We are going to check in with my go to folks on Trumpcare: Andy Slavitt and Topher Spiro. They are as up to date on the GOP’s attempts to pass the Legislative Evil known as Trumpcare as anyone.
From Andy Slavitt:
This was in Andy’s Twitter feed: Follow this thread:
Ben WiklerVerified account @benwikler
If you’re involved in the fight against Trumpcare (and if you’re not, join now), this week is going to be insane. 1/
5:59 PM – 23 Jul 2017
The first big tell is Tuesday morning, when Republicans need 50+1 votes to start final debate on… something bad, don’t know what yet. 2/
Nobody knows how Tuesday’s vote will go. I have a sinking feeling. As do others. Need constant, maximal pressure. Call: 202-224-3121 3/
Unlike earlier phases of this battle, the hard right is now fully engaged. Koch organizations, Trump admin, the works. We must be louder. 4/
Monday, Trump appears with Capito at the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree. She’s likely to seem as pro-Trump as possible. 5/
If Capito Heller OR Murkowski commit to voting against Motion to Proceed, it’ll either fail—or McConnell will delay it again. ¿Unlikely? 6/
If McConnell votes FOR the motion to proceed but it FAILS, he can’t bring it up again and you can exhale. 7/
that’s very unlikely. Leaders nearly always switch their votes to “nay” so they’re voting w majority and reserve right to bring back up. 8/
DC believes that if McConnell loses MTP vote on Tue, it’s over. But DC has thought it was over repeatedly. Color me skeptical. 9/
McConnell is telling senators that voting AGAINST MTP is equiv of saying they support Obamacare. Plus pressure, buyoffs, etc. He may win 10/
If the Rs win the Motion to Proceed, we enter 20 hours of debate. Surreally, that’s all the debate we’ll get on Trumpcare. 11/
At that point we’ll need a HUGE wave of pressure. Normally a Motion to Proceed vote is preview of final vote. We’ll already have lost it 12/
In this case, though, the MTP isn’t necessarily a preview of final vote because we won’t know what the final bill will be. So TURN IT UP 13/
Tue-Wed, we’ll have 10 hours of R speeches, 10 hours of D speeches, furious dealmaking, & (your job) mega public outrage 14/
Then vote-o-rama: the weird Senate thing on budget reconciliation bills where each side proposes unlimited amendments & ALL get voted on 15/
Normally vote-o-rama is for “messaging” amendments in which each side proposes things that the other side will look bad voting against 16/
This time, vote-o-rama will be used by Rs to propose radical restructurings of the health care system without time for debate or review 17/
Meanwhile, Dems will, I hope and expect, come ready with 100s or 1000s of amendments to extend vote-o-rama as long as possible 18/
Each amendment currently gets a 1 minute speech from each side and then a 10 minute vote. So voting on hundreds of amendments = grueling 19/
That’s the only way Ds can delay the final vote. But the Parliamentarian could rule them dilatory. Or McConnell can change rules anytime 20/
So at some point, Parliamentarian or GOP will presumably shut down the process and move to final vote on… something. 21/
At the end, McConnell will intro an amendment that wipes away all previous amendments. That’s the final bill. Possibly unseen till then 22/
And then the Senate will vote on Trumpcare, whatever Trumpcare is at that point. A mystery bill that could shape all of our futures. 23/
Everything we’ve all been doing—millions of us calling, marching, sitting in, fighting for months on end—comes down to what a few Rs do 24/
In a series of moments, each a second or two long, a handful of Republican senators will vote yay or nay—death or life for untold 1000s 25/
Everything will go from fast fwd to, in that moment, slow motion, as we watch the ground truth that we’ve been guessing, trying to shape 26/
And then the world will snap back into focus—the GOP will have failed, or succeeded. If it failed, we celebrate 27/
If the Senate vote succeeds, we are in an extremely dark place with very little time and very little hope. We fight on anyway. 28/
If the Senate votes yes on Trumpcare, it’s very likely that the House votes the bill through intact & with mind-blowing speed. 29/
If we reach the point of a House vote, it’s worth every possible Hail Mary to try to stop it. Go to your local R office immediately. 30/
If the House passes it, Trump will sign it. Things will start getting worse very quickly for a lot of people. Insurance market meltdown. 31/
That… could all happen this week. How do we prevent that?
