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Democrats prepare for redistricting in 2020

February 20, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Democrats have finally learned their lesson, one hopes, after the debacle of the 2010 election in which GOP majorities were elected in statehouses and Congress that then gerrymandered their way into safe districts that are mostly safe until 2020, when the next decennial census occurs and is followed by the next redistricting battles.

Huffington Post reports, Democrats Are Already Planning For The Next Round Of Redistricting Battles:

Democrats launched a super PAC Thursday with the purpose of flipping state legislatures before the next round of redistricting, which will follow the 2020 elections.

The PAC, called Advantage 2020, will be led by Mark Schauer, a former Democratic congressman and Michigan state Senate leader who lost the state’s gubernatorial race to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder last year. Advantage 2020 plans to spend about $70 million over the next three elections in an attempt to chip away at GOP majorities in key battleground states where Republicans established legislative districts after the 2010 elections.

Rep. Paul Gosar wants the U.S. military to kill civilians

February 10, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

The editors of the Arizona Republic recently stated that “there is a danger in making policy by anecdote” in regards to the lawsuit filed against the state of Arizona by children in the Arizona foster care system.

This should apply to the statement by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) today in the wake of the confirmation of the death of Kayla Mueller in Syria, who was held captive by ISIS.

In an interview with the Arizona Republic today:

Rep. Paul Gosar, whose district includes Prescott, said in a phone interview that the U.S. should loosen the rules of engagement that protect civilians, saying that American forces are limited by, for example, having to ensure buildings are cleared of civilians before bombing. “It’s like in American Sniper,” he said. “Are you prepared to kill a 10-year-old carrying an improvised explosive device?”

Why stop there? Why not the usual unhinged “Kill ’em all! Let God sort ’em out”?

How committed are anti-choicers to forcing pregnant women to give birth, under any circumstance? Very.

January 27, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Look at this rose! How can you say we’re not nice people? We like roses!

Last week was the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision and, of course, the annual pilgrimage of anti-choicers from all over the country to descend upon the nation’s capital to show what loving, compassionate, and totally-not-obsessed-with-punishing-women-for-sex people they are. Emily Crocket of RH Reality Check reported on some of the, shall we say, slightly disturbing things said by anti-abortion activists at the March for Life:

“Rape and incest are awful things, and there’s already so much hurt and pain in those situations, but adding more hurt, more pain [from an abortion] isn’t going to help anybody,” said David Held of Purdue Students for Life.

“I personally believe that it’s pretty selfish of them to go and kill that person” by having an abortion after a rape, said a young man from a Catholic high school near Lafayette, Louisiana, whose priest asked that the students not be named. “It’s probably going to hurt the whole time, but it’s a sacrifice that you have to make.”

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Freedom is just another word for another wingnut group

January 26, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

My apologies to Janice Joplin for riffing off of “Me and Bobby McGee” in the caption.

Those of you who are familiar with politics in Washington, D.C. are aware that the Republican Study Committee (RSC) is the hotbed of far-right radical extremism.

Apparently the RSC is not radical or extreme enough for the likes of Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ).

He is part of a new farther-far-right radical extremist group, laughingly calling itself the “Freedom Caucus” (conservatives have rendered the word “freedom” devoid of any meaning today with their constant abuse of the English language.)

The Hill reports, House conservatives form ‘Freedom Caucus’:

House GOP conservatives announced a new “Freedom Caucus” on Monday to split from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) after complaints that it had become too cozy with leadership.

The nine founding members of the group have been frequent thorns in the side of House GOP leadership over the past four years. Many of them voted against giving John Boehner (R-Ohio) another term as Speaker earlier this month.

House GOP leaders forced to delay vote on Secure the Border First Act of 2015

January 26, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

The “Secure the Border First Act of 2015,” HR 399 in the House and S.208 in the Senate, cosponsored by Arizona Tea-Publicans Rep. Martha McSally in the House and Jeff Flake in the Senate, has run into trouble from conservative opponents who point out that the bill does nothing about President Obama’s executive orders for prosecutorial discretion in deferring deportations, and from the latest “storm of the century” to hit Washington, D.C.

The Hill reports, House delays border security bill vote:

The House won’t vote this week on a controversial GOP border security plan that conservatives complained would do little to stop President Obama’s order to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

Aides to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who controls the floor schedule, said the blizzard pummeling the Northeast forced the cancellation of votes Monday night. And due to the shortened schedule this week, the vote on the border bill — originally slated for Wednesday — has been postponed until a later date.