All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[worstblogever]

Do you think Sinema's unlikely to make it to a second term because she'll lose a primary or because she won't be able to turn out progressives during the general election? Is the latter relevant in a swing state in a presidential election year?

If Democrats ran openly on a platform of making Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema less powerful, do you see that as a strategy that has a great chance of success, or is it more of a potential hail mary, something that could work, but you're not sure about it?

Will it help Val Demings against Marco Rubio in Florida, or Maggie Hassan against Chris Sununu in New Hampshire?

What's the point of letting Sinema and Manchin be as powerful as they are if they want to do precisely nothing with that power?

They have 3 years to make good on it. The Democrats defending their seats in '22 have a single year to prove to the American people they can fix this, and if they can't, they have to run on, "Get us two more seats so we can do the thing without the indifferent members of our caucus."

Manchin and Sinema aren't locks to beat Republicans in '24. Especially not Sinema. She's reaching, "nobody is gonna support her" status on the ground here. Right, left, I'm serious, no one speaks well of her, and her theatrics are being called out as simply theater. She can't fool people into thinking she should be taken seriously for them (What deal Ted Cruz has with the devil that Republicans regard him as genuine for being the conservative version of the same charlatan, I'll never know).

Like, the only Senate Democrat who tempted fate more for putzing about and voting across the aisle was Joe Lieberman back in '06. But after losing the primary to Ned Lamont, he still held onto power by re-entering the race as an independent and had the benefit that the Republican in the race, Alan Schlesinger, had problems with gambling debts... Connecticut Republicans effectively threw their support behind what was their "lesser of two evils", a more centrist Lieberman over the liberal Lamont and their own f*** up who had no chance.

I think Sinema is far more vulnerable than even Lieberman was in that Blue Wave year in '24.

[Powerboy]

The White House is expected to extend the federal moratorium on evictions for another month.

lol on the bolded part. The health crisis that justified the freeze has not ended. Herd immunity has not been reached yet. What the heck are these jackals on?

Also, from what I and a lot of people I know are experiencing, rent prices are being raised through the roof now that the freeze on prices and evictions has ended. We also need reasonable .laws restricting how high rent can go.

[green_garnish]

I do think it is an unfortunate position for a supreme court justice to be in, and this speaks to the benefits of term limits, so that justices don't have the personal incentive to stick around as long as possible, and don't have to choose between their political preferences and maintaining the vision of the court as being above politics.

Maybe, just maybe, it's about judicial preferences, and knowing that a president is unable or unwilling to nominate qualified people, and a Senate unable or unwilling to insist that he does. That's not aa term limits problem, unless you're talking about term limits for senators.

[Gray Lensman]

What's the point of letting Sinema and Manchin be as powerful as they are if they want to do precisely nothing with that power?

They have 3 years to make good on it. The Democrats defending their seats in '22 have a single year to prove to the American people they can fix this, and if they can't, they have to run on, "Get us two more seats so we can do the thing without the indifferent members of our caucus."

Manchin and Sinema aren't locks to beat Republicans in '24. Especially not Sinema. She's reaching, "nobody is gonna support her" status on the ground here. Right, left, I'm serious, no one speaks well of her, and her theatrics are being called out as simply theater. She can't fool people into thinking she should be taken seriously for them (What deal Ted Cruz has with the devil that Republicans regard him as genuine for being the conservative version of the same charlatan, I'll never know).

Like, the only Senate Democrat who tempted fate more for putzing about and voting across the aisle was Joe Lieberman back in '06. But after losing the primary to Ned Lamont, he still held onto power by re-entering the race as an independent and had the benefit that the Republican in the race, Alan Schlesinger, had problems with gambling debts... Connecticut Republicans effectively threw their support behind what was their "lesser of two evils", a more centrist Lieberman over the liberal Lamont and their own f*** up who had no chance.

I think Sinema is far more vulnerable than even Lieberman was in that Blue Wave year in '24.

Cruz isn't voting with Democrats under pretty much any circumstances, that's how he gets away with it.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Not every landlord is a conglomerate. Some are just average people making a few extra dollars. I make a decent wage and was unemployed early when the pandemic happened and my unemployment payments were far higher than my regular wages. I don't see how people fell behind their rents if they made more money during the pandemic.

