(CNN) - A circuit court judge on Friday ordered Florida's state legislature to redraw congressional district lines before the state's primary in two weeks, suggesting he would be prepared to delay the November 4 general elections in the newly drawn districts.
Judge Terry Lewis had earlier ruled the map, which consists of 27 congressional districts, to be unconstitutional. In particular he found two districts crafted by the GOP-led legislature to be unduly affected by political considerations. The two districts are represented by Democrat Corrine Brown and Republican Daniel Webster.
Critics of the current lines, drawn after the 2010 U.S. Census, say the districts unfairly favor Republicans.
And then this from texasobserver.com:
ReplyDeleteBy Christopher Hooks Published on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at 11:54 CST
There is so much money and patronage sloshing around Texas politics that it can be difficult to keep track. So it’s unsurprising that our great surplus spills over into other states. This time it’s Florida, where the sudden appearance of one of the all-time great Texas icons in an unseemly story of influence-peddling threatens to damage some of Florida’s top politicians in a critical election year, including the state’s increasingly grimy-looking governor, Rick Scott. Also at stake: billions of dollars and the health of one of America’s great natural assets.
For years, at least half a dozen high-ranking Florida Republicans have been accepting lavish trips to the King Ranch from the state’s sugar industry, and failing to report it properly to either their constituents or the state’s ethics authorities, according to an explosive Tampa Bay Times story that dropped last week. Florida’s currently in the middle of a highly contentious election cycle that’s had a lot to do with trust and corruption issues—so if the story develops, the King Ranch could play a starring role in the last couple months of the race.
The King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world, and it’s been a central pillar of Texan identity for a century and a half. But these days, the King Ranch is no mere cattle operation—it’s a globe-spanning corporate interest, deriving income from a diverse set of industries. King Ranch, Inc. owns 12,500 acres of sugar cane production as part of its holdings in South Florida. So in the arid brush country near Kingsville, the King Ranch has come to play host to a very different type of livestock—Florida Republicans.
It's a rare event indeed when a judge throws out a gerrymander. The political process for most in this country is similar to what football is to me. It's something I watch, I understand the general process and goal of both teams, but I'm kind of oblivious to the subtleties that make a difference. Most people don't really care about gerrymandering, or the fact that the people they vote for are owned by rich benefactors, and more importantly, don't really care or believe that it affects the political process.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering is one of the things that have destroyed the peoples right to be heard along with money. I read recently that there are less then 50 districts in America that are really "up for grabs". The rest are safe for the party who controls it. Then we wonder why there is abundant apathy in our country especially during the mid term cycle. Most of the winners are predetermined, and we keep the same asses in congress making our laws.
ReplyDeleteFor people who understand the process, what happened to Boehner this week was nothing short of pure humiliation at the hands of a monster the Republicans created. To triumphantly claim you have enough votes to pass something, only to pull abandon it when you later realize you don't have enough votes is a sign of very weak leadership. There is no pleasant way to put it, Boehnor has become Ted Cruz's bitch. But, this means nothing back home. Any bill that is passed, no matter how ridiculous and how dead on arrival it is in the Senate is still a passed bill that allows the Republicans to go home and say, "Look, we passed a bill and the Democrats shot it down, so it's on them."
DeleteThe House passed a Bill. The Democrat controlled Senate left for a five week vacation. Obama will be in the Vin yad.
ReplyDeleteWhose yer daddy Max?
"Don't mistake activity for achievement"
DeleteJohn Wooden
Even after reading my mockery of the Republican mentality, you show up for the obligatory Spinal Tap moment (It goes up to 11). Don't look now William, but your boy Rand Paul is openly working with Corey Booker to revamp and arguably, undo much of what Reagan Republicans preached about criminal justice. Unlike the house Republicans, who pulled off another meaningless vote that has no chance of becoming law, Rand Paul is actually working on something of substance WITH a Democrat who ALSO is black. I certainly have some cynicism over that, but where house Republicans and other tea baggers with broken appliances on their front lawn applaud the absurd, Rand Paul is actually doing something that addresses something he has been criticized for. Read my opening quote, compare Rand Paul with Ted Cruz and tell me which one has a better shot at being POTUS.
Full disclosure. I have donated money to a Cory Booker mayoral campaign.
DeleteHaving cleaned up the broken appliances from my front lawn a while ago if you would be so kind as to forward your address I will send them to you.
The House bill was passed after the Senate had already adjourned.
ReplyDeletePersonally if I had such an astounding problem I would be happy to reduce my vacation down from five to four and a half weeks and endeavor to compromise with the majority or representatives of our country.
DeleteBut Harry would rather keep his travel plans intact than actually do what's good for the country wouldn't he?
Deep down William, I have to believe you are smart enough to know how full of bullshit your response to Mick is. That sad thing is that for way too many people in this country, they will buy what you are selling here, hook, line and sinker. Between the Republicans and Democrats Boehnor COULD get votes from, there is a much bigger majority. What you really are saying is that you expect Obama and Reid to kiss the ass of people like Cruz and the tiny teas. If it wasn't so absurd, it would be funny that Boehnor is suing Obama for using executive orders while he simultaneously throws up his hands and tells Obama he has the power to solve the border crisis without congress.
