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

[Mister Mets]

It’s over. RBG’s seat is getting filled

https://twitter.com/senatorromney/st...897958914?s=21

Romney was easily the most likely Senator to not go lockstep with Republicans. He provides cover for a Collins and Mutkowski.

Oh and reports have been coming out that Biden was considering him for a cabinet position. Hopefully these fuckers can realize that starting from a position of wanting compromise is trash

What was the position of compromise?

Can't help but wonder if Romney is doing this because he needs to win back supporters and voters after losing a bunch for voting for Trump's impeachment.

Or he prefers a textualist/ originalist Supreme Court justice to whoever Biden would be expected to select.

Republicans sat on an aid bill to help people hit hard by the lockdown for months, but literally hours after RBG drew her last breath, those same assholes moved faster than greased lightning to put the wheels in motion to replace her on the bench. So be it, everyone knew that was coming since the news broke last Friday and nothing was going to stop it, the GOP got the shiny toy they longed for, rank hypocrisy be damned, hooray for them. At least now Democrats can concentrate on the election, focus on retaking the White House and the Senate, and I hope the American people (at least those not slurping the Trump Kool-Aid) will remember they came in a distant second to a SCOTUS seat when they go to the polling place come November.

Republicans had their own legislation. The main issue was that they disagreed with aspects of the Democratic legislation (the amount of money spent, whether it was meant to have other effects.)

I really hate 2020. Now if the election descends into chaos, the person really having a great year will be Putin.

I'm worried about how 2020 will end. A suspiciously close state netting a 269-269 electoral tie sending an election in which Trump loses the popular vote by 3-4 points to the House of Representatives, where Republicans have slight majorities among state delegations is the most 2020 ending conceivable.

[Mister Mets]

And hopefully, if Dems win big this November, they can go about packing the court after taking power.

Court-packing is legal, but has some downsides. As noted, there is a bit of an arms race, with continued escalation, although there is also the possibility of using it to negotiate some kind of compromise.

One problem for Democrats is that they would probably need to get some centrist Senators on board. That's unlikely.

It may largely be a moot point if Democrats do well enough in Congress that they can pass key legislation without having to depend on the courts.

Seriously. There's no line they won't cross, as we're currently seeing. Trump is a reflection, not a cause, of that

What line is crossed by a President putting a forth a nominee, and the Senate controlled by his party voting for the nominee?

I'm curious who thinks the situation would be different if the parties were reversed.

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died in 2016 with President Mitt Romney facing a close election, would a Senate controlled by Chuck Schumer have allowed him to put forth someone to replace her? If Scalia had died in September, and Democrats still had the Senate, would Obama have not tried to put forth a nominee?

The way I see it is that it's another example of trying to force other people into political cages. Labeling others differently just to make your label seem more significant. It's a tribal phenomenon. In order to have meaning for themselves, they need to define themselves as different, and in doing so they are creating these strange narratives.

It's unnecessarily divisive at a time when more people should be working together. Instead, fo embracing a diversity of ideas and accepting that people have as much a right to self-identify politically as they have to self-identify in any other way.

Those things, like Trans-rights, are liberal. So are many other things, and having someone else say to me that otherwise is denying my rights as a liberal to believe in these causes.

So, sure, they have a right to believe what they want, but that doesn't make it true, or real, or change how I or anyone else feel or what we believe. It's basically a form of political prejudice.

And yeah, I might get some flak for saying that. Anyone sho goes around saying that they who self-identify as Leftists are the one true embodiment of all things liberal and that liberals are not liberal are not doing anyone any favors.

I'm not saying there aren't some bad apples, there always are in all groups, but to generalize it broadly is only going to make things worse.

There are historical reasons for labels, but I can see how many voters care about the policies, rather than the history of a movement now called progressive, liberal, leftist, or whatever.

There is also the question of who gets to make the determination and why. Many of the gatekeepers might be seen to be far to one direction in one issue, but not on others. There is also usually a lack of self-awareness, or a sense of how others might feel differently.

A simple measure might be to determine how you rate compared to others (IE- you're far-left if a ranking of all politically engaged Americans determines you to be in the ten percent most left-wing), but most don't want to go with something that objective.

[KOSLOX]

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died in 2016 with President Mitt Romney facing a close election, would a Senate controlled by Chuck Schumer have allowed him to put forth someone to replace her? If Scalia had died in September, and Democrats still had the Senate, would Obama have not tried to put forth a nominee?

I thought you're interested in "facts" so why use a counterfactual to attempt to make your point?
That didn't happen, so it's not relevant.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Court-packing is legal, but has some downsides. As noted, there is a bit of an arms race, with continued escalation, although there is also the possibility of using it to negotiate some kind of compromise.

One problem for Democrats is that they would probably need to get some centrist Senators on board. That's unlikely.

