All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Tami]

Lindsey Graham not only drank the Kool Aide, he marinated himself in it and is now out of control.

Lindsey Graham is eager to investigate DOJ, Hillary Clinton

As Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) gets ready to take the reins as chair the Senate Judiciary Committee, he spoke with Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week about his plans for the new year – specifically as to the kind of issues Graham is prepared to investigate. From the Lexis-Nexis transcript:

“You know, to my Democratic friends, if you want to look backwards, we are all going to look backwards. I want to know why the FBI reached to the conclusion along with the Department of Justice that Hillary Clinton didn’t commit a crime. Was it because of political bias? […]

“Did the Department of Justice and the FBI use a document paid for by the Democratic Party? Research by foreign agents to get a warrant against an American citizen that was inappropriate, potentially unlawful? […]

“We need a special counsel to look at all of this. But I intend to look at it. I’m going to look at it. If you are going to keep plowing everything up in 2016, count me in. If you want to look for it, I will look for it.”

To unpack this a bit, Graham is describing a handful of interconnected conspiracy theories, including his belief that the Justice Department overlooked Hillary Clinton’s crimes – a rather ridiculous idea already discredited by the DOJ’s inspector general – coupled with similarly odd ideas about the “Steele dossier” and surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.

Graham, evidently, is prepared to use the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrutinize all of this, for reasons that only appear to have merit with the most rabid of partisans.

But what struck me as especially notable about this was the way in which Graham presented this agenda as something of a threat.

Note, the GOP senator – who seems to be enjoying his status as a partisan celebrity a bit too much – didn’t just talk about his Clinton-related conspiracy theories in their own right; he did so as a message to his “Democratic friends.”

If they “want to look backwards” – which is to say, if they’re prepared to examine Russia’s attack on our election in order to help the Kremlin’s preferred candidate – then Lindsey Graham will do the same. If those rascally Dems “are going to keep plowing everything up,” then the South Carolinian wants them to know he’s prepared to scrutinize recent history, too.

The implication seems to be that if Democrats don’t “look backwards,” and they don’t investigate matters such as Putin’s efforts to put Trump in power, Lindsey Graham will be less eager to investigate Clinton-related conspiracy theories.

[BeastieRunner]

Judge orders White House to return Jim Acosta's press pass



This always seemed open and shut to me. We pay for that House he cant just decide to pick only Fox News to have access

Heh! I'm sure that just ruined Trump's weekend! Delightful!

The judge was nominated to the court by - wait for it - Trump.

This man is the best at the self-own.

It gets better!

3 Trump appointed judges ruled unanimously today that Rod Rosenstien is still Mueller's boss and that the investigation is legal. This is the 6th unanimous ruling on both of those. All but 1 came from Trump-appointed judges.

Double self-own!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Lindsey Graham not only drank the Kool Aide, he marinated himself in it and is now out of control.

Lindsey Graham is eager to investigate DOJ, Hillary Clinton

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Democrats will ignore Graham's hollow threats and plow ahead with their forthcoming investigation, mainly because Trump, as a sitting president under more clouds than Tornado Alley in August has FAR more to lose if it's ultimately proven he's beholden to Putin than Hillary Clinton, private citizen. Try again, Lindsey.

The judge was nominated to the court by - wait for it - Trump.

This man is the best at the self-own.

It gets better!

3 Trump appointed judges ruled unanimously today that Rod Rosenstien is still Mueller's boss and that the investigation is legal.

Double self-own!

But hey, Trump only nominates the best people, especially those who end up kicking him in the ass.

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week:

[BeastieRunner]

Team Mueller update #1:

Good job, buddy! You got your homework done.

Trump says he’s finished writing answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller.

Looking to be a big day with another favorable ruling for Mueller.

[PaulBullion]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartanntp

Another one bites the dust.

Mimi Walters was one of the must gung-ho Trump supporters in the House. I think I disagree with her on everything, except the need to breathe.