The first thing to do, with everything we’ve got, is to fight to stop the GOP from passing the Motion to Proceed on Tue AM. 33/
The first thing to do, with everything we've got, is to fight to stop the GOP from passing the Motion to Proceed on Tue AM. 33/
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 24, 2017
If you’re near Anchorage, Alaska, help deliver postcards and letters to Lisa Murkowski’s office:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1813228058988280
If you’re near Reno, Nevada, join this Rally 4 Liberty at 10am to send a message to Dean Heller:
https://www.facebook.com/events/114607059165603
Near Martinsburg, West Virginia? Join this Vote No Capito rally: https://t.co/J0yDoghZKC
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 24, 2017
Topher has a link to the same twitter thread.
Don’t forget:
Topher SpiroVerified account @TopherSpiro
Senate Republicans have literally no idea what they will vote on within 48 hours.
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/889252919794597896
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/888730395235282944
This is is. Millions of Americans are on the brink of losing their healthcare. We have to fight. We have to call for all of us.
CALL CALL CALL
If you are near a Senate Office, please go.
Unhinged phat phuck Trump trying to teach children to hate President Obama.
Boos for Obama as Trump speaks at Boy Scout jamboree
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE – 07/24/17 07:23 PM EDT
The crowd attending President Trump’s Monday evening speech to the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree appeared to boo former President Barack Obama at one point.
“By the way, just a question. Did President Obama ever come to a jamboree?” Trump asked the crowd, which booed in response.
“The answer is no, but we’ll be back,” Trump added.
While Obama never addressed the gathering in person, he did record a video message to the National Jamboree in 2010, noting the history of the Boy Scouts and the organization’s service to the United States as it marked its 100th anniversary.
…
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/343545-obama-booed-at-trump-boy-scout-rally
HERE ARE THE 17 MOST JAW-DROPPING QUOTES FROM 45’S SPEECH TO THE BOY SCOUTS TONIGHT:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/24/the-17-most-jaw-dropping-moments-of-donald-trumps-speech-to-boy-scouts.html
Trump is sounding crazier than usual lately.
It is time to be very, very, very concerned about this man’s mental health.
https://twitter.com/TeamSheaPorter/status/889654496477011968
https://twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/889629174192852992
https://twitter.com/markknoller/status/889612211517358080
https://youtu.be/LYynOLkkhvg
well well well
https://twitter.com/SeanMcElwee/status/889563857735340036
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/889670294335631360
https://twitter.com/JoshRosenau/status/889630682103808001
SG2,
Please tweet Ari Melber asking why he had a Nazi-Seb Gorka on his show.
WHY would he give him a platform?
Ari MelberVerified account
@AriMelber
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/889664794160238592
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/889638093225168896
It’s going to be a lackey, some spineless POS.
https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/889658845710176257
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/889652123318857729
McCain isn’t long for this world, not with the kind of tumor he has. Unbelievable that he could do this. It will be his legacy.
I have to conclude that these people really do consider themselves to be superior beings, their lives are worth more. Is any other conclusion possible?
McCain to return for tight Obamacare vote
By BURGESS EVERETT 07/24/2017 05:08 PM EDT Updated 07/24/2017 09:12 PM EDT
Sen. John McCain will return to the Senate on Tuesday after being recently diagnosed with brain cancer, his office announced on Monday night. The Senate will take a critical procedural vote on repealing Obamacare on Tuesday, and McCain’s vote could be critical in the narrowly divided chamber.
…
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/24/mccain-obamacare-repeal-republicans-240906
“…A much-discussed question at the top of the White House: just what magnitude of indignity would it take for Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to resign?
