Politics And Current Events

[Kaiser]

Everyone made a big deal about this stuff when Trump was in office because he was helping out his cronies

cool cool. this actually wasn't made to be a big deal last time. the sitting president bringing his business, personal finances, accomplices, future felons, cronies and immediate family into every corner of the white house was what we all thought was a big deal.

this is a continuation of a system that nobody likes. but ultimately - so what.

I'll take the rich getting richer over the president giving our tax money to his kids to spend on drugs and whores. Glad I didn't vote for either one though.

[King Colby]

Is "neither" an option?

[Kaiser]

nope

unless you want to leave with me

[Shyster]

Meanwhile in PA...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/us/p ... icans.html

G.O.P. legislators, dozens of whom supported overturning the state’s election results to aid former President Donald J. Trump, are moving to change the entire way that judges are selected in Pennsylvania, in a gambit that could tip the scales of the judiciary to favor their party, or at least elect judges more inclined to embrace Republican election challenges.

The proposal would replace the current system of statewide elections for judges with judicial districts drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature. Those districts could empower rural, predominantly conservative areas and particularly rewire the State Supreme Court, which has a 5-to-2 Democratic lean.

On the other hand, the appellate courts are dominated by judges hailing from the major cities because those are the only people who have the money and name recognition to get elected in statewide contests. We have judicial elections coming up this year, and the PA Bar Association just released ratings on the candidates for our three appellate courts. Here are where they are from:

Jill L. Beck (Allegheny County)
Judge Deborah L. Canty (Philadelphia County)
Judge Timika R. Lane (Philadelphia County)
Bryan S. Neft (Allegheny County)
Judge David L. Spurgeon (Allegheny County)
Judge J. Andrew Crompton (Cumberland County)
Judge Lori A. Dumas (Philadelphia County)
Judge Sierra Thomas Street (Philadelphia County)
Stacy Sorokes Wallace (McKean County)
Judge P. Kevin Brobson (Dauphin County)
Judge Maria C. McLaughlin (Philadelphia County)
Judge Carolyn H. Nichols (Philadelphia County)
Judge Paula A. Patrick (Philadelphia County)

Only one person on the list is not from Philly, Pittsburgh, or Harrisburg (or their suburb counties). Why should the Supreme Court be dominated by those cities?

I'm not saying this proposal would necessarily produce a better system, although I do think a district system might produce a court with more balanced views and representation. I am saying our current system is flawed. There are flaws will all of the methods of judicial selection, but IMO partisan elections are the worst of all options, and the way PA conducts those elections is terrible. Personally, I would prefer to see PA abolish judicial elections and switch to the Missouri Plan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Plan).

[shmenguin]

nope

unless you want to leave with me

Leaving seems difficult. Any country you’d want to live in costs a fortune to move to, legally. I would have pursued a foreign transfer with work if the election went the other way. Beyond that, I couldn’t find a feasible path.

[shafnutz05]

This is crazy. Glenn Greenwald retweeted it which is why I saw it on Twitter. Poisonous.

[shmenguin]

It should come as some comfort that a pretty diverse spectrum of progressive is represented here and we all think this is idiotic.

Make voting more accessible and figure out how to get the police to behave themselves. I think we need to get to that point with race relations and reassess what the hell is going on.


Greenwald though...hoo boy

[shafnutz05]

It should come as some comfort that a pretty diverse spectrum of progressive is represented here and we all think this is idiotic.

Make voting more accessible and figure out how to get the police to behave themselves. I think we need to get to that point with race relations and reassess what the hell is going on.


Greenwald though...hoo boy

Yeah, Glenn has sadly went off the rails quite a bit since his days at Salon.

[dodint]

Only one person on the list is not from Philly, Pittsburgh, or Harrisburg (or their suburb counties). Why should the Supreme Court be dominated by those cities?

You beat me to this, thanks!

[bhflyhigh]

It should come as some comfort that a pretty diverse spectrum of progressive is represented here and we all think this is idiotic.

