Vote no on partisan ballot Proposal 1
No doubt, you may remember learning about redistricting: The process of using census data once a decade to redraw legislative lines to reflect population changes.
Redistricting impacts our communities in every way.
History has shown that too often, legislative districts are carved up to benefit the party in power. Rather than drawing districts based on commonalities, legislative leaders engage in packing and stacking voters to protect partisan agendas.
The good news is unlike in past years when politicians drew those lines, more than 2 million New Yorkers voted in 2014 to give that responsibility to a new “Independent Redistricting Commission.”
This commission relies on input from citizens—not politicians—to decide how to divide districts while ensuring communities are fairly represented.
Unfortunately, the downstate-driven party bosses slipped onto this November’s ballot a constitutional amendment (Proposition 1) to roll this back.
If passed, it would continue to take New York in the wrong direction that’s led to the exodus from our state and impact our area’s balanced representation.
Redistricting shouldn’t be about what’s best for Democrats or Republicans but what is best for all New Yorkers.
I agree with the League of Women Voters and The Gazette Editorial Board: Vote “no” on Proposition 1.
Sen. Jim Tedisco
Glenville
The writer represents the 49th District in the state Senate.
Look deeper into politicians’ records
Claire Pelletier-Hoblock, in the Stefanik cheerleader’s Oct. 24 letter (“Stefanik brings home bacon to her district”), she inadvertently underscores the problem with politics in our country: We can ignore the record of our representatives as long as they line our pockets while they line theirs and strive for power.
As a people, do we look at whether a politician has worked for the benefit of all Americans? Have they followed his or her oath to support the Constitution of the United States? Have they offered solutions to problems, or just railed against the other party?
Where was Stefanik when the insurrection was orchestrated by the president in an attempt to retain power notwithstanding the popular vote? Has she condemned that attack on our Constitution? Or has she kissed the rings of the enablers who attacked the Republican watchdog of the Constitution, Liz Cheney, in order to replace her?
Many of these folks who blindly support their own representatives call for term limits. Apparently, that’s for other politicians, not our own, as long as they pay us off by “bringing home the bacon,” political slush funds of our tax dollars designed for the elected official to retain power.
The powerful Sen. McConnell, for example, brings his state far more money than his state tenders in federal taxes. He has no answers, just obstruction.
The fundamental term limit is the ability to vote. But that requires hard work. We must look at actual voting records, proposals to benefit all Americans, and whether that politician has taken his or her oath of office seriously.
Bruce S. Trachtenberg
Niskayuna
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Absolutely pathetic, how low can you get?
“It’s only been three days since Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, but the Trump family has never been known to hang back when there’s a tawdry buck to make.
The oldest Trump son, Donald Jr., is hawking $27.99 T-shirts on his official site with the mocking slogan: “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.” On his Instagram stories, the Trump son also posted a photoshopped pic of the actor wearing one of the Ts.
It’s the latest and possibly most egregious example of Trumpworld’s celebration of Thursday’s fatal accident on the set of Rust. The alt-right has revel in the shooting. due to Baldwin’s previous mockery of ex-President Donald Trump and his advocacy for tighter controls on fire arms.
J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy and a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, used Hutchins’ death to suck up to Trump. Hours after news of the shooting broke, Vance tweeted at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: “Dear @jack let Trump back on. We need Alec Baldwin tweets.” Candace Owens said the shooting was “poetic justice” for Baldwin’s Trump mockery.
Donald Trump Jr. seemed to anticipate the completely justified criticism coming his way over his tacky merchandise sale, writing in a later Instagram post: “Screw all the sanctimony I’m seeing out there. If the shoe was on the other foot Alex Baldwin would literally be the first person pissing on everybody’s grave trying to make a point. F#*k him!”
While Trump may be finding the fatal accident funny, Baldwin has said his “heart is broken” over Hutchins’ death, which, according to legal papers, happened after the actor was handed a gun that he was told was unloaded. Hutchins’ father said over the weekend that he doesn’t blame Baldwin for her death, but the movie’s firearms team.
Instagram has been approached for comment on the posts.”
Hillary was right – Trump supporters, including his family are despicable.
I saw that somewhere last night and just couldn’t believe my eyes….even for Trump. That is perhaps a new low even for him. It just confirms once again what a vindictive and vengeful man that Trump can be. Why would anyone ever want this man in charge of a country as powerful and as potent as America? Come on folks…open your eyes. If you don’t like Biden, I get it, if it’s about certain issues, I get it, but it just can’t be this guy. There is a great reason why all the Generals that were so loved and adored by the Trumpsters think that he is so stupid and dangerous.
But he loves this country and is always looking out for little forgotten guy! I never realized that 40% of the country is so naïve and many are dangerous, like the ones threatening state and local election officials and their families.
I have been saying exactly that for a long time. My question has always been to Trumpsters….Why do you think he really cares about you (the little guy and/or working guy)? That has puzzled me for years. I still recall Trump saying ” I love the uneducated”. Sad but true….the rest one can do the math. Hate and fear evidently is what is driving the bus in Trumpworld.
Ray, 40% of the country isn’t naive. They’re just plain stupid from listening to Hannity and Carlson.
They were stupid before listening
to Hannity and Carlson.
Here’s a pandemic question: should parents be charged with endangering the welfare of a child if they refuse to have their child vaccinated and perhaps not wear a mask where warranted?
