• Gentlemen Prefer Blockage

    Gentlemen Prefer Blockage

    Here are some things the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia does: hear most cases against federal agencies, serve as a Supreme Court farm team, act as the effective court of last resort for Guantanamo detainees, and play a legal and policymaking role second only to that of the Supreme Court. Here is something the D.C Circuit [...]

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  • Functionally Insane

    Functionally Insane

    51.1% of Americans voted to reelect Barack Obama, and he carried 26 states. 90% of Americans support universal background checks for gun sales, and it was voted for by 54 senators — so, roughly, 27 states. Barack Obama is the president of the United States. And universal background checks are dead in the water. It almost seems old-fashioned now to [...]

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  • Indoor Recess

    Indoor Recess

    Right now, I’m on vacation. I am quite certain of this fact (the sound of waves crashing on the beach gives it away). And that certainty indicates that I’m not qualified to be a member of the United States Congress. Here’s the deal: President Obama wanted to appoint Richard Cordray as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Well, actually, [...]

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  • Going Home for the Holidays: A (Temporary) End to the Payroll Tax Cut Fight

    Going Home for the Holidays: A (Temporary) End to the Payroll Tax Cut Fight

    Earlier this evening, Speaker John Boehner announced that House Republicans will support a two-month extension of the payroll tax cuts. With a call for a final vote Friday morning, Boehner and the GOP leadership have abandoned their current push for a one-year extension of the cuts in order to pass the stopgap provision and end the political battle in time [...]

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  • T-Two Days: McConnell’s Grand Old Deal

    T-Two Days: McConnell’s Grand Old Deal

    With less than two days to go, Congress and the White House have moved in an expected direction on the debt crisis talks, producing few surprises along the way. On Friday night, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)’s version of the debt limit bill finally passed in the House on a 218-210 party-line vote, with no Democrats voting “aye” and 22 [...]

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  • T-Four Days: Boehner’s Beltway Politics and the Debt Deal

    T-Four Days: Boehner’s Beltway Politics and the Debt Deal

    Here we are — four days until the federal government hits the debt ceiling and Washington remains under lockdown as a debt limit increase bill has yet to be passed. The struggle, of course, is not over whether the debt ceiling will be increased — both parties are of the consensus that the limit must go up — but over [...]

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