US Politics: Dead Pimps Need Not Apply

[Zorral]

During our history the power relationship between House and Senate has changed more than once, as has the power relationship among all four of the branches of the federal government, but most blatantly among the executive, the House and the Senate.  For example, during Jackson's reign, the real power was in the presidency -- there's a reason Jackson was depicted so frequently wearing a crown.  Under LBJ's reign the power was in the Senate.  The idea of checks and balances was to hopefully prevent all the branches be controlled by a single party or individual.

Changing this always comes up with the party that feels it's been shut out of power by their opponents -- and those who have the power trying to change things to shut out tools for their opposition to challenge them.  Changing things has always comes back to bite the changers' asses.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Small win for Abrams campaign, though it's unclear how many people will be affected:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/416427-federal-judge-finds-georgia-county-violated-civil-rights-act-by-rejecting

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said:

By Blue Slips, you mean the Senate version, not the house version, right?  And the Hastert  Molester's rule isn't anything official, a Speaker has to just go, f-it, and let it move forward as I understand it.  Two pretty easy changes.

FTFY!!!

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Kalbear said:

The reason we care at all about the Senate is that the Senate has massive amounts of power that the House does not, and of the two groups of Congress has by far the most power.

The only power the Senate has that the House doesn't is advise and consent (and treaties, but they don't matter anymore).  Granted, that's a pretty massive power.  If you read the Federalist Papers Madison imagined the House as controlling the power of the purse, but there's no real mechanism to differentiate between the chambers so that's fallen by the wayside.

2 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said:

And the Hastert rule isn't anything official

Right, it's not an actual rule in any sense, just a symptom of polarization.

2 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Also thought this article from 2015 was a very prescient one: Why US Democracy is doomed.

I didn't read the article, but it's funny you quoted a portion of it that cited Howell.  Howell would be the last person to say democracy is doomed due to expansion of executive powers.  Indeed, he's its most prominent champion.

[Martell Spy]

Florida Republicans really are clowns, even by the GOP's low standards.

This came after Broward County’s chief judge on Monday told attorneys and supporters of Scott and Nelson “to ramp down the rhetoric” and that if “someone in this lawsuit or someone in this county has evidence of voter fraud or irregularities, they should report it to local law enforcement.” The judge was rejecting a request by the Scott campaign, like the one in Palm Beach, to have ballots and voting machines impounded.

While Scott and many national Republican leaders, including President Donald Trump, have accused Florida Democrats of everything from sloppy vote counting to outright fraud, Florida government officials have been more circumspect. Neither Florida’s secretary of state nor its state law enforcement has recognized any evidence of criminal fraud by voters or election officials.

Florida’s Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote a letter to the state’s Department of Law Enforcement saying she was “deeply troubled” that the agency had not pursued Scott’s request for an investigation into what he said was potential voter fraud in the Senate election. The agency’s commissioner, Rick Swearingen, replied by saying he was “deeply troubled” that she implied he would ignore evidence of voter fraud and assured her that he was coordinating with Florida’s secretary of state.

Republicans’ Attempts at Interfering With the Florida Recounts Seem to Be Failing

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/florida-recounts-rick-scott-lawsuits-pam-bondi.html

[Martell Spy]

Good to know we are still respected abroad...

Twitter Explodes After Donald Trump Hits Emmanuel Macron With Learning German Taunt
“They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along,” tweeted Trump, who drew comparisons with Hitler for the post.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-macron-european-army_us_5beabdf4e4b0783e0a1c0f0f

Quote

One tweeter called Trump’s statement “jibberish.” Others called him out for mocking the leader of a historic American ally. Another suggested France was “doing the right thing” aligning itself with other European allies.

 

[DMC]

McConnell:  Will Dems work with us, or simply put partisan politics ahead of the country?

That is some straight up Trumpian gall and doublethink from the guy who said "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president" in 2010.

[The Anti-Targ]

The difference between Republicans and Democrats on political discourse is that Democrats call for civility from their own. Republicans call for civility from Democrats.

[Martell Spy]

22 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

The difference between Republicans and Democrats on political discourse is that Democrats call for civility from their own. Republicans call for civility from Democrats.

Well, look at McSally and the Arizona race. She was being told to be more aggressive. Their message to their own is attack all the time.

[lokisnow]

Multiple choice, the power move by Melania means:

A) definitely a sex scandal

B ) Melania thinks there’s a sex scandal

C ) Melania perceives a potential rival and is paranoid preemptively clearing her away

D ) purely an assertion of status and power and dominance

(if this were Obama Fox would have already declared it was absolutely a sex scandal and every other network would be racing to agree and cover it 24/7 with no evidence whatsoever)

[Jace, Extat]

10 minutes ago, lokisnow said:

Multiple choice, the power move by Melania means:

A) definitely a sex scandal

B ) Melania thinks there’s a sex scandal

C ) Melania perceives a potential rival and is paranoid preemptively clearing her away

D ) purely an assertion of status and power and dominance

(if this were Obama Fox would have already declared it was absolutely a sex scandal and every other network would be racing to agree and cover it 24/7 with no evidence whatsoever)

C and D please

[Centrist Simon Steele]

13 hours ago, Ormond said:

Correction: Colorado just elected the first openly gay male GOVERNOR.

Yeah--that's what I meant. I got it crossed while I was typing. I remember voting for Polis when he lost to Gardner in the Senate race. I was happy to see him on the ballot again for governor. 

Actually, I got that mixed up. Gardner beat Besty Markley (or something like that) and Mark Udall. I don't remember who was who. Polis was elected to state senate that year, if I remember right.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

9 hours ago, SkynJay said:

I got some GOP PAC ads online the last few days of the election cycle that tried to hit Polis on his sexuality.  They said (paraphrasing here) 'I am all for LGBT rights but Polis pushing it on children is over the line.'

I guess the fact that Stapleton never stooped to that level says something, buy it is a low bar.

That's awful. I'm glad I didn't get those, but this sounds realistic. Pollyana over here, I guess.