What does it mean for the US now? Like what does second term of Trump mean for the US now?

[TheVat]

8 hours ago, swansont said:

don’t think there’s anything keeping someone on the ethics committee from entering the report into the congressional record

I wondered if the HEC, with its GOP majority, would just bury the report.  Technically, Gaetz has left their jurisdiction, so they now lack grounds to present anything.  

As for GOP constituents actually reading the CR, or their media feeds reporting it, hard to imagine.

My guess is that Senate leadership will do an oops strategy, i.e. not be willing to confirm the ridiculous slate of cabinet designates but just feel the need for a recess and let TFG use the archaic recess rule and make the temp appointments (two years, actually) himself.  So we would be stuck with clowns like Gaetz for two years, after which time, the Senate could formally appoint him on the grounds he's had two years experience.  It's like something from a political satire, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

6 hours ago, iNow said:

Part of it too is likely to get these obvious boneheads rejected primarily so their far more dangerous sleeper choices will get approved as seemingly saner fallbacks. 

The other possibility.  And the first round of rejections allows the GOP to accuse Democrats of being partisan hacks just out to scuttle the orderly process of government.  Projection is always a useful tactic.

[zapatos]

6 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Technically, Gaetz has left their jurisdiction, so they now lack grounds to present anything.  

I may be mistaken but I don't think the House hearings were of a 'legal' nature. Had they found criminal acts they would have had to turn it over to the proper authorities who would have decided whether or not a crime was committed. I don't think 'grounds' are the issue. They can release the report or not at their discretion.

[TheVat]

22 minutes ago, zapatos said:

I may be mistaken but I don't think the House hearings were of a 'legal' nature. Had they found criminal acts they would have had to turn it over to the proper authorities who would have decided whether or not a crime was committed. I don't think 'grounds' are the issue. They can release the report or not at their discretion.

Sorry, I didn't mean legal grounds, but House procedural rules.  I may also be quite mistaken, but somehow had the notion that the committee could now bury the report on some procedure technicality.  If they have a GOP majority on that committee, then they would avail themselves of any such.  

5 hours ago, Peterkin said:

By this time next year, there will be no NPR or PBS.

Good news for you:

Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of its member stations are owned by non-profit organizations, including public school districts, colleges, and universities. NPR operates independently of any government or corporation, and has full control of its content.

All I can say is, if you like their content, please donate.  TFG and his minions could manage to scare off some corporate donors, so citizen donors will matter more.  

[swansont]

28 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Sorry, I didn't mean legal grounds, but House procedural rules.  I may also be quite mistaken, but somehow had the notion that the committee could now bury the report on some procedure technicality.  If they have a GOP majority on that committee, then they would avail themselves of any such.

They probably could, but the GOP already controls the house, and the committee, so they could have just not investigated. I get the impression that nobody likes Gaetz very much. 

[iNow]

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

I wondered if the HEC, with its GOP majority, would just bury the report.

1 hour ago, zapatos said:

They can release the report or not at their discretion.

If it hasn’t happened already, the more likely outcome is simply that the report gets leaked and published for full view by all by all of the various media outlets, especially since:

 

38 minutes ago, swansont said:

nobody likes Gaetz very much. 

 

[toucana]

8 hours ago, zapatos said:

I may be mistaken but I don't think the House hearings were of a 'legal' nature. Had they found criminal acts they would have had to turn it over to the proper authorities who would have decided whether or not a crime was committed. I don't think 'grounds' are the issue. They can release the report or not at their discretion.

Matt Gaetz had his iPhone seized  three years ago by the FBI on a probable cause warrant, and was under criminal investigation for alleged Federal sex trafficking offences involving a 17 y/o girl.

https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-iphone-seized-fbi-sex-trafficking-probe-2021-4

He was widely expected to face criminal charges under the Mann act which bars the transportation of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose” across state lines. But the criminal investigation ran into problems with the courtroom credibility of two key accomplice witnesses involved:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-departments-sex-trafficking-investigation-rep-matt-gaetz-seems-rcna49229

The case was formally closed in February 2023

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-14/what-are-the-investigations-into-matt-gaetz-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general

If confirmed, Gaetz would become the first Attorney General in US history to have previously been under Federal investigation for sexual trafficking and statutory rape. He was previously arrested for a felony DUI offence in Florida in 2008 but the charges were dropped, and the arresting officer fired after the intervention of his father - who was a Florida state senator.

[exchemist]

On 11/13/2024 at 9:56 PM, toucana said:

 

Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz - yes that Matt Gaetz - as his pick for Attorney General.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/13/politics/matt-gaetz-attorney-general/index.html

A guy who was recently under both criminal and Congressional Ethics Committee investigations for Mann Act offences involving the sexual trafficking of minors across state borders, and a 'legislator' who wants to abolish both the DOJ and the FBI.

