US Politics March 2019: “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled”

I heard that Ghost McCain was threatening to primary Trump, that might explain his agitation.

Someone should stand outside his bedroom and go "Oooooh, it's me, Ghost McCain, and I am here to primary yoooouuuuuu. And don't think for a second this is Melania calling from her own room, she is fast asleep and dreaming of a better life. This is Ghost McCain, and I am here to scaaaaaare you! Oooooooh!"

Someone should stand outside his bedroom and go "Oooooh, it's me, Ghost McCain, and I am here to primary yoooouuuuuu

how would they be heard over Fox News turned up all the way?

Florida

In November, a supermajority of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to former felons who’ve completed their sentences. On Tuesday, Florida Republicans advanced a bill that will strip hundreds of thousands of these individuals of the franchise once again.

That measure, which GOP lawmakers voted out of committee along party lines, is a direct assault on Amendment 4, which altered the state constitution to reinstate felons’ right to vote. It is an astonishing rejection of Floridians’ overwhelming support for the amendment and a flagrant power-grab designed to suppress potential Democratic votes. And because the Florida Legislature, governorship, and Supreme Court are dominated by Republicans, the bill stands an excellent chance of becoming law, reversing the biggest voting rights victory of the 21st century so far.

Shortly after the 2018 election, it became clear that Republican lawmakers would attempt to undermine Amendment 4. By its own terms, the law is self-executing; it requires no implementation by the Legislature. Floridians who have completed a sentence for a felony conviction should now be permitted to vote, so long as they did not commit homicide or a sex offense. Yet GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis (who opposed the amendment) and his allies in the Legislature quickly asserted that it is not self-executing and requires “implementing language.” That’s not true, but it allowed Republicans to curtail the amendment’s impact under the guise of “implementing” it.

holy shit!

so fucked up

Sorry, meant to include this too:

We learned the answer on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives’ Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed a bill designed to sabotage Amendment 4. The amendment unambiguously declares that “voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.” But the new bill adds a new hurdle: Felons may not register to vote until they’ve paid all court costs, fines, and fees associated with their sentences.

To understand why this provision is a poison pill, it’s important to understand the system of “cash-register justice” practiced by Florida and many other states. To finance its criminal justice system, Florida imposes both fines and “user fees” on defendants upon conviction. Individuals may be fined up to $500,000 for their crime, then saddled with a mind-boggling array of administrative fees. Defendants must pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to fund court costs, “crime prevention” programs, and local jails. They must pay a fee to apply for a public defender, to receive medical treatment in prison, to reinstate a suspended driver’s license, and to participate in drug abuse treatment. Those who receive probation must pay “surcharges” to fund their supervision or room-and-board at a halfway house, as well as electronic monitoring and urinalysis.

... Here’s the unspoken but well-documented truth about these fines and fees: Almost no one ever pays them in full. Former felons already struggle to find employment upon completion of their prison terms, and few can afford to tithe a large portion of their salary to the state. According to WLRN, Florida courts levied $1 billion in felony fines between 2013 and 2018; each year, only 19 percent of that money was paid back. The Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers (FCCC), an association that releases annual summaries of assessments, labeled 83 percent of court fines levied between 2014 and 2018 as having “minimal collections expectations.” That indicates that there is little chance that the money will ever be paid.

Hope Gillum is fundraising several hundred million dollars to help pay all the newly franchised/disenfranchised people’s fines, in addition to registering people to vote

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2I4eGoXgAEfKiV.jpg

is that photoshopped? did that actually happen? i know it's part of the devin nunes lawsuit

GOP stealing votes, and Schmuck continues to prioritize as only he can

I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Senate Russell Building after American hero, Senator John McCain.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 20, 2019

gonna be fun as hell watching Meghan McCain being “forced” by socialist baby-killers into supportIng Trump in 2020

Meghan McCain should kiss Ho Chi Minh's ass for giving her a lucrative life.

