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Latest in the chain of "things the GOP strikes down despite the people voting for it":

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/24/south-dakota-supreme-court-kills-recreational-marijuana-law-approved-voters

I think this is the second time I've seen it be about recreational marijuana laws. The first being the Mississippi case where it was killed because their Fifth Congressional District no longer exists.

Anyway, another highlight is that the legal fees to strike it down were paid by the state itself. As in, the voters' own tax money was used against them.

Edited by Acacia Sgt
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21 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Latest in the chain of "things the GOP strikes down despite the people voting for it":

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/24/south-dakota-supreme-court-kills-recreational-marijuana-law-approved-voters

I think this is the second time I've seen it be about recreational marijuana laws. The first being the Mississippi case where it was killed because their Fifth Congressional District no longer exists.

Anyway, another highlight is that the legal fees to strike it down were paid by the state itself. As in, the voters' own tax money was used against them.

As someone who actually hates the smell of pot, I really don't care. But it's kind of chilling that 54% of the voters actually wanted to legalize it and the politicians are trying to overrule them.

Sounds like a good way to lose your chances at staying in office, in my opinion.

Edited by Armchair General
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47 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

As someone who actually hates the smell of pot, I really don't care. But it's kind of chilling that 54% of the voters actually wanted to legalize it and the politicians are trying to overrule them.

Sounds like a good way to lose the re-election, in my opinion.

Well, if you want an example not related to marijuana, there was a case where voters approved on expanding Medicaid in Missouri, but the GOP tried to strike it down too:

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/missouri-supreme-court-rules-state-s-medicaid-expansion-constitutional-reversing-lower-court

Fortunately, they were overturned. But yeah, it's not new the GOP is trying to subvert the will of the voters. The Mississippi case was like 74% approval.

---

Found a Gerrymander related case from Ohio:

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/24/1058973471/despite-voter-approved-anti-gerrymandering-reforms-ohio-gop-still-draws-lopsided

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6 hours ago, Armchair General said:

As someone who actually hates the smell of pot, I really don't care. But it's kind of chilling that 54% of the voters actually wanted to legalize it and the politicians are trying to overrule them.

Sounds like a good way to lose your chances at staying in office, in my 

I would generally be in favour of legalisation  of everything, but as far as democracy goes I think 54% is a little low a majority for wide sweeping changes. That still means there are a hell of a lot of people not on board with it (though given the specifics of this case I'd assume a lot of the non  voters would have been on  board too). Not that I think my specific view of democracy is what drives politician as indicated by that second 70% over turn that was quoted.

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On a similar subject:

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/382/BillText/Filed/PDF

A Republican Floridan State Senator plans to file a bill that would, as the very top text states, to:

Quote

to authorize the Legislature to establish a minimum training wage rate lower than the Florida minimum wage rate which employers may elect to pay employees for the first 6 months of employment.

It should be noted last year the people of Florida voted for an increase of the state minimum wage. So basically the state senator wants to give employers the option to pay new employees even less for half a year to counter the raise of the minimum wage.

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18 hours ago, Slumber said:

First case reported in Minnesota.

Because somebody went to an anime con in New York.

I always knew weebs would be my undoing.

On one hand, this is kinda funny.

On the other hand, looming death.

You just can't make this stuff up.

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Have not been here in a while, but I have been listening to NPR lately (I always knew they exist on radio, but I have not realized how interesting most of their news and stories are until recently), and I am growing increasingly concerned that the GOP is sliding towards authoritarianism with their desire to win at all costs, and are actively rigging the upcoming elections. At this point, I feel like one of the the things that might save America is ironically COVID, since people who support Trump are also the most vulnerable to it; it is kind of fucked up, but at this point, I see a treatable pandemic as America's salvation to help naturally select against political extremism. The moderate wing of the GOP is like almost non existent now, and quite frankly it has gotten so bad that I now strangely consider Mitt Romney a moderate freaking Republican.

