#hardballer

[pedroam-bang]

Hitman: Absolution (2012)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Blue states should play “constitutional hardball”

NEXT WEDNESDAY (October 23) at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

Nothing's more frustrating that watching the GOP smash norms and decency to advance policies that harm millions of Americas, unless it's that, plus Democratic officials stamping their feet and saying, "C'mon guys, play fair."

The GOP's game is called "constitutional hardball." Think: Mitch McConnell refusing to hold confirmation hearings on Obama's federal judiciary appointments, not never for Merrick Garland's Supreme Court seat – then filling the Federal judiciary with the least-qualified, most FedSoc-addled lunatics in US history, all for lifetime appointments.

As bad as this is at the federal level, it's even worse at in the states, especially the Republican "trifecta" states where the GOP holds the governorship and the state house and senate, where shameless gerrymandering and legislative attacks on hard-won ballot measures are the order of the day. GOP-held state governments engage in rampant interstate aggression, targeting out-of-state abortion providers, publishers, and journalists.

This is a one-sided Cold Civil War, because state Dems, for the most part, are unwilling to play hardball in return (the closest they come is when, say, California sets strict emissions controls and manufacturers adopt them nationwide, rather than making special cars for the giant California market). Republicans engage in constitutional hardball and Dems refuse to fight back, a phenomenon called "asymmetrical constitutional hardball":

https://columbialawreview.org/content/asymmetric-constitutional-hardball/

Writing for The American Prospect, Arkadi Gerney and Sarah Knight make the case for symmetrical constitutional hardball:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-10-18-playing-hardball/

The pair argue first, that the best way to get Republican state houses to play fair is to credibly threaten them with retaliatory action. They cite the recent attempt at a last-minute change the way that Nebraska's Electoral College votes are apportioned, which would have given all of five the state's EC votes to Trump. Maine threatened to effect the same change to its Electoral College system, which would have given all four of its EC votes to Harris. Nebraska surrendered.

But there's also a second advantage to playing Constitutional Hardball: it makes blue states better. For example, Minnesota gives free college tuition to exceptional low/middle-income students. Neighboring North Dakota got tired of losing all its smartest kids Minnesota schools and created its own subsidy. As Gerney and Knight point out, Minnesota (and other blue states) still has a huge advantage when it comes to attracting top talent, because attending university in a state with legal abortion is vastly preferable (and safer) than doing a degree in a forced-birth state.

Red states are bent on making life horrible for some really great people. The hardworking, talented Haitian migrants caught in the Springfield pogroms that Trump incited would be a fine addition to any blue state town – anyone who's got the gumption to haul ass out of a failed state and make their all the way to Springfield is gonna be a fantastic neighbor, citizen and worker, just like my refugee grandparents and father, who endured a million times more hardship than their neighbors ever did, getting to Toronto, finding jobs, and starting their family.

Influxes of young, hardworking immigrants are especially good for rural towns with dwindling populations. No wonder rural towns with above-average net migration swung for Biden in 2020.

All over America, families are despairing of their lives in red states. Whether you're worried that you or someone you love might need to terminate a pregnancy, or you're worried about gender-affirming care for you or a loved one, you can put your worries to rest in a blue state. Same goes for nurses and doctors who are worried they can't do medicine unless it accords with the imaginary dictates of Bronze Age prophets as claimed by pencil-neck Hitler wannabe Bible-thumper with a private jet and a face from Walmart. Fill the blue states with great schools, libraries and hospitals, and invite everyone who wants to do their job in a free country to come and work at 'em. Line every state border with abortion and mifepristone clinics, and set up billboards advertising the quality of life, the jobs, and the freedom in blue state America.

Every blue state public pension fund should ban investments in fossil fuels, and invest like crazy in renewables, especially in Texas, to hasten the bankrupting of the petro-kleptocracy that controls the state. Blue states should tack surcharges on goods imported from "right to work" states where unions are effectively banned, to compensate for the additional product testing needed to ensure that scab products are safe to use (ahem, Boeing).

Create joint occupational licensure rules across blue states: if you're certified as a teacher, nurse, hairdresser or auto-mechanic in New York, you should be able to carry that certification with you to Minnesota, California, or Maine. Create multi-state funding pools to build public housing. Offer med-school scholarships to the smartest red state kids, at universities where they'll learn evidence-based obstetrics rather than the Lysenokist nonsense taught at the Roy Moore College of Pediatrics and Obstetrics.

