The Agony of Stupidity...Should we Make Gerrymandering Illegal?

Republicans know that if voting district lines were drawn as they should be, based on Census population data, results would favor Democrats. That is why years ago, when then DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was asleep at the switch, the GOP started to make its move taking over state legislatures allowing them to gerrymander at will. That's where we are today the most recent action..."Justice Dept. sues Texas over redistricting, citing discrimination against Latinos."

This is the first challenge for Pres. Biden in legal action for redistricting; hopefully not the last. Here's the scenario...

"While the Supreme Court has declined to put limits on partisan gerrymandering, it is illegal to draw lines that are unfair to racial and ethnic minorities."

It, apparently, is clear in Texas that the lines have been drawn to put Hispanics at a

disadvantage in voting, which has been taken by A.G. Garland as a move to prevent a particular race from going to the polls. And from all indications, that would be right. This act is just a continuation of Republican moves on the Latino vote...

“This is not the first time Texas has acted to minimize the voting rights of its minority citizens. Decade after decade, Texas has enacted redistricting plans that violate the Voting Rights Act,” the Justice Department said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Texas. “In enacting its 2021 Congressional and House plans, the State has again diluted the voting strength of minority Texans.”

Eric Holder is getting involved as the left tires of GOP constant blocking of voting rights legislation, the reason for pressure on Merrick Garland to take action against cases like the move in Texas. Earlier it was required that DOJ had to approve redistricting maps to prevent discrimination. No longer the case, Texas is free to draw the line within the above parameters. Clearly, no one in the Democratic Party trusts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, rightfully so considering his record.

And here is where we are today...

"But when the Supreme Court eliminated pre-clearance in Shelby, it effectively said that instead of the Justice Department judging whether states are passing discriminatory laws, it will be the courts that decide. Which means it will be the Supreme Court that decides."

Ari Berman: With Extreme Gerrymandering, the Republicans Are Rigging the Next Decade of Elections...

And with a solid conservative majority at SCOTUS, it's pretty obvious the decision we can expect. Joe Biden's commission on expanding the Supreme Court cannot decide currently if this is appropriate. One more decision like voting rights in favor of the GOP should certainly change their minds. Mother Jones says, "Republicans Are Rigging Elections for the Next Decade," covering activity in four states, including Texas...

• In Georgia, Republicans passed a new congressional map on Monday giving their party 64 percent of US House seats in the state...
• In Ohio, Republicans passed a new congressional map on November 18 giving their party at least 80 percent of seats in the state...
• In North Carolina, Republicans passed a new congressional map on November 4 giving their party between 71 to 78 percent of seats in the state...
• In Texas, Republicans passed a new congressional map on October 18 giving their party 65 percent of seats in the state...

Mother Jones adds...

"You get the idea. In state after state under GOP control, Republicans are passing extreme gerrymandered maps that will allow them to pick up enough seats to retake the US House in 2022 and lock-in dominance of state legislatures for the next decade.

This is clearly not democracy when a political party can rig elections, and so far into the future, to be able to insure they win majorities. This is a fight Democrats are losing, and I still say the reason is the left has not been aggressive enough in the past several years. It may be too late, which means simply, democracy will go up in flames in America. 

The Agony of Stupidity: Is our Democracy Finally going Up in Flames?

 

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) based in Stockholm thinks so. According to The Daily Beast they have warned about...

a “visible deterioration” in US democracy that it says began in 2019 and rapidly accelerated after Trump refused to concede the 2020 election.

And democracy loses out for the fifth straight year to authoritarianism with "only 98 democracies around the world—the lowest number in years." So what the hell is going on? Well, to start with...Donald Trump. Then you compound that with a slew of wingnut Republicans riding on T-rump's coattails and you have the perfect formula for disaster. On top of all this there is conservative media like Fox News and maniac news hosts like Tucker Carlson spreading misinformation.

With all this you have to wonder if there is any hope for a return to democratic normalcy and, personally, I don't see that happening any time soon. And based on a recent poll from Harvard University's Kennedy School, we may be losing the younger generation. NBC News reports "There was not a lot of youthful optimism in the data...

"Only a quarter of those who were polled believe democracy in the U.S. is working as well as it should, and only one-third believe democracy is 'healthy' or 'somewhat functioning.' Considering that this group of people includes the country's next set of leaders, those are somewhat concerning findings."

There's more...

"Yes, younger people tend to see flaws in the status quo and are often the 

spark behind change, but when more than half of 18- to 29-year-olds believe U.S. democracy is 'failed' or 'in trouble,' it raises questions about how the next generation sees the future."

