US politics: calm blue waters

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, Week said:

But her emails!?

Gotta love how they were also using self-deleting text apps while selling this shit. My personal favorite is the right losing its mind over Hunter Biden doing what every rich kid does while not caring at all that Kushner literally used his government office to score $2b from the Saudis. Honestly why isn't that being investigated? 

[DMC]

Politico has a good summary of how the Manchin/Schumer deal came to fruition.  Whole thing is worth a read, but thought this was of particular interest:

Quote

February

“Schumer and Manchin broke bread, and Manchin delivered his negotiating position: He wanted to wait until April before trying again. And when they did, he only wanted to talk to Schumer.

“After Russia invaded Ukraine [on Feb. 24] and Europe’s energy supplies were squeezed while U.S. gas prices began rising, Manchin then saw an opportunity to make big climate change investments while simultaneously boosting fossil fuel production this spring.

“‘That is the catapult that basically launched me,’ Manchin said in an interview.” (Burgess/Marianne)

So, thanks Putin for reviving the Dems' major domestic policy agenda!

[Zorral]

12 hours ago, Babblebauble said:

Subversion is literally about not being too forward with your corruptive interfacings. 

Tell that to the reichlicans, maybe? That they need to practice subtlety and restraint in their relentless throw it at the wall and make it stickness?

[Zorral]

6 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

He always finds someone to do his dirty work for him.

With a major exception -- sexual assault.  He keeps that for himself.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

4 hours ago, Week said:

But her emails!?

 

 

But her email flushed down the 2016 election down the toilette. So this is going perfect circle. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Primary day is tomorrow here in Minny and CD-5 will be an interesting race. Congresswoman Omar will face her biggest challenge to date since winning office in Don Samuels, a popular former city councilmember. He's been running a shit ton of ads on every medium while Omar hasn't run anything as far as I can tell. He's also outraised her the last two quarters and has gotten a ton of local endorsements, including from the mayors of Minneapolis, Edina, SLP (where I live), Golden Valley and New Hope, which collectively is the overwhelming majority of the district. Samuels has also run an aggressive ground game while again it's been crickets from Omar. I'm still a bit skeptical Samuels can upset her, but I'm voting for him tomorrow and I very much hope he wins. Omar has not been a good MoC for every reason I laid out before she was elected and I badly miss Keith despite all his flaws. Don would be an improvement over both of them as far as I can tell. 

[Zorral]

We have seen stories about this during the horror show that was manbaby WH years; still, it's more than horrifying reading.

As the President’s behavior grew increasingly erratic, General Mark Milley told his staff, “I will fight from the inside.”

Inside the War Between Trump and His Generals
How Mark Milley and others in the Pentagon handled the national-security threat posed by their own Commander-in-Chief.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals

Quote

 

. . . . It turned out that the generals had rules, standards, and expertise, not blind loyalty. The President’s loud complaint to John Kelly one day was typical: “You fucking generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?”

“Which generals?” Kelly asked.

“The German generals in World War II,” Trump responded.

“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said.

But, of course, Trump did not know that. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” the President replied. In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals, but the President was determined to test the proposition. . . . .

. . . .  By the evening of Monday, November 9th, Milley’s fears about a volatile post-election period unlike anything America had seen before seemed to be coming true. News organizations had called the election for Biden, but Trump refused to acknowledge that he had lost by millions of votes. The peaceful transition of power—a cornerstone of liberal democracy—was now in doubt. Sitting at home that night at around nine, the chairman received an urgent phone call from the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. With the possible exception of Vice-President Mike Pence, no one had been more slavishly loyal in public, or more privately obsequious, to Trump than Pompeo. But even he could not take it anymore.

“We’ve got to talk,” Pompeo told Milley, who was at home in Quarters Six, the red brick house that has been the official residence of chairmen of the Joint Chiefs since the early nineteen-sixties. “Can I come over?”

Milley invited Pompeo to visit immediately.

“The crazies have taken over,” Pompeo told him when they sat down at Milley’s kitchen table. Not only was Trump surrounded by the crazies; they were, in fact, ascendant in the White House and, as of that afternoon, inside the Pentagon itself. Just a few hours earlier, on the first workday after the election was called for Biden, Trump had finally fired Esper. Milley and Pompeo were alarmed that the Defense Secretary was being replaced by Christopher Miller, until recently an obscure mid-level counterterrorism official at Trump’s National Security Council, who had arrived at the Pentagon flanked by a team of what appeared to be Trump’s political minders.

For Milley, this was an ominous development. From the beginning, he understood that “if the idea was to seize power,” as he told his staff, “you are not going to do this without the military.” Milley had studied the history of coups. They invariably required the takeover of what he referred to as the “power ministries”—the military, the national police, and the interior forces.

As soon as he’d heard about Esper’s ouster, Milley had rushed upstairs to the Secretary’s office. “This is complete bullshit,” he told Esper. Milley said that he would resign in protest. “You can’t,” Esper insisted. “You’re the only one left.” Once he cooled off, Milley agreed.

In the coming weeks, Milley would repeatedly convene the Joint Chiefs, to bolster their resolve to resist any dangerous political schemes from the White House now that Esper was out. He quoted Benjamin Franklin to them on the virtues of hanging together rather than hanging separately. He told his staff that, if need be, he and all the chiefs were prepared to “put on their uniforms and go across the river together”—to threaten to quit en masse—to prevent Trump from trying to use the military to stay in power illegally. . . . .

 

Every day it is proven that romperista has never seen the nation of the United States as anything but another loser corporation that he grifted into a hostile takeover.

