Algernon Moncrieff
Algernon Moncrieff's JournalAs we wind this debate down....
1) Who do you think did themselves the most good tonight and why?
2) Who could have done better/did badly?
3) How did you feel about the operation of the debate/format/Anderson Cooper et. al.?
Question about the Yang (and, apparently, Gabbard) UBI proposal.
Would the $1,000 per month payment be in addition to programs such as SNAP and Section 8, or in lieu of such programs?
Question for DU Legal Minds: What law did Trump break?
Put another way: It's obviously unseemly to pressure a foreign leader into doing political dirty work. But what actual law/statute was broken?
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
As much as I see this as undermining our Constitution, a) Ukraine is not an enemy (nor, technically, is Russia at this time) and I think it'd be difficult to assert he's levied war, in the traditional sense. So I don't see treason. Corruption? Hell Yes! But not treason.
Is extorting a foreign leader while President a crime? Answer: I have no idea.
Is this, in a sense, an Emoluments Clause violation -- an attempt at personal enrichment/benefit on the part of the President?
Will the House ultimately have a stronger case for pressing Obstruction of Justice, as described in the Muller Report?
Fool America again in the Middle East - then shame on us!
Amazing coincidence that "Iran" attacks a huge Saudi Arabian oil facility at a time when US gas prices were, in some places, were heading south of $2.20 a gallon....and it's an amazing coincidence that a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Iranian hawk is standing for a tough reelection fight in Israel when "Iran" attaks a huge Saudi Arabian oil facility.... and given that Trump supporters skew older and whiter, it's an amazing coincidence that the nation that took our embassy workers as hostages attacks our good friends in Saudi Arabia (from which the 9-11 attackers and masterminds came) when Trump is in a tough reelection battle.
Remember the Gulf of Tonkin. Remember the Iraqi WMDs.
1) Tell your Senators and Congressman that no US loss of lives will be tolerated in defense of "Mister Bone Saw."
2) Spread the word that any money that we would spend on more Middle Eastern war would be better invested in tax breaks for electric cars, hybrid cars, wind projects, and solar projects.
No fight between a religious dictatorship and an absolute monarchy should ever be the American taxpayer's problem.
NY Mag: Surging in Polls, Elizabeth Warren Now Has a Path to the Nomination
(This is also posted in the Warren group, of which I am not currently a member. Note also this is based on information before this weekend's appearances in Iowa)
Warren is also clearly making gains in her implicit rivalry with her friend and ally Bernie Sanders for the affections of self-consciously progressive voters, even as she maintains some potential as a party-unifying figure that Bernie may lack thanks to leftover bad memories of his 2016 campaign. In that recent national Quinnipiac survey, she trounced Sanders among very liberal voters and actually led him among those under the age of 35.
Whether or not you think Sanders is losing strength (theres evidence pointing in both directions on that proposition), it is clear that Warren is benefiting from the erosion in Kamala Harriss support, which probably reflects both the dissipation of the buzz she commanded after the first round of debates and her widely panned performance in the second. Harriss national polling average has dropped from 15 to 8 percent in the last month. And perhaps just as important, shes showing little or no progress in taking away Joe Bidens overpowering position among African-American voters, central to the Obama Redux strategy she is relying on. Quinnipiac gives her just one percent of the black vote nationally. A somewhat older Monmouth survey of South Carolina showed Harris with 12 percent of African-American support in what for her is a key state, where a majority of Democratic primary voters are black but Joe Biden had 51 percent.
Put all that together with the inability of any candidates outside the Big Four of Biden, Warren, Sanders, and Harris to gain any momentum at all, and for the first time you can clearly see a plausible path to the nomination for Warren.
LINK
So I'm going to the Iowa State Fair tomorrow.
Saturday, Aug. 10
9 a.m.: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
10:30 a.m.: Sen. Kamala Harris
11:15 a.m.: Rep. Tim Ryan
12:45 p.m.: Sen. Amy Klobuchar
1:30 p.m.: Former Rep. Joe Sestak
2:15 p.m.: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
3 p.m.: Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
3:45 p.m.: Sen. Elizabeth Warren
4:30 p.m.: Sen. Cory Booker
...and (of course) 69 food items on a stick, as well as the legendary Butter Cow.
Should be fun!
I've been out since May. Did I miss anything?
Any big retirements from DU? Skinner still running the joint?
Is Biden the last big entry into the Democratic primaries?
At this point, is there anyone else out there likely to run?
Brexit: No majority for any options after MPs' votes
Source: BBC
How MPs voted
Confirmatory referendum - For: 268 Against: 295
Customs union - For: 264 Against: 272
Labour's Brexit plan - For: 237 Against: 307
Common Market 2.0 - For: 188 Against: 283
Revoking Article to avoid no deal - For: 184 Against: 293
No-deal exit on 12 April - For: 160 Against: 400
Malthouse Plan B - For: 139 Against: 422
EFTA and EEA membership - For: 65 Against: 377
The proposal which came closest to commanding majority support was a cross-party plan - tabled by former Conservative chancellor Ken Clarke - for the whole of the UK to join a new customs union with the EU to ensure tariff-free trade after the UK's exit.
Its supporters included five Conservative ministers: Mark Field, Stephen Hammond, Margot James, Anne Milton and Rory Stewart.
All Conservative MPs - excluding cabinet ministers - were given a free vote, meaning they were not ordered to vote in a certain way.
Eight Conservatives voted for a referendum to endorse the deal, the proposal which secured the most affirmative votes. Labour controversially whipped its MPs to back the proposal but 10 shadow ministers abstained and Melanie Onn quit her job to vote against.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47728333
Hard Brexit is a domino that could unleash very unintended economic consequences.
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