The No Labels Elites Convention

Plus: Time to Do Something About the NILFs

Jul 27, 2023

CHARLIE SYKES: American Gerontocracy
JVL: Tim Scott Is in Danger of Catastrophic Success 🔐
JOE PERTICONE: Biden Impeachment Push Gets a Big Boost 🔐

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AL FROM: The No Labels Scheme: Not Just Dangerous But Undemocratic

(Photo credit: John Tully for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

THE LEADERS OF THE GROUP No Labels are working feverishly in all fifty states to get ballot access for a third-party presidential candidate next year.
As has been widely remarked, that gambit is likely to result not in the selection of the next president but in a spoiler candidate. Yet it is also worth noting more generally what the No Labels scheme would mean for our democratic system: It would roll the clock back on a half century of reforms by both major parties to democratize the way we select presidential candidates, to make the process more transparent, and to create new pathways for insurgent candidates to pursue the highest office in our land—all goals No Labels claims to support.

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🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧

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BRENT ORRELL: Time to Do Something About the NILFs.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that work among prime-age Americans—those between 25 and 54 years of age—is at the highest rate in two decades, driven by rising wages and worker shortages. After years of decline in labor force participation, this is certainly welcome news. But it isn’t the whole story.

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CATHY YOUNG: Sorting Out the Florida Teaching-About-Slavery Mess.

LET’S START WITH THE OBVIOUS: Slavery is not a “both sides” or a “yes, but” question. While one may debate specific issues—was it an integral part of the American founding or a pernicious legacy of the British colonial system?—none of that changes the fundamental fact: The ownership and trafficking of human beings was an atrocity, a stain on a country that proclaimed liberty to be its foundational principle.

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

A picture of the Capitol Rotunda, taken while lying down.

Happy Thursday! Reminder, we’re on summer schedule, so no Thursday Night Bulwark tonight! Enjoy the AC (if you have it) and watch a good show!

🎵On the Jukebox🎵 Rosa Linn - "SNAP".

Tesla created secret team… to suppress thousands of driving range complaints.

Yelling at Senate Pages? Unrepentant J6 rally attendee / Congressman Derrick Van Orden cursed out a bunch of Senate Pages who were enjoy the Capitol after hours. Van Orden’s office was having a loud party before his midnight Capitol Tour (not normal). I’d submit that those Senate pages contribute more to Democracy than Mr. Van Orden does.

“I’ll bring this Jersey heat…” Chris Christie previews what he plans to say at the first GOP debate next month.

McCarthy and Swalwell… Got into a feud on the House floor.

Russell Crowe remembers… Sinéad O'Connor.

Why the Russian media loves… You guessed it! RFK Jr.

The Blaze TV’s Steve Deace… Takes the completely wrong lesson away from news that Rudy Giuliani and Jason Miller were telling lies about the stolen election. Also, tears.

“What is that?” Ron DeSantis responds as normal people do, to an Icee. (But there is help for him.)

A third defendant emerges… In the Trump documents case, Carlos De Oliveira, the guy who drained the pool.

The Mitch McConnell incident… Is indicative of a bigger problem, writes Max Burns.

How the IRS could better perform audits… A new GAO report (and podcast) on the challenge posed by partnerships, since those, rather than C-Corps, are on the rise.

Donald Trump needed $250 million… So a little known bank, formerly called “Bank of Internet USA” came to the rescue.