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In Praise of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…..Open Thread for June 8, 2019

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In a time when Democrats where supposed to be aimless…

A time when a there was supposed to be a ‘civil war’…

The party lawmakers have a leader that is steadfast, strong and holds her own against a President that seems to be going rogue ….

Nancy Pelosi has her stuff together…

She has helped the party gain strength…

The Democrats and the nation is better for her actions…

As great events unfold in American and world politics, I suggest that future historians will write that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is the most important, consequential and effective Speaker since Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.), one of the greatest Speakers who ever served in the House of Representatives.

In one of the most profound and powerful victories in modern times, Pelosi masterminded the earthshaking House Democratic victory in the 2018 midterm elections. Like Hillary Clinton, Pelosi was long the target of the kind of vindictive personal attacks that Republicans often launch against high-level Democratic women. But she forged ahead without fear, enhanced Democratic strengths, exploited Republican weaknesses, and won big.

From the moment she began developing her midterm strategy shortly after the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president, until the huge Democratic victory on Election Day 2018, Pelosi mastered Trump with devastating effectiveness and game-changing, history-making impact.

Since the Democratic midterm victory, Pelosi has been the effective leader of the opposition to Trump.  

Pelosi knows, and Trump knows, that she and House Democrats have the legislative power to block every Trump attempt to obtain any authorized or appropriated money or make any changes to the tax code. Pelosi knows, and Trump knows, that she and House Democrats have the power to initiate penetrating investigations of wrongdoing. Pelosi knows, and Trump knows, that on a wide range of important issues when she says no, she will prevail.

It drives Trump crazy, as a man who has problems dealing with powerful women, that on countless issues he needs permission from Pelosi and House Democrats before moving on critical fronts. Pelosi knows this and plays this card brilliantly.

Ernest Hemingway advised young writers to write one true sentence. One true sentence regarding Nancy Pelosi is that after besting Trump decisively in the midterm elections she has bested him, far more often than not, when the powerful Speaker went head to head with the powerful president…..

More from Brent  Budowsky @ The Hill…. 

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  2. I read the Irish Post story and it seems to be a giant nothing: the lads didn’t have any cash on them but said they’d sort it out later. The landlady of the pub in Doonbeg didn’t express any worries, and the Trumps seem to be locally popular since their nearby golf club employs 300 locals.

    And everyone knows that I carry no torches for the Trumps; the President is about the worst catastrophe to hit the country (and innocent bystanders) since the Great Depression.

  3. Trump deserves his share of the credit for the bipartisan sentencing reform.

    But he walked out of at least three impending deals with congressional Democrats:
    DACA,
    Gun Control, and
    Infrastructure.

    So the “threat” to stop talking to the Democratic caucuses is hardly one that strikes terror into their hearts.

  4. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party) has held talks with European leaders as part of a visit to Brussels.

    Ms Sturgeon met EU President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier before making a speech on European policy.

    She said the speech would restate her government’s backing for continued EU membership and shared European values.

    The SNP leader also said the Foreign Office had been “childish” for cutting off diplomatic support for the trip.

    Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – one of the candidates for the Conservative leadership – had asked that the Scottish government provide its own logistical support for the visit, due to concerns Ms Sturgeon was using the trip to undermine UK policies on Brexit and promote Scottish independence.

    Talks over the UK’s exit from the EU have been deadlocked for months, and have now taken a back seat to the leadership contest which will decide who replaces Theresa May as prime minister.

    All 10 candidates in the running have pledged to deliver Brexit, but are divided on how and when to do so.

    Ahead of her speech at the European Policy Centre, Ms Sturgeon said people in Scotland had “shown that they comprehensively reject Brexit and want to remain as a European nation”….

    (BBC) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48580971

      • When Scotland narrowly voted against independence in a 2014 referendum, one question was would she still enjoy the benefits of EU membership.

        The Europeans at the time said that an independent Scotland would first have to apply to join the EU (and not be grandfathered in by the UK’s accession in 1975).

