US Politics: #Musky DeSaster

[A Horse Named Stranger]

My guess is, the Democrats would indeed prefer to keep McCarthy as speaker. And they'd simply vote present/abstain.

I'd be extremely reluctant to get drawn into the GOP psychodrama.

[Zorral]

30 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

also agree there's something else out there that's not yet come to light

I'm guessing the answer might be at the very end of the TX Monthly piece, which describes Paxton suing Biden, etc. and being nothing but a laughing stock.  "Corruption is one thing, but being corrupt and useless is something else."  The TX fascist party wants someone who is, not less blatantly corrupt than Paxton, but someone who would be better at gnawing at the President and Dems.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

40 minutes ago, Zorral said:

What I don't understand is why now are the fascist party of TX worried about looking bad?  They all have been doing things for decades (everywhere, not just TX) that make Them look bad, and They've never cared before. This particular dude has been under indictment for years!  I still don't understand why now do They want to do something?  So I again inquire why this time around do They worry about being made to look bad, the 'party' look bad?

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ken-paxton-impeachment-texas-house/

.... What changed, then? Why is there a willingness to hold Paxton accountable now?

 

The same question has occurred to me given how Trumpanistas have arisen in dismay and are calling the vast majority of the Texas Republican Party… again… the Texas Republican Party… “RINOs”.  Something very strange is taking place.

[Zorral]

1 minute ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Something very strange is taking place.

Scot -- I suggest something in my comment posted right before yours, that might be the answer -- but again, I really don't know, and again, still, I ask, why NOW? because nothing's actually changed in all this time.

[Zorral]

Have you all been seeing the stories popping up in various places of people being very concerned about their inheritances because their trumpistadoro parents are being scammed constantly out of thousands of dollars to help their sadly persecuted and beleaguered baby idol?  Some are wondering if they should begin the process of having their parents legally declared incompetent to manage their affairs, yet in other ways they don't show any particular derangement -- particularly if their kids are also tRump supporters if not quite the cultish true believers.

[Zorral]

By the way, what happened to all those Freedom Truck convoys and the people who evidently had nothing better to do with their lives than spend huge amounts of $$$$$$$$ filling up their gas tanks -- particularly back then when gas was particularly high priced?

How quickly we forget the idiots, as the waves of idiocy keep coming and coming and coming so thick and fast, quite like Hawley's instructions on how to be a man.  

[DMC]

36 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

My guess is, the Democrats would indeed prefer to keep McCarthy as speaker. And they'd simply vote present/abstain.

Oye, this isn't how it works.  I suppose I should start explaining the difference because my students are gonna be wondering the same thing.*  The US Congress is not like a parliamentary system.  The Speaker is required to get 218 votes at the beginning of a congressional session, yes, but that's it.  After that the Speaker is the Speaker until the next congressional session - January 3, 2025 - or if they resign.  The only way they can be sacked is by their own party.  How that happens is entirely up to the party in the majority. 

For McCarthy, the crazy fucks insisted on instituting a rule wherein any single member can call a no-confidence vote.  But that's WITHIN the Republican conference.  Boehner got taken down by these crazy fucks and they didn't need no vote.  Still, from a practical standpoint, they would need to identify a replacement that the entire conference can agree upon -- just as they did when they ousted Boehner by anointing Paul Ryan.  Absent that, in terms of identifying a candidate the entire conference can agree upon, they aren't gonna sack McCarthy.  In short, the Dems do not have and won't ever have anything to do with this until election day 2024.

* Usually almost all of my students wouldn't give two shits, or even be aware of what is happening.  Summer sessions are different though.  Have quite a few very attentive students.  One of them is a "retired" cop.  He's still three years younger than me, but it's almost annoying how inquisitive he is during the lectures.  He's also clearly MAGA or at least MAGA-adjacent, but it's fun, keeps me on my game.

Edited May 28, 2023 by DMC

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, DMC said:

Oye, this isn't how it works.  I suppose I should start explaining the difference because my students are gonna be wondering the same thing.*  The US Congress is not like a parliamentary system.  The Speaker is required to get 218 votes at the beginning of a congressional session, yes, but that's it.  After that the Speaker is the Speaker until the next congressional session - January 3, 2025 - or if they resign.  The only way they can be sacked is by their own party.  How that happens is entirely up to the party in the majority. 

We should be making bets on how long he lasts. 

I'm still not sure he survives the summer.

