US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

shabooty, sha sha, shabooty ROLL CALL! shabooty, sha ha, shabooty:

Arizona’s 6th (David Schweikert, R) Solid Republican to Likely Republican
California’s 25th (Vacant, D) Likely Democratic to Solid Democratic
Illinois’ 6th (Sean Casten, D) Lean Democratic to Likely Democratic
Illinois’ 13th (Rodney Davis, R) Tilt Republican to Toss-up
Iowa’s 2nd (Open; Dave Loebsack, D) Toss-up to Tilt Democratic
Iowa’s 4th (Steve King, R) Lean Republican to Tilt Republican
Michigan’s 8th (Elissa Slotkin, D) Tilt Democratic to Lean Democratic
Michigan’s 11th (Haley Stevens, D) Lean Democratic to Likely Democratic
Minnesota’s 1st (Jim Hagedorn, R) Lean Republican to Tilt Republican
Minnesota’s 2nd (Angie Craig, DFL) Lean Democratic to Likely Democratic
New Hampshire’s 1st (Chris Pappas, D) Lean Democratic to Likely Democratic
Virginia’s 2nd (Elaine Luria, D) Tilt Democratic to Lean Democratic

also, barf warning: the house judiciary committee includes louis gohmert, jim jordan, AND matt gaetz.

(barf suppressant: also pramila jayapal and ted lieu)

saw something on Twitter to the effect that the redrawn districts in NC have led to a projected two-member gain for the Dems.

What a shock.

Impeach this motherfucker next

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-doesnt-accept-key-inspector-general-finding-about-fbis-russia-investigation/2019/12/02/4464f018-154d-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html?tid=sm_fb

Intelligence Committee impeachment report coming tomorrow.

Great! That's one more step ahead. But it will probably make the same case as was easily apparent from the public testimony from the major witnesses, tightened up, with some ancillary details added from acquired documentation, plus the depositions taken in private session from both 'major' and 'minor' witnesses. The public testimony was plenty enough to make a strong case, but it is always nice to leave few or no loose ends.

I very much hope that some further counts can be added to the eventual articles of impeachment, beyond just those generated by the Ukraine scandal. He needs to be called to account for so many of his actions it is hard to recall them all.

Narrator: He was called to account for none of his actions.

don trump is the best vampire hunter ever! ever!!

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/472460-poll-majority-of-republicans-say-trump-better-president-than-lincoln

I like Presidents who don't free the slaves

I prefer this level of honesty to the disingenuous 'party of Lincoln' bullshit the GOP trumpets as if they haven't done everything they could since the '60s to nullify any meaning that might once have possessed.

Judging by what I've read, the Dem reps in Trump districts are really committed to keeping impeachment "focused" ie this one 'national security' issue only is relevant. As if DJT's personal enrichment of himself by smashing the emolument restraints are in any way "secure."

Arsonist members of former anti-arson organization declare current pro-arson chairman to be way cooler than founding anti-arson chairman, more at 11.

funny detail in the full results of that poll, republican voters easily favor reagan over trump (59 to 41%)

so it's basically

REAGAN
TRUMP
LINCOLN

also, check out pg 288 of the full results (rank 8 republican presidents) to see that 8% of GOP voters would say that lincoln is the very WORST republican president out of the options provided (lincoln, eisenhower, nixon, ford, reagan, HW bush, W bush, trump)

gosh i wonder what their rationale for coming to that conclusion could possibly be

when you're in the company of legends, you gotta be legendary. sorry abraham lincoln

Green Party has lost its place on the Arizona ballot, after failing to turn in the 31k signatures necessary to qualify by Friday - https://t.co/lGutt12IOw

— Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) December 3, 2019

it's sad, they were a political party

This shit rules. It's like if Stanley Kubrick made a Hallmark movie. Obviously the Trumps should live in a toilet forever but their aesthetic is hilarious. https://t.co/Jdwfr7nXI2

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) December 2, 2019

lol at the camera sweeping across the ornament "BE BEST" spelled out in scrabble letters

it's quite a production

rich people really are the tackiest fuckers on earth

GILD THE CAGE FURTHER

Incredible- pure class 🙏🏼🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/m9Cy709vyr

— Geoff De Weaver 🇺🇸 (@geoff_deweaver) December 2, 2019

View from the chopper as Trump makes his way across Central London.

Well played, @metpoliceuk Special Escort Group. 👏👏👏😂👍 pic.twitter.com/EbcWRVC4qT

— CivMilAir ✈ (@CivMilAir) December 2, 2019

#Christmas

FAKE NEWS

It was dark here when he arrived ( & I loathe him, so would love this old photoshop to be true)

— freya_theferret (@TheferretFreya) December 2, 2019

DEEZ faux NUTS

Trump says that, under the precedent being set by the Democrats, in the future someone is going to pick an orange out of the refrigerator and not like it and therefore decide to impeach the president.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 3, 2019

orange man bad?