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48 minutes ago, XRay said:

and I am growing increasingly concerned that the GOP is sliding towards authoritarianism with their desire to win at all costs, and are actively rigging the upcoming elections.

I have a VERY strong suspicion that the Republicans are going to use their failure to rig the last election to their favor. Rigging the election and then very smugly going ''but didn't YOU people keep saying how secure the election was when your side won? Didn't you call all our accusations far fetched? lol lol'''

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I haven't been keeping too close tabs on 'Murican politics, so I don't know if Biden's been a bit like Johnson and accomplished ots outside of war problems, but I feel like Biden's unlikely to get a second term after the fiasco with Afghanistan and all that. What is the general opinion of Biden's term so far in the States? I am rather curious, since I've not paid enough attention so far.

Regardless, elections are stil a couple of years away, right? Hopefully Biden's able to pull some big things off for your country before then.

Edited by Benice
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14 minutes ago, Benice said:

I haven't been keeping too close tabs on 'Murican politics, so I don't know if Biden's been a bit like Johnson and accomplished ots outside of war problems, but I feel like Biden's unlikely to get a second term after the fiasco with Afghanistan and all that. What is the general opinion of Biden's term so far in the States? I am rather curious, since I've not paid enough attention so far.

Regardless, elections are stil a couple of years away, right? Hopefully Biden's able to pull some big things off for your country before then.

The Afghanistan fiasco happened really early in the presidency, and as many are quick to point out, was Trumps plan to begin with, so I don't think it'll be held against him too much. However I doubt he'll get a second term for other reasons. Namely that I think the economy will be hit hard by the after effects of COVID and that will probably come to bear in his third or fourth year. He'll also be 83 if he gets reelected again! I know he seems to be in decent health, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the rigors of office left him deciding himself to only go for one term. But I said similar things about 71 year old Donald Trump becoming president too and I was proven wrong on that front.

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26 minutes ago, Benice said:

What is the general opinion of Biden's term so far in the States?

Personally, the collapse of Afghanistan was inevitable, he occasionally gets his words mixed, and he isn't really doing much of anything other than just riding the wave of being President and addressing the pandemic.

But the media hates him because going green doesn't come without it's setbacks, like how shutting down that pipeline project put several people out of work. The economy is "ruined" because people want to stay at home because of those stimulus checks. And everyone hates the lockdowns and the federal vaccine mandates.

37 minutes ago, Benice said:

Regardless, elections are stil a couple of years away, right? Hopefully Biden's able to pull some big things off for your country before then.

Well, he has until around 2024, if he makes it that long. I'm just waiting to see if he'll actually make the push for free college.

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7 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

I'm just waiting to see if he'll actually make the push for free college

It'd be pretty nice if he did, 'cause it means Canada would probably go that direction as well. Still, I worry that there's enough opposition both from citizens and gov. representatives who'd vote against it from both parties; even though it's something the US really should have given it's economic power, a lot of people hesitate to think free post-secondary is a good idea. It's not a perspective I understand, but given that right-wing people tend to not hang around here very often, I don't know that I'll learn that here.

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At the onset of 2021 I was hoping Biden could sponge up all the bad press from Afghanistan and whatever else, then not seek a second term in office, leaving it to Harris. Falling on his sword, taking one for the team, whatever you want to call that. Biden says he will seek re-election, but that could also be his own way of insisting, "look, I am fit for this office right NOW, so stop worrying about me. My arm is CONSTANTLY sore from daily COVID testing. Leave me alone.". Then again, nobody seeking the presidency is the sort of person that could be convinced that anybody else could do it better, so this may all be wishful thinking on my part.

3 hours ago, XRay said:

At this point, I feel like one of the the things that might save America is ironically COVID, since people who support Trump are also the most vulnerable to it; it is kind of fucked up, but at this point, I see a treatable pandemic as America's salvation to help naturally select against political extremism.

