US politics: Manchin to the beat of a different drum

[Wilbur]

4 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Flake sharing some insights.

 

Not sure if anybody shared this, nothing that I'd consider breaking news by any stretch, but still kinda fun to listen to, and it makes you kinda curious, what Flake would sound like if all of his filters were removed.

Jeff Flake is an interesting politician because he learned and grew wiser over his time in office.  When he started off in politics, he seemed like a slightly-smarter-than-average Mormon from Mesa, and his positions were dull and without much sophistication.

As his time in state and then the federal government progressed, however, he adopted more nuance in his stances.  He looked for ways to actually govern without abandoning fiscal conservatism, for instance.

Eventually he came to surpass McCain in his intellectual grasp of the various issues, and it is a shame that his rejection of Trump meant that the Cult of Trump Republicans shunned him.  The dumbest possible thing I have heard said about him from member of the Cult of Trump is that he is a RINO, which is so backwards as to almost form a black hole, since Trump himself is the Arch-RINO.

I don't agree with all of his conclusions or positions, but I think that he comes to his conclusions by comparing the relevant political concerns to an ethical standard.  This practice is so alien today as to be considered a remnant from a past age, sadly.

[DMC]

3 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Jeff Flake is an interesting politician because he learned and grew wiser over his time in office.

Let's not get carried away here.  He was an empty suit that realized Trump was cancerous to his party and conveniently retired for saying so too loudly.  I don't admire any aspect of Jeff Flake's career - including its end.

[Zorral]

"Small Businesses Have Surged in Black Communities. Was It the Stimulus?
New research finds a big rise in new businesses despite the pandemic, particularly in predominantly Black neighborhoods."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/upshot/stimulus-covid-startups-increase.html?

Quote

 

....The researchers caution that they can’t yet say that the stimulus measures caused the growth in new businesses, but they think that the timing and the rise are so stark that it’s hard to insist that it’s merely coincidence.

The rise in registrations began shortly before the second and third bills were passed, but new entrepreneurs might have started anticipating the result after the first stimulus. “People had already been through this once and had a better understanding of how this would work,” said Catherine Fazio, director of M.B.A. programs at Boston University.

Although there might be other factors at work, the researchers say the stimulus checks and increased unemployment benefits shored up confidence in the economy enough that millions felt comfortable in starting a business despite being uncertain about when the pandemic would end.

“Start-ups have always fallen in recessions,” said John Haltiwanger, an economist at the University of Maryland who studies business formation. “This is the only one I know where start-ups grew.”

These results are based on an analysis of more than two years of business registration records from eight states (Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington) by a team of economists from Boston University, Columbia, Rice University and M.I.T. The researchers chose the states because they had the most up-to-date records and together represented a reasonably large proportion of the national population....

 

Retort, refutation, erasure of the rethug manufactured calumny of  'welfare queens.' 
 

[Fez]

13 hours ago, DMC said:

Let's not get carried away here.  He was an empty suit that realized Trump was cancerous to his party and conveniently retired for saying so too loudly.  I don't admire any aspect of Jeff Flake's career - including its end.

He's a tiny bit better than that. He almost realized he had the power to derail the Kavanaugh confirmation in committee, and did force a sham investigation rather than be a completely subservient rubber stamp.

That's about the best you can hope for in a Republican.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

It's easy to look good by comparison when you have MTG running around comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust.

[Week]

8 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It's easy to look good by comparison when you have MTG running around comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust.

"Ma'am, in what specific ways is a public health mandate in the midst of a pandemic that has killed millions at all similar to a genocide of six million Jews and other marginalized communities?"

"Do you think it is wise to compare ... anything ... to the Holocaust when you have a history of anti-semitic comments?"

"Why would you say something so stupid?"

"How do you feel about your biggest support having, allegedly, paid underage girls for sex?"

"Why are you, and people who support you, so stupid?"

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 minutes ago, Week said:

"Ma'am, in what specific ways is a public health mandate in the midst of a pandemic that has killed millions at all similar to a genocide of six million Jews and other marginalized communities?"

"Do you think it is wise to compare ... anything ... to the Holocaust when you have a history of anti-semitic comments?"

"Why would you say something so stupid?"

"How do you feel about your biggest support having, allegedly, paid underage girls for sex?"

"Why are you, and people who support you, so stupid?"

All fair questions, but I suspect her response would be akin to Donald Sterling's when he was asked in court if this is his handwriting:

 

[Fez]

Benefits of being one of the four most powerful senators right now:

There's been a total of 14 bills signed into law by Biden so far; this is one of them. 

[S John]

I would admire Flake a lot more if he’d stuck around and fought for his seat as an anti Trump Republican. I feel like a lot of these guys, Flake, maybe Ryan, only grew a pair on their way out the door to a comfortable wealthy retirement… which they would have had either way. I do appreciate anti-Trump Republican voices, but it feels like many of them just talked shit while in the act of surrendering the party to Trumpism.

