One of the ways that Rick Scott is working to "bring people together" is proposing that Social Security sunset every five years unless Congress renews it each time. Please senator, take some quiet time for yourself, and stop working so hard. You're doing it wrong.
I'm willing to give Rick Scott the benefit of the doubt. Namely, that he's sufficiently politically acute to know that Florida voters don't really care who their US Senators are as long as they're Republicans. Scott could be hit by a bus or a lightning bolt tomorrow, and Floridians would roll with whomever DeSantis appointed.
OTOH, any public separation from Trump would render him a RINO at best, but more likely a Democrat in MAGA clothing. IOW, politically suicidal. In contrast, stridently dissing McConnell would cause no issues at all among Florida voters, so just failing to defend McConnell is NBD at all.
Plus Scott has obvious presidential ambitions, and the only path to the GOP nomination requires sucking up to MAGA, which is inconsistent with saying ANYTHING critical of Trump.
McConnell carried water for Trump for the last six years and now Trump shits all over him. Karma can be such a bitch. I wonder when McCarthy and Scott will get their turn.
Speaking of CPAC - over the weekend the disease infected Australia- where at a CPAC held conference, the extreme right of the spectrum appeared as well as two ex Prime Ministers (which is very much regrettable). True to form, the Australian Right is becoming more extreme - MAGA style - and during one panel, a Mona Charen moment occurred where former Senator Nick Minchin was booed by the crowd for suggesting the Liberal Party (the Oz GOP) is worth sticking with and doesn’t need constitutional or structural reform. To get this into full context, Senator Minchin has been the leader of the Conservative faction for 3 decades and is still influential but clearly he’s not right wing enough - here’s how the media reported the story and you can check out the video of Senator Minchin giving it back to the crowd and accusing them of being socialists - .... for what it is worth, I worked for Nick between 1998 and 2000 and he’s no left winger but would seem the right hunt heretics these days and devour their own https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/liberals-booed-and-heckled-by-furious-cpac-audience/news-story/b53be3f19686f742d6cadbe55ed71960
SPOILER ALERT! Sitting republicans won't like this.
That I suspect includes many from the Bulwark. It strikes me that on the best of days during Trunmps Reighn was the 2017 tax cut for rich people they never asked for. After that? It's fuck mexicans and the horse they rode in on." That's really all of you, not just MAGA porn people.
Then to recall for me when the last time the GOP pushed a bill that actually dealt with improving American's lives. I get it that they improved their own saving cash but this is not the nation of immigrants Reagan spoke of, and I don't really think much of Reagan either. It is largely a self serving minority that doesn't want any kind of federal government in anyway beyond boosting the defense budget to a level higher than all other free world nations combined. Some compassionate conservatism.
Now we can actually watch the GOP turning away from Ukraine and supporting putin and the ostensibly responsible GOP people shuffle and hide. They want their jobs and their influence and their power and they could not give a rat's ass about anything else.
Show me here where anyone is actually standing up for womens rights to choose a doctor and follow the doctor's advice. Show me the republican who is standing up for women. Crickets. The more liberal minded people here will keep cheering until Trump is in his grave if we're lucky. Once that's over, the truce will collapse and so will Bulwark. It won't have enough paying members to make it attractive.
I'll give MTG credit where credit is due. Do ALL Democrats want all Repubicans dead? Certainly not.
But from my perspective the world would be a much much better place if every single person who still considers him/herself a Republican despite the fuckery that is Trump and MAGA, just vanished off the face of the earth overnight.
Not only would I not shed a tear, I'd have a party.
The Republican Party is now clearly a fascist institution intent on doing everything in their power to steal elections, create a theocratic state, and further destroy the lives of minorities. In what universe is the world NOT a better place without people who subscribe to this fascist ideology?
Should they be rounded up and shot? Clearly not. But if they were to just magicaly disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, that would be a an amazing turn of events.
Shay Khatiri's piece on our broken immigration made me cry, but it's not surprising. I live in Texas and have known several Dreamers through the years. I've also met several undocumented immigrants. Trying to get a green card or become a citizen can be a very expensive convoluted process. Most people don't have the resources. Beyond that Republicans have criminalized brown people. The rhetoric Republicans use is similar to what Germany used against the Jews. Republicans will never agree to any immigration reform. As John McCain wrote - only when it helps them politically will the GOP welcome immigrants.
Okay, all who understand there’s no way Republicans can get the majority again, time to donate FOR THE OPPONENTS of Oz, Ron Johnson and JD Vance, whether the race is in your state or not. I think their opponents (FETTERMAN, MANDELA BARNES, TIM RYAN) led for so long donors didn't think they needed money. Hardball time - get your money out and donate to save our country! Mitch is throwing huge money to these Republican candidates he doesn’t even approve of.
I feel empathy with Shay, but what the heck!? He doesn't know the name of the agency he is dealing with. He is also misinformed about USCIS's troubles in 2020. If two major facts are wrong in the first section, I read the rest with extreme caution. (It's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, by the way.)