‘President’** Trump knew that appointing Anthony Scaramucci as communications director would humiliate Reince, who fought hard against it.
Scaramucci was smuggled into the meeting with the President on Thursday so Reince wouldn’t know about it. Trump had already taken pains to hide the discussions from his Chief of Staff, knowing Reince would try to foil the move.
Trump also knew that inserting a line in the press release saying Scaramucci would report directly to the President — doing an end-run around Reince — was perhaps an unendurable public humiliation.
https://www.axios.com/trump-wishes-reince-would-take-the-hint-2464299500.html
Ugly, despicable, dangerous, grotesque…
Trump wants to be able to say, “Obamacare has been repealed”.
That is all. He doesn’t know squat about healthcare in this country. He doesn’t want to know.
Senate Braces For a Health Care Showdown on a Still-Unclear Plan
By THOMAS KAPLAN and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS JULY 24, 2017
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders, trying to keep alive their flagging effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, are barreling toward a showdown vote on Tuesday to begin debating a repeal of the health law. But senators have yet to be told precisely what legislation they will be debating.
Apparently short of votes even to begin that process, President Trump ratcheted up pressure on Monday for Republican senators to get onboard, criticizing their inaction and warning that they risked betraying seven years’ worth of promises to raze and revamp the health law if they did not.
“Remember ‘repeal and replace,’ ‘repeal and replace’ — they kept saying it over and over again,” Mr. Trump said at the White House, flanked by people who he said suffered from increased health care premiums as “victims” of the “horrible disaster known as Obamacare.”
“Every Republican running for office promised immediate relief from this disastrous law,” the president added. “But so far, Senate Republicans have not done their job in ending the Obamacare nightmare.”
…
He said their constituents would exact a price for inaction — “you’ll see that at the voter booth, believe me” — and hinted that any Republican who did not support the bid to open debate on an as-yet-determined health bill would be painted as complicit in preserving a health law passed on the basis of “a big, fat, ugly lie.”
“For Senate Republicans, this is their chance to keep their promise,” Mr. Trump said, repeating the “repeal-and-replace” mantra on which Republicans campaigned last fall. “There’s been enough talk and no action; now is the time for action.”
…
First, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he would move ahead with a procedural vote on Tuesday to take up the health bill that narrowly passed the House in May. He urged his colleagues to do so.
“Many of us have waited literally years for this moment to finally arrive, and at long last, it has,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor.
If that vote succeeds, the Senate would then be able to consider numerous amendments, including complete substitutes for the House bill. But it remains unclear what would take its place, and Senate Republican leaders have not said which substitute measure might be considered first.
…
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/us/politics/senate-health-bill-obamacare-repeal-and-replace-trump-mcconnell.html
Where are our leaders? Trump is out here telling little boys about his wealthy friend’s cocktail parties aboard his yacht. Sick & twisted!
We have no leaders anymore. Just crooks, liars, grifters, and opportunists.
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/889614186178895872
evil never sleeps with these muthaphuckas:
https://twitter.com/maddow/status/889587334152417281
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/889607324725334018
Senate GOP: McCain may return for ObamaCare vote Tuesday
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON – 07/24/17 05:31 PM EDT
…
Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) told reporters Monday that McCain was trying to get approval from his doctors to return Tuesday.
McCain’s office declined to confirm his schedule.
Two Senate aides said they expect he will be present Tuesday afternoon when lawmakers vote on a motion to proceed to the House-passed American Health Care Act.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he will offer an amendment to replace it with a bill that repeals as much of ObamaCare as possible, setting up a two-year transition to craft replacement legislation.
If that amendment fails, the Senate is likely to move to its version of legislation to repeal and replace the pillars of ObamaCare, the Better Care Reconciliation Act. That measure, however, did not appear to have enough votes to pass, as of Monday afternoon.
…
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/343516-senate-gop-mccain-may-return-for-obamacare-vote-tuesday
McCain is receiving the best healthcare money and good insurance can buy, but he wants to return to DC so he can vote to take healthcare away from tens of millions of people.
