All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[jeanvaljean]

It was fun seeing /r the Donald losing its shit over this, though.

Yeah, I saw some of that. But I think the reddit clowns are a very small sample of Trump's base.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republicans blame bill, not Trump, for health care defeat

They blame the bill, not the idiots who created the bill and tried to rush it through Congress.

Better to blame everyone except Trump for that crappy healthcare bill having flopped like a flounder. That would mean having to accept that their beloved god emperor wasn't the dealmaker he made himself out as being. Now that Mango Mussolini kicked than can down the road and moved on to tax reform, what will happen if he screws the pooch on that?

[GOLGO 13]

Christie to lead White House search for opioid solutions

Figures they'd find something for him to do.

They got him doing the lowest, most unprestigious work that nobody wants to do. His complete degradation is quite a sight. Trump's son-in-law is super LOL.

[Iron Maiden]

Christie to lead White House search for opioid solutions

Figures they'd find something for him to do.

They got him doing the lowest, most unprestigious work that nobody wants to do. His complete degradation is quite a sight. Trump's son-in-law is super LOL.

I was just going to post that he's doing the kind of thing that in most years would be a cause taken up by the First Lady. It's probably too "dirty" and doesn't generate a lot of the "warm and fuzzies" for Melania or Ivanka to take up. So they toss it over to Christie. I guess it's a step up from fetching Trump's lunch or dry cleaning anyway.

[Kirby101]

Christie to lead White House search for opioid solutions

Figures they'd find something for him to do.

It's funny because they also want to cut all federal funding for those programs.

Session is in favor of incarceration over treatment for any drug offenses.

[The Overlord]

If you discount the efforts at voter suppression, spearheaded by the Kansas Sec. of State.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...voters-w435890

You miss a prime reason why GOP politicians win in places they are unpopular.

Korbach easily found that 4% of voters who were against Brownback to block.

Gerrymandering, voter suppression, Russian interference, thinking our elections are open, fair and above board isn't seeing what is really going on.

But we had some of these same problems back in the 60s, even worse in many cases, but people came out and demanded change. Yes, gerryandering and voter supression are issues, but the end of the day, you can fight against those things or you can just accept them and if you just accept them, you as well make Trump a king and make the Republican representatives dukes and barons.

I think gerrymandering would be less of an issue, if we didn't have this type of mindless partisanship, where your team winning is more important then who has the best policies.

Also if some people think gerrymandering is an issue, then people should launch a campaign against it, rather then just accepting it. Out of all the Western democracies, only the US and France still have gerrymandering and I don't think its as bad in France as it is the US, other western democracies have done away with it a long time ago. Gerrymandering really comes off as something you would expect to see in the 19th century, not the 21st century, its kinda of insane that its still issue in the most powerful country in the world.

The US system is so partisan, Republicans think the Democrats are a bigger threat then Russia, that is insane.

I even think voter suppression can be overcome with some pre planning and clever tactics and the only way you can beat something like this in the long run, is to make it a major issue with the voting public and start a campaign against it, rather then just accepting it.

How about using primaries to support more reasonable candidates and fewer partisan hacks?

As long as Americans can still vote, you can change still things or you just let the US become a kleptocracy.

If people are not going to take responsibility for their own political future, then maybe people can just be happy their team won and then lose their health care, have polluted skies and drinking water and have the economy ruined through a bunch of pointless trade wars.

The choice is clear, choose to embrace your rights and responsibilities or choose a partisan status quo that promotes laziness and systemic abuse.

If the people refuse to act as a check on the power of politicians, then they give consent to systemic abuse.

[Kirby101]

You are right, unfortunately we also have a very low voter turn out compared to other countries and voter suppression and gerrymandering affect those least able to fight it. They are mostly poor, and minorities, barely hanging on.

The 60s had those things, but the racist Southern Democrats voted with a progressive party. Now thanks to the Southern Strategy, they are Republicans. And the Republicans show no sign of ever replacing their partisan hacks with moderate candidates.

[Gray Lensman]

But we had some of these same problems back in the 60s, even worse in many cases, but people came out and demanded change. Yes, gerryandering and voter supression are issues, but the end of the day, you can fight against those things or you can just accept them and if you just accept them, you as well make Trump a king and make the Republican representatives dukes and barons.

I think gerrymandering would be less of an issue, if we didn't have this type of mindless partisanship, where your team winning is more important then who has the best policies.

Also if some people think gerrymandering is an issue, then people should launch a campaign against it, rather then just accepting it. Out of all the Western democracies, only the US and France still have gerrymandering and I don't think its as bad in France as it is the US, other western democracies have done away with it a long time ago. Gerrymandering really comes off as something you would expect to see in the 19th century, not the 21st century, its kinda of insane that its still issue in the most powerful country in the world.

The US system is so partisan, Republicans think the Democrats are a bigger threat then Russia, that is insane.

I even think voter suppression can be overcome with some pre planning and clever tactics and the only way you can beat something like this in the long run, is to make it a major issue with the voting public and start a campaign against it, rather then just accepting it.

