5 ms·

> when a handful of Republicans in the Senate This is one of the really brilliant things the GOP has done. They've led us all to believe that it's just McConne

> when a handful of Republicans in the Senate This is one of the really brilliant things the GOP has done. They've led us all to believe that it's just McConnell and a couple of other shitbags but that the rest of the Republicans are mostly OK. That's a deliberate smokescreen. Notice that the "handful of Republicans" always happen to be in red strongholds? McConnell volunteers to be the public face of the GOP's bad policies because they know his seat is secure. Meanwhile, all the other GOP Congresspeople who support those same awful policies but might risk losing an election can stay out of the news and pretend it's not their doing. McConnell was voted into his seat by a majority of the GOP Senators. They all know what they're doing.

rowawey 6y ago
Yep. And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. Even so, D and R are both beholden to the American aristocratic wealth class for support, legitimacy, and power, so there is effectively no difference beyond a few, token, mild progressives in D who don't hold sway over the majority of neoliberals.
- ardy42 6y ago
  > Yep. And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm warming up to the idea of the Democrats passing court-packing legislation for the Supreme and Appellate courts the next time they control both houses of Congress and the presidency. Especially if they can somehow establish a very strong super-majority requirement for all future judicial branch nominations that would be immune to stealth court-packing tactics like the Senate Republicans have been using. The prior institutional restraints have broken down, and balance needs to be restored and new restraints implemented if the system is going to survive.
  - refurb 6y ago
    That will never happen. FDR's own party shit bricks when he tried to stack the Supreme Court. He got his pee-pee smacked hard.
    - dantheman 6y ago
      FDR won, the supreme court backed down and FDR was able to execute his programs.
      - dnautics 6y ago
        And later he committed one of the worst civil rights violations by the federal government (the bulk of the injustices against the Indians were done by the states)
        dragonwriter 6y ago
        > the bulk of the injustices against the Indians were done by the states Maybe, and maybe that means that the Japanese internment was worse then anything the federal government did to the Native Americans. I mean, it's not like native Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes into federally designated lands for a handful of years like the Japanese... oh, wait...
        monadic2 6y ago
        Seems very relevant, I’m a fan of FDR and this is absolutely necessary to talk about. the feds vs states thing seems like a distinction without meaning, tbh, the federal government certainly intended the states to deal with natives as they did, and there is absolutely no shortage of crimes done by the federal government itself (treaties broken, allies backstabbed, lands taken, literal genocide, fucking DAPL)
        dantheman 6y ago
        The federal government was supposed to only execute its enumerated powers, which could be expanded by passing amendments. Instead the federal government can do anything it wants. It's why we have the drug war, DEA, huge national debt, broken medical system.
- monadic2 6y ago
  > And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. Some time in the past, certainly at FDR’s time, dems were confident about stacking the court. What changed to defang them? The dem’s actions while Merrick Garland was denied hearings infuriate me until today: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obstructionism-handed-judicial-vacancies-to-trump/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obst...
  - benignslime 6y ago
    What did you expect them to do? Nearly every time Obama spoke publicly about GOP obstruction he was laughed at. You gonna just blame Democrats every time the GOP takes another step towards destroying democracy in the USA?
shostack 6y ago
Or those in purple states can occasionally vote against the party to provide a thin veneer of bi-partisan support and help them maintain their seats in their state.
kyleblarson 6y ago
Gosh if only the cities that are burning to the ground right now had dem senators, dem congresspeople, dem governors, dem mayor, dem city councils we could solve this thing. Alas!
- benignslime 6y ago
  Right, both parties are only the same when it meets your agenda.
- steve76 6y ago
  Vote Democrat or cities burn. Everyone has equal shares in the USA, even the people who must kill millions to survive. Power required. No other way a lot of people can live.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  This (inadvertently) highlights a major part of the issue right now. Cops are largely invulnerable to civilian oversight. Democratic elected officials won’t save you from the NYPD - they can’t really be fired, the police union doxxes the mayor’s daughter, they instigate police riots, and they do work stoppages when criticized. An example from Minneapolis, from a City Council member: https://twitter.com/MplsWard3/status/1267891878801915904 https://twitter.com/MplsWard3/status/1267891878801915904 > Politicians who cross the MPD find slowdowns in their wards. After the first time I cut money from the proposed police budget, I had an uptick in calls taking forever to get a response, and MPD officers telling business owners to call their councilman about why it took so long.
  - beerandt 6y ago
    This is a result of public unions. Which party caused those to be so strong?
    - ceejayoz 6y ago
      Police unions are fairly unique, and heavily supported by the Republican party in recent political history. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-love-story https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-lo... > When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker cracked down on collective bargaining rights of public-sector unions, he exempted cops and fire fighters. He feared the police might go on strike and join the protestors. Videos of that pairing could have doomed Walker’s entire effort. “It’s a decision by politicians not to bite off more than they can chew,” explains James Sherk, a labor policy expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. Their impunity to civilian oversight should be concerning to both parties. You're not hearing much concern from the Republicans on this right now.
ubermonkey 6y ago
>They've led us all to believe that it's just McConnell and a couple of other shitbags but that the rest of the Republicans are mostly OK. I have never, ever believed this.