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) March 20, 2019

Daily Beast sez LOYAL REPUBLICAN GOES OFF ON TRUMP FOR MCCAIN ATTACKS

.....aaaand the nut graf:

“It’s deplorable what he said,” Isakson said. “It will be deplorable seven months from now if he says it again.”

indeed, what a powerful condemnation

That’s a really sick burn xp

Remember when Hillary called people deplorable?

hillary c is president
https://youtu.be/wqbEsS5kFb8

Kellyanne Conway’s humble New Jersey roots laid the foundation for a long career in a male-dominated world of politics. Now, she’s the one consistent figure in the otherwise revolving door of the Trump White House. #BadassWomenDC | @DanaBashCNN https://t.co/9KH5FyB3z6 pic.twitter.com/G6X271J2N0

— CNN (@CNN) March 20, 2019

#BadassWomenDC
@CNN

#destroyingamerica #loweringthebar

has a tweet from a media outlet as big as cnn ever been deleted just because it sucked so bad

Kellyanne Conway's badness is not confined to her ass.

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

Pretty sweet to be living in an era where there's no media outlet so reputable that they'd surprise me by dropping a puckish 'Is it possible the Nazis were right?' tweet solely for the sake of all those wonderful outrage clicks.

AKA throw the MSM into a pit and fill it with concrete, plz.

the nation of finland - much-beloved, of course, by ilxors - lines up to dunk on nikki haley after she maligns their healthcare

Health care costs are too high that is true but comparing us to Finland is ridiculous. Ask them how their health care is. You won’t like their answer.

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 20, 2019

lol self owned so hard

That reminds me of some Scandinavian election some time back, maybe Norway? There was a politician, possibly on the left, whose platform was basically that entitlement spending was not high enough and that lower income people could simply not make a living without huge increases. And then all these people getting government money were basically, no, we're good, actually. And he looked at the numbers and basically conceded, huh, yeah, I stand corrected, we're good.

Make Norway as Adequate as it has Been for Some Time Now

Norway iirc has made huge advances in sweeping the forest floor

That reminds me of some Scandinavian election some time back, maybe Norway? There was a politician, possibly on the left, whose platform was basically that entitlement spending was not high enough and that lower income people could simply not make a living without huge increases. And then all these people getting government money were basically, no, we're good, actually. And he looked at the numbers and basically conceded, huh, yeah, I stand corrected, we're good.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, March 21, 2019 2:29 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and who was that politician, ladies and gentleman? it was me.

You I won’t like their answer.

fixed

Thought Nikki Haley was a PoS back for her vehemently anti-union work for the Lazy B as SC governor. It's been depressing to see her advancement since, including getting a spot on the Lazy B's board.

she's the sane Republican now, remember

She can hold a conversation! She knows words and appears to just use them on the fly. She is the leader of the next generation

can confirm that the "moderate conservative" (nazi light) staffers of my congressman have boners for nikki haley -- they can only be anti-anti-trump (it's too embarrassing to directly defend him) but will happily stan for haley.

every single republican politician is garbage. the rot is all the way through.

same with kelly, when he was working in the white house. kelly's more obviously a fascist than haley, though.

I have a co-worker who worships Haley.

on what grounds? wtf has she achieved in her career?

nothing. she's a "conservative" and doesn't have an immediately obvious severe personality disorder. that's it.

Conservatism isn't an immediately obvious severe personality disorder?

one staffer for my rep. likes to post "inspirational" memes involving people like this, like "nikki haley is living her best life!" he tries to stay positive even though he's on Team Fascist (whether or not he realizes this, I don't know). were there Nazis like this?

like people who felt that hitler was a bit too much so instead just talked about how qualified göring was?

are-we-the-baddies.gif

will-we-keep-on-fighting-to-the-end.wav

Haley probably has a more hawkish foreign policy than Don. She'd give her right arm to see some tomahawks launched at Bander Abbas

Bandar

Judge rules against Republicans in Wisconsin, negates laws passed at the last minute to limit Dem gov's powers.

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/21/705536383/wisconsin-governors-powers-restored-after-restricted-by-lame-duck

Incl. specifically:

Evers seized on the decision almost immediately, calling on the Wisconsin Department of Justice, led by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, to withdraw the state from a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

"As the governor has requested, please take whatever steps are necessary to remove Wisconsin from Texas v. United States," wrote Evers' chief legal counsel, Ryan Nilsestuen, in an email to the Department of Justice shortly after the ruling was released.

awesome

more good news here:

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/8xyj5a/2020-democrats-are-dropping-like-flies-from-pro-israel-aipac-conference

Genuine question here, what did Haley mean by "you wont like the answer". What "bad answer" was she aiming for?