Recess Appointment

What a difference a few weeks makes. The last time the gang got together, a strike against Syria was days away, and now the country has agreed to turn over its chemical weapons to international management. Joe, Nick and Kathryn discuss the Syria deal, the unexpected move by President Obama to seek congressional approval for a strike, Vlad Putin: Troll King, and the merits of humanitarian intervention. Additionally, the gang discusses the shooting in the Washington Navy Yard and the withdrawal of Larry Summers from nomination as the Chair of the Fed.

There’s an unusual title. Nick, Allison, and Joe discuss Miley Cyrus’s performance at the VMAs and what the attendant fallout says about the American media, gender double-standards, and rape culture. Then the panel discusses the likely inevitable strikes against Syria reflecting on the intelligence failures in the run-up to the Iraq War, the scope of presidential war powers, and the propriety of humanitarian intervention. Finally, the gang discusses President Obama’s recent remarks regarding the elimination of the third year of law school requirement.  

Nick and Joe take advantage of the legislative recess to discuss some legal issues, including the decision to strike down New York’s stop-and-frisk law and the new Department of Justice policy to take most non-violent drug offenders outside statutory mandatory minimum sentences. We also discuss the new “we’ll make you love surveillance” program.

It’s a slow news week so the conversation devolves from the congressional recess into old sitcoms and sports. If you wanted to be a fly on the wall for why we all know each other, this is a decent sample.  

Nick and Joe discuss the NYC mayoral race and its most famous entrant, Fmr. Rep. Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner. What’s next for a political race after a frontrunner starts sexting everyone he can find? We also discuss the growing rift between the libertarian and neo-conservative wings of the GOP in the wake of the defeat of the Amash Amendment.  

Joe, Nick and Allison discuss the royal birth and the value of monarchies. Then, before a technical difficulty cuts off the podcast, Allison describes the genius of the film Sharknado.  

Joe and Nick sit down for a special, late week talk about the fallout of the non-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman case. Guns, race, and bad lawyering are the talk of the day. Then they discuss the candidacy of Liz Cheney for Mike Enzi’s Senate seat in Wyoming. Where did that come from, and what does it have to do with the continuing clash over filibusters.

Joe, Nick, and Allison gather to discuss the most recent BLS jobs report and what it means for the economy. Spoiler alert: Ben Bernanke is not doing his job correctly. They also turn to a discussion of 2016, specifically what the GOP is planning to do in a potential race with Hillary — if Hillary is really running — and whether or not Rick Perry is joining the fray. Finally, the gang discusses the fallen Egyptian government and whether or not the Morsi government deserved to keep its job.

The full panel finally returns! Allison, Nick, and Joe discuss the end of the Supreme Court term from the highs regarding marriage equality and the lows involving voting rights and workplace and consumer rights. Is the problem a progressive movement that gave up, or a failure to mobilize the middle over issues? Then Kathryn joins the group to talk about the Wendy Davis filibuster in Texas that the national media largely ignored. Finally the gang discusses what this means for Jeff Merkley’s filibuster reform ideas — is the speaking filibuster a hallmark of the system worth bringing back or an anti-democratic procedural trick that should be tossed. Here are the links to a few of the stories talked about in this episode: John Sides explains the implications of Shelby County from the perspective of a political scientist. Dahlia Lithwick and Barry Friedman wonder if progressives have given up on everything other than same-sex marriage.

Nick and Joe discuss the Supreme Court’s latest round of decisions including a big opinion striking down Arizona’s voter ID provisions, but it may not be as positive a development as it sounds. They also talk about the announcement that the U.S. will interject itself into the Syrian conflict. A few items that we discussed during this episode: The potentially pyrrhic nature of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona is outlined by SCOTUSblog’s Lyle Denniston, Marty Lederman of Georgetown Law, and Rick Hasen of UC-Irvine Law. SCOTUSblog’s recap of Alleyne v. United States can be found here.  Scott Lemieux heralds the decision while knocking around Justice Scalia. Here’s the Pew poll showing that the public REALLY doesn’t like the idea of U.S. action in Syria. And a hearty congratulations to Justin Wolfers, the official economist of the Recess Appointment podcast, who became a U.S. citizen on Monday.  

That's right, we're not going to talk at all about fiscal cliff at all this week. Joe, Nick, Allison and Kathryn discuss Jim DeMint's departure from the Senate and the role the Heritage Foundation might play in the new conservative movement. We talk about J.C. Watts and the quest to build the "NEW" Republican Party. Finally, we discuss Michigan's Right-to-Work laws.

Joe and Allison review the latest Republican counteroffer in the fiscal cliff negotiations and wonder whether they have any sense of how negotiations even work. They also check in on the evolving Susan Rice controversy, wondering if the furor over Rice isn’t just Republicans sublimating their desire to attack Hillary Clinton currently frustrated by her over 70% approval rating. Finally, Joe provides a little recap on the Supreme Court’s pending decisions on same-sex marriage.

Joe, Nick, and Allison discuss the fall of Grover Norquist who went from the most powerful man in Washington to the subject of hundreds of articles touting his irrelevance in a matter of weeks. The panel also talks about the weird phenomenon of otherwise Democratic states adopting one-party Republican state government. Finally, Kathryn joins the panel to muse about the Obama administration's upcoming second term.

Joe, Nick and Allison discuss the looming fiscal cliff, culminating with their first predictions for the 2016 race! The panel also discusses the practice of gerrymandering (and Joe goofs by implying that only Republicans have been guilty of the practice instead of giving credit to Southern Democrats who later joined the Republicans). Finally, they look back at the technological edge that President Obama enjoyed in the last campaign. And apparently Allison has never had a Twinkie. And remember to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review! Here’s some links to articles mentioned in the podcast: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/inside-obama-campaign-tech-operation http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/when-the-nerds-go-marching-in/265325/# http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/11/marco-rubio-needs-evolution.html http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2012/11/14/redistricting-does-not-explain-why-house-democrats-got-a-majority-of-the-vote-and-a-minority-of-the-seats/ http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/11/16/who_decides_in_the_new_house_of_representatives.html

The usual suspects are joined by Elie Mystal of Above the Law to gloat about the election results and sacrifice the customary goat to our overlord Nate Silver. We also discuss the sex scandal involving Gen. David Petraeus where Elie, the only married member of the panel, makes an impassioned defense of adultery. Finally, we take advantage of Elie joining the panel to discuss the Supreme Court, its comings and goings and two potentially explosive cases in front of the Court that could reverse 50 years of civil rights policy.