        Now the question has been flipped, since Brexit means the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland) would not enjoy the benefits of full EU membership, Scottish Nationalists, like First Minister Sturgeon (SNP), are arguing that one reason to leave the UK is to let an independent Kingdom of Scotland apply to rejoin the European Union.

              • An Arizona jury on Tuesday said it was unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a U.S. human rights activist who was accused of hiding undocumented migrants, but said he was offering them humanitarian aid….

                More..

                • Judicial nominee withdraws after GOP senators accuse him of anti-Catholic bias
                  Michael Bogren, nominated to serve on a U.S. District Court in Michigan, had defended the City of East Lansing sued by a farm that refused to allow same-sex marriages on its property.

                  More…

  6. St. Louis Blues–Stanley Cup Champions!!
    First time in 52 year history of the team!

  7. Boris Johnson has said he will take part in Tuesday’s televised Tory leadership debate on the BBC.

    The frontrunner in the contest to replace Theresa May said the programme, which will be shown after the second round of MPs’ voting, was the right forum to debate the big issues.

    Rival candidates have accused Mr Johnson of avoiding media scrutiny.

    He said he was “very keen” on TV debates but viewers might not like too much “blue-on-blue action”.

    It is unclear whether Mr Johnson will take part in Sunday’s planned debate on Channel 4, with his team reportedly having reservations about its proposed format.

    The other five candidates still in the race become Tory leader and prime minister – Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, Rory Stewart and Dominic Raab – have urged Mr Johnson to take part in every TV debate.

    They say the next prime minister should be subjected to the fullest possible scrutiny.

    ‘Cacophonous’

    Mr Johnson, a former Foreign Secretary, won the first Tory MPs’ ballot for the contest on Thursday with 114 votes, with his nearest rival – Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – getting 43….

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48638758

      • Boris Johnson is a hard-line Brexiteer, as soon as possible and even without a deal.

        I don’t know very much about the feelings of Tory MPs or of the tens of thousands of paid-up members of the Conservative Party, but I’d rate his chances as very good, as good as or better than the other candidates’.

        • The chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum has told the BBC he will resign his party membership if Boris Johnson wins the leadership race.

          Mohammed Amin said the MP was not “sufficiently moral” to be PM.

          He criticised Mr Johnson’s comments about burkas and his denial that he had mentioned potential Turkish membership of the EU when campaigning for Brexit.

          But MP Priti Patel defended Mr Johnson, who had apologised for any offence caused and had defended women’s rights.

          Johnson tops first Tory leadership poll
          Mr Johnson topped the poll of 10 candidates running to replace Theresa May as party leader and prime minister on Thursday, winning 114 votes – more than a third of all Tory MPs. This more than twice the support for his nearest rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who received 43 votes.

          The remaining six candidates – following Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s withdrawal on Friday – will face another ballot on Tuesday in which they will need to secure 33 votes to stay in the race.

          Mr Amin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I have been a Conservative Party member for over 36 years. We don’t expect our politicians, our prime ministers, to be saints but we do require a basic level of morality and integrity.

          “And of all of the candidates in the Conservative Party leadership election, Boris Johnson is the only one that I believe fails that test. And I’m not prepared to be a member of a party that chooses him as its leader.”

          ‘Insufficient concern’
          He said Mr Johnson had chosen “to mock Muslim women who wear [the] niqab and burka for his own purposes” and had “denied point blank that he had ever said that Turkey was joining the European Union”.

          Ballots will continue until the list is whittled down to two leadership contenders, who will then go to a party-wide vote.

          When it was put to him that Mr Johnson was popular with MPs and party members, Mr Amin said: “A lot Germans thought that Hitler was the right man for them.”

          He added: “As far as I am concerned, [Mr Johnson] has insufficient concern about the nature of truth for me to ever be a member of a party that he leads.”

