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

[Miles To Go]

I wonder how many in the UK are beginning the think this whole Brexit idea was a really, really bad idea?

It's been one calamity after another.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's been one calamity after another.

I'm guessing the buyer's remorse over Brexit has been considerable.

[MindofShadow]

Avenatti literally got Arrested today lol.

Stormy Daniels’ Attorney Michael Avenatti Arrested After Domestic Violence Allegations
The lawyer, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, was arrested in Los Angeles.

Dudes past isn't crystal clear either.

People latching on to him like some savior are weird.

[Tami]

The #FiveWhiteGuys Are Offering a Sucker's Bet to Anti-Pelosi Democrats

Shoot enough sodium pentothal into Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin, and he likely would tell you that he'd have been infinitely better off if every member of the Freedom Caucus had been dropped down a well. This analogy is being applied to the new, young, leftish members of the incoming majority. But they're not the real threat, as we shall see. The real threat was encapsulated on the electric Twitter machine with the hashtag, #FiveWhiteGuys.

(As Tuesday went on, I began to regret my original perception that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's participation in the climate-change gathering in Nancy Pelosi's office was a show-pony move. My mind was changed when I realized that both women had managed the event in such a way that they strengthened their respective brands. AOC maintained her outsider-green street cred, while Pelosi, by not panicking and by reinstating the House climate-change working group, demonstrated—again—her gifts for legislative political strategy. After the episode ended, AOC told the Washington Post: “What we need to show her is that we’re here to back her up.”)

For those members, old and new, who oppose Pelosi from the left, the #FiveWhiteGuys are offering a sucker's bet. The #FiveWhiteGuys are of the school that believes that the Democratic Party's needs are best served winning back all those disgruntled folks at diners in the Mahoning Valley, a theory fairly well demolished last Tuesday. It is very unlikely that a Green New Deal or Medicare For All is high on their list of priorities. The only argument that the #FiveWhiteGuys have that might resonate with their new progressive colleagues is that Pelosi is old and has been in Congress for a long time. Period. That's not enough to dispense with the party's most effective legislative leader since Lyndon Johnson.

So what the #FiveWhiteGuys are flirting with is not a brawl within the party, but a three-way brawl in which the progressive side and the #FiveWhiteGuys side both work to bring Pelosi down, which would set the stage for an absolute bloodbath between those two forces for the right to pick her successor. (And, strictly from a provincial standpoint here in the Commonwealth—God save it!—we are preparing to have Richard Neal as chairman of House Ways and Means and James McGovern as chairman of House Rules. If this attempted coup screws that up, Moulton's going to have some serious 'splainin' to do back home.)

There is no need for any of this. Pelosi stays as speaker. Steny Hoyer goes, replaced by, say, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Jim Clyburn does what he wants, and the new generation moves into position as deputy whips under him. Then the Democratic Party can get back to the primary business at hand: beating the Republicans sufficiently hard and sufficiently often until the Republican Party regains a semblance of sanity. It's a long, hard job.

[Kirby101]

The Brits want a do over.
Brexit latest: First poll since Theresa May's deal reveals voters want a new referendum

We want one for Trump too. But unlike the UK we didn't actually vote for the Liar in Chief.

[Miles To Go]

And now the first vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister has been issued. If more letters file through, May could be ousted before Brexit is even finalised.

https://news.sky.com/story/live-brex...ement-11554569

I'm guessing the buyer's remorse over Brexit has been considerable.

Some still cling on to the "potential" of the unrealised promises which fuelled most of the leave campaign, but it's become quite apparent nobody from either side of the referendum is getting what they wanted from the deal

[JackDaw]

And now the first vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister has been issued. If more letters file through, May could be ousted before Brexit is even finalised.

https://news.sky.com/story/live-brex...ement-11554569




Some still cling on to the "potential" of the unrealised promises which fuelled most of the leave campaign, but it's become quite apparent nobody from either side of the referendum is getting what they wanted from the deal

It's the sort of shambles you get when the clever people in charge of planning and carrying out a democratically mandated change actually don't want to implement it. There's basically nothing fundamentally wrong with a nation wanting more independence.

You see equivalent failures of politicians to deliver reasonable mandates all over the globe...I assume most Americans would love to see a fairer healthcare system, for example.

The only thing to be said for democratic capitalism...which I assume we all know is often a shambles...is that it's substantially better than any other form of government yet invented.

