North Carolina, you got called the fuck out!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Pasted from elsewhere:

A Democratic controlled state legislature in NC did exactly the same thing in 1985 when a Republican was elected Governor. It also happened in Mississippi in 1992 when a Republican was elected. The Democrats then restored the powers to a new Democratic Governor in 2000 and again restricted the Governor when Republican Haley Barbour was elected. Alabama was solid Democrat from Reconstruction until a Republican Governor was elected in 1987. Their Democratic controlled legislature restricted the office of Governor only to reverse itself in the early 2000s when a Democrat won the Governorship. It's dirty politics but it's also fairly normal for both major parties.

I wasn't able to make much headway in the Trust But Verify department, just finding some anti-Trump conservative blogger (who was with RedState at some point) talking about various things that seem on the surface to be on the level.

FWIW: When Democrats Stripped the GOP of Power The Media Was Not Hysterical | The Resurgent

This guy: Erick Erickson - Wikipedia Who at least appears to have standards.

[erimir]

How hypocritical of me not to complain about Southern Democrats when I was an infant/toddler.

But of note is the fact that NC Republicans only have a supermajority right now because of gerrymandering - gerrymandering that has, in fact, been declared unconstitutional. Unconstitutional means of boosting their legislative power are now part of what has enabled their power grabs in the past week. Saying that it's okey-dokey for a legislature to use its prerogatives while ignoring that their strength in the legislature is essentially illegitimate is glossing over a bit much.

[Dingfod]

What are the chances of these changes getting struck down by the courts?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

HB2 law: North Carolina to repeal 'bathroom bill' - BBC News

Yay!

North Carolina 'bathroom bill' still law as repeal fails - CNNPolitics.com

lol j/k Charlotte dun got punk'd

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Comrade.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Wrong thread. I am fail.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Judge blocks law stripping Governor-elect Roy Cooper of some powers | abc11.com

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

More:

North Carolina legislative power grab blocked in court. - Slate

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Justices Reject 2 Gerrymandered North Carolina Districts, Citing Racial Bias - NYTimes.com

[JoeP]

Activist judges!

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by erimir

So I was looking at the comments and I saw someone say something to the effect of he will never step foot in North Carolina (or Mississippi or Alabama) and for some reason* it was actually upsetting to me.

No offense to LS, but just two years ago nobody would've been lumping NC in with those states.

So in three short months the NC GOP has already managed to drag NC's reputation through the shit. Next step I guess is actually smearing the shit all over NC itself.

*A strange sensation because I would hardly consider myself a loyal North Carolinian, I didn't even want to move there, and it's full of Bible thumpers, yada yada, but I guess it has grown on me

Fwiw, NC is in a separate category for me. Being from GA, I was always happy that Mississippi and Alabama existed so as to keep us out of that dreaded last spot in education or childhood literacy or whatever. North Carolina always seemed more progressive (maybe more Beachy if that makes sense. Georgia is coastal, but barely.). North Carolina was one of the southern state that wasn't backwards as fuck (at least in my head).

The Modern Republicans get a narrow majority andpromptly start fucking it up as hard as possible. I care more about the state of the state of North Carolina now because it is a cautionary tale. And maybe it is fixable in the short term.

[Jerome]

Originally Posted by erimir

gerrymandering

Its amusing to see the structure overseen by the national government designed to make sure minority voters are not disenfranchised used as an excuse for losing elections.

Why do you hate black people?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Any luck with that pizza parlour investigation yet?

[erimir]

They got a narrow majority in votes statewide, but due to extreme gerrymandering, they have a supermajority in the legislature.

It's pretty hard to see a way out while gerrymandering like that is legal. Or the Republicans will have to have pretty horrific elections in 2018 and/or 2020.

If the environment gets so negative for them that their gerrymanders can be overcome to retake state legislatures and such, I do think that Democrats' first priority needs to be to pass serious voting and redistricting reforms.

And if they retake state legislatures in 2018 and can't be blocked by say a GOP governor, I'm gonna go on record as in favor of redoing district maps before the 2020 elections.

These types of political reforms ought to be a top priority at the national level as well, but nothing can be done until at least 2021 because of Trump. A renewed and beefed up VRA should be a top priority, as well as DC statehood. DC voted for statehood in 2016 by a margin of 86-14, so if Congress voted on it, it'd be pretty much a done deal. I'd say they should look at Puerto Rico statehood as well, I'd say, although public opinion about statehood there is less clear. They're holding another referendum this year, but a result for statehood won't be binding, which could affect the result. I suspect that given that some of PR's fiscal issues would be reduced by becoming a state that support might be higher now than in the past.

Anyway, point is Democrats need to push political and voting reforms that help them strongly, particularly since they happen to be the right thing and the small-d democratic thing to do anyway.

[Jerome]

Originally Posted by erimir

gerrymandering

That is what happens when the national government decides state representation is to be proportioned by race.

Oh the webs we weave when we decided to legalize racism nationally.

[Jerome]

Why are we not drawing districts based upon sexual preference, or gender identity?

Same moronic liberal thought as drawing districts based upon race.

[davidm]

Originally Posted by Jerome

That is what happens when the national government decides state representation is to be proportioned by race.

Oh the webs we weave when we decided to legalize racism nationally.

Surely you're not this stupid? Surely?

Gerrymandering, of course, was a term first coined in the U.S for a practice undertaken in 1812 -- when the vast majority of blacks were slaves.

We would expect such rank and racist imbecility from a Drumpf voter like you, though.

[Jerome]

Which is irrelevant to what is happening in 2017.

Right now you are advocating for using national law to dictate representation based upon race.

You are by definition a racist piece of shit.

What exactly is wrong with just counting each person as one individual?