CONTEMPT. Wonkagenda For Tues., July 9, 2019
Senate races, robot dicks, and a stable genius. Your morning news brief!
Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the things wemaybe talking about today.
House Democratic leaders say they're going to file contempt charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for stonewalling congressional subpoenas and investigations into all the shady goings-on with the 2020 Census.
Yesterday Trump claimed that he's been bigly good for the environment and that his administration has been "good stewards of our public land," creating the "cleanest air" and "crystal clean" water, but tree hugging hippies are pissing all over Trump's lawn and arguing that he's trying to take credit for environmental policies enacted under the Obama administration. The New York Times has a brutal fact check on how the administration has spent the last two years giving handouts to fossil fuel industries and making America gross again. #ThanksObama.
Coal miners are reaching out to 2020 Democrats now that they've realized Trump's plan to make finite resources great again was all smoke and mirrors. The United Mine Workers of America is asking Democrats to tour coal mines with the hope that there's a place for them in the Green New Deal.
Later today a bunch of red states will argue before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, and a bunch of internal polling shows Republicans are worried this may blow up in their faces in 2020. A former House Republican leadership aide tells the Washington Post, "Even just bringing back the issue would benefit Democrats significantly, [giving] them all kinds of arguments about the president taking insurance away," and adding that Trump World is "really playing with fire."
E-cigarette behemoth Juul is getting in bed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now that states and municipalities are cracking down on teenagers sucking fruit-flavored robot dicks. In the wake of a ban on vaping in San Francisco, Politico reports Juul has doubled down on its lobbying and is pushing to raise the smoking age to 21, but I'd wager these companies are just trying to avoid more municipal bans (and the growing number of lawsuits that claim e-cigarette companies are marketing to kids ).
Two active-duty Marines have been arrested for ALLEGEDLY smuggling Mexican immigrants into California. The two men were stationed at Camp Pendleton and were apparently running a side hustle for extra cash. Interestingly enough, the Washington Post notes that this isn't the first time service members have tried to use their status to drive taco trucks full of anchor babies across the border.
Trump World is meddling in a local Pennsylvania election in a political gambit that could very likely blow up in their faces and cause them to lose the state entirely in 2020. Local Republicans are pissed and hoping the family will fuck off and let them do their thing, but Trump World is ignoring everyone (as usual).
The fundraising numbers for the second quarter are out and Sen. Elizabeth Warren has raked in a surprising $19.1 million despite not wasting time with high dollar fundraisers. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig is leading the pack with $24.8 million followed by Joe Biden, then Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Kamala Harris. Politico notes Warren's campaign is chugging along without any fundraising outreach, but it has also been operating without any outside polling operation, hoping it can stockpile resources and blitz early primary states.
Super rich guy Tom Steyer just announced #HesRunning to be the next old white guy vying for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
A new Morning Consult poll shows more people heard about Joe Biden being a creepy old dude than they heard about Trump raping a woman. Nerds think this is because audiences have become desensititized to news stories that call Trump out as a YUGE, rapey piece of shit.
Democrats in 2020 will be able to cast their caucus votes by phone in Iowa and Nevada, the state parties revealed yesterday. The DNC is hoping the horribly named "tele-caucus" will encourage more people to vote now that they don't even have to get off their asses.
HEY, KENTUCKY! Badass lady pilot and retired Marine lieutenant colonel Amy McGrath has announced she's challenging "Cocaine" Mitch McConnell for the Senate in 2020. Grab your coffee and a box of tissues and watch this tearjerker campaign ad. In an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe earlier, McGrath talked about being a moderate, and how Kentucky has consistently been relegated to "shithole country" status under McConnell's decades in Congress.
“The Letter" — Amy McGrath for U.S. Senate www.youtube.com
INDICTED Republican Scott Taylor, the asshole who ALLEGEDLY committed voter fraud in Virginia 2018 (and still lost his House race), has announced a challenge to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner. Rather than talk about how he paid staffers to cheat in the 2018 midterms, Taylor's campaign announcement highlights his career as a Navy SEAL, then implies that everyone else in the state leadership is a bunch of ass-grabbing racists (and he's probably not wrong!). In a social media post, Taylor writes, "I wouldn't be in this race if I didn't know it was possible," which kind of sounds like he's broadcasting his intention to cheat (again).
Trump's White House is so leaky that things just start dripping all over the press whenever it rains.
It’s official: The White House basement is flooding. https://t.co/f1DR6awE89
— Eamon Javers (@Eamon Javers) 1562594044.0
RUH-ROH! The Washington Post sent someone to talk to an admissions officer who interviewed Donald Trump when he was trying to get into Wharton and -- SHOCKER -- it turns out he wasn't really a stable genius at all! Trump's older brother had a friend at the school who was in charge of interviewing prospective students and, curiously enough, the school received a number of anonymous donations around the same time Trump was applying.
It might not seem like it, but parents of children murdered at the Sandy Hook massacre have been slowly reclaiming their lives from conspiracy peddling garbage monsters like Alex Jones by using the words of these soulless shitbags against them in the courts.
The Daily Show has a nice long 'splainery thing showing the interconnectedness of Trump's White House and Fox News. It's like a best-of clip show, but it has a point.
In the Foxhole Vol. 2 | The Daily Show www.youtube.com
And here's your morning Nice Time: IT's KEY, THE STUNT DOG! He's heckin' smart!
My Dog Reacts To Invisible Challenge LEVEL 2! www.youtube.com
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