US Politics, December 2022: "They're now the working class party, man."

so few understand that

fucking depressing as fuck

This kind of talk isn’t new obviously but it is rampant these days in the education establishment. I was at a thing last week where the state university president talked about how important it is for universities to follow up with employers to see if “the product” the university is sending them (i.e. graduates) meets their needs.

!

Seconding. This babble has been a part of my life since Jeb! was governor.

I mean, we've been told since at least 2006 that because Tallahassee's gonna be stingy about monies we better ensure our students (a) graduate early or on time (b) graduate with a useful degree (c) we're gonna track how much time they "waste" taking electives or getting minors and certificates.

...three hours later

Every student should have a pathway to a brighter future.

Every student should have access to an education that builds their confidence & every student should have a pathway to a successful career. pic.twitter.com/2Q4nxWUHck

— Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) December 16, 2022

give him a couple days he might come up with something good

my man

the idea that education should consist of training students to feed the demands of employers has been rapidly gaining ground since the the mid-70s. it was a natural extension of the post-Sputnik anxiety that universities weren't churning out enough physicists and engineers. it's the usual pro-capitalist propaganda.

I know, politicians are professional liars, but this story is just wild

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html

This guy seems like just another failson, drifting on ill-conceived grift, until somebody somewhere decided to shove a couple of million dollars in his pocket at the exact moment he runs for office. Who was it?

the Angola-Brazil background feels like rich loam for a story like this. Post-colonial Portuguese corruption just rolling on and on to the sea

He seems like a Le Carré character, some bit player enmeshed in intrigues.

Santos will be my rep come January. Good times.

He seems like a Le Carré character, some bit player enmeshed in intrigues.

i always mix up Le Carré (who i haven't read) with Emmanuel Carrère. Santos seems like a deadringer for the subject of The Adversary (the true crime account of a french "doctor" in the early 90s)

Santos will be my rep come January. Good times.

there was a time when a politician would be forced to step down if it was revealed that they were lying about absolutely everything they had ever done in their entire lives. but alas, the house margins are tight

Happy holidays

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/19/us/jan-6-committee-trump

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol accused former President Donald J. Trump on Monday of inciting insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress and one more federal crime as it referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.

The action, the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution, is the coda to the committee’s intense 18-month investigation into Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in a violent mob of the former president’s supporters laying siege to the Capitol.

Unanimous vote? Sounds suspicious.

Gee, wasn't he already exonerated by the Senate?

have they got him this time?

Not a chance.

It's good for this to be in the public record, but nothing is going to come of it.

Well...not yet at any event.

Maybe a new trading card

I understand the cynicism, but this is the first time any such referral had been made against a former President in history. Also, the reason Trump largely got off scot-free before was because it was his Justice Department and his Senate.

Garland and his team are obviously going to want to ensure there's an airtight case for that reason, and that's why it's feasible that they may be unwilling to take on any meaningful criminal charges, but they're already intensely investigating him with the special counsel.

I get not wanting to get hopes up, but everything he wriggled out of before were things he had some ability to control, directly or indirectly.

Garland and his team are obviously going to want to ensure there's an airtight case for that reason

Herein lies part of my skepticism though, it's really not hard to imagine the DOJ coming back months from now saying they don't consider it "airtight".

it'll be interesting to see how much, if any, the house gop breaks against him. in the senate, there are at least some who would like to see trump buried. in the house, the stop the steal people are now pretty much running the show now.

Neanderthal otm.

Believe me, I'll be thrilled to be proven wrong.

It's not news to get excited or skeptical about. Just keep it in the back of your head.

DOJ really only has less than a year until it's "too close to the election." There will probably be GOP debates in August.

Fox News asked the White House for comment on a trollish story about Biden appointing queer activists to an HIV advisory council.

The White House’s official comment: A shirt that says “Uncle Sam doesn’t care, snowflakes.” https://t.co/NpdGW3ayuh pic.twitter.com/jc1xDkfHsj

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 19, 2022

The best thing for all concerned would be for Trump to have a massive coronary (or stroke, or whatever) and die.

If that story's true, my respect for the Biden White House increased fivefold.

A very interesting Politico story about just how fucked the Republicans are with Roe v Wade overturned.

Herein lies part of my skepticism though, it's really not hard to imagine the DOJ coming back months from now saying they don't consider it "airtight".

Worth keeping in mind that it's not the DOJ per se, it's special counsel Jack Smith, who both gives the DOJ/Garland at large a degree of cover and also looks like this:

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/11/18/multimedia/18trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-1-489e/18trump-special-counsel-jack-smith-1-489e-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp

Credit where credit's due, Smith has gotten to work immediately, and he's not playing.

good to see that the doj has the knights templar on the case

He looks like he can definitely go undercover as a right wing douche

Jordan Peterson look alike, hope he has the voice.

if that photo were a NES boss you would have to attack the eyes in order to do damage

Garland also pulled this guy in from prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo

xp In the final form. First you have to blow his beard off.

check out the foxnews.com homepage; apparently there's nothing newsworthy about Donald Trump today....

that story about George Santos is wild, how fucking useless is the NY democratic party that they didn't dig this shit up on him during the campaign? it's not one white lie, or fudging a detail here or two; this is like full blown fabrication of backstory, no corroboration of his employment or schooling or how he gets his money.

the state democratic parties are insanely fucked in most of the country and I can’t be sure but I think a little bit goes back to Obama not engaging with the DNC at all when he was the de facto head democrat

no one’s got time to do any real research or support campaigns, they’re all just chasing their own tails and trying to figure out whether there’s a stable political hierarchy to move within

I’m surmising this based on a connection to a state Democratic Party executive director

democrats are huge losers (its their job) news at 11 haha

Biden's comms team strikes again:

This is amazing: President Biden invited the gay nephew of the Republican Congresswoman who cried over marriage equality to the White House to watch him sign marriage equality into law. pic.twitter.com/6laCklg5K7

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) December 20, 2022

Where’s the tax returns?

Good evening!