U.S. Politics: Huff and Puff the Socialism away

[Martell Spy]

I think the lesson he learned was that he can only win elections when democracy is sufficiently undermined and the Supreme Court has his back.

 

Quote

 

Rep. George Holding (R-N.C.) said Friday he would not run for reelection in 2020 after North Carolina’s electoral map was redrawn to undo a Republican gerrymander, leaving him with a heavily Democratic district.

Holding, a member of the House Budget, Ethics and Ways and Means committees, “candidly” cited the new, court-approved maps in his announcement:

“Yes, the newly redrawn Congressional Districts were part of the reason I have decided not to seek reelection. But, in addition, this is also a good time for me to step back and reflect on all that I have learned.”

Republican Rep. To Step Down After Redrawn Maps Undo GOP Gerrymander

 

Rep. George Holding said he won’t seek reelection after a court-approved map made his North Carolina district heavily Democratic.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-holding-resigns-congress_n_5dea9079e4b0913e6f8fa5b5

[Martell Spy]

5 hours ago, Paladin of Ice said:

Remember how the Republican defense of Trump had been starting to settle on "Trump wasn’t trying to investigate the Bidens, he just really cares about corruption and wanted to root it out in Ukraine. It’s pure coincidence that the Bidens were caught up in that, the real scandal is how corrupt the Bidens are!"

Yeah, that defense was always bullshit, (since Trump’s own transcript mentions Crowdstrike, the company that was hosting DNC services, and which right-wing conspiracy theories and Trump himself claim had a server that they hid from the FBI and moved to Ukraine [in actuality Cloudstrike is a cloud based service and didn’t have a server there to move and hide]) but Rudy Giuliani just officially blew it up by outright admitting that they were investigating Biden. On Twitter, because of course.

Link:

Anyone want to start an over/under on how long it takes the GOP to move the goalposts again?

Well, the mantra of the Trumpites is that nothing matters. Trump could pay for an abortion, oversee it happening, and stream it out on Netflix and keep a 49.9 % approval rating.

[Martell Spy]

DeVos orders partial loan relief for many duped student borrowers

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/06/devos-student-loan-relief-077539

Quote

 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is pushing ahead on her plans to cancel only a portion of loans taken out by defrauded college students, even amid legal setbacks and as House Democrats prepare to grill her during a hearing next week.

DeVos in recent weeks directed the Education Department to carry out a new policy that will provide partial loan forgiveness to many borrowers whom the agency determines were duped or cheated by their colleges, according to an internal memo obtained by POLITICO.

The memo, which was signed by DeVos in mid-November and hasn’t been reported previously, instructs department officials to resume issuing decisions on some of the roughly 227,000 pending applications filed by borrowers seeking debt relief based on their colleges' alleged misconduct. That process has been stalled for the past 18 months.

Story Continued Below

Department officials now plan to move ahead adjudicating those claims — most of which allege fraud at for-profit schools like Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech — by using a new formula. It calculates loan forgiveness based on how much a defrauded student’s “estimated earnings” differed from those of students who attended similar programs across the country.

The policy is a departure from the practice of the Obama administration, which provided full relief to all borrowers that the Education Department determined were defrauded. And it comes as DeVos has been at the center of a legal and political firestorm over her handling of the claims, which are made under a provision of federal law known as “borrower defense to repayment.”

 

 

[mormont]

3 hours ago, nah said:

And BULL SHIT the Robert's court would take that case before the election came down. And that's if somone raised a challenge which, again, I doubt they would.

Do they even need to raise a challenge?

As a matter of clear, indisputable fact, AOC is not eligible to be VP. She does not meet the requirements and could not take office. Why would any party nominate an ineligible candidate? Even if they won, they'd lose.

[Darryk]

Correct me if I'm wrong but AOC may be too young for a VP role, but not too young for a role in the cabinet?

[sologdin]

there's a minimim age only for congresspersons and president/VP. AOC 2024, guys.

[HexMachina]

7 hours ago, nah said:

I'll come back to specifically how and why you're all wrong in the morning when I'm more sober(ish), but for the moment I will just say this. Hillary Clinton was not only the sort of centrist that the rust belt should have LURVED, but she was also one of the most experienced and qualified non-incumbents EVER to run for the office.

In this system "experience" only comes to more time to accumulate baggage and compromise your values. Liberal candidates win when they're young, and fresh, and appeal to hope.

And BULL SHIT the Robert's court would take that case before the election came down. And that's if somone raised a challenge which, again, I doubt they would.

Uh, Clinton was also the media punch bag and public enemy number one in the eyes of many. The content of her policies was almost irrelevant.

