New plan for Pa. redistricting by Amanda Holt (R) moderate.

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Monday February 12, 2018 · 10:33 AM PST

2018/02/12 · 10:33

A story in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer by John Baer on a redistricting plan by Republican Amanda Holt is interesting. I’m curious what some redistricting analysts on Daily.Kos think of it. Baer (a columnist tending towards cynicism-and it seems a bit Republican inclined) is close to adulatory on Holt’s “objectivity” concerning past redistricting efforts. Holt’s site (with maps) is on amandae.com.

Her map seems to have some curious bits but she does seem to try to limit municipality splitting.

Poll

20 votes Show Results

The Holt Pennsylvania redistricting plan is...

20 votes Vote Now!

The Holt Pennsylvania redistricting plan is...

1) an improvement but not good enough

10 votes

2) no better than Tursai plan

6 votes

3) Worse than Tursai plan

4 votes

4) Acceptable and should be used given time and probable Republican obstruction

0 votes

Good news in new Pa. poll

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 01, 2016 · 9:23 AM PDT

2016/11/01 · 09:23

Franklin and Marshall poll out today (20% after FBIgate) has HRC up 49-38 and especially good, McGinty up 47-35. Yes, it’s just one poll but if NH and Indiana close senate races break for Democrats that would give +5 in Northeast and Midwest. Nevada currently leans D in senate, giving 51-49 senate edge. And there are possible pickups in NC and Missouri.

Philadelphia Inquirer article also notes “As of Monday, the Real Clear Politics average of polls showed Clinton leading Trump by an average of 5-6 percentage points, 46.4 percent to 40.8 percent, among Pennsylvania likely voters.”

Poll

108 votes Show Results

Democratic/Independents numbers in senate after Nov. 8th will be...

108 votes Vote Now!

Democratic/Independents numbers in senate after Nov. 8th will be...

47-49

6 votes

50-51

49 votes

52-53

53 votes

Myth: winning 3 consecutive White House terms is very difficult for a party to accomplish

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 12, 2016 · 2:03 PM PDT

2016/05/12 · 14:03

Whilee watching MSNBC’s All Trump all the Time channel the truism that it’s very hard for a party to hold the White House 3 times was again cited by the host. But looking at results frrom McKinley on reveals the fallacy of this.

Times a Party won 3 in a row:

1) McKinley/TR

2) 1920s GOP

3) FDR/Truman (5 timees!)

4) Reagan/Bush I

Times a Party failed to win 3 in a row

1)Woodrow Wilson

2) JFK/LBJ/HH

3) Bush II

Debatable:

1) Clinton/Gore

So it’s either 4-4 or 5-3, hardly extremely difficult.

And I’m inclined towards 5-3 (sans questionable USSC interfering).

Poll

40 votes Show Results

How difficult is it for a Party to in 3 consecutive terms?

40 votes Vote Now!

How difficult is it for a Party to in 3 consecutive terms?

1) very

4 votes

2) somewhat

21 votes

3)not very

9 votes

4) Doing so would be HUGE!!!!!!!!

6 votes

Some NJ GOPers infrastructure plan to screw middle and lower class people

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 09, 2015 · 10:49 AM PST

2015/11/09 · 10:49

In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer editorial on NJ infrastructure ickiness is this end of article almost a throwaway observation:

“Candidate Christie signed a pledge in August to oppose all tax increases. Some Republican legislators have suggested linking a gas-tax increase to cuts in the state's estate and inheritance taxes. But that doesn't add up. Gas-tax revenue goes into the transportation fund. Estate and inheritance tax revenue goes into the state's general fund; how would it be replaced?”
Read more at www.philly.com/…

Classic Republican use of a problem to further enriching the .01%,

1) Raise gas taxes-to be paid for by general population

2) But Can’t raise overall taxes (G. Nordquist would have a spas attack) so

3) lower tax and inheritance tax.

Result? The rich get rich and the poor get poorer, and state has a deficit (but don’t worry, I'm sure social welfare cuts will take care of that). And remember, with most state legislatures Republican run ALEC should have no problem having this “solution” pushed in many states---together with editorials submitted to Washington Post, etc. by GOP presidential candidates.

Poll

21 votes Show Results

Do you agree this is a sound Republican solution to NJ infrastructure repairs?

21 votes Vote Now!

Do you agree this is a sound Republican solution to NJ infrastructure repairs?

