American Politics: A Brand New Day

Robby

Good speech Biden but uh...

Maybe don't have blood red hell lighting for the backdrop?
This is going to be "basket of deplorables" all over again. It doesn't matter that you said at the start "not all republicans", they're going to universally hear it as an attack on all of them.

I have to imagine indictments are coming and SOON because otherwise this was a super inflammatory speech. This has to prep for a big thing going down. Like if you replace "maga republicans" with "Jews" or "blacks" its a very very bad look.

I get that it's basically a terrorist group at this point but the conned shmucks that aren't the violent extremes aren't going to see it that way.

pariston_hill

Ubiq

@Robby said in American Politics: A Brand New Day

I get that it's basically a terrorist group at this point but the conned shmucks that aren't the violent extremes aren't going to see it that way.

Worrying about optics of a speech is ceding the argument to people who aren't going to act in good faith no matter what.

Robby

Less about the bad faith responders, and more about the nuetrals middles that read the bad faith and get swayed by it.

Like that speech was aimed at me, I'm not a MAGA being attacked, or even a republican to be offended by it, I agree with what was said, but even I feel like the red hell lights with stationed Marines for a visual were a bit much.

EDIT: Seeing the speech at a different angle, it was actually red white and blue lighting, which I had assumed... it was just reeeeally bad on the closeup.

Nitwit

@Satsuki You and me both

sgamer82

Day 595: "The appearance of fairness and integrity."

1/ The FBI found 48 empty folders that contained classified information at Mar-a-Lago. Agents also found 42 empty folders of sensitive documents labeled with instructions to return to the staff secretary or a military aide. In all, the Justice Department's search inventory list said the FBI seized 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents without classification markings. The Justice Department did not say whether all the contents of the folders had been recovered. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d

2/ A federal judge granted Trump's request for a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, temporarily halting the Justice Department's review of the documents in its criminal investigation. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — authorized an independent third party to review the nearly 13,000 records taken during the Aug. 8 search for anything that may be protected by attorney-client privilege, or executive privilege as Trump is claiming. Cannon wrote that she had made her decisions "to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances." While Cannon ordered the Justice Department to cease using the records for any "investigative purpose" until the review is complete, the special master appointment will not impede the ongoing national security assessments being conducted by the intelligence community. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / ABC News)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-bc980316f80f88620b92e5666f96251c

3/ Trump's attorney general said there is no "legitimate reason" for classified documents to have been at Mar-a-Lago. "No, I can't think of a legitimate reason why they could be taken out of government, away from the government, if they are classified," William Barr said on Fox News. "People say this [search] was unprecedented, but it's also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?" Barr added that he was "skeptical" Trump's claim that he declassified everything. Trump, meanwhile, posted a deluge of poppycock not worth repeating about Barr in response on his personal social network. (Washington Post / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/barr-trump-documents-fox/index.html

4/ Surveillance video shows a Republican county official in Georgia escorting consultants working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell into the county's election offices on the same day the voting system was breached. The footage shows that Cathy Latham, a former GOP chairwoman of Coffee County who is under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020, escorting a group of pro-Trump data forensics experts into the elections office shortly before noon on Jan. 7, 2021. Two of the men seen in the video with Latham, Scott Hall and Paul Maggio, have previously said that at the behest of Powell they gained access to and copied software and data from the Dominion Voting Systems machines used by Coffee County. Surveillance footage also shows that 11 days later Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg visited the elections office, seeking evidence that Trump's 2020 defeat was fraudulent. They're under investigation for separate alleged breaches of voting machines in Michigan. Latham previously claimed in sworn testimony that she taught a full day of school that day and visited the elections office briefly after classes ended. (CNN / Washington Post)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/surveillance-video-voting-machine-breach-coffee-county-georgia/index.html

5/ A judge removed a New Mexico county commissioner from office for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Couy Griffin is the first public official in more than a century to be disqualified from office for violating the 14th Amendment. It also the first time a judge has formally ruled that the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was an "insurrection." Griffin was convicted earlier this year of trespassing when he breached barricades outside the Capitol. (New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/couy-griffin-new-mexico-january-6/index.html

poll/ 195 Republicans nominees running for office fully deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and an additional 61 candidates have raised questions around the results. There are 529 total Republicans running for office. (FiveThirtyEight)

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/republicans-trump-election-fraud/

poll/ 60% of voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases - up from 55% in March. (Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/support-for-legalized-abortion-grows-since-dobbs-ruling-wsj-poll-shows-11662210020?mod=djemalertNEWS

poll/ 80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents' generation. 64% of Americans said they think the potential for political violence will increase in the coming years. (CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/political-violence-opinion-poll-2022-09-05/

Satsuki

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

poll/ 80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents' generation. 64% of Americans said they think the potential for political violence will increase in the coming years. (CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/political-violence-opinion-poll-2022-09-05/

Well that's obvious. This is the most divided we've been since the fucking Civil War.

pariston_hill

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

poll/ 80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents' generation. 64% of Americans said they think the potential for political violence will increase in the coming years. (CBS News)

Imagine being so self centred that you thing you're more divided than you were in Jim Crow era. On in the Virginia Dynasty times.

Robby

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents' generation. 64% of Americans said they think the potential for political violence will increase in the coming years.

I think its less that its more divided than ever, and more that the internet lets us actually know what half the population really thinks.

When one of the political parties literally wants to end democracy and send us back 50 years while one of them rules unopposed as a god king immune to the law... and a sizeable chunk of the country is all for that... yeah of course there's gonna be a problem.

20 years ago we could be totally ignorant about our neighbors wanting those things and assume the country in general was moving forward, and that was more of a minority of old white guys that was fading out.

As it turns out....

Bugs

The internet also make's it a ton easier for people to connect with others who share their views. A person in general will feel more willing to express themselves if they think their comments will be met with concurrency than scorn. (One of the reason Twitter has a reputation for being toxic is because there is no barrier separating opposing viewpoints unlike most other social media platforms. So clashes are inevitable.)

Zack

Yeah. As much as people talk about how the internet encourages people to be in their own ideologically similar bubbles, the truth is it really forces a lot of groups that would actively avoid each other otherwise onto the same social media platforms.

pariston_hill

Time Control Magician

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-russia-investigation-maralago-1234588357/

Makes sense

Satsuki

The Dropkick Murphys make me so proud to be Bostonian (or close enough).
https://www.comicsands.com/ken-casey-maga-grifters-billionaires-2658158995.html?fbclid=IwAR3osMdyybqtOcqML6kcyXjNuTjKIdEpqR2Cz2k_JzPH2JLsQlD-bHo-E4M

MDL

I love when people get surprised at such statements from bands they never paid full attention to (lyrically).

"Since when were Rage Against The Machine political?"
"Since when were System of a Down political?"
etc

Now we can add "Since when were Dropkick Murphys political?"

Gee, I dunno!

