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Rainbow Friends
“dawg, having to WORK to keep my job?? what’s THAT about” D=
Unfortunately, I’ve worked with many people who had that attitude. :/
Robin, you’re a first-term Representative. Your office isn’t a given until at least one of these conditions is met:
– You’ve spent a decade or more in office making yourself useful to your party so you become “too important to lose” to them, and you get the national party’s unwavering support regardless of how your constituents feel
– Your district is gerrymandered to the point where it plays connect-the-dots with the people who consistently vote for you
– You’re a legacy admission with a famous surname in politics
That’s not how gerrymandering works. Gerrymandering is about playing connect-the-dots with the people who consistently vote against you in order to collect them all into very few districts while collecting the rest into groups that barely but reliably vote for you. The connect-the-dots games are for clustering your enemies in order to make their votes half as effective as the ones of your supporters.
You’re talking about how gerrymandering works on a macro level, how districts are drawn, but Needful is talking about how it looks *inside* a reliably-gerrymandered district.
David’s more right than not. Gerrymandered districts are generally drawn to get more seats rather than to make seats more secure. This means the seats of the party doing the gerrymandering are usually more at risk than those of the other party.
We are a very geographically divided country, mostly on rural/urban lines. Without gerrymandering many districts would be even more secure.
It’s both. In Massachusett 16 years ago the most powerful politician was brought down because he gerrymandered districts that did both of those- secured his own seat as his area changed dramatically from white-Irish poor to black poor moving the bulk of the population across the city line from the suburban white voters who paid his campaigns and other things… He tried to hide this irregularity and outright lie by creating several districts that were minority-majority districts but were still able to be headed by the same current representatives due to the lines being feet from their homes.
He went to federal prison, but most of the districts remained and the odd shapes were made ridiculous a few years afterward when the people they were designed to protect ended up resigning to take better jobs elsewhere
Why in gods name do you allow your politicians to do that anyway? Why don’t you have an independent bureau for that to prevent gerrymandering?
Unfortunately, the foresight to have such an independent bureau was not had when the details of how voting would be handled was decided. We’re now stuck begging scraps of morals from the morally poor, as the only ones that can raise and legitimize such a bureau would be the very politicians that are abusing the gerrymandering and their ilk.
The US loves to spout ideals of “power to the people”, but the reality is that the people only have power unless enough politicians disagree with the people. The politicians we’ve voted into the various offices are our representatives, and essentially decide how we get to feel about things. Not literally, of course, but our power as the people is GIVEN to them. That’s what it means to have a representative. The representatives are meant to work toward the collective will of their constituents, but that’s rarely what happens.
The people of the US know there’s a gerrymandering problem, but the power to do anything about it has been given to those representatives in office who are least likely to do anything about it due to how they benefit. Our choices, as the people, are simple: let it slide or start a civil war. And pretty much no one wants a civil war, so we’re stuck letting it slide.
Though to be fair, some states have established such bureaus and other policies. To the best of my knowledge, all such have been established under Democratic control.
There are states where Democrats still abuse gerrymandering, but it’s currently a far more effective tool for Republicans.
That, alongside lobbying being allowed, is why it’s important to be politically active in the US aside from just voting.
Have you ever SEEN how ‘independent’ those ‘independent’ bureaus are? come on, did you miss the nineties and Kenneth Starr? “independent” generally means “appointed to protect the party currently in power.”
Heck, the FBI is just the sword-and-shield of the Democratic Party after 2008, it’s supposed to be independent of party loyalty, but in practice, it isn’t, and neither are most of those ‘non-partisan’ offices. (Particularly the ones that also must rely on machine politics either due to being appointed at the start of each term, or having to run for office on a general ballot. they might not SAY “republican” or “democrat”, but they’re just as reliant on the urban political machines as any actual, honest Democrat or Republican to retain their office.) Anywhere there is actual power to be had, someone will engineer it to serve the sitting powers that be.
David, you’re being WAY too generous when you say “half.”
In Texas, Republican districts get SEVEN TIMES as many congressmen-per-thousand-voters as non-Republican districts.
on the contrary, it’s also done to keep certain politicians in office and prevent others from running again.
