S01.E23: State Legislatures and ALEC

[Athena]

While midterm coverage is largely focused on the parts of Congress that do very little, vital (and bizarre) midterm elections are going unexamined. State legislators pass a lot of bills, and some of that efficiency is thanks to a group called ALEC that writes legislation for them. It’s as shady as it sounds!

 

Placeholder Joke:

 

Why did the ghost cross the road?

 

To get to the Other Side.

 

Happy Halloween!

[Fremde Frau]

@Athena, you have filled me with sadness for the ghosts. :( I will never hear a cross-the-road joke the same way again.

 

Is this the last episode for the year, or is there going to be another one? (I can't recall now where I saw something about their last show being in early November.)

[dcalley]

There's one more after this one per the media thread.

[Athena]

@Athena, you have filled me with sadness for the ghosts. :( I will never hear a cross-the-road joke the same way again.

 

Is this the last episode for the year, or is there going to be another one? (I can't recall now where I saw something about their last show being in early November.)

 

This will be the penultimate episode before the hiatus. The last one will air November 9th.

 

The ghost will be happy to get to the other side!

[Fremde Frau]

But...

 

(Thanks, @Athena and @dcalley. I can't wait for their final episode! I'm sure they're planning something truly amazing.)

[maraleia]

So in the scroll of winners of state legislative races I saw three people that I personally know here in the Chicago area that have no opposition. My state rep also has no opposition but since they are Dems who are genuinely good people I'm not complaining but still 1,000 races unopposed nationwide. That's ridiculous. That's John for pointing this out.

[Dots And Stripes]

Any sketch with Ron Swanson and Bob Belcher is a win to me.

 

I'm so sick of hearing about the midterms that I was thrilled to see John attack it from another angle. Some of those state reps are absolutely insane. John has also shamed me into researching my state legislators, although it likely won't change my vote for other reasons.

[enlightenedbum]

So in the scroll of winners of state legislative races I saw three people that I personally know here in the Chicago area that have no opposition. My state rep also has no opposition but since they are Dems who are genuinely good people I'm not complaining but still 1,000 races unopposed nationwide. That's ridiculous. That's John for pointing this out.

A good portion of the Congress is in the same situation.  Or are in districts so gerrymandered it's effectively the same.  We have kind of shockingly little democracy in our democracy.

[Sharpie66]

At my company, I am considered the expert on state legislatures, but I had no idea there were so many unopposed races. Thanks for teaching me, John!

[arachne]

I sat all the way to the very end to see if ALEC would get he closing credit John was talking about. And it did. HA!

[peeayebee]

I was watching for it at first, but then the credits started to speed up, and I focused on the Home Depot ad outtakes.

 

Nick Offerman, H Jon Benjamin, and Sarah Baker were just fantastic. What a fun sketch.

 

Very interesting info in the State Legislatures segment. I'd heard of ALEC but didn't know they write actual bills that get passed. That's appalling. Loved John calling it a conservation bill mill. Spot on. The clip of the conflict of interest hearing (if that's what you'd call it) was also upsetting. I liked John saying that maybe 'conflict of interest' has two opposite meanings, just like 'Aloha.' And to see a representative viewing topless women on his computer while in session (which was discussing abortion) is just… I have no words.

 

Unfortunately it's mainly the people who are angry that get out to the polls. These days it's the Republicans for the most part, so it'll be no surprised that many of their candidates will win.

[Traveller519]

Watching the New Zealand Flag stuff makes me wish John had some time to go on about the New Zealand elections a little bit more than the Eminiem connection a little while ago. People really came down on both sides of that election and there were some big issues in Key's trickle down economics plan.

[Hanahope]

I'm not surprised at all about the lack of contest in many state legislative districts, or that the conservative think tanks have taken control and passed so many bills.  I knew there had to be some sort of central collective that was passing instructions along because so many states all at once started coming out with the same voter ID bills and the regulate abortion clinic bills.  Its amazing that they are so brazen about how identical these bills are in all the states and that this is so not reported by the news media.  So bravo to John for his reporting.  Unfortunately, too little too late for this election season, most likely.

 

 

Additional Fact:  Its not just the legislatures that have been taken under Alec's control, its also the state judiciary in many instances.  They get their judicial candidates to either run unopposed, or they invest enough (Koch) money to find the skeleton in the liberal judge's closet and exploit/publicize it.

[Mindymoo]

I wish that John would have elaborated a little more on Leland Yee. He was not only involved in arms trafficking, he was a fucking gun control advocate before all of that. So he is a gigantic hypocrite to top it all off.

[peeayebee]

I'm not surprised at all about the lack of contest in many state legislative districts, or that the conservative think tanks have taken control and passed so many bills.  I knew there had to be some sort of central collective that was passing instructions along because so many states all at once started coming out with the same voter ID bills and the regulate abortion clinic bills. 

I just assumed TPTB of the Republican party were directing what bills to submit.

[Fremde Frau]

Unfortunately, very little of this was new information. At least it was hilariously delivered. Thank you, John.
 

Its amazing that they are so brazen about how identical these bills are in all the states and that this is so not reported by the news media.  So bravo to John for his reporting.  Unfortunately, too little too late for this election season, most likely.

Outside of the comfortably bedded fuckery of organizations like ALEC, this is what really infuriates me: that the media should be complicit and just keep on asking about campaign strategies and who's ahead of whom, rather than tearing this whole corrupt system apart and holding politicians and their donors alike to account. Instead, we have three comedy shows (maybe four, with Maher?) to depend on for political transparency.

[Victor the Crab]

You'd have to be clinically blind not to notice the difference between the proposed flag of New Zealand and the one flown by ISIS. It would be so cool if New Zealand actually adopted this flag as it is the symbol of its men's national rugby team, the All Blacks, who are a team of fucking beasts. Especially when they perform their pre match ritual, the Haka:

 

 

The Home Depot would be insane not to hire Nick Offerman as its commercial spokesman.

 

And would someone please fire a tranquilizer dart into that lunatic state representative screaming "Let my people go!" Read the fucking bills your given or find another job, asswipe!

[Fremde Frau]

I don't know his public record, but I kind of feel for that state representative. What in the world is he up against to come to that point, or is that his default setting? It's hard to tell, from that little bit shown, if he's having a legitimate mad as hell moment or if he's a Glenn Beck impressionist.

 

(Nice video, Victor the Crab!)