GOP’s Impeachment Fever Dream, Hastert Scandal’s Muffled Details, and What ‘Diversity’ Means In 2015

October 28, 2015 10:33 a.m.

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October 28, 2015

The Gist: Thanks to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, reports of sexual misconduct against one of Hastert’s former students will remain vague—at least for now.

Paul Ryan Will Support The Budget Deal

The Gist: The likely future House speaker announced that he will support the deal to raise the debt ceiling and set a two-year budget, despite his comments that the process used to reach the deal “stinks.”

House Republicans Introduce Resolution To Impeach IRS Chief

The Gist: GOP leaders in the House accused IRS commissioner John Koskinen of making “false statements” under oath and failing to comply with a subpoena.

From The Reporter’s Notebook

TPM’s Tierney Megan was on White House pool duty today as President Obama welcomed the US women’s soccer team. Obama said the team showed that “to play like a girl means you’re a badass.”

Agree or Disagree?

Ben Carson’s claim that he wouldn’t sign any budget that increases the debt ceiling as president—which would mean hundreds of millions of dollars in immediate cuts to the federal budget—makes Josh Marshall wonder if he “is all there.”

Say What?!

“Are we going to take away everything that people use to kill each other? Because we’re really going to have to start with the basics, like vehicles.”

– Fox News host Harris Faulkner demonstrated an inability to understand the primary function of a car.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “The funny thing about Wal-Mart was back in the 80s, they were the “anti-KMart”, plenty of staff on the floor, nicely run stores. Not exactly Target, but more able to attract “Target customers”. At a certain point they decided to go for complete standardization and to basically go for people who had limited options–the poor, the rural, etc. It’s not a good strategy for long-term growth. Rural areas often aren’t growing. Low to middle income shoppers have been consistently squeezed in terms of disposable income. “

Related: How Wal-Mart became the town square in rural America.

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What We’re Reading

The accidental victims of online harassment (Cosmopolitan).

Has the word “diversity” lost its meaning? (New York Times Magazine).

Picking up Boston’s trash with Michael Dukakis (Boston Magazine)

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Allegra Kirkland (@allegrakirkland) Allegra Kirkland is a New York-based reporter for Talking Points Memo. She previously worked on The Nation’s web team and as the associate managing editor for AlterNet. Follow her on Twitter @allegrakirkland.

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GOP’s Impeachment Fever Dream, Hastert Scandal’s Muffled Details, and What ‘Diversity’ Means In 2015

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