Also, we’ve got to factor in the Electoral College. Yes, it’s outdated and should be gotten rid of, but until it is gone, it’s how you win elections. Given that, national polls really don’t say who will win. You can win every national poll, but get crushed in the Electoral College.
If at this time next year the state level polling says that Trump (or whomever the Republican nominee is) will win, then I’ll be worried. Until then, I’m not going to panic because a couple of polls that may or may not be outliers say Biden is losing to Trump nationally.
Senate Republicans aren’t outright defending indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) as he faces bribery and corruption charges. But they’re not joining the dozen-plus Democratic senators who have called on him to resign....
McCarthy actually called for Menendez to resign. Then a reporter asked if that meant that Santos should resign since he too is under indictment. Suddenly, McCarthy was pro-“Menendez should have his day in court.”
I believe that the DOJ can appeal to the higher court to try to get Cannon removed from the case. If they try that and succeed, Trump’s lawyers will claim that they are going judge shopping to find one biased against Trump. If they try and fail, then this might result in Cannon acting even more in Trump’s interest.
From what I can see, the DOJ’s strategy is to play the long game. They’re making notes of everything Cannon does incorrectly while trying to work with her. This way, if they eventually ask for a new judge, they’ll be more likely to get one and it will be evident that they didn’t go running to ask for a new judge immediately.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday insisted he’s innocent as more than a dozen of his Senate Democratic colleagues called on him to resign over last week’s indictment on bribery charges....
He admits to the cash filled envelopes but claims that banks weren’t trusted in his home country (Cuba IIRC) so he keeps plenty of money in cash.
While I don’t doubt that there are countries like this, I don’t buy this excuse. It also doesn’t explain the gold bars oflr the Mercedes that the Egyptian government allegedly made payments on for him.
Is he innocent? In the eyes of the law, yes. Until he’s convicted he’s not legally guilty. That doesn’t mean that this scandal can’t hurt him politically until conviction though. For better or worse, the public makes judgements based on what they hear/see and this is pretty damning.
Step 1) Declare that all drag performances are sexually explicit and therefore shouldn’t be allowed near kids. This is false, of course. There are plenty of PG or G rated drag shows where nothing even remotely explicit happens, but they need this lie to be enshrined into law.
Step 2) Declare that trans people, by existing, are “performing drag in public.” Again, false, but this would mean that trans people wouldn’t be allowed to be dressed in their preferred gender anywhere there might be kids. Even simply walking through the grocery store would be declared “sexually explicit behavior in the presence of children” and could result in criminal charges.
The right will stop at nothing to enforce their radical Christian views on the country and they don’t care whose lives they ruin to do this.
“there isn’t any evidence that the public was harmed by Trump’s actions.”
Trump in his (inevitable) rant is claiming that the banks were paid back the money so there should be no case. The problem is that fraud is fraud. If I steal $100 from you, use it to bet on horse racing, and hit it big, giving you $100 back doesn’t absolve me from the initial theft charges. It doesn’t matter if Trump’s fraud resulted in him paying the banks back. The fraud still happened.
GOP investigators believe they don’t need proof the president received a ‘direct payment’ to prove bribery, but legal experts are dubious of the impeachment strategy
It’s against federal law to purchase a handgun if you’re under federal indictment. If he really bought the handgun, he’d have needed to have filled out a form. On that form, he’d be asked if he’s currently under federal indictment. If he answered yes, he wouldn’t be allowed to complete the sale. If Trump answered no, he broke federal law by lying on a government form to buy a gun. This is the exact crime Hunter Biden is being charged with.
There are also issues that one can attack Biden on, but only from the left. Obviously, Trump won’t use those issues because he’d be attacking from the right. (Or Trump will attempt to attack Biden from the right on these issues, but will fail at gaining any traction.)
Of course, I’ll be voting for Biden if it’s Biden vs Trump (or any other Republican). Hopefully, after 2024, though, the Democrats get some younger people in the White House.
Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said Monday she thinks former first lady Michelle Obama will be the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, adding that President Biden is “out.” …
Former President Trump urged Republicans to dig in as a shutdown looms over Washington, arguing Sunday that President Biden will take the blame if the federal government closes. Congress faces a Se…
Most of the public will blame the Republicans, but Trump and the Republicans don’t care about “most of the public.” They only care about their base.
Their base will definitely believe that the government shutdown is not the fault of the Republicans who refuse to accept any deal, but instead is the fault of the Democrats/Biden for just giving the Republicans 100% of what they demand.
At the same time, they’ll believe that the Republicans caused the shutdown, but that it’s a good thing that they did. Yes, it’s contradictory. No, they don’t care.
There’s also the DC case and the Georgia case. He’s highly unlikely to wriggle out of all three. By this time next year, the Republicans could have a convicted felon as their nominee.
Exactly. Imagine how the intelligence community would have to treat classified information if it could be declassified purely by a President waking up and thinking “it’s declassified.” Nobody would know what is still classified and what isn’t. Classified information might get leaked out because of a rumor that the President declassified something. Declassified information might still be treated as classified by some because nobody knows what is and what isn’t classified.
There’s a process for a reason. Trump suggesting he can just “think” it declassified is totally ridiculous.
For the clueless ones, there’s a sunk cost fallacy in effect. Similar to how a person who falls for a Nigerian prince scam will keep sending money, these people will keep supporting Trump (and sending money). After all, stopping now would admit that they were scammed for so long. Better (in their mind) to send another campaign contribution because this will DEFINITELY be the one that makes Trump turn their lives around.
For the malicious, they clearly see who Trump is and they like it. They want to be able to fly their Nazi flags while calling black people the N word and beating up anyone who is LGBTQ. They want women to be subjugated to men and for anyone who isn’t a straight, white, Christian male to be a second class citizen (or worse). When Trump threatens the lives of people, the malicious folks cheer him on because that’s how they want society to function - with them on top and everyone else kissing their toes in the hopes that it’ll help avoid a kick to the face.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other top Garden State Democrats are calling on Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign – a sign of how quickly the senator’s political support may erode after Friday’s shocking indictment on federal bribery charges....
Plus, they found tons of cash stuffed in envelopes and other places along with gold bars and the like. There’s physical evidence - not just “he said she said.” (Which should definitely be considered when it comes to allegations, but physical evidence weighs heavier than allegations without physical evidence.)
The movement that helped end Roe is embracing a political strategy that wraps the demonization of trans people in the innocuous-sounding catchphrase “parental rights.”
When the subject is LGBTQ people existing, they say “why do you have to shove your lifestyle in our faces.”
When the subject is Christians trying to enact laws based on their religion, it’s “the law should reflect what we believe despite the fact that other people have different religious beliefs. Why shouldn’t we shove our lifestyle in their faces?”
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim announced Saturday that he’ll run next year against Sen. Bob Menendez in the wake of the senator’s indictment and refusal to step down....
I’ll be honest, if it was me that day, I’d probably have been so fried after the long day and fearing for my life that I’d have gone home and let someone else do the cleaning. But no. He put his exhaustion aside and put some effort into cleaning things up. We need more people like Andy Kim in Congress.
I call it Shrödinger’s Joke. The statement is simultaneously a joke and a serious proposal. The wave function only collapses once someone reacts to it.
If the reaction is “that’s outrageous,” then the statement becomes a joke.
If the reaction is “hell, yeah, I’ve got my Nazi flag ready,” then the statement was serious.
In one of Colbert’s monologue’s, he compared this to joking with your spouse about having a threesome. If you do it one time, it might be a joke. If you keep doing it over and over - specifically asking if he friend would “get the joke” - then you’re not joking. You’re being serious in trying to have a threesome.
Maybe he needs some new things to write notes and lists on the back of after the mean old FBI seized all his notepaper just because they were classified documents.
Hope long until Trump rants on Truth Social that forbidding him from making threats or intimidating witnesses is a violation of his First Amendment rights?
“The doctor’s judgment of non-viable was likely correct, but sometimes you hear that physicians give a horrible report and then it turns out expectedly better, so there’s always that risk,” Olsen said. “The doctor needs to do all he can to preserve the life of both of them.”
