Can We Try De-Exhuming McCarthy, US Politics July 2021

https://i.imgur.com/IFOoydG.jpg
meet me at the book burning

excellent work

In re Jason Miller's would-be Twitter clone, I look forward to the collapse and the "GETTR Done" headlines.

The Supreme Court's FIRST opinion of the day is in Brnovich, the Voting Rights Act case. It's a 6–3 decision with Alito writing the majority. All three liberals dissent. https://t.co/k7cbzSBfly pic.twitter.com/uBxoDjMYq4

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 1, 2021

BAD!

In the Supreme Court's second and final opinion of the day, Americans for Prosperity, the majority holds that California's donor disclosure law is FACIALLY INVALID under the First Amendment. 6–3 decision, all three liberals dissent. https://t.co/AacIrDI3Gm pic.twitter.com/x3HuTBJkPm

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 1, 2021

ALSO PRETTY BAD!

someone should do something imo

The GOP Supremes have long signaled that they will not invalidate any voting restrictions unless maybe they are literally called the White Voters Only Act, and maybe not even then.

It's hi-larious that there are going to be like 300 right-wing twitter-like social media sites, thus defusing the consequentiality of any of them. The only reason Twitter is as big as it is, is its size and ubiquity.

^^^substitute for the word "big", "looms too large in our consciousness unwelcome and unbidden".

GETTR as a platform name was probably test-marketed in Cincinnati, and people said “Yeah, it sounds great!” because they thought they were talking about goetta.

honestly SC decisions today really bumming me out

yeah but it's Independence Day weekend

pucker up, buttercup

It is pretty fucking depressing that 56 years after Selma the Voting Rights Act — which King rightly thought was at least as important if not more important than the Civil Rights Act — is barely there at all. Just a reminder that none of these fights are ever won for good.

Some lines from a poem I discussed with workshop students this past week:

"The good do not deserve anything more
than their virtue. The evil
inherit the earth"

This building collapse in Florida seems like the US infrastructure issues in a bottle. From what I am reading, there are LOTS of these buildings that have these issues all up and down their coasts. Lots and lots of condos that perhaps were built perhaps not exactly as they should have been in decades past and then the repairs put off by the condo boards for the costs, which the longer they are put off the prices exponentially go up to repair.

Got to wonder how long until these Florida politicians are handing out their hat to the Feds to help repair and bailout their beachfront property?

unfortunately, since the issue has something to do with climate change, republicans will not be able to support any infrastructure spending

It's like anything, it's not an issue until some rich mf'ers decide it is something they want Uncle Sam to buy. I'm sure this is all some Democratic mayors fault. That said, the money would just buy enough of both sides to cover their bottom line just like Exxon.

GOP has been f'ing wrong on about every major policy issue other than making money for the rich forever. That they have been really good at doing, so really nothing else matters.

Have a happy 4th!

already a condo complex near me evacuated its tenants due to safety issues. this is basically where owners finally fess up to the potentially catastrophic damage that's always been present in their buildings.

I was surprised how few IRL examples of this type of building collapse I could find in history, but a friend and I were talking and think this could definitely happen again, given how many rich building owners can seem to bribe their way into good inspections.

There was the Fidenae amphitheater collapse that killed 20000 people

the Roman Senate took swift action

https://i.imgur.com/AmoVetr.png

the peanut farmers celebrate their 75th anniversary this week

seriously thought that was an old timey lesbian couple

NPR's annual reposting of the Declaration of Independence gets predictable replies. -

🧵 245 years ago today, leaders representing 13 British colonies signed a document to declare independence.

It says "that all men are created equal" — but women, enslaved people, Indigenous people and many others were not held as equal at the time. https://t.co/dtE0z2Uabc

— NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2021

I was surprised how few IRL examples of this type of building collapse I could find in history, but a friend and I were talking and think this could definitely happen again, given how many rich building owners can seem to bribe their way into good inspections.

how's the Grenfell inquiry going

it continues

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09n7tk8

--------
the leaders

Of the nearly 700 Republicans who have filed initial paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run next year for either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives, at least a third have embraced Trump’s false claims about his defeat.

