US Politics: Wondering the Acosta

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, Kalbear said:

News from the 5th circuit regarding ACA is not good, and Republican judges expected to vote along party lines  to abolish it in its entirety.

Onto the Supreme Court, which will likely abolish at least some of it depending on Roberts viewpoint at the time. 

We can only hope. 

Meanwhile, I just watched Trump's defense of Acosta and i gotta admit it was far more coherent than just about anything else I've heard come out of his mouth. He distanced himself from Epstein, excused Acosta, and patted himself on the back in a shockingly adult display.

I'm impressed.

[JGP]

1 hour ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Sure, I commiserate with the frustration. But she can only open investigations that will do nothing but harm the party's chances of ousting him. Doesn't she have a responsibility to protect Democrats from their own (morally just) destructive urges? That's what a leader does. Make hard decisions. 

I think it's pretty clear that she's putting all of the Democratic chips on "for the love of god, vote" and protecting the rest of the party from wasting political capital chasing side bets that have no chance of paying out.

Just my opinion though.

You make some good points here. However, none of them counter a narrative that Pelosi [et others] aren't willing to put skin in the game for the American people. Which, to my mind at least, illustrates another [and not inconsequential] quotient in the rise of populists like Trump and to another extent people like Sanders. Disenfranchisement with the system. Further, I don't see her decision to not impeach Acosta, or Trump, as hard decisions. They're wrong decisions, possibly from multiple viewpoints, but definitely in the case of the former.  

 

My opinion likewise, although clearly I'm convinced it's more right :p

[Varysblackfyre321]

From the previous thread:

https://emersonpolling.reportablenews.com/pr/july-national-poll-biden-extends-lead-in-democratic-primary-trump-closes-the-gap-in-the-general-election

Interesting to see,Trump probably benefiting  significantly from the debate. 

And, I hope this helps inspire Democratic candidates to talk near exclusively on healthcare and the economy when campaigning.

[felice]

1 hour ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Meanwhile, I just watched Trump's defense of Acosta and i gotta admit it was far more coherent than just about anything else I've heard come out of his mouth. He distanced himself from Epstein, excused Acosta, and patted himself on the back in a shockingly adult display.

Hopefully because he knows he's incredibly vulnerable on this front and the fear is focusing what's left of his mind.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Kalbear said:

Plus he created the party that Jesse Ventura successfully became Governor from, so that's something. 

OUR GOVERNOR CAN BEAT UP YOUR GOVERNOR!!!!!!!

Seriously, I remember that campaign vividly. Best commercials ever!

[Mexal]

DOJ's Census case restart going pretty well so far.

 

[DanteGabriel]

9 minutes ago, Mexal said:

DOJ's Census case restart going pretty well so far.

 

It turns out "we've literally been lying to the court this entire time and sometimes told lies within lies" doesn't go so well in federal court. At least, not this time.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

5 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

It turns out "we've literally been lying to the court this entire time and sometimes told lies within lies" doesn't go so well in federal court. At least, not this time.

Give it time. You see, in a healthy and free Republic, when the courts don't give you what you want, you either replace the judges or just ignore the courts entirely. 

Good ol' American freedumb. 

[Mexal]

10 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

It turns out "we've literally been lying to the court this entire time and sometimes told lies within lies" doesn't go so well in federal court. At least, not this time.

Well, not yet. We'll have to see what those affidavits say.

[Jace, Extat]

One wonders if all this hullabaloo over the census will achieve a degree of effectiveness whether the question is included or not. I mean, if I was here illegally I wouldn't touch the fucking thing whether it had the question or not at this point with this administration. I just wouldn't want them to have any data on me.

