Democrats Behaving Badly

[Suranis]

Because the current timeline isn't fucking cyberpunk enough, Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create local governments.

https://apnews.com/article/legislature- ... 02e8a0e5f0

Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments.

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.

The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and courts and provide government services.

The US has a loooong history of Company towns and it has never gone well for the people who live in them.

[FiveAcres]

Because the current timeline isn't fucking cyberpunk enough, Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create local governments.

https://apnews.com/article/legislature- ... 02e8a0e5f0

Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments.

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.

The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and courts and provide government services.

The US has a loooong history of Company towns and it has never gone well for the people who live in them.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Baidn]

Speaking of Dems behaving badly, Manchin needs to reexamine the context of the "legacy" he's defending by refusing to allow the filibuster to be axed. Personally wouldn't be so eager to declare love of the senator that used it to try and kill the civil rights acts.

[RTH10260]

Racketeering, money laundering & kickbacks: AG investigates New Mexico House Majority Leader

KOAT
Updated: 7:33 PM MDT Jul 28, 2021


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is investigating reports of racketeering, money laundering, receiving illegal kickbacks and violations of the Governmental Conduct Act of Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton.

The investigation was prompted after Albuquerque Public School Superintendent Scott Elder wrote a letter to Balderas referencing “Suspected Violations of the Governmental Conduct Act and Procurement Code.” In that letter Elder says he suspected a violation of this nature by Sheryl Williams Stapleton, who worked as the Coordinator and Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) for APS.

Stapleton is the longest-serving Democratic member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. She represents District 19 and also serves as the House Majority Leader.

According to a search warrant obtained by KOAT Rep. Stapleton, who has worked with APS since 1984, was associated with the company, Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, which was awarded $5,360,030 in contract by APS over 15 years.

Court documents explain that Robotics Management Learning System claimed to distribute a software called “CyberQuest” that was “supposed to be a web-based program that provided students multiple-choice quizzes.” Robotics also claimed to develop teacher-training materials on how to integrate math and science into Career and Technical Education (CTE) subject-matter questions.



https://www.koat.com/article/search-war ... e/37156649#

[Suranis]

Blah blah ya hes not technically a Dem he just ran for President for the party twice. If Mods want to create an "independents behaving badly" topic and move this in there, I'll accept their decision.

Anyway, Bernie Sanders has no idea why someone lost. But he knows who to blame!

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/statu ... 8750954499

Bernie Sanders@BernieSanders
· Aug 7
I've heard a lot from the punditry as to why Nina Turner lost her race in Ohio. Well, maybe it had something to do with drug companies, Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry spending millions trying to defeat her. Is that the kind of Democratic Party we want? I don't think so.

[Volkonski]

[raison de arizona]

"You want a punch in the nose? Because THAT'S how you get a punch in the nose!"

[raison de arizona]

She’s bad, but they could have waited outside the bathroom. It’s not like she was going to climb out a window to escape, she had to come back out.


Sinema's statement:

► Show Spoiler

Background:

► Show Spoiler

ARS statue making such filming possibly illegal:

► Show Spoiler

There is disagreement in legal Twitter whether this makes filming inside the BATHROOM illegal, or filming inside the bathroom STALL illegal. Also, whether the fact that she KNEW she was being filmed makes it legal. Dunno, IANAL. Seems wrongs though, regardless, especially for the poor women in there just trying to use the facilities. Also, there is apparently a child program in the building, making it possible that there were children in the bathroom as well.

[Volkonski]

[AndyinPA]

Maybe because the West Virginia line is 70 miles from my house as the crow flies, I remember that very well.

[raison de arizona]

Dropping this here because this thread has been neglected, but really this could go in the R -or- D thread, bad politicians all around here.

[RTH10260]

State level

Indicted CT lawmaker DiMassa wasn’t the only one to sign off on invoices
Signatures show city finance director also approved payments
POLITICS by ANDREW BROWN
October 22, 2021

Newly released documents from the city of West Haven show how Michael DiMassa, a state Democratic lawmaker and former municipal employee, was allegedly able to funnel more than $636,000 in federal funds to a shell company he set up earlier this year.

