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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 days

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Jess Piper at The View from Rural Missouri:

“It’s the statehouses, stupid.” That quote is by David Pepper and I think about it often. I live in Missouri with a GOP supermajority and 22 years of of the worst sort of governance.

Want to see extremism? There are currently three bills being sent to the Governor’s office for signing: One to defund public schools, another to defund Planned Parenthood, and the last to make sure Missourians can’t sue the Bayer corporation for their Round-Up caused cancer. True story. So, where are the Democrats and voices of dissent? They are nearly silenced with a superminority and a Democratic Party that has been almost non-existent in my district for at least a decade. The proof is in the legislative pudding. The Democratic Party lost the plot when they pulled out of rural America leaving huge swaths of the country to be taken over by the GOP. I should know…I am a rural person, a former teacher, and a former Democratic Nominee for State House. I did not receive funding from the Democratic Party to run my race — not a penny, and this is very common in rural races. We have been left to our own devices and many have just decided to acquiesce to Republican rule rather than fight on our own.

I refuse to give up. What’s the point of running in a district you know will not flip for a few cycles? What’s the point of funding a nominee who will likely lose? Because local candidates do the hard work. They talk to their neighbors and district. They put a Democratic message out in their community. They let voters in their area know that Democrats aren’t gun-grabbing communists, but they do want to fund public schools, pave roads, keep the local rural hospital open, and create jobs for their kids so they don’t abandon the farm or the small town. Progressives have a message that rural folks like if we can just keep the message consistent by having nominees on every ballot every single year. If you have a nominee, you have someone talking to their neighbors. Without a nominee, there is no one knocking doors, or making calls, or attending forums, or spreading the message about progressive polices.

[...] Rural Democratic voters are almost certainly voting at the top of the ticket, and this November, that means a Presidential nominee, maybe a Senate position, and possibly a Governor, but many are stopping there. The research from Sister District indicates that Democratic and women voters are more likely to roll-off than Republicans and men. They don’t feel confident that they know enough about the down-ballot nominees to keep voting. The research concludes that decreasing roll-off by 1-2% would result in massive state legislative gains. It also states that 60% of roll-off voters rank Federal elections as the most important. That stat made me gasp. You and I know that statehouses are where awful and hateful laws originate. We know that GOP-dominated states are doing the bidding of the wealthy and of corporations, but if Democrats aren’t even voting for the state legislative races, we are going to keep losing our states to the extremists. This extremism then bleeds out into the country.

Jess Piper wrote a quality Substack post on why Democrats should NOT abandon Rural America (or anywhere for that matter).

#Jess Piper #Rural Democrats #Democratic Party #David Pepper #Substack

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tomorrowusa · 10 months

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Reproductive rights activists in Ohio have gathered way more than enough signatures to put a reproductive freedom amendment to the Ohio constitution on the ballot in November. The measure would need only a simple majority to go into effect.

However the heavily gerrymandered GOP legislature is conducting a special election in August to try to pass a measure to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments from 50%+1 to 60%. So if the August amendment passes, the November reproductive protection amendment would then require 60% to pass.

Why 60%? This Ohio poll from last autumn just may provide an answer.

If the August rightwing GOP amendment passes with a simple majority, that would make it harder to pass the reproductive freedom amendment in November.

Summer elections usually have poor turnouts. That's why the Republican legislature broke one of its own rules about August elections to place it there.

Ohio Abortion Protection Amendment Gets Signatures Necessary for Ballot Access With 710,141 signatures, the movement surpassed the 413,000 signature threshold to appear on the ballot in November

In practical terms, this is a two-stage ballot measure. So save these dates...

Support Reproductive Freedom in OHIO:

+ On August 8th – Vote No (on GOP blocker) + On November 7th – Vote Yes

If you are a legal resident of Ohio who will be 18 by August 8th, you have until 30 days before the election to register. July 10th is the registration deadline for the August election. It's usually best to register in person in case you need to sort out any issues. But if that's not possible, the Ohio Secretary of State lets you register online. Read the instructions carefully and assemble the necessary information before beginning the process.

Online Voter Registration – Ohio Secretary of State

A perennial reminder: If you have moved since the last election (even next door), you need to register at your new address. Voting is geographic.

If you're not in Ohio but have friends there, feel free to forward this information to them.