Many were unable to access to unemployment benefits early in the pandemic and even if they did they don’t all use all of it pay towards the rent. There are other needs like water, electricity. Many are still are still falling behind on rent payments.
Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mar...nds-behind/amp

[Amadeus Arkham]

The health crisis is declining significantly.

New daily cases in the United States are less than a tenth of what they were at the peak.

The same is true of the daily death rate. Covid is now lower as a cause of death than strokes or accidents (and significantly lower than heart disease or cancer.)


https://www.thecut.com/article/kate-...llage-nyc.html

This is true, the crisis has declined in some states. However in other states there seems to be a rebound:

Covid Rebounds in U.S. South, With Many Shunning Vaccines. Ideally, I would be all for extending the moratorium until at least herd immunity is reached but if not I would prefer the eviction moratorium to be extended for at least a month or two just so we can have more vaccinated and more are hopefully employed.

[Mister Mets]

Also, from what I and a lot of people I know are experiencing, rent prices are being raised through the roof now that the freeze on prices and evictions has ended. We also need reasonable .laws restricting how high rent can go.

This can be fixed by increasing supply.

A major reason rent is so high because there are all sorts of limits on new housing.

Maybe, just maybe, it's about judicial preferences, and knowing that a president is unable or unwilling to nominate qualified people, and a Senate unable or unwilling to insist that he does. That's not aa term limits problem, unless you're talking about term limits for senators.

Right now, Presidents are incentivized to pick younger supreme court justices. They may have okay qualifications, but it is unfortunate that candidates in their 60s are basically not considered for the court any more.

A term limit on justices of 18 years would go towards fixing that.

[Mister Mets]

Cruz isn't voting with Democrats under pretty much any circumstances, that's how he gets away with it.

Cruz is an obnoxious prick, but he's an obnoxious prick from the right.

He represents a different kind of problem for the GOP by making it tougher to compromise with unrealistic promises to the base.

What's the point of letting Sinema and Manchin be as powerful as they are if they want to do precisely nothing with that power?

They have 3 years to make good on it. The Democrats defending their seats in '22 have a single year to prove to the American people they can fix this, and if they can't, they have to run on, "Get us two more seats so we can do the thing without the indifferent members of our caucus."

Manchin and Sinema aren't locks to beat Republicans in '24. Especially not Sinema. She's reaching, "nobody is gonna support her" status on the ground here. Right, left, I'm serious, no one speaks well of her, and her theatrics are being called out as simply theater. She can't fool people into thinking she should be taken seriously for them (What deal Ted Cruz has with the devil that Republicans regard him as genuine for being the conservative version of the same charlatan, I'll never know).

Like, the only Senate Democrat who tempted fate more for putzing about and voting across the aisle was Joe Lieberman back in '06. But after losing the primary to Ned Lamont, he still held onto power by re-entering the race as an independent and had the benefit that the Republican in the race, Alan Schlesinger, had problems with gambling debts... Connecticut Republicans effectively threw their support behind what was their "lesser of two evils", a more centrist Lieberman over the liberal Lamont and their own f*** up who had no chance.

I think Sinema is far more vulnerable than even Lieberman was in that Blue Wave year in '24.

Sinema and Manchin did vote to make Chuck Schumer Senate Majority Leader.

They also regularly vote with the party, as shown in an Associated Press fact-check.

https://tinyurl.com/27mjvw39

Neither are locks to beat Republicans in the general election, but that's too high a standard to determine someone's value. Very few are locks in competitive states. Manchin does have a better chance than anyone else in West Virginia, and I'd like to see the argument that he isn't clearly one of the five most valuable Democrats in Congress.

Sinema is a bit different since Arizona has become more of a swing state, but I'm unaware of any situation where her vote alone has scuttled Democratic plans. It's more that she gives Manchin cover, and by all accounts, helps out other Democrats who think the party's going too far, but are too nervous about upsetting the base.

[Gray Lensman]

Cruz is an obnoxious prick, but he's an obnoxious prick from the right.

He represents a different kind of problem for the GOP by making it tougher to compromise with unrealistic promises to the base.

Sinema and Manchin did vote to make Chuck Schumer Senate Majority Leader.

