From The New Yorker:
m
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Different Slant on Arizona GOP "Cuckoo's Nest" > FULL BULLSHIT They're liars, in other words, not psychos.
". . .The AZ GOP is full of crap. Copyright concerns didn't suddenly materialize between when the tweet was posted and when the backlash began. No DMCA takedown was issued over the tweet, nor the image within it. The tweet was taken down over the backlash.
AZ GOP Goes Full Bullshit: Claims It took Down Violence-Inciting Tweet Over Copyright Concerns
If you're looking for what the meltdown of a major political institution looks like in real time, you need look only to how the GOP is behaving in the wake of Donald Trump's decisive electoral loss. This trickle down freak-out was somewhat predictable, with nearly everyone agreeing that a Trump loss would not see a classy exit by the soon-to-be former President. But I'm not sure anyone would have predicted that the Republican Party writ large would refuse to admit what is an obvious electoral defeat, would seek to overturn a legitimate election in which they picked up all kinds of seats in the House of Representatives, nor cuddle up with all kinds of crazy actors wielding bizarre and easily disproven conspiracy theories.
More likely, they are simply cynical enough to play up the conspiracy theories in order to rev up their voters for future elections, hamper a Biden administration, and otherwise make life as difficult on the party that won the presidency as humanly possible. They're liars, in other words, not psychos.
Case in point would be the audacious set of tweets sent out by the Arizona GOP recently. Tweets which, referencing a Rambo movie of all things, very much incite violence.
That account followed up on that tweet, indicating that Trump followed that creed and asking if any of its followers did as well. Sadly, many responded in the affirmative, appearing to indicate that there are folks out there ready to die for the cause of Donald Trump. Unsurprisingly, a large number of people both on Twitter and in public, including many public officials, many of which are Republicans, lost their collective shit over the tweet. The backlash was swift and severe, with condemnation over a tweet that appeared to actively incite violence coming from all political corners.
Except the AZ GOP now also can't take any credit for taking down the tweet, since it's indicated that the tweet wasn't a problem save the copyright concerns. It's the worst of all worlds, in other words.
But the most important aspect of this is, again, just how cynical it all is. The GOP knows Trump's claims of fraud are absurd. But they'll use them anyway to try to score political points. And if someone in, say, the home state of Gabbie Giffords has to get shot in the meantime, then so be it.
Pulp & Circumstances: New COVID Relief Bill is 5,593 Pages
Now really - Who knows what's in it or how much time would it take to READ IT ALL?
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Story from Fox News:
Congress had six hours to read a 6,000 page bill, AOC calls it 'hostage-taking'
The previous record for the length of legislation was the 2,847-page tax reform bill of 1986 — about one-half the size of Monday’s behemoth
"The House of Representatives and Senate passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill on Monday after lawmakers were given about six hours to review the nearly 6,000-page bill when it went live online at 2 p.m.
COVID RELIEF PACKAGE FEATURES HORSE RACING SAFETY LEGISLATION
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., was quick to blast the short timeframe, arguing lawmakers "have not read this bill."
"It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours," she tweeted. "This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking."
She pointed out that the public also needs to be given a chance to see the bill with enough time to contact their representatives to let them know how they feel.
"Members are reeling right now because they don’t have time to consult with their communities," she added.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took to Twitter to say that Ocasio-Cortez "is right."
Cruz tweeted earlier that it is "ABSURD" to have "a $2.5 trillion spending bill negotiated in secret and then—hours later—demand an up-or-down vote on a bill nobody has had time to read." . .
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., tweeted that "no one will be able to read it all in its entirety."
"Special interests win. Americans lose," he said.
Biggs also put out a Twitter poll to his more than 267,000 followers asking whether members of Congress should vote on a 6,000-page bill without reading it in its entirety. . .
The bill includes $600 direct payments for individuals making less than $75,000 per year and to couples making up to $150,000 per year. The total allocated for the checks in the legislation is $166 billion, far less than the $1,200 checks the government sent earlier this year and what some members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Ark., wanted this time around.
It also allocates $82 billion to education, with $54 billion for elementary and secondary; $23 billion for universities; $4 billion in a Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund; and about $1 billion to Native American schools.
The legislation also includes a $300 per week federal unemployment benefit which would expire on March 14, 2021, potentially setting up a showdown between President-elect Biden and congressional Republicans on whether to extend it. The provision will cost the taxpayers $120 billion.
In addition, the bill contains $284 billion in funding for the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which helped businesses through government lockdowns earlier this year that could be reimposed as COVID-19 cases surge. The bill makes PPP loans tax-exempt, and includes an additional $41 billion for other small-business programs.
The sweeping bill also contains $25 billion in rental assistance, $15 billion for theaters and other live venues, $82 billion for local schools, colleges and universities, and $10 billion for child care.
The package also carries numerous clean-energy provisions sought by Democrats with fossil fuel incentives favored by Republicans, $7 billion to increase access to broadband, $4 billion to help other nations vaccinate their people, $14 billion for cash-starved transit systems, $1 billion for Amtrak and $2 billion for airports and concessionaires.
In addition, Congress is set to vote on a $1.4 trillion measure to fund the government through Sept. 30. The shutdown would take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
The Senate Historical Office said the previous record for the length of legislation was the 2,847-page tax reform bill of 1986 — about one-half the size of Monday’s behemoth.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche, Tyler Olson, Jason Donner, Chad Pergram, Sha Smith, Ben Florance and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The other five senators who voted against the package were
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla.,
Mike Lee, R-Utah,
Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.,
Rand Paul, R-Ky., and
Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
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