The obvious question here is 'don't they see what is going on?' And the answer is,

yes, they do, but there are mixed feelings. This could come from the fact that the left has not asserted much clout over the last few years, allowing the GOP to make strides that currently put them in a position of power in state legislatures, which may lead to taking back Congress in 2022, perhaps the White House in 2024. if you are a lefty, it is frightening.

The idiot Kyle Rittenhouse talks to fellow idiot Tucker Carlson...

And nothing illustrates better how fragile out democracy is than the Kyle Rittenhouse incident...

"The acquittal and subsequent adulation of shooter Kyle Rittenhouse—who says he supports the BLM movement and showed it by bringing an AR-15 to a protest and killing two of its supporters—surely isn’t an auspicious sign for the future of our democracy. It is springtime, however, for violent vigilantes and gun enthusiasts who no longer have to wear their hoods in public or abide by laws and election results they don’t like. Republicans in the House are publicly competing to make Rittenhouse their Congressional intern, while Marjorie Taylor Greene has a bill to give him a gold medal."

There is so much more in these posts from The Daily Beast and NBC that you should read. Maybe this kind of coverage will shock us into the reality that the Republican Party is hell-bent on destroying the democratic system this country has taken so many years to build.

The Epitome of The Agony of Stupidity

 

Jim Jordan is the embodiment of where stupidity has come from, where stupidity is today, and where stupidity might go in the future. Google 'Jim Jordan stupid remarks' and you will get over 9 million hits. Just Security calls him "A Systematic Disinformation  Campaign" with the following comment...

"Over the course of the past year, congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, has engaged in a systematic effort to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also led efforts to create an image in the minds of Trump supporters of Jan. 6 as the “ultimate date of significance” (his words, repeated several times). He helped spearhead the effort to oppose certification of the election in Congress. He has continued to promote the “Big Lie” even after the events on Jan. 6 and subsequent FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warnings that this conspiracy is propelling domestic violent extremists."

Go to the Just Security site and you will see "15 Highlights" from this moron's...

Timeline of public statements (in Congress, in public, on social media, and in media interviews) and his known activities related to the presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Jordan also accused of overlooking sexual abuse at Ohio State Univ... 

Folks, it is incomprehensible that the Republican Party would let this wacko get away with it. But, then, that's the new GOP trend with congressional members like Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, M.T. Greene, Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorne, to name a few. The information on Just Security is endless in documenting the antics of Jim Jordan and is well worth the read. And Jordan is mocked in Salon for being so dumb in his defense of Trump in the Jan. 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol...

"On Thursday, Jordan argued that Trump could not have been responsible for inciting the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol because it was pre-planned before Trump's "Save America" rally. He went on to highlight details about the disturbing evidence that suggests the riots were premeditated,"

There's more...

"How do you incite a riot that was already going to happen?" Jordan asked. "Pipe bombs were placed near the Capitol before President Trump's speech. -The FBI knew about potential violence before the speech. -Capitol Police requested help from the National Guard days before the speech."

Stupidity reins these days throughout the Republican Party, but it is misfits like Jordan and the others mentioned above who are bringing this country down, And, unfortunately the GOP doesn't give a damn. 

More idiocy from Jim Jordan...

The Agony of Stupidity Ensemble...Donald Trump, Teenage Gun Maker in Georgia, Norway Dumb

 

Unfortunately, things are occurring way too fast to report on only one stupid event. The stupids population around the world is escalating and proliferating to the point that a measurement is needed to track the activity. Here's today's menu...

Donald Trump, in his usual act of defiance, failed to reveal he has contracted Covid three days before his 2020 debate with Joe Biden. Here's the take from The Washington Post's Editorial Board...

"President Donald Trump willfully deceived the American people about the pandemic, the gravest public health catastrophe in a century. He knew the coronavirus was highly transmissible early on, but concealed it. He wrongly claimed that rising case numbers resulted from more diagnostic testing. He made a false assertion that doctors were inflating the death toll from covid-19 to “get more money.” There were so many other deceptions."

And then they go on to say...

"Three days before a presidential debate, Mr. Trump knew but did not say he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead, he carried on his campaign and presidential schedule, endangering all those with whom he came in contact."

Read the opinion. 

Then, in the somewhat backward state of Georgia--has to be half crazy to elect M.T. Greene to Congress--a 13-year-old brother is attempting to sell a homemade gun, when the gun was snatched by the buyer who ran. The brother shot at the fleeing thief, hitting and killing his 14-year-old sister. Weird, true and tragic.

Read the whole story.