You haven’t yet articulated why you think the Roberts court would not take thiscase before election time. Why on earth wouldnt they?

[DanteGabriel]

7 hours ago, nah said:

That was a joke about coming back to post sober btw. I will be back, but I never post entirely sober.

I really doubt sobriety would make much difference anyhow.

[Ormond]

7 hours ago, nah said:

That was a joke about coming back to post sober btw. I will be back, but I never post entirely sober.

Which means that we never have to take any of your posts seriously, I guess.

[Paladin of Ice]

12 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Well, the mantra of the Trumpites is that nothing matters. Trump could pay for an abortion, oversee it happening, and stream it out on Netflix and keep a 49.9 % approval rating.

*Raises eyebrow*

49.9%? Trump and Republicans would give limbs for their approval to be that high. The one  time that Rasmussen, which is notoriously in the bag for Republicans, could find a way to give Trump a 50% approval rating he had to trumpet it (no pun intended) like it was the biggest news of the year. Even for someone as petty, insecure, and desperate for validation as Trump is, that’s not something you do if those sort of ratings are routine.

In most everything I see, aside from Rasmussen, he’s a little lucky to be above about 42%. Not that this means that polls tell the whole story or that those of us who are anti-Trump and what he does should get complacent; they don’t and we shouldn’t. But lets not overestimate the opposition either.

In other news Amazon is opening a site in NYC after all, without all the tax credits, handouts, and attempts to change local culture/politics that they demanded last time. The only catch is it’s going to be a much smaller facility, estimated to bring in around 1500 jobs as opposed to estimates of 25000 with the last one. We’ll see how it turns out.

[Zorral]

Posts made while drunk are a nasty waste of other posters' time, and certainly waste of forum space.

To be clear I am not being anti-drinking.

I am anti-irresponsible behavior, like driving while drunk.

Don't think posting while drunk is harmless. 

Stories are rife by now of people who have destroyed significant and valued relationships due to sending emails or leaving posts and arguing while drunk, who have released information they never should, have causing waves of hurt and dysfunction.

As dangerous as lecturing while drunk, or giving an address, or being on stage in other ways.

Just coz it was gotten away with previously means generally a major blow up is on the way.

End of lecture.  And ya, it's cold outside, so we all want a drink! 

 

[Jace, Extat]

24 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Posts made while drunk are a nasty waste of other posters' time, and certainly waste of forum space.

To be clear I am not being anti-drinking.

I am anti-irresponsible behavior, like driving while drunk.

Don't think posting while drunk is harmless. 

Stories are rife by now of people who have destroyed significant and valued relationships due to sending emails or leaving posts and arguing while drunk, who have released information they never should, have causing waves of hurt and dysfunction.

As dangerous as lecturing while drunk, or giving an address, or being on stage in other ways.

Just coz it was gotten away with previously means generally a major blow up is on the way.

End of lecture.  And ya, it's cold outside, so we all want a drink! 

 

This is the second time you've made clear your disappointment in those who get schwammered. Are you the head of a 12 step program or something? 

[mormont]

1 hour ago, nah said:

Because this really is't an activist court, and that would be such an inflammatory, potentially destabilizing decision to make, no mater how they came down.

Nothing about such a case would be inflammatory or destablising. It's quite literally an open and shut case. Nobody could accuse a court of any sort of bias or chicanery for disqualifying a candidate that objectively is not qualified. Not that it would ever happen anyway.

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

" WONT YOU LOOK AT THAT!"

AOC has a victory lap.

She was savaged in the press when she railed against corporate welfare in her district for Amazon to locate a EC headquarters. Amazon claimed they wouldn't come to NYC without substantial tax breaks and incentives, AOC said piss off and earlier Amazon claimed they would locate elsewhere without the corporate welfare, Jeff Bezos just couldn't afford to pay the market rate for NY real estate they claimed local govt giveaways were a necessity.

Today Amazon quietly completed a deal in Manhattan for a headquarters with no govt aid. AOC was right all along even though she was savagely criticized for turning Bezos's welfare down earlier. Today she's not being shy about standing her ground.

Does America really need to subsidize Billionaires? Remember this when they come to your district for that next ball stadium. Here in Wisconsin Walker waisted billions to lure Foxcon and they've created zilch in jobs and haven't followed through on a fraction of what they said they were gonna do when they had the hat out.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/473467-ocasio-cortez-wont-you-look-at-that-amazon-is-coming-to-nyc-anyway

[Darryk]

23 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

" WONT YOU LOOK AT THAT!"

AOC has a victory lap.

