Master Index of Archived Threads


Politics 2022

batmagadanleadoff Jan 03 2022 12:15 PM

I'm so happy about this development because I can't tell you how much I despise this emotionally damaged idiot scumbag and his scumbag sister, the count fraud who never made a public utterance that doesn't regard the entire public as a bunch of gullible fucking idiots who'd believe anything. Of course, the Republican party is so off the wall despicable these days that these two rank as about 600 and 601 on the list of indecents in politics. Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump subpoenaed in New York probe https://www.aol.com/news/1-donald-trump-jr-ivanka-165029964-172338891.html

batmagadanleadoff Jan 03 2022 01:18 PM Re: Politics 2022

This is like shooting fish in a barrel because our Electoral College, based on equal representation in the Senate, which in turn causes a domino effect of problems, is so fucked up that you can find articles like this one every single day. The Republican Party Is Succeeding Because We Are Not a True Democracy Excerpt: The arcane scheme that Mr. Trump's lawyers hatched to disrupt congressional certification of the vote and perhaps persuade Republican state legislatures to overturn Joe Biden's victory in states like Pennsylvania was conceivable only because the Electoral College splinters presidential elections into separate contests in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and skews the totals toward small states. In a simple system of majority rule, Mr. Biden's thumping margin of more than seven million votes would have been the last word. For that matter, so would Hillary Clinton's national margin of nearly three million votes in 2016: Mr. Trump would not have had a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address in which to barricade himself in 2020. [***] At a more basic level, today's Republican Party succeeds only because the Electoral College, the Senate and the Supreme Court all tilt in its favor. That system has handed conservatives a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, despite the fact that only one Republican has won the presidential popular vote after 1988. A party doesn't have to persuade majorities that it has the best vision for the country. It only has to persuade a selective minority that the other side is a mortal threat. Its grasp on power may be too tenuous for the party to govern effectively, but it has offered conservatives a fine perch to weaken economic and environmental regulation, appoint conservative judges and launch attacks on the democratic system itself. In a more democratic system, the Republican Party's extreme elements would have been sent packing long before they stormed the Capitol because they couldn't muster enough votes to win a national election. Instead, they have perfected minority rule as a path to political success. An antidemocratic system has bred an antidemocratic party. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/opinion/us-democracy-constitution.html

TransMonk Jan 06 2022 07:48 AM Re: Politics 2022

Good speech by Biden this morning on the anniversary of Insurrection Day, Trump and The Big Lie. I would have preferred he made it a year ago. If not then, I'd rather he have made it during prime time and not at 9AM.

Lefty Specialist Jan 06 2022 12:53 PM Re: Politics 2022

=TransMonk post_id=84168 time=1641480484 user_id=71] Good speech by Biden this morning on the anniversary of Insurrection Day, Trump and The Big Lie. I would have preferred he made it a year ago. If not then, I'd rather he have made it during prime time and not at 9AM.

Yes, it was a good speech and it'll stick in Trump's craw, which was at least part of the intent. He finally took the gloves off and it was good.



He couldn't have made it a year ago or even six months ago. Doing it now, on the anniversary, was the right timing. And tying it to voting rights was important as well.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 13 2022 12:29 PM Re: Politics 2022

Biden Fully Enters the Battle to Save Democracy … When It's Nearly Over https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/opinion/biden-filibuster-voting-rights.html I didn't even bother to read this piece. The title says it all for me.

Willets Point Jan 13 2022 01:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

Better late than never?

batmagadanleadoff Jan 13 2022 01:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

Sinema reiterates opposition to eliminating filibuster, probably dooming Democrats' voting rights push https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-set-to-visit-senate-democrats-in-a-final-improbable-pitch-for-voting-rights-action/2022/01/13/fde533b6-7475-11ec-8b0a-bcfab800c430_story.html Just as well. The bill was probably doomed even if it passed. I doubt it would survive any kind of scrutiny from the now wingnut dominated Federal Judiciary. The courts would make mincemeat out of the proposed voting rights bill. The Dems simply need more US senators. But will they ever win another crucial election in a GOP controlled state what with the anti-Democratic voting laws those states are passing? Talk about a catch-22. The Dems need voting rights protection to get more Senators. But they need more Senators to get the voting rights protections they'd need to get more Senators. I guess we'll have to wait for the GOP and the courts to overplay their hands to such a degree to finally wake up the timid and sleepwalking Dems to the point where they finally start blowing shit up. What's that gonna take? National criminalization of abortions? A stolen presidential election? A religious ban on masturbating? What?

Edgy MD Jan 13 2022 01:29 PM Re: Politics 2022

The Republican National Committee has informed the Commission on Presidential Debates that they intend to amend the rules of the party to require Republican nominees for president to skip any debates sponsored by the CPD. Maybe that snippet belongs in the Republicans thread.

Willets Point Jan 13 2022 04:36 PM Re: Politics 2022

I guess it's Sinema's turn to be the rotating villain.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 14 2022 12:21 PM Re: Politics 2022

Here's a sample of what this Supreme Court has been doing all along - making shit up, not even trying to conceal their idealogical partisan hackery --- gaslighting the nation: The Supreme Court's Vaccine Mandate Decision Was an Opening Shot Against Regulating Anything I miss the days when the Supreme Court had an element of suspense and mystery to it. There would be the oral arguments and then six months of silence until Decision Day, when there occasionally would be a surprise twist ending to our Very Special Episode. As should be obvious to everyone who paid attention during the oral arguments over the president's vaccine mandates, Thursday's predictably idiotic decision was a foregone conclusion based on predictably insulting assaults on reason and common sense from the carefully constructed conservative majority. Step aside from the cheap irony of a Supreme Court with strict COVID precautions in place ruling that public health is not a workplace issue. Step aside from the cheap irony of the winning side's having been represented by lawyers who appeared virtually because they were carriers. Step aside even from Justice Neil Gorsuch's sitting maskless next to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is a diabetic. This was more than an attack on the public health. This was the opening shot against the whole idea of a federal regulatory interest in practically everything. Look, for example, at this tattered rag of an argument that is central to the majority's opinion. The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating “work-related dangers.” Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVID–19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVID– 19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. This is an open-ended invitation to deny OSHA's authority to regulate anything. Killed when an unregulated fertilizer plant exploded? Well, your car could have blown up on the way home. And the idea that OSHA is empowered only to regulate against threats that existed at the time of its creation—which, essentially, is what the majority apparently believes—is so spectacularly crazy that it might distract you from these amazing goddamn sentences. But a vaccine mandate is strikingly unlike the workplace regulations that OSHA has typically imposed. A vaccination, after all, “cannot be undone at the end of the workday.” That's the point, you hacks. That's the motherfcking point. That's why you have as many restrictions as you do in your own workplace. Do these obvious space aliens believe that, once an employee leaves the workplace, the employee will turn into a two-headed zombie monster? Wait, don't answer that. You will note that the majority opinion is unsigned. Perhaps the second-graders who actually wrote this mess are still unclear as to how to spell their last names. As for the actual justices who declined to attach their names? Well, you get what you pay for. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a38768714/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-decision/ I wonder if Susan Sarandon would vote for Jill Stein if she could do it all over again?

Willets Point Jan 14 2022 12:28 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yes, it was terrible how Susan Sarandon's vote tipped all of New York's electoral votes to Trump. I agree with you on like 98% things politically but you really discredit yourself when you use these bullshit Establishment Democrat talking points.

Willets Point Jan 14 2022 12:33 PM Re: Politics 2022

People who might've done things differently in my book, include: -Obama - Actually fighting for his Supreme Court pick and not smugly assuming Clinton was a shoe-in -Clinton - Actually campaigning to win the votes of leftists/Sanders supporters instead of deliberately alienating them so that they stayed home. Also, actually fighting to keep THREE states that had been solid blue for a generation. And maybe actually having some shame about losing to a 2-bit snake oil salesman - RBG - Retiring from the Supreme Court during the Obama presidency because she was fucking too old

batmagadanleadoff Jan 14 2022 12:34 PM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: Yes, it was terrible how Susan Sarandon's vote tipped all of New York's electoral votes to Trump. I agree with you on like 98% things politically but you really discredit yourself when you use these bullshit Establishment Democrat talking points. Like Sarandon? She campaigned for Jill Stein and against HRC intensely. She's an influencer, with national appeal.

Willets Point Jan 14 2022 12:37 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yes, Sarandon tipping the scales against Clinton is the bullshit talking point that I was referring to.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 14 2022 12:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: People who might've done things differently in my book, include: How about making the courts, and especially SCOTUS even a teeny tiny part of the campaign? The court is everything. It ultimately decides everything, has the last word, and answers to nobody. It can do whatever the fuck it wants to do. If it wanted to, SCOTUS could reinstate slavery. But in 2016, odds were that the average Dem voter probably couldn't even name more than a single SCOTUS justice. The party really is inept.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 18 2022 03:52 PM Re: Politics 2022

Trump must be destroyed. The Elite Political Press Is Incapable of Looking the Monster in the Eye The conservative movement is full of rage and ominous potential, with the former president as its figurehead. [***] But last weekend, a disturbing pattern emerged among the various gobshites that does not bode well for the crisis that presently exists in our democratic republic. Call it the Church of the Savvy. Call it the Both Sides Conundrum. Whatever you call it, this illustrates the fact that, among our elite political press, there is a disinclination towards—or, more accurately, an abject terror of—looking the monster in the eye and calling it by its correct name. The elite political press is not wired for that. It is something beyond its comprehension. The monster is the Republican Party, and the modern conservative movement that is its animating force. If the Republicans are Medusa, the modern conservative movement is her headful of snakes. It is bound and determined to destroy the current constitutional order and replace it with an autocratic plutocracy, because that is its only clear mission now. It is a party bereft of ideas and driven by a movement that has as its only fuel a reckless, poisonous nihilism. It is a beast to which the Republican Party gave life, and which the institutions of American society and American politics abetted out of denial and fear, leaving the monster to cry out now, in the words of Frankenstein's Creature: Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred. Elsewhere in the book, the Creature warns that, "I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other." A while back, instead of looking the monster in the eye and calling it by name, the New York Times went out on another one of its Trump voter safaris and, unsurprisingly, it discovered yet another group of people who feel unloved and, therefore, will indulge their rage without regard for the rest of us. Ms. Neff, who owns a hardware store adorned with images of Mr. Trump as Rambo and the Terminator, was in Washington on Jan. 6 to support the former president — but refused to go into further detail. Citing false evidence, she called the coronavirus vaccine a “poison” and said she worried that Democrats were planning extermination camps of Mr. Trump's supporters. Karen Williams, a Bath County resident who manages vacation rentals, said she resented the current Virginia governor, Ralph Northam, a Democrat, for keeping schools shut down during the pandemic, embracing progressive policies focused on race and removing Confederate statues and monuments. She called this an example of critical race theory, a graduate-level academic framework that has become shorthand for a contentious debate on how to teach race and racism in schools. Confronted by the monster's indulging in its rage, which it builds within itself by repeatedly declaring itself unloved, much of the elite political press hides behind politesse for which the monster has no respect anyway. Chuck Todd tweeted out a lament that the president hasn't been able to cobble together a coalition with Republicans to pass voting-rights legislation, instead of noting that voting rights have no constituency within the Republican Party anymore. The monster has devoured it. Or the elite political press chose to dance among the gargoyles. The Times columnist Maureen Dowd, now a grotesque of journalism, actually made an issue out of the current president's going home to Delaware, where he often goes to Mass and visits the graves of his wife and children. But the real problem is the president himself .... [***] And if that indecency doesn't work, one can always try to appease the monster, an exercise of which this CNN report is the beau ideal. A lot has changed in the year since Trump left Washington. Though his presidency ended in disgrace, his endorsement remains one of the most coveted prizes in Republican primaries. [***] The former president is the face of the monster. He is its avatar. He is its ominous potential. He is a threat sui generis to the constitutional order. He needs to be stopped. He needs to be rendered irrelevant. He needs to be disarmed, defanged, and destroyed as a political force. So far, I don't see any of us as being up to the job. Love denied has become rage indulged, and the monster is now all unappeased appetite. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a38807280/trump-movement-elite-political-press/

MFS62 Jan 23 2022 08:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

Didn't Ukraine used to be referred to as "The Ukraine"? When did they drop the "The", when it broke off from the USSR and became their own country? Or is that a very European thing to do? I heard someone from Finland say "I've never been to UK before". English language mavens, what say you? Later

Willets Point Jan 23 2022 09:01 AM Re: Politics 2022

Your first supposition is correct. The Soviets called it "THE Ukraine" as a way of making it sound just like a region of the larger USSR (like we might say "The Midwest"). After independence, Ukrainians want it called just Ukraine to assert that it's a nation.

MFS62 Jan 23 2022 09:35 AM Re: Politics 2022

Thanks. Later

dinosaur jesus Jan 23 2022 10:04 AM Re: Politics 2022

What I've never understood is how the Soviets could call it THE Ukraine when there's no definite article in Russian. How do you say "the" when there's no word for "the"?

Frayed Knot Jan 23 2022 10:24 AM Re: Politics 2022

Northern Ireland vs the north of Ireland has a similar P.O.V. difference.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 23 2022 11:06 AM Re: Politics 2022

Does the same apply to "the Bronx"?

Willets Point Jan 23 2022 11:06 AM Re: Politics 2022

dinosaur jesus wrote: What I've never understood is how the Soviets could call it THE Ukraine when there's no definite article in Russian. How do you say "the" when there's no word for "the"? Interesting. There's probably more to it than I understood.

Willets Point Jan 23 2022 11:09 AM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Does the same apply to "the Bronx"? That has something to do with the borough being named after the Bronx River, which was itself named after Dutch colonist Jonas Bronck, but all the explanations for that have never fully made sense to me. I mean, people call the river "The Mississippi" but the state is just "Mississippi," so why wouldn't it be the same for the Bronx?

Benjamin Grimm Jan 23 2022 11:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

I think it's because people who went to visit the Bronck family would say that they were going to the Bronck's. At least, that's the story I've heard.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 23 2022 02:44 PM Re: Politics 2022

Why the filibuster is doomed, despite Manchin and Sinema's stances. The Filibuster Is Still Doomed The question is who will benefit most when it finally falls. Excerpt: Yet as Manchin also acknowledged, his arguments in favor of the filibuster have failed to persuade. Forty-eight of his Democratic colleagues—including many who supported the 60-vote threshold in the past—decided that voting rights were more important than the filibuster. So did past presidents. So did the current president. So did Stevie Wonder. So did Oprah. In other words, although the most recent attempt to thwart the filibuster did not succeed, neither did the most recent attempt to defend it for future generations. The filibuster now has three paths forward—and all of them end, one way or another, in its demise. The first and most obvious possibility is that Democrats will one day win a Senate majority that doesn't depend on Manchin and Sinema. Because so many states are bright red, and because so many state-level anti-voting laws are now likely to go unchecked, there's no guarantee that such a majority will materialize soon, but at some point one may. Ninety-six percent of sitting Democratic senators have already voted to change the rules. Unless Republicans can maintain power indefinitely, the days of the Senate's 60-vote threshold are numbered. The second way the filibuster could fall is far worse for Democrats: Republicans could regain full control of Washington and decide that the 60-vote threshold has outlived its usefulness. The last time the GOP held the House, White House, and Senate, in 2017, Republicans ignored President Donald Trump's repeated calls to end the legislative filibuster. But if they regain control of Washington in 2024, the situation will be very different. Any newly elected Republican senators will belong to a party in which fealty to Trump—a filibuster opponent—is the most important plank. And even their long-serving colleagues may decide that, in a body governed mostly by precedent, Democrats have set a new one. Mitch McConnell or his successor can point to dozens of recent statements and speeches by their colleagues across the aisle arguing that the filibuster either should be ended entirely or ignored when a sufficiently crucial bill demands it. This is especially true if Trump, or a Trumplike president, wants to rig elections nationwide. The overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats are now on the record articulating a principle: Protecting voting is an important enough priority that it is worth going around the filibuster in order to advance it. The same principle, repurposed under Donald Trump's misleading definition of “election integrity,” could be used by Republicans to justify nationwide anti-voting laws as well. (Such arguments would be, of course, in bad faith. But that won't prevent anyone from making them.) Then there's a third possibility: Someday we look back on this moment and realize that the filibuster that Manchin and Sinema were extolling, the guardrail against tyranny of the majority, was already dead—at least to Republicans. After all, during the Trump era, Republicans didn't just pass massive upper-income tax cuts via budget reconciliation, which requires a simple majority vote. They also ended the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmations, installing the most conservative high-court majority in generations. That Court is now poised to accomplish a wish list of Republican legislative priorities—overturning Roe v. Wade, expanding gun rights, and hamstringing the government's ability to issue regulations, among others—without having to find 60 votes for a single piece of legislation. If Republicans regain the Senate, Democrats can filibuster conservative legislation. But that won't matter much if filibuster-proof judges issue conservative rulings that have essentially the same effect. The full impact of the Court's rightward turn has yet to be felt, but it's possible that, thanks to these judges, the Senate's rules are less a wall than a valve, facilitating conservative policies while blocking progressive ones. A real campaign to defend the filibuster would include restoring the 60-vote threshold for confirmations, and to her credit Sinema has suggested that she would be in favor of doing just that. But so far, just as she has failed to persuade many Democrats to join her in preserving the current 60-vote threshold, she has failed to persuade many Republicans to join her in trying to strengthen it. Over the past year, reformers fought an uphill battle to convince senators that the chamber's rules should be changed. But over that same time period, two of those senators set out on a no-less-quixotic quest: convincing their skeptical colleagues that the Senate rules should remain unchanged. They came up short. The filibuster is doomed. The shame, and quite possibly the tragedy, is that Manchin and Sinema doomed voting rights along with it. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/filibuster-doomed-manchin-sinema/621328/

ashie62 Jan 23 2022 05:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Does the same apply to "the Bronx"? Or "The Ohio State"

batmagadanleadoff Jan 25 2022 12:34 PM Re: Politics 2022

All this sudden talk abut how the walls are closing in on Trump. Me, I think it's likelier that he'll be our next President than that he'll ever do so much as a single day of jail time. ‘The walls are closing in': Trump reels from week of political setbacks https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/22/the-walls-are-closing-in-trump-reels-from-week-of-political-setbacks Opinion: The legal walls are closing in around Trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/23/legal-walls-are-closing-around-trump/ The Walls Are Closing in Around Trump's Family in Fraud Investigation https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-jr-ivanka-subpoenaed-letitia-james-1277920/

Benjamin Grimm Jan 25 2022 12:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

I feel the same way. It's nice to read all this stuff about how Trump's days are numbered, but it would be much nicer if I believed it. I really hope that this is true this time, but I'm deeply skeptical.

