US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

It’s such a disgrace that we haven’t been able to lead the world in the move to renewable energy. It’s not designing time machines, the technological challenges are surmountable with enough politica will.

Lovelock's Gaia theory seems to hinge upon an objective homeostatic force taht wouldn't value human above anything else that was messing up the ability for the planet to heal itself and might just remove anything that was causing too much danger.
He has a thing about the world feeling as easy in a state of lengthy ice age as one that would nourish the human race.

That sounds fake. I think we could solve this problem (or could have — maybe the time has passed) if it wasn’t for capitalism and its demand for constant growth in the short term.

Indeed, China is leading the way on renewable energy! Of all places, the middle kingdom.

And also lazy short sighted politicians

How can the people protect themselves from terrible leaders!

Honestly i think the recklessness on this front is some sick death drive shit. It demands a psychoanalytic explanation because there’s never been a real reason to not address this. Investing in green technology would have created jobs, it would have liberated us from dependence on places like Saudi Arabia, it was just win win win win win

And republicans wouldn’t move an inch.

And not all of these guys really believe jesus is coming back. They don’t behave as if they truly fear god. It’s a con.

Dr. c, we might be talking past one another. I am not talking about the excuse he gives, I just mean that if he drops out because of so many irrefutable instances of lying, doesn't that open him up to disbarment? Impeachment?

I think he’d say that he’s not doing it bc of that, it’s to spare his family from the Witch Hunt

sure. But it's already been established that it doesn't matter what he says. He is gambling for the illusion of exoneration, by way of Investigation or by way of appointment to the Supreme Court.

The real power structure of the world revolves around powerful money - of course - our democracy is an afterthought - look at the "new nafta" - it has strong similarities to whatever the TPP was supposed to be - these decisions are made without concern for the common person or the future of the earth - why develop green technologies ? what money is in it?

Its so cynical and yet when do voters ever get a real choice, a democrat who really will cause radical break ups and regulations and reign in the "free market" - hopefully this November!

huge percentage, more than half the international student body, almost 6000 students, and they pay full tuition

The university I'm at had the most Chinese undergraduate students in the country a few years ago and it's tapered off a bit but there's still like 3,500 of them, paying 40K in tuition and fees which is $140,000,000 to the university every year. Not to mention all the housing, restaurants, and grocery stores (and luxury car dealers) that cater to them. It would be catastrophic to lose that.

I just mean that if he drops out because of so many irrefutable instances of lying, doesn't that open him up to disbarment? Impeachment?

It opens by one millimeter a door that has to be opened 3 feet to pass through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgu0MpnKq8

I just mean that if he drops out because of so many irrefutable instances of lying, doesn't that open him up to disbarment? Impeachment?

impeachment from his current job or from the court would require a majority vote in the House; removal would then require a 2/3 majority in the senate. i don't see that happening. disbarment i don't know about but is there any requirement that sitting judges, or any judges, be bar-licensed lawyers? afaik, if he were disbarred, that would just become one of the arguments used in favor of impeachment, and one easily dismissed as "clearly the american bar association has joined the left-wing smear campaign against this good man."

I consider Geddy Lee NSFW

Its so blatant and obvious that our congress is beholden to bribery - is this what the founding fathers intended? PEPSICOLA making the laws?
When is there ever any serous talk of campaign finance reform? Of course at this point it seems evern foreign governments can buy our government so I guess its never going to get any better.

I like where this is going.

Now do the "Lock and Key" video!

xxp

here's a relief:

Sen. Bill Nelson voting no for Kavanaugh because of his "temperament" and "it was very apparent by the way he conducted himself in interviews by the way I asked 6 times, the White House did not make hims available .. The testimony of Dr. Ford was compelling. It was real..."

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) October 2, 2018

He was no on Gorsuch too.

You can bet if there is ever another challenge to this bullshit "citizen's united" decision he is going to drink a huge COORS and vote that corporations can give as many billions of dollars as they need to win elections

Oh sweet do COORS come in huge now?

Yeah there's a new "Kavanagh Kegger" size - 20oz

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2574

Collins pushing for Swetnick accusations to be investigated + Flake's recent public comments makes me think tide may be turning for the crucial swing votes.

“I was very troubled by the tone of the remarks,” Flake said of Kavanaugh’s Thursday performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The interaction with the members was sharp and partisan, and that concerns me,” he added. “I tell myself, you give a little leeway because of what he’s been through. But on the other hand, we can’t have this on the court. We simply can’t.”

The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott later asked Flake about the comment, which was made during a joint interview with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) at The Atlantic Festival.

Did it mean he wouldn’t vote to confirm Kavanaugh, even if the FBI cleared Kavanaugh of the sexual misconduct allegations against him? Plott reported that she asked Flake.

