Stupid Republican idea of the day

[Kobal2]

@Rick_Kitchen

Governor Paul LePage of Maine says he will veto every bill presented to him by the Democrats in the legislature unless they do away with the state income tax.

I’m playing their game. I’m finally learning to play the game of the politician.”

So I guess “the game of the politician” is to hold your breath and stomp your feet ?
That said, I’m seeing an easy counter-play from the Democratic party : present dozens of bilateral, everybody_wants_this laws. That the good governor will veto like an idiot, and grow steadily more unpopular as a result.

Oklahoma state House of Representatives passes a bill requiring that all marriages in the state be performed by a member of the clergy.

Is that retroactive ? Are prior civil marriages annulled and need to be done over ? I could see that being hugely popular, too…

[Bridget_Burke]

The Texas Observer reports that Lite Gov Dan Patrick & the Republicans of the State Senate passed a ringing Resolution against gay marriage. They made their voices heard! What is the legal meaning?

The resolution has no significance and no effect—it carries exactly as much weight as Senate Resolution 997, recognizing March 26, 2015 as John Wayne Day. The House GOP caucus did the same thing a few weeks ago after House Bill 4105 died, except theirs was only a letter. It’s the kind of thing people do when they’re losing, and they know that they’re losing and they want to show somebody that they tried.

They’re losing because it seems almost a certainty that gay marriage is coming to Texas soon, and they’re losing because polls show the public is changing its mind on the issue. They’re losing because all of the anti-LGBT bills carried died this session.

But Patrick is also losing here. He and conservatives like to blame the House for failing to pass socially conservative bills, particularly ones to do with abortion and gay rights. But he doesn’t have a lot of success to show in this department either. In recent days, he’s tried to inject language from dead House bills and initiatives into Senate bills. All of them have failed…

Certain Texas Republicans are glad to feed the extremists by proposing hateful legislation. But our Republican-majority House & Senate have managed to let those bills die quiet deaths. There are still some Democrats with fight in them & many of the Republicans just aren’t *that *stupid. Even in Texas.

[Love_Rhombus]

It’s not so much stupid as it is evil, but McCain slipped a rider authorizing the sale of Indian holy land into the National Defense Authorization Act at the 11th hour. The main beneficiary is of course one of his campaign contributors.

[Steve_MB]

@Kobal2

That said, I’m seeing an easy counter-play from the Democratic party : present dozens of bilateral, everybody_wants_this laws. That the good governor will veto like an idiot, and grow steadily more unpopular as a result.

Hell, play real hardball – write and present some hot-button bills with a full-court emotional press, and have the corresponding narrative (“LePage sides with terrorists”, “LePage sides with child pornographers”, “LePage sides with kitten poisoners”) all cued up and ready to go if he carries out his threat.

[smithsb]

@eschereal

Is it Oklahoma? Do they have a stone-tablets monument on the statehouse lawn? These guys are just testing the limits, to see what they can get away with (“hey, we included the Hebes, so it is not establishing A religion”). No one has ever gone to prison for writing a bad law. (Hmm, now that might be a thought …)

Your probably whooshing about the 10 commandments monument on the statehouse lawn - of course we [del] have[/del] had one. og destroyed it because of the misspellings or else it was knocked over by a drunk atheist recently.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Nebraska governor vows to carry out executions even though the state legislature has outlawed them.

[Kolak_of_Twilo]

@Rick_Kitchen

Nebraska governor vows to carry out executions even though the state legislature has outlawed them.

I’m sure our legal types will be along shortly to say, “The repeal doesn’t take effect for three months so he’s just doing his duty under the law!” but as far as I’m concerned he’s a dick.

This is all about pandering for votes since most of the public, regardless of party, remain in favor of state sponsored murder. Assholes.

[dropzone]

@eschereal

Is it Oklahoma? Do they have a stone-tablets monument on the statehouse lawn?

@smithsb

Your probably whooshing about the 10 commandments monument on the statehouse lawn - of course we [del] have[/del] had one. og destroyed it because of the misspellings or else it was knocked over by a drunk atheist recently.

Aren’t there oil derricks on the statehouse lawn? Fuck the 10 Commandments–Mammon is their real god!

[davidm]

@Evil_Captor

Psst. Basic Income. Picking up steam in the more civilized countries, still relatively unknown outside progressive circles in the US. Gonna make conservatives and libertarians squeal like the pigs they are!

Yes, I’m aware of the concept, and it seems like a good one. I just don’t hold out much hope of seeing anything like it in our country in our lifetimes.

[eschereal]

@Love_Rhombus

It’s not so much stupid as it is evil, but McCain slipped a rider authorizing the sale of Indian holy land into the National Defense Authorization Act at the 11th hour. The main beneficiary is of course one of his campaign contributors.

