AnBr
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,819
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Post by AnBr on Sept 29, 2023 2:47:14 GMT
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Post by goldenvalley on Sept 29, 2023 3:50:43 GMT
Why he has 700+ pieces of paper. They must contain lots of incriminating stuff and who cares about details like dates? He got sent out with 3 talking points. how dare some reporter ask about something not covered in them! That doesn’t happen with Fox and OAN! |
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Post by goldenvalley on Sept 29, 2023 16:36:39 GMT
Given the way other "hearings" like on Hunter Biden have gone I doubt that this "conspiracy theory" has a leg to stand on.
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Post by indy on Sept 29, 2023 18:46:32 GMT
William F. Buckley famously said "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty."
What you see here are those people from the phone book governing. I agree with the last half of his sentence but not the first half because he apparently didn't read the The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, where rule number 1 is "Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation."
The only set up that was needed for this to fail was to just to let it happen.
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Post by goldenvalley on Sept 29, 2023 19:53:18 GMT
William F. Buckley famously said "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty." What you see here are those people from the phone book governing. I agree with the last half of his sentence but not the first half because he apparently didn't read the The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, where rule number 1 is "Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation." The only set up that was needed for this to fail was to just to let it happen. It's worse than the first 2000 people. The people "governing" are attention hounds who want to go viral with their stupidity so that people will send them money to keep going viral. |
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Post by indy on Sept 29, 2023 23:58:00 GMT
William F. Buckley famously said "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty." What you see here are those people from the phone book governing. I agree with the last half of his sentence but not the first half because he apparently didn't read the The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, where rule number 1 is "Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation." The only set up that was needed for this to fail was to just to let it happen. It's worse than the first 2000 people. The people "governing" are attention hounds who want to go viral with their stupidity so that people will send them money to keep going viral. You are absolutely right and I needlessly insulted those 2000 people. Virtually every one of them is a better human being than Comer or Smith or Greene. |
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Post by goldenvalley on Oct 4, 2023 3:54:52 GMT
McCarthy is out because 8 Republicans voted against him. There is now a Speaker Pro Tem (not sure if that is Constitutional). There is no clear candidate from among the Republicans to actually take the role. Some think Scaliese is the next one, but the guy was just diagnosed with some form of cancer. Who knows if he is up to it and he's been working with McCarthy up to now. Gaetz won this one but he isn't a favorite of Republicans. The House is now adjourned until next Monday or Tuesday. Will anyone of the House Republicans be working on appropriations bills? Or are we still headed for a shutdown in 40+ days? |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,010
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Post by andydp on Oct 4, 2023 12:20:06 GMT
Given the way other "hearings" like on Hunter Biden have gone I doubt that this "conspiracy theory" has a leg to stand on. (Source unknown) |
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Post by indy on Oct 4, 2023 13:04:18 GMT
Hic sunt dracones. It seems a whirlwind has firmly rooted itself in the GOP and the potential damage is pretty substantial. The house is going to get even more chaotic, McConnell has his health issues as well as problems with his people, and an indicted ex-president will be the nominee.
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Post by goldenvalley on Oct 4, 2023 16:14:25 GMT
Hic sunt dracones. It seems a whirlwind has firmly rooted itself in the GOP and the potential damage is pretty substantial. The house is going to get even more chaotic, McConnell has his health issues as well as problems with his people, and an indicted ex-president will be the nominee. It seems like the silent, non crazy House Republicans have been relying on the Democrats to save them from their insane fellow House members. This time they didn't get saved and they are mad, not at the 8 Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy but at the Democrats who take up fewer seats in the House. I think McConnell has been doing the same thing ever since the Democrats gained enough seats in the Senate. McCarthy accepted the poison pill provision about one person being able to move to vacate the Speakership. Will his replacement also accept such a pill? If so, the whirlwind is even more guaranteed. |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,010
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Post by andydp on Oct 4, 2023 16:25:39 GMT
Hic sunt dracones. It seems a whirlwind has firmly rooted itself in the GOP and the potential damage is pretty substantial. The house is going to get even more chaotic, McConnell has his health issues as well as problems with his people, and an indicted ex-president will be the nominee. It seems like the silent, non crazy House Republicans have been relying on the Democrats to save them from their insane fellow House members. This time they didn't get saved and they are mad, not at the 8 Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy but at the Democrats who take up fewer seats in the House. I think McConnell has been doing the same thing ever since the Democrats gained enough seats in the Senate. McCarthy accepted the poison pill provision about one person being able to move to vacate the Speakership. Will his replacement also accept such a pill? If so, the whirlwind is even more guaranteed. The post WWII Italian Republic is known for its amazing number of "governments". It is now on its 68th government in 76 years. Some background: www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/10/21/italy-is-set-for-its-68th-government-in-76-years-why-such-a-high-turnover |
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Post by indy on Oct 4, 2023 17:14:11 GMT
Hic sunt dracones. It seems a whirlwind has firmly rooted itself in the GOP and the potential damage is pretty substantial. The house is going to get even more chaotic, McConnell has his health issues as well as problems with his people, and an indicted ex-president will be the nominee. It seems like the silent, non crazy House Republicans have been relying on the Democrats to save them from their insane fellow House members. This time they didn't get saved and they are mad, not at the 8 Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy but at the Democrats who take up fewer seats in the House. I think McConnell has been doing the same thing ever since the Democrats gained enough seats in the Senate. McCarthy accepted the poison pill provision about one person being able to move to vacate the Speakership. Will his replacement also accept such a pill? If so, the whirlwind is even more guaranteed. McCarthy blamed Pelosi that his own party threw him out. It is so hilariously hypocritical of him and the GOP house because if the shoe were on the other foot, how many of them would vote to keep Pelosi as speaker? I mean, come on, they would be so giddy to vote her our that they wouldn't be able to contain themselves.