The asylum and refugee processes both are suboptimal. However, his problem is timing mostly. In 2020, because a lot of money suddenly wasn't where it was supposed to be, USCIS quit hiring people or doing employee transfers. Then because of the pandemic, all interviews we cancelled for much of the year. The immigration courts closed. Then came the furlough threat. That meant that lots of people fled to other agencies to protect themselves from that furlough. At the end of FY20, things were a little better. In 2021,new people opted to rehire those positions. But hiring new people takes time.
It sucks that the agency was mismanaged for couple of years. It sucks that all of DHS was mismanaged for most of the prior admin. But it hits everyone. Did anyone need a Social Security appointment in 2021?
Elaine Chao worked in Trump's cabinet for 4 ugly years. She's a politician in her own right who is perfectly capable of defending herself - although she very noticeably isn't doing so. Not that she should have to. Nobody should be required to jump simply because Trump cracks the racist whip. But it sure doesn't seem like she had the best time serving in his cabinet. A saying about leopards eating faces might be appropriate here.
It's the smallest of consolations, but some days, it's nice knowing I never have to apologize for Trump's behavior. It's only October of 2022, more than two years until the next Presidential election. There's so much time available for Trump to keep going lower and lower every time he feels slightly threatened.
Trump had been run off the headlines and popular conversation by this hurricane and little fracas in Ukraine. In an effort to grab some attention back, Trump uses his strategery to pop off juvenile, racist remarks about McConnell and especially his wife. (“Coco” is catchier, more alliterative, than “Elaine”.). McConnell employs his normal, minimalist strategy of ignoring it. Ted Cruz looked humiliated by his ineffectual momentary outrage at Trump calling his wife ugly and his father an assassin, melting into “yes, my wife is indeed ugly, very ugly, and I’m sorry my dad was a traitor”. McConnell just let’s Trump throw flailing haymakers as he stands above him and holds his hand on his head. He has gotten the judges and tax breaks out of the Trump piñata. Now he just has to wait for the Justice Department to clean up the pieces of crockery.
If we do have to wade into the morass of a Benghazi-style investigation into Hunter Biden's China business, let's not lose sight of the fact that investments in young Biden's private equity positions were in the several millions. By contrast, Jared Kushner managed, while on the government clock, to unload a white elephant building for 1300 million and accept another 2000 million as an "investment" in a start-up of his own design.
Unfortunately the only testicles in the replugs party are in Liz Chaney's purse ..
Read the Rolling Stone piece. I didn’t think it was possible for me to love Michael Fanone more than I already did…but I was wrong :)
One of the ways that Rick Scott is working to "bring people together" is proposing that Social Security sunset every five years unless Congress renews it each time. Please senator, take some quiet time for yourself, and stop working so hard. You're doing it wrong.
I'm willing to give Rick Scott the benefit of the doubt. Namely, that he's sufficiently politically acute to know that Florida voters don't really care who their US Senators are as long as they're Republicans. Scott could be hit by a bus or a lightning bolt tomorrow, and Floridians would roll with whomever DeSantis appointed.
OTOH, any public separation from Trump would render him a RINO at best, but more likely a Democrat in MAGA clothing. IOW, politically suicidal. In contrast, stridently dissing McConnell would cause no issues at all among Florida voters, so just failing to defend McConnell is NBD at all.
Plus Scott has obvious presidential ambitions, and the only path to the GOP nomination requires sucking up to MAGA, which is inconsistent with saying ANYTHING critical of Trump.
Interesting - the WSJ editorial board didn't like "DEATH WISH" comment at all. I read it in Politicususa. But here's the WSJ link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-death-wish-rhetoric-mitch-mcconnell-elaine-chao-truth-social-violence-donald-11664735710
McConnell carried water for Trump for the last six years and now Trump shits all over him. Karma can be such a bitch. I wonder when McCarthy and Scott will get their turn.
Speaking of CPAC - over the weekend the disease infected Australia- where at a CPAC held conference, the extreme right of the spectrum appeared as well as two ex Prime Ministers (which is very much regrettable). True to form, the Australian Right is becoming more extreme - MAGA style - and during one panel, a Mona Charen moment occurred where former Senator Nick Minchin was booed by the crowd for suggesting the Liberal Party (the Oz GOP) is worth sticking with and doesn’t need constitutional or structural reform. To get this into full context, Senator Minchin has been the leader of the Conservative faction for 3 decades and is still influential but clearly he’s not right wing enough - here’s how the media reported the story and you can check out the video of Senator Minchin giving it back to the crowd and accusing them of being socialists - .... for what it is worth, I worked for Nick between 1998 and 2000 and he’s no left winger but would seem the right hunt heretics these days and devour their own https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/liberals-booed-and-heckled-by-furious-cpac-audience/news-story/b53be3f19686f742d6cadbe55ed71960
SPOILER ALERT! Sitting republicans won't like this.
That I suspect includes many from the Bulwark. It strikes me that on the best of days during Trunmps Reighn was the 2017 tax cut for rich people they never asked for. After that? It's fuck mexicans and the horse they rode in on." That's really all of you, not just MAGA porn people.
