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If you're particularly interested in drilling down on what those newly-elected governors, state legislatures, mayors, and what-have-you are doing or going to do, or otherwise want to discuss life on Main Street in Trump-occupied America, the 2019 State and Local thread is up. Apparently State and Local threads work like automobile model years!
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Nov 7, 2018 16:01
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Shady Amish Terror posted:Shortish term, continuing to vote so as to deny the assholes semi-legitimate victories makes sense. Direct action makes sense. Gearing up for 2020 makes sense. Being happy for the current victory makes sense. It really is a serious problem. There's still a decent chance we can take the Senate in 2020, but if that doesn't happen, the urban/rural divide seems liable to break the chamber entirely after that point, and the Senate will probably be lost until the next realignment or until global warming floods the coasts and sends Sane America fleeing into the Mad Max interior.
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Nov 7, 2018 16:11
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Martian posted:Can the House do any kind of investigation into potential voter fraud/illegal disenfranchisement in Georgia and Florida? Probably! Congress has broad power to regulate elections (for federal offices, at least), and what you can regulate, you can investigate.
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Nov 7, 2018 17:11
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eke out posted:yeah actual enforcement seems questionable but sunlight could be useful Incidentally, inquiries into voter suppression and elections malfeasance probably falls under the purview of either the House Judiciary Committee (Subcommittee on Constitution and Civil Justice), soon to be chaired by Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), or the House Oversight Committee, soon to be chaired by Elijah Cummings (D-MD). They could also spin up a Select Committee. They can spin up a Select Committee on absolutely anything. 
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Nov 7, 2018 17:16
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ratbert90 posted:So, can we repeal the goddamned Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 and fix the house of representatives to better reflect the actual population of each state? If it helps, keeping the country frozen in this sort of shuddering, back-and-forth paralysis wherein moderate reforms are passed via the executive and then revoked by unpopular demagogues elected with a minority of voters is likely to erode faith in our institutions to a level where civil strife and particularism become increasingly common. 
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Nov 7, 2018 17:30
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TulliusCicero posted:So it looks like Arizona and Florida Senate are still too close to call? Florida's a lost cause probably, but Dems flipping AZ and keeping MT (if those happen) means that we kept the damages to a dull roar and helps significantly for 2020, yes.
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Nov 7, 2018 17:31
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sean10mm posted:This severely understates what happened. No new law at all can be passed without the approval of the House. It is also where all spending and revenue legislation originates. The Democrats can 100% kill ANY proposed GOP legislation now. This part specifically is overstated. Any bill that includes spending and revenue language must originate in the House, but the Senate figured out a workaround decades ago and these days they just amend HR 201 Post Office Naming Bill #454, hollowing it out and turning it into effectively the Buy One Billion Tanks Bill. Since the bill itself originated in the House despite not containing any of the funding language at the time, it still counts. Of course, the Dems can still kill it all by not voting for the bill when it comes back from the Senate with all the tank-buying language bolted on.
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Nov 7, 2018 17:55
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Framboise posted:Help me understand something, as someone who is largely clueless about politics. For legislation, not at all. That's one huge win from last night-- no more tax cuts for the rich, no more gutting social services legislatively. For appointments to executive and judicial posts, all that's changed is they got ever so slightly easier for Trump, but there was already next to no chance the Senate blocked any of his appointments, so that becoming no chance whatsoever is more of a moral gut punch than a practical change.
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Nov 7, 2018 18:00
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evilweasel posted:https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1060256623741014016 Right, break out the siren emojis
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Nov 7, 2018 20:46
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canepazzo posted:First effect of Jefferson Beleaguered Sessions's resignation: An acquaintance of mine with GOP connections on the Hill seems to believe, in his libertarian brain, that this is the plan: 1) wait until the midterms to make sure the Senate is safely in GOP hands 2) Sessions resigns and Graham gets appointed in his place easily 3) Graham does AG things to move towards pot legalization 4) ??? 5) black people and young people now vote republican forever
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Nov 7, 2018 21:48
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twice burned ice posted:Literally cackling like a madman imaging that thing being stuffed with 8000 Gore ballots Oh god now so am I In the mad Max future the Flow Rider will be the demon god of dementia, determined foolishness, and totally foreseeable failure
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Nov 9, 2018 00:16
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Tibalt posted:Someone in this thread, I think Greyjoy, had the observation that Bipartisanship means we work together to do what I want. Yeah, the Republican playbook since 2010 has been "label doing everything they want the way they want 'bipartisan,' nakedly wield whatever power you have, look wide-eyed and innocent whenever anyone complains and ask them why they hate America." Whether or not you think House Democratic leadership intends to do the latter two things, we haven't actually gotten to that point yet since it's not January, so all we've got is the first part and that's indistinguishable from actually planning to make yooge deals.
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Nov 9, 2018 14:27
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Sulphagnist posted:Right, I think the ultimate problem is that we don't trust that what Pelosi really wants is what we really want. I think I agree and that's why these discussions are ultimately so circuitous and recurrent, especially in a roughly two-month period where no new data is coming in about how one should interpret a statement of Pelosi's, so every new statement of Pelosi's just gets interpreted according to our baseline beliefs and then we yell at each other when the output differs.
