Trumps Presidency 2025

[chasfh]

19 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

So which countries would be significant tourist sources but also visa overstays? Mexico certainly. That and it would be the Central and South American upper/middle classes that would be hit I would suppose. I don't think there are many visa overstays from Western Europe or Japan. Is there PRC tourism on the West Coast?

If I understand correctly, Mexicans are required to have a visa to visit the US for pleasure, but can use something called a Border Crossing Card that is unique to Mexican nationals residing in Mexico and functions as a stand-in for an actual visa. I hypothesize that the vast majority of Mexicans use BCCs, so the stats for overstaying visas don't apply to Mexico.

Otherwise, here's the latest visa overstay data I could find. It's from 2023. I would imagine it's going to look a lot a lot different for 2025.

 

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, GalagaGuy said:

Regarding the redistricting nonsense going on in Texas.....

Texas has 38 seats in the House and 25 are currently filled by Republicans.  That's 66% of the seats in a state where between 55-60% of the vote for President goes to the Republican candidate.

Now lets look at California.  They have 52 seats and 9 are currently filled by Republicans.  That's 17% of the seats in a state where 35-40% of the votes are for the Republican candidate for President.  

Seems that both sides are just as bad when it comes to gerrymandering.   At least we're playing fair here in Michigan.  13 seats with it currently being 7-6 for Republicans.  

 

Not according to this. Take it as you will.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-gerrymandered-states

[chasfh]

One more take on gerrymandering, this time grading every state for which there are sufficient data. The results generally pass the sniff test for me. Again, take it as you will.

https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-report-card/

[GalagaGuy]

Politicians shouldn't have anything to do with redistricting, I was just making a point that independent commissions aren't some magic fix all to the problem of equal representation.    The only way to really fix things would be to eliminate congressional districts all together and have representatives assigned to voters instead of plots of land.  

[pfife]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

Speaking of interesting, imagine supporting a whole campaign to punish the only person capable of defeating Trump who is the monster you describe. A campaign against a man who was one of the most empathetic presidents ever, appointed the most women to federal courts, and was the most LGBT friendly president ever. Imagine helping Trump defeat that person like El-Genocide did. 

Speaking of interesting this post isnt

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

If I understand correctly, Mexicans are required to have a visa to visit the US for pleasure, but can use something called a Border Crossing Card that is unique to Mexican nationals residing in Mexico and functions as a stand-in for an actual visa. I hypothesize that the vast majority of Mexicans use BCCs, so the stats for overstaying visas don't apply to Mexico.

Otherwise, here's the latest visa overstay data I could find. It's from 2023. I would imagine it's going to look a lot a lot different for 2025.

 

Nice work Chas. I guess the Mexican ID card thing is probably along the lines of the  'enhanced' drivers license in MI that allows you to cross in Canada without your Passport. Pre Trump there had been occasional, usually halting, efforts to 're-normalize' US/Canada/Mexico travel at least a little bit toward the pre 9/11 freedom of motion - so the Mexican card program fits that.

Edited 1 hour ago by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, GalagaGuy said:

Politicians shouldn't have anything to do with redistricting, I was just making a point that independent commissions aren't some magic fix all to the problem of equal representation.    The only way to really fix things would be to eliminate congressional districts all together and have representatives assigned to voters instead of plots of land.  

I would not object to at-large representative by state on principle, but man, would that ever make election day a mess for voters, especially in big states. Plus, they would have to overturn the The Uniform Congressional District Act that stipulates that representatives must be elected from geographical districts, and that these must be single-member districts.

[CMRivdogs]

 

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, GalagaGuy said:

Politicians shouldn't have anything to do with redistricting, I was just making a point that independent commissions aren't some magic fix all to the problem of equal representation.    The only way to really fix things would be to eliminate congressional districts all together and have representatives assigned to voters instead of plots of land.  

But those “plots of land” have actual people living there. I really don’t know if it’s possible just to take a map and draw squares for proposed districts and actually make them equal in population. 
Multiple representation districts would be a headache as well. How would you do it in states like California or Texas where you would effectively have to choose among say 50 or more people?

The average has little clue on who to vote for when there’s more than two candidates sometimes. 
 

It would be easier to break up the states onto several smaller fiefdoms