Biden just unveiled a $700 billion “Made in All of America” plan. It’s all good, and #6 should be #1 with a bullet:
6. SUPPLY AMERICA. Bring Back Critical Supply Chains to America so we aren’t dependent on China or any other country for the production of critical goods in a crisis.
Democratic Senate candidates in possible pick-up states are killing it on second quarter fundraising which is great news since now is the time that campaigns can really use the money. Also, this is a great piece about Republican consultants shitting themselves over their candidates’ prospects in the Fall.
And, unlike other elections, the Biden campaign is wisely working on ways for Sanders supporters to shape policy via 6 Biden-Sanders Unity Task Forces. Here’s AOC’s take on the Climate Task Force, which she co-chaired with John Kerry:
What’s going on in your neck of the woods?
Baud
It’s nice when we’re all beating to the same drum.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Phrasing!
Mike in DC
I really want to see the whole policy platform now. The foreign policy plank(e.g., Russia and China policy) is of particular interest to me.
Joe Falco
@Mike in DC: At this point, stating a Biden administration would support America’s allies would be a step up from current policy.
Ken
At least the Republican platform is clear on the incompetence and criminality of the President, and of how badly his actions have damaged the United States.
Omnes Omnibus
@Joe Falco: “The United States will expend every good faith effort to abide by its international commitments. The United States will also seek to rejoin the international organizations and agreements from which it withdrew during the Trump interregnum. In the meantime, the United States will abide by the rulings and rules of those agreements and agencies. Oh, and sorry.”
Salty Sam
For all the slagging that AOC gets, even here at times, her tweets above were perfect refutation of the charges of not working with party leadership and not being a serious rep. Looking fwd to seeing more from her in the Biden administration.
Also too, good to see Biden nurturing young talent, something Dem leadership has not always done well.
Chyron HR
Gee, if only we had been “wise enough” to literally let Bernie’s disciples write the entire party platform in 2016, they might not voted for Jill Stein out of sheer spite.
Baud
@Chyron HR:
Yeah, it’s typical bullshit.
ETA: Sorry, that’s the wrong link. Will look for the right one and update.
ETA2: A better link.
ETA3: Removed first link.
raven
Supreme decision coming up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chyron HR: Remember in ’16 when Bernie strong-armed Cornel “Inauguration Tickets” West on to the platform committee and he became such an effective surrogate? Or when HRC gave up on TPP so Bernie and his cultists stopped acting like assholes?
I wish there were some way to ask all the kidz frantically waving the
TPPsigns for the MSNBC cameras in Philadelphia what those letters stood for. I’d bet a large amount of money no more than 10% could answer.Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Ken: LOL
laura
@raven: I’ve got my highlighter and red pen ready to do some hate-hate-reading as soon as that decision drops. Please FSM, let RBG or Sotomayor write that decision!
laura
@raven: I’ve got my highlighter and red pen ready to do some hate-reading as soon as that decision drops. Please FSM, let RBG or Sotomayor write that decision!
Baud
The liberals got Gorsuch for a big win for the Creek Nation.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Few are daring to get their hopes up about this decision…
TS (the original)
@Baud:
He has been a big surprise in a few decisions. Must be upsetting some on the right.
Baud
@TS (the original): Gorsuch was always viewed as somewhat pro-Indian. Despite a few good votes, he’s been quite radical in other opinions.
TS (the original)
@Baud: agreed
Baud
Supreme Court site is freezing up. Vance wins.
Thomas and Alito only dissenters.
raven
No absolute immunity!!!
japa21
NY gets the documents. 7-2
ETA Being sent back to trial court.
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: Beating off the same drum?
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Toilet Paper Parade?
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato: Baud knows how to bait Omnes. He’s a master at it, frankly.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve never seen it put that way before. Bravo!
dmsilev
A fun read:
What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November
CaseyL
Looks like SCOTUS ruled to release Trump’s taxes. I’m seeing reports that the vote was 7-2, but he does have to release his taxes to SDNY. Not sure about Congress.
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato: Just trying to maintain the high literary standards we’ve grown accustomed to around here.
Baud
Punt on Mazers. Roberts again.
ETA: Opinions cuts back on application of executive privilege to everything under the sun.
chopper
7-2 for SDNY. still waiting on the other one.
Baud
@chopper: It’s out. It’s a punt. Sending it back down.
Although it’s good in that it cuts back on Trump’s claims of absolute protection from Congressional subpoenas.
Elizabelle
Fingers crossed the Supremes stand up for congressional oversight. Happy, and not surprised, about the Mazar outcome. Shame that it took so damn long.
Good morning, jackals.
japa21
Inconclusive and both being sent back. Chicken shits.
chopper
@Baud:
that’s what i was afraid would happen. the win at SDNY is a remand as well, so that’s going to be a while.
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato:
I think y’all are trying to say “beating to the same beat.”
Baud
@chopper:
We probably won’t see any documents before the election, which was practically guaranteed with the Supreme Court took this case.
The best outcome from all this is that it puts the nail in the coffin for Trump’s (and conservatives’) absolute immunity from oversight gambit. Long term, that’s good.
Patricia Kayden
But I don’t expect that we will see his tax returns in the near future.
TS (the original)
@japa21:
Good definition. trump will be unemployed well before this is sorted.
And Hillary Clinton sat for 9 hours answering questions from congress. Chicken shit well describes trump also.
Elizabelle
Pack the Supreme Court. I truly think Biden should. This one will not protect us against Trump, and its membership has been manipulated.
Make John Roberts rue the day he ever signed on to Citizens United and all his other horrible decisions.
Pack that Court. Change the Supremes’ terms from “life” to a more reasonable length, and stagger their replacements.
japa21
@Patricia Kayden: That isn’t really what they said, just that he has to use same arguments as anyone else would.
The second decision was against oversight. Congress needs to show that they need the taxes for legislative reasons.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Thomas and Alito are hardcore partisans to their very core. They will never issue any decision which does not push the Conservative agenda.
CaseyL
By another 7-2, SCOTUS rules that Congress does NOT get Trump’s tax returns.
So we have to put our faith in the SDNY, the one where Barr just pushed out the acting US Attorney but failed to get a Trump crony put there in his place.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
I haven’t been following this closely.
What are the implications of the “punt”? When does Congress get to see Trump’s taxes? (ETA: Sounds like never?)
What are the implications of the 7-2 decision on handing taxes to NY prosecutors? When does Trump go to jail?
Thx bunches, love Formerly
Baud
@japa21:
That has always been the law. No one argued otherwise in this case.
CaseyL
@japa21: “For legislative reasons” is bullshit. Congress also has a Constitutional duty to investigate wrongdoing by the President.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think they were prepared for the punt(s)
mrmoshpotato
@CaseyL:
Neither Dump nor Dense can pardon his traitorous, orange, Soviet shitpile mobster conman ass out of state charges.
Lemme hear it for states’ rights, you Confederate Trump trash!
Alison Rose
At the first quick scroll-by, kinda thought that last tweet said “otter feedback” and I was like…yes, I would like otter feedback about climate change, I’m sure they have a lot to say.
Baud
@CaseyL: That’s a legislative reason (I don’t think the House tried to justify these documents as needed for an impeachment inquiry, which would be another valid reason).
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I would prefer he shut up.
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole: Synchronized beating, not off by a beat.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle:
Totally agree on packing (ie, adding two justices – one for Garland, one for Kavanaugh) and Dems being unapologetic about it, too.
There was an article I saw that suggested SCOTUS judges could be rotated off to other federal courts, 1 of them every 2 years or something like that. Whatever works!
Oh, and let’s double the federal judiciary while we’re at it, too.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: love the ‘or shut up’ part
STRENGTH, we haz it!
Patricia Kayden
Elizabelle
@Patricia Kayden: Well that is goddamned disgusting.
No oversight of a treasonous president. And for documents that have been released as a matter of course by every other presidential nominee. Thanks, Supremes.
