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

ten points off for "behind the scenes-y stuff" though

v good Keyes, i didn't catch that

https://twitter.com/CallyGingrich/status/664576323004813312

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-is-reached.html

Its full 30-chapter text will not be available for perhaps a month, but labor unions, environmentalists and liberal activists are poised to argue that the agreement favors big business over workers and environmental protection. Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the Pacific trade accord as “a bad deal,” injecting conservative populism into the debate and emboldening some congressional Republicans who fear for local interests like sugar and rice, and many conservatives who oppose Mr. Obama at every turn.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 5 October 2015 21:29 (1 month ago)

The whole TPPA text's out; some initial takes (from a NZ perspective) at http://pantograph-punch.com/post/ten-or-so-TPPA-deep-cuts ... investor-state dispute settlements, oh boy.

This will be fun...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-13/house-republican-hard-liners-drafting-contract-with-america-ii-

Members of the House Freedom Caucus are preparing a "Contract With America II" that would call for House votes in the first 100 days of 2016 on replacing Obamacare, overhauling entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and repealing the estate tax.

An early draft of the plan obtained by Bloomberg News also calls for legislation to slash government regulations by 20 percent, cut corporate tax rates and expand offshore oil drilling. Efforts are still under way to finalize contents of the "contract," which lawmakers say they hope will become the basis of House Republicans’ 2016 agenda

just delete every 5th word of every regulatory document

i love how the freedom caucus view themselves as the True Conservatives, willing to fight against everyone including the GOP establishment, but when it comes to putting forward an agenda they list the same exact policies that the entire GOP has been supporting for a decade+

but they REALLY support it

more show votes on repealing Obamacare! it's what the country really needs.

delete every fifth letter, imho - if i've learned anything from image macros shared on facebook, your brain can fill in the rest!

yeah isn't that the whole point? like they call the regular republicans RINOs because in their view, they say they support all this unsustainable impossible legsislative bullshit just to get elected, but don't (frequently enough) press for hopeless self-defeating psycho showdowns.

but anyway don't these "contract" things work better if they're, like, something the congressional delegation is agreed upon, and running on? so that they then can claim a mandate, however dubious the claim might be? this looks more like some kind of norquist-pledge type stunt that's more about identifying republican congresspersons who aren't willing to "sign the contract," so they can then be more thoroughly called out as RINOs, in those media channels that already see them as RINOs anyway. nice that they're not even waiting for paul ryan to attempt some kind of leadership platform before putting this together.

well they're not passing bills, gotta do something

and the sun rises

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/260220-republican-calls-for-increased-surveillance-in-muslim-neighborhoods

Rep Peter King, same as always.

Was also reading about how one of Paul Ryan's outside advisors on foreign policy for a number of years now, is Elliot Abrams, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for withholding evidence during the Iran-Contra scandal.

King is a moderate! He doesn't want to round em up and put em in camps.

are you really defending professional asshole Peter King

I believe that was snark. As in he doesn't wish to actively exterminate them.

ah of course

Texas governator:

Greg Abbott
‏@GregAbbott_TX
BREAKING: Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the U.S. act similarly. Security comes first.

http://gov.texas.gov/files/press-office/SyrianRefugees_BarackObama11162015.pdf

Can we force TX to secede?

i still think Pete King is trying to SEO himself and that's why he keeps coming out with more and more outrageous things to say. he's got to be monetizing this in some direct way.

The "defense industry" is doing nicely today

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/16/stock-prices-of-weapons-manufacturers-soaring-since-paris-attack/

I guess there was a memo that got sent out:

The Republican governors -- in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Massachusetts, and Texas -- say their top concern must be the safety of state residents, and they say there's a chance the refugees include people with terrorist ties.

their top concern must be the safety of state residents,

except when it comes to drugs and health care

er, i mean drugs, health care, and guns

since when could governors make demands

watch out, they can also summon spirits from the vasty deep.

These governors have no ability or power to enforce such a ban, do they? On what grounds -- and via what methods -- could they possibly ban from their states immigrants whose status has been approved by Federal immigration authorities?

except when it comes to drugs and health care

or climate change or living wages or or or

via what methods

In refugee situations, immigrants are generally given government assistance in resettling to their new country. In the USA such assistance is facilitated by the state governments, which usually run social welfare programs, even if much of their regulation and funding is from the federal government. We have a weird confusing system.

Obama conducting himself admirably imo:

Mr. Obama grew especially animated in rebuffing suggestions by some Republican presidential candidates, governors and lawmakers that the United States should block entry of Syrian refugees to prevent terrorists from slipping into the country.

“The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism; they are the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war and strife,” Mr. Obama said. He added: “We do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism.”

Without naming him, Mr. Obama singled out a comment by former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, one of the Republicans seeking to succeed him, for suggesting the United States focus special attention on Christian refugees. “That’s shameful,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s not American. It’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”

I recall Nino's dissent in the Arizona immigration case in which he basically said sovereign states should be able to exclude whomever they please.

fuck these liars

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/123888/john-brennan-and-james-woolsey-think-edward-snowden-should-be-blamed-for-the-paris-attacks

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/15/exploiting-emotions-about-paris-to-blame-snowden-distract-from-actual-culprits-who-empowered-isis/

they hate us for our freedom

Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, broke with most in his party and told reporters that a pause in accepting Syrian refugees "may be necessary."

feeling p good about my household "no Schumers" policy

party leadership soon to be in his capable reactionary hands

i know for various reasons (well money basically) it would probably be futile but that guy should be primaried every cycle. sometimes you get lucky.

just such fucking cowards always

oh he should definitely be primaried, surely there are better candidates from NY out there

is Jacob Javits dead

yes but his convention center lives on

GUESS LEVIS GUESS LEVIS

Chuck went there

“Israel and the Jewish people have been subject to the same type of terrorism since the 70s. And for so long, when it just happened to Israel, the world condoned it. They [may have not] condoned it, but maybe didn’t do much about it, and Israel had to fight terrorism on her own. And, because the world did not rise up, this terrorism, like a cancer, has spread throughout the world.”

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/against-terrorism-schumer

on her own lol

if fucking only

since the 70s? on her own? what alternate universe does this guy live in?

Manhattan

the Senate

Bibi's colon

btw did you guys know feingold is running to win his old senate seat back and is apparently polling pretty well? having him back would be nice

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12274485_10153702703563255_8470062729100080694_n.jpg?oh=d4e62c0539ad90b946d910129182c66b&oe=56B42E32