I’ve seen it done TWICE in adjacent districts. The two should have been districted together as the neighborhood that one lived in fell within the area that should have been in the neighboring representative’s district while that other representative should have been districted into a third district. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except the third district was that of the #2 in the house thus meant one of them had to go. So they changed the boundaries to make bulges while giving large tracts of empty space to each to make it look like the boundaries were close because of odd population centers. It’s a total load of BS but was accepted.
As a Texan, I can tell you *this*.
As a Californian I can *also* tell you *this*, but not to the degree of Texas.
Texas was originally a Democratic state until the democratic districts were all concentrated into a fewer group of districts so the Republican districts were able to overwhelm them.
It was so bad in Texas that there are still several districts that have to get approval from the Federal Government before their boundaries can be adjusted. This congressional oversight, as far as I know, has ONLY been exercised in Texas.
There are districts that spread out over wide areas and connected by little thin tendrils that actually follow the freeways. By doing this those districts have actually less representation in the government.
Beelzebub has a plethora of devils put aside for her.
That moment when Becky actually turns out to be good at her job.
Yup. She’s said it before that she doesn’t *want* Robin to win, but she is getting paid to do a job that she will do to the best of her ability. Well, kind of, anyway. I don’t think she was trying all that hard in the dorm hallway.
To be fair, if she can actually get Robin to completely flip her voting record and go full left, and if Robin sticks with that once steered that way, then there’s no reason she wouldn’t WANT Robin to win at that point.
Whether Robin will stick to it is the question.
At least it will be almost like having a genuine left-leaning Rep in office for a few weeks.
I think Robin will stick to it until more money comes her way for not doing so. She’s demonstrated having not so much a moral compass as a weather vane. She basically has no emotional investments in the results of her votes (or even in hardly any of her actual public statements).
Exactly. As long as playing by the orange demon rules keeps her with a job, she’ll play along. As soon as something better comes her way though…
Past a certain point though, there’s no turning back. The GOP base won’t easily forgive the rhetoric and leadership won’t forgive the votes or trust her again. Becky’s trapping her. Making her go back and actually vote these new principles is perfect.
Mind you, I think it also works against her winning reelection now. I don’t believe there’s a path for a Republican to beat an even vaguely viable Democrat by running against the base on pro-LGBTQ and leftist populism. She’s getting social media likes from it, but those aren’t necessarily votes. OTOH, it’s Robin and wacky hijinks are her path to victory.
I still think there’s going to be a major scandal around the opponent that basically kills his campaign and leaves Robin the only candidate. So neither side trusts her but the other guy is in jail so…
Possible, but then she would have won without Becky’s help
…Wait, which orange demon? It took me a while to realize you weren’t talking about the real-life one. That was a pretty confusing few seconds.
Well she’s still a registered republican at this point, so the party might have something to say about it.
This places Robin in the camp of people who see normal, well-adjusted people as literally the devil.
Her campmate.
Next step on the campaign trail.
There are a few questions.
Don’t question Becky’s process.
I stan
A livestream of putting together an Ikea bookshelf?
Hey, the bad jokes write themselves. “What’s the deal with these Allen wrenches?”
“I dunno, but I think I’m supposed to answer with a Chuck E Cheese joke.”
…. or is that Chuck @ Cheese?
Well, it certainly is NOT Chuck ヨ Cheese.
chuck ∈ cheese
chuck is in cheese
Chuck Σ Cheese
Chuck Ξ Cheese
As long as it’s not Chucky, cheers.
Hey it worked for AOC
I know, but the exact same thing? I am trying to figure out what fits Robin’s personality.
I mean, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all, but I just think something a bit different is called for.
Video game livestream.
Ooh, that does sounds like her.
I heard that there’s a group of people who’d vote for a candidate who can beat the Beaver Bother minigame in DK64
I will vote, no questions asked, for anyone who can complete DMC3 on Dante Must Die without getting hit.
How do you like my new campaign? I put it together myself, and I have all these pieces left!
