GET OUT: US politics November 2020

jaymc yes i am, but if my own .xls is correct i'm probably within a few miles of you at the moment

Absolutely otm that vote suppression and disenfranchisement ought to be front and center in the discussion at all times. It runs from voter ID bullshit to post-prison bullshit to mail-vote bullshit to the pinnacle bullshit of the Electoral College.

if we truly had fair and enfranchised voting (and districting), I think the EC would be less of an issue. The Senate, on the other hand...

in a perverse way, the more blatant and clumsily obvious ways Trump and company tried to disenfranchise voters this year may bring this discussion more to the forefront for those that have previously been ignorant of the tactics used to suppress the vote.

Yeah gerrymanders and the Senate are the other biggies. I was thinking the other day about what politically viable Senate reform could look like. Obviously the best thing would be to either just get rid of the Senate or redistrict it to 100 equal population districts. But I can't imagine that ever flying, because states are very attached to their powers, and a lot of people are very attached to their states. So I was thinking you could leave one senator per state, so "small states" still get some overrepresentation, and then make the other 50 into large-district senators.

Even that feels like a pipe dream, but I'd love to see Senate reform at least get into the conversation.

Ryan Lizza’s brain is so smooth

What a weird fight to pick. Reed is being attacked by the left for serving as a staffer on a bipartisan blue ribbon commission years ago rather than being applauded as one of the key policy architects of the most progressive agenda in modern history. https://t.co/2ib1Me4jbz

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) November 25, 2020

Smooth like the food at a ‘70s key party

http://i.pinimg.com/236x/42/bd/e9/42bde93d7f329db099bda10066a9b347--asparagus-sauce-shrimp-and-asparagus.jpg

what is with the brains of people with "lizza" in their name

https://i.imgur.com/0Tian63.jpg

when you've been on ilx long enough, you can just post a fucking koosh ball and it might mean something to someone

https://i.imgur.com/myAl7vi.jpg

pat toomey

Apart from being right on the merits, AOC et al are right on the politics. Staunch Defender of Social Security is a strong position to play from.

Is Ryan Lizza still dating Olivia Nuzzi?

he left her for Ruth Buzzi

AOC and Omar are just firing a shot across Biden's bow to remind him that he has a large contingent of progressives in the coalition he must make moves to placate. I presume they chose Reed on the basis of the larger point they want to emphasize: ideas such as cutting Social Security and Medicare are anathema, and kowtowing to the sudden concerns Republicans will sprout over budget deficits is a non-starter. Reed's name hasn't even been connected to a particular position, yet. He's a handy symbol of such ideas.

the petition opens with reference to a piece in The American Prospect (a publication i admittedly don't know) that says Reed's name has been floated for head of the Office of Management and Budget.

If it's only been floated into one obscure media organ, it's not much of a float. For all we know, Reed we the source for that and he was angling for that job on his own hook.

The American Prospect isn’t obscure.

It's where Best American Pundit Ezra Klein got his start!

But I'm sure Tlaib, AOC and Omar drew his name out of a hat and not because they have more insight into what's happening in Washington than aimless.

“bipartisan blue ribbon commission”

is a four word combo that has made everything just a little worse every successive year for the last 45 years

makes it sound like a fuckin pie eating contest

Heheheh:

https://donaldjtrump2024.com/

haha

To most politicians, this is a pie eating contest

Anyway, it's all going great

Rudy Giuliani introduced a "witness" as a "statistician."

The "witness" corrects:

He's not—nor is he particularly good at math, he adds with a chuckle.

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 25, 2020

i may not know my math
but I know a bitch when I see one!

pies you spend your waking life making, but only get lick the dirty plates of some of the worst people who’ve ever lived after they’ve gorged themselves

just a little thing, but it jumped out at me because i haven't heard of a good major environmental decision by the trump administration since...?

Army Corps says no to massive gold mine proposed near Bristol Bay in Alaska

In a statement, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska Commander Col. Damon Delarosa said the agency would block Pebble Mine because it determined that the plan the Pebble Limited Partnership submitted to deal with the project’s waste “does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines and concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest.”

huh? why would they make a decision that favors the environment over the immediate profit motive for rich people? what does the fucking Clean Water Act have to do with it, in this administration? something is wrong

The Trump administration denied a key permit on Wednesday for a massive gold and copper mine in Alaska, striking a devastating blow to a project opposed by an unusual coalition that includes the president’s son as well as conservationists and Alaska Natives.

...And an unlikely coalition of opponents formed when Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Vice President Pence’s former chief of staff, Nick Ayers – who all have enjoyed fishing or hunting around Bristol Bay - joined with traditional environmental groups and the region’s tribes in opposition to the project.

oooooh, so it IS a decision to make rich relatives and fucker carlsons happy, now it makes more sense

gotta get that big game somewhere

how have the three of them not accidentally shot each other by now

remember earlier this month when republican senators expressed their sincere hope and belief that donald trump was going help campaign for them to win the georgia runoffs? that seems to be going well

I have mixed feelings about hunting, but hunters and fishers have been good for certain kinds of conservation. You don't want them writing policy, but they're handy for environmentalists to have on their side.

yeah honestly sportsman are probably one of the main reasons we haven't turned every lake or wooded area in the nation into a pizza ranch

i mean, i'm glad the trumps exerted their corruption in a positive way, this time. wish that hunter and fisherman trump cared about ANWR too, but there's probably more money to be made there so it outbalances the wildlife preservation thing.

Surprised Sarah Palin didn’t sign on.

She only hunts by helicopter.

My uncle was a hunting/fishing guy who was also a major conservationist. Everyone in our neighbourhood was in the Izaak Walton League and uncle raised Canada goslings to release into the wild once fledged, because they were an endangered species at the time.

In Oakland you can't throw a rock without hitting about 14 Canada geese. But I digress.

my most far left friend is a huge hunter and environmentalist

Yeah, in the course of telling this story at other points, uncle raised 15 goslings each Spring and we knew the endangerment danger had passed a few years later when a couple hundred adult geese returned to the area each spring to shit up my uncle’s back yard.

Asked by @brikeilarcnn about @RonWyden calling Mike Morell a "torture apologist" and urging Biden not to nominate him for CIA, @JohnBrennan says:

"He would be well advised to not make such charges against patriots like Michael Morell... Ron Wyden knows not of what he speaks." pic.twitter.com/CCNmz6RDzg

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 25, 2020

The Obama admin ruled.

Canada geese are a huge success story. They were one of the major impetuses for the movement to preserve more wetlands. Bald eagles have made a big comeback, too, in part because they appealed to the 'patriot' crowd. You take your wins however you can find them.

what's good for the gander (mountain customer) is good for the goose

Here is Trump, today:

“This election was lost by the Democrats. They cheated. It was a fraudulent election,” Trump told the group, prompting widespread applause. “I want to thank everyone for being there.”

“We have to turn the election over,” Trump said, claiming that he had the evidence needed to change the election result. “All we need is some judge to listen to it properly.”

Doesn't sound like he's moving on.

He shall not be moved. Only shall his bowels be.

He has told the world many times over that he will never concede that he lost the election. I expect this is one of the rare times he has told us the truth. A year from now he may still be filing futile lawsuits about it.

I have seen more bald eagles in the past five years of my life than I had in the previous thirty, cosigning Aimless with my own personal experience.

Flynn pardoned. Our long national nightmare is over.

He lives in my neighborhood. I think my son and his grandson are elementary-school classmates? Maybe?

Here it comes:

President Trump on Wednesday announced he had pardoned Michael Flynn, his first national security adviser who was charged in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!" Trump tweeted.