Month: March 2019

Concentrate on gerrymandering and voter suppression

The Democrats in the House passed HR 1, a huge voting overhaul that has no chance at all in the Senate.

I think it would be better if they chopped it up into pieces. It would be easier to explain to the public if they concentrated on one item at a time.

I would start with gerrymandering. It is easy to show examples like Wisconsin and North Carolina. (Yes, Democrats did it in Maryland but this is almost entirely a Republican problem.) The public will understand and approve of the idea of fairness. Democrats also need to emphasize that when districts are redrawn like in Pennsylvania, it’s to promote fairness, not Democrats.

Since the Republicans won’t do anything, it should be easy to tag them as being opposed to fair elections. See the tweet below for a new study that shows obvious problems.

Same for voter suppression. Everyone should understand that all people who are eligible to vote should be able to vote. Republicans have made extensive suppression efforts in places like Georgia.

Trump turns presidential events into political rallies

He did it again this week in Ohio. It was totally inappropriate. We are so numb to his violations of norms that this doesn’t get enough coverage. His campaign (which started on his first day in office) should pay for these events, not taxpayers. I can’t remember them all but some others were speeches at the CIA and Boy Scouts. It’s just wrong.

Follow the money: Trump and Deutsche Bank

Great investigation by the New York Times.

It’s too bad that all of the information on Trump’s sleazy dealings, payoffs to women and tax avoidance wasn’t known before the election.

Pompeo briefed faith-based media

The State Department wouldn’t provide details on the event. They’re taking after Trump since he wouldn’t make information on his meetings with Putin available. This should not be acceptable. Sad!

Beating Trump is most important for Democrats

A recent poll shows that it’s more important than a candidate’s views on issues. I agree. Any Democrat is better than Trump. We have to vote him out if he’s still in office by then.

Facebook must be investigated

I am on Facebook but don’t use it much anymore.

My account has been hacked several times.

I don’t approve of their role in the 2016 election.

I don’t approve of how they handle personal data.

Abolish the Electoral College

Elizabet Warren, followed by other Democratic candidates, has expressed support for abolishing the Electoral College. In two of the five elections in the 2000s, the Electoral College vote has differed from the popular vote and put the popular vote loser into office. This trend could easily continue if small red states have disproportionate power compared to larger blue states in the Electoral College.

A way around a constitutional amendment would be for states to agree to give their electoral votes to the popular vote winner. Some states have passed this idea (National Popular Vote) but it’s not up to 270 electoral votes yet. I would not expect Republican states to support it since they benefit from the current system. Here are some recent discussions of the issue. Whether changes are made or not, it’s good that the topic is being discussed seriously.

Make sure to read the tweet below that points out that most of the 2016 presidential campaign events were in a few states.

We must see the Mueller report no matter what Trump thinks

The House voted 420-0 to release the Mueller report to the public and 81% of the public thinks it should be released. Republicans in the Senate will block a vote on releasing it, according to Trump stooge Graham.

Trump doesn’t think it should even exist. Let’s see if he tries to block the release or reduce what is made public. He wouldn’t be going through all of this “witch hunt” nonsense if he had nothing to hide. If he is innocent, the report would clear him and he should want it released. The White House should not see it before Congress. Forget executive privilege.

That said, there may be security reasons to redact parts of it. The impact on unfinished investigations should also be considered.

Court packing may be needed to correct Republican abuse

Republicans have trashed norms by blocking Obama judicial appointments, stealing a Supreme Court seat, and abandoning the blue slip tradition. There is no reason for Democrats to adhere to norms if Republicans won’t do it too. A drastic measure like court packing may be needed to offset the Republican abuses of the appointment process.

The column above by a conservative admits Republicans may block any Democratic Supreme Court pick: “…
the decision in 2016 by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to not hold hearings on President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, suggests that even a Democratic president could not successfully place his or her nominee on the bench if Breyer or Ginsburg were to step down while Republicans control the Senate.”

From the article:

“Expanding the Supreme Court would amount to a historic power play by the next Democratic president and Congress, requiring an intense legislative fight and the abandonment of many judicial and congressional norms.

But Democrats say that after Republicans blocked Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and other lower court judges during President Barack Obama’s final term only to quickly fill those vacancies once President Donald Trump was in office, the party needs an equally bruising response.”