Many of them — 136 — are sitting members of Congress who voted against Joe Biden’s electoral college victory on Jan. 6.

Similarly, of the nearly 600 state lawmakers who publicly embraced Trump’s false claims, about 500 face reelection this year or next. Most of them signed legal briefs or resolutions challenging Biden’s victory. At least 16 of them attended the Jan. 6 protest in Washington.

“What’s really frightening right now is the extent of the effort to steal power over future elections,” said Jena Griswold, the Democratic secretary of state in Colorado. “That’s what we’re seeing across the nation. Literally in almost every swing state, we have someone running for secretary of state who has been fearmongering about the 2020 election or was at the insurrection. Democracy will be on the ballot in 2022.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-trump-2022-midterms-election-falsehoods/2021/07/04/3a43438c-d36f-11eb-ae54-515e2f63d37d_story.html

--------
the people they lead

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed 74 percent of people who haven’t been vaccinated say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated — and that the divide fell sharply along party lines. According to the survey, 86 percent of Democrats have received at least one vaccine shot compared with 45 percent of Republicans. Only 6 percent of Democrats said they are not likely to get vaccinated, compared with 47 percent of Republicans, including 38 percent of Republicans overall who said they definitely will not get the vaccine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/04/republicans-vaccines/

------
or maybe it's the other way around. only a total fool can get elected in the GOP now. if you say anything that resembles reality, they primary you with Q and actually win, because they're all so fucking dum-.....foolish

good morning!

XP One of those dopes is a guy I went to high school with who has--afaict--no real political experience outside of working extensively with a 'Back The Blue' organization for the last couple of years, which apparently is enough to take a shot at a US Congressional seat in a hard-R white flight district with an open seat next year.

seems worthy of some american dollars

ppl outside of KY love to be like 'ky what is wrong with yall??' when mcconnell and rand paul do the shitty things they do.

well now yall can help us get rand paul out of here. wld you spend $20 to replace him with a black man who gets it? https://t.co/KPhynJ2J4e https://t.co/cv68r6SINe

— tracy the business goose (@brokeymcpoverty) July 1, 2021

hell yeah

JIM CLYBURN: "We are always for voter ID. We are never for disproportionate voter ID. When you tell me…a photo for a student for an activity card is not good but for a hunting license it is good that's where the rub is. I don't know of a single person…against ID-ing themselves" pic.twitter.com/gd4qVZCYnt

— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 4, 2021

Is that bad? It seems he is just attacking the Rs voter ID arguments head on by saying, “if an ID is good enough to get a hunting license, it is good enough to vote”.

hunting licenses don't have photos on them, do they?

Idk, but I believe the point stands either way. He is basically reiterating Stacy Abrams position from 1-2 months ago.

Which is a big shift (and cave-in) from Democrats arguments for the last 10+ years and it’s ridiculous to say “no, we were always pro voter ID!!!”

If it somehow gets the voting rights bill passed then that might be a win. I know it won’t but not a big deal.

Some subtle indications here that some members of the minority may not be acting in total good faith. https://t.co/c0h7KZbhRv

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 6, 2021

sing along: deeaaaath CULLLLLLT

https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/trump-suing-zuckerberg-dorsey-bias-censorship-1235013445/

must be nice to have all this money to waste.

I'm sure he's already soliciting donations to his legal fund*.

*Donations to "legal fund" may or may not be used for any particular actions, legal or illegal

if 'illegal' is so bad, why does it have the word 'legal' in it.

i mean inflammable and flammable mean the same thing

doesn't cost him anything neanderthal. he has lawyers on retainer who can file paperwork, he's not actually going to go through with it. it's just free press.

And, as we learned from Rudy and others, somehow he keeps finding these lawyers willing to forego payment for... something?

