misconduct
1980: convicted of seeking a bribe
2022: convicted of wire fraud

Now add being impolite and Black during a TN House recess.

Happy Good Friday.

[Vrede too]

Bad things happen in 3s?

TN casualties
2, very nearly 3, legislators.
3 school staff.
3 children.

Pundit, paraphrased: The expelled legislators' votes were irrelevant thanks to the GOP super majority, but their voices have now been massively amplified thanks to GOP foolishness.

[Vrede too]

Lots of developments

National uproar
County governments making noises about appointing the 2 exiles to fill the seats on an interim basis
Just one gun control advocate has already raised $450K towards their reelection
House RepuQs making noises about refusing to seat the 2 after their interim appointments or special elections
Kamala visited Nashville today
Joltin' Joe has invited the 2 (or 3?) to the WH

Whew, hard to keep up.

[neoplacebo]

Well, hell, at least no kids will die in TN from going to a drag show.

[billy.pilgrim]

Well, hell, at least no kids will die in TN from going to a drag show.

This expert claims that a hundred thousand will die from drag shows.

viewtopic.php?p=182480#p182480

[O Really]

Uncle Tom Scott (R-SC) apparently thinks that the party that has made racism and black/brown bashing a cornerstone of their ummm "platforms" is really going to give him the nomination for President? In what alternative world is this even tabloid fodder?

[Vrede too]

Uncle Tom Scott (R-SC) apparently thinks that the party that has made racism and black/brown bashing a cornerstone of their ummm "platforms" is really going to give him the nomination for President? In what alternative world is this even tabloid fodder?

He'd be dangerous as a VP nominee, though. Is that his goal?

[GoCubsGo]

Uncle Tom Scott (R-SC) apparently thinks that the party that has made racism and black/brown bashing a cornerstone of their ummm "platforms" is really going to give him the nomination for President? In what alternative world is this even tabloid fodder?

He'd be dangerous as a VP nominee, though. Is that his goal?

This

[GoCubsGo]

He'll be missed.

[neoplacebo]

Well, there goes that beach house I was counting on. Mike told me he'd buy me one if I shilled for him with the woke crowd. I lied and told him I would. The joke's on him. Right after he tweeted that, I called him and told him that he better get some fish slap antidote.

[billy.pilgrim]

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartm ... dium=email

This adds up. More at the article

"Dark money is preparing to disrupt the 2024 election, and it could get really, really ugly. All because a large handful of corrupt politicians and washed-out political hacks are enthusiastic about doing the bidding of their largest donors.

— In the presidential election of 1968, George Wallace carried almost 14 percent of the national vote.

The South was still deeply Democratic (the big shift toward the GOP happened over the following decade) and had Wallace not carried Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi those states would have gone for Hubert Humphrey, making him president instead of Richard Nixon.

— In the presidential election of 2000, Ralph Nader received 97,421 in Florida.

That was the state on which the election turned, and George W. Bush carried by only 537 votes in the first count (the Florida Supreme Court-mandated recount was blocked by 5 Republicans on the US Supreme Court, handing the election to Bush). Political scientist Gerald Pomper wrote in a 2001 Political Science Quarterly article:

“[A]pproximately half (47 percent) of the Nader voters said they would choose Gore in a two-man race, a fifth (21 percent) would choose Bush, and a third (32 percent) would not vote. Applying these figures to the actual vote, Gore would have achieved a net gain of 26,000 votes in Florida, far more than needed to carry the state easily.”

— In the presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to Donald Trump by fewer votes than Jill Stein claimed in each state."

"While less definitive than 2000 in Florida, one can still argue that if Stein hadn’t been on the ballot Donald Trump would never have become president and America would have been spared the trauma and 500,000 unnecessary Covid deaths that accompanied his ascension to that office.

The simple reality is that in our political system — winner-take-all elections, rather than a parliamentary system or ranked-choice-voting — a third-party candidate always hurts the party it’s most closely aligned with.

Wallace was a Democrat, and Nader and Stein were Greens, so they hurt the Democratic nominee. Biden is currently the “moderate” candidate in a Biden-Trump or Biden-DeSantis match-up, so a “moderate” third-party candidate would throw the election to Trump or DeSantis.

Now it looks like a massive dark money group is planning to bring America a repeat of those three elections where a third-party candidate put a Republican in the White House.

Dark money-funded No Labels has invested a reported $70 million to get ballot access in all 50 states, in anticipation of a 2024 race where they’d sponsor a “centrist” (aka “bought off”) candidate to run for president. And Democrats around the country are worried.

No Labels already wields considerable financial and political power through the corporate Problem Solvers Caucus they claim to have “inspired” into existence."

"Back in 2010, when Republicans on the Court fully legalized the bribery of public officials by corporations and the morbidly rich in their Citizens United decision, it became clear that if the decision wasn’t overturned by Congress elections would become auctions. Whichever candidate had the support of the deepest pockets would win the race.

Speaking with me after Republicans on the Court handed down their corrupt 2010 Citizens United decision, expanding their 1976 initial legalization of political bribery, former President Jimmy Carter said:

“It [Citizens United] violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. …  So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over.”'

Probably the best man to be president since FDR.

""In 1776 we declared independence from the world’s richest man and the planet’s largest corporation, which his family started (Queen Elizabeth I chartered the East India Company in December, 1601) and in which he owned the largest percentage of shares. 

Today, we’re confronting a similar challenge. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1936 of the last time wealth and political power was as seriously concentrated as it is today:

“It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over Government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.”

[GoCubsGo]

Kind of interesting it doesn't mention Clinton beating Bush with the help of Perot.