U.S. Politics: The Jeff Sessions: The Killing of a Keebler Elf

[OldGimletEye]

On 7/27/2017 at 1:00 PM, commiedore said:

@OldGimletEye, go on chapo 

My apologies. But what is a chapo?

[Fez]

Looks like we have Murkowski's response to Trump and Sec. Zinke:

Nice. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

15 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

My apologies. But what is a chapo?

My guess is, it's some weird spelling for Chapeau!

If that was meant, I guess Kudos! would be a more common English equivalent for that expression.

If something different was meant, I apologize to @commiedore in advance.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

46 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

His only regret is that he has....boneitis.

ETA:  I do think Mooch versus Preebs in a bro-down is a pretty hilarious actualization of the Trump administration.  I feel like by the end of his term he's just going to co-promote PPV matches with Vince McMahon between his Cabinet and staff that will include John Cena, The Undertaker, and Ted Dibiase (Million Dollar Man).

The moment I saw a picture of him I thought of That Guy, and I love how the interwebs agreed. 

As for Mooch and Preebs, there won't be much of a fight. Reince will be out in short order. Just look at some of these quotes from Moochie:

Quote

If Reince wants to explain he's not a leaker, let him do that'

and even worse:

Quote

hen, referring to leaks about US foreign policy, Scaramucci said, "Those are the types of leaks that are so treasonous that 150 years ago, people would have actually been hung for those types of leaks."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/anthony-scaramucci-reince-priebus/index.html

Scaramucci is going to pour gasoline on our already raging Trumpsterfire. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Hard to feel sorry for Priebus, Sessions or any other serious Republican. They sold their souls, and the devil is there cash in. The party of Jesus should've known this  And since they probably did, there's zero sympathy for them. I hope Trump picks on Pence and Ryan next.

[DMC]

11 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

As for Mooch and Preebs, there won't be much of a fight. Reince will be out in short order.

Yeah in pro wrestling parlance the match will be a squash, and Preebs is, at best, a jobber to the stars.

[ThinkerX]

I doubt it affects content, current or past, but this is still high;y troubling  (though I do have reservations about the source) :

https://mfi-miami.com/2017/07/snopes/

 

Fact-checking website Snopes is on the verge of financial collapse.

Its owner David Mikkelson is accused of embezzling company funds by multiple people. Mikkelson allegedly used the funds to pay for his bitter divorce battle. He also allegedly used the cash on overseas trips on his new wife, Elyssa Young. Young who goes by the stage name Erin O’Bryn is an escort and former porn actress whose website soliciting business is still active online.

David Mikkelson started a crowd funding website in a desperate gambit to save the company. Mikkelson raised over $500,000 from readers in its first day

 

[DMC]

50 minutes ago, Fez said:

Looks like we have Murkowski's response to Trump and Sec. Zinke:

Nice. 

I think if you tried to explain the power of the purse to Trump he'd instinctively think you're trying to imply he's sexist.

This is a weird admission, but I kind of have a crush on Kasie Hunt.  Pretty much the exact same age too, so when she was at GW we undoubtedly crossed paths at Adams Morgan bars.

[lokisnow]

3 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

Now conservative sorts of people, let's be clear about something here:

http://ritholtz.com/2017/07/more-minimum-wage-misdirection-stuart-varney-edition/

You when say, “Do my favorite conservative policy cause my personal bidness experience...”, it’s not a very compelling argument conservative sorts of people. Like when Bernie Marcus says, “If you cut my taxes, growth will expand, I knows cause of my bidness experience!!! Trust me!”

That’s not compelling, at all. You need to be clear about what model you're working in, even if done kind of casually. And then present some econometric evidence that your model is likely to be true.

And the question here, with regard to the minimum wage, what most people care about, I think, is it’s aggregate affects, not it’s alleged effect at one business, which you know nobody can verify.

Yes, yes, conservative sorts of people, we all know about your basic partial equilibrium labor model. But, you know, conservative sorts of people that may not be the best model out there. Perhaps the real world is a bit more complicated. In fact, conservative sorts of people, I’d recommend this.
 

But, anyway, Stuart Varney is a conservative idiot. Has been for years.

the minimum wage recently went up here in los angeles.

my favorite taco tuesday spot increased the price of their tacos from $2 to $2.25.

I bought the same amount of tacos I always buy.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

11 minutes ago, lokisnow said:

the minimum wage recently went up here in los angeles.

my favorite taco tuesday spot increased the price of their tacos from $2 to $2.25.

I bought the same amount of tacos I always buy.

https://i0.wp.com/lolzombie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/nachos.png?resize=480%2C921&ssl=1

 

/Obligatory

[Fez]

Joint Ryan/McConnell/Mnuchin/Cohn/Hatch/Brady statement on tax reform: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFwqoaMXcAAUuEa.jpg:large

And reading between the lines it sounds like they're giving up. They're dropping the border adjustment tax idea, there's no hard numbers or ideas included, and relevant committees are being instructed to develop legislation through regular order with no guidance. 