1. Yes . It's a fair and balanced solution.

1 vote

2. Not sure, but sure sounds great for when I become a multi-millionaire.

13 votes

3. Apple pie with vanilla ice cream on top.

7 votes

Voting matters---Pa. Drops SNAP asset test

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 22, 2015 · 11:04 AM PDT

2015/04/22 · 11:04

One consequence of Corbett out and Wolf in: From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:

Pennsylvania will eliminate the asset test for food stamps as of Monday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services announced Tuesday evening.
The controversial test, initiated by then-Gov. Tom Corbett in 2012, ties federal food-stamp benefits - now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP - to people's bank accounts and car ownership.

Corbett saw the test as a way to cut down on fraud and waste.

During the campaign for governor, then-candidate Tom Wolf called the asset test "another example of how [Corbett] has embraced policies intended to hurt our most vulnerable residents."

Advocates for the poor have said the asset test was a barrier for those struggling with hard times because it penalized the poor for saving money.

"This is great," Sister Mary Scullion, president and executive director of Project HOME, said. Her antipoverty nonprofit serves the homeless in Philadelphia.

Elizabeth Stelle (Commonwealth Foundation director) had a sad because last session the fine state legislature (which is also trying to invalidate Philadelphia making companies give paid leave time) worked last year to make portions of the asset test even harsher.

Carlyn Long pointed out that the test even penalized people for saving for their own funerals.

(What, are there no poorhouses?)

Poll

17 votes Show Results

Who is the greater Grinch?

17 votes Vote Now!

Who is the greater Grinch?

The Commonwealth Foundation

3 votes

The Koch Brothers

10 votes

The Grinch

0 votes

Reince Preibus (just because)

3 votes

Other (please list)

1 vote

Corbett's "Healthy PA" plan ain't all that healthy

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday September 03, 2014 · 8:15 AM PDT

2014/09/03 · 08:15

In today's Philadelphia Daily News there are two articles, just one page apart, that cast a light on present-day Republicans view of health care expansion to the uninsured. On p. 18 a Jeff Crouere (who seems to be host of a Louisiana-based program called Ringside Politica) is mainly concerned about Mittens making a third run for prez. Jeff doesn't like it because he sees Romney as "a moderate from the Northeast". But this paragraph casts light on what TPers think of any health care reform:

While he is for a secure border and opposed to amnesty [see, he's not as bad as a l"Democrat" Party member] he is the worst possible candidate to address the dangers of socialized medicine. As governor, Romney championed a Massachusetts version of gov ernment-operated health care. President Obama used Romney's plan as a model for thedisastrous Affordable Care Act that was foisted on the American people.

Poll

21 votes Show Results

The last state to accept medicaid expansion will be:

21 votes Vote Now!

The last state to accept medicaid expansion will be:

Texas

10 votes

Alabama

0 votes

Misissippi

1 vote

Montana

0 votes

Tennessee

1 vote

South Carolina

4 votes

North Carolina

2 votes

North Dakota

0 votes

South Dakota

0 votes

Oklahoma

1 vote

Kansas

1 vote

Florida

1 vote

Other

0 votes

Importnt as Ferguson is, there are other world events worthy of coverage

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday August 19, 2014 · 11:13 AM PDT

2014/08/19 · 11:13

Important and tragic as the developments at Ferguson are, electronic media coverage illustrate what seems to be an inherent weakness when taken to excess, its apparent inability to walk and chew gum at the same time, i.e. to drop everything and compulsively/obsessively cover one story. This is far from the first instance, although with much justification than some others (for example CNN's obsession with airplane disappearnces, Fox with Bengazi, etc.). Please note, I am NOT saying Ferguson and related events should not be covered (and analysed and explained far better). It's that there are other important world events occurring which vanish from tv news.

For example, in today's Philadelphia Inquirer alone there are (pushed to page 4, but at least still discussed):
1) U. S. airstrikes and Kurdish forces apparently retake Mosul Dam
2) In the same article a note that Pope Francis is rather hawkish on intervention against ISIL but would like a multinational response, and another observation about Iraq politics perhaps improving with Maliki's apparent departure---both items alone worthy of attention
3) Ukraine claims that rebels have killed civilians fleeing a besieged (by Ukraine) rebel held city
4) Ebola unrest in Liberia
5)Worrisome environmental report that 100,000 elephants killed in Africa in 2010-2012

(More below)

Poll

26 votes Show Results

The time the electronic media devote to Ferguson is

26 votes Vote Now!

