What is it with Kansas?

[AR Husker Fan]

First, they blow a hole in their budget, and now this...

 

Thousands of voters in limbo after Kansas demands proof they're American

 

 

Kobach rejects accusations the law is designed to suppress voter turnout, particularly among minority and low-income voters who tend to back Democrats. He says it is aimed at stopping what he describes as a rampant problem of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections - even though there is little evidence of the problem.

*****

Citing that threat, Kobach convinced the Kansas legislature in 2015 to give him the power to prosecute voter fraud. But he has won just four misdemeanor illegal voting convictions, mostly involving people who owned at least two properties and cast votes in both locations. None involved non-citizens voting, although Kobach said more complaints will be filed.

U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson, who issued a May 17 order that Kansas begin to register more than 18,000 voters kept off the rolls by the proof of citizenship law, noted Kansas could identify only three non-citizens who voted between 2003 and the onset of the law in 2013.

[QMany]

The amount of disdain for Brownback and Kobach is overwhelming right now in Kansas, but somehow Brownback was re-elected.

 

I didn't realize Judge Robinson had this on her docket; I have had a few cases before her recently and always considered her a sensible and fair Judge.

 

With this, the budget, and public school funding, Kansas is a joke right now.

[Danny Bateman]

Brownback has run that state into the ground. He's truly done a terrible, terrible job. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone defend the guy. He seems universally hated.

[Guy Chamberlin]

I don't want to make Kansas and Wisconsin about Brownback and Scott Walker.

 

They were empowered and celebrated for enlisting the small government, pro-business, anti-labor, anti-tax, anti-feds, anti-regulation philosophy that conservatives have long wanted as the model for our federal government.

 

You don't often have the luxury of working test models. But Kansas and Wisconsin have been able to prove that it doesn't work. The policies do almost nothing the conservative think tanks promised, and virtually everything their opponents warned about.

 

So instead of personality clashes and cheap rhetoric, we could actually be discussing governance in action, what to do and what to avoid.

 

It would be incredibly valuable, but it's not gonna happen.

[QMany]

Kansas quickly went from a large surplus to a large deficit with this experiment. It is only now getting much notoriety because the schools are threatened with shutdowns because of funding. Luckily, the Court has attempted to mandate the funding. Of course, Brownback has attempted to usurp any/all judicial powers.

[AR Husker Fan]

I don't want to make Kansas and Wisconsin about Brownback and Scott Walker.

 

They were empowered and celebrated for enlisting the small government, pro-business, anti-labor, anti-tax, anti-feds, anti-regulation philosophy that conservatives have long wanted as the model for our federal government.

 

You don't often have the luxury of working test models. But Kansas and Wisconsin have been able to prove that it doesn't work. The policies do almost nothing the conservative think tanks promised, and virtually everything their opponents warned about.

 

So instead of personality clashes and cheap rhetoric, we could actually be discussing governance in action, what to do and what to avoid.

 

It would be incredibly valuable, but it's not gonna happen.

Oklahoma can be added to the states in which that game-plan is failing. a 1.3 billion dollar budget hole - wow!

[Omaha-Husker]

If Ricketts gets his way we will be joining our neighbors to the south.

 

To be fair the same issue is at the other end of the spectrum with Illinois being buried in debt.

 

We are best to be the pragmatic conservatives that the Nebraska statehouse has traditionally been. If we stick to that we will continue to provide a great QOL. I worry that the state is shifting too far to the Tea Party side and we are next inline for the Kansas treatment though.

[knapplc]

If Ricketts gets his way we will be joining our neighbors to the south.

 

To be fair the same issue is at the other end of the spectrum with Illinois being buried in debt.

 

We are best to be the pragmatic conservatives that the Nebraska statehouse has traditionally been. If we stick to that we will continue to provide a great QOL. I worry that the state is shifting too far to the Tea Party side and we are next inline for the Kansas treatment though.

 

I think the Nebraska Unicameral will keep Ricketts in check. Seeing really positive signs out of them so far, including a State Sen who switched from Republican to Libertarian after Ricketts demanded the Unicameral vote in lock-step with the Republican Party.

[teachercd]

Kansas makes Nebraska look modern

[AFhusker]

Kansas makes Nebraska look modern

After living in both states I second this notion. I can't stand to be in that state for more than 2-3 days.

[zoogs]

States are the laboratories of democracy for the nation. In that vein, Messrs. Brownback, Jindal, et. al. have been running a grand GOP experiment.

[huKSer]

A local state senator - Steve Fitzgerald said this about the transgender bathroom issue:

 

"Insanity is a detachment from reality. You don't address insanity by entertaining it and make-believing it is reality," he said. He was referring to transgender people having a high rate of suicide.

 

There is a town hall meeting on Monday. I'm going to ask if he still believes that the Kansas state budget plan will suceed. When he says yes, I will read his quote and ask when he is going to resign due to insanity.

 

I was going to run for state representative, but that would have hurt the children I have in class in the spring. I also don't have the termperment for stupid. I saw one of these bozos at the store and blew up at him out of frustration. Can't stand stupid.