TransMonk Jan 25 2022 12:59 PM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It's nice to read all this stuff about how Trump's days are numbered... I feel like they have been saying this since 2015.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 25 2022 02:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It's nice to read all this stuff about how Trump's days are numbered... I feel like they have been saying this since 2015. That's because they have. The eternally unfulfilled dream of Trump's opponents: This time, they've got him A bombshell landed late Tuesday evening, fired from Albany, N.Y.: a 42-page court filing offering evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James believes demonstrates rampant fraudulent activity at the Trump Organization. The result of months of investigation, it includes allegations of inflated real estate valuations and loops in not only former president Donald Trump but his children, as well. So there it is. The walls are crumbling. Trump's long-standing and widely reported actions will result in dire consequences — just as his opponents long foresaw. Until, that is, the Trump Organization's legal team pushes back and until the organization reaches a settlement agreement and until something else emerges as the new source of Trump's inevitable downfall. Few assessments of Donald Trump's tenure in politics have had the staying power of a joke put on Twitter by writer Jesse Farrar in early October 2016. Well, I'd like to see ol Donny Trump wriggle his way out of THIS jam! *Trump wriggles his way out of the jam easily* Ah! Well. Nevertheless, Farrar was writing at a moment when this pattern had already been demonstrated repeatedly. Trump insults the military service of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — I'd like to see him wriggle out of that! Turns out primary voters didn't really care. Ah. Well. Nevertheless. Trump decries immigrants as criminals. Trump shares an antisemitic meme. Trump disparages a Gold Star family. Trump promotes racist misinformation about crime. Lots of jams but, a few wriggles, and voilà! Again, all of those things occurred before Farrar's tweet. The pattern was established even then, by Oct. 1, 2016. Consider what happened less than a week later: The Washington Post published the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump described physically assaulting women. Trump didn't wriggle out of that one quite as easily, particularly once his mid-debate denial that he'd ever actually touched women inappropriately spurred several credible allegations that he'd done exactly that. But, eventually, he slipped the bindings of that jam and pressed on. Then, as always, he had help. Ol' Donny Trump's ability to wriggle out of jams has long depended heavily on the support of his allies and supporters — and, in some cases, attorneys. There is a massive ecosystem dedicated to helping Trump pry himself free from controversy, an ecosystem that is, by now, extremely well-versed in how to make that happen. It has been strained, as with the “Access Hollywood” tape or the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but no wriggle-proof jam has been identified yet. Perhaps you view this as fatalistic, a resignation that Trump lives a life free of the sorts of accountability that might plague other people. And perhaps you think that it is naive to assume that, just because the sun has risen in the east for the past few millennia, we might presume that it will rise in the east again tomorrow. Consider the extent of the pattern we're talking about here. You probably had forgotten the handful of pre-October 2016 examples I offered above, if you ever even heard about them. But there are so many more. Remember all of the presumptions that Trump's presidency would be hobbled by the investigation conducted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III? His impeachment for trying to pressure Ukraine to aid his reelection bid? The repeated rumblings about invoking the 25th Amendment to oust him from the White House? Those are just the moments that were purported to pose a threat to his tenure as president. There are, of course, myriad other comments and actions — his disparagement of countries in Africa and the Caribbean, his response to the violence in Charlottesville and the aftermath of the hurricane in Puerto Rico, to name three — where it was posited that Trump might finally see a collapse of his political strength. He didn't. Then there were the other legal fights. You heard a lot about Trump University during the 2016 campaign, his for-profit effort to sell people the secrets to becoming millionaires in real estate. Then, during the transition period before his inauguration, he settled the case. Wriggle; ah, well. There was the investigation, again spurred by The Post, into his charity, an organization that took in millions of dollars that were at times spent on political contributions or furnishings for his for-profit properties. It no longer exists, after legal action by the state of New York that resulted in a multimillion-dollar fine. Trump, though, seems to be doing okay. None of this is meant to excuse the things Trump has been accused of doing, much less the things he has obviously said and done. It is clear, for example, that he bears primary responsibility for the Capitol riot, having both repeatedly misled his supporters about the results of the 2020 election and then encouraged them to bring their resulting fury to Washington on that day. To say that it is unlikely that Trump will face significant consequences for that culpability is not to say he isn't culpable. It is, instead, to recognize that significant consequences are unlikely — and that insistences to the contrary demand a burden of proof they aren't often given. For example, processes are underway to evaluate what occurred at the Capitol both at the congressional and law enforcement levels. The Justice Department released indictments last week targeting members of the right-wing group Oath Keepers on charges of seditious conspiracy. But, as the Hill reported, prominent Democrats also think that the feds may go further: charging Trump himself for his role. It's … possible, certainly. It is, however, much easier to imagine such charges than to imagine what would happen should they come down. For the Biden administration, the considerations are far broader than simply whether the letter of the law was broken. This is not how justice would work in an ideal world, sure, but, then, in an ideal world, a violent mob wouldn't storm the country's seat of legislative power. Again, this isn't to say that Trump or others shouldn't face charges if the evidence strongly suggests that they violated the law, it is to say that it's worth recognizing that the bar for that to happen is far higher than might be presumed, particularly among those for whom implying that the bar isn't high is useful. This brings to mind another tweet from the early Trump era: British writer Louise Mensch's wild claim that then-Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon might face the death penalty on espionage charges. There was a market for these sorts of bonkers assertions about the heavy hand of justice (lowercase J) coming down on members of the Trump administration, and Mensch was a regular pusher. Bannon was eventually arrested for his role in an effort to vacuum up contributions to build a wall on the border with Mexico. And then Trump pardoned him. But you never know! Hope necessarily springs eternal. Maybe this jam, the one Letitia James just moved forward, will be the one, final, wriggle-proof jam. If not? Well, nevertheless, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/19/eternally-unfulfilled-dream-trumps-opponents-this-time-theyve-got-him/

Edgy MD Jan 26 2022 10:08 AM Re: Politics 2022

It's really the story in every sector from where I sit. An utter void of real leadership, a terror of accountability, and the only ones who want to accept authority are the truly malicious or the truly crazy. I fear that we'll still be getting reports about investigations of the coup reading, "We're following where the facts lead and we'll announce our conclusions at the appropriate time," well after the next coup has been attempted.

TransMonk Jan 26 2022 10:31 AM Re: Politics 2022

Supreme Court Justice Breyer has announced his retirement giving Biden a nominee to keep the court from getting more conservative. A 50/50 Senate means this will likely end up being more dramatic than it needs to be.

Chad ochoseis Jan 26 2022 11:03 AM Re: Politics 2022

Cue Joe Manchin insisting on at least one Republican vote before he assents. Cue lots of public handwringing by Susan Collins before she finally decides that whichever center-left nominee Biden selects is too divisive and she can't possibly vote for him or her.

Lefty Specialist Jan 26 2022 11:34 AM Re: Politics 2022

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the favorite. Already on the DC Circuit and 51. A black woman so that Biden can honor his pledge. 3 Republicans voted to confirm her to her current position. Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court is also in the mix. She's only 45, which I like. Maybe when Clarence Thomas chokes on one of his cigars she'll get a turn. Manchin, as always, can pound sand. I'm sure Republicans will whine about that she's too liberal, but c'mon. If they can replace RBG with Atilla the Hun, she can't be liberal enough.

Willets Point Jan 26 2022 11:42 AM Re: Politics 2022

Biden pledged to appoint a Black woman, so I say he should appoint Anita Hill.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 26 2022 11:45 AM Re: Politics 2022

They'll just have to keep a close eye on the Coke cans in the break room.

Fman99 Jan 26 2022 11:58 AM Re: Politics 2022

Supreme Court Justice Breyer has announced his retirement giving Biden a nominee to keep the court from getting more conservative. A 50/50 Senate means this will likely end up being more dramatic than it needs to be. 50/50 Senate in name only* I think you mean

nymr83 Jan 26 2022 02:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85080 time=1643139266 user_id=68] All this sudden talk abut how the walls are closing in on Trump. Me, I think it's likelier that he'll be our next President than that he'll ever do so much as a single day of jail time.

Do you want him in jail? I sure wouldn't mind.



But if I were a Democrat more concerned with the future of the country being what a Democrat wants it to be rather than being concerned with a vendetta, there is only one place I would want Donald Trump: On the ballot in 2024. Biden beat him, as I said he would have in 2016 too. I find it unlikely that Biden runs for re-election at this point, but if he does I can point to one person he'd beat. If he doesn't, a younger democrat is going to look even better against Donald. I'm not saying they need him - but they should want him.

nymr83 Jan 26 2022 02:13 PM Re: Politics 2022

Chad ochoseis wrote: Cue Joe Manchin insisting on at least one Republican vote before he assents. Cue lots of public handwringing by Susan Collins before she finally decides that whichever center-left nominee Biden selects is too divisive and she can't possibly vote for him or her. You would assume with exactly 50 senators, Biden's people are going to 'clear' the nominee with any democrat they think might object first, because getting the seated filled with one of their people is a lot more important than getting a specific person on, even if they like that person more. At this point thought, 4-6 months from an actual opening, you are probably more worried about one of the dozen Democrat senators from states with Republican governors than you are about convincing Manchin.

Lefty Specialist Jan 26 2022 02:33 PM Re: Politics 2022

For what it's worth, Manchin and Sinema have been consistently voting for Biden's judicial nominees this year. They may be assholes in other areas but not this one. And Chuck Schumer has pledged a confirmation process 'as quick as the one that confirmed Justice Barrett'. In other words, f you, Mitch. Given that this doesn't change the makeup of the court, it could be relatively drama-free. Fingers crossed.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 26 2022 03:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

=nymr83 post_id=85165 time=1643231151 user_id=54] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=85080 time=1643139266 user_id=68] All this sudden talk abut how the walls are closing in on Trump. Me, I think it's likelier that he'll be our next President than that he'll ever do so much as a single day of jail time.

Do you want him in jail? I sure wouldn't mind.



But if I were a Democrat more concerned with the future of the country being what a Democrat wants it to be rather than being concerned with a vendetta, there is only one place I would want Donald Trump: On the ballot in 2024.


Well. what I truly and sincerely want for Trump, no exaggeration here, I won't say so as not to risk any grave problems that might befall me as a consequence of being honest. But I can assure you that with my way, he'd never, ever, ever be the President again. Same fate for his count daughter. Don, Jr. -- he's just as odious as all of them but to tell you the truth, I secretly feel a little sorry for him. He's surely an emotional wreck on the inside and damaged goods. What chance did he have with the abusive psychological torture he endured growing up from his scumbag sociopath of a father?



But I also agree with you, totally, that Trump on the ballot would energize the Dems like no other GOP candidate ever would, or probably ever did. But OTOH, you can't out-organize or out-vote these new laws designed to legally nullify or ignore the actual votes. It's bad enough as it is with the lines so ridiculously gerrymandered that Dems need a national landslide just to eke out a small or modest advantage in the House. And then the equal representation in the Senate.



Oy.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 26 2022 03:27 PM Re: Politics 2022

=nymr83 post_id=85166 time=1643231585 user_id=54] At this point thought, 4-6 months from an actual opening, you are probably more worried about one of the dozen Democrat senators from states with Republican governors than you are about convincing Manchin.

But Manchin's also a Dem Senator from a state with a Republican Governor. And WV is about the reddest state out there. And some other stuff to consider: Manchin's against abortions. And there's no record on Manchin voting for prior Dem SCOTUS nominees because Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor were all confirmed before Manchin was ever a member of the Senate. Manchin did vote to confirm two of Trump's three nominees - Gorsuch and Kavanaugh - but not Comey Barrett.



Manchin refused to vote in favor of Comey Barrett, not because Manchin opposed her ideology or views, but because of the hypocritical process by which the GOP rammed her through - in record time a week or two before the 2020 Presidential election and after some votes had already been cast, and in conflict with the bullshit precedent set by the GOP in 2016 that a President can't fill a SCOTUS opening in the last year of his Presidency - a rule that apparently, only applies when the President is a Dem.



I wouldn't be surprised if the confirmation process for Biden's pick turn out to be another Dem shitshow with self-inflicted wounds all over the place from the party that can't get out of its own way, and still, today, even after the 1/6 attempted coup - collecively - still has no fucking idea just what kind of evil and ruthless enemy of a party they're up against.. Either that or Biden picks a centrist justice who is only marginally liberal and who is almost as likely as siding with the GOP as with the Dems, just to get his pick through.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 26 2022 03:45 PM Re: Politics 2022

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is gonna do everything is his diabolical powers to try and stretch the confirmation process into January, when, he hopes, the GOP retakes the Senate, and then maybe he can pull another Merrick Garland, keeping the seat vacant until the GOP takes back the White House two years later while holding the Senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has a plan because most likely, the GOP has been working on this contingency for years. The GOP is always ten steps ahead and the Dems ... It's like Yogi and Gil with Gil planning three innings ahead and Yogi still trying to understand what happened three innings ago. Of course, a year away seem like a bridge too far. But OTOH it's the GOP. And the Dems.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 26 2022 09:06 PM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 26 2022 09:11 PM

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85179 time=1643237141 user_id=68] Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is gonna do everything is his diabolical powers to try and stretch the confirmation process into January, when, he hopes, the GOP retakes the Senate, and then maybe he can pull another Merrick Garland, keeping the seat vacant until the GOP takes back the White House two years later while holding the Senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has a plan because most likely, the GOP has been working on this contingency for years. The GOP is always ten steps ahead and the Dems ... It's like Yogi and Gil with Gil planning three innings ahead and Yogi still trying to understand what happened three innings ago. Of course, a year away seem like a bridge too far. But OTOH it's the GOP. And the Dems.

Well, Breyer, I momentarily forgot, is retiring at the end of the term, in June -- not now. So McConnell has to delay the process for about six months instead of for a year to have a chance at pulling another Merrick Garland. Still seems like an extreme long shot but I can't wait to see what they'll try, because try, they will. They'll kill their own mothers if they have to, for a SCOTUS seat. Which they should, metaphorically if not literally. Because that's the right attitude.



Schumer said he plans on the entire confirmation process taking no more than a few weeks instead of the usual few months. Good for him. We'll see.

Willets Point Jan 26 2022 09:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

Schumer said he plans on the entire confirmation process taking no more than a few weeks instead of the usual few months. Good for him. We'll see. Great. They're probably planning to appoint Trump for the sake of "unity." (j/k - I hope!)

Lefty Specialist Jan 27 2022 07:05 AM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85179 time=1643237141 user_id=68] Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is gonna do everything is his diabolical powers to try and stretch the confirmation process into January, when, he hopes, the GOP retakes the Senate, and then maybe he can pull another Merrick Garland, keeping the seat vacant until the GOP takes back the White House two years later while holding the Senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has a plan because most likely, the GOP has been working on this contingency for years. The GOP is always ten steps ahead and the Dems ... It's like Yogi and Gil with Gil planning three innings ahead and Yogi still trying to understand what happened three innings ago. Of course, a year away seem like a bridge too far. But OTOH it's the GOP. And the Dems.

Well, since he personally nuked the filibuster for Supreme Court justices, there's little he can do. He won't be able to slow it down any more than Democrats could slow down Handmaiden Coney Barrett.

nymr83 Jan 27 2022 02:50 PM Re: Politics 2022

Biden says he plans to name his woman by the end of February. Why? more time to dig up dirt or find someone willing to tell stories from 40 years ago that nobody else can corroborate?

Lefty Specialist Jan 27 2022 03:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

=nymr83 post_id=85226 time=1643320258 user_id=54] Biden says he plans to name his woman by the end of February. Why? more time to dig up dirt or find someone willing to tell stories from 40 years ago that nobody else can corroborate?

Breyer's on the court until July 1st anyway. They'll have plenty of time to get her confirmed. So it's not a concern. They're pretending to do their due diligence, not naming her too quickly like Trump did before RBG's body was cold. This is actually back to the way Supreme Court justices have traditionally been nominated. A snap announcement doesn't change anything, even though I'd bet the candidates were vetted months ago. Jackson certainly was when she was nominated for the DC circuit to replace Merrick Garland.



And if it turns out she's a drunken rapist, sexual harasser or secret religious nutjob, well, she'll fit right in on this court.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 27 2022 03:30 PM Re: Politics 2022

=nymr83 post_id=85226 time=1643320258 user_id=54] Biden says he plans to name his woman by the end of February. Why? more time to dig up dirt or find someone willing to tell stories from 40 years ago that nobody else can corroborate?

So what? If Dems play this right, Biden's pick should be able to pull her pants down during the confirmation hearings and take a big shit right in the middle of the Senate floor -- and still get confirmed.



What the fuck in the name of Andrew Cuomo does this scumbag cosa nostra of a political party, the GOP, have the right to ever complain about regarding Biden's pick after all they did with the SCOTUS after Scalia's death?

batmagadanleadoff Jan 27 2022 05:56 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is gonna do everything is his diabolical powers to try and stretch the confirmation process into January, when, he hopes, the GOP retakes the Senate, and then maybe he can pull another Merrick Garland, keeping the seat vacant until the GOP takes back the White House two years later while holding the Senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has a plan because most likely, the GOP has been working on this contingency for years. The GOP is always ten steps ahead and the Dems ... It's like Yogi and Gil with Gil planning three innings ahead and Yogi still trying to understand what happened three innings ago. Of course, a year away seem like a bridge too far. But OTOH it's the GOP. And the Dems. Well, since he personally nuked the filibuster for Supreme Court justices, there's little he can do. He won't be able to slow it down any more than Democrats could slow down Handmaiden Coney Barrett. Mitch McConnell Is One Week Away From Claiming Biden Can't Put Someone on the Supreme Court the Same Year He Started Re-Watching the Original Gossip Girl The Kentucky lawmaker doesn't have the power to do whatever he wants this time around, but you'll have to forgive Democrats for being worried he might try. (Might as well be talking about me, there). On Wednesday morning, people who care about other people's rights got a jolt of good news when multiple outlets reported that Justice Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term. While Breyer has been a mostly reliable moderate liberal during his time on the bench, he's also 83 years old, and the last time an octogenarian justice chose to ignore the danger of sticking around until they couldn't stick around any longer, it gave the worst president in history his third Supreme Court pick. While Joe Biden's nominee will not reshape the 6–3 makeup of the court, whoever receives the nod will certainly be much younger, and would likely sit on the bench for many years to come. That person will likely also make history as the first Black woman to be nominated to the court, if Biden keeps his campaign pledge, which the White House reportedly suggested on Wednesday he would. That is, of course, if Mitch McConnell doesn't pull some uniquely evil bullshit out of his ass and deprive Biden of his pick. As a reminder for anyone who has understandably avoided any mention of McConnell for the last decade, the Kentucky Republican has spent the last six years basically making shit up about when a president can and cannot nominate someone to the Supreme Court. In 2016, when Antonin Scalia died and there were a whopping 342 days left in Barack Obama's second term, the then Senate majority leader claimed that the “American people” should be the ones to decide who got to fill the vacant seat—never mind that they already had decided, when they reelected Obama. But no, according to McConnell, there was a little-known rule—known only to him, in fact—that said a president could not nominate someone to the Supreme Court in an election year, and there was simply nothing Obama, Democrats, or poor Merrick Garland could do about it. (In reality, the Senate had never once refused to consider a nominee because it was an election year and, in fact, had previously confirmed more than a dozen nominees during a year in which an election was held.) Fast-forward to 2020, and McConnell, again lying through his caps, claimed that what he really meant to say in 2016 was that the reason he was within his rights to block Obama's court pick was because the executive and the Senate were made up of opposing parties. The fine print on his dazzling array of bullshit stated that if Americans elect a Senate majority from the same party as the president, that Senate is obligated to confirm that president's nominee no matter how close to an election it is. In other words, the opposite of what he said when he was justifying blocking Obama's pick. Which subsequently meant he could help Trump put Amy Coney Barrett on the court with less than two months until the presidential election. Of course, this time around, McConnell is thankfully the Senate minority leader, meaning he doesn't have the power to just do whatever the fuck he wants. Still, you'll have to forgive people if they remain worried about what kind of stunt he might pull! Sure, the odds for Democrats are that Biden's nominee goes through, but there's also an extremely high chance that McConnell will still announce on the Senate floor an arcane rule that only he knows about, which states that regardless of who holds the majority, “lawmakers cannot and shall not confirm a Supreme Court pick the same year my cat, Mr. Whiskerson, learns to use the toilet on his own. Which happened today, just before I left for work. So, sorry to President Biden. I don't make the rules.” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/mitch-mcconnell-stephen-breyer-supreme-court#intcid=_vanity-fair-verso-hp-trending_df915bd7-945c-4ccc-b121-6c3c54eb4692_popular4-1