          In a Daily Telegraph article in August 2018, Mr Johnson said full-face veils should not be banned, but it was “absolutely ridiculous” women chose to “go around looking like letter boxes”. He also compared them to looking like “bank robbers”.

          Former cabinet minister Priti Patel, who is backing Mr Johnson’s leadership bid, said she “took issues with some of the points that were being made” in the interview with Mr Amin and said the Telegraph article had been “a defence of women’s right to wear whatever they like”….

          https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48634858

  8. The People’s Vote campaign have announced a Summer of campaigning which will take in many towns around the country, Labour and Conservative conferences and another big march in London on October 12th.

    I travelled down from Scotland for the march last October. I was gutted that I couldn’t go when a million took to the streets in March.

    The campaign set out their plans:

    These protests will mobilise all those who feel their voice is being ignored by politicians hell-bent on imposing the hardest possible form of Brexit on the country without the public being given final say.

    This will be the most intense and sustained programme of campaigning activity undertaken yet by a campaign that earlier this year organised a march that brought 1 million people on to the streets of London. Now a series of rallies and actions, including at the party conferences, will reach every corner of the country before a vast march and rally in London on October 12.

    The “Let Us Be Heard” campaign is designed to generate relentless popular political pressure ahead of the crunch decision on Brexit that will decide our country’s future. At its heart is the recognition it is vital our voice is heard first in the towns and cities of Britain, including areas that voted Leave in 2016, before being taken back to Westminster in the autumn.

    The protests will begin with a huge rally in Leeds on June 22 – three years almost to the day since the last referendum – before moving to 15 towns and cities including Sunderland, Luton, Newport and Glasgow. The campaign will then head to the Labour and Conservative Party conferences in Manchester and Brighton, before reaching a climax with our fourth People’s Vote march in London on October 12.

    It is being organised by the People’s Vote in partnership with the Independent Final Say campaign. Key organisations behind it include the two youth groups that have contributed so much to our success – For Our Future’s Sake (FFS) and Our Future, Our Choice (OFOC) – as well as the European Movement, Open Britain, Wales for Europe, Scotland for a People’s Vote, People’s Vote North, Wales for Europe, Ethnic Minorities for a People’s Vote, LGBT+ for a People’s Vote and more than 100 grassroots groups from Aberdeen to Cornwall.

    * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron’s Musings

    https://www.libdemvoice.org/save-the-date-october-12th-for-a-massive-peoples-vote-march-in-london-61146.html

  9. The Hong Kong government has suspended its highly controversial plan to allow extraditions to mainland China, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has announced.

    She had previously refused to scrap the bill despite mass protests from Hong Kong residents.

    “I feel deep sorrow and regret that deficiencies in our work – and various other factors – have stirred up substantial controversies,” she said.

    Protesters expressed concern at increased Chinese influence.

    Ms Lam said she had heard the calls for her government to “pause and think”.

    She also admitted that the “explanation and communication” of the bill had not been adequate.

    She said her goal was “the greatest interests of Hong Kong”, which involved first restoring peace and order.

    The government had argued the proposed extradition bill would “plug the loopholes” so that the city would not be a safe haven for criminals, following a murder case in Taiwan….

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48645342

    • I do NOT believe for one minute that if the overlords in China want extradition of Hong Kong’s citizens?

      It will come….

        • While Warren posts gains in most polling…
          In the RCP average Bernie Sanders keeps second place….
          Warren IS in the first tier again….

          Biden lead’s the two by roughly 2-1….

    • james, you can “quote” me if you want. I really didnt feel like I wrote much interesting this week.

      • I never have understood CGs seeming “reluctance” to have his blog posts posted here.

        I mean basically they are a recap of previous arguments he has made here.

        They’re usually a good read so I’m not sure why he doesn’t want them run here.

        • As I understand it, Corey likes to have the link posted here instead of a copied article so that his website gets more hits. Correct me if I am wrong.

          • Could be Z….

            Does his HHR people check HIS site?