If the reproductive freedom measure passes in November then that may pave the way for other reforms such as a badly needed one on gerrymandering. It will certainly scare Republicans. 😁

#ohio #ballot initiatives #constitutional amendment #reproductive freedom #abortion #the sanctity of reproductive freedom #a woman's right to choose #roe v. wade #dobbs v. jackson women's health #pro choice #republicans #the gop #the far right #republican male patriarchy #gerrymandered ohio legislature #alex wagner #marcela azevedo #david pepper #register and vote

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chronussy-bc · 9 months

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Some info on the Guardians that only appear in the anime. All of these are provided by Kentaro Yabuki, posted on the official account of the anime.

1. Emilio Lowe - No.III of The Time Guardians

A person that approves the Eden project. He is meant to be Sven’s opponent (?).

His voice and speaking manner is also similar to Sven’s former partner, Lloyd.

The glasses he wears also gives an impression similar to those of Lloyd’s, though the design is not the same.

Unlike Lloyd, his look can turn into a very scary glare.

When he's not working as a Number, he lives a normal life in the city, probably having an ordinary job: a doctor at a small clinic, someone working at a flower shop…

He could have encountered Sven by chance while he was in his civilian cover and become a close acquaintance.

2. David Pepper - No.IX of The Time Guardians

The image on the left corner is his serious expression.

He has a bright and friendly personality, can easily befriend anyone.

His hairstyle will change depending on his mood. He can bundle them up or wear a headband. This is the basic design.

He is quite tall compared to a Number.

His voice is imagined to sound like that of Norio Wakamoto (laughs).

Some of the Numbers have a fake identity to blend in with the public. David seems to be a musician.

3. Anubis - No.VI of The Time Guardians

Note: his description is the most detailed, claimed by the official Twitter.

He is a biological product of Chronos’s science. His humanoid character is implanted by them and he is loyal to the organization. His intelligence is equal to that of a human so he can understand our language.

He has never met anyone among the Numbers other than Sephiria since he is a secret member.

His fur is completely black to match with the theme color of the Guardians.

His face looks like a real wolf (probably this explanation is given due to the fact that overall, Anubis still looks somewhat different from normal wolves). The original werewolf in the manga is perhaps an inspiration to the creation of Anubis.

Since he is one of a kind, his design must have a reasonable proportion between the length of the limbs and his huge size. The anatomy plays an important role in demonstrating the coolness of his appearance.

He has a calm and collected personality.

His Orichalcum weapon, Osiris, is a versatile arm moving according to his will. It is embedded in his body (the Orichalcum tail is likely to be connected to his spine, not just attached on his behind). The weapon can also be used as a pistol (can function like a firearm) with great precision.

The author thought that him speaking human language by himself would be an overdo. To facilitate communication, the organization has given him a device that can vocally convey his thoughts, or perhaps something that interpret his natural sounds into words. If he speak, he address himself as “I” (first person like people do usually, not by name or anything particular).

The color of his tattoo is red maybe.

4. Ash - Former No.X of The Time Guardians

Note: The Guardian doesn’t always know their comrades. There are some they have never met, some they don’t like. However, in the setting of the anime, he and Nizer appear to have been friends for a very long time, said the official Twitter.

He is Nizer’s best friend. Before being recruited into the Guardians, they used to be mercenaries fighting along side in some country.

He usually wears a headband.

5. Mason Odrosso - No.XII of The Time Guardians

Note: canonically, he is the only witness to the Taoist war that is still alive until this point.

Although he is old, his skin looks fairly good, not having so many wrinkles.

He looks better with a cane maybe.

The metal ornaments on the coat has been changed into fabric patterns in the anime.

The translation is done through apps and my efforts to grasp the ideas so don’t take this too seriously.

#black cat #anime and manga #chronos #characters info #David Pepper #Emilio Lowe #Ash #Anubis #Mason Odrosso #The Time Guardians

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notwiselybuttoowell · 1 year

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I'm going to put a partial transcript to this interview, which will be lengthy and dense. But it is really worth reading or watching the video itself. I'd even venture to add a request that you do, because it is eye opening.

MAYER: [...] Even before the decision came down from the Supreme Court, you could hear during their arguments that the conservatives Brett Kavanaugh particular made a big point of saying, if we just send these issues, these hard issues like abortion back to the states, we can just let the people decide. And what I was hearing — and the reason I looked at Ohio, in particular, was I was hearing from someone who I’d interviewed named David Pepper, who’s written a book about Ohio, that in fact, it’s not really the people deciding when you can give these issues back to a state like Ohio. It’s the legislature that’s deciding. And the legislatures in a number of American states no longer reflect the will of the people. That’s why we talk about torching democracy. The people have one opinion, the general public, if you look at polls, feels one way. But the legislatures are way out of sync with what the population, in general, believes. And that’s true in Ohio and that’s what this man, David Pepper, was telling me who’s written a book that’s called, “Laboratories for Autocracy”. It’s a play on a phrase that came from Justice Louis Brandeis who called the state legislatures in America laboratories for democracy. And what he is saying is actually, this is where autocracy in America is growing and brewing. And it’s an attack on democracy taking place in these states. And Ohio typifies it. So, that’s why I went there.

