The end game of most US political theatre is every reasonable citizen in the country gets to say "OMG, he/she got eviscerated, they truly exposed the corruption". There's no second step in that corrupt country.
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Elizabeth Warren@SenWarren
Jeff Sessions should have never been confirmed as Attorney General – and I’ve called for him to resign. #SessionsHearing
Elizabeth Warren@SenWarren
AG Sessions lied to the Senate in January about his own contact with the Russians & played a direct role in firing FBI Director Comey.
"Hey guys, remember that party I threw in the Rose Garden about how awesome our healthcare bill was? Now that I've actually read it well..."
Quote:
President Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that the House GOP health-care bill was “mean” and he expects the Senate to “improve” the legislation considerably, according to several Republicans familiar with the gathering.
Trump’s comments, during a White House lunch with a group of 15 GOP senators from across the ideological spectrum, signaled that he may be willing to embrace a less-aggressive revision of the Affordable Care Act than Republicans have previously promised.
The meeting came as Senate Republicans were struggling to build support for their health-care rewrite among conservatives who are concerned that the legislation is drifting too far to the left.
Trump’s labeling of the House bill as “mean” was a significant shift of tone that followed months of private and public negotiations, during which he called the bill “great” and urged GOP lawmakers to vote for it. Following the House vote, Trump hosted an event in the Rose Garden to celebrate its passage.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), who attended the lunch, said Trump talked about “making sure that we have a bill that protects people with preexisting conditions” and how to design a tax credit for purchasing insurance that works for lower-income and elderly people in particular.
Does anyone actually expect anything out of any hearings or inquiries in the US? It's all political theatre designed to give a sense of legitimate democracy. People just talk and it goes on TV and citizens feel a sense of accountability/consequence.
Disagree. The threat of these inquiries are what led to a special prosecutor.
These things are lacking enough teeth right now though. Should be like Court. Answer the question, plead the 5th, or go to jail for contempt
To me the big takeaway from the Sessions hearing is this:
If you had a guy who had meetings in his past that he hoped nobody would find out about but knew people might, a guy who knew all sorts of shady crap his colleagues were doing but again hoped that nobody would find out about them, a guy who had already been caught in these lies once and who was smart enough to know that he risked being perjury if caught again, you'd expect that guy to give a whole lot of "can't remembers" and "can't comments" for vague legal reasons that seem pulled out of thin air. Which isn't to say that Sessions is necessarily guilty of anything; it's just that his answers are exactly the answers you would expect someone who's guilty as hell to give, and he did absolutely zero to exonerate himself or the administration.
I think the administration had a plan that him refusing to testify about conversations with the president would be received as proper and patriotic to contrast with Comey's willingness to divulge his own conversations with the president. They may still try and sell it like that to their base, but I don't think it played out the way they hoped it would.
Majority whip Steve Scalise and others, including law enforcement, shot at baseball practice early this morning. Shooter in custody according to what I just saw.
Majority whip Steve Scalise and others, including law enforcement, shot at baseball practice early this morning. Shooter in custody according to what I just saw.
Majority whip Steve Scalise and others, including law enforcement, shot at baseball practice early this morning. Shooter in custody according to what I just saw.
Two comments:
1) Recall that, in February, all but two House Republicans voted to overturn an Obama administration rule that blocked Social Security disability recipients with mental disorders from buying guns. Scalise was not one of the two Republicans who voted against the measure.
I'm not saying that the shooter was mentally ill, but, well, votes have consequences Mr. Congressman.
2) A cynic might plausibly theorize that the shooting is simply an orchestrated distraction that was timed to take people's attention away from a string of bad news. One can only imagine who the possible conductor of this orchestration might be....
Last edited by HockeyIlliterate; 06-14-2017 at 06:57 AM.
Reason: Typo
9 different legal experts say that Sessions cannot invoke Executive Privilege yesterday
Quote:
During his public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to answer any questions about conversations he might have had with President Donald Trump.
“It would be inappropriate for me to answer and reveal private conversations with the president when he has not had a full opportunity to review the questions and to make a decision on whether or not to approve such an answer,” Sessions told Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich during a contentious exchange.
Heinrich’s response was forceful: “My understanding is that you took an oath, you raised your right hand here today, and you said that you would solemnly tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and now you're not answering questions.”
But Sessions was adamant that he was obeying long-established DOJ guidelines, and that he was obligated to remain silent.
Trump Jr. tweeting tying the shooting to the Julius Caesar play with the Trump-like character. Conway spreading the rumour that the shooter asked if the people practicing were republicans or democrats, can someone dump a bucket of water on her so she melts away already?
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
200 Democractic lawmakers sue Trump for violations of the emoluments clause of the constitution.
Quote:
Democratic members of Congress on Wednesday sued President Trump in federal court, claiming he had violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting foreign funds through the Trump business without Congressional approval.
The Washington Post broke the news early Wednesday morning, reporting that 196 lawmakers had joined the complaint, more than any lawmakers ever to sign on to sue a president.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led the filing in federal district court, and said Tuesday that while no Republicans had joined the lawsuit, they were welcome to do so.
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) led the legal effort in the House.
"Trump has conflicts of interest in at least 25 countries, and it appears he’s using his presidency to maximize his profits," Coyers told Reuters Wednesday.
