General Political Fúckery Thread: Elon Musk blows up stopgap spending bill, Government Shutdown looming on 12/21/24
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- Start date
fanatics and mentally-ill "team" players.
Outside of just being Republican. It blows my mind that he's a senator representing Texas.
Ted Cruz Wants Airlines to Keep Your Cash When They Cancel Your Flight
Congressional lawmakers bankrolled by the airline industry offered legislation that could undermine Biden's plan for automatic airline refunds.www.rollingstone.com
Ted Cruz Wants Airlines to Keep Your Cash When They Cancel Your Flight
Cruz and three other congressional lawmakers offered legislation that could undermine the Biden administration's new airline refund rule
BY CHARISMA MADARANG
APRIL 29, 2024
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on April 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
AFTER THE BIDEN administration issued a final rule last week that would require airlines to automatically issue refunds to passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled, four lawmakers bankrolled by the airline industry introduced must-pass legislation that could undermine the effort.
As The Lever reported, the lawmakers — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) — introduced a new Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization deal that would require passengers to send a “written or electronic request” in order to receive a full refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight.
The publication notes that, under this provision, “airlines would only have to pay refunds to the subset of passengers who have the disposable time and patience to go through a notoriously arduous refund process.” The FAA’s current authorization expires May 10.
The legislation comes after Cruz attempted to pass a measure that would give lawmakers their own security escorts at airports. Despite hailing from a bright red state, Cruz is once again facing a surprisingly competitive reelection campaign. Given that the two-term Texas junior senator begged for donations on Fox News earlier this month while complaining that “Democrats are coming after me,” it’s no surprise that he might attempt to placate donors where he can.
The provision in the FAA reauthorization would chip away at the Biden administration’s promise to streamline the refund process for airline customers — which has become a bigger issue as airlines have routinely sold tickets on flights they do not have the capacity to operate. “There are a number of airlines who cannot fly their schedules,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said last year. “The customers are paying the price. They’re canceling a lot of flights. But they simply can’t fly the schedules today.”
In an announcement last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared that passengers “deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them — without headaches or haggling,” adding that their rule “sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the measure on Monday, writing on X that the “latest deal in Congress could mean that travelers are still bearing the burden of airlines’ mishaps,” and that this “would be a gift to the airlines, who know many travelers won’t have the time or resources to navigate the bureaucratic process they designed.” Warren added: “Congress should protect travelers’ rights, not pad airline executives’ pockets.”
What his cash and poll numbers looking like in his senate race ? @FAH1223 we need the data bro
Jamie Raskin Goes Scorched Earth on SCOTUS Trump Immunity Case
The Supreme Court seems prepared to give Donald Trump immunity.
newrepublic.com
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling/
April 26, 2024/12:02 p.m. ET
Jamie Raskin Goes Scorched Earth on SCOTUS Trump Immunity Case
The Supreme Court seems prepared to give Donald Trump immunity.
ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES
Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin took aim at a peculiar line of questioning brought by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in Donald Trump’s presidential immunity arguments on Thursday, during which one of the high court’s most conservative members seemed to claim that actually punishing Trump for any alleged crimes might only encourage him to break more laws.
“The most astonishing thing for me today was Justice Alito’s question. He actually asked whether holding the president criminally accountable for actual crimes committed, whether murder or coup or you name it, whether holding them accountable would actually encourage them to stage more violent coups to stay in office to avoid prosecution,” Raskin told MSNBC later Thursday.
“Which buys completely into Donald Trump’s narcissistic criminal worldview. I mean, for all of American history, we have said presidents are subject to criminal prosecution if they commit crimes. That’s why Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. That’s why Bill Clinton agreed to give up his law license with the bar for five years so he wouldn’t face criminal prosecution.”
“Now they say, ‘If you’re really mean to Donald Trump and you hold him accountable the same way every other American citizen is held accountable, then he’ll really overthrow the government, he’ll really bring out the big guns, and we can’t afford that,’” Raskin continued. “And that’s a kind of masochistic capitulation-ism of Donald Trump’s authoritarianism.”
“Of course we’ve got to hold the president accountable to the law,” he said. “It’s the basic premise of our law, that nobody is above the law, including the president.”
Raskin also went on to argue that a popular mode of thinking about how to hold Trump accountable—which is that you can “impeach and convict and then you can prosecute him”—defies the language of the U.S. Constitution.
“That twists the language and turns it upside down in the Constitution. It says, even if you’re impeached and convicted, ‘nevertheless’ you can still be prosecuted and tried and convicted and punished, presupposing, of course, that the president is subject to criminal law,” Raskin said.
The Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case has already significantly waylaid Trump’s D.C. trial, which hinges on whether the former president can be tried for his alleged involvement in the MAGA-led January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Following a hearing on Thursday, the court appeared ready to reject Trump’s claims that he can’t be tried on alleged election interference, but their decision may still significantly delay a trial that was originally slated to be the GOP presidential nominee’s first criminal proceeding. The high court’s ruling is expected to be released sometime between late June and early July.
He’s leading the polls and he’s the incumbent. The Dem candidate has money.
Texas Senate 2024 Election Polls and Predictions - Ted Cruz Re-Election — Race to the WH
Polls and predictions for the Texas Senate Race. Updated daily. One of the most accurate forecasters in the nation in 2022.
www.racetothewh.com
Likely R
What's Going to Happen to Speaker Johnson?
April 30th, 2024
A MIDWESTERN RURAL RADICALAPR 30, 2024
A few weeks ago, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate, which would immediately force a vote to oust the Speaker if she pulled the metaphorical trigger. Under House rules, the motion to vacate must take place within two legislative days.
Since MTG filed it, the Speaker has passed four foreign aid bills with major bipartisan support (albeit with more Democratic votes than Republican) and met with Donald Trump. At the end of their meeting, Trump praised Johnson and said that a motion to vacate was not in the House’s best interest.
Trump and Johnson. Photo credit: CNN
Given his near-death grip on the Republican Party, this should be the end of it, right? Not necessarily. The congressional Republicans have shown a very limited willingness to buck the Trump line in certain instances. For those who need the Cliffs Notes on constitutional procedure, the House cannot bring any legislation to the floor without a Speaker. This is why the House was paralyzed for weeks when former Speaker McCarthy was forced out.
I see three potential outcomes.
Outcome One: House Republicans Do As They’re Told
I believe that this is the most likely outcome. Republicans have shown time and time again that they are no longer the Party of Reagan, the Party of Bush, or have a tent large enough to have non-Trump opinions. There is only Trump. In the interest of accuracy, perhaps they should rename themselves to the Trumpian Party.
There also be an upside for House Republicans: it would not be the third major Speaker debacle for the House GOP this legislative session. To find a more chaotic, obstructive, and ill-functioning Congress, we may have to return to the Articles of Confederation during Shays’ Rebellion. The GOP already has a tough sell that they are a responsible governing party-this might lock in the idea within voters’ minds.
Jim Jordan after failing a Speaker vote. Photo credit: LA Times
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Outcome Two: MTV Triggered, Dems to the Rescue
This is the second most-likely version of events. MTG really has nothing to fear: her district is entirely safe, she is held in high esteem among the MAGA faithful, and she seems to be more interested in disrupting things for the sake of disruption than to get anything accomplished. After taking down Speaker McCarthy, maybe she wants another notch in her belt.
Should this happen, I am fairly confident enough Democrats would vote with the non-MTG Republicans to avoid ousting Johnson. Earlier today, the Democratic House leadership issued a statement stating that they would ensure that the motion to vacate would fail. If they bailed out Johnson, especially if they provided more votes than the GOP did, Johnson would be stuck even further between a rock and hard place: work with Democrats to retain his Speakership and pass legislation, or cave to the right flank and achieve nothing while also alienating the only reliable voting bloc who has advanced legislation.
Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries. Photo credit: U.S. House
The Sword of Damocles dances above Johnson’s head and the Democrats have the scissors.
and he plugged in like a toaster down there1/2
“If Roe v. Wade can fall, anything can fall. Social Security can fall. Medicare can fall. Voting rights can fall. And God help us all, but democracy itself can fall,” says Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
2/2
Watch
@NorahODonnell 's full interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries this Sunday on 60 Minutes.
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196
“If Roe v. Wade can fall, anything can fall. Social Security can fall. Medicare can fall. Voting rights can fall. And God help us all, but democracy itself can fall,” says Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
2/2
Watch
@NorahODonnell 's full interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries this Sunday on 60 Minutes.
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
I think he's right. There's no bottom for Republicans. Whether it's Trump/SCOTUS/Republican Congress.
Everything is in play
If SCOTUS cast a ruling tomorrow that said the African descendants of slaves were no longer US citizens and were now subject to deportation I would not even be surprised and neither should anyone else that posts here.
We need to get serious before it's too late
Reality Check
Keepin' it 100
John Reena
Superstar
Silly big face white woman.
