Thursday, October 11, 2018

Political Natterings

1. The Tyranny of the Minority

The Democratic nominee has won six of the last seven presidential elections, but a Republican president has filled four of the last six Supreme Court vacancies. As a result, the makeup of the Supreme Court doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the electorate and this will likely be exacerbated now that only 51 Senators are required to approve a nominee. California makes up 12.14% of the US population. That's roughly equal to the combined populations of Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Nevada, Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, West Virginia, Idaho, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. But when it comes time to vote on Supreme Court justices, California only has two votes, just like each of those little states. This might have made sense back in 1790, when the biggest state (Virginia) was only 11.7 times the size of the smallest state (Delaware), but it seems unworkable today when California is 68.2 times the size of Wyoming. My solution? Amend the Constitution so that the House votes on Supreme Court confirmations instead of the Senate. If we're going to turn this process into a political shitshow, at least make it more equitable from a representation perspective.

2. I love Richard Linklater

I will always have a soft spot for Richard Linklater because he made "Dazed and Confused." Then he went and made this ad:



Now I'm in love. Bigger Linklater fans than I will recognize this character from the movie "Bernie."



3. Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld?!?

Christian Bale as Dick Cheney? Sure. Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush? Fine. But Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld?!? No way. Carell is supposed to play me when they make my biopic (he'll have to ditch his hair plugs). No way he can pull off Rumstud.

13 comments:

TR said...

For those of you who care about the feeble Tribe soccer team, the squad has put up a tie and a loss (to JMU last night) since our last update. That puts the team at 2-7-2. This was a team expected to be a top 25 squad.

I am actively commenting on the team’s official Instagram that they need a new coach. They probably appreciate my input.

Whitney said...

How do you feel about Tyler Perry as Colin Powell?

Whitney said...

Mega Millions at $548 million. Gotta play to win, people.

rob said...

the compound ain't gonna build itself

rob said...

and tr's newfound obsession with tribe soccer needs find its way to a series of posts. if our passion for tribe hoops makes us futile superfans, this is some next-level shit.

TR said...

I am now officially beefing w/ the official W&M soccer Insta account. And the stats, well they don’t look good for Coach Norris.

In Al Albert’s last 12 years as coach, we went to the tourney 9 times. Norris took the team to the tourney 4 times in his first 14 years. Will be be 4 out of 15 after this year. And last year’s tourney run was a fluke. We were the #5 seed heading into the conference tourney.

Squeaky said...

I always thought TR hated soccer.

zman said...

I wish this was on the east coast. Thank god this isn't on the east coast.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1992-lotus-elan/

Whitney said...

Z, just buy it and give me a few bucks to bring it home to you

Whitney said...

Hurricane Michael dropping in on us tonight. I’ve been telling local ladies to stay safe and dry tonight. Ended up shortening to just “stay safe” because it felt a bit disingenuous.

rob said...

between that comment and today's sentence of dave, i fear the influence of trump has infected our little corner. and i laughed a little.

rob said...

mike love is a trump supporter, whit. do with that what you will.

TR said...

Aikman is dressed sharp tonight. That blue/brown suit is pretty sweet.

Giants are hot garbage.