It may largely be a moot point if Democrats do well enough in Congress that they can pass key legislation without having to depend on the courts.

What line is crossed by a President putting a forth a nominee, and the Senate controlled by his party voting for the nominee?.

The fact that they are ignoring the rational they used to deny Obama his pick?

[Celgress]

To expect honor from Mitt Romney is like expecting a 7 every time you roll the dice. Sure, that 7 will come up sometimes, but at the end of the day, there's a reason they call the game "Craps."

The funny thing is I know many people who took Romney for their hero because "he stood up to Trump". I told them again and again Romney is simply a better-spoken version of President Trump but no one listened. Romney holds many of the same views he simply doesn't voice them often.

PS My grim prediction still stands. Trump will win the election and it's over after that, and I mean over. America will be on the road to Empire in all but name.

[Moon Ronin]

I thought you're interested in "facts" so why use a counterfactual to attempt to make your point?
That didn't happen, so it's not relevant.

There have been vacancies in the Supreme Court 29 times in the final year of a presidential term. The each President of those 29 times selected a nominee to be approved my the Senate. 19 of those vacancies occurred when both the President and the Senate were of the same party and the seat was filled 17 out of those 19 times. In the 10 times that the President and the Senate were of different parties the seats were only filled 2 times. Mister Mets could have made his case with out framing it as a "what if" scenario which in my opinion is a sure way to lose a debate.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The funny thing is I know many people who took Romney for their hero because "he stood up to Trump". I told them again and again Romney is simply a better-spoken version of President Trump but no one listened. Romney holds many of the same views he simply doesn't voice them often.

PS My grim prediction still stands. Trump will win the election and it's over after that, and I mean over. America will be on the road to Empire in all but name.

I don't see Empire type situation. I see a country shattering as the poor and others are told to **** off and die some more. That he won't be able to fix a recession and life will get a lot more harder as his supporters double down everything is fine as things rage outta control. As healthcare and more is stripped from people. America will be in a terrible situation by 2024 as Trump's reign will have us in a terrible spot as we slip behind other world powers and the country will be YEARS trying to repair the damage done.

[Panfoot]

The funny thing is I know many people who took Romney for their hero because "he stood up to Trump". I told them again and again Romney is simply a better-spoken version of President Trump but no one listened. Romney holds many of the same views he simply doesn't voice them often.

PS My grim prediction still stands. Trump will win the election and it's over after that, and I mean over. America will be on the road to Empire in all but name.

I think the fact that people considered senators like Romney and McCain the "good" republicans just shows how low the bar is set. You make the right call once in how many years and your image improves considerably compared to every other sitting republican.

I still can't say who I think will the election, but I do feel confident enough in thinking if Trump wins again, we won't have any more presidential elections.

[Tami]

RT goes SNL

November 3: Donald #Trump loses US election to Joe #Biden.

November 5: Trump flies to Moscow to sign a contract with RT.

This is how his first day goes.

Note: this is parody, using #deepfake technology (but the job is there, Donald).

Twitter Link

[MacrossPlus]

It’s very possible that Trump might flee the country if he loses the election

[KOSLOX]

There have been vacancies in the Supreme Court 29 times in the final year of a presidential term. The each President of those 29 times selected a nominee to be approved my the Senate. 19 of those vacancies occurred when both the President and the Senate were of the same party and the seat was filled 17 out of those 19 times. In the 10 times that the President and the Senate were of different parties the seats were only filled 2 times. Mister Mets could have made his case with out framing it as a "what if" scenario which in my opinion is a sure way to lose a debate.

Obviously he couldn't, but kudos on doing the actual work to make his point for him.

[KOSLOX]

Lincoln Project actually did come out and say he should not be able to appoint someone to that seat, so there is that. *shrugs*

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/s...82361587113984

They haven't put out an ad or anything, but they haven't been completely silent.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Sadly seeing as how morons will give Trump another term to "own da libs" again and watching how he utterly fucks them sideways will be sad for sure. We all will suffer for sure. But hey , gotta own us by having us all march into hell I suppose.

[Spidey5640]

Brilliant political maneuvering by the Republicans so far. Get enough on the fence Senators on board and then hold hearing just before the election. The Dems will no doubt viciously attack her for being Christian and her personal view of being pro-life. Kamala will insult her intellect. The whole nation will see them try and bully a woman just because she's conservative. All right before the election. It'll be great.

[Celgress]

People say Trump is a moron but I disagree -

He is delusional at times, crash, cruel, and willfully ignorant of that which doesn't interest him, but he is also a brilliant demagog who deftly exploits every weakness of others and crisis to grow stronger and grind his opponents into dust. Any lesser populist would have fallen long ago when confronted by Trump's many dire scandals. He truly is the modern Hitler, IMO.