They also regularly vote with the party, as shown in an Associated Press fact-check.

https://tinyurl.com/27mjvw39

Neither are locks to beat Republicans in the general election, but that's too high a standard to determine someone's value. Very few are locks in competitive states. Manchin does have a better chance than anyone else in West Virginia, and I'd like to see the argument that he isn't clearly one of the five most valuable Democrats in Congress.

Sinema is a bit different since Arizona has become more of a swing state, but I'm unaware of any situation where her vote alone has scuttled Democratic plans. It's more that she gives Manchin cover, and by all accounts, helps out other Democrats who think the party's going too far, but are too nervous about upsetting the base.

Im aware that with Manchin, his replacement isn't more liberal, or even a Democrat. It's a Republican, and very likely one of the openly Q crowd at that. West Virginia is so solidly red that the margin of victory Republicans get in that state is enough to win the election by itself.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Michigan Senate GOP Probe Finds No Systemic Fraud In Election

State Senate Republicans urged the state attorney general to consider probing people who have made baseless allegations about the results. Whoa! Hell just froze over!

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Donald Trump Reportedly Hoped COVID-19 Would Take Out John Bolton

The ex-president also reportedly mocked people sick with the coronavirus, according to a new book from The Washington Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta. Nice guy, that Trump.

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Fauci: Delta Variant Will Soon Be Dominant U.S. Strain. Get Vaccinated.

The White House’s chief medical adviser urged unvaccinated Americans to get shots as a far more serious and transmissible variant of the coronavirus spreads. Can't make things any plainer then that.

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Oath Keeper Reaches Plea Deal, Will Cooperate In Major Jan. 6 Conspiracy Case

Graydon Young is part of a group of Oath Keepers facing charges related to the Capitol riot. He’s the first to reach a plea deal with the feds. Honor among bad guys, yo!

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Michael Cohen Reveals The Family Member Trump’s About To ‘Throw Under The Bus’

“Family fireworks about to be ignited for our viewing entertainment,” the longtime Trump fixer wrote. Wake me when that actually happens, and not before.

[Tendrin]

In a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the Supreme Court struck down a California law that gave union organizers access to farm sites. The decision means people seeking out farm workers for unionization purposes going forward will be violating the property rights of agricultural landowners and food processors, who can now legally keep them off their land.

This is pretty bad.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...?ocid=msedgntp

This is going to make the already horrific exploitation of farm workers even worse.

[Tami]

Court Suspends Giuliani’s Law License, Citing Trump Election Lies

A New York appellate court suspended Rudolph W. Giuliani’s law license on Thursday after a disciplinary panel found that he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements about the 2020 election as Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer.

The court wrote in a 33-page decision that Mr. Giuliani’s conduct threatened “the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law.”

Mr. Giuliani helped lead Mr. Trump’s legal challenge to the election results, arguing without merit that the vote had been rife with fraud and that voting machines had been rigged.

“We conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at re-election in 2020,” the decision read.

Mr. Giuliani now faces disciplinary proceedings and can fight the suspension. But the court said in its decision that Mr. Giuliani’s actions had posed “an immediate threat” to the public and that it was likely he would face “permanent sanctions” after the proceedings conclude.

[kidfresh512]

Court Suspends Giuliani’s Law License, Citing Trump Election Lies

Duplicate post! But good this needs to happen to many more "lawyers" that were pushing lies.

[Tami]

What Did New York’s Primaries Mean for Progressives? It’s Complicated.

They may not win Gracie Mansion, but there’s always Buffalo. And Rochester, too.

For progressives in New York State, primary elections on Tuesday night brought a number of victories, even as the biggest apple of them all — New York City’s mayoralty — may elude their grasp.

Though Eric Adams amassed a sizable lead over Maya D. Wiley, his top rival, in first-choice votes, liberal candidates celebrated victories in down-ballot races in New York City and in the state’s second and third largest cities, wins that they argue demonstrate their ascendancy at the grass-roots level even as they are struggling to flex their power in Washington.

In perhaps the biggest upset of the night, India B. Walton, a democratic socialist, defeated a four-term incumbent in the Democratic mayoral primary in Buffalo and cast her victory as a threat to the longtime party establishment.

Ms. Walton had promised to safeguard undocumented immigrants, place a moratorium on new charter schools and cut millions from the Police Department budget by ending the role of officers in most mental health emergency calls.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Court Suspends Giuliani’s Law License, Citing Trump Election Lies

That should've happened back in January after the Capitol Riot.