🦇     🐐

     💩

[J.C.MacSwell]

Nice to see a politician determined to keep his campaign promises. Not sure of the details, as no one, including him no doubt, knows what they are...but he did promise stupid

[toucana]

According to a recent post on X, Vivek Ramaswamy who will be running the new DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) in tandem with Elon Musk, now wants to defund all federal programs with expired authorizations.

Quote

“We shouldn’t let the government spend money on programs that have expired. Yet that’s exactly what happens today: half a *trillion* dollars of taxpayer funds ($516B+) goes each year to programs which Congress has allowed to expire… “  @VivekRamaswamy - Nov 13

Brian Riedl, an economic policy expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute (a highly conservative think-tank) has posted a list of some of the largest expired programs that would be squarely in the crosshairs of any such cuts. The list includes the Veterans Health Care Eligibility, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, America’s Water Infrastructure Act - and many more.

Meidas Touch  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26mYtMsNX6Q

[Peterkin]

12 hours ago, TheVat said:

Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

What Corporation for Public Broadcasting? This is no longer a threat to funding; it's an existential threat. T***p has been threatening to revoke licenses and close schools. It all depends on how much damage he can do before the Ides of March and what V***e's real agenda is.

[CharonY]

Quote

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Thursday that former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) House Ethics Committee report “shouldn’t go public,” pushing back on pressure to release it after he was tapped to potentially serve as President-elect Trump’s attorney general.

“Well, it’s my understanding that it’s not supposed to go public. So, if it’s not supposed to under the rules, it shouldn’t go public,” Jordan told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4992351-jim-jordan-matt-gaetz-donald-trump-attorney-general-pick/

It's my understanding is such a weasel phrase. Especially as they should know the rules as part of their job.

5 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Nice to see a politician determined to keep his campaign promises. Not sure of the details, as no one, including him no doubt, knows what they are...but he did promise stupid

I mean, when you are right, you are right.

[CharonY]

On 11/13/2024 at 10:34 AM, Phi for All said:

FOX News host and former National Guard Captain Pete Hegseth is the nominee for SecDef, because the US probably won't need its military in the foreseeable future.

But they need a white supremacist, it seems (photos have emerged of him having white nationalist tattoos, which was apparently also flagged by the military).

[toucana]

Quote

115-254 FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018      6   9,286      5     7,070

This line from the list of federal programs with expired authorizations which Vivek Ramaswamy is threatening to axe refers to the Federal Aviation Administration, a subsection of the Department of Transport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration

It’s only responsible for air-traffic control throughout the whole of US airspace, and the safety certification of all civilian aircraft flown there, as well as issuing, suspending and revoking pilot certificates  - nothing important…

[CharonY]

On 11/9/2024 at 1:19 PM, nec209 said:

Do you think there is going to be less money going to science and medical research now because of Trump?

NASA and the Military normally gets more money under republicans than Democratic Party.

Some tidbits on  research:

Quote

And shaking up the NIH has fans. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic of mainstream medicine, has President-elect Donald Trump's ear. Over the weekend, Kennedy said he'd like to immediately replace 600 NIH employees.

"We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20 so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH, and 600 people are going to leave," Kennedy said while speaking at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Ariz.

(https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/nx-s1-5183014/trump-election-2024-nih-rfk)

 

While some of the issues they identified are correct later on in the article, the issue is that the GOP is only going to use it as a pretense to shoehorn in their agenda. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration dismantled the pandemic task force and claimed that it would create a leaner, more efficient system by cutting of bloat (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/no-white-house-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/). The pandemic has dramatically exposed that lie.

[swansont]

17 hours ago, iNow said:

If it hasn’t happened already, the more likely outcome is simply that the report gets leaked and published for full view by all by all of the various media outlets, 

“There is precedent for releasing an ethics report after a member has left Congress. In December 1987, the panel put out an unfinished rundown of its investigation into Rep. Bill Boner (D-Tenn.), who had resigned two months earlier to run for Nashville mayor, over his relationship with a government contractor.”

https://nypost.com/2024/11/15/us-news/house-speaker-mike-johnson-strongly-requests-ethics-panel-not-issue-report-on-matt-gaetz-sex-misconduct-allegations/

[CharonY]

17 hours ago, iNow said:

If it hasn’t happened already, the more likely outcome is simply that the report gets leaked and published for full view by all by all of the various media outlets, especially since:

 

 

Well, some like him enough (or are afraid of Trump)

Quote

Johnson called on the ethics panel to withhold the report shortly after returning from visiting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and said he plans to speak with the panel’s chairman, GOP Rep. Michael Guest. Gaetz, who resigned from Congress this week after Trump announced his intent to nominate him to serve as attorney general, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

“I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report because that is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set,” Johnson told reporters on Friday. The comments are a significant move by the House GOP leader to push to block the release of a report from a probe that is supposed to be separate from the speaker’s office.

