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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
It’s not quite that simple. Procedural decisions like this have massive ripple effects. So, for example, a new Republican AG might drop a state lawsuit to protect LGBT people. Now, a democratic state house of reps can’t revive that case.
This decision shouldn’t be used to analyze the way Kavanaugh might rule on a substantive case regarding abortion, partisan gerrymandering, etc.
I think Kavanaugh's career has been procedurally ruling to avoid any form of controversial decision making for decades. Someone did a survey and noted that whenever big decisions came up, he did his best to pass the buck. Which has been consistent so far with his Supreme Court decisions.
This isn't a defense other than, "The weaselly rapist is probably not an ideologue."
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jun 17th 2019 at 3:02:38 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/06/17/day-789/
2/ U.S. Cyber Command hacked and deployed malware inside Russia's power grid that could be used for surveillance or attack – without Trump's knowledge. Pentagon and intelligence officials reportedly did not brief Trump due to concerns that he might countermand it or discuss it with foreign officials. The actions were taken under a new set of legal authorities granted to U.S. Cyber Command by Congress last year, which allows the routine use of "clandestine military activity" in cyberspace without requiring presidential approval in order to "deter, safeguard or defend against attacks or malicious cyberactivities against the United States." Officials at the National Security Council declined to comment about how deep into the Russian grid the U.S. had accessed, but said they had no national security concerns about the details of reporting about the targeting of the Russian grid. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html
📌 Day 571: Trump signed defense legislation named after John Mc Cain but didn't mention the Senator's name during the ceremony. Trump praised the U.S. military and took credit for the $716 billion defense bill, which represents a $16 billion increase in authorized funding for the Pentagon over the current year. The bill is formally named the "John S. Mc Cain National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2019." (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ Trump accused The New York Times of committing a "virtual act of treason" for reporting that the U.S. had increased its cyberattacks on Russia, which were meant to deter future cyber activity by Moscow. In a separate tweet, Trump claimed that the story was "NOT TRUE!" and characterized the journalists as "true cowards." The New York Times' responded to Trump's tweet, calling the accusation "dangerous" and noting that the paper reached out to the administration for comment on the story, but Trump's own officials said they had "no concerns" about the story. (Associated Press / NBC News / The Hill)
https://www.apnews.com/ed30a98cafa94ecab4e540ffbd16a385
The Kremlin warned of a possible cyberwar with the U.S. for hacking into Russia's electric power grid. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/world/europe/russia-us-cyberwar-grid.html
4/ Trump's re-election campaign fired several pollsters after leaked internal polling showed he trailed Joe Biden in 11 battleground states. Trump denied the existence of any negative polling last week, calling them "fake polls" and claiming "we are winning in every single state that we've polled." The campaign fired Brett Lloyd, Mike Baselice and Adam Geller. Lloyd is the head of the Polling Company, a firm started by Kellyanne Conway in 1995. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / ABC News)
poll/ 27% of Americans say there's enough evidence to begin impeachment hearings now — up 10 points from last month. 24% think Congress should continue investigating to see if there's enough evidence to hold impeachment hearings in the future, while 48% believe that Congress should not hold impeachment hearings and that Trump should finish out his term as president. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 50% of Americans believe the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia — up six points over the last three months — compared to 44% who do not believe there was coordination. (Fox News)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-voters-doubt-impeachment-will-happen
poll/ 50% of Americans say enforcement of immigration laws has "gone too far." 24% say actions haven't gone far enough. (Bloomberg)
The Supreme Court ruled that the legislative districts in Virginia that it previously said were racially gerrymandered have to remain in their redrawn form. The Republican-led Virginia House of Delegates attempted to challenge a lower court opinion that struck several district maps as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The justices found that House Republicans did not have legal standing to challenge the decision. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
Congressional leaders from both parties will meet this week in an attempt to reach a deal to avoid tens of billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts this fall. Neither side says they are close to reaching an agreement at the moment, and Republicans have acknowledged that they're even having trouble finding a common position with the White House. At stake is $125 billion in automatic, mandatory spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic spending unless a deal is reached to increase those limits. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/16/white-house-congress-leaders-spending-deal-1365905
The State Department will cut off all foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador until the countries take "concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the U.S. border." (Axios)
Trump directed all agencies to cut their advisory boards by "at least" one third. Agencies have until Sept. 30 to "evaluate the need" for each of their current advisory committees and reduce them by one-third. (The Hill)
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1140724084835307526
So, Alex Jones is in trouble for child pornography that he was found by the Sandy Hook lawyers and threatening them when they reported this to the FBI.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.I could see one of his supporters being into child pron and thinking he was also and sending it to him.