The deepest, most virulent and coalescing force in the modern GOP is the all consuming hatred of Democrats. If that force didn't hold them together like gravity right now, they would go super nova. It also makes even more chaos in the house almost inevitable because no Republican can work with any Democrat on anything without suffering the wrath of the base.
I don't understand how they can elect a speaker without the current rules. How would the eight vote in someone restraining their own power? Doesn't seem likely.
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Post by goldenvalley on Oct 4, 2023 17:55:21 GMT
There is a whole long Twitter/X thread from a guy who appears to be a Deputy Chief of Staff for a Virginia House member. In essence he says that all day Saturday it appeared that McCarthy and company were preparing for a shut down when he suddenly announced a vote on a continuing resolution. He refused to give time to read the 77 page document...that's why the House Democrats didn't vote to keep him (among a list of others things). This appeared to be the last straw.
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Post by indy on Oct 4, 2023 18:44:05 GMT
There is a whole long Twitter/X thread from a guy who appears to be a Deputy Chief of Staff for a Virginia House member. In essence he says that all day Saturday it appeared that McCarthy and company were preparing for a shut down when he suddenly announced a vote on a continuing resolution. He refused to give time to read the 77 page document...that's why the House Democrats didn't vote to keep him (among a list of others things). This appeared to be the last straw. It forced them to use a bunch of parliamentary tricks in order to buy time to read it. Then he went on the Sunday shows and said that they were using those delaying tactics as an attempt to shut down the government. I saw more than a few Democrats who seemed pretty livid over it. |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,010
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Post by andydp on Oct 5, 2023 9:27:03 GMT
Poor Rudy. Thought he hitched his wagon to a star. Turns out it was a garbage scow. Giuliani to lose 2nd attorney in Georgia, leaving him without local legal teamA second lawyer for Rudy Giuliani is seeking to depart his legal team in Georgia, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News, a move that would appear to leave the former New York City mayor without any local lawyers in the state. A motion to withdraw has been submitted to the clerk, the sources said. A judge in the case has to sign off on the motion. News of the move comes after several other former attorneys of the Trump ally have sued Giuliani for failure to pay his bills, including his longtime friend and attorney Bob Costello, who sued Giuliani for over $1 million in payments due to his firm.
Earlier, an additional lawyer for Giuliani in Georgia, David Wolfe, submitted his own motion to withdraw from his representation of Giuliani. www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/giuliani-to-lose-2nd-attorney-in-georgia-leaving-him-without-local-legal-team/ar-AA1hGwz7Wait !! There's more !! Rudy Giuliani sued by his lawyers for $1.4Mabcnews.go.com/General/rudy-giuliani-sued-lawyers-14m/story?id=103295892 |
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Post by goldenvalley on Oct 5, 2023 19:33:48 GMT
Back to McCarthy for a moment. I've concluded that he sent over the continuing resolution late on Saturday fully expecting the Democrats to vote against it. The Ukrainian aid package's absence was the reason Dems would vote it down. It violated his deal with Biden last spring. Then they could have their shut down and blame the Democrats for being unreasonable and talk about how they valued Ukraine more than they valued the American people. Surprise! Dems voted for it.
After that he thought the Dems would be nice to him in hopes that they could separately pass a Ukrainian aid bill. Plus somehow he thought whatever Nancy Pelosi told him in January meant the Dems would support him no matter what he did. Surprise again!