"Don't scab for the bosses, don't listen to their lies
us poor folks haven't got a chance, unless we organize"

pariston_hill

@MDL said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

I love when people get surprised at such statements from bands they never paid full attention to (lyrically).

This is the MTV effect, lyrics were put on the background while visuals came to the forefront.
Next thing would be "Hey since when Bob Dylan is political."

But while the majority of musicians would fall on the center-left or left in the political spectrum we also have some dino conservatives, like Clapton, van Morrison and the Sex Pistols douche of a vocalist.

MDL

I like how this topic has sent me through Dropkick's catalog again.
I used to listen to them all the time.

alt text

The way they earnestly shout their lyrics gives me chills sometimes.

Satsuki

This is considered the official unofficial anthem of Boston:

sgamer82

Day 597: "Until the job is done."

1/ The Justice Department appealed a federal judge's decision to grant a special master to review documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the appointment of an independent attorney "to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege." Prosecutors asked Cannon to exclude all documents with classification markings from any special master review and to put on hold her directive blocking the Justice Department from using the seized records for investigative purposes while they appeal her decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the filing, prosecutors wrote that allowing a special master to review the classified material would "cause the most immediate and serious harms to the government and the public." (Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/florida-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-edc87319957149db117e931ac93fe5f8

2/ A federal grand jury issued subpoenas seeking information about Trump's Save America PAC, which was formed after his 2020 election loss. The Justice Department is investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election. Trump's Save America PAC raised more than $135 million after the election by baselessly asserting claims of voter fraud they knew were false while consistently pushing supporters to donate. (ABC News / New York Times)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-grand-jury-probing-trump-pacs-formation-fundraising/story?id=89507528

3/ Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that he is "strongly committed" to fighting inflation "until the job is done." The central bank has raised interest rates four times this year from near zero in March to a range between 2.25% and 2.5% in July. Fed officials next meets Sept. 20-21, and Powell has kept the option open for a third consecutive 0.75-percentage-point rate rise. The average 30-year mortgage rate, meanwhile, climbed to 5.89% – the highest level since 2008. Last year at this time, the average mortgage rate was 2.88%. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/08/homes/mortgage-rates-september-8/index.html

4/ Congress must pass a funding bill before Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown. Bernie Sanders, however said he'd vote against the stopgap funding bill if Chuck Schumer follows through with a side deal he made with Joe Manchin to fast-track federal approvals of energy projects. Sanders said the permitting reform bill is "a huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry" and that the legislation would make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to receive permits and complete "some of the dirtiest and most polluting oil and gas projects in America." In order to secure Manchin's support for the Inflation Reduction Act, Schumer promised to pass the permitting reform bill. (Bloomberg / The Hill)

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3634171-sanders-vows-to-oppose-controversial-schumer-manchin-side-deal/

5/ The White House warned that the environmental impact of producing cryptocurrencies could threaten the nation's climate goals. A new report on the climate and energy implications of the crypto industry by the Office of Science and Technology Policy estimates that the industry is responsible for at least 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year – similar to the annual emissions of the entire U.S. railroad industry. The U.S. is responsible for 38% of the world's Bitcoin mining, compared with 3.5% in 2020. While stopping short of prescribing specific regulations, the report urged federal agencies to work with states, communities, and industry to develop voluntary environmental performance standards. (Bloomberg / E&E News)

https://www.eenews.net/articles/white-house-calls-for-action-on-crypto-climate-pollution/

6/ Nearly 650,000 parcels of land in the U.S. are projected to be at least partially under water by 2050, according to a new report by the nonprofit Climate Central. As much as 4.4 million acres could fall below tidal boundaries that mark the line between private property and public land by 2050, which could double by 2100. Louisiana, in particular, is expected to see roughly 8.7% of its total land area – nearly 2.5 million acres – fall wholly below tidal boundary lines by 2050. (Washington Post / Phys.org)

https://phys.org/news/2022-09-seas-fueled-climate-swamp-34b.html

7/ The Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean are warming nearly twice as fast as the global average. Temperatures in the region are projected to rise up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. Europe, meanwhile, recorded its hottest summer in history – its second historic summer in a row. (Associated Press / Washington Post)

https://apnews.com/article/science-health-middle-east-droughts-9cf154e1f68baac488163bfb1d38220c?taid=63177066430a3f0001179369

poll/ 58% of Americans said Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement is threatening America's democratic foundations. 60% of Republicans said they don't think the MAGA movement represents the majority of the party. (Reuters)

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-americans-see-trumps-maga-threat-democracy-reutersipsos-2022-09-07/

poll/ 73% of Americans favor maximum age limits for elected officials. About a third of current U.S. senators are 70 years of age or older. (CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elected-officials-maximum-age-limits-opinion-poll-2022-09-08/

Nitwit

@sgamer82 that’s a lot of text to read let me get my reading glasses

sgamer82

@Nitwit said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

@sgamer82 that’s a lot of text to read let me get my reading glasses

Sorry, I don't know how to folderize or otherwise condense it with the current forum's formatting.

Satsuki

Somebody stick this on the Mar-A-Lago door:

alt text

sgamer82

Day 601: "The burden."

1/ Trump asked a federal judge to deny the Justice Department's request to limit the role of a special master in its review of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago as part of its criminal investigation. Last week, federal prosecutors – citing the risk of "irreparable harm" to national security – requested that District Judge Aileen Cannon stay the portion of her ruling blocking the government from reviewing about 100 documents with classification markings that were taken during the Aug. 8 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. In a 21-page filing, Trump's lawyers called the Justice Department's investigation into Trump "unprecedented and misguided," and referring to the seized documents as "purported 'classified records,'" they claimed that the government "has not proven" that the materials marked classified are actually still classified. Instead, they argued, Trump might actually have the right to keep the materials in his possession. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-criminal-investigations-government-and-politics-4400379ff118bdaf16ffd7a51bb2c4e9

Trump told aides after his 2020 defeat that he would not depart the White House, insisting: "I'm just not going to leave." To another aide Trump said: "We're never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?" (CNN / Vanity Fair)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/politics/trump-vowed-to-stay-in-white-house-haberman-book/index.html

2/ The Justice Department issued about 40 subpoenas seeking information about Trump and his associates related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack. According to one subpoena, the department requested information about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rally, or tried to "obstruct, influence, impede or delay" the certification of the presidential election. The department also seized the phones of two top Trump advisers, Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman. At least 20 subpoenas sent out were seeking information about several lawyers involved in the fake elector scheme, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman. Last week, Stephen Miller, Trump's White House political director, and more than a dozen other people received subpoenas from a federal grand jury seeking information related to the Save America PAC and the alleged "fake electors" plot. (New York Times / New York Times / CNN / CBS News / Politico)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-associates-subpoenaed-justice-department-investigation-january-6-capitol-riot/

The Jan. 6 committee will resume televised hearings later this month. The committee held eight hearings in June and July. (Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-panel-to-restart-hearings-as-house-returns-to-work-11662814801?mod=politics_lead_pos13

