Lurker > brestugo

Have there been any indications that the Federalist Society wants to offload the baggage around Trump now that he's served his purpose?

Following a failed attempt from the House GOP to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said that he had never missed former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) more after three Republicans joined Democrats to oppose the measure, marking a stunning loss for the party.

Gaetz, one of 112 Republicans who voted against expelling the embattled lawmaker from the House in December, suggested during an appearance on Newsmaxs The Balance that with Santoss vote, the party may have clinched enough needed to bolster their already slim majority.

As I am watching that board and its 215-215, I have never missed George Santos more, Gaetz told Eric Bolling.

The final 214-216 vote came after Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who showed up unexpectedly wearing hospital scrubs and no socks, according to NBC, voted against the impeachment. While two GOP defections were expected, there was a third surprise no vote from Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

The fourth surprise GOP lawmaker to vote against the impeachment came from Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), vice chair of the GOP conference, who flipped his vote seconds before the vote closed. The procedural move allows the conference to bring the legislation back to the floor at a later date.

Despite spearheading the effort to oust him from his position, the Florida lawmaker also highlighted former Speaker Kevin McCarthys (R-Calif.) absence, alluding to the difference his vote may too have had on the final tally.

I also wondered, wouldnt it have been nice to still have Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives? Never thought youd hear me say that, Gaetz said.

Kevin McCarthy after being dislodged as speaker took his marbles and went home, Gaetz added.

According to Speaker Mike Johnson, Republicans aim to return the legislation to the floor again, when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will be present.

Regular orgasms help to lower the risk of prostate cancer.

I take it we're expecting the SCOTUS to rule in his favour?

The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear former President Donald Trumps appeal to remain on the 2024 ballot, the justices most consequential election case since Bush v. Gore in 2000.

The court will be weighing arguments over whether Trump is disqualified from reclaiming the White House because of his efforts to undo his loss in the 2020 election, ending with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The case marks the first time the justices will be considering a constitutional provision that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who engaged in insurrection from holding office again.

It sets up precisely the kind of case that the court likes to avoid, one in which it is the final arbiter of a political dispute.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump incited the riot in the nations capital and is ineligible to be president again. As a result, he should not be on the ballot for the states primary on March 5, the court ruled. It was the first time that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was applied to a presidential candidate.

Trumps lawyers argue that the amendment cant be used to keep Trump off the ballot for several reasons.

For one thing, they contend the Jan. 6 riot wasnt an insurrection, and even if it was, Trump did not participate. The wording of the amendment also excludes the presidency and candidates running for president, they say. Even if theyre wrong about all of that, they argue that Congress must pass legislation to reinvigorate Section 3.

The lawyers for Republican and independent voters who sued to remove Trumps name from the Colorado ballot counter that there is ample evidence that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection and that Trump incited it. They say it would be absurd to apply Section 3 to everything but the presidency or that Trump is somehow exempt. And the provision needs no enabling legislation, they argue.

A definitive ruling for Trump would largely end efforts in Colorado, Maine and elsewhere to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot.

A decision upholding the Colorado decision would amount to a declaration from the Supreme Court that Trump did engage in insurrection and is barred by the 14th Amendment from holding office again. That would allow states to keep him off the ballot and imperil his campaign.

The justices could opt for a less conclusive outcome, but with the knowledge that the issue could return to them, perhaps after the general election in November and in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.

Trump is separately appealing to state court a ruling by Maines Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, that he was ineligible to appear on that states ballot over his role in the Capitol attack. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of states rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.

The court has signaled it will try to act quickly, dramatically shortening the period in which it receives written briefing and holds arguments in the courtroom.

People began lining up outside the court on Wednesday hoping to snag one of the few seats allotted to the public. This is a landmark decision and I want to be in the room where it happened, to quote Hamilton, said Susan Acker of Cincinnati, Ohio, who was in line with two friends.

The issues may be novel, but Trump is no stranger to the justices, three of whom Trump appointed when he was president. They have considered many Trump-related cases in recent years, declining to embrace his claims of fraud in the 2020 election and refusing to shield tax records from Congress and prosecutors in New York.

Before the Supreme Court is even finished deciding this case, the justices almost certainly will be dealing with another appeal from Trump, who is expected to seek an emergency order to keep his election subversion trial on hold so he can appeal lower-court rulings that he is not immune from criminal charges.

In April, the court also will hear an appeal from one of the more than 1,200 people charged in the Capitol riot. The case could upend a charge prosecutors have brought against more than 300 people, including Trump.

The court last played so central a role in presidential politics in its 5-4 decision that effectively ended the disputed 2000 election in favor of George W. Bush.