I'd figure Alex Jones to be one of those child predators to burn the evidence of he knowingly had child porn.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."I'd love to believe that it is, but some confirming evidence would be nice to see. Absent that, this is just gossip, and potentially gossip that could turn around on us if it turns out the CP was planted and potentially genuine accusations against him in the future get preemptively discredited.
Edited by Fighteer on Jun 17th 2019 at 8:11:26 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I'm unhappy with the fact that I'm both relieved that Cyber Command - which is an awesome name by the way, this should be our latest branch of the military - didn't break any laws to do this, and increasingly distraught that the military, intelligence agencies, and federal bureaucrats are doing their best to keep executive officials out of the loop. Obviously it's because the traitors from Trump down will do everything they can to disrupt their attempts to protect the country, so I'm not complaining too loudly here, but I hope this doesn't set a precedent.
I'm reminded of a conversation on Pod Save the World, a companion series to Pod Save America that focuses on international issues instead of domestic politics. It's also hosted by former Obama staffers and they went into the issue of some of the less ethical stuff the intelligence community did in regards to things like espionage and cyberspace. They admitted something they could have done better was to have someone in charge of okaying these plans after taking into consideration the ethics, and political/media fallout. Otherwise the White House tells the NSA or CIA to do something, then never really follow up on it until after the agency had figured out how to get it down without taking into consideration the aforementioned ethical, political/media fallout since that wasn't their job.
They’re doing exactly what Congress told them to do.
And speaking of the sleepy tortoise, McConnell "doesn't know why [Jon Stewart] is all bent out of shape over [the 9/11 funding bill]."
And from the article proper: Now the fund will go to a full House vote, and then it will be up for Senate approval. But Mc Connell has not confirmed that he'll bring to the Senate floor for a vote, only saying the Senate "will look at it." The day the House panel passed it, Mc Connell said about the fund, "Gosh, I hadn't looked at that lately."
At this point, he either plans to retire next Senate election, or he's just deliberately trolling everyone, because how the hell can anyone be that tone deaf?
Edited by ironballs16 on Jun 17th 2019 at 11:09:29 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Mitch is drunk on the power of being the Cheeto's The Dragon.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Jesus fucking Christ.
Trump threatening mass deportations next week.
Basically announcing kristallnacht on twitter.
“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
Edited by wisewillow on Jun 17th 2019 at 9:37:46 AM

Supreme Court rules in case watched for impact on Trump pardons – The court issued a decision that preserves states’ power to limit the impact of future pardons by the president or his successors.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/17/supreme-court-trump-pardons-1365952
In a 7-2 ruling, the justices declined to disturb a longstanding legal principle known as dual sovereignty, which allows state governments to bring their own charges against defendants already tried or convicted in federal court, or vice versa.
Facebook Twitter Email Comment Print Continue to article content Donald Trump Those bracing for potential pardons by President Donald Trump of individuals convicted in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were tracking the Terance Gamble v. U.S. case. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
LEGAL
Supreme Court rules in case watched for impact on Trump pardons By JOSH GERSTEIN and NATASHA BERTRAND 06/17/2019 12:08 PM EDT The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a closely watched “double jeopardy” case, issuing a decision that preserves states’ power to limit the impact of future pardons by President Donald Trump or his successors.
In a 7-2 ruling, the justices declined to disturb a longstanding legal principle known as dual sovereignty, which allows state governments to bring their own charges against defendants already tried or convicted in federal court, or vice versa.
Story Continued Below
Lawyers for an Alabama man facing a gun charge in federal court after pleading guilty to the same offense in state court — resulting in a nearly three-year extension of his prison sentence — failed in their effort to persuade the justices to hold that the Constitution’s prohibition on double jeopardy prevents such follow-on prosecutions.
The federal government had argued that overturning the dual-sovereignty doctrine would upend the country’s federalist system, and that the phenomenon of overcriminalization makes states’ ability to preserve their own sphere of influence and prevent federal encroachment on law enforcement more important.
Democrats and others bracing for potential pardons by Trump of individuals convicted in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were tracking the case, Terance Gamble v. U.S., because a decision overturning the dual sovereigns rule could have complicated efforts by state prosecutors to blunt the impact of any attempt Trump may make to grant clemency to those targeted by Mueller’s team.