3/ Child poverty in the U.S. fell by 59% from 1993 to 2019 with the number of children protected by the social safety net tripling from 2 million in 1993 to 6.5 million in 2019. More than one in four children in the U.S. in 1993 lived in families below the federal government's poverty threshold. Today, roughly one in 10 children live in families below the threshold. The decline of child poverty coincides with the expansion of safety net programs, namely the earned-income credit and the child tax credit. The earned-income credit alone reduced child poverty by 22%. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/us/politics/child-poverty-analysis-safety-net.html

4/ Biden issued an executive order to encourage biomedical innovation in the U.S. as part of a "moonshot" effort aimed at "ending cancer as we know it." The order will establish a biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative to solidify supply chains and center drug manufacturing in the country. Biden also selected Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the director of the new biomedical research agency, known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. (The Hill / Associated Press / New York Times)

https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-diagnostic-tests-john-f-kennedy-presidential-library-and-museum-government-politics-6bc8183548cd46545f4141cfa6fe4630

5/ A group of 22 Republican governors urged Biden to withdraw his student loan forgiveness plan, claiming it will "shift the burden of debt from the wealthy" to lower-income families. The Department of Education, however, estimates that nearly 90% of those benefiting from the student loan relief earn less than $75,000 a year, and that no individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000 will receive relief. According to the Census Bureau, the median income in the U.S. was $65,000 in 2020. (Axios)

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/12/biden-student-loan-gop-governors

poll/ 12% of Americans say the U.S. health care system is handled extremely or very well. 56% said health care in the U.S. is not handled well at all while 32% said it was handled somewhat well. (Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-medication-prescription-drug-costs-drugs-63b342945f9b6ab3ce0ed3920deb935a

poll/ 33% of Americans said they prefer strong, unelected leaders to weak elected ones. 38% agree that the government should act in the interests of the majority even if it conflicts with ethnic and religious minority groups' civil rights. (Axios)

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/12/two-americas-index-democracy

poll/ 49% of Americans approve of Biden's job performance – his highest rating since April. Among young adults, 51% support Biden's handling of the presidency following the Inflation Reduction Act and his decision to forgive up to $20,000 in college loans. In August, 40% approved of Biden's job performance. (IBD/TIPP Poll)

https://www.investors.com/politics/biden-approval-rating-gets-big-bounce-from-young-americans/

Satsuki

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

Day 601: "The burden."

poll/ 12% of Americans say the U.S. health care system is handled extremely or very well. 56% said health care in the U.S. is not handled well at all while 32% said it was handled somewhat well. (Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-medication-prescription-drug-costs-drugs-63b342945f9b6ab3ce0ed3920deb935a

One of the few things that people on both sides of the political line can agree on. Health care in this country sucks.

Satsuki

I really miss Al Franken.
https://secondnexus.com/franken-factchecks-stewart-scotus-lie?fbclid=IwAR0ofDdyenMvTHrgDK7TyGiVUHYsyXj1c6vRDk8XjLSd3j9M_617sSa5dkk

sgamer82

Day 602: "Out of step."

1/ Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. While Graham's measure stands no chance of enactment, it comes less than two months before the midterm elections when some Republican candidates are walking back their support for a total ban. 56% of voters say abortion will be very important to their midterm votes. Additionally, Mitch McConnell all but rejected the measure, saying that questions about the bill should be directed to Graham and that most Republican senators "prefer this be handled at the state level." John Cornyn added: "That wasn't a conference decision. It was an individual senator's decision." The White House, meanwhile, criticized the bill as "wildly out of step with what Americans believe." ‌(Washington Post / Politico / Axios / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / CNN)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/13/1122700975/gop-sen-lindsey-graham-introduces-15-week-abortion-ban-in-the-senate

2/ Inflation rose 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier. While inflation is down from an 8.5% jump in July and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June, it's at a slower pace than anticipated given decreases in gasoline prices and other forms of energy fell. Economists expected consumer prices to rise about 8% annually in August. In response, stock markets posted their worst one-day performance since June 2020. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is expected to raise interest rates another 0.75 percentage point next week to slow economy further. The Census Bureau reported that from 2019 to 2021, real median household income decreased 2.8%. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Bloomberg)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/inflation-rose-0point1percent-in-august-even-with-sharp-drop-in-gas-prices.html

3/ At least 97 current members of Congress reported trades by themselves or family in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of congressional committees on which they serve. Over a three-year span, more than 3,700 trades were reported by lawmakers from both parties that posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances. More than half of them sat on committees that potentially gave them insight into the companies they reported buying or selling. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/13/us/politics/congress-stock-trading-investigation.html

4/ A potential national railroad strike threatens to further disrupt supply chains and cause billions of dollars in economic damage, forcing the Biden administration to develop contingency plans to keep critical supply chains operational as labor talks continue. Railroads and unions have until Friday to resolve a labor dispute when a federally mandated 30-day "cooling off" period ends. The White House is also considering the use of emergency powers to ensure essential supplies like food, energy, health-related products to consumers, and chlorine for wastewater treatment plants, can be delivered in the event of a strike. At issue is a dispute over wage increases and better health coverage between railway carriers and two unions, which represent 57,000 conductors and engineers. The railroads account for about 28% of U.S. freight. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/politics/possible-rail-strike-white-house-contingencies/index.html

5/ More than 15,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike after months of contract negotiations failed to produce a new deal that addresses understaffing and overwork. The strike against 16 hospital systems is the largest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/business/minnesota-nurses-strike/index.html

6/ The National Archives is not certain whether all of Trump's presidential records are in its possession even after the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago club, the House Oversight Committee said. In a letter to the acting archivist, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney asked the Archives to "seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office." Maloney added: "I also ask that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records recovered from the Trump White House to assess whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president," she adds. On August 24, the Archives informed the committee that the agency didn't know whether all of Trump's White House records were accounted for. (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-carolyn-maloney-congress-government-and-politics-5eddf3738732cbed53f2fa439c43b84f

poll/ 47% of Americans could name all three branches of government while 25% couldn't name a single branch. (The Hill)

https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/3640520-less-than-half-of-americans-can-name-all-three-branches-of-government-survey-finds/

sgamer82

Day 603: "It's all changing."