batmagadanleadoff Jan 28 2022 12:22 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is gonna do everything is his diabolical powers to try and stretch the confirmation process into January, when, he hopes, the GOP retakes the Senate, and then maybe he can pull another Merrick Garland, keeping the seat vacant until the GOP takes back the White House two years later while holding the Senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has a plan because most likely, the GOP has been working on this contingency for years. The GOP is always ten steps ahead and the Dems ... It's like Yogi and Gil with Gil planning three innings ahead and Yogi still trying to understand what happened three innings ago. Of course, a year away seem like a bridge too far. But OTOH it's the GOP. And the Dems. Well, since he personally nuked the filibuster for Supreme Court justices, there's little he can do. He won't be able to slow it down any more than Democrats could slow down Handmaiden Coney Barrett. Here's an angle I'd bet Mitch is gonna try: The Vice President Can't Break A 50-50 Tie For The Supreme Court… And No One Cares This is all true... and none of it matters. To be clear, Joe Biden's nominee to fill Justice Breyer's seat will most likely get confirmed. She'll probably secure 53 or so votes, when moderate Republicans crossing over to confirm rendering moot any risk of a Democratic defection or two. But there's already some attention mounting about an esoteric constitutional law question — the best kind! — and the repercussions it could have for a straight party line vote on Biden's nominee. Did you know Vice President Harris can't break a 50-50 tie on a Supreme Court nominee? Cue the ominous music. Prepare for cable news legal analyst hand-wringing… and not just from Jeffrey Toobin. Also, no one really cares. Back during the Trump administration, Professor Laurence Tribe outlined the constitutional argument against the Vice President's power to break a Senate deadlocked over a Supreme Court nomination. While the Constitution is clear that the Vice President can cast a deciding vote to break ties over legislation, Tribe noted that the text does not extend this power to the Senate's “advise and consent” role in confirming nominees. Everyone's favorite hip-hop Founder Alexander Hamilton even said as much in Federalist No. 69: “In the national government, if the Senate should be divided, no appointment could be made” contrasting the Constitution with state governments that do allow the executive to break ties on their own appointments. Tribe is almost certainly right about this point, but this ship has sailed. While no Supreme Court justice has ever needed a tie-breaking vote, Vice Presidents can and do vote to confirm other nominees. ABA “Not Qualified” Judge Jonathan Kobes is on the Eighth Circuit because of a 51-50 Mike Pence vote. Instead of objecting, the Democrats just joined the party. The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts was confirmed by a 51-50 vote last month. Regardless of what's technically correct, this is how the Senate has decided to proceed and everyone's agreed to just go along with it. So when we say “can't” break a tie, we really mean “shouldn't be able to… but totally can.” As a practical matter, what would this challenge even look like? Perhaps this Supreme Court isn't above improperly wading into political question waters, but what relief could they grant without causing mass chaos? Do they have to live with freeing everyone convicted in Massachusetts under an improperly confirmed prosecutor? Would every Eighth Circuit opinion Kobes joined be up for challenge? It's hard to imagine the Court nuking its own legitimacy to issue a “one-time only, please never cite this back at us” opinion over this so these questions about the possible fallout are damning. It's still unlikely this ends in a 50-50 tie anyway, but if it does it's not going to have to matter. https://abovethelaw.com/2022/01/the-vice-president-cant-break-a-50-50-tie-for-the-supreme-court-and-no-one-cares/

batmagadanleadoff Jan 28 2022 12:25 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: And if it turns out [Biden's pick is] a drunken rapist, sexual harasser or secret religious nutjob, well, she'll fit right in on this court. [FIMG=444]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fc.tenor.com%2F9cxohDJkQJgAAAAM%2Fclapping-crowd.gif&psig=AOvVaw36sBLb5ZkYoyfdwN5KPlhf&ust=1643441101023000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAoQ3YkBahcKEwj4ko649dP1AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAw [/FIMG]

MFS62 Jan 28 2022 12:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

A Pennsylvania court has struck down the State's mail-in voting law. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pennsylvania-court-strikes-down-states-mail-in-voting-law-2022-01-28/ It will be appealed. Later

MFS62 Jan 28 2022 03:17 PM Re: Politics 2022

Kids who read MAUS don't grow up to be adults who compare minor inconveniences to the Holocaust. Later

batmagadanleadoff Jan 31 2022 12:16 AM Re: Politics 2022

There are no limits to just how low this piece of shit will go. He's repeating the page out of his playbook where he incited rioters to attack The Capitol on his bullshit grounds that the election was stolen. Only now he's using that page to dogwhistle his scumbag MAGA retards to wreak havoc and terror throughout the country if he should be indicted by so-called racist and corrupt prosecutors. At Texas rally, Trump all but promised a racially charged civil war if he's indicted In one of the most incendiary, dangerous speeches in U.S. history, Donald Trump promised at a Texas rally mayhem if he's criminally charged. Excerpt: In fact, the man who'd occupied the White House little more than one year ago delivered one of the most incendiary and most dangerous speeches in America's 246-year history. It included an appeal for all-out mayhem in the streets to thwart the U.S. justice system and prevent Trump from going to jail, as the vise tightens from overlapping criminal probes in multiple jurisdictions. And it also featured a stunning campaign promise — that Trump would look to abuse the power of the presidency to pardon those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection. https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/donald-trump-rally-conroe-texas-pardons-20220130.html

Lefty Specialist Jan 31 2022 08:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

He'll basically be running for president so he can stay out of jail. I'm guessing that's not what the Founders intended. His supporters are like crack addicts, always needing more. The one time he was sane, by saying that the vaccine works and you should get boosted, the backlash frightened him. So from here on it'll just be increasing iterations of the crazy. The Deplorables are insatiable, though- they want civil war and they've got the guns.

seawolf17 Jan 31 2022 08:59 AM Re: Politics 2022

Everything about this is, yet again, scary as fuck. And every day that the shitbags in the Senate continue to let it happen makes it even scarier.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 31 2022 09:29 AM Re: Politics 2022

He probably also dogwhistled that he'd pardon anyone convicted for violence against those prosecuting him if he could.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 31 2022 09:29 AM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85354 time=1643646544 user_id=68] He probably also dogwhistled that he'd pardon anyone convicted for violence against those prosecuting him if he could.

But Andrew Cuomo.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 01 2022 10:03 PM Re: Politics 2022

I guess that according to that deranged piece of shit that this country once elected to the Presidency because it lost its collective mind, the sitting Vice President has the right to unilaterally pick the winner of the Presidential election, no matter what the vote tally is. Yeah, that makes a whole lotta sense.

Lefty Specialist Feb 02 2022 12:52 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85432 time=1643778238 user_id=68] I guess that according to that deranged piece of shit that this country once elected to the Presidency because it lost its collective mind, the sitting Vice President has the right to unilaterally pick the winner of the Presidential election, no matter what the vote tally is. Yeah, that makes a whole lotta sense.

Excellent news for Kamala Harris!

MFS62 Feb 04 2022 01:32 PM Re: Politics 2022

The RNC censured the two Republicans on the January 6 Committee. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a38983737/republican-censure-liz-cheney-adam-kinzinger-january-6/ The RNC "wiped their ass with the Constitution." Later

batmagadanleadoff Feb 04 2022 02:13 PM Re: Politics 2022

The RNC censured the two Republicans on the January 6 Committee. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a38983737/republican-censure-liz-cheney-adam-kinzinger-january-6/ The RNC "wiped their ass with the Constitution." At this point, the GOP is nothing more than a corrupt enterprise.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 04 2022 02:17 PM Re: Politics 2022

Maybe I should start a poll to see who youse think is the worst: Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger or Andrew Cuomo?

Lefty Specialist Feb 04 2022 02:31 PM Re: Politics 2022

Well, doesn't really mean anything. Kinzingers's retiring, and Cheney was already booted from leadership and censured by her state party. More importantly, the Republicans in Arizona decided that they shouldn't be able to overturn elections they don't like, and buried a bill that would have done just that. And redistricting in New York should net 3-4 seats for Democrats. Nice to see someone playing hardball. Things are also looking good in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Liz Cheney's still the worst. She's doing this ONE PARTICULAR THING right, but she's a rightwinger through and through. Kinzinger is just out of his depth in today's Republican party. Cuomo is a manipulative scumbag, but I'd be happy if HE was the congressman from Wyoming.

kcmets Feb 04 2022 05:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: And redistricting in New York should net 3-4 seats for Democrats. Nice to see someone playing hardball. Isn't that the same gerrymandering-type stuff that half the country was all in an uproar over the last 8-9 months? Had MSNBC a lot this week, no mention of it. [BLOCKQUOTE]New York's state constitution (Art. III § 3, 4) requires that state legislative and congressional districts be compact, contiguous, preserve political subdivisions, preserve communities of interest, preserve the cores of prior districts, and be drawn to promote competitiveness. Intentionally favoring or disfavoring an incumbent, party, or candidate for office is prohibited.[/BLOCKQUOTE] Just saying (noticing). After all these years, I don't really care what goes here disguised as one thing but is more often than not clearly another. It's comical.

Edgy MD Feb 04 2022 07:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

Sure it means something. It's about intimidating any other would-be apostates. And it also means that the party is disgusting and willing to openly support the insurrection.

Lefty Specialist Feb 05 2022 05:52 AM Re: Politics 2022

So I got my package of free COVID tests in the mail yesterday. No fuss, no muss, a government program that worked smoothly and efficiently. But you won't hear anything about it. You know if things had gotten screwed up FOX would have been all over it.

Lefty Specialist Feb 05 2022 06:43 AM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: Sure it means something. It's about intimidating any other would-be apostates. And it also means that the party is disgusting and willing to openly support the insurrection. The censure is relatively meaningless, but the description here is the real problem for America- 'ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse'. Republicans have basically openly said that violence is a legitimate way to gain and retain power. That's shocking.

kcmets Feb 05 2022 07:11 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: So I got my package of free COVID tests in the mail yesterday. No fuss, no muss Was just going to post in the other thread; we got ours too, in spite of Icemageddon.

kcmets Feb 05 2022 07:13 AM Re: Politics 2022

It's about freakin' time... Pence says 'Trump is wrong' to say then-vice president had the right to overturn 2020 election

Lefty Specialist Feb 05 2022 08:37 AM Re: Politics 2022

stuart stevens @stuartpstevens If Mike Pence deserves praise for asserting that he didn't have authority to overthrow the American government, I'd like to be recognized for the character it took not to rob a single bank I passed on the way to the grocery store. 4:30 PM · Feb 4, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

Lefty Specialist Feb 05 2022 08:43 AM Re: Politics 2022

If you're wondering why #readtheroombuddy is trending on twitter, this is why. Hilarious. https://www.wusa9.com/video/news/local/read-the-room-buddy-customer-calls-out-virginia-governor-for-not-wearing-mask-in-grocery-store/65-3b4a3b97-f5ff-4744-9819-60d81bc4bc4b

Edgy MD Feb 05 2022 08:59 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Sure it means something. It's about intimidating any other would-be apostates. And it also means that the party is disgusting and willing to openly support the insurrection. The censure is relatively meaningless, but the description here is the real problem for America- 'ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse'. Republicans have basically openly said that violence is a legitimate way to gain and retain power. That's shocking. I certainly agree that the bullshit description is meaningful.

MFS62 Feb 05 2022 09:35 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: So I got my package of free COVID tests in the mail yesterday. No fuss, no muss Was just going to post in the other thread; we got ours too, in spite of Icemageddon. We got an email that it will be delivered today, but I have no freaking idea how I'll be able to get up the hill to my mailbox. Later

kcmets Feb 05 2022 10:58 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: If Mike Pence deserves praise for asserting that he didn't have authority to overthrow the American government, I'd like to be recognized for the character it took not to rob a single bank I passed on the way to the grocery store. Not praising him whatsoever.

Lefty Specialist Feb 05 2022 03:59 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: If Mike Pence deserves praise for asserting that he didn't have authority to overthrow the American government, I'd like to be recognized for the character it took not to rob a single bank I passed on the way to the grocery store. Not praising him whatsoever. The tweet was directed at people in the media praising Pence for being so 'principled'. What it really means is that Pence has finally realized he has no future in today's RepubliQan party.

kcmets Feb 05 2022 04:07 PM Re: Politics 2022

I meant I wasn't praising him whatsoever. I posted a link to a CNN story. Big whoop.

whippoorwill Feb 05 2022 07:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: So I got my package of free COVID tests in the mail yesterday. No fuss, no muss Was just going to post in the other thread; we got ours too, in spite of Icemageddon. We got an email that it will be delivered today, but I have no freaking idea how I'll be able to get up the hill to my mailbox. Later I'm pretty sure my car's tires are frozen to the driveway.

Lefty Specialist Feb 06 2022 01:01 PM Re: Politics 2022

I disagree with David French about virtually everything, but this is a good piece about where we are today. Both sides come in for criticism, justly so. But he doesn't spare the right wing one bit; thoughtful Republicans (yes, there are a few) are not happy with the state of affairs. With a bonus Stephen Colbert bit at the end that's worth two minutes of your time.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 06 2022 03:44 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: I disagree with David French about virtually everything, but this is a good piece about where we are today. Both sides come in for criticism, justly so. But he doesn't spare the right wing one bit; thoughtful Republicans (yes, there are a few) are not happy with the state of affairs. With a bonus Stephen Colbert bit at the end that's worth two minutes of your time. What piece? Where's the piece? [YOUTUBE]Ug75diEyiA0[/YOUTUBE]

Lefty Specialist Feb 06 2022 05:43 PM Re: Politics 2022

Ed Asner stole it. https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-nation-cannot-censor-its-way

MFS62 Feb 07 2022 01:14 PM Re: Politics 2022

Legitimate Political Discourse? Ask a Republican these yes or no questions. https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/02/07/republican-censure-cheney-kinzinger-legitimate-political-discourse-take-quiz/6672327001/ Later

batmagadanleadoff Feb 09 2022 01:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

Calling a Tiger a Tiger Doesn't Mean Much Coming From the Guys Who Opened the Cage Ex-Pope Benedict and Mitch McConnell offered public words about public sins. None of it means a thing. Excerpt: Then there's Washington D.C., where folks are all agog that Mitch McConnell called January 6 by its rightful name. From NBC News: “We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That's what it was,” McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters at his weekly news conference. His remarks followed an outcry from Democrats and some Republicans after the RNC approved a resolution Friday accusing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., of “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” a reference to the Jan. 6 committee. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only GOP members of the House panel. Big fcking deal, as the current president once put it. Did McConnell free up his caucus to vote for Impeachment II, which would have guaranteed that El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago could never run again? Has he done anything to rein in his own crazies? Calling a tiger a tiger doesn't mean much coming from the guys who opened the cage. To hell with all apologies from public men for their public sins. None of them mean a thing. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39016608/pope-benedict-apology-clergy-abuse/ ______________ I fucking hate apologies. I'm sorry. I just do. They're insincere - the apologizer apologizing out of self-interest and only because he got caught. McConnell's is especially insecere because he's still on record that he'd vote for Trump if Trump were to run again. What kind of bullshit is that?

batmagadanleadoff Feb 09 2022 01:22 PM Re: Politics 2022

Told youse that this SCOTUS is gonna shred voting rights and would probably make mincemeat out of whatever voting rights bill this Dem Congress might pass if only Manchin and Sinema weren't the colossal dicks that the Dems are stuck with. No Attack on Voting Rights Is Too Racist for This Supreme Court The court's decision to let Alabama's new redistricting map remain in place opens the door to a season of racist gerrymandering. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-alabama-voting/ The Supreme Court's newest attack on voting rights, explained. The Court's median justice just made it much harder to stop attacks on the right to vote. https://www.vox.com/2022/2/8/22922774/supreme-court-merrill-milligan-alabama-brett-kavanaugh-racial-gerrymandering-voting-rights-act ___________________ SCOTUS signals that it's gonna disappear what little it hasn't already disappeared from the Voting Rights Act. Not that the Dems have the votes anyway, but this Build Back Better is bullshit, a speck of flea turd. compared to Voting Rights. The plan should have been to first pack the courts and then bring in DC and PR as new states to make it harder for the GOP to retaliate in the future. Otherwise, the Dems have nothing and it's just a matter of time for the issue at hand to reach the courts for the Dems to find out just how much nothing they have. But Hillary wasn't perfect enough. She wasn't Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Tom Seaver and Cindy Crawford all rolled into one. Soon, Dems are gonna need to march on the Edmund Pettis Bridge all over again. And make that I Have a Dream Speech all over again. Because it's only a little bit away from it being as if MLK, Jr. never even existed.

kcmets Feb 09 2022 02:30 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=85688 time=1644437500 user_id=68]I fucking hate apologies. I'm sorry.

That's kinda funny. Just funnin', just sayin'....

Lefty Specialist Feb 10 2022 05:03 PM Re: Politics 2022

Mitch is always taking the long view. If he's calling it an insurrection, it's because he's looking at a future where Donald Trump isn't the factor he is right now. Where a few months of live hearings bring the Plot Against America out into the open. He wants plausible deniability down the road. There are the Ron DeSantis' and Kristi Noems and Ted Cruzes who are every bit the Fascist that Trump is. They're all keeping their powder dry waiting for the indictments to start dropping. If nothing happens, they'll line up behind Dear Leader, but if something does (indictment, illness, dementia) happen to The Donald, they want to be ready to step into his sweaty wingtips. And that's what Mitch is doing as well. He's keeping his distance until he sees how this will all play out, and then profit at the end. Because he ALWAYS profits in the end.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 15 2022 03:12 PM Re: Politics 2022

Why Democrats can't get a fair shake in the Supreme Court, in one chart Republicans get their dream nominees, while Democrats struggle to confirm moderates. https://www.vox.com/2022/2/14/22925457/supreme-court-senate-confirmation-ketanji-brown-jackson-leondra-kruger-michelle-childs The best part of this article is the chart. Since 1990, the 1996 Congress was the only Congress in which Senate Republicans represented a majority of Americans. Our Electoral College is the world's laughing stock. Excerpt: The result of this imbalance, [i.e., Senate malapportionment] in other words, isn't simply that Republicans now control at least two or three Supreme Court seats that they would not control if the Senate were fairly apportioned. Senate malapportionment means that Republican presidents can nominate the most strident Republican partisans and the most outspoken conservative ideologues, and still expect those nominees to be confirmed. Democratic presidents, meanwhile, risk having their nominees blocked, Merrick Garland-style, even when the president enjoys majority support from the nation as a whole. And even when Democrats do control the Senate, their majority frequently depends on conservative Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), each of whom could potentially veto a nominee they deem too liberal. This structural imbalance, more than anything, explains why Republicans get to appoint their fantasy nominees to the Supreme Court, while Biden's potential nominees range from dully moderate liberals to humdrum centrists.

MFS62 Feb 15 2022 06:01 PM Re: Politics 2022

Gee. What a coincidence. The Republicans in Congress are getting all hot and bothered about a disproven news story, rehashed without any new facts, from years ago that Biden's campaign paid people to hack into the GOP servers prior to the last election. I'm guessing they will use this if damaging information is found about Trump's association with Russia. They'll just say that the files were "planted there". And , they're using this story to deflect attention away from the files that were destroyed or taken from the White House instead of being sent to the National Archives. Later

MFS62 Feb 18 2022 04:09 PM Re: Politics 2022

Judge rules Trump can be held liable in CIVIL suits stemming form the Jan 6th insurrection. https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-judge-rules-trump-sued-215831953.html The word "we" being "used repeatedly in this context implies that the President and rally-goers would be acting together toward a common goal," Mehta wrote. "That is the essence of a civil conspiracy." Interesting. This could result in monetary loss, not prison fines. Later

Lefty Specialist Feb 19 2022 04:26 PM Re: Politics 2022

The real damage is Mazar's saying his financial statements for the last ten years are bullshit. He's not going to be able to get a loan from any reputable bank and he's got $500 million of debt coming due in the next year. It's a good thing they swept up all that classified material he took with him to Mar-a-Lago. Let's see if any Russian bank will touch him, since that'll be about his only option. Or maybe he'll have some 'miraculous' condo sales to oligarchs to cover the tab. It could also be the Saudis riding to the rescue, thanks to Mohammed Bone Saw. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/19/trump-saudi-arabia-golf/ When he's forced to testify in the civil suit, he's gonna Fifth Amendment everything. So will Ivanka and Failson Jr. Of course, he's previously said that makes someone look like a criminal, and in this case he's absolutely right.

kcmets Feb 19 2022 05:24 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: The real damage is Mazar's saying his financial statements for the last ten years are bullshit. Yeah, I'm surprised more has not been made of this. He (they) cooked the books and He (they) are cooked as well. Business wise.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 19 2022 09:55 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: It's a good thing they swept up all that classified material he took with him to Mar-a-Lago. All of it? I doubt it and I'd bet my life on that. I've no doubt that this fucking dirtbag already sold oodles of top secret stuff to the Saudis and Russia while he was in office. And Jared Kushner probably has an encyclopedic-sized treasure trove of top secret classified documents hidden somewhere in his house.