I doubt the House and Senate tax-writing committees will develop concrete legislation they can each pass, much less be identical to each other, and if they really are using regular order that means Senate Democrats can filibuster. Ryan and McConnell could always change their minds about that of course; but if they don't pass a budget resolution for FY2018, they won't have reconciliation as an option anyway.

On top of that, Brady and his House committee did release a serious tax reform proposal a couple years, which really was revenue neutral and focused more on closing loopholes than cutting rates. The rates did lower, but because of the loophole changes, the marginal tax rates on the wealthy barely changed (they went down a little bit; nothing dramatic though). Needless to say, Republicans completely ignored it; not sure why they'd change their minds this time. 

[OldGimletEye]

On 7/27/2017 at 1:29 PM, Notone said:

My guess is, it's some weird spelling for Chapeau!

If that was meant, I guess Kudos! would be a more common English equivalent for that expression.

If something different was meant, I apologize to @commiedore in advance.

Okay. Thank You.

[all swedes are racist]

2 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

My apologies. But what is a chapo?

chap trap house, a leftist comedy podcast that recent caught shit for the phrase bend the knee. telling someone "[name], go on chapo" is a running meme on twitter

eta: to be clear, i meant it in a sincere and positive way 

[OldGimletEye]

On 7/27/2017 at 3:12 PM, commiedore said:

chap trap house, a leftist comedy podcast that recent caught shit for the phrase bend the knee. telling someone "[name], go on chapo" is a running meme on twitter

eta: to be clear, i meant it in a sincere and positive way 

Okay. Thanks for the explanation.

[OldGimletEye]

Also I don’t know if my robust insurance state, Monetarist/Keynesian orientation, would be acceptable to those guys, but I certainly wouldn’t mind, I think, being known as part of “The Dirtbag Left”. LOL.

[denstorebog]

Well, look who's developed a tasted for limiting the president's powers.

Graham writing bill to prevent Trump from firing special counsel

Between this, the Russia sanctions bill and Grassley's statement that appointment of a new AG during recess is a no-go, it actually looks like the ball may be starting to roll on Congress vs. executive. I'm thinking Trump's threats against Murkowski haven't helped this at all.

[Maithanet]

So no one knows what is in the "skinny" repeal bill, since it of yet does not exist.  The Senate Parliamentarian has already ruled that several elements that have been floated out there will require 60 votes (such as banning Planning Parenthood funding for a year and increasing the amount insurance companies can charge older people).  I have to assume that McConnell did not come this far to float out a bill that doesn't have any chance of passing, so that leaves two options:

1.  Carefully craft the repeal bill to include only things that are both broadly popular with Republicans and can pass muster with the Parliamentarian.  I expect this would be removing the individual mandate, the employer requirements for coverage and some (but not all) of the medical device taxes (because if all of them are repealed the deficit reduction isn't large enough to pass the Parliamentarian).

2.  McConnell could decide that the Parliamentarian doesn't decide who runs this country, and abolish some of the rules of reconciliation so that they can include the things they need to pass the repeal bill.  This wouldn't be a full "nuke the filibuster" move, since it would only apply to reconciliation, but it would be yet another step in that direction. 

Hard to say which is more likely, what the bill will look like, or whether any bill can get to 50 votes.  It sounds more and more like Murkowski and Collins are both done with this whole thing, so McConnell has very little room to maneuver. 

[Kalbear]

6 hours ago, dmc515 said:

So yeah, looks like Grassley is making it clear to Trump firing Sessions will not have the desired results:

 

Again, I'll believe it when I see it. That assumes that Trump even pays attention to this or cares, mind you. 

[rocksniffer]

6 hours ago, Mexal said:

This is an insane story. I hope Murkowski stays strong and doesn't give in to being strong armed. It's amazing that these people can get away with playing politics with American lives. 

Also, I hate today's media with a passion. All this focus on Scaramucci accussing Preibus of leaking a publicly available disclosure form when they should be spending their time on the story above and healthcare. No one gives a fuck about Scaramucci.

since she does not have to run until after trump does i think she is safe and could prove a real thorn in old orange guts' side...i hope anyway

retribution and healthcare, agreed...also climate change, the evisceration of the epa, polluting the streams i fish in, et al...

4 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

So you guys are going to get an Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Kansas Governor Brownback. Is this a new post? Our former PM Harper appointed one, a sop to his base, but I can't remember if it was in imitation of the US,

I was reading comments on one of the stories about the news and someone said that when he was a senator, he would wash the feet of new hires in office on their first day....

So creepy! Going to work for Christ, eh?

And speaking of Harper, Harper muzzled the 23,000 scientists on the federal payroll when he was PM. I saw a story yesterday that Scott Pruitt had a meeting with him a few months ago, and then, boom came the muzzle order against US scientists.

this disturbs me more than i can say...

2 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Scaramucci is a fucking Spiderman villain.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/46/67/a8/4667a8ff554012099b35e26b062269be--spiderman-comic-amazing-spiderman.jpg

funny when i hear the name this memorable villain comes to mind...

[Kalbear]

Also, right now senate republicans are floating voting for the skinny repeal in the hopes that the house doesn't vote it into law, and wants reassurances from the house that the thing they're voting into law won't be voted into law by the house. 

This country is so fucking stupid.