MARTIN: In the piece, you site a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati. It sited, a 2020 survey indicating that less than 14 percent of Ohioans support banning all abortions without exceptions for rape and incest. But that’s not the direction of the Ohio legislature is heading in. In fact, I think the story that a lot of people may be familiar with is the story of this 10-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by an adult male, became pregnant, and then had to go to Indiana to obtain an abortion because it was impossible in her home state of Ohio. So, how did it get to the point in a place like Ohio where there’s such divergence between what people say they want in matters of significant public concern and what the legislature is actually doing?

MAYER: It was actually a deliberate plan. And there aren’t that many things in American politics that really follow anybody’s plans because it’s a mess most of the time. But back in 2010, the Republican Party’s smartest operatives looked around and they were very distressed. Barack Obama had been elected in 2008. It was a shock to many white conservatives to have a black American president who was a liberal Democrat to some extent — liberal that is to some extent. And they had lost power in both Houses of Congress and the White House. And they were looking around the country to try to figure out, well, where can we take power? And the places that seemed to be easiest to capture were state legislatures. And so, there was this very interesting plan that was drawn up called Red Map by the Republican Party operatives. And they set out to very deliberately flip as many statehouses as they could into Republican control. And there was a year that 2010 was very much on their mind to do that year. Because that’s a census year, every 10 years there’s a U.S. census. And every time there’s a census, the statehouses get to reapportion the districts, both for Congress and for the statehouse. So, it gives the legislature special powers during those years. And they figured, if we can take the statehouses, you could redraw the lines and you could do it in such a way that you would totally advantage the Republican Party. And that’s exactly what they did in a bunch of states. They picked up an incredible number of statehouses that year. They flipped them to the Republican party, they took control of a number of them, and they set out to very systematically and scientifically redraw the district so that in many places Republicans — I mean, they can barely lose no matter what they do. And that’s what — that was — you know, more than 10 years ago, 12 years ago. What we’re now seeing, we’re seeing the consequences. This is like a science experiment in democracy. You’re saying, well, what happens when you make it so that people can’t lose their elections? What kind of behavior do you get in the statehouses? And what you get is really extremist legislation because the only pressure on these peoples’ lives in the Republican Party is that they might be facing primary challenges from candidates who are even more extreme than they are. And so, that’s those — who the people who come out to vote in primaries. That’s what they’re worried about. And they couldn’t care less about the opposing party’s point of views. So, they keep moving further and further to the extreme. And that’s what’s happened in Ohio.

MARTIN: So, as you said that this dates back to a strategy that was started being implemented in 2010. What were the Democrats doing during all this time? I mean, they had 10 years between 2010 and the 2020 census to intervene in this process or whatever. What were they doing all this time?

MAYER: Well, in 2010 itself, I have to say, they were kind of asleep at the switch. They were not paying attention to the statehouses. There was a lot — there were a lot of other fires that the Obama White House was trying to put out in 2010. That was the rise of the Tea Party and all of that. And they really, I think, took their eye off the ball. The thing is, once these statehouses do flip as they have an Ohio, it’s very hard to flip it back. Because the districts are very carefully drawn with the aid of computers and all kinds of, you know, very detailed numbers. They’re drawn in a way that Democrats can’t really compete in them. And so, what’s happened in Ohio was it was so out of sync with the state. The state did would you would think would happen in democracy. They had a referendum that passed. They had two referenda, actually. It was in 2015 and 2018, the voters of Ohio overwhelmingly passed a change to the constitution in the state that said that the districts have to reflect the overall population’s point of view. So, they were supposed to do this under law and fit — they were supposed to fix it. And that’s what was going to happen this year. But the Republicans who are in power in the statehouse, and they had a supermajority, kept handing in maps that the courts kept striking down. It happened five times. The Supreme Court in the State of Ohio said five times to the Republicans who are drawing the maps, these don’t comply with the law. These are illegal districts. They are too slanted. You’ve got to have to do it again. And basically, what happened was the Republicans played out the clock. They hit the election calendar. There was no more time to come up with another map. And the federal courts said, all right, just use the illegal ones. And so, here we are. Another election with illegal districts.

