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

Ned brought my attention to this cover story.

Obama, unlike liberal interventionists, is an admirer of the foreign-policy realism of President George H. W. Bush and, in particular, of Bush’s national-security adviser, Brent Scowcroft (“I love that guy,” Obama once told me). Bush and Scowcroft removed Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait in 1991, and they deftly managed the disintegration of the Soviet Union; Scowcroft also, on Bush’s behalf, toasted the leaders of China shortly after the slaughter in Tiananmen Square. As Obama was writing his campaign manifesto, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006, Susan Rice, then an informal adviser, felt it necessary to remind him to include at least one line of praise for the foreign policy of President Bill Clinton, to partially balance the praise he showered on Bush and Scowcroft.

whatta Nobel guy

"I love that guy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePsNcoMNNXc

i can't stop watching this

it's always been uncanny how much she looks like my beloved first-grade teacher but maybe it's that way for everyone

beloved and feared

explaining how 'kleptocracy' starts with a short e

treeship otm btw i can't stop thinking about this and idk it feels much less And Hello To Liberal Facebook! than yr average 21c harangue to an empty senate chamber because she is just so so so otm in it and the people she is haranguing are literally in the apparently helpless act of destroying the sixth party system

Holy shit, that speech is pure fire. In tears over here. When does she get to be president?

I hope she's in the Senate for years, inspiring good men and women to run for president.

serving well on committees, too

this cycle of exaggerating the ability of a president to affect change followed by electing complete blockading idiots on off-years to actual legislative power needs to change, but I have no idea how that starts

It starts with a voting population that's massively more engaged than what we currently have, which Obama attempted to do and failed miserably at, partially through his own efforts and partially because people in his own party ran away from him and his policies during midterm elections.

^^^

Yup exactly

She belongs in the senate, as has been argued repeatedly

i think she'll be potus eventually

when she's 80

maybe in 2024 - she'll be 75

there's always the special election in 2018 when Trump abdicates.

there's always the special election in 2018 when Trump abdicates. is assasinated by Putin

nah, they're besties!

Putin offered high praise for the billionaire businessman-turned-Republican presidential front-runner on Thursday during an annual news conference with reporters.

"He is a bright and talented person without any doubt," Putin said, adding that Trump is "an outstanding and talented personality."

And in remarks closely mirroring Trump's assessment of the campaign, the Russian leader called Trump "the absolute leader of the presidential race," according to the Russian TASS news agency.

gangster sees a mark

...and knows how to influence (and upset) the GOP commentariat

i think putin prefers working with authoritarians bc it's much easier to figure out what their interests are

gangster sees a mark

^^^

I was just making a joke about Putin murdering former associates guys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/freedom-caucus-budget_us_56e76241e4b0860f99da2cb3?

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said Monday night they would not support the federal budget deal proposed by House Republican leadership, putting the spending plan — and the entire appropriations process for the year — in serious jeopardy.

From the basement of a Capitol Hill restaurant, Tortilla Coast, Freedom Caucus members took an official position against the $1.07 trillion budget that’s scheduled for a committee vote on Wednesday. The conservatives took issue with the top-line spending number, arguing that Republicans should go back to the $1.04 trillion level under automatic spending cuts known as sequestration that were set in 2011.

At least 30 members of the roughly 40-member Freedom Caucus voted to formally oppose the budget. Those 30-some members are vital for the Republican budget. Without their support, the document would lack a majority of House votes, since the spending blueprint typically gets no Democratic backers.

But the votes are not there for what they want:

The fiscal blueprint, released Tuesday by Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., relies on eliminating health care subsidies and other coverage provided by Obama's health care law, sharp cuts to Medicaid, and reprises a plan devised by Ryan years ago that would transform Medicare into a voucher-like program for future retirees. A deteriorating fiscal picture required Price to propose deeper cuts than ever before...

Many conservatives oppose the additional $46 billion or so in higher spending that the deal with Obama permits for the upcoming round of appropriations bills for the 2017 fiscal year starting Oct. 1; it comes on top of about $66 billion in higher spending for the ongoing budget year.

In sum, conservatives are tired that sweeping budget cuts are never implemented while Obama prevails on more money for agency operating budgets. A plan to advance real spending cuts along with the nonbinding budget targets didn't win over many tea party converts, in part because it's plain the cuts wouldn't make it through the Senate

http://news.yahoo.com/conservatives-block-budget-ryan-cites-anxiety-among-voters-150836916--politics.html

nobody could have predicted

http://fourcolors.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/files/2012/01/Peanuts-Football.jpg

lol

i'm trying to figure out who charlie brown and lucy are at this point. maybe we are all charlie brown

I assumed Charlie = Ryan and Lucy = Freedom Caucus

instead of holding a football lucy just punches charlie in the dick

neither playing football nor dick punching are allowed at Tortilla Coast. these freedom caucusers just won't play by the rules!

"There are two things that are unquestionably true about American politics:

1. Wielding power in a capitalistic, imperialistic, racist, sexist society means making necessary compromises and trade-offs that are difficult if not impossible to justify on progressive grounds.

2. Democratic and progressive politicians regularly make unforced errors that damage progressive goals and frequently cite non-existent or questionable political constraints to justify bad policies.

The trouble is distinguishing whether a policy decision is a necessary evil or an unforced error. About 90 percent of how you feel about the Democratic party will depend on which of these scenarios you think happens more frequently. About 90 percent of debates on Twitter ignore one of these two truths, which is why they are awful."

https://medium.com/@SeanMcElwee/two-truths-and-a-whole-lot-of-lies-2609b328bf03#.8w264npg7

Daughter of Illinois State Rep Accused of Attacking Mother's Opponent With Staple Gun

Meanwhile the EPA can't win for losing.

Ryan needs to shitcan the so-called Hastert Rule and just make bargains with the dems that can get at least 180 to 200 Republican votes, leaving the Freedom Caucus to stew in its own juice. It's that damn Hastert Rule that has handed them all their power, and the rule is entirely imaginary.

so not gonna happen

he'll lose the speakership if he does that

The Georgia General Assembly recently passed a bill, called the "Free Exercise Protection Act," that would allow faith-based organizations to deny services to people based on their religious beliefs.

But making the bill into law could create some backlash from the NFL, which Atlanta is hoping to host for the 2019 or 2020 Super Bowl.

"NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard," Brian McCarthy, NFL spokesman, said in a statement. "Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites."

http://news.wabe.org/post/religious-exemption-bill-could-bump-ga-super-bowl-list

priorities

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/21/why-we-cant-ignore-the-house-republicans-really-bad-budget/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-posteverything%3Ahomepage%2Fcard

More on the House Republicans budget bill (that proposes lots of cuts, but not enough for the 40 member Tea Party Freedom caucus)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/03/21/these-photos-of-obama-in-cuba-are-going-viral/?tid=sm_fb

uh not what the White House wanted, I'm sure

unless they're just straight-up trolling right wing media

i would donate my 2004 Cuba photos to the White House for digital manipulation, but then again the only one i'm in is at Che's gravesite / memorial.

tomorrow is the meeting with dissidents and the ballgame, so nuthin can go wrong there.

how does this compare to photos of Nixon with the actual Mao? tell the wingnuts to sit on a chainsaw.

http://i.imgur.com/lvP1E8D.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeFtox0WEAQJQwT.jpg

unless they're just straight-up trolling right wing media

^^^^

how would he be trolling right wing media?

In that Reagan speech under the Lenin bust, he condemned the Soviet system's stifling of intellectual curiosity, according to what I remember reading in the Cannon bio.

it'd be pretty funny if, back at the white house, the obamas are sitting around reading people rage about this and giggling