Category Archives: Congress
The Democrats are so cute and adorable and naïve
They think evidence matters and will sway public opinion (and maybe even some votes).
The Onion’s customary accuracy
The Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022
The law’s title imples that the current immigration courts aren’t real courts. Quite so. I do have one quibble. The proposed bill calls for the Appellate Division to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate and for the trial level judges to appointed by the Appellate Division. It would be better (and less likely to lead to future conflict) to have all of the judges appointed by the Courts Of Appeal (as is the case with bankruptcy judges). In any case, independent immigration courts are a much needed reform.
This won’t get past the Senate parliamentarian
Unfortunately.
If only they were this united on policy
A game of chicken
Who will blink first? The cynic in me suspects that neither party wants a default unless, of course, the blame falls squarely and unequivocally on the other party (in which case, let the bad times roll!). One fact that Republicans conveniently overlook is that every time we approach the debt limit, it’s because of past spending, not current borrowing. So the Trump tax cuts are at least part of the reason we’re approaching the brink. Here‘s one fanciful solution to the crisis.
The trouble with Fox News (from John Boehner)
“The reality that Boehner exposes is that following the 2008 election of Obama, something fundamentally changed at Fox News. It was no longer about pushing conservative policy solutions and young stars of the movement. Instead, the network became a fever swamp for internet trolls pushing every sort of conspiracy theory — from Benghazi to Obama’s citizenship.
“To Boehner’s critical point about how Fox skewed incentives within the GOP: No longer was the goal for most members of Congress (or those aspiring Republicans hoping to join their ranks) to accrue seniority and rise in the ranks of their preferred committee or even into House GOP leadership. Now the goal was to become a conservative pundit on Fox News — that was where the real power (and money if you decided to leave Congress) was.
“And the best way to get on Fox News as much as possible? Say the most outlandish and outrageous things possible. Fox viewers were ready to believe whatever the worst thing you could say about Obama or any of the Clintons. There was no bridge too far. And with ratings as the only goal, Ailes (with a major assist from Fox owner Rupert Murdoch) leaned in hard — vacating any sort of journalistic mission to tell people the truth about their government and politicians in favor of pandering to an audience that wanted to believe that any and every Democratic politician was evil.”