Comments

  1. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    Very nice. They didn’t even mention any parties, but it’s nice and clear who “Leonard” represents.
    Also, Alan Tudyk is way more notable to me than Chris Pine, because unlike him he’s a leaf on the wind.

  2. dick says

    Trouble is, “Leonard” & his supporters are lying & conning other folks, (who would normally be supporters of politicians not as extreme as “Leonard”), in their echo chambers that they all flock to.

    WIth so much misinformation, “Leonard” just might get away with it.

  3. Jake Harban says

    Not just that, but “Leonard” can “win” the vote with only a small minority of the votes cast— if 24 million people in California vote for a Democrat, while half a million people each in Wyoming and Alaska vote for Republicans, then the Republicans collectively win two out of three seats with only 4% of the vote.

  4. Elladan says

    @3: That’s true of the Senate, but not the House. And yet, through the magic of Gerrymandering, the Senate is the more competitive chamber.

  5. futurechemist says

    I did not realize that “shemozzle” was a word. I immediately thought of the Yiddish “schlemazel” which means an unlucky person.

    @4 Elladan Actually gerrymandering isn’t the main reason why the House intrinsically favors Republicans. It’s because liberals tend to move to cities and pack themselves in, which reduces their voter efficiency.

    Here’s a quick calculation. Assume a state has 100 people and 5 congressional districts. The state has 1 city with 40 people (2 districts) and 60 people in the surrounding farmland ( 3 districts). Also assume the state has 55 liberals and 45 conservatives. Who controls Congress? Now here’s the key assumption – the city is 75% liberal

    City = 30 liberals + 10 conservatives = 2 seats for liberals
    Farmland = 25 liberals + 35 conservatives = 3 seats for conservatives, despite being only 45% of the population.

    There’s no maliciuous gerrymandering there, it’s that liberals tend to dilute their own influence by living in big cities. That’s why Illinois is a very safe state for Clinton, but currently 8 out of 18 representatives are Republicans.

  6. Matt Cramp says

    ‘Shemozzle’ is fairly common in Australia, which is where the First Dog on the Moon hails from. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s of Yiddish origin; Australian English is strange enough that I can imaging a word like ‘shemozzle’ coming from one of the native languages, and our Yiddish-speaking population hasn’t been otherwise that influential on the language.

    Let’s be honest here: while the House might naturally lean Republican, it’s gerrymandered to hell. We routinely see things that America does and thinks are fine that would be treated as a breakdown of law and order in any other country – there’s 4 hour long lines to vote in some places! How is there not a polling place every block? America might have been great once, but at this point that’s like saying your drunk uncle with his pants down around his ankles ranting about the neighbours used to be great.

    (I can’t go on too loudly about broken political systems because my country’s currently running concentration camps and everyone’s ignoring it.)

  7. says

    According to the OED:
    “Of uncertain origin. In early use (shlemozzle , etc.) apparently East End slang: perhaps < Yiddish shlimazl misfortune, unlucky person (see schlimazel n.), with subsequent reduction of schle- to sche-"
    The earliest usage they cite is from 1899:
    A. M. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 23 It was through no recklessness or extravagance that he was in this shlemozzle.

  10. RobertL says

    It is my considered belief that First Dog on the Moon is the greatest thing on the internet. (Sorry PZ.)

    Look for the cartoons about cassowaries – aka prehistoric dickhead death birds.

    “They hate you!”