Quote

* Usually almost all of my students wouldn't give two shits, or even be aware of what is happening.  Summer sessions are different though.  Have quite a few very attentive students.  One of them is a "retired" cop.  He's still three years younger than me, but it's almost annoying how inquisitive he is during the lectures.  He's also clearly MAGA or at least MAGA-adjacent, but it's fun, keeps me on my game.

Summer students are almost always the better ones. I really enjoyed taking a class with someone who was retired and just bored so she signed up for a mid level poli sci course. Loved getting her for group projects. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Not another Klobuchar story...

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Summer students are almost always the better ones.

Yeah at community college that's when you get a higher percentage of the older students that actually care.  One class I have right now is only 9 students, and at least half of them are in or have served in the military.  Makes going over the constitution quicker.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

15 minutes ago, DMC said:

One of them is a "retired" cop.  He's still three years younger than me, but it's almost annoying how inquisitive he is during the lectures.  He's also clearly MAGA or at least MAGA-adjacent, but it's fun, keeps me on my game.

Florida cop being a MAGAt or sympathetic towards that movement?

Words fail to express the profound deepness of my surprise.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah at community college that's when you get a higher percentage of the older students that actually care.  

I've heard a lot of professors at CCs say that's why they're happier there than at larger institutions. Sure you get a lot of hungover brats who don't do their work, but you do everywhere, however you also get a lot of people in their mid 20's to mid 40's who clearly want to be good students. 

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I've heard a lot of professors at CCs say that's why they're happier there than at larger institutions. Sure you get a lot of hungover brats who don't do their work, but you do everywhere, however you also get a lot of people in their mid 20's to mid 40's who clearly want to be good students. 

It's not just that - although that's true.  Even the youngins..I never thought I would enjoy teaching.  Even when I started over a decade ago now, I just did it because I was in a transition period at the time.  But it's far more rewarding teaching students at community college that are just trying to make their own way than the entitled shits at four year universities.  That's a crude generalization and obviously not entirely true, but it's why I'm happy doing this the rest of my life.  Took a lot of conversations with my dad to get him to understand that.

[ThinkerX]

36 minutes ago, DMC said:

For McCarthy, the crazy fucks insisted on instituting a rule wherein any single member can call a no-confidence vote.  But that's WITHIN the Republican conference.  Boehner got taken down by these crazy fucks and they didn't need no vote.  Still, from a practical standpoint, they would need to identify a replacement that the entire conference can agree upon -- just as they did when they ousted Boehner by anointing Paul Ryan.  Absent that, in terms of identifying a candidate the entire conference can agree upon, they aren't gonna sack McCarthy.  In short, the Dems do not have and won't ever have anything to do with this until election day 2024.

 

The operative term here is 'crazy fucks.' To me it seems that at least some members of the Freedom Caucus are so out of touch with reality they might actually try to depose McCarthy *without* a viable replacement lined up - or maybe somebody *only* they think is viable. This might result in a situation where McCarthy is no longer Speaker - but neither is anybody else. That possibility is what made me think the D's might step in with a lifeline for McCarthy, but that appears either unlikely or impossible.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, ThinkerX said:

This might result in a situation where McCarthy is no longer Speaker - but neither is anybody else. That possibility is what made me think the D's might step in with a lifeline for McCarthy, but that appears either unlikely or impossible.

I suppose theoretically, but again, that's not how it works.  The GOP can oust McCarthy on their own, but he can't try to whip Dem votes in an effort to survive.  It's not a 218 thing - it's entirely intraparty.  The House GOP may force McCarthy to resign, but he nor they would ever do so without a replacement in place that's agreed upon within their conference.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

38 minutes ago, DMC said:

 Took a lot of conversations with my dad to get him to understand that.

It happens. I never even got that chance, but what's important is you do what makes you happy and don't feel any pressure to do something you know will make you miserable. If you want to teach at a CC, just rock the fuck out of it.

[Zorral]

Don't get excited at the prospect Paxton might be impeached.  He'll be replaced by a more effective nazi, who will get up every morning strategizing how TX can take over, or take out, NY.

Texas Republicans pass bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities

https://www.rawstory.com/diversity-equity-inclusion-in-texas/
 

[Wilbur]

3 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The same question has occurred to me given how Trumpanistas have arisen in dismay and are calling the vast majority of the Texas Republican Party… again… the Texas Republican Party… “RINOs”.  Something very strange is taking place.

Trumpkins calling long-standing Republicans with decades of service and actual experience "RINOs" is just SOP for them.

