2015 American Politics Thread: The 114th Congress Is in the House!

is he running for president yet

wow that CSPAN call I wonder if Denny started shitting bricks right there

all Coach "Handsy" Hastert talk goes here!

would be surprised if there's just one victim tbh. these types of dudes are never one-and-done.

yeah already talk of another one

I'm constantly amazed at the kind of memory people have for this kind of weird shit:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/243418-dennis-hastert's-weird-2014-CSPAN-call

I wouldn't have thought twice about that call; and it might wind up being unrelated; but that it even stuck in someone's head long enough for cspan to have created a page for it and for people to bring it up now is ... i don't know how much time people have to obsess on this kind of ephemera.

― akm, Friday, May 29, 2015 8:51 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also that caller sounds kind of young to have been abused by Hastert in the 60's but maybe he's turned into some kind of man-child, like a Chuck and Buck thing.

― akm, Friday, May 29, 2015 8:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Denny and Benny

― akm, Friday, May 29, 2015 8:53 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll stop now.

well, look at those strapping Midwestern grapplers. i don't think Plato wd've done any different. xp

sorry for posting abt this on the presidential candidate thread.

there was a drivers ed teacher from my school who ended up going to prison after teaching for 25 years and every single girl at school was like that guy is creepy and up to no good

I'm sure we all have stories like this

soccer coach "started" dating a girl from the team right after she graduated

mine got caught, fled the state, was lured back by the victim, arrested and sent to trial, convicted and sent to prison, got out and ... got a teaching post in the midwest

where I think he still is to this day, haven't checked in awhile

what how is that possible

yup here he is (hmm no mention of it in his CV, how odd):
http://www.nwc.edu/sites/music/faculty-staff/person.html?id=6d76bd1a-5da9-4020-affe-84913e9d2c41

stay away, young ladies!

I can only assume that a) WY has extremely lax laws in this regard and b) since he's working with people who are over 18 somehow it's all... okay?

WY is not the midwest FWIW

oh fine

that guy looks like a fucking creep also SAX

no one (including my dad, who was on the teaching staff with him) was surprised when he got arrested - rumors and malicious jokes had swirled around him for years, female classmates would joke about not wanting to be left alone w him etc.

which is how it usually is with these things, kids tell other kids and stuff becomes kind of an open secret

the morality teacher at my catholic high school got busted banging a student. he told her to get an abortion.

he was also married to a v attractive lady and had a baby. what a moran.

My neighbor got arrested and served some time for having a sexual encounter with one of his 16 year old students. I've seen his ex-wife at the post office and the deli.

kind of weird to see woody allen apologist shakey mo going in on this teacher

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/30/rand-paul-vows-to-force-expiration-of-patriot-act/?hpid=z4

Senate in session on a Sunday

xp an indictment of dude's sax skills

I am not an apologist wtf

Sax teacher was convicted of a crime, looks like hastert will be too (also paying hush money is p much an admission of guilt)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/us/shaken-by-charges-for-denny.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

“That was the thing about him,” said Marty Kermeen, 58, who makes stone labyrinths. “It wasn’t like Jon Bon Jovi rolled up."

I am not an apologist wtf

een counted the number of stabs you delivered and carefully gauged the vigor of your blows, and found both to fall short of the required standard of enthusiasm, so... you're next.

Hilarious that its gonna be a gop congress that guts the patriot act. Incredible.

But will NSA and McConnell get some of what they want in 2 days, even if the Senate approves the House version (where private phone companies are expected to maintain the data for the NSA)?

looks mostly like rearranging the furniture in sum

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/31/zombie-patriot-act-will-keep-u-s-spying-even-if-the-original-dies.html

yup

there's no way the spy agencies just stop, even if they couldn't stretch the interpretation of any law to their ends.

for that reason i tend to think of the entire surveillance apparatus as essentially treasonous

Pretty sure there is a lot of money in gathering and collecting this information, not just on the NSA side but for the content providers as well. We'll be subsidizing some form of Verizon's customer database for permanent from now on.

no kidding.. thats the whole thrust of the new Hooray Freedom Act(tm). basically outsource the data hosting to third parties who will charge a hefty fucking fee for the privilege. and the metadata (lol yeah right only that) of every call in the world is probably quite a bit of data to store..

as usual Charlie Savage is indispensable:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/us/a-gap-in-surveillance-but-ways-around-it.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

i feel like if the US gov ever tried to use NSA data to blackmail a US activist, and said activist told the NYT, that would be a huge story - even w/ prolific data collection, isn't a free press always the best bulwark against the abuse of that information?

it's way more likely that the story would appear in The Guardian first

Mordy's friend Greenwald would write it.

wherever, the west doesn't lack for media who would love to run that kind of blockbuster story.

Dem advisor Greenberg on trying to win back white, working class voters. He's done his surveys and is sure he knows the answer. Sorta

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/junejulyaugust_2015/features/the_average_joes_proviso055824.php?page=all

Yet they are only ready to listen when they think that Democrats understand their deeply held belief that politics has been corrupted and government has failed. Championing reform of government and the political process is the price of admission with these voters. These white working-class and downscale voters are acutely conscious of the growing role of big money in politics and of a government that works for the 1 percent, not them.

It is possible that their cynicism about government is grounded in a fundamental individualism and long-standing American skepticism about intrusive government. And it also may be rooted in a race-conscious aversion to government spending that they believe fosters dependency and idleness—the principal critique of today’s conservative Republicans. If that is the prevailing dynamic, no appeal, no matter how compelling, would bring increased support for government activism.

Yet the white working-class and downscale voters in our surveys do support major parts of a progressive, activist agenda, particularly when a Democratic candidate boldly attacks the role of money and special interests dominating government and aggressively promotes reforms to ensure that average citizens get both their say and their money’s worth. These findings came out of innovative research conducted in partnership with Page Gardner’s Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund and David Donnelly’s Every Voice.

Occupy didn't accomplish much but I am glad that "1%" meme has become so thoroughly ingrained in political discourse

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/hoyer-dems-need-to-ease-off-the-trade-attacks-on-fellow-dems-118550.html

fuckin weasel

so the House bill passed - aside from the declassification of certain court decisions I'm unclear about which NSA powers have been rescinded. Are the NSA required to go to court to get records now, is that the deal? Seems like a good thing.

or at least better than how it was

It's on the telecom companies now, not the NSA.

well telecom companies can't have me murdered without a trial so that seems like a net win

but they will surely hand over their records, right?

I'm sure they will, but having an extra layer of judicial review can't be a bad thing