            I KNOW they don’t wander over too here…

            They’s be ALL OVER us here like they where a few years ago when CG invited them…

            They WHERE from another planet…

            • Again, you asked me to invite them. About two people came over. I thought they would jump in the debate. Instead , they parodied liberals. I thought it was dumb, but it probably gave them good practice for abandoning principles in favor of Trump.

              Last year, NYCMike made his way over and represented himself and numerous site glitch issues aside, decided he didn’t like it here.

              • It’s NOT ur fault CG…..
                They where just off the walls…

                I liked NYCMike here….
                Seem to get tried of fighting the views here though….

          • No, I don’t care about views and hits. Never have. Not asking for or trying to make money. I just have a blog to ramble and “vent.”

              • Well, you made a fortune on this site years ago. I vaguely recall you had ads for a Russian escort service?

                • Ha, ha, ha…..

                  Z?

                  I had Google Adsense for about 3 months…..

                  Made $300 a m month for that time…

                  Then the MF’s cut me off in the middle of the month…
                  Said I was beating the system with hits….
                  That was it…
                  That was 9 years ago….
                  I hated the knife and Russian girls ads….

                  • This place has cost me over the last 9 years and I’m gonna keep at it for as long as I can….

                    I thank everyone who comes here and helps this place be what it is….

                    We’d ALL like more commenters…

                    But we’ll stick with what we have….

                    Every post goes out to about 500 people…

    • Highlight from CG….

      Each week, my incredulity continues to grow in not knowing what to say about Trump….

      …

      I wish I had the energy to expand on all of this. I just know that had Barack Obama suggested he could do exactly what Trump said he could do, my fellow conservatives would have called for an arrest to be made in the White House on the spot….

      More…

      • Conservative commentator Rick Wilson was even more colorful in describing how his fellow conservative would have reacted…

        “You would lose your fuckin shit”

        “You would have blood spurting out of your goddamn eyes!”

        That about says it all and yes,they are all damnable hypocritical bastards who don’t give a damn about the “Constitution “ (which they are always blabbering about ),”values”(they have none except for some weird hatred of anyone they refer to as “librul” ) and a macabre anger at “those people” (which essentially encompasses anyone different from themselves.)

  11. You keep asking and the reason I haven’t answered is that I really don’t know enough to know.

    I think the prospects for a People’s Vote (2nd referendum) are not bright, but it’s very unclear whether the U.K. will withdraw with or without a deal.

    No deal will cause chaos on the border between Northern Ireland (U.K.) and the Republic (still in the E.U.). But no one seems to like the so-called Irish backstop in the current deal on offer, because it might extend E.U. rules (with no British participation) indefinitely.

    The odds of the E.U. accepting something other than Theresa May’s deal are also pretty slim.

    And we don’t yet know for certain who will lead the Conservative Party as prime minister (nor do we know yet who will succeed Sir Vince Cable as leader of the Liberal Democrats).

  12. Today’s news concerning the withdrawal of Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan from confirmation as Secretary was out of the blue.

    I’m having difficulty understanding why this information hasn’t surfaced sooner.

    And what was Shanahan thinking in allowing his name to be submitted in the first place?Did had really think none of this would come out?

    To now say that he was putting his family first at this point is disingenuous in the extreme.Had he never allowed his name to be put forward ,they would not be subjected to the media onslaught they are now suffering through.

    Blind ambition strikes again.

    • i guess the guy got this far without the media attention….
      After all this IS the Trump era…
      The FBI background check is said to have taken a long time…
      someone KNEW the guy had issues….
      it’s no coincidence that first media reports come out about his tenure as Acting was vey long…S piece comes out about him…. and all the sudden the family problem’s hit the media….
      mere conjecture…
      But it seems like the fix was in for him to not get confirmed….

    • See Jack?

      I told ya media can curtain some of their Trump coverage…..He, he, he…

      CNN cut away from its coverage of President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign kickoff Tuesday night shortly after he spurred the crowd to chant “CNN sucks.”

