The Political Junkie Thread

[OPK]

Didn’t a court later rule that his appointment was illegal? I may be confusing that with another blatant thing though.

That roadblock doesn't seem to appear on Trump's highway.

True dat.

[Phredd3]

Didn’t a court later rule that his appointment was illegal? I may be confusing that with another blatant thing though.

That roadblock doesn't seem to appear on Trump's highway.

But it appears on the highway of the courts. An invalid appointee's actions cannot be enforced if anyone challenges them. Some damage might be hard to challenge, especially stuff that happens behind the scenes, but whistleblowers can put a pretty effective brake on the actions of an invalid appointee, and any citizen harmed by the implemented policies can, as well. Of course, there are limits on what can be challenged. I can't recall the exact phrasing, but basically only decisions that are reserved to the cabinet level official can be challenged as invalid, but that's still a fair amount and almost anything policy-related rises to that level.

[CameronBornAndBred]

There's still plenty of time to fire folks, even the important ones.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what happened.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... d-vaccine/

[Phredd3]

There's still plenty of time to fire folks, even the important ones.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what happened.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... d-vaccine/

I have to say, that's a pretty poor article. The paragraph third from the end:

"Pushing up authorization is not expected to change the timing of delivery of doses to vaccination sites or their readiness to give people shots, according to a person familiar with the distribution plans, not authorized to speak."

And the final sentence: "It is unclear whether a decision on the vaccine on a Friday night would do anything to speed up the delivery of the first vaccine doses."

So will it change the timing, or is it unclear? I think the reporters need to get their act together before publishing a potentially confidence-damaging, harmful article.

[CameronBornAndBred]

He's either gonna quit, or he's gonna get fired. The chances of him staying through to the bitter end are getting slimmer and slimmer.

President Donald Trump raised the prospect of firing Attorney General William Barr in a meeting on Friday, but it's unclear whether he'll choose to dismiss Barr before the end of his term next month.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/12/politics ... index.html

[CameronBornAndBred]

Big WOW

Steve Schmidt has announced that he will be registering as a Democrat. He's a long term GOP political strategist, often seen on MSNBC and other networks, and as of late most known for being one of the founding members of The Lincoln Project.

He loathes Trump, and truly is a wordsmith when crafting his distaste for him and what he has done to the Republican Party. Still, I always took him as a very prideful member of the GOP looking forward to them returning to their pre-Trumpian ways. I guess he has given up on that happening.

"I spent 29 years as a Republican, I've spent two and a half as an independent, and later this afternoon I will register as a member of the Democratic Party," Schmidt told Plouffe. "Because in America today, it's only the Democratic Party-which is the oldest political party in the world-that stands for the ideas and ideals of American liberty."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... i=BB141NW3

[CameronBornAndBred]

Governmental collapse.

The Israeli government collapsed on Tuesday at midnight (17.00 EST) local time after the country's parliament failed to meet a deadline for passage of the 2020 and 2021 budgets. Israel will now head to its fourth elections in two years, probably on March 23 next year.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/middleea ... index.html

I'm not up to date on foreign politics, but the structure of some of the governments fascinates me. Israel is way up there on the "I'm totally lost as to what y'all are doing and how does this actually work" list.

[CameronBornAndBred]

As you may know, Bernie Sanders is planning on a filibuster to delay the override of Trump's defense veto bill. (He wants a vote on the $2000 stimulus checks included)

With that in mind, this is great.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The Power of Trump. (Or the continuing story of the wishy washy hypocriticism of Lindsey Graham)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday called for a stand-alone vote in the Senate on a House-passed bill for $2,000 coronavirus relief payments. In doing so, Graham broke from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has drawn bipartisan backlash for refusing to bring the measure to a vote.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/lindsey- ... 27579.html

To note, I actually support Graham and anyone else standing up to the ever present stone wall that is Mitch McConnell, but as always, LG is doing this not because it is "right", but because his dear leader says it is.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Merrick Garland is Biden's choice for AG, and this time McConnell won't be able to block him.

[Phredd3]

Merrick Garland is Biden's choice for AG, and this time McConnell won't be able to block him.

To bad it's for a different job, but this should still be pretty good.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Merrick Garland is Biden's choice for AG, and this time McConnell won't be able to block him.

To bad it's for a different job, but this should still be pretty good.

I'm guessing he is going to be fairly busy right out of the gate.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The Arizona Republican Party will vote on a measure to censure Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain, on Jan. 23, in part because of her support for President-elect Joe Biden and for same-sex marriage.

The proposal, which seeks to “dissolve any connections whatsoever” between McCain and the state GOP, says she “has supported leftist causes such as gay marriage, growth of the administrative state, and others that run counter to Republican values, a Republican form of government, and the U.S. Constitution.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-gop- ... 55860.html

Well that's rude of them.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

The Arizona Republican Party will vote on a measure to censure Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain, on Jan. 23, in part because of her support for President-elect Joe Biden and for same-sex marriage.

The proposal, which seeks to “dissolve any connections whatsoever” between McCain and the state GOP, says she “has supported leftist causes such as gay marriage, growth of the administrative state, and others that run counter to Republican values, a Republican form of government, and the U.S. Constitution.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-gop- ... 55860.html

Well that's rude of them.

I don't think Cindy is losing a lot of sleep over that one. I guess she won't get to lead the conga line at their upcoming maskless MLK Day party.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Just watched the new senators sworn in, thus creating only the 4th even split in US history. The last one was 20 years ago.

[Phredd3]

Just watched the new senators sworn in, thus creating only the 4th even split in US history. The last one was 20 years ago.

Yeah, that was weird.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Bernie Sanders in mittens is gonna pop up in my dreams tonight.

[Furniture]

Bernie Sanders in mittens is gonna pop up in my dreams tonight.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Bernie Sanders in mittens is gonna pop up in my dreams tonight.

C145D85D-181C-48D5-BF3D-FE47FE13EC20.jpeg

Shoulda said nightmares

[Furniture]

Bernie Sanders in mittens is gonna pop up in my dreams tonight.

C145D85D-181C-48D5-BF3D-FE47FE13EC20.jpeg

Shoulda said nightmares

It’s crazy. Those mittens are all over the internet. The lady that made the mittens said she has run out of stock.
Who would have thought it.