How about using primaries to support more reasonable candidates and fewer partisan hacks?

As long as Americans can still vote, you can change still things or you just let the US become a kleptocracy.

If people are not going to take responsibility for their own political future, then maybe people can just be happy their team won and then lose their health care, have polluted skies and drinking water and have the economy ruined through a bunch of pointless trade wars.

The choice is clear, choose to embrace your rights and responsibilities or choose a partisan status quo that promotes laziness and systemic abuse.

If the people refuse to act as a check on the power of politicians, then they give consent to systemic abuse.

Part of the problem with the gerrymandering is how it helps drive aggressive partisanship. Elected officials no longer fear elections but primaries where someone might run more to the extreme than they do. If the swing voter picks up power again the partisanship won't cease, but it won't be as bad. Right now the power is in the hands of the primary voter.

[Malvolio]

The most important point made by Reich in this article:



Democrats need to get their act together and start capitalizing on the GOP's failings. It's all about 2018 at this point.

The Democrats can't simply say, "Look at how bad the Republicans have been. We need change!" They also need to articulate what that change will entail and why it will be better than what we have right now.

[worstblogever]

It was on this day in both 2015, as well as 2016 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Paul “Skip” Stam, the Speaker Pro Tempore of the North Carolina House of Representatives who has voted to nullify the Affordable Care Act, voted for North Carolina's "Motorcycle Safety/Anti-Abortion" Law, and compulsively votes for every stricter measure to disenfranchise voters that comes up, be it Voter ID bills, or votes to reduce early voting and close polling locations in Democratic-leaning districts. He has also called for poor people from being banned from playing the state lottery, misogynistically told the North Carolina chief of schools to "stick to her own knitting", and once forcibly closed debate on the legalization of marijuana because as he admitted, he didn't want his constituents to write and call and ask him about it. Stam esponded to the news that the Confederate flag was being removed from the state capitol in South Carolina by voting for a law to make it harder for Confederate monuments to be renamed or taken down in North Carolina, apparently because celebrating a failed rebellion from a century and a half ago fought over slavery should be a priority. Perhaps Stam's worst issue is LGBTQ rights, as he has on more than one occasion compared same sex marriage to beastiality, polygamy and incest, and has been caught circulating fliers with homophobic content around the North Carolina legislature to colleagues from the Christian Action League, which is classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He responded to the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling by voting to vote for SB 2, an attempt to allow officials to refuse to perform marriage duties based on "sincerely held" religious objections, and was the sponsor of North Carolina’s HB 2, the combination “religious freedom to discriminate against LGBT citizens” law, that also doubled as transphobic bathroom legislation. Stam did not run for re-election in 2016, and his career may be over, so we’ll retire his profile at this time, and we'll start profiling a different kooky Republican today. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 570-20, since this was established in July 2014.)


Kevin Calvey

Welcome to the 570th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’re going to be discussing Kevin Calvey, who on two occasions (2006 and 2010) has run for, and failed to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, and instead has become yet another member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives whose fanaticism seems to know no bounds. How much so? Look, when someone who claims to be “Pro-Life” is threatening to set themselves on fire to protest abortion, well, we think it might be missing the point just a tad. From the Oklahoma state legislature, Calvey spoke:

"If I were not a Christian and didn't have a prohibition against suicide, I would walk across the street, douse myself in gasoline, and set myself on fire to protest the evil in that building."

Perhaps this would be a good time to point out that Kevin Calvey was elected to serve in the Oklahoma House of Representatives back in 2014, but back over a decade ago, in his first run through office in Oklahoma, Calvey did manage to show he’s so “Pro-Life” that he voted for the death penalty to be used on second offense sex offenders (which, we’re not fond of sex offenders, but WOW is that pretty extreme), as well as the fact that Calvey was the sponsor of Oklahoma’s version of the “Stand Your Ground” firearms law. So clearly, he’s all about things that promote life, which you can further see his commitment to by noting how he’s vehemently opposed to the Affordable Care Act, and being able to afford health insurance that keeps them alive, or allows their pre-existing conditions to be covered by insurance.

Well, since Calvey has Jesus in his life and thus didn’t make the decision to self-immolate, he ran for re-election in 2016 and overcame both a primary challenger and Democratic opponent to win a second term in office. We’ll hope everyone keeps flammable materials away from him, just to be on the safe side, until he’s term-limited in the Oklahoma state legislature in 2018. We wouldn’t be shocked to see him try and replace Mary Fallin as governor, or take another crack at getting elected to Congress. Should be interesting to see how things play out…

[The Overlord]

Part of the problem with the gerrymandering is how it helps drive aggressive partisanship. Elected officials no longer fear elections but primaries where someone might run more to the extreme than they do. If the swing voter picks up power again the partisanship won't cease, but it won't be as bad. Right now the power is in the hands of the primary voter.

If Gerrymandering is such a problem, then citizens have to campaign against it or allow it to continue to ruin your lives. Imagine if no one decided to oppose slavery or Jim Crow.