Edgy MD Feb 19 2022 10:37 PM Re: Politics 2022

If history teaches us anysuch, it's that President Trump isn't done until he's done. I certainly appreciate seeing him losing in court and with his accountant, but we've really got to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net.

Lefty Specialist Feb 20 2022 08:05 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: It's a good thing they swept up all that classified material he took with him to Mar-a-Lago. All of it? I doubt it and I'd bet my life on that. I've no doubt that this fucking dirtbag already sold oodles of top secret stuff to the Saudis and Russia while he was in office. And Jared Kushner probably has an encyclopedic-sized treasure trove of top secret classified documents hidden somewhere in his house. Yeah, bad phrasing. I'm sure there's plenty more. We know Kushner gave MBS his 'kill list' of dissidents. This man and his family are an enormous security risk, and as the financial pressure increases, so will that risk. He'll do anything to save his image as a successful rich guy, which includes selling out this country.

Lefty Specialist Feb 25 2022 09:38 AM Re: Politics 2022

Ketanji Brown Jackson is Biden's pick for the Supreme Court. Superbly qualified, much more so than the woman McConnell and Trump jammed on the court at the last minute. 3 Republicans voted for her when she was confirmed to the DC Circuit. I'm guessing maybe 1 or 2 might stick around this time. Doesn't change the court's composition, but that doesn't mean most Republicans won't treat her like the reincarnation of the devil.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 25 2022 10:18 AM Re: Politics 2022

She's younger than I am. Hopefully she'll be a liberal vote on the Court for the remainder of my life.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 25 2022 10:57 AM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: She's younger than I am. Hopefully she'll be a liberal vote on the Court for the remainder of my life. Unless Dems do something drastic and norm shattering regarding SCOTUS, you'll be reading her opinions in the dissent section of the court's rulings for the remainder of your life and I'll guarantee that, for whatever my guarantee is actually worth. The GOP has a hammerlock on the courts. Because they shattered every norm and gamed the system. The immediate and as yet unsung benefit from this nomination is that if it goes through, which it should, it allows the Dems to fill her vacated seat on the DC Circuit Court with a 40 year old.

MFS62 Feb 25 2022 11:22 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: 3 Republicans voted for her when she was confirmed to the DC Circuit. I'm guessing maybe 1 or 2 might stick around this time. [CROSSOUT]That spineless little Trump ass kisser [/CROSSOUT] Lindsay Graham won't vote to support her. (He had supported another woman of color for judge in the past) https://www.yahoo.com/news/lindsey-graham-declared-radical-left-152940807.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall Later

batmagadanleadoff Feb 28 2022 10:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

The Child Tax Credit expires. The pandemic forced upon the savants of the American economy an uncomfortable truth. For all the talk of bootstraps and deficits, hammocks and debt, if you give poor people more money, their lives will generally improve because they will become less poor. [***] An extension of the CTC was part of the Build Back Better Act, which resides in Manchin-induced carbon freeze in the Senate. Experts in child poverty did everything but hang pink neon from the Senate galleries to inform the senators that this exact thing would happen if the CTC were allowed to expire. And that the following would happen as a result. "It's been a struggle — we have less food on the table," said Meighen Lovelace, a mom in her 40s who lives in Avon, Colorado, with her two daughters, ages 10 and 14. "I also haven't been able to get all of my daughter's medications. Some aren't covered by insurance, so we haven't been able to buy those.” She added, "And we turn our heat pretty low and sleep in our sweaters to keep the heating bill down.” Lovelace said one of her daughters' disability means she spends much of her time providing care, which limits her ability to work. The CTC checks enabled them to pay for essentials like gas, medicine and rent, but the family's financial situation is precarious since the checks ended, she said. "It's not just the money part — it's the sense of safety and ease" of knowing when the monthly checks would arrive, Lovelace said. "When we cannot budget for it, there is a heightened sense of stress knowing that we have to find a way to pay for our basic needs.” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., privately questioned whether parents would misuse Child Tax Credit payments to buy drugs.... So because Joe Manchin and every damn Republican in the Senate have imbibed every wingnut cliché about poverty and poor people from the past 40 years, millions of children are back in poverty again. Somehow, Manchin's own millions haven't blunted his work ethic, at least when it comes to knuckling the poor. Joe Manchin helped do this damage to Meighen Lovelace because a) Joe Manchin is a meathead, and b) Joe Manchin claimed to be afraid that Meighen Lovelace would use her money to buy drugs, and this is not hyperbole. Or deer hunting. From ABC News: But hey, tax cuts for the super-rich. Because ignoramus billionaire Betsy Devos needs more money.That's what you can expect when the GOP pirate ship sweeps back into power in 2024. More tax cuts for the super-rich and an umpteenth attempt to kill ObamaCare.

metsmarathon Mar 01 2022 06:04 AM Re: Politics 2022

hows come the argument of "somebody might misuse what they're given" only works against the poors. nobody ever seems to fret over whether or not some rich fuck is gonna use his jobs-creatin' monies to buy a gold toilet for his orgy-yacht. but some unknowably small percentage of poor people might make bad decisions with their meager pennies to help distract themselves from their struggles, and the best solution is to make them suffer more?! what the fuck is that all about? these people call themselves christians, too. i'm so over it.

Fman99 Mar 01 2022 07:36 AM Re: Politics 2022

Man at this rate I'm never going to have my own orgy-yacht. What a bunch of bullshit

Edgy MD Mar 01 2022 09:20 AM Re: Politics 2022

If we get nothing else out of the State of the Union, momentum toward a quick restoration of the child tax credit would sure be terrific. I think we'll get there, but I'm far from certain.

Willets Point Mar 01 2022 09:52 AM Re: Politics 2022

Joe-mentum, you mean.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 29 2022 11:26 AM Re: Politics 2022

Justice Department seeking to hire 131 new attorneys for its January 6 Capitol riots investigation. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-justice-department-prosecutors-january-6-capitol-attack-cases-2022-3

Edgy MD Mar 29 2022 12:06 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yabbut ... that's a budget request, and that's got to go through Congress.

MFS62 Mar 29 2022 06:27 PM Re: Politics 2022

No phone calls to the White House in over 7 hours during the January 6th riot? Not even a robocall asking for money for some obscure charity? Where was Rosemary Woods when we needed her? She only took her foot off the pedal for 17 minutes. Later

MFS62 Mar 30 2022 09:49 AM Re: Politics 2022

I hereby state that neither I nor any member of my family was ever asked to contribute, nor did we ever contribute, to this cause:(re-printed in Yahoo. I couldn't find the link to the original Rolling Stones article.) https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fox-news-host-lara-logan-211116591.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall Holy bats**t, Batman. Later

Lefty Specialist Mar 30 2022 10:31 AM Re: Politics 2022

Um, wow. It's like she was trying to fill out her Qanon bingo card in one intrerview. Nice wet sloppy kiss for Vlad, too.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 14 2022 09:58 AM Re: Politics 2022

Mitch McConnell Knew the Depths of Trump's Plot to Steal the Election Weeks Before January 6 Did any of these "Senate leaders" think to alert the FBI or the Capitol Police? Oh, good. Another book that contains details it would have been nice to know at the time, before all hell broke loose on Capitol Hill. From CNN: If Trump could successfully pressure Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to de-certify Biden's narrow win in Georgia, that would lead to a domino effect: Officials in Pennsylvania and Michigan would follow suit and overturn Biden's electoral victory, Trump believed, a stunning reversal that could keep him in the White House for a second term. And Trump was certain he could subvert the election outcome, telling McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, and other top Republicans that he had personally been on the phone with officials in Pennsylvania and Michigan – and they told him they would move to keep him in power, despite the results showing Biden had won their states. “I've been calling folks in those states and they're with us,” Trump is reported to have told the Senate GOP leaders in a private December 2020 phone call, according to a soon-to-be-released book by New York Times political reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, both CNN political analysts. December? Weeks before the shitstorm, and “Senate leaders” already heard it from the horse's…ah…mouth that the steal was underway. Did any of them warn anybody? The Capitol Police? The Pentagon? The FBI? DC police? God forbid they should tip off the Democrats. Mitch McConnell had better things to do. An excerpt of the book, provided to CNN, also underscores the difficult political spot in which Trump's conspiracies left McConnell, who was hoping to shift the focus away from the 2020 election and instead put the weight of the party behind the races for two Senate seats in Georgia, both of which were headed to January 2021 runoffs and would determine the next Senate majority. McConnell maintained a strategic silence over Trump's lies in an attempt to prevent him from sabotaging the GOP's chances ahead of the runoffs, the book said. “We've got to stay focused on Georgia,” McConnell said to his colleagues right after they got off the phone with Trump in December 2020. God, you can fck right off, you unpatriotic chelonian hack. Mitch McConnell believes in only two things—his power, and the money it can bring in. He doesn't give a tortoise's dick for his country or its institutions. At least Jefferson Davis had the class to give up his Senate seat before he helped endanger the republic. They all knew, every scurvy one of them. Put them all under oath, and lock up anyone who ignores a summons. Let justice be done, though the gravy trains fall. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39718541/mitch-mcconnell-trump-2020-election/

Lefty Specialist Apr 15 2022 06:08 AM Re: Politics 2022

McConnell was savvy enough not to get involved one way or the other. He probably thought Trump had a slim to none chance of actually pulling it off, so best to stay on the sidelines. He was (correctly) focused on winning those two Georgia seats, and revealing or countering any Trump shenanigans would put them at risk. They lost them anyway and the next day Y'all Queda attacked the Capitol.

Edgy MD Apr 15 2022 10:37 PM Re: Politics 2022

Frontrunner in race for governor of Nebraska, a big shot GOP donor endorsed by former President Trump, accused of sexual assault by seven different women, including a state senator. The world gets a little more gross as the former mayor of Omaha responds with an inquiry about "what she was wearing."

Edgy MD Apr 17 2022 11:57 AM Re: Politics 2022

Check out this legislator in the Missouri House, just tearing the roof off of the sucker.

Lefty Specialist Apr 18 2022 11:54 AM Re: Politics 2022

Happy Easter.......or else. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQk3AS7XwAIOYZm?format=jpg&name=900x900>

batmagadanleadoff May 08 2022 03:34 PM

Telling it like it is: Mary Trump slams Susan Sarandon as a 'moron' for suggesting it's pointless to vote for the Democratic party Mary Trump said Susan Sarandon is a "complete idiot" who "thinks that she's some wise shaman."

Willets Point May 08 2022 04:59 PM Re: Politics 2021

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1522936729606389762[/TWEET]

batmagadanleadoff May 08 2022 08:20 PM Re: Politics 2021

Willets Point wrote: [TWEET]https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1522936729606389762[/TWEET] That's okay because as far as I know, Sarandon voted for Obama. But she advocated for Jill Stein, which was essentially a vote for Trump in an election where everything was at stake because the balance of the Supreme Court was at stake. I think that history will show that the 2016 election was one of the most consequential elections ever and that losing that elections will have possibly set the Dems back by decades. But who knows? Maybe the Dems will pick up four or five Senate seats this Fall and then bring in DC and PR to further expand their Senate majority. Then they can expand the court, codify voting and abortion rights and all those other privacy rights that this current SCOTUS will likely go after otherwise without even having to beg or kiss the asses of Manchin and Sinema. Of course, the Dems will have to win statewide elections in GOP controlled states that have new voter suppresssion laws that will allow those states to choose the winners of elections, on the flimsiest of pretenses, and without even bothering to have to count the actual votes. Dream on.

Johnny Lunchbucket May 09 2022 10:46 AM Re: Politics 2021

Yeah the 2016 vote-- which of course was far sketchier than anything the R's pretended to have happened this time around--was a terrible event. And not just for the Dems but for the US of A which was set back 50 years overnight and will take decades and decades to repair. That's on the Dems for supporting a candidate with a reputation, as unfair and sexist as it was, that energized a stupid opposition; on R-pumping media outlets like Fox news which made ratings an element who deserved to step onstage on debate; and on Mark Zuckerberg who counted the money while he allowed his stupid website to be weaponized by foreign bad actors and vulnerable American idiots

Lefty Specialist May 09 2022 01:41 PM Re: Politics 2021

Yeah, woulda, coulda, shoulda. But bear in mind that Hillary was the odds-on favorite for the nomination pretty much from the get-go. Everyone else got out of the way; Biden might have run if his son hadn't died tragically. Once he was out there was no one to challenge her. Bernie wasn't even a serious candidate- he was just running to give himself a forum for his ideas. He only caught on because a certain segment of the party wasn't OK with a middle-of-the-road corporate Democrat. Had somebody stepped up in 2014 and really made a run of it, things might have been different. But by mid-2015 it was set in stone. Even all the primaries Bernie won were too late to change the trajectory, and his stupid refusal to concede damaged the party. If they'd had a big united appearance once her numbers were insurmountable that might have helped. But Bernie supporters (not all, but many) couldn't swallow Hillary and voted for Stein or Gary Johnson instead because they wanted to protest. It's all 6 years under the bridge, though. The hard stuff is ahead. The elections of 2022 and 2024 need to be about freedom. The Republicans want to take it away (except for guns). This needs to be hammered home repeatedly.

Johnny Lunchbucket May 09 2022 01:58 PM Re: Politics 2021

That was irresponsible by the D's

Frayed Knot May 09 2022 03:34 PM Re: Politics 2021

Hillary got out-organized by Team Obama in '08 (in internet use and early courting of 'Super Delegates') upsetting what many, and surely her, thought was her 'rightful' road to the D nomination. She made sure that wasn't going to happen again so by '16, SHE had all the supers et al lined up in advance which both discouraged most others from even thinking about entering as well as made sure that Bernie was always working with a limited ceiling. But, as the Ds found out, choosing your nominee based on whose turn it is doesn't always work out the way you think.

Lefty Specialist May 10 2022 10:44 AM Re: Politics 2021

Didn't work out for John McCain or Mitt Romney either. There wasn't an 'Obama type' out there for the Democrats to gravitate to at the time.

Willets Point May 10 2022 11:09 AM Re: Politics 2021

Frayed Knot wrote: But, as the Ds found out, choosing your nominee based on whose turn it is doesn't always work out the way you think. Seriously, like 95% of the ill-feeling from left Democrats and independents could've been avoided if the DNC had run a fair primary from the start, which Clinton would've likely won anyway, and then made concessions to the losing candidates much like the Obama campaign did when including Clintonites and their concerns in 2008. The whole "she's the greatest, most-qualified candidate ever, it's HER TURN, and you're a stupid, fucking idiot if you question any of the racist/homophobic/corporatist/war hawk policies she's supported over he long public career and how that might affect her judgment going forward" was horribly misguided.

Frayed Knot May 10 2022 02:11 PM Re: Politics 2021

Even if one was not turned off by her specific politics, there was just such a sense of entitlement emanating from Camp Clinton in general and from her in particular.

TransMonk May 10 2022 02:49 PM Re: Politics 2021

Funny...I thought the same about Trump.

batmagadanleadoff May 10 2022 04:28 PM Re: Politics 2021

They should've voted for Hillary, warts and all, no matter how she got the nomination. She was running against Hitler and, as if that alone wasn't enough, there was a vacancy on an evenly split Supreme Court. But they didn't. Now they got what they deserve. The voters, for not voting the right way. And the party for, as usual, delivering basket-case messaging.The real battle was in 2016, not now. Now, they have to reckon with a 6-3 medieval Supreme Court that, since 2016, washed its hands of political gerrymandering and struck another massive blow to the Voting Rights Act. We are now in a world where extremist John Roberts is considered a moderately conservative SCOTUS justice. (Yeah, compared to all the other GOP appointed Attilla the Huns on that court).

batmagadanleadoff May 12 2022 01:06 PM Re: Politics 2021

The Senate Abortion Vote Had Too Many Layers of Kabuki Democracy to Excavate There's a black hole at the center of our galaxy, and a black hole at the center of our republic Excerpt: and even if they could've mustered enough votes to pass [an abortion rights bill], it would have been DOA at the Supreme Court just as soon as Mississippi or some other benighted locale could get it on the docket. So all the huffing and blowing and speechifying on Wednesday afternoon was pure performance because, once again, Senator Joe Manchin (D-Bituminous) ruled the universe.... Also, a note for those folks in the Elect More Democrats camp: be advised that any admirable effort to do so likely will result in the election of more Manchinite senators. Some of those prospective new Democratic senators would need to come from states even more conservative than West Virginia. Just sayin'.... Not to sound too despairing, but where is Schumer going to find nine or 10 additional Democratic senators to get to a filibuster-proof majority capable of getting anything done? For that matter, where is he going to find enough new senators to do something about the filibuster itself? https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39980336/senate-vote-codify-abortion-rights-kabuki/

Willets Point May 12 2022 02:24 PM Re: Politics 2021

Do-Nothing Democrats love the whole "Red States" mythology. A lot of these states have populations of Black, Latin, and Native peoples as well as long histories of populist labor action. Instead of organizing these people to vote in state and national elections the Dems just say "can't do anything there, it's Red State!" The people in these states who might vote Democrat feel ignored and abandoned BECAUSE THEY ARE which results in widespread apathy and a small number of people shifting to the welcoming arms of the Right (which ends up making a big difference in low turnout elections). Vermont was a "Red State" for generations until recently. Bernie Sanders' senate seat had been Republican for like 150 years before he took office and Patrick Leahy is the only Democratic senator in Vermont history. West Virginia and Vermont have a lot in common - rural, mountainous, dependent on declining traditional industries, mostly white with prominent pockets of non-white - so there's no reason that Democrats couldn't make inroads in West Virginia if they gave a fuck and actually tried. If it wasn't so necessary for Democrats to win to prevent the destruction of Democracy, I would love to watch their stupid ass party just die for good.

The Hot Corner May 12 2022 04:54 PM Re: Politics 2021

It's actually funny to me that West Virginia is now predominantly a republican state. When I was going to high school and college there, it was almost exclusively a Democrat state. We used to joke that a republican couldn't get elected dog catcher in WV. Jay Rockefeller was a Republican until he moved to WV and decided to run for public office. He switched to the Democratic party in 1966 and was promptly elected to the WV House of Delegates. He eventually was elected Gov. and finished his political career as a multi-termed Senator. Robert C. Byrd was Democrat Senator for 51 years and died in office or he would have almost assuredly been reelected again. The state historically voted Democrat in presidential elections (with a few exceptions), but 20-30 years ago the state electorate seemed to flip and now it primarily a Republican bastion.

batmagadanleadoff May 12 2022 05:19 PM Re: Politics 2021

The Hot Corner wrote: It's actually funny to me that West Virginia is now predominantly a republican state.... The state historically voted Democrat in presidential elections (with a few exceptions), but 20-30 years ago the state electorate seemed to flip and now it primarily a Republican bastion. It's the coal. Dems are blamed disproportionately for the severe decline of the WV coal industry. It's the Dem party itself, which is viewed more and more as extremely liberal and even inner citi-esh by WV standards. They relate to Dems less and less. And WV might have the least # of college grads per capita in the US, or close to it. And WV'inians that go on to get a college degree are likely to leave the state for a large metopolitan area, like many rural college grads do, because that's where the jobs are. College grads are a key component of the Dem base -- (for reasons that are probably too politically incorrect to say out loud so I'll leave it at that but it ain't the magna cum laude grads that are spreading QAnon gibberish if you know what I mean.)