Becky also buys Robin a wardrobe of flannel shirts. And a cat.
becky, the power behind the throne
the tyrion to her joffrey
oh thats just mean! robins more of a robb
Oh heavens no. Far more of a Renly (up to and including the bisexuality).
bold of you to assume i know more than three games of throne characters
joke’s on me it’s actually four
1. tyrion dinklage
2. johnny snowden
3. joffrey bongortheon
4. uhh… dangerous tangerine
that’s it that’s all the throne gamers
Boromir. You forgot Boromir.
rip in peace, seam beam
There’s also Don Juan Winter whose activities keep being mentioned occasionally throughout the series.
Yeah, but Dangerous Tangerine died in the first book…
I thought dangerous tangerine was the POTUS? That’s non-fiction, regardless of how much I’d wish otherwise.
Dangerous Tangerine aka The Mandarin, a nefarious double agent whose perfidy is exceeded only by his stupidity.
It could also relate to the Un-Funny Face powdered drink mixes. (another of the flavors is Gooper Grape)
Ok, that first paragraph doesn’t really exclude Trump, soooo…
Huh, maybe this won’t be a trainwreck. I’m still expecting some form of catastrophe but maybe a smaller one. Carwreck maybe? Dirtbike collision?
That just means the trainwreck will be later, but probably *much* worse.
A tricycle falling onto its’ side.
Looked for the classic Arte Johnson bit, but the only thing I could find was this homage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOLc3epArFM
It made me think of the Jay Sherman Student Film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xslyoK9uobE
Robin really played herself, if you think about it.
…. Considering how sheltered and catered a politician can be….
Yeah.
I’d watch it for a bit.
“watch robin bang her hand and spew profanities for three hours”
sounds like a fun stream
*Digs out a pencil and paper pad, gets ready to learn some new Earth English words, maybe a few other languages too…*
Robin, Ikea isn’t THAT bad.
…. livestreaming is, though.
Now now, Robin, if you keep protesting like that you’re only going to make Becky more powerful.
And she already seems to know exactly how to push you around, so…
So Becky is getting all three items on her list after all? Or is Robin not going to play along?
Robin will gladly go along with it until she’s elected.
Robin has to play along for now, she needs to appeal to voters to get elected, after that she can do whatever she wants until the next election.
Of course, but what she wants is to get elected, so if this works, why not?
When the hell did Becky get so good at this
Surge of determination after her earlier scene in the dorm hall? Having Roz challenge her and then Dorothy support her could’ve done some things.
OMG Willis please for my birthday I would love love love an animation of this Livestream I know animation is nontrivial so I’m not optimistic but like… Putting it out there anyway
He did some animation when he was still in art school but I don’t know if that skill is still in his toolset. You could commission another fan to animate the scene though – I’d certainly love to see it in
I would love to see this on the 18th anniversary of my murder 2019-08-31.
I mean…pledge a couple thousand or so to the next kickstarter and it might happen.
Last I heard, the going rate is something like $10k for each minute of animation, if you want anything in the decent-to-good range.
Tightened our belts
Abused ourselves
Get in our way, we’ll put you on your shelf!–Ratt “Round & Round”
Anyone else suspect someone at Becky’s old church has in fact called her Satan and Beelzebub?
Given that they’re currently trying to raise money to make bail for Toedad, I’m pretty sure that they’re currently calling her that.
Hey, nobody forced him to hunt his daughter across campus like a deer.
Nah, Becky totally did, by spitting in God’s face.
Not to her face. I definitely agree with Tacos
Nope. That would give a female power. She’s at best a Jezebel, but she’s only going to be a Tool of Satan and Bride of Beelzebub, because even in Hell, Men have to be in Charge.
An Ikea bookshelf? Yeah good luck assembling one. How many leftover parts do y’all think there’d be?
Your comment reminds me of an episode of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” where Sara and Ava have to assemble an IKEA armoire in order to get free of Limbo. Sara refuses to try to figure out how to decipher the instructions (too impatient), and there’s a bunch of leftover parts when she finishes.
Exactly 5 screws
Huh. I just went to Ikea monday and bought a new bed. Didn’t have any major problems assembling it, no more than the usual amount of profanity.
I had 3 leftover pieces, but they were all ones of which there were a crapload to begin with.