Even as the the Grim Reaper stares him down, he cannot find it within himself to have compassion for those much, much less fortunate than he has been.
Or is this McCain hating Obama and trying to erase his legacy? Who knows?
McCain’s life expectancy is not good. This is what he wants for his legacy?
Amazing.
Of course, all of that excellent healthcare isn’t going to save McCain. But it will make him a hell of a lot more comfortable while he is in transition.
If he really wants to do this, as is being reported, it is the very definition of soulless. You could not have a soul and do this.
thanks for the article. I only had the tweet. will add it to my post for tomorrow.
MSNBC is reporting that McCain will be there.
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/889599626113712128
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/889599075439587328
What the ever living fugg? A rally to dance on the grave of the victim.
https://twitter.com/WCPO/status/889597211671240704
https://twitter.com/thinkprogress/status/889596356398133249
https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/889593550878515200
SO WICKED! @JohnCornyn says they’re asking a man who has been recently diagnosed with brain cancer to come back and vote to take away healthcare from 32 million people.
Unbelievable!
McCain wants to do it.
If he does…..God help his soul when he meets his maker.
The Hill reported that he’s trying to get permission from his doctor. I don’t see anything on his website or Facebook.
The hell of it is, he’s got the perfect out on this. If he had any backbone at all he would stay home. I’ve never liked him but if he does this he’s no better than McConnell who is really the Devil, IMO.
STAY AT HOME, JOHN MCCAIN!
‘We Have To Get It Together’: GOP Panics Over Imploding Agenda
By CAMERON JOSEPH
Published JULY 24, 2017 6:00 AM
With Obamacare repeal teetering on collapse, tax reform looking like an even heavier lift and the Trump White House spinning further into chaos, Republicans are increasingly worried that they may squander unified control of government and fail to score any big legislative achievements.
“It’s upside down, what do you want me to say?” Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) told TPM when asked how things were going within his party.
“It’s been some of the most chaotic six, seven months I’ve ever spent here. I’ve been here 20 years, with a Democratic president just sworn in, a Republican president just sworn in, and this has been somewhat of a chaotic circus,” Jones continued. “It’s going to be very difficult to get any major legislation through Congress this year, and I think next year there’ll be even less of a chance.”
The libertarian-leaning Jones, a frequent critic of his party’s leaders, is no bellwether. But even top Republicans close to leadership who rarely sound their frustrations publicly aren’t happy about how things are going, and worry that if they don’t get on the same page soon they might miss the window of opportunity to pass any major legislation before scandal politics and the 2018 midterms put a halt to any chances of lawmaking on controversial issues.
Antiquated voting machines & software must be upgraded now to counter cyber threats to elections @HoustonChron https://t.co/2WoluJKFxt
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) July 24, 2017
The life you save could belong to your favorite writer, a family member, your BFF, you. Make the calls! #savetheACA #stopmcconnell
— Gwenda Bond (@Gwenda) July 24, 2017
Does calling Dem senators help at all?
— Kelly Knox (@kelly_knox) July 24, 2017
Yes! Commend them on staying strong!
— Gwenda Bond (@Gwenda) July 24, 2017
Former GOP senator: Resist the bullying. Don’t vote for a mystery health care bill. https://t.co/DrTDlJBPC9 via @usatoday #VoteNo
— AARP Advocates (@AARPadvocates) July 24, 2017
“There will be no do-overs on this. Take it from me: a no vote this week is the only one that will be defensible in the years to come.”
