Was that from that flexible vinyl record that came in one of the MAD magazine issues? ‘Gall in the Family Fare’ I think was the name. Funny, at least it was to my 10 year old self at the time.
The Mississippi constitution says that all propositions put on the ballot must have a percentage of the voters in all 5 of the state’s Congressional districts. But after the 2010 census, Mississippi lost a Congress member. So the state Supreme court just ruled that a proposition that was passed by the voters was illegal, because the signatures that put the proposition on the ballot only had signatures from four Congressional districts, because there is no fifth district. This officially means that the state can’t put any propositions on the ballot unless the state changes the constitution to adjust the number of districts that are required.
I agree with some of the arguments made by the dissent in this case, but I also have some sympathy for the judges in the majority.
Frankly, the blame for this lies, at least in part, on the idiots who wrote the ballot initiative provision in the 1990s, and apparently assumed that Mississippi would always have five congressional districts. Measures like this need to be written in a way that takes account of possible changes.
Take Article V of the United States Constitution, which notes that constitutional amendments need to be ratified “three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof.”
If the founders had been thinking like Mississippi, they might have written that a constitutional amendment requires ratification by 10 states, which would have qualified for the three-fourths requirement when only the thirteen original states were in the union, but would have had some pretty incredible consequences once more and more states were added.
If Mississippi does change the rules for ballot initiatives, do you think they’ll learn their lesson; will the new language specify 4 districts (which could also change, someday) or will they not tie it to a specific number?
It’s Mississippi. What do you think?
It’s not like this is specific to Mississippi. When Social Security was passed in 1935, benefits were paid to people once they reached 65 years old, soon to be 67. The federal gas tax, and those of all the states, are in cents-per-gallon. As life spans have increased, and cars become more fuel efficient, the impact of those laws have changed. And we know those changes will continue,
for today’s evil banana-Republican idea (which is from six months ago but only revealed today)
This is Pinochet-level ugly. DoJ had a gag order to prevent the account holder from knowing about the subpoena, which puts one in mind of the Disappeared.
It’s going to take a lot of time to prosecute all the criming that went on over the past 6 years or so.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill that forces death row inmates for now to choose between the electric chair or a newly formed firing squad in hopes the state can restart executions after an involuntary 10-year pause.
Two inmates who have exhausted their appeals immediately sued, saying they can’t be electrocuted or shot since they were sentenced under a prior law that made lethal injection the default execution method.
South Carolina had been one of the most prolific states of its size in putting inmates to death. But a lack of lethal injection drugs brought executions to a halt.
McMaster signed the bill Friday with no ceremony or fanfare, according to the state Legislature’s website. It’s the first bill the governor decided to deal with after nearly 50 hit his desk Thursday.
…
My bold.
Yes, “hope” – hope is the important thing here.
You know, it occurs to me that the state could reap beaucoups of $$ if it auctioned off slots to be on the firing squad. A whole new revenue stream!
They’re not giving press conferences. They’re not going out in the Rose Garden like my father was. They aren’t doing press conferences as they’re getting on Air Force One. They’re not traveling anywhere. I mean, there just seems like there’s a vacuum in Washington. There’s no energy. There’s no speed. There’s no desire to actually fix these problems, and that’s depressing.
And if an inmate refuses to choose…? He gets both?
Yes, that’s how you solve the country’s problems - by giving press conferences. Not by, you know, actually working.
All hat, no cattle.
Don’t forget tweeting. You’re not solving the country’s problems if you’re not tweeting every single random thing that pops into your head.
And what about insulting and starting feuds with other nations/heads of state?? Damn-- at this rate Joe & Kamala will never catch up with Daddy’s record.
Well, to be fair, since he hasn’t been convicted of anything, Daddy doesn’t have a record – yet.
The Arizona GOP has a solution to a problem, and that solution is to cut income taxes for the wealthy (of course):
That’s so fucked. Eric was brought up in privilege, believing magic elves come out and do all the work after daddy yells something.
Like this:
This is definitely a feature, not a bug. There are entire days when I don’t think of Joe Biden, and I like it that way.
Bingo. He has no fucking clue how the real world works. So he’s pretty much the archetypal Republican of this age.