Anybody have a link to the cliff notes of the CNN drama? I know there was a shift to the right. I assume it was supposed to be a shift to being more centrist. The end result according to its core audience was Fox News Lite. Is that the gist?

Trump's disapproval rating has been steadily in the mid-50s and currently sits at 57%. DeSantis' disapproval has completely collapsed and is barely better than Trump's now. It currently sits at 55% with only 36& approval.

This is good news and actually pretty surprising.

BREAKING: In a win for voters, U.S. Supreme Court issues a decision in Allen v. Milligan blocking Alabama's congressional map. The Court rules that the map violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of Black voters. More to come: https://t.co/wBbfGgF7Ba pic.twitter.com/NMqmfOFIxY

— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) June 8, 2023

More or less they wanted to be Fox News Lite. There's just more right-wing people watching news due to the demographic breakdown. He also made a bunch of unpopular moves over the year and their ratings are in the shitter.


Seems like it all came to a head when they did an infomercial with Trump that one night.

It would be good if we can cut down the gerrymandering. Hopefully a bunch of lawsuits forthcoming to contest other areas.

The conservative Supreme Court might have paved the way for Dems to take the House - POLITICO

In other Fed news, the FBI arrested the real estate developer at the heart of the Texas AG impeachment.

Nate Paul, at center of Ken Paxton scandal, jailed on federal charges

More credit card debt news.

There's a graphic that shows the breakdown by age.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/09/how-...ld-by-age.html

Another graphic from another article on how it's grown

2023 Credit Card Debt Statistics | LendingTree

My wife was talking with a coworker who said her family has a couple hundred thousand in credit card ebt and don't fret about it at all. Somehow they're able to seemingly get unlimited credits that they just balance transfer roulette. They have terrible credit but keep getting high credit limits with no balance transfer fees. The open, transfer, spend, close, repeat.

I guess it works for them and let's them send their kids to private school with yearly trips and numerous sports. Meanwhile we're over here paying everything off each month and doing what we've been told is responsible adulting.

That sounds fucking horrible. I can't imagine living my life that way.

I did that for about the first 3-4 years out of law school with $50K in debt, a $25K job and new wife and kid. It was pretty easy to manage, and the 12-15 month introductory periods were seemingly endless. I rarely paid a cent in interest. By about 2001, I was able to transition to using credit cards for rewards and basically as a substitute for debit cards/cash/checks.

However, it wasn't anywhere near 6 figures. Usually $10-15K at most, and I was paying it down as I transferred from one card to another.

The thing with that is the risk. If it ever catches up to you, and the law of averages says that it will eventually at some point, you can find yourself paying a huge amount of interest and basically headed towards bankruptcy. To say nothing of the fact that you aren't saving for the future; you're saving for the credit card companies future.

Even the richest man nor the CEO of the biggest company in the world didn't merit an audience with Xi. I'm thinking officially it's about the Gates Foundation but there's prob some unofficial messaging too?

Regardless, I'd rather have Bill Gates as an unofficial intermediary vs a Dennis Rodman.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/15/bill...this-week.html

Not really sure where to put this. Brilliant move by Shapiro. He is going to be a player over the next several years.

The livestream is here, Pennsylvania.

To chart our progress and give everyone a sense of timing, we're launching our 24/7 livestream where you can watch I-95 get rebuilt.

Government is working for the good people of Pennsylvania. https://t.co/C10d2Z8SCt

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) June 15, 2023

Maybe we need a SCOTUS thread. Another landmark case today that strongly reaffirmed court precedent. They ruled against a challenge to a law that prevents Natove American children from being adopted outside of their tribes. It was a 7-2 vote, with only Alito and Thomas voting against (of course). The ruling was written by Amy Coney Barrett, and sounds like it rejects some Constitutional arguments that would have gone well beyond this case.
So far this term seems to be SCOTUS returning back to norm after the how bad that term turned precedent on its head.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

So Rudy says the women informant who was going to say everything about the Bidens...is now dead. Shocking I know, and I'm pretty sure he'll blame Hunter or Joe for it very soon.

