Democrats! Here is your gift that keeps on giving. Run with it. Hammer home the message.

How does this translate to individual races. They may hate Republicans in general but still love their individual Repuke Congressperson

The bannonites are threatening to primary any con that disagrees with degenerate donnie about anything. That's the rabid, slack jawed imbecile base we're talking about which are the most reliable primary gop voters.

But see how well that worked out for us with the last Presidential election?

of how old you are but a fossil like myself remembers that the rabid base of the gop seemingly always overreach when they're emboldened - as they feel they are right now.. They simply ignore stuff - like that Donnie lost the popular vote by an incredible amount, like that the gop LOST seats in BOTH houses of congress in 2016. That Dems have been flipping seats in very Donnie friendly districts while the gop has flipped exactly none. It's like they can't help themselves. I hope Bannon is doing that again right now. Given his habit of thinking he's a kingmaker, I'm pretty confident they're going to nominate tea party lunatics to run in purple districts where they will get creamed.

Is it because democrats roll up their sleeves and deal with problems head-on, while republiturds are snake oil grifters, only interested in getting elected and TERRIBLE at governing?

Let's hope more Americans catch on to this trend.

Isn't it amazing what they've gotten away with all these years? People kept making excuses for them and saying the Democrats are just as bad because blah, blah, blah.

Shut up already, the Democrats have NEVER done anything like what the Repukes have done since Bill Clinton was elected. Never!

I hope we're looking at the death of the Republican Party, because I really don't see how they can survive Donald Trump and Russian collusion/treason.

Cause pursuant to propaganda Dems are evil.

Because Americans have very short memories. Historically, this kind of thing is good only for one election cycle. Let's say we elect a Democrat for president in 2020. By 2022, the Tea Party will be back in full swing.

"We're trying SO hard to fuck you over, and we can't even do that," it's bound to produce some hurt feelings.

The problem with polls is the fact that the "samples" are from people in a wide array of areas throughout the country. On election days, people within those gerrymandered districts are going to vote their party lines. Dems will likely vote for Dems and the repukes ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS vote for whatever moron has a red 'R' before his/her name. They could advance Idi Amin on the rethug ticket anywhere in America and the idiot rethugs will vote for him. Bet on it. Count on it.

Gerrymandering is nothing new that was invented after 2010.

The Great Gerrymander of 2012

HAVING the first modern democracy comes with bugs. Normally we would expect more seats in Congress to go to the political party that receives more votes, but the last election confounded expectations. Democrats received 1.4 million more votes for the House of Representatives, yet Republicans won control of the House by a 234 to 201 margin. This is only the second such reversal since World War II.
Multimedia

Using statistical tools that are common in fields like my own, neuroscience, I have found strong evidence that this historic aberration arises from partisan disenfranchisement. Although gerrymandering is usually thought of as a bipartisan offense, the rather asymmetrical results may surprise you.

Through artful drawing of district boundaries, it is possible to put large groups of voters on the losing side of every election. The Republican State Leadership Committee, a Washington-based political group dedicated to electing state officeholders, recently issued a progress report on Redmap, its multiyear plan to influence redistricting. The $30 million strategy consists of two steps for tilting the playing field: take over state legislatures before the decennial Census, then redraw state and Congressional districts to lock in partisan advantages. The plan was highly successful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/the-great-gerrymander-of-2012.html?pagewanted=all



The last census was drawn in 2010, Congressional districts were redrawn in 2012, when Republicans held the majority of state legislatures. So, the voting landscape after 2012 was quite different than that of 2006 or even 2010.



State Legislative and Congressional Redistricting after the 2010 Census

Every decade, the census is conducted to readjust population figures across the country. These population figures are then used in redistricting--the re-drawing of Congressional and state legislative districts.
Once the census figures are released, states are then tasked with the redistricting process. In most states, redistricting is taken up by the state legislature and governor.