Edgy MD May 17 2022 09:27 PM Re: Politics 2021

Congressman Cawthorn just got primaried.

Willets Point May 17 2022 10:01 PM Re: Politics 2021

Can't even imagine how much more evil the winning candidate of an insurrectionist primary must be.

MFS62 May 18 2022 05:43 AM Re: Politics 2021

Willets Point wrote: Can't even imagine how much more evil the winning candidate of an insurrectionist primary must be. We'll find out as soon as the campaigning for the election begins. And it scares the crap out of me. I hope my neighbors will be afraid of my space laser. Later

Lefty Specialist May 18 2022 06:56 AM Re: Politics 2022

Cawthorn was a douchey Republican asshole, who will be replaced by another douchey Republican asshole who'll have a lower profile and won't say as many dumb things. The Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano, is a true piece of work. Election denier, fervent anti-choicer, January 6th protester, and Trump fellater. Josh Shapiro got the opponent he wanted, now he better not screw it up or PA goes into the Dark Ages.

MFS62 May 19 2022 07:31 AM Re: Politics 2022

They care about the lives of babies - until they're born. After that, they don't care. The 9 GOP members of Congress who voted against a bill to expand access to baby formula. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/these-nine-republicans-voted-against-expanding-access-to-baby-formula/ar-AAXsrsF These mothas don't care about mothers. Later

TransMonk May 19 2022 09:42 AM Re: Politics 2022

You can't make this shit up... [TWEET]https://twitter.com/michaeldamianw/status/1527078137582047236[/TWEET]

Benjamin Grimm May 19 2022 09:57 AM Re: Politics 2022

Wow!

Johnny Lunchbucket May 19 2022 10:02 AM Re: Politics 2022

Is that really a "wow" or "significant?"? I get the irony but he corrected himself right away

Benjamin Grimm May 19 2022 10:07 AM Re: Politics 2022

I don't think it's at all indicative of his cognitive abilities (such as they are) but it's an interesting Freudian slip.

Willets Point May 19 2022 10:32 AM Re: Politics 2022

A Freudian bobsled, as one of my friends put it.

Fman99 May 19 2022 01:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

He corrected himself but then said "Iraq too" under his breath. Worth noticing, anyway.

Lefty Specialist May 19 2022 05:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

Looks like the January 6th committee has evidence of 'reconnaissance tours' given by Republican members on January 5th, a day that the Capitol was closed to visitors. This should be interesting.

Willets Point Jun 28 2022 01:32 PM Re: Politics 2022

Fascist proto-Trump governor responsible for poisoning thousands of people will not be held accountable in the latest legal win for the insurrectionist right.

Edgy MD Jul 07 2022 07:09 AM Re: Politics 2022

Boris Johnson resigns as UK prime minister after a comical run. Times reporting on the unlikely coincidence of FBI Director Comey and Deputy Director McCabe getting aggressively audited by the IRS.

Lefty Specialist Jul 07 2022 07:29 AM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: Boris Johnson resigns as UK prime minister after a comical run. Times reporting on the unlikely coincidence of FBI Director Comey and Deputy Director McCabe getting aggressively audited by the IRS. Lordy, I hope there are tapes.

Edgy MD Jul 07 2022 07:36 AM Re: Politics 2022

I'm a guess no. The IRS director is a Trump loyalist. Assuming these audits were about retribution, it's not the sort of thing that necessarily needs to get ordered from the top. It's possibly more of a stochastic thing. My boy is pissed, so let me see what I can do to hurt his enemies. When the executive is corrupt and openly vindictive, how much license for abuse does it give to lesser functionaries we will frequently never know about?

TransMonk Jul 07 2022 10:07 AM Re: Politics 2022

I read that the odds of just one of them getting the type of audit conducted were 1 in 30,000. Another institution that Trumpism fucked with by pursuing a blatantly petty and directed stunt. The slippery-slopes have become vertical.

Johnny Lunchbucket Jul 07 2022 06:21 PM Re: Politics 2022

Funny column using a calculator making the unlikely case in the wapo. The Boris thing, also interesting. If you agree, you gotta be watching BORGEN, the Danish political drama. There's a new season-- set 8 years ahead of its "cancelation" out NOW. Really well put together and all about party dynamics and the foreign idea here, that unpopular leaders be ejected from the party asneeded.

kcmets Jul 07 2022 07:01 PM Re: Politics 2022

=TransMonk post_id=98650 time=1657210020 user_id=71] I read that the odds of just one of them getting the type of audit conducted were 1 in 30,000.

The odds of them both getting that type of audit is 1 in many millions.

metsmarathon Jul 08 2022 10:26 AM Re: Politics 2022

900 million, to be exact.

Johnny Lunchbucket Jul 08 2022 10:38 AM Re: Politics 2022

/starts new thread/ "Boris Johnson Deserves His Own Tabloid Cover Derby" lol at some of these. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/leave-means-leave-what-the-papers-said-about-boris-johnsons-sort-of-resignation

whippoorwill Jul 08 2022 10:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

What does cock a hoop mean? Not googling that

kcmets Jul 08 2022 11:02 AM Re: Politics 2022

extremely and obviously pleased, especially about a triumph or success. "the team is cock-a-hoop at winning its first game of the season" --Oxford Languages

kcmets Jul 08 2022 11:07 AM Re: Politics 2022

=metsmarathon post_id=98806 time=1657297585 user_id=83] 900 million, to be exact.

Yeah, they rattled off some number on the morning news yesterday but I

don't remember it being that high. Doesn't matter, it's quite clear what was

going on...

MFS62 Jul 08 2022 11:44 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lauren Boebert's bio says her education is a GED. I'd like to see her transcript. Later

Fman99 Jul 08 2022 01:19 PM Re: Politics 2022

Good read here about the disgusting sycophants that make up the current face of the GOP's bootlicker wing.

MFS62 Jul 08 2022 02:14 PM Re: Politics 2022

Good read here about the disgusting sycophants that make up the current face of the GOP's bootlicker wing. A real good read with some memorable lines. Thanks. Later

MFS62 Jul 30 2022 06:17 AM Re: Politics 2022

These evil bastards need to be ousted: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-steve-daines-fist-bump-blocking-burn-pit-veterans_n_62e4b68ae4b0c60a5668673d Callous GOP Senators fist-bumped after they blocked a bill giving aid to cancer-stricken veterans. Later

Lefty Specialist Jul 30 2022 09:37 AM Re: Politics 2022

'Cuz they're pissed that Joe Manchin actually cut a secret deal with Chuck Schumer on reconciliation, giving Democrats a lot of what they wanted on taxes, healthcare and climate. He'd 'blown up' the talks and McConnell took the bait, allowing a vote on the CHIPS legislation that everybody wanted anyway. Then literally an hour later Schumer announces the deal that addresses a lot of Democratic priorities (and is broadly popular with the American people). Republicans, completely sandbagged, filibuster the nearest thing they can find, which is benefits for veterans harmed by toxic burn pits. Not a good look when you pretend to 'support the troops'. Now Manchin has made U-turns before, but I have to admit I didn't see this one coming at all. And best of all, neither did Moscow Mitch.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 30 2022 09:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Now Manchin has made U-turns before, but I have to admit I didn't see this one coming at all. And best of all, neither did Moscow Mitch. Nobody that wasn't on the inside saw that move coming.

MFS62 Jul 30 2022 10:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

Unfortunate that those fucks live in safe districts, because even if their opponent shows an ad saying "These guys voted against veterans with cancer" it wouldn't matter to the voters there. And, it isn't even close to being the most reprehensible thing Ted Cruz has ever done. Later

whippoorwill Jul 30 2022 11:02 AM Re: Politics 2022

Yeah we have a local billboard with a picture of Biden and the PA Democratic candidate for Governor (I forget his name) with moronic expressions giving a thumbs up for full term abortions Makes my head explode but I'm sure there are local morons who believe it

Lefty Specialist Aug 03 2022 05:19 AM Re: Politics 2022

Speaking of abortion, Kansas just voted 60-40 to keep it legal. Yes, blood-red Kansas. Democrats, you have your issue. Pound Republicans over the head with it. Because if it's a winner in Kansas, it's a winner pretty much anywhere.

Frayed Knot Aug 03 2022 07:01 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Speaking of abortion, Kansas just voted 60-40 to keep it legal. Yes, blood-red Kansas. Democrats, you have your issue. Pound Republicans over the head with it. Because if it's a winner in Kansas, it's a winner pretty much anywhere. This is what the pro-choice crowd should have been doing for the last 50 years, both at the state level and nationally! R-v-W was always on shaky legal ground as more than a few of its proponents will admit. So in the half century since, the Democrats have had majorities in both the House and the Senate for the majority of that time while polls have consistently shown that public opinion favors legalization as well, not overwhelmingly and not without restrictions (R-v-W didn't guarantee that either) but in sufficient numbers so as to keep the procedure from being criminalized. And yet for five decades they did little or nothing as if the concept that a right which was bestowed on them by an unelected nine-person panel could also be taken away by a different version of that unelected nine-person panel had never occurred to them or that such a move was somehow rendered impossible by hoping real hard that it would never actually happen. The irony is that I think large portions of the pro-choice movement Intentionally wanted to keep the issue out of the legislature(s) despite the likelihood of at least moderate success because - a) they knew they couldn't win everywhere or on all accounts so preferred the safety of the blanket protection (not that R-v-W was a total win either) - b) it would force all candidates to declare themselves to be pro or con (as opposed to hiding behind "it's settled law" as a way of not answering a direct question) and declaring yourself inevitably pisses some people off which politicians don't like to do. Voting on 'Saving Sunshine' acts doesn't piss people off, it's why that one passed the Senate unanimously. - c) many preferred to try and nationalize elections by telling voters that the only way to keep abortion legal was to vote for their guy for President so he nominate pro-choice justices, thus spreading the fiction that no one but the Supremes had any say on this topic. Well, hell, it was only a half century of wasted opportunity and that top-down strategy turned out to be not quite as foolproof as you thought. Instead, we get to just now start having debates on this stuff and it comes at a time when you have to play from behind in some cases.

MFS62 Aug 03 2022 07:39 AM Re: Politics 2022

Another issue to be pounded on is the PACT Act that provided health care for veterans and the Republicans who initially voted against it until they were too embarrassed to do it again. All GOP candidates should have "anti-veteran party" stapled to every poster and leaflet with their names on it. Bless you, Jon Stewart or your very vocal support for the bill. He said, “If this is America first, then America is fucked.” Now let's do something for homeless and jobless vets. Later

metsmarathon Aug 03 2022 07:57 AM Re: Politics 2022

republicans voting against things they claim to believe in and/or support for pure political expediency is a thing that should be hammered hard. show they have no moral compass, instead theirs seeks out power. demonstrate why that is bad. show why the alternative is better. and stop, for the love of god, propping up maga shitheads in primaries against more moderate republicans. or, y'know, you lose the right to the above.

Willets Point Aug 03 2022 08:38 AM Re: Politics 2022

The DNC putting resources into the Pied Piper Campaign to help Trump win the GOP nomination (while simultaneously denying resources to Bernie Sanders) and then losing to Trump should've taught Democrats not to do that kind of shit. But somehow they still think of themselves as the geniuses who know how to win.

Ceetar Aug 03 2022 08:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: The DNC putting resources into the Pied Piper Campaign to help Trump win the GOP nomination (while simultaneously denying resources to Bernie Sanders) and then losing to Trump should've taught Democrats not to do that kind of shit. But somehow they still think of themselves as the geniuses who know how to win. see, but the thing is, it's win-win for them. If they lose, then they get to fundraise and get more money so they can win next time, because they've set it up so they're the only sane choice. AND if they lose to a fascist, they get to play the "we can't nominate a progressive, because we need people that are closer to the fascists, look how many voted for him!" card.

Lefty Specialist Aug 04 2022 07:59 AM Re: Politics 2022

Roe v. Wade was settled law until 3 Trumpist judges were wedged onto the court. There wasn't a need for state action to protect abortion because it was protected. New Jersey only legislatively protected it in the past few months, when the demise of Roe became obvious. The problem with state's rights here is that you can't have a procedure that is perfectly legal in one state and is considered murder in another. That's a dichotomy that can't stand. Casey said states could impose restrictions, but not ban it outright. So states went to great lengths to de facto ban it through arcane rules that made it impossible for clinics to operate, but the essential right to an abortion technically still existed. Republicans had the best of both worlds; they could run against and restrict abortion without having to face the true consequences. Dobbs threw all of that out. Now Republicans are the dog that caught the car. And guess what? Women are really pissed that their right to reproductive autonomy has been snatched away after 50 years. If the Kansas vote told the GOP anything, it's that they need to run away from the arortion issue because it's a loser. But too many of them were doing end-zone touchdown dances when the decision came down and they're going to pay it. Wisconsin and North Carolina just became a lot easier to flip in the Senate, because there are a lot of pissed suburban womwn in those states, some of them nominally Republican. It's also a big help in holding the House, though that'll still be a heavy lift. Meanwhile the far right wants the ultimate goal of a nationwide ban. That's what's on the ballot in November; and as the Republican party becomes more extremist (look at some of the candidates they're running), that becomes more and more likely if they ever gain full power. And since Clarence Thomas spoke the quiet part out loud, banning contraception and gay marriage are on their radar too. As for helping your opposition party's more 'beatable' candidates, that always worries me. It only take one failure to create disaster.

Frayed Knot Aug 04 2022 11:09 AM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Aug 04 2022 02:51 PM

Lefty Specialist wrote: Roe v. Wade was settled law until 3 Trumpist judges were wedged onto the court. There wasn't a need for state action to protect abortion because it was protected. New Jersey only legislatively protected it in the past few months, when the demise of Roe became obvious. "Separate but equal" was 'settled law' too until Brown v Board of Ed trumped Plessy v Ferguson. That took about a half century as well. My point was that by acting as if R-v-W never would, because it never could, be overturned was bad strategy and once it did get flipped the pro-choice side suddenly found itself having to play catch-up. Plus, by essentially (and often purposely IMO) keeping it out of the legislative branch entirely, they helped to remove the incentive for voters to consider a candidate's views on abortion because they kept harping on how that right was 'safely settled' and how any decision about it lay solely within the purview of the high court and no one else. Lawmakers, IOW, had no power to make, y'know, laws on the topic, a particularly dumb strategy when you've got a majority of the electorate on your side and lots of time to get candidates who echo that view into office. As for helping your opposition party's more 'beatable' candidates, that always worries me. It only take one failure to create disaster. It created in Michigan this past week (and maybe in other locales as well) the irony where Dem money was used to help defeat, in a Repub primary, one of the few R's who actually voted to impeach Trump. Is (possibly) gaining one extra Congressional seat really worth the risk of turning the opposition even further to the extreme if you're wrong? Maybe, but it's a risky as hell bet and stories of parties getting exactly the opposition candidate they most wanted to run against only to wind up on the losing end are not exactly scarce.

seawolf17 Aug 04 2022 12:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

Frayed Knot wrote: stories of parties getting exactly the opposition candidate they most wanted to run against only to wind up on the losing end are not exactly scarce. Exhibit A: the 2016 presidential election.

Ceetar Aug 04 2022 12:15 PM Re: Politics 2022

Because for some reason the Democrats still are trying to woo the oxymoron of a 'reasonable republican' to vote for them instead of the crazy person instead of wooing the vast swath of voters that see _them_ as basically the "reasonable republican" and get turned off from voting entirely.

Lefty Specialist Aug 05 2022 02:58 PM Re: Politics 2022

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen Hell of a week for Biden: -528k July jobs added -Unemployment at 3.5% (50-year low) -Zawahiri killed -CHIPS Act passes -PACT Act passes -Inflation Reduction Act deal -Gas hits 50+ day low (median US price below $4/gal) -Kansas protects abortion And he oversaw it all with COVID. 11:07 AM · Aug 5, 2022·Twitter Web App

MFS62 Aug 05 2022 03:04 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen Hell of a week for Biden: -528k July jobs added -Unemployment at 3.5% (50-year low) -Zawahiri killed -CHIPS Act passes -PACT Act passes -Inflation Reduction Act deal -Gas hits 50+ day low (median US price below $4/gal) -Kansas protects abortion And he oversaw it all with COVID. 11:07 AM · Aug 5, 2022·Twitter Web App (FOX NEWS) Hunter Biden.. Later

ashie62 Aug 07 2022 01:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

And the climate bill passes at this moment. I like it. Inflation Reduction Act. A bit disingenuous in tittle lol.

MFS62 Aug 07 2022 04:26 PM Re: Politics 2022

They dropped drug prices for people on Medicare, but did nothing about putting a cap on the price of Insulin or expanding Medicaid coverage. But it will help. Later

MFS62 Aug 08 2022 05:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

The Mar-a-Lago home of a certain ex- president is being raided by the FBI. Nick Visser Huf Post Mon, August 8, 2022 at 7:09 PM The FBI raided former President Donald Trump's Florida resort and home, Mar-A-Lago, he said Monday night. “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in a statement. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.” This is a developing story, check back for updates. OE: Politico also reporting it: Later

kcmets Aug 08 2022 05:52 PM Re: Politics 2022

The only stories I could quickly find are all 'Trump says' stories so we'll have to wait and see if it's true or he's stirring the pot with more lies.

Lefty Specialist Aug 08 2022 06:43 PM Re: Politics 2022

=MFS62 post_id=102822 time=1659911164 user_id=60] They dropped drug prices for people on Medicare, but did nothing about putting a cap on the price of Insulin or expanding Medicaid coverage. But it will help. Later

Don't blame Democrats. They had it but Republicans filibustered it.

Lefty Specialist Aug 08 2022 06:50 PM Re: Politics 2022

They're raiding Merde-a-Lago because of the 15 boxes of documents he stole from the White House, not anything J6 related, apparently. Small beans, relatively speaking.

Frayed Knot Aug 08 2022 07:16 PM Re: Politics 2022

“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents, ... Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.” There's a reason for that, genius.

MFS62 Aug 08 2022 07:25 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: They're raiding Merde-a-Lago because of the 15 boxes of documents he stole from the White House, not anything J6 related, apparently. Small beans, relatively speaking. Maybe they got a tip that the pee tapes are in the safe. Later

Edgy MD Aug 08 2022 08:27 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: They're raiding Merde-a-Lago because of the 15 boxes of documents he stole from the White House, not anything J6 related, apparently. Small beans, relatively speaking. I'll take it. It's pretty extraordinary. And I don't think it can be said with any degree of certainty that January 6 evidence isn't in those boxes.

ashie62 Aug 09 2022 01:51 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yes it is and intrudes on Biden's victory lap at this time. If there is no there ",there" it is a damaging reach.

whippoorwill Aug 09 2022 01:57 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: They're raiding Merde-a-Lago because of the 15 boxes of documents he stole from the White House, not anything J6 related, apparently. Small beans, relatively speaking. Maybe they got a tip that the pee tapes are in the safe. Later Pee tapes?

Ceetar Aug 09 2022 02:01 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yes it is and intrudes on Biden's victory lap at this time. If there is no there ",there" it is a damaging reach. there is a there there. The existence of the files is the crux here, not what might or might not be in them. It's not a damaging reach, whatever that means. I don't think there will be much more to this story, as the whole point is they're _classified_ documents right? They're not gonna be like "TFG illegally took classified docs, that's a security risk, but now we're gonna just tell you all about them."

