391 Comments

I appreciate the quote by Scott Walker about the "imperative" of impeaching Judge Janet in Wisconsin. I plan to cite it the next time redistricting comes before our Ohio Supreme Court.

A repeat performance here is inevitable, because of the GOP supermajority obstruction on maps. Our Supreme Court voted down the former GOP maps four times and the Chief Justice, who is a Republican, was the deciding vote on the divided court.

It's been maddening for us to watch as Gov. DeWine, a member of the GOP majority redistricting commission, voted w/ his buddies to re-approve the court-rejected maps, over and over . . . while his son Patrick, also conservative, SITS on that very court and refused to recuse himself for his connection to the Governor. Patrick will no doubt approve their perfidy next time around, because Chief Justice O'Connor was forced to retire (she was age-limited). Now the Court has a majority that will rubber-stamp any old thing that the GOP supermajority desires.

You betcha that I'm coming after them with that Scott Walker quote. They won't care, because their #1 character trait is hypocrisy.

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Justice Scalia would like a word. I would also like words . Multiple Republican appointed Supreme court nominees misrepresented or canceled their views , most notably on Roe .Those candidates were selected because of the recommendations of a secret society of oligarchs some of whom are antiabortion . It appears the Candiadted or justices may even have been "on retainer " to that group or certain members . That apparently is not grounds for impeachment , even protected speech . Truthfully saying tat the WI map is gerrymandered is grounds for impeachment . The mind reels

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If Dan Kelly had won in WI, do we really think the GOP legislature would have demanded he recuse himself from all reproductive care-related cases? We don't. They would have been thrilled if he'd won, and would have expected him to vote against women's bodily autonomy every time it came before him.

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I'm 64 years old. I'm old enough to remember when "self-censoring" was called "being polite". You don't have to say every damn thing that wanders through your brain to be "free".

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What a disgrace! To think that the voters of Alabama elected Tuberville rather than the amazing Doug Jones as their Senator. Very bad choice to represent their state with that football coach?

Pathetic!

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Per military scholar, Tommy Tuberville, "there is no second place in war." But there is fifth place in the Southeast Conference. The problem of representative government is that it is representative.

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I'm, um, not sure that poll makes students "illiberal".

Students are not me, David, or you, Charlie. They mostly consider politics and political discussions stupid and uncool.

Even I, when I was in college, didn't care about having deep debates about deep topics to make people healthily uncomfortable. Nor did I think of college as a place where "you're SUPPOSED to get uncomfortable!!", or anything. That's an ideal that is rarely met or sought.

I cared about getting good grades and getting laid. I succeeded at one of those.

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Interesting how a GOP former governor, whose daughter is the current state governor, says what amounts to “if our guy doesn’t win we’re going to start shooting” and there’s virtually no reaction in the media. It does make me wonder if there would be a similar non-reaction if a Dem former governor said the same thing.

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While I am reasonably sure someone has already thought and written about this. It just occurred to me. Trump's supporters are like battered spouses. Perhaps we need to look to professional counselors to help us understand how we can help them.

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There is precedent for Republican nominees to high courts to refuse to answer questions, avoid the trust, equivocate, to bald-faced lie -- on how they value "precedents" for instance -- and that precedent is all Republican nominees for SCOTUS in the past quarter century or so. Amy. Brett. Neil. Not to mention Alito, Thomas, Roberts. Every. One. Of. Them. lied to Congress. And are happily ensconced for life after a McConnell rammed-down-the-throat "hearing" for at least the last three (which is why we have several members of SCOTUS who are, frankly, unfit for the job, chosen for ideology rather than for being excellent knowledgeable thinkers and jurists. Wisconsin is just following McConnell and the SCOTUS SIX example. (Yes, I DO think Thomas should be removed from the bench, but also Kavanaugh at a minimum.)

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founding

I guess the good people of Wisconsin would prefer their potential Supreme Court justice LIE and say, for example, that “Roe was settled” and then flip after seated... rather than Justice Janet Protasiewicz told the TRUTH about fixing their gerrymandered state. Hmmm

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Nah, the GOOD people were and are with Justice Protasiewicz by a large margin. It's the BAD people who can't handle the truth, and think that they can impeach it. If they follow through, I think that the governor will let them know that it's a bad decision, because Reality is Real.

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College free speech rankings. Without a baseline to compare with, these numbers are not as impactful as they might be. It would be really bad if these numbers were getting worse year over year. But this report provides a onetime view. Is it getting better? Worse? The same? Knowing that puts more context on these numbers. If this is how it has been for 50 years, not sure it means much.

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One constant in that age group is the power of peer pressure. I'm more disappointed than surprised, and have some confidence that the better ones will grow out of it. They can get a head start by reading the Bulwark. Maybe a special campus outreach, headed up by Not My Party.

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These blasted Republicans are uniformly terrible. Using the dim witted Tuberville to create places for Trump loyalists in the military-should Trump win-is a horrific idea. I can imagine the collective IQ of the military shrinking by several factors. Who knows-he might find a place for Flynn. Yikes!

This is really a nightmare scenario.

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Isn’t it about time a couple Republican Senators invite tuberville into the cloak room and show him the error of his ways? He’s playing politics with our national security.

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founding

It's long past time for that but don't hold your breath.

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"On Wednesday, the NYT reported that the GOP is “coalescing around the prospect,” of removing newly-elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz from the bench despite her landslide election victory in April."

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What I find most ironic, and consistent, about the WI New GOP in their desire to remove Justice Protasiewicz, (and similar efforts instigated around the country by MAGAdroids) is their perceived right to remove any duly elected Democrat, voted in by the people, as business as usual and totally within their purview in order to "return America to the 'Christian' nation the Founding Fathers envisioned." (Uh huh, yeah, right, if you say so) OTOH, should any Dem even mention the removal of an elected Republican, for *any* reason -- including illegal activities or a refusal to accept the fiduciary responsibilities inherent in being a legislator, e.g. the debt ceiling crisis or the impending government shutdown for purely political reasons -- then the Dems are trying an end run to supersede the expressed will of the voters in their nonstop attempts to make the country a "Communist Fascist dictatorship that won't hesitate to stomp on your faith."

fnord

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founding

Republican authoritarianism on full display in Wisconsin. This how Republicans will rule if trump returns to power: voters be damned, we do whatever we want.

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