Category: Uncategorized

On October 10, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 477, which puts the Green Party’s internal rules into the election code. He also signed AB 1461, which says that all adult citizens known to exist in California will automatically be registered to vote, although they will be notified and given a chance to decline. But if they don’t respond, they will be registered. Unless or until the individual contacts elections officials, he or she will have a partisan designation of “unknown.” That is a different category than independent. …read more

Several constitutional ballot access cases filed for the 2012 election are still pending.
In Georgia, the ballot access case filed by the Green and Constitution Parties is undergoing discovery, in preparation for a trial. This case challenges the law on how minor party and independent presidential candidates get on the ballot. The state requires approximately 50,000 valid signatures, and each petition sheet must be notarized. This case has been delayed, because initially the U.S. District Court upheld the law without allowing a trial, but then the 11th circuit said the case needs evidence. The state recently asked …read more

As if poking the Russian bear wasn’t enough, the Obama administration has now chosen to rile the Chinese dragon.
In a move meant to project U.S. military power to the Chinese government, American officials announced that U.S. Navy warships will sail directly through a Chinese claimed 12-nautical mile zone in the disputed region of the South China Sea.
The contested waters around the Spratly Islands, which China claims as its own sovereign territory, have been the cause of intense controversy. The U.S. has refused to recognize China’s territorial claims and believes the disputed area resides in international waters.
Last month, at a joint …read more

Columbus, OH — A mother’s attempt to get medical help for a cut on her arm turned into a nightmare after a trigger happy cop showed up. The dramatic 9-1-1 recordings were just published, detailing this insane incident that happened back in June.
The nightmare began after Andrea Ellis had cut her arm on some glass and her sister dialed 9-1-1 for medical help.
“She’s bleeding all over the place!” her sister said in the call. “I need a paramedic!”
As she was on the call, her sister saw a police officer nearby and called him over for help.
“Sir, can you get me …read more

On October 9, a Field Poll was released for the U.S. Senate race in California. The results are here. The two strongest Democratic candidates are at 30% and 17%. The strongest Republican is at 9%. If these results persist, it is likely that if the California election system is not changed, in November 2016 California voters will only have two Democrats on the ballot, with no write-in space. The two Democrats, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Attorney General Kamala Harris, do not fundamentally disagree with each other on the issues. Thanks to AroundtheCapitol for the …read more

On October 9, a Florida state trial court released an opinion that recommends new U.S. House districts. The plan won’t be final until the Florida Supreme Court reviews the plan. See this story, which has a map. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. …read more

This was something I talked about a few months back on my science and tech podcast–Sovryn Tech–and I’ve certainly highlighted issues with mobile gaming on this site multiple times, but this specific issue has to do with the availability of games. When I had talked about it on Sovryn Tech, I was referencing the fact that earlier in 2015, Sega had removed a multitude of their games from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. These were mostly games that you had to pay for–and some even had in-app purchases (IAP)–and they weren’t just “removed from the store”. …read more

Why the US should stop bombing people. Retweet

We must reveal what the media hides.
We each sent the following, informative editorial to our representatives in Congress…

U.S. bombings create more enemies than they destroy. Think about it…
* You would hate any foreign power that dropped a bomb on people you love. Foreigners feel the same way.
* Each foe killed is loved by multiple persons. This means that killing one enemy must massively multiply the number of people who hate us.
* The CIA even has a name for this phenomenon – BLOWBACK.
If we killed enemies who invaded our homeland, many would recognize that …read more

Larry Lessig’s web page says here that he has qualified for primary season matching funds. That will help him get on Democratic presidential primary ballots in Delaware, Montana, and Ohio. Most mainstream presidential candidates no longer filing for primary season matching funds, because recipients are then subject to spending limits that apply state-by-state.
The Federal Election Commission is not permitted to award primary season matching funds until January 1 of the election year. …read more

On October 8, two Socialist Party candidates for the California legislature filed a federal lawsuit against the California law that forces them to have “party preference: none” on the ballot, if they run for Congress or partisan state office. Soltysik v Padilla, c.d., 2:15cv-7916-AB. They want to have “party preference: Socialist” on the ballot.
Because California no longer has party nominees for Congress or partisan state office, there is no purpose for the party labels shown on California ballots except to give information to the voters about that candidate’s principles. California only permits candidates who are …read more