US Politics: What's a couple hundred billion between friends?

[DMC]

4 minutes ago, Fez said:

*Except that it further increases the chances of a shutdown since Republicans aren't going to want to put this aside next week to deal with spending.

Looks like they'll do an emergency two week extension that will push the shutdown deadline to right before Christmas.  Which then, in all likelihood, will be pushed to sometime in January.  Democrats eventually gotta put their foot down on this can-kicking, but politically I think it's probably smart not to press the issue til after the holidays.

[Fez]

12 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

Looks like they'll do an emergency two week extension that will push the shutdown deadline to right before Christmas.  Which then, in all likelihood, will be pushed to sometime in January.  Democrats eventually gotta put their foot down on this can-kicking, but politically I think it's probably smart not to press the issue til after the holidays.

Democrats really should play hardball and refuse to support any short-term extensions; unless said extension includes a full reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, which far too many people have forgotten/don't realize that Republicans have let lapse.

[DMC]

12 minutes ago, Fez said:

Democrats really should play hardball and refuse to support any short-term extensions; unless said extension includes a full reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, which far too many people have forgotten/don't realize that Republicans have let lapse.

Good point, gotta figure states are gonna run out of money really soon.  They should just pass the Hatch/Wyden deal (KIDS) that extends its funding for five years.  That was introduced in September, and to be fair since then it's been the House GOP that's been trying to fuck with the program.

[Mexal]

9 hours ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Amid all of the GOP's plan to fuck America with their tax bill, I have a feeling this will the major thing Trump will be tweeting about tonight or in the morning and what the news cycle will focus on.  It totally compromises one of his political rallying cries, but he'll use it as proof that sanctuary cities are all sorts of wrong. 

This verdict, as right as it may be (I haven't studied the case), deeply concerns me due to how Trump and his deplorable base might use it.  We're going into the weekend.  Trump's shitbag voters could coordinate some pretty terrifying protests and cause some damage.

And of course he did. Trump is anything if not predictable.

Thought this was a balanced look on this topic on Red State.

Quote

So, we have a defendant with zero connection to Steinle. He had a history of drug crimes but no known violent crimes. The bullet that killed Steinle hit the ground and then ricocheted upwards. There was a video possibly showing another group of people disposing of the gun where Garcia Zarate said he found it.

Reviewing the SIG Sauer website shows these handguns cost $1,000 or more. You can see how defense counsel could easily argue that a homeless illegal immigrant would be unfamiliar with one.

All of this adds up to the defense presenting a plausible explanation for how Garcia Zarate could have fired the gun and killed Steinle by accident. That’s reasonable doubt. 

The prosecutors were under tremendous political pressure. People wanted Kate Steinle’s killer’s head on a platter, even before Donald Trump ever tweeted her name.

So it’s not that surprising that “San Francisco prosecutors told the jury that Garcia Zarate intentionally brought the gun to the pier that day with the intent of doing harm, aimed the gun toward Steinle and pulled the trigger,” as the Chronicle reported, adding that the Assistant District Attorney also “spent much of the trial seeking to prove the gun that killed Steinle couldn’t have fired without a firm pull of the trigger.”

This seems to be a classic example of prosecutorial overreach.They pushed hard for a first degree murder verdict, which requires not only proving that the defendant killed the victim, but that he did it intentionally, and that it was premeditated (planned or thought out beforehand).

 

[OldGimletEye]

Jeb Hensarling says, “Louie Gohmert isn’t the dumbest fucker alive. I am!”

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/jeb-hensarling-has-never-heard-of-george-w-bush-and-bill-clinton-and-neither-has-npr

Quote

On Morning Edition yesterday, Representative Jeb Hensarling, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, was interviewed by David Greene. At one point Greene asked him about the Republican tax cut proposal. After blaming President Obama for the slow growth of the last eight years, Hensarling commented:

Well I guess. I mean the Republican Part is the party of business! They really understand this stuff.

Anyway, it would be nice of conservative idiots would understand the concept of a liquidity trap.

Quote

"Every time we've had a pro-growth fundamental tax reform, be it under President Reagan, President Kennedy - you can even go all the way back to President Coolidge.

Anyway, I wish conservatives would drop the Kennedy Tax cut thing. The economy was doing well when that tax cut was passed. The person who designed those cuts was Walter Heller who thought in very Keynesian terms. And I think its important to remember that the top marginal rate was 70%. Maybe, Hensarling thinks we ought to go back to 70% top marginal rates. Fine with me.

And interesting enough, Hensarling doesn’t mention GDP growth under FDR. It really ought not be a secret, that during the latter half of the  20th century Democratic Presidents did better than Republican ones. Of course, if you put FDR in those calculations, it wouldn’t even be a fair fight. It would turn into a route for the conservative clown crew.
 

Quote

 and actually more revenues come into the government.

I have this theory that a conservative dumb ass, who reads too much Thomas Sowell becomes an even bigger conservative dumb ass.

So let's go through this again. This should be so simple that even a conservative can understand it.

In assessing revenues, you need to:’

1. Account for the upward time trend.

2. Remove business cycle fluctuations.

3. Account for inflation.

This isn’t hard conservative sorts of people.

Anyway, Hensarling wants to be the guy that legislates how our financial system works? Laugh, snicker, and face palm.
 

..............................................

However, Sam Clownback says, “wait, wait, Hensarling and Gohmert aren’t the dumbest fuckers alive, I am!”.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/30/16721156/kansas-tax-republicans

Quote

Amidst all the weird things that happened on Wednesday, one of the low-key weirdest was Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback popping up on Capitol Hill to help lobby for the GOP tax bill, arguing that Republican senators should see it as an effort to replicate the ideas he's implemented at the state level because, after all, "What we did actually worked."

