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

Kinda amazing that a Republican is spouting phrases like "shrieks of big business" tbh.

I should also be amazed that the contradictions inherent in:

That’s why we should ensure that musicians, caterers, photographers and others should be immune from government coercion on deeply held religious convictions.

The bill does not, as opponents assert, create a right to discriminate against, or generally refuse service to, gay men or lesbians.

...doesn't make his head explode. We refuse to cater your gay wedding, but once your sham marriage is in place we certainly wouldn't dream of refusing service to you in our restaurant.

I'm not in favor of the bill but there's a difference between being forced to participate in an event that goes against your religious beliefs and providing service to someone who believes differently than you. For the former imagine if we forced Christians to photograph Satanic rituals on the principle that they can't discriminate based on faith.

participate? you're the help, you stay in back

Musicians and photographers definitely participate. Caterers more iffy imo.

and failed CEO Fiorini's in.

i like how jindal keeps repeating 'individuals and businesses'

vs 'families' for the Dems

everyone knows families are a right-wing institution

using it as a political mantra as if everyone is "in one" sure is conservative by instinct

http://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/bhxizlcmdkkm2fxdws9npa.png

how'd all the right-wing institutions become so popular while newspapers languish near the bottom of the list? not my insight but someone noted that the academy didn't even make the list.

or FAMILIES

given the number that get started by accident

and now gays wanna start them for real

I love how flip floppy bobby digital is in his insane quest to run for president.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

“We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults.”
— Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in the keynote address at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Charlotte yesterday.

are there people that still believe he can be president? has he officially announced his bid? if it seemed unlikely in 2012, it just seems hilariously impossible in 2016, and yet his name routinely gets thrown into the pool of possible candidates.

I dont think he'd be out there so much in the public trying to champion insane issues like this discrimination bill and muslim 'no go zones' if he wasnt jockeying for a run.. or hes trying to be someones vp? either way hes a fucking dunce.

i keep thinking that he's actually just the mayor of a small town called Louisiana, in Alabama, and no one has noticed because they're too busy covering his presidential ambition stunts

petraeus gets probation and a fine

all of twitter making the same joek:

https://twitter.com/search?q=petraeus%20speaking&src=typd

Pvt Manning shd've changed her name to Petraeus imo

kiriakou is in jail, they want to give james risen's leaker 20 years

Poll isn't surprising given US long-standing tendency of fetishizing the military.

Or self-made millionaires. That's basically the protagonist of every movie out right now.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123507

http://i.imgur.com/HLWXDaG.jpg

blue are the democrat members of congress, red the republicans, and the lines are drawn between members of congress who vote in agreement

hey, don't knock the millionaires. i keep voting for politicians who want to lower taxes on millionaires because that's gonna be me someday really soon, as soon as i get discovered

lmao that the years of greatest 'bipartisan' 'cooperation' were the hated 1970s

cool ass find caek, thx

which one is anaphase

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/steve-king-unveils-radical-court-scheme

King wants to court-strip! lol good luck bro

Milbank's generally a not very incisive writer + Obama apologist so to see him against this = man this must really be a shit deal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-is-an-abomination/2015/04/24/903e5a12-ea85-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html

altho of course no one knows the details so his objections are broader

if Joe Scarborough and "Mika" haven't seen it, it can't be good.

Ha.

Milbank wants spending on worker training and US infrastructure tied in to the trade deal, and he seems to think Republicans would have accepted that as part of a trade deal. I'm not so sure. Plus he barely mentions Dem Wyden who is crafting the whole bipartisan mess with Republicans

But conservative Politico says there is a separate "assistance" bill regarding workers--

Another key point of concern for undecided Democrats is the inclusion of trade adjustment assistance, a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals. Wyden and Ryan agreed to move the fast-track bill simultaneously with the renewal of the assistance program, which has become a prerequisite for Democratic votes on a trade bill.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/dems-stuck-between-warren-obama-in-trade-rumble-117211.html#ixzz3YFNqtEhX

a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals

tbh I don't have a lot of faith in this. What are the requirements for qualifying as a worker "displaced by a trade deal" and what kind of training benefits are they going to provide - subsidies/scholarships for training programs, I assume? but training programs for what? how to be a brogrammer?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obama-progressives-trade-tpp

obama's excuses here are some weak tea.. im glad to hear hes 'fired up' about something =\

x-post--drone operator?

also this is crazy to me

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) further distanced himself from foreign policy adviser James Baker on Thursday during a closed-door meeting hosted by the Manhattan Republican Party.