Well the 2020 census was taken before COVID so much as touched the red states. So all the redistricting that we're doing right now has to disregard the up to date numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if the 2030 census is closer to the 2021 or 2022 reality than 2020 was. The Supreme Court comprised mainly of members that shouldn't be there similarly do not care about the concerns of still breathing Americans. Democrats have a remarkable record of winning at the least opportune moments of American history. 

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Ideally, a census should be done again, once things stabilize more. The 2020 one was doomed to inaccuracy. If not from COVID, then by the Republicans own actions trying to end it prematurely. Precisely because redistricting would happen shortly after an election year.

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3 hours ago, Benice said:

It'd be pretty nice if he did, 'cause it means Canada would probably go that direction as well. Still, I worry that there's enough opposition both from citizens and gov. representatives who'd vote against it from both parties; even though it's something the US really should have given it's economic power, a lot of people hesitate to think free post-secondary is a good idea. It's not a perspective I understand, but given that right-wing people tend to not hang around here very often, I don't know that I'll learn that here.

 Because the costs of going to college is kind of inflated by a variety of things, but footing the bill for college on an national scale is something that might lead to an tax hike or people spending more time in college to get several degrees at once.

It's kind of hard to say what will happen if post-secondary it's education was made to be easily affordable, outside of making harder to find a specific job, afterwards.

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11 hours ago, Benice said:

I haven't been keeping too close tabs on 'Murican politics, so I don't know if Biden's been a bit like Johnson and accomplished ots outside of war problems, but I feel like Biden's unlikely to get a second term after the fiasco with Afghanistan and all that. What is the general opinion of Biden's term so far in the States? I am rather curious, since I've not paid enough attention so far.

Regardless, elections are stil a couple of years away, right? Hopefully Biden's able to pull some big things off for your country before then.

I cannot say for all independent and moderate Democratic voters out there, but I hold him responsible for Afghanistan. While it is Trump's dumbfucking plan, Biden did not have to follow it, but Biden chose to anyway. In my opinion, not withdrawing from Afghanistan would not have really cost him anything politically, and if he had to withdraw, he could have just done a gradual withdrawal. Unlike most Americans though, I am against withdrawal in the first place, so either way, I would not have been pleased whether it was Trump or Biden that did it. While we are on the topic of foriegn miscommunication, I am also not thrilled that the Biden administration massively failed to communicate the Australian submarine deal with France before hand. Outside of another war, I do not think the foreign affairs matters much though, since from my observation, most Americans are too self absorbed to care about stuff happening outside our borders even though it often matters just as much as, if not more so, than domestic and local politics.

What will affect him long term is the economy. Most voters are too dumb to realize that the economic issues we have right now are caused by Trump and not Biden, and they give too much to the weight on the impact of the current administration on the current economic situation, even though economic policies take a while to have an impact and it is generally the previous administration that has the most impact on the current economic situation. This really pisses me off because people generally blame Democratic presidents for having a shit economy even though it is often caused by the previous Republican presidents, and it is the following Republican presidents that take the credit for the economic recovery initiated by Democratic presidents, and then proced to fuck up the economy again. If that complete dipshit of an orange turd did not politicize masks and vaccines, other far right international shitheads probably would not have followed Trump's lead, and caused a massive supply chain issue that we have now.

And with Biden largely not doing anything about the border crisis, I think that will have a major impact on Black and Latino voters' enthusiam to elect him again.

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1 hour ago, XRay said:

While it is Trump's dumbfucking plan, Biden did not have to follow it, but Biden chose to anyway. In my opinion, not withdrawing from Afghanistan would not have really cost him anything politically, and if he had to withdraw, he could have just done a gradual withdrawal.

