Octopus Overlords

Remus West wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:08 pm Can we all just agree that we are fucked if for any reason one of the "liberal" judges retires or dies at any point while the Republicans control the Senate? Timing doesn't matter. I'm sure they have something set up for if it happens seconds before they are supposed to turn over the keys. Wouldn't surprise me if they have some plan in place to delay handing control over if it even looks likely to happen.

Formix wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:48 pm

Remus West wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:08 pm Can we all just agree that we are fucked if for any reason one of the "liberal" judges retires or dies at any point while the Republicans control the Senate? Timing doesn't matter. I'm sure they have something set up for if it happens seconds before they are supposed to turn over the keys. Wouldn't surprise me if they have some plan in place to delay handing control over if it even looks likely to happen.

Are you kidding? At this point my biggest fear is that something happens to Joe.

El Guapo wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:29 am I think in general Biden's not inclined to do court packing...

Little Raven wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 11:45 pm

El Guapo wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:29 am I think in general Biden's not inclined to do court packing...

Of course not. Biden is not an idiot, and court packing is one of the dumbest ideas to circulate the pundit-sphere in a LONG time, which is really saying something, given our recent politics.

If we've learned anything over the last 20 years, it's that the American people are a very fickle lot. We've gone from full Republican control to full Democratic control to full Republican control to (very likely) full Democratic control again in just 20 years. I see no evidence that this is likely to change. So if the Democrats pack the court in 2020, when the backlash comes (and it will) the Republicans are just going to bump it up to 17, and then the Democrats will have to take it to 21, and all we're going to accomplish is destroying the one branch of the government that actually remains largely functional. Unless we're going full Accelerationist, this is a very, VERY bad plan.

Plus, it seems quite unnecessary, since SC appointments are the ONE area where Trump doesn't appear to be particularly incompetent. (Probably because he doesn't care about it and just does whatever he's told in this particular area.) Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are more conservative than I would personally pick, but so far, they both appear to be supremely qualified and not the least bit stooge-like. They both run circles around Thomas and Alito. (granted, not a particularly high bar) I realize that losing Garland stings, but that is absolutely not worth burning everything down over.

Biden understands this.

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:37 amThere are a number of SCOTUS reform plans which were kicked around during the Democratic primary which make some sense.

YellowKing wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:40 pm We already know nobody cares about his tax returns. We beat this dead horse after he was elected, and all we got from the public was a collective shrug.

The judge sped up the timeline for Trump to turn over his tax returns after his stalling tactics were rejected during a Thursday hearing.

Trump’s lawyers showed up unprepared and many of the same arguments that were already rejected.

Jennifer Taub tweeted the bottom line:

What this means:

Trump has until July 27th (a week from Monday to file an amended complaint).

Presumably, Vance will then file a motion to dismiss.

And final briefs due by August 14th.

43/43

— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) July 16, 2020

Neal Katyal tweeted that the hearing is moving quickly:

Phenomenal thread about what the court did today in the Trump tax returns case in Manhattan. This is moving quickly.

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:50 pm Which wouldn't be insta-collusion, but would raise more questions.

Alefroth wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:11 am Hasn't the IRS already seen these returns? Wouldn't they have found something? I have to imagine they've been looking very closely.

Max Peck wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 6:02 am At this point, I'd have to presume that if there was anything particularly incriminating and was obvious to people with in his tax returns then someone with access to them, in the IRS or elsewhere, would have leaked them by now.

Zarathud wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:04 am Trump has been covering up his tax returns for 4 years. He attacks or sacks anyone who offends him, but has said nothing about his IRS audit. My guess is it effectively ended the week he took office.

The IRS has limited resources to chase things down. The internet doesn’t. Also tax practitioners can identify things the IRS failed to consider.

El Guapo wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:45 pm It's not fair, but I'm still mad at her for not retiring in 2014.

Remus West wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:44 pm Good lord I hope she lives a long long time after this but I also hope that if Biden wins she retires the day after he begins official work. See him sworn in and call it a day. She has done enough to protect the nation at that point and deserves some peaceful relaxing days.

Octavious wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:28 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:44 pm Good lord I hope she lives a long long time after this but I also hope that if Biden wins she retires the day after he begins official work. See him sworn in and call it a day. She has done enough to protect the nation at that point and deserves some peaceful relaxing days.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mitch just blocks it for another 4 years saying we should wait for the next election. God I hate that man.

Vorret wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:30 pm Can he do that if they lose the senate majority ?

Octavious wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:28 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:44 pm Good lord I hope she lives a long long time after this but I also hope that if Biden wins she retires the day after he begins official work. See him sworn in and call it a day. She has done enough to protect the nation at that point and deserves some peaceful relaxing days.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mitch just blocks it for another 4 years saying we should wait for the next election. God I hate that man.

malchior wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:48 am

Zarathud wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:04 am Trump has been covering up his tax returns for 4 years. He attacks or sacks anyone who offends him, but has said nothing about his IRS audit. My guess is it effectively ended the week he took office.

The IRS has limited resources to chase things down. The internet doesn’t. Also tax practitioners can identify things the IRS failed to consider.

You'd be the best resource to answer this. Isn't it well established that they've essentially given up chasing rich tax cheats in favor of easier targets? They've prioritized auditing less complicated returns further down the economic scale, right? Essentially the rich use complexity to reduce the risk of an audit and evading detection of cheating.

The first report came from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which found that between 2011 and 2013, $381 billion in taxes went unpaid every single year. Couple that data with recent Harvard University research showing that the top one percent of income earners are responsible for 70 percent of the tax gap, and you see the full picture: The wealthiest sliver of the population is depriving the American public of about $266 billion of owed tax revenue every year.

That tax gap didn’t just magically happen — it is the result of conservatives’ huge cuts to the Internal Revenue Service’s enforcement budget, which resulted in a particularly precipitous decline in audit rates for the superrich. In fact, the $266 billion figure could be an understatement, because the congressional budget analysts were estimating the tax gap that existed before those IRS budget cuts.

Remus West wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 12:56 pm Is there somewhere to read their reasoning on why they denied?

Fireball wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:28 pm One of the electoral reforms we should pass next year should be the automatic publication on the IRS website of tax returns for the sitting president, vice president, members of the Cabinet and all members of Congress each year within a month of the returns being filed, as well as five years of prior returns for any candidate for president, vice president or Congress within a week of a person filing the FEC forms to create a candidate committee.

Remus West wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:22 pm

Fireball wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:28 pm One of the electoral reforms we should pass next year should be the automatic publication on the IRS website of tax returns for the sitting president, vice president, members of the Cabinet and all members of Congress each year within a month of the returns being filed, as well as five years of prior returns for any candidate for president, vice president or Congress within a week of a person filing the FEC forms to create a candidate committee.

That would be a good one. I'd also like to see something that would force a person like tRump to actually separate from his holdings ala Carter's peanut farm.

Fireball wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:35 pm

Remus West wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:22 pm

Fireball wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:28 pm One of the electoral reforms we should pass next year should be the automatic publication on the IRS website of tax returns for the sitting president, vice president, members of the Cabinet and all members of Congress each year within a month of the returns being filed, as well as five years of prior returns for any candidate for president, vice president or Congress within a week of a person filing the FEC forms to create a candidate committee.

That would be a good one. I'd also like to see something that would force a person like tRump to actually separate from his holdings ala Carter's peanut farm.

Yes, I'd be fine with requiring the president to sell all financial assets and put all proceeds into a blind trust, with the exception of small, family-owned businesses up to a certain size for things like family restaurants or farms.