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

he made it harder to sue companies that poisoned kids? sure, but it was no secret that he did that, and he would have done that even for a company that didn't contribute to his campaign.

dude has principles!

only rich white dudes like lawsuit millionaire and TX Gov Greg Abbott can sue.

That Walker's act wasn't particularly scummy is precisely the point - it's the wholesale ability to purchase political favors that I want them to defend. It shouldn't be acceptable to anyone that if you want to make lawsuits go away you buy off a politician at a deep discount (which is the other horrifying thing - the ROI on buying politicians is incredible, particularly at the local level).

Granted, you could turn that around on Democrats on various things but it's generally much less egregious.

it's the wholesale ability to purchase political favors

but that's what i'm saying. i don't think people are really purchasing political favors. i think walker is just one of these guys who thinks environmentalism is mostly hysteria and lawsuits are a drag on job creators and these are the kind of laws he's going to pass whether somebody contributes to him or not. he didn't pass the laws because he got money from those guys, he gets money from those guys because he passes those laws.

walker is just one of these guys who thinks environmentalism is mostly hysteria and lawsuits are a drag on job creators

the difference is that when this is just an idea you think is true, you may be open to changing your mind based on new information, whereas when holding this idea leads directly to "donations amounting to $750,000", your openness to new information that contradicts your idea is diminished to effectively zero, unless the new information comes with a similar sum attached to it.

OK, fair point.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/14/and-now-a-case-of-really-bad-republican-timing/

Paul Ryan and The CFPB vs Wells Fargo action

Indeed, Ryan's budget would give less money to the market cops at the Securities and Exchange Commission. It would also get rid of the CFPB's independent funding — right now it gets its money from the Fed so that it's free from influence from members of Congress who might not be free from influence from bank lobbyists — and replace its independent director with a five-person bipartisan committee. His anti-poverty plan, meanwhile, would make it legal for financial advisers to once again recommend things that are in their own — but not their clients' — best interests. (Believe it or not, that was changed only in the past year). And on top of that, House Republicans want to make it easier for penny stock companies — which, the SEC has warned, are a veritable playground for scammers and other assorted manipulators — to issue shares without as much oversight.

I might argue John Boehner is the happiest man alive since leaving Congress

Former Speaker–and unabashed smoker–John Boehner (R-OH) was elected to the board of directors of tobacco company Reynolds American, Inc., according to a press release from the company on Wednesday.

like this must be his dream job

what does Prince of Darkness pay i wonder? 100k and bennies?

That's low by a few hundred K, I'd guess.

The lowest-paid officer for which they're required to disclose compensation made $5.3 million last year. I can't imagine the BOD makes less than half a million each.

crazy that they can get the demons of hell to disclose tax returns but not trump

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1275283/000119312516514595/d62669ddef14a.htm#rom62669_18

director pay, while quite lush, is orders of magnitude lower than exec pay. Being a director is not even a part-time job and many people are on multiple corporate boards.

yeah you basically show up to posh ass board meetings, sometimes held at a resort, sit around for a bit, flip through a packet of presentations and vote on whatever the ceo tells you to.

Sounds like a sweet gig, where do I apply?

Just get yourself a cabinet position or something, you'll be a shoe-in once you leave public office

or be married to one like former enron board member and wife of phil, wendy gramm

basically just find your way into respectable elite circles somehow. partnership at a white shoe law firm, political success, executive position in a major corporation, etc.

I wonder if they still smoke in their offices/cube space at that building. How nicotine discolored must the cubical walls and drop tile ceiling must be after all these years, or do they just have to pony up extra dough to get building maintence to swap shit out at a more frequent clip than other companies?

according to a friend who has done some work for them they absolutely still smoke inside the offices at RAI. there are 'smoking areas' now (right out in the open - not like those gross little booths at airports), as opposed to ppl just smoking at their desks or wherever the hell they want to, which probably happened right up until this century.

but apparently it's also v mod and beautiful so i guess they keep it painted and re-upholstered on the reg

But do they get a health insurance premium discount if they quit smoking?

good question. i wonder if they get free or significantly reduced cigs

in other news:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-pence-syria-refugees-appeals-20160914-snap-story.html

Indiana Solicitor Gen. Thomas Fisher repeatedly cited in court FBI directors' past comments about less information being available on Syrian refugees compared with those from other countries.

The judges, in sharp exchanges at times, were skeptical.

When Fisher interrupted a judge, another on the bench issued a rebuke. Later, when Judge Richard Posner launched into queries about how Indiana had determined Syrians were more dangerous than other refugees, he appeared unsatisfied with Fisher's response.

"Honestly, you are so out of it," Posner said.

snap story indeed

Posner is a national hero

In July 2012, Posner stated, "I've become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy."

I admit I feel a certain amount of tribal-related satisfaction in seeing a conservative Jew stand up for the rights of displaced Muslims

(I mean I'm not certain he's Jewish but it seems likely)

My friend the Capitol Hill aide took me on a tour of congressmen's offices and he said that Boehner still smoked in his office. This was 2009.

the rules dont apply to some people.. harvey weinstein used to smoke cigars in my old firm's lobby in california. nobody said shit to him.