— AARP Advocates (@AARPadvocates) July 24, 2017
It’s impossible to capture fully the insanity of GOP repeal push right now, but @JeffYoung comes awfully close here https://t.co/5lffweRTfF
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) July 24, 2017
Meadows: CBO should downsize, aggregate think tank reports
BY NIV ELIS – 07/24/17 02:20 PM EDT
ALL our #KillTheBill resources (scripts, explainers, and more) in one place. https://t.co/ZUnJWTVBWH
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) July 24, 2017
Reply
in addition to call can text ‘resist’ to 504-09 to send a fax
It’s a bot that sets it all up
You can type what you want to say to ur senator
— Susan H PhD (@Sisterwriter) July 24, 2017
Our daily call scripts for AK, AR, AZ, CO, LA, ME, NV, OH, PA, WV are up. Use them for these critical Senators. https://t.co/3vSWdYoPlb
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) July 24, 2017
Powerful: “having washed the blood off of my fellow servicemen’s hands, they didn’t die for us to not take care of the ones that are left” https://t.co/ziFDVKHTGy
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 24, 2017
She served in the @USAirForce for 10 years and now is begging @SenDeanHeller to do his duty to protect the lives of her fellow Americans. pic.twitter.com/63zlhqgblO
— MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) July 24, 2017
Team Trump Uses Access Hollywood Tape as a Loyalty Test
by Martin Longman
July 24, 2017 1:50 PM
The Washington Examiner has a lengthy profile of House Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina. The piece is interesting on several levels, but there’s one thing in there that I’d like to highlight:
Now, that’s an interesting test.
Was the Mayflower Hotel Event Really Jared Kushner’s Idea?
by Martin Longman
July 24, 2017 12:47 PM
I dutifully sat down this morning and read Jared Kushner’s prepared statement for Congress. I was impressed with the quality and clarity of his defense. He has some good lawyers and I believe he is following their advice unlike his father-in-law. However, there are still some troubling things to discuss.
One of them involves a now infamous speech that Donald Trump gave at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016. From Kushner’s statement we learn the surprising fact that he’s taking full responsibility for the idea behind doing that speech, as well as much of the organizing work that went into it. Here’s the relevant part in its full context:
What makes this so interesting is that everyone in Washington DC who closely follows the Russians’ lobbying efforts assumed that the idea behind it came from Paul Manafort.
@rikyrah @ametia I read some of the archived posts at Jack and Jill Politics. Good old days. I learned politics from the best… my girls Rikyrah & Ametia.
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/author/jilltubman/
I never laughed so hard in my life when Bobby Jindal did the SOTU response.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/889552022793486337
This is it. It’s time to act to #SaveOurCare—send a free fax to your Senator to tell them to vote NO on #Trumpcare: https://t.co/ZFC1NOa2LX pic.twitter.com/6NWta0av9Z
— NARAL (@NARAL) July 24, 2017
How much longer must we suffer with these frauds in the White House? Every single day they’re destroying, scheming and telling the American people bald face lies. God help us all.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/889536898594746368
https://twitter.com/ladyc10/status/889534867427471361
BRAZEN LIAR!
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/889534737336979456
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/889532586447523843
Look at this. He’s calling them repugnant. He needs to take a look at himself.
https://twitter.com/thinkprogress/status/889520552448315392
Fat slob.
Watch How the House Republicans Jerk Around Their Base
by Martin Longman
July 24, 2017 9:53 AM
The House of Representatives is supposed to return to legislative business today at 2pm. The wheels on their bus aren’t exactly turning smoothly so it’s hard to be sure what their plan is since it keeps changing. They’ve abandoned the plan I called the dumbest ever back on July 14th, to pass this year’s appropriations bills in one giant package that their members would not have even been able to read. Instead, they appear to have scaled that back to what they’re calling a “minibus” bill (as opposed to a omnibus one) that will only include defense spending, an Energy and Water bill that involves our nuclear weapons, the money for veterans, and funding for the border wall.
……………………………
I don’t know if you understand that or not, but it looks like they’re going to try to sneak the wall funding into the rule under which the overall bill will be considered rather than having it actually included as an itemized appropriation. In a way, it makes no difference. But doing it this way helps members who oppose the funding make the argument that they never voted for it directly. It may also make it impossible to strike the funding out using an amendment, making the only way to kill the funding to defeat the entire minibus bill. Conversely, conservatives who don’t like the levels of spending in the four appropriation bills will be able to argue that they did vote for the wall funding. And this will be important to them because the funding will surely never pass in the Senate or become law.
