Political Roundtable Part XIII

[AFM]

I heard Louise Mensch thinks Putin stole the Championship trophy from the Verizon Center. Hid it in some janitor's house.

[popper]

Looks like Dick Cheney thinks what Russia did in the election was an Act of War. Then again, he may think its an act of war if his local restaurant forgets to remove the cilantro from his fajita order.

He thought his hunting buddy committed an Act of War too and retaliated with a shotgun blast to the face.

[AFM]

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What's wrong with Russia again?

[dckingsfan]

So, I can't remember who was talking about how the ACA was going to get defunded. But essentially all that Price has to do is to not appeal the Health-Law Lawsuit that is currently in the courts. That would deprive insurers of $Bs. The only thing worse would for them to wait as long as they could before making the decision.

WSJ has an article today about that. If this administration drops the appeal of the lower court ruling (finding that congress never appropriated funds for the federal payouts to insurers and therefore they are improper) then ACA would collapse rather quickly. If Trump decides to go this route then IMO he would be wise to prep congress to prepare emergency legislation to fund insurers through some finite timeframe. Then congress would have an opportunity to develop a bipartisan plan with a sense of urgency to help the process along.

That would be the right thing to do - the wrong thing would be to just let it expire (my guess is what he does). Either way, just the uncertainty will disrupt the markets badly.

[Wizardspride]

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[Induveca]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/embattled-dnc-asks-all-staffers-for-resignation-letters-nbc-news.html

DNC finally imploded. Good call, they need to purge everyone and regroup. Will be interesting to see if all those fired keep quiet.

[Doug_Blew]

Trump wants $1 billion dollars for 48 miles of new Wall. That seems like good money spent and so much for his signature campaign promise. Believe me. Mexico is paying for the wall.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/trump-border-wall-cost-distance/index.html

You're cutting Trump 12 miles short. Its a full 62 miles that costs only 999 million. Not a full billion!

That sounds like a bargain! Maybe we can get one in DC as well.

12 miles are to replace an existing fence. The Border Patrol agents prefer the fence because they can see what's on the other side.

[DCZards]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/embattled-dnc-asks-all-staffers-for-resignation-letters-nbc-news.html

DNC finally imploded. Good call, they need to purge everyone and regroup. Will be interesting to see if all those fired keep quiet.

"Implode?" That's an exaggeration. Here's the bottom line directly from the article.

"This is longstanding precedent at the DNC and has happened during multiple Chair transitions," said DNC spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa. "The process was started before the election of the new Chair. From the beginning, Tom has been adamant that we structure the DNC for future campaigns. Current and future DNC staff will be integral to that effort. Over the last few months, the DNC staff has done incredible work under immense pressure to hold Trump accountable."

[DCZards]

On Tuesday, Sean Spicer (during his press briefing) and Trump (on Twitter) bragged that Trump's economic plan was responsible for Ford Motor Co.'s plan to invest in US production.

Here's the response to that claim from the Ford Co. (Thanks, Obama!):

“While Trump was quick to take credit for the investment, the plan is “consistent with what we announced previously,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of the Americas, told NBC News, noting that all three projects were in the works well before Trump took office — the largest, involving an $850 million assembly plant investment, approved as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers Union in 2015.”

[Wizardspride]

On Tuesday, Sean Spicer (during his press briefing) and Trump (on Twitter) bragged that Trump's economic plan was responsible for Ford Motor Co.'s plan to invest in US production.

Here's the response to that claim from the Ford Co. (Thanks, Obama!):

“While Trump was quick to take credit for the investment, the plan is “consistent with what we announced previously,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of the Americas, told NBC News, noting that all three projects were in the works well before Trump took office — the largest, involving an $850 million assembly plant investment, approved as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers Union in 2015.”

And people wonder why I despise this administration.

They lie about the simplest of things.

Things that can easily be factchecked.

[payitforward]

You know... there is "alternate fact-checking" too.

