Even the amoral, power-hungry, scheming knobs in the Republican Party who have overlooked President Cray-Cray’s corruption, incompetence and allegiance to Putin balked at Trump’s insane suggestion this morning that the U.S. should partner with the Russian foxes to guard the electoral hen house. So now, this:
I just don’t know what to say. Open thread?
ETA: Forgot about this from earlier today:
Awkward! If Trump’s cabinet members, family and associates weren’t utter scumbags, I’d pity them. To paraphrase Robin Williams from “Birdcage,” working with a lunatic like Trump must be like riding a psychotic horse toward a burning barn.
Sab
Well we all knew he is an idiot.
Eric S.
First in? Probably not when I am done typing.
I’m 11 days away from vacation. Heading to Europe to visit friends. Picked up a new electric plug converter today amd a good pair of walking shoes.
Im guessing my work productivity is going to decline for the next week and a half.
Kevin the hen
The Aristocrats!
randy khan
Yeah, this totally makes sense. And he says he doesn’t drink, to boot.
Adam L Silverman
I give the ceasefire the same 72 hours that every previous one lasted. 96 hours at the most. And that’s provided a Syrian government military asset or Syrian government allied military asset doesn’t try to make another run at Tanf.
Adam L Silverman
@Eric S.: Don’t forget your “I’m from Canada, really – I’m telling the truth!” t-shirts.
WaterGirl
I have been catching up on The Flash this week. I find myself wondering if there is some Earth-n where Trump was never elected president.
D. Sidhe
At some point what you have there is more of a foxhouse with snacks than a chickenhouse with predators. I suppose it’s good to know that some GOP congresspeople can spot the difference.
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: He’s jet lagged, immediately went to his golf club, because he’s got a cottage/house at each one set up just the way he likes his bedrooms. There’s no all caps, so this could be his caddy. But it also has some horrendous stylistic issues, so it could be him.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: No, because Barry has screwed up the timeline on each one across the multiverse because he can’t quite figure out it would be easier to just go see a counselor.
Here’s the list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DC_Multiverse_worlds#Cataloged
geg6
Jeezus fucking Keerist. Make it stop. Just fucking make it stop.
Lapassionara
@WaterGirl: That’s where I want to be. Seriously, alternative universe, let me in.
Iowa Old Lady
@Eric S.: Vacationing on the job is always a good choice.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: I take it you’re not a fan of the show!
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Who the hell knows? And what difference does it make? That whole grifter family is equally stupid, ignorant, and unqualified.
Frankensteinbeck
@Adam L Silverman:
I thought I heard that, for practical purposes, it didn’t happen at all. There’s still significant fighting going on. Is that right?
Jerzy Russian
Does anyone here speak Stupid? If so, can you please provide an English translation of that tweet?
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: I’m a big fan of the show. I think they’ve done a great job with a lot of it, including the rogues and various villains. I think the casting has been pretty solid as well. But some of the writing, especially for Barry, requires an extra dose of suspension of disbelief. As someone who grew up reading the comics, watching the cartoons, etc I think they’re doing an overall very good job. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some issues. Barry’s repeated messing around with the past is one of those.
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: There is. There was some major fighting in Damascus earlier today. My understanding is the ceasefire is confined to one area in the south of Syria. Not the whole country. The problem is there is no way to actually enforce the ceasefire and almost none of the parties to the conflict are willing to trust any of the others.
Mike in NC
Latest Syrian ceasefire should be over in minutes, rather than hours. Idiot lies like normal people breathe.
CaseyL
The issue as I see it is that the GOP agrees with what Trump/Russia wants: the destruction of the US as a liberal democracy. That’s why nothing matters and nothing will be done.
Waratah
I wonder who told him that would be a good idea. Putin? This should have been backtrack a whole lot sooner.
p.a.
Syria Ceasefire Collapses
‘fake news!’
‘Obama’s fault!’
‘i never said ‘ceasefire’!’
getting ahead of the curve
The Dangerman
President Buffalo Wild Wingnut needs to dial back on his meds (or up them, hard to tell).
Major Major Major Major
Well, it’s no covfefe, but wow.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: I like the show a lot, but sometimes I want to smack Barry upside the head and say “what are you thinking???!?!?”
Let’s just say that I would not be quite as forgiving as Iris.
Raoul
So, not that we’ll really ever know (unless someone has the guts to quit and write a tell-all), but what the actual fuck must closed door meetings between McConnell and other top GOP senators be like these days? Can they play along as if they are ‘legislating’, or are they all just crapping their pants, downing 1.75ltr bottles of scotch, and working on their retirement plans?
I just don’t get what their inability to game this out is? Decades of total insularity? They all believe the lies they’ve told so often that it feels like truth? Or are they working on one last hail mary tax cut pass before they push Trump onto an ice floe?
So damned strange.
Yoda Dog
Pathetic.
Gravenstone
I’m going to give myself a concussion if I /facepalm any harder.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Pretty much.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: bqhatevwr
edit: Just to be clear, I did not intend that as a comment on what you had written.