She was savaged in the press when she railed against corporate welfare in her district for Amazon to locate a EC headquarters. Amazon claimed they wouldn't come to NYC without substantial tax breaks and incentives, AOC said piss off and earlier Amazon claimed they would locate elsewhere without the corporate welfare, Jeff Bezos just couldn't afford to pay the market rate for NY real estate they claimed local govt giveaways were a necessity.

Today Amazon quietly completed a deal in Manhattan for a headquarters with no govt aid. AOC was right all along even though she was savagely criticized for turning Bezos's welfare down earlier. Today she's not being shy about standing her ground.

Does America really need to subsidize Billionaires? Remember this when they come to your district for that next ball stadium. Here in Wisconsin Walker waisted billions to lure Foxcon and they've created zilch in jobs and haven't followed through on a fraction of what they said they were gonna do when they had the hat out.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/473467-ocasio-cortez-wont-you-look-at-that-amazon-is-coming-to-nyc-anyway

The truth is that the whole "if we tax billionaires too much and don't give them massive subsidies and tax breaks they'll leave and the economy will collapse" is a massive bluff. 

They need us a lot more than we need them.

[DMC]

Interesting article with various proposals on how to "fix" impeachment - or if it's really what needs fixing.  I like the second one:

Quote

What I propose is a kind of “shot clock” remedy that can augment the House investigatory process in light of presidential obstruction. I would favor a statute that provided for fast-track court hearings and expedited appeals as a way of curtailing the tactic of complete refusal to cooperate with requests for documents and testimony under oath before the House oversight committees. If the individuals subpoenaed still failed to comply after a court ordered them to do so, they could be held in contempt with all the political repercussions that would attend such a rebuke. At a minimum, it would be difficult to avoid the inference that something truly odious was being hidden.

Still, while that sounds good in theory, hard to see a president actually signing such a bill into law.

28 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Today Amazon quietly completed a deal in Manhattan for a headquarters with no govt aid. AOC was right all along even though she was savagely criticized for turning Bezos's welfare down earlier. Today she's not being shy about standing her ground.

I'm all for spiking the football in politics, but as @Paladin of Ice pointed out, the new headquarters is nowhere near the scale of the one AOC fought against.

[Fragile Bird]

The Pensacola shooter had extreme anti-American views, and apparently posted a ‘will’ to twitter 15 minutes before he started shooting. He quoted ISIS philosophy in the will.

He had been in Florida for about two years so he had plenty of time to figure out how he would sneak in a weapon. Weapons were not allowed at the base.

[Martell Spy]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Posts made while drunk are a nasty waste of other posters' time, and certainly waste of forum space.

To be clear I am not being anti-drinking.

I am anti-irresponsible behavior, like driving while drunk.

Don't think posting while drunk is harmless. 

Stories are rife by now of people who have destroyed significant and valued relationships due to sending emails or leaving posts and arguing while drunk, who have released information they never should, have causing waves of hurt and dysfunction.

As dangerous as lecturing while drunk, or giving an address, or being on stage in other ways.

Just coz it was gotten away with previously means generally a major blow up is on the way.

End of lecture.  And ya, it's cold outside, so we all want a drink! 

 

To be clear, who are you calling out? Yeah, I admit I do post while drinking. It just so happens I often have free time to post in the evenings. I doubt I'm the only one though.

[Fragile Bird]

In case you wondered who the reporter was who asked Nancy Pelosi if she hated Donald Trump, it was James Rosen, formerly at Fox, now at Sinclair.

I figured it was someone from Fox or another right wing media company. I have never watched Fox, so I really don’t know their stable of hacks.

eta: he said the question arose out of the fact that Republican Doug Collins suggested Trump was being impeached because Democrats ‘don’t like the guy’, but even Collins didn’t use the word hate. Fox and ex-Fox reporters are indeed unique.

[Zorral]

4 hours ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

This is the second time you've made clear your disappointment in those who get schwammered. Are you the head of a 12 step program or something? 

I lost somebody whom I loved very much, who was brilliant and wonderful in so many ways.  But she insisted on driving so many times when she was very drunk, insisting that she was actually a better driver then, which is preposterous. The consequence is that she killed herself.  I've gotten past it, as have all of us who loved her, but we've not gotten over this entirely stupid and preventable death.

So many people tried to keep her from driving -- if she'd given her keys to somebody before getting down to serious partying, she'd be alive today.

I have disappointment with those who get hammered and do stupid things that hurt themselves and others, things that one can prevent oneself from doing by taking precautions before-hand, such as driving -- or posting -- or teaching -- or performing -- drunk.