Are you including the bits used to attach the bookshelf to the wall that no one ever actually uses?
Is Becky just doing this because she wants an Ikea bookshelf, though? “Okay, next you have to live-tweet moving a new couch up a flight of stairs.”
Have you been watching Star vs. The Forces of Evil? Because they did that in one of their last episodes.
Omg I just finished watching that.
I’m a little disturbed by the ending (…ok not just the ending) but that show has so. much. awesome. 
Nothing like stopping the series right before the mass hysteria and mass murder begins in order to pretend that your ending is happy because two teenagers get to date!
Ad did OddSquad
Interesting… So, Becky will use Robin to help her furnish her apartment under the pretext of doing this for the campaign?
Ikea? Becky, that might violate the Geneva Convention.
Granted, I almost guarantee Robin doesn’t know what that is.
Too soon, then? Because I give it one and a half more years, tops, till the US backs out of the Geneva Convention, juussssssst in time for Trump’s re-election war.
Can’t wait to get out of this country. I bet New Zealand doesn’t have this sort of shit.
I’m betting on Canada, but if the US DOES go for the Fourth Reich I also bet they’ll invade north rather quickly.
Nah, we’re stuck with Scheer, a homophobic, racist asshole who’s so up the oil industry’s ass we’re never going to get a decent climate plan from him. Trudeau’s a spineless centrist asshole too. NDP has a shot, but I would give us a bit to sort some shit out before you rely on us to be a safe haven from Agent Orange down in the states.
I mean, there’s always the moose cavalry and the ursine heavies, right?
Fair point.
Excuse me, I’m gonna go scream into my pillow for a bit.
Silly Robin, Lucy’s not even in this strip!
Hm. . . . Becky is actually not doing a bad job at this. So long as Robin follows through with what she is putting forth then she might actually win the next election.
So go team Becky?
OTOH, she might not. Even if she picks up a bunch of new voters, she may lose her base (the people who put her there in the first place). If her base can’t bring themselves to vote for her opponent, they may decide not to vote at all.
I mean, similar situations have happened IRL, so it’s possible. Then Robin loses the election, decides to attend university, and engages in hijinks with the rest of the DoA cast.
She is still not likely to win because even if she pulls in some voters, her opponent is so far ahead of her that Dorothy said the deficit was insurmountable. And her only staff are Becky and Lamp. And quite frankly, Lamp has been slacking off.
Which means that Becky gets some actual good votes out of her and then she loses. Those are the two things Becky wants.
This is a good plan.
Well it’s a good plan until Robin wins. How would Robin win? She would get the sympathy vote. Why would Robin get the sympathy vote? She gets shot on live TV. How/why would she get shot? Robin gets in the way when Toe-Dad tries to kidnap Becky at gunpoint. How would he kidnap Becky when he’s safely behind bars. Oh. Well. I guess we’re safe then. It’s not like anyone would try to get him out.
Robin getting shot would also take her out of the comic for a long time, though – even gunshot wounds that end up being nonlethal often result in extended hospital stays…and it’s not unknown for us to take months to get through a single in-comic day, barring timeskips. It’s why no one except Toedad himself got seriously injured the last time, despite there being numerous opportunities all around.
Nah, she just shows up with her arm in a sling.
Wacky hijinks and authorial fiat can overcome anything. You can’t really blame a victory like that on Becky’s planning.
Is Becky being a competent politician? What is happening?
Okay, but how is she so good at this? These skills speak of either experience or a lot of thought, and I hadn’t pegged Becky for a thought-ish person.
Becky is more clever than you give her credit for. She can be cunning when it suits her.
It turns out that this was her hidden True Aptitude.
She spent almost her entire life in a fundie community with an (abusive?) controlling father. She’s got plenty of experience manipulating and deflecting and hiding her true self. The wacky upbeat persona is her armor. “No one like a Debbie Downer.”
It’s easy to forget, since even the audience only gets occasional glimpses beneath it.
Between Becky’s hair and Robin’s shirt, awful lot of orange in this strip. Halloween approaches!
I like how Becky’s accent didn’t come out until she had to be firm with Robin. Nice touch.
