US Politics: July 2020 - "Denigrating this Luxury Avenue"

Game recognize game https://t.co/U1pFnJjwOv

— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 21, 2020

nyt loves the sober tone

And the Trump virus briefing wraps up after just about 35 minutes. POTUS seems to have absorbed -- for now -- that he needs a major reboot to save his campaign.

His tone was sober, he acknowledged the need for masks, that things will get worse before they get better.

— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) July 21, 2020

He kept saying "China Virus" tho.

China Virus is Trump's "sober" way of talking about the Kung Flu

lol "Trip" Gabriel deleted the Tweet.

the ratio was cancelling him

lol the NYT even changed the lede for its story.

the coronavirus spending plan seems to be in some disarray

A major intraparty rift widened between the White House and Senate Republicans on Tuesday as they stumbled to formulate a unified coronavirus budget plan, lacking agreement on policy goals, spending parameters, and even deadlines.

The Republican and White House position changed multiple times as the day went on, with some GOP lawmakers refusing to rally behind President Trump’s demand for a payroll tax cut while others worked to convince White House emissaries that more money was needed for testing and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Complicating matters, other Republican lawmakers appeared mortified about the growing size of the spending bill, leading to bickering over which policies to remove and warning that miscalculations could allow Democrats to seize control of the White House and Senate in November.

“What in the hell are we doing,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) asked his colleagues at the lunch with White House officials, according to several participants who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the exchange. Cruz was incensed at the push among his colleagues to boost spending levels.

The whole process now appears likely to spill into August, something the White House and congressional Democrats had hoped to avoid, because it would mean more than 20 million Americans would lose emergency unemployment benefits when they expire at the end of this month. They have not mapped out a plan for what would happen to these people as the pandemic’s turmoil continues to weigh on the U.S. economy.

Part of the problem stemmed from the White House’s failure to go into the talks with a preset strategy or a list of proposals that they knew GOP lawmakers would rally behind. This miscalculation created immediate problems. Numerous demands the White House had tried to formulate over the weekend were erased within hours.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that the goal was to keep the spending bill around $1 trillion, but by Tuesday he had abandoned that. White House officials also indicated they would no longer push for cuts to testing and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And after a barrage of criticism of President Trump’s tax cut demand, White House officials stopped trying to press the matter.

White House, GOP in disarray over coronavirus spending plan as deadline nears on expiring emergency aid

I read that story twenty minutes ago and had to stop -- too fucking long, lots of detritus.

Part of the problem stemmed from the White House’s failure to go into the talks with a preset strategy or a list of proposals

So, it's a day ending in "y"?

my favorite part was getting punk'd by the “What in the hell are we doing" ted cruz quote. i was prepared to accept that it was a broken clock is right twice a day situation, until the paragraph clarifies that he was mad because more money was being spent to help people

which is unacceptable

imagine being in government and getting mad at spending money. i sure as fuck can't

getting mad at spending money for anything that isn't fascist cosplay, i get it now

"And we'll put out in some cases just burning embers. We also have burning embers. We have embers and we do have flames. Florida became more flame like, but it's -- it's going to be under control."

We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020

that sensation you feel is the quickening

listen, i'm not necessarily saying this is true and i just think it's interesting, but...didn't Q predict exactly this?

they're pumped already so ... yes?!

The QAnon Prayer Wall is split over how to handle President Trump sending well wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell.

One post: "some anons need to go sit at the kids table and not question 5D Trump plays"

Another: "So, like, nothing is adding up now. Wtf just happened?" pic.twitter.com/LD71ztsFM8

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) July 21, 2020

I just read the phrase QAnon Prayer Wall and now all I can think is

https://media1.tenor.com/images/29a2467b582f8f25fa2ff6d4a243e6e0/tenor.gif?itemid=5319799

Would be awesome if all the Q worshippers were snatched up by Q, the Winged Serpent.

love my junior senator!

