Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

I still don’t see any quotes from Ds. I guess I dreamt all the stuff about Senate must advise and consent and the rest.

[AlabamAlum]

Both sides are hypocrites, CG.

4 years ago: One side said the president is the president and the process should be started even if it’s election season. The other side bitterly disagreed.

Now the sides are exactly reversed: the side that before said “the process must not be delayed!” is saying “NOT IN AN ELECTION YEAR!” and the side that before said “not in an election year!” is now saying “THE PROCESS MUST NOT BE DELAYED!”

Politics as usual -on both sides.

[iam416]

What’s obvious, of course, is that politics dominate when it comes to the Court. Not principles, as if either party cares about principles when it comes to nominations. This obvious reality is mostly a result of the Ds efforts to politicize the Court — to turn it into a quasi-legislative body.

I know this. So, I’m not one bit surprised that both parties will flip flop on this particular issue. I’m neither naive enough nor stupid enough to think either has principles when it comes to the Court. I can’t really imagine anyone thinking they would.

As a corollary, that also means Senators are responsive to their constituents. And there are several that have zero interest in pressing this lest it cost them in November.

[CGVT]

The precedent has been established.

[AlabamAlum]

The precedent has been established.

Certainly. On both sides.

[iam416]

If this were a close election I might actually do the political calculation on November. As it is, the Rs are going to lose everything so the political calculation is a little different. I still don’t think there’s a chance in hell it gets filled. And that will, of course, crush the principled Ds. Truly devastated. LOL.

[Whitley]

The Dems back in 2016 should have pounded the Republicans every single day in the media about the obstruction that the Republican Senate was doing. But they didn't make the Republicans pay a price for it. No reason to think they will be able to now. BTW, should also thank the Dems for nominating the most establishment candidate ever during an election cycle that the American public hated the establishment.

Now, they are looking to be repeating the same mistakes again in 2020. Biden doesn't even have a field office in the state of Michigan.

Here is what is going to happen with RBG seat.

1) Trump in the next few days will put out feelers. Within 10 days they will nominate someone.

2) There will be handwringing by Collins, Romney, Grasserly etc.

3) Dems will try to slow play this as much as possible and as usual will be very ineffective overall.

4) This will consume Washington and any chance for another stimulus check/covid 19 relief might as well forget about it.

5) In a lame duck session, and it will be a lame duck session because there will be no voter retribution, they push through the nominee down a straight party line vote.

[lineygoblue]

I agree that the stimulus deal is dead. Its now going to be an all-out war over the USSC seat.

There's going to be a lame duck session no matter how the election turns out. So, yes .. I could see McConnell ramming the USSC nomination thru on a party line vote in a lame duck session. Especially if he's about to be replaced as Majority Leader by Chuck Schumer.

If Trump wins, and if Schumer takes over the Senate, Trump can forget about any of his USSC nominations being approved. He can pretty much forget any of his legislation or nominees being approved.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I agree that the stimulus deal is dead. Its now going to be an all-out war over the USSC seat.

I get the importance of liberal v. conservative jurists on the USSC but, I think it is overplayed. What the current hysterical debate ignores is votes like K's that sided with liberals on several key issues. IOW, the Justices are sworn to apply the law. He's not alone as a conservative on the court, Gorsuch included. I agree that the court has been politicized but I wonder if, in practice, the Supremes laugh at that characterization in private ..... "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks."

This story is going to occupy the news cycle for a while and I think that politics will play a role in dampening the need to deal with much more pressing legislative needs to include another stimulus bill. I don't think anyone here needs to be told of the importance of this if the US economy is not to crater come October. The evidence is overwhelming that it will if more free money isn't pumped into the system to bridge us through the pandemic to a vaccine.

The WSJ published an encouraging article (paywalled) this morning about the rebound in global trade in July that accelerated in August. People aren't traveling much, going out to eat or buying live event tickets. Instead they are at home spending money on home goods, DIY projects, computers, groceries and Peletons. Consumer demand remains strong and that is partly due to free money. The more I read about MMT, the more I see the risks of increasing national debt to garner the benefits of keeping economies from tanking to be worth it. I've already written my reps in Congress about this and asked them to not let the appointment to the USSC obscure and/or prevent the critical need for passage of another stimulus bill ASAP.

..... as an aside, the WSJ article also noted that as a result of the pandemic, companies are building manufacturing facilities locally and overseas when market demands demonstrate the need to avoid the supply disruptions to supply chains that occurred during the pandemic. Relying heavily on Chinese manufacturing along with other overseas capability that requires transport to distant markets wreaked havoc on profits. Mercedes Benz, among others, are moving parts manufacturing capability out of China and back home or to the US and SK where demand for cars is high. They are making capital investments to do this. Trump may get his wish of having manufacturing return to the US ..... but not for the reason he might have hoped for.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah the worst part of the all-consuming fight could be that no further stimulus bill happens. Heck, they only have 10 days to both pass a stopgap spending bill to avoid a shutdown AND 10 days if they want to prevent tens of thousands of airline industry layoffs.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump gave his "approval" to a TikTok deal yesterday. Last night he claimed at a rally that he forced the companies to pay the government $5 billion to support his new "patriotic education" program (yay). This was news to Chinese company, ByteDance. According to the NPR article below, the Chinese are still retaining 80% ownership but Oracle will control US user data?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-20/trump-wants-5-billion-from-tiktok-deal-for-new-history-project

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/20/914032065/tiktok-ban-averted-trump-gives-oracle-walmart-deal-his-blessing

[Ghengis Jon]

Signs of our times, co-vid times. Anti-maskers are doing flash dances in big box stores where they take off their masks and begin chasing people around to cough on them. With no way of instantly knowing if the anti-masker is a covid carrier, would a CPL holder be justified in considering this an attack to inflict great bodily harm and thereby authorize the use of lethal force?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Best pollster in Iowa with a rare release yesterday had the Senate race unchanged since June. Greenfield with a slight lead over incumbent Joni Ernst but within the margin of error.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7213769/Senate-Story-2224-Iowa-Poll-Sep-2020-Methodology.pdf

[iam416]

Kevin Williamson sums it up nicely:

It is the case that during the Merrick Garland fight, a bunch of Republicans said we shouldn’t confirm a new Supreme Court justice before an election — and now say something else.

It’s also the case that a bunch of Democrats at that time said we should confirm a new Supreme Court justice before an election — and now say something else.

Why is only one of these developments considered hypocrisy?

Either we can have a confirmation vote before an election, or we can’t — in which case, “Garland’s seat” was not “stolen,” as Democrats insist. You cannot have it both ways.

It would be easier if we stopped pretending that this fight is about something other than straightforward power politics.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I could say the same for the held-up stimulus bill. Some demonstrators with mixed agendas appeared to "mourn" RBG's passing in DC yesterday. A relevant sign was being held up by one of them and I had no idea what her agenda was but it quoted Ginsburg, The Constitution of the US starts out with the phrase, "We the People." Of course Ginsburg was referring to the power and authority of the US government derives from "the People." Right now, it seems like we are long, long ways from that with important national priorities being sidelined for power politics. The "people" having little control over what their elected reps are doing.