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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Lost in Space
Those mailings are targeted at the same sort of gullible consumers that fall for "202" calls or "Nigerian prince" scams. Mostly they are credulous old people but there are others. My wife panicked the first time we got one of those fake IRS calls until I managed to convince her it was a scam.
Sure, some people get mad, but I guess Cruz's campaign cares more about scamming money from old people than he does about offending people who wouldn't vote for a Democrat if God Himself descended from on high and told them to.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
So basically we're looking at a typical Bavarian Fire Drill.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
@RJ-19-CLOVIS-93: It's worth noting that Washington in practice was something of a Federalist in all but name.
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
Like reflections in the glass!
Though it make me wonder if the chicken (in this case the Major Parties of the nation's genesis) or the Egg (The USA, the constitution, Washinton's term) came first in this case.
Would that it were so simple.
The parties came first. Washington's cabinet was never united in any meaningful sense, and his play at being an independent was an elaborate pantomime to emulate Cincinnatus. In practice, enacting Federalist policy was not just his preference, but the only option. Jefferson was a loony toon who wanted the US to be an agrarian barter economy. No one sane would ever put those policies into action — including Jefferson, who ran a largely Hamiltonian policy as President, some eleven years later.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Sep 17th 2018 at 2:09:00 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Lost in Space
And yet we still revere the "down to the earth" farmer as some kind of romantic ideal, to the point of giving them extra votes in the Senate and Electoral College.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
The Democrats have decent single digit leads in the Arizona and Tennessee Senate races.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/17/politics/cnn-polls-arizona-tennessee-senate/index.html
Would that it were so simple.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yeah, it's stupid, but part of that is the fault of our historiography. Early America reads like a "Just So" Story — all civic religion, no civil discourse. The only way to kill that misconception is to tell the whole story and demonstrate that the romantic down-to-earth ideal never existed.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Sep 17th 2018 at 3:15:46 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/09/17/day-606/
Day 606: Full steam ahead.
1/ The author of the confidential letter accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when he was in high school has come forward to tell her story. Christine Blasey Ford is a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California who says Kavanaugh and a friend corralled her into a bedroom in the early 1980s and attempted to sexually assault her. Ford says Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her over her clothes and attempted to remove her bathing suit. When she tried to scream, she says Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth. "I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford said. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing." Ford said she felt a "civic responsibility" to speak out about the Supreme Court nominee. (Washington Post) / CBS News)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/17/politics/brett-kavanaugh-testimony/index.html
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/16/kavanaugh-allegation-anonymous-republicans-825855
3/ Trump has tried to normalize the type of behavior described in Ford's allegations and has told people close to him that he believes there is a conspiracy by Democrats to derail Kavanaugh's nomination process. A senior White House aide says things are still "full steam ahead" for Kavanaugh, and that there is very little chance that Ford's accusations will change Trump's mind when it comes to Kavanaugh's viability as the next Supreme Court justice. (Daily Beast)
4/ The amount of money that has returned to the U.S. as a result of Trump's massive tax cuts is only 3.5 percent of what Trump predicted. Trump predicted that by ending the practice of taxing U.S. companies when they brought home foreign profits, "Over $4 [trillion], but close to $5 trillion, will be brought back into our country." But the latest analysis shows that just $143 billion has been repatriated. Companies recently announced plans to repatriate another $37 billion. Two-thirds of the repatriated money so far has come from just two companies: networking giant Cisco Systems and a drug company called Gilead Sciences. (Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Ted Cruz's Senatorial campaign in Texas sent hundreds of thousands of donation mailers that are disguised to look like official court summons. The outside of the envelopes read "SUMMONS ENCLOSED- OPEN IMMEDIATELY" in large black print, or include a return address that reads "official county summons." Inside, the envelope contains a donation form for the Cruz campaign. These kind of mailers are not illegal as long as they contain a clear disclaimer that indicates who paid for the communication. (Newsweek)
https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-texas-election-midterms-letters-1123146
Notables.
Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is actively considering a run for president as a Democrat in 2020. Bloomberg has aligned himself with Democrats in the midterm election and has committed to spend $80 million to help Democrats retake control of the House. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/politics/bloomberg-president-2020-democrat.html
I almost forgot.
Happy Constitution Day everybody.
Edited by megaeliz on Sep 17th 2018 at 5:57:16 AM
A reminder that until 2004, Consitution Day was Citizenship Day, which celebrated immigration and naturalization. A much more relevant holiday, if you ask me.
Courtesy of an aunt who works as a judge with Native American tribes out West, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, who'd just gotten Reservation land in 2016, is at-risk for having their lands revoked, in yet another rollback of an Obama Administration decision. It's currently under appeal, but... yeah.
Edited by ironballs16 on Sep 17th 2018 at 3:18:05 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
I didn’t know that!
Let me guess. Was it changed in the patriotic fervor after 9/11?
Technically it’s still sort of Citizenship day, as its full official title is “Constitution and Citizenship Day”, though the celebration of citizenship doesn’t really happen so much any more. The constitution part was put in there by the late Robert Byrd, who famously (or infamously, depending on your view of him) loved the constitution a whole lot.
Figure of Hourai
What's in this batch?
Figure of Hourai
The most notable one is rice. Good grief...
Avatar Source
I thought back when this bullshit started it was said congress had to approve tarrifs.
Why aren't the big money donors lighting there asses on fire over this stupidity.
Edited by Imca on Sep 17th 2018 at 4:10:37 AM
Because now it's in the interests of "National Security" to slap them with tariffs over the tariffs they slapped on us after imposing tariffs on them. The nerve of some countries!
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
There was talk about introducing a bill that affect, is probably what you were thinking of. The serious possibility of getting that passed would be one of the advantages of the Dems taking the house.
Edited by Gilphon on Sep 17th 2018 at 7:16:02 AM
He's using national security as an excuse to bypass Congress and they're too cowardly to reign him in on his bullshit.
Edited by TheRoguePenguin on Sep 17th 2018 at 4:16:22 AM
"unfair trade practices, including subsidies and rules that require foreign companies in some sectors to bring on local partners.
Can't believe I'm defending Beijing here, but that's just standard practice, the US being no exception.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Trump orders declassification of surveillance application, release of Comey texts
The breadth of the order came as a surprise and landed amid a full-court White House effort to shore up the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as he defends himself against a sexual assault allegation. Trump demanded that the FBI produce 20 pages of the surveillance application — which Republicans on Capitol Hill have suggested would help show anti-Trump bias at the highest levels of the FBI.
Trump also called for the release of senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr's notes related to the Russia probe. Ohr was a key conduit to the FBI for information provided by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who investigated Trump's relationship with Russia during the 2016 campaign and produced a dossier of damaging allegations — which Trump has derided as false.
The White House described Trump's order as a move for "transparency" requested by various congressional committees. It called on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department and the FBI to immediately declassify the surveillance and Ohr documents as well as all FBI reports of interviews connected to the surveillance warrant on Page.
"In addition, President Donald J. Trump has directed the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction, of James Comey, Andrew Mc Cabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr," the announcement read.
“There could very likely be Privacy Act implications,” former Justice Department attorney Scott Hodes said.
However, Hodes said officials might be able to work around those legal obstacles by turning over the records to Congress, which could make them public. “If they have a legitimate reason to give them to Congress, Congress is not covered by the law, so it’s not a Privacy Act violation.”
Wouldn't scaring people into thinking they've been summoned a great way to turn people OFF voting for Cruz?