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[Dunamisdeos]

Usually means they've found someone to horribly exploit to mutual bene-

Hang on, these are all expanding humanitarian aid to Venezuela, and appear to also be in opposition to Maduro, according to this article. It wasn't unanimous, but there was no real opposition from anyone. Let's see....

Mucarsel-Powell’s bill compels the Trump administration to outline a long-term humanitarian aid strategy in Venezuela and allocate at least $150 million in federal funding for humanitarian aid in 2020 and 2021.

Ahhhh, no, wait, here we go. We're officially fencing with Russia in Venezuela, now. Standard US policy, do all the damaging fighting in someone else's country.

Wasserman Schultz’s bill would compel the State Department to monitor and provide Congress with steps to limit Russian military influence in Venezuela. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Russia’s foreign minister that they are destabilizing Latin America after reports over the weekend that Russian air force planes carrying troops and a senior defense official landed in Venezuela.

This, however, could be good news for you Baal.

Another piece of legislation that would expand Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans has the support of Democrats and Republicans from South Florida, though some of Trump’s advisers are wary of expanding immigration protections after they sought to cut TPS for countries like Haiti, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

[SalmonGod]

warned Russia’s foreign minister that they are destabilizing Latin America

such a cringey phrase....

[smjjames]

@LordBaal: It's the House of Representatives, usually just referred to as 'the House'.

This, however, could be good news for you Baal.

Another piece of legislation that would expand Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans has the support of Democrats and Republicans from South Florida, though some of Trump’s advisers are wary of expanding immigration protections after they sought to cut TPS for countries like Haiti, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The bolded part isn't exactly great news though.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

In short, the US is attempting to knock over the Venezuelan government by backing Guaidó and/or justify a "humanitarian" invasion.

[bloop_bleep]

Both democrats and republicans agreeing on something is regular? Or is indication of the situation being really dire.

It’s nearly unheard of nowadays. There’s often splits within the parties but near unanimous approval of both parties is very rare. Israel is the only issue that comes to mind on which both parties mostly agree upon.

[PTTG??]

The Onion remains an effective source of political news.

[SalmonGod]

Both democrats and republicans agreeing on something is regular? Or is indication of the situation being really dire.

It’s nearly unheard of nowadays. There’s often splits within the parties but near unanimous approval of both parties is very rare. Israel is the only issue that comes to mind on which both parties mostly agree upon.

It's... not that rare... the stuff they agree on is just rarely discussed, because it makes everyone uncomfortable.  Stuff like war for profit.

[Frumple]

Or all sorts of day to day/simple domestic/generic feel good stuff. Congress's voting record is, y'know. Public. If you want to see what gets agreed on, just go look at all the shit that  passes either unanimously or without opposition. Iirc it comprises the majority of what goes through Congress.

[Folly]

Just read your lower chamber of representants or however you call it approved unanimously 2 laws concerning or applicable to Venezuela. Couldn't find anything on the internet clear enough beyond some tweets. Somebody could please throw some enlightenment on my general direction?

Both democrats and republicans agreeing on something is regular? Or is indication of the situation being really dire.

A simple majority is required for most anything to get done, and for that reason compromise has been the norm for decades. It's only recently that partisanship has upset that balance and begun to impede the general order of things.

And things move from a simple majority to unanimous agreement pretty quickly, simply because nobody wants to go against a motion that will pass anyway and risk looking uncool.

[Baffler]

This may be more politics adjacent than politics proper, but the charges against Jussie Smollett for his fake hate crime have been suddenly and inexplicably dropped. The county prosecutor who apparently made the decision did not explain her reasoning to the press. Any idea why they would just let him off for nothing more than keeping the $10,000 he paid as bail?

Incidentally, this happened a day after one of his lawyers, Mike Geragos, was named a co-conspirator with Michael Avenatti in a whole bunch of stuff.

[smjjames]

This may be more politics adjacent than politics proper, but the charges against Jussie Smollett for his fake hate crime have been suddenly and inexplicably dropped. The county prosecutor who apparently made the decision did not explain her reasoning to the press. Any idea why they would just let him off for nothing more than keeping the $10,000 he paid as bail?

Incidentally, this happened a day after one of his lawyers, Mike Geragos, was named a co-conspirator with Michael Avenatti in a whole bunch of stuff.

Huh, I didn't know that one of his lawyers was that guy. That very well could have had something to do with it.

[Folly]

This may be more politics adjacent than politics proper, but the charges against Jussie Smollett for his fake hate crime have been suddenly and inexplicably dropped. The county prosecutor who apparently made the decision did not explain her reasoning to the press. Any idea why they would just let him off for nothing more than keeping the $10,000 he paid as bail?

Still no official response from anyone in the know, but the media are trying to spin it as an example of rich famous people getting away with crimes because of a biased judicial system.

[smjjames]

The whole thing is an odd clusterfrack anyways, and everything surrounding it with the responses etc have become a strange microcosm of American politics.

[wierd]

I just see it as late stage identity politics, and how the trend has dominated discussion and press time/relevance. 

This guy was having a career low; He needed to be relevant.  SO-- He invented a hate crime performed against him, to gain the podium of public interest.  But it backfired.

The real story is not how some entertainer on the rocks did this, but why.  Sadly, that's not a discussion America wants to have right now

[Frumple]

This may be more politics adjacent than politics proper, but the charges against Jussie Smollett for his fake hate crime have been suddenly and inexplicably dropped. The county prosecutor who apparently made the decision did not explain her reasoning to the press. Any idea why they would just let him off for nothing more than keeping the $10,000 he paid as bail?

Best conjecture I've seen is that the CPD fucked up somewhere, probably massively and with a racist and/or corrupt bent, as the police department that used black sites to torture suspects is inclined to do. The CPD has traditionally been a massive ball of corrupt bigoted fuckwit, which occasionally bites their various works in the ass. One of the worst large scale police departments in the country screwing up almost doesn't qualify as news, heh.

The bail thing is actually kinda' interesting, as the law for that area seems to say that more or less literally the only way you can lose your bail is if you violate your bail conditions somehow or another. You can't volunteer to give it up, about the closest you can come to it is not fighting back when a judge decides to keep it. It's fairly likely the bail being forfeited is orthogonal to the charges being dropped (or dismissed, or whatever), in other words. Smollett may have talked to someone or went somewhere they shouldn't have but the charges got stuffed for some other reason.