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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#112901: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:05:49 PM

Yeah I'm not seeing how Rubio would win over the swing states, especially Florida where he's been such a shit Senator.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
ILoveDogs Since: May, 2010
#112902: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:06:33 PM

I'm very nervous that Rubio has a chance. All he'll have to do is yell "EMAILS" or "BENGHAZI" or whatever the fuck to beat Clinton, and Sanders will be easy.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#112903: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:07:38 PM

[up] Seeing as neither 'controversy' has done anything to Clinton so far why do you think that they would make her loose?

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#112904: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:08:29 PM

El Roboto can't withstand scrutiny.

Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#112905: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:09:45 PM

They'll need to update his software before he can win anything. Otherwise will BSOD into oblivion in his first debate, should he win the nomination somehow.

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#112906: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:13:50 PM

Republicans continue telling Obama to fuck off.

Key Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee emerged from a closed door meeting in Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell's office Tuesday united in their determination not to consider any nominee to replace Antonin Scalia until the next president takes office.

Tuesday was the first full day the Senate was back in session since Scalia's death Feb. 13.

"We believe the American people need to decide who is going to make this appointment rather than a lame duck president," said Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TN).

When asked if they would start the process after the new president took office or if they would consider doing it in the lame duck session, Cornyn replied "No, after the next president is selected. That way the American people have a voice in the process."

The Republican members of the Judiciary Commitee were unanimous in agreeing not to move forward with any Obama nominee for the Supreme Court, said Cornyn, who was in the meeting. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who was not in the meeting, later said that GOP senators were told at their weekly lunch that the Judiciary Committee Republicans were in unanimous agreement on the strategy.

Meanwhile, Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) and the rest of the committee Republicans sent a letter to Mc Connell outlining their plan to block any Obama nominee for Scalia's seat.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that "there's no use starting a process that's not going to go anywhere and we are going to let the next president decide," when asked why there would be no hearings.

When TPM asked if he had political concerns about the decision not to move forward with a nominee, Graham responded."I have zero concerns politically."

"I think this is what they would do," Graham said referring to Senate Democrats. "For them to say they wouldn't do this is a lie."

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) demurred saying that Republicans were "still talking."

The meeting in Mc Connell's office came not long after he made a speech on the Senate floor vowing to block any Obama nominee.

"Presidents have a right to nominate just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. In this case, the Senate will withhold it," Mc Connell said. "The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter after the American people finish making in November the decision they've already started making today."

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#112907: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:18:05 PM

they're just making things worse for themselves

advancing the front into TV Tropes
rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#112908: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:22:45 PM

The people got a voice in the process when we reelected Obama. If a slim majority of the people did not think that Barack Obama was the sort of person we wanted appointing Supreme Court justices if spots opened up, we would not have elected him twice.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112909: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:29:16 PM

McConnell's doing it to protect his vulnerable Repubs who could get carpet bombed from orbit, electorally. By not committing them to stuff that might cause the primary voters to replace them with a younger, sexier, Tea Party-ier or Trumpi-ier version of themselves, or causing voter apathy on the Repub side during the Primary of "They''re basically a Democrat anyways.".

McConnell's stuck in a rock and a hard place, much like Boehner. He's obsessed with protecting the majority of now at all costs of the future.

edited 23rd Feb '16 1:29:44 PM by PotatoesRock

ILoveDogs Since: May, 2010
#112910: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:31:56 PM

Wasn't there video of Biden back in '92 saying that they should wait for a new president to have another justice in that case?

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#112911: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:42:00 PM

@FF: How specifically is the Tea Party related to the disaster in Flint?

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#112912: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:51:36 PM

[up] Governor Snyder was a Tea Party darling when he was elected to lead Michigan. Under his administration, the emergency manager laws were passed which allowed the state government to suspend democracy in bankrupt cities and put his cronies in charge. Those cronies are the ones who switched Flint's water supply without paying to treat it for corrosiveness. Voila.

It is also not a coincidence that all of the cities in Michigan that are under emergency management, including Detroit, have majority black populations (at least that's what I read).

edited 23rd Feb '16 1:52:24 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#112913: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:53:18 PM

The fun part of that one was that the Emergency Manager law was repealed by referendum as part of the 2012 election, but the statehouse, still being GOP dominated, simply put it back, and put it back as part of a budget somehow which meant it was now immune to referendum.

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#112914: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:53:18 PM

So the only "smaller government, less money spent" aspect is refusing to treat the water pipes?

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112915: Feb 23rd 2016 at 1:59:24 PM

"Private business is better at handling it because reasons."

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#112916: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:01:17 PM

No, "we can't pay for it, thus we are handing it over to other people".