rowawey 6y ago

Yep. And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. Even so, D and R are both beholden to the American aristocratic wealth class for support, legitimacy, and power, so there is effectively no difference beyond a few, token, mild progressives in D who don't hold sway over the majority of neoliberals.

ardy42 6y ago
> Yep. And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm warming up to the idea of the Democrats passing court-packing legislation for the Supreme and Appellate courts the next time they control both houses of Congress and the presidency. Especially if they can somehow establish a very strong super-majority requirement for all future judicial branch nominations that would be immune to stealth court-packing tactics like the Senate Republicans have been using. The prior institutional restraints have broken down, and balance needs to be restored and new restraints implemented if the system is going to survive.
- refurb 6y ago
  That will never happen. FDR's own party shit bricks when he tried to stack the Supreme Court. He got his pee-pee smacked hard.
  - dantheman 6y ago
    FDR won, the supreme court backed down and FDR was able to execute his programs.
    - dnautics 6y ago
      And later he committed one of the worst civil rights violations by the federal government (the bulk of the injustices against the Indians were done by the states)
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        > the bulk of the injustices against the Indians were done by the states Maybe, and maybe that means that the Japanese internment was worse then anything the federal government did to the Native Americans. I mean, it's not like native Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes into federally designated lands for a handful of years like the Japanese... oh, wait...
      - monadic2 6y ago
        Seems very relevant, I’m a fan of FDR and this is absolutely necessary to talk about. the feds vs states thing seems like a distinction without meaning, tbh, the federal government certainly intended the states to deal with natives as they did, and there is absolutely no shortage of crimes done by the federal government itself (treaties broken, allies backstabbed, lands taken, literal genocide, fucking DAPL)
        dantheman 6y ago
        The federal government was supposed to only execute its enumerated powers, which could be expanded by passing amendments. Instead the federal government can do anything it wants. It's why we have the drug war, DEA, huge national debt, broken medical system.
monadic2 6y ago
> And there are no more "checks and balances" because POTUS stacks the SCOTUS, and POTUS and SOTUS work hand-in-glove. The last remaining hold-out is HOROTUS, but that can flip any session. Some time in the past, certainly at FDR’s time, dems were confident about stacking the court. What changed to defang them? The dem’s actions while Merrick Garland was denied hearings infuriate me until today: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obstructionism-handed-judicial-vacancies-to-trump/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obst...
- benignslime 6y ago
  What did you expect them to do? Nearly every time Obama spoke publicly about GOP obstruction he was laughed at. You gonna just blame Democrats every time the GOP takes another step towards destroying democracy in the USA?

shostack 6y ago

Or those in purple states can occasionally vote against the party to provide a thin veneer of bi-partisan support and help them maintain their seats in their state.

kyleblarson 6y ago

Gosh if only the cities that are burning to the ground right now had dem senators, dem congresspeople, dem governors, dem mayor, dem city councils we could solve this thing. Alas!

benignslime 6y ago
Right, both parties are only the same when it meets your agenda.
steve76 6y ago
Vote Democrat or cities burn. Everyone has equal shares in the USA, even the people who must kill millions to survive. Power required. No other way a lot of people can live.
ceejayoz 6y ago
This (inadvertently) highlights a major part of the issue right now. Cops are largely invulnerable to civilian oversight. Democratic elected officials won’t save you from the NYPD - they can’t really be fired, the police union doxxes the mayor’s daughter, they instigate police riots, and they do work stoppages when criticized. An example from Minneapolis, from a City Council member: https://twitter.com/MplsWard3/status/1267891878801915904 https://twitter.com/MplsWard3/status/1267891878801915904 > Politicians who cross the MPD find slowdowns in their wards. After the first time I cut money from the proposed police budget, I had an uptick in calls taking forever to get a response, and MPD officers telling business owners to call their councilman about why it took so long.
- beerandt 6y ago
  This is a result of public unions. Which party caused those to be so strong?
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    Police unions are fairly unique, and heavily supported by the Republican party in recent political history. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-love-story https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-lo... > When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker cracked down on collective bargaining rights of public-sector unions, he exempted cops and fire fighters. He feared the police might go on strike and join the protestors. Videos of that pairing could have doomed Walker’s entire effort. “It’s a decision by politicians not to bite off more than they can chew,” explains James Sherk, a labor policy expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. Their impunity to civilian oversight should be concerning to both parties. You're not hearing much concern from the Republicans on this right now.

ubermonkey 6y ago

>They've led us all to believe that it's just McConnell and a couple of other shitbags but that the rest of the Republicans are mostly OK. I have never, ever believed this.