1/ Biden approved the first $900 million in U.S. funding to build EV charging stations in 35 states. The bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Congress approved in November, allocated $7.5 billion to build a national EV charging network. By 2030, Biden wants 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric or plug-in hybrid electric models and 500,000 new EV charging stations. "America is confronting the climate crisis with American workers leading the way," Biden said. "It used to be to buy an electric vehicle you had to make all sorts of compromises. Not now […] It's all changing. Today, if you want an electric vehicle with a long range, you can buy one made in America." (CNBC / CBS News / Reuters / Washington Post)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-electric-vehicles-chargers-detroit-auto-show/

2/ Amtrak will shut down all long distance passenger trains starting Thursday because of the possible freight rail strike. The majority of Amtrak routes operate on tracks owned by freight railroads. Amtrak trains that operate between Washington, D.C. and Boston, however, would not be affected because Amtrak owns most of those tracks. Two unions representing the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each freight train are demanding changes to the scheduling rules that keep them "on call" every day they're not at work and penalizes them for going to routine doctor visits or responding to family medical emergencies. Negotiators face a deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern on Friday to avert the freight shutdown. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/business/railroad-strike-outlook-economic-impact/

3/ The EPA's inspector general office is investigating the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi where roughly 150,000 residents have been under a boil-water advisory for seven weeks. The city issued a boil-water advisory after finding cloudiness in the water that could cause illness. The office issued a memo saying it will look into the federal response, as well as city and state officials. The current crisis began when heavy rains caused the Pearl River to flood and overwhelmed the water treatment plant, which was already using backup pumps because the pumps at the main water treatment facility were already damaged. (CNN / Politico / ABC News)

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/epa-inspector-general-probes-mississippi-capital-water-woes-89843253

4/ Marco Rubio will co-sponsor Lindsey Graham's bill to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks, which has received a tepid response from Republicans who say they "prefer this be dealt with at the state level." In Indiana, the first new abortion ban passed by a state legislature since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June will take effect on Thursday. The West Virginia Republican-majority Legislature, meanwhile, passed a near-total abortion ban. Under the new measure, rape and incest victims could obtain abortions at up to eight weeks of pregnancy, but only if they report to law enforcement first. And in Texas, the state delayed publication of its study on pregnancy-related deaths until after the midterms and the state's upcoming legislative session. The delay means lawmakers likely won't be able to use the data until 2025. The most recent state-level data available is nine years old. (Miami Herald / NPR / CNBC / NBC News / Houston Chronicle)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1122835073/indiana-abortion-ban-thursday-roe-dobbs

5/ The special counsel appointed by the Trump administration to examine the origins of the Russia investigation appears to be winding down after three years. The federal grand jury John Durham used to hear evidence for his investigation has expired, and there are no plans to revive it. Durham and his team are working to complete a final report by the end of the year, which will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether to make its findings public. In 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr tapped Durham to review the FBI's Russia probe and Barr later upgraded Durham to "special counsel" status shortly before the 2020 election, ensuring that Durham's work would continue after Trump left office. (New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/john-durham-investigation-update/index.html

6/ House lawmakers proposed bipartisan legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 – the first major legislative response to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The bill, called the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, is similar to the bipartisan effort in the Senate to clarify the limited role of the vice president in certifying election result, raising the threshold for members of Congress to object to states' presidential electors, and promoting an orderly presidential transition. (NBC News / Axios)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-members-roll-bipartisan-election-bill-aimed-preventing-future-co-rcna47725

pariston_hill

Just to make clear the universal truth that, All Cops Are Bastards

pariston_hill

I don't think I ever saw a biggest dunk even in NBA

Satsuki

Let the Election Deniers face ALL the legal troubles!!
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1123898736/prominent-election-deniers-are-facing-growing-legal-trouble?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&fbclid=IwAR3vOoK-3o1LelCaqbyiCjhQ3cSC6311jgr2Fl9VdxLk2oPHEapUUMQUJFY

Sano

Oh boy...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/trump-sued-new-york-letitia-james/

sgamer82

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2022/09/21/day-610/

Day 610: "Numerous acts of fraud."

1/ New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and executives at the Trump Organization. In the more than 200-page lawsuit, James alleges that the Trumps enriched themselves through "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations" for more than a decade by "grossly" inflating Trump's net worth by billions of dollars and deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax authorities with false and misleading financial statements. "For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them," James said in a statement. "Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system." The civil lawsuit seeks to permanently bar the Trumps from ever running a business in the state again and about $250 million in penalties. In addition, James said she believes Trump and his family business violated several state criminal laws and "plausibly" broke federal criminal laws as well. Her office has referred the matter to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the IRS. "The pattern of fraud that was used by Mr. Trump and the Trump organization was astounding," James added. (New York Times/ CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / NPR / Axios / Bloomberg / ABC News)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/21/1124242985/new-yorks-attorney-general-sues-trump-and-his-children-for-alleged-fraud

2/ The special master tasked with reviewing documents seized from Mar-a-Lago repeatedly challenged Trump's lawyers refusal to offer proof that Trump had declassified any of the 100 documents that the FBI recovered from his estate. At the first hearing in the matter, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said the Justice Department had presented evidence that several of the documents were classified – noting they are marked as such – and asked James Trusty, one of Trump's attorneys, to explain why he should question the government's determination. Trusty, however, repeatedly refused to disclose whether Trump had declassified any of the documents he brought to Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Dearie said that if Trump's attorneys didn't directly dispute the government's argument that the documents are classified, "As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it." Trusty then called it "premature" for Dearie to consider that issue right now, to which Dearie responded: "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Trump has implied that the 11,000 documents taken from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI were declassified, including the 100 bearing classification markings that suggest they contain highly sensitive national security-related intelligence. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1124172228/special-master-trump-classified-documents

3/ Biden condemned Russia's efforts to "erase" Ukraine from the map after Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons if Kyiv continues its efforts to reclaim occupied territory. Putin also declared a "partial mobilization" to call up as many as 300,000 reservists to reverse setbacks in his war. At the United Nations, Biden said Putin's war "shamelessly violated" U.N. principles by "extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state […] and Ukraine's right to exist as a people," while calling out Putin for making "irresponsible nuclear threats." The world's "blood should run cold" over the invasion, Biden added. On Wednesday, Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons, saying, "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people — this is not a bluff." Putin's reference to his nuclear arsenal came a day after four Russian-controlled areas announced "referendums" on the annexation of nearly 15% of Ukraine into the Russian Federation – a plan Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed as a "sham" aimed at deterring a successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops. Russian airlines, meanwhile, were reportedly ordered to stop selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/biden-aims-rally-world-leaders-ukraine-un-remarks-rcna48355

4/ The Federal Reserve approved its third consecutive 75-basis-point interest-rate hike as inflation remains near a 40-year high. The decision lifts the benchmark federal funds rate to a range between 3% and 3.25% – the highest level since early 2008 – and officials expect to raise interest rates to a range between 4.75% and 5% next year. Officials expect inflation to decline from 6.3% in August to 5.4% by the end of this year before eventually falling back to the Fed's 2% goal by 2025. The U.S. unemployment rate, meanwhile, is projected to climb from 3.7% to 4.4% by next year, and GDP growth is forecasted to slump to 0.2% for 2022. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/economy/fed-rate-hike-september/index.html

5/ Sales of existing U.S. homes fell for the seventh straight month in August as mortgage rates climbed toward their highest level in 14 years. The string of monthly sales declines is the longest stretch since the housing market crashed in 2007. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, meanwhile, hit 6.25% last week. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/existing-home-sales-prices-mortgage-rates-housing-market-august-2022-11663711368?mod=hp_lead_pos5

sgamer82

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2022/09/22/day-611/

Day 611: "Thinking about it."