Justice Clarence Thomas is the only member of the court who also took part in Bush v. Gore. Thomas has ignored calls by some Democratic lawmakers to step aside from the case because his wife, Ginni, supported Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election results and attended the rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Flat earther logic: "People believe the earth is round, but most people are also idiots, so by believing the earth is flat, I am actually super smart!"

Bruh, let me in on this crab buffet.

The next GOP Senate leader after McConnell will be a "watch the world burn" maniac. It's all the GOP has left these days, especially in the younger (and thereby more rabid) GOP members of Congress.

I think folks need to stop wasting their time on topics like this. These people who say they're not voting for Biden are either trolling or are too far gone to be worth bothering with.

Why isn't Cruz in prison for his part in the insurrection

He wants to replace turtle with someone even worse.

And they might succeed in replacing him with someone more bigoted, but they won't find someone more shrewd and conniving. The current GOP rejects any and all intelligence to their own detriment.

Ted should also step down and submit himself for incarceration.

That's them defending the company because Trump is about to be at a fundraiser held by one of their lobbyists.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/06/donald-trump-bud-light-fundraiser-00140009

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), pointing to what he called the mismanagement of a border security and Ukraine funding package, said Tuesday its time for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to step down as the Senate GOP leader.

Cruz was one of 10 Republican senators who voted against McConnells reelection as Senate minority leader after the 2022 election and he is a longtime critic of McConnells leadership.

While Cruzs desire to replace McConnell as leader isnt new, he has stepped up his criticism of the veteran Kentucky lawmaker in anticipation that the border security deal negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), whom McConnell tapped for the task, would fall flat with GOP senators.
Asked at a press conference whether its time for McConnell to go, Cruz replied: I think it is.

Everyone here also supported to the leadership challenge to Mitch McConnell in November [2022,] he said at a press conference with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).

I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans, he said.

Asked about Cruzs comments Tuesday afternoon, McConnell quipped that he wasnt shocked to hear that his Texas colleague is criticizing him again.
I think we can all agree that Sen. Cruz is not a fan, McConnell replied with deadpan humor.

Cruz earlier Tuesday said he urged Senate Republicans after the 2022 election to elect a new leader after Republicans lost the Senate race in Pennsylvania and saw their minority shrink to 49 seats.

We lost a seat in the Senate and we barely got a majority in the House. And I stood up and said in any ordinary organization when youre faced with failure if youre running a business and you lose $50 million you dont just say, Everythings great, lets keep doing it. No, you sit down and say, What are we doing wrong? Cruz said Tuesday.

He said the Senate border security bill was designed to lose and declared it is a plan Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is thrilled with.

Cruz says Congress does not need to pass legislation to reform the nations asylum laws and give the president power to close the border, arguing that President Biden has all the tools to shut the border without help from Congress.

But he called for congressional action on the border in 2019, when former President Trump was in office.

Cruz tweeted in July 2019 that the only way to end what at the time called the crisis at the border was for Congress to stop the political posturing and solve the problem.

Cruz and McConnell have a history of battling over strategy going back to 2013, when Cruz encouraged House conservatives to oppose any government funding bill that did not repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The standoff resulted in a 16-day government shutdown, which McConnell later declared was a political loser for the Republican Party.

A Senate GOP aide dismissed Cruzs call for McConnell to step down as nothing new.

The Texas senators comments Tuesday criticizing McConnell and the Senate GOP leadership got support from Vance, who joined him on stage for a press conference to criticize the border deal.

I want to echo everything that Ted has said. I think all of us has made this argument: The leadership really screwed this up, he said.

I think they made a series of political arguments that were never going to actually fly. They knew or at least should have known that this bill was never actually going to get there, he said.

Certainly on the Ukraine question, I think leadership is massively out of touch with Republican voters. We are not as a Republican Party behind unlimited, unaccounted for aid to Ukraine without any goals in mind, Vance said.

Fucked up, cause anything that Putin says will be anti Biden. Itll just be propaganda for Trumps election. The timing fits.

they call lady reps gentleman?
"will the gentleman yield her question?"

When the God Emperor speaketh so shall it be doneth

They literally only have a 1 seat majority. These people are so fucking dumb that they keep just going full-steam ahead like they were when they had a 5 seat majority, which still got in the way of what they wanted.

All they do is continue to expose themselves as the jokes that they are.

15 years is too light

Should be 20 for every victim that died and additional charges for those who were wounded

Almost all will be F2P and riddled with micro transactions

Read the title again but slowly lol TheMikh

That was very reckless. She's lucky nothing horrible happened to her.