For shame.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
IANAL but having spent the last four minutes in a twitter legal seminar: the punts (remands? will that be on the test?) will almost certainly protect trump through Election Day, but the NY case is a longer term threat that he will probably have to deal with when he loses Barr’s ability to fuck with the DoJ and use it to file nuisance suits?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
After his arraignment sometime around March. And a guy in his wealth class is a definite flight risk, so no bail.
Jinchi
Didn’t they just run the platform from 2016 through the photocopy machine?
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose:
And this is apparently real –
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato: Galley style! Stroke! Stroke!
Whipping optional.
Patricia Kayden
@Elizabelle: Yeah, it’s a strange decision. I’d love to hear the rationale from the liberal justices on that decision. Congress needs to have the power of oversight or our democracy is doomed.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
To be honest, it’s hard to imagine there’s anything in his tax returns that will hurt Trump more than he already has been hurt by killing over 130,000+ Americans. And there’s a risk that the returns aren’t juicy, which would give Trump a talking point.
Subsole
@Jeffro: If we go that road, I say make it 15. Just something absolutely crushing, where further escalation serves them no good.
I am officially at the heads-on-sticks stage of negotiation.
Hoodie
@CaseyL: They didn’t bring up those grounds in these subpeonas. The setup for this appeal was not ideal because they were specifically targeting Trump. Might have been better if they had simply done a broader subpeona of Deutsche Bank records as part of general investigation of money laundering and the role it might have, for example, in the luxury real estate business. That would be a legit congressional inquiry for banking regulation purposes. Whatever turned up there would tarnish Trump because of his longstanding association with DB.
low-tech cyclist
@Elizabelle:
I’m with you here. That can be done with legislation, BUT it – along with everything already on their agenda – would require the Dems to kill the filibuster. So if we win the Senate, we start calling our Senators on November 4 about the filibuster.
This would require a Constitutional amendment, although I’ve heard suggestions that one could define their ‘term’ legislatively to include X years on SCOTUS, then lifetime minus X years on a lower court.
Of course, SCOTUS would have the final word on the Constitutionality of such a measure.
Ramiah Ariya
My belief going by AOC’s comments back in February about the Delhi riots in India is that she will shape up to be a major neo-con curious element of the new administration (she called the riots “ethnic cleansing”, using the sort of hyperbole that you would expect among the neo-cons). I think she will push sanctions on India because of the “ethnic cleansing” or better still take to calling for the “Indian regime”‘s toppling, because all her Twitter feed is saying so.
Don K
@Jeffro:
I’m thinking more like four additional – one each for Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Roberts, and Alito (since the latter two were appointed by the transparently-illegitimate Dubya).
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole: Bail! Bail!
Billcoop4
No. This is the Manhattan District Attorney — a state level official. Barr’s fuckery is irrelevant.
BC
Elizabelle
I think I will stay off the internets today.
Except for penguins.
Enjoying “Hidden” on Amazon Prime. Recommended by someone here. First season of police procedural set in Wales, with subtitles because 1/3 of the dialogue is in Welsh. Which is a wholly incomprehensible language, to me.
Although they swear in English. You’ll hear a string of Welsh with the f-word embedded throughout.
Elizabelle
@low-tech cyclist: Yeah. Your suggestions for fine-tuning are good ones.
mrmoshpotato
@Elizabelle: See me at 60. BEWARE – large murder bird in the background, but they’re very, very dead.
MJS
Not great decisions, but still something for the Biden campaign and others to work with. Romney damaged himself considerably when he initially refused to release his tax returns, and let Harry Reid and others speculate that it was because he paid zero taxes. “I’m not showing you my financial records because whether I have to or not is still being decided by the courts” isn’t a great position for Trump to be in. The ads speculating what may be in the records should write themselves.
Of course, we can also hope that there’s a Daniel Ellsberg wannabe out there somewhere.
Subsole
@Don K:
13 would have a nice symmetry, one per district.
But I still say if we do it, we need to do it heavy enough that Republican counterpacking looks absurd or more importantly dilutes the sitting justices’ power to the point they resist it themselves. I think 15 is a good sweet spot number, from that angle.
CaseyL
@Billcoop4: Ooh, even better.
What I’m hearing is that even the NY case won’t result in Trump’s tax returns being released before the election, as NY has to go to a grand jury first? Is that correct?
And – again, if I’m reading this correctly – the Congressional case was remanded back to a court that has already said Congress *does* have the authority to demand the tax returns. So, what’s up with that?
mad citizen
What Joe Biden said–put up or shut up. Regardless of the SCOTUS decision, we should all remind ourselves the question is why the guy won’t give them up voluntarily? Until he does, one has to assume he is a criminal.
But yes, if Congress doesn’t have oversight on this, we are fucked.
TS (the original)
CDC director says no revised school guidelines despite Trump’s push
Seems some people may have decided the pandemic is more important than keeping trump happy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Patricia Kayden: It isn’t really a strange decision. The Court does this frequently. Broad hypothetical follows: a lower court decides that an agency cannot do something under any circumstances. This decision gets appealed. it gets to the Supremes. They say, “No, the agency can do so in certain circumstances.” Now, they look at the the record from the trial court.* Because the trial court said never, they didn’t delve into the specifics. As a result, the Supremes can’t say whether or not the agency’s action was okay. Therefore, the case is sent back to the trial court to decide that question.
*Appellate courts are limited to the factual determinations made by the trial court and only decide matters of law.
Patricia Kayden
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato: No, I mean grab a bucket and BAIL. Not bail out!!
Crap.
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole: Sorry, Moose and Squirrel reference.
Jay
jonas
If they were banal, he probably would have turned them over a long time ago. Remember, he never does anything — anything — without calculating how it makes him look. My guess is that it reveals that his mighty real estate empire is 1. not worth as much as he says, and 2. is barely held together by a complex and rapidly fraying tissue of high-interest debt, sketchy shell companies in China and Russia, and other financial chicanery that probably is used by a lot of other high net-worth people, but will show that what he calls his wealth is really just being able to tread water in the swamp.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud:
True, I always try to remind myself that it’s not like they contain itemizations labeled “Income from Russian bribes and money-laundering…”
OTOH: as far as the Manhattan case goes: Isn’t it almost a given that the trump companies have been playing fast and loose with real estate valuations for the better part of (probably) 75 years? I was clicking around Wiki yesterday to get a handle on who was who among the elder trump siblings, and it looks like they are still partners in at least some properties they inherited from Fred– which is what they all got together to bilk Mary and her brother out of, just about 20 years ago. I’m guessing those are the unglamorous rental properties that actually generate income, then there’s the “trump organization” that is the collection of shell companies, golf courses and hotels run by The Beast and the Large Adult Children. I’m guessing there’s a lot of bank and tax fraud that won’t stand up to a harsh light.
mrmoshpotato
@jonas: Don’t you know they’re being eternally audited?
Patricia Kayden
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
i love these kinds of videos
Hoodie
@Patricia Kayden: That’s a win. DB probably wants to comply in the hope that they can limit the damage to Trump. They’re hanging out there on a bunch of money laundering stuff, and my son tells me they have a shit reputation in the financial community. They may be thinking Trump is a lost cause.
These decisions are about the best that could be expected with this Court. The liberals signed on to the majority opinions because they get at least a half a loaf, mainly that Trump cannot be confident that his re-election is a get out of jail free card. Who knows, he might be thinking it would be good idea to quit and go play golf with his shiny new pardon from President Pence. If the Manhattan DA has evidence of tax evasion and fraud, federal charges wouldn’t be far behind in the Biden admin.
Jay
Subsole
@mrmoshpotato: Oh thank heavens. I was afraid we were about ro start the chorus line…
Believe it or nay, that is one cartoon I have seen only once or twice.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fred Trump made his fortune building reasonably-priced housing for middle-class white people in the outer boroughs. He didn’t bother with gold-plated shit or casinos or any of that crap. That housing stock generates income, always has, always will. He knew what makes money.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Take some time to browse their Twitter pages. Both the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum have kept us entertained.
Adler Planetarium, not so much, no planets running past dinosaurs.
