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

[WAKANDA FOREVER!]

Wonder what the motivation was?

QAnon? Anti-vaxxer?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Chris Murphy’s surprise floor speech raises tough questions for Democrats

One problem could be Biden preparing to make the same mistake Barack Obama had during his presidency: making nice with Republicans hellbent on destroying democracy for the sake of power. The wheels for the GOP’s slide into fascism were set in motion with the birth of the Tea Party, perhaps sooner, and that was BEFORE Trump came along to make things worse with his madness, a madness Republicans fully embraced and show no sign whatsoever of relinquishing.

[Jack Dracula]

Chris Murphy’s surprise floor speech raises tough questions for Democrats

IMO Chris Murphy deserves credit and recognition for making that speech. Sometimes I wonder if the Dem leadership actually understands the degree of crazy they're up against.

[Tami]

Election Litigation Update - Gohmert. Reply brief is in. Let's have a look. They are, mercifully, underlength. They had 50 pages available, the PDF is 43 and some of that is cover page, signatures, etc.

"We live in a democratic republic in which the Vice President, who will more often than not be a candidate in the election, has the sole and unchallengeable power to decide who wins the election" is a hellofa take.

These people do not appear to understand what either "democratic" or "republic" actually mean. And, given that the plaintiffs are the unduly unqualified cosplayers from Arizona, they also don't seem to understand what "duly qualified" means.

"We didn't care before but we do now because we're dissatisfied with both the will of the electorate and the verdict of the courts" is also a hell of a take.

"We ask you, judge, is it fair to make poor put upon and victimized Mike Pence follow the rules that have governed for more than a century when he can use his feels as an alternate set of rules"?

"The founders wrote procedural rules so the Vice President gets to declare himself to be the winner if he wants" is another great argument. Really. It must be. Team Kraken is making it.

"We don't want tumult and disorder. We do want the Vice President to invalidate enough electors, despite the results of the election, state lawsuits, and federal lawsuits, to make the loser a winner in what will certainly be a calm and peaceful process."

"Every practicable obstacle should be raised to corruption. Also, please let the Vice President say he's going to be the Vice President for another four years no matter what the certified election results say."

Still going through early American history, I see. We're now on Page 10, and there's been nothing even approaching something that addresses the arguments they're putatively replying to.

OFFS - DO NOT WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

This is a mistake that I've encountered in student work. Do not simply say that "commentators argue" something. You need to make those arguments yourself. You can - and must - cite the commentators you are relying on, but you must argue.

In this case, they're compounding their amateurish error further because THEY DON'T SAY WHAT THE "HIDDEN POWERS" ACTUALLY ARE.

Oh, and also this is the first time we've seen this citation but they don't provide the full cite. Well done.

Also, all of this strongly suggests that Congress has always been the one to decide what electors are the right ones, not the Vice President.

So they're continuing to wreak havoc on their own arguments here.

And still more of that here. Because even if the ECA is unconstitutional, that's not the remedy they're seeking. They want a declaration that Mike Pence is the literal kingmaker. Whether one Congress can bind another is an unrelated question that they have no standing to raise.

They then jump from history to fantasy and claim - despite everything they've just spent over a third of their brief discussing demonstrating that Congress and not the VP resolves disputes - that the Constitution "empowered the Vice-President to take control of the proceeding."

This is possibly the dumbest argument against Pence's opposition that they could possibly have raised. It's literally "we're clearly adverse because they want the case dismissed and we don't" which is, how should I put it, NOT HOW IT DAMN WELL WORKS AT ALL EVER.

For the nonlawyers:
Injury in fact is mandatory. If you don't have an injury in fact, nobody cares about zone of interest. The clown car crew forgot to talk about injury in fact.

Literally Mike Pence: "I'm the wrong party. The right parties are the House and Senate."
These LITERAL Clowns: "Judge, if Pence is the wrong party, we want to sue the parliamentarians or the United States instead."

Dafuq??

Some highlights from the summary reading of the latest in this bizzare Gohmert court filing that will likely be thrown out real quick.

[4saken1]

One problem could be Biden preparing to make the same mistake Barack Obama had during his presidency: making nice with Republicans hellbent on destroying democracy for the sake of power.

True. Given the choice between hurting Democrats and helping the American people, Republicans will choose the former every time!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

IMO Chris Murphy deserves credit and recognition for making that speech. Sometimes I wonder if the Dem leadership actually understands the degree of crazy they're up against.

I worry that they don’t, or worse, believe Republicans will return to some semblance of sanity once Trump is gone. That ship has long since sailed and it AIN’T returning to port. The sooner Democrats arrive at that realization, the better.

[Tami]

Wonder what the motivation was?

Many possibilities. Maybe we'll find out eventually.

[Malvolio]

One problem could be Biden preparing to make the same mistake Barack Obama had during his presidency: making nice with Republicans hellbent on destroying democracy for the sake of power. The wheels for the GOP’s slide into fascism were set in motion with the birth of the Tea Party, perhaps sooner, and that was BEFORE Trump came along to make things worse with his madness, a madness Republicans fully embraced and show no sign whatsoever of relinquishing.

