Mr. Trump Goes to Washington

[Radiation]

The democrats don't have anyone exciting enough to beat Trump

Bernie Sanders. He's the one that's mobilized a real grassroots progressive and young voter driven campaign.

This is who I am voting for this time. I agree with his policies and I agree that as far as healthcare is involved, it is a human right and we should have health care without going into debt. So Medicare for All (as well as other policies) is one of the biggest reasons I am voting for Sanders. The reason why it is a big issue for me is because of what I have seen my mother go through with her health and how both my mom and stepdad struggling to pay bills despite having decent insurance. So yeah, he is the most viable candidate for me.

[Vanto]

https://www.newsweek.com/doctors-arrested-protest-border-patrol-flu-vaccines-detained-migrants-1476691?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Meanwhile, President Thanos has decided that in addition to wanting to get rid of congressional Democrats, he'd also like to get rid of all those pesky migrants fleeing violence in Central America (much of it ultimately caused by the US-instigated "War on Drugs").

At least three detained migrants have died of influenza this year, and a group of licenced doctors in California went to the camps where they're being held to give, at their own expense, flu shots to those most at risk of dying from said preventable disease.

The doctors were instead detained, cited, and released without being allowed to administer the medicine.

Thanos's DHS put out this statement on Twitter: "Of course Border Patrol isn't going to let a random group of radical political activists show up and start injecting people with drugs." Never mind that these are licenced doctors with flu shots.

If Thanos doesn't go on trial for crimes against humanity after he leaves office (or, better, while he's still in office), the US will be clearly signaling, yet again, that it is a rogue state and its leaders are above the law and will not be held accountable for any actions, however heinous.

These deaths are certainly tragic, and I understand the desire to point to somebody as the "root of the problem". But this is more complicated than "President Thanos' fault". Deaths like these would probably be happening no matter who's in the oval office because of a law called the Antideficiency Act. Essentially, it's a law prohibiting the federal government and its various arms from spending or using anything not appropriated to it by Congress - which means ICE cannot accept any goods or services without remuneration, just like how CBP couldn't accept any money raised by the border wall GoFundMe campaign. This is a law that has existed in one form or another since 1870. So this is not a problem that began with Trump.

Nor is this problem unique to America. Canada, Britain and Australia have also had problems with preventable deaths in immigrant detention.

Am I saying Trump shouldn't be criticized for this? Of course not. What I'm saying is we need to recognize that getting rid of him won't end these deaths, and that this is not and has never been a problem in only one country.

[Id82]

Or we could have no Mexican concentration camps at all and actually reform our immigration system. We could abolish for profit prison systems run by GEO group and CORE CIVIC who make money on keeping immigrants imprisoned indefinitely.  Where these mistreatment and deaths are occurring. I don't give a shit who started it, Trump has made it worse much worse. But the whole shitty system needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

[Id82]

Did anyone here read or hear about the narcissistic fit that Trump wrote to Nancy Pelosi yesterday? https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/read-trump-impeachment-letter-to-house-democrats/index.html

[DarkPhoenix]

And so Donald has been IMPEACHED!   

Did anyone here read or hear about the narcissistic fit that Trump wrote to Nancy Pelosi yesterday? https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/read-trump-impeachment-letter-to-house-democrats/index.html

Yeah, apparently he had an aide send a copy of it to every member of Congress, along with a Christmas Card.  He must think it's a masterpiece of literary skill...

[Id82]

And the mother fucker is impeached. Too bad this will all die in the Senate and Trump will probably win reelection as impeached president.

[dpareja]

They went too fast. There was so much else to nail him on, but as Pelosi admitted, Trump's good for Democratic fundraising. None of it would have gone anywhere in the Senate, but they wanted this over and done with so they can say they tried.

[Id82]

My biggest problem with this is once Trump feels vindicated about something he tends to double down. When he felt vindicated after the Russia scandal he went right ahead and colluded with a country to dig up dirt on a political rival. Now that he's vindicated for this he pretty much has a pass to collude with any country to get dirt on his political rivals. Because when a Republican does it it's not illegal I guess. I just fear for the next scandal that will drop. They might as well admit that they're going to bug the DNC, because it's investigating "corruption" in the Democratic party and a conspiracy theory said Obama did it to Trump so there.

[DarkPhoenix]

They went too fast. There was so much else to nail him on, but as Pelosi admitted, Trump's good for Democratic fundraising. None of it would have gone anywhere in the Senate, but they wanted this over and done with so they can say they tried.

They're openly talking about holding off on sending the Articles to the Senate immediately; Nancy has at least said she wants to see the Senate Rules before she sends the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.  And they DID leave the Obstruction charge open to having more information added to it as more facts become available (I think they're hoping to get some of the court rulings before the actual trial starts).

[dpareja]

But are they going to add any more articles? War crimes, emoluments clause (foreign and domestic), obstruction of justice, concentration camps, financial crimes...

Don't send it to the Senate until GOP Senators are sweating their poll numbers.

[dpareja]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/john-lewis-congressman-civil-rights-activist-pancreatic-cancer-1.5410323

Rep. John Lewis, one of the heroes of the civil rights movement, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Rep. Lewis arguably is the person who kicked off the impeachment investigation after a speech on the House floor that led to the Speaker signing off on opening the investigation. (John Lewis is revered in the House Democratic caucus and for Pelosi to have gone against him would have been unwise on her part, and she knew it.)

Here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

[Vanto]

I've heard that they might be trying to catch Senate Republicans in a Catch-22. Either they convict and earn the wrath of his base, or they don't and risk alienating the increasingly pro-removal general public.

That's the idea, anyway. Not sure how true it is.

[niam2023]

As the public becomes more in favor of removing the son of a bitch, let's see how long the Republicans can stand to keep around their golden heifer.

[dpareja]

As the public becomes more in favor of removing the son of a bitch, let's see how long the Republicans can stand to keep around their golden heifer.

Two problems with that:

1. 18% of the population elects 52 Senators (never mind 34). Public opinion in favour of removing Trump doesn't matter much to the Senate if it's all concentrated in places like California and New York. (Same goes for judicial appointments, which is where Trump and McConnell are doing the most lasting damage.)

2. Trump's base votes--and in particular in Republican primaries. Nobody on that side wants to be Mark Sanford.

EDIT: https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Census20/HouseAndElectors.phtml

The US Census Bureau has released an estimate of the 2020 Census... and it doesn't look good for the Democratic Party.

EDIT #2: https://morningconsult.com/senator-rankings-q3-19/

Didn't check this until now... but looks like that vote for then-Judge Kavanaugh might've really, really hurt Susan Collins. (Still, she can at least claim to be doing better than Mitch McConnell.)

Also, in what should be no surprise to anybody, once again a social democrat is easily the most popular Senator.

[Kanzenkankaku]

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ek1ekk/random_maralago_guests_were_told_more_about_plan/

"Random guests at Mar A Lago were told more about the plan to kill Soleimeni more than Congress was"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HOLY SHIT