The Next President is...

[Homestar]

The House will spend the next two years investigating “stuff” and throwing around “impeachment” and will do nothing. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Homestar

[brickhistory]

There are worse things involving government than gridlock.

Besides, I'm led to believe that a large segment of the population is just fine with a President ruling with "a pen and a phone."

As to House Democrat investigations starting next term, I'm also led to believe that the same segment of the population is just fine with an Administration utterly ignoring House requests/subpoenas, etc.

Just ask Eric Holder.

[TreeA10]

Justice Ginsberg is back in the hospital.  Democrats are powering up the defibrillator, the machine that goes "bing" and whatever else they think they might need to keep her from flat lining.  If she kicks the bucket,  can the Democrats kick up the toddler tantrum a notch or are they out of notches?

[pawnman]

2 minutes ago, TreeA10 said:

Justice Ginsberg is back in the hospital.  Democrats are powering up the defibrillator, the machine that goes "bing" and whatever else they think they might need to keep her from flat lining.  If she kicks the bucket,  can the Democrats kick up the toddler tantrum a notch or are they out of notches?

There's always another notch.

Edited November 8, 2018 by pawnman

[Vertigo]

20 hours ago, matmacwc said:

And nary a word of Russians this election result cycle, color me shocked.  Want more proof the Russian thing is bullshit?

Or maybe because we were actively countering them this time?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-launches-first-cyber-operation-to-deter-russian-interference-in-midterm-elections/2018/10/23/12ec6e7e-d6df-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4f486331adbe

[Vertigo]

Everyone conveniently glossing over the fact 7 Republican governor offices were lost to the Dems when touting how well the Republican strategy is working.

[brickhistory]

8 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

 the machine that goes "bing" 

Jeezuz, not the machine that goes "bing!"

 

I thought that was locked up in the warehouse with the Arc of the Covenant?

[Homestar]

RBG “fell” in her office? Are we sure it wasn’t the Russians pushing her down the stairs?

[Clark Griswold]

9 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Everyone conveniently glossing over the fact 7 Republican governor offices were lost to the Dems when touting how well the Republican strategy is working.

Agreed unfortunately.

 

When 50% of the electorate pays no income taxes they don't care about your great income tax cut you passed last year.  

They don't own stocks so they could give a shit what the Dow Jones is.  

They don't have any money to pass to their children so they don't care if there is a federal inheritance tax or not.

 

They live day to day, paycheck to paycheck because the globalized economy transferred their places in our economies to the developed world while enriching the investor, academic and administrator class.  They see this and they are right to be pissed.

We (conservatives) have come to look with disdain on government action that improves the lot of the common man and expect them (the electorate) to be able to trace the good or improving things in their lives (particularly their economic circumstances) to broad national policies that you would have to connect the dots thru in a very tenuous sense. 

We expect a machinist in the Mid-west to see how reducing marginal tax rates on individuals making over 500k a year leads to higher investment in small business and that's why he has a job, gimme a break.  We expect a dude in his 50s established in a town with a family and connections to not be resentful as hell when his job is outsourced and to see how it really serves the greater good to more efficiently source his function overseas and that creative destruction in capitalism is fine, just depends on which end of the whip your on...

Conservatives can remain true to the principals of limited government and use the scale/ability of the federal government to broadly improve the lives of the working/middle class in this country.  Modern conservatism in any modern advanced state with an industrial or post-industrial economy should be on limited but effective and focused national governance that excels in a few areas rather than our current model of the federal government being mediocre in a lot of areas.

Use those few but well executed functions to enable and secure the largest possible middle class that is the only way a stable democracy can survive in a large and diverse country.  

I am not for an intrusive all encompassing federal government but the people want some basic reassurance that if they obey the law, support their families and are loyal to this country, that the federal government will give them a reasonable safety net.  As conservatives, we have to accept that but deliver it in a realistic, sustainable and understandable way that does not enslave the industrious to the lazy and modestly insures the honest and hardworking from the whims of fate.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Clark Griswold

[Lord Ratner]

Agreed unfortunately.

 

When 50% of the electorate pays no income taxes they don't care about your great income tax cut you passed last year.  

They don't own stocks so they could give a shit what the Dow Jones is.  

They don't have any money to pass to their children so they don't care if there is a federal inheritance tax or not.

 

They live day to day, paycheck to paycheck because the globalized economy transferred their places in our economies to the developed world while enriching the investor, academic and administrator class.  They see this and they are right to be pissed.

We (conservatives) have come to look with disdain on government action that improves the lot of the common man and expect them (the electorate) to be able to trace the good or improving things in their lives (particularly their economic circumstances) to broad national policies that you would have to connect the dots thru in a very tenuous sense. 