Also, I dunno if the Flint crisis had anything to do with privatization. Cost cuts? Yes.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#112917: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:03:12 PM

I hope that, when the time comes to elect our new President and our new Senate, the American people remember the time when the Tea Party shut down the government just to spite the President. And that they think about the way the Republican Senators refuse to even meet with a Supreme Court nominee that Obama proposes.

The Republicans in our Senate have crossed the line to actively sabotaging and shutting down vital government functions in their mad crusade against Obama. Openly refusing to do your job because of a petty grudge against the President is childish. We are paying these people upwards of $150k to $200k a year to sit at their desks and go, "No! NO! I'm not going to work! I refuse to serve my function!"

This behavior is unacceptable.

edited 23rd Feb '16 2:28:46 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#112918: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:15:30 PM

The situation in Flint was more complicated than that. Basically, Flint was getting its water from Detroit, but decided that it would be cheaper to get water from through a different supplier (the Karegnondi Water Authority, or KWA) instead, so began putting in the infrastructure to do that. The Detroit water department got pissy about losing a major customer and tried to block the switch. Their attempt was denied, so they activated a clause in their contract, allowing them to stop serving Flint 12 months later — before Flint was ready to make the switch to KWA water. So they were forced to go with their backup plan, the Flint River. However, since they were unexpectedly having to treat their own water, they fucked it up and the improperly treated water leached lead from lead pipes in the Flint system. It's worth noting that the source of the water wasn't important — it's not that the Flint River is polluted with lead, or anything like — it's the treatment (specifically, the PH balance) that caused the problem.

The real bad guy here is the Detroit water department, which forced Flint to treat its own water (which it was unprepared to do, having planned to switch from pre-treated Detroit water to pre-treated KWA water) by terminating their contract before Flint was ready. Of course, some of the blame rests on the Flint water department as well, but they were forced into a bad situation by Detroit in the first place.

edited 23rd Feb '16 2:16:57 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#112919: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:15:34 PM

[up][up] [awesome]

edited 23rd Feb '16 2:15:45 PM by speedyboris

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#112920: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:18:06 PM

a clause in their contract, allowing them to stop serving Flint 12 months late

Who the hell put in/allowed such a clause?

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#112921: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:21:59 PM

It's not an unreasonable clause to have, honestly. If Flint stopped paying their water bill, for instance, then Detroit would need some recourse to stop giving them water that they weren't paying for. The problem is that the Detroit water department decided to use it as a political weapon against Flint — out of pure, undiluted spite, apparently, because doing so didn't benefit them in any way.

Looking into it a bit, it seems as if the contract was set up so that either side could terminate it with 12 months notice. Presumably this was meant as "you have to give at least 12 months notice before terminating the contract", but Detroit used it as "here's your 12 months and fuck you". The article I found (dated April 19th, 2013, just after Detroit had given Flint notice of the contract termination) has Flint officials voicing the opinion that Detroit was legally forbidden from arbitrarily cutting off their water like that. Apparently that didn't pan out.

edited 23rd Feb '16 2:29:50 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112922: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:22:59 PM

Someone who didn't think this would ever matter.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#112923: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:23:13 PM

I am just worried if the Republicans get away with not getting a new Justice and a democrat gets in the White House, they'll just go "eh, it has been 8 judges for a year, do we even need nine?"

Which is Constitutional Crisis country, because the legislative is fucking over the judicative big time...

"You can reply to this Message!"
Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#112924: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:29:50 PM

I am just worried if the Republicans get away with not getting a new Justice and a democrat gets in the White House, they'll just go "eh, it has been 8 judges for a year, do we even need nine?"

What kind of Democrat will do that?

darksidevoid Anti-Gnosis Weapon from The Frontiers (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Robosexual
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
#112925: Feb 23rd 2016 at 2:32:27 PM

The people got a voice in the process when we reelected Obama. If a slim majority of the people did not think that Barack Obama was the sort of person we wanted appointing Supreme Court justices if spots opened up, we would not have elected him twice.
Moreover, he'd already appointed two other Justices before he was elected to a second term, so it wouldn't be off to say that the American people approved of his judgement in nominating Justices. I'm waiting for someone in the media to point this out while questioning Senate Republicans. It's true that McConnell is doing this to try to protect his members' seats in the year in which they have the worst possible odds of retaining their majority, but I just wish somebody would call him on this farce.

Wasn't there video of Biden back in '92 saying that they should wait for a new president to have another justice in that case?
Maybe. Could you provide a source? That's not exactly a lot to go on.

edited 23rd Feb '16 2:33:06 PM by darksidevoid

GM: AGOG S4 & F/WC RP; Co-GM: TABA, SOTR, UUA RP; Sub-GM: TTS RP. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.

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