Remember how right after Obama's inauguration speech in 2009, Mitch McConnell declared that the Republican Party's top goal would be to make Obama a one term President? That's the "sanity" that was the Republican Party pre-Trump.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Remember how right after Obama's inauguration speech in 2009, Mitch McConnell declared that the Republican Party's top goal would be to make Obama a one term President? That's the "sanity" that was the Republican Party pre-Trump.

At the time, I attributed that to the usual partisan bickering between the parties with a healthy dose of racism thrown in because McConnell and Republicans hated having a black man as president.

Meanwhile, I got an alert that Pence is seeking to have the GOP lawsuit aimed at overturning the election dismissed.

[Malvolio]

Seriously, though, in answer to the question as to what Trump will do after he leaves office, many pundits are saying that he will form his own network, a "Trump News," if you will. I don't think that's exactly true. Trump never creates anything himself. He just slaps his name on other people's creations. So I think, as his relationship with FOX News has soured somewhat, he will go to Newsmax or OANN and negotiate a deal to rebrand them as "Trump News."

[Tami]

At the time, I attributed that to the usual partisan bickering between the parties with a healthy dose of racism thrown in because McConnell and Republicans hated having a black man as president.

Meanwhile, I got an alert that Pence is seeking to have the GOP lawsuit aimed at overturning the election dismissed.

I do get the feeling that Pence is, understandably, rattled by that lawsuit. He's trying to distance himself from it even as they are refusing to allow him to do so. If you see my post above, apparently Gohmert and those working with him are so caught up in this that, even if they can't sue Pence they want to sue the whole dang country instead.

Seriously, if they are not happy with living in a Democracy, then feel free to relocate to Russia or some other similar country.

speaking of which:

POTUS was not pleased that DoJ responded on Pence's behalf in the Gohmert et al lawsuit trying to expand the VP's procedural role on Jan 6, per 3 ppl briefed. POTUS called Pence this AM to express some surprise about it; he has been more vocal with others about his displeasure.

And now:

Election Update - Gohmert: The handful of fake electors from Michigan who really want to be a part of Louie Gohmert's setitionsuit because "Me too! Me too! Me too! Don't treasonweasel without us!!" have also submitted a proposed reply brief.

[Jack Dracula]

Remember how right after Obama's inauguration speech in 2009, Mitch McConnell declared that the Republican Party's top goal would be to make Obama a one term President? That's the "sanity" that was the Republican Party pre-Trump.

After they'd just spent the previous 8 years absolutely ruining eveything they touched and nearly tanking the world economy on their way out.

[Kirby101]

After they'd just spent the previous 8 years absolutely ruining eveything they touched and nearly tanking the world economy on their way out.

Sure, but ask any Republican, the Iraq War was all Hillary's fault because she voted yes. And the 2007 crash was because Andrew Cuomo was HUD secretary in 1997.

[Tami]

Senate Overrides Trump’s Veto of Defense Bill, Dealing a Legislative Blow

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Friday voted overwhelmingly to override President Trump’s veto of the annual military policy bill, mustering bipartisan support to enact the legislation over the president’s objections and delivering him the first such legislative rebuke of his presidency.

The 81-to-13 vote, the last vote expected in this Congress, is the first time lawmakers have overridden one of Mr. Trump’s vetoes. It reflected the sweeping popularity of a measure that authorizes a pay raise for the nation’s military and amounted to an extraordinary reprimand delivered to Mr. Trump in the final weeks of his presidency.

The margin surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to force enactment of the bill over Mr. Trump’s objections. The House passed the legislation on Monday, also mustering the two-thirds majority required.

I want to find out why some Dems were among the 13 who voted against overriding the veto, apparently including one of my Senators.

I guess it was a protest vote in response to McConnell refusing to take up the issue of raising the money for COVID assistance from $600 to $2000.

Over the last week, the bill’s passage was delayed after a group of senators, led by Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders, objected to advancing a measure to authorize Pentagon funding before addressing domestic matters — specifically, an effort to raise the individual pandemic assistance payment from $600 to $2,000.

Sanders attempted several times this week to push the Senate to vote on legislation that passed in the House to increase the stimulus checks, before taking up the defense bill override.

“All that I am asking is a simple request. Bring the bill to the floor,” Sanders said on Friday. “What is the problem with giving members of the United States Senate the opportunity to vote on the legislation?”

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused, dismissing the checks as “so******m for rich people,” and arguing that the defense bill is the greater priority.

[Robotman]

One problem could be Biden preparing to make the same mistake Barack Obama had during his presidency: making nice with Republicans hellbent on destroying democracy for the sake of power. The wheels for the GOP’s slide into fascism were set in motion with the birth of the Tea Party, perhaps sooner, and that was BEFORE Trump came along to make things worse with his madness, a madness Republicans fully embraced and show no sign whatsoever of relinquishing.

You can’t compromise with or try to appease fascists. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.