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

"us"

oh my god what the fuck was this guy smoking

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

lol started giggling uncontrollably at :35

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-infrastructure-plan-comes-important-catch

There are some real drawbacks to an infrastructure plan like this one.

The first is that’s probably a more expensive route, because it costs more for private businesses, which pay higher interest rates and need to make a profit, to borrow than for governments to do the same. As a Washington Post report added last week, the plan “would likely impose substantial costs in the form of tolls and fees on the people using the new infrastructure.”

Which leads us to the second and related problem: “new construction would only occur in communities where it is urgently needed if private investors were convinced users could afford to pay,” the Post explained.

In other words, areas with lower-income residents would be the least likely to see the benefits, because private investors would seek bigger returns elsewhere.

W/ a Dem minority in the Senate and the House will there be any way to change such a bill, if it happens?

Los Angeles has experimented with all kinds of private solutions to traffic and they're all fucking worthless.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday announced his support for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) to lead the Democratic National Committee.

Sanders gave his pick for DNC chair in an interview with the Associated Press. Ellison, perhaps more than other candidates to succeed former chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), has put himself forward for the job. According to an October Politico report, Ellison had reached out to state party chairs, Hillary Clinton campaign officials and other Democrats connected to the committee.

Ellison and Sanders were brothers in arms for much of the presidential campaign season. Ellison, one of two Muslim members of Congress, was the second member of that body to endorse Sander’s bid for the Democratic nomination for president.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanders-supports-keith-ellison-dnc-chair

pleeeeeeease let this happen.

https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov/

I have always liked the ideas of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, that Ellison co-led, but they did not seem very effective in getting those ideas out --on the hill, to the Obama administration, to the media, or to the public. If he gets this position at the DNC I hope he will carry more weight and thus be more effective than he was at the little known CPC.

pleeeeeeease let this happen.

― Karl Malone

are there other options? is there anybody in the party now more powerful than sanders?

Chuck Schumer technically!

nyt mentioned tim kaine as a potential new leader and i had to laugh

I got to see Corey Booker speak tonight at an event. I feel sort of bad for the way I gut reacted to him, because everything he said was right and his stories are rather amazing and he is so much on the right side of so many issues and obviously way more in touch with actual poor and working class people than most politicians, and he was very good in the beginning of his speech about the Trump against the backdrop of history. But he went into what felt almost like a rehearsed, method-acted dramatic performance about his time in Newark, and it felt so like he had been crafting his narrative for this piece even as he lived it. Maybe I was just in a very depressed mood. Maybe it felt surreal against the backdrop of a luxury hotel ballroom in a room full of well-fed lawyers. Maybe I just hate the contemporary American style of political oratory. I would vote for him in a second over most options. And he does have a definite charisma. Something still rang false and I don't know why.

He was talking about very real, intense stuff, including a kid he knew who was murdered. Yet there was something about how he played up the drama of the story so much that felt disconnected. Maybe it's just the impossibility of seeming fully authentic when you have to get up there and do that in front of crowd after crowd.

he's a politician and that means weaponizing people's stories to enact change. booker is expert at that but his style is a tetch overzealous and polished so he can come off feeling like a company man. that said, we desperately need some of those guys on the side of angels right now.

I suggest reading some of the many fine articles about his falsity from the last several years. Your instincts are correct imho.

https://newrepublic.com/article/114197/cory-bookers-role-startup-waywire-shady-unsurprisingly

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/13/dont_vote_for_cory_booker/

https://newrepublic.com/article/114300/cory-booker-wins-primary-hes-even-worse-critics-say

yeah the question is in whose service is he weaponizing stories. It reminds me a lot of the charter school pitches, disarming opposition with the poor black children who shouldn't have to play the lottery for education.

Tammy Duckworth probably can't make the Obama four-year leap, right? Just for putting up with Kirk's racist bullshit at the debate and then crushing him I'm kind of ready to start campaigning for her.

well she was born in thailand so...

so, shall we have enormous faith in Schumer?

https://twitter.com/ebruenig/status/797108303344074754

*doom*

(thats from THE CORNER, last July)

well she was born in thailand so...

― nomar, Friday, November 11, 2016 9:33 AM (thirty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:( bummer

Tammy Duckworth probably can't make the Obama four-year leap, right? Just for putting up with Kirk's racist bullshit at the debate and then crushing him I'm kind of ready to start campaigning for her.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, November 11, 2016 5:31 PM (forty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Gonna bet all my moneys Kamala Harris will. California is setting itself up as the Opposition.

I had this thought as well but idk if Kamala really has the star power to do it. If this is her ambition she will have to hit the ground running and make a splash somehow (similar to Warren)

I am so thankful I live in California

Yeah, was just about to post, hopeful talk of fast tracking, but I dunno much about her.

xp her father was an American, so she's a natural-born citizen.

Kamala is great, I voted for her, would vote for her for prez w out a second's hesitation

shes cozy as fuck with big law tho.. the head of the office a firm in LA I was maybe fired from (lol) is married to her

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article2607685.html

then again if you look at clinton's top donors half of it is big law firms

Lol, "big law." Of all the things this election has done, it has doubtlessly raised the bar for what makes me wring my hands.

big law defends our civil liberties in its spare time sometimes so

I'm on Team Tammy 100% if she's eligible

She is unequivocally eligible.

okay good

a big law firm I was not fired from is representing trump in the trump u case.. if I still worked there I would on the brink of killing myself.

California is setting itself up as the Opposition.

the west coast, ahem

what kind of trials/suits is the sitting POTUS protected from? this was a bar discussion last night.

anything involving his behavior prior to being elected is open to litigation. once in office, he is only answerable to congress.

Untrue. Remember Clinton v. Jones?

The Constitution does not protect the President from civil litigation involving actions committed before he entered office.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.

In the unanimous opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court ruled that separation of powers does not mandate that federal courts delay all private civil lawsuits against the President until the end of his term of office.

In his concurring opinion, Breyer argued that presidential immunity would apply only if the President could show that a private civil lawsuit would somehow interfere with the President's constitutionally assigned duties.

a disaster for William Jefferson Clinton of course.

I think you misunderstood what Shakey was saying; anything he does in office is answerable to Congress

anything before assuming office is fair game to anyone involved

thx Shakes

Kamala is great, I voted for her, would vote for her for prez w out a second's hesitation

― Οὖτις, Friday, November 11, 2016 10:20 AM (three hours ago)

like Jerry Brown, she's someone that kinda sucked when it came to local politics, but at a state/national level, where people are more conservative, and going after the powerful and moneyed is much more necessary, then she would be great.

yes DJP that is what I meant

xp

and speaking of San Francisco politicians, Shakey, our dear friend Gavvy Gav is running for governor.

oh we all knew that was gonna happen

yeah, I dunno if I could vote for him. Like when he ran for Lt. Governor, I voted Republican.

I assume other Democrats will challenge him (even if they don't have a prayer)

I just got a sponsored ad on FB for the Newsom campaign asking for my support because the former LA Mayor just announced he is running too.

ugh so is Villaraigosa.. they're two sides of the same milquetoast coin, imo.