### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/161 "2018-08-31T00:21:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> [Done.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21179117&postcount=182)
>
> Now comes the outraged cries that we’re talking about fairness and decency and the true spirit of democracy, which have nothing to do with what some judges decide, unless they’re Brave Good and True judges who agreed with you.
>
> I don’t particularly care what you think is “fair,” because I am convinced that your idea of “fair” is simply that you win. So I am very confident that after I bump this post to note that the Supreme Court has disposed of this nonsense, I’ll get a slough of posts accusing me of gloating, sorrowfully observing that I used to be better than this, and damn few saying, “OK, Bricker, looks like you were right: it _IS_ constitutional.”
>
> But have at it.
Thanks for that analysis.
Your anticipatory whining about the bad treatment you imagine you’ll receive, however, is predicated on a false assumption: namely, that you won’t make a bullshit claim.
You’re planning to look at a closely-divided Supreme Court ruling that comes out in favor of your position and interpret it as “disposing of nonsense,” when what it’ll actually show is that the constitutional issues are so complex that literally the highest judges in the land disagree on how they should properly be applied. A court whose makeup is possible only because Obama’s pick was blocked will have an extra Republican member, and will decide in favor of gerrymandering in favor of the party that got them appointed, and you’ll be like, “SEE I TOLD YOU I WAS RIGHT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES.”
At which point you’ll be called a massive choad, and you’ll be like “OOH CONSERVATIVES CAN’T CATCH A FAIR BREAK AROUND HERE.”
Color my future self unimpressed.
---
### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/162 "2018-08-31T00:55:22Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> I have some ideas about process, if you’re interested in my opinion. But why would you be? What I support is the system we all agreed to for passing laws.
>
> If I were King for a Week, then I might implement topologically optimally compact voting districts bound by census block boundaries. That is, mathematically speaking, the best way to create regions that are mathematically fair, in that each contains an equal population and are not stretched out more than any other.
>
> But no Democrat wants that. It wouldn’t be “fair,” about delivering the desired results.
Wrong again. [Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission) is what Democratic California came up with. Note that it is not anything like the Democratic majority legislature redrawing districts to suit themselves.
And speaking of geography, here is how we do it:
> [@](#):
>
> Map-drawing process
>
> The Voters First Act and Voters First Act for Congress amended Article XXI section 2(d) of the California Constitution to establish a set of rank-ordered criteria that the Commission followed to create new districts:
>
> ```
> Population Equality: Districts must comply with the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of “one person, one vote”
> Federal Voting Rights Act: Districts must ensure an equal opportunity for minorities to elect a candidate of their choice
> Geographic Contiguity: All areas within a district must be connected to each other, except for the special case of islands
> Geographic Integrity: Districts shall minimize the division of cities, counties, local neighborhoods and communities of interests to the extent possible, without violating previous criteria. A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.
> Geographic Compactness: To the extent practicable, and where this does not conflict with previous criteria, districts must not bypass nearby communities for more distant communities
> Nesting: To the extent practicable, and where this does not conflict with previous criteria, each Senate district will be composed of two whole Assembly districts, Board of Equalization districts will be composed of 10 Senate districts.
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Huey\_Freeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huey_Freeman)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/163 "2018-08-31T01:19:23Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Also:
>
> Man this post is fucked in ways I can’t even start with. Why yes - if a racial group overwhelmingly votes for one party, then if you stop disenfranchising that group, that party may benefit from it. If you care about the benefit more than you care about the disenfranchising, you’re either a moron or a monster, take your pick. **Bricker** , you _do_ realize that black people get to vote too, right? Even if you don’t like the fact that they don’t vote the way you vote?
From what I can see, sounds like this dude fell into the sunken place and stayed there. Good for him. I don’t get the unhealthy preoccupation with this poster. He isn’t an uber-mensch; nah, he is ostensible lawyer/attorney who, most likely, earned his juris doctorate from a majority white school with a majority white faculty; at this institution, he learned about the US constitution written by white people, laws written by white people, and laws adjudicated by white people. He probably learned about all sorts of laws - corporate, administrative, civil, criminal, etc - all written, voted on, and passed into law by white people. At the conclusion of his studies, he took a state board exam administered and written by primarily white people. He ostensibly passed and was recognized by the state as an expert in law: the rulebook of white supremacy. Again, good for him. I’m sure he worked hard and he should be proud of his achievements. I’d be more impressed, however, if he emerged from the sunken place and offered his preternatural skills - _[pro bono](https://acluva.org/en/attorneys)_ - to help his people being interned in concentration camps.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/164 "2018-08-31T01:43:09Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#):
>
> From what I can see, sounds like this dude fell into the sunken place and stayed there. Good for him. I don’t get the unhealthy preoccupation with this poster. He isn’t an uber-mensch; nah, he is ostensible lawyer/attorney who, most likely, earned his juris doctorate from a majority white school with a majority white faculty; at this institution, he learned about the US constitution written by white people, laws written by white people, and laws adjudicated by white people. He probably learned about all sorts of laws - corporate, administrative, civil, criminal, etc - all written, voted on, and passed into law by white people. At the conclusion of his studies, he took a state board exam administered and written by primarily white people. He ostensibly passed and was recognized by the state as an expert in law: the rulebook of white supremacy. Again, good for him. I’m sure he worked hard and he should be proud of his achievements. I’d be more impressed, however, if he emerged from the sunken place and offered his preternatural skills - _[pro bono](https://acluva.org/en/attorneys)_ - to help his people being interned in concentration camps.