      Just minutes into his rally speech Tuesday at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., Trump referred to his 2015 campaign announcement as “a defining moment in America history,” adding to “ask them right there” as he pointed to the media covering the event.

      The crowd then chanted “CNN sucks,” a line that has become a staple at Trump campaign events, before Trump said that “there is a lot of fake news back there” and that the “amount of press we have tonight reminds me of the Academy Awards before it went political and their ratings went down the tubes.”

      CNN then cut away from its live broadcast roughly six minutes in….

      More…

    • Trump does it AGAIN..z
      the advertised ICE sweep of ‘millions’ that ICE didn’t know about is off…..

  14. Another day

    Another Lie.

    Trump just makes it up as he goes along,confident that the idiots in the Republican Party will eat it up.

    He’s Right!

    They don’t give a damn if any of this stuff happens.They just like hearing their Leader mouth off cause it pisses off the “ libruls” and the media.Thats all they care about.

    While I detest Trump,I have a grudging admiration for how he treats Republicans with the cold,cynical contempt they deserve.

      • Retired baseball legend David Ortiz has been moved out of intensive care at a Boston hospital, his wife said Saturday…..

        More…

      • Buttigieg has trouble back in South Bend….

        …As the 150 or so demonstrators circled in, the event billed as a march actually spent its first 40 minutes in a tense discussion in front of police headquarters on West Sample Street, featuring shouts, expletives and raw emotions.

        The rally was another gathering this week in the wake of Sunday’s shooting of Eric Logan, 54, by Sgt. Ryan O’Neill in the parking lot of the Central High Apartments. While responding to a call for someone breaking into vehicles, O’Neill confronted Logan, who reportedly had a knife. O’Neill shot Logan when he went toward the police officer, officials have said….

        More…

  15. Former Pennsylavanja Congressman and Navy Admiral Joe Sestak has joined the Democratic Presidential race.

    I always liked the guy, but don’t see what he adds to the race.

    Military vets? We already have Buttigieg and Seth Moulton

    Appeal to PA? Biden has that covered.

    We’ll see if he takes off or not. At this point I’m betting on the latter.

    • I expect this to go nowhere….
      Trump has here back and Conway has been sighted before for being toooo political while being on the government payroll….

      The House Oversight Committee will vote on Wednesday to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway for testimony connected to her violations of the Hatch Act if she does not voluntarily show up to the committee’s hearing….

      More…

    • Hmmmmm?….

      If President Trump could change one thing about his presidency, it would be appointing Jeff Sessions as his first attorney general.

      “If you would have one do-over as president, what would it be?” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked the president in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

      Trump answered, “Well, it would be personnel.”

      “I would say if I had one do-over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one,” Trump said.

      The Alabama Republican was the first US senator to embrace Trump’s campaign….

      More…

      • Humorously,Trump supporters in Alabama are urging Sessions to run for his old Senate seat to head off Roy Moore.

        This is the world of Trump though.In response he would probably say that Sessions was a great Senator just a crummy AG!

  16. Trump in a very recent interview with Chuck Todd said that his biggest mistake as President was appointing Jeff Seesssion as AG. I suspect that Sessions hasn’t forgotten how Trump treated him. I don’t see Trump endorsing Sesssions.

    • Op-Research….

      “As a presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has often defended his vote for a controversial 1994 crime bill as a hold-your-nose compromise that included measures popular within the Democratic Party, such as a ban on assault weapons. As a result, Sanders’ support for the massive anti-crime package hasn’t come under the same level of scrutiny that has at times stuck to other Democratic candidates,” NBC News reports.

      “But an NBC News review of his past statements shows that Sanders also backed some of the legislation’s key get-tough-on-crime provisions, which he now says ‘created a very broken system,’ — a part of his public record that may surprise some Sanders supporters.”

      Politicalwire….

  17. This thread already has about 90 comments (on wildly-different topics). It may be time for a new one.

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