The Politics Thread

[Noel]

Yes. That was my first rant about him when the hearings first started. On July 27th, these four officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department gave their harrowing testimony. On January 6, the officers' actions caused significant physical and mental harm. However, they asserted that Congress owes them the duty to hold those in authority who may have encouraged or abetted the revolt accountable. And THEY DO.

I think of the officer who was left bloodied and screaming for help as rioters chanted "heave ho!" and they continued to try and push their way through the entry, and I think of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of natural causes the day after the riot on Jan. 6 after he suffered two strokes. I don't want to go further because it's going to get me heated, and I'm going to try to be civil.

This [!@#$%^&*]. Because of this selfish, self-seeking, narcissistic mother !@#$%^&*]. And all I remember the news reporters saying throughout the whole time of the insurrection, Trump was sitting in the dining room watching television for 2 hours. Well, that's certainly not the case. No. The DOJ needs to act immediately, but another (hopeful) part of me thinks that the House Committee are slowly starting to squeeze in. 

God. So much is going on. This, reproductive rights, voting rights, inflation, war in the Ukraine, etc. I'm mentally exhausted. And pissed.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Noel

[Vee]

 

[DRW50]

They will never rest until all lgbt people are silenced, likely for good.

[DramatistDreamer]

Something similar happened to an African-American teacher (or was he a Vice-Principal?) who was asked to remove photos of his wife, who is white, from SM. I think he was fired eventually, but the reason cited was parents upset that he was seen to be embracing a “Woke” curriculum. 

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[DramatistDreamer]

[janea4old]

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at noon eastern June 30- Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as Supreme Court justice

Edited June 30, 2022 by janea4old

[DRW50]

Looks like Manchin missed getting attention. We'll see if the can actually  lands anywhere this time.

 

[janea4old]

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Edited June 30, 2022 by janea4old

[Vee]

 

[KristinG79]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

ICYMI: SCOTUS is pretty much trying to undo as much as possible when it comes to anything resembling a decent quality of life for most human beings in the United States of America. Just in time for Independence Day.

[janea4old]

More on the Supreme Court decision on the EPA:
via the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/30/us-supreme-court-ruling-restricts-federal-power-greenhouse-gas-emissions 

The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority to mandate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

The ruling could also have sweeping consequences for the federal government’s ability to set standards and regulate in other areas, such as clean air and water, consumer protections, banking, workplace safety and public health. It may prove a landmark moment in conservative ambitions to dismantle the “regulatory state”, stripping away protections from Americans across a wide range of areas.

The Supreme Court has sided with West Virginia, a major coal mining state, which argued that “unelected bureaucrats” at the EPA should not be allowed to reshape its economy by limiting pollution – even though emissions from coal are helping cause worsening flooding, heatwaves and droughts around the world, as well as killing millions of people through toxic air.

Comment from me:
The only workaround to save the environment is for congress and senate to agree on legislation to protect the planet. But Manchin hasn't cooperated because he's from a coal state. (and because he's horrible)
 

from the NPR link that @DramatistDreamer posted:
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change

Justice Elena Kagan, in a furious dissent, said essentially that the Court is making up new rules that contradict nearly a century of regulatory law. The text of the Clean Air Act, she said, clearly anticipates that the EPA will have to deal with new problems and uses broad language to allow that. The Court majority, she says, "does not have a clue about how to address climate change...yet it appoints itself, instead of congress or the expert agency...the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening."

Edited July 1, 2022 by janea4old

[j swift]

I feel dumb that I didn't make the connection between the Jan 6 committee talking about witness intimidation and the need for a previously unscheduled hearing with Cassidy Hutchinson.

I thought she was there to ferret out the testimony of White Counsel Pat Cipollone.  The committee wants him to speak, but he could have used the excuses of attorney/client privilege or executive privilege to recuse himself.  However, I thought Hutchinson's testimony was being used to provoke Cipollone to try to refute her account of what happened on Jan 6.

Now I see that they used her to demonstrate how Trumpworld is trying to intimidate witnesses and defer justice.  Obviously, after today's reporting, the images of text sent about "him thinking about you" were sent to Hutchinson.  While I find it distasteful that this young woman who worked for such political deviants as Ted Cruise and Mark Meadows is being hailed for bravery, I appreciate that she was willing to share the behind the scenes defiance of legal authority that continues in Trumpworld to this day.  I just wonder why they didn't ask her directly about any messages that she's received from the former president's staff?

Edited July 1, 2022 by j swift

[Vee]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

For the past eight months, I have been whispering this to myself.

 

Looking at the NBC handle reminds me that NBC really needs to clean house. Chuck Todd and Peter Alexander.