Retiring Guy's Digest

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Day 3 of continuing Kevin McCarthy/Matt Gaetz Clown Show

Bottom headline: Great Falls Tribune, 10/3/2023

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced a motion Monday night to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from the top position in the House.
His motion comes after a contentious week of negotiations to avoid a government shutdown, during which Gaetz had previously threatened to oust McCarthy if the Speaker looked across the aisle for support.
Shortly after Gaetz moved to oust him, McCarthy gave a succinct statement on X, formerly Twitter: "Bring it on."

Related posts:

Day 1. (10/1/2023)

Middleton Wisconsin real estate: What are the prospects for 3202 Parmenter Street?

The former U.S. highway 12 section of Parmenter Street continues to undergo a transformation, as shown here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here. and possibly here.

A 50,000-squre-foot building located on a 1.1 acre site has been sitting empty for years. In fact, a 2008 Parmenter Neighborhood Plan prepared by City of Middleton Planning Department staff noted that the building was vacant at the time.

I suspect that one of the 6 or so car dealerships on nearby Airport Road is using the parking lot for overflow storage of vehicles.

3000 Parmenter Street. (9/25/2023)

3012 Parmenter Street. (9/27/2023)

3112 Parmenter Street. (9/28/2023)

Cheating to win elections: Wisconsin GOP defends the use of cracking and packing in drawing legislative districts (Middleton and Madison)

There is so much that is wrong with this map. As drawn by GOP gerrymanderers, the 79th Assembly District sprawls from City of Middleton (orange box) to the edge of City of Sun Prairie. Most of the City of Middleton north of Century Avenue (green box) is excluded, and once again DeForest and Windsor (purple box) are in separate district. And what is a small piece of Madison (black box) doing here?

Alex Joers (D-Middleton) has represented the 79th District since January 2023. He defeated his Democratic opponent by 48 percentage points. In other words, there's nothing to gerrymander here, so why bother?

Headline: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/2023

Map: Wisconsin State Legislature

Somehow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tyler Katzenberger can write an article about legislative district without mentioning 'gerrymandering', 'packing', and 'cracking'.

It's called journalistic malpractice.

The UW Applied Population Lab defines 'cracking' as

drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive.

Th UW Applied Population Lab defines 'packing' as

the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.

Here's a suggestion, one that is more compact, follows township and municipal boundaries, and add up to enough resident to fill an Assembly District.

Meet the leaders of the packing and cracking brigade!

Bad optics: Wisconsin Senate, Wisconsin Assem/bly

Wouldn't you rather have this diverse group in the majority? They support fair maps.

Related reading:

Wisconsin State Journal, 11/4/2022

What should be the top priority for Democrats if the Legislature continues to be controlled by Republicans?

Joers: Our democracy is under attack by conspiracy theorists and radical politicians that don’t want to listen to the voters that elected them. Our top priority is retaking the majority, because Democrats are ready to govern and make progress on the issues that Wisconsinites care about. The gerrymandered Republican Legislature will not release their grip on power without a fight. This means we need to have effective messengers representing the will of the people. Wisconsinites want to take back our federal dollars to expand BadgerCare, provide commonsense gun safety solutions, restore reproductive rights in our state, address the climate crisis, and pass a plan for fair maps. [emphasis added]

Other posts in the series: