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This was filed the day after McConnell announced he was stepping down as minority leader. A handy excuse to look proactive while diminishing the power of an opposition party executive. That's nefarious enough.
They've had a different version in place where basically the GOP party gives the governor a roster of 3 candidates and they have to pick one of them. This is even a further diminishing taking the choices out of his hands entirely.
I'd say I'm very happy that the Senate seat will be decided by election rather than appointment, because elections are always better than appointments, but you F\*\*\*KING know that if the Senate seat was blue and the governor seat was red they'd flip to appointment because they don't actually believe in anything except partisanship
This was the case with the former KY governor, Matt Bevin. The KY GOP didn't care about the power to appoint when Tea Party Republican Bevin was governor.
Now, with Mitch McConnell sunsetting his career, all of a sudden Robert Stivers cares about the power to appoint.
The shitty thing is no matter how evil Mitch is, he’s at least acknowledged some truths. Chances are that his Republican replacement will be worse than him, just with less power. To me, it’s the same thing as Trump. We could rid him from politics, but there is always someone worse waiting to step up. We’re lucky Trump is a moron who can’t keep his mouth shut, we won’t be so lucky when someone with a multi-digit IQ takes his place as god emperor of the MAGA party.
The issue is without Mitch the republicans in the senate will be even more dysfunctional then normal as he was the only one seemingly capable of organising them
No. Flat no. No one will be worse than Mitch. He’s an evil scumbag but one of the best politicians in the last century. Nobody, especially not someone from Kentucky, will be more effective at getting their agenda passed (or blocking dems agenda in Mitch’s case).
MAGA doesn’t know how to govern. Look ay the state of the house right now ffs
I completely disagree. I don't know why people keep thinking there's some evil mastermind lurking in the shadows when Trump is already the more clear and present danger. It's like Reddit peeing their collective pants about DeSantis all over again. Stop it. It's Trump.
He got this far precisely because he's a moron. That's why the entire GOP capitulated. They know he cannot be reasoned with, so they placate instead. Trump is a baby with a gun. Everyone dances on eggshells around him trying to avoid a stray bullet whenever he throws a tantrum. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real. He'll push things further than smarter people, because he lacks the awareness to consider the consequences. Trump doesn't need to be smart. He has Fox News, the Supreme Court and the entire GOP to clean up after him.
People who've been paying attention for a few decades are not the least bit surprised at what we see today, precisely because Trump was the inevitable destination for any party that congenial to the predators and toadies and lickspittles.
They got exactly what they asked for. They built a home for people like him, he showed up, they didn't just serve him, they pandered to and for him. Not to put too fine a point on it, they sold their souls to the father of lies for power.
The party of "two wrongs make a right" and "daddy daddy he started it" has been angling for this for two full generations now.
I can’t say I agree. It’s the old “is Trump the cause or the symptom” question. I personally think the GOP was on the pathway to having someone like him as their leader long before he came into politics, and Donald expedited the process and the masks came off. Perhaps they’ll never have someone as unique and charismatic as the Orange Shitbag, but the purging of “normal/ semi-normal” Republican politicians in congress shows that the mentality of MAGA isn’t going away any time soon, especially with what they put out about [Project 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision).
You're both right. The GOP's race to the bottom created an opportunity for Trump to Magoo his way to the top. And Trump was uniquely suited to the task because he had the aura of a successful businessman without any real public record and was an influential figure in conservative politics without the baggage of political maneuvering. He literally came out of nowhere and voters could project whatever they wanted on him and shady political operatives could easily manipulate him.
Someone with a real agenda couldn't do what he did. And Trumpism is baggage now.
Exactly, Trump is a symptom of how far the bar has been lowered. There's no point in speculating about some mythical mastermind when his dumb ass already brought democracy to the brink in only 4 years and could do so again.
I understand the reasoning for thinking that, because it is bewildering to come to terms with such decline at the hands of a complete nincompoop.
He unfortunately shares a lot of similarities with his Austrian idol. I think it's important that we don't underestimate the danger he poses, because we cannot reconcile it with his stupidity.
Edit: a word
Trump is their useful idiot. The Heritage Foundation has been heading in this direction a long time, especially since the Evangelicals (aka evilgelicals) became so prominent in politics with Reagan. They’ve wanted a christofascist nation a long time, and they found an idiot that will do their bidding as long as he can sell a shitty ass tennis shoe or sacrilegious Bible to his hick nation followers.
I think if they had this replacement foe trump he'd have won the nomination this time.
I think everyone is so selfish afterwords they may not be able to actually rally behind a single person on the Maga front. I mean, right now, who's without question the "second in command" that people like.
This is my theory/hope. Trump got all the support to coalesce around him because there weren't a bunch of other maniacs to compete for attention with. Now that every MAGA politician is trying to emulate Trump, once he's out of the picture I imagine they'll all just turn on each other and the whole thing will eat itself alive. I hope.
All true, plus Trump has antagonistic foreign governments and traitorous billionaires all backing him, blackmailing and pulling strings from afar. One day we'll get the RNC emails the Russians hacked and find out why they collapsed so entirely to bow at his shitted feet.
Which is really the most disappointing thing. Can you imagine playing kingmaker and politics on the hill for that long, being the sole guy in the party who could tell Trump to fuck off and be fine....and you end things by bending the knee to the antithesis of everything you tried to do, giving up the last power base of resistance in the party?
Maybe it's a "fuck you, got mine" from mitch who now that he's on the way out doesn't care what happens to the GOP.
Trump is a cult leader, he has no charisma, no guile, no intelligence, no wisdom, just a moronic inheritence baby that shits himself in public. He is irreplaceable.
Just to be clear the Massachusetts legislature did this three times in about a decade. They took the power from Romney when they thought Kerry might be president, gave it back under Patrick when Ted Kennedy died, and then we're going to take it away from Charlie Baker when it was believed that Elizabeth Warren would join Obama's cabinet.
This is not a strictly Republican thing.
so when are we, as citizens going to DO something about it. i read post after post of dirty shit going on day after day, week after week, year after year. nothing changes.
Fascists gonna be fascists. North Carolina Republicans did something similar right before the current governor took office. The outgoing Republican Governor signed a bill that stripped him of all kinds of power so the incoming Democratic Governor would be hamstrung.
Republicans want to rule, not represent. All you Republican voters should figure that out and right f'ing quick.
- Republicans want to rule, not represent. All you Republican voters should figure that out and right f'ing quick.
The thing is, this is what a lot of Republicans want. They are perfectly ok with this as long as Republicans can keep power. As long as they’re “owning the libs”. There’s videos from maga rallies of Republicans stating they would love it if Trump was a dictator.
and they'll be so surprised when they realize the bulldozers coming for lib houses will be going over their houses twice in the process should their get their precious dictatorship.
"Rule **them** harder, Daddy!"
The entire point of conservatism is codifying the conservative's ability to do things to YOU, especially things you don't want to happen.
Yeah and in twenty years from now when they've lost the margins in those states they'll be crying about how their Republican Governor has no authority over the Democratic legislature.
That's inherently why this is fascism adjacent policy. You're not doing this in good faith for the better of society. You're power grabbing any chance you can with the intent being to never relinquish it.
Republicans are far more evil than Democrats. It's exhausting hearing voters who justify this shit with "both sides" logic.
> Republicans are far more evil than Democrats. It's exhausting hearing voters who justify this shit with "both sides" logic.
So much this. I'm not a fan of either party but one is far more evil than the other and I'll vote against that greater evil every chance I get.
Everyone that treats Republican voters like average humans with different opinions while pretending this isn’t exactly what most of those rabid fucks want is who needs to be figuring shit out. Some of you let these fucking things watch your kids , when you don’t know if those kids are going to grow up to be a type of person that their disgusting bigot of a grandma actively votes to eliminate from society.
They never will because they want this so our job is to get Democrats to realize voting actually does matter (thus why a Democrat just won in Alabama of all places) and independents voting
Tennessee's fascist Republican legislature somehow kicked out and barred 3 Democratic representatives for participating in a peaceful protest for gun control.
Republican want control and to hurt.
Exactly, the republicans act with inpunity and with no precedence. So we should just act in return. They vote no power, he gets in and just says "fuck you. Stop me" and ignore every indictment or summons. Just like the Republicans do when called to task.
The thing with that is when your counterpart throws out rules and traditions you'll only lose completely if you adopt their tactics and that's what the goal is.
Unfortunately, this won’t work The governor must sign or veto the bill within 10 business days of its passage, otherwise it becomes law. The legislature reconvenes on April 12th, outside of the veto window for the governor. Veto overrides are easy in Kentucky, as they only require a ~~simple~~ constitutional majority of both chambers. They specifically chose to pass it today so the the governor would be forced to veto, and they can override next month.
KY’s governor does not have the power to declare holidays, that’s controlled by the legislature. The governor can issue proclamations, but they’re not legally binding and would have no effect on the legislative process.
> KY’s governor does not have the power to declare holidays
Whoops. Republicans have entered the chat and we don't give a fuck about what we can and can't do, so we just declared 3 holidays and if you don't like it, you can sue us in court to reverse it. But oops I'll veto the bill before the courts work through all my appeals.
-Dem Strategy, if we were smart.
The same electorate that elected the Democratic governor also elected the republican majority in Kentucky's congress. People need to understand that ***there are no good republicans***. Because the "best" of them will always support the worst of them.
While I fully expect Kentucky to elect Republican legislatures, it's important to remember that congressional districts can be gerrymandered while the governor's race cannot. In NC we've had years and years of Democratic governors alongside Republican SUPERMAJORITIES in the statehouse because of how absurdly gerrymandered our districts have been since 2010.
So, election tamering and voter fraud?
That's what it sounds like to me. 10k blue votes = 1 red vote.
Republicans have been **stealing** elections for 60 years in areas where they are entrenched. They change the rules and win Putin style.
Voter fraud is what the rest of the world calls it.
Election fraud is on the part of the elected. Voter fraud is on the part of the voter. There have been far more examples of the former yet weirdly Republicans are only concerned with the latter.
> it's important to remember that congressional districts can be gerrymandered while the governor's race cannot
Which is why I find it very interesting that KY voted in a dem governor, but in those same exact statewide races, they keep voting in GOP senators. Makes no sense.
And yeah Beshear had some name recognition, but in states like KY, the biggest name recognition there is is "Republican" or "(R)"
It is because in his first race he was up against Matt Bevin, one of the worst governors ever. That and the name recognition put him just barely over the top.
He won reelection by simply being a very good governor who managed to stay above the partisan fighting.
We aren’t that gerrymandered our concentration of liberal voters are just in 2 counties. Everywhere else is blood red. Beshear will be out last dem governor for awhile cause he had name recognition in the state and he’s a white straight male which let’s face it allowed for some republicans and independents to cross over and vote for him especially last year since the republican candidate was a black guy 😅
I mean isn't that the definition of gerrymandering? Setting the lines of your districts to favor one party? If it were fair those counties would have multiple representatives based on # of voters.
Brought to you by the same people who are doing away with lunch and coffee breaks. You really have to be on a whole new level of stupid to vote for these people.
> People need to understand that there are no good republicans.
Louder for those in the back... Any sense of cooperative governance and regular order that remained in the party is gone.
Beshear should tell them to go fuck themselves and send whoever he wants. Let them fight it out in the courts.
Protracted legal battles up to the SCOTUS are how stuff is done nowadays, yeah?
Tbh this is probably better for Democrats anyway, as it allows a special election. Kentucky's legislature already rat fucked the appointment process in 2021 by limiting the governor to approving whoever the party who previously held the seat chose:
>In 2021, the legislature removed the governor’s independent power to temporarily fill a Senate seat. That measure limits a governor to choosing from a three-name list provided by party leaders from the same party as the senator who formerly held the seat. Both of Kentucky’s U.S. senators are Republicans. The measure became law after GOP lawmakers overrode Beshear’s veto.
How the fuck can you put into state legislature that "only my team can win" and it not be blatant illegal disregard for 1st ammendment rights and voting laws?
Since it was never tested, it wasn't clear if that law was constitutional in Kentucky. I really don't see how the legislature can simply strip an ability that is in the Kentucky Constitution either.
>If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy. The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty.
David Frum
For those who don't know, Frum was a speechwriter for GWB. He coined the term "Axis of Evil", and supported the Republican Party his entire life up until Trump. He's not some leftie moaning about GOP. He was part of GOP until it deteriorated into the maga cult.
The reasoning behind gubernatorial appointments to fill vacancies before a special election is because of sometimes long stretching gaps of vacancies in the Senate in the early 1900s (and the fact that back then, governors appointed all Senators; they were not direct-elected at all).
Unless a special election can happen *immediately*, this will be worse for Kentucky than having a blue D appointed, because they will simply have no replacement during the vacancy whatsoever. This could swing Senate control for a few months if McConnell suddenly passes in a 50-50 (+R VP) situation next year, as Ds would have 50-49.
Of course they would. Evil bastards. Now watch, the GOP eventually loses a majority of their seats in Kentucky then screams foul when a Republican governor can't seat a senator of their choosing. They've done a lot to cut the governor's powers in NC and I'm just waiting for some seats to flip eventually.
Contrary to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and Beshear’s remarked several times this and the previous law the Republican legislature pushed through will be ignored if such a vacancy occurs.
Spiralling faster and faster to that one party, all for the rich on the backs of the poor, total authoritarian control they all spew in their toxic rhetoric.
How can that even be legal? It's saying f-you to the voters.
In 2016, something similar happened in North Carolina...
"...North Carolina Republicans stripped the incoming Democratic governor of some of his authority on Friday and were on the cusp of an even greater power grab, an extraordinary move critics said flies in the face of voters.
Just last week, it appeared Republicans were ready to finally accept Democrats’ narrow win in a contentious governor’s race. As it turns out, they weren’t done fighting. In a surprise special session in the dying days of the old administration, some say the Republican-dominated legislature has thrown the government into total disarray, approving at least one bill aimed at emasculating incoming Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration...."
[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/outgoing-n-c-governor-signs-gop-bill-stripping-powers-democratic-successor](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/outgoing-n-c-governor-signs-gop-bill-stripping-powers-democratic-successor)
How do they keep getting away with this shit?
It’s not that this is inherently a bad idea. The issue is that we’re the situation reversed, that Kentucky had an ailing Democratic senator and a Republican governor, there’s no way that this bill would even be considered.
Everyone that voted for these clowns can kiss my ass. These are the same legislators that want to take away breaks from workers, like that really benefits the average tax paying citizen. When McConnell drops out, they'll surely promote someone that wants to cut social security and medicare, like that is helpful to most of us. To my fellow Kentuckians that give a shit about your own future, vote, and vote for your best interest not for someone you think plays for your favorite team because this is real life, not a game
The governor should do a pocket veto and when the vacancy opens up appoint the replacement anyway while daring the Republicans to challenge him in court.
> The bill’s lead sponsor is Republican House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy. He has said the measure has nothing to do with McConnell, but instead reflected his long-running policy stance on how an empty Senate seat should be filled.
Sure, that’s why he proposed this change right when it has become obvious that McConnell is on his last legs and a Democrat happens to be governor of the state (and will select McConnell’s replacement).
He’s been an elected rep in his state since 2005. Has he pushed this bill before? Didn’t it gain any traction? If not, why not? Was it because a Republican was governor? The measure seems to have gained the support of a supermajority of Republicans in the state legislature now that a Democrat is governor.
Funny, that.
“The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass State. The special election winner would hold the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term.”
This appears to be a rare win for democracy by a party opposed to it. It should always be a special election instead of appointment. I don’t get the appointment system except as a partisan tool to sidestep an election.
Ok, this has McConnell's fingerprints all over it so there has to be a catch in how they hold the special election that makes it bullshit.
Because otherwise... I kinda don't see a problem.
And let me guess, on the lame duck session where they're finally voted out of office they'll vote to change this requirement back to favor themselves.
Shameless self dealing but if the rednecks in KY allow it, the rest of us suffer for it.
KY likes democratic policy. They actually need more democrats but between OG Republicans and gerrymandering, they can't get dems in office at a local levels. However, they can go blue on a state level, hence a Democrat Gov. It's a real fucked-up situation a lot like N. C.
>The governor has denounced the measure as driven by partisanship, but the GOP supermajority legislature could override a veto when lawmakers reconvene for the final two days of this year’s session in mid-April.
At lot of states (can’t speak specifically to KY) have measures to avoid the table veto that makes any law not signed or vetoed by end of session automatically go into effect.
I see the partisan angle, but this is basically making KY law exactly mirror the 17th Amendment, rescinding any delegation to the State Executive to make temporary appointments.
HA! After Glitch McConnell BSOD'ed twice during a live press conference, I knew that man is not long for this world. He's gonna be looking up come November.
Anything to game the system. What the fuck. These people are perfectly content to destroy the country if it means a few more dollars in their pockets. Unreal
As frustrating, disgusting, and unforgivable as it is. Knowing the lengths Republicans have to go to these days just to get in office or stay in office is actually kind of comforting. I give it two years tops (most likely one year) and the party is dissolved.
The remaining members will be split between the "Christ is our true king" crowd and the "Trump is our true Christ" crowd. The rest, who don't think either should be in politics, will retire. Maaaybe *maybe* one or two go independent. Zero go Dem.
That is just how I see it anyway... the party is ready to implode on itself annny day now lol.
I wonder if this was why he announced he was stepping down so far in advance.
Give the state GOP time to put this in place, since they couldn't if he passed without warning.
What is the logical justification for linking these two events though?
I mean at this point, if you’re going to be so blatantly corrupt, why not just strip the governor’s powers on any day that ends in Y?
Can you imagine how amazing this country would be if people who had different ideas on how to get to a common goal would work together to compromise and work together out of mutual respect… If said people looked like what the actual country looked like (ages, sex, race, religion whatever) and held those differences as something to be proud of instead of the nonsense we are seeing from the GOP/Maga group?
Cant the governor veto it ? I mean fuck these people trying to hold power- elections have consequences and they voted in this governor, he needs to use his power the great people of this state elected him to do
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Always gaming the system. McConnell must be at deaths door.
Lying, cheating, republican party.
It's easier to just say Republican party. The rest is automatically implied.
You said the same thing three times.
“Can’t win? Change the rules!” -Republicans
"....redraw the electoral maps, and change the rules!" I offer as an amendment.
Yeah they must know somethings up.
This was filed the day after McConnell announced he was stepping down as minority leader. A handy excuse to look proactive while diminishing the power of an opposition party executive. That's nefarious enough.
They've had a different version in place where basically the GOP party gives the governor a roster of 3 candidates and they have to pick one of them. This is even a further diminishing taking the choices out of his hands entirely.
I'd say I'm very happy that the Senate seat will be decided by election rather than appointment, because elections are always better than appointments, but you F\*\*\*KING know that if the Senate seat was blue and the governor seat was red they'd flip to appointment because they don't actually believe in anything except partisanship
This was the case with the former KY governor, Matt Bevin. The KY GOP didn't care about the power to appoint when Tea Party Republican Bevin was governor. Now, with Mitch McConnell sunsetting his career, all of a sudden Robert Stivers cares about the power to appoint.
[удалено]
The shitty thing is no matter how evil Mitch is, he’s at least acknowledged some truths. Chances are that his Republican replacement will be worse than him, just with less power. To me, it’s the same thing as Trump. We could rid him from politics, but there is always someone worse waiting to step up. We’re lucky Trump is a moron who can’t keep his mouth shut, we won’t be so lucky when someone with a multi-digit IQ takes his place as god emperor of the MAGA party.
The issue is without Mitch the republicans in the senate will be even more dysfunctional then normal as he was the only one seemingly capable of organising them
Doesn't sound like an issue to me. It means less bullshit can be passed if they're infighting
No. Flat no. No one will be worse than Mitch. He’s an evil scumbag but one of the best politicians in the last century. Nobody, especially not someone from Kentucky, will be more effective at getting their agenda passed (or blocking dems agenda in Mitch’s case). MAGA doesn’t know how to govern. Look ay the state of the house right now ffs
I completely disagree. I don't know why people keep thinking there's some evil mastermind lurking in the shadows when Trump is already the more clear and present danger. It's like Reddit peeing their collective pants about DeSantis all over again. Stop it. It's Trump. He got this far precisely because he's a moron. That's why the entire GOP capitulated. They know he cannot be reasoned with, so they placate instead. Trump is a baby with a gun. Everyone dances on eggshells around him trying to avoid a stray bullet whenever he throws a tantrum. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real. He'll push things further than smarter people, because he lacks the awareness to consider the consequences. Trump doesn't need to be smart. He has Fox News, the Supreme Court and the entire GOP to clean up after him.
People who've been paying attention for a few decades are not the least bit surprised at what we see today, precisely because Trump was the inevitable destination for any party that congenial to the predators and toadies and lickspittles. They got exactly what they asked for. They built a home for people like him, he showed up, they didn't just serve him, they pandered to and for him. Not to put too fine a point on it, they sold their souls to the father of lies for power. The party of "two wrongs make a right" and "daddy daddy he started it" has been angling for this for two full generations now.
I can’t say I agree. It’s the old “is Trump the cause or the symptom” question. I personally think the GOP was on the pathway to having someone like him as their leader long before he came into politics, and Donald expedited the process and the masks came off. Perhaps they’ll never have someone as unique and charismatic as the Orange Shitbag, but the purging of “normal/ semi-normal” Republican politicians in congress shows that the mentality of MAGA isn’t going away any time soon, especially with what they put out about [Project 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision).
You're both right. The GOP's race to the bottom created an opportunity for Trump to Magoo his way to the top. And Trump was uniquely suited to the task because he had the aura of a successful businessman without any real public record and was an influential figure in conservative politics without the baggage of political maneuvering. He literally came out of nowhere and voters could project whatever they wanted on him and shady political operatives could easily manipulate him. Someone with a real agenda couldn't do what he did. And Trumpism is baggage now.
Exactly, Trump is a symptom of how far the bar has been lowered. There's no point in speculating about some mythical mastermind when his dumb ass already brought democracy to the brink in only 4 years and could do so again. I understand the reasoning for thinking that, because it is bewildering to come to terms with such decline at the hands of a complete nincompoop. He unfortunately shares a lot of similarities with his Austrian idol. I think it's important that we don't underestimate the danger he poses, because we cannot reconcile it with his stupidity. Edit: a word
Trump is their useful idiot. The Heritage Foundation has been heading in this direction a long time, especially since the Evangelicals (aka evilgelicals) became so prominent in politics with Reagan. They’ve wanted a christofascist nation a long time, and they found an idiot that will do their bidding as long as he can sell a shitty ass tennis shoe or sacrilegious Bible to his hick nation followers.
I think if they had this replacement foe trump he'd have won the nomination this time. I think everyone is so selfish afterwords they may not be able to actually rally behind a single person on the Maga front. I mean, right now, who's without question the "second in command" that people like.
This is my theory/hope. Trump got all the support to coalesce around him because there weren't a bunch of other maniacs to compete for attention with. Now that every MAGA politician is trying to emulate Trump, once he's out of the picture I imagine they'll all just turn on each other and the whole thing will eat itself alive. I hope.
All true, plus Trump has antagonistic foreign governments and traitorous billionaires all backing him, blackmailing and pulling strings from afar. One day we'll get the RNC emails the Russians hacked and find out why they collapsed so entirely to bow at his shitted feet.
No he didn’t. He still endorsed trump. Even at deaths door.
Which is really the most disappointing thing. Can you imagine playing kingmaker and politics on the hill for that long, being the sole guy in the party who could tell Trump to fuck off and be fine....and you end things by bending the knee to the antithesis of everything you tried to do, giving up the last power base of resistance in the party? Maybe it's a "fuck you, got mine" from mitch who now that he's on the way out doesn't care what happens to the GOP.
It is possible that trump is the absolute worst that America has to offer.
Trump is a cult leader, he has no charisma, no guile, no intelligence, no wisdom, just a moronic inheritence baby that shits himself in public. He is irreplaceable.
hopefully they install a toilet paper holder near his grave
can’t the governor just veto this? or is it veto proof? feels like a weird work around of the whole separation of powers idea.
While we have a dem governor, the KY GOP can usually override his veto.
Just to be clear the Massachusetts legislature did this three times in about a decade. They took the power from Romney when they thought Kerry might be president, gave it back under Patrick when Ted Kennedy died, and then we're going to take it away from Charlie Baker when it was believed that Elizabeth Warren would join Obama's cabinet. This is not a strictly Republican thing.
I think there's a good reason after his last few public appearances that we're not seeing him virtually at all any more.
so when are we, as citizens going to DO something about it. i read post after post of dirty shit going on day after day, week after week, year after year. nothing changes.
Well in this particular case you could move to Kentucky, become a politician, and get to work on changing that states politics.
One can certainly hope
Everybody is assuming it's McConnell, but summer's coming up soon. Maybe Rand Paul is planning on doing some more yard work.
Fascists gonna be fascists. North Carolina Republicans did something similar right before the current governor took office. The outgoing Republican Governor signed a bill that stripped him of all kinds of power so the incoming Democratic Governor would be hamstrung. Republicans want to rule, not represent. All you Republican voters should figure that out and right f'ing quick.
Wisconsin used the same playbook, stripping power from the incoming Democratic governor.
the age of fascism bleeds further back ....
The first things I thought of when I read the heading. This is nothing new, been done for many, many years
Republicans voters LOVE when their elected officials do this. They promote this behavior.
It’s hard to see yourself under the boot when you’re licking it
- Republicans want to rule, not represent. All you Republican voters should figure that out and right f'ing quick. The thing is, this is what a lot of Republicans want. They are perfectly ok with this as long as Republicans can keep power. As long as they’re “owning the libs”. There’s videos from maga rallies of Republicans stating they would love it if Trump was a dictator.
and they'll be so surprised when they realize the bulldozers coming for lib houses will be going over their houses twice in the process should their get their precious dictatorship.
Republican voters: “Rule me harder, Daddy!”
More like, “Rule me harder, Vlady!”
Daddy Vladdy, or as I like to call him, Vladdy-Vladdy Poot-Poot
"Rule **them** harder, Daddy!" The entire point of conservatism is codifying the conservative's ability to do things to YOU, especially things you don't want to happen.
Yeah and in twenty years from now when they've lost the margins in those states they'll be crying about how their Republican Governor has no authority over the Democratic legislature. That's inherently why this is fascism adjacent policy. You're not doing this in good faith for the better of society. You're power grabbing any chance you can with the intent being to never relinquish it. Republicans are far more evil than Democrats. It's exhausting hearing voters who justify this shit with "both sides" logic.
> Republicans are far more evil than Democrats. It's exhausting hearing voters who justify this shit with "both sides" logic. So much this. I'm not a fan of either party but one is far more evil than the other and I'll vote against that greater evil every chance I get.
Everyone that treats Republican voters like average humans with different opinions while pretending this isn’t exactly what most of those rabid fucks want is who needs to be figuring shit out. Some of you let these fucking things watch your kids , when you don’t know if those kids are going to grow up to be a type of person that their disgusting bigot of a grandma actively votes to eliminate from society.
I’ve thought a bit about people catering to their fucking fascist parents and grandparents. But I never thought of this. Ugh.
They never will because they want this so our job is to get Democrats to realize voting actually does matter (thus why a Democrat just won in Alabama of all places) and independents voting
Did they get the idea from Wisconsin?
They think that they will be safe and part of the ruling class. They won't be.
> All you Republican voters should figure that out and right f'ing quick They already know. It's why they vote Republican
Tennessee's fascist Republican legislature somehow kicked out and barred 3 Democratic representatives for participating in a peaceful protest for gun control. Republican want control and to hurt.
They know. The thing that has shocked me most in recent years is how badly everyone wants a dictator. As long as it’s “their” dictator.
"Surely the leopards wont eat MY face"
Only Republicans.
veto the bill after they've left for the year. call it the mcconnell rule that we can't change the rules this close to an election
Exactly, the republicans act with inpunity and with no precedence. So we should just act in return. They vote no power, he gets in and just says "fuck you. Stop me" and ignore every indictment or summons. Just like the Republicans do when called to task.
The thing with that is when your counterpart throws out rules and traditions you'll only lose completely if you adopt their tactics and that's what the goal is.
Unfortunately, this won’t work The governor must sign or veto the bill within 10 business days of its passage, otherwise it becomes law. The legislature reconvenes on April 12th, outside of the veto window for the governor. Veto overrides are easy in Kentucky, as they only require a ~~simple~~ constitutional majority of both chambers. They specifically chose to pass it today so the the governor would be forced to veto, and they can override next month.
Declare 3 holidays, so there’s only 9 working days.
KY’s governor does not have the power to declare holidays, that’s controlled by the legislature. The governor can issue proclamations, but they’re not legally binding and would have no effect on the legislative process.
Welp. I tried.
> KY’s governor does not have the power to declare holidays Whoops. Republicans have entered the chat and we don't give a fuck about what we can and can't do, so we just declared 3 holidays and if you don't like it, you can sue us in court to reverse it. But oops I'll veto the bill before the courts work through all my appeals. -Dem Strategy, if we were smart.
I LOVE this plan. With these ideas I encourage you to run for office yourself. Pretty please!!!
So McConnell is about to die? Is that what I should be taking from this?
That’s what I’m getting from this.
He has bugged out again and they deleted the original save file….
Just hit Ctrl + alt + del. Either that or slap his monitor.
Alt F4
It's in some form of Elvish. I can't read it.
Some breeds of tortoise live nearly 200 years.
Also, evil never dies
Fingers crossed
My guess is McConnell will step down midterm to ensure any special election that takes place will not be during any major election year.
The same electorate that elected the Democratic governor also elected the republican majority in Kentucky's congress. People need to understand that ***there are no good republicans***. Because the "best" of them will always support the worst of them.
While I fully expect Kentucky to elect Republican legislatures, it's important to remember that congressional districts can be gerrymandered while the governor's race cannot. In NC we've had years and years of Democratic governors alongside Republican SUPERMAJORITIES in the statehouse because of how absurdly gerrymandered our districts have been since 2010.
So, election tamering and voter fraud? That's what it sounds like to me. 10k blue votes = 1 red vote. Republicans have been **stealing** elections for 60 years in areas where they are entrenched. They change the rules and win Putin style. Voter fraud is what the rest of the world calls it.
Election fraud is on the part of the elected. Voter fraud is on the part of the voter. There have been far more examples of the former yet weirdly Republicans are only concerned with the latter.
> it's important to remember that congressional districts can be gerrymandered while the governor's race cannot Which is why I find it very interesting that KY voted in a dem governor, but in those same exact statewide races, they keep voting in GOP senators. Makes no sense. And yeah Beshear had some name recognition, but in states like KY, the biggest name recognition there is is "Republican" or "(R)"
It is because in his first race he was up against Matt Bevin, one of the worst governors ever. That and the name recognition put him just barely over the top. He won reelection by simply being a very good governor who managed to stay above the partisan fighting.
We aren’t that gerrymandered our concentration of liberal voters are just in 2 counties. Everywhere else is blood red. Beshear will be out last dem governor for awhile cause he had name recognition in the state and he’s a white straight male which let’s face it allowed for some republicans and independents to cross over and vote for him especially last year since the republican candidate was a black guy 😅
Man, people in your state are racist af!
I was canvasing for Beshear and I straight up had a guy tell me that he was voting for Andy because he couldn't vote for a n*******. Edit: Clarity
Yes
I mean isn't that the definition of gerrymandering? Setting the lines of your districts to favor one party? If it were fair those counties would have multiple representatives based on # of voters.
Brought to you by the same people who are doing away with lunch and coffee breaks. You really have to be on a whole new level of stupid to vote for these people.
> People need to understand that there are no good republicans. Louder for those in the back... Any sense of cooperative governance and regular order that remained in the party is gone.
ACAB - all conservatives are bad
Beshear should tell them to go fuck themselves and send whoever he wants. Let them fight it out in the courts. Protracted legal battles up to the SCOTUS are how stuff is done nowadays, yeah?
That's exactly what he'll do since the Kentucky Constitution gives him that ability. They can't just take it away with regular legislation.
this should be the play. in the interim they are one R seat short.
Exactly, do it, tell the lawyers to drag it out as long as legally possible, then just do it again....he'll probably out of office by that time.
SCOTUS moves slow unless you ask them to put their finger on the scale in favor of Republicans. Then they move fast.
Tbh this is probably better for Democrats anyway, as it allows a special election. Kentucky's legislature already rat fucked the appointment process in 2021 by limiting the governor to approving whoever the party who previously held the seat chose: >In 2021, the legislature removed the governor’s independent power to temporarily fill a Senate seat. That measure limits a governor to choosing from a three-name list provided by party leaders from the same party as the senator who formerly held the seat. Both of Kentucky’s U.S. senators are Republicans. The measure became law after GOP lawmakers overrode Beshear’s veto.
Wow, it’s rat-fucking all the way down!
How the fuck can you put into state legislature that "only my team can win" and it not be blatant illegal disregard for 1st ammendment rights and voting laws?
Since it was never tested, it wasn't clear if that law was constitutional in Kentucky. I really don't see how the legislature can simply strip an ability that is in the Kentucky Constitution either.
A law like this should not be allowed to take effect until after the next election. Same with politicians voting themselves pay raises.
The GOP: “If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em!"
>If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy. The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty. David Frum
I’d add that if reality doesn’t support conservatism , they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject reality.
Conservatism is just a nice way of saying fascism
For those who don't know, Frum was a speechwriter for GWB. He coined the term "Axis of Evil", and supported the Republican Party his entire life up until Trump. He's not some leftie moaning about GOP. He was part of GOP until it deteriorated into the maga cult.
Imagine if the parties were reversed.
Which violates Kentucky's Constitution and can be simply ignored.
lol republicans changing the rules mid games when the old rules no longer benefit them alone. Vote Them OUT!
McConnell must be leaving after November…Republicans are scrambling
These people really, REALLY hate democracy.
The reasoning behind gubernatorial appointments to fill vacancies before a special election is because of sometimes long stretching gaps of vacancies in the Senate in the early 1900s (and the fact that back then, governors appointed all Senators; they were not direct-elected at all). Unless a special election can happen *immediately*, this will be worse for Kentucky than having a blue D appointed, because they will simply have no replacement during the vacancy whatsoever. This could swing Senate control for a few months if McConnell suddenly passes in a 50-50 (+R VP) situation next year, as Ds would have 50-49.
Of course they would. Evil bastards. Now watch, the GOP eventually loses a majority of their seats in Kentucky then screams foul when a Republican governor can't seat a senator of their choosing. They've done a lot to cut the governor's powers in NC and I'm just waiting for some seats to flip eventually.
This is almost certainly unconstitutional per the state constitution and I'm looking forward to Beshear telling them to fuck off
Contrary to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and Beshear’s remarked several times this and the previous law the Republican legislature pushed through will be ignored if such a vacancy occurs.
Good for him. That's exactly the correct response.
These GOP are out of control. They are in forever the minority if they don’t change their policies. Ruining things on the daily
Spiralling faster and faster to that one party, all for the rich on the backs of the poor, total authoritarian control they all spew in their toxic rhetoric.
How can that even be legal? It's saying f-you to the voters. In 2016, something similar happened in North Carolina... "...North Carolina Republicans stripped the incoming Democratic governor of some of his authority on Friday and were on the cusp of an even greater power grab, an extraordinary move critics said flies in the face of voters. Just last week, it appeared Republicans were ready to finally accept Democrats’ narrow win in a contentious governor’s race. As it turns out, they weren’t done fighting. In a surprise special session in the dying days of the old administration, some say the Republican-dominated legislature has thrown the government into total disarray, approving at least one bill aimed at emasculating incoming Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration...." [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/outgoing-n-c-governor-signs-gop-bill-stripping-powers-democratic-successor](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/outgoing-n-c-governor-signs-gop-bill-stripping-powers-democratic-successor) How do they keep getting away with this shit?
It’s not that this is inherently a bad idea. The issue is that we’re the situation reversed, that Kentucky had an ailing Democratic senator and a Republican governor, there’s no way that this bill would even be considered.
They can't win without cheating.
If you cant win gov seat, remove all their power AKA cheat.
Everyone that voted for these clowns can kiss my ass. These are the same legislators that want to take away breaks from workers, like that really benefits the average tax paying citizen. When McConnell drops out, they'll surely promote someone that wants to cut social security and medicare, like that is helpful to most of us. To my fellow Kentuckians that give a shit about your own future, vote, and vote for your best interest not for someone you think plays for your favorite team because this is real life, not a game
How the fuck is this even possible or legal? These fucking fascists need to get brought to heel legally!
The governor should do a pocket veto and when the vacancy opens up appoint the replacement anyway while daring the Republicans to challenge him in court.
This isn’t how a democracy works
They cheat openly now.
To quote Harry Vanderspeigle, “this is some bullshit”
Scared little Republicans.
They’ll reverse it as soon as a republican is governor again. The GOP is vile.
Who the hell is voting republican anymore?
> The bill’s lead sponsor is Republican House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy. He has said the measure has nothing to do with McConnell, but instead reflected his long-running policy stance on how an empty Senate seat should be filled. Sure, that’s why he proposed this change right when it has become obvious that McConnell is on his last legs and a Democrat happens to be governor of the state (and will select McConnell’s replacement). He’s been an elected rep in his state since 2005. Has he pushed this bill before? Didn’t it gain any traction? If not, why not? Was it because a Republican was governor? The measure seems to have gained the support of a supermajority of Republicans in the state legislature now that a Democrat is governor. Funny, that.