Dems have to get over their fear of "states' rights" and start playing state-level hardball. This doesn't mean escalating cruelty. Quite the contrary: every cruel measure enacted as red state red meat is a chance for blue states to extend a kindness, and capture even more of the best, brightest and kindest of the nation, creating a race to the top that Republicans can only win by abandoning their performative cruelty and corruption.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/18/states-rights/#cold-civil-war

[txttletale]

I don't understand why you're advocating against voting for Biden. Obviously, Biden and DeSantis/Trump are both very bad, but there's also obviously still a difference between them. If Biden's policy is 1,000,000 people die and DeSantis's policy is 1,010,000 people die, then surely those 10,000 lives are still well worth fighting for? I could understand if somehow not voting did something to undermine the whole system, to help prevent the 1,000,000 deaths, but it doesn't, as far as I can see.

not to get all game theory about it but if 'the left' (as in, the loose electoral demographic) just blindly vote for whoever promises the least deaths without having any red lines then there will never be any reason for the democrats (slash labour slash insert tepid imperialist european social democratic party here) to ever pursue a policy of less than 1,009,999 people dying. imo if someone is serious about voting as a harm reduction strategy then they (as part of a broader group, what an individual does as i always say is basically irrelevant) need to be willing to play hardball (i.e. have circumstances under which they will not vote and be vocal about this) or they will not actually get any harm reduced in the long run

[sergeifyodorov]

all this swayman news is hilarious but it is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt: you all would not survive being a leafs fan

[feroluce]

Had the cutest realization last night- so there's a saying we have in English meaning to get something done by any means necessary. It specifically includes dishonest methods, such as violence or lying. So when you're willing to resort to that kind of thing to achieve your goals, you say you're going to do something

"by hook or by crook"

[discoscoob]

Conor O’Neill is Tom Ludlow coded

[brookie-kookie1943]

Keanuverse Bracelet - Part Four…

Ready for another character bracelet? I am!

Warning: I’m a very amateur pony bead bracelet maker.

(I base the colors I use either off of their clothing or the aesthetic of the whole movie in general.)

I present to you…

See what they see?

Conor O’Neill! I based this off of his Kekambas jersey since his fashion in Hardball is pretty bland…

He’s our favorite gambler baseball coach!

RIP G-Baby…

Hope you like it!❤️

[gijoe-forever]

[oldgamemags]

Hyper #11, October '94 - Review of Donkey Kong '94, Pac Attack and Hardball '94.

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday #keanureeves #actor #thematrix #reloaded #revolutions #resurrections #sonic3 #pointbreak #speed #dracula #billandted #bogusjourney #facethemusic #constantine #johnwick #parebellum #sweetnovember #hardball #replicas #knockknock #47ronin #TheDaytheEarthStoodStill

[pedroam-bang]

Hitman (2016)

[nellarw95]

Happy Birthday Keanu 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

Keanu Charles Reeves

September 2,1964

Buon Compleanno 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

2 Settembre 1964

[lanehutsons]

GUYS… WERE GETTING A WOMENS BASEBALL LEAGUE

[retrocgads]

UK 1987

[discoscoob]

I love when he plays losers

[entomolog-t]

7 & 10 for the G/T asks please!

Hey Anon! I answered those ones here <3

I'll do two other ones for you :)

19.) Would you rather change size by emotion or be in control of the ability?

Ugh this one genuinely makes me so frustrated because yes I should want to be able to control an ability that is potential dangerous to myself and others but like - theres just such a deep rooted desire for it. I think part of it is this subconscious desire not to have to suppress or neglect feelings. And its some force outside of your own control so its not you scaring everyone from growing- or at least, its not your fault. Someone upset you and they deserve to feel bad.

Of course we dont for the most part consciously express those ideas but for a lot of us, there is that nasty impulsive desire that just seethes in the background (usually form unmet needs of repressing ones emotions).

Or even shrinking- being upset and having someone physically see how small they made you feel.

Theres some catharsis in that.

I don't think I would consciously choose to me an emotional shifter as much as I like it, but it is the one I desire more. I just don't think I could choose it for the right reasons.

25) Would you rather use a stuffed animal as a bed or open grasslands?

This might be one of the few examples where I'll go of the script of being giant aligned because while I love being outdoors and sleeping on a grass field sounds amazing- squishmallows exist and I would love to just toss myself onto one