Senate Republicans vote to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule forbidding forced arbitration clauses in customer bank contracts. And they did it at night, without warning, because that's the only way for cowards to serve evil anymore. But Democrats deserve a big chunk of the blame for all of this, for utterly failing to use their power on behalf of their constituents all these years, which has left them with the prostrate Congressional minorities they now have.
Want to read something really depressing? Molly Ball at The Atlantic describes how the centrist Democrats at Third Way went on a "listening tour" of the midwest, but only seem to have heard the things they wanted to hear. And was it a thick-headed racist or ball-swinging sexist who finally made the Third Way hack throw up her hands? No, of course not -- it was the organic farming community and their alleged sense that "it was right and everybody else wasn’t" that got her hackles up. Typical. And Democrat politicos will listen to this self-serving swill and continue to lose races to Trumpholes.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, the Arizona Senate race is not in any way a "toss-up" pretty much regardless of Sen. Flake's retirement. And if you're imagining that Republicans are screwed because they won't find "a first-tier candidate who is acceptable to both establishment and Trump Republicans," then you'll be in for a surprise. Arizona Republicans will serve up the Trumphole Kelli Ward, and because it's Arizona, she'll beat the center-right Democrat who "can win." I mean, when you read that "Democrats would like nothing more than a Sinema-Ward general election," you should be scared.
The Union of Concerned Scientists provides "The Disinformation Playbook," a helpful guide to "How Business Interests Deceive, Misinform, and Buy Influence at the Expense of Public Health and Safety." The short list: they fake scientific research, they go all blitzkrieg on actual scientists, they pretend there are "other opinions" about science when there really aren't, they "buy credibility" via alliances with "academia and professional societies," and they flat-out manipulate government officials. You already knew or suspected most of these, but it's still nice to have the other team's playbook.
Finally, The Guardian tells us (because why should our own media tell us?) all about the Republican Mayor of Georgetown, Texas whose city gets all its electricity from renewable energy sources. Not because he's a tree-hugger, either: he found the prices of gas and wind and solar to be about the same, which is where it's been trending for years, but he also found the renewable energy providers willing to offer longer contracts, because that's what new technologies do when they're smart. Result: exactly the kind of clear-eyed decision-making of which most other politicians seem to be completely incapable. Think we can prompt Mr. Ross to mount a primary challenge to Ted Cruz? Or Greg Abbott?
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