We must drive calls to Capito today. She has to hear that her constituents OPPOSE repeal! (202) 224-6472
twitter.com/i/web/status/8…
—
(@igorvolsky) July 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/889512004540674049
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/889518673467256834
Kellyanne Conway makes her case against Bob Mueller
07/24/17 11:31 AM
By Steve Benen
Kellyanne Conway spoke with CNN’s Brian Stelter yesterday, and while they covered a fair amount of ground, I was struck by this exchange on speculation that Donald Trump may look for ways to get rid of Special Counsel Bob Mueller:
In context, it wasn’t altogether clear what point Conway was trying to make. It sounded as if Conway was looking for a way to use the phrase “Mr. Mueller and his band of Democratic donors” and so she just forced into the conversation.
Regardless, there have been multiple reports of late about Trump World looking for ways to undermine and discredit Mueller’s ongoing investigation, and Conway was effectively sharing what she’d come up with: some people on the special counsel’s team have contributed to Democratic candidates for public office.
Conway made a similar pitch to Fox News late last week, and on Twitter last month.
It is, by any fair measure, a tough sell. This investigation is, after all, being led by Mueller, a lifelong Republican. Unless Conway and her colleagues are prepared to argue that Trump can only be investigated by an entire team made up exclusively of other Republicans, Mueller working with some attorneys who’ve supported Democratic candidates isn’t exactly scandalous.
These disgusting mofos….
https://twitter.com/WLTX/status/889517080621576192
Just called Sen Jeff Flake the Fake. At least they answered the phone this time.
My buddy Jim Vance, Ya’ll
On and off camera, Jim Vance will be missed
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jim-vance-on-and-off-camera-he-will-be-missed/2017/07/23/d246983c-6faa-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?utm_term=.fe7255d537e5&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1#comments
Well done, Mr. Vance. May you rest in peace.
@shomaristone
I messaged you with some pics of Jim Vance and one of our co-bloggers at the 2012 DNC Convention. Too cool!
***********
Shomari Stone: Awesome. May he Rest In Peace.
https://twitter.com/SteveRattner/status/889446927464620032
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/889505219356356609
Hilarious! @shomaristone remembering Jim Vance.
https://twitter.com/shomaristone/status/889222050304462848
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/889490185494433792
I have told you. The KKKEEBLER ELF has no self-respect. He’s getting to live out his White Supremacist fantasies. HE.IS.NOT.GOING.TO.RESIGN.
@rikyrah …Back to nature
https://www.facebook.com/backtnature/videos/1428305393865012/?hc_ref=ARSrU1xlXLqqkEVhvBAeodUm8kH3ZrXmHAmdnuxZ4Q6HlucXWbnmBTC8G69XY2uCV5o&pnref=story
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/889473411512229888
https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/888886039867265024
https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/889479915711737856
https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/889152088827207680
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/889483323311050753
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/889488637339021312
FROM BJ’s Mayhew:
https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/889488047783395328
HELL TO THE M-EFF-ING NO!
https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/889470811391889408
👉🏽 #RayTensing
#ColinKaepernick “There are bodies in the street & people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
https://twitter.com/CCLawNewz/status/889481946748698624
found at TOD:
Sheila
July 23, 2017 at 6:45 pm
The resolution reads in part:
Section 1. The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. Senators shall be elected exclusively by the State legislature, upon a majority vote of legislators present and voting in a joint session. If a vacancy shall exist for more than one hundred-eighty days, then the Governor shall appoint the Senator to serve the remainder of the vacant term. This procedure may not be modified by state initiative or referendum.
One only needs to examine the electoral map to understand why ALEC is pushing for a repeal of the 17th Amendment now.
With the majority of states under GOP control, Republicans could snatch some 17 U.S. Senate seats from Democrats if the state legislatures are given the right to pick Senators.