The time the electronic media devote to Ferguson is

Too little.

5 votes

Too much.

19 votes

Just right.

2 votes

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap: A businessman's legacy of social and environmental awareness

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 14, 2014 · 8:09 AM PDT

2014/08/14 · 08:09

I subscribe to a bi-monthly magazine entitled German Life (better than it's prosaic title) :) . The Aug./Sep. issue is an article by Kim Carpenter "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap"about Emanuel Heilbronner, who used his liquid soap business with the theme "Moral ABCs" to advocate a message of tolerance and world peace. After a master soap-making certificate in the 1920s from a German guild system trade school, and arguing with his father, he came to Milwaukee for work.
Despite pleas from him and his sisters (who ahd emigrated to the U.S. and what would become Israel his parents stayed in Germany. The lst letter he got from them was heavily censured except for three words "You were right." His parents subsequently were killed in Auschwitz andTeriesentadt. He was also appalled by WWII in general-and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan to step up his proselytizing for world peace and understanding but...

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 12, 2014 · 11:27 AM PDT

2014/07/12 · 11:27

So one day reince announces GOP convention to be held in Cleveland, then Lebron James selects the Caveliers as his once and future basketball home. Bam! Goes reince's plan to have a June convention to, as he claims, get the GOP candidate using cash only available after the convention. originally targeted for June 28th, now, with Caveliers very likely to be a finalist NBA team, probably pushed back to July 18th. :(
Of course, a June convention would also give more time to try to repair the inevitable crazy talk in the GOP primaries.

Poll

99 votes Show Results

Who will get the bigger 2016 convention bump

99 votes Vote Now!

Who will get the bigger 2016 convention bump

Democratic

60 votes

Republican

0 votes

about the same

8 votes

Hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream

31 votes

Impeachment Pa. style: wherein Pa. GOp committee chairman one-ups Issa

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 06, 2014 · 12:26 PM PDT

2014/05/06 · 12:26

A Pa.. State House Committee held a hearing today to consider impeaching Kathleen kane, newly minted ag, ostensibly for liking the gays and deciding not to let what she considered a weak sting case to continue (a debatable call, but impeachment?).

(By The Associated Press)
Posted: 05/06/14, 10:06 AM EDT|
HARRISBURG (AP) — Democrats on a state House committee walked out of a hearing on a resolution calling for the impeachment of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a fellow Democrat.
They called Tuesday’s hearing an unfair end-run of the parliamentary process. One of them, Philadelphia Rep. Michael O’Brien, called it a “kangaroo court.”

Poll

47 votes Show Results

Will the GOP actively try to impeach Kathleen Kane?

47 votes Vote Now!

Will the GOP actively try to impeach Kathleen Kane?

Yes

16 votes

6 votes

Hahahahahahahahaha

25 votes

Doctor Who spinoffs/plots?

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 02, 2014 · 6:14 AM PST

2014/02/02 · 06:14

How about a not deep diary on tweeks, etc. you'd suggest for the Doctor Who universe?
For one, I recently saw an episode (I haven't seen a number of the 21st Century produced ones yet) called the Doctor's Daughter, where David Tennant's Doctor gets an iinstant grown-up, military trained, and perky, daughter via cloning. At the end he thinks she's dead and leaves but then she "gets better". More below for those wanting a brief respite from the Chris Christie slow-mo meltdown.

Poll

40 votes Show Results

Your preferred Doctor Who spinoff

40 votes Vote Now!

Your preferred Doctor Who spinoff

Romana and K-9 in e space

6 votes

The Doctor's Daughter

7 votes

Return of the Time Lords

3 votes

River Song's Saga (told from her point of view)

18 votes

other

6 votes

pie- Time Lord Supreme, a timeless dessert

0 votes

Christie & the Pinelands Gas Pipeline

TofG

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 17, 2014 · 10:54 AM PST

2014/01/17 · 10:54

Last week the NJ Pinelands Commission, by a 7-7 vote, prevented a Chris Christie backed plan to push a gas pipeline through the Pinelands to South Jersey. But will Christie try again? More below:

Poll

45 votes Show Results

Will Christie try to get the pipeline approved?

45 votes Vote Now!

Will Christie try to get the pipeline approved?

Yes

24 votes

2 votes

Depends on how Bridgegate develops

19 votes

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