Eric S.
@Adam L Silverman: I’ll take the Trump Dammit Doll my mother gave knee and let everyone beat the he’ll out of it.
Adam L Silverman
@The Dangerman: Just a public service announcement on a slightly related topic:
The mango habanero wings at Buffalo Wild Wings are very light on the mango and very, very heavy on the habanero. You have been warned!
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
Jet lag is a kinder explanation than others that occur to me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raoul:
Were I a betting man, I would go with option 2.
Raoul
@Lapassionara: I’d settle for Europe these days (not just a vacation, though)
Betty Cracker
@geg6: My sentiments exactly.
Chet Murthy
@Raoul: I forget where I read it, but someone smart pointed out that R lawmakers have two choices:
(1) go along with ZEGS&Yertle, and if they get voted out, retire to a nice, nice cabin on SS Wingnut Welfare w/all (ALL) the perks
(2) buck the system, and if they get voted out, live on their pensions
Obv if you’re not voted out, #1 is a better deal, b/c bucking leadership always comes at a cost. So if you game it out, regardless of whether you get voted out, #1 makes more sense. It takes a lawnaker with actual principles and some devotion to their (ahem, -real-) constituents, to buck that calculus. Or, uh, maybe a real belief that the R party is going down, and they wanna be around to midwife the rebirth. But that’s a pretty dicey play.
debbie
@geg6:
I’m sick of watching this accident about to happen.
debbie
@randy khan:
I’m going with another TIA.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: what is old Scott Brown up to these days anyway?
Lurking Canadian
@WaterGirl: Hillary won the election in all of the others. We just have the misfortune to suffer the one timeline where all the dice stopped showing YOU LOSE.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Thank goodness we don’t have to care anymore! :-)
WaterGirl
@debbie: This isn’t an accident about to happen, this is the 598-car-pileup on the expressway that goes on and on and on and on.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Seriously? They’ve been the house/senate party of NO for so long they’ve forgotten how – in both houses.
Granny Starver is just incompetent at the speaker job, and Yertle McTurtle knows all the tricks to stop things, but not to get things done.
WaterGirl
@Lurking Canadian: Just my luck! I’ll be on my way as soon as I get that gizmo in the mail – you know, the one Cisco created, the one that opens the breach so you can go to another earth.
Kay
He tweeted this yesterday, after he had lied to the NYTimes about the meeting.
I count 4 of them who have now lied about meetings with Russians. FOUR. Including the attorney general.
Frankensteinbeck
@Raoul:
They lost the popular vote by 2.8 million. They know it way better than we do. They are vividly aware that demographics and changing social attitudes have already progressed to the point where they only hold power by cheating. A lot of them, even most of them, are dimwits who can only barely be called sane, because like Trump they reflect who their constituents think is a leader. All of them, even McConnell, are scared shitless by the public push back they’ve received since Trump’s election, but there is no way to go but forward. For one example, McConnell knew that a liberal-dominated court would annihilate all voter suppression laws, and that would be it. The Republican game would be over. It’s a strange world they live in, unconnected to the logical pressures of a fair democratic system.
randy khan
@debbie:
That’s on the list.
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
About six foot two, why?
Since Liz booted him from the senate, he’s been casting around. mostly in NH, for something he could win. He wan’t run against anyone who’ll clean his clock, especially a woman.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: I thought Hobby Lobby were the ones working on the stargate.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raoul: Europe is a big place. Care to be more specific?
Kay
He tweeted this yesterday after he had lied to the NYTimes about the meeting.
I’m curious who made him correct the statement. That must have been an interesting phone call.
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: Who cares?
tobie
I feel like I’m missing something with the ceasefire talk. Ceasefire between whom? The Assad regime and assorted Sunni groups? US and Russian forces in Syria? Cui bono? I guess Assad, because with a ceasefire he gets to stay in power, and Russia because it gets to keep its Mediterranean Port. Am I missing something here? If the ceasefire is what I think it is, it’s nothing for the US to brag about.
HW3
@WaterGirl Your alternate universe / Flash comment reminded me of a great Tom Tomorrow comic in the same vein: https://thenib.com/stress-test?id=tom-tomorrow&t=author
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Every day, it strikes me just how fucked-uppedly deranged it is that Donald Fucking Trump is the president of the United States. I know we’re all kind of used to it by now, but, really, the sheer insanity of it still just floors me, every damned day. The president of the United States is, of all the 300,000,000 fucking people in this country, Donald Fucking Trump. this isn’t a movie; it isn’t a television show, it isn’t a book or somebody’s dream. This is the real deal here we’re dealing with. I just can’t fucking believe it, and yet, here we are.
The Dangerman
@Adam L Silverman:
Their beer concessionaire insisted.
sukabi
Donald Jr. And Kushner thrown under the bus
Someone was wondering earlier who Drumpf would push under the bus first… Now we know.?