This is crazypants identity politics, Huey. People of color get to practice agency just like anybody else, and if someone chooses to practice their agency in a way that’s harmful to others, the fact that they’re not white doesn’t somehow let them off the hook.
Your description of his career is infantilizing. Those things he chooses to support? Of his own free will.
---
### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/165 "2018-08-31T02:08:21Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Also:
>
> Man this post is fucked in ways I can’t even start with. Why yes - **if a racial group overwhelmingly votes for one party, then if you stop disenfranchising that group, that party may benefit from it.** If you care about the benefit more than you care about the disenfranchising, you’re either a moron or a monster, take your pick. **Bricker** , you _do_ realize that **black people get to vote too, right?** Even if you don’t like the fact that they don’t vote the way you vote?
Do they? Does it even matter if they do? Even if they get to vote, the poor bastards get gerrymandered to hell and back, and it seems every week, Drumpf, Kobach or some other asshole dreams up yet another scheme - voter ID, fake cries of voter fraud, etc.
---
### Author:  [@Huey\_Freeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huey_Freeman)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/166 "2018-08-31T02:36:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> This is crazypants identity politics, Huey. People of color get to practice agency just like anybody else, and if someone chooses to practice their agency in a way that’s harmful to others, the fact that they’re not white doesn’t somehow let them off the hook.
>
> Your description of his career is infantilizing. Those things he chooses to support? Of his own free will.
\
There’s nothing wrong with identity politics. People have an issue with identity politics because, among other things, "[identity politics" disrupts individualism](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/26/17613844/racial-diversity-poll-twitter-white-people) - a pillar of white liberalism and white supremacy. Identity politics brought us 43 white male Presidents . . . _in a row_ and it was never an issue in mainstream discourse until Obama was elected by people of color. Do you remember in 2002 where GWB talked about the scourge of identity politics poisoning our political climate? Or perhaps you remember Reagan in 1985 talking about how we shouldn’t engage in identity politics? Nope, me neither. You’re absolutely correct that Bricker has the freedom to support whatever causes he wants to. He should. But I’m free to infer that he resides in the same sunken place where[Joe Gomez of FAIR](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/latino-worked-pro-trump-group-swore-wasnt-racist-quit-suffering-anti-hispanic-abuse-lawsuit/), Clarence Thomas, Sheriff Clark, Herman Cain, and Alan Keyes roam. And, there is nothing wrong with being in the sunken place; in fact, from what I can infer from the movie _Get Out_, the pay and benefits are excellent.
---
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/167 "2018-08-31T02:42:27Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#):
>
> From what I can see, sounds like this dude fell into the sunken place and stayed there. Good for him. I don’t get the unhealthy preoccupation with this poster. He isn’t an uber-mensch; nah, he is ostensible lawyer/attorney who, most likely, earned his juris doctorate from a majority white school with a majority white faculty; at this institution, he learned about the US constitution written by white people, laws written by white people, and laws adjudicated by white people. He probably learned about all sorts of laws - corporate, administrative, civil, criminal, etc - all written, voted on, and passed into law by white people. At the conclusion of his studies, he took a state board exam administered and written by primarily white people. He ostensibly passed and was recognized by the state as an expert in law: the rulebook of white supremacy. Again, good for him. I’m sure he worked hard and he should be proud of his achievements. I’d be more impressed, however, if he emerged from the sunken place and offered his preternatural skills - _[pro bono](https://acluva.org/en/attorneys)_ - to help his people being interned in concentration camps.
All the lawyers who disagree with Bricker had education and training you could describe the same way.
He’s not a victim of the system. He has chosen to side with evil.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/168 "2018-08-31T02:54:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Thanks for that analysis.
>
> Your anticipatory whining about the bad treatment you imagine you’ll receive, however, is predicated on a false assumption: namely, that you won’t make a bullshit claim.