[Gray Lensman]

Looks like Trump is coming even more unhinged.

Trump starting to question Pence's loyalty

[BeastieRunner]

Looks like Trump is coming even more unhinged.

Trump starting to question Pence's loyalty

I'm gonna laugh if 45 makes Pence resign, 45 gets impeached, and Pelosi becomes POTUS.

[Dalak]

I'm gonna laugh if 45 makes Pence resign, 45 gets impeached, and Pelosi becomes POTUS.

How easy is it to fire and/or replace the VP? Assuming he won't resign quietly like the toady he is.

[Joker Venom]

How easy is it to fire and/or replace the VP? Assuming he won't resign quietly like the toady he is.

Unless Pence resigns, or is impeached by Congress, Donny Smallhands is stuck with him.

[BeastieRunner]

How easy is it to fire and/or replace the VP? Assuming he won't resign quietly like the toady he is.

Unless Pence resigns, or is impeached by Congress, Donny Smallhands is stuck with him.

And the line of succession goes:

VP
Speaker of the House
President Pro Tempore
Secretary of State
Treasury
Defense or Attorney General (I forgot how it is selected between the 2)
Interior
Agriculture
Commerce
Labor
Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development or Secretary of Transportation (I forgot how it is selected between the 2)
Energy
Education
Veterans Affairs
Homeland Security
Then designated survivor

But if we ever go that deep, the world is probably fucked.

[PaulBullion]

Unless Pence resigns, or is impeached by Congress, Donny Smallhands is stuck with him.

He could constantly tweet about how ugly Pence's wife is and that Pence kept hitting on him until Pence quits to make it stop.

[Dalak]

Unless Pence resigns, or is impeached by Congress, Donny Smallhands is stuck with him.

And the line of succession goes:

VP
Speaker of the House
President Pro Tempore
Secretary of State
Treasury
Defense or Attorney General (I forgot how it is selected between the 2)
Interior
Agriculture
Commerce
Labor
Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development or Secretary of Transportation (I forgot how it is selected between the 2)
Energy
Education
Veterans Affairs
Homeland Security
Then designated survivor

But if we ever go that deep, the world is probably fucked.

Well with the House in the equation as I've looked up (if Pelosi plays hardball that needs to happen instead of failed ) any VP replacement could be held up to ensure the Speaker gets the spot.

[BeastieRunner]

Well with the House in the equation as I've looked up (if Pelosi plays hardball that needs to happen instead of failed ) any VP replacement could be held up to ensure the Speaker gets the spot.

That's not how it would work.

That's the order. But that doesn't mean the Speaker gets to be veep.

Trump could get a new VP by confirmation only if he nominated somebody and the legislative branch agreed. And the new "majority rules" for confirmation would not work because the process is outlined in the 25th, so Trump would probably be screwed and never get a veep till 2020 in a relection bid.

If Pence resigns and Trump is impeached AND removed from office, the replacement nominee is out the window and the Speaker gets it.

But that's a crazy scenario that better never happen.

It's only been used twice. Both in 1973. Vice President Spiro Agnew stepped down and was convicted of corruption charges after pleading "no contest." President Richard Nixon then appointed House Republican Leader Gerald Ford as vice president. When Nixon resigned and Ford became president, Ford named former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president.

I assume that it will different if Trump is found guilty of anything. Probably just POTUS Pence.

[Tami]

These charts show how Democrats represent the growing modern economy – and how Republicans are left behind

Now, new Brookings calculations show the same from 2018 House elections. With a few races still undecided, districts won by Democrats account for 61 percent of America's gross domestic product, districts won by Republicans 38 percent.

That economic separation underpins cultural divisions that usually command more attention. Says Brookings researcher Mark Muro: "The Democratic Party and Republican Party, at this point, really do occupy different economic worlds and represent different economic worlds."

Analysis by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program documents the gap between them. Residents of districts won by Democrats generate 22% more output per worker, and have a 15% higher median household income.