Then to recall for me when the last time the GOP pushed a bill that actually dealt with improving American's lives. I get it that they improved their own saving cash but this is not the nation of immigrants Reagan spoke of, and I don't really think much of Reagan either. It is largely a self serving minority that doesn't want any kind of federal government in anyway beyond boosting the defense budget to a level higher than all other free world nations combined. Some compassionate conservatism.
Now we can actually watch the GOP turning away from Ukraine and supporting putin and the ostensibly responsible GOP people shuffle and hide. They want their jobs and their influence and their power and they could not give a rat's ass about anything else.
Show me here where anyone is actually standing up for womens rights to choose a doctor and follow the doctor's advice. Show me the republican who is standing up for women. Crickets. The more liberal minded people here will keep cheering until Trump is in his grave if we're lucky. Once that's over, the truce will collapse and so will Bulwark. It won't have enough paying members to make it attractive.
I'll give MTG credit where credit is due. Do ALL Democrats want all Repubicans dead? Certainly not.
But from my perspective the world would be a much much better place if every single person who still considers him/herself a Republican despite the fuckery that is Trump and MAGA, just vanished off the face of the earth overnight.
Not only would I not shed a tear, I'd have a party.
The Republican Party is now clearly a fascist institution intent on doing everything in their power to steal elections, create a theocratic state, and further destroy the lives of minorities. In what universe is the world NOT a better place without people who subscribe to this fascist ideology?
Should they be rounded up and shot? Clearly not. But if they were to just magicaly disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, that would be a an amazing turn of events.
Shay Khatiri's piece on our broken immigration made me cry, but it's not surprising. I live in Texas and have known several Dreamers through the years. I've also met several undocumented immigrants. Trying to get a green card or become a citizen can be a very expensive convoluted process. Most people don't have the resources. Beyond that Republicans have criminalized brown people. The rhetoric Republicans use is similar to what Germany used against the Jews. Republicans will never agree to any immigration reform. As John McCain wrote - only when it helps them politically will the GOP welcome immigrants.
Okay, all who understand there’s no way Republicans can get the majority again, time to donate FOR THE OPPONENTS of Oz, Ron Johnson and JD Vance, whether the race is in your state or not. I think their opponents (FETTERMAN, MANDELA BARNES, TIM RYAN) led for so long donors didn't think they needed money. Hardball time - get your money out and donate to save our country! Mitch is throwing huge money to these Republican candidates he doesn’t even approve of.
I feel empathy with Shay, but what the heck!? He doesn't know the name of the agency he is dealing with. He is also misinformed about USCIS's troubles in 2020. If two major facts are wrong in the first section, I read the rest with extreme caution. (It's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, by the way.)
The asylum and refugee processes both are suboptimal. However, his problem is timing mostly. In 2020, because a lot of money suddenly wasn't where it was supposed to be, USCIS quit hiring people or doing employee transfers. Then because of the pandemic, all interviews we cancelled for much of the year. The immigration courts closed. Then came the furlough threat. That meant that lots of people fled to other agencies to protect themselves from that furlough. At the end of FY20, things were a little better. In 2021,new people opted to rehire those positions. But hiring new people takes time.
It sucks that the agency was mismanaged for couple of years. It sucks that all of DHS was mismanaged for most of the prior admin. But it hits everyone. Did anyone need a Social Security appointment in 2021?
Elaine Chao worked in Trump's cabinet for 4 ugly years. She's a politician in her own right who is perfectly capable of defending herself - although she very noticeably isn't doing so. Not that she should have to. Nobody should be required to jump simply because Trump cracks the racist whip. But it sure doesn't seem like she had the best time serving in his cabinet. A saying about leopards eating faces might be appropriate here.
It's the smallest of consolations, but some days, it's nice knowing I never have to apologize for Trump's behavior. It's only October of 2022, more than two years until the next Presidential election. There's so much time available for Trump to keep going lower and lower every time he feels slightly threatened.
Trump had been run off the headlines and popular conversation by this hurricane and little fracas in Ukraine. In an effort to grab some attention back, Trump uses his strategery to pop off juvenile, racist remarks about McConnell and especially his wife. (“Coco” is catchier, more alliterative, than “Elaine”.). McConnell employs his normal, minimalist strategy of ignoring it. Ted Cruz looked humiliated by his ineffectual momentary outrage at Trump calling his wife ugly and his father an assassin, melting into “yes, my wife is indeed ugly, very ugly, and I’m sorry my dad was a traitor”. McConnell just let’s Trump throw flailing haymakers as he stands above him and holds his hand on his head. He has gotten the judges and tax breaks out of the Trump piñata. Now he just has to wait for the Justice Department to clean up the pieces of crockery.
If we do have to wade into the morass of a Benghazi-style investigation into Hunter Biden's China business, let's not lose sight of the fact that investments in young Biden's private equity positions were in the several millions. By contrast, Jared Kushner managed, while on the government clock, to unload a white elephant building for 1300 million and accept another 2000 million as an "investment" in a start-up of his own design.
Maybe the Democrats should nominate Michael Fanone for President.