Redistricting is often a highly politicized process. According to Bill Thomas, a 2010 Congressional candidate from Maryland, the real goal of redistricting is "to repackage constituents in ways designed to benefit the party in power. The 8th Congressional District in Maryland... is a carefully crafted inkblot. Voters only think they choose elected officials, but it’s elected officials who choose them," he said.[1] Jennifer Clark, a political science professor, said gerrymandering is common in most states. "The redistricting process has important consequences for voters. In some states, incumbent legislators work together to protect their own seats, which produces less competition in the political system. Voters may feel as though they do not have a meaningful alternative to the incumbent legislator. Legislators who lack competition in their districts have less incentive to adhere to their constituents’ opinions," she said.[2]

Thomas Mann, a scholar at the Brookings Institution has written extensively on redistricting reform. Mann wrote, "Redistricting is a deeply political process, with incumbents actively seeking to minimize the risk to themselves (via bipartisan gerrymanders) or to gain additional seats for their party (via partisan gerrymanders)."[3]

https://ballotpedia.org/State_Legislative_and_Congressional_Redistricting_after_the_2010_Census

where gerrymandering pitted two sitting Democratic congress people, both popular in their districts. Marcy Kaptur had the slightly larger populace in her district, and, predictably won, nicely "getting rid" of Dennis Kucinich, who had previously been a presidential primary candidate.

these are poll numbers when things are actually going pretty well, for the most part....

are so baldly antithetical to the common good and the will of the people, you cannot expect to maintain your popularity. yeah you can fool some of the people all of the time etc.

"Trump's defenders counter that he has faced tough problems and unrelenting opposition from his political foes."

After what they did to President Obama, they have the nerve to talk about "unrelenting opposition." Tough problems? That's part of the job, folks! If he can't stand the heat.........

Yeah, let's feel sorry for him because someone has been trying to stop the disasters that he's been hell-bent on precipitating.

<GodwinAlert>I guess we should also have felt sorry for Adolf because the Allies didn't want him to take over the world</GodwinAlert>

Everyone seems to treat politics these days as if it's a football game and the only important thing is making the playing field level. (Including Dem politicians saying, "we have to give the other side something" -- no, you don't. Not if you can help it)

Doesn't seem to matter whether one of the sides is up to no good.

All you have to do to be a foe of Trump or his supporters is to point out facts, because everything he does is premised on lies.

That's true of the Koch GOP to a large extent. They reject bipartisanship.

not a great economy, but a good one. Job growth has been positive for years and wages were finally starting to tick up, despite ferocious GOP opposition for 8 years. (Job and wage growth would have improved at a much better rate if the Dems had held onto both Houses until at least 2012...)

Obama inherited an economy that was headed towards a new Great Depression - not just in the US, but across the world.

The supporters of Trump's arguments are invalid.

You mean if Dems CAN vote.

Even if Dems come out in massive numbers, the GOP will be voter-suppressing us off the chain come 2018. ruSSia's still meddling, and really who knows to what extent they meddled in our past GE? Malcolm Nance, whose not given to hyperbole is now saying something to the effect that he wouldn't doubt it if the ruSSians did somehow find a way to change vote totals in favor of tRump, given the fact that Hillary Clinton was leading in all 3 swing states he had to win he "miraculously" won on election DAY. Now that's PAST frightening. Our voting apparatus is flat out broken and very hackable in some areas across this country, and there's the gerrymandering case before the Supreme Court currently, which probably reshape politics in a negative way for Democrats if the court goes right with their ruling, and that's probably what will happen unfortunately.

Just VOTING and gaining any real power will be a challenge for Democrats come 2018, 2020 and beyond.

see time and time again, too many just sit back....too hard to get right voter IDs, too hard to stand in line to vote...too hard? WHats the alternative? Until we elect democrats at state and local level, we can forget about righting our country and might as well accept defeat.

the war is one with people getting involved, especially locally. If aren't willing to do so, then you are as much of the problem as the conservatives who do get involved

It’s about getting a 3-10% bump in the Latino vote in about 21 congressional districts mostly in CA, but also across the Southwest and FL.(Hope Tom and Ben have the juice in the community to pull that off, if anyone can it is them) After that we need to get a few seats in the Philly area, and then all a sudden it’s going to come down to inches and with them on defense I would give us the win.

very little can be enacted. Trump has to be removed.

And leave it that way.

That has got to end!

They've rigged the system.

And just this week I got TIME with a front cover telling how the Democrats are in disarray and how Trump, disaster that he is, could end up re-elected.

It feels good to hear what we want to hear. This is why Fox Noise is still in business, despite their aversion to anything truthful outside of sports and weather.