Bush had previously said it was a mistake for Baker, an adviser and former secretary of state, to speak at the left-leaning Israel policy group J Street. In that appearance, Baker criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over seeming to change his position on a two-state solution.

Jeb having to throw his family's longtime consiglieri under the bus because he spoke to a pro israel lobby that gives money to Dems.

Baker and Poppa Bush are not remembered well by the Israel lobby though.

why is that? I can't remember

I can't rememember either. I don't see Jeb's action here as being too dramatic. J Street is the much more liberal Israel lobby group that does not back Bibi, so Jeb just wants to reassure right-wing Israel supporters that he does not support even talking to liberal Israel supporters. Then once this calms down, he will talk to Baker again.

Baker and Poppy came down hard on Shimon Peres for not being enthusiastic about a two state solution iirc.

From an article on the Correspondents Dinner thing with the Prez:

The dinner and its preliminaries were telecast live by Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, in addition to C-SPAN. The cable news networks largely put aside breaking news events in Nepal (site of a devastating earthquake) and Baltimore (site of an unruly demonstration against the local police force) to provide live coverage of red-carpet arrivals and the dinner itself.

the prez can tell a joke to his peers, all is fucking right with the world

When Ms. Feinstein was asked in a meeting with reporters in 2013 why she was so sure she was getting the truth about the drone program while she accused the C.I.A. of lying to her about torture, she seemed surprised.

“That’s a good question, actually,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/politics/deep-support-in-washington-for-cias-drone-missions.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-3&action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East®ion=Footer&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=true&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

Susan Rice
‏@AmbassadorRice
This Administration believes deeply in the importance of free and independent global media. Will continue to support. #FreethePress

good responses

https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice/status/592774145970204672

#freethelols

Nation magazine editor's guest editorial in Washington Post

excerpt:

It has come to this. To sell his trade treaty — specifically the fast-track trade authority that would grease the skids for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), President Obama is mobilizing a coalition anchored by corporate lobbies, the Chamber of Commerce and Republican congressional leadership. He is opposed by the majority of Democratic legislators, the labor movement and a broad array of mainstream environmental, consumer and citizen organizations.

Democrats are stunned by the intensity of the lobbying effort mounted by the administration. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a staunch supporter of the president, noted that Democrats have been “talked to, approached, lobbied and maybe cajoled by more Cabinet members on this issue than any issue since Barack Obama’s been president. That’s just sad. I wish they put the same effort into minimum wage. I wish they put the same effort into Medicare at 55. I wish they put the same effort into some consumer strengthening on Dodd-Frank.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-progressives-lament-about-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/04/28/6627523e-ed18-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html

they know what side their bread is buttered on

we're fighting this ^^ in my office and every meeting people are more taken aback by how hard the full court press is

obama addressed OFA last week with a line like "people are saying i'm turning my back on working families--i've spent my whole career fighting for working families, why would i turn my back on them now?" then his lackeys are turning around saying that opponents to TPP are "living in the past" and aren't ready for the global modern realities of trade.

i think we're gonna win. the pressure is coming down hard now because the japanese prime minister is visiting and japan insists they want progress on congressional approval before they'll move TPP through on their end. this is as intense as the pressure is gonna get, and we expect to lose in the senate, but we think we can hold the house--and if we can hold the house, we win.

Another key point of concern for undecided Democrats is the inclusion of trade adjustment assistance, a program that provides job retraining benefits to workers displaced by trade deals. Wyden and Ryan agreed to move the fast-track bill simultaneously with the renewal of the assistance program, which has become a prerequisite for Democratic votes on a trade bill.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/dems-stuck-between-warren-obama-in-trade-rumble-117211.html#ixzz3YFNqtEhX

― curmudgeon, Friday, April 24, 2015 5:05 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a garbage ass bill

like as trade adjustment assistance goes this does nothing new, just continues the status quo, and they're presenting it like a goddamn concession

and what's "job training" – how to run the cash register at Dunkin Donuts?