Benjamin Grimm Aug 09 2022 02:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: They're raiding Merde-a-Lago because of the 15 boxes of documents he stole from the White House, not anything J6 related, apparently. Small beans, relatively speaking. Maybe they got a tip that the pee tapes are in the safe. Later Pee tapes? You haven't heard the story about Trump and the Russian hookers? He allegedly paid them to pee on a bed that Barack and Michelle Obama had slept in a Moscow hotel. (Or something along those lines.) There have been stories (or perhaps just hopes) that there's video of this.

MFS62 Aug 09 2022 02:15 PM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: =whippoorwill post_id=103156 time=1660075048 user_id=79] =MFS62 post_id=103031 time=1660008355 user_id=60] Maybe they got a tip that the pee tapes are in the safe. Later Pee tapes?

You haven't heard the story about Trump and the Russian hookers? He allegedly paid them to pee on a bed that Barack and Michelle Obama had slept in a Moscow hotel. (Or something along those lines.) There have been stories (or perhaps just hopes) that there's video of this.

And one version of the original story (hope?) was that Putin had the tapes and was using them to blackmail Trump into doing pro-Russian things/decisions.

Later

batmagadanleadoff Aug 09 2022 02:18 PM Re: Politics 2022

Paying hookers to pee on a bed because the Obamas once slept on it is supposed to shame him? I don't see that. If he paid them to pee on himself, that'd be another thing.

MFS62 Aug 09 2022 02:22 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=103164 time=1660076337 user_id=68] Paying hookers to pee on a bed because the Obamas once slept on it is supposed to shame him? I don't see that. If he paid them to pee on himself, that'd be another thing.

That (peeing on him) was the version of the story that I heard.

Later

Benjamin Grimm Aug 09 2022 02:44 PM Re: Politics 2022

I guess he may have been in the bed too. I don't know. I wasn't there. (Really!)

Edgy MD Aug 09 2022 02:54 PM Re: Politics 2022

I wouldn't expect pee tapes are what the FBI is after. And I wouldn't hope, either.

Ceetar Aug 09 2022 03:31 PM Re: Politics 2022

=MFS62 post_id=103163 time=1660076145 user_id=60] And one version of the original story (hope?) was that Putin had the tapes and was using them to blackmail Trump into doing pro-Russian things/decisions. Later

That was always the most far-fetched version. TFG is doing whatever Putin wants because it is/was mutually beneficial. power/money. That and young women/girls/daughters are pretty much the only three things he cares about besides Big Macs.

whippoorwill Aug 09 2022 04:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yes I guess I remember this. There is just too much to keep track of. Yet another thing his righteous followers choose to ignore. I want him gone

Ceetar Aug 09 2022 04:15 PM Re: Politics 2022

he doesn't have any righteous followers. voting republican and being righteous are mutually exclusive at this point.

metsmarathon Aug 25 2022 06:42 AM Re: Politics 2022

while on the one hand, forigving student loan debt is a wonderful move, a necessary move for lots of young people out there, i worry that it will be disastrous for the democrats. here's why. it does nothing to help blue collar workers. blue collar workers who, one could argue, made the wise choice to pursue a trade instead of saddling themselves with student loan debt for an essentially meaningless degree. these are the exact people who the republicans have been grooming for years, and who the democrats need desperately to make inroads with. and they will be the most put off by this debt forgiveness plan. they, rightfully or not, are the constituency most turned off by [airquotes]government handouts to entitled brats[/airquotes] and could have a legitimate argument that maybe they shouldn't be footing the bill for timmy and janet to have spent four years drinking at out of state frat parties in exchange for a piece of paper that won't help them get a job, while they themselves put in the hard, dirty work to build skills and a career. the biden administration should have found a way, and now _must_ find a way, to show solidarity towards those who went a different, more conservative career path - and show that they are the party of all americans, and not just for whiny college kids who just want to play video games and live in their parents' basement for free. yes, for a generation or two, we fucked over our kids by directing too many of them to colleges for too much money, and the false promise of future riches in fields with low salaries and lower demand. and this is a step in the right direction toward fixing that. but we must find a way to fit the trades under that umbrella as well. to help those who chose, instead of building debt, to go paycheck-to-paycheck and stay out of debt. It also does little to help those college educated folks who, averse to adding on student debt, worked their asses off during college to avoid needing the loans in the first place. many of them surely feel that they are now paying for college twice.

whippoorwill Aug 25 2022 06:59 AM Re: Politics 2022

It's going to help me. I'm helping my so pay off his losns

metsmarathon Aug 25 2022 08:01 AM Re: Politics 2022

it does nothing for me, currently. my loans are long paid off. i'm glad it's helping you. i'm hopeful it will help me eventually, if only to get insane college costs down for my kids. mostly, my point is, i wish it could help more people, and also be more helpful to democrats at the same time. i fear that while helping a lot of people, those people who are pointedly not being helped by this may end up voting (continuing to vote) in such a way as is hurtful to most people.

kcmets Aug 25 2022 08:45 AM Re: Politics 2022

The anti-Brandon crowd are working triple time on the war drums with this. Seems they are more emboldened on a weekly basis lately.

cal sharpie Aug 25 2022 08:51 AM Re: Politics 2022

The forgiving student loan debt was a big deal for lotta young people voting for Biden and who got disillusioned when he didn't make it a priority. I think the voting positives outweigh the negatives.

TransMonk Aug 25 2022 08:59 AM Re: Politics 2022

The anti-Brandon crowd are working triple time on the war drums with this. Seems they are more emboldened on a weekly basis lately. The "anti-Brandon crowd" doesn't have any actual ideology other than being anti-Brandon, so by definition they feel emboldened by anything he does.

kcmets Aug 25 2022 09:02 AM Re: Politics 2022

It's getting worse, much worse. Weekly.

metsmarathon Aug 25 2022 09:06 AM Re: Politics 2022

yeah, this needed to be done, and i'm glad it was. more needs to be done for those who were also impacted by the high cost of college, but were impacted in a different direction. the strictly anti-brandon crowd is terrible. the problem is, some people hear them, and listen, and can be, and have been, swayed if they're not paying close enough attention, or stuck in an echo chamber.

Edgy MD Aug 25 2022 09:27 AM Re: Politics 2022

The anti-Brandon crowd are working triple time on the war drums with this. Seems they are more emboldened on a weekly basis lately. The "anti-Brandon crowd" doesn't have any actual ideology other than being anti-Brandon, so by definition they feel emboldened by anything he does. Or doesn't do. But some things gain traction better 'n' others.

cal sharpie Aug 25 2022 09:55 AM Re: Politics 2022

I was on the road a couple of weeks ago driving through a little bit of West Virginia and by the side of the highway was a fireworks stand with a ginormous "Fuck Joe Biden" flag, visible for miles. I wonder how that is okay even in West Virginia.

batmagadanleadoff Aug 25 2022 10:45 AM Re: Politics 2022

cal sharpie wrote: I was on the road a couple of weeks ago driving through a little bit of West Virginia and by the side of the highway was a fireworks stand with a ginormous "Fuck Joe Biden" flag, visible for miles. I wonder how that is okay even in West Virginia. I don't get this. West Virginia is one of the reddest states in the USA. If not West Virginia, then where? (Besides the fact that that could happen anywhere - even in San Francisco or Brooklyn Heights. It takes just one person).

metsmarathon Aug 25 2022 11:15 AM Re: Politics 2022

gotta love the trumpers. they (pretend to) get all pearl-clutchy when you want to teach kids the actual true names of their body parts, but wave the word FUCK around like it ain't no thing. Also, an overwhelming majority of them hang a pair of visible testicles from their vehicular penises, for anyone to see, but THAT's not ripping away some kid's supposed innocence?!

kcmets Aug 25 2022 12:02 PM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 25 2022 12:48 PM

I'll revisit my fears of the weekly emboldening when they start assassinating 'uppiity libtards.' Burning down stuff, blowing shit up. It might happen. It could happen. It might could happen if may borrow some regional dialect.

Frayed Knot Aug 25 2022 12:25 PM Re: Politics 2022

I just want to be able to vote the current Finnish PM into some office over on this side. Not a 'natural born' citizen (or even a citizen for that matter) so it can't be for President. But she looks hot, speaks perfect and barely accented English, and apparently parties hard so I'm not really picky as to the specific office. Also, unlike most of the possible candidates in '24, she's not either already, nor is she on the verge of being, an octogenarian. She's 36. Sign me up.

kcmets Aug 25 2022 12:47 PM Re: Politics 2022

=kcmets post_id=105300 time=1661450534 user_id=53] I'll revisit my fears of the weekly emboldening when they start assassinating 'uppiity libtards.' Burning down stuff, blowing shit up. It might happen. It could happen. It might could happen if may borrow some regional dialect.

kcmets Aug 25 2022 12:51 PM Re: Politics 2022

Is that Sanna Fin that did some soft porn about fifteen years ago? (or am I just wishing I could find some)

Frayed Knot Aug 25 2022 01:06 PM Re: Politics 2022

[FIMG=500]https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/1bd4f/41925805.ece/AUTOCROP/w1240h700/SN%20PM%202[/FIMG]

kcmets Aug 25 2022 01:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

Koskenkorva!

metsmarathon Aug 26 2022 09:10 AM Re: Politics 2022

it occurs to me that anyone complaining about the debt relief being offered for student loans probably shouldn't be so enthusiastic in their voting for a businessman whose principal business activity is repeatedly filing for bankruptcy.

MFS62 Aug 26 2022 03:43 PM Re: Politics 2022

Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene is just jealous of the people who got college tuition loan forgiveness because she only (I'll bet barely) got a G.E.D. Later

Edgy MD Aug 26 2022 06:17 PM Re: Politics 2022

She graduated from the University of Georgia. I imagine her only jealousy might be jealousy of anybody getting attention besides her.

MFS62 Aug 26 2022 06:29 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: She graduated from the University of Georgia. I imagine her only jealousy might be jealousy of anybody getting attention besides her. Right. I was thinking of Lauren Boebert: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Boebert Born Lauren Opal Roberts December 19, 1986 (age 35) Altamonte Springs, Florida, U.S. Political party Republican (since 2008) Other political affiliations Democratic (2006–2008) Spouse(s) Jayson Boebert ​(m. 2007)​[1] Children 4 Education Rifle High School (Did not graduate); GED Later

Willets Point Aug 30 2022 09:17 AM Re: Politics 2022

It's outrageous that Joe Biden referred to the Trump Republicanism as "semi-fascism." There's nothing "semi" about it.

Ceetar Aug 30 2022 09:24 AM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: It's outrageous that Joe Biden referred to the Trump Republicanism as "semi-fascism." There's nothing "semi" about it. Exactly. I'm glad he and some other Democrats are finally on board with actively calling out some of this stuff, but like, Florida, via one of the leading potential presidential candidates, explicitly told people they could vote and then arrested them for voting to make a narrative point about stolen elections. Pretty full-on fascist to me.

Lefty Specialist Aug 30 2022 11:40 AM Re: Politics 2022

DeSantis is the Fascism without the semi-.

Willets Point Aug 30 2022 11:45 AM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: It's outrageous that Joe Biden referred to the Trump Republicanism as "semi-fascism." There's nothing "semi" about it. Exactly. I'm glad he and some other Democrats are finally on board with actively calling out some of this stuff, but like, Florida, via one of the leading potential presidential candidates, explicitly told people they could vote and then arrested them for voting to make a narrative point about stolen elections. Pretty full-on fascist to me. For a guy who thinks there should be a strong Republican party, misses hanging out with segregationists, and compliments Mitch McConnell, it's a bold step but as with many things he could go much farther.

Willets Point Sep 01 2022 08:43 AM Re: Politics 2022

Democrat and Native Alaskan Mary Peltola wins the special election and becomes the 5th person in history of Alaska to serve as a member of the House of Representatives. Her predecessor Don Young died in March after holding the seat for 49 years starting 8 months before I was even born. He had only the 6th longest tenure in the history of the House, 10 years behind John Dingell's 59 years, 21 days, but he was the longest-serving Republican.

nymr83 Sep 01 2022 09:32 AM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: Democrat and Native Alaskan Mary Peltola wins the special election and becomes the 5th person in history of Alaska to serve as a member of the House of Representatives. Her predecessor Don Young died in March after holding the seat for 49 years starting 8 months before I was even born. He had only the 6th longest tenure in the history of the House, 10 years behind John Dingell's 59 years, 21 days, but he was the longest-serving Republican. I read somewhere that yesterday was Peltola's birthday and she was born the same year Don Young was first elected to the House! Also she beat Palin! Fuck Palin!

kcmets Sep 01 2022 09:43 AM Re: Politics 2022

[QUOTE="Sarah Palin"]This election was rigged, stop the steal! Where's my AK-47...[/QUOTE]

nymr83 Sep 01 2022 11:53 AM Re: Politics 2022

[QUOTE="Sarah Palin"]This election was rigged, stop the steal! Where's my AK-47...[/QUOTE] "The Russians did it! I see them from my house!"

kcmets Sep 01 2022 01:12 PM Re: Politics 2022

I need to stop watching the news... [QUOTE="MSNBC"]Trump Lawyers Liken Docs to Overdue Library Books[/QUOTE]

MFS62 Sep 03 2022 11:53 AM Re: Politics 2022

LOCK HER UP! No. I mean Ginni Thomas. (wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas) She tried to have the election results nullified in two states. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/ginni-thomas-overturn-2020-election-wisconsin/index.html If any cases involving the Jan 6th insurrection or the election come before the court, he must recuse himself.(but he won't) Later

Lefty Specialist Sep 05 2022 07:20 AM Re: Politics 2022

So Joe Biden makes a speech about defending democracy from extremists. Republicans go ballistic, kinda proving his point. But this is a speech Biden could have given any time in the last 20 months. He gave it now because a) he's got some accomplishments to trumpet, b) he's using it to define the midterms, and c) he wanted to rile up Trump. Trump took the bait and gave a two-hour unhinged rant 48 hours later, making this election all about HIM. Not inlation or crime or hordes of Mexicans, which is where Republicans want to have it. If the midterms are about Trump, Democrats are going to do really well. They're already fired up about women's freedom, and Trump turns off a small but significant slice of Republicans. So prease proceed, Cheeto Benito.

Ceetar Sep 05 2022 07:29 AM Re: Politics 2022

The democrats have seemingly at least done okay the last month or so really pushing both actual governing stuff and rhetoric, that seems _good_. It's nice to see, even if feels very midterm related. An optimist might say if they can swing a real majority in the senate as a result, then they'll be able to step it up and make real change.. but I Don't know why we'd expect a bunch of basically conservatives to really govern this country in the direction it needs to go with any oomph. case in point is Biden's recent dangerous increase to police budgets as part of his "safer America plan" which is playing off the same lie about increased crime that republicans use. Sure, it works politically because if they're addressing the lie, then it's harder for republicans to use it as a campaign topic, but it doesn't actually make the people that are _actually_ in danger safer, and it'd be nice if that was the priority.

Edgy MD Sep 16 2022 09:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

Hard question — does this repulsive practice of flying migrants to other states as a political ploy qualify as human trafficking? I mean, it certainly meets my definition, but can it be understood to meet a legal one?

Ceetar Sep 16 2022 09:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

no, they're powerful white men. rules and laws don't apply.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 16 2022 09:41 PM Re: Politics 2022

I wonder how DeSantis would react if this winter, Massachusetts shipped a couple of hundred homeless white people to Florida.

DocTee Sep 17 2022 04:41 AM Re: Politics 2022

In a total badass power move, Massachusetts has sent a busload of BOOKS to Florida. Lol

Edgy MD Sep 17 2022 08:29 AM Re: Politics 2022

I apply rules and laws to powerful white men.

whippoorwill Sep 17 2022 11:27 AM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: Hard question — does this repulsive practice of flying migrants to other states as a political ploy qualify as human trafficking? I mean, it certainly meets my definition, but can it be understood to meet a legal one? What's the diff? The government does what it wants and gets away with it.

Edgy MD Sep 17 2022 11:37 AM Re: Politics 2022

Well, from where I sit, the governor of Florida isn't the government. And when unjust and illegal actions are undertaken by government figures at various levels, I oppose that. I refuse to be resigned. And I don't think a busload of books being sent to Florida advances anything.

MFS62 Sep 17 2022 11:40 AM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: Hard question — does this repulsive practice of flying migrants to other states as a political ploy qualify as human trafficking? I mean, it certainly meets my definition, but can it be understood to meet a legal one? The Governor of California called it kidnapping in a speech the other day. And I think transporting people (across state lines makes it Federal) fits that definition. Trafficking (I believe) involves selling people. Kidnapping is just moving them there. Later

Benjamin Grimm Sep 17 2022 11:55 AM Re: Politics 2022

Do we know whether or not they had the chance to opt out? Were they press-ganged, or recruited? It sounds like it was something in between. They weren't forced onto the plane; they were coerced with a lie. This from the thriving New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/migrants-marthas-vineyard.html Migrants shipped to this elite vacation island by Florida's Republican governor said on Friday that they had been misled about where they were being taken, prompting immigration lawyers to promise legal action as the group of Venezuelans were relocated temporarily to a federal military base. “They were told, ‘You have a hearing in San Antonio, but don't worry, we'll take you to Boston,'” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston. He said dozens of the migrants had told his team they only had been informed midair that they were going to land in tony Martha's Vineyard rather than Boston. “They were also told there would be employment opportunities and immigration relief available to them if they boarded the plane,” Mr. Espinoza-Madrigal said. “That's not only state interference with federal immigration matters, it's also a violation of our clients' civil rights.”

metsmarathon Sep 17 2022 12:47 PM Re: Politics 2022

it's so fucking disgusting, and antithetical to anything jesus fucking christ might ever have said.

Ceetar Sep 17 2022 01:06 PM Re: Politics 2022

I think it's worth noting that if the status quo, even before TFG, wasn't cruelty and obfuscation, if we had a welcoming, clear, quick and comprehensive process for welcoming people, it'd be a lot harder to trick them into things like this. Of course, manipulation is the point. Read the last sentence of what Grimm quoted from the times. "employment opportunities and immigration relief". These are things we make really tough on them to begin with. So that carrot is HUGE. Give them a monthly stipend, a place to live. AS PART OF THE PROCESS, and no one's getting on a random plane under false pretensions.

Edgy MD Sep 17 2022 01:19 PM Re: Politics 2022

Benjamin Grimm wrote: They weren't forced onto the plane; they were coerced with a lie. Which is exactly what human traffickers do.

Fman99 Sep 17 2022 03:51 PM Re: Politics 2022

I don't have words for how disgusting and cruel it is.

MFS62 Sep 24 2022 12:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

Scenes from his rally last night are scary. The Q influence is showing itself more and more in both the music and the one hand salute of his followers. But I would give him a different finger... and a long prison term. Later

Willets Point Sep 26 2022 10:57 AM Re: Politics 2022

Italy's first far right government since World War II does not sound good at all.

Ceetar Sep 26 2022 11:49 AM Re: Politics 2022

I have yet to hear of ANY 'right' government sounding good, so that tracks.

Edgy MD Sep 26 2022 02:24 PM Re: Politics 2022

Willets Point wrote: Italy's first far right government since World War II does not sound good at all. Oh, they've had far-right governments. This is just their farthest-right. As far as suicidal political cultures go, Italy has the advantage over the United States of not being armed to the teeth, but that's about it.

Willets Point Sep 26 2022 02:28 PM Re: Politics 2022

I couldn't fathom a country where so many people could be deluded by someone like Berlusconi, but then Trump happened to us.