Kay
At what point do they restrict or withdraw Kushner’s security clearance? Is someone in charge? Anybody home?
I’m still shocked this was allowed to get this far. We don’t know the first thing about any of these people.
FOUR of them have now lied about meeting with Russians. Donald Trump Jr. gave a statement to the NYTimes that was a lie. What else have they lied about?
Jeffro
@Frankensteinbeck: yup. This is what it looks like when a party with no principles and its leaders with no principles box themselves into a corner. That whole “reality” thing, it sure is a bite in the ass.
As many of us have noted the GOP could’ve chosen to own many of these issues including (believe it or not) climate change and the ACA. But they have drunk their own Kool-Aid for so long they don’t know any other way to act except to react.
Frankly you could have a good time writing an op ad about why it ought to be the GOP’s number one priority to get citizens United repealed. Hmm…
sukabi
@Kay: probably better to ask what they HAVEN’T lied about.
I’m assuming they’ve lied about everything.
Jeffro
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I totally understand the feeling and all I can recommend is that you “pivot” as quickly as possible to an appreciation of the founders and also to the strength of our institutions, most especially the judiciary, our civil servants, and intelligence professionals in 17 (not four, Don, you asshole) agencies .
marv
Say what you will, there is still enough truth left in the world that this evidence of collusion is the beginning of the end, I think.
Omnes Omnibus
@marv: I prefer to operate as though that is the case.
Kay
Kushner expects us to believe he forgot about a meeting with a Russian lawyer who was going to tell him dirt about Hillary Clinton. This slipped his mind.
Don Jr. forgot about it completely, remembered half, and then the next day remembered the other half. Oh, and for some reason he didn’t want anyone to know the name of the “acquaintance” who set it up- the acquaintance who spent 2 weeks in Russia right before the meeting.
Smiling Mortician
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I actually feel sort of split into two realities. Often, I’m able to focus on my life (y’know, teaching, writing, talking to people, eating food) but then the minute I let my mind step back from the task at hand, I’m hit with this tsunami of anxiety. And then I remember: oh, yeah. America is dying. This sucks.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman: And Trump will ignore it when it goes tits up. I still can’t get over what a spineless man he is. The worst quality in a man is not willing to take responsibility for his mistakes and be a leader.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: Penetration at all levels:
http://ir.net/news/politics/125885/exclusive-trumprussia-expands-gop-senator-congressmen-possibly-implicated/
It’s called pay to play…
debbie
@Kay:
Doofuses all.
Kay
Why does Ben Sasse think it’s “obvious” this will not happen? Who is going to stop it? The Republicans in Congress?
Fat chance. Ben Sasse hasn’t done jack shit. While this was going on he was penning a book scolding teenagers for not working harder. Oh, I’m very comforted by the fact that Ben Sasse is on the job! Yes, sir! He’s signing books.
Betty Cracker
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Yes. @Smiling Mortician: This too. It’s all so surreal.
Tim C.
@Raoul: They are truly trapped. They, under no circumstances, can dump Trump. If they do, then they lose all the Trump cultists, and that’s at least a third of their own party. Particularly since Mike Pence, upon assuming office, would replace the crazies with pretty much the standard GOP establishment. Keep in mind, once something really bad happens. And by really bad, I mean something on the order of one of the many fuckups of the Bush 43 administration, Trump will go from about 40% to that magic 27%, and they still won’t have the stones to remove him.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: He’s the new US Ambassador to New Zealand.
Lurking Canadian
@Kay: In their position, why not keep lying? CNN will just repeat whatever today’s line might be, like the sheep from Animal Farm. Until somebody with a megaphone stands up on his or her hind legs me starts calling bullshit, it will go on.
Then again, people are calling bullshit, and forever after, they are ignored as shrill liberals. By now, every kid is jumping up and down, screaming that the Emperor’s dick is hanging out, but the adults can still see the clothes.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: It wasn’t one meeting. When they amended his SF 86 he added 100 meeting with foreign nationals that he had failed to account for. It has also now been reported that he failed to report significant numbers of financial deals as well.
Kay
This is Don Jr.’s associate who set up the meeting. Why didn’t Don Jr. include his name in the statement to the NYTimes
Who’s this guy? Was he sitting in at the G-20 too?
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Textbook example of toxic leadership.
JDM
@randy khan:
Maybe he should start. And have some pretzels.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Dana Rohrabacher taking money illegally from Russian sources? Say it ain’t so.
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
When are they going to insist Trump get rid of him? This is ridiculous. Would anyone other than the son in law still have a job? He’s a liar. They have no idea if he revealed everything on the amended form.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: He’s a former tabloid guy from England. Involved in promoting the Miss Universe pageant. Works for/with Agalorov (Azeri/Russian real estate developer/oligarch).
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman:
Maggie Haberman thinks that even though senior advisor to the president Kushner left these off his SF86, it’s possible “the White House” didn’t know that senior assistant to the president Kushner had those meetings.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: Goldstone is publicist/manager/something for a wannabe Russian pop star whose father ran the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. Funny, huh?
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: As I’ve been saying for months: penetration at all levels and follow the money.
JDM
So anyway, back to Trumps tweet: Putin says (sez Donald) that there’s no further need to hack the 2016 US presidential election cause it worked so why would Putin keep hacking it.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Rohrabacher’s been on the Russian payroll for years. This is not news.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@sukabi:
Shit. Every day I make the mistake of thinking that there isn’t anything left that Czar Manbaby could do that would knock me back off my feet. And every day this guy shows me how wrong I am. He turned on his own offspringbabies. I have to say, this kind of amazes me. I always assumed he would turn on his own spawn if it came to it, but now that I’m watching it happen, it still kind of stuns and sickens me. Not that I have any sympathy for Kushner or Manbaby, Jr., the elder, but, jeez… Your own kid and the husband of one of your other kids? Doesn’t this guy have any humanity at all?
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
I love that Trump asked Putin twice if Russia interfered in the election. What did he think Putin would say? “Yes”?
TWICE. He thought he’d get him to admit it the second time. Then he lost interest.
NotMax
Another day, another holler.
/primal scream
Gin & Tonic
@Mike J: I guess I could understand if you had 87 meetings and reported 84 of them and said “oopsie.” But he had 100 meetings and reported zero. That’s a lot more than “oopsie.”
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: The clearance adjudicator can deny him an official clearance. However, the President has the authority/power to allow anyone access to any information regardless of classification.
There are a number of these people who have either signed their SF 86s under penalty of perjury after failing to accurately and completely fill them out or who, just on the basis of their personal and professional histories, would routinely be denied clearances. The system was designed to weed people like this out. It, like almost all of our systems and institutions are not designed to resolve these problems when the President chooses to ignore the institutional rules and safeguards. We now know that the Constitution is not actually the Foundational law of the United States. It’s more like guidelines…
Timurid
For the first time I’m seeing what looks like signs of panic in the Trump camp… tweets like this, Don Jr’s story changing every hour on the hour…
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: That wouldn’t surprise me. I’m sure some of them were for his own business dealings. Some may have been social events in NY or NJ or other places he visited. Regardless they all have to be accounted for.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I am aware.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Quasi-obligatory.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Didn’t mean to imply you weren’t. That comment was for general consumption.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Tracking.
Kay
So the “Cyber Security unit” is off, then? I ask because yesterday these people said it was a huge Trump negotiating win.
Since Trump is capitalizing it I assumed it was Very Official.
Timurid
@Adam L Silverman:
They’ve succeeded, with stunning speed, in establishing one of the two fundamental tenets of authoritarianism: impunity for the guilty.
The second one… punishment for the innocent… is taking longer. They’re doing things at the margins against already vulnerable populations (ICE, etc.), but we’re not yet to the point of show trials and inconvenient people being beaten or kidnapped by thugs and irregulars associated with the regime. Enough of the judicial branch is still holding out against that, and they are our last line of defense…
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: this seems to matter to him; he was counting how many times Comey ‘exonerated’ him too.
efgoldman
@Smiling Mortician:
We survived an actual; shooting war over slavery and treason, in which hundreds of thousands died. We can survive this, too.
NotMax
Hey, Adam and Betty, from down your way (state-wise):
Pistol packin’ priest. Oxymoron ad infinitum.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: And cities and states. They’re not that far along to authoritarianism because they’re sloppy and loud and telegraph everything. And the impunity part is not yet settled. As I’ve written here repeatedly, CI investigations take a long time. We are just at the beginning. And all the SF 86 stupidity these guys have engaged in is going to be a gold mine for the CI investigators.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Saw that earlier today. Episcopal priest too.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Kay:
Trump: Now, Vlad, buddy, I have to ask this or else the lying liberal media would never let it go: did you hack us in 2016 and give me my electoral college win?
Putin: Do you seriously expect me to answer that?
Trump: Not Really, but did you? I don’t think so. Its all just a deep state plot to deprieve me of my beautiful victory.
Putin: That’s correct Donald. Now you were saying about those assets in Russia?
Trump: Oh yeah…
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Generally speaking, if a senior advisor to the president knows something, it can be said that “the white house” knows it, even if the president himself doesn’t.
Omnes Omnibus
@Smiling Mortician: @efgoldman: What efg said. If people on our side decide to accept this, then it is really is over. Fucking fight, Even by just saying no. No one demands heroism, we just ask for some resistance.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman: True. It’ll take time for them to get more competent people in the regime and consolidate their power. The longer this goes on the more likely it becomes. Trump can’t win in 2020. Although, it’s a good thing no one wants to be apart of this shitshow of an admin.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: Given the confidentiality requirements on the SF 86 and for the clearance investigation process, I’m not sure that applies here.
Jeffro
@JDM:
See, this is the kind of inside baseball that I live for here…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
I fail to see any problem with this.