1/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Justice Department could use the classified documents that were seized from Mar-a-Lago in its ongoing criminal investigation, blocking a lower court's order that had limited the investigation into Trump's handling of government materials. The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – two of whom were nominated by Trump – disagreed with Trump's rationale that the classified documents were his property, rather than the government's, writing that Trump "has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents." The court also disagreed with the rationale used by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to order a special master to review the classified documents and deny the DOJ's request that they be exempted from it. Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that "there doesn't have to be a process [to declassify documents], as I understand it," claiming that a president can declassify "even by thinking about it." (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-criminal-investigations-government-and-politics-fe24760ff9a350ea7aecd1a13c8eef16

2/ The special master overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation ordered Trump's lawyers to submit a sworn declaration saying if they believe the Justice Department lied about the documents seized. While Trump has repeatedly claimed that the FBI planted evidence when they searched Mar-A-Lago, his lawyers have not made similar assertions in court. Judge Raymond Dearie set a Sept. 30 deadline for Trump's lawyers to state in a court filing if the Justice Department included any items on their "inventory" of materials taken from Mar-a-Lago that were not actually seized during the search. (Washington Post / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/politics/mar-a-lago-special-master-trump-fbi-planting-evidence/

3/ Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the Jan. 6 committee. Thomas repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to find ways to overturn the election and attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. The committee has also obtained email correspondence between Thomas and John Eastman, the architect of the campaign to push Pence to reject the 2020 election results during the counting of Electoral College votes. The committee will hold its next public hearing next Wednesday, Sept. 28 – likely the last in a series of hearings that began this summer. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-us-supreme-court-donald-trump-clarence-thomas-virginia-0b11b36438d7d75554d08985b22b92bc

4/ The House passed an electoral reform bill to prevent future presidents from trying to steal an election through Congress. The Presidential Election Reform Act amends the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act – the law that Trump and his allies tried to exploit in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election – by clarifying the vice president's role in counting electoral votes as strictly ministerial. It also would raise the threshold for Congress to object to a state's results. The bill passed 229-203, with nine Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the measure. None of those nine Republican lawmakers will be members of Congress next year. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where a bipartisan group has been working on a similar bill. (NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/21/1124239193/house-legislation-electoral-count-act-reform

5/ Senate Republicans blocked an effort to require the disclosure of large campaign donations to so-called dark money groups. The Disclose Act, which failed on a 49-49 vote along party lines, would have required super PACs to disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/senate-republicans-campaign-finance/

6/ The Senate ratified a global treaty to phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons – its first international climate treaty in three decades. The planet-warming industrial chemicals, commonly found in refrigerators and air-conditioners, are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/22/us-approves-kigali-amendment-to-curb-climate-warming-chemicals.html

7/ An Indiana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the state's near-total ban on abortion a week after it took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortion except to save the woman's life. The judge wrote that "there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution" and that the clinics will prevail in the lawsuit. (NPR / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124478802/indiana-abortion-ban-blocked

sgamer82

Day 615: "We've made that very clear."

1/ An Arizona judge ruled that a 1864 ban on nearly all abortions in that state can be enforced, lifting a 1973 injunction that had barred enforcement of Arizona's pre-statehood ban. The 1864 law mandates a two- to five-year prison sentence for anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion and makes no exception for victims of rape or incest. The law was updated and codified in 1901. Judge Kellie Johnson cited the Supreme Court's decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion as rationale for lifting the injunction. Johnson's ruling came a day before Arizona's 15-week ban on abortion was slated to go into effect. Biden, meanwhile, vowed to codify the right to an abortion into law if voters "give me two more senators in the United States Senate." (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / The Guardian)

2/ Trump's attorneys are attempting to assert attorney-client and executive privilege over grand jury testimony to prevent witnesses from sharing information in the Justice Department's Jan. 6 criminal investigation. Earlier this month, the federal grand jury issued more than 40 subpoenas to former Trump aides seeking information about the role Trump played in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, including the plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors in swing states that were won by Biden. The legal dispute, which is under seal, will determine how much evidence prosecutors can use from Trump's conversations in the West Wing and with attorneys as he tried to overturn the 2020 election. (CNN / New York Times)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/23/politics/trump-grand-jury-court-fight/index.html

3/ Mark Meadows texted with an election denier in late December 2020 about attempts to gain access to voting systems in Arizona and Georgia. Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel with ties to Michael Flynn, helped draft language for an executive order directing the Pentagon and Homeland Security to seize voting machines, as well as sending Meadows an "Options for 6 Jan" PowerPoint presentation that outlined a plan for overturning the election. Meadows recently complied with a Justice Department subpoena for information about the 2020 election, including these text messages. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/politics/meadows-texts-phil-waldron-seize-voting-machines-election-fraud/index.html

The White House switchboard dialed a cell phone registered to a Capitol rioter who had stormed the building on Jan. 6. The call was placed at 4:34 pm – shortly after Trump posted a video message on social media telling the rioters at the Capitol, "go home, we love you, you're very special." It lasted for nine seconds. (CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/denver-riggleman-white-house-switchboard-capitol-rioter-january-6-60-minutes-2022-09-23/

4/ The Biden administration announced $1.5 billion in grants to fight the opioid crisis. Last year, more than 107,000 people died after overdosing in the U.S. – a 15% increase from 2020. The grants will be used to expand access to treatment and recovery services, invest in better overdose education, and increase the accessibility of naloxone products. (CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/24/biden-administration-awards-1point5-billion-to-fight-opioid-crisis.html

5/ Biden's plan to cancel student loan debt for millions of American borrowers will cost roughly $400 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO expects 90% of the 37 million borrowers with loans from the federal government would take advantage of the plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for lower- and middle-class borrowers. (Washington Post / New York Times)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/26/cbo-student-loan-forgiveness-biden/

6/ The U.S. warned Russia of "catastrophic" consequences if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine. "It's very important that Moscow hear from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. "And we've made that very clear." National security adviser Jake Sullivan added that "In private channels we have spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean." The comments by Blinken and Sullivan come after Putin addressed Russia last week, saying that if Russia's "territorial integrity" was threatened, "we will certainly use all the means at our disposal" to retaliate and that "it's not a bluff." (Axios / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/politics/us-warns-putin-nuclear-weapons-analysis/index.html

poll/ 23% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job – its highest rating in 2022. 75%, however, disapprove. (Gallup)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/401864/recent-congressional-approval-trending-higher.aspx

poll/ 66% of voters say the November election is more important than past midterm campaigns. 68% of voters feel that their rights and freedoms are at stake in the midterm election. (Washington Post / CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-republican-majority-shrinks-opinion-poll-2022-09-25/

poll/ 56% of Democrats say the party should replace Biden as its nominee for president in 2024, while 35% favor Biden for the nomination. 47% of Republicans, meanwhile, think Trump should be their 2024 nominee – a 20-point drop compared with his 2020 nomination. (ABC News)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-struggles-party-democrats-2024-poll/story?id=90427262