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/trump-pushed-hard-for-company-owned-by-gop-donor-to-get-400-million-contract-it-just-did-despite-not-meeting-standards/

For months President Donald Trump has “personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” to award a lucrative Defense Dept. contract to build a portion of his wall on the Southern border to a construction company owned by a GOP donor. On Monday, despite reports that the North Dakota company, Fisher Sand and Gravel, did not meet Defense Dept. standards and has a history of tax and environmental violations, the DoD awarded Fisher the $400 million contract, The Washington Post reports.

Trump reportedly has been so active in pushing for Fisher to be awarded the contract that at one point on Fox News the president told Sean Hannity his administration was dealing with the company’s owner, and declared the company had been “recommended strongly by a great new senator, Kevin Cramer.”

That Senator, Republican Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, has also been pushing for Fisher Sand and Gravel to get the contract despite its owner, Tommy Fisher, being a donor to Senator Cramer, The Independent reports.

President Trump has seen Tommy Fisher advocate for the contract in his multiple appearances on Fox News, the president’s favorite cable news channel.

“In phone calls, White House meetings and conversations aboard Air Force One during the past several months, Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps,” The Washington Post reported in May. “The push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials.”

Tommy Fisher has ties to former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince, ex-GOP congressman Tom Tancredo and former Kansas GOP secretary of state Kris Kobach. Bannon and Kobach have worked for Trump, Prince is the brother of Eduction Secretary betsy DeVos.

In an August report on Trump’s “brazen” corruption The Nation described the four men as “an all-star cast of grifters and white nationalists.”

“Tommy Fisher and his wife gave more than $10,000 — the maximum allowable contribution — to Cramer in 2018 as he ran for Senate, campaign finance records show. Fisher was Cramer’s guest at Trump’s State of the Union speech in February that year, and the CEO said he shook the president’s hand afterward,” The Washington Post notes, adding that “Trump backed Cramer last year in his campaign to unseat Democrat Heidi Heitkamp.”

A 2017 report from NBC affiliate 12 News (video below) states the city of Phoenix “filed 467 criminal charges” against Fisher Sand and Gravel, along with “2000 city and county violations.”

so like this would absolutely be an impeachable offense under any Democratic president right

Oh don't be silly, Republicans wouldn't require as high a threshold.

someone will pick an orange out of a refrigerator and not like it

His supporters love Trump because 'he's the only politician who tells them the truth'.

Fun fact: despite sharing a skin color with the well-known citrus fruit, Donald Trump has never actually come into physical contact with an orange!

or any fruits except Elton John

Well, maybe if the orange was hollowed out and inside there was a thumb drive full of evidence of criminal activity by the president, and the person who grabbed it was all "WHAT THE FUCK?! Why is there nothing decent in the white house ...to eat?" And they kick off impeachment proceedings out of pure hanger. I get it.

Was it really a smart move for the GOP to release their impeachment memo first? Sometimes being first helps control a narrative with the general public, who tend to focus more on the initial statement and look at rebuttals with sour grapes.

Idk that it makes as much sense here - it's manna for Republicans, but six of the last seven polls released that included Independents and asked participants were asked if they supported impeaching trump had a plurality of Independent voters supporting it. By a small margin, nonetheless, but those are the people who require convincing and so far they've done poorly. Not sure that a preemptive "nothing to see here" will be as effective as their stupid "release the memo" campaign was.

Giving the Dems the last word might backfire (hopefully).

They don't have a real defense, so it probably doesn't matter

yeah the GOP has no play here besides endless conspiracy theorizing and straight up saying "he did it, so what, get over it"

Wow. These are Rudy Giuliani’s phone calls the day Marie Yovanovitch was removed from her post.

That the Intel Committee got access to phone logs of the president’s personal defense attorney is just stunning. #housereport pic.twitter.com/lWF9nEb7OX

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) December 3, 2019

imagine being "-1"

That DJTJ or Eric, right?

mmm, detention savings opportunities

McKinsey and Co., the international consultants, were deeply involved in helping the Trump administration figure out how to crack down on illegal immigration, new documents show. Copublishing with @propbulica https://t.co/atwFN6dJ7k

— Kim Murphy (@kimmurphy) December 3, 2019

I often look for detention savings opportunities at Target!

house intel committee report is out

.@JustinTrudeau, @EmmanuelMacron, @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool) pic.twitter.com/dVgj48rpOP

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) December 3, 2019

someone's head is going to explode when he sees this

hey has he golfed yet?

^ inquiring minds want to know!

