Delaware Liberal

DL Open Thread: Thursday, April 27, 2023

El Somnambulo

Montana Legislator Barred For Being Transgender.  Merely one of several precursors-if good people don’t step forward:

The Montana House of Representatives took the extraordinary step on Wednesday of blocking a transgender lawmaker from the House floor for the remainder of the legislative session after an escalating standoff over her remarks on transgender issues in House debate.

The vote was 68 to 32 in the Republican-controlled chamber. The speaker adjourned the session immediately after the vote. The blocked lawmaker, Representative Zooey Zephyr, will still be allowed to cast votes during House proceedings for the remainder of the session, which concludes on May 5, but must do so remotely.

The move is the culmination of a weeklong battle between House leadership and Ms. Zephyr, who was barred from participating in deliberations on the House floor after she made impassioned comments during debate over a bill that would prohibit hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. The bill has since been sent to Gov. Greg Gianforte, who has indicated that he will sign it.

House Rethugs Poised To Tank Economy, According To R Policy Wonks:

A small group of conservative budget experts is cautioning House Republicans that brinkmanship over the nation’s borrowing limit could lead to economic disaster, warning of severe financial ramifications even as their own party ignores their advice.

In both public and private comments, a handful of GOP budget experts — Brian Riedl, who was an aide to former Ohio Republican senator Rob Portman; Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute; and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — have tried to counter the growing argument on the right that the debt ceiling can be breached with only minimal economic impact.

Those wonks appear at risk of losing the GOP debate, as House Republicans increasingly make clear that they will refuse to raise the debt limit unless President Biden agrees to massive spending cuts that he has so far rejected. On Wednesday, the House voted, largely along party lines, for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) plan advancing this approach. Conservatives within the GOP have been emboldened by the advice of a competing faction of right-wing policy analysts and economists, who have pushed GOP leaders to stay aggressive. Led by former Trump budget director Russ Vought, these advisers have maintained that the costs of inaction on the nation’s $31 trillion debt override the need to ensure the U.S. can pay all its bills.

Mouse Vs. Rat.  I’m betting on The Mouse. And its attorneys:

The Walt Disney Company has filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials. Disney accuses DeSantis with orchestrating a “campaign of government retaliation” against the company and violating its protected speech.

It’s the latest action in a feud that began more than a year ago when Disney’s former CEO said he’d work to overturn a law banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the schools. The law, the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” is called “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.

At DeSantis’ urging, Republican lawmakers passed a bill that stripped Disney of its self-governing authority. But before the law took effect, Disney signed a deal with its outgoing board allowing it to retain development rights on the 40-square mile district. It also included covenants that give Disney final say on any alterations to the property.

At a meeting Wednesday near Orlando, DeSantis’ handpicked board voted to invalidate that agreement. Moments later, Disney filed a 77-page lawsuit in federal court, charging DeSantis and other officials with violations of the contracts clause, the takings clause, due process and its First Amendment right to protected speech. In its lawsuit, Disney says, “This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.” The company is asking a federal judge to declare the board’s action “unlawful and unenforceable.”

This may well be the first time that I’m rooting for a corporate behemoth to prevail.  But, hey, I loved ‘Beauty And The Beast’, which my kids must’ve watched well over 100 times.

Tucker For President: Our Worst-Case Scenario?  Rick Wilson thinks that could be the case:

The most irresponsible thing you can do these days is look away from the worst-case scenario.” So says Rick Wilson. In the week Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, Wilson’s worst-case scenario is this: a successful Carlson campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

He says: “Tucker is one of the very small number of political celebrities in this country who has the name ID, the personal wealth, the stature to actually declare and run for president and in a Republican primary run in the same track Donald Trump did: the transgressive, bad boy candidate, the one who lets you say what you want to say, think what you want to think, act how you want to act, no matter how grotesque it is.

Might I add that the contrast between the ‘boyish’, whatever that means (my guess: terminally immature), Carlson, and the octogenarian Biden would be a lot starker than Biden vs. Cap’n Cheeseburger?  Just one more reason why not having a credible primary challenger to Ol’ Joe is a huge mistake.  I’ve mentioned Gretchen Whitmer, but I’m open to suggestions.

What do you want to talk about?

Exit mobile version