Notable: Pollsters fear they're blowing it again in 2022. Democrats seem to be doing better than expected with voters. But if the polls are wrong, they could be disappointed in November — again. [Editor's note: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ] (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/26/pollsters-fear-elections-2024-00058506

Satsuki

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

Day 615: "We've made that very clear."

poll/ 56% of Democrats say the party should replace Biden as its nominee for president in 2024, while 35% favor Biden for the nomination. 47% of Republicans, meanwhile, think Trump should be their 2024 nominee – a 20-point drop compared with his 2020 nomination. (ABC News)

I can't say I'm entirely against that. Bless the guy, he's too old. Even with all he's accomplished so far, he's only getting older and that makes it harder.

onemoment

I'm mixed on this. I feel like he's doing a great job all things considered, but he could die tomorrow. I feel like most people voting in this poll are thinking like this. They don't want to replace the man, but they do want a candidate who won't die of old age. I assume it's not a poll of disapproval but of disapproval but of pragmatism.

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

Day 615: "We've made that very clear."
poll/ 66% of voters say the November election is more important than past midterm campaigns. 68% of voters feel that their rights and freedoms are at stake in the midterm election. (Washington Post / CBS News)

I find this poll pretty promising though. That seems like a good number.

Satsuki

Roevember is coming. Or it better be fucking coming. All mid-term elections are important, but it's only been in like this past decade that we've really learned just how important.

And yeah, he could die tomorrow (but couldn't we all?), or his mind could worsen. Like Regan and his Alzheimers.

pariston_hill

@Satsuki said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

or his mind could worsen. Like Regan ~~and his Alzheimers~~.

Fixed that up @Satsuki , Reagan didn't need Alzheimers to have a shitty mind.

Satsuki

He always had a shitty mind, but it deteriorated all the more.

sgamer82

Day 616: "Unprecedented."

1/ The Senate is set to vote on a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running past Friday. In addition to maintaining current funding levels through Dec. 16, the bill also provides more than $12 billion to Ukraine, $1 billion to help families with heating and cooling costs, $2.5 billion to help New Mexico recover from wildfires, and $20 million in emergency funding for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to voting, Joe Manchin asked Chuck Schumer to remove his energy permitting package from the short-term government funding bill. The permitting proposal was a key part of Schumer's deal with Manchin to pass the Inflation Reduction Act this summer on a party-line vote. Manchin conceded only after several Democrats and Republicans – including Mitch McConnell – threatened to vote against the spending measure and risk a government shutdown. (Politico / Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-senate-continuing-resolution-vote/

2/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife to avoid being served a subpoena in a lawsuit over funding for abortions. Several abortion rights organizations filed a lawsuit seeking a court order barring state officials from pursuing criminal charges against their employees for providing financial and other aid to Texans seeking abortion services out of state. In a sworn affidavit, the process server said that Paxton refused to accept the subpoena and instead ran from his garage into a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton. (Texas Tribune / NBC News / Bloomberg)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-ag-paxton-fled-home-truck-driven-wife-avoid-subpoena-process-ser-rcna49558

3/ More than 1,000 students walked out of Virginia public schools in protest of the state's reversal of transgender protections. Earlier this month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin rewrote Virginia's model policies for the treatment of transgender students, mandating that all students use school bathrooms and locker rooms according to the "biological sex" they were assigned at birth. The new policy also requires parental approval for staff members to refer to students by a different name or pronoun at school. "These revised guidelines will only hurt students in a time when students are facing unparalleled mental health challenges, and are a cruel attempt to politicize the existence of LGBTQIA+ students for political gain," the Pride Liberation Project, a statewide LGBTQ youth advocacy group, said in a statement. (Washington Post / NBC News / USA Today)

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/students-stage-walkouts-virginia-governors-transgender-school-policies-rcna49594

4/ Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 3 storm over Cuba and is expected to strengthen into a Category 4 storm as it approaches Florida's southwest coast. More than 2.5 million Florida residents are already under evacuation orders. The storm is expected to pass west of the Florida Keys Tuesday and come ashore just south of Sarasota on Florida's Gulf Coast by Wednesday night. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/hurricanes-nfl-sports-cuba-storms-7975f44228a6d44a86cb945e856240d8

5/ The Jan. 6 committee postponed its next hearing because of Hurricane Ian. It's unclear when the panel's ninth and final public hearing will be rescheduled. (Washington Post / New York Times)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/27/jan-6-committee-postpones-planned-hearing-hurricane-ian-advances/

6/ European leaders blamed the Kremlin for explosions that damaged three natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. "The damage that occurred in one day simultaneously at three lines of offshore pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented," the operating company, Nord Stream AG, said in a statement. The Danish prime minister said she "cannot rule out" sabotage, saying "these are deliberate actions, not an accident. The situation is as serious as it gets." The Polish prime minister added that "we can clearly see that it is an act of sabotage," and "probably marks the next stage in the escalation of this situation in Ukraine." It's not clear what impact the damage will have on Europe's energy supplies, but western officials have warned that the Kremlin is weaponizing its gas deliveries to Europe to punish governments for supporting Ukraine. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CBS News / The Guardian)

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-germany-berlin-00232df3f4b4bc89afd47d4707724e33

poll/ 41% of Americans favor charging Trump with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, while 34% are against charging Trump and another 25% are unsure. (Bloomberg)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/plurality-of-americans-in-new-poll-say-trump-should-face-jan-6-charges?srnd=politics-vp&sref=MIBMEEoj

pariston_hill

street shark
https://twitter.com/US_Stormwatch/status/1575194411104817152?s=20&t=pIe6m6GHVYaPhgCKQHLZ6A

Satsuki

Someone get the poor shark out of Florida. It's not a safe place to live.

sgamer82

Day 617: "Obscene."

1/ Biden promised to end hunger in the U.S. by the end of the decade, unveiling $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments to make food healthier, more affordable, and accessible. It was the first White House summit dedicated to combating hunger in nearly a half-century. "I know we can do this," Biden said. "This goal is within our reach." Most of the policy proposals – like permanently extending the child tax credit, raising the minimum wage, and expanding nutrition assistance programs – will require congressional approval. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Politico)

https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-philanthropy-9dc884edcdbce63c6df5f2337ff81922

2/ The Congressional Budget Office reported that the poorest half of Americans – about 150 million people – hold 2% of the nation's wealth. The top 10% of American families, meanwhile, account for 72% of the nation's wealth. In 1989, the bottom half of the population held 4% of total wealth while the top 10 held 64%. "This report confirms what we already know: The very rich are getting much, much richer while the middle class is falling further and further behind, and being forced to take on outrageous levels of debt," Bernie Sanders said. "The obscene level of income and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly moral issue that we cannot continue to ignore or sweep under the rug." (Washington Post / Common Dreams)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/28/obscene-says-sanders-after-cbo-reports-richest-1-now-owns-over-13-us-wealth