The galling thing about this is how artless it is. In the <creaky voice> old days, at least the politicians would make a minimal effort to make their moves look at least vaguely reasonable. This is just brazen sodomy (not that any Rs would know anything about that).

[Kobal2]

If there’s gonna be any sodomy, might as well make it brazen. Timid sodomy’s the worst.

[rsa]

@Kolak_of_Twilo

I’m sure our legal types will be along shortly to say, “The repeal doesn’t take effect for three months so he’s just doing his duty under the law!” but as far as I’m concerned he’s a dick.

This is all about pandering for votes since most of the public, regardless of party, remain in favor of state sponsored murder. Assholes.

I really doubt that Nebraska’s 10 death penalty people can all be executed in three months. I’d be surprised if even one could what with the slow wheels of justice.

[ElvisL1ves]

It wouldn’t seem all that difficult to get injunctions for all of them, under the circumstances.

[Boyo_Jim]

@Rick_Kitchen

Nebraska governor vows to carry out executions even though the state legislature has outlawed them.

@Kolak_of_Twilo

I’m sure our legal types will be along shortly to say, “The repeal doesn’t take effect for three months so he’s just doing his duty under the law!” but as far as I’m concerned he’s a dick.

This is all about pandering for votes since most of the public, regardless of party, remain in favor of state sponsored murder. Assholes.

I wonder if the tough-talking governor looked at the calendar to see whether there were any executions scheduled in the next 3 months.

[davidm]

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/31/3664206/ted-cruz-climate-change-texas-floods/

After literally 35 trillion gallons of water fell on Texas this month, washing away homes and killing at least 28 people, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz still would not talk about climate change. “At a time of tragedy, I think it’s wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster,” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate said last week when asked about the role of climate change in the floods.

I hate when they say things like this. If it’s something they don’t want discussed then they attempt to frame it as wrong or disrespectful. They try to avoid discussion at the very times when such discussion is normal and maybe even necessary.

This appears to be another right-wing rhetorical tactic, probably developed by someone like Frank Luntz.

The NRA is repeatedly guilty of this kind of thing after a shooting incident. “It’s disrespectful to the dead to talk about guns at a time like this.”

So are we now not allowed to discuss climate change when disasters occur that may be due to climate change?

Should we not have discussed transportation safety after the Amtrak crash?

Should we not discuss the problem of terrorism after a terrorist incident?

Is it wrong to discuss vaccinations after a measles outbreak?

[BrainGlutton]

@Kobal2

If there’s gonna be any sodomy, might as well make it brazen. Timid sodomy’s the worst.

[taps shoulder] [clears throat] Ermm, pardon me, sir, very sorry to trouble you, would you mind very much grabbing your ankles? Thank you, much obliged.

[davidm]

The Kansas Supreme Court Challenged Republicans’ Agenda. Their Solution: Replace the Judges.

The Kansas Supreme Court challenged Republicans' agenda. Their solution:...

Since Republican Sam Brownback became governor of Kansas in 2011, he and his allies in the GOP-dominated state Legislature have implemented drastic tax cuts—part of a “real, live experiment” in conservative governance, as Brownback put it in 2012, that has resulted in precipitously falling revenues. But Brownback’s tax slashing hit a snag last year when the state Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to increase education funding, potentially forcing the governor to roll back his signature tax cuts in order to increase school spending. So conservatives in Topeka declared war on the court.

In the year since the court’s education decision in March 2014, conservatives in the Kansas Legislature have proposed giving the governor more power to pick state Supreme Court justices and making it easier to remove justices from the bench. They’ve voted to strip the state’s top court of its authority over lower courts and threatened to defund state courts if they rule against the Legislature in a key case.

The Kansas Constitution requires adequate school funding. Apparently the legislators would rather extort the courts and cause a constitutional crisis than obey the state’s constitution.

[Morgyn]

@davidm

The Kansas Supreme Court Challenged Republicans’ Agenda. Their Solution: Replace the Judges. – Mother Jones
The Kansas Constitution requires adequate school funding. Apparently the legislators would rather extort the courts and cause a constitutional crisis than obey the state’s constitution.

Ahem. Weirdly, you made the very next post.

[Rick_Kitchen]

After literally 35 trillion gallons of water fell on Texas this month, washing away homes and killing at least 28 people, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz still would not talk about climate change. “At a time of tragedy, I think it’s wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster,” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate said last week when asked about the role of climate change in the floods.

This is the same Ted Cruz who refused to vote for funding for recovery from Hurricane Sandy, right

[davidm]

@Morgyn

Ahem. Weirdly, you made the very next post.

I don’t see the connection.

ETA: Never mind. I get it now.