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Nov 9, 2018 14:30
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So Sinema actually pulled it off? Probably, based on where there are still votes left to count. Which makes me feel a lot better about Tuesday, when we all thought Tester and Sinema were toast and the grand total would be R+4. Keeping it to R+2 (and maybe R+1 if Nelson's recount shows there was a misread in South Florida, but don't hold your breath) makes 2020 a much easier lift.
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Nov 9, 2018 15:02
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Deified Data posted:Trump is legit probably asexual, going by rumors about his bedroom shenanigans. Nah, just impotent. Being a human balloon made of McDonalds, spite, and dementia will do that for you.
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Nov 9, 2018 15:09
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Koalas Massacre posted:Counterpoint: with the exception of the Vegas shooter, iirc our most recent domestic terrorists have been millennials. These can both be the case and are not mutually exclusive, if more young people are progressive and the non-progressive ones are more violent.
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Nov 9, 2018 15:32
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corn in the bible posted:the DSA is the democratic socialists. they've been trying to run to the left of democrats in various local and national primaries, on the understanding that third parties never ever win but there's plenty of races where literally anyone who wins the democratic primary will be elected. sometimes they even succeed! Incidentally, this works because it is literally the only way to replicate the function of a minor party in a parliamentary democracy. Because of our first-past-the-post electoral system and strong presidency, the formation of two parties is inevitable, whereas in a parliamentary democracy the formation of a government and a not-government happens after the election, so the Double Socialists can win some elections and the Maybe Just One Socialism Party can win some elections and then negotiate an amount of socialism between 1 and 2 to form a coalition government. Leveraging the primary system to create competition between factions of a party before going on to the general is the closest we can get here in our broken early-adopter country.
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Nov 9, 2018 20:58
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Trabisnikof posted:I do think we should probably pay our Reps and Senators a hell of a lot more. By underpaying our leadership we help to make sure only the rich or corrupt can be leaders. I actually agree that we should ensure governmental pay is competitive with the private sector, but we should also require them, upon election, to yield all of their assets above a basic level to the government to be used to administer social programs. Relatedly, the hiring and firing process for the civil service is six flavors of hosed and it's an enormous contributor to the general perception of government uselessness, by design. Overhauling USAJOBS and the GSA should be on the priorities list of any sane administration, if not at the level of "voting rights" and "healthcare."
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Nov 9, 2018 21:03
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TheScott2K posted:They'll never stop winning because they'll never stop being willing to debase themselves like this. There's a future SCOTUS justice in that crowd of chanting chuds. That's not hard, though, since in 2042 the Republican Hypercongress will amend the Judiciary Act to establish that the Supreme Court shall consist of the population of Florida.
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Nov 9, 2018 21:11
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:Check the USNEWS thread for all your Actual Politics News needs. Yeah, between that thread, shameless plug the State/Local thread, and the lol@trump thread in cspam, most of your bases are covered and you don't need to venture into this raging tire fire unless it's having a good day.
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Nov 11, 2018 23:46
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Pelosi was already planning to reinstate the Select Committee on Climate Change, IIRC, so this doesn't represent a concrete change but did maybe direct more attention to it and put that committee's eventual feet to the fire. (It may also mean AOC gets a seat on that committee which would be quite good.)
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Nov 13, 2018 18:33
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aware of dog posted:Nancy Pelosi plans to push for revival of climate change committee in new Congress - posted November 8th Ooh yeah thanks that's the source I was looking for.
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Nov 13, 2018 18:35
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Lightning Knight posted:JESUS Christ WaPo gently caress OFF. I get the temptation to knee jerk at headlines, I really do, but a cursory examination of the actual article will reveal that it is from the Capital Weather Gang, the wapo's local weather unit, and is written by a meteorologist from a position of science education.
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Nov 20, 2018 19:07
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OAquinas posted:You misread. She's just going to be on opoids while visiting Liberty. It's the only way most people can stand more than 5 minutes of the place. You made me go back and evaluate my mental map of Lynchburg and while there are a couple of quite decent places to get a drink there, they are all further than 5 minutes from Liberty. Checks out.
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Nov 22, 2018 00:09
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J.A.B.C. posted:Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Some advice: Why would we yell at the people who completely disagree with us at Thanksgiving dinner when we can stay here, yelling at the people who only mostly agree with us? 
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Nov 22, 2018 17:45
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The Alligator of Disapproval gains another cheerful tooth.
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Nov 26, 2018 20:08
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axeil posted:AOC on ways and means would be a big win. Hopefully she gets it. Joe Manchin, somehow
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Dec 4, 2018 21:16
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SocketWrench posted:That's right, it's that time of year again when the religious right complains about a war on Christmas that doesn't exist I disagree, there is a war. It's just that Christmas is the aggressor, and it's already taken Thanksgiving and laid siege to Halloween. if we don't defend ourselves from this naked act of Christmas imperialism, soon the whole year will be merry!
