US Politics December 2018: ~very legal and very cool~

yeah, the House GOP crowing about it today makes it abundantly clear that Pelosi's shot across the bow at the Trump meeting really stung, and they were eager to prove her wrong. They still had 8 defections and 11 no shows, but the rest jumped on-board out of party loyalty, a hatred of Pelosi, and probably (at least for some, the non-Freedom Caucus death cultists anyway) some consolation in knowing that it was a show vote doomed to failure.

xp

Whoops!

Michael Cohen brokered mysterious .8 million loan to pool boy that Jerry Falwell Jr and his wife befriended https://t.co/UdoTFFb2zC

— Raw Story (@RawStory) December 21, 2018

can't help picturing Chris Elliot as "Pool Boy"

Trump is the pool boy

wearing cutoff shorts and a tiny white t-shirt

RBG apparently went under a successful surgery for lung cancer. lord she is badass.

Doesn't the term "pool boy" strike anyone else as demeaning and belittling?

pool person

No xp

every time someone congratulates RBG (or any other woman) on their persistently not dying I send shanley five dollars

What’s the deal with the pool boy story?Feel like they’re hinting at something but I’m too thick to connect the dots.

A RIGHTWING RELIGIOUS LEADER LAVISHED ATTENTION MONEY AND TRAVEL ON A LITHE, BARELY CLAD YOUNG MAN

THEN A NOTORIOUS BRIBE BROKER PAID THE SHINY, SHIRTLESS BOY A BRIBE

HMM WHAT COULD IT MEAN

lol

you can't pee in the pool without consequences

also lmao at this clusterfuck

A stopgap government funding measure that provides $5.7 billion for President Trump's wall and border security is stuck in Senate limbo.
The Senate began taking an initial procedural vote on the House-passed bill at 12:31 p.m., but quickly ran into problems.

The vote has currently been open for more than an hour with the tally at 43-45, a few votes short of the amount needed to advance it.

Republicans hold a 51-seat majority, meaning if every senator voted they could afford to lose one GOP senator and still let Vice President Pence break a tie. GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), who is retiring, voted against proceeding to the House bill.

The House bill is expected to fail in the Senate, where it will need to overcome a 60-vote filibuster. But failing on the first procedural vote would be a setback for Republicans, and an embarrassment for Trump, showing his preferred plan can't get even a simple majority in the Senate.

It's not clear if every senator will be in Washington, D.C. for the vote.

Scores of senators returned home on Wednesday, after the Senate passed a seven-week bill that didn't include the boost in border funds, though several indicated they would return for a crucial government funding vote.

Several senators including Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Doug Jones (R-Ala.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Tom Udall (D-Utah) haven't yet voted.

Corker, who is retiring, was spotted chatting with Democrats on the Senate floor. He then left the floor without voting and told reporters as he went to talk with Republicans that he needed "intel."

Doug Jones (R-Ala.)

*sigh* journalism, everybody

come on corker, flip trump off

he might, this is going to be his final chance after all

Doug Jones (R-Ala.)

*sigh* journalism, everybody

― Οὖτις, Friday, December 21, 2018 1:55 PM

Maybe this is a strategic error!

sorry to be that guy but I’m kind of like fuck RBG for not getting tf out during Obama’s first term

I don't think its at all common for justices to calculate along those lines. In her view (and it is well-justified by the facts) her presence on the court has had a huge effect on the court's jurisprudence. Voluntarily removing herself from that equation when she felt entirely capable of continuing was never going to be an attractive option for her.

…

xpost

I think Kennedy def calculated along those lines and I’d like to see liberal justices follow suit. too much at stake not to imo.

Oh well!

GOP doesn’t think it can get on this bill regardless of what Corker does

“We don’t have the votes”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) December 21, 2018

Sen. Kennedy helpfully told us "something" will happen after this vote

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) December 21, 2018

Justice Kennedy loved being important. I hope he gets a fish bone stuck in his throat.

He's gonna be cranky!

News: Trump's travel to Mar-a-Lago today has been officially canceled, per internal WH e-mail.

— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) December 21, 2018

Look out, international allies...

he's gonna be cranky as all get out

Justice Senator Kennedy loved being important. I hope he gets a fish bone stuck in his throat.

― A is for (Aimless), Friday, December 21, 2018 2:38 PM

extra cranky, traitors blocking him at every step:

The Supreme Court on Friday denied the Trump administration’s request that it be allowed to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a change that lower courts declared likely illegal.

Waldman at WaPo hints in today's column that he thinks that recent developments might be signalling the erosion of Trump's power base in the GOP, that he's just going to get weaker from here on out as the scandals pile up and he's able to accomplish less and less. I'm skeptical to say the least but I can kinda see some establishment GOP types making the political calculation that they've gotten everything they're going to get out of Trump, and that sticking by him won't yield any benefits legislatively or electorally.

I mean it's conceivable that the giant man-baby just keeps the gov't in a perpetual state of shutdown/chaos for the next two years. why wouldn't he?

he either compromises with Pelosi to pass bills and gets labelled a traitor, or he grinds everything to a halt and looks like a pathetic weakling

All about that base.

would you say they are ... his ace

The Vice President and acting chief of staff are now meeting with Schumer

— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) December 21, 2018

"Uh...help?"

hahahahahahahahahahahahah

I remember an interview with Ace of Base from all those years ago, about the origin of their name, and one of the dummies said that the studio was their base and they are aces of the studio.

If they have that moron on his own I don’t like this

he better be in there telling them this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-iVPZOfD_g

what could they possibly promise Schumer that would make his caucus change their minds at the last minute

xp

If they mention his imaginary family we’re done for

If the Republicans in Congress distance themselves from Trump, it will be very cautiously. It would require some very damning and unmistakable evidence of serious crimes to cause any mass stampede away from him. So far, the campaign finance felonies he committed are the worst openly-proved crimes and they won't shake the party loose from him.

Remember, Nixon and Reagan committed actual treason, Nixon by opening personal negotiations with North Vietnam during the Paris peace talks, and Reagan by negotiating with Iran during the hostage crisis, and both are still lionized by the GOP.

The fact that they’re visiting when the procedural vote is still open and they haven’t even got to the nut cutting vote is good news I guess, but the fact that Schumer is involved is not

Schumer's gonna go where his caucus is, and the Dem caucus has what - zero yea votes for this?

I mean, maybe Manchin or Donnelly or something but why would they stick their necks out at this particular point

point being you just can't trust these fuckers

this shit with Schumer is not a good sign, again. I'll be glad when this particular nailbiter is over and I can go back to worrying about NK or whatever