Rudy Can Fail

Haha, yeah and he’s not even talking with Rudy anymore.

Makes me think of Chris Christie, too. Just public humiliation after humiliation, and he got nothing for his loyalty.

Trump must just string everyone along or threaten them, and if you’re gullible or cowardly you end up getting fucked

Roger Stone gets paid in sex.

Actually it’s a Querelle situation:
If T wins the dice throw he gets to fuck Stone’s wife, but if he loses the throw it’s hello Nixon back tattoo.

And there it is: Trump fundraising appeal off his lawsuit already out pic.twitter.com/4KUaokjezH

— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) July 7, 2021

ah yes, getting your name on the Donor List President Trump sees, the ultimate achievement in American politics. look, i'm a guy who spends most of my free time watering my shitty lawn and now i'm on the same as chris christie!!!

i believe so xp

i was watching Angels in America (still am, only on episode 3) and googling for Trump + Roy Cohn, and that pic came up in some article or another. must be real!!

yeah i found it on vanity fair. i think it is real. he and cohn were apparently close friends in addition to cohn being his lawyer. according to unnamed sources in numerous trump tell-all books, trump still misses cohn and unfavorably compares his lawyers to him. they are "weak" where he was "strong" and a "fighter."

their relationship is pretty fascinating. trump seems to have had very few actual friendships in his life, but one of them was with one of the worst people in american history.

trump seems to have had very few actual friendships in his life, but one of them was with one of the worst people in american history

same with cohn!

Is, uh, anyone following the testimony?

Mitch McConnell isn't, apparently

The cops were moving.

It was pretty powerful stuff. I mean, I knew a lot of these stories, but as one commentator put it, it's one thing to read the descriptions or read testimony or first hand accounts, it's another to hear and see them. And something I have to constantly remind myself is that the vast majority of people don't follow this stuff at all. They have more important things to do. So I would not be surprised if someone that hasn't been following this stuff, or only knew the most basic beats, heard or saw some of this testimony for the first time and came away shocked.

I sure hope you’re right.

I was very pleased that the witnesses described the 'insurrectionists' as <terrorists>. We need more of that.

xpost I don't know what there is to be right about. Mostly it probably just means a handful of Republicans that will feel that much more guilty the next time they vote for another psycho.

Hmmm.

The DOJ has REJECTED a claim by Mo Brooks needed for his bid for immunity from Swalwell’s lawsuit.

Denying Brooks’ claim his Ellipse speech fell within the scope of his employment, DOJ says it was a “campaign activity” and allegedly inciting a riot.

Doc https://t.co/wmEmmO7iNU pic.twitter.com/TqnI0JIr6G

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 28, 2021

“Instigating an attack on the United States Capitol would not be within the scope of a Member of Congress’s employment.”

—a real subheading in a @TheJusticeDept memo explaining why @RepMoBrooks shouldn’t have Westfall Act immunity from @RepSwalwell’s suit https://t.co/wmEmmO7iNU pic.twitter.com/7CBxWBFwew

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 28, 2021

haha

PELOSI on the backlash to mask mandates: "That's the purview of the Capitol physician...nothing to say except we honor it."

Q: @GOPLeader McCarthy says it's against the science.

PELOSI: "He's such a moron."

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 28, 2021

just... lol

NEW: Democrats are trying out a new midterm strategy — blame the GOP for voting to defund the police. And the message is coming directly from Speaker Pelosi’s office https://t.co/xbrin1KtFl

— Akela Lacy (@akela_lacy) July 28, 2021

I just went from “Pelosi, right on” to “Pelosi, whuh”

new: Pelosi has punched a wall

reports are that pelosi is "just really, REALLY hungry", "just needs to get something in her stomach" and maybe take a walk

sometimes I wonder if party leadership will ever come to terms with the fact that the GOP could very literally defund the cops and massively reduce military (to transfer those funds to the privatization of both, obv) all while the Dems fight to triple both… and Blue Lives and America Fuck Yeah idiots AND 100% of white cops/ 85% white trooops are STILL going to vote for Republicans? Like how do they not know this? Or do they know and it’s like “haha this is how we lose, which is sometimes Actually Good, for America (and our donors lol)”