So this politician is second guessing the doctor because “it might have turned out that the doctor was wrong.” In other words, doctors’ expertise and judgement means nothing if someone with no medical training at all is able to say “but maybe everything will be fine.”
As horrible as it is, I don’t blame the doctors and hospitals for being scared to perform abortions under these laws. They’re tailored to give the appearance of having “life of the mother” exceptions while allowing every case to be second guessed by anyone with zero medical expertise. And if a judge sides with the zero medical expertise individual, then the hospital/doctor could be on the hook for huge fines or even prison time.
All while women suffer and die because life saving treatment is being denied thanks to “we need to think of the fetus’ potential life more than the woman’s life.”
Exactly. The path forward is clear. Work with moderate Democrats to craft a bipartisan spending bill that most Democrats and Republicans can agree upon. Well either side get everything it wants? No, but that’s how compromise works.
Of course the Freedom Caucus will be angry, but let’s face it - they’re always angry. (Hulk Smash makes for a good movie, but not for good politics.) If McCarthy works with Democrats and the saner Republicans, though, the power of the Freedom Caucus will be blunted. They can file to remove McCarthy all they like, but part of the deal with the Democrats could be that they’ll vote to keep McCarthy.
Instead, McCarthy will complain while hoping that the Freedom Caucus members suddenly become reasonable.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent his House members home for the week without a clear plan to avoid a looming government shutdown after hardliners in the Republican conference once again scuttled his spending plans, delivering an embarrassing floor defeat for GOP leadership for the second time this week....
And even there, he could hold onto the speakership by working with Democrats. If he throws the Democrats a few bones in exchange for them voting to keep McCarthy in any speakership vote, then the power of the Freedom Caucus would be blunted.
But silly me, the obvious path forward is really to keep doing the same thing and hope that the Freedom Caucus will become reasonable. Surely, that will work perfectly, right?
Of course, it doesn’t help that McCarthy pushed for a Biden impeachment on the grounds of “the Freedom Caucus wants this even though there’s zero evidence” only for the Freedom Caucus to decide that wasn’t enough and they wanted more.
The Freedom Caucus are acting like spoiled kids. “I got you the new toy you wanted so now you’ll act nice to mommy and daddy, right?” “NO! I now want these two other toys! Get me them NOW!”
Last Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration advised residents in his state under the age of 65 to not get the newly approved COVID-19 booster. It was only days later that new data came in: It showed Florida ranked number one in the country for coronavirus-related hospitalizations....
I am sad that they’re being misled into hurting themselves. I’d rather an ideal world where they listen to reason. Sadly, that ideal world isn’t our world.
I’m also sad that they’re helping the virus spread. The more it spreads, the more it mutates. The more it mutates, the more likely one strain evades the vaccines’ protections.
Anti-vaxxers hurt more than just other anti-vaxxers.
It seems like only yesterday that we were on the cusp of defaulting on the debt and many of us were predicting that the kamikaze Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives was going to make it happen. They sure sounded serious. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was unable to keep that extremist right flank under...
I’m thinking they won’t. Trump is egging the Freedom Caucus on - telling them to shut down the government if they can’t defund every prosecution against him. Since “defund every prosecutor even looking sideways at Trump” isn’t a bill that would pass the House - much less the Senate or be signed by the President - Trump’s pushing the Freedom Caucus to shut down the government.
They had a bill (which also had zero chance of passing the Senate/White House) full of Freedom Caucus demands and then the FC vetoed it. What’s more, they didn’t just vote against the bill, they killed even opening discussions about the bill.
The Freedom Caucus has devolved into Burn It All Down For The Lulz mode. To be fair, it wasn’t a huge change, but they’ve dropped and pretence of having actual policies that they want to advance.
Also, even a Club Fed prison would be a huge culture shock to him. Trump’s used to doing whatever he wants whenever he wants. If he wants to go golfing, he does. If he wants to eat McDonald’s for lunch and a burned steak with chocolate cake for dinner, he does. If he wants to fly somewhere, he goes. Sure, he might need to wait for mundane things like “filing a fight plan” or “food preparation,” but he has people take care of it for him. To Trump it’s just “I want X” followed by “Yes, sir. We’ll get that to you ASAP.”