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Dec 5, 2018 13:32
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Dapper_Swindler posted:yeah, like my issue is all the big liberal talking media heads still think trump is problem that can be solved with a couple Bartlett type sorkin speeches because they still think the world is like the west wing. instead of you know, real life. I have not observed this and in fact most of them make jokes about this idea from time to time, do you have any examples of this?
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Dec 5, 2018 18:42
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Oh no, he is there! He's just got special seating accommodations because of his health condition.
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Dec 5, 2018 22:04
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MSDOS KAPITAL posted:When you say "pass a law" are you including amendments? Oh yeah, an amendment could strip most or all powers from the Senate as long as within that advisory body the States were still equally represented.
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Dec 7, 2018 19:26
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Just came to post this.  Technically speaking this wasn't the sentencing, just the jury's recommendation, and there will be a hearing on a later date where the judge makes a decision. But practically this judge always takes the recommendation, apparently, so stick a fork in this Nazi, he's done.
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Dec 11, 2018 18:27
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FizFashizzle posted:SURELY there's a clip of Rudy talking about John Edwards out there. Let's see who the mystery sealed grand jury witness really is... *pulls off mask* OLD MAN PODESTA???
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Dec 14, 2018 15:29
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WoodrowSkillson posted:No one gives a poo poo about what Flynn did and he won't see any consequences Are you posting from the same universe as us? Why all of the nearly identical, cartoonishly despairing posts from a bunch of people all of a sudden? Was Flynn's case featured on a major podcast and everyone needed to run in and drop the freshest nothing matters take? e: oh wait they're almost all you, never mind! Quorum fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Dec 18, 2018 |
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Dec 18, 2018 19:28
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WoodrowSkillson posted:Truly brutal that in the end the Trumps won't be on the boards of NYC based companies and might have to pay a whopping 2.8 million dollars. Oh man we sure got them this time. And that assumes they also lose everything subsequent part of the lawsuit. It's funny seeing exactly how the consequences of WoodrowSkillson's posting career will play out. a bunch of nothing matters and very smug posts as consequences rain down one by one, each of them with a post hoc justification about how it doesn't count this time
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Dec 18, 2018 19:38
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Feldegast42 posted:Eh, I lean I basically agree; legally speaking Trump is going to suffer a death of a thousand cuts, and so each one is worth savoring. The weirdo hashtag resistance people who retweet Mensch and the people insisting nothing will ever matter actually overlap in that they both conceive of the investigation as a movie which either will, or will not, have one final climactic scene where Mueller says "HOW DARE YOU, SIR" and everyone claps. If only reality were more accommodating of our need for instant gratification and high drama.
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Dec 18, 2018 19:48
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most of the time (well generally do think that things Matter, but I don't think Trump is ever going to be walked out of the White House in chains by Mueller) but Flynn is hosed and taking down the Trump Foundation is a fairly strong blow. Take your victories when you get them.
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Gin and Tacos had an interesting article the other day about how left-wing foreign policy is sortof collectively bad. http://www.ginandtacos.com/2018/12/18/all-greek/ This is at least partially because foreign policy is very hard. You saw it even in this very thread! VH4Ever posted:Yeah I hear that, and the bad news is yeah, lots of people are going to die. That much seems unavoidable now, not to be cold and stoic about it. I guess I'd rather we not have the blood directly on our hands like we usually do, and until we come up with another way of doing business the choice seems to be stay out of it and not be responsible, or go in and be responsible. Decades of incompetence and imperialism has lead us here. No matter what, basically anything you do in foreign policy as a hegemon will result in human suffering, and because you're a hegemon, even inaction is action. Having to take the position that x group of people suffering is necessary is easy for us to do on a dying comedy forum but it's no wonder left aligned politicians either avoid fopo like the plague, handwave it away with vague platitudes, or have actively bad foreign policy and get away with it because they have good domestic policy (looking at you, Tulsi). It's unfortunate, too, because it overlaps very poorly with the governmental structure of the US, where the presidency gets all the focus and yet has so much less power in domestic than foreign policy. (Not to call you out here VH4Ever, sorry! It was just an easy example!)
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Dec 19, 2018 18:52
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Failed Imagineer posted:Probably never again. Eh. It's hard to imagine now, in this million year presidency, but people have relatively short memories, on a historical time scale.
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Dec 19, 2018 18:56
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Trump's mushbrained obsession with steel slats is hilarious, in that it reminds me of a toddler's sudden fascination with trucks or cranes or whatever. Also, dealing with the cognitive dissonance around Trump's occasional halfhearted lapses into policy that viewed with a squint could be described as decent isn't that hard. He's always had moments where he approaches things that from other people would be good ideas, it's just that he promptly executes them for the worst possible reasons and in a way seemingly designed to produce as few good results and as many bad as possible. Every single theoretically-decent policy his diseased brain or criminal administration has produced has turned out that way.
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Dec 20, 2018 17:26
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:Some of you guys are just dumb as rocks I swear. That, and we're all angry and scared and frustrated with few ways to meaningfully influence events on a national level, but also addicted to following news minute by minute while feverishly posting with a bunch of people who somewhat disagree with us
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Dec 20, 2018 23:43
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