2015 American Politics Thread: The 114th Congress Is in the House!

Beck and other conservatives with their same crazy talking point regarding Indiana and Iran. Conservative tweets in the link

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-nuclear-meltdown-commences.html

the point about pakistan is a truthbomb. everyone always pisses their pants about proliferation but pakistan literally helped give north korea the bomb and what did we do about it? jack shit.

Jeb Bush identified himself as “Hispanic” in a 2009 voter registration application form for the State of Florida unearthed by the New York Times.

so very lol

if this was a dem the right would put this on his/her tombstone and we'd never hear the end of it

. . . which is exactly what they did!

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=elizabeth+warren+native+american

leader-in-waiting Schmuck in action

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/chuck-schumer-bucks-white-house-on-iran-116713.html

This article about the horrifying Kansas bill includes this awesome throwaway moment:

Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, called the bill’s passage during Holy Week ironic. He chided Republican members of the Senate, who regularly hold Bible studies at the Capitol, to reflect on whether the bill matched the teachings of Christ.

results 1 - 20 of 5,210,000 for 'horrifying Kansas bill'

https://www.google.com/#q=horrifying+kansas+bill

http://prod.static.chiefs.clubs.nfl.com//assets/images/imported/KC/photos/2012-Coaching-Cards/Chapin_Bill.jpg

The narrative writes itself when you GIS Horrifying Kansas Bill. Amazing

http://www.speaker.gov/titanic

http://pando.com/2015/04/10/war-nerd-the-confederates-who-shouldve-been-hanged/

Speaker Boehner's staff obviously got into the liquor cabinet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/nyregion/new-tack-for-de-blasio-wooing-business-leaders-he-once-denounced.html

christ what an asshole

A week and a half ago, Chuck Schumer, currently third in the leadership of the minority party in the U.S. Senate, moved quickly to solidify his position as the next leader of Democrats, securing the support of his caucus.

This week he endorsed Republican Senator Bob Corker’s bill, which, on paper, gives Congress the right to approve the nuclear agreement hammered out with Iran by the U.S. and its allies (collectively known as the P5+1). In reality, this bill is yet another carefully crafted attempt to thwart a negotiated end to this nuclear standoff.

Schumer told Politico: “I strongly believe Congress should have the right to disapprove any agreement, and I support the Corker bill, which would allow that to occur.”

The ramifications of the Corker bill are clear. Republicans will not grant their stamp of approval to any treaty signed with Iran. Regardless of their rhetoric, in the absence of a negotiated agreement, the neoconservative dream of military action against Iran creeps closer to reality.

Thus in his first major public act following the announcement of his presumed ascension to the top Democratic position in the Senate, Schumer undermined the views of the overwhelming majority of Democrats across the country, in particular the left flank of the party, whose activism (and online contributions) he will in part rely on to recapture the majority in the 2016 congressional elections.

He's already got enemies on the left because he's got wall streets dick in his mouth, this doesn't seem wise to piss them off for an entirely different reason..

Schmuck isn't wise

Don't think he cares who he irritates on the left

yes there's no Crazy Lefty Money Machine to get Schmuck out of office next time.

he and Hil, perfect together

(although frankly, a GOP prez and Congress is EXACTLY what the Dem whorehouse deserves in 18 months)

no they don't

With Alfred. Nitpick and criticize the Dems in Congress all you want, but no one should be stuck with the hateful nonsense the GOP is bringing

bsabsvr

hillary ensued

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/internal-data-hillary-clinton-paid-women-and-men-equally#.qiPdJa7M9

Bill Kristol: If Dems Nominate Hillary, GOP Should Nominate Dick Cheney (VIDEO)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCesLVCUAAAF2V7.jpg

LOL yes it is

bill kristol should be in jail

http://images.rcp.realclearpolitics.com/27523_5_.jpg

thx for reminding me

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/04/why-do-progressive-states-have-regressive-tax-codes

The nation's most regressive tax code belongs to Washington, a state that was ranked by The Hill last year as the bluest in the country based on its voting patterns and Democratic dominance. The poorest 20 percent of Washingtonians pay an effective state tax rate of 16.8 percent, while the wealthiest 1 percent effectively pay just 2.4 percent of their income in taxes.

There's a clear explanation for that: Washington has no income tax and thus heavily relies on a sales tax that disproportionately affects the poor

This is probably the one major thing I dislike about Washington. There was a ballot initiative in 2010 to set up a state income tax for individuals who make over 200K / families over 400K and it got shot down 65-35 which is crazy to me.