You almost have to admire how efficiently the misinformation machine works.

Supposedly the 17 tapes that prove are held by a Russian oligarch, and his identity is hidden because they fear for his life. No one has actually heard any of these tapes, btw.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

And the Burisma exec that reportedly made them said they don't exist and that he's never had a conversation with Joe Biden.

For the record, if these tapes exist, if they can be validated, and Biden is actually on them taking a bribe, then impeach him. Convict him in the Senate. Lock him up and throw away the key. I will call my congressman and Senators to encourage them to vote for his removal. What I won't do is say "Well, Trump did...". Trump being a crook does not allow Biden or anyone else to commit a crime.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

It's simply a guarantee that someone shows their junk on this cam, right?

I’ve always though a good premise of a thriller movie is someone sees a random person get murdered on a random webcam they were watching and it sucks them into a tangled web of deception.

I don' have a lot good to say about Gorsuch, but his defense of Native sovereignty is really important.

One article I read said it wasn't clear why Gorsuch was such a consistent defender of native rights, but he definitely is consistent.

Alito & Thomas, as usual, just being assholes.

Shapiro is super sharp. Huge fan

When do you think the Biden impeachment happens? There has never been a doubt that it was going to happen if the GOP won the House. I'm just curious what the timing is going to be. This fall? Maybe wait till the primary is in full swing? You think maybe they are hoping to time it hoping that RFK Jr. might actually get significant votes in the primary?

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Even in this day & age, I suspect there are at least 4 GOP Reps who would consider the whole thing a massive waste of time and have told McCarthy not to indulge in it unless maybe it's a way to get the far right reps on board with something else.

I don't think it happens. It's something they'll talk about with friendly media but it won't play well with moderates/independents. They have such a narrow margin in the House that it would make those in blue/purple districts highly vulnerable in another year.

Remember that the Dems probably win the House if New York wasn't run by the worst politicians in the country.

I don't know why Blinken is going to China. Seems like a waste of time and sending a wrong message to the coalition we are trying to build in APAC. Just doesn't seem to be the right time, maybe later after Ukraine. And yeah, we should still be PO'd about the spy balloon(s).

Beijing preps sharp, cold shoulder for Blinken visit - POLITICO

Doesn't seem he'll accomplish much with the Taiwan or Russia-Ukraine. If I was Xi, there's not much the US can say or do to stop me from doing what I want. If it's to China's interest, it'll apply pressure to stop the war or to help Russia. And Xi will only be happy if the US backs away from Taiwan.


Sure hope Biden isn't really believing above. De-risk vs decoupling, just an euphemism for a lower degree of the same thing. I guess an argument can be made that we are not trying to contain China economically but Xi sure as heck knows we are trying to contain China militarily.

I'd continue to apply pressure and continue to train/arm Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Philippines. Continue to encourage businesses to leave China and work with India & other APAC countries for the required sourcing, manufacturing etc.

Great, let's get these lawsuits lined up and done.

I really don't know if BMS & Merck have a good case, but prefer to get the lawsuits settled quicker rather than later, and move on.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/16/bris...otiations.html

Especially since the Supreme Court's decision in the VRA case means that the Dems should pick up a few more seats in the next election

Why? Is there anyone who reasonably doubts that they aren't constantly doing whatever they can to spy on us ... and that we're not doing the same thing right back?

I assume you don't really mean "same thing" as in US spy balloons floating over China but more "similar things" as in satellites, electronic eavesdropping etc.

So yes, both sides are definitely spying. Doesn't mean one can't be PO'd about it. Both sides have the right to be PO'd about it.

And both sides definitely have the right to be very, very PO'd when/if it's a balloon floating over one's landmass (e.g. just like Russia was in shooting down the U2).

Y'all are thinking in common sense strategy. What has anything the MAGA-hats done strike you as common sense? They HAVE to impeach Biden, or at least make a good show of trying. They have to make impeachment a "ho-hum" regular political move because that is exactly what they promised they would do if the Dems impeached Trump. They also never look at the political big picture, they are only concerned about winning the primaries in their heavily gerrymandered districts. If they are not extreme enough, someone more extreme will take them out. They absolutely can't go back to their district and say "we didn't impeach Biden because of political concern in the moderate districts."