And now around the world to Norway where you have to question the judgment of 120 people to gather at an event in Oslo, knowing full well of the potential consequences. Only vaccinated people were admitted but, unfortunately, one had recently returned from South Africa and later was found to carry the new Omicron variant. Now this is downright dumb. They're not yet sure of the 60 positive Covid cases, how many are Omicron.

Dr. Tine Ravlo, a local chief physician said...

“We are expecting more of them to likely be Omicron infections,” she said.

 Read the article.

Florida Gov. Ron Desantis...a Totalitarian, Fascist Dictator?

 

That is the implication from David Badash's piece in AlterNet and it is compelling just after the sunshine lunatic's latest move. Ron DeSantis is forming his own army with the justification it is needed to protect his state. What the state of Florida needs is protection from Ron DeSantis. It will cost millions in taxpayer funds, and one must wonder at this point where the hell the state's residents are in allowing this moron free rein over all their rights.

Badash says this move is...

"also being seen as one more potential attack on science during the coronavirus pandemic era. All National Guard members must be vaccinated. DeSantis opposes all vaccine and mask mandates and has invited unvaccinated, fired police officers from others states to move to Florida – and offering them a $5000 payment."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on his private army...

Here's another take from the media...

Perhaps one of the strongest warnings [against DeSantis] comes from SiriusXM Progress host Dean Obeidallah, who calls it "the beginning of a 'Red Army' as the GOP prepares for war."

And another...

MSNBC's Joy Reid likened the move to fascism, asking: "So… y’all know this is fascisty bananas, right…?"

Does anyone else smell a full-fledged Donald Trump in the making? 

 

The Agony of Stupidity...How many people did Marcus Lamb Mislead?

 

Marcus Lamb's Christian Daystar Television Network dedicated hours of broadcasts to anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination activists and groups. They persisted in giving their viewers deceptive information...

In July 2020, the Lamb family devoted an hour of their broadcast to "censorship" around the Covid pandemic, featuring the misinformation group America's Frontline Doctors.

This group is...

"quietly backed by dark money political organizations, evangelizing treatments for or opinions about the coronavirus that most doctors, public health officials and epidemiologists have roundly decried as dangerous misinformation.

There's more...

"In May, Daystar broadcast an hourlong program with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose famous family denounced his anti-vaccination views in May 2019. Kennedy was recently banned by Instagram for posting Covid vaccination misinformation."

Here's my question again...How many people did Marcus Lamb Mislead? 

UPDATE: If Austria can do it, why can't America?

 

 

Germany just joined Austria in a lockdown on the unvaccinated, initiating mandatory vaccines.

As CNN puts it, Austria took an extraordinary step by ordering Covid vaccinations for the entire population. No one thought it could be done, throughout the entire world. Various absurd enticements have been used, especially in the United States, to coerce citizens to do what they should do without any urging. Austria first...

"introduced a lockdown for the unvaccinated — a restriction that went farther than other European nations in singling out the people who have been driving a worrying surge in hospitalizations."

The virus is soaring across Europe; "The continent is once again ground zero for the global pandemic, despite the widespread availability of vaccines." So far, the U.S. isn't in dire straits, but we are again experiencing a surge in both cases and deaths from coronavirus, and the new, more powerful variant, Omicron, hasn't even taken hold yet. So far, the U.S, has experienced 49,677,021cases, 806,194 deaths. We are well ahead in the world on most of the vital statistics...

#1 Total Cases; New Cases; Total Deaths; and #2 in New Deaths... 

Austria protests vaccine mandate...

 As the world leader in all the above, doesn't that indicate some kind of preventive strategy is called for? The biggest obstacles are Republican governors like Texas' Greg Abbott, Florida's Ron DeSantis and So. Dakota's Kristi Noem. There are others, all Republicans, but these are the most vocal. Abbott and DeSantis are known as the leading Covid-19 killing machines. With no regard for their residents and constituents, Texas has 74,429 total deaths, Florida, 61,630.

And now Republicans, headed up by the moron Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)...

seized on a fast-approaching fiscal deadline to mount fresh opposition to President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine and testing mandates.

Even Moscow Mitch is against a government shutdown, and has made this known to other Republicans. But this idiot, Ron Johnson, is doing his best to use an attack against coronavirus vaccine mandates combined with a potential shutdown to put mandates in a negative light. Okay, it may not be the time, yet, for a lockdown for the unvaccinated in the U.S., but the current trend of cases is up with 82,360 daily, unfortunately probably headed for another 100,000 per day again.

We hope we don't have another Austria, but we must be ready. However, it is, sadly, the unvaccinated in this country who are causing the spikes in cases and deaths. It is this bunch of imbeciles that was targeted by Austria, and maybe we should be thinking about it here.