Incidentally, I heard something that implied the DOJ was specifically *not* offering plea deals with many/most of these Jan. 6 assholes, partly to make a point. It's also why they're still arresting people at a steady clip, just to keep it in the news even more as a disincentive to other assholes. Leads to articles like these:

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/restaurant-owners-capitol-riot-arrest-rattles-hometown/

U.S. politics be like pic.twitter.com/hRGtXNmzLH

— Diana Hussein Big Hat (@heyadiana) July 29, 2021

what fresh hell is this?

Simply can not wait for the reams of takes courtesy of the usuals about how primarying Sinema is lowkey misogyny

$20 BILLION in climate funding was cut from the bipartisan deal, affecting:

-EV chargers
-public transit
-electric busses

White House now mum on Biden’s goal of a half-million chargers https://t.co/sUT3WNQUky

— Adam Aton (@AdamAton) July 29, 2021

But hey all the right people are pleased with Sinema.

In ominous sign for Dems, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s pleased that Sinema won’t support $3.5 trillion infrastructure budget resolution: “I was certainly pleased. She is very courageous.”

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) July 28, 2021

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dont-sweat-sinemas-antics

don't sweat the small stuff -- and it's ALL small stuff!!

how much of the stuff that was cut from the bipartisan deal is not now in the proposed non-bipartisan (reconciliation?) bill? is that not yet clear?

Why are Sinema and Collins hanging on Bill Hader in that infrastructure pic?

Meantime, this...is a read.

https://thedispatch.com/p/inside-the-mind-of-mike-lindell

i imagine the mind of mike lindell, knowing that his mind was about to be probed, thinking "don't think about fucking my pillow. don't think about fucking my pillow" a few times, imperatively

Should have smoked some crack to prepare IMO.

Crackhead to IMO

Sinema isn’t just a bad Democrat. She’s a bad Senator. https://t.co/xprrLPYZnZ

— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) July 30, 2021

Hope she gets primaried into oblivion and I never have to think about her again.

Why does Joe love to punt so much?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/us/politics/eviction-moratorium-biden-congress.html

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/07/23/texas-democrats-frustrated-president-joe-biden-has-not-agreed-meeting-voting-rights-bills/8058593002/

lol

Today’s Anniversary of Medicare & Medicaid reminds us to reflect on the critical role these programs have played to protect the healthcare of millions of families. To safeguard our future, we must reject Socialist healthcare schemes. https://t.co/mOdUuX7THT

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) July 30, 2021

Why does Joe love to punt so much?

There's a joke in here about him vying for a Chicago Bears coaching position, but I don't think this is the audience.

puntin' makes him feel good

What was gained: “Bipartisanship”

What was lost: pic.twitter.com/QxjDXiHb1s

— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) July 30, 2021

Imaginary outcomes are invariably going to look pretty sweet. Like when you make a comparison between becoming a corpse and going to heaven.

That was super deep, brah.

If my rephrasing of Bowman strikes you as shallow, it's because the same shallowness was in the original you posted.

Apparently on Fox:

Question: Could you ever get behind a vaccine mandate for everybody?
Ron Johnson: No, not unless there’s some incredibly deadly disease.

few things enrage me more than these 50+ (honestly prob more like 80+) unrepentant assholes in the senate having quite literally the best medical care on the face of the earth

good morning, it's infrastructure week!!

Lol

I really miss qualms being able to say “where’s the tax returns” over and over

You know this bill is a big f'n diablo pork sandwich if the GQP is willing to vote for it.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie

It's August.

*removes bookmark*

lock 'er up, mods!

but first: Lady G Shook the Covid Tree - August 2021 US Politics Thread