Why is everyone so mean?? US Politics: September 2022

I meant bringing it to a final vote. Just to be clear, if there are not enough votes to defeat this, they absolutely should not bring it to a vote, my assumption is there are enough votes to stop it.

i don't think the dems need to bring it to any kind of vote fwiw. if rick scott thinking out loud about social security is sufficient for attack ads then a draft bill with republican sponsors is certainly sufficient.

This is why they're doing this btw:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/04/01/more-americans-support-15-week-abortion-ban-but-dont-want-stricter-restrictions-poll-finds/?sh=5d86f383bf5b

The poll found 48% of respondents at least somewhat support restricting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while 43% oppose it.

The logic of a vote would be having a concrete anti-abortion record that you can hang around their necks in the upcoming election.

i think that overestimates how much attention persuadable pay to specific votes. "republicans have a national abortion ban bill" will do the job.

This gives "moderate" Republicans to go on record that they support a "compromise" unlike the murderous Dems who want to abort children up to age 12.

This is definitely the strategy, it's a counterattack because they know the issue is a problem for them. So they're trying to take charge of it again, since it's always been their issue to make Democrats squirm with. They don't like being on the defensive.

I don't think the politics are good tho as long as it allows states to restrict it more. If they were proposing a nationwide "legal until 15 weeks" bill, that would put them more in the mainstream. But right, this gets painted as a "ban" bill, not a rights bill.

yep. the republicans are doing this because they think it's good politics. but it's not a clever trap. they're just wrong.

new Democratic campaign ad just dropped https://t.co/vK89L54jAL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 13, 2022

caek otm. the right-to-lifers are absolutely demanding this and they can't say no. the republican party would crumble if those voters sat on their hands.

Spice Girls looking good at 50

From a forthcoming AP/Frontline doc on Gen. Flynn, now walking point and water for Xtian Nationalist grassroots prairie fire Salvation from sea to shining sea: no surprise, but devil in the details yes: https://apnews.com/article/michael-flynn-christian-nationalism-investigation-50fa5dcff7f99cf93409fcd6c1357bee

Holy Outsider Rider who wants back in---His way.

Sure is backing a lot of Secretary of State candidates (and for instance school board winners in his own town, Sarasota)

Yall always talkin Beltway---

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/13/grahams-abortion-ban-senate-gop-00056423

Lindsey Graham’s anti-abortion legislation once unified the Republican Party. The 15-week abortion ban he pitched Tuesday had the exact opposite effect.

The South Carolina senator chose a uniquely tense moment to unveil his party’s first bill limiting abortion access since this summer’s watershed reversal of Roe v. Wade. It was designed as a nod to anti-abortion activists who have never felt more emboldened. Yet Graham’s bill also attempted to skate past a Republican Party that’s divided over whether Congress should even be legislating on abortion after the Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to terminate pregnancies.

And some fellow Republicans said they were highly perplexed at Graham’s decision to inject a new abortion ban — more conservative than his previous proposals — into the nation’s political bloodstream at a precarious moment for the party.

lmao

Graham's Ban goes Pop for GOP?

if Republicans actually wanted that bill to pass they would run it as 'guarantee abortions up to week 15, ban after that' but they will not, so it will not pass, and we can all be thankful for that.

dog catches car, figures its on the menu everyday

Lindsay looking pretty red and bloated. The bottle taking its toll.

this kinda shit just driving suburban women voter registration, let him have at it

Graham's been on the lam from the Fulton Co. Georgia grand jury for a month now, so he's not feeling well. His best hope is if he can take his case all the way up to the Alito cultists.

i know it's silly to mention, but it's absurd that he's still a sitting senator. are the basic facts of his meddling in GA on trump's behalf in question? lol at the fact that he's still a face of the party and he's the one introducing something horrible and on brand for the GOP

The basic facts of his telephone call to the Secretary of State are not in dispute. The interpretation of that call is . . . well, it's not really that debatable, but that's his second line of defense, that he was well within his rights as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to make that call. His first line of defense is that he doesn't have to appear at all because of the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution and/or sovereign immunity, etc. etc.

I'll be damned if I'm going to post this to an RIP thread. AP reports:

Ken Starr, whose probe led to Clinton impeachment, dies

He was tasked by Congress to investigate the "Whitewater scandal", found nothing criminal there, but kept his office and staff busy chasing down every other possible scandal that could be attached to the Clintons until he found one that stuck. No tears shed here.

Dude was a serious piece of sh!T. New face in hell.

Defense of Jeffrey Epstein

In 2007, Starr joined the legal team defending Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of the statutory rape of numerous underage high school students.[67] Epstein would later plea bargain to plead guilty to several charges of soliciting and trafficking of underage girls, serve 13 months on work release in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail, and register as a sex offender.[68] Starr said he was "in the room" when then-US attorney Alex Acosta made the deal that yielded the plea bargain for Epstein and later described Acosta as "a person of complete integrity," adding that "everyone was satisfied" with the agreement.[69]

In September 2015, Baylor's Board of Regents initiated an external review of the university's response to reports of sexual violence to be conducted by the Pepper Hamilton law firm. Baylor had been accused of failing to respond to reports of rape and sexual assault filed by at least six female students from 2009 to 2016. Former football player Tevin Elliot was convicted of rape. Elliot is currently serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction in January 2014.[79] Another student, Sam Ukwuachu, was convicted but has since had that conviction overturned and was retried, only to see it reinstated by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2018.[80] Pepper Hamilton reported their findings to the regents on May 13,[81] and on May 26, the regents announced Starr's removal as university president, effective May 31.[82]

if arizonans want to elect peter thiel's creepy to son to lead them in everlasting white christian glory, at least they know who he really is, going in

Democratic pollster Molly Murphy said Graham’s 15-week bill, released Tuesday, has only reinforced the argument that Republicans will try to enact significant new restrictions if they gain control of Congress. “I feel like I’ve had a roller coaster of a day between, ‘What kind of three-dimensional chess are they playing?’ to kind of settling into, ‘They’re not,’ ” said Murphy, who is working on the Arizona Senate race.