Thoughts?
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jackd
Assistant Professor
Posts: 813
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Post by jackd on Oct 5, 2023 21:32:22 GMT
"He thought the Dems would be nice to him." Well, he said before the vote that he wouldn't "work with them" or make a deal. Why in the world would they trust him?
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Post by indy on Oct 5, 2023 22:05:23 GMT
There is only one way to make sense of the fact that he refused them any time to read the bill before the vote and that is he likely hoped that they would think he was trying to hide something in it and vote against it. But I think the list of grievances they had against him was pretty long and this was just the nail in his coffin.
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Post by goldenvalley on Oct 6, 2023 16:12:36 GMT
Why in the world would they trust him? Trust? No, but they would act to protect the institution of the House from chaos. That was the assumption plus something something about something Nancy Pelosi said to him back in January. I very much doubt she told him that the Dems would protect him no matter what he did or what the stakes were. |
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Post by indy on Oct 7, 2023 11:59:50 GMT
McCarthy is out because 8 Republicans voted against him. There is now a Speaker Pro Tem (not sure if that is Constitutional). There is no clear candidate from among the Republicans to actually take the role. Some think Scaliese is the next one, but the guy was just diagnosed with some form of cancer. Who knows if he is up to it and he's been working with McCarthy up to now. Gaetz won this one but he isn't a favorite of Republicans. The House is now adjourned until next Monday or Tuesday. Will anyone of the House Republicans be working on appropriations bills? Or are we still headed for a shutdown in 40+ days? Speaker Pro Tem was created in the wake of 9/11 to ensure that the government continued to function in the case of some sort of catastrophic event. The constitution empowers the House and Senate to govern themselves any way they want so I don't think there is any constitutional issue with it at all unless we are talking about presidential succession. There are those who say the Pro Tem has only enough power to shepherd in a new speaker and those who say they have the full powers of the speakership. I'm in this second group because what sense does it make to have someone to run the house in the case of a catastrophic event if they can't actually do anything except run an election when you know, an event that may require some immediate action was the cause?
Anyway, the text of the actual rule:
“In the case of a vacancy in the Office of Speaker, the next Member on the list described in subdivision (B) shall act as Speaker pro tempore until the election of a Speaker or a Speaker pro tempore. Pending such election the Member acting as Speaker pro tempore may exercise such authorities of the Office of the Speaker as may be necessary and appropriate to that end.”
So whatever the house says is "necessary and appropriate" and they would vote on that. Say the pro tem tried to take some action not related to a new election then somebody in the house could just raise a point of order and the house would vote on it. I suspect this is how the house will continue to function in the short term if a speaker isn't elected quickly. McHenry will just accumulate the power needed to get the must pass bills through. The key here is that it will almost certainly require Democratic votes in the House. Did democrats game this out? Not sure but I hope so. How well it goes will largely depend on McHenry's political ambitions. His seat is an extremely safe republican one but obviously he could be challenged from the right, and almost certainly will be, if he doesn't act partisan enough.
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Post by goldenvalley on Dec 14, 2023 0:20:54 GMT
On a party line vote the House will open a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Apparently the charge is that he is Hunter Biden's father. All I heard as I was driving today was something, something, sham corporations with no mention of how Joe Biden is involved and that Joe Biden received payments for loan repayments which means he benefits from Chinese money. So now that that's done the House goes home tomorrow having accomplished nothing much except wasting a lot of time picking a new Speaker. No appropriations bills passed that would also pass the Senate. Government shut down still looms in the not too distant future. And the new Speaker apparently hears from God. |
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jackd
Assistant Professor
Posts: 813
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Post by jackd on Dec 14, 2023 0:38:10 GMT
In civil law, if one files a lawsuit without evidence, he/she can be punished by the court. Criminal subpoenas are not allowed without judicial approval that there is probable cause to pursue the matter. Only Congress can issue subpoenas because it's "curious".
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Post by goldenvalley on Dec 14, 2023 3:02:13 GMT
In civil law, if one files a lawsuit without evidence, he/she can be punished by the court. Criminal subpoenas are not allowed without judicial approval that there is probable cause to pursue the matter. Only Congress can issue subpoenas because it's "curious". Yeah. All that can be done here is voters rejecting the instigators in their reelection campaigns. And now people believe that impeachment is merely partisan posturing instead of a sign that something is seriously wrong so that won't happen in gerrymandered districts in red states. |
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Post by goldenvalley on Jan 10, 2024 16:59:32 GMT
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,010
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Post by andydp on Mar 16, 2024 23:30:57 GMT
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