>
> You’re planning to look at a closely-divided Supreme Court ruling that comes out in favor of your position and interpret it as “disposing of nonsense,” when what it’ll actually show is that the constitutional issues are so complex that literally the highest judges in the land disagree on how they should properly be applied. A court whose makeup is possible only because Obama’s pick was blocked will have an extra Republican member, and will decide in favor of gerrymandering in favor of the party that got them appointed, and you’ll be like, “SEE I TOLD YOU I WAS RIGHT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES.”
>
> At which point you’ll be called a massive choad, and you’ll be like “OOH CONSERVATIVES CAN’T CATCH A FAIR BREAK AROUND HERE.”
>
> Color my future self unimpressed.
The only thing I’m predicting is what the state of the law is in the future. That’s gong to be an objective fact. You can complain about how we got there, and how unfair it was, and if only Garland, and if only Clinton, and RACISM! and whatever else you want to say. But I am simply pointing out what will be.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/169 "2018-08-31T03:00:08Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Also:
>
> Man this post is fucked in ways I can’t even start with. Why yes - if a racial group overwhelmingly votes for one party, then if you stop disenfranchising that group, that party may benefit from it. If you care about the benefit more than you care about the disenfranchising, you’re either a moron or a monster, take your pick. **Bricker** , you _do_ realize that black people get to vote too, right? Even if you don’t like the fact that they don’t vote the way you vote?
Except I don’t agree that there is any “disenfranchsing” going on, no matter how many times you assert this as fact.
Black people get to vote just like everyone else gets to vote. I’m very much in favor of that. I’m not personally in favor of systems that say that “Let’s draw districts to help minority voters have more impact,” and I’m not personally in favor of systems that say that “Let’s draw districts to help minority voters have less impact.”
But you are. You’re very much in favor of drawing dstricts to help minority voters have more impact. That, in my opinion, is not fair.
But I don’t insist that my version of “fair,” gets used.
Let’s just stick with what the law says.
---
### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/170 "2018-08-31T04:07:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Except I don’t agree that there is any “disenfranchsing” going on, no matter how many times you assert this as fact.
Then you’re a fucking idiot along with an amoral thug.
---
### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/171 "2018-08-31T04:14:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Like when some smug jackass cites a court case without going into any detail as to what the case was about or how it pertains to the conversation in question?
Exactly that.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/172 "2018-08-31T07:05:24Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Then you’re a fucking idiot along with an amoral thug.
Given the shit you’ve confessed to on this board, I’d be really reluctant to call someone evil or an amoral thug if I were you.
---
### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/173 "2018-08-31T07:55:48Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> [Done.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21179117&postcount=182)
>
> [“That’s the settled law of the land.”]
>
> Now comes the outraged cries that we’re talking about fairness and decency and the true spirit of democracy, which have nothing to do with what some judges decide, unless they’re Brave Good and True judges who agreed with you.
>
> … So I am very confident that after I bump this post to note that the Supreme Court has disposed of this nonsense, I’ll get a slough of posts accusing me of gloating, sorrowfully observing that I used to be better than this, and damn few saying, “OK, Bricker, looks like you were right: it _IS_ constitutional.”
Here comes **Bricker,** prattling pretentiously about “settled law, True judges, and disposing of nonsense” **without ever mentioning that _Vieth v. Jubelirer_, 541 U.S. 267 (2004) was decided by a [SIZE=“5”]5-4 vote exactly on the usual partisan lines.[/SIZE]** I laugh at this bombast in the other thread.
“But … but … but” (I hear the Republiopaths say) “Souter was appointed by GHWB and he voted agaisnt the R’s. How can you say all 9 judges voted on partisan lines? Wasn’t it merely 8 of them?”
Wrong. The split in this country is no longer D vs R. Since 1993 it has been the Rational & Good versus the Stupid & Evil. I’m proud to regard GHWB, along with Romney, McCain, George Will and others who’ve denounced the modern GOP as _one of us._
**Bricker**? Once upon a time you had the reputation of being a principled right-winger, like George Will. What happened to turn you into a bitter liar with a shriveling brain?
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/174 "2018-08-31T08:04:05Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> I’m proud to regard GHWB, along with Romney, McCain, George Will and others who’ve denounced the modern GOP as _one of us._
😃
Sure you are, until one of them might be in a position to enact a tax cut, initiate military action, name a SCOTUS nominee, or perhaps advocate plastic straws for all.
---
### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/175 "2018-08-31T08:54:59Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> But you are. You’re very much in favor of drawing dstricts to help minority voters have more impact. That, in my opinion, is not fair.
