American politics 2016: Lawyers, Guns, and D-Money

how much of today's Obama-Sanders WH meeting is going to be about Bern opposing the FDA pick?

Sen Warren reports on toothless enforcement vs corporate crime:

In virtually all the cases she cites — from Standard & Poor’s delivering inflated credit ratings to defraud investors during the financial crisis, to Novartis giving kickbacks to pharmacists to steer customers to their products, to an explosion at a Bayer CropScience pesticide plant that killed two employees — the Department of Justice declined to prosecute individual executives or the corporations themselves, resorting to settlements with minuscule fines that barely disrupt the corporations’ business models.

The report also gives new meaning to the term “1 percent.”

JPMorgan’s settlement for giving conflicted advice to its clients over wealth management products was less than 1 percent of annual operating profits.

GM paid under 1 percent of company revenue to settle claims on the faulty ignition switch that killed multiple vehicle passengers.

For-profit college EDMC ripped off students with false promises of well-paying jobs, and paid below 1 percent of its student loan revenue over the period of violations....

Despite multiple promises by President Obama’s Department of Justice to stiffen enforcement of corporate misconduct, including a 2015 memo creating new guidelines for prosecutions of individuals, almost all major instances lead to toothless settlements, Warren writes. “Accountability has been shockingly weak.”

https://theintercept.com/2016/01/29/elizabeth-warren-challenges-clinton-sanders-to-prosecute-corporate-crime-better-than-obama/

State rep and Cruz campaign functionary lies pointlessly about military service, resigns

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/rep-graham-hunt-resigns-over-military-service-exaggerations/

they always get caught. i don't understand it.

I would've totally court martialed guys like that back when I was a general.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaUwofjWEAA_J8N.png

so Obama visited a mosque.

Union picket line and Bernie phone bank are next. #FullBulworth

caucus trivia: first building in the usa built specifically to be a mosque is in iowa

Federal court strikes down NC congressional district maps

Three federal judges on Friday threw out the congressional voting maps the Republican-led General Assembly drew five years ago, ruling that two districts were gerrymandered along racial lines.

The ruling throws the March 15 primary into chaos, as the judges ordered state lawmakers to redraw the maps within two weeks and not to hold any elections for U.S. House until the maps are in place. A special session of the legislature would have to be called to approve new maps, and they might have to pass federal muster again.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LU8vk8EH0yg/VTM4WZUS1QI/AAAAAAAAAio/pyx7ONxGpkc/s1600/casablanca34.gif

You would think, that with the possibility that a court would throw the districts out, someone would have a spare map drawn up just in case.

voting rights act is so last-century

It's like watching a lava lamp.

http://i.imgur.com/NP32c5o.gif

apalachia, never change

looks like a big tobaccky field fire to me

No seriously, the Appalachia district hardly changes.

harvey gantt otm

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/krugman-on-bernie-sanders-electability

The super-delegates are just under 15 percent of the total number of delegates. If Clinton wins this group by a margin of 80% to 20% (she has more than 95% of the super-delegates who have already made a commitment), then Sanders would have to capture more than 55 percent of the elected delegates to get the nomination.

This means that Sanders could not get the nomination just by scraping by in the primaries; he would need a decisive victory. The question then is, if Clinton were to lose decisively in the primaries to a candidate who has all the weaknesses touted by the experts to whom Krugman referred us, how likely is it that she would have been able to win the general election if Sanders had not gotten in her way?

Despair, Sanders fans. Krugman has the business.

all I want out of November is chaos.

however it'd be great if Clinton won the nomination antidemocratically and there was a lil "revolution" to redress that.

http://rlv.zcache.com/jefferson_tree_of_liberty_poster-ra2241f73a53e489fb51ba68c72a6732f_wad_8byvr_324.jpg

In a harsh partisan snub, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees — Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming and Representative Tom Price of Georgia — have chosen not to invite Shaun Donovan, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to testify about the administration’s plan, set to be released on Tuesday as part of the traditional budget week festivities.

“Rather than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this administration’s previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies that have led to the worst economic recovery in modern times, Congress should continue our work on building a budget that balances and that will foster a healthy economy,” Mr. Price said in a statement.

Mr. Obama’s budget proposal is of course not likely to please congressional Republicans, and it was never going to be adopted by the Republicans in the House and Senate. They have already expressed outrage at its proposed $10 a barrel tax on oil. But to refuse to hear from Mr. Donovan seems an extreme break with the usual conventions of Capitol Hill and it denies the Republicans a chance to try to pummel him and the budget at a televised hearing. They typically enjoy that.