In any case, production of vehicles in Mexico by Chrysler, GM, Nissan & VW has gone up substantially since the beginning of the year: "Mexico's vehicle output rose 10% over the first t2o months of the year compared with January and February 2016, while the US fell 2.9%." WSJ 3/28

In any case, it's a minor point, as there will be no increase in manufacturing jobs in the US -- not this year, not under Trump, & not ever. The labor part of manufacturing is sliding downward & will continue to do so. China, for example, has 25% fewer workers in manufacturing than it did 10 years ago.

A Trump benefit to the American "working class" is an utter fantasy.

[Zonkerbl]

I understand the outrage that is sparking the filibustering of Gorsuch. Doesn't matter how nice the guy is, he has no business being put up for nomination. None. Still. If the Republicans invoke the nuclear option, that means every single octogenarian Supreme Court Justice has to somehow survive the next four years or we are screwed for generations. I just wish the timing were different, that we weren't wasting our powder on the replacement for Scalia.

Although maybe if the Dems win either house in 2018 the nuclear option will probably work in their favor. Man, this is some high stakes **** going on right now.

[sfam]

Trump wants $1 billion dollars for 48 miles of new Wall. That seems like good money spent and so much for his signature campaign promise. Believe me. Mexico is paying for the wall.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/trump-border-wall-cost-distance/index.html

You're cutting Trump 12 miles short. Its a full 62 miles that costs only 999 million. Not a full billion!

That sounds like a bargain! Maybe we can get one in DC as well.

12 miles are to replace an existing fence. The Border Patrol agents prefer the fence because they can see what's on the other side.

But, but, the wall is beautiful!

[sfam]

I understand the outrage that is sparking the filibustering of Gorsuch. Doesn't matter how nice the guy is, he has no business being put up for nomination. None. Still. If the Republicans invoke the nuclear option, that means every single octogenarian Supreme Court Justice has to somehow survive the next four years or we are screwed for generations. I just wish the timing were different, that we weren't wasting our powder on the replacement for Scalia.

Although maybe if the Dems win either house in 2018 the nuclear option will probably work in their favor. Man, this is some high stakes **** going on right now.

What would stop them from using the nuclear option next time? The Republicans flat out stole the last pick. They aren't interested in supporting regular rules of order. Those have already been blown up.

[verbal8]

You're cutting Trump 12 miles short. Its a full 62 miles that costs only 999 million. Not a full billion!

That sounds like a bargain! Maybe we can get one in DC as well.

12 miles are to replace an existing fence. The Border Patrol agents prefer the fence because they can see what's on the other side.

But, but, the wall is beautiful!

Maybe he will settle for a gold-plated fence.

[FAH1223]

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[Wizardspride]

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[Zonkerbl]

I understand the outrage that is sparking the filibustering of Gorsuch. Doesn't matter how nice the guy is, he has no business being put up for nomination. None. Still. If the Republicans invoke the nuclear option, that means every single octogenarian Supreme Court Justice has to somehow survive the next four years or we are screwed for generations. I just wish the timing were different, that we weren't wasting our powder on the replacement for Scalia.

Although maybe if the Dems win either house in 2018 the nuclear option will probably work in their favor. Man, this is some high stakes **** going on right now.

What would stop them from using the nuclear option next time? The Republicans flat out stole the last pick. They aren't interested in supporting regular rules of order. Those have already been blown up.

Might as well pull the bandaid off now? I guess.

[FAH1223]

I understand the outrage that is sparking the filibustering of Gorsuch. Doesn't matter how nice the guy is, he has no business being put up for nomination. None. Still. If the Republicans invoke the nuclear option, that means every single octogenarian Supreme Court Justice has to somehow survive the next four years or we are screwed for generations. I just wish the timing were different, that we weren't wasting our powder on the replacement for Scalia.

Although maybe if the Dems win either house in 2018 the nuclear option will probably work in their favor. Man, this is some high stakes **** going on right now.

What would stop them from using the nuclear option next time? The Republicans flat out stole the last pick. They aren't interested in supporting regular rules of order. Those have already been blown up.

Might as well pull the bandaid off now? I guess.

In hindsight, someone should have convinced Ginsburg to retire in 2013 with Obama's re-election being fresh and the Senate Dems having 55 seats.

2016 was the year the Dems could re-take the Senate