Archon
@efgoldman:
We will survive this but the real question is can we survive this without violence?
I think the end game before the Republican Party truly implodes is going to involve a lot of political violence. People this far down the rabbit hole don’t go down without a vicious fight.
I hope I’m wrong
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed. The Spirit of ’76, as flawed as it is (slavery, racism, Otherism), can’t be snuffed out so easily.
Sab
@Adam L Silverman: Raised in the Episcopal Church. It is split also. Leadership is amazing. Others are disgruntled RWNJs. Confusing to me. Supposed to believe all of them? Can’t be done.
.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s almost far enough away.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I have had mango habanero sauces on wings, ribs, and other things. This stuff was far hotter than I was expecting.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Not sure the Kiwis did anything to deserve this though.
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: We were trying then. We are still trying now.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: Isn’t it still the case because a Senior Advisor in the White House is… the guy who filed the SF86? Kushner?
If we want to make this more charitable (someone other than Kushner), I would be very surprised if Kushner had not told others (including his wife, another Senior Advisor) that he was going to go talk to a Russian/Kremlin lawyer about information that would damage Hillary. You don’t get the candidate’s son, the candidate’s son-in-law and major representative AND the campaign manager in a room for a meeting like that without it being known by numerous others.
Smiling Mortician
@efgoldman: Thanks, ef. This feels pretty fucking traumatic, though.
The Thin Black Duke
@Adam L Silverman: But I’m sure they won’t have any problem telling Captain Underpants what they think of him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Smiling Mortician: Trauma doesn’t equal death without giving up.
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: My response was rude and uncalled for.
Smiling Mortician
@Omnes Omnibus: Nah. I’m not giving up. Just taking a moment to vent the feelings. It’s one of those nights.
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: That’s not my point. My point was that because of everything that has to be accounted for on an SF 86 it is unlikely that anyone else other than the person who’s SF 86 it is would actually know all of the details required to be disclosed and accounted for.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus: Ain’t that the truth
Omnes Omnibus
@Smiling Mortician: Okay. I am a bit pissy tonight too.
Smiling Mortician
@Omnes Omnibus: Sit by me. Let me pour you a glass.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@Lapassionara: & Adam – assuming you are both Buffy & Angel-literate –
My sister & I decided some months ago that we are trapped in a hell dimension. And on Buffy/Angel, the good guys always eventually got out
A thin reed, I know – but trusting in Joss Whedon is the best I can do now!
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Any way, isn’t it like a 1040: Someone else can prepare it, but the actual named signer is responsible?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Republican Lawmakers Take A Raise Away From St. Louis Workers
GOP statehouses around the country are blocking local progressive policies through “preemption” laws. Missouri may be the most glaring case yet.
By Dave Jamieson
Two months ago, Cynthia Sanders got a raise at her janitorial job, from $8.30 to $10 per hour, after St. Louis passed a law raising its minimum wage. The extra money has helped the 51-year-old cover groceries and utilities as she raises three grandchildren.
But in just a few weeks, Sanders’ pay rate could drop back down again, thanks to a new law Republicans in the Missouri legislature passed invalidating St. Louis’ minimum wage.
“It was life-changing to get this, and it’s going to be life-changing to have it taken away,” said Sanders, who cleans four kitchenettes and eight bathrooms per shift at a Wells Fargo building downtown. “You’ve got children looking at you to be a provider. How do I tell them we’ve got to eat noodles again this week?”
Like other low-wage workers in Missouri and beyond, Sanders finds herself caught in a political and legal battle between local Democrats and state Republicans. As blue cities become incubators for progressive policy, their red state legislatures are trying to thwart them through “preemption laws” that forbid cities and counties from implementing their own measures related to the minimum wage, paid sick days, plastic bag taxes and other hot-button issues.
So far, Republican state legislators are winning the fight. In Missouri, for example, the GOP controls both chambers of the statehouse as well as the governor’s mansion.
Under the law Republicans passed in response to St. Louis’ new ordinance, no locality could have a minimum wage higher than the state level of $7.70 per hour. And St. Louis is not the only city immediately affected. A referendum to gradually raise the minimum wage in Kansas City to $15 was slated to go on the ballot in August.
Gov. Eric Greitens (R) said he does not intend to veto the bill. So under the rules of the Missouri Constitution it will eventually go into effect automatically, reverting the St. Louis minimum wage to $7.70 on Aug. 28. It would also preempt the minimum wage under consideration in Kansas City.
While preemption laws have been around for years, Republicans are increasingly turning to them to nullify local liberal policies. According to a February report from the National League of Cities, 24 states now block local minimum wage hikes, 17 block local paid leave mandates, and three block local anti-discrimination measures. The group attributes the growing use of preemption laws to the fact that Republicans now have 25 so-called state government “trifectas” ― control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office.
The laws have become a particularly effective tool for blunting the “Fight for $15” campaign, a union-funded initiative aimed at raising the minimum wage and unionizing low-wage workers. While the federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 since 2009, voters and city halls have embraced proposals to raise the local minimum wage, in some cases hiking the wage floor to as high as $15. (The federal minimum wage prevails anywhere local law does not mandate a higher one.) The preemption laws have provided Republican state officials with a way to block proposals that poll extremely well and have strong financial backing from unions.
Dennis Shaw, who works at the St. Louis grocery chain Schnucks, received a $1.70 raise due to the St. Louis ordinance. The pay bump translated into an extra $30 or so each week after taxes ― a welcome addition that has helped him pay rent on his one-bedroom apartment downtown and avoid bank overdraft fees. He said that legislators in the state Capitol don’t understand what it’s like for someone trying to survive on the minimum wage in the city.
“It borders on disgraceful,” Shaw, 36, said of the preemption law. “This isn’t just not getting a raise ― it’s a pay cut. It will result in bills not being paid.” Shaw’s union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, estimates that 500 of its members in the city could see their pay downgraded in August, according to a spokesman.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: Ah. That makes more sense. Thanks!
I’m still pretty sure that the White wouldn’t be ignorant of ALL the ones Kushner “forgot”, but you’re right that any one person wouldn’t know all or even most of them. They certainly couldn’t fill out his form for him.
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Republicans.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
POLITICS
07/09/2017 12:19 pm ET
Republican Lawmakers Take A Raise Away From St. Louis Workers
GOP statehouses around the country are blocking local progressive policies through “preemption” laws. Missouri may be the most glaring case yet.
By Dave Jamieson
JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES
Fast-food workers in St. Louis could see their wages go backwards, after state Republicans nullified the city’s new minimum wage.
Two months ago, Cynthia Sanders got a raise at her janitorial job, from $8.30 to $10 per hour, after St. Louis passed a law raising its minimum wage. The extra money has helped the 51-year-old cover groceries and utilities as she raises three grandchildren.
But in just a few weeks, Sanders’ pay rate could drop back down again, thanks to a new law Republicans in the Missouri legislature passed invalidating St. Louis’ minimum wage.
“It was life-changing to get this, and it’s going to be life-changing to have it taken away,” said Sanders, who cleans four kitchenettes and eight bathrooms per shift at a Wells Fargo building downtown. “You’ve got children looking at you to be a provider. How do I tell them we’ve got to eat noodles again this week?”
Like other low-wage workers in Missouri and beyond, Sanders finds herself caught in a political and legal battle between local Democrats and state Republicans. As blue cities become incubators for progressive policy, their red state legislatures are trying to thwart them through “preemption laws” that forbid cities and counties from implementing their own measures related to the minimum wage, paid sick days, plastic bag taxes and other hot-button issues.
So far, Republican state legislators are winning the fight. In Missouri, for example, the GOP controls both chambers of the statehouse as well as the governor’s mansion.
It was life-changing to get this, and it’s going to be life-changing to have it taken away.
Cynthia Sanders, St. Louis janitor
Under the law Republicans passed in response to St. Louis’ new ordinance, no locality could have a minimum wage higher than the state level of $7.70 per hour. And St. Louis is not the only city immediately affected. A referendum to gradually raise the minimum wage in Kansas City to $15 was slated to go on the ballot in August.
Gov. Eric Greitens (R) said he does not intend to veto the bill. So under the rules of the Missouri Constitution it will eventually go into effect automatically, reverting the St. Louis minimum wage to $7.70 on Aug. 28. It would also preempt the minimum wage under consideration in Kansas City.
While preemption laws have been around for years, Republicans are increasingly turning to them to nullify local liberal policies. According to a February report from the National League of Cities, 24 states now block local minimum wage hikes, 17 block local paid leave mandates, and three block local anti-discrimination measures. The group attributes the growing use of preemption laws to the fact that Republicans now have 25 so-called state government “trifectas” ― control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office.
The laws have become a particularly effective tool for blunting the “Fight for $15” campaign, a union-funded initiative aimed at raising the minimum wage and unionizing low-wage workers. While the federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 since 2009, voters and city halls have embraced proposals to raise the local minimum wage, in some cases hiking the wage floor to as high as $15. (The federal minimum wage prevails anywhere local law does not mandate a higher one.) The preemption laws have provided Republican state officials with a way to block proposals that poll extremely well and have strong financial backing from unions.
JIM YOUNG / REUTERS
Fast-food workers with the “Fight for $15” campaign have demanded a $15 minimum wage and union representation.
Dennis Shaw, who works at the St. Louis grocery chain Schnucks, received a $1.70 raise due to the St. Louis ordinance. The pay bump translated into an extra $30 or so each week after taxes ― a welcome addition that has helped him pay rent on his one-bedroom apartment downtown and avoid bank overdraft fees. He said that legislators in the state Capitol don’t understand what it’s like for someone trying to survive on the minimum wage in the city.
“It borders on disgraceful,” Shaw, 36, said of the preemption law. “This isn’t just not getting a raise ― it’s a pay cut. It will result in bills not being paid.” Shaw’s union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, estimates that 500 of its members in the city could see their pay downgraded in August, according to a spokesman.
Republicans who have pursued preemption laws have often argued that they want to avoid a patchwork of minimum wages around the state, which they claim could be confusing for employers. But Rep. Jason Chipman, a Republican who represents a rural district southwest of St. Louis, said he sponsored the measure in the Missouri House of Representatives because he didn’t think the government should dictate minimum wages to employers.
“The government is not here to run people’s businesses,” Chipman said in an interview, arguing that higher minimum wages kill jobs. “If an employee doesn’t like what’s being offered, they can go somewhere else. Be more productive. Be worth more.”
“These are supposed to be entry-level jobs,” he added. “We understand there are people who rely on these jobs who are not entry-level-type people, but you can’t legislate by the exception.”
One of the prime grievances lobbed against preemption laws is that they undermine local governance. It’s an odd look for Republican legislators who often rail against meddling in parochial affairs by Washington. Asked why St. Louis or Kansas City shouldn’t be able to determine its own policies ― even if those policies are folly ― Chipman said the cities are economic drivers that impact the whole state. “When you lose economic output, you lose revenue to the state,” he said. “It doesn’t happen in a vacuum.”
Many of the preemption battles are tinged with a racial component, as mostly white legislatures override the laws of heavily minority cities. (St. Louis has a black plurality, and the minimum wage raise would disproportionately affect minorities.) In Alabama, the overwhelmingly African-American city of Birmingham also raised its minimum wage to $10.10, only to have the majority-white legislature block it with a preemption law. The Alabama chapter of the NAACP filed a civil rights lawsuit, which was thrown out by a judge but is now on appeal.
The Missouri law presents an unusual case because so many workers in St. Louis have already received raises. Chipman said he had hoped to avoid such a situation, blaming the state Senate for not moving quickly enough to pass the preemption law before the St. Louis ordinance went into effect. Greitens, too, chided the state Senate for not fast-tracking a bill, providing that as the reason he would not put his signature on it. Missouri Democrats have called Greitens’ passive approval of the law craven.
Nick Desideri, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 1, said he still holds out hope that Greitens will veto the preemption measure, given the optics in St. Louis.
“The level of cruelty in this thing just boggles my mind,” said Desideri, whose union has been the primary backer of the “Fight for $15.”
The St. Louis employers who doled out raises due to the short-lived minimum wage hike will soon have to decide whether or not to revoke them. Of course, workers don’t appreciate seeing their pay go backwards. A spokesman for Shaw’s employer, Schnucks, which has eight stores in St. Louis, said the company plans to revert to the pay rates laid out in the union contract.
That means Shaw’s pay would drop back to $8.30. Shaw said that he considers Schnucks a good employer, but he wouldn’t expect them to honor the higher rates once legislators give them an out.
“Businesses are not in business for moral obligations,” Shaw said. “I would hope they keep [the raises] in place, but I could imagine them taking them away. And I wouldn’t blame them should that happen. There are others I could blame.”
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I suppose one could hire an attorney versed in the specifics of the clearance process to prepare it for you, but one signs it under penalty of perjury. The rub is that even if one hires someone with the appropriate expertise to fill it out they can only include the information one gives them. You can’t blame this on whoever was hired to hand jam the information into the online form.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m at the point where I seriously think cities and other localities should just ignore these preemption laws.
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: No worries. I went through my periodic review in 2016, so am overly familiar with completing and submitting an updated SF 86 and the review and adjudication process.
Millard Filmore
@efgoldman:
We were not the world’s only superpower back then. We were a small backwater country on the fringe of civilization. This time if we crash it will be a very hard fall.
Omnes Omnibus
@Millard Filmore: Then let’s not crash. We are not powerless.
Chet Murthy
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: From high school govt, all subdivisions below the state govt, are specified by state constitutions and laws. So if the state law overrides a city law, and the state constitution gives precedence to state law, that’s it. I mean, it’s the law, eh. Wouldn’t be surprised to find that the definitions and enactment of “county”, “city”, etc are all a matter of state -laws- and not written into their constitutions, too.
This is also why “CA and the other blue states can secede from Cletus and his kin” doesn’t work — too many blue cities left behind in Cletus’ states. Uh, unless we want a “partition” a la India/Pakistan’s. That’d be bloodless, and economically untroubling, I’m sure.
Another Scott
In other news… Tom Holland at SCMP – What the next Korean War will be like:
(Emphasis added.)
There’s a whole lot of “wishful” thinking there – like ignoring China’s defense pact with the DPRK. But I agree that unless things change – especially in Donnie’s administration, things may come to a head in 1-2 years.
I’m reminded of Operation Dropshot and not in a good way, and there’s little reason to think that such a military operation could be launched in secret and could be undertaken without huge losses on the non-DPRK side.