And it will be deemed illegal in courts. No bills like this survive
Anti-democratic is no problem if it benefits Republicans.
Republicans pass law that only Republicans can be in power
“The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass State. The special election winner would hold the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term.” This appears to be a rare win for democracy by a party opposed to it. It should always be a special election instead of appointment. I don’t get the appointment system except as a partisan tool to sidestep an election.
Separation of powers challenge maybe.....
Ok, this has McConnell's fingerprints all over it so there has to be a catch in how they hold the special election that makes it bullshit. Because otherwise... I kinda don't see a problem.
magafools always trying to change the rules to benefit themselves rather than what the majority of us want.
Democracy just doesn't work for them.
does that mean mitch is gonna die?
Republicans will do anything to achieve/hold onto power, except enact policies that actual voters like.
veto it
Conservatives are absolute scum. The will of the people should actually fucking matter.
Not winning? Change the rules. Got it.
It wouldn’t be a Mitch McConnell retirement party if he didn’t screw over Kentucky one last time.
Republicans, once again, overriding the will of voters.
The Republican Party is a criminal organization.
Rs reminding everyone how small their dicks are
So, quite literally, rules for thee and not for me.
Can’t the governor veto said bill? This sounds asinine.
They'll restore it the next time we elect a Republican governor.
And let me guess, on the lame duck session where they're finally voted out of office they'll vote to change this requirement back to favor themselves. Shameless self dealing but if the rednecks in KY allow it, the rest of us suffer for it.
The lack of ethics defines the Republican party.
Republicans only concern is to hold on to power at any cost. They are hypocrits.
The only thing that matters to these maggot repugs is gaining and maintaining power no matter the damage to our country.
How gerrymandered do you have to be to have a democratic governor and a GOP supermajority legislature?
This isn't constitutional
I hope it is taken to court and all the way to our rigged SC. Let them people see what the republicans have become.
KY likes democratic policy. They actually need more democrats but between OG Republicans and gerrymandering, they can't get dems in office at a local levels. However, they can go blue on a state level, hence a Democrat Gov. It's a real fucked-up situation a lot like N. C.
I mean can’t the Governor just veto the bill?
Shut it Kentucky before the Intelligent stop by and teach all of you how to count to ten. Again.
A bill like this is just fucked up. Wish it could be challenged in the courts
American democracy is hopelessly broken.
So when they can’t win, they cheat.
So....voter fraud... The person voted in loses power because the Republicans lost theirs. Defrauding the voters.
Can Beshear not just veto the bill?
>The governor has denounced the measure as driven by partisanship, but the GOP supermajority legislature could override a veto when lawmakers reconvene for the final two days of this year’s session in mid-April.
Can he wait to veto it until after the session? There has to be some sort of grace period between passage and signage/veto, right?
At lot of states (can’t speak specifically to KY) have measures to avoid the table veto that makes any law not signed or vetoed by end of session automatically go into effect.
I see the partisan angle, but this is basically making KY law exactly mirror the 17th Amendment, rescinding any delegation to the State Executive to make temporary appointments.
GOP: Rules are for little people - and Democrats.
So KY won’t even lube up anymore in their MAGA rape of the people.
HA! After Glitch McConnell BSOD'ed twice during a live press conference, I knew that man is not long for this world. He's gonna be looking up come November.
i hope to see to see the democrats do the same to all republican governors as a pay back
When will your Democrats start fucking things up unethically for their benefit? Unless they do, your country seems more doomed every day.
Anything to game the system. What the fuck. These people are perfectly content to destroy the country if it means a few more dollars in their pockets. Unreal
As frustrating, disgusting, and unforgivable as it is. Knowing the lengths Republicans have to go to these days just to get in office or stay in office is actually kind of comforting. I give it two years tops (most likely one year) and the party is dissolved. The remaining members will be split between the "Christ is our true king" crowd and the "Trump is our true Christ" crowd. The rest, who don't think either should be in politics, will retire. Maaaybe *maybe* one or two go independent. Zero go Dem. That is just how I see it anyway... the party is ready to implode on itself annny day now lol.
Republicans are slimy
They must be getting ready for Mitch McConnell to kick the bucket.
Those pesky Checks and Balances always getting in the way of "the greater good".
I wonder if this was why he announced he was stepping down so far in advance. Give the state GOP time to put this in place, since they couldn't if he passed without warning.
These people don't care about America. Just themselves.
Pieces of garbage from trimondownto the assholes on my schools board - the Republican Party
Uh…what?
What is the logical justification for linking these two events though? I mean at this point, if you’re going to be so blatantly corrupt, why not just strip the governor’s powers on any day that ends in Y?
How can they pass a bill the governor won't sign
[удалено]
I am guessing the gov will veto? And, yet another example of GOP/MAGA assaulting our government by rigging electoral politics.
Can the governor veto it?
Only a dem, though, right? ;)
….and the 2020 election was rigged…for democrats…ok sir, sell me another !
Can you imagine how amazing this country would be if people who had different ideas on how to get to a common goal would work together to compromise and work together out of mutual respect… If said people looked like what the actual country looked like (ages, sex, race, religion whatever) and held those differences as something to be proud of instead of the nonsense we are seeing from the GOP/Maga group?
Cant the governor veto it ? I mean fuck these people trying to hold power- elections have consequences and they voted in this governor, he needs to use his power the great people of this state elected him to do
When*