DeleteCount the number of Bill's passed last year. Yes, a record low number. We are shutting down an administration and Senate that is harmful to the majority of the American people.
DeleteBoehner is a leader not a king. So what if a few tears had to be shed on their way out the door to vacation. The Senate and Obama will do what they have done before, spin and spin, and hope they hang on in November.
One upcoming scenario: Obama takes the rope that Boehner has handed him, does his own thing, loses in November big time, and gets his ass impeached next year.
How's that workin' out for you Max? How's that for hope and change, pen and phone, and our leaders great leap forward?
"One upcoming scenario: Obama takes the rope that Boehner has handed him, does his own thing, loses in November big time, and gets his ass impeached next year."
DeleteHow'd that work out for Republicans last time William. We(?) are shutting down an administration and senate that is harmful to the majority of American people? Obama was elected by a majority twice. The senate has a Democrat majority and though the constitution does not stipulate that every bill must have 60 senate votes, you, in your bitter view of the world, believe that requiring this is the right thing to do. Your post here has that bitter sneer that is all the rage in the very far right, victim mentality populous of America. It's funny that as soon as Democrats tell America that another stupid impeachment is in the works, Republicans brand it a political stunt. Now, people like yourself and Steve King are calling for it.
Meh, you say half the shit you do just to rile people up, I respond because exchanging taunts with you is just barely more interesting than working the stupid papers I have to write to finish this course on, of all things, leadership.
Our aim is to limit government, we do that by passing less legislation. We do not control anything. The DEM's control 2/3 so let them push what they want to push, compromise where they want to. Harry has been our best friend, being the biggest obstructionist in a century.
DeleteWhat power do we have? Little. We have not even been able to slow the DEM's and RINO'S from doubling the debt by the end of Obama's presidency. If we had not gummed up the works the debt would have probably tripled.
We'll be patient and see if the Repubs can take the senate in November. If they do then it will be up to the lame duck to behave himself or face impeachment along with the sinking of the USS Obamacare. He's already performed at the failed presidency level. Jimmy Carter must thank him everyday for assuming the mantle as the worst president in a century.
And no Max it's not racism. Obama just sucks as a president.
"This is a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way in which they’re launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else. It’s a part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things. Well that’s not true. Okay?"
DeleteThat little nugget brought to you by Mo Brooks, a 60 year old white dude. So yeah William, I can totally see what you're getting at. When even Laura Ingram says that answer is way out there, you've accomplished something.
The aim of the people you support William is not to limit government, the aim is destroy it period so that we can have the pure, no rules at all anarchy that you so desperately want. A difference for me is that I don't have child like, unrealistic expectations of human beings. For people like yourself, and basically all Republicans, Obama is the new Jimmy Carter, just as for many on the left, Bush is the worst president ever. Obama has disappointed me on many levels, and though I appreciate his recent tack of mocking the Republicans, it doesn't help.
You continue to play this little game with me saying that the mullahs you support have no power, yet, you also acknowledge how successful they have been in grinding the process to a halt. Your third para there is a perfect example of what the tea party wants to bring to all of America, a threat to toe the line or be punished severely. Your transformation to thug is nearly complete. Did you do a summer internship with HAMAS?
For the umpteenth time Max I repeat we are satisfied with the limited government that the founders set up. Where you get this anarchy s__t is news to me.
DeleteI don't think it's unreasonable to seek more freedom, less oversight breathing down everyone's necks. That's what the Declaration of Independence was all about. Sovereign people in sovereign States living their lives without the weight of a national government crushing them in debt and regulations at every turn.
the world you envision William is one where the government does nothing but run a military. Every person should spend countless hours of every day "doing their own fucking homework" as you say to make sure that what they are buying is safe. You say the teas are satisfied with the limited government the founding fathers set up, and judging from what many teas say, they would also be satisfied if we returned to the universe as it existed at that time with all of it's suppression of anyone who wasn't white and male and especially, who wasn't Christian. The logical conclusion of what you want is anarchy, it's that simple. No rules, no one to answer to, no participation in anything you don't agree in, yet, somehow, in spite of everyone doing only what they want and avoiding everything they don't want, there is a belief we can continue to exist as one nation. I'd like to know what, exactly, this government is blocking you from doing that would make you feel complete.
DeleteI don't know where you get your shit Max. You type just to see yourself spew. Truly deranged. You exaggerate everything. In your eyes I hate my daughters and grand daughters, I hate anyone who isn't my color. By the way, how do you know what color I am? I hate non christians, how do you know my religion? No rules? Where have I ever said that?
DeleteI believe in pursuing happiness.
I believe people and the States are sovereign.
I support succession and don't believe citizens should be coerced to remain under the thumb of a far away centralized government.
I want us to drop base line budgeting and lower our national debt.
I don't support the killing of millions of babies of all colors in the womb.
I don't believe in junk science.
So sue me Max.