Anyone celebrating the demise of the Republican Party is dreaming, just like they were in 2008, and we WON 2008.

When I see it lying in its coffin with a wooden stake through its heart, its head cut off, and its mouth stuffed with garlic. Unfortunately, Peter Cushing and Roddy McDowell are no longer with us, so we can't rely on them anymore.

...or their "family values" role model, Comrade Casino, the dishonorable republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief.

and be pissed that D's aren't cleaning up the messes as fast enough.

Played with Spooky Tooth and with George Harrison on the much beloved All Things Must Pass album.

He had another hit off that same solo album in 1976 called Love is Alive. Check it out.

Living in The Material World . I'll probably watch the rest this weekend
Will check out Love is Alive although I think I remember it but vaguely....

Thanks for the heads-up!

I'm glad we had this conversation!

I mean, they were all geniuses, but I think he was the one who really shaped their unique sound as they got into the later years. He carried that over to other groups that he worked with, like Badfinger.

Session musicians didn't understand where he was at
Like when he asks to have guitar distortion on the White Album so yes I agree with your post

Only sad part so far for me my teen who is very in to (current )music, walks by while it was on and in his Kendrick Lamar concert Tshirt pauses, looks at what I'm watching and asks who's that? And then keeps walking before I can answer


Brian Gibson
"The session men (6 sax players) were playing really well.....But having got this really nice sound George (Harrison) turned to Ken Scott and said 'Right, I want to distort that so I had to plug in
two high-gain amplifiers which overloaded and deliberately introduced a lot of distortion, completely tearing the sound to pieces and making it dirty" Later Harrison apologized to the sessions guys for wrecking their beautiful sound...but it was what he wanted.

His songs twist the rules of chord structures, technical requirements, etc., but they end up sounding fantastic! They are unique and beautiful as pop songs.

If I Needed Someone is a contribution of his on Rubber Soul. The Beatles were just playing around with going outside the envelope. That is one of my favorite Beatles songs.

Huge number of apathetic people who just don't vote
Those that do, hate politicians
Majority are highly dissatisfied with Congress
Majority re-elect their own rep or sen over and over

We elect politicians of one party or the other.
We hate them, pretty much no matter what they do
We elect politicians of the other party
We hate them, pretty much no matter what they do

Dem WH 2 terms, GOP WH 2 terms, Dem WH 2 terms...Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Now not to say that there aren't exceptions but we flip flop between parties regularly.

You know the saw....doing the same thing and expecting a different result...

But then what is the alternative? Liberal, progressive, conservative hegemony or one party rule?

A little anarchy or authoritarian/totalitarian despotism to get rid of our contempt for the familiar?

Maybe wholesale incumbent un-election....

Don't allow corporations or PACs or any other "entities" to fund candidacies. In many cases, the "people" are essentially left to vote for the choices that are handed to them on a silver platter due to how much $$$$ a candidate has to spend and this fuels a certain level of apathy.

When you have airwaves filled with attack ad after attack ad after attack ad, people (rightfully) say "enough is enough" and tune out. They understand their "electoral destiny" is not really in their hands and other than the politically astute pragmatic types (like those who post here), the rest don't bother to pay attention to politics or vote.

Minus the massive amounts of funding, only the rare highly dynamic candidate has the opportunity to rise above the noise to get elected.

They have some sort of bizarro notion that giving tax cuts to the wealthy and taking away everything they can from the rest of us will produce kittens and unicorns and we'll all live companionably in a beautiful theocratic paradise.

Trump could order a complete cutoff of electricity, running water and gasoline to Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, South Carolina and several other states, and they'd STILL vote Republican--at least as far as will get reported for the record.

When you control a majority of state legislatures, governorships, The House, The Senate, The Judiciary Branch, The Executive Branch, run most of the corporations (and vis-à-vis, Wall Street), the media, religion (which, in turn, means you get to dictate the economic and societal narratives), etc . . . you're not in freefall.

Americans cannot quit The Republican Party.

They only see the Democratic Party as a useful evil good for cleaning up Republican and corporate messes . . . then once that is finished, they default right back to their "God, Guns and Geighs!" bullshit and put these ever-more-toxic assholes right back in.

Link to tweet

As long as people are racist and misogynistic, then the repukes will live on.

thanks to hackable computer voting machines.