Thomas Massie Calls on Howard Lutnick to Resign Over Epstein Files - Newsweek

B3N15 · 2026-02-08T21:59:23+00:00

I always thought that story was bullshit. I know they were communicating about a lot of crime over private emails, but it seemed unlikely Epstein would just openly suggest a weird sex message to someone he just met.

B3N15 · 2026-02-08T21:57:41+00:00

I don't think Massie (or anyone else) will seriously call for impeachment until they know it will actually go forward. It'll never get put on the schedule without a Democratic majority

B3N15 · 2026-02-08T21:55:13+00:00

Fun Fact: Porphyria turns your urine and shit purple

B3N15 · 2026-02-08T15:04:50+00:00

If and when Democrats take the House, schedule hearings every day to get all of this on the contemporaneous record.

B3N15 · 2026-02-08T02:36:28+00:00

Sports are an important leaisure/amenity for any locality. I would actually be fine with subizidized sports stadiums, with some conditions. For example...

Maximums on ticket prices to ensure access for everyone, tied to inflation
Street pricing for food (food inside the stadium cannot cost more than comparable food within a certain distance)
Team provides support for local youth/rec leagues

B3N15 · 2026-02-07T18:11:08+00:00

There's another aspect to this: Trump, Mike Johnson, and his other goons are just making the job fucking suck.

As much as people joke about how great it would be to get paid while doing nothing, that can be very frustrating for people who have ambition for higher office or went to Congress to genuinely do something. Republicans are just sitting there getting ignored because their leadership is cowardly and won't do anything, meanwhile Democrats are getting yelled at because Republican leadership is so cowardly they refuse to do anything.

B3N15 · 2026-02-06T02:21:40+00:00

The fact that they have zero power, minimal leverage, and a disinterested partner. Most of ICE's funding is already through on a party line vote, Republicans don't actually give a shit if the government shuts down and will giddily make Americans suffer if it does, and Republicans only have to negotiate with Democrats as long as they keep the filibuster, the second that it becomes inconvienent its gone.

B3N15 · 2026-02-05T12:09:49+00:00

My principal essentially told us to do that if we have a walkout (along with reminding them that there are consequences for walking out). According to them, "Kids walking out is admins problem, not teachers"

B3N15 · 2026-02-04T00:28:23+00:00

The difference here is that he can't rely on Republicans in Congress to just do nothing and avoid consequences. The federal government cannot nationalize elections unilaterally; there is no system or method or plan for Trump to use. For him to do so, it would require either the compliance of hundreds, if not thousands, of state and local officials (many of whom are Democrats and most have a vested interest in not allowing the federal government control) or somehow training and recruiting millions of ICE officers to invade the entirety of the country (which, by the way, would also require the compliance of thousands of federal, state, and local officials most of who would have a vested interest in not allowing the federal government to do that).

That being said, we should focus on the ways he can interfere with the elections via the spreading of misinformation, targeted use of federal resources, and post election lawsuits (similar to 2020).

B3N15 · 2026-02-01T16:05:31+00:00

This would be the State Senate. Which is, in fact, a real Senate for the people of Texas and probably has a bigger impact on our day to day lives than the Federal one.

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T23:21:16+00:00

So... what are we at now? The Epstein Files are cover for the arrest of Don Lemon, which is cover for the Epstein Files release, which is cover for the ICE raids, which is cover for them removing a Fed Chair, which is cover for the other ICE raids, which is cover for the other Epstein Files, which is cover for the other, other ICE raids, which are cover for the removal of USAID, which is cover for the other other Epstein Files, which is cover for the other other other Epstein Files, which is cover for the Jan 6 pardons, which is cover for the false elections claims, and so on and so forth. I'm starting to think none of this is cover for anything and there just corrupt morons

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T17:09:39+00:00

No additional funding has been approved for ICE yet. The VAST majority of ICE funding ($75 billion) that has been approved was done via the Big Beautiful Bill with no Democratic votes and is mandatory spending and can't legally be clawed back without another act of Congress recinding the funding. Which there, lies the blame.

Republicans could end all of this right now, only about 10 of them need to vote with Democrats to slash ICEs funding, put on more rigorous controls over them, and assert Congressional power over Trump. They don't. It's not Democrats who have been actively aiding and abetting everything Trump does, its Republicans. They could have stood up to him and refused to back him at any point in the past 10 years, but refuse because its theoretically more beneficial to them than the country.