That whole "you know, I MIGHT make $200,000 a year some day and man that would suck to have to pay taxes on that" mindset is insane to me. Meanwhile enjoy your shitty education and infrastructure.

It's fucking insane that the tax cutoff is $14,000 a year. I was thinking it should at least be cut off at poverty level. Then I looked into the official Department of Health and Human services Poverty Guidlines. Apparently if you make over $12 a year you are not living in poverty!

2015 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Persons in family/household Poverty guideline
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,160 for each additional person.
1 $11,770
2 15,930
3 20,090
4 24,250
5 28,410
6 32,570
7 36,730
8 40,890

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/15poverty.cfm

(CNN)The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday they have resolved key differences on the bill regarding Iran's nuclear plan, meaning that passage of the bill through the chamber looks more certain.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said Tuesday that negotiators had reached a bipartisan agreement on legislation allowing Congress to review a final nuclear deal with Iran.

"What I'm most proud of is we've kept the pure integrity of the process in place and the President cannot lift, while Congress is reviewing this, cannot lift the congressionally mandated sanctions, which is what they've been trying to do and push for over the past couple of weeks," Corker told reporters as he headed into a classified briefing on the emerging Iran agreement with Secretary of state John Kerry and other top administration officials. "While Corker said that "no one should ever count their chickens before they hatch," he expressed optimism that when the bill comes up for a vote in the committee later Tuesday it would pass, as expected.

According to a Corker aide familiar with the details of the bill, it requires the President to submit the final agreement to Congress, which will have up to 52 days to review and approve the deal. That includes an initial review period of 30 days, with 12 more days added automatically if Congress passes a bill and sends it to the president and an additional 10 days of congressional review if Obama vetoes the legislation.

so fucking stupid

i don't know why the president should be able to unilaterally lift congressionally mandated sanctions tbh

unless we're just done w/ this whole separation of power thing and the executive is going to be in charge of all decisions from now on

it's the general congressional opposition that's incoherent and stupid, not the tactics

GOP wants to deny Obama any successes of any kind and Dems cowed by AIPAC and Bibi all too eager to oblige, even though neither faction has any clear demands about what else they could possibly want out of a deal with Iran. all they want is no deal.

obama kinda opened a precedent for congressional intervention in foreign affairs when he sent the syria plan to them for approval.

that's inaccurate. they have very clear demands. for one, they want iranian recognition of israel. now maybe it's so unlikely that it's not worth including, but it's dishonest to say that they haven't said what demands they want. in fact bibi released a whole list of things he wants from a deal.

now maybe it's so unlikely that it's not worth including

*ding ding ding*

this is the kind of demand that is made to ensure that no deal will happen, and it doesn't even have anything to do with *why* the sanctions are in place in the first place. Sanctions weren't instituted because Iran wouldn't recognize Israel, they were instituted because of Iran's nuclear program.

Also Bibi is not a member of congress (much as he might like to be), I haven't read of any congressional members signing off on his list of demands.

sure maybe but obama said himself in 2008:

Only recently have some come to think that diplomacy by definition cannot be tough. They forget the example of Truman, and Kennedy and Reagan. These presidents understood that diplomacy backed by real leverage was a fundamental tool of statecraft. And it is time to once again make American diplomacy a tool to succeed, not just a means of containing failure. We will pursue this diplomacy with no illusions about the Iranian regime. Instead, we will present a clear choice. If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives — including the lifting of sanctions, and political and economic integration with the international community. If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.

so ya know. let's not pretend like anyone here is a particularly honest dude. not the iranians, not the israelis, not the congress and not obama.

and not Speaker Netanyahu

If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives — including the lifting of sanctions, and political and economic integration with the international community.

this was a speech, not legislation and you will note there is no straight 1:1 correlation between any of those things - it's a very general statement

i mean ok all politicians lie to get elected, but considering that he legit campaigned on sanctions only being lifted w/ Iranian secession of terror support, and threats to Israel, it's pretty disingenuous to come back today and be like 'no, that requirement is totally crazy.'

legit campaigned on sanctions only being lifted w/ Iranian secession of terror support, and threats to Israel

this is a nice misreading, but it's wrong

'sanctions have nothing to do w/ terror support + threats!' 'they would never accept it anyway!' 'you just want to kill the deal!' < this is all WH propaganda to try and sell the current deal