The second Trump walks into a Club Fed, this freedom goes away. Yes, he’ll have more freedom than if he went to a normal prison, but it’s still vastly less freedom than he’d have in Mar-A-Lago. If he wants steak but the prison cafeteria is serving lasagna tonight, he can’t have special food made for him because he’s Donald Trump. If he wants to travel to his NJ golf course, he’s not going to be allowed to.
Even a Club Fed prison would be a huge hit to Trump’s ego since he won’t be the Person in Charge anymore.
I feel like this might be the best case given the security requirements. Obviously, Mar-A-Lago wouldn’t be allowed to operate as a club anymore. The Federal government could take it over and turn it into Trump Prison. Nobody would be allowed in unless they were working to support Trump Prison.
Strip one bedroom down to the bare walls and put a prison cot in there. Keep the door locked from the outside with guards posted 24/7. Trump stays in there all the time except for meals and an hour of “outside time.” The room has no TV and he’s not allowed any electronics so there wouldn’t be any tweeting/“truthing”/etc from his home-turned-prison.
When he goes to eat, he’ll walk past the bare walls that used to signify that he was the King Of The Complex. Now, they’ll only signify glory days long gone. A bruise to the ego with every step. When he sits to eat, he’ll be in the same dining hall where he used to get served fabulous meals. (Or, at least, what passed for “fabulous” at Mar-A-Lago.) Instead, he’ll get standard prison food.
Even his “outside time” would be bittersweet to Trump. Instead of time outside talking with bigwigs on the way to go golfing, he’ll be shuffling around with armed guards nearby and no bigwigs to lavish praise on him.
Trump would be an empty shell of a man living in an empty shell of a club.
To be fair, we’re also worried that, if he does, his followers will go violent again. Not that this is a reason to excuse him him prison. It just means that it might not be all rainbows and puppies if Trump goes to prison. Our celebrations might be interrupted by home grown right wing terrorist attacks.
And that’s just the thing. The more the news moves on from Trump and talks about other people, the more Trump would label it as woke/liberal/socialist. FOX News could, five years post-Trump-imprisonment, spend all their time on the important right wing subjects of the day and Trump would think they’ve gone lefty because they weren’t talking about him.
Also, it’s important to remember that jail =/= prison.
Jail is where you go while awaiting trial. Prison is where you go after you’re convicted.
I’m pretty confident that I’ll never do anything serious enough to be sent to prison for. However, it’s plausible that I could be arrested for some alleged crime, held in jail for months pending trial, and then released (either after trial or when the charges were dropped).
Those months in jail would mean that I’d likely get laid off from my job and my family would need to burn through our savings. Plus, depending on how high profile the arrest is, everyone might think I was guilty no matter the outcome and refuse to hire me to another job.
The mere action of arresting someone and then dropping the charges can completely ruin someone’s life.
I wouldn’t say it’s in my top 10 worries, but it’s definitely there.
I’m definitely not saying that we should go easy on Trump to appease them. We just need to keep in mind that Trump heading to prison won’t be the end of this. We’ll need be be ready to send those terrorists to prison as well.
I’m definitely not saying that we should go easy on Trump to appease them. We just need to keep in mind that Trump heading to prison won’t be the end of this. We’ll need be be ready to send those terrorists to prison as well.
He accused someone of assaulting him in a supermarket. He claimed that he was hit so hard that he almost fell to the ground and that his shoulder still hurt. I can’t find the reference, but I believe he also claimed some sort of "shock wave’ after the assault that other people nearby felt.
Then the video was released and it was just a guy patting him gently on the back while passing him by. Definitely not assault. Okay, technically any contact could be considered battery, but this wasn’t the life threatening attack that Rudy made it out to be.
And now add Trump and MAGA craziness into the mix. Suppose someone who was a hero to the MAGA folks sexually assaulted you. Not only would you have the normal issues with the authorities, but you’d have MAGA crazies threatening you for “besmirching their hero’s reputation.” You could face death threats and have people track you down all because you dared to demand justice for being sexually assaulted.