Ceetar Sep 26 2022 03:35 PM Re: Politics 2022

...and Bush, and Bush..and Reagan..

whippoorwill Oct 03 2022 01:57 PM Re: Politics 2022

Well crap there goes the pole dancing classes in public school if Mastriano gets elected in PA

Edgy MD Oct 03 2022 02:07 PM Re: Politics 2022

The only thing that could've possibly stopped me from pole dancing in school would have been a ban on poles.

Ceetar Oct 03 2022 02:35 PM Re: Politics 2022

Not only are the republicans racist and misogynistic as a platform, (and dog killers, in Oz's case) they're also great at getting themselves killed to own the libs: tl:dr Lots more republicans than democrats are dying above/beyond the expected rates since roughly spring 2021. [TWEET]https://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1576916442229837824[/TWEET]

whippoorwill Oct 03 2022 03:25 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: The only thing that could've possibly stopped me from pole dancing in school would have been a ban on poles. I don't recall having that as a class option But I don't remember much about grammar school

Edgy MD Oct 06 2022 04:47 PM Re: Politics 2022

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse is expected to resign following the midterms in order to take over as president of the University of Florida. Sasse is one of the seven Republican senators who voted to remove President Trump in his second impeachment trial, and has been a continuing critic in since the ex-president officially became a candidate in 2015. In the past, a college presidency was a job that a presidential aspirant might take on while preparing to run for the presidency two, four, or six years down the road, allowing the would-be candidate to get executive experience without having to face voters or campaign, staying sharp and relevant at the same time. In latter days, such characters would tend to join think tanks or mega-law firms while biding their time, allowing them to take a big salary to get their names on the letterhead, and bump elbows with money folks. I don't know if Sasse is playing that old game, but it's notable that he was a college president before becoming joining the Senate.

ashie62 Oct 26 2022 05:10 PM Re: Politics 2022

The democrats are putting all of their eggs in one basket hoping the issue of abortion brings voters to the polls The other side can run on inflation, crime, border security for starters No contest, even Oz wins

Edgy MD Oct 26 2022 05:32 PM Re: Politics 2022

I'm certain that it'll be a contest. And I'm certain that many Democrats are running on other issues.

Ceetar Oct 26 2022 06:08 PM Re: Politics 2022

=ashie62 post_id=111993 time=1666825812 user_id=90] The democrats are putting all of their eggs in one basket hoping the issue of abortion brings voters to the polls The other side can run on inflation, crime, border security for starters No contest, even Oz wins

you mistyped Body Autonomy vs. Racism

kcmets Oct 27 2022 11:03 AM Re: Politics 2022

Hershel Walker: "I didn't kill JFK either." Good to know...

ashie62 Oct 27 2022 02:13 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: I'm certain that it'll be a contest. And I'm certain that many Democrats are running on other issues. I disagree I haven't seen any Democratic advertising that doesn't lead and end with abortion This "narrowness" of message, at least in these parts, is not likely to be the winning narrative for Dems on tuesday

Ceetar Oct 27 2022 02:35 PM Re: Politics 2022

overwhelming majority of americans support abortion, and you don't think running a "we're against forced birth" message is a winning one?

Edgy MD Oct 27 2022 02:38 PM Re: Politics 2022

How many Democratic messages would you like me to find? Here are the last three tweets from my Congressional representative. Two are about health care, but not about abortion, and the third is about international relations. [TWEET]https://twitter.com/RepKweisiMfume/status/1585617317840400385[/TWEET] [TWEET]https://twitter.com/RepKweisiMfume/status/1585333366744043520[/TWEET] [TWEET]https://twitter.com/RepKweisiMfume/status/1584983565174874112[/TWEET] To the extent that the race can be declared "not a contest," it's not in the way you describe, as Congressmember Mfume is outpolling his opponent by 50 points. People will compete, people will win, people will lose.

Frayed Knot Oct 27 2022 02:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

There was a NYT article a week or so back about how, after authorizing ~$2 Trillion spending in order to "fix" the economy, it's currently tough to find a Democrat, particularly one that's running, who wants to talk about it. So, yeah, that removes one topic off the table. That they want to talk abortion is understandable since, as the vote earlier in the year in Kansas shows, even in red-run states the general populace tends to lean blue on that issue. The only problem is that they wasted about a half century acting as if it was never a legislative issue in the first place so are now trying to play catch up in an election where the economy is going to overshadow everything else.

Ceetar Oct 27 2022 02:46 PM Re: Politics 2022

Frayed Knot wrote: The only problem is that they wasted about a half century acting as if it was never a legislative issue in the first place so are now trying to play catch up in an election where the economy is going to overshadow everything else. I mean, republicans are running on a "raise your medication price, butcher social security, and fuck you over on student loans" platform, so..

batmagadanleadoff Oct 27 2022 03:12 PM Re: Politics 2022

What's the difference what they run on? They win anyway because we have a laughing stock system for electing politicians. Repubs are the minority, as are the issues they espouse. They get less votes than Dems every election but the candidate that wins the popular vote in a presidential election doesn't necessarily win the WH. State pols can gerrymander themselves into perpetual majorities, and now, with the Supreme Court's blessing, which was outright stolen by the GOP. GOP senators represent way less voters than Dem senators do but still, the GOP as of late, usually controls the Senate anyways and when the Dems have the Senate majority, like now, it's by the VEEP's tiebreaking vote. Dem US congresspersons, collectively, need to win elections by historic margins just to eke out a small majority. The Dem priority should have been to reform the courts and to grant statehood to DC (and PR, too but I guess that's a bridge too far for the Dems to wrap their heads around). That should've been the priority, not anything else. But they're pathetic. They still haven't come around to realizing that reforming SCOTUS is the only fix. There's no other fix. Waiting 35 years for Gorsuch to hopefully retire under a Dem admin is a lunatic's idea for how to fix things. And any Dem pol that can't get on board with reforming the Court is, and I don't know any other way to say this, either a fucking idiot or a trojan horse Republican that's probably secretly on the take and accepting GOP money under the table.

Frayed Knot Oct 27 2022 03:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

Frayed Knot wrote: The only problem is that they wasted about a half century acting as if it was never a legislative issue in the first place so are now trying to play catch up in an election where the economy is going to overshadow everything else. I mean, republicans are running on a "raise your medication price, butcher social security, and fuck you over on student loans" platform, so.. None of which are relevant to what I was talking about.

kcmets Oct 27 2022 03:23 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=112048 time=1666905169 user_id=68]State pols can gerrymander themselves into perpetual majorities

They did that in my district and surrounding areas. Oh wait, that was the

Dems... got no press and no one complained. Hypocrisy is aisle blind.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 27 2022 03:39 PM Re: Politics 2022

=kcmets post_id=112050 time=1666905794 user_id=53] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=112048 time=1666905169 user_id=68]State pols can gerrymander themselves into perpetual majorities

They did that in my district and surrounding areas. Oh wait, that was the

Dems... got no press and no one complained. Hypocrisy is aisle blind.


That's not a secret. But your post is a one big piece of uninformed horseshit. Or just a forced and contrived post aimed at me because you have insane obsessive compulsive issues with me that go back pretty much to my first or second day on this forum. You wouldn't have written this post if it was Edgy that wrote my post.



GOP gerrymandering is outrageous compared to Dem gerrymandering. By like orders of magnitude. Here's just one example: This election cycle, the NY legislature submitted a district map with lines and boundaries that the Court of Appeals, NYS's highest court, ultimately determined was inappropriately gerrymandered and illegal. In the end, NY pols respected the court's decision and submitted a new map that complied with the Court's ruling, to their own detriment. The new map will likely cost Dems a few seats in the next House.



The same thing happens to the GOP when they gerrymander. Wanna know what the GOP does? They ignore the courts and resubmit new maps that are just as bad, just as gerrymandered as the previously stricken maps. And when those newer maps are also rejected, the GOP simply repeats their bad faith process. Eventually, the court rules that the election is now too close and there's not enough time to enforce the court's proposed changes. So in the end, the GOP runs out the clock and gets to gerrymander themselves into perpetual power. That the system even allows this tactic, that this loophole could even exist is mind-boggling. I assume that those courts that allow the GOP to run out the clock are also GOP/coservative majorities, and of course, there's no relief to be had with SCOTUS as it washed its hands of this issue in a recent decision.



Michigan, for example, is so extremely gerrymandered, that the state GOP can maintain control of its legislature with as little as 25% or 35 of the statewide vote. I don't think NY operates like that. It's doubly outrageous because Michigan isn't even a red state.

Ceetar Oct 27 2022 03:41 PM Re: Politics 2022

=kcmets post_id=112050 time=1666905794 user_id=53] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=112048 time=1666905169 user_id=68]State pols can gerrymander themselves into perpetual majorities

They did that in my district and surrounding areas. Oh wait, that was the

Dems... got no press and no one complained. Hypocrisy is aisle blind.


There is no both sides to these. Republicans are flat out cheating and democrats maybe smudge the lines a little bit sometimes. I don't know which district you refer to, but I doubt it's anything as absurd as what the republicans are doing, trying to make whole cities of 10 million people 1 district but split up rural areas of 1 million people in 5 votes. That's what we're talking about, not merely adjusting lines based on the census.

kcmets Oct 27 2022 03:55 PM Re: Politics 2022

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=112052 time=1666906777 user_id=68]Or just a forced and contrived post aimed at me because you have insane obsessive compulsive issues with me that go back pretty much to my first or second day on this forum. You wouldn't have written this post if it was Edgy that wrote my post.

You're funny. How do you fit through doorways with that big fat head? You

wrote something a week ago about this forum being ego-driven and it made

me laugh. I left it alone, but it was amusing. You are by far the BIGGEST self

absorbed, look-at-me-look-at-me Mr. Fucking Know-it-all on our tiny planet.



Please, get over me. I don't care if you can't get over yourself here. Just me.

Edgy MD Oct 27 2022 03:56 PM Re: Politics 2022

My district is all kinds of goofy-shaped. [FIMG=700]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif/lossless-page1-1280px-Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif.png[/FIMG] Gerrymandering is another thing that is eminently fixable, but our baseless commitment to a two-party system perpetuates it.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 27 2022 04:05 PM Re: Politics 2022

=kcmets post_id=112054 time=1666907720 user_id=53] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=112052 time=1666906777 user_id=68]Or just a forced and contrived post aimed at me because you have insane obsessive compulsive issues with me that go back pretty much to my first or second day on this forum. You wouldn't have written this post if it was Edgy that wrote my post.

You're funny. How do you fit through doorways with that big fat head? You

wrote something a week ago about this forum being ego-driven and it made

me laugh. I left it alone, but it was amusing. You are by far the BIGGEST self

absorbed, look-at-me-look-at-me Mr. Fucking Know-it-all on our tiny planet.



Please, get over me. I don't care if you can't get over yourself here. Just me.




Nice post. I'm rubber you're glue. Whatever you say. Just because you said it. Get over me? You've been obsessed with me since like I joined here. You probably have some alarm system in your home set up to ring like the bells in that hunchback movie whenever I post something. You used to respond to practically everything I would post, always taking the opposite side. You probably resent me because you're not as smart as I am and for some oddball reason, that bothers you, even though you're not as smart as hardly anyone here. Do you ever have anything interesting to say?

batmagadanleadoff Oct 27 2022 04:06 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: My district is all kinds of goofy-shaped. [FIMG=700]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif/lossless-page1-1280px-Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif.png[/FIMG] Gerrymandering is another thing that is eminently fixable, but our baseless commitment to a two-party system perpetuates. That looks like some funky dinosaur about to bite into something.

Edgy MD Oct 27 2022 04:14 PM Re: Politics 2022

Or possibly a lake after the levee broke and flooded the lowlands. According to the former president, it's also a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess, considered the worst in the USA. It's remarkable how the rats manage to cross from the northern end of the district to the southern end without leaving that narrow connecting strip.

kcmets Oct 27 2022 04:36 PM Re: Politics 2022

You probably resent me because you're not as smart as I am and for some oddball reason, that bothers you, even though you're not as smart as hardly anyone here. Do you ever have anything interesting to say? . (Edited 10/26/22, 18:27 --- Edited 6 times in total)

Frayed Knot Oct 27 2022 06:49 PM Re: Politics 2022

The Republicans have been 'better' in recent years at redistricting to their advantage mainly through more sophisticated computer analysis and by doing better in local elections (not always disconnected concepts). But that's hardly always been the case. A large factor in turning California, where Republicans used to get elected frequently, as blue as it currently is was rampant and longterm Gerrymandering by Democrats which still affects boundaries today. And it's gone on elsewhere as well. Dems also managed to fake themselves out occasionally with their insistence on playing identity politics by creating "minority-majority" districts, ones based on the idea that if you are [insert ethnicity here] and your representative isn't the same then it's as if you have no representation. But by siphoning as many minorities citizens into one or just a a few districts it left the remaining ones almost devoid of left-er-leaning minorities which naturally turned those districts more red. iow, sometimes all the Republicans had to do in order to get more districts on their side was stand out of the way and let the other side do the work. But "only smudge the lines a little bit sometimes'? Not even close.

Edgy MD Oct 27 2022 08:13 PM Re: Politics 2022

Yeah, I'm not sure how it can be justified that a little gerrymandering is cool. The practice is named after Elbridge Gerry, who was one of the founders of the Democratic-Republican Party, the forerunner of the Democratic Party. I don't write that particularly to implicate my registered-Democrat sisters and brothers today, but we can fall into justifying anything by convincing ourselves that it's OK to use the Devil's tools against him. The practice was characteristic of our system of governance well before the Republican Party arrived on the scene. How little corruption is little enough to be justified almost invariably will turn out to be the amount the opiner's team is undertaking. If you're truly against it, welcome aboard. The practice could be ended in about two days, but like so many systemic abuses, our two-party system convinces both parties that it makes more sense to let the system survive because they'll get theirs when they're in power.

Ceetar Oct 27 2022 09:08 PM Re: Politics 2022

to be clear, it's not "corruption" to draw district lines. It's literally their job. There's a big difference, chasms, from trying to finagle districts for political advantage and picking and choosing towns from all over the place to group together in order to systematically eliminate black people. Oh, yes, it's very racist. It's also heavily in favor of republicans, where gerrymandering gives an advantage. Because, as batmags noted, republicans are a minority and they represent less people. So yeah, it's no big deal if democrat district maps try to award them 65% of seats when they only have 62% of the voters, because the republican (the party of white supremacy it should be noted) way is like 60/40. But of course, only democrats get called to account.

Edgy MD Oct 27 2022 09:30 PM Re: Politics 2022

Of course it's their job. And to do it so as to advantage themselves and compromise the rights of the citizenry most certainly is corrupt. That's precisely what they swear not to do when they vow to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office." Corruption that goes on year in and year out still is corruption. I obviously disagree that doing something wrong is OK under the validation that your opponent does it more. Among the many problems with that moral reasoning is that it perpetuates your opponents' abuses by ceding any high ground. It's a lose-lose policy. It is obviously untrue that "only democrats get called to account." I don't know why anyone would make such an obviously false statement. The whole world is not against you. This actual line of discussion in the thread was in response to Republicans getting called out — an accusation that nobody has refuted.

TransMonk Oct 28 2022 07:25 AM Re: Politics 2022

Here in Wisconsin, we're fighting off the prospect of a veto-proof super majority from Republicans in the State Assembly next week. Considering that WI is an approximate 50/50 state when measured by individual voters, we have truly been ratfucked by gerrymandering on the state maps.

MFS62 Oct 28 2022 10:45 AM Re: Politics 2022

A man attacked the husband of Nancy Pelosi in the Pelosi home. The attacker used a hammer. Her husband was taken to the hospital. The identify and motives of the attacker haven't been disclosed yet. Was this an individual incident or part of something more sinister? Stay tuned. Later

kcmets Oct 28 2022 11:00 AM Re: Politics 2022

Was this an individual incident or part of something more sinister? Nut job, quoted as yelling "where's Nancy?" Scary shit. 'Luckily,' hammer wounds were mostly facial and the nutjob didn't put a hole in his skull.

Ceetar Oct 28 2022 12:01 PM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 28 2022 12:10 PM

Is he already running for congress or will he now run for next term, is the big question

MFS62 Oct 28 2022 12:09 PM Re: Politics 2022

When Kase said "nut job" my spectrum went from Republican through MAGA to wayyyy past Q-Anon into Proud Boys/Tucker Carlson territory. Later

Ceetar Oct 28 2022 12:11 PM Re: Politics 2022

When Kase said "nut job" my spectrum went from Republican through MAGA to wayyyy past Q-Anon into Proud Boys/Tucker Carlson territory. Later those are all the same thing.

kcmets Oct 28 2022 01:33 PM Re: Politics 2022

I doubt this wide paint brush is helpful one bit. I have friends who are Republicans, most of them are barely talking to me these days despite knowing some of them 40-50 years. I can assure everyone they're not Qanon or Proud Ass. Hopefully things will improve someday soon.

Ceetar Oct 28 2022 01:42 PM Re: Politics 2022

not while the republican party exists they won't. You've heard the anecdote about the Nazi bar? How if you let the one Nazi stay because he's all nice and respectful, pretty soon he invites his friends and suddenly you've got a Nazi bar. That's the republican party. Even the "nicest" republican candidate is going to vote to force women to give birth, to let police kill black people with no accountability, to gas immigrants at the border and criminalize being gay. Every republican except 2 voted AGAINST creating the January 6 commission. Literal government overthrow attempt (by people like Pelosi's assailant) and they don't want to look into it. Some of 'em may be "nicer" than others, but the distinction is irrelevant.

kcmets Oct 28 2022 01:47 PM Re: Politics 2022

I hope you're preaching to everyone and not just me. If it's just me, it's misplaced preaching and not worth the angry-sounding keystrokes.

Edgy MD Oct 28 2022 03:46 PM Re: Politics 2022

It's also absolutely false, and the absolutist reasoning is incredibly ironic.

Ceetar Oct 28 2022 04:22 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: It's also absolutely false, and the absolutist reasoning is incredibly ironic. please cite sources and specifics if you're going to debunk this. Because it's NOT false. A large swatch of the sitting republican congress people support insurrection, there's (at least) one on the supreme court. In Florida republican leadership is telling democrats they can vote ,and then ARRESTING THEM for it. They are actively leading an insurrection, but sure, there's a difference between voting for Liz Cheney or whoever and MTG.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 28 2022 06:03 PM Re: Politics 2022

=TransMonk post_id=112079 time=1666963501 user_id=71] Here in Wisconsin, we're fighting off the prospect of a veto-proof super majority from Republicans in the State Assembly next week. Considering that WI is an approximate 50/50 state when measured by individual voters, we have truly been ratfucked by gerrymandering on the state maps.

Wisconsin R's are trying their damndest to turn the state into Michigan. And they've already gotten very close. R's have way too much power in Wisconsin for it being a swing state that, historically, gave this country some of its greatest liberal and modern thinking ideas.

Edgy MD Oct 28 2022 07:57 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: It's also absolutely false, and the absolutist reasoning is incredibly ironic. please cite sources and specifics if you're going to debunk this. Do you really need sources to demonstrate that there are Republicans who are pro-abortion rights? That there are Republicans who don't support police murder with impunity? That there are more than two Republicans who voted for the January 6 commission? I certainly can provide sources. And I have. But I imagine you know the reality, and everybody else here does too. Does anybody else feel like sources are necessary? I haven't asked you or anybody to vote for any party, so if you want to campaign against Congresswoman Cheney or any Republican, certainly you understand that there''s probably a more productive place to do it than here. In fact, she's already lost. I don't support the Republican Party and wouldn't dream of asking you to, either. I just don't understand why we can't work from facts. There are enough people in this country — a great many of them Republicans — who think if you say something false often enough, loud enough, or maliciously enough, then it doesn't have to be false anymore. I'm not one of those people, and I really hope we can (a) resist the urge to do that here, or (b) realize that aggressive anti-Republican campaigning is wasted here because this forum is not a precinct that Republicans have ever come close to winning.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 29 2022 12:52 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: My district is all kinds of goofy-shaped. [FIMG=700]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif/lossless-page1-1280px-Maryland_US_Congressional_District_7_%28since_2013%29.tif.png[/FIMG] Gerrymandering is another thing that is eminently fixable, but our baseless commitment to a two-party system perpetuates it. How is this fixable? I'd like to hear your solution, especially now that the Supreme Court has washed its hands of all but racially based gerrymandering and its approach to racially based gerrymandering, such as it is, is all bark and hardly any bite. The Supremes have also pretty much disappeared the Voting Rights Act, as you know, so not only are the GOP gerrymandered majorities in red state legislatures entrenched, but now, whenever their Governor is a fellow Republican, they're free to pass voter suppression laws that will further entrench them -even in swing states or states that lean slightly blue. It takes just one Rick Snyder or one Scott Walker. I can't think of any fix other than expanding the Supreme Court to neuter these extremist political hacks that now comprise the high Court's majority.

