American politics 2016: Lawyers, Guns, and D-Money

Promising at the governor level, but not at the legislature level there--

But while the law may cost Republicans the governor's mansion, its impact on the state legislature remains very unclear. Republicans have a stranglehold on the body, with the party holding more than 60 percent of the General Assembly's seats. And 53 of those seats — nearly one-third of the entire legislature, most of which are held by Republicans — will go unchallenged because a challenger didn't file to run.

53 seats with no challengers

yeah that's ridiculous

You thought the US Congressional map for NC was bad, check it out on the state level: http://www.ncleg.net/representation/WhoRepresentsMe.aspx

http://i.imgur.com/MKI977m.png

There is a huge deficit of strong Democratic candidates in many parts of the South. The Democrat running for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat is a dude who wears a flat cap:
http://jimbarksdaleforsenate.com/images/logo-barsksdale-01.png

http://fogmann.com/foglog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ss_Wire_avon.jpg

I'd vote for that hat. Also, A+ use of brown in a political logo.

I'll be pulling for Barksdale, I will, but just throwing this out there

http://i.imgur.com/io32YbD.jpg

This man hasn't ever had a slice of peach cobbler in his entire life.

does that hat have a name beyond 'flat cap'?

I call mine a "Barksdale".

man how cool would it be if Chuck Grassley lost his seat

as cool as learning that Rafael Cruz murdered JFK.

it is kind of amazing that the zodiac killer's dad killed JFK

It's Pat really can't deliver a joke ("...and Jimmy Hoffa is buried in my backyard")

Zodiac Killer Confesses to Murder of Jimmy Hoffa

https://www.facebook.com/rick.friday.3/posts/10208214646576953

I thought Trump's claim was preposterous, without merit and based on nothing resembling fact.

But when I heard the way Cruz denied it, I'm starting to think there may be something to this.

but he would sound like that denying/ridiculing anything

ME: Zodiac Killer struck during late 60s/early 70s - before Cruz was born and while he was an infant.

CRUZ: "This is nuts. Even though I wasn't born then, I am the Zodiac Killer. And I guess I also killed Sharon Tate and participated in the My Lai Massacre."

ME: I guess maybe he is the Zodiac Killer?

American Family Association: Group Says It Is Sending Men Into Women's Restrooms at Target
The effort is intended to show there "is absolutely no barrier" as a result of the retail chain's transgender restroom use policy, a spokesperson for the group said on Breitbart News Daily.

I think people in the women's room would fear some bible thumping fucking creep who volunteered to go into the ladies room at target than they would fear a trans person.. jfc

plz tell me they are going to be in drag

i generally agree; my opinion of Sanders is not high enough to think he will do it

but ya never know...

that was meant to go in prez thread for the Green Party speculation...

you ruined my fantasy of Bernadette Sanders, undercover AFA opponent

in all seriousness though, this is fuckin' enraging. like out of all of the incidents in regards to bathrooms in recent weeks, do they not notice the overwhelming coincidence that the perpetrators have all been...supporters of this bill, and not rapey bogeymen?

idg what's going on exactly here (isn't the primary over??) but paul ryan has a challenger in his district.

http://www.paulnehlen.com/

he has a molon labe tattoo and is endorsed by michelle malkin.

he's running against TPP! vaguely trumpist, i guess? more autocannibalism to look out for

GET YOUR DUMP RYAN
STRESS BALL
CLICK HERE

It seems there is a liberal challenger to Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That would probably be a fine way to spend a couple of bucks if anyone is looking for anyone to donate to. http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2016/05/8598873/wasserman-schultzs-liberal-challenger-set-announce-1m-haul

meanwhile in my state Alan Grayson and Harry Reid get nasty.

Reid’s animosity for Grayson’s bid to fill Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) open seat is well-documented, and Grayson appeared at the Progressive Caucus meeting with a copy of a February statement from Reid slamming him as having “no moral compass.”

Each member took their chance to speak to Reid, who was invited to appear at Wednesday’s meeting. When Grayson had the floor, he asked Reid if he was aware of who he was. Two anonymous sources in the room told Politico Grayson demanded: “Say my name, senator. Say my name."

Then caucus chair Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) tried to intervene, saying, “Why are you doing that? This is so stupid,” as quoted by The Hill.

Grayson was reportedly undeterred and waved the copy of Reid’s statement, which also branded the congressman “disgraceful” and called for him to leave the Senate race over an ongoing ethics probe into allegations that he used his office to boost a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands.

Politico reported that Grayson said the statement was false and asked Reid, “Why’d you say that?”

The disruption caused Ellison and other members to end the meeting early.

The thing about Alan Grayson is that he is the Democratic equivalent to Chris Christie.

No shortage of machine-born grifters in either party really.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/11/it-is-true-and-i-want-you-to-lose-feisty-harry-reid-lays-into-alan-grayson-in-closed-door-meeting/

The encounter took place after Grayson stood up and criticized Reid for calling on him to drop out of the Senate race over the ongoing ethics investigation.

“Shame on you. It’s not true,” Grayson reportedly told Reid, referring to the ethics allegations. “It is true, and I want you to lose,” Reid fired back.

lmao awesome

I initially liked Grayson for his combativeness but Reid is otm here

cool Pierce nick for Paul Ryan: "zombie-eyed granny starver"

Pierce has some good nicknames but sometimes I think he leans on them too heavily to get extra content by repeating the same phrases over and over.

yeah they're an annoyance, a vestige of his Hunter Thompson love. I like Big Chicken and Aqua Buddha but The Clinton Guy Shocked by Blowjobs and He, Trump are eh. We should poll them.

the bob schieffer digs are kinda mean considering its mostly 'lol he old' and that he's not even the host on that show on cbs anymore

I liked 'Merovingian Dynasty herald" best

I've never paid any attention to pierce and couldn't pick him out of a police line, but bob schieffer has a nasty streak in him as wide as a two lane road, so being mean to bob seems like fair dinkum to me.

Schieffer is a real schiethead

he's gotta be close to 90 too

Pierce is one of my favorite political columnists and despite the puns funnier than Dennis Perrin.

i was disappointed when he jettisoned Libidinous Visitor for He, Trump

libidinous visitor was a++

also hard to explain the reference to someone who's not a regular reader

i love how trump is just like focus grouping his policy positions but not to a literal focus group just irl throwing policies out there and seeing what kinda reaction it gets

kind of a huge deal here imo

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/13/477896804/obama-administration-to-offer-schools-guidance-on-transgender-bathrooms

good move imho

NPR had some pedantic fundie lawyer on this morning talking about the trauma of a frightened girl having to wear her gym clothes all day ("getting nasty") so she wouldn't have to risk a "biological boy" intruding into the changing room.

posts very much out of character.

I know this "isn't about bathrooms" but I hope a side effect of this is more general thoughtfulness when it comes to the maintenance of public school bathrooms. When I was a high school student with IBD it was frustrating to me that important things like stall doors and soap dispensers were routinely broken or missing.