Both sides have to make a show of being pissed, but it really is just business as usual.

It happens. We've been flying spy planes over our adversaries for decades.

The thing is, that the moderates are already on the edge of "I'd rather work with centrist Dems then you lot" with what almost happened in the debt ceiling, and they're pissed off that that the MegaMAGA is trying to peel back their victory on the debt ceiling.

Something like "We had this spending thing solved until 2025, so we can focus on other stuff to get us more seats, and you have to pull us back in that mud????"

The moderate republicans are starting to think about "There's more of us then the true crazies, so why do they have all the power?" which is verrrry dangerous to the MAGA heads. If the Moderates manage to get a toe hold in, that could lead to a vicious cycle where they can't push their agenda, which risks them being replaced by even MORE fervent members of the faction, which makes their goal even harder to reach, rinse and repeat.

So, pushing out messaging stuff about gas stoves etcetera? That doesn't bother the moderates much. If I'm going to be cynical, their view is "It won't change anything and it'll make the rubes happy, so, sure. why not" (same with the Obamacare votes when they were out of power).

Doing something like impeachment will play well with their base, but moderates know that its been Trumpist style candidates are the reason they're not firmly in power (on both sides of Congress), so they're less willing to play along. I wouldn't be surprised if enough of them didn't put a bug in McCarthy's ear that "don't let the true believers start it, they won't like how it turns out"...

Something that will give them a bipartisan sheen but not necessarily totally kill themselves with at least some of the most fervent believers. Something like "Do I disagree with Joe Biden? Yes. Do I think he's a Bad President? Yes. Do I think he should be voted out in the next election? Oh, definitely. But does this report reach the threshold of needing impeachment, no.. I don't. If and When the violations of law from the administration are found, let them be thoroughly investigated and punished within the realm of law. Until then, I will spend my time trying to ameliorate the worst impulses of this administration by opposing them with my votes"

That might be the warning shot of the Adam Schiff censure being shot down by 20 moderate Republicans last week. If you can't even get that, you're not getting an impeachment through.

Nah. That isn't how this works.

SCOTUS said "those maps are bad." So they'll go draw other maps that are nearly as bad, get that tied up in litigation, and eventually the courts will go "we can't do anything about this right now because it's too close to an election and will cause voter confusion."

As a result, the existing maps will still be in play in 2024 even though SCOTUS threw them out.

The courts care way more about voter confusion than voter enfranchisement, so the playbook when your gerrymandered maps DO get smacked down is just to just drag it out as long as you can. It's like never having to change at all.

Hunter Biden expected to *GASP* plead guilty to two tax charges and pre-trial diversion for a gun ownership charge. I expect Joe Biden to resign any moment now...


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...rges-rcna90144

Hunter Brandon’s labtop though

Yeah Trump says he got off with a "traffic ticket". :)

and on cue the MAGA bros are freaking because it isn't enough of a punishment and comparing this to Trumps classified docs case, because you know, they are totally the same.

Gun charges? Tax evasion?

Hunter Biden just shot up 15% in GOP primary polling\

I'm going full maga. Biden needs to step away from politics and not run in 2024. Newsome or someone under 60 can replace him.

Yep Republicans/far righters going full-boar on "sweetheart deal". Almost everyone using it.

Yes. Uh. Biden is too "damaged." It would be in the best interest of the country if he stepped aside for Mark Kelly or Gretchen Whitmer.

Er, think you forgot Kamala.

Never heard of her.

Haven't heard many 2A folks being upset about the gun charge which is rarely used and likely unconstitutional.

Tomorrow the GOP expects to have enough votes to censure Adam Schiff, and there are also giving a vote to begin impeachment proceedings on President Biden.

Edit: Actually it is a straight vote to impeach. Crazy Colorado lady put in as a privilege vote to force it on the floor.

The right calls her "Cameltoe"

I'm surprised with how racist some of them are, they don't refer to her as "Kamala, the Ugandan Giant" you know with the painted body and the spear.