Donnie and his people have no understanding of what’s going with Korea, China, or Putin’s position there. Their continuing to say that things are “unacceptable” without understanding that (implicitly and explicitly) pushing for military action is extremely dangerous. We’re going to end up in a situation like the one that Obama faced – the press and others interpreting talk of “red lines” (no matter how carefully framed) as being an automatic next step to war. Obama and Kerry were able to get Putin to seize the opportunity to protect Assad from attack by us in exchange for a bit of a political victory for him. Such a trade is seemingly impossible in the DPRK case – the US is not willing to accept any assurances from Kim to warrant leaving SK, and Kim is unwilling to accept any assurance that the US won’t depose him if he doesn’t have nuclear arms and a way to deliver them. And Xi and Putin have no interest in strengthening the US’s position in the Far East – they want us gone.
Here’s hoping that Muller’s case is iron-clad and enough to get Donnie and his cronies out of office far sooner than when any decision about what to do about Kim and the DPRK is finally made… :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Chet Murthy: Yes, but… Municipalities often sue their states over preemption attempts. In some cases they just ignore the state based on the city or county attorney’s interpretation of the statutes in question and basically dare and/or force the state to sue them. This is the case in Pennsylvania with the state’s firearm preemption laws. Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and maybe one other city is in an ongoing dispute with the state over them. The State only allows cities of the first class to ignore the state firearm laws on conceal carry and other items. The only city of the first class in PA is Philadelphia. Pittsburgh and the other cities fighting this are arguing that the definition of city of the first class should now apply to them too.
Adam L Silverman
So much for the ceasefire. Didn’t even make it 72 hours…
Chet Murthy
@Adam L Silverman: Wow, that’s really interesting, Adam. Thank you for this. I’ll have to look up this idea “city of the first class”. Had no idea this was the case.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: This is my shocked face.
Though the BBC is still reporting on TV that it is holding.
FWIW.
‘night all.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Chet Murthy: The cities of the first class thing is, as far as I know, a PA thing. But suits either trying to stave off or enforce preemption happen in other places too.
Here’s a basic primer on the PA stuff:
http://www.psats.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/today_About_PA_Municipalites%5B1%5D.pdf
http://www.cityandstatepa.com/content/municipal-gun-ordinance-preemption-bills-grab-legislative-spotlight
Chet Murthy
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, ok, now I get you more fully. Yeah, I can see that cities might ignore the law and sue/get-sued. But that’s different from simply ignoring it, and getting away with it. Which, from what you’re saying, is what’s happening in the case of Philly (and Pittsburgh, et al want in on that action). Again: fascinating.
James Powell
@CaseyL:
Agreed and we must always remember that ~45% of Americans also want to destroy the US as a liberal democracy.
WaterGirl
@HW3: thanks for that!
LesGS
@reality-based (the original, not the troll): Really!? Joss “The Bastard” Whedon?
(Wash was/is my favorite…)
Bobby Thomson
@Adam L Silverman: time travel is just a crutch for lazy writers.
Brachiator
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
And yet this seems to be one of the reasons his supporters love him so much. He is a master of fighting back by shifting the blame onto others.
Brachiator
@Bobby Thomson:
I know! Consider HG Wells “The Time Machine.” Wait. A bona fide classic. OK, “Demon With A Glass Hand,” or “City on the Edge of Forever.” Hmmm. Masterpieces.
Bobby Thomson
@Chet Murthy: I’d have to see much better and smarter behavior from American voters on a sustained basis to believe #1 was ever the wrong play under any circumstances.
Bobby Thomson
@Frankensteinbeck: the hard right dominant court we are about to get will overturn both the VRA and the CRA and might even effectively nullify the Thirteenth Amendment. And the white youts aren’t much different than their parents.
Bobby Thomson
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Trump sees taking responsibility as a weakness. He “fired” several contestants on the Apprentice for it. He perfectly exemplifies why we shouldn’t assume CEOs are the best leaders, know the most about their companies, or have any idea what they’re doing. Some are quite good. Some are very, very bad.
jonas
@Adam L Silverman: Eh, I’m travelling in Europe right now and most folks’ assumption is that if you’re travelling outside the US, and especially if you speak a foreign language, you’re not a Trump supporter. More pity (and bewilderment) than anger. (Much different than under GWB — Americans could get hassled at times.)
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
I would remind you that a lot of people died in our last civil war. And the playing field has changed, this time the bad guys are in command.
sukabi
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): humanity? Ha! Pretty sure he’s a sociopathic narcissist. He’ll do anything to protect his own ass, including throwing his own kids under the bus ant then throwing it in reverse to make sure the job was done…
Barney
@Gin & Tonic: And who do we find in Emin (the wannabe pop star)’s video, but various Miss Universe contestants and …. Donald Trump!
https://heavy.com/news/2017/07/rob-goldstone-trump-miss-universe-natalia-veselnitskaya-donald-jr-emin-agalarov-aras-video-putin-russia/
(Trump is at the end, doing the usual “you’re fired” routine. The rest is eminently (hah) forgettable pop pap.