Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for October 01, 2024

At least it’s not a semi-automatic crossbow.

Medieval political debate.

Sir Lancelot, meet Sir Crossbowlot.

Gerrymandering is about geography, so I think what would fit is if the track the horse runs on one side is a one foot deep trench.

He claimed that there was too much money in sport but the chairman of the rules committee said that he lost his appeal because there wasn’t enough.

Technology meets the Middle Ages.

Movie sequel:

Look Back in Onager.

What we need is a way to gerrymander the electoral system to overwhelm outlying districts with the votes from major population centers, denying them any voice in national executive elections. People in the population capitals should have all the power.

Don’t bring a lance to a scorpio fight?

Makes sense.

By the Numbers:I did a study. I downloaded all the results of the 2022 Congressional races. In each state I tallied up the number of Republican Votes and Number of Democratic votes and projected how their house seats should be divided. Then I compared them to how they are actually divided.

Here is an example for Florida with 28 seats. Florida went 55% – 45% R to D in the 2022 election. If the seats were fairly allocated, the state should have 16 R seats and 12 D seats. Instead the split is 20 R – 8 D. That’s an overall shift of 8 seats in favor of the Republicans.

While there are a few states where the shift favors the Democrats slightly most states favor Republicans by a large percentage.

Nationwide, the Republicans have 14 more seats (a shift of 28 seats) than they deserve due to gerrymandering. A 28 seat shift is significant.

Judging by his lance, his case is pointless to begin with.

Gerry Mander, I believe he worked in accounting at my law firm.

Not

Be sure to take care of his horse, too.

For a minute there The Count thought The Count was reading “The Wizard of Id” and Rodney’s Asp was Grass again.

A bit misaimed. Engineering failure.

above all, protect the quarterback.

Using “They’ll take up the issue after your funeral” as a reference, Google: Trump is to be sentenced after the election

Way to get it fixed…have New York, Ca and Illinois gerrymander to all blue.

Terrific! That is underwhelming news, to say the least.

Gerrymandering sounds like something easy to fix … but it is not. It is fiendishly difficult to devise political borders that are fair for all voters.

“After your funeral” is a reference to a technique that the Jim Crow South (and some northern counties) would use to deny Black and other folks the vote:

1. Pass a voter suppression law that is clearly unconstitutional.

2. Voting rights groups sue.

3. The case slowly works its way through the courts.

4. The courts decide the law is unconstitutional, but also rule that it is too close to the election to change.

5. The election occurs with the voting suppression law in place. The white supremacists win.

6. The law is now thrown out.

7. The white legislature immediately passes ANOTHER voter suppression law.

8. Rinse and repeat.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed all that by requiring preclearance of all laws and rules related to voter in those states and counties with “egregious voting discrimination.”

In the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, the right-wing reactionary Supreme Court justices essentially struck down Section 5 by a 5-4 vote.

Since then, we have returned to the “rinse and repeat” of ruling voting suppression tactics as unconstitutional AFTER the election.

Currently, it’s the people with all the capital that have the power.

As difficult as it is to hit a moving shield with a moving lance on a moving horse, it’s got to be a lot harder using an arbalest.

Yer problem there, guy, is thatcha only got a single-shot weppin. Whatcha need is a semi-auto that just keeps on firin’ as long as yer holdin’ down the trigger.

The problem with gerrymandering is nothing compared to out and out voter suppression.

Radical thought. Why not win on better policies whichever party. Population centers wouldn’t be a factor. Even allowing for the lack of intelligence in far too much of the country. Both sides.

Apropos of nothing in particular: Has anybody ever seen a genuine smile on the face of Disaster Pumpkin? You know, something like honest jollity or friendliness? All the pix I’ve seen of him trying to smile look like he’s either forcing it or is just gloating over something. Somebody should do a website of “Donald Trump Trying To Smile”. It would be pretty ghoulish.

Gerrymandering, properly pronounced with a hard G, is named after a governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry. He directed the redrawing of Congressional districts and someone remarked that one particularly long and narrow district looked like a salamander. Thus his legacy lives on. I went to school with a direct descendant of his, also named Elbridge Gerry.

Sorry, Wiley, but that ain’t gerrymandering — it’s just somebody about to lose an arms race, convincingly.

We need a paradigm shift away from anything resembling a unitary executive.

They have to break the rules. There’s a risk they might lose if they don’t. And we can’t have that now, can we?

1) I think they are on the wrong sides.

2) The guy on horseback is a classical “sinister visage”

3) The guy with the chariot is violating the rules. No bows or other thrown weapons. Fortunately for him this is a tournament, not a trial.

Points 1 and 2: do you suppose the artist reversed the drawing?

Point 3: Maybe not. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of support holding the spear back. Maybe he just has a mounted mini-lance attached to his chariot, with some controls to let him point it.

Why? The farmers should just provide you w/ food but have no say on how their tax dollars are spent? Fool.