[...]

A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed back on Johnson’s comments in a statement to CNN.

“There is longstanding precedent for releasing ethics investigation materials after a Member resigns, whether in the House or Senate. The now former Congressman shouldn’t be able to resign away an ethics investigation involving allegations of grave misconduct, especially when he will be nominated to be our country’s top law enforcement officer,” said Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“There is bipartisan support for the Senate Judiciary Committee having access to this information. Chair Durbin will continue pursuing it so members of the Committee can fulfill their constitutional obligation of advice and consent on this deeply problematic nominee.”

The ethics panel had been due to meet this week to vote on releasing a report addressing numerous allegations about Gaetz, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. But committee Republicans canceled a scheduled meeting on Friday with Democrats after meeting privately Thursday night.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics/johnson-ethics-report-gaetz/index.html

[swansont]

21 hours ago, TheVat said:

Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of its member stations are owned by non-profit organizations, including public school districts, colleges, and universities. NPR operates independently of any government or corporation, and has full control of its content.

All I can say is, if you like their content, please donate.  TFG and his minions could manage to scare off some corporate donors, so citizen donors will matter more.  

If NPR is going to publish crap like this, no thanks

“RFK Jr. wants to 'Make America Healthy Again.' He could face a lot of pushback”

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/15/nx-s1-5191947/trump-rfk-health-hhs

As if the pushback is because he wants to make the country healthy, rather than his batsh** crazy ideas about how to do it.

[CharonY]

26 minutes ago, swansont said:

If NPR is going to publish crap like this, no thanks

“RFK Jr. wants to 'Make America Healthy Again.' He could face a lot of pushback”

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/15/nx-s1-5191947/trump-rfk-health-hhs

As if the pushback is because he wants to make the country healthy, rather than his batsh** crazy ideas about how to do it.

Yeah the NPR article I linked above is a bit more nuanced, this one squarely presents a slice that, in isolation, is one of the less crazy ideas. At the same time, they are (not by chance I would guess) the most nebulous ones.

 

[TheVat]

9 hours ago, CharonY said:

It's my understanding is such a weasel phrase. Especially as they should know the rules as part of their job.

Yes.  And Gym Jordan is weasel in chief of the House. 

5 hours ago, swansont said:

There is precedent for releasing an ethics report after a member has left Congress. In December 1987, the panel put out an unfinished rundown of its investigation into Rep. Bill Boner (D-Tenn.), who had resigned two months earlier to run for Nashville mayor, over his relationship with a government contractor

There used to be a crazy idea that transparency in our houses of congress was a desirable feature of democracy.  And some surnames are a gift.  

2 hours ago, swansont said:

If NPR is going to publish crap like this, no thanks

“RFK Jr. wants to 'Make America Healthy Again.' He could face a lot of pushback”

All media publish some crap.  My experience of NPR is that this is not representative of their coverage for the most part.  I wonder if outlets are getting in that straining-to-be-neutral mode again, where they tiptoe around idiocy with too much delicacy.  NPR has been pretty good in other reportage on calling out harebrained kookiness 

[CharonY]

I suspect that given how harebrained folks are getting, even more reputable media will shift, too. After all, they will be getting  a new generation of journalists eventually and larger societal changes can only be slowed so much by incumbents.

 

[TheVat]

Kennedy is so annoying in his uneven levels of rationality - used to do valuable environmental law stuff, and has some good ideas about Big Ag, ultraprocessed food,  etc.  There was a time I could admire his spirit. Then he goes off on some WiFi causes cancer rant, or whatever the crackpot du jour is, and needs to be returned to the padded room.  It's really sad.  

 

Edited November 16 by TheVat

[iNow]

20 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Then he goes off on some WiFi causes cancer rant, or whatever the crackpot du jour is, and needs to be returned to the padded room.

Mercury poisoning and brain worms will tend to do that to a person. 

[CharonY]

I think the issue boils down to what we discussed elsewhere with regard to populism. There might be real concerns somewhere, but they build easy narratives which is frequently dismissive of facts or expert knowledge. That way everything can rolled into whatever solution one might like and/or simply use it to rail against... something.

A similar approach that techbros are doing.

 

[toucana]

Erstwhile Trump fanboi and accomplice Roger Stone on X just a week ago - some hope 😕

[CharonY]

Ok, can anyone tell me that we are not in bizarro world?