US Politics: Ballot Mainetenance

[ThinkerX]

Republican House Majority in peril with yet another retirement, making me wonder more and more about the House changing hands via attrition. 

 

House Republicans’ majority shrinks even further after GOP rep announces surprise resignation (msn.com)

 

And it seems Trump is not the only one in dire danger of being forced off the ballot because of that pesky 14th amendment. I seem to remember something like half a dozen congresspeople who could theoretically be barred under that provision. These take effect, I figure the GOP looses its majority.  Gotta wonder how long the SC will let this matter slide - clear to the general election and beyond? 

 

Lawsuit aims to keep Pennsylvania congressman off ballot over Constitution's insurrection clause (msn.com)

[IheartIheartTesla]

14 hours ago, Kalbear said:

This isn't really true. It wasn't the case in 2016 (where 3rd parties had even less support) and definitely wasn't the case in 2020 (where there was very little 3rd party support at all). 

Gary Johnson and Jill Stein had 9 and 3% support in the polls as late as September 2016 and ended up getting 3 and 1.1% eventually, I think that's a pretty significant drop. At any rate, I dont remember data from January 2016, for example, but I could imagine it was a bit higher (just to re-emphasize, I'm talking about this early in the cycle). I have no doubt third party support is an indicator of trouble, but I'm pushing back against the extent of it (17% IMO wont pan out this year either)

[Zorral]

Again, as we know, for women of childbearing years living in TX can be a death sentence.

Texas doctors do not need to perform emergency abortions, court rules

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01/02/texas-abortion-emergency-5th-circuit/

Quote

 

.... A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Texas hospitals and doctors are not obligated to perform abortions under a long-standing national emergency-care law, dealing a blow to the White House’s strategy to ensure access to the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

The federal law “does not mandate any specific type of medical treatment, let alone abortion,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit concluded, faulting the Biden administration’s interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law “does not govern the practice of medicine,” the court added.

The three-judge panel also faulted the Biden administration’s process of issuing its emergency-care guidance, saying that federal officials did not go through the proper rulemaking process when the administration instructed health-care providers that they were protected by EMTALA if they believed an abortion to be medically necessary. The panel further said that the federal emergency-care law did not “directly conflict” with a near-total abortion ban in effect in Texas, which was written by the state’s Republican legislators and includes exceptions for medical emergencies.

The White House and federal health officials have invoked EMTALA — the 1986 law that requires hospitals and physicians to treat emergency medical conditions or risk fines, civil lawsuits and being blacklisted from federal health programs — in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that overturned the national right to abortion and led to about two dozen state bans on the procedure. The Biden administration is now engaged in several lawsuits that are expected to set precedent over whether the emergency-care law applies to abortion access, including the Texas case.

The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday night referred questions to the White House, which declined to comment.

Abortion rights advocates in Texas and across the country decried the ruling, which they said signaled a disregard for women in life-threatening pregnancy situations. They also criticized the 5th Circuit, which is widely seen as one of the most conservative courts in the country. Its panels have repeatedly sided with antiabortion advocates. ....

 

 

[Zorral]

She's probably among those who believe the average convict is a pampered, indulged sort in prison with all the comfies of home, including education and books and yoga and gym teachers.

Capitol Rioter Wants Supreme Court to Save Her From Mouse-Infested Jail

https://www.newsweek.com/capitol-rioter-wants-supreme-court-save-her-mouse-infested-jail-1857572

[IheartIheartTesla]

Since 538 is a bit clunky these days for me, I looked at the RCP average for national polls (rolling average since October, so already s bit out of date), and it appears to be Trump/Biden/Kennedy 43/42/15, so not terribly different from the USA today poll referenced. Will be interesting to see how those numbers shift as the GoP primary takes hold, if numbers start peeling away from Kennedy it could be the remnants are the ones the Democrats need to get back in the fold. 

[Corvinus85]

Children have returned to school in America after the holidays, and this event is marked by another school shooting, this time in Perry, Iowa. No report on fatalities yet. 

[Zorral]

Trump Received Millions From Foreign Governments as President, Report Finds
House Democrats released evidence that the former president took in at least $7.8 million from foreign entities while in office, engaging in the kind of conduct the G.O.P. is grasping to pin on President Biden.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/us/politics/trump-hotels-foreign-business-report.html

Quote

 

Donald J. Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released by House Democrats on Thursday that show how much he received from overseas transactions while he was in the White House, most of it from China.

The transactions, detailed in a 156-page report called “White House For Sale” that was produced by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, offer concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.

Using documents produced through a court fight, the report describes how foreign governments and their controlled entities, including a top U.S. adversary, interacted with Trump businesses while he was president. They paid millions to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.; Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas; Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York; and Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza in New York.

House Democrats highlighted the transactions on Thursday as a counterweight to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden, which has sought to tie him to international business deals by his son Hunter Biden before his father became president in a bid to prove corruption or influence peddling. They have so far failed to show that President Biden was enriched in any way by any of those transactions. ....

 

 

[Martell Spy]

Iowa voter’s question at a town hall shows how GOP candidates have avoided taking on Trump

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/04/politics/iowa-desantis-haley-trump/index.html

Quote

 

“Why haven’t you gone directly after him?” Chris Garcia, a voter who plans to caucus for DeSantis, asked during a town hall here on Wednesday. “In my viewpoint, you’re going pretty soft on him.”

The question sparked an extended back and forth between Garcia and DeSantis, who argued that he has made an effort to explain the differences between himself and the front-runner, but refuses to “smear him personally.”