3/ Biden warned that Social Security and Medicare are "on the chopping block" if Republicans regained control of Congress. Some Republicans have called for restructuring or scaling back entitlement programs with Rick Scott going so far as to draft a plan that would "sunset" Social Security and Medicare if Congress doesn't act. Social Security's combined reserves, meanwhile, are projected to be depleted in 2035. After that, the program will be able to pay about 77% of the scheduled benefits unless Congress steps in. Roughly 56 million people received retirement and survivors benefits in 2021. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/us/politics/biden-social-security-republicans.html

4/ The European Union proposed new sanctions in response to Russia escalating its war in Ukraine by drafting at least 300,000 men into its army, threatening the use of nuclear weapons, and holding "sham" referendums. European leaders also vowed a "robust and united response" to the "sabotage" of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. The White House, meanwhile, said that Russia's attempts to annex four Ukrainian regions under its control were "illegitimate" and "outrageous." White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "The Russian government falsified the results to advance the lie that the Ukrainian people want to be part of Russia." The Biden administration also announced $1.1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. commitment to more than $16.2 billion. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC)

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-kyiv-moscow-0e7634dcfc648276b9af1ee19535cd3f

5/ Mitch McConnell endorsed a bipartisan electoral count reform bill in the Senate, which now has the public support from 11 Republican senators – enough to overcome the chamber's 60-vote filibuster threshold. The legislation aims to stop future presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress by raising the threshold for lawmakers to object to the electoral count and reaffirm that the vice president only has a ministerial role in the count of electoral votes. The House passed its own version last week. Prior to McConnell's endorsement, the Senate Rules Committee voted to advance the bill. Ted Cruz was the lone senator to vote against the bill. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Texas Tribune)

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/27/ted-cruz-insurrection/

poll/ 52% of voters said they support Congress reforming the electoral vote count law, and 53% said it should be more difficult for state governments to override presidential election results. (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/28/electoral-count-reforms-majority-support-00059144

poll/ 5% of Americans – roughly 13 million adults – agree that the use of force is justified to restore Trump as president. About 3.32% of Americans – 8.5 million adults – said they would participate in the use of force to restore the Trump presidency. (CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/force-justified-return-trump-to-white-house/

poll/ 42% of Republicans identify as "MAGA" Republicans, while 58% disavow the term. (NBC News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/force-justified-return-trump-to-white-house/

sgamer82

Johns Hopkins doctor and spouse, an Army doctor, indicted for trying to leak medical information to Russia

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/johns-hopkins-doctor-and-spouse-an-army-doctor-indicted-for-trying-to-leak-medical-information-to-russia-TVCKU2TGUJB7JIH7M6D4GKMHZ4/

pariston_hill

@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:

The Congressional Budget Office reported that the poorest half of Americans – about 150 million people – hold 2% of the nation's wealth. The top 10% of American families, meanwhile, account for 72% of the nation's wealth. In 1989, the bottom half of the population held 4% of total wealth while the top 10 held 64%.

See Reganomics works.

sgamer82

Day 618: "A work in progress."

1/ The Education Department scaled back eligibility for its student loan forgiveness plan after six Republican-led states sued to stop Biden from canceling up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers. The lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri by state attorneys general from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Carolina, as well as legal representatives from Iowa argue that student loan servicers would see a drop in revenue because borrowers are likely to consolidate their loans under the Federal Family Education Loan program – FFEL are loans that were originally made by private lenders but are guaranteed by the federal government. In response, the Biden administration said it would exclude FFEL from the loan forgiveness program. The move disqualifies roughly 2 million of the 44 million otherwise eligible borrowers. (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN)

https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-lawsuits-covid-missouri-862d783188de45b698c54b00820d3616

2/ The Senate approved a temporary spending package to avert a partial government shutdown. The stopgap funding bill extends government funding through Dec. 16. The House is expected to quickly pass the measure and send it to Biden for his signature before funding lapses Friday night. The legislation includes $12.4 billion in assistance for Ukraine, but does not include money for coronavirus or monkeypox vaccines, testing, and treatment. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)

https://apnews.com/article/senate-passes-shutdown-bill-d4c21a9bd5872990466c0f1bc188c93e

3/ Mortgage rates surged to the highest level since 2007 with the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbing to 6.7%. It was the sixth week in a row of rising rates. A year ago, rates were 3.01%. Applications to refinance a home loan, meanwhile, have declined to a 22-year low. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/28/mortgage-refinancing-drops-to-a-22-year-low-.html

4/ Biden warned that Hurricane Ian may have been responsible for "substantial loss of life" and approved a major disaster declaration for Florida in what could be the deadliest storm in the state's history. "We've never seen a flood event like this," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, calling it a one-in-500-year flood event that has brought "historic" damage to the state. The National Hurricane Center said Ian brought "catastrophic flooding" over Florida's east and central regions. More than 2.5 million customers across Florida were without power Thursday morning. Although Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in Florida's southwest coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said Ian has intensified into a hurricane again after moving over the Atlantic Ocean. It projected to make a new landfall in South Carolina on Friday. Ian is "taking aim at the Carolinas and Georgia with life-threatening flooding, storm surge and strong winds," the center said. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Axios)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125876027/hurricane-ian-east-coast-forecast

5/ Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, testified before the Jan. 6 committee for about four and a half hours. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Thomas answered "some questions" in her interview, including reiterating her belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. "It's a work in progress," Thompson said. "At this point, we're glad she came." Thomas repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to find ways to overturn the election, attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, and emailed with John Eastman, the architect of the campaign to push Pence to reject the 2020 election results during the counting of Electoral College votes. Thomas has also repeatedly claimed her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband, who was the lone justice to dissent when the Supreme Court rejected Trump's effort to block the release of his White House records to the Jan. 6 committee. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-us-supreme-court-clarence-thomas-virginia-government-and-politics-3b4102509ef93bc37d24d7c8fd79ba80

poll/ 47% of Americans say they trust the Supreme Court and the judicial branch – a 20-percentage-point drop from two years ago. 40% of Americans approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job – a record-tying-low. (Gallup)

https://news.gallup.com/poll/402044/supreme-court-trust-job-approval-historical-lows.aspx

Satsuki

So MTG has requested people "respect her privacy" after her husband has filed for divorce.
https://www.comicsands.com/greene-asks-media-privacy-divorce-2658367209.html?fbclid=IwAR1PYsvrmNQfjGqDH2t5TVTLc7B1zy4XvBMW_LGWgbuhmsijet9CLh2020k

Yeah, that shit ain't happening, you hypocritical twat. Someone help TMZ do a stakeout.

sgamer82

Day 622: "By whatever means necessary."