What method do you use for shaving, then?

I just saw this. Does this include liners? That is what I use and I don't know if that really counts as an "electric razor."

An adult performer from the United States has stirred controversy after visiting Iran and going to the former US embassy in Tehran.

Whitney Wright, 32, from Oklahoma arrived in Iran last week and confirmed on her social media page on Monday that she had left the country.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/ec08f4e3.jpg

She posted several pictures of her visit, including one that went viral and showed her in a headscarf and unrevealing clothing required in Iran standing next to a lowered US flag at the site of the countrys former embassy.

Iranian authorities have said the embassy was a den of espionage before its takeover in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and have since turned it into a museum. It is where embassy staff were held for 444 days, exacerbating hostilities that reverberate across Iran-US relations even now.

Wright wrote on her Instagram account that she was eager to visit the embassy along with other museums in Tehran and suggested the backlash and negative attention online she has received are extreme.

Im sharing exhibits from a museum that are never seen, Wright wrote on Instagram. Its not an endorsement of the government.

Some critics alleged that her visit highlights inconsistencies from the Iranian authorities.

Wrights profession is considered obscene by Iranian authorities and could in theory lead to criminal charges.

Her visit came after Iran in 2022 and early 2023 saw some of the largest public protests and unrest since the 1979 revolution, triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old died in the custody of Irans morality police after being detained for alleged noncompliance with the mandatory hijab, which has been in force since shortly after the revolution.

The issues of being required to wear hijab by law and womens freedom were at the centre of a lot of the protests. Iranian authorities have also engaged in a variety of efforts to enforce the hijab rules since the protests have died down.

Actor Setareh Pesiani referred to Wrights visit to criticise the governments mandatory headscarf policy.

You punish people of this country in various methods for removal of hijab but you allow a porn actress to come here to tour Iran!? Pesiani wrote on Instagram.

As a US citizen, Wright would have required a visa for her visit.

When asked about Wrights visit during a weekly news conference on Monday, Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said he had no information about her.

Naturally, US citizens face no impediments in travelling to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iranian citizens are able to travel to the US. Whether those opportunities are equal can be judged separately, he said.

Whitney Wright was not invited to Iran by any organisation, travelled to Iran personally and after obtaining a visa, and the visa issuance system was not aware of the nature of her immoral and obscene work, the semiofficial Tasnim news website quoted an unnamed informed source as saying on Monday.

Her visit to the embassy and Golestan Palace in Tehran were made as a regular visitor and without any invitations, it said.

The Associated Press news agency cited the US Department of State as saying it has warned American citizens to avoid travelling to Iran and exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detention.

In September, Iran and the US completed a prisoner exchange that was years in the making, swapping five Iranian prisoners held on charges of circumventing US sanctions on Iran for five US citizens held on charges of spying that Washington said were bogus.

The US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, shortly after Washington severed the ties after the embassy takeover in Tehran.

Through her social media posts, Wright has consistently raised awareness about Israels war on Gaza, which has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children.

This is not the first time a visit to Iran by a Western adult performer has stirred controversy.

In 2016, British performer Candy Charms travelled to Iran to have plastic surgery on her nose, sparking outrage and receiving heavy backlash online.
Love Tehran, the people are so kind and generous, really overwhelmed by the whole trip, the people are amazing, she had written on her social media at the time.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-threaten-block-border-security-immigration-bill-rcna137389

Look at that. Not wanting to be seen as deficient in their craven loyalty to Pigfucker Trump, Senate Republicans are killing their own deal before the House Republicans can do that.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the chief Democratic negotiator, called the Republicans skittishness about their own agreement embarrassing.

You told us you wanted a bipartisan border fix. You appointed the Republican negotiator. WE GOT A DEAL, he wrote on X. Stop the drama do you want to fix the border or do you want to keep the border chaotic to help Trump? Just decide pls.

The title says bitcoin is 2%, the body says all crypto.

To get that, it went through trade publications, financial reports, news articles, and congressional investigation reports to identify as many bitcoin mining operations as it could. With 137 facilities identified, it then inquired about the power supply needed to operate them at full capacity, receiving answers for 101 of those facilities.

If running all-out, those 101 facilities would consume 2.3 percent of the US's average power demand.

Inaccurate topic titles should be moddable.
I clicked it thinking if bitcoin hsed 2% how much is used up by all da cryptos, only to read it is 2% in da OP.

They are really good, though I haven't been to one in over 7 years. I used to live a few blocks from one. They make good milkshakes. Their tacos are pretty good for how cheap they are

Crypto shit is unsecured (as far as banking goes) so why would they care about Bitcoin?

Is that good