Like I said, gerrymandering has not been an issue in most Western democracies for a long time, its not an undefeatable issue, you have to organize on the state level, I think its doable, but it does demand less laziness on the part of the wider public.

In these gerrymandered districts, are the representatives doing a good job of representing these places or do they do a bad job, because it doesn't matter what kind of job they do, they will always be elected? At certain point, people in these gerrymandered districts can take responsibility for their own futures or keep on voting for the same guy who has no desire to make your life better. Democracies and Republics thrive when there is a competition of ideas, this type of lazy partisanship makes everyone less free. If you are in a cult or an alcoholic, you are ultimately the only one who can free yourself from your own demons and frankly this type of cultish partisanship is the same type of problem, its actively destructive and does nothing to help people.

Also since America is not a Westminster system, you can't blame gerrymandering if people like Sam Brownback and Trump getting elected, there the partisanship is more on display here.

If no one decides to oppose gerrymandering, it will continue and only get worse, you can't expect the Republicans or Democrats to oppose gerrymandering, its up to the citizens to do it.

[Tami]

It sounds like Trump will need to invade Mexico to build his wall

According to reports from earlier today, it almost sounded like Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke suggested Donald Trump’s wall was actually going to be built in Mexico:

At the same time, Zinke suggested the wall would not be as big or impassible as the president believes is necessary to stop illegal immigrants.

"The border is complicated, as far as building a physical wall," he said. “The Rio Grande, what side of the river are you going to put the wall?” he said. “We’re not going to put it on our side and cede the river to Mexico. And we’re probably not going to put it in the middle of the river.”

Wait, does that mean some of Mexico will be walled off from Mexico? It’s safe to assume they won’t ever agree to that, so does that mean we are also going to invade Mexico to build it? And will they pay for that too? Slate, however, offers a different take, saying that Zinke’s interview actually admits “that the president's executive order announcing its intention to build the wall is impractical.”

Can you imagine Trump actually wanting to build his boondoggle wall IN Mexico?

Building the wall either means ceding the Rio Grande completely to Mexico, or invading Mexico and building a wall on their side of the river. Plus, there is a Treaty with Mexico regarding the River that has to be respected.

[Kirby101]

Here's the thing, gerrymandering was opposed, the Voting Rights Act helped ebd a lot of it. Then the Roberts Supreme Court, on very shakey grounds, threw out mush of the Act. Allowing Republicans who controlled State houses to gerrymander the shit out of the districts.
Unfortunately we have many voters who only care about one or two issues like guns or abortions that don't recognize the harm being done to them. Some are starting to see it with the Trump Presidency. But they are so mired in racism or religion or blinded by Fox News that it is near impossible to reach them.

You are right about the solution, it just might not be feasible the way this country is now.

[Tami]

How the White House and Republicans Blew Up the House Russia Investigation

The evidence is now clear that the White House and Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, have worked together to halt what was previously billed as a sweeping investigation of Russian interference in last year’s election. “We’ve been frozen,” Jim Himes, a Democratic representative from Connecticut who is a member of the Committee, said.

The freeze started after last Monday’s hearing, where James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, revealed that the F.B.I. has been investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia since last July. Comey also said that there was no evidence to support Trump’s tweets about being wiretapped.

In a bit of political jiu-jitsu, Schiff, in addition to calling on Nunes to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, also said that Nunes could not be trusted to examine the broader issue of incidental collection. “Since he was a key part of that transition team, I don’t see how he can reasonably expect to lead an investigation into whether proper minimization procedures were being followed that might impact him personally,” Schiff told me.

Despite his many public appearances and interviews over the last week, Nunes’s spokesman told me he was unavailable for an interview. Asked about Schiff’s demands, the Nunes spokesman, Jack Langer, said, “He’s not recusing. It’s all just politics.”

[The Overlord]

Here's the thing, gerrymandering was opposed, the Voting Rights Act helped ebd a lot of it. Then the Roberts Supreme Court, on very shakey grounds, threw out mush of the Act. Allowing Republicans who controlled State houses to gerrymander the shit out of the districts.
Unfortunately we have many voters who only care about one or two issues like guns or abortions that don't recognize the harm being done to them. Some are starting to see it with the Trump Presidency. But they are so mired in racism or religion or blinded by Fox News that it is near impossible to reach them.

You are right about the solution, it just might not be feasible the way this country is now.

Well then people have a choice, care only about those one or two issues and lose your health care, your environment and maybe your economy and keep on reading Breitbart or do the bare minimum to improve your own lives. This is not a hard choice, its not a big moral dilemma, its a simple choice, pick a competitive democratic system where people have the power, not politicians or stay with this partisan mess of a system that encourages politicians to abuse their citizens.

There signs of hope, people disrupting GOP town halls is a start, but that is only the beginning.

With the election of Trump, the US system has hit rock bottom, people can try to climb out of the hole that has been made or they can find a way to dig deeper. Ultimately in a democracy, responsibility to make things better lies with the people, not the politicians.

The status quo has become something that I see as nihilistic, anyone who is not in a partisan cult has two options, fight for something better or become a misanthrope.