Joe, you've undone the goodwill/groveling that you sent Blinken to China to do just a couple days ago. I really want to believe you have a real China strategy with your statement, like some sort of carrot & stick, good cop/bad cop. But I'm thinking you just had a momentary lapse in judgement, your team will try to walk it back some, but China won't forget this.

But I love it. Continue de-coupling (de-risk) and spread the wealth of US manufacturing needs to other countries (and definitely greatly reduce our reliance on Taiwan).

China hits back at Biden: ‘Extremely absurd’ to call Xi a dictator – POLITICO

I thought it was “The Hoe”

Why would they walk it back? Xi is a dictator by almost every definition of the word. Or at the best, it's an authoritarian one-party state.

We don't need to play their silly games and pretend they are something they are not.

I thought he was a tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff.

So George Santos who said he'd go to jail rather than reveal who paid his bond, of course lied and did not. Apparantly the ones who paid are his dad and his aunt, a house painter and a mail carrier put up the $500,000

I don't think they had to put any money up. They were just responsible for that amount if he no-showed.

I'd think they had to get a bail bond for 10% of the bail or something.

There was a third person who withdrew before they exposed the names.

It was unsecured or a "signature" bond. They didn't have to put up any money or collateral. They would be responsible for the money if he ran.

Grab the popcorn. There's a reported movement in the House Freedom Caucus to expel MTG.

Pretty decisive, even Thomas agreed, but of course they are just setting the table for the next GOP President to crack down without interference from blue states

Supreme Court allows Biden administration to limit immigration arrests

It is so much fun watching them implode.

Too soon.

:)

$9 billion loan to Ford with no strings attached with taxpayer money.

from the HFC or from the House?

HFC

Mostly the HFC. The more their crazy is on display the better it is for America

Big week for SCOTUS rulings. I'm guessing all, or most, of these will break towards conservatives since these were held until the last week of the current session.

Independent State Legislature is a potentially massive ruling. Siding with NC wouldn't make any sense at all after the ruling on Alabama's map, but you never know with this court. If they side with NC then state courts will no longer be able to shoot down election maps as NC is arguing that it's a legislative issue not a judiciary.

Affirmative Action could be gutted.

The Student Debt relief decision.

Religious accommodations could be expanded with Groff v DeJoy.

Plus several others.

It occurred to me that Biden didn't give any speech or make a statement this weekend about what was happening in Russia.

He wouldn't/shouldn't give all the details he knows but a short speech or neutral statement to the effect of "we are aware, monitoring, consulting with allies, not interfering etc." would have been (I thought) standard procedure.

But then, it didn't seem anyone was too concerned about a real coup in progress of a member of the nuclear club (too distracted in cheering on the "thunder run to Moscow"). And seemingly, not in the stock markets either which is currently up a little.

Just seem a little weird to me.

One of Putin's go-to propaganda moves is to say that any attack on him--even internally--is really the West trying to weaken Russia.

We know that anything we say, however innocuous, will be twisted into "See, this is all The West. You need to support me to support Russia" for the Russian people. I think that's why we are very reluctant to comment on anything inside of Russia's borders.

Biden made a statement today denying any involvement. Not that if we were involved he would have said "Yeah, we did it. And we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids."

A little late IMO.

But then, I could see them putting the finishing touches on his speech Sat and about to call the WH reporters. Then saw the breaking news and said "WTF, cancel it, we were too slow, its over already"

I like it. This was part of the Infrastructure Bill back in Nov 2021, should have been implemented earlier but I'm guessing they wanted to spread out the goodies for maximum political impact.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bide...y?id=100380154

I was wondering if it would be affordable after the access has been taken care of. More details below.

The contrast between Dems constantly enacting policies to help rural America and the GOP war on cities is striking.

I also like how it has specific provisions for Native Americans. I haven't studied the situation but it seems we haven't done enough for that particular group of Americans. Short of giving back all the land, or giving each $1-$10M there should be many ways to assist them more.

You'll be hearing more about Bidenomics in the next year.

