US Politics November 2017

can’t imagine why anyone would want to establish a hierarchy between trump’s “joke” and franken’s photo

*reads post author* ohhhhhhh

Perpetual War politics: as with the Cong in Vietnam, if the US kills you, you're obviously ISIS:

"Between April 2016 and June 2017, we visited the sites of nearly 150 airstrikes across northern Iraq, not long after ISIS was evicted from them. We toured the wreckage; we interviewed hundreds of witnesses, survivors, family members, intelligence informants and local officials; we photographed bomb fragments, scoured local news sources, identified ISIS targets in the vicinity and mapped the destruction through satellite imagery. We also visited the American air base in Qatar where the coalition directs the air campaign. There, we were given access to the main operations floor and interviewed senior commanders, intelligence officials, legal advisers and civilian-casualty assessment experts. We provided their analysts with the coordinates and date ranges of every airstrike — 103 in all — in three ISIS-controlled areas and examined their responses. The result is the first systematic, ground-based sample of airstrikes in Iraq since this latest military action began in 2014.

"We found that *one in five of the coalition strikes we identified resulted in civilian death, a rate more than 31 times that acknowledged by the coalition. It is at such a distance from official claims that, in terms of civilian deaths, this may be the least transparent war in recent American history.* Our reporting, moreover, revealed a consistent failure by the coalition to investigate claims properly or to keep records that make it possible to investigate the claims at all. While some of the civilian deaths we documented were a result of proximity to a legitimate ISIS target, many others appear to be the result simply of flawed or outdated intelligence that conflated civilians with combatants. In this system, Iraqis are considered guilty until proved innocent. Those who survive the strikes, people like Basim Razzo, remain marked as possible ISIS sympathizers, with no discernible path to clear their names."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/16/magazine/uncounted-civilian-casualties-iraq-airstrikes.html🕸

good mourning

throwdown

“When the Republicans are in power, the first thing they want to do is give tax cuts to the rich. That’s just what’s — it’s in their DNA,” Brown said.

“I’ve been here working my whole stinking career for people who don’t have a chance. And I really resent anybody saying that I’m just doing this for the rich. Give me a break,” Hatch said. “I think you guys overplay that all the time and it gets old. And frankly you ought to quit it.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-gop-tax-reform-shouting-match-sherrod-brown-orrin-hatch/

Lots of revealing things in that hatch quote

He knows his career stinks. He knows his constituents don’t have a chance. He acknowledges that there is an element of Republicans doing things for the rich, it’s just that it’s “overplayed” in his opinion.

He isn’t just doing things for the rich, he’s only like 92% doing things for the rich, and he’s sick of people pretending like it’s 100%.

"My whole stinking career"

A move I am sick of that Republicans will never stop using: "I am ghastly offended that you accuse me of acting in bad faith." The fuckin' bon homie in the Senate means that will always work.

such an old tactic, that's one that goes back 100s of years

"How dare you impugn the character of a Southern Gentleman, good sah" etc

Maverick makin noises:

MCCAIN: TAX BILL IS NOT REGULAR ORDER
via @caitlinnowens: https://t.co/ACFTsEVM9e
(Zero hearings, so he's right!) pic.twitter.com/OUNMkhiCSU

— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) November 17, 2017

MURKOWSKI says Alexander-Murray “absolutely must” become law before she supports repealing the Obamacare mandate. https://t.co/FzViBIe6Um pic.twitter.com/KM65A35OOx

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 17, 2017

that... doesn't seem likely

like no way will Cruz and Lee (and probably Paul) vote for that

And lo, thus it was written about the burning times, in the ancient documents: The hopes of the people turned, yet again, to the women from the cold climates to save them.

man, run of the mill obamacare-hating conservatives must hate mccain, collins, and murkowski with the strength of a 1000 burning suns, right?

well duh

Here we go again!

re: the Alexander-Murray bill, is it possible that some of the democrats vote for it? It was originally drafted as a bill to shore up Obamacare, wasn't it?

xpost
it's a duh, but i never watch cable news or talk to any conservative who knows the names of key senators, so surprisingly i've never seen this burning rage in person