MisterForkbeard
@Elizabelle:
My filipino friends do this as well. Lots of tagalog with some proper nouns in spanish… and then f-bombs :)
jonas
@mrmoshpotato: Did anyone actually ever confirm whether that was even true? I know it was always the canard he used for why he couldn’t release the returns, but is it even true? Until proven otherwise, I assume it’s a lie as well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hoodie:
The Hoarse Whisperer and a few others are arguing that this is incentive for him to flounce out of the White House in a huff. I still can’t see it, but he is about seventeen different kinds of crazy, so who knows?
(I’m now picturing him looming over Pence, waiting to sign his resignation letter until Pence signs the post-dated general pardon and Pence’s little three-legged-hamster-on-a-broken-wheel brain tries to figure out if he can get caught for something by signing.)
Mai naem mobile
@Ramiah Ariya: I doubt it. NY’s “Little India” is in her district. She is not going to risk losing votes by appearing anti-Indian.
Brachiator
@Baud:
I agree that there may not be much here that is really exciting. I would expect to see massive net operating losses going back years and years and indications that his net worth ain’t all that grand.
Real estate valuations may be exaggerated.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: one of the stories Mary Trump tells is the NYT reporters who wrote that exposé driving her around and showing her all the buildings and properties Fred owned (and that the four survivors still own? that’s the part I’m not clear on), including the one she grew up in. She had no idea how many there were. They told her Fred was worth about $30M when he died in ’99, wiki says $250M (FWIW) and NYT estimates the actual value closer to a billion.
Also, there were some hints, I think from Rachel Maddow’s out loud reading, that Mary’s lawyer was complicit in getting her to accept the low valuation and settlement.
mrmoshpotato
@jonas: I don’t know. I remember some talking heads calling bullshit on it though.
Hoodie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a pretty simple deal. The stuff Vance is investigating has federal counterparts (bank fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion). He gets his pardon so AG Harris or Schiff won’t be able to drag him into federal court. Trump has enough legal resources to fight Vance, so Vance agrees to a plea deal (back taxes, penalties) that lets Trump save face. He’ll be broke but not in an orange jumpsuit and can continue to scam the rubes with TrumpTV.
Jay
Jay
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hoodie:
interesting
jonas
I’ve seen this reported on in various places: the Trump Org wildly overvalues their assets when seeking funding or credit, and then turns around and tells local assessors and the IRS that they’re worth practically nothing and they need a tax break. Now, I assume that any major financial institution is not so dumb as to take the owner’s own assessment at face value when giving them a loan, so it could be there’s some fishy stuff going on in there, particularly where Deutsche Bank is concerned.
Alison Rose
@mrmoshpotato: Adorbs. Ridic levels of adorbs.
Being a Californian, I’m of course partial to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has an array of live cams, and the sea otter one is just the absolute best. Especially at feeding time!
Brachiator
@jonas:
Pretty much standard operating procedure during the financial crisis to do dumb stuff like this.
David Evans
@Elizabelle: Ah, but they spell it “ffyc”
cain
@Ramiah Ariya:
Modi is not going to be able to maintain control for long – already his party is having issues keeping seats. His little culture war works will gin up the opposition – ideologues have blind spots – and the folks in the south will definitely not appreciate his efforts.
laura
I long for the day we get confirmation that trump, his family and their organization are broke ass jokes.
Kelly
I’m thinking a “why is Trump hiding his taxes” ad to the song “Skip a Rope”. Might strike a chord with those of us old enough to have heard it on the radio.
Brachiator
@Ramiah Ariya:
I doubt that anyone in Congress will be calling for regime change.
There might be some discussion about sanctions.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Ramiah Ariya: On the gripping hand, calling them “ethnic cleansing” has the advantage of being true.
Another Scott
@Baud: Yup.
As others noted, “The babies being stolen from mothers, children in cages, letting Puerto Rico drown, trying to take health care from tens of millions, the self-dealing, illegally trying to build a wall forbidden by Congress, sucking up to Putin and Xi and Kim, the incompetence of the pandemic response that has killed 135,000 Americans (so far), doing nothing about Putin’s bounties on Americans in Afghanistan. All that was fine. But cheating on his taxes?! – That’s going TOO FAR!!”
Says nobody, ever.
Cheers,
Scott.