Vaccines, Infrastructure, and Kids In Cages: US Politics April 2021

yeah he was in good spirits

https://i.imgur.com/SITXYqv.jpg

Trying to figure out which would be a better band name: Sex Blimps or Abolish Lasagna

hey joni put it all behind you

Awesome speech.

Who is pushing the admin toward social democracy and away from Clintonisn? Is it harris because if so I underestimated her.

I know part of this is Biden himself, witnessing the wealth transfer of the covid year and acknowledging change needs to happen just for the sake of stabilizing the system. But to come up with these plans he must have drawn in some Bernieceats.

NYT and seemingly everyone characterizing Biden's agenda as 'the biggest government expansion in decades' and 'most activist government in many people's lifetimes' - these are literally Republican talking points.

When the government ratchets up defense spending every year, is that not government expansion? When it sends ICE troops out to imprison undocumented workers on civil charges is that not activism?? Fuck's sake NY Times. Patent protections alone are hugely interventionist measures by the government.

That quite surprised me tbh - I was thinking don't you get arrested & thrown in jail for refuting trickle-down economics in the US.

It's just enraging that the Smart People who write for the NY Times are still, in 2021, characterising government assistance to normal citizens as 'activist expansion' but government assistance to corporations, the defense industry, pharma, etc as 'laissez faire' - REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IS A CHOICE, WHETHER IT'S UP OR DOWN

Marco Rubio's co-workers do not like him:

marco rubio screwed up on an amendment and tried to get a hot fix for it on the senate floor, but the dems said it was too late in the process and rejected it. and now rubio is VERY MADDDDD pic.twitter.com/cZBKCFTnVC

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) April 29, 2021

Rubio reaping the fruits of the McConnell Scorched Earth Years.

Water infrastructure is a tough issue for Rubio, who is known to have trouble with hydration

Sheesh, can we dispel with that notion already?

TIL that Rudy Giuliani's website is rudygiulianics dot com*, as if being Rudy Giuliani is some kind of blood disorder. ("His rudygiulianics are way down - better give him another injection and get the doctor back in here.")

*The "cs" apparently stands for "common sense."

crazy shit

The statement Giuliani fed his lawyer is fucking amazing. It's barely in English, to the point that some sections say exactly the opposite of what he means to say:

The Biden department of justice has completely ignored clear evidence (which the FBI has had for over a year) in texts and emails on Hunter Biden’s hard drive of failing to register numerous times as a foreign agent, child pornography, money laundering, and 30 years of the Biden Crime family taking millions and millions in bribes to sell his public offices.

Instead, the Justice Department decided it was a higher priority to serve (at dawn) search warrants for electronics at the home and law office of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

The search warrants involve only one indication of an alleged incident of failure to register as a foreign agent. Mayor Giuliani has not only denied this allegation, but offered twice in the past two years through his attorney Bob Costello to demonstrate that it is entirely untrue. Twice the offer was rejected by the SDNY by stating that while they were willing to listen to anything Mr. Costello had to say, they would not tell Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Costello, the subject matter they wanted him to address.

This contrasts with multiple proven incidences of failure to file as a foreign agent contained on the Biden hard drive which the FBI and the Department of Justice has ignored. You have not seen the home of Hunter Biden raided by the FBI with search warrants. This behavior of the justice department, enabled by a compliant media, running roughshod over the constitutional rights of anyone involved in, or legally defending, former President Donald J. Trump is becoming the rule, rather than the exception.

It is also a clear example of a corrupt double standard. One for high-level democrats whose blatant crimes are ignored, such as Hilary Clinton, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, and Republicans who are prominent supporters and defenders of President Trump who, are subjected to false charges and procedures used in the past, if at all, in cases involving terrorists and organized criminals.

The electronics taken are, also, replete with the material covered by the attorney-client privilege and other constitutional privileges. The warrant served on Mr. Giuliani’s law office is another disturbing example of complete disregard for the attorney-client privilege protected by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.

Remember the newspaper reports that explained that twice before, the SDNY went to Main Justice to seek permission to obtain a search warrant for Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices and twice before the request was rejected. What changed? A new Administration – a new Attorney General. Were they ever informed of Mr. Costello’s offer? Was the Judge who signed the search warrant ever informed of Mr. Costello’s offer? We think not.

Twice, Mr. Giuliani’s counsel offered to sit with the SDNY and demonstrate that Mr. Giuliani’s conduct was lawful. It is outrageous that the Trump Derangement Syndrome has gone so far that hatred has driven this unjustified and unethical attack on the United States Attorney and Mayor who did more to reduce crime than virtually any other in American history. Mr. Giuliani respects the law, and he can demonstrate that his conduct as a lawyer and a citizen was absolutely legal and ethical.

Of course, I’m sure you will not be surprised that the FBI left behind the only electronics that contain evidence of crimes, the Hunter Biden hard drives. Mayor Giuliani offered them on several occasions, but the agents steadfastly declined. Keep in mind that the agents could not read the physical hard drives without plugging them in, but they took Mr. Giuliani’s word that the hard drives were copies of Hunter Biden’s hard drive and did not contain anything pertaining to Mr. Giuliani. Think about what that tells you. Their reliance on Mr. Giuliani’s credibility tells you everything you need to know about this case.

ok

*moves to empty bus seat, buries nose in book"

For some reason I just said in my best Vulcan voice, "That is highly illogical."

Twice the offer was rejected by the SDNY by stating that while they were willing to listen to anything Mr. Costello had to say, they would not tell Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Costello, the subject matter they wanted him to address.

Smart people at SDNY. Rudy's mad because they didn't take any of his bait.

i love the hunter biden shit, like he thinks he can distract the feds like a little kid in trouble with his mom like "but bobby hit me first!!"