Asked whether they would back Graham’s legislation, most GOP nominees in the closest Senate races gave ambiguous answers or did not respond. And even as Masters said he would “of course” support Graham’s bill, his campaign spokesman retweeted a message that appeared to channel some GOP groans over Graham’s announcement: “Why why why why why.”

The aide, Zach Henry, removed the retweet Tuesday night and said he was not speaking on behalf of Masters.

seems like there's a bit of a split in the GOP as to whether the politicians are using the white evangelicals or if the white evangelicals are using the politicians. the national abortion ban idea horrible politics for the GOP, but it's exactly what the base wants. their base is not the broader milieu of investors and hawks and people who hate paying taxes. their base is literally white evangelicals, only

well before the SCOTUS ruling, it was all about 'states rights!' and now they seems quite content to remove those states rights

In other news: to the surprise of no one, the Durham investigation is winding down, with results of less consequence than a wet fart.

There's still the handful of Trumpers on my local paper's comments section sure that the Durham report is going to deliver some huge bombshell, any day now. They're worse than Mike Lindell.

hmmmm.

Rep. Ted Budd, NC's Republican Senate nominee, is cosponsoring Sen. Graham's abortion ban.

That's in contrast to GOP Senate candidates in some other tight races distancing themselves from the 15-week national ban.

— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 14, 2022

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/north-carolina/

The month is living up to the thread title in disgusting ways.

https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2022/09/14/planeload-venezuelan-refugees-arrive-marthas-vineyard-airport

DeSantis is apparently taking credit for this, even though the initial report says the plane is from Texas. Lots of confusion. Regardless, somebody sent a planeload of human beings to Martha's Vineyard as a political stunt.

Sorry to post a corporate Twitter account but this is pretty funny

If you still have a phone, get a free breakfast biscuit in our app for My Rewards members: https://t.co/rk896CKmpc https://t.co/loaIAFVViS

— Hardee’s (@Hardees) September 14, 2022

i just tried to heart that tweet here on ilx

ron desantis hasn't been in national news yet this week, so he decided to fly migrants from TX to martha's vineyard because he thinks that means owning the libs. what a horrible piece of shit he is

i hope one day the body of ron desantis can be used by someone he's never heard of to score political points for the cruelest team of anti-humans that isn't from a comic book

Good morning!

NEW on DeSantis' vile stunt of flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard:

Migrants say they started in San Antonio, official tells me, lured by promise of work papers.

No heads up given, official says.

Why is a Florida gov flying migrants from Tex to Mass?https://t.co/z0Qu0Ix8iD

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 15, 2022

On his birthday, by the way

According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times, local officials at one point said they believed planes were coming from Texas, Florida and Alabama. “Some of them were told lies … they were told they would receive housing and jobs immediately upon arrival,” Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, told the Times. Fernandez joined the relief effort in Martha’s Vineyard.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265836906.html#storylink=cpy

Are there any details on the tentative rail agreement? All I saw was Biden saying they get some sick days now but not like... how many.

xp

https://i.imgur.com/B9MrajE.png

i'm seeing that the agreement was rejected? xp

Solidarity with railroad @MachinistsUnion workers who soundly rejected their TA. Contrary to rail carriers narrative, no rank and file vote has approved the garbage PEB contract recommendation. pic.twitter.com/iZe4jbhVSj

— Ross Grooters (@RossGrooters) September 14, 2022

There was another tentative agreement announced this morning (unless Biden's just repeating the rejected one for some reason?)

Tune in as I deliver remarks on the railway labor agreement. https://t.co/roFU8Ckpv5

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 15, 2022

There may be details here but I can't listen to Joe speak for more than 15 seconds without getting depressed.

how is the shit that DeSantis is pulling right now not incredibly illegal

it's right there in the governor's code of laws, section 4, line 14: a governor can traffic migrants located in another state to another state of the governor's choosing, so long as they lie to them as they do it and treat them like property

but remember, govenror's code of laws chapter 4: it's only allowed if they get to go on television and be rewarded by people who have abandoned shame

From the WaPo:

If the contract is ratified, the agreement by the two largest railroad unions and railway carriers guarantees voluntary assigned days off and a single additional paid day off. Workers also can take time off for routine doctor’s appointments without being penalized, and would not lose attendance points for hospitalizations and surgical procedures, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The deal also includes the biggest wage increases for railroad workers in more than four decades. They will receive a 24 percent pay increase by 2024, including an immediate 14 percent raise; $1,000 annual bonuses over five years; and no increases to healthcare copays and deductibles.

Despite the breakthrough, critical questions remained. None of the parties involved in the talks has confirmed the number of unpaid sick days for which workers will be eligible, and details about other provisions in the agreement remained unclear. The reaction of rank-and-file union membership to the deal is also unclear.

and of course:

Congressional Republicans on Wednesday advanced legislation to force workers to accept those terms, making clear they would direct blame at the president should the impasse lead to a strike. Some moderate Democrats had begun to consider whether they should back the GOP approach to end the standoff.

b-b-but ben shapiro called it a "sweetheart deal"

Friend who works for the railroads when asked if they'll be okay: "my savings will last longer than the rest of the economy if we strike"

— culture war denialist (@shwiffles) September 15, 2022