So the boring but effective approach would be to forget a camera is there and quietly read the instructions, then assemble the bookshelf through study and trial and error.
But that makes for bad TV.
I’m pretty sure Becky is expecting a ‘lovably inept’ scenario where Robin fails pretty badly but her cheerful stream-of-consciousness babble will endear her to the majority as ‘one of us’.
“She doesn’t pretend to be perfect!” “She has the same experiences as us!” Opinions like this are voting gold!
Not a bas strategy. Robin is great at lovably inept.. as long as you don’t have to deal with the mop up
But that’s not Robin’s approach, even if she does forget the camera is there.
Ok… I have to agree with her on the bookshelf one. That’s a great way to not get elected right there. Lose your shit while trying to work with an infuriating design.
I wonder if Becky and the teens running Mike Gravel’s 2020 campaign could interact.
Wishful thinking aside, Becky when did this become natural for you?
As smart as Becky is, I think this is in part a credit to the quality of Dorothy’s advice
$5 (Becky’s got cash now, we don’t have to trade in Arby’s packets [though frankly they’re worth their weight in at least silver]) says Becky got Dorothy’s phone number at some point and got some help.
Hopefully Becky will be about as successful.
Hope she gets that loopsided demon thing in writing. That could help her with salary negotiations with Galasso
*looks at comment section*
….Am I the weirdo for liking Ikea furniture and appliances? I think I’m the weirdo. Let’s see, I’m not Swedish so me being weird must be the answer!!
I like them too
and I always thought the instructions were really clear. Then again, I also find Haskell intuitive.
I was about to post something to the same effect. Is the American Ikea that bad or did non of them have Lego when growing up?
If they can’t or don’t want to follow instructions it is all their own fault they have trouble with it.
IKEA is awesome and assembling furniture is the best way of celebrating national pride
IKEA is awesome. We don’t need no stinkin instructions. Haskell is the work of the Devil.
I like Ikea, but Robin isn’t even close to functional so her assembling furniture would be a total cluster.
So she must learn that Haskell then!
I don’t understand the aversion to putting together Ikea products. The instructions are clear-cut and for some of the products, not even necessary.
A lot of people don’t like to read the directions.
I don’t need no instructions to know how to
rockassemble an armoire!Do you work out of the home, by any chance?
:/
It’s not even really reading! They’re pictures!
Seriously? I thought the instructions were in another language – that’s the stereotype I keep seeing in ikea parodies.
My furniture shopping knowledge is pre-assembled furniture, so I have no idea what Ikea instructions are like. Damn you tv. You lied to me.
If I recall correctly, IKEA assembly instructions are specifically entirely done through pictures without using words in any language, specifically to avoid the issue of language barriers.
The instructions are literally illustrations. As in, there is NO text, only illustrations of the various parts, and arrows on how they fit together. Sometimes there are numbers used to identify parts (if say there are two kinds of screws, and one is shorter than the other). Ngl I’ve had trouble putting things together sometimes – every time it was because I didn’t look at the picture properly.
I’ve never put together anything from Ikea, but in my experience most assembly instructions are annoyingly unclear and confusing for no good reason.
Robin has a strong aversion to anything that is even distantly related to work.
Of course, that’s why Robin just blindly voted party line – It was easy and meant that she could enjoy the perks without the responsibilities. However, that isn’t possible any longer, so now she has to decide whether she has it in her to be a representative for real!
…Becky is way too smart NOT to be getting scholoships
I’m sort of waiting for Robin’s poll numbers to have a spike. No matter of brief it is, I’m pretty sure that Dorothy will start having another identity crisis over whether she has the first clue on how to achieve her personal life ambitions!
That’s easy: hire Becky as campaign organizer, and the rest will fall into place. Dorothy’s biggest RA campaign problem was messaging.
Ha ha ha. IKEA bookshelf. Because Robin’s new demographic is lesbians!
Expecting members of Congress to actually do their jobs? Madness!
Yeah, Becky, you tell her!
literal?
i thought it said liberal at first :/
Wow, Becky is really good at her job…
I find it hilarious that it can be perfectly logical for a politician to think doing their job properly would make it more likely for them to be fired.