As Trump took office Scaramucci negotiated with a Russian investment fund under US sanctions https://t.co/iMUVeqieqH pic.twitter.com/FUvCXVzmb0
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) July 23, 2017
Kushner appears to be saying he agreed and went to this meeting while failing to read emails saying what it was about — twice. https://t.co/kRLlbHLVku
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 24, 2017
Kushner’s statement says he “did not read at the time” a long email chain from Don Jr about Russian meeting:https://t.co/SwzEPPWNhc pic.twitter.com/Oe7pwbUdDl
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 24, 2017
Pruitt Traveled Home Frequently at Taxpayer Expense https://t.co/HwW4b50wml via @politicalwire
— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) July 24, 2017
Trump attacks Republicans for doing “very little” to protect him from Russia probe: https://t.co/jtGKBCOSyr pic.twitter.com/xUGxp2Mapq
— The Hill (@thehill) July 24, 2017
“Post-Trump Stress Disorder” Will Haunt Americans for Years to Come
by D.R. Tucker
July 24, 2017 5:00 AM
……………………………………..
Even if Trump goes away via impeachment or a re-election loss, these voters will not go away, nor will the so-called cultural anxiety that led them to cast their vote for the Donald. Of course, there is real cultural anxiety out there–the cultural anxiety felt by the targets of Trump’s tirades.
The young American Muslim girl who just wants to walk to school without being harassed by someone who hates her hijab because Trump told them to will continue to have real cultural anxiety.
The businesswoman being groped by a supervisor who thinks Trump’s treatment of women was not pathetic but copacetic will continue to have real cultural anxiety.
The young black man who fears being pulled over by a cop who views him the way Trump viewed the folks who were wrongfully accused of the Central Park Jogger attack will continue to have real cultural anxiety.
The Mexican-American child whose parent was kicked out of the country by a government that prefers to have those who are brown not stick around will continue to have real cultural anxiety.
Even if Trump were to leave the White House tomorrow, he wouldn’t take the hate he has whipped up over the past several years with him. Trump, arguably more so than any post-Eisenhower Republican President who came before him, has erected a form of psychological Jim Crow in this country, making it virtually impossible for Americans to coexist across the barriers of identity and ideology.
It’s a grotesque guarantee that Trump will do his best to keep this country psychologically segregated once he’s out of office. The rallies will surely continue, designed to harass either a Democratic successor or a Republican successor deemed insufficiently right-wing. The tweeting won’t stop until he’s physically incapable of operating a smartphone. Every effort to move this country forward–on energy, on health care, on guns, on economics–will be assailed by the ex-president and his execrable partisans, aided and abetted by such outfits as the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.
Once Trump leaves office, our long national nightmare will not be over. That’s the reason we have to stay woke.
Which Will Come First for Trump Underlings? The Flips or the Pardons?
by David Atkins
July 22, 2017 10:13 PM
Today brings news that investigators and federal prosecutors are putting the pressure on Paul Manafort to flip on his employers, including potentially the Donald Trump campaign.
Blaming Parents Is an Unconscionable Response to Children Fleeing Violence
The Trump administration’s idea of treating a refugee crisis as the fault of parents crosses a line of morality and decency.
by Olivia Golden
July 18, 2017
This July 4th—a day to celebrate a nation with a rich immigrant history—brought a new and disturbing twist to the attacks on immigrant families by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now targeting parents whose children have fled to the U.S. from violence and persecution abroad (so-called “unaccompanied minors”), with the intention of deporting the parents and potentially prosecuting them for trafficking or endangering children. The administration’s policy is to criminalize parents if they have paid a smuggler to bring children to safety in this country, a policy change that threatens American values and the legal framework for protecting children.
