Favourite latest post by previous poster

[traininthedistance]

I was fully expecting for this thread to be someone like CTRattlesnake arguing that solar power will bring down 'murica.

[traininthedistance]

It would be really weird for Poland to be on the winning side of a partition...

[traininthedistance]

A preface: I decided to work on redistricting NC for my fair redistricting thread. But because it can be kind of ugly, I decided to go here first.

Why do I call redistricting NC ugly? Basically, drawing districts with a lot of the standards that both I and the other mappers use can be a little problematic here- a good example is how a whole county CD-7 and a black majority/opportunity CD-1 completely screws up CD-3, forcing it squirm inland. Similarly, avoiding whole county bridges can mess with COI pretty hugely in Charlotte. Anyway, allow this to be my explanation for the ultra-ugly CD-02, as well as the deviation, which is also a bit higher than I'd like, though it's all within +/-1000. Suffice it to say that this is a rough draft.



NC-01
Deviation: -471
Demographics: 51.5% black (50.4% BVAP)
Voting: 69.6% Obama, 70.4% D
Commentary:
This is basically your standard Black majority NE NC district. I chose to avoid the whole argument about whether NC-01 is required to be black majority by drawing something similar to the status quo, and I chose to go into both Durham and Raleigh because it lets you draw nicer lines to the east.



NC-02
Deviation:+347
Voting: 39.6% Obama, 42.1% D
Commentary:
This the ugly duckling of this particular set, alas. Basically, Pressure from NC-03 forces it to go west (additionally ruining NC-08's nice whole county shape, btw). It's basically a cleaned up version of Renee Ellmers's current district, and it'd probably actually be safer for her without the current district's weird chomp out of SW Wake County. In future drafts, I may look at splitting the Fayetteville County Cluster, since this is pretty yucky at the moment (though I still won't split up the Lumbee!)



NC-03
Deviation: -426
Voting: 45.5% Obama, 48.6% D
Commentary:
This is your coastal district, albeit somewhat squeezed by NC-01 to the North and NC-07 to the south. I took it as far west as I could without dipping into Johnston County, which is something I'm proud of. Walter Jones is probably fairly safe here; A blue dog could be vaguely competitive after he leaves office.



NC-04
Deviation: -726
Voting: 55.4% Obama, 54.5% D
Commentary:
Price's PVI takes a colossal hit here, as Chapel Hill and Durham are forced to swallow a bunch of Greensboro suburbia. It's not the kind of district that would elect a any sort of Pubbie long-term though; even if they won in a wave year, they'd lose big next time around.



NC-05
Deviation: -157
Voting: 33.8% Obama, 36% D
Commentary:
This district makes a little more sense than it looks- the odd shape is due to Iredell County's status as a part of the Charlotte UCC. Anyway, ultra-safe R. Foxx does not live here, but she might run here nonetheless; it's her electoral base.



NC-06
Deviation: +306
Voting: 60.3% Obama, 57.4% D
Commentary:
This is your Winston-Salem/Greensboro district. It's safe D. I have no idea who'd win a primary here, though a Winston-Salem Democrat is probably the strongest bet.



NC-07
Deviation: -187
Voting: 42.8% Obama, 45.7% D
Commentary:
This is a district whose shape I like a great deal - Whole Counties! McIntyre probably wouldn't reconsider his retirement even with this district- Jacksonville and Carteret County are not D friendly.



NC-08
Deviation: +892
Voting: 53.6% Obama, 56.2% D
Commentary:
It is quite hard to avoid a tri-chop of Wake and arrange Charlotte as I have with this district as whole counties, so I just gave up. This district should be favorable to Larry Kissell or one of his ilk.



NC-09
Deviation: -15
Voting: 38.4% Obama, 38.2% D
Commentary:
This is the Charlotte sub/exurbia district that pretty much any map'll have. My particular configuration for the Charlotte area (see maps 10 and 12 for more) is based on some previous stuff from Muon. Anyway, this CD is safe for whatever pub wants to sail in.



NC-10
Deviation: -265
Voting: 42.4% Obama, 42.4% D
Commentary:
This is the other Charlotte area pub seat, though a more apt description might be Charlotte-WNC rurban seat. Safe for McHenry, though he should probably keep his eye on his section of Mecklenburg County.




NC-11
Deviation: +224
Voting: 46.6% Obama, 47.2% D
Commentary:
This is your WNC district, now in whole counties, and taking in a good chunk of the High Country. It's very winnable for the Dems, against either Meadows or Foxx (both live here), provided they don't nominate a left-winger as Asheville and Boone are probably wont to do.



NC-12
Deviation: +48
Voting: 62% Obama, 56.8% D
Commentary:
A fair district based mostly in Charlotte, with a bite out of Union County to even NC-09's pop. numbers. It's safe for the Democrats and it's only gonna get safer. Malcolm Graham probably wins here.



NC-13
Deviation: +426
Voting: 52.9% Obama, 49.1% D
Commentary:
This a whole Wake County district; I used NC-01's jump into Raleigh to do it. It's a very competitive district, which would probably flip back and forth a bit, although a DLC-type Dem would probably be the most capable sort to hold it for the whole decade.

The Whole map:



Anyway, the map is 5D-6R-2T, although NC-04 and NC-08 could be competitive in a huge R wave.

[traininthedistance]

How does a CADD program win an election?

Ask phknrocket1k who started this style of what-if. I'm just continuing the tradition.

Well maybe the tradition needs to be put to rest.

[traininthedistance]

Ugh, just a Conservative Isolationist Jackass, glad FDR dropped him in 1940.

[traininthedistance]

Seems like Republicans are picking California and Democrats North Dakota.

The Atlas is a strange place. 