Our local district is relatively newly-formed given the population growth here in Arizona, and our GOP board is similarly new.  We have a weird mix of long-standing folks who run for / support local municipalities and government functions and these Trumpkins who just started "doing politics" in the last six years.

The Trumpkins will come up with some bizarre idea ("Stop accepting Federal dollars for road work!") and the old Republicans will point out that this isn't how government functions operate.  "You are just RINOs!  You are secretly Democrats and Communists and Antifa!" is the immediate response.  Last year one of them said that a sitting member of the Goldwater Institute was a RINO, and my eyeballs just about fell out of my skull.

I haven't attended the last couple local board meetings, as the utter ignorance of the Trumpkins on subjects like basic parliamentary procedure, how the Constitution allocates powers, the difference between state and Federal powers and authority makes the meetings a huge waste of time.  Life is too short to associate with the @#$% who won't bother to peruse Robert's Rules of Order prior to a session.

[Zorral]

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia described Mr. Brandt on Twitter as a “Democrat political terrorist” and cited the case as evidence that “Democrats want Republicans dead, and they’ve already started the killings.”

Projection much ... again I give you the headlines every day across the country as to who is killing whom in very large numbers, and it's neither Dems nor 'leftys.'

A Small Town’s Tragedy, Distorted by Trump’s Megaphone
When a teen’s killing became a right-wing talking point, the rush to outrage obscured a more complicated story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/29/us/politics/north-dakota-teen-death-right-wing-trump.html

Quote

 

There were no known witnesses when Shannon Brandt and Cayler Ellingson got into an argument in the blurry hours after last call at Buck’s n Doe’s Bar & Grill in September. And no one but Mr. Brandt could say with certainty what led him to run over Mr. Ellingson with his Ford Explorer, crushing him to death in a gravel alley.

But the people of McHenry, a town of 64 in sparsely populated Foster County, N.D., have gotten used to hearing from people who think they know.

They include former President Donald J. Trump, who denounced the killing of Mr. Ellingson, an 18-year-old recent high school graduate, at the hands of a “deranged Democrat maniac who was angry that Cayler was a Republican” in a Truth Social post. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia described Mr. Brandt on Twitter as a “Democrat political terrorist” and cited the case as evidence that “Democrats want Republicans dead, and they’ve already started the killings.”

Mr. Trump and Ms. Greene were among a chorus of Republican politicians — including several members of Congress and the attorney general of North Dakota — who rushed to condemn Mr. Brandt. They relied on a handful of early news stories that cited a state highway patrol officer’s report, which suggested Mr. Brandt killed Mr. Ellingson because he believed he was a “Republican extremist.”

That claim, made weeks before the midterm elections, ignited a brief national political firestorm. Republican politicians and right-wing media figures claimed that Mr. Brandt had been inspired by President Biden’s recent warnings about “extremism” in the Republican Party. They complained that news media coverage of political violence willfully ignored instances when the assailants were Democrats.

But the episode quickly became an example of another media phenomenon: the distortion of complex, painful events to fit an opportune political narrative.

Although evidence in the case suggests the two men argued about politics that night, law enforcement officials concluded quickly that the killing was not politically motivated. The prosecutor for Foster County who brought the charges never accused Mr. Brandt of running over Mr. Ellingson because of political beliefs.

Acquaintances and a family member could not recall Mr. Brandt, a 42-year-old welder with no history of party registration, expressing political views.

Late last month, the murder charge against Mr. Brandt was downgraded to manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He agreed on May 18 to plead guilty.

By averting a courtroom trial, the plea leaves many questions hanging over a still largely unexplained incident — and over a town that found itself swept abruptly into a national political cyclone and just as abruptly cast out. .... 

 

Why yes, the fascist/nazi voter knows North Dakota.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Talking about fascists. I could start a quiz,about who said/posted it. But it'd be too easy.

 

Quote

"HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, BUT ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO GAVE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE COUNTRY THEY LOVE, AND TO THOSE IN LINE OF A VERY DIFFERENT, BUT EQUALLY DANGEROUS FIRE, STOPPING THE THREATS OF THE TERRORISTS, MISFITS AND LUNATIC THUGS WHO ARE WORKING FEVERISHLY FROM WITHIN TO OVERTURN AND DESTROY OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN IN GREATER PERIL THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW," 

"WE MUST STOP THE COMMUNISTS, MARXISTS AND FASCIST "PIGS" AT EVERY TURN AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

I know, too easy. We all know ran's writing style when we see it.

Aren't you all looking forward to him retaking office and having more of this again.