Month: August 2014

Deportation Republicans

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I posted the other day that The GOP is officially the party of Steve King and of mass deportation. Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal concurs in The GOP’s Border Spectacle – WSJ:

Murietta[T]he GOP again gave the country the impression that its highest policy priority is to deport as many children as rapidly as possible back from wherever they came.

Earlier this week Speaker John Boehner had his caucus lined up to pass a modest bill that would have provided the Obama Administration with $659 million to deal with the border influx, while tweaking a provision in a 2008 law that even President Obama has said has encouraged the flood of unaccompanied minors to the U.S. This would have allowed Republicans to return home for the August recess saying they had voted to address the border problem and put pressure on the White House and Senate Democrats to act.

Instead, the GOP’s Deportation Caucus—led by Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz of Texas—lobbied House conservatives to resist any immigration compromise and pick a fight with Mr. Boehner. The dissenters demanded an array of policy changes, most notably new restrictions on the President’s executive order allowing some undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children to remain in the country.

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Book Review: The General’s Son

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Regardless of your view, if you’re immersed in the Israel – Palestine situation, as I have been, I’d highly recommend The General’s Son, by Miko Peled. I just finished it a few days ago. Peled is not a professional writer, so his style is only average. Overall, however, the information he conveys is compelling, and … Read more

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s politically motivated decision on voter ID

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court is composed of seven justices who are elected in state-wide “non-partisan” elections. (Riiight). Each justice is elected for a ten-year term, and only one justice may be elected in any year.

solidarity_wi_fist_shirst-1You will recall that the 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election between incumbent David Prosser, Jr. and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg gained significant nationwide publicity, and was widely seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget reforms in Wisconsin, and a part of the 2011 Wisconsin union protests. Wisconsin Supreme Court election, 2011 – Wikipedia.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in the NAACP case, and the LWV case, on a 4-3 vote (and 5-2 vote in the second case), rejected two challenges to the state’s voter ID law on Thursday.

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Oh no, Florida again

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florida-badThere is no state more infamous for its totally effed up election system than the state of Florida. And once again, Florida wants to lead the nation to a totally effed up election this year.

On Friday, a Tallahassee court judge ordered the state Legislature to redraw the boundaries of two congressional districts by Aug. 15 and said he will consider calling a special election later this year for all districts affected by the change. The Miami Herald reports, Fla. judge orders new congressional map:

The ruling, by Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, sent new tremors throughout a state accustomed to election-year confusion and came a day after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told Gov. Rick Scott that he was carefully monitoring Florida’s compliance with federal election laws.

Last month, Lewis declared two of Florida’s 27 congressional districts invalid, ruling that the seats held by U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, were drawn to benefit Republicans and were in violation of the Fair District rules approved by voters in 2010.

The practical effect is that lawmakers must convene a special session in the next two weeks to meet the map-fixing deadline. Lewis would then decide when and if special elections would be held for the districts whose boundaries have been modified.

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