Under all that pressure, I can’t blame women for staying silent. I wish that this wasn’t the case and that they could bring these allegations up without fear of reprisal. Sadly, though, that wasn’t the environment they faced.
Edit just to say: This makes me respect E Jean Carroll even more. I can’t imagine the amount of threats she’s gotten for daring to hold Trump accountable. It would have been extremely easy to just keep quiet to try to avoid the threats. Instead, she’s gone after Trump - multiple times.
I think strikes can hurt the economy in the very short term, but they help the economy in the long term.
Take the UAW strike for example. If this strike spreads (as seems likely), then car prices might rise as cars become here to come by. This could hurt the economy.
To be clear, the damage to the economy wouldn’t be major and it wouldn’t be long lasting. As soon as the strike ended, the price of cars would come back down.
On the other hand, looking at the long term, strikes mean that workers will get better working conditions and better wages. This will mean that they can afford to buy more things which helps the economy.
In a perfect world, employers would give the workers what they need without any strikes. Then, you’d get the long term benefit without the short term pain. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and sometimes that short term pain is needed to win better treatment/pay for workers in the long term.
And to add to matters, Musk has fired so much staff that I bet that Twitter’s security has suffered. If your staff can barely keep the servers running while implementing the latest “cool new feature” that the boss insisted be made immediately and pushed live with zero testing, they’re not going to be focused on maintaining server and application security.
(Source: I’ve been a web developer for over 25 years.)
Republican senators are growing increasingly alarmed at Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) inability to pass spending legislation over the staunch opposition of a small group of conservative rebels, and fear a government shutdown may be days away....
A strong House Speaker might work with the Democrats to come up with something that both the Democrats and the saner-by-comparison Republicans could support. Then, when the Freedom Caucus had their toddler temper tantrum, they’d be overruled.
But McCarthy instead gave all the power to a handful of our people whose goal seems to be “give me everything I want - even the things I think up on the fly - or I’ll burn down the government. Also, I might just burn down the government anyway.”
One of former President Donald Trump’s long-time assistants told federal investigators that Trump repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House that were marked classified, according to sources familiar with her statements....
There are people trying to get rid of it, but it’s difficult to remove once it’s taken hold. You not only have politicians trying to maintain their power via gerrymandering, but you take lawsuits against it in front of judges. Those judges were often appointed by the same people who need gerrymandering to hold onto power. In theory, the judges should be independent, but theory and reality are often very different.
It’s going to be a long, tough fight to get rid of gerrymandering.
Republican congressman struggles to answer questions about allegations Biden influenced the DOJ (nbcnews.com)
…...
Trump edges out Biden 51-42 in head-to-head matchup: POLL (abcnews.go.com)
There was an article earlier about people smoking crack if they thing Trump is up 10 points....
Why Republicans are giving Menendez a pass (politico.com)
Senate Republicans aren’t outright defending indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) as he faces bribery and corruption charges. But they’re not joining the dozen-plus Democratic senators who have called on him to resign....
Mar-a-Lago judge blasted for late trial date: "Cannon is slow-walking this case to benefit Trump" (salon.com)
…...
Menendez dismisses calls to resign: ‘I’m innocent, what’s wrong with you guys’ (thehill.com)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday insisted he’s innocent as more than a dozen of his Senate Democratic colleagues called on him to resign over last week’s indictment on bribery charges....
Texas’ ban on certain drag shows is unconstitutional, federal judge says (texastribune.org)
Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks, insurers as he built real estate empire (apnews.com)
How House Republicans Will Try to Prove Bribery in Biden Impeachment Inquiry (Exclusive) (themessenger.com)
GOP investigators believe they don’t need proof the president received a ‘direct payment’ to prove bribery, but legal experts are dubious of the impeachment strategy
Trump campaign backtracks claim that he bought a Glock handgun in South Carolina after it became clear that would be illegal (businessinsider.com)
The Trump campaign claimed that he bought a Glock handgun from a South Carolina gun store....