However, I guess that makes since if you consider that Fargo is the most liberal place in ND while Bakersfield is probably one of the most conservative cities in California. 

My vote on these things have nothing to do with politics.

[traininthedistance]

No reason for me to apologize. I said celibates are emotionally off-kilter and your responses to me certainly don't have me second guessing that assertion.

How was I supposed to respond? Laugh and pretend to agree? Disagree but not say anything? Make my original, studiously unemotive response, and then ignore your subsequent personal attacks? You haven't, incidentally, given any indication as to how you think I'm 'emotionally off-kilter', other than, apparently, taking it personally when I'm repeatedly insulted by somebody who's never met me. I have no idea what the acceptable range of emotion or emotional expression in King-verse even is, except that sexual activity (or just desire for sexual activity? What is the minimum amount of sex necessary to be well-adjusted in your worldview?--Rhetorical question; I have no interest in knowing the answer to this) is absolutely mandatory for some reason.

[traininthedistance]

I sympathize with the man who died in custody. Police brutality is not something we can casually gloss over, but I'm not sure how we can make the police responsible for preserving the life of a man who was effectively committing suicide via gluttony.

If the suspect lacks the instinct of self-preservation, it seems a bit absurd to make law enforcement responsible for keeping him alive.

Your "sympathy" is underwhelming, even appalling.

[traininthedistance]

Pope Francis. 

[traininthedistance]

Honestly, this map isn't much different than if we just had it as "whites" in general.

Whites with a college degree may be somewhat more Democratic than whites without one, but income disparities make it pretty close to even.

[traininthedistance]

The mods giveth, and the mods taketh away. Oh well.

At some point I realized he really doesn't have the type of personality that would walk away from drama and lay himself down low. He only kept digging the hole he made.

[traininthedistance]

Yes, every Republican since Nixon has run on the New Jim Crow platform of gutting welfare and locking up minorities.

H-Y-P-E-R-B-O-L-E.

Not really.

New Jim Crow?!  I'd like to hear how.

I'm also starting to believe our token three communists are all the same poster, LOL...

Racialized enforcement of the War on Drugs has been the most prominent example of this. African-Americans and Latin@s are extremely more likely than non-hispanic whites to get arrested for minor drug offenses despite high rates of drug usage regardless of race. And the school to prison pipeline has been a much more prominent factor in communities of color.

Add to this Republican rhetoric about welfare and crime, both of which where and are extremely racialized in the public discourse. The White community, in general, in the 60s-80s still retained most of its old-fashioned racist ideals[1], (see no majority support for interracial marriage until the 1990s) which in the Northeast and Midwest in particular entailed a certain degree of paranoia about rising crime rates, which were concentrated in the mostly minority, poor inner cities.

Additionally, the racist tint to the GOP can be seen on the state level quite clearly as well. This is most salient regarding transportation and urban policy, another issue which tends to be quite racially tinged. A lot of this dates back to sundown town policies/redlining. These, along with other forms of unofficial but de facto segregation, were the norm in American suburbia well into the 1990s[2]; the few places which did not maintain this generally experienced massive white flight.

[1] As opposed to the more recent unpleasantness.
[2] The South is generally a bit different though no less virulent in its bigotry; but residential segregation was less of an aspect of that.

[traininthedistance]

Since this is coming to an end, would people be interested in me starting another one of these with the next 32 largest metro areas?

(in other words, yes please!)

[traininthedistance]

You want to know something crazy, BRTD? Some people listen to music because they like the way it sound, not because it validates their own political views and opinions. I mean, if you hear a song are you supposed to figure out the artist's political views before you decide if you like it or not? Seriously, WTF? News flash, people with differing political views exist, and completely dismissing entire genres of things because of possibly running into people with differing political views is completely stupid and closed minded.

[traininthedistance]

Giving lots of money to states in poor financial circumstances is a necessary part of a currency union, and it's ridiculous to expect otherwise. It works that way in the U.S., but you don't get CT forcing AL to implement massive austerity cuts or something (Alabama does that of its own accord )

[traininthedistance]

If you are so certain that you posses the absolute truth and anyone who disagree with you is a hopeless moron who only wastes your time, you could stop posting on this forum altogether. I don't really see the point of doing what you do unless you just want to show off how smart you are.

[traininthedistance]

Knowing the media, they'll obsess over a specific region or demographic (probably Hispanics) and portray it as the Eternal Irreversible Future.

[traininthedistance]

I'm fine with making people go outside or to designated smoking areas... but this country is a stressful and often horrible place to live for a vast majority.  Now the owning classes want to take away that one nice little treat that young wage slaves have to relax and chill them out if that's what they choose?  Most employers are even lenient with allowing smoke breaks so people can rest their weary bodies and minds outside of their woefully insufficient "lunch" (typically a pathetic half hour).  

No, I don't support taking cigarettes away from the young working classes while Mr. Boss Man puffs his Cubans in his office without fear of any consequences despite any laws he might be breaking.  

I don't see the owning class calling for cigarettes to be outlawed anywhere, do you? Typically these proposals are from health groups and just ordinary people who hate smoking. And now, well, what I really want to do is highlight how the "relax and chill" effects of smoking are typically just the cessation of withdrawal symptoms and all the relief you feel is a farce. In addition to being a wage slave, you're also wasting your pitiful penance on something that will, in the long run, have an immensely negative effect on the quality of your life, and that all along you've been under its control, and you cannot stop, making you doubly the deluded slave.

BUT, you know, I've been there, big time. I remember running off when I had a spare five minutes to have that little joy. Now that I don't smoke anymore, I realise I was full of sh**t.. but I still remember what you described. And I so won't mention anything else, as I'm sure you know all of what I've said, and people like me are only an irritation, trying to take away your moment of relief. You stay in control, buddy.