Florida judge approves slightly-less gerrymandered gerrymander

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Saturday August 23, 2014 · 7:14 AM PDT

2014/08/23 · 07:14

http://www.cbsnews.com/...

A Florida judge is giving his approval to a new congressional map that was redrawn by state legislators. But Circuit Judge Terry Lewis on Friday also said that this year's elections will not use the new boundaries.
Attorneys for the groups that sued the Legislature said recently they would not rule out the possibility of an appeal.

A recent column from Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel:

Legislators were supposed to redraw the districts and make them more fair.
Did they?

No way. They claim they did. But if the old maps scored a 9.9 on the Malarkey Meter, the new ones score a 9.1.

Do the 'fixed' maps look much different?

Nope. Brown's is still a mess. So is Republican Dan Webster's. It wanders from near Orlando to Winter Haven and then way up to Umatilla. It's about as natural as Dolly Parton's breasts.

This column includes a partial map of the changes in the Orlando area. http://www.news4jax.com/... shows the changes to Corrine Brown's district. Somehow I don't see that as "compact" as required by the 2010 amendment passed by voters:

(b) Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection 1(a) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts shall be compact; and districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.

The rise of porkidors

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Sunday July 13, 2014 · 10:22 PM PDT

2014/07/13 · 22:22

In the past 25 or so years, it's become popular to justify regional highway projects by extending them as far as possible and claiming that the entire route makes sense as a continuous corridor. The idea is to sell the original regional project as a part of a supposedly more important whole in order to receive federal funding.

The purpose of this diary is not to argue for or against regional projects based on regional benefits and impacts, but to expose a more sinister way in which project promoters cheat by turning regional corridors into long-distance porkidors.

Poll

9 votes Show Results

Which is the porkiest porkidor?

9 votes Vote Now!

Which is the porkiest porkidor?

I-69

1 vote

Continental 1

2 votes

I-73/74

2 votes

the entire Interstate Highway System

3 votes

other

1 vote

National Garbage Man Day? Not so fast.

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Monday June 16, 2014 · 7:59 PM PDT

2014/06/16 · 19:59

My county's solid waste division's quarterly newsletter helpfully reminded me that June 17 is "National Garbage Man Day". Sounds good on the surface (once you get beyond the poor gender-specific choice of words): it's a crappy but important job. Myself, I make sure to wave to garbage collectors whenever I pass them.

Then I went to their website. They claim to be "Keeping You and the Environment Safe", but if you scroll down you come across blatant global warming denial - the typical "oh, it's cold here and now, so the scientists are wrong" bullshit. Turns out the day was created just last year by the CEO of Arwood Waste, a company with a horrible online reputation (Google+, Yelp). Looks like they should be focusing their attention elsewhere.

Dear Humans, STFU

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Friday May 30, 2014 · 9:35 PM PDT

2014/05/30 · 21:35

I often see Kossacks writing and arguing about how best to treat animals, wild and domesticated. What this discussion lacks is the input of animals. I have a suggestion.

Shut The Fuck Up and Listen To Animals.

It's me again. Do we have a Cricket-to-English translator here?

Superb Owl travelers packed "like sardines" at Secaucus, thanks to Christie

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Sunday February 02, 2014 · 9:33 PM PST

2014/02/02 · 21:33

Philly Inquirer: Mass transit meltdown on the way to the Super Bowl

"It was like sardines," said Gail Patterson, 66, of Tacoma, Washington, who endured what she estimated as near 100-degree temperatures in the windowless stairway. "Heavy breathing. Hyperventilating. I almost fainted. Some people did."

The Access to the Region's Core plan that Christie killed included a "Secaucus Loop" that would have allowed trains to run directly from New York Penn Station to the stadium. Just saying.

so uh this got in the 'recent activity' box

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Friday January 03, 2014 · 12:37 AM PST

2014/01/03 · 00:37

This is a simple diary. If you read it, please expect to take almost no time. There's a ton of aw fuck it.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Yep, some random CT from July 2012 with 3+/6- in the tip jar. It may have even been shared on Facebook by conservatives poking fun at it. Even if not, it's too easy for something that was reported as true but later debunked to stay on that list, since most people aren't going to 'unshare' a link, if that's even possible.

Perhaps the ~~'most shared'~~ or 'recent activity', whatever the hell that means, should simply be part of a stats page rather than a prominent set of diary links on the main page.

Poll

7 votes Show Results

Is Mitt Romney a saint?

7 votes Vote Now!

Is Mitt Romney a saint?

yes

0 votes

yes

0 votes

yes

0 votes

I'm a troll and I really don't care

7 votes

False positives of the anti-spam drones

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Sunday September 29, 2013 · 10:53 AM PDT

2013/09/29 · 10:53

Just a quick note: be careful what you post, or you may get double-secret HRed by bots.
http://www.dailykos.com/...

TS;DR: bring back the waiting period. None of this was necessary when new users had to wait a few days before posting. Tamarack might have continued to write two-word snark, or might have graduated to more nuanced snarkastic novellas, but now we will never know because the spam arms race has begun.

Sux? Sux sux sux!

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Wednesday August 14, 2013 · 1:29 AM PDT

2013/08/14 · 01:29

Sux sux sux sux sux. Sux sux, sux sox sux sux sux? Sux sux.

This is what a nation of sheep looks like.

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Wednesday June 12, 2013 · 8:23 PM PDT

2013/06/12 · 20:23

Calif. man suspected of painting crosswalk

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Friday May 31, 2013 · 8:43 PM PDT

2013/05/31 · 20:43

This seems right out of the Onion.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/...

A Vallejo man was arrested Thursday morning for spray-painting a crosswalk on Sonoma Boulevard at Illinois Street, police said.
Anthony Cardenas, 52, was seen by city workers committing the alleged graffiti, Solano County Sheriff's Office Lt. Brad DeWall said. He was arrested at 9:30 a.m.

"He did give a statement," DeWall said. "I believe he said it needed a crosswalk there."

The jagged crosswalk was painted across the southern side of the busy intersection. The other three sides of the intersection already have crosswalks, which were also vandalized with diagonal white lines painted through them.

Caltrans planned to paint over the graffiti Thursday afternoon, DeWall said. Meanwhile, Vallejo cadets were stationed at the intersection to make sure no pedestrians tried to use the unofficial crosswalk.

According to the AP article, he was "booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of felony vandalism".

The silliest part: by state law, this is probably an unmarked crosswalk, with the same exact legal status as a marked crosswalk. (For example, see Vallejo's crosswalk FAQ (last question).)

Here's a Google Street View of the intersection.

And for the unequal treatment file: http://www.laweekly.com/...

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