A bit earlier we flagged this sort of weird story where Georgia (the US state of Georgia in case John McCain gets any bright ideas) is making a claim on a tiny sliver of Tennessee. And as usually happens, when we dip into a new story at least one reader writes in who understands the issue in great detail. In this case it’s TPM Reader JM …
Some background might be helpful for this Georgia goes to war with Tennessee thing. As a Georgia resident and someone who has been involved behind the scenes with this resolution’s crafting and advancement, what looks far-fetched at a glance is actually surprisingly substantive when examined. I’ve tacked on the official white paper that details this in much better depth but – speaking as someone who was very skeptical at first – I honestly can suggest there is a concrete legal argument buried in there.
As we head into tomorrow’s Supreme Court hearing on Prop 8, check out the map.
Later this week, President Obama will sign a bill that simultaneously averts a government shutdown and locks sequestration into law for the next six months.
During those six months, Obama will try to build a coalition of Democrats and Republicans who can agree to a mix of new taxes and entitlement cuts to replace sequestration. At the same time Republican leaders will grapple with the need to increase the debt limit, and there’s a small chance that these two imperatives will become entwined in a sort of 2011 redux. But ever since GOP leaders relinquished their dangerous and heavy-handed debt ceiling strategy earlier this year, and then resigned themselves to enduring sequestration rather than raise taxes again, it makes more sense that Republicans will increase the debt limit without demanding any real concessions, and sequestration will continue in perpetuity. Maybe its spending caps will simply become the new discretionary spending baseline, and just like that an era of perpetual crisis will come to an end.
That’s a disorienting forecast. Read More