1/ The National Archives told the House Oversight Committee that it hasn't recovered all the presidential records from Trump administration officials that should have been transferred under the Presidential Records Act. The Archives will consult with the Justice Department "on whether 'to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed,' as established under the Federal Records Act," acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall said in a letter to Carolyn Maloney, the committee's chairwoman. Wall added that the archives was working to retrieve electronic messages from certain unnamed White House officials who had used personal email and messaging accounts to conduct official business. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/01/politics/national-archives-trump-records-house-oversight-committee/index.html

A majority of House Republicans last year voted to challenge the Electoral College and upend the presidential election. "On the day the Capitol was attacked, 139 Republicans in the House voted to dispute the Electoral College count." (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/politics/republican-election-objectors.html

2/ Five members of the Oath Keepers militia planned an "armed rebellion" to keep Trump in power "by whatever means necessary," the Justice Department said during its opening statements in the first seditious conspiracy trial to stem from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Using text messages, video, and recorded calls, federal prosecutors said the group intended to "take matters into their own hands" to overturn the results of the 2020 election and "concocted a plan for an armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy." Prosecutors played a recording of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes saying that his group "should have brought rifles" to the Capitol. The charge of seditious conspiracy calls for up to 20 years in prison. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)

https://apnews.com/article/oath-keepers-capitol-riot-trial-day-1-5a5edf6cbffc2a997aafb1036f858de1

3/ The Supreme Court rejected MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's appeal in a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion sued Lindell and MyPillow in February 2021 for $1.3 billion in damages for pushing the "big lie" that Trump won the 2020 election and knowingly made baseless claims that Dominion's machines manipulated vote counts to ensure that Biden defeated Trump. Dominion has also accused Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani of defamation for falsely claiming that the election was "stolen." (Bloomberg / NBC News / CBS News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-trump-ally-mike-lindells-appeal-2020-election-la-rcna48409

4/ The Supreme Court began its new term, which will include major cases on voting rights, clean water regulations, affirmative action, and discrimination against gay couples. During the court's last term, which ended in June, the justices overturned of a half century of precedents that had guaranteed women the right to terminate most pregnancies, established a right to carry guns outside the home, and limited the government's ability to address climate change. The court's first case of the new term involves a dispute over the EPA's power to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act and what counts as "waters of the United States." If the court limits the EPA's authority to protect wetlands from pollution, environmental advocates say about half of all wetlands and roughly 60% of streams would no longer be federally protected. (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / FiveThirtyEight / The Hill)

https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-us-supreme-court-politics-health-government-and-8efa4b9f20a70252fb6262c5c4d98c3f

poll/ 47% of voters said they want Republicans to control Congress while 44% said they'd prefer Democrats in control. 82% of Americans ranked inflation their top issue, compared with 56% who ranked abortion as a top concern, and 32% who said the coronavirus pandemic was very important. (Monmouth University Poll / CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/03/economy-inflation-top-of-mind-for-midterm-voters-giving-gop-slight-edge-in-new-monmouth-poll.html

pariston_hill

At this point we should ask ourselves, is the GOP full of pedos? Long answer? Yes. Short one, also yes.

https://twitter.com/jaxdotcom/status/1577263262382653443?s=46&t=eE_7M0zMnmcikZj2ARgDUQ

sgamer82

Day 623: "We must change course."

1/ The United Nations warned that the world is "on the edge of a recession." In a new report, the United Nations Conference on Trade Development said that tightening monetary policy meant to fight inflation by central banks in the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. risks "pushing the world towards global recession and prolonged stagnation, inflicting worse damage than the financial crisis in 2008" and the Covid-19 contraction in economic activity. "Today we need to warn that we may be on the edge of a policy-induced global recession," Secretary-General of UNCTAD Rebeca Grynspan said in a statement. "We still have time to step back from the edge of recession. Nothing is inevitable. We must change course." The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, reaffirmed that bringing inflation down from its 40-year high will require a slowdown in economic growth and reduced demand for workers by employers. Interest rates are currently set in a range between 3 and 3.25%, and the Fed's most recent projections suggest they'll climb to 4.6% by the end of 2023. On the other hand, U.S. national debt exceeded $31 trillion for the first time, and the higher rates could add an additional $1 trillion to federal government interest payments this decade. (CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/unctad-warns-that-asia-global-economy-headed-for-a-recession.html

2/ Job openings dropped 10% in August to 10.01 million from 11.2 million in July. The 1.1 million drop in available positions is the largest decline since April 2020, and job openings are at their lowest level in a year. There are about 1.7 jobs for every unemployed person – down from about 2 in July. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/jolts-august-2022.html

3/ Home prices in the U.S. posted their largest monthly declines since 2009. Median home prices fell by 0.98% from July to August, while mortgage rates have more than doubled – from less than 3% to nearly 7% – since 2021. Wall Street, meanwhile, has forecasted a 5% to 10% decline in U.S. home prices by the end of 2023, which would be the second-biggest home price decline since the Great Depression (Bloomberg / Fortune)

https://fortune.com/2022/10/03/housing-market-wall-street-home-prices-predictions-moodys-goldman-sachs-morgan-stanley-fitch-ratings/

4/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the dispute over classified government documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, saying the special master should be allowed to review the classified documents. Last month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit granted the Justice Department's request to keep about 100 classified documents separate from the special master's review. Trump's legal team, however, claims that the 11th Circuit lacked the judicial authority to stay the special master order "authorizing the review of seized documents bearing classification markings." The petition was filed with Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees emergency requests from the 11th Circuit and is likely to refer Trump's request to the full court to consider. In January, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's request to block the release of more than 750 pages of his White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Only Justice Clarence Thomas noted a dissent. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Axios)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/politics/trump-supreme-court-mar-a-lago-appeal/index.html

5/ In early 2022 Trump's lawyer refused his instructions to tell the National Archives that all the records had been returned, because he wasn't sure the statement was true. Alex Cannon had facilitated the January transfer of 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives, and in February, Trump told Cannon to tell the archives he had returned "everything" they had requested. Cannon, however, told Trump he was uncomfortable making such a definitive statement. Separately, the archives notified Trump's lawyers in May 2021 that it was missing the original correspondence between Trump and Kim Jong Un, as well as the letter that Obama left for Trump. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/politics/trump-lawyer-alex-cannon-archives-records/index.html

Trump's White House aides weren't surprised that the FBI found highly classified material in boxes at Mar-a-Lago. "During his four years in office, Trump never strictly followed the rules and customs for handling sensitive government documents, according to 14 officials from his administration." White House Chief of Staff John Kelly added that Trump "rejected the Presidential Records Act entirely." (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/04/trump-classified-documents-meadows/

6/ Trump sued CNN for alleged defamation and is seeking at least $475 million in damages. Trump claims that CNN harmed his reputation with "false, defamatory, and inflammatory mischaracterizations of him" and that CNN "intended to interfere with [his] political career" as part of a "concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left." For his part, Trump has repeatedly attacked that news organizations as "fake news" and "enemy of the people." Less than 24 hours after filing suit against CNN, Trump encouraged his supporters to contribute $5 or more to his cause. (CBS News / Axios / Bloomberg)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sues-cnn-for-defamation/