MARTIN: How is that possible?

MAYER: I mean, it’s totally — it is completely shocking. It violates norms. It violates the rule of law. And this is one of the other reasons I went to Ohio, because it’s an outrageous story. But the truth is, it’s not unique. “The New York Times” had a story pointing out there are four states now where the same thing has been happening. The courts have struck down these districts in these states as illegal districts. They are too slanted, they don’t allow for Democratic elections, and these states are Georgia and Alabama, and Louisiana, and Ohio. So, four states, in each case, the courts have struck them down. Each case, these states are going with the elections anyway because they ran out the clock.

MARTIN: They just didn’t comply. And is there — there is no mechanism of accountability for this, is, I think, what I hear you saying?

MAYER: No. However, the Supreme Court talked about holding the Republicans in contempt, but the Supreme Court didn’t do it. And actually, the Supreme Court justices are now up for reelection. So, it may be that the Republican majority will get a Republican majority that’s in favor of them on the Supreme Court, in which case, that final check will be out the window.

MARTIN: Why is there not more — I don’t know what’s to say — outrage about this, even among partisans? I mean, it just seems — it seems like this would kind of cry out for a response. But why do you think it don’t? Is it just too abstract, people just can’t wrap their heads around it?

MAYER: People don’t pay attention to state legislatures. They — you know, they don’t know who their legislator is and people are busy, and these state legislators don’t get a lot of coverage from the news organizations, especially now that local news is really disappearing in a lot of places. So, they’re kind of getting away with it because no one’s — you know, no one’s that — paying that much attention. And then, these big, glamorous races are the ones that get the attention and the money. So, you know, there’s a very high-profile Senate race in Ohio that a lot of important party people on both sides are paying a lot of attention to, and a lot — putting a lot of money into. It’s the Senate race between J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan, and that — you know, that will get a lot of attention. But the legislature’s, they’re sort of seeing this second string, or at least they were, until the Supreme Court in overturning Roe said, we are throwing this back to the states, and they are going to throw other things back to the states. The states are getting more power. It’s almost a two-step with the conservative Supreme Court. They (INAUDIBLE) sent an issue back to the states where they know the states are on their side.

MARTIN: This sounds like, what you’re saying, is that one party is willing to cheat. Or does that sound right or is that overstating the phrase?

MAYER: Well, it’s kind of legal. Well, it’s not completely legal because the Supreme Court and the state said it wasn’t illegal. But then, the federal courts said it was. So, it’s in a gray zone. But what I am told, from the reporting I did, is that the Republican — the far-right Republican base is intimidating to moderates who are afraid they will lose. If they don’t go along, they are afraid to lose their seats. And we’ve seen this in courts in Congress with the same dynamic taking place, when people have tried to stand up to Trump. And the same thing is happening in Ohio. This is — it’s empowering extremists, far-right extremists, and the others are afraid of standing in the way because they will be defeated. And you can see it, in a way, this is a very good example, the governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, was known as a moderate Republican for many years. And he actually was quite enlightened in the way that he started to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. But the sort of radical right in the statehouse, which has veto power, because it’s got such a super majority, the radical right rose up and opposed the kind of mask mandates and some of the other measures that Mike DeWine took in the beginning of the pandemic and they — the legislature fired the health commissioner for the state, and basically forced DeWine to retreat. And so, it’s very empowered. It’s a very intimidating group that has taken over these statehouses, and that’s certainly true in Ohio.

MARTIN: If the voters don’t agree, at some point, is there not a movement against that? I mean, at some point, if the voters say, this is not what we want, is — I guess what I’m saying, there is no mechanism now to resist these initiatives? Is there?

MAYER: Well, it’s the same — I had exactly the same question when I went there, because it seems like inevitably, they will go too far right, they will do things that are so unpopular that a more rational kind of moderate Republican who is closer to where most people are in the state will win. That is what you would think. But it turns out that is not true. And people said to me, you might think that there’s the possibility that the extremists will go too far. And I was told over and over again, that is a false idea. You can’t go too far. And that was so fascinating. I mean, and scary because they really have legislated some incredibly extreme things, and there’s no accountability for it because they can’t lose. That’s the problem.

#long post #ohio #democracy #state legislatures #elections #2022 election #jane meyer #gerrymandering #red map #partisan politics #electorial votes #autocracy #david pepper #democracy in crisis #tw rape

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