“I didn’t say that,” a “rattled” Flake responded, per Plott. “I wasn’t referring to him,” Flake added.

----

lol

That doomsday theology stuff seems as antithetical to decent government as like taliban ideology

clash of fundamentalisms baby

he was obviously talking about RBG. watch it ginsburg, flake is keeping an eye on your tone

Other biota will survive and nature will say "well THAT species didn't work out!"

In other words, hurry down doomsday, the bugs are taking over

https://youtu.be/fyAyUxMvMXk

Ra-di-ation. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.

I preefer Talking heads "Nothing but Flowers"

MEANWHILE AT SCOTUS

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/01/frog-divides-supreme-court/

flakes very much in character

It’s only Tuesday??

Two pieces of mail delivered to the Pentagon mail facility on Monday have initially tested positive for ricin, according to a US defense official. The two suspicious envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, the official told CNN.

It’s only Tuesday??

Sen. @JeffFlake on Judge #Kavanaugh: "The interaction with the members was sharp and partisan and that concerns me. And I tell myself you give a little leeway because of what he's been through. But, on the other hand, we can't have this on the Court. We simply can't." pic.twitter.com/0horDp9iGn

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 2, 2018

And David Brock has a few things to share

Brett and I were part of a close circle of cold, cynical and ambitious hard-right operatives being groomed by GOP elders for much bigger roles in politics, government and media. And it’s those controversial associations that should give members of the Senate and the American public serious pause.

Call it Kavanaugh's cabal: There was his colleague on the Starr investigation, Alex Azar, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mark Paoletta is now chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence; House anti-Clinton gumshoe Barbara Comstock is now a Republican member of Congress. Future Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were there with Ann Coulter, now a best-selling author, and internet provocateur Matt Drudge.

At one time or another, each of them partied at my Georgetown townhouse amid much booze and a thick air of cigar smoke. In a rough division of labor, Kavanaugh played the role of lawyer — one of the sharp young minds recruited by the Federalist Society to infiltrate the federal judiciary with true believers. Through that network, Kavanaugh was mentored by D.C. Appeals Court Judge Laurence Silberman, known among his colleagues for planting leaks in the press for partisan advantage.

When, as I came to know, Kavanaugh took on the role of designated leaker to the press of sensitive information from Starr's operation, we all laughed that Larry had taught him well. (Of course, that sort of political opportunism by a prosecutor is at best unethical, if not illegal.)
Another compatriot was George Conway (now Kellyanne's husband), who led a secretive group of right-wing lawyers — we called them "the elves" — who worked behind the scenes directing the litigation team of Paula Jones, who had sued Clinton for sexual harassment. I knew then that information was flowing quietly from the Jones team via Conway to Starr's office — and also that Conway's go-to man was none other than Brett Kavanaugh.

That critical flow of inside information allowed Starr, in effect, to set a perjury trap for Clinton, laying the foundation for a crazed national political crisis and an unjust impeachment over a consensual affair....

etc

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/409483-suspicious-substance-discovered-in-envelope-sent-to-pentagon

man they're recycling plot points from earlier seasons now, getting lazy programmers

Another onetime senior employee at Renaissance recalls hearing [Robert] Mercer downplay the dangers posed by nuclear war. Mercer, speaking of the atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, argued that, outside of the immediate blast zones, the radiation actually made Japanese citizens healthier. The National Academy of Sciences has found no evidence to support this notion. Nevertheless, according to the onetime employee, Mercer, who is a proponent of nuclear power, “was very excited about the idea, and felt that it meant nuclear accidents weren’t such a big deal.”

xxxpost
Flake probably referring to the behavior, not to the man

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/why-i-wouldnt-confirm-brett-kavanaugh/571936/

OMG alfred I read that as “David Brooks” and had a heart attack and died.

David Brock is a weirder guy than David Brooks

Mercer: that which does not kill me makes me a moron

And a worse person. He wrote a book defaming Anita Hill. Almost forgot

He apologized for it. Brooks has never apologized for anything.

He never did anything as bad—he just writes columns and gets interviewed on NPR. Brock is an extremely untrustworthy character. Switching from a hard right political mercenary to an equivalent position on the left is very strange. If you really had that radical a change of heart you’d leave politics because you’d recognize that your judgment isn’t to be trusted.

He’s an opportunist.

where's the

A YEARLONG @NYTIMES INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP’S TAXES JUST DROPPED https://t.co/22oWnOa0LK

— Sam Dolnick (@samdolnick) October 2, 2018

Oh man, i want to read this right now so bad. Tempted to just wuit my job and run to the nearest coffee shop.