The records, which were obtained by the CT Mirror through a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, show that DiMassa, 30, personally signed off on dozens of invoices that were submitted to the city by a limited liability corporation, which he formed under the name Compass Investment Group.

Those actions led to the FBI arresting DiMassa, who served as an assistant to the West Haven city council. He is charged with federal wire fraud after allegedly stealing more than half of the $1.2 million in federal CARES Act funding that West Haven received in December.



https://ctmirror.org/2021/10/22/documen ... -invoices/

[raison de arizona]

[raison de arizona]

I'm sure it was all on the up-and-up.

[Notaperson]

Not really the right thread for this, but then maybe it is...




What the actual fuck????

[raison de arizona]

Inflation? What inflation? What was the military budget in 2015? Oh, $560B? Well gee whiz, would ya look at that.

[bob]

Not so much "badly" as "dumbly":



(No; neither are.)

[Ben-Prime]

Not so much "badly" as "dumbly":



(No; neither are.)

I mean, do we not count the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments? Sure, technically none guarantee an absolute right to vote, but they do protect it against various forms of age, sex, and racial discrimination, or at least purport to do so on the face.

[bob]

I mean, do we not count the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments? Sure, technically none guarantee an absolute right to vote, but they do protect it against various forms of age, sex, and racial discrimination, or at least purport to do so on the face.

You had it in one: none of the amendments guarantees the right to vote; they prohibit certain kinds of well, prohibitions against voting restrictions. Our friend Minor still is occasionally cited for the proposition that the U.S. Constitution (including the 14th Amendment) doesn't provide for a right to vote.

Some have argued ("people are saying") those amendments imply a right to vote, but no court has said that. Mainly because there's so much voting already; it exists and likely isn't going away.

[Foggy]

The 26th explicitly states that voting is a right, and uses the word "right" to describe that right. I concede up front that is my own finding, supported by the language of the amendment but not by case law.

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

And on policy grounds, I feel this great land of ours might could survive as a democracy just a little bit longer if voting was explicitly declared a right of American citizens - like it was in the 26th Amendment.

I fart in the general direction of the Minor court.

[Ben-Prime]

The 26th explicitly states that voting is a right, and uses the word "right" to describe that right. I concede up front that is my own finding, supported by the language of the amendment but not by case law.

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

And on policy grounds, I feel this great land of ours might could survive as a democracy just a little bit longer if voting was explicitly declared a right of American citizens - like it was in the 26th Amendment.

I fart in the general direction of the Minor court.

So, in other words (as a non-lawyer I always have to make sure I understand these things correctly), the premise is that the 26th does specifically enumerate the right to vote, but then limits its protection from abridgement to age related issues?

That was what I was thinking when I raised the original question, but Bob used a Jedi Mind Trick on me.

[pipistrelle]

But it says “right to vote,” implying a right to vote if you’re 18 or over.

[Maybenaut]

But it says “right to vote,” implying a right to vote if you’re 18 or over.

I think it more than "implies" the right to vote if you're over 18. I think it guarantees it. But that's just me. Others might disagree.

We know that felons in some states lose the right to vote, either permanently or for a period of time, so the guarantee isn't absolute.

[pipistrelle]

But it says “right to vote,” implying a right to vote if you’re 18 or over.

I think it more than "implies" the right to vote if you're over 18. I think it guarantees it. But that's just me. Others might disagree.

We know that felons in some states lose the right to vote, either permanently or for a period of time, so the guarantee isn't absolute.

As an IANAL, I was trying not to go too far but I agree it seems to guarantee it. Yes, it can be revoked for felon lawbreakers but one would think being Black, poor, or a Democrat isn’t quite the same as being a convicted felon. Apparently not.

[Suranis]

Reading it, from my IANAL perspective I would say it gives a right to vote and says it cannot be removed for reasons of age. Ergo yes you have a right to vote, and that right can be removed for reasons.