Bjorn Posted March 18, 2016 Hey y'all, I don't think we have a general politics thread here. For those who don't hang out in the politics room in slack chat, Kansas politics has been getting more and more unhinged since Brownback was elected, to the point now that the governor and legislature are trying to figure out how to gut and disempower the Kansas Supreme Court, because the court won't rubber stamp their unconstitutional laws. One of the reactions to this has been to challenge whether or not Kansas still qualifies as a state because it will have failed to maintain a "republican government" if the Supreme Court is ultimately stripped of power or fundamentally altered to restrict its ability to do its job. A guy from Wichita has started a White House petition requesting the federal government to invoke Article 4, Section 4 and strip Kansas of statehood. Now, realistically I don't believe this will happen. However, if the White House petition can reach the threshhold at which the White House has promised to at least acknowledge and respond to a petition, it will shine a larger, national spotlight on the shenanigans that have been going on here. It’s sort of tongue in cheek, but the more you think about it, the more you can make a case that Kansas is a failed state. You can find the White House petition here. I'd appreciate it if y'all would sign it and help put some fire to the feet of the people who are systematically destroying my state. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Professor Video Games Posted March 18, 2016 Just doing some reading about this. Hoooly shit these guys are bananas. They want to impeach judges for "usurping the power of the state legislature". Also this reads like something out of a satire: A 2014 law stripped the high court of its power to appoint the chief trial-court judges in the state's 31 judicial districts, giving it to the local judges. When one of the chief judges sued, GOP lawmakers last year passed another law saying the judiciary's entire budget would be nullified if the earlier policy were struck down by the courts. The Supreme Court invalidated it anyway, and lawmakers backed off their threat earlier this year. From http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/kansas-conservatives-advance-bill-impeachment-judges-37552972 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted March 18, 2016 The showdowns between the Kansas Supreme Court and the governor/legislature are nuts. That's another reason I want some more national attention on this. Kansas has been a test chamber for how far Republicans can push their power at the state level, and even though its been a disaster in virtually every measure, I think it's very probable that we'll see other red states try at least some of these tactics. Oklahoma already has. Something that came out recently was news of meetings where the legislature was considering stripping long term funding from early childhood education and developmentally disabled services in order to plug this years budget hole caused by their radical tax cuts. Funding for those programs comes from a settlement with the tobacco industry, and they were considering selling the future revenue from that settlement for a single lump sum payment this year. Fiscal responsibility! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feelthedarkness Posted March 18, 2016 yikes. i'll sign that. man, i've read a little about kansas's issues. i can't fathom it. i try not to be judgmental, but after brownback's first term blew a mile wide hole in the budget and seemingly halted all economic growth, i was flabbergasted to hear they reelected him. it's hard not to judge. haha. i just can't wrap my head around the aspect where voters keep electing these slash and burn types, despite the fact that it empirically doesn't work as well as whatever blue states are doing. not that they're without problems, but so many of the metrics are in their favor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted March 18, 2016 A lot of us were gobsmacked at his re-election, we were sure we had him beat. It was stupid close (49.82% vs 46.13%), so he still wasn't even able to cross the threshold to a majority of voters supporting him. Voter turnout was around 50 percent, the opportunity to close that gap was there and we just didn't get it done. That election was so dumb. One of the things Brownback used was that Paul Davis had once been in a strip club once when he was in his 20s. Because that's so relevant! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gregbrown Posted March 18, 2016 IMHO the grossest thing that's been happening lately is the monthly story about how, "Surprise! Tax revenues fell short of expectations this month again after we gutted business taxes." Dynamic scoring of tax cuts is always pretty sleazy, but what really makes it outright evil is that the governor has UNILATERAL power to cut spending if tax revenue doesn't meet expectations, so he's cutting millions from child services and universities without even any legislative approval. It's appalling. Not that the legislature is much better, packed with conservative Republicans and currently locked in battle with the Supreme Court over whether we should adequately fund schools. But here in Lawrence, everyone openly hates Brownback enough that it even comes up in random conversations apropos of nothing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted March 20, 2016 Life of the Law delves into the Kansas education http://www.lifeofthelaw.org/2016/03/revolution-in-a-cornfield/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted March 20, 2016 Life of the Law delves into the Kansas education http://www.lifeofthelaw.org/2016/03/revolution-in-a-cornfield/ I will definitely give that a listen tomorrow at work. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted March 21, 2016 Oo, that's a good podcast. I've listened to three episodes so far. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted March 21, 2016 I love LotL! My favorite episode http://www.lifeofthelaw.org/2015/02/call-now-2/ Offtrack I know, sorry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted March 21, 2016 I started listening to it this morning, and ended up stopping it about 10 minutes in because it was making me so angry listening to the educators in Wyandotte break down crying about the level of services they needed to delivery on cut budgets and knowing that even something like a snow day, something most kids celebrate, might mean that some kids are going hungry that day. I'll finish it, but it was just too heavy for a Monday morning when I need to focus on getting a running start on my week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted March 22, 2016 I feel you. Listening to the it made my blood boil and I started tearing at certain moments. I'm amazed this shit was allowed to happen! I'm.... Speechless Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sclpls Posted April 1, 2016 The work to make things horrible is not finished yet, apparently. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/outraged-by-kansas-justices-rulings-gop-seeks-to-reshape-court.html?_r=0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namman siggins Posted April 1, 2016 It's as if the GOP wants to leave nothing but rubble in Kansas. This is insane. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sclpls Posted April 1, 2016 I've always wondered what a constitutional crisis would look like in the U.S. In Latin America it involves a military coup, but that seems hard to imagine in the U.S. today. But with the direction Kansas is heading maybe we get to find out the horrible details? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted April 2, 2016 I'm genuinely worried about the retention of the Supreme Court judges. There feels like there's a pretty strong movement building in opposition to Brownback and his legislative supporters, but it's hard to tell how accurate that is given my mostly liberal social circle. From my understanding of the effects of Citizen United, it has mostly not had a significant effect on high profile elections like the presidency, governors, etc. However, the effects are seen in smaller elections, particularly when you don't have an opposing side spending money, like on judicial elections. There's not Super PAC to support the existing bench, but it's becoming increasingly clear that a lot of money on negative advertising is going to be spent on trying to get the moderates out of there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neonrev Posted April 12, 2016 Nabbing something someone else posted on my home away from home metafilter because it seems appropriate:"Speaking of voter suppression, the Kansas Secretary of State's office put out inaccurate Spanish-language voter guides with the wrong registration deadline and omitting a passport as a valid form of ID that can be used to satisfy the state's voter ID requirement. The English-language guides had the correct information." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted April 12, 2016 And Kobach gave an interview recently claiming credit for Trump's plan to build the border wall. Because that's something to be proud of. Oh, and another one of his high profile supposed voter fraud cases fell apart on him again, but I'm sure another failure to find real voter fraud won't stop him from trying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feelthedarkness Posted April 13, 2016 i wonder what it takes for things to break? i know people with less means can't really leave, but based on the reading, i feel like people who have, or will have kids and have some means would be looking into it. will college acceptance rates start to suffer from ill prepared students? my fiance is a professor at a fairly tony private college here in texas, but one that mostly serves in state students. and said there has been noticeable decline in the quality of writing year on year, and drastically so from her pre-graduation days at east coast schools. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted April 13, 2016 I have a friend who has recently become an elementary school teacher, and from his experiences so far are that the bigger districts in places like KC and Wichita are okay, but the rural districts are struggling to find and retain teachers. This has been a trend for years, but feels like it's accelerating. That's anecdotal though, I don't know that anyone has the data to back that up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites