United States Congress

[Audrey2]

As if there were any doubt, The Irish Mortician has no business being Speaker of the House, or even on his local Housing Association board.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ryan-doesnt-want-trump-to-work-with-democrats-on-health-care-132305260.html

Quote

Despite failing to rally enough Republican support for his bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, House Speaker Paul Ryan says he would rather not see President Trump reach across the aisle to Democrats on health care.

So, the Speaker of the House is actually saying there should be no Democrat input on Healthcare. Sounds like a half step away from a dictatorship- complete rule by one party. I have no words.

 

[infooverload]

I find it interesting there's a call to have Paul Ryan resign. The Republicans seem to have a short memory since they had to convince Paul Ryan to do the job. He moaned and groaned about it taking time away from his family. He hasn't been speaker for very long and I have to wonder who they want to fill the position if Ryan steps down. Remember when Taliban Dan aka Allyssa ' s father in law was floated as a possibility for the position.

[47of74]

And the Russians are still interfering even after the election of the Tangerine Toddler.

cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-hearing-russia/index.html

Quote

The Senate intelligence committee opened its first public hearing on Russian meddling in the US election Thursday with calls for nonpartisanship, citing ongoing foreign interference that threatens "the heart of our democracy."

"The vice chairman and I realize that if we politicize this process, our efforts will likely fail," Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said in his opening remarks. "The public deserves to hear the truth about possible Russian involvement in our elections, how they came to be involved, how we may have failed to prevent that involvement, what actions were taken in response, if any, and what we plan to do to ensure the integrity of future free elections at the heart of our democracy."

One finding from the hearing so far: Russian interference with American politics did not stop after the election.

Russian operatives have even been active in US politics through this week, driving a wedge between Republicans after the fallout from the health care bill failure, said Clinton Watts, a senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University.

 

[sawasdee]

I read a quote from Mark Twain on a WaPo comments that seems like great advice for both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees -

'Always do the right thing. It will please some people and astonish the rest.'

[GreyhoundFan]

"Protesters raise more than $200,000 to buy Congress’s browsing histories"

Quote

After Congress voted Tuesday to dismantle landmark privacy protections for Internet users, pockets of the Web erupted in a mixture of fury and fear.

Among other changes, this legislation would make it easier, and legal, for Internet service providers (ISPs) to both gather and sell personal information including Web browsing history. In other words, AT&T could, in theory, sell to the highest bidder a list of the websites you’ve visited and the frequency with which you visited them.

Many Internet users aren’t keen on the idea of companies selling their browsing data, so several independently came up with the same plan: They began crowdfunding campaigns to purchase the Web histories of the members who voted to wipe away those protections.

A few of these campaigns — there are at least four — are fairly small. Two, though, have raised more than a combined $200,000 as of early Thursday morning.

Misha Collins, the star of television’s “Supernatural,” started one such fundraiser that has raised more than $60,000 of its ambitious $500,000,000 goal.

“Great news! The House just voted to pass SJR34. We will finally be able to buy the browser history of all the Congresspeople who voted to sell our data and privacy without our consent!” he wrote in its description.

Adam McElhaney, who described himself as “a privacy activist & net neutrality Advocate from Chattanooga, Tn.,” began another which has raised more than $145,000, well beyond its $10,000 goal. Its description read, in part:

Help me raise money to buy the histories of those who took away your right to privacy for just thousands of dollars from telephone and ISPs.  Your private data will be bought and sold to marketing companies, law enforcement.

Let’s turn the tables. Let’s buy THEIR history and make it available.

More than 12,000 people have donated to the two campaigns combined as of Wednesday night.

Others made similar pledges. Max Temkin, one of the designers of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity, tweeted, “If this s‑‑‑ passes I will buy the browser history of every congressman and congressional aide and publish it.”

Later, though, Temkin slightly changed his tune and promised to match up to $10,000 in donations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy organization that seeks to protect Internet privacy. As Temkin wrote on Twitter, “People are already mad at me that we haven’t released the data. As a reminder, this bill hasn’t been signed yet and there is no data to buy.”

...

Then there’s the question of how those who donated to these crowdfunding campaigns plan to buy the Web browsing histories of members of Congress. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

When asked if it would now be possible to purchase another person’s browsing history, The Washington Post’s Brian Fung wrote, “The short answer is ‘in theory, but probably not in reality.’”

He continued:

Many Internet service providers (ISPs) have privacy policies that may cover this type of information. If an ISP shares or sells an individual’s personal information in violation of its own privacy policy, a state attorney general could take the company to court, said Travis LeBlanc, a former enforcement bureau chief at the Federal Communications Commission.

“ISPs haven’t done this to date and don’t plan to because they respect the privacy of their customers,” Brian Dietz, a spokesman for NCTA — The Internet & Television Association told The Post. “Regardless of the legal status of the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, we remain committed to protecting our customers’ privacy and safeguarding their information because we value their trust.”

It’s also unlikely an ISP would sell an individual’s Web browsing history. Most of the time, companies purchasing data have no idea whose data, exactly, they’re buying. All that generally matters to these companies are a few demographics.

Which raises the question of what will happen to the $200,000 and counting gathered by these crowdsourcing campaigns.

GoFundMe, the website hosting them, previously told The Post in a statement, “in order to protect donors, if a campaign is flagged as fraudulent, the funds cannot be withdrawn until the issue is resolved.”

It’s unclear, though, what would occur if the campaign isn’t fraudulent but simply impossible to fulfill.

 

[sawasdee]

Bad news. Pence just broke a deadlock to allow the Senate to debate allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood. Forget that over 96% of their work is in screening and diagnosing such diseases as cervical and breast cancer, diagnosing and treating STDs and helping those in straitened circumstances to have birth control.

Contraception is a major part of their programme. By taking it away, are they saying that if you aren't rich enough, you shouldn't have sex? Contraception is the responsible choice for a woman who cannot afford to raise a child - oh, but I forgot, , the best contraception is an aspirin between the knees! So the comfort of sex is yet another right denied to the poor....be hungry, cold, celibate - it's what you deserve - presumably because you don't love g-d enough, or he would have made sure you had the money to avoid these things. If Jesus had a grave, he'd be spinning in it.

ABORTION beats all. The day they pass legislation to help those unwilling mothers to support their kids is the day I begin to have an iota of respect for the repugs. And damnation to any female Senator who voted for this - she is a traitor to her gender.

SHIT! The  US is swiftly regressing to the 19th century.

I'm angry.

ETA Don't they realise the impact of unchecked STDs, unwanted births, mothers dying from breast and cervical cancer? It would cost much more than the funding for Planned Parenthood. It's the IDIOCY of the GOP I can't stand.

Cannot afford reliable contraception= baby

Have baby = cannot afford childcare

Cannot afford childcare = give up job

Give up job = on welfare.

On welfare = yet another family that struggles to keep its children healthy and fed.

Underfed children = underachieving in school.

Underachieving children = unqualified for a 21st century job market.

Unqualified for job market = another generation on welfare.

Unless, of course , you cut welfare yet more and let them starve...........

[Childless]

1 hour ago, sawasdee said:

Bad news. Pence just broke a deadlock to allow the Senate to debate allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood. Forget that over 96% of their work is in screening and diagnosing such diseases as cervical and breast cancer, diagnosing and treating STDs and helping those in straitened circumstances to have birth control.

Contraception is a major part of their programme. By taking it away, are they saying that if you aren't rich enough, you shouldn't have sex? Contraception is the responsible choice for a woman who cannot afford to raise a child - oh, but I forgot, , the best contraception is an aspirin between the knees! So the comfort of sex is yet another right denied to the poor....be hungry, cold, celibate - it's what you deserve - presumably because you don't love g-d enough, or he would have made sure you had the money to avoid these things. If Jesus had a grave, he'd be spinning in it.

ABORTION beats all. The day they pass legislation to help those unwilling mothers to support their kids is the day I begin to have an iota of respect for the repugs. And damnation to any female Senator who voted for this - she is a traitor to her gender.

SHIT! The  US is swiftly regressing to the 19th century.

I'm angry.

ETA Don't they realise the impact of unchecked STDs, unwanted births, mothers dying from breast and cervical cancer? It would cost much more than the funding for Planned Parenthood. It's the IDIOCY of the GOP I can't stand.

Cannot afford reliable contraception= baby

Have baby = cannot afford childcare

Cannot afford childcare = give up job

Give up job = on welfare.

On welfare = yet another family that struggles to keep its children healthy and fed.

Underfed children = underachieving in school.

Underachieving children = unqualified for a 21st century job market.

Unqualified for job market = another generation on welfare.

Unless, of course , you cut welfare yet more and let them starve...........

And yet they claim to be pro-life.  Pfft.  Whatever.

[fraurosena]

45 minutes ago, Childless said:

And yet they claim to be pro-life.  Pfft.  Whatever.

Pro-life, but against human rights. 

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Pro-life, but against human rights. 

The American Taliban 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ted Lieu is out-tweeting Trump, and it’s making him a political star". Way, way too many things to copy, but this is my absolute favorite:

Quote

...

Trump and his administration unleashed Lieu’s mojo. “Was charged $2.99 for coffee listed at $2.59,” ran one tweet. “That’s why I have trust issues. Oh, and the fact that @seanspicer at #WhiteHouse makes s--- up.”

...

I've been laughing for 10 minutes about that.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Republicans are so hopeless, Trump may have to work with Democrats"

Quote

Will anyone be left standing when the Republican circular firing squad runs out of ammunition? Or will everybody just reload and keep blasting away, leaving Democrats to clean up the bloody mess?

The political moment we’re living through is truly remarkable, but not in a good way. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, so we’re basically in their hands. But they have nothing approaching consensus on what they should be doing — and they have failed to show basic competence at doing much of anything.

This absurd situation was illustrated Thursday when House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), appearing on “CBS This Morning,” tried to explain why he wants to lead yet another suicide charge up Health Care Hill.

Ryan said he worries that if Republicans don’t repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass some sort of replacement, then President Trump will “just go work with Democrats to try and change Obamacare and that’s not, that’s hardly a conservative thing. . . . If this Republican Congress allows the perfect to be the enemy of the good, I worry we’ll push the president into working with Democrats. He’s been suggesting that as much.”

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), usually a man of measured words, responded with a barbed tweet: “We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem.”

...

Ryan somehow acquired a reputation as a policy wonk but really is an ideologue, as shown by his comments Thursday. He worries less about whether policies work or not — whether, in this case, more people have health insurance — than whether policies fit his definition of “conservative” or “not conservative.” Also, he doesn’t seem to be very good at counting votes, which is a clear requirement in the House speaker job description.

To be fair, he does have the problem of the Freedom Caucus — a group of 30 to 40 House Republicans who are far to Ryan’s right, which puts them beyond the outer fringe. If politics were the solar system, they would be the Oort Cloud, out there past Pluto. It is hard to imagine any health-care bill that is acceptable to both the Freedom Caucus and a majority of Americans.

The White House looks hopeless, too. Trump’s inner circle is like the Court of the Borgias, full of intrigue and backstabbing. And there have been plenty of opportunities for rivals to wield their knives: Advisers Stephen K. Bannon and Stephen Miller, the “economic nationalists,” came under attack when Trump’s first, amateurish attempt at a Muslim travel ban got blocked by the courts. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus — like Ryan, part of the “Cheesehead Mafia” from Wisconsin — bore much of the blame for the health-care debacle. Economic adviser Gary Cohn and his staff are derided by others in the administration as “the Democrats.” Jared Kushner is fortunate to have the Teflon coating that comes from being the boss’s son-in-law.

That leaves just two viable centers of power — Senate Republicans under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who is nothing if not wily; and House Democrats under Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

It’s probably going to take Democratic votes to keep the government funded past April 28 and avoid a shutdown. Trump’s only path forward on health care, a problem he now owns, may indeed be working with the Democrats. When I saw her at the Capitol this week, Pelosi was in a surprisingly good mood.

I would laugh so very hard if Agent Orange decided to work with the Dems. The Irish undertaker would be inconsolable.

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 The Irish undertaker would be inconsolable.

In that case, let's hope he rage quits...

[GreyhoundFan]

"Things just went from bad to worse for Devin Nunes and the White House"

Quote

Update: Nunes has now done some explaining -- emphasis on "some." He spoke again Thursday with Bloomberg's Lake, who has concluded that Nunes "misled" him about the chairman's sources not being White House staff. Nunes conceded: "I did use the White House to help to confirm what I already knew from other sources."

The original post follows.

Devin Nunes has some explaining to do.

The New York Times just reported that two White House officials helped provide Nunes with information that President Trump and his associates had been swept up in legal surveillance, just before Nunes briefed Trump himself and then disclosed some of the information to the media and to the House Intelligence Committee that he chairs.

The Times’ sources identified the officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, national security lawyer in the Office of White House Counsel:

The officials said that earlier this month, shortly after Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter about being wiretapped on the orders of President Barack Obama, Mr. Cohen-Watnick began reviewing highly classified reports detailing the intercepted communications of foreign officials.

Officials said the reports consisted primarily of ambassadors and other foreign officials talking about how they were trying to develop contacts within Mr. Trump’s family and inner circle in advance of his inauguration.

But there’s a problem: This conflicts with what Nunes has said about his source or sources. He has declined to name them, but he and a spokesman have said and/or strongly suggested it wasn't White House staff.

...

Nunes hasn’t said much about his sourcing, but he has certainly suggested the only reason that he was on the White House grounds is because the information happened to be there and that it wasn’t something that was fed to him by parties interested in confirming Trump’s evidence-free claim that he was under surveillance during the 2016 election. The Times’ report seriously calls that into question.

We can perhaps expect Nunes to quibble with the definition of a "White House staffer" or what constitutes "any of [Trump's] aides." Maybe he'll argue that the National Security Council is a separate entity. But Ellis works in the White House counsel's office, so he's clearly a White House staffer and an aide to the president. His official title is "special assistant to the president."

...

Methinks Nunes' feet are starting to feel warm from the flames. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

[RoseWilder]

I can't wait for the 2018 ads, when we can nail all of these Republicans enablers asses to the wall for aiding and abetting the Trump and his circle with their Russian ties: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"This Watergate lawmaker set the standard for slavish loyalty. Then came Nunes."

Quote

Watergate showcased legislators on Capitol Hill in their finest hour: folksy and clever Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee; Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), the committee’s vice chairman (“What did the president know, and when did he know it?”); House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), who reportedly went to a back room after voting for the third article of impeachment, called his wife and wept, telling her, “I hope we’ve done the right thing”; and Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.), who advised the committee that the United States had come too far for her “to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.”

However, to me the most unforgettable Watergate lawmaker was House Judiciary Committee member Earl Landgrebe, a three-term Republican from Valparaiso, Ind. Landgrebe’s support for President Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate scandal set a standard for slavish loyalty that remains unmatched to this day.

As the case against Nixon mounted with the discovery of the White House tapes, Landgrebe shrugged the whole thing off, saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.”

Landgrebe voted against accepting the final report of the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry.

With Nixon’s presidency fading into the sunset, Landgrebe vowed to “stick with my president even if he and I have to be taken out of this building and shot.”

They don’t make ’em like that anymore.

Or so I thought, until House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) arrived on the scene.

The chief difference between these two Republicans is that Landgrebe never got the chance to wield a gavel. In the post-Watergate elections, voters in Indiana’s 2nd District decided it was time to bring him home for good.

Nunes may not be an exact genetic copy of Landgrebe, but his behavior puts him in the same pedigree.

...

Somebody was getting played. We now know who (Nunes) and by whom (White House officials). The congressman is so in over his head.

Nunes’s antics sparked an editorial in his hometown newspaper, the Fresno Bee, describing his performance as “inept and bewildering” and saying he had “betrayed the Constitution and its separation of powers by running like an errand boy to the White House to share with Trump classified information that he had received.”

Nunes has embarrassed the House, tainted his chairmanship and reduced himself to a farce.

That said, it can be stated with confidence that Devin Nunes has done Earl Landgrebe proud.

Yeah, I'd want to be compared to Landgrebe...NOT.

[send*the*ferrets]

i wish Ryan would resign. He's a joke. 

[RoseWilder]

I wasn't sure what thread to put this in, but since the letter is from the Senate, I'm sticking it here. 

 

[PsyD2013]

On 3/30/2017 at 1:15 PM, sawasdee said:

Bad news. Pence just broke a deadlock to allow the Senate to debate allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood. Forget that over 96% of their work is in screening and diagnosing such diseases as cervical and breast cancer, diagnosing and treating STDs and helping those in straitened circumstances to have birth control.

Contraception is a major part of their programme. By taking it away, are they saying that if you aren't rich enough, you shouldn't have sex? Contraception is the responsible choice for a woman who cannot afford to raise a child - oh, but I forgot, , the best contraception is an aspirin between the knees! So the comfort of sex is yet another right denied to the poor....be hungry, cold, celibate - it's what you deserve - presumably because you don't love g-d enough, or he would have made sure you had the money to avoid these things. If Jesus had a grave, he'd be spinning in it.

ABORTION beats all. The day they pass legislation to help those unwilling mothers to support their kids is the day I begin to have an iota of respect for the repugs. And damnation to any female Senator who voted for this - she is a traitor to her gender.

SHIT! The  US is swiftly regressing to the 19th century.

I'm angry.

ETA Don't they realise the impact of unchecked STDs, unwanted births, mothers dying from breast and cervical cancer? It would cost much more than the funding for Planned Parenthood. It's the IDIOCY of the GOP I can't stand.

Cannot afford reliable contraception= baby

Have baby = cannot afford childcare

Cannot afford childcare = give up job

Give up job = on welfare.

On welfare = yet another family that struggles to keep its children healthy and fed.

Underfed children = underachieving in school.

Underachieving children = unqualified for a 21st century job market.

Unqualified for job market = another generation on welfare.

Unless, of course , you cut welfare yet more and let them starve...........

 

The Republican party is not pro-life.  They are the cult of the fetus.  If they were truly pro-life, a child would be born into a society where there was equal access to healthcare, education, a liveable wage, and a social services safety net for the most vulnerable members.  The majority Republican parties have gutted those opportunities at both the state and national level.  

[RoseWilder]

The grannies are coming for Devin Nunes: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Democrats have a new and surprising weapon on Capitol Hill: Power"

Quote

Democrats in Congress have a new and surprising tool at their disposal in the era of one-party Republican rule in President Trump’s Washington: power.

It turns out that Republicans need the minority party to help them avoid a government shutdown at the end of April, when the current spending deal to fund the government expires. And Democrats have decided, for now at least, that they will use their leverage to reassert themselves and ensure the continued funding of their top priorities — by negotiating with Republicans.

“I think we have a lot of leverage here,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Republicans “are going to need our help putting together the budget, and that help means we can avoid some of the outrageous Trump proposals and advance some of our own proposals.”

The fact that Republicans need Democrats to vote for a temporary spending measure to avoid a shutdown gives Democrats leverage to force the GOP to abandon plans to attack funding for environmental programs and Planned Parenthood. And it also allows Democrats to block Trump’s top priority — the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — which the president seeks to factor in to this latest round of budget negotiations.

It comes at a time when Republicans on Capitol Hill are badly divided and President Trump’s ambitious agenda — a health-care overhaul, his 2018 budget blueprint, a tax proposal and an infrastructure program — has yet to get off the ground.

Since the failure of the House GOP’s health-care plan, Trump has signaled he may work with Democrats to achieve major goals. Coupled with the negotiations over the spending measure, such a statement could foreshadow a major and unexpected power shift in Washington in which the minority party has far more influence in upcoming legislative fights than was initially expected.

“I think most of our caucus wants to work with them,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a recent interview, referring to the GOP. “But it requires working in a compromise way.”

But cooperation with their GOP counterparts — and possibly even with Trump — is a risky move for congressional Democrats, who are being pressured by the more liberal wing of their party to obstruct the GOP and Trump at all costs. Part of that energy is playing out in the Senate over the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, as Democrats have vowed to block his confirmation, potentially leading to an explosive fight next week to change Senate rules.

Hill Democrats are betting voters will view any attempt to compromise on spending as further evidence that the fractured GOP is unable to govern. If the talks fail and a shutdown approaches, voters might then blame Republicans for failing to keep the government open despite their control of the House, Senate and White House, several Democratic aides reasoned.

...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump can’t stop the Freedom Caucus. He has GOP gerrymandering to blame."

Quote

Someday, when Paul Ryan and John Boehner reflect on the difficulties of herding a fractious House Republican caucus, they’ll both be haunted by the onetime owner of a western North Carolina sandwich shop-turned-Capitol Hill power broker: Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). Back in summer 2015, Meadows targeted then-speaker Boehner by filing a “motion to vacate” — essentially a vote of no confidence in his leadership. Boehner recognized how difficult it would be to continue even if he won that vote and stepped down instead, leaving Ryan in his place. And then last week, Meadows played the key role in destroying Ryan’s dream of repealing and replacing Obamacare.

But if Republican leaders don’t like Meadows and far-right conservatives like him, they have only their own power grabs to blame. Republican gerrymandering efforts have made Meadows and the rest of his Freedom Caucus electorally invincible.

The GOP held more than 50 futile votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act during Barack Obama’s presidency. Both Ryan and President Trump vowed last year that Obamacare would quickly become history if Republicans controlled both Congress and the White House. Ryan’s American Health Care Act, however, did not go far enough for the far-right Freedom Caucus, and a majority of its members were unwilling to budge. They insisted, for example, that the GOP bill also scrap an Obamacare requirement that insurers cover 10 “essential health benefits,” including maternity and mental-health care. As Ryan and Trump negotiated the bill to the right, however, moderate Republicans representing swing districts balked. Trapped by factions within his own party, Ryan had no choice but to pull the bill.

Trump, his reputation as a closer and dealmaker humbled in his very first congressional fight, targeted the renegade Republicans on Twitter: “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood and Ocare!”  White House insiders told The Washington Post that the Twitter tirade was intended to warn Meadows and the Freedom Caucus that he could make their reelections difficult if they bucked him in the future.

That’s not likely to be an effective threat. The 40 members of the Freedom Caucus represent such safe Republican districts that the only threat they fear is a primary challenge from a conservative further to their right. Republican redistricting guaranteed the GOP a near-lock on the House after the 2010 Census — but it also created a nearly ungovernable faction. They gerrymandered themselves into this predicament.

These congressmen are perfectly content to say no and lose on principle, because compromise and conciliation — the actual work of politics — are the only things that can cost them their jobs. Meadows, after all, holds his seat because of a Republican gerrymander in 2011. His 11th District in North Carolina includes the liberal college town of Asheville and nearby Republican-leaning mountain towns. It had been a competitive district, most recently represented by a conservative Democrat, Heath Shuler, when Republicans in North Carolina’s state legislature won the power to redraw maps after the 2010 election. Aided by national Republicans, they divided Asheville between two districts to dilute Democratic votes. A seat that had seesawed between the two parties is now rigged to safely and permanently reelect one of the most conservative members of the House.

The new lines worked: They guaranteed a Republican victory. Shuler knew he could not win and did not seek reelection. The proprietor of Aunt D’s Place, however, saw a path to victory. The seat shifted from a conservative Democrat willing to work with the other side to Meadows, a true believer unwilling to work with anyone, who promised during his campaign that “we will send [Obama] back home to Kenya or wherever it is.”

Meadows’s exploits earned a tongue-lashing from conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who dubbed him and his colleagues a “suicide caucus” when they steered Boehner into threatening a 2013 government shutdown by tying a must-pass appropriations bill to defunding Obamacare.

That encouraged the New Yorker to study the districts that sent these politicians to Washington. The results were shocking: All of the Freedom Caucus had seats as safe as Meadows’s, seats that did not look like those in the rest of the country. While Obama had been reelected the year before by four points over Mitt Romney, these Republicans represented districts Romney carried by an average of 23 points. The House members did even better than that: They were elected by an average of 34 points.

In 2016, fewer than three dozen of the 435 House seats were considered competitive. Trump’s tweets might move the stock price of Fortune 500 corporations, but they can’t influence politicians that secure. Nothing can. This is how gerrymandering distorts democracy. When district lines are drawn to elect only members of one party, a different kind of politician gets sent to Washington. The result is a deeply divided and dysfunctional system.

...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Here's a nominee for "Mr Compassion": "GOP lawmaker: The Bible says ‘if a man will not work, he shall not eat’"

Quote

One lawmaker is citing a godly reference to  justify changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Tex.) recently quoted the New Testament to question the strength of current work requirements.

The biblical passage, 2 Thessalonians 3-10, was a rebuttal to one of the hearing’s expert witnesses, a representative of the Jewish anti-hunger group MAZON. (He referenced Leviticus.) It is also a familiar refrain to anyone who has watched past debates about SNAP.

House Republicans have historically cited the verse — “if a man will not work, he shall not eat” — as justification for cutting some adults’ SNAP benefits. Arrington referenced the verse in a discussion about increasing the work requirements for unemployed adults on the food stamp program. But critics say that advances a pernicious myth about the unemployed who receive SNAP.