I think Democrats would vote for it (probably most of them!) but the bigger issue is whether McConnell will bring it to the floor at all, over the objections of his caucus

xp

like if all the Dems support it, and one third of the GOP - is that enough for Blobfish? Or would his caucus turn on him for betraying them?

bear in mind that Trump has specifically batted down the Alexander-Murray compromise as acceptable

UNacceptable

I meant

could be wishful thinking but: feel like murkowski (like manchin's "gosh, could the president have been lying" stance) is fundamentally a "no," but via a form of rhetoric that leads the more conservative voters in her state down that path over days or weeks. like sort of play naive at the start, as if the rest of the republicans actually want to make a good tax bill... then sigh sadly at the end, when after a lot of serious thoughtful work they just couldn't get it past that finish line with something that's really Good For Working People In Maine. darn, we'll try again next time! when obviously, from the get-go, the bill is actively hostile to working people in maine. but for some reason you can't just say that - need to seem like a hard-working legislator trying to work together with other people who are committed in good faith to making a serious bill. yadda yadda. so similarly "i can vote for this, once we get the protections in place that will make it work" is basically "i won't vote for this because that will never happen" but maybe it helps make it digestible if you're a voter who really thinks repealing the individual mandate is super important.

collins's rhetoric also seems open to this kind of move but maybe less so.

probably thinking too hard about it

no I think Dr. C's accurate, they are setting themselves up to take a lot of shit for torpedoing the GOP agenda, so they need to make it look like it was a lot of hard work and serious thinking to get them to that place

I endorse this message

https://www.theawl.com/2017/11/dont-win-arguments-win-elections/

I don't but then again, I wouldn't.

ohio man fucks

.@BillForOhio, a sitting Ohio Supreme Court justice and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, apparently posted on Facebook about his sexual escapades.

"In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females." pic.twitter.com/TUNT2IVbTt

— Eric Heisig (@eheisig) November 17, 2017

Remember this guy?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rob-goldstone-ready-come-u-s-talk-mueller-n821826?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Everyone from the gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (senior). That's quite a range indeed!

xpost What the fuck? Bob Taft Senior is a woman?

Or man? I'm confused?

https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_28/2068271/170711-rob-goldstone-2009-njs-1042a_f12b30a6a7be922f4b87bb5fdf82198b.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg

Gotta say, any guy that looks like this who is living in Bangkok is clearly up to no good.

I hear he made it with a redhead girl in a Chevrolet as well.

she was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes

they lapped and tied in a true lover's knot, the red rose and the briar

In a sworn statement, he averred that he could see paradise by the dashboard light

ICYMI, big Clinton flack very upset at Gillibrand's 'Clinton should've resigned' take

@PhilippeReines

Ken Starr spent $70 million on a consensual blowjob. Senate voted to keep POTUS WJC. But not enough for you @SenGillibrand? Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite.

Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.

"consensual"

jfc

I think that BillForOhio guy is saying he slept with Flo from Progressive

can’t stop lolling at billforohio’s brave admission of a tender love affair with senator bob taft (senior)

that...is an extremely bad statement, Bill

BRAGGIN 2018 for Governor

Peace, Bill

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t/senior-man-gesturing-peace-sign-his-hand-cheerful-looking-camera-isolated-white-background-59719276.jpg

Dare I say this? Flo _is_ mega hawt, tho

Much less ambiguity about the polling trend in Alabama now. Things have gotten worse for Moore since the allegations first came out. pic.twitter.com/1cPt1jzvos

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 17, 2017

such a POS

A tearful Menendez thanked God, his family and the jurors outside the courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, as well as two senators who testified on his behalf as character witnesses, Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Lindsey Graham.

“The way this case started was wrong,” said Menendez, flanked by his grown children. “The way it was investigated was wrong. The way it was prosecuted was wrong. The way it was tried was wrong as well.”

The senator also added a warning to political rivals. “To those who were digging my political grave so they could jump into my seat: I know who you are, and I won’t forget you,” he said.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/11/16/menendez-settles-score-before-reelection-campiagn-116825

Thank you, confused jurors.