We expect a machinist in the Mid-west to see how reducing marginal tax rates on individuals making over 500k a year leads to higher investment in small business and that's why he has a job, gimme a break.  We expect a dude in his 50s established in a town with a family and connections to not be resentful as hell when his job is outsourced and to see how it really serves the greater good to more efficiently source his function overseas and that creative destruction in capitalism is fine, just depends on which end of the whip your on...

Conservatives can remain true to the principals of limited government and use the scale/ability of the federal government to broadly improve the lives of the working/middle class in this country.  Modern conservatism in any modern advanced state with an industrial or post-industrial economy should be on limited but effective and focused national governance that excels in a few areas rather than our current model of the federal government being mediocre in a lot of areas.

Use those few but well executed functions to enable and secure the largest possible middle class that is the only way a stable democracy can survive in a large and diverse country.  

I am not for an intrusive all encompassing federal government but the people want some basic reassurance that if they obey the law, support their families and are loyal to this country, that the federal government will give them a reasonable safety net.  As conservatives, we have to accept that but deliver it in a realistic, sustainable and understandable way that does not enslave the industrious to the lazy and modestly insures the honest and hardworking from the whims of fate.

Exactly. I've said it before: the globalism experiment, and it is very much still an experiment, yielded unanticipated results in the form of dispossessed workers almost 40 years after the experiments began.

 

The positive results from the experiment (incredible profits) were immediate, and so vast we could afford to have the most progressive tax structure in the Western world. Now that we are seeing the other side of the coin, abandoning the idea that everyone, even those with low incomes should contribute to the government as a form of buy-in was a big mistake.

 

We won't fix this passively. It's probably going to take a rather extreme event, much bigger than 9/11. And the slithery Democrats who created a massive dependant underclass out of minority communities will join the slithery Republicans who convinced the middle class that globalism was a slam dunk with no downsides, disappearing into the fog as everyone else is left to figure it out.

 

[Clark Griswold]

On 11/9/2018 at 9:59 AM, Lord Ratner said:

Exactly. I've said it before: the globalism experiment, and it is very much still an experiment, yielded unanticipated results in the form of dispossessed workers almost 40 years after the experiments began.

 

The positive results from the experiment (incredible profits) were immediate, and so vast we could afford to have the most progressive tax structure in the Western world. Now that we are seeing the other side of the coin, abandoning the idea that everyone, even those with low incomes should contribute to the government as a form of buy-in was a big mistake.

 

We won't fix this passively. It's probably going to take a rather extreme event, much bigger than 9/11. And the slithery Democrats who created a massive dependant underclass out of minority communities will join the slithery Republicans who convinced the middle class that globalism was a slam dunk with no downsides, disappearing into the fog as everyone else is left to figure it out.

 

I hope not but you could be right.

At this point in our story, I think it is time for a Constitutional Convention as the electoral cycle as created by the current US Constitution is not able to synchronize with or span current policy cycles in the modern United States of America and our Federal government in its representative bodies is not able to generate the levels of consensus for it to operate as designed in the current US Constitution.  Stumbling from one showdown to showdown, party line vote, Continuing Resolution at the last minute is not sustainable in the long run.

Less done at the Federal level but what is done at that level being done well leaves less to get screwed up and contentious.

Follow on:

What if the Federal Government remained essentially the tripartite system but was split with the Senate and House powers, roles and responsibilities more clearly delineated and legislation to be created and passed thru them NOT having to pass thru the other legislative body for resolution before going to the Executive for approval or veto?

Hypothetically the House could pass appropriations & legislation for Agencies A,B and C to administer National Policies on Commerce, Agriculture and etc...; the Senate could pass appropriations (new power) & legislation for Agencies X, Y and Z for National Defense, Presidential Appointments, etc...

Almost the same structure but without that huge step of coordination between separate legislative bodies that can and soon will be under different political party majorities, you make legislation to regularly and in a normal fashion MUCH easier to create, debate, refine and pass to allow a modern nation-state to function in an un-dramatic way.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Clark Griswold
political pipe dream

[Tank]

So it continues...

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/18/politics/donald-trump-william-mcraven/index.html

[dream big]

9 hours ago, Tank said:

So it continues...

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/18/politics/donald-trump-william-mcraven/index.html

For an Admiral, he has very a poor understanding of how the constitution works.  

 

[nunya]

On 11/10/2018 at 9:04 PM, Clark Griswold said:

Hypothetically the House could pass appropriations & legislation for Agencies A,B and C to administer National Policies on Commerce, Agriculture and etc

Sorry, AK, DE, MT, ND, SD, VT, and WY.  MN just overruled all of you combined.

