Senate malapportionment update.
Using 2022 Census data and assigning half the pop of 5 states with one D and one R senator to each:
Democrats: 51 senators representing 193 million people
Republicans: 49 senators representing 140 million people
Dems represent 53 million more.
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Paul Waldman
@paulwaldman1
Opinion writer at the Washington Post
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Of course, what he really means is "This is an issue I think will get the rubes riled up," but imagine what a twisted psychopath he'd be if he was actually running for US Senate so he can hound some trans girl off her middle school softball team
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U.S. Senate candidate Jim Banks says he's running to keep trans kids out of sports americanindependent.com/senate-candida
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Conservatives complain all the time about elitist liberals who look down on them, but rest assured, nobody has more contempt for the intelligence of the GOP base than the Republicans they elect
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Was Biden concerned with upsetting his friends and Hunter’s business partners over in China when assessing the Chinese spy balloon?
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If Mississippi doesn't accept the FREE MONEY the federal government is offering to expand Medicaid, half its rural hospitals could collapse.
The response of the Republicans who run the state? "Screw you, Obama!"
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Has anyone asked Balloon Boy for comment? I'll bet by now he's grown into a thoughtful and mature adult who could help us through this trying time.
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After a campus police officer drew a gun on a Black student while he was rehearsing a play, the University of Houston began requiring theater students to wear vests while rehearsing scenes outdoors.
The university has since walked back the policy.
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Framing problem here: almost everyone on Medicaid who is able to work is already working. "Work requirements" actually means creating a bureaucratic maze you have to navigate in order to avoid getting your health insurance taken away.
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NEW: @RepMattGaetz tells me he’s pitching McCarthy and the House GOP on seeking Medicaid work requirements in exchange for hiking the debt limit.
Gaetz says he’s had a “very positive reception,” including from McCarthy (his office didn’t comment)
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Big huge Democrats, manliest guys you've ever seen, real men, they come up with tears in their eyes and say, "Sir, this is the greatest Congress ever, thank you so much"
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Kevin McCarthy, after Republicans vote to boot Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee:
"This is a fundamentally different Congress. I have had Democrats telling me we are running it much better."
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Literally rewriting the tax code every time there's a consumer product at the center of some new idiotic fake controversy hyped on Fox News, what mature and responsible fiscal stewardship
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NEW: Governor DeSantis announces that gas stoves will be TAX-FREE in his recommended budget for the state of Florida! #FrameworkForFreedom 
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For more on what the move to kick Ilhan Omar off the foreign affairs committee is REALLY about, see this thread:
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Republicans want to kick @Ilhan off the foreign affairs committee not because of some old statements that were deliberately distorted but for two reasons:
1. Anti-Muslim bigotry
2. Her criticism not just of Israel but of HER COLLEAGUES.
Allow me to explain...
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But you'll excuse me if, as a Jew at a time when REAL antisemitism is growing, I'm disgusted by a bunch of right-wing Christians claiming that to criticize their relationship with the Israeli government is antisemitic.
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This isn't about whether contributions from AIPAC actually determine people's votes. It's more complicated than that, and in many ways more pernicious.
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Yet when Omar says that AIPAC is buying votes like everybody else, that's antisemitic? The one actor in American politics you CAN'T accuse of buying votes is the lobby for the Israeli government?
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Second, the charge that political positions are motivated by contributions is made EVERY SINGLE DAY. People say that oil companies, labor unions, Wall Street, George Soros, the Kochs, etc etc etc are buying votes in Congress. There are few more common arguments you hear.
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Israel's supporters in Congress, who are almost entirely non-Jews and are largely evangelical Christians, hide behind accusations of antisemitism whenever THEY - again, this group of non-Jews - get criticized.
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First, Omar was saying that members of Congress who support the Israeli government, ONLY A FEW OF WHOM ARE JEWS, are motivated by contributions from AIPAC and its far-right allies. Those contributions are only part of the real story, but that's not what matters...