Do you think Dems are looking for House districts that help minority voters have more impact than an equal number of white voters? I don’t. At best they’re looking to get that crooked system unskewed from where it is today.
Rural white voters have more influence than urban minority voters in electing the President and members of the Senate, thanks to the basic structure of our electoral system and the Senate itself. Thanks to gerrymandering, in many states, rural white voters have more influence in electing members of the House as well.
If you have anything resembling an objective vision of what’s fair, outside of what’s legal, you’d concede that re-gerrymandering the House in favor of urban minorities is a step towards making the whole system fair.
---
### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/176 "2018-08-31T09:24:28Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> 😃
>
> Sure you are, until one of them might be in a position to enact a tax cut, initiate military action, name a SCOTUS nominee, or perhaps advocate plastic straws for all.
So **Starving Artist** sees no difference between honest policy disagreements and blatant criminality, hypocrisy and corruption. Got it.
---
### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/177 "2018-08-31T09:28:39Z")
George Will is wrong in the way Lady Iboshi is wrong. Trump and co are wrong in the way Firelord Ozai is wrong.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/178 "2018-08-31T10:40:45Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#):
>
> \
>
> There’s nothing wrong with identity politics.
Agreed. My problem isn’t with identity politics. It’s with, again, **crazypants** identity politics.
> [@](#):
>
> You’re absolutely correct that Bricker has the freedom to support whatever causes he wants to. He should. But I’m free to infer that he resides in the same sunken place where[Joe Gomez of FAIR](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/latino-worked-pro-trump-group-swore-wasnt-racist-quit-suffering-anti-hispanic-abuse-lawsuit/), Clarence Thomas, Sheriff Clark, Herman Cain, and Alan Keyes roam. And, there is nothing wrong with being in the sunken place; in fact, from what I can infer from the movie _Get Out_, the pay and benefits are excellent.
I don’t know how you’re interpreting the Sunken Place. Looked to me like a place where a person’s agency was subsumed, and they were unable to make decisions about the world, because someone else (or if you’d like an alien institution) was making the decisions for them.
If that’s not what you mean, you metaphor differently from me. If that is what you mean, it’s a ridiculous thing to apply to a straight rich gender-conforming Christian man who benefits from every power axis in our society except for race.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/179 "2018-08-31T10:45:25Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> The only thing I’m predicting is what the state of the law is in the future. That’s gong to be an objective fact. You can complain about how we got there, and how unfair it was, and if only Garland, and if only Clinton, and RACISM! and whatever else you want to say. But I am simply pointing out what will be.
Oh, cool, so now I have a prediction. If you confine yourself to a statement of fact–something like, “Now that Democrats have had their supreme court appointee blocked, the court is populated primarily with conservatives, and accordingly enough justices voted the way I like that my view prevailed,” you won’t find nearly the pushback you usually find when you bring your Martin Shkreli smirk into a thread to say, “Nyah, nyah, I was right.”
---
### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/180 "2018-08-31T11:04:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> Sure you are, until one of them might be in a position to enact a tax cut, initiate military action, name a SCOTUS nominee, or perhaps advocate plastic straws for all.
FWIW, if I tried to participate at the sort of single-voice leftist board you guys pretend that SDMB is, I’d probably be banned as too centrist, or worse.
Mandatory straws are a good example of the liberal over-reach I would join you in lambasting. However, note that the left is at least motivated by humane values on the straw issue (they know it’ll cost them two pink-neck votes for every handicapped vote it gains them). This is in contrast to the Republiopaths — if they were pushing for mandatory straws you could bet one of their donors had a big stock-market position of relevance.
I was a strong supporter of Desert Storm (I greatly admire Biden, but poor Joe got the correct position on the two Bush-Iraq wars backwards). I called myself “libertarian” until that term was co-opted to mean “angry dope smoker who doesn’t like to pay taxes.” Lumping me with “the leftists” is just another example of the inability of today’s American right-wingers to apply their brains.
_But more importantly, you are hijacking **Bricker** ’s thread._ Start your own thread if you want to be Pitted. Here, copy-paste the following to get started:
**Please Pit me (Starving Artist) too**
I’ve been posting stupid political opinions at SDMB as long as I can remember. I oohed and aahed over and over about **Trump** ’s fake Wharton degree over a decade ago (of course I was too ignorant to know it was fake). I try to agree with **Bricker** whenever I can.
So why don’t you guys ever Pit me?? :mad: Whine! Stupid guys need to be Pitted too.
There. That should get you started. You’ll want to include some **Stupid Artist** quotes in your OP, but that shouldn’t be hard. Just use the “Find all” click and copy at random — most of your posts are stupid.
Hope this helps.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249.md?page=8)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249.md?page=10)