[Clark Griswold]

1 hour ago, nunya said:

Sorry, AK, DE, MT, ND, SD, VT, and WY.  MN just overruled all of you combined.

We have that problem now with CA.  

The next part of my detente plan to cool the hostility in this country amongst its citizenry is to break up the larger states with now regionally politically distinct areas that are basically in opposition to each other.

Look at CA, FL, VA, MN and IL:

 

 

These are motley (politically) and not wisely constructed for today's cultural and political environment, harmony is what we should strive for instead of the naive, blind faith that somehow disparate groups of people who don't like each other that much will coalesce around vague concepts and get along.

If instead of our current political structure that lumps people with not much in common with each other politically and economically, we had new states that allowed for the changes in the economy, growth and distribution of population and recognized that cultural change in America, we would be in more stable and functional place as a nation IMHO.

There's a lot of reasons for the red v blue, rural v urban, traditional v cosmopolitan divide in this country but one of the reasons again   IMHO is so many people think their voices aren't be heard.  Forming new states that allow for this, just like court mandated minority-majority voting districts would at least allow their voices to be heard and also bolster local control rather than being tethered to an indifferent and aloof coastal elite.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Clark Griswold

[Blue]

12 minutes ago, Clark Griswold said:

If instead of our current political structure that lumps people with not much in common with each other politically and economically, we had new states that allowed for the changes in the economy, growth and distribution of population and recognized that cultural change in America, we would be in more stable and functional place as a nation IMHO.

One concept I thought intriguing--Increase the size of the House.

Since 1789, when the Federal Government began operating under the Constitution, the number of citizens per congressional district has risen from an average of 33,000 in 1790 to almost 700,000 as of 2008.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment

 

 

[ThreeHoler]

https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-Permanent-Apportionment-Act-of-1929/


Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

[Clark Griswold]

On the subjects of Presidents, policy and humor:

Bush 41, rest in peace sir and a job very well done.

 

[brickhistory]

https://lawandcrime.com/columnists/heres-how-trumps-tax-plan-delivered-quite-a-blow-to-obamacare/

 

Fairly big deal.

Interesting to see how RINO Chief Justice Roberts keeps it this time.

And how it will play out for 2020.

But a very good thing to have happen.

Finally.

[matmacwc]

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep-martha-mcsally-appointed-to-open-arizona-senate-seat

 

Like I said, Senator McSally.

[Sua Sponte]

“U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan told Flynn at his sentencing hearing that Flynn was essentially “an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States,” and asked a prosecutor with the special counsel’s office whether Flynn could be charged with “treason.”

After reviewing some of the allegations against Flynn, including that he worked to advance the interests of the Turkish government in the United States, the judge pointed to an American flag behind him in the courtroom and said heatedly, “Arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out."

“The court’s going to consider that,” the judge said. “I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/michael-flynn-trumps-former-national-security-adviser-scheduled-to-be-sentenced/2018/12/17/19ce1bb4-0247-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.54f758fcd3ce

Sentencing postponed until March 2019.

 

 

 

 

[Vertigo]

On 12/15/2018 at 4:19 PM, brickhistory said:

https://lawandcrime.com/columnists/heres-how-trumps-tax-plan-delivered-quite-a-blow-to-obamacare/

 

Fairly big deal.

Interesting to see how RINO Chief Justice Roberts keeps it this time.

And how it will play out for 2020.

But a very good thing to have happen.

Finally.

The GOP has had the House, the Senate, and the WH for 2 years and have done jack shit to repeal and replace. You know why:? Because they don't have anything better. 

[brickhistory]

2 hours ago, Vertigo said:

The GOP has had the House, the Senate, and the WH for 2 years and have done jack shit to repeal and replace. You know why:? Because they don't have anything better. 

Couldn't agree more.

1. It's not government's place to do healthcare.

2. GOP has been just as big a deliberate impediment to the Trump election by the unwashed masses as have the Democrats and most of the press.

GOP had Congress and the White House and did not, among others:

1. Repeal Obamacare

2. Start securing the southern border

3. Pass national reciprocity.

The Leviathan does not like change and has reacted accordingly.

I'll say it again; gotta hand it to the Democrats: when they get power, they use it.  Republicans do not because someone's feelings will be hurt.

[Darth]

What is this?  Nothing about pulling out of Syria?  A slow day on BO forums....

[Vertigo]

1 hour ago, Darth said:

What is this?  Nothing about pulling out of Syria?  A slow day on BO forums....

Putin is happy, and that's all that matters with this administration.