[Martell Spy]

The Iran Hawks Are Circling
In the escalation in the Middle East, some U.S. lawmakers see an opportunity to kill the Obama-era nuclear deal once and for all.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/congressional-iran-hawks-push-kill-deal/593539/

Quote

 

Last week, the Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to increase U.S. pressure even more on Iran. This was after Iran announced it had gone over a limit on its uranium stockpile. A week later, Iran went further, announcing yesterday that it was enriching uranium to a higher purity than what’s allowed under the nuclear deal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now congressional hawks are pushing to topple two of the last remaining pillars of the deal: international civil nuclear cooperation with Iran, and relief from United Nations sanctions on certain nuclear-related technology transfers to Iran, as well as arms transfers to the country and ballistic-missile development. They are likely to succeed on the first—the second, more dramatic step could be substantially more difficult.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

One wonders if all this hullabaloo over the census will achieve a degree of effectiveness whether the question is included or not. I mean, if I was here illegally I wouldn't touch the fucking thing whether it had the question or not at this point with this administration. I just wouldn't want them to have any data on me.

That's the point. The question is there to depress the count, hurting urban areas and thus leading to more Congressional seats that are favorable to Republicans. 

[Jace, Extat]

7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

That's the point. The question is there to depress the count, hurting urban areas and thus leading to more Congressional seats that are favorable to Republicans. 

I know that. I'm positing that the work is half done.

[Mexal]

14 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

One wonders if all this hullabaloo over the census will achieve a degree of effectiveness whether the question is included or not. I mean, if I was here illegally I wouldn't touch the fucking thing whether it had the question or not at this point with this administration. I just wouldn't want them to have any data on me.

I suspect this is why they're trying again knowing they don't have a good path forward.

[Martell Spy]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

I suspect this is why they're trying again knowing they don't have a good path forward.

That and to keep the base happy by fighting everything.

[DMC]

3 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Onto the Supreme Court, which will likely abolish at least some of it depending on Roberts viewpoint at the time. 

We'll see.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Huh, never would have seen this coming.  ICE spending money it hasn't even been allocated by contracting three for profit prisons to use as detention centers.  https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/ice-just-quietly-opened-three-new-detention-centers-flouting-congress-limits/

 

[DMC]

Private prisons and the institutional problems they both create and perpetuate deserves it's own thread.  Workable Prisons, I guess.

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

We'll see.

Oh come on. Roberts' decision was based on the idea that you cannot sever the mandate without killing the whole thing, so you can't strike down the Mandate. Congress struck down the mandate, and the obvious conclusion he'll make is simply that his decision from before stands and therefore the whole thing is toast. 

If you think that Roberts is going to be reasonable this time when he's so far upheld gerrymandering as 'not our problem', told the Trump admin that what they're doing with the census is fine as long as they state truthfully their bad choice or can come up with something a bit more plausible - good luck with that. His idea of what constitutes judicial respect is a very, very narrow slice of law that may at best correspond to abortion rights.

[DMC]

Just now, Kalbear said:

If you think that Roberts is going to be reasonable this time when he's so far upheld gerrymandering as 'not our problem', told the Trump admin that what they're doing with the census is fine as long as they state truthfully their bad choice or can come up with something a bit more plausible - good luck with that.

If he strikes down a significant portion of the the ACA, it will be next June.  Which means he'll blow up the entire election.  I'm not convinced he'll do that yet.  We can get a gauge in oral arguments.  Also, when did he tell them what they're doing with the census is fine?  He sent it back to a district judge that's been pretty dismissive of the DOJ's new "arguments."  Anyway, on the ACA, upholding it is kinda part of his legacy at this point, and I think he likes being looked that way.  So like I said, we'll see.  Not to mention, the case itself is highly questionable:

Quote

In a brief filed with the appeals court, legal scholars from both sides of the fight over the ACA agreed that the Texas lawsuit's underlying claim makes no sense.

In passing the tax bill that eliminated the ACA's tax penalty but nothing else, Congress "made the judgment that it wanted the insurance reforms and the rest of the ACA to remain even in the absence of an enforceable insurance mandate," wrote law professors Jonathan Adler, Nicholas Bagley, Abbe Gluck and Ilya Somin. Bagley and Gluck are supporters of the ACA; Adler and Somin have argued against it in earlier suits. "Congress itself — not a court — eliminated enforcement of the provision in question and left the rest of the statute standing. So congressional intent is clear."