Rick Scott’s grandchildren are going to be distance learning so they are safe he said today. pic.twitter.com/LERcWeZNHG

— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) July 21, 2020

read that fast and thought it said Rick Scott said he is going to be distance murdered today.

now i'm sad

Steven Seagal In...DISTANCE MURDER

The fact that there is any human being, let alone a group of them, that thinks there is such a thing as a “5D Trump play” makes me want to explode.

he's playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with a Mouse Trap board

more details are coming out about the ohio / Householder situation. this is a decent recount:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fck-them-over-later-inside-the-massive-alleged-bribery-scheme-rocking-ohio

the existence and exploitation of 501(c)4 is key:

In recorded phone calls, the defendants allegedly discussed the advantages of bankrolling their operation with a 501(c)4. “You don’t have to be afraid of anyone,” Clark allegedly told Householder in one recorded call, discussing the advantages of a group that didn’t have to disclose its donors to election authorities.

if that doesn't jump out to you, i highly recommend reading jane mayer's Dark Money. i really hope this ohio scandal helps spur ANY sort of action on election/campaign finance reform.

according to special agent dale cooper in charge, it's not close to over - “There’s going to be a lot of busy FBI agents and AUSAs here in the Southern District of Ohio.”

that's quite the read. damn! sounds like a coen brothers movie!

first court hearing tomorrow: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/federal-officers-in-portland-face-first-legal-challenge-court-hearing-wednesday/283-b667b0ba-c7fe-4801-b5f8-3f8d2605a6c1

Chad Wolf will be assistant managing Whataburger next year, and some American hero will accidentally lock him in the walk-in freezer

so where are these Qanon dummies going to go now that they've all been banned and filtered out of Twitter? Will this shit finally die or are they on some other platform tying Twitter together with Trump wishing Maxwell 'well?

they're on ICQAnon

There's always a new platform.

This might finally be Parler's moment.

impeach Barr

^ YES!

FUUUUUCK this guy. I hope a piano falls on him.

Scoop: James Comey to release new book in January

In a new book 10 days before the inauguration, former FBI Director James Comey will take aim at politicization of the Justice Department under President Trump, who fired him.

"Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust," out Jan. 12, is a follow-up to Comey's No. 1 New York Times bestseller, "A Higher Loyalty." A press release from Comey’s publisher, Flatiron, says he'll also discuss his career prosecuting mobsters in New York. Comey famously compared Trump to a mob boss in his last book.

The state of play: Comey has kept a relatively low profile since his last book.

He has written occasional op-eds and hot tweets, but resisted numerous invitations to appear on TV.

Comey envisions the new book as an effort to remind Americans about the core principles of the justice system and how to rebuild them under what he hopes will be a new administration.

The publisher calls it "a clarion call for a return to non-partisan law enforcement centered on American values."

Make that two pianos, one just for the "hot tweets."

God bless you for finding a way to make some bank from this clusterfuck, James! It's almost as if you're part of his administration!

getting these two results among the same respondents seems significant

New TX @QuinnipiacPoll: Biden 45, Trump 44

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) July 22, 2020

Texas Senate GE:
John Cornyn (R-inc) 47% (+9)
M.J. Hegar (D) 38%@QuinnipiacPoll 7/16-20https://t.co/xfGNohcDYU #TXsen

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) July 22, 2020

check out the Rasmussen (!) poll from Ohio:

OHIO
Biden 47% (+4)
Trump 43%@Rasmussen_Poll/@theamgreatness 7/15-16https://t.co/JytrKulilk

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) July 21, 2020

lol so that's more like an 8 or 9 point lead then

Dudes

I think Biden might have a chance

let's do this again tomorrow

I wonder if future presidential campaigns will utilize the "taking a several month long nap" strategy that seems to be working here

depends on whether future incumbents are legendary ignoramuses or not

unsure where else to put this as I don't think we have a US law and prosecution thread but it's a riveting and heartbreaking read
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/07/21/they-agreed-to-meet-their-mother-s-killer-then-tragedy-struck-again

getting these two results among the same respondents seems significant

The UT-Tyler poll from a couple of weeks ago showed an even greater split between the presidential and Senate races: Biden +5 and Cornyn +13 (vs. Hegar, though she hadn't actually won the primary yet). In both that poll and the new Quinnipiac one, independents are deadlocked in the Senate race but break toward Biden by like +20.

People hate politicians, but their local guy's all right, not like the rest of those scum.

All 50

I want all 50 fucking states.

Navy vet seen in viral vid clashing w/federal officers in Portland tells @ABC he wants to use attention on him "to refocus this whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter."

“If I had been a black veteran...do you think I would have gotten as much attention as I did?” pic.twitter.com/OZHsFCqkE3

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 22, 2020