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

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.

Fuck off and die: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/debbie-wasserman-schultz-paylenders-cfpb_us_56d4ce38e4b03260bf77e8fc

Seven N.J. newspapers call on Christie to resign

I got some sort of DNC poll in the mail that I haven't opened. If it has any questions about party problems, I'm going to write in "fire Debbie Wasserman Schultz asap"

time to zap the Odious Planet Debbie; as Pierce sez, it makes Clinton's reform bleating an extra sick joke

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a42611/debbie-wasserman-schultz-resign/

The White House is vetting Jane L. Kelly, a career public defender turned federal appellate judge, as a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, as President Obama closes in on a decision that could reshape the court for decades and create an election-year showdown with Republicans....

Judge Kelly won quick and unanimous confirmation by the Senate three years ago to her current post on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Her nomination could intensify pressure on Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to break with his party and hold hearings on Mr. Obama’s Supreme Court candidate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/white-house-vetting-jane-kelly-judge-supreme-court.html?_r=0

In a Senate floor speech in 2013, Mr. Grassley effusively praised Judge Kelly, a longtime public defender, just before she won unanimous confirmation to her current position on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

The senator read from a handwritten recommendation letter he had received from a retired judge, David R. Hansen, a Republican appointee he counted as an old friend. Mr. Hansen called Judge Kelly a “forthright woman of high integrity and honest character” and a person of “exceptionally keen intellect.”

“I congratulate Ms. Kelly on her accomplishments and wish her well in her duties,” Mr. Grassley said at the time. “I am pleased to support her confirmation and urge my colleagues to join me.”

Democrats have privately said that selecting Judge Kelly might force Mr. Grassley to change his stance and hold hearings, out of a sense of obligation to a respected jurist from his home state and concern about tarnishing his reputation in Iowa months before he faces re-election. The six-term senator is facing pressure from voters to consider any nominee on the merits, but he said in an interview Wednesday that he would not change his position even for a fellow Iowan....

“In this particular instance,” Mr. Grassley said about the election-year vacancy, “it has got to be the process, and the person doesn’t matter, see.”

I enjoy hearing that last sentence in the voice of Edward G Robinson.

"Obama's got words, the voters have spears! Lots of terms for suicide, Mitch, but not mine, see."

c'mon Iowa, you can do it: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/us/politics/charles-grassley-patty-judge-iowa-senate-race.html?_r=0

looking forward to watching Grassley squirm

we'll try, man. still stinging from losing tom harkin's seat to a really lame republican

they didn't cite any polling or, well, anything so i'm not sure what makes this challenger "formidable" but yeah i'd love to see grassley get the boot

also wtf dude is 82, retire already

RIP Grassley Twitter account

i'm not sure what makes this challenger "formidable"

"Patty Judge, a former Iowa lieutenant governor and state agriculture secretary..." in a state where agriculture means almost the entire economy.

current US secretary of ag is the last reasonable Iowa governor

kind of wish he'd go back to being a governor, tbh

This is insane: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/04/the-debilitating-economic-disaster-louisianas-governor-left-behind/?tid=sm_tw

Bobby Jindal destroyed his state to better his chances in the election. And then he got Drumpfed. This Drumpfing of the Gop is the climax to a story that really kicked into gear in 2010. Once Clinton wins and the dems retake the senate, it'll almost be kinda fun. Almost.

Is it really Jindal's fault, though? Hasn't Louisiana been a tragedy since the 1920s, if not earlier?

The influx of cash from Katrina relief funds had the state beginning an upswing right before Jindal came into office; his policies smashed that surplus and dumped the state into its current hole.

An upswing compared to what, though? Seems like Louisiana's always been one of the bottom 5 poorest states, is my point. They didn't really have that far to fall.

It seems to pretty obviously have been made a lot worse by unfunded tax cuts, and then Jindal refusing to take hard choices due to him not wanting to look bad.

Did you read the article? They've always been poor but not cut-everything-60% poor.

“This was years of mismanagement by a governor who was more concerned about satisfying a national audience in a presidential race,” said Jay Dardenne (R), the lieutenant governor under Jindal who is now the state’s commissioner of administration. Dardenne said Jindal had helped the state put off its day of reckoning in a way that mirrored a “Ponzi scheme.”

An upswing compared to what, though? Seems like Louisiana's always been one of the bottom 5 poorest states, is my point. They didn't really have that far to fall.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, March 4, 2016 2:38 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what the fuck man

the lesson is: you can always be poorer

that was Reagan's campaign slogan

On Jindal’s watch, nearly every agency in Louisiana shed employees, and state lawmakers say some teetered because of the losses. The Department of Children & Family Services shrank to 3,400 employees, from 5,000 in 2008, and social workers began carrying caseloads above national standards. The state also cut funding for youth services and mental health treatment.

“When you cut those programs, it doesn’t change the need for people to get those services,” said Walt Leger (D), a state representative. “It just means you’re no longer providing them. Those folks end up in jail or wandering the street, not being treated for mental health issues, and all of those things have a huge societal cost.”

Jindal out doing the rounds blaming the rise of Trump on OBAMA.

what in the actual fuck

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fs3-ec.buzzfed.com%2Fstatic%2Fenhanced%2Fwebdr05%2F2013%2F7%2F23%2F17%2Fanigif_enhanced-buzz-25022-1374615059-0.gif&f=1

Wasserman Schultz will be DNC chair on election day, Y or N?

Chief of Staff!

j/k god I hope not

i really can't see HRC giving two shits about her 'scandals'