The verse in question applies specifically to people who can work or otherwise contribute to society but choose not to, said theologians from several denominations who spoke to The Post. There is a perception, among some voters and lawmakers, that many adult SNAP recipients are exactly this sort of “freeloader.”

But policy experts say that is not the case. Many unemployed adults on SNAP simply cannot work, they say. Those include the mentally ill, the borderline disabled and veterans.

"I did hear Mr. Protas, your opening remarks, where you quoted Leviticus, I believe -- and I think that’s a great reflection on the character of God and the compassion of God’s heart and how we ought to reflect that compassion in our lives," Arrington said. "But there’s also, you know, in the Scripture, tells us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3:10 he says, uh, ‘for even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ And then he goes on to say ‘we hear that some among you are idle' ...  I think it’s a reasonable expectation that we have work requirements." 

The debate comes at a time of increased Republican concern about work requirements and welfare programs. The failed Republican repeal-and-replace health-care plan included such requirements for Medicaid recipients; House Speaker Paul D. Ryan also championed them. And earlier this week, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) introduced a bill that would prevent the secretary of agriculture from granting temporary SNAP work-requirement waivers to states with high rates of unemployment.

...

This population represents only a small minority of SNAP users. According to the Department of Agriculture, nearly two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children, seniors and people with disabilities. Of the remaining third, the vast majority are employed. According to the USDA, only 14 percent of all SNAP participants work less than 30 hours per week.

...

But the 6 million or so who are not employed receive a great deal of attention. This is a diverse population, experts say, who face a variety of barriers to employment, as well as an array of state and federal work requirements.

Local surveys of SNAP users have shown that many adults who are not working have recently been released from jail — or are homeless, veterans, noncustodial parents, people with undiagnosed mental illnesses and teenagers aging out of the foster care system.

Still more may lack the skills or education needed to obtain work in their community — particularly if their community has a high unemployment rate, said Stacy Dean, the vice president for food assistance policy at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

USDA can grant state waivers that drop the work requirements in areas of high unemployment, but many states have lost or dropped their waivers since the recession.

As a result, many adults on SNAP who want to work effectively can’t.

“There are a lot of barriers that need to be addressed first,” Dean said.

USDA is working on this question of which recipients can work and which can't. Since 1996, the SNAP program has set a three-month time limit on unemployed ABAWDs' eligibility. If they don’t get a job within three months of starting benefits, they’re kicked off the program, even if they're actively seeking employment. USDA has also funded state-run job fairs, work training and other interventions to encourage SNAP users to find employment, though availability and effectiveness vary widely by location.

Some states have also used USDA funds to establish even stricter work programs than those at the federal level.

Nonetheless, there remains a persistent misconception — embodied by the recent political invocation Thessalonians verse — that many unemployed SNAP participants simply don’t “want” to work.

...

In 2015, the far-right Breitbart News misquoted Pope Francis in a post that implied the Catholic leader sought to keep food from people who did not work.

The English transcript of the pope’s remarks make it clear that he said no such thing and most Judeo-Christian faith leaders agree that 2 Thessalonians applies narrowly to people who can work but choose not to.

The passage, written by Saint Paul, was not addressed to the poor or hungry generally, said the Rev. David Beckmann, a Lutheran pastor and the president of the faith-based anti-hunger organization Bread for the World. It was written to a specific sect of early Christians, who had abandoned many aspects of their regular lives because they believed the apocalypse was imminent.

...

MAZON, meanwhile, continues to advocate for programs that help unemployed SNAP recipients obtain jobs, rather than policies that penalize them for failing to find work. That, said Rabbi Glazer, is her main takeaway from Scripture.

“The common refrain, repeated across the Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts, is that we must care for the most vulnerable,” she said. “To hold up three particular words and use it to create policy? That doesn’t work.”

 

[RoseWilder]

This is very satisfying: 

 

[RoseWilder]

It's almost as if being a sociopath is unappealing to America: 

What surprises me about this poll is that Pence isn't that much more popular than Trump. Most of the shitty things he's done have been ignored by the press, and yet people don't seem to like him all that much either. 

[formergothardite]

Pence has the personality of a damp rag.