[Martell Spy]

You really need 5 days to focus group this?

House Republican leaders condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene's Holocaust comparison after 5 days and a wave of outrage

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-holocaust-remarks/index.html

Quote

 

(CNN)House Republican leaders have condemned incendiary remarks from GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene five days after she first publicly compared Capitol Hill mask rules to the Holocaust, amid a wave of criticism from Republican and conservative critics as well as Jewish groups aimed at the Georgia congresswoman and the party leaders' silence.

"Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling," House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement five days after Greene's original comments and after she made similar comparisons Tuesday. "Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language."

 

 

[mormont]

I see DeSantis has signed into law the Stop Social Media Censorship Act:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56952435

Love the exemption for any tech firm that owns a theme park. Very clearly a vital provision, highly relevant to the aims of the bill. Which are of course to get struck down in court and allow DeSantis to fume about activist judges to the Republican faithful.  

[Fez]

Just now, mormont said:

I see DeSantis has signed into law the Stop Social Media Censorship Act:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56952435

Love the exemption for any tech firm that owns a theme park. Very clearly a vital provision, highly relevant to the aims of the bill. Which are of course to get struck down in court and allow DeSantis to fume about activist judges to the Republican faithful.  

Alternatively, various social media companies all chip in $20k and buy some run-down behind-a-gas-station roadside attraction and rebrand it a theme park. Probably cheaper than the lawyer fees for a lawsuit.

[argonak]

1 hour ago, Martell Spy said:

You really need 5 days to focus group this?

House Republican leaders condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene's Holocaust comparison after 5 days and a wave of outrage

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-holocaust-remarks/index.html

 

Congress is not a very hierarchical place.  Its pretty much the definition of a huge committee.  And after being part of plenty of committees, I'm surprised they get anything done at all.

[Ormond]

43 minutes ago, argonak said:

Congress is not a very hierarchical place.  Its pretty much the definition of a huge committee.  And after being part of plenty of committees, I'm surprised they get anything done at all.

We aren't talking about the entire House of Representatives passing a bill here, we are only talking about a public statement by just the leaders of the Republican caucus to codemn one particular comment.

I myself don't expect something like this to happen immediately. I'd give 'em 48 hours -- but five days is really a bit much for this, and I think interpreting that as showing the incompetence of the House Republican leadership and/or their cowardly refusal to stand up to Marjorie Taylor Greene is appropriate. 

[DanteGabriel]

The Republicans dragged their feet on condemning Greene's latest clout-chasing dumbassery because so much of their base is stupid and entitled enough to  believe that mask mandates are like the Holocaust.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, DanteGabriel said:

The Republicans dragged their feet on condemning Greene's latest clout-chasing dumbassery because so much of their base is stupid and entitled enough to  believe that mask mandates are like the Holocaust.

Yep. I'd also throw in that McCarthy and other party leaders are worried the crazies like MTG will try to challenge them for their positions banking on getting Trump's endorsement. 

[Jaxom 1974]

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Yep. I'd also throw in that McCarthy and other party leaders are worried the crazies like MTG will try to challenge them for their positions banking on getting Trump's endorsement. 

More like expects them to try, don't you? I mean, if the House shifts in 2022 the first one lining up to challenge 'ole Kevin for the Speakership is going to be little old Marjorie...with Trump's blessing...

[Zorral]

"Prosecutor in Trump criminal probe convenes grand jury to hear evidence, weigh potential charges"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-investigation-grand-jury/2021/05/25/5f47911c-bcca-11eb-83e3-0ca705a96ba4_story.html

Quote

 

NEW YORK — Manhattan's district attorney has convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges, according to two people familiar with the development.

The panel was convened recently and will sit three days a week for six months. It is likely to hear several matters — not just the Trump case ­— during the duration of its term, which is longer than a traditional New York state grand-jury assignment, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Generally, special grand juries such as this one are convened to participate in long-term matters rather than to hear evidence of crimes charged routinely.

The move indicates that District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s investigation of the former president and his business has reached an advanced stage after more than two years. It suggests, too, that Vance believes he has found evidence of a crime — if not by Trump then by someone potentially close to him or by his company....

 

 

[Maithanet]

12 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

More like expects them to try, don't you? I mean, if the House shifts in 2022 the first one lining up to challenge 'ole Kevin for the Speakership is going to be little old Marjorie...with Trump's blessing...

I don't think MTG is really leadership material.  There are plenty of lickspittles like Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan that Trump would prefer over Greene.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I don't think MTG is really leadership material.  There are plenty of lickspittles like Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan that Trump would prefer over Greene.

Perhaps, but Trump really does favor his loudest supporters (I could see Gaetz may give it a go too if he's not in jail). Or I mean shit, maybe Trump tries to make himself Speaker. 

Either way, I see there being a decent chance that McCarthy gets passed over and that would just be hilarious.