Poll: Overwhelming majorities express concerns about Biden, Trump ahead of 2024 race (nbcnews.com)
Sarah Palin says Michelle Obama will be Dem nominee in 2024 (thehill.com)
Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said Monday she thinks former first lady Michelle Obama will be the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, adding that President Biden is “out.” …
Trump says Biden will be blamed for shutdown, urges GOP to dig in (thehill.com)
Former President Trump urged Republicans to dig in as a shutdown looms over Washington, arguing Sunday that President Biden will take the blame if the federal government closes. Congress faces a Se…
Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley (theatlantic.com)
Cassidy Hutchinson Claims Trump Stopped Wearing A Mask Because It Smudged His Bronzer Makeup (mediaite.com)
‘I like him even better now’: Trump’s true believers keep the faith (theguardian.com)
Millions of Democrats and independents view Trump’s four years in office as a disaster but for supporters it is his biggest asset...
New Jersey governor calls on Sen. Menendez, a fellow Democrat, to resign (cnn.com)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other top Garden State Democrats are calling on Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign – a sign of how quickly the senator’s political support may erode after Friday’s shocking indictment on federal bribery charges....
At the Vote Pray Stand Summit, Christian Parents and Their “Rights” Take Center Stage (thenation.com)
The movement that helped end Roe is embracing a political strategy that wraps the demonization of trans people in the innocuous-sounding catchphrase “parental rights.”
Rep. Andy Kim announces he’ll run against NJ Sen. Bob Menendez in wake of his indictment (cnn.com)
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim announced Saturday that he’ll run next year against Sen. Bob Menendez in the wake of the senator’s indictment and refusal to step down....
Wisconsin’s Republicans Went to Extremes in Gerrymandering. Now They’re Scrambling to Protect That Power. (propublica.org)
Trump Hit With Order Banning Threats and Intimidation (rollingstone.com)
Her pregnancy was non-viable and her life was at risk but Oklahoma law prevented an abortion (publicradiotulsa.org)
McCarthy says hard-right Republicans ‘want to burn whole place down’ (theguardian.com)
Conference fails to approve procedural motion to take up defense spending bill as government shutdown looms...
McCarthy visibly frustrated after GOP hardliners put his plan to avoid a shutdown on ice (cnn.com)
Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent his House members home for the week without a clear plan to avoid a looming government shutdown after hardliners in the Republican conference once again scuttled his spending plans, delivering an embarrassing floor defeat for GOP leadership for the second time this week....
DeSantis administration recommends against boosters, right as Florida tops nation for Covid hospitalizations (motherjones.com)
Last Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration advised residents in his state under the age of 65 to not get the newly approved COVID-19 booster. It was only days later that new data came in: It showed Florida ranked number one in the country for coronavirus-related hospitalizations....
Kevin McCarthy has officially lost all control of his GOP "clown show" (salon.com)
It seems like only yesterday that we were on the cusp of defaulting on the debt and many of us were predicting that the kamikaze Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives was going to make it happen. They sure sounded serious. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was unable to keep that extremist right flank under...
Trump Privately Frets He Could Be Headed to Prison (rollingstone.com)
Cassidy Hutchinson Says Rudy Giuliani Groped Her During January 6 Rally (nymag.com)
Strikes aren’t bad for the US economy. They’re the best thing that could happen (theguardian.com)
America is in the midst of the biggest surge in labor activity in a quarter-century....
Don Jr. Sparks Chaos With Apparent Twitter Hack Announcing Trump Death — Read the Now-Deleted Posts (mediaite.com)
I apologize for the absolutely horrible headline, but the deleted posts are worth it.
GOP senators alarmed by chaos over House spending bills (thehill.com)
Republican senators are growing increasingly alarmed at Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) inability to pass spending legislation over the staunch opposition of a small group of conservative rebels, and fear a government shutdown may be days away....
Trump wrote to-do lists for assistant on White House documents marked classified: Sources (abcnews.go.com)
One of former President Donald Trump’s long-time assistants told federal investigators that Trump repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House that were marked classified, according to sources familiar with her statements....