Edgy MD Oct 29 2022 02:20 PM Re: Politics 2022

A 14-year-old draws up a computer application that creates districts that grow from the Northeast of a state to the Southwest, in rectangular shapes. The district doesn't grow to enter a new zip code until it has covered the zip code it is already in. The district doesn't enter a new county until it covers the county it is already in. It expands based on census data until it covers the number of folks that a district officially has. At the governor's urging, Democratic and Republican lawmakers meet to discuss. "Do you like when we get to draw the map?" asks one to the other. "No, I fucking hate that," answers the other. "How about you?" "I hate that too!" says the first. "Let's run Hildie's application here, and after a few dozen times, we'll see if we agree that it favors neither of us." They run the application to their satisfaction. They're about to shake hands and vote on rerunning the application with every new census into perpetuity, but they stlll don't trust each other. "Wait!" says the first, "You fuckers might be in charge and manipulate the borders of postal districts! That's so you! You might redraw county lines!" "How about you assholes?!" answers the other. "You like to cluster! You'll find some fucking districts that are tossups and all move there!" "That would take a LOT of work" answers the first side. "Even after 20 years of such behavior it would be hard to throw the districts off into anything like an unfair proportion." "How about your notion that we're going to scientifically redraw borders?" says the second side. "How long would that take to swing the electorate? DECADES!" So they look at each other in mutual distrust and disgust, and agree that they'll use Hildie's application, which took Hildie all of two days to create, for the next twenty years. Two census cycles. They vote that into law, then they resolve to spend 20 years finding a new way to make each other miserable, but gerrymanders won't be it. All it it takes is 4.7 ounces of leadership. Or 2.9 ounces of leadership along with the threat of the rise of a third party. Make me governor, I'll end gerrymandering in my state, mail off the plan to every other state, and then resign.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 30 2022 07:25 AM Re: Politics 2022

Hah. Fun read. But you'll never get those pols to go along and do what you'd like them to do. You don't have the clout and not nearly as much liquor, whores and money as you'd need to bribe them to act ethically. I don't see any other fix other than expanding SCOTUS. And even then, they'll probably ignore the new SCOTUS's rulings, declaring that new court to be illegitimate. The Dem President, if there is one, is gonna hafta call out the National Guard. To do what? I don't know. To draw new district lines? It's gonna be a zillion times worse than Alabama and Mississippi right after Brown v. Board. The GOP is making plans to legally steal elections and they're not even hiding it. And the Dems are scared shitless to even kill the filibuster. They call these new GOP candidates "election deniers" because they're too polite to call them fucking liars. They're gonna deserve what's about to happen to them.

whippoorwill Oct 30 2022 07:53 AM Re: Politics 2022

Yah but it's about to happen to all of us too and there's nothing we can do about it. All my Dem friends say ‘get your other Dem friends, especially women, to go out and vote!' Kinda pointless not y too mention increasingly annoying because my county is 2/3 Republican and getting worse every day. I just don't have that kind of enthusiasm anymore.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 30 2022 08:11 AM Re: Politics 2022

=whippoorwill post_id=112141 time=1667138004 user_id=79] Yah but it's about to happen to all of us too....

I know and I was aware of that when I wrote my post just above yours. But they don't need me or you to kill the filibuster so that they can then pass desperately needed legislation. They already have congressional majorities, slim as they are. They had two years. If they're just now realizing the existential threats to democracy, then they're jackasses living in a fairy tale world. They needed to fix the structural issues that require Dems to win huge to eke out tiny majorities. And SCOTUS.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 30 2022 08:21 AM Re: Politics 2022

When they look back on Biden 's first two years, historians will be gobsmacked that DC wasn't granted its' statehood. Gobsmacked.

Edgy MD Oct 30 2022 11:02 AM Re: Politics 2022

Hah. Fun read. But you'll never get those pols to go along and do what you'd like them to do. You don't have the clout and not nearly as much liquor, whores and money as you'd need to bribe them to act ethically. I can muster 4.7 ounces of leadership. Most of us can if we must. Getting people to act ethically is often simply a case of getting people to act in their own interests in equal measure. All sorts of times through history, rivals — often rivals who are far less than paragons of virtue — have locked themselves into rooms and managed to do this. You'd be shocked at how many things that were never going to happen come to pass, and a week later, it's like it was always that way, or at least it should have been. A moment of inflection, a little bit of leadership to take the heat off the parties pulled into compromise, and voila! The Edict of Nantes saves France from self-destruction and Catholics and Protestants are suddenly living together happily, Nelson Mandela walks out of prison and South African whites don't fall victim to a long-expected bloodbath, women are permitted to vote in democracies and the world doesn't crumble. Before localities began banning smoking indoors at public places, it was seen as simply the way the world was. Months later it was this hilarious anachronism. Folks couldn't believe anybody ever lived that way, before remembering that they were the people who lived that way, their whole lives. Restaurants, airplanes, airports, movie theaters, and offices were miserable disgusting places and we just took it for granted. A few months later, the idea of going back to that way of life was comic. We all realized — even most smokers — that this was so obviously the way things should be, that there was no serious thought of pushback. Opponents of the policy before the change shrugged their shoulders afterwards and thought, "I guess I was wrong and I'm going to put my energy in better places going forward." Gerrymandering is awful, it's ruinous to societies everywhere, and everybody knows it. It will fall.

Frayed Knot Oct 30 2022 04:21 PM Re: Politics 2022

Iowa uses some sort of program which re-draws district lines after each census and keeps at least most of the finagling out of the incumbents' mitts.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 30 2022 05:12 PM Re: Politics 2022

Also, Michigan passed a ballot measure in 2018 to take redistricting away from the State legislature and into the hands of a non-partisan committee. We'll see how that plays out.

Edgy MD Oct 30 2022 07:50 PM Re: Politics 2022

There you go! The tide is turning already!

Fman99 Oct 31 2022 04:27 AM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: Gerrymandering is awful, it's ruinous to societies everywhere, and everybody knows it. It will fall. I don't necessarily think because A and B and C, then D, here. As nice a thought as that is.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 31 2022 01:09 PM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 31 2022 02:13 PM

Edgy MD wrote: There you go! The tide is turning already! I wish I could share your optimism. I can't. I doubt that the system will hold up much longer. It's under attack from too many sides, too many places, too many angles. 538.com is predicting that the majority of election denying candidates are going to win their elections. If things ever get better, it won't be until after it gets worse. Much worse. So much worser that the January 6th attack on the Capitol will look like the good old days. The GOP isn't a party anymore. It's a collection of barbaric pols and insane voters and they're willing to kill people, including their fellow pols on the other side of the aisle in order to claim power. And the GOP is still plotting. This term, SCOTUS is gonna hear a case that, depending on how its decided, will allow State legislatures to declare election winners no matter how the actual vote turns out. It's scary that that case even got so far because it's founded on batshit crazy engineered legal theories cooked up in the Federalist wingnut think tanks.

kcmets Oct 31 2022 02:12 PM Re: Politics 2022

People are 'denying' that the hammer attack on Mr. Pelosi actually really happened. Post-election day is going to be a joke if things don't go their way. And the lemmings will eat it up.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 31 2022 02:18 PM Re: Politics 2022 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 31 2022 06:44 PM

The barbarians aren't going away. Not voluntarily. Dictators don't go away. They hold onto power for as long as they can. Mussolini wasn't voted out. He was hanged. So was Saddam Hussein. Hitler wasn't killed but that's only because he killed himself as his enemies got closer and closer to his bunker and his capture was inevitable. The GOP tried to take the Presidency by violence --- after every other of their harebrained and illegal scams failed. If Trump should become the next President, he ain't going away at the end of his term.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 31 2022 02:26 PM Re: Politics 2022

Edgy MD wrote: There you go! The tide is turning already! I wish I could share your optimism. I can't. I doubt that the system will hold up much longer. It's under attack from too many sides, too many places, too many angles. 538.com is predicting that the majority of election denying candidates are going to win their elections. If things ever get better, it won't be until after it gets worse. Much worse. So much worser that the January 6th attack on the Capitol will look like the good old days. The GOP isn't a party anymore. It's a collection of barbaric pols and insane voters and they're willing to kill people, including their fellow pols on the other side of the aisle in order to claim power. And the GOP is still plotting. This term, SCOTUS is gonna hear a case that, depending on how its decided, will allow State legislatures to declare election winners no matter how the actual vote turns out. It's scary that that case even got so far because it's founded on batshit crazy engineered legal theories cooked up in the Federalist wingnut think tanks. I knew I was on this guy's same wavelength from the moment I first discovered him: Excerpt: It was this weekend that I finally gave up. I have watched the steady descent of American conservatism—and its primary public vehicle, the Republican Party—into the terminal depths of the prion disease it acquired when Ronald Reagan and Richard Viguerie and Jerry Falwell first fed it the monkey-brains back in the late 1970s when I was just starting out in this racket. [***] Too many people in a position to do [something] bailed on the task: the Republicans, because the prion disease was flourishing on the radio and winning them elections; and the Democrats, because they were too polite, or too naive, or too…something to care. (Some Democrats, worse ones, even tried to break off some of the people in whom the prion disease was raging.) The public episodes are now too numerous to mention; violence—as any number of women's health advocates will tell you—always has been marbled through it. Now, though, the violence is general and increasingly detached from reality. Over the weekend, watching the reaction to the assault on Paul Pelosi, which also was an attempt on the life of the person who is second in line to the presidency of the United States, I just gave up. They are beyond anyone's reach. They are beyond logic and reason. They left democratic norms and customs far behind decades ago. They are beyond political compromise. They are beyond checks and balances, and they have drifted off into the void of a space far beyond the Constitution. Read it all at https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a41819935/republican-extremism/

batmagadanleadoff Nov 03 2022 09:16 AM Re: Politics 2022

I don't even know what thread to put this lunatic rant in. Ideally, there'd be a religion thread for stuff like this but I'm not going there because that thread will either get ignored or become a total clusterfuck in about half a day. So I'll put this here in the politics thread. Here's what that fucking nutjob who thinks an invisible man with magical powers runs the universe, Mike Pence, just said: Mike Pence says Americans don't have a right to freedom from religion. Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed during a Wednesday appearance on Fox Business that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution does not protect Americans from having other people's faiths forced upon them. Yeah, whatever. There are no references to a supreme being anywhere in the Constitution, because the Founding Fathers were adamantly opposed to centralized religious power as well as requiring individuals to subscribe to any particular denomination. The concept of separation of church and state was sacrosanct to men like President Thomas Jefferson. https://www.salon.com/2022/10/27/mike-pence-says-americans-dont-have-a-right-to-freedom-from-religion_partner/

whippoorwill Nov 03 2022 09:21 AM Re: Politics 2022

Meanwhile the dickwad (you know who I mean) has already started to campaign for 2022 and there seems to be no hope for an alternative Republican candidate

batmagadanleadoff Nov 03 2022 09:39 AM Re: Politics 2022

Meanwhile the dickwad (you know who I mean) has already started to campaign for 2022 and there seems to be no hope for an alternative Republican candidate Why not. The news is bad everywhere I read. Not only are Dems not expected to flip enough key races, but they're gonna lose elections that were considered reliably blue. The Dems lost six years ago when Hillary wasn't good enough, but it's only now sinking in because it took about six years for the consequences of the GOP's capture of the courts to come to fruition. At least you have your Billy Paul video. Greg Goossen gets the "Heavy Friends" treatment next in that thread, which is about Goossen, anyways. Back to Pence. Pence's nutjob talk wasn't just a shot at atheists or non-believers. It was also a shot at devout people who happen to follow a religion other than Pence's. If you could force your religion on others, I suppose you could kill them too if they believe in one of the "other" religions or don't believe in any of them at all. Ah, what am I talking about? Nothing like that's ever happened anywhere ever in the history of humanity.

whippoorwill Nov 03 2022 10:22 AM Re: Politics 2022

Ahhh….Billy Paul. I highly recommend him, batmags. He'll help you sleep at night…

Edgy MD Nov 03 2022 11:16 AM Re: Politics 2022

There will be other candidates.

ashie62 Nov 03 2022 04:26 PM Re: Politics 2022

I am looking for someone not named Trump or Biden in 24 I am hopeful after the upcoming Tuesday bloodbath Biden will summon his inner LBJ and chose not to run again Cueing Pete Buttigieg to take the baton

Lefty Specialist Nov 03 2022 05:44 PM Re: Politics 2022

What depresses me is that more people seem motivated by the price of gas and the right to be an asshole, than they are about the loss of freedom and democracy.

batmagadanleadoff Nov 03 2022 06:28 PM Re: Politics 2022

I was thinking about that. Even if .... what the hell is the GOP gonna do to fix gas prices? What the hell are they gonna do about anything with Biden and his veto power in the WH? What the hell do they ever do besides cutting taxes for the rich and then trying to cut social-welfare programs that the GOP electorate needs as badly as anybody else. Mississippi? West Virginia.? Yeah, take away their SS and Obamacare and then see how much worse it's gonna get for them. Anyways, if the Dems don't win next week, they won't ever win again until after some calamitous civil war-like confrontation.

ashie62 Nov 04 2022 11:10 AM Re: Politics 2022

Lefty Specialist wrote: What depresses me is that more people seem motivated by the price of gas and the right to be an asshole, than they are about the loss of freedom and democracy. Correct and I have no answer to that Bidens democracy message is not likely a winning one They could have pivoted to other issues as well but did not

batmagadanleadoff Nov 07 2022 02:18 PM Re: Politics 2022

Also, Michigan passed a ballot measure in 2018 to take redistricting away from the State legislature and into the hands of a non-partisan committee. We'll see how that plays out. Edgy MD wrote: There you go! The tide is turning already! But then there's Wisconsin. Wisconsin Republicans Stand on the Verge of Total, Veto-Proof Power In a 50-50 battleground state, Republicans are close to capturing supermajorities in the State Legislature that would render the Democratic governor irrelevant even if he wins re-election. Excerpt: If Wisconsin Democrats lose several low-budget state legislative contests here on Tuesday — which appears increasingly likely because of new and even more gerrymandered political maps — it may not matter who wins the $114 million tossup contest for governor between Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Tim Michels, a Republican. Those northern seats would put Republicans in reach of veto-proof supermajorities that would render a Democratic governor functionally irrelevant. Even though Wisconsin remains a 50-50 state in statewide elections, Democrats would be on the verge of obsolescence. “The erosion of our democratic institutions that Republicans are looking to take down should be frightening to anyone,” said John Adams, a Democratic candidate for the State Assembly from Washburn, on the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. “When you start losing whole offices in government, I don't know where they're going to stop.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/us/politics/wisconsin-voting-republicans-supermajorities.html

Edgy MD Nov 07 2022 02:53 PM Re: Politics 2022

I encourage you to pick a place and make your stand, but there are wins to be won over gerrymandering. You are the change you seek. I'm in Baltimore and I'm fighting term limits.

MFS62 Nov 07 2022 03:00 PM Re: Politics 2022

CT is one of only four states that don't allow early voting. That's my fight. (and for truth, justice and the American way) Later

whippoorwill Nov 07 2022 04:19 PM Re: Politics 2022

Wish me luck guys. I'm voting for Fetterman over OZ By the way, OZ signs turned cockeyed say NO lol And personally I'd like to see them do away with mail in ballots since that seems to be the big honking problem

TransMonk Nov 07 2022 05:13 PM Re: Politics 2022

But then there's Wisconsin. Wisconsin Republicans Stand on the Verge of Total, Veto-Proof Power Hoping for the best, preparing my mind for the worst. I've made phone calls, knocked on doors, sent texts, attended rallies, dropped lit and donated not a little bit of money over the past weeks and months. It still seems like an uphill battle against the odds here in Wisco. If the GOP plan works here, they'll keep trying it everywhere. I'll be back out knocking on doors tomorrow. VOTE.

whippoorwill Nov 07 2022 05:18 PM Re: Politics 2022

Good job TransMonk!!

batmagadanleadoff Nov 09 2022 09:15 PM Re: Politics 2022

Also, Michigan passed a ballot measure in 2018 to take redistricting away from the State legislature and into the hands of a non-partisan committee. We'll see how that plays out. Edgy MD wrote: There you go! The tide is turning already! Looks like it worked. Dems are poised to take control of the Michigan Legislature for the first time in almost 40 years! Democrats win control of Michigan Legislature for 1st time in decades Excerpt: Lansing — Michigan Democrats are poised to win full control of state government by taking majorities in the Legislature for the first time in 40 years, along with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's reelection victory. While votes were still being tallied Wednesday morning and not all of the key races had been called by the Associated Press, House Democrats said they would hold 56 of the 110 seats in the chamber, a slim, one-vote majority. The Democrats last won control of the House in the 2008 election for the 2009-2010 session. House Republicans have conceded their 12-year-long hold on the majority, said Gideon D'Assandro, spokesman for the House Republican caucus. Senate Democrats, who haven't been in power since 1984, announced they had achieved a majority at about 4 a.m. As of 8 a.m., Democrats were leading or had won in 19 of the 38 districts, according to the Associated Press.If their caucus held at 19 seats, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist would serve as a tie-breaking vote, but Democrats believed they would end up with 20 seats. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2022/11/09/michigan-democrats-poised-to-win-control-of-legislature-for-1st-time-in-decades/69632790007/

Edgy MD Nov 09 2022 09:31 PM Re: Politics 2022

#RefuseToBeResigned

batmagadanleadoff Nov 10 2022 07:49 AM Re: Politics 2022

But then there's Wisconsin. Wisconsin Republicans Stand on the Verge of Total, Veto-Proof Power Hoping for the best, preparing my mind for the worst. I've made phone calls, knocked on doors, sent texts, attended rallies, dropped lit and donated not a little bit of money over the past weeks and months. It still seems like an uphill battle against the odds here in Wisco. If the GOP plan works here, they'll keep trying it everywhere. I'll be back out knocking on doors tomorrow. VOTE. Wisconsin GOP comes up short in bid for state legislature veto-proof supermajority. Wisconsin Republicans fail to achieve veto-proof majority Excerpt: Wisconsin Republicans did not succeed in their mission to win a veto-proof majority in the state Assembly and Senate. The GOP would have needed to win two-thirds majorities in each chamber in order to gain the power to override the governor's vetoes. While they did flip one Senate seat, getting the 22 seats necessary in that chamber, they fell short in the Assembly. That means the party will not have the power to override the vetoes of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who won reelection Tuesday. Since January of 2021, Evers has vetoed 126 bills that passed the Republican-led legislature, thwarting the party's efforts to change election laws, gun laws, and more. It's a "disappointment" for Republicans, said University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky. https://www.wpr.org/wisconsin-republicans-fail-achieve-veto-proof-majority _____________________________ It's mind-boggling, and indicative of just how badly gerrymandered Wisconsin is that the state GOP came so close to attaining a veto-proof supermajority while in the gerrymander-proof statewide election, the Dem gubernatorial candidate won his race.