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

The GOP-controlled Senate is on track this year to confirm the fewest judges since 1969, a dramatic escalation of the long-running partisan feud over the ideological makeup of federal courts.

The standoff, if it continues through the 2016 elections as expected, could diminish the stamp that President Barack Obama leaves on the judiciary — a less conspicuous but critical part of his legacy. Practically, the makeup of lower-level courts could directly affect a number of Obama’s policies expected to face legal challenges from conservatives.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/payback-gop-blocks-obama-judge-picks-judiciary-119743.html#ixzz3f8eSpyA3

Meanwhile here's the truly frightening candidate: http://www.jsonline.com/news/scott-walker-calls-for-open-records-overhaul-to-be-completely-removed-or-changed-b99532073z1-311638151.html

Important piece of this story: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-office-operating-as-if-proposed-open-records-exemptions-are-law-b99532581z1-311737471.html

its like attorney client privilege minus the attorneys and the clients

http://www.kirkbangstad.com/

This dude is trying to take out Sean Duffy. He also sang in the Glee Club the year after I graduated. I hope he wins.

heh, Nancy needlin Boehner:

Democrats responded by reintroducing a resolution that would have mandated the removal of Mississippi’s state flag from display on U.S. Capitol grounds, because it displays the Confederate “Battle Flag.” That resolution, offered by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was tabled on a mostly partisan vote that referred it to a committee.

Those Democratic moves left Boehner angry over what he saw as the rejection of his attempt to defuse the issue. “The Speaker offered a thoughtful and responsible way to address this issue and Pelosi responded with a cheap political stunt,” Kevin Smith, Boehner’s spokesman, said.

Surprising story on McConnell's liberal civil rights record:

But Mr. McConnell’s interest in race issues was inspired by his upbringing in Kentucky by parents who opposed segregation. It was fermented on the campus of the University of Louisville, where he encouraged students to march with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was reinforced by his internship in the office of Senator John Sherman Cooper, a Kentucky Republican who helped break the Southern-led filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It also surfaced during his first term in the Senate, when Mr. McConnell’s vote helped Congress override President Ronald Reagan’s veto of a measure imposing sanctions on South Africa during apartheid, and has persisted through his years in the United States Capitol, most recently last month, when Mr. McConnell stood before reporters and said that a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, should be removed from Kentucky’s Capitol.

“This whole business of America moving past its original sin,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview, “has been over a big period during which I have lived.”

huh I had no idea

A huge story and win for Democrats: Florida Supreme Court orders redrawing of congressional districts.

Destroyed records. Shadowy projects with names like “Sputnik” and “Frankenstein.” And a college student whose identity was stolen to provide cover for political operatives.

Welcome to Florida, where the tentacles of gerrymandering are as tightly coiled around the statehouse as an invasive Burmese python.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_07/culture_war_video056589.php

The rightwing just never stop with their attempts at entrapment videos

a previously unknown antichoice group called the Center for Medical Progress

fwiw this "group" is one guy ("investigative journalist") who created a website to give his clinic harassment a veneer of legitimacy

literally no "medical" anything involved in "the center for medical progress"

ohhh THIS is what the conservative douchebag singer I went to college with was ranting about on Facebook yesterday when he called surrogacy under any circumstances an abomination and human slavery (it took a while but it eventually got to "I'm mad people are selling fetus parts")

I heard about this last night without any context and the first thing I thought of was that it was some James O'Keefe type shit. No surprise to discover that's exactly what it is.

what is O'Keefe up to these days anyway

I'm sure we'll hear from him soon.

Meanwhile Chuck Schumer continues his dance of the seven veils for the Dems' anti-treaty wing.

http://prospect.org/article/how-american-south-drives-low-wage-economy

Just as in the 1850s (with the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Act), the Southern labor system (with low pay and no unions) is wending its way north.

By
Harold Meyerson

JE in SF:
http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/37/56/65/8318279/15/920x920.jpg

sorry wrong thread

thank god obama finally lowered the flags for the shooting victims so I don't need to see my idiot family complaining about anymore.

We probably keep that flag lowered 24/7

i've heard more about fucking flags in the past month than I have in my entire life

should make ISIS dildo flag the new flag of the nation

Why the presidency matters.

Plus Congress too

Now, with a push from President Obama, and perhaps even more significantly a nod from Speaker John A. Boehner, Congress seems poised to revise four decades of federal policy that greatly expanded the number of Americans — to roughly 750 per 100,000 — now incarcerated, by far the highest of any Western nation.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has long resisted changes to federal sentencing laws, said he expected to have a bipartisan bill ready before the August recess.

“It will be a bill that can have broad conservative support,” said Mr. Grassley, who as recently as this year praised the virtues of mandatory minimums on the Senate floor.

!

Just ain't the money in building prisons there usta be.

I hope those presidential appointments somehow overcome Waterworld, Alfred.

They probably won't — imo that's not a good enough reason to throw up your hands and say
http://www.big-t-shirts.com/ProdImages/big/who-gives-a-shit.jpg_1244.jpg

I was told immigration reform was all but assured too, but some unreasonable dickheads ruined everything

it's not ME who doesn't give a shit.

solitary posts that effortlessly sum up morbz' ilx persona

you need to be tied to a solitary post

btw Ted Cruz called O the leading state sponsor of terror? Stopped clock twice a day, huh?

In more mundane news, the Republican House and the Republican Senate are having trouble agreeing to a highway bill, with some of the Senate in favor of a "compromise" 6 year Senate bill, while the House just wants a 3 month extention to then later develop a longer bill. But Repubs can't agree on how to fund it, and won't listen to Dem proposals on how to do so

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/249598-senate-ends-debate-on-highway-bill

remember when mcconnell took credit for the economy improving because their congressional majority was about to git-er-done w/ legislation ? lawl

Capehart claims Mitch has got it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/07/29/how-mitch-mcconnell-went-gangsta-on-ted-cruz-and-mike-lee/

okay lol at what he did to Mike Lee

don't fuck w the blobfish

Capehart is absolutely correct about McConnell's leadership vs. Boehner's. they're both shitbags, but McConnell knows how to run the game.

mcconnell seems genuinely interested in governing. what a concept.

all the jockeying over symbolic votes to overturn Obamacare are hilarious, like this is what they're wasting their time/energy/political capital on when there is absolutely zero hope that they will ever get the votes to override a veto

It's to avoid a primary fight at home. But at one point does a voter say, "OK, message received, you want my vote, stop trying and go get laid"?

my congressman was just indicted:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/chaka-fattah-indicted-criminal-charges-philadelphia-mayor-campaign-120775.html

this is the second congressman i've voted for to be embroiled in an ethical scandal (i was living in washington heights when charlie rangel got in trouble)

It's amazing to me how cheaply these dudes get bought

there's a whole like political science theory about that

or maybe just daily kos memes idk

Phil Gramm has thoughts on the 5th anniversary of Dodd-Frank:

GRAMM: It’s the one form of bigotry that is still allowed in America, and that’s bigotry against the successful … My friend Ed Whitacre at AT&T, if there’s ever been an exploited worker, even though they made a big deal about him getting $75 million when he retired, the man added billions of dollars of value, he was exploited, it was an outrage!

(his exploited friend was actually given a $158 million retirement package, not $75)

an OUTRAGE