The exchange highlighted how a potential race for second place, intensifying for months, has left Trump largely unscathed and in a lane of his own – much to the frustration of Republicans like Garcia.

 

 

[LongRider]

44 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

Children have returned to school in America after the holidays, and this event is marked by another school shooting, this time in Perry, Iowa. No report on fatalities yet. 

Perry, IA is a suburb of Des Monies, where my sister lives.   She has two grown children, but still, this happened in her town.   Last month it was the shooting in Las Vegas, where our youngest brother's son is attending.  Enough with the school shootings assholes!   jfc!  

[Wilbur]

2 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Iowa voter’s question at a town hall shows how GOP candidates have avoided taking on Trump

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/04/politics/iowa-desantis-haley-trump/index.html

 

This just demonstrates the uselessness of the current crop of GOP primary candidates for president.

You don't have to smear him personally!

- You could point to his total lack of a political platform and the absolute absence of creative political plans.

- You could point to his record of not attending his own cabinet meetings and his own briefing while he held the office.

- You could point to his complete failure to work with the Senate or Congress to create or pass any meaningful legislation, reform or improvement of government, etc.

- You could point to his lack of achievement in working with America's allies abroad to form coalitions to achieve our nation's goals, and spending his time instead cozying up to dictators.

- You could point to the failure of American federal response to the Covid plague, and the lack of leadership in a time of crisis.

- You could point to Republicans' continued defeats at the polls during his term, and the inability to achieve success at the ballot box of those candidates he has chosen and endorsed, leading to wins by candidates who are Democrats.

These are just the most blatant, obvious political failures!  There isn't anything personal in this, it is just his resume!  Only Christie has the goolies to talk about it - the rest of the candidates just fold their hands and avert their eyes, much like the GOP national party leadership.

[mormont]

You could indeed do any of those things, but you're not reading DeSantis correctly. When he says he refuses to 'smear [Trump] personally', he means:

'I understand that any criticism of Donald Trump would anger GOP voters and I don't have the balls to risk that. So I'm going to pretend this is about me taking a principled stance, particularly as any valid criticism would automatically be regarded as a 'smear' anyway'.

[Zorral]

Yes, NYers have known the dumpster longer than everybody else.

Majority of NYC councilmembers, all Democrats, say Trump shouldn’t be on NY ballot

https://gothamist.com/news/majority-of-nyc-council-members-all-democrats-say-trump-shouldnt-be-on-ny-ballot

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Just a reminder that even if Trump gets publicly flayed and fed to pigs, and then removed from every ballot, whatever other candidate the GOP puts out is going to be just as dangerous and certainly more competent.  

[Fragile Bird]

3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Children have returned to school in America after the holidays, and this event is marked by another school shooting, this time in Perry, Iowa. No report on fatalities yet. 

Looks like three people were shot, a school administrator and two students. The gunman then killed himself.

It’s a sad day when that’s a happy outcome.

[Tywin et al.]

45 minutes ago, mormont said:

You could indeed do any of those things, but you're not reading DeSantis correctly. When he says he refuses to 'smear [Trump] personally', he means:

'I understand that any criticism of Donald Trump would anger GOP voters and I don't have the balls to risk that. So I'm going to pretend this is about me taking a principled stance, particularly as any valid criticism would automatically be regarded as a 'smear' anyway'.

Christie did and look where it got him. They all know their base is warped beyond repair. They also know their own best personal paths to power is a race to the bottom, so they keep sinking it lower. 

23 minutes ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

Just a reminder that even if Trump gets publicly flayed and fed to pigs, and then removed from every ballot, whatever other candidate the GOP puts out is going to be just as dangerous and certainly more competent.  

Scary part, right? 

[Kalbear]

About a quarter of the overall US population believe that the FBI instigated the January 6th insurrection:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/04/fbi-conspiracy-jan-6-attack-misinformation/

Quote

 

Twenty-five percent of Americans say it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the FBI instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, a false concept promoted by right-wing media and repeatedly denied by federal law enforcement, according to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

The Post-UMD poll finds a smaller 11 percent of the public overall thinks there is “solid evidence” that FBI operatives organized and encouraged the attack, while 13 percent say this is their “suspicion only.”

Among Republicans, 34 percent say the FBI organized and encouraged the insurrection, compared with 30 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats.

 

One in 3 republicans! So yeah, all that bullshit about attacking Trump on his policy stances? Come on, @Wilbur. That doesn't fucking matter in the least.

[maarsen]

It seems that 1/4 of the US population will believe just about any silliness that can be invented.

[Tywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, maarsen said:

It seems that 1/4 of the US population will believe just about any silliness that can be invented.

I've cited this several times, but once again, over half of the population cannot name all three branches of the federal government. We're a stupid country with a lot of wealth and power. Idiocracy was a warning.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I've cited this several times, but once again, over half of the population cannot name all three branches of the federal government. We're a stupid country with a lot of wealth and power. Idiocracy was a warning.

I agree with the general point being made here, but I'd hesitate to use "stupid" where ignorant is more appropriate, especially when not only do you have a large portion of said government actively trying to keep the populace ignorant, but also where the actual participation in the government is symbolic at best for many people.

Being able to name all three branches of government doesn't really tell me all that much about someone's actual intelligence.

 

[ThinkerX]

15 minutes ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

Being able to name all three branches of government doesn't really tell me all that much about someone's actual intelligence.

I have encountered teachers who did not grasp that the 'power of the purse' resides with Congress. (They also considered Biden to be a dictator.) They did not take kindly to being informed otherwise.