Taking a position (by voting) is enormously risky as it creates a firm impression of who you are in the eyes of both voters and the party hierarchy. Neither of these are useful to the ambitious who want the freedom to morph into whatever shape and wing that they think will enhance their personal brand without leaving any real ‘footprint’ of who they used to be.
Which is one big reason our cowardly congresscritters have ceded so much power to the executive branch. And, boy, hasn’t that been working great this century?
Malcolm Tucker without the sweating.
Please, let me introduce the devil himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVoPdnZzKbM
Being compared to Satan is good, because Satan’s bargains are known for being able to get you want, if you pay the price.
Becky is being savvy now too. It’s possible de Santo is just setting up Becky to be a disposable scapegoat. But now Becky could say “hey I did the work, set her up to go to DC and vote, she chose not to.” Of course, if Robin does all the things and votes how Becky days, it could alienate ultra conservatives while failing to bring in more moderates. That she could blame on Becky I suppose, but really blaming herself for alienating all other campaign managers to the point where hiring some unknown kid seemed like her strongest play.
I envy the DoA universe for having a orange demon which is just a homeless lesbian campaign manager. Took me a minute to remind of the one in this universe. Yay escapism!
If she wins and stays the new course, Becky basically has to change parties after the election.
When I first read this, I thought Robin was calling Becky “Liberal Beelzebub” — which also works.
Oh no! What if it works and she actually gets elected? And then does a good job while in office thanks to Becky? That would just be the . . .
Hmm . . .
No Becky, not IKEA bookstores! They are perfect for show actions figures, but if you use them for books absolutley not! The boards will soon folded, the blocks will easily broken. They just aren’t made for stand the weight. But if assemble one of that can show how Robin is intelligence and calm…….
It’s fine, Robin doesn’t actually read anyway. The shelves will probably have Steven Universe and other cartoons on it.
Since when does the electorate actually care how their representatives actually vote? Or is only the British that vote based on the headlines about speeches that bear no resemblance to the member’s voting record…
She’s harsh, but fair
Honestly would not surprise me if Robin somehow ended up setting fire to the IKEA furniture…. and then ended up being elected because she was, as the kids say, “mood.”
She’s going for all 3/3! Clever girl!
Y’know… I’ve got a feeling that, one day, people will be talking about “Dr Becky McIntyre, PhD (palaeo), White House Chief of Staff”. At that time, I wonder if certain self-righteous people will be regretting the impulse that meant that bio would not continue: “Alumni of Anderson University”?
I work in higher education, and I feel like Anderson would claim her anyways. “She went to Anderson for a semester!” until someone brings up the whole lesbian thing and suddenly they don’t want to talk about it anymore. Then again, I’ve never worked for a fundie school (is Anderson a fundie school? Is it a real school?), so maybe they’d be too afraid of the blowback from there being a lesbian in their alumni base, but when it was convenient, they’d claim her.
“Getting claimed when it’s convenient” is pretty much the LGBT+ history in most (optimistically?) of the world, so yeah, that’s totally expected.
A single semester at Anderson was enough to propell her into the White House. Just think about what it could do for you
Anderson is church of god. Their course descriptions say they teach evolution, though I dunno how well.
Anderson is a real school. It’s apparently pretty well regarded for a religious school.
Huh… Becky’s pretty good at this. She’s got it more in hand than I think we thought.
Having had the job Becky is doing, she’s amazing at it. All the stuff she’s talking about takes a ton of work, and takes a huge learning curve, to set in motion. Especially for someone that young and with so little experience in the world. Best little lopsided orange demon ever.
Oh no, Becky is pretty good, she might just ruin her chances at failing this job.
Glad to see Becky fulfilling the duty she took on, while also using that power to steer Robin down a path that makes Robin walk the walk.
Panel 4… Becky… Uh… Becky, would you mind ruling the world? Please?
Screw the natural sciences Becky, you’d be a natural at Poli-Sci!
Really? No one referenced Ryan Reynold’s slow descent into alcoholism that was his attempt to assemble a baby crib from Ikea? I’m disappointed in you internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wXjs6DXoeY