Supreme Court (just barely 6-3) rejects the independent state legislature theory, which would have allowed state legislatures to toss out election results it didn't like. Yeah for Democracy!

Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch were easy desents on this. I'm curious to read the reasoning.

Pretty scary what would have happened if this hadn't been shot down. It would have given state legislatures the green light to overturn election results for any reason, allowed them to create election maps without oversight, and generally given them full control without the ability of a governor, court, or anyone else to question any decision regarding elections.

I felt pretty good that this was going to be the outcome, but I was worried. I think the map decision last week made me feel much better about a good outcome on this, but the fact they took the arguments instead of punting when they had a chance made me nervous.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

I'm reading (not sure how accurate) that Thomas thought it should have been moot and dismissed

Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito all thought it was moot.

Thomas and Gorsuch also wrote to say that they disagreed with the merits. Alito did not join that part (but it is not hard to see where he would come out on that).

I think that the majority wanted to nip ISL in the bud and were not going to let possible mootness stop them.

Correct.



From the first page of his dissent.

The funny thing is he is not wrong. It is very unlike the Court to continue an appeal on a judgement that had already been reversed. Like I said earlier, that was the part that made me nervous. I thought the conservatives might have wanted to ignore normal process to make clear before the next election that the legislatures could go nuts. It seems it was actually likely Roberts wanted to make clear they couldn't. It was foresight the court has often not done in the past even when they had a chance.

Always go middle out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex1JuIN0eaA

I agree. The Court wanted to try and preempt an ISL-based crisis in the middle of the 2024 election.

Two graphs I bet the White House is going to be showing off together a bunch:

The U.S. has the highest post-pandemic growth among the G7, and it currently has the lowest inflation (both headline and core). pic.twitter.com/ZZTRjSQHgC

— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) June 27, 2023

It's all culture war now. But to the extent any voters actually still care about the economy (as opposed to voting based on culture war and just saying "economy" to sound smart), this is good for Biden.

They even go home and brag about something they voted against.

Broadband is vital for the success of our rural communities and for our entire economy.

Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts. https://t.co/bLvQlSS3LH

— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) June 27, 2023

Every indicator is how good our economy is doing, but it is hard to convince people of that when everything is still way more expensive than it was a couple of years ago. Inflation may have "slowed" but it doesn't feel like it.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

I get it. America is doing better than peer countries. But that's not how people feel.

It is like how if the S&P goes up 10%, and your portfolio goes up 5%, you should be mad at your broker, but you are probably happy b/c it went up. And if S&P goes down 10% and you go down 5%, you should be happy, but you are probably upset.

Peer countries is an irrelevant comparison when the vast majority of Americans don't visit or are not impacted by, much less care about, said peer countries. We compare ourselves to ourselves.

Yeah, I've always said that if people were forced to travel around the world for a bit, they'd come back and be furious with the United States. People here only know what they know.

Or if geography made us interact with other countries, like in Europe. But we're so big and only bordered by 2 countries, we don't really think about anyone else.

Yeah, I've always said that if people were forced to travel around the world for a bit, they'd come back and be overall grateful for what we have in the United States. People here only know what they know.

Roseanne is who we thought she was.

Roseanne Barr says the Holocaust never happened, "but should have" because "Jews cause all the problems in the world."
I have no words. pic.twitter.com/aO70R0A8BQ

— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) June 27, 2023

I'm guessing its a dry joke that people was too quick to be offended by (e.g. she's Jewish).

But we'll see how this plays out.

It was from my understanding, but people hate her so they will pile on. I mean, SHE is Jewish.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

It'll hurt my Big Tech portfolio but of course, we frakking limit exporting key AI technologies to China.

Something not yet (enough) in the Dem public consciousness. If Dems want to bring back some balance, Biden better win.

Supreme Court: Retirement talk surrounding Thomas, Alito raises stakes for 2024 electionÂ*

Apparently Biden & rest of allies agreed with you re: no press conferences over the weekend

Inside Biden's dramatic backchannel to Russia as a near-coup unfolded - POLITICO