Newsweek article says he golfed on Thanksgiving

NEW: Bolton, Pompeo and Defense Secy Esper met w Trump in the Oval Office in August to try to convince him it was in US interests to release military aid to Ukraine. Trump refused. https://t.co/IZG2rTjrQY via @NYTimes

— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) December 29, 2019

IT. WAS. A. PERFECT. CALL.

there is no price comrade combover is unwilling to pay in order to fight corruption

Our prayers are with the families of the victims and the congregation of yesterday’s church attack. It was over in 6 seconds thanks to the brave parishioners who acted to protect 242 fellow worshippers. Lives were saved by these heroes, and Texas laws allowing them to carry arms!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019

Thought we weren’t supposed to politicize these things

how abysmal and horrifying that there is a growing group of americans that consider taking a gun into a church their civic duty

how even more abysmal and horrifying that the president of the country thinks this is a positive thing. this fucker hasn't been in a church outside of campaigning since well before he got involved in public office.

Twitter: Republican VP, GOP VP!
Centrists: That's not what Joe really said!
Joe Biden: pic.twitter.com/behX3GZnVF

— #BeTheMedia 🔥 (@Bernie_Or_Vest) December 31, 2019

Um

yeah, idk. if the democrats would like to run joe biden as their candidate good luck to them.

but did you see how close to obama he stood for those 8 years? look at his record of standing near a president.

The DNC will have so much egg on their face when they nominate Biden. Thank goodness they'll be the only ones impacted!

it's very strange that he's the resilient centrist, seemingly, and not someone like harris, beto, booker or mayor pleat

why?

there's just something about that old, white, straight, party-line man that makes him appealing to the dems. it's a mystery!

How odd that an old white male former Vice President with a long Senate career is more favored by people voting for stability and predictability in the presidency over a first-time non-white female senator, a 1-term Representative, and the mayor of a wholly irrelevant city.

jesus, Treeship

Jesus is #yanggang

https://completejoy.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/jesus-with-boy-on-bench.jpg?w=768

l-r: Jesus, treeship

Jesus/Treeship the unity ticket

the mayor of a wholly irrelevant city.

they should put this on the screen whenever he's on tv

The United States Postal Service shipped more than 13 billion pieces of mail and packages this holiday season. But now that gift-giving has abated, the agency, which falls under President Trump’s jurisdiction, is facing another deadline: find a new Postmaster General by January 2020.

The new leadership will be handpicked and approved by the Postal Service’s Board of Governors: a group of five men (mostly with investment banking and private banking experience), three of whom were appointed by Trump, along with the current Postmaster General and her deputy.

Once the new leadership is in place, the board will also be tasked by the Trump administration with creating a package of large, structural changes intended to help the ailing Postal Service. Those changes will likely include privatizing and selling pieces of the public service off, according to the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), which represents more than 200,000 current and retired postal employees.

In 2018, Trump issued an executive order to create a postal task force, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The group was charged with figuring out how to make the postal service a more profitable entity. They recommended that the agency roll back collective bargaining rights for postal workers and sell off pieces of the service to private industry.

https://fortune.com/2019/12/27/usps-privatization-postal-service-going-private/

i.e. mail whatever you need to mail now because we're about to fuck ourselves in our own ears and lay off millions of government workers without any alternately applicable skillsets

idk, mailbombs might prove useful

In 2018, Trump issued an executive order to create a postal task force, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The group was charged with figuring out how to make the postal service a more profitable entity.

Fun fact: It was called "Operation Going Postal."

charge more for postage and only pickup/deliver in rural areas once a week. boom, sorted.

but how would we get Irene Independent, Centrist Carl, and Ursula Undecided to vote for the the urban elitist democratic tax-and-spend freeloaded party by reducing the efficiency of the USPS, which does absolutely nothing for rural americans?

By promising them that it will make the USPS "more efficient" and will "save money", while not mentioning that it will reduce service, increase costs, and funnel money away from the working class and toward the rich.

Aw man, I have a feeling Bobby Both Sides isn’t going to like that!!

- cut out Saturday delivery
- cut out house to house delivery in surburban areas and replace with street corner “super boxes”
- concentrate on parcel delivery, compete aggressively with Fedex, UPS, etc.

or starve the beast, strip it for parts, sell to amazon for pennies where amazon cuts the workforce, etc.

dude, trump is gonna figure out how to financialize/griftify the post office with banking, and simultaneously make it a tool for fleecing the poors and workings. read me now believe me later.

That’s essentially the Canadian approach. Having lived here awhile the idea of getting mail on Saturday seems weird to me now. Of course cutting Sat likely means cutting jobs

Uh xpost

Telling the USPS to privatize itself and actually completing the follow-through are two very different things

As I’ve said before, these idiots have none of the skills

is treeship with a period at the end of his name a Fake Treeship?

i still believe

it's very strange that he's the resilient centrist, seemingly

You know that old Woody Allen line about 80% of life being showing up? It applies here.

Giuliani's answer to being asked if he'd testify at the impeachment trial is completely insane pic.twitter.com/8BMjVy4r9A

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 1, 2020

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

lol glass of scotch in his hand, hny rudy

January thread?

US Politics, January 2020. Because we hate ourselves.

done

Would have suggested "Jesus, Treeship" for title but there's still time.