[Kirby101]

It's the sort of shambles you get when the clever people in charge of planning and carrying out a democratically mandated change actually don't want to implement it. There's basically nothing fundamentally wrong with a nation wanting more independence.

You see equivalent failures of politicians to deliver reasonable mandates all over the globe...I assume most Americans would love to see a fairer healthcare system, for example.

The only thing to be said for democratic capitalism...which I assume we all know is often a shambles...is that it's substantially better than any other form of government yet invented.

Except the Brexit campaign was predicated on a pile of lies. Even Boris Johnson's brother has acknowledged this.

[4saken1]

I wonder how many in the UK are beginning the think this whole Brexit idea was a really, really bad idea?

What?!? You mean Elections have consequences?

Crazy thing is, I heard somewhere that if May is recalled, Boris Johnson (one of the primary proponents for Brexit) might actually have a decent chance at PM.

[Coin Biter]

Except the Brexit campaign was predicated on a pile of lies. Even Boris Johnson's brother has acknowledged this.

To be fair, Jo Johnson's also a Remainer.

Which is not to say I disagree with him

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What?!? You mean Elections have consequences?

Crazy thing is, I heard somewhere that if May is recalled, Boris Johnson (one of the primary proponents for Brexit) might actually have a decent chance at PM.

I could be wrong about this, but from what I've heard and read about Johnson, he's supposed to be Great Britain's answer to Donald Trump in nearly every loathsome and repellent way, which means turbulence could well be ahead.

[Coin Biter]

It's the sort of shambles you get when the clever people in charge of planning and carrying out a democratically mandated change actually don't want to implement it. There's basically nothing fundamentally wrong with a nation wanting more independence.

Theresa May put the Brexiteers in charge of the Brexit process - Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, David Davis as Brexit Secretary, and Liam Fox as Trade Secretary (although in practice the last of these has had nothing real to do because he can't conclude independent trade deals yet). Johnson resigned after the Chequers approach was announced, as did Davis. Raab, Davis' replacement, has resigned now.

It's not a question of the people being in charge not believing in the promised land of Unicorns... it's that none of them want to be responsible for the dirty deal of doing a deal. None of them. They've run away.

During the Referendum campaign we were told by Johnson and Hannan that it was easy. We were told that the EU would strike a brilliant deal with us, because we were a large economy and they needed our trade. Afterwards some Brexiteers have said, ah well, if we crash out without a deal, we can be on WTO terms and it will be fine (it won't be).

Now we come to the point of realising a deal that the Brexiteers themselves have campaigned for, none of them want to own it. They want to shout from the sidelines and claim betrayal, because that will be politically more easy than going to the voters and saying, "I'm sorry, you know that time we said that it would be easy and we would get everything we asked for? Turns out that we were wrong".

[Coin Biter]

On the topic of a nation wanting more independence, do you know who is the biggest trading partner of the UK?

The United States. Headed by Donald John Trump.

Do you think Trump, or any other member of his Front National nativist clique, will offer us a decent trading deal, without strings attached? What price will he extort? What price will other nations extort?

We're not going to get more independence. We are going to get less.

We've sacrificed our economic well being and international autonomy... for what? Was this what it all amounted to - a blue passport, and a slogan on a bus?

[Coin Biter]

I could be wrong about this, but from what I've heard and read about Johnson, he's supposed to be Great Britain's answer to Donald Trump in nearly every loathsome and repellent way, which means turbulence could well be ahead.

You should read what Max Hastings has to say about Johnson: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...prime-minister And this guy was his former boss. That said, although I think Johnson is a charlatan, I also don't think he's quite as bad as Trump.

I also think he's a busted flush, though. He could have got the job in 2016 but the right of the party will likely plump for someone else now.

[Iron Maiden]

Only in the House of Representatives. They failed to capture the Senate that will deny President Trump's appointments of judges, attorneys and cabinet secretaries

That doesn't look like it will be a sure bet right now. For the time being, Jeff Flake says he will block the ones that are still in committee unless legislation is passed to protect the Mueller investigation. Mitch McConnell killed the bipartisan bill that was passed by the Judicial committee before it could be voted on. We shall see if Flake stands his ground or not. If they don't have Flake's vote in the committee, which typically has voted along party lines, the court picks that McConnell wants will get stalled. Turtle boy has about 115 court picks he wants to push through before December.