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When you ask people what said that was antisemitic, they always bring up the "all about the Benjamins" tweet. Here it is in a congressional resolution! It's an utterly bogus accusation. Here's why...
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I’ve just introduced a resolution to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Because of her anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric, she has disqualified herself from service. (1/2)
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Since Republicans won't say what they want to cut from the federal budget, I asked some liberal budget experts where they think we could cut if we were serious about it:
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Today’s your annual reminder that Georgia has a groundhog named General Beauregard Lee who comes out of a plantation house that should’ve been burned to the ground by Punxsutawney Phil on his March to the Sea… but here we are. He’s not to be trusted.
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From the "That can't possibly be real, oh my god it is" files
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Florida wants to require all female high school athletes to turn over their menstrual data, which can be viewed by administrators. This is downright dystopian.
A final decision to enact this will be made at a FHSAA meeting later this month.
newrepublic.com/post/170192/fl
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8. If you want some background on this, here's what I wrote about it when it all came to a head in 2019:
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7. When she did, they freaked out. And now, by kicking her off the foreign affairs committee, THEY'RE PROVING THAT SHE WAS EXACTLY RIGHT. She didn't commit any malfeasance or violate ethical rules. She spoke an uncomfortable truth, and they're punishing her for it.
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6. Omar's greatest sin was pointing out this reality, that members of Congress are expected to demonstrate over and over that they are loyal to Israel no matter what its government does and how far-right it becomes. This is something you're not supposed to talk about.
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5. Not Jews. Most of the people pushing those laws, and the right-wing Israeli government's most ardent supporters, are evangelical Christians. And every member of Congress knows that they are required to show loyalty to Israel.
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4. There are multiple states with laws forbidding anyone with a state contract from participating in a boycott of Israel. In other words, you have to effectively pledge loyalty to a foreign country to get certain state jobs. And who requires this dual loyalty?
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3. Absurd charges of antisemitism, as though just mentioning the word "loyalty" in regard to Israel meant she was making the outdated "dual loyalty" accusation against Jews. What's so crazy about that is that dual loyalty is EXACTLY WHAT IS DEMANDED, not of Jews but of others.
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2. The thing that made people go ballistic was when she said that SHE was being asked to show loyalty to Israel - not that Jews are loyal to Israel, but that demands are made on members of Congress to show that loyalty. And what was the response?
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Republicans want to kick off the foreign affairs committee not because of some old statements that were deliberately distorted but for two reasons:
1. Anti-Muslim bigotry
2. Her criticism not just of Israel but of HER COLLEAGUES.
Allow me to explain...
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They covered Hillary Clinton like she was the Riddler and they cover Jokers like Trump and DeSantis with constant "Gotham abuzz after splashy poisoning of beauty products".
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could the NYT come up with a more DeSantis-friendly headline and framing?
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New Republican Congress already working hard to improve the lives of the American people
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The Judiciary Committee has picked up where it left off in previous Congresses — with a protracted and angry debate over whether the members should be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before every hearing.
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J.D. Vance, dancing with the one who brung him:
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Another news story that if you brought up in a Florida classroom you might get fired for spreading critical race theory:
"Black taxpayers are at least three times as likely to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service as other taxpayers..."
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Remember when we cared about which candidate you'd want to have a beer with? For the '24 GOP contenders, it's about who can prove they're the biggest asshole, because that's what they think their voters want:
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“'Give me your fucking hands!' one officer shouts.
But Mr. Nichols — with one officer pinning his arms behind his back, another gripping his handcuffed wrist and a third punching his face — cannot comply."
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Good analysis of all the contradictory and impossible commands the cops gave Tyre Nichols. And when he didn't comply - because he couldn't - they got angrier and angrier and beat him to death:
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I could go on, but point is, people seem to really like drag! Even those who wouldn't go to a drag show will watch it on TV. Think about that the next time some Republican says it's a threat to the children and has to be restricted by law. /end
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Eddie Murphy does it!
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John Travolta did it!
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And Liev Schreiber!
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