RIP Frank Barbaro, a quality NYC liberal who ran a mayoral campaign vs the vile Koch in '81

In the Legislature, Mr. Barbaro was a fierce advocate for organized labor, tenants and minorities. He later served for six years as a State Supreme Court justice.

Mr. Barbaro took on Mr. Koch in the 1981 Democratic primary when New York’s political establishment was embracing the mayor’s re-election bid after he had restored the city to fiscal stability. Mr. Koch was all but assured of the Republican nomination, too.

Outspent by a ratio of nearly 10 to 1, Mr. Barbaro nonetheless ran a spirited campaign, vowing to “liberate the legend of Fiorello La Guardia from an impostor.” Far from being an heir to the progressive Mayor La Guardia, he said, Mr. Koch was a union buster, an apologist for President Ronald Reagan, a racial polarizer and a “pipsqueak.” He derided him as “shifty Ed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/nyregion/frank-barbaro-dead.html

This can probably go into any number of threads, but I'm going to put it here:

"In Jim Cooley’s open-carry America, even a trip to Walmart can require an AR-15"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/guns-and-sodas/2016/09/17/805e0db4-79e9-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html

As Maria goes ahead, Jim veers to the right, where he climbs into a complimentary electric scooter, repositions his AR-15 so its barrel points toward the scuffed vinyl floor, and rolls into the store.

Photo of Jim Cooley carrying his AR-15 ran prominently on cover of Washington Post newsprint (likely causing rightwingers to rant about radical Islamists could be anywhere)

Breaking:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/nyregion/bridgegate-trial.html

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey knew that his close associates were involved in a plan to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as it was happening and that the closings were intended to punish a local mayor for declining to support him, prosecutors said on Monday. It was the first time Mr. Christie, a Republican, has been accused of knowing about the scheme as it unfolded.

what a maroon

It was the first time Mr. Christie, a Republican, has been accused of knowing about the scheme as it unfolded.

Well, I know that's not true! I have every confidence that several million people have accused him of that.

Oh look, now you have your white suburban SpecOps/tactical/AR15 fetishists offering their own coffee. No need to give money to those latte liberal companies!

http://www.blackriflecoffee.com/

Oh, and, of course, they have their own blog covering their take of the day's news:

http://blog.blackriflecoffee.com

lmao

"We develop each of our explosive roast profiles with the same mission focus we implemented as Special Forces Operators serving this great country."

getting a strong aroma of stolen valor from these guys

Found out it today from today's Chapo Trap House:

https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/episode-42-uber-for-ubermenschen-feat-nkulw-and-edzitron-91816

just searched twitter for this, of course they're all over it

Connor Kilpatrick
‏@ckilpatrick

1980s GOP: "Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps!"

2010s Dems: "Just learn to code and/or open a micro-brewery!"

538 has a senate forecast, and it gives dems 58% of senate majority. Quite surprised at that. A reminder that the polls are still in dems favor, no matter how much they panic right now.

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/senate/?ex_cid=538twitter

so during MNF last night there were two political commercials during halftime - one right after another. the first was a pro-hillary/anti-trump commercial and the second was an anti-mcginty commercial. i've noticed the same thing w/ mailings. i'm getting pro hillary mailings and anti-mcginty mailings but seeing almost no trump commercials and getting absolutely no trump mailings. republicans in PA must have decided trump doesn't stand a chance here so they're putting all their eggs in the keeping toomey senator basket and totally ignoring the potus race. normal anecdotal disclaimer but alongside the recent PA polling hopefully it gives ppl some relief to know that PA seems totally off the table for Trump.

kinda amazing he hasn't ended up in jail yet

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/the-wrap/article/Anthony-Weiner-Accused-of-Sexting-With-9236883.php

epipen hearing on the hill seemed to get more attention than the one with the head of the IRS (although if one watches Fox News it was probably the opposite)

The usual games

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/22/senate-republicans-move-ahead-with-spending-bill-as-negotiations-with-democrats-stall/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

The legislation also includes $500 million in disaster relief for flooding in Louisiana, but it does not include a bipartisan aid package for the water crisis in Flint, Mich., that Democrats have demanded.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she and other Democrats will not support the bill over “partisan policy riders” they oppose. For instance, the legislation includes a measure opposed by Democrats that would keep in place language preventing the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring corporations to publicly disclose their political spending.

Watching opening ceremony for new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture on Cspan now, and heading back there shortly. Was cool just seeing Reverend Calvin Butts talking economics and history (If I had people working for nothing for me for 250 years I'd be very successful now too; We kept that Statue of Liberty shined up") in his benediction with Paul makers and takers Ryan having to sit and listen. Chief Justice Roberts too

NYT blurb i shan't be clicking on

The Bush and Obama families have a deep bond, thanks to the shared experience of life in the White House and George W. Bush’s decorum as an ex-president.