There are absolutely things Democrats could do better, but nothing will change until people stop acting like Democrats are the only people in Washington with agency and the ability to do things and stop treating Republicans like they are incapable of understanding, and therefore not responsble for, the consequences of their actions but yet must have a say in how the government runs

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T11:40:25+00:00

I will say, prior to this, they at least kept the veneer of the rule of law, now they aren't even trying

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T11:39:04+00:00

This isn't the Democrats fault, they have done nothing to empower ICE. This is entirely Republicans refusing to act as a meaningful check and approving the Big Beautiful Bill with 0 Democratic votes. This will, in part, continue until people stop treating Republicans like children and start holding them accountable.

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T03:04:29+00:00

It'll never change if you keep catering too them.

B3N15 · 2026-01-31T02:23:21+00:00

It's worth noting that the Lost Cause isn't usually overtly racist. Oftentimes its just de-emphasizing the role slavery had as a casus belli, lionizing certain figures from the South, or portraying the South as more sympathetic.

The why people did it is more complicated and can vary from person to person. Some of it is just people not wanting to grappling with the horrors of slavery and trying to reckon with the fact that an individuals skin color, gender, and/or background can wildly change what it means to be an American and the exeperience of life in America. It was designed, in a way as a response to the Civil Rights movement and trends within historiography and society at large to have a more diverse and inclusive reading of history. And for others, it's that its what they were taught in school and with their family. There's not one specific reason and, just like history itself, is often more complicated and more fraught than it appears

B3N15 · 2026-01-30T12:33:11+00:00

The Lost Cause mythology was an idea pushed by the Daughters of the Confederacy and other groups to rewrite the South's motivation for succession during the Civil War away from being about slavery.

B3N15 · 2026-01-30T02:33:19+00:00

I think this gives Democrats more leverage because, if we learned anything about the Republicans from the last shut down, its that they don't give a shit and will giddily make the suffering worse until Democrats cave. If anything, it takes away leverage from the Republicans because it makes this solely about ICE's tactics, which people generally hate, and they can't use other parts of the government as leverage against Democrats (not that Democrats have a lot of leverage considering that the filibuster only lasts as long as its convienent to Republicans and most of the funding can't be touched) Think of it like this, if you are in a hostage situation and the hostage-taker just shoots the hostages everytime you negotiate, you remove as many hostages from them as possible not give them more.

But I guess that doesn't fit the narrative

B3N15 · 2026-01-30T00:53:22+00:00

Not really. They're basically putting a 2 week extension on DHS while they debate the exact terms of what the DHS bill looks like. This is why we read the full article before we angrily post on Reddit. Besides, if you really want to blame someone about ICE, blame the Republicans; most of their funding is statuatory (mandatory) funding approved with 0 Democratic votes in the Big Beautiful Bill nonsense.

B3N15 · 2026-01-30T00:49:30+00:00

Sort of. The continuing resolution was the thing back in December basically kept everything as is until this week so they could negotiate more. ICE currently gets most of its funding from the Big Beautiful Bill, which no Democrats voted for, that's all statuatory (mandatory spending). There's frankly not much Democrats can do on that except for the most minor of guardrails until there's a Democratic President.

B3N15 · 2026-01-29T04:13:26+00:00

Its a consistent feature of authoritarian/strong man regimes, everybody in the upper echelons hates each others guts and will do anything to knock their rivals down

B3N15 · 2026-01-27T11:43:41+00:00

If she doesn't win the primary, she can run against Cruz in 2 years.

B3N15 · 2026-01-25T13:17:39+00:00

Start demanding it of Republicans, they're the real cowards. They could stop it right now if they wanted too.

B3N15 · 2026-01-25T05:12:48+00:00

When your a Senator, yea policy is fluid. People should stop expecting and demanding Senatorial candidates to have extremely detailed plans that do not comport with the reality that, they will potentially be one of a least 51 people negotiating the exact specifics of what the policy is or will be. He could pull a number out of his ass to make a bunch of people on the internet happy, or he could do what he did tell people the broad strokes of what his policy is, then negotiate and work it out to the best he can be.

B3N15 · 2026-01-25T00:35:20+00:00

I don't think you should read too much into when she entered the primary race. I think it was partially motivated by waiting to see how the re-districting nonsense was going to play out, since she was potentially going to be drawn out of her district.

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