Politics Corner April 25th

 

photo mine

So this happened today. Now we've got a year and a half for pundits to get everything wrong. Why start thinking things through now? There will be plenty of tearing down of Biden and building up of Trump as the likeliest candidates - even though supposedly almost nobody wants them to run. Statistics should be a required class for a degree in journalism (Ethics too, but that's another day). It's already begun with the media coalescing around how old Biden is. Last time that I checked, Biden and Trump are within a few years and Biden is healthy while Trump will either fall apart or explode at any minute. They've got to do something or there won't be a race to cover. Likeable incumbents don't lose to unlikeable losers. They're going to have to come up with something much bigger than "her e-mails".

Remember that we are talking about the media that both-sides things like the debt ceiling which passes clean when a Republican is President but Republicans always demand outrageous concessions when it's a Democrat. It gets buried that the debt ceiling merely commits the government to pay for the bills that it already racked up. The time to argue about the budget already passed. And if the US doesn't pay its bills then the US economy tanks and brings the rest of the world down with it. [NPR]

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via NPR

Democrats can showboat too. Schumer is bringing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Senate floor. It's merely symbolic. Even if it wasn't it still wouldn't enter the Constitution. One of the things that killed it the first time around was the fear that women would be drafted into the military. We haven't had a draft since then although it's not impossible (if highly unlikely) that we ever will again. This time around? It will never get past the barrier of red state legislatures. [NBC]

via NBC

You know how Clarence Thomas always seems to forget to declare large amounts of money until it's discovered? Harlan Crow has dual citizenship with infamous tax haven St. Kitts and Nevis. Foreign gifts are required to be reported. Since Crow still holds US citizenship he can shield assets in the islands and gift them in the US and it will be practically untraceable. The only reason that we know this much is due to a leak. [The Intercept]

that's Clarence Thomas' reputation burning behind him
via The Intercept

Political discussion welcome