At this rate I think Rudy has muddied the water enough that I doubt Hunter and Hillary have a chance of winning reelection.

Looks like they spelled Hillary's name wrong in that statement, btw.

Hunter yeah, but also the rest of the Biden Crime family, and anyone else who commits Biden Crimes. xpost

Bidin' time, doin' Biden crime

What is this horseshit about 'attorney-client privilege'? If the attorney is also a criminal, I don't think that applies anymore.

"You don't want a criminal lawyer... you want a criminal lawyer."

Saul Goodman otm.

lol, DJP otm

Wait the raid was performed at DAWN??? Well well that certainly changes things!!

Everyone knows that's normally when he climbs back into his sarcophagus

Meantime speaking of scumbags

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joel-greenberg-letter-written-for-roger-stone-says-matt-gaetz-paid-for-sex-with-minor

Seems like plenty of scum leaked from the bags and left a trail of scum all over the place.

Check of the brain on this guy

"As part of the effort to obtain a pardon, Greenberg wrote multiple drafts of his confession letter. The Daily Beast obtained two typed versions and an earlier handwritten one."

This is one of the saddest fucking stories I've ever read. Not in the sense of sympathy for its subject (it's about the ex-president) but in the sense of "pity the poor asshole who had to write this; pity them even more if they actually believe what they wrote," because the thesis is that the ex-president's "thoughts" and "opinions" (all of which, when dutifully quoted by the stooge from Politico, were entirely new to me) still matter.

The ex-president has vanished into total irrelevance with stunning (and merciful) speed. When I hear something about some statement he's made, it's the equivalent of someone saying, "Hey, you wanna hear what Donny at work said to me today?" The answer is No, of course I don't, but I listen politely and then move on with my day. Imagine being the Politico writer who has to treat this melting fatberg as a serious person who matters, someone whose lazy, surly, aimless brain-barfings must be recorded as if they have any impact on the day-to-day governance of the United States of America.

No offense, but I find the story classic POLITCO clickbait -- stitching together quotes from an irrelevant person on whom they want to bestow relevance because #clicks

And then you got

Washington Post scoop:

FBI gave #RonJohnson defensive briefing in 2020 warning he was being targeted by Russia to spread disinformation on Biden.

What did he do?

He considered it “completely useless and unnecessary”

With his usual paranoia, he thought FBI briefing was a trick

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) April 30, 2021

https://i.ibb.co/mv6Z9pY/57ovkg.jpg

what an absolute putz.

I didn’t mention this on the show, and won’t tag him in case people pop off, but in Rauchway’s book on the New Deal, he mentions an unnamed 2020 Dem candidate who fretted about the New Deal’s “excesses.”

I checked the footnote. It was Former Mayor Pete lmao

— Matthew Sitman (@MatthewSitman) April 30, 2021

hmm:

Progressives were frequently aghast at candidate Joe Biden's instinct for moderation, his nostalgia for a bygone era and a record they perceived as too corporate-friendly and out of touch with his changing party.

But nearly 100 days into his term, some are happy to admit, they may be wrong.

"Many of us were disappointed when President Biden got the nomination," said newly elected Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who defeated a 16-term incumbent in a primary last year. "When you look at Biden's career, he's definitely someone we would call a moderate Democrat."

He is less disappointed today.

"Biden has been incredibly responsive to the progressive movement," Bowman said, recounting a recent meeting between progressive House members and White House chief of staff Ron Klain. "He told us point-blank: Keep pushing us. Keep us honest."

A series of private messages starting in late 2020—also recently obtained by The Daily Beast—shows a number of exchanges between Greenberg and Stone conducted over the encrypted messaging app Signal, with communications set to disappear. However, Greenberg appears to have taken screenshots of a number of their conversations.

lmao this is amazing

let them all destroy each other instead of us

amazing how they're all Daniel Stern's character from Home Alone

I'm hoping Roger Stone blunders back into jail, or, ideally, painful intubated death by COVID.

he's gonna die, confused, alone on the street dancing with his pants around his ankles and singing "Old Grey Mare"

Framing the Raise The Wage Act as a $9.50 an hour wage that increases by $1.50 each year, as opposed to simply describing it as raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, significantly increases support among Republicans and Democrats

https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/4/30/minimum-wage-framing

The increase in support isn't actually that much, but there is a significant decrease in opposition:

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5aa9be92f8370a24714de593/1619791715637-7SU3B5YLW1BETDZWNBS4/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kGQ8go5zqP-XnMluNTXxm257gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1UaMxPIa9yKM4Jm-EhYu5AB3G6jsXWKFQzNliOK85jQHHOpYghpI-Ha_TwZsqqmJXng/dfp-minwage-comparison-chart.png?format=1500w

The summer's hottest ticket... Gaetz & Greene, live on stage!!

Rocked by a steady stream of leaks about a federal investigation into alleged sex crimes, the Florida congressman is planning to take his case on the road by holding rallies across the nation with Greene, another lightning rod member of Congress.

Their targets? So-called RINOs and “the radical left.“

Gaetz and Greene will kick off their barnstorming “America First Tour” on May 7 in the mega-conservative Florida retirement community known as The Villages, a must-stop for any Republican candidate hoping to win the state or generate grassroots excitement.

Cool cool, yes Marge, please tie yrself to that sinking ship, great career move

I know the GOP stands for absolutely nothing at this point, but I'm still kind of amazed that Gaetz hasn't been forced to resign.

Omg, please get Boebert to sign on for this tour as well. I cannot believe anyone would willingly attach themselves to Gaetz at this particular point though.

I'm half expecting republicans to start shifting to an underaged sex trafficking is good actually platform

I wonder if she signed on just because she and Gaetz have the same first and last initials and she saw it as a sign from Q