These threats to parents are personal for me. During my mother’s teenage years in the 1930s, as her family fled persecution in Germany, my grandparents first sent her to relatives in France and later to England while they stayed in Czechoslovakia until it was invaded. Were they acting to endanger or “traffic” her? Of course not. They were acting out of love to keep their child as safe as possible in a world that had become deadly, just like today’s parents of unaccompanied minors fleeing from danger in their home countries. In fact, the majority of unaccompanied children seeking protections in the United States today are coming from the Northern Triangle of Central America—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—a region where violence, poverty, and instability have skyrocketed in recent years.
……………………….
Today, President Trump’s immigration executive orders are driving back progress even further. Rather than follow a process allowing children to live with their families while their legal case is considered, DHS proposes to exploit children’s disclosure of their parents’ information to raid, deport, and prosecute them. DHS locates the parents by “using children as bait,” in the words of one federal civil servant: when children provide their parents’ addresses after crossing the border, DHS uses that information to stage a raid. In other cases, parents may be detained when picking up their children from government custody.
The likely damage goes far beyond just the unaccompanied children themselves, since these parents are often caring for other children, including U.S.-born citizen siblings who will also be left without a home if their parents are deported. Given what we know about the importance of stable family settings in children’s development, learning, education, and well-being, this approach is deeply damaging and costly—and may in the end be ruled illegal, given the history of litigation against unnecessarily housing children for lengthy periods in institutionalized care.
But even beyond the direct damage to tens of thousands of children and parents, it is morally untenable to target parents for deportation and prosecution because they have been forced to make an impossible, desperate decision to save their children’s lives. At a time when the plight of child refugees—like the toddler who drowned as his family sought to escape from Syria—blares from news headlines around the world, many countries are divided about how to address their responsibilities to these smallest victims of violence and tragedy. But the idea of treating a refugee crisis as the fault of parents crosses a line of morality and decency.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
Trump makes ethics office more accommodating
Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump’s selection of a more permissive leader of the Office of Government Ethics and notes not only did the new leader approve Jared Kushner’s amended disclosure forms, but he released them at 7pm on a Friday instead of when they were signed.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
Trump team grasping for ways to undercut Mueller Russia probe
Walter Dellinger, former assistant attorney general and acting solicitor general, talks with Rachel Maddow about some of the excuses the Donald Trump team is trying out in search of a pretext for firing Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Trump Russia probe.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
How far can Trump take his pardon power?
Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Obama, talks with Rachel Maddow about whether Donald Trump would have to announce if he has pardoned someone and whether a pardon could be seen as an obstruction of justice.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
Can Trump sabotage the Trump Russia probe?
Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Obama, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happens to the Trump Russia investigation if Donald Trump tries to go after Robert Mueller or the investigation itself.
And, the KKKeebler Elf still hasn’t resigned.
Uh huh
Uh huh.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
WaPo: Intel intercepts show Sessions, Kislyak talked Trump Russia
Rachel Maddow reports on another batch of breaking news stories, including a Washington Post report that intelligence indicates that when Jeff Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Kislyak they talked about the Trump campaign and Russia-related matters
Donald Trump boasts he ‘has the complete power to pardon’
07/24/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Late last week, the Washington Post added an alarming twist to Donald Trump’s intensifying Russia scandal, reporting that the president has asked White House aides “about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe.” Over the weekend, Trump didn’t explicitly confirm the story, but he made clear that the subject is very much on his mind.
Via Twitter, the president insisted on Saturday that “all agree” an American president “has the complete power to pardon.”
Evidently, the conversations he had about the subject led to answers Trump liked.
But there’s apparently still some disagreement within Trump World about the nature of these discussions. For example, Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s outside legal team, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos yesterday:
Trump presses troops for political help in lobbying Congress
07/24/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump headlined an event over the weekend, commissioning the USS Gerald Ford, which wouldn’t have been especially notable, were it not for one important aspect of his remarks. As the Huffington Post noted:
As a Washington Post report added, Trump’s brief appeal “created a potentially awkward tableau at a commissioning event intended to be ceremonial – a commander in chief offering political remarks, and what could even be construed as an order, to the naval officers he commands.”
Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄
Good Morning, Rikyrah & 3 Chics Family!