Make voting more accessible and figure out how to get the police to behave themselves. I think we need to get to that point with race relations and reassess what the hell is going on.


Greenwald though...hoo boy

Yeah, Glenn has sadly went off the rails quite a bit since his days at Salon.

You can say that again. I think all he is right now is a troll. I had to unfollow him. I was just so much crap thrown at the wall trying desperately to get it to stick.

[Tomas]

Meanwhile in PA...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/us/p ... icans.html

G.O.P. legislators, dozens of whom supported overturning the state’s election results to aid former President Donald J. Trump, are moving to change the entire way that judges are selected in Pennsylvania, in a gambit that could tip the scales of the judiciary to favor their party, or at least elect judges more inclined to embrace Republican election challenges.

The proposal would replace the current system of statewide elections for judges with judicial districts drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature. Those districts could empower rural, predominantly conservative areas and particularly rewire the State Supreme Court, which has a 5-to-2 Democratic lean.

On the other hand, the appellate courts are dominated by judges hailing from the major cities because those are the only people who have the money and name recognition to get elected in statewide contests. We have judicial elections coming up this year, and the PA Bar Association just released ratings on the candidates for our three appellate courts. Here are where they are from:

Jill L. Beck (Allegheny County)
Judge Deborah L. Canty (Philadelphia County)
Judge Timika R. Lane (Philadelphia County)
Bryan S. Neft (Allegheny County)
Judge David L. Spurgeon (Allegheny County)
Judge J. Andrew Crompton (Cumberland County)
Judge Lori A. Dumas (Philadelphia County)
Judge Sierra Thomas Street (Philadelphia County)
Stacy Sorokes Wallace (McKean County)
Judge P. Kevin Brobson (Dauphin County)
Judge Maria C. McLaughlin (Philadelphia County)
Judge Carolyn H. Nichols (Philadelphia County)
Judge Paula A. Patrick (Philadelphia County)

Only one person on the list is not from Philly, Pittsburgh, or Harrisburg (or their suburb counties). Why should the Supreme Court be dominated by those cities?

I am going strictly by Wikipedia numbers, but would not it be simply because:

A = Population of Pittsburgh Metro = 2,362,453
B = Population of Philadelphia Metro = 6,096,120
C = Population of Harrisburg Metro = 577,941

Then D = A+B+C = 9,036,514

E= Population of Pennsylvania = 12.8 million

And, finally, F = D/E = 70.60% ??

[Gaucho]

heh

[King Colby]

nope

unless you want to leave with me

Where to?

[count2infinity]

Venezuela?

[Freddy Rumsen]

@Morkle

[count2infinity]

https://www.wtae.com/article/pennsylvan ... e/35512956#

#cancelculture

[faftorial]

@Morkle

Too bad for him that Trump is standing in his way.

[NAN]

https://www.wtae.com/article/pennsylvan ... e/35512956#

#cancelculture

Yeah, what the Republicans are doing to the individuals that voted to convict Trump is absolutely stupid.

[King Colby]

Embarrassing

[Troy Loney]

[Gaucho]

oh

[count2infinity]

Who is "we"? The GOP voters of PA? Because if so, he's kinda got a point. The GOP voters of PA (and GOP voters across the country, largely) did not want to convict Trump.

Now, does that mean Toomey shouldn't "do the right thing"? Of course not, that's dumb.

[NAN]

Yeah, that's bad, and embarassing.

[DigitalGypsy66]

That's the common refrain I heard with SC state-level GOP when censuring Tom Rice for his vote - don't vote how you feel, but how your constituents want you to vote.

Welp, they're not wrong as far as what his constituents wanted. At least most of them. Now, Toomey represents all of PA, obviously, not a very red district in a very red state...

[Morkle]

Wait, why did I care about DeSantis?

Thank god Freddy can celebrate this one, unless there's a following twitter post that effectively pumps the brakes that we haven't seen yet?