It's getting to the point, that I'm imagining something like a Spartacus situation. Though rather than a bunch of guys standing up and saying "I'm Spartacus!", it's something like a bunch of guys standing up and saying, "I'm the biggest conservative dumbass!".

[Morpheus]

Flynn to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/court-schedules-plea-hearing-for-flynn-at-1030-am-et.html

 

[Fez]

9 minutes ago, Morpheus said:

Flynn to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/court-schedules-plea-hearing-for-flynn-at-1030-am-et.html

 

Ho boy, as if this wasn't a busy enough day already.

So, what deal has Flynn made with the FBI and what was he able to give them?

ETA: Looks like he's blindsided Trump too:

 

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, Fez said:

So, what deal has Flynn made with the FBI and what was he able to give them?

It sure looks like he took a deal.  Is there any other explanation for him to be charged with just making false statements, when there's so many other possible charges swirling around the guy?

[DanteGabriel]

1 minute ago, Maithanet said:

It sure looks like he took a deal.  Is there any other explanation for him to be charged with just making false statements, when there's so many other possible charges swirling around the guy?

I hope they flipped him, but goddamn it, does this mean his idiot reprobate of a son is going to walk too?

[LongRider]

8 minutes ago, Fez said:

Ho boy, as if this wasn't a busy enough day already.

So, what deal has Flynn made with the FBI and what was he able to give them?

ETA: Looks like he's blindsided Trump too:

 

Bwa-hahahahahaha!   

Trump blindsided.  So delicious.  Yup, yup Orange Shit Thing, you really do hire only the best people.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

So he'll probably definitely double down on the Steile verdict so as to shift focus.  Or he'll find something similar to rile up his stupid, bigoted, deplorable base of mouth breathing voters.

I'm in a very "I will not allow any Trump voter the benefit of the doubt" space right now.  I'm sick of these people.

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

I hope they flipped him, but goddamn it, does this mean his idiot reprobate of a son is going to walk too?

Big picture Dante.  Flynn's son is really far down the list of people I want to see in prison from this scandal.  If Flynn made a deal there was no question his son would get off, he's the smallest fish of the entire bunch. 

If Flynn is cooperating enough that Mueller would cut a deal with the NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR* then this looks really bad for the Trump family.  At the very least, he's giving the goods on Trump Jr. and Kushner, and probably Trump too. 

*I still feel like people don't appreciate how incredibly high up this already is.  NSA is like the 5th most important position in the White House.

[Mexal]

12 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

It sure looks like he took a deal.  Is there any other explanation for him to be charged with just making false statements, when there's so many other possible charges swirling around the guy?

Oh yea. That indictment is really really narrow. It doesn't mean that more can't be added but it seems pretty clear Flynn has flipped.

[Morpheus]

Flynn is someone Trump has been very loyal to, never a bad word, has expressed many times that he regrets firing him and even kept in contact with him immediately after he was fired. It is going to be hard work to distance him from Trump. 

Oh and I forgot the obstruction thing with Comey as another example of the Trump/Flynn relationship.

[Dr. Pepper]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

Oh yea. That indictment is really really narrow. It doesn't mean that more can't be added but it seems pretty clear Flynn has flipped.

But does it mean he has actual viable material that can lead to indictments and convictions for the big fish?  Would Mueller have allowed a plea deal without being certain there was more?

[Fez]

Just now, Mexal said:

Oh yea. That indictment is really really narrow. It doesn't mean that more can't be added but it seems pretty clear Flynn has flipped.

Not just really narrow, all the reports are saying he's going to plead guilty this morning.

Also, 

the filed court record is an "information" instead of an "indictment" which almost certainly means Flynn waived his right to a grand jury.

[Maithanet]

1 minute ago, Dr. Pepper said:

But does it mean he has actual viable material that can lead to indictments and convictions for the big fish?  Would Mueller have allowed a plea deal without being certain there was more?

Making a deal is always contingent on what/who you can give up.  Mueller wouldn't do one minor charge just on a future promise, he would have to have already given up the goods on what he knows.  No way to know (yet) what exactly that means, but Trump Jr, Kushner and Trump himself should all be really, really worried.  Because they're the only fish big enough to make this worthwhile to Mueller. 

[DanteGabriel]

9 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Big picture Dante.  Flynn's son is really far down the list of people I want to see in prison from this scandal.  If Flynn made a deal there was no question his son would get off, he's the smallest fish of the entire bunch. 

If Flynn is cooperating enough that Mueller would cut a deal with the NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR* then this looks really bad for the Trump family.  At the very least, he's giving the goods on Trump Jr. and Kushner, and probably Trump too. 

*I still feel like people don't appreciate how incredibly high up this already is.  NSA is like the 5th most important position in the White House.

Okay, fair enough. Dumbass Flynn Jr for Donald Jr and Kushner is a decent deal. I really hope that whole goddamn family gets it.

[Mexal]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

But does it mean he has actual viable material that can lead to indictments and convictions for the big fish?  Would Mueller have allowed a plea deal without being certain there was more?

Yes to the first part. No to the 2nd part. No chance in my mind that Mueller allows a guilty plea on a narrow count of lying to the FBI if Flynn wasn't cooperating on someone bigger.

[Mexal]

8 minutes ago, Fez said:

Not just really narrow, all the reports are saying he's going to plead guilty this morning.

Also, 

the filed court record is an "information" instead of an "indictment" which almost certainly means Flynn waived his right to a grand jury.

Yea, Benjamin Wittes said the same thing,.