I don’t think so. Can they be prosecuted for not getting the MMR routine? I don’t think so either.
But, lost in the fake hysteria and faux concern and screams of personal liberties is the fact that vaccinations have been required for admittance to all kinds of social settings like schools, and day care, and pet grooming. Why can’t the COVID vaccine be any different?
(hint: because Donald Trump made it a liberal, Democratic, political conspiracy, and millions were cast into confusion)
Ray, here is a fact. Only 163 under the age of 12 children have died from covid out of the 700,000 and most had underlying major medical issues like cancer.
We’ll, ignorance of the law is not an excuse for committing a crime, I don’t believe stupidity is either. – If in fact it is a crime, alt-right news outlets (Fox) and social media platforms should be held liable for being accomplices.
This entire situation is insane. People are being thrown a life raft while in danger of possibility drowning and they’re just letting it float by.
I just posted this to the Editorial on the first three proposals on the upcoming ballot, and since more of what passes for discussion happens here, I’m reposting here too, specific to the second proposal:
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So I did “google some articles” on these proposals and I agree with 2 of (the Gazette’s) three recommendations.
What I found suspicious was nearly identical wording in opposition to a constitutional amendment enshrining New Yorkers’ right to a clean environment; the “vagaries” of what it means and the opening for frivolous lawsuits (which apparently has not happened in 6 other states that have adopted this), and the plaintive pleas of ‘why, why, why!’, ‘We already have laws for public health!’
There are laws, and then there are constitutional amendments.
Call me simplistic, but in the public health versus business profitability debate, I’ll take the former. I’ll vote “Yes” for Proposal 2.
ChuckD, Public Health? Don’t ever move here. Governors whole reelection is based on business, be damned with the public health. This is our new Surgeon General at work, making everyone feel better we have a smart educated person in charge, in case you missed the story. Piece of work.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-dunked-on-over-absurd-maskless-meeting-with-tina-polsky
Not likely again, FL. I lived in the Orlando area for several years. That was back in the ’80s when every other person you met in the clubs was a real estate agent. In the first month I was there we were entertained by a huge sinkhole opening up in the middle of a luxury car dealership in Winter Park. The image of Benzes and Porsches sitting at the bottom of a huge pit is still in my memory. Sinkholes, of course, and a plague of twenty-something real estate agents are a sure sign of over-development.
I also frequently traveled Apopka-Vineland Road and knew it as a beautiful couple miles of unspoiled wilderness. Now it looks more like one continuous subdivision.
What’s happening there now doesn’t really surprise me. Actually I saw the writing on the wall when it happened that it was essentially FL’s SecState Harris who called the 2000 election for Bush. It was clear the inmates had taken over the asylum.
From your “Two Cuomos” article: “Josh Cuomo said his faith as a devout Christian guides much of his political beliefs.”
Separation of church and state is an AMERICAN value. When I hear someone describe themselves as “Christian” it’s a giant red flag. You say “Christian,” we SEE hypocrisy, divisiveness and hatefulness, often with a big dash of racism and xenophobia. Liz Joy is another example of this. The bible says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” I don’t think they take what it says to heart. They only cherry pick from it to justify evil.
The only thing the Republican party values these days is fear, their favorite tool to manipulate people into emptying their pockets.
Thanks, Martha. Agree with everything you posted!
Kind of reminds of of when comedian Flip Wilson, back in the ‘70’s, used to say “the devil made me do it, only this is the opposite. If you’re a “good Christian” your words are backed by God therefore it must be gospel. What a crock of crap.
Agreed Cynthia….not naive….perhaps vulnerable and in many cases not educated and then they hear this angry, hateful message and it stirs up their fears. Some of the stuff coming from the right is off the wall and truly crazy!
The Wisconsin Examiner
May 25, 2021
Ruth Conniff
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Our state Republicans are also aggressively pushing voting restrictions based on Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen from him. If they can’t expand their appeal beyond Trump’s base, their strategy seems to be to try to win elections by preventing people from voting. Talk about short-term thinking.
Earlier this month, Reps. Tom Tiffany, Bryan Steil, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher all voted to oust Liz Cheney from her leadership position for daring to speak the truth: that the election was not stolen from Trump.
No wonder a group of 150 Republicans, former Republicans and independents have drafted a letter calling on their colleagues to make major changes that begin with admitting the 2020 election was fair, or face the possibility of losing members to a new party altogether.
The letter, which the group calls “A Call for American Renewal” declares, “Our nation’s future should not be dictated by a single person but by principles that bind us together.”
It calls on the Republican Party “to rededicate itself to founding ideals — or else hasten the creation of an alternative.”
It’s an interesting idea.
The founding ideal of the Republican Party, established in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, was the abolition of slavery. The GOP was the northern party during the Civil War. It nurtured some of the nation’s most famous good-government advocates — Fighting Bob La Follette and Teddy Roosevelt — who set their sights on busting monopolies, regulating the safety of the food supply, protecting workers and establishing progressive taxation. The last time the Republican Party spun off a third party that wanted to rededicate itself to founding principles, the result was the Progressives.
It’s fair to say that most of that history was buried long before the angry mob of Trump supporters carrying Confederate flags burst into the Capitol.
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Today’s comment section is the gazettes version of the Emmys. A bunch of lefties patting themselves on the back and telling each other how great and smart they are.
I think I speak for most that a true conservative voice would be welcome, but it’s become hard to find one that doesn’t think everything and everyone is out to get them.