All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[worstblogever]

I can't tell if Rick Perry is supposed to be their fall guy or their alibi.

Neither can they, from what it seems.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, Tom Emmer, a man who looked to be on the fast track into Congress with a record as a state legislator where he attempted to nullify federal law, abolish the minimum wage, and drug test people on government assistance. He also tried to have a bill passed that explicitly had language written into it that “Minnesotans have no constitutional right to an abortion” which sort of contradicts a pretty important Supreme Court ruling you may have heard about, and actually tried to pass legislation to allow pharmacists to deny to sell people contraceptives based on their religious beliefs. Emmer denies evolution and climate change and once froze up during a debate when asked how old he thought the Earth was. Emmer is also vehemently in the anti-gay category, as he once sponsored a ban same sex marriage in Minnesota, chastised colleagues for discussing an AIDS outreach program by calling it “disgusting discourse”, and has frequently been seen in the company of Bradlee Dean, the head of the “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide” Ministry, which has been classified as an anti-gay hate group for its stance that murdering gay people is “moral”. He also took time in 2015 to call for the repeal of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, because apparently he'd like another chance to drive the American economy into a ditch, only eight years after the last time.

Rep. Emmer was surprised when he held a town hall back in February 2017, and hundreds of people showed up to fill a 150 seat venue, dwarfing the attendance from any previous town all in recent years. After it was over, he responded that if people have the nerve to show up and don’t like how he’s doing his job, he’ll just cancel the town hall altogether.

In June of 2018, as the Trump administration’s “family separation” policy was being executed, and migrant children were being torn away from their parents and kept locked in cages by immigration services… Tom Emmer defended that strategy on immigration, claiming that it was up to Congress to stop a policy that Trump could started, and could stop at any time with a stroke of his pen. Also, if Congress was supposed to do something about it, Emmer might want to inform members of his own party, since at the time they controlled the House and the Senate.

Tom Emmer was re-elected in the 2018 elections with 61% of the vote. Thus, he headed back to the capitol for a second term in office where he has continued being a partisan shill, including his attempts at weakening the Endangered Species Act in July of 2018.

As for the rest of his heinous voting record:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Emmer voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Tom Emmer votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Emmer votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Tom Emmer is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 17th, 2019: Emmer votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Emmer votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Tom Emmer can’t be bothered to vote against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.

While Minnesota’s 6th was once the district of Michelle Bachamann, and has a reported +10 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and with Emmer’s current role as the head of the NRCC would normally make that seem like a formula for him to stick around. Then again, various veteran Republicans have retired going into 2020, expecting a blood bath at the polls, and Tom Emmer facing scrutiny for writing an anti-Semitic e-mail to donors complaining about “Bloomberg and Soros have bought control of Congress”, he might have a chance of being upset in 2020. Let’s hope that’s the case.

[Tami]

Poll: Majority of Americans say they endorse opening of House impeachment inquiry of Trump

A majority of Americans say they endorse the decision by House Democrats to begin an impeachment inquiry of President Trump, and nearly half of all adults also say the House should take the additional step and recommend that the president be removed from office, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.

The findings indicate that public opinion has shifted quickly against the president and in favor of impeachment proceedings in recent weeks as information has been released about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian government officials to undertake an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden, a potential 2020 campaign rival, and Biden’s son Hunter.

Previous Post-Schar School or Post-ABC News polls taken at different points throughout this year found majorities of Americans opposing the start of an impeachment proceeding, with 37 percent to 41 percent saying they favored such a step. The recent revelations appear to have prompted many Americans to rethink their position.

The poll finds that, by a margin of 58 percent to 38 percent, Americans say the House was correct to undertake the inquiry. Among all adults, 49 percent say the House should take the more significant step to impeach the president and call for his removal from office. Another 6 percent say they back the start of the inquiry but do not favor removing Trump from office, with the remainder undecided about the president’s ultimate fate. The results among registered voters are almost identical.

[Tendrin]

We're about to find out if Congress is willing to do what they have to do to compel testimony.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...gress-n1063636

State Department blocks ambassador from testifying to Congress in Trump impeachment inquiry

[Tami]

We're about to find out if Congress is willing to do what they have to do to compel testimony.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...gress-n1063636

I wonder if they can actually do anything. Trump is digging his own grave, obstruction by obstruction.

[Tendrin]

I wonder if they can actually do anything. Trump is digging his own grave, obstruction by obstruction.

They do have some options.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

They do have some options.

Here's one option....threaten to throw that ambassador in jail if he doesn't comply. Same with anyone who gives the middle finger to Congress and refuses to testify.

[Tendrin]

Here's one option....threaten to throw that ambassador in jail if he doesn't comply. Same with anyone who gives the middle finger to Congress and refuses to testify.

They can certainly hold them in contempt of congress. How much teeth they'll be able to apply to it at this point is anybody's guess.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

They can certainly hold them in contempt of congress. How much teeth they'll be able to apply to it at this point is anybody's guess.

Well, right now, that's the only way to put the fear of God into these assholes. Democrats need to stop screwing around, put on their big boy pants and play hardball with Trump's henchmen.

[Mister Mets]

"people critical of my party aren't the person to ask about what my party really believes" is pretty funny, given Mets' propensity for deciding he knows what Democrats 'really mean'.

You did not sum up either of my positions accurately.

I never suggested people critical of a party can't understand them, nor can I really be faulted for a lack of familiarity with different viewpoints.

[Iron Maiden]

Now is the time for the GOP to shut up or put up. It's out in the open now that Mitt Romney is trying to persuade them to do something about Trump and vote for impeachment. I'm not all that confident he'll get the 2/3 vote. but this current issue with the Kurds is something that will cost lives all for the sake of Trump's business interest.

[Tendrin]

You did not sum up either of my positions accurately.

That's fair on one point. I misread what you said initially.

I stand by, however, my notion that you do love to 'infer' what Dems 'actually mean' quite frequently.

[BeastieRunner]

They do have some options.

Here's one option....threaten to throw that ambassador in jail if he doesn't comply. Same with anyone who gives the middle finger to Congress and refuses to testify.

They can certainly hold them in contempt of congress. How much teeth they'll be able to apply to it at this point is anybody's guess.

Congress has a Seargant at Arms, with full authority to arrest anybody.

[BeastieRunner]

Also, BTW, stock market erased those little gains from last week yesterday and is down a full 300 points now.

Go Trumponomics, GO!

[Tendrin]

Congress has a Seargant at Arms, with full authority to arrest anybody.

Yeah, but that'd mean needing to actually do it.