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Week said:

But her emails!?

 

 

Trump and Toilet Together Forever, All 'Round the World!

The stories just write themselves.  Nothing for journalists to do!

[Fez]

51 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Primary day is tomorrow here in Minny and CD-5 will be an interesting race. Congresswoman Omar will face her biggest challenge to date since winning office in Don Samuels, a popular former city councilmember. He's been running a shit ton of ads on every medium while Omar hasn't run anything as far as I can tell. He's also outraised her the last two quarters and has gotten a ton of local endorsements, including from the mayors of Minneapolis, Edina, SLP (where I live), Golden Valley and New Hope, which collectively is the overwhelming majority of the district. Samuels has also run an aggressive ground game while again it's been crickets from Omar. I'm still a bit skeptical Samuels can upset her, but I'm voting for him tomorrow and I very much hope he wins. Omar has not been a good MoC for every reason I laid out before she was elected and I badly miss Keith despite all his flaws. Don would be an improvement over both of them as far as I can tell. 

The special election in MN-1 will be especially interesting as a bellweather for the fall. The Kansas abortion vote was one thing, but let's see how an actual partisan race goes (there's also the Washington senate top-two primary from last week, but it's still at only 81% counted so I wouldn't want to draw any conclusion yet)

[LongRider]

Good.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

33 minutes ago, Fez said:

The special election in MN-1 will be especially interesting as a bellweather for the fall. The Kansas abortion vote was one thing, but let's see how an actual partisan race goes (there's also the Washington senate top-two primary from last week, but it's still at only 81% counted so I wouldn't want to draw any conclusion yet)

I wish I could give you some greater insight, but CD-1 is like CD-7 to me, they simply don't exist. MN-1 is hard to read because it's a 50/50ish rural district that also randomly has one of the best hospitals in the world and multiple flourishing college towns (Rochester, Mankato and Winona). I'm not sure what will happen, Walz reelection (previous MoC) will be pivotal statewide, but especially in the first.

[DireWolfSpirit]

1/6/21 has been like a year and 7 mos since Trump led the insurrection on our Capitol.

We need to start one of those countdowns like they did for the Iranian held hostages.

Count Days

 

579 days

January 6, 2021 - August 8, 2022

579 days and Merrick Garland refuses to touch his King.

Eta: And is terrified of said King

[Corvinus85]

More a parasite than a lion. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2022/08/08/made-china-made-usa-tags-swap/10264036002/

Quote

An apparel company known for inflammatory apparel championing the Second Amendment and Donald Trump has been fined after  the Federal Trade Commission found the company falsely claimed its imported apparel is made in the U.S.

Utah-based Lions Not Sheep and its owner, SeanWhalen, were slapped with a $211,335 fine last week after the FTC found the company removed “Made in China” tags, replacing them with fake “Made in the USA” labels

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

^^^The tin of "Danish style" butter cookies I had for breakfast, I noticed when I put them back in the cupboard, in fine print says made in India

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Primary day is tomorrow here in Minny and CD-5 will be an interesting race. Congresswoman Omar will face her biggest challenge to date since winning office in Don Samuels, a popular former city councilmember. He's been running a shit ton of ads on every medium while Omar hasn't run anything as far as I can tell. He's also outraised her the last two quarters and has gotten a ton of local endorsements, including from the mayors of Minneapolis, Edina, SLP (where I live), Golden Valley and New Hope, which collectively is the overwhelming majority of the district. Samuels has also run an aggressive ground game while again it's been crickets from Omar. I'm still a bit skeptical Samuels can upset her, but I'm voting for him tomorrow and I very much hope he wins. Omar has not been a good MoC for every reason I laid out before she was elected and I badly miss Keith despite all his flaws. Don would be an improvement over both of them as far as I can tell. 

Can we just take a minute to appreciate that you and DMC are now living in Minnie and Mickey Mouse state respectively. Even when you two are not squabbling like an old married couple, you do everything to keep that narrative alive. I salute your commitment.

[ThinkerX]

Okay...so the R's are blaming the failure of the $35 insulin cap as a procedural issue, something not allowed in the Inflation Reduction Act. They complain they wanted to pass it, it just wasn't procedurally allowable. Enter a suggestion I saw elsewhere:

Make the $35 insulin cap a separate, standalone bill. 

The D's can introduce this - I think - but if the R's make noises against it, it becomes a PR nightmare for them, and likely a campaign issue. Of course, it is already a PR nightmare for them.

 

 

[Fez]

11 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Okay...so the R's are blaming the failure of the $35 insulin cap as a procedural issue, something not allowed in the Inflation Reduction Act. They complain they wanted to pass it, it just wasn't procedurally allowable. Enter a suggestion I saw elsewhere:

Make the $35 insulin cap a separate, standalone bill. 

The D's can introduce this - I think - but if the R's make noises against it, it becomes a PR nightmare for them, and likely a campaign issue. Of course, it is already a PR nightmare for them.

 

 

It was entirely procedural allowable; the issue was simply that it required 60 votes instead of 50. If 10 Republicans were onboard it could've been in the bill no problem.

[Jaxom 1974]

17 minutes ago, Fez said:

It was entirely procedural allowable; the issue was simply that it required 60 votes instead of 50. If 10 Republicans were onboard it could've been in the bill no problem.

Yes.  But now you call their bluff, right?  Introduce a separate bill.  

[Wade1865]

4 hours ago, Zorral said:

With a major exception -- sexual assault.  He keeps that for himself.

GHRITP!

[Wade1865]

Hmm ... I'm starting to get the impression no one here likes Donald (except me).