Republicans often complain that they can’t get administration witnesses they want to testify. They might hear about the budget snub the next time they are pressing for an administration official to turn up.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/08/congress-declines-to-hear-obamas-budget-proposal-in-person/

rude

continued schaudenfreude re: the completely decimated/bordering on non-existent California GOP:

Low on funds and lagging in the polls, GOP Assemblyman Rocky Chavez has dropped out of California’s U.S. Senate race and will run for re-election to the Legislature.

Chavez, R-Oceanside (San Diego County), announced his withdrawal at the beginning of a radio debate for Senate candidates Monday night in San Diego.

Although he was the leading Republican in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, Chavez was only pulling 7 percent support in a January Field Poll and had just $369 in campaign cash on hand, according to the latest federal financial disclosure forums. He had $42,889 of campaign debt, according to the filing.

Chavez’s departure leaves two major Republicans in the field, former state party Chairmen Duf Sundheim and Tom Del Beccaro. Both are polling at 3 percent, according to the latest Field Poll.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/us/politics/alan-graysons-double-life-congressman-and-hedge-fund-manager.html?referer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FjFp15qqKE6&_r=1

so this is...interesting. alan grayson has been running a hedge fund while sitting in congress

lol Grayson

Hadn't thought much about Senate-race politicking over the corpse in the robe. I assume there's gonna be a non-prez-election thread cuz sports fans can't get enough.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/15/466735802/scalia-s-death-and-the-2016-senate-races

Chuckie a lil bit hypocritical re playing politics with the SC. Lil bit.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/14/flashback-in-2007-schumer-called-for-blocking-all-bush-supreme-court-nominations/

Senator Schmuckie vs White House over counterterorism funding, ie Infighting Is Fun. (I have no idea who's right.)

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/02/schumer-and-white-house-exchanging-words.html

savage mules, endless war

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/10/obama_on_verge_of_launching_another_bombing_campaign_in_libya_after_dropping_23144_bombs_on_six_countries_in_2015/

Chuckie a lil bit hypocritical re playing politics with the SC. Lil bit.

idk why anyone tries to make hay out of this (or McConnell's hypocrisy) - when the rules are on your side, you use them, when they're not, you fight against them. that's political operations 101.

savage mules, endless war

p sure America's been bombing someone somewhere non-stop since bombs were invented tbf

technically Schumer said that after Roberts and Alito the burden of proof was on the nominees to show that they were in the mainstream. Obv Kagan and Sotomayor have been in the minority and haven't sought out cases in the manner of Roberts/Alito but I think they've been who they said they were in their hearings.

Yeah with context what Schumer said not really comparable: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/lol-has-anyone-looked-at-what-schumer-actually-said

"LOL."

In the news: Scalia-less Supreme Court lets stand the ruling demanding immediate redistricting in NC to counter gerrymanding.

change we can believe in

Apparently the maps won't do much difference in party affiliation, but at least they don't look like somebody spilled something on the Tar Heel State.

http://i.imgur.com/apKa9ME.jpg

apropos of nothing, i remembered that Joe Wilson (YOU LIE!) existed, and since i haven't heard about him since he said YOU LIE, i thought i'd see what kind of punishment was rained down upon him by his district in SC.

In September 2009, Wilson received international attention when he interrupted a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama to the joint session of Congress by shouting "You lie!"[4][5] The incident resulted in a formal rebuke by the House of Representatives largely along party lines.[6]

Wilson was re-elected in 2010 by a comfortable 9 percent over his nearest challenger and when he ran unopposed in the 2012 general election he was re-elected with 96% of the vote. Wilson won reelection in 2014 with over 62% of the vote in a three-way race.

oh, cool

This is fantastic: Teenager claims to be a state senator, gives lecture to high school students

what state senator has a driver? kind of went overboard there

The White House released their economic report. Only seventeen 'Piketty's in this one!

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/ERP_2016_Book_Complete%20JA.pdf

https://twitter.com/clairecmc/status/701873255506956288

Claire McCaskill has breast cancer.

http://www.abc15.com/news/national/jeff-flakes-convoy-charged-by-elephants-during-trip-about-poaching

this is just the news the editorial cartoon industry needed.

http://www.wpr.org/marquette-poll-feingold-maintains-lead-over-johnson-us-senate-race

nice :)

we've missed you, Russ

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/rsc-budget-deal-219800

welp, no budget for 2017, Ryan back in Boehner's spot lol

makes me yearn for the budget slashing gentility of the bush administration. OH WAIT THAT NEVER HAPPENED.