Actually, yes, he would have been attacked politically for reversing the decision. Support for withdrawing from the country was still strong back then, if I recall. The backslash to the withdrawal was a matter of hindsight. Since it was mostly caused because of the Taliban blitzkrieg that happened during the Summer, a consequence after Trump negotiated the release of thousands of Taliban POW's back in 2020 in order to guarantee a peaceful withdrawal, which the Afghan government was not a part of, thus demoralized their forces to stop fighting back and even defect. This in turn affected the withdrawal efforts, which were kinda done gradual in spite of it, considering the withdrawal was first set to end on April, then extended to August. Which meant that the Taliban began their blitzkrieg when the original deadline arrived, but not the extended one. It's not like Biden could've reversed things once things were clear were going downhill without that causing backslash as well. It had become a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. And considering things, most likely previously set-up to fail for him.

Edited by Acacia Sgt
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4 hours ago, XRay said:

What will affect him long term is the economy. Most voters are too dumb to realize that the economic issues we have right now are caused by Trump and not Biden, and they give too much to the weight on the impact of the current administration on the current economic situation, even though economic policies take a while to have an impact and it is generally the previous administration that has the most impact on the current economic situation. This really pisses me off because people generally blame Democratic presidents for having a shit economy even though it is often caused by the previous Republican presidents, and it is the following Republican presidents that take the credit for the economic recovery initiated by Democratic presidents, and then proced to fuck up the economy again. If that complete dipshit of an orange turd did not politicize masks and vaccines, other far right international shitheads probably would not have followed Trump's lead, and caused a massive supply chain issue that we have now.

Well that depends really on how things go. Obama got into office just after the 2008 global financial crash and that basically secured him a second term as president. As things were at rock bottom, so the only way to go was up. So Trump crashing the economy would be a very good thing for Biden, as the natural turn around of "you can't go lower than rock bottom" means there's nothing he could do wrong. But that's if things are at rock bottom now, which I don't believe they are. I thing there will be unforeseen after affects of COVID worldwide that will see things going much worse economically speaking. I easily could be wrong though.

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Actually, yes, he would have been attacked politically for reversing the decision. Support for withdrawing from the country was still strong back then, if I recall. The backslash to the withdrawal was a matter of hindsight. Since it was mostly caused because of the Taliban blitzkrieg that happened during the Summer, a consequence after Trump negotiated the release of thousands of Taliban POW's back in 2020 in order to guarantee a peaceful withdrawal, which the Afghan government was not a part of, thus demoralized their forces to stop fighting back and even defect. This in turn affected the withdrawal efforts, which were kinda done gradual in spite of it, considering the withdrawal was first set to end on April, then extended to August. Which meant that the Taliban began their blitzkrieg when the original deadline arrived, but not the extended one. It's not like Biden could've reversed things once things were clear were going downhill without that causing backslash as well. It had become a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. And considering things, most likely previously set-up to fail for him.

The stories I've heard from soldiers, going years back, suggests that the Afghan army had absolute no need to be demoralized. The common soldier was interested only in getting a paycheque so they could eat in a country that had basically no work, not in defending the puppet government. Things could have been handled differently, but a Taliban takeover was completely inevitable because the only people care about keeping the Taliban out were Kabul elites.

Edited by Jotari
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6 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The stories I've heard from soldiers, going years back, suggests that the Afghan army had absolute no need to be demoralized. The common soldier was interested only in getting a paycheque so they could eat in a country that had basically no work, not in defending the puppet government. Things could have been handled differently, but a Taliban takeover was completely inevitable because the only people care about keeping the Taliban out were Kabul elites.

Things were apparently so bad that even while there was plenty of uniforms and winter clothing in stock by the government there was still nothing of that to give to the soldiers who needed to buy it second hand on the market. With their own money. While not getting paid. 

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11 hours ago, Armchair General said:

 Because the costs of going to college is kind of inflated by a variety of things, but footing the bill for college on an national scale is something that might lead to an tax hike or people spending more time in college to get several degrees at once.

It's kind of hard to say what will happen if post-secondary it's education was made to be easily affordable, outside of making harder to find a specific job, afterwards.

Getting a tax hike to pay for higher education is not a bad deal. The US is in a bad spot in that it's workforce is both expensive and poorly educated compared to other expensive countries. Getting more people degrees would do much for the competitive position of the US

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