Friday Talking Points [471] -- Trump's Kim Jong Un Envy
There's an old joke in Washington that the press knows how to ask politicians questions that can't be answered in any acceptable way. The classic example, of course, is: "So, Senator, have you stopped beating your wife?" This week, however, the Trump White House has been getting a variant: "So, how long was a wife-beater who couldn't get a security clearance allowed to work for the president, and why?"
Each week, optimists think to themselves: "Surely the Trump administration has hit rock bottom and they just can't go any lower," and then each and every week (or so it seems), they prove to go not just lower, but way lower. Remember the porn star who got hush money for an affair with Donald Trump just after his current wife gave birth? No? Seems almost quaint by now, but that was just a few weeks ago. Having dealt with a previous scandal supporting an accused child molester (Roy Moore), the White House is now down to dealing with wife-beaters. It just can't go any lower than this, right? Well, we'll all have to see what they can come up with next week... (sigh).
The scandal which finally came to light this week involved Rob Porter, a high-ranking White House staffer who controlled the paper flow and information flow to the Oval Office, despite not having obtained a permanent security clearance for handling classified information. Turns out there are actually a lot of folks in the White House (including Jared Kushner) who haven't gotten their security clearances yet. Who knew?
In any case, both White House Counsel Donald McGahn and Chief of Staff John Kelly knew about the abuse allegations made against Porter by his ex-wives for months now, but saw no reason to let him go. Earlier this week, Kelly was still staunchly defending Porter. Then a "worth 1,000 words" photo came out in the media, showing one of Porter's ex-wives sporting a rather ugly black eye, and the White House realized things were spiraling out of control. Soon thereafter, Porter resigned.
The Washington Post is now even reporting that Kelly tried to get his staff to lie about how Porter's exit happened, and openly speculating whether Kelly may be on the brink of leaving himself:
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly's week has gone from bad to worse, after word leaked from White House staff Friday morning that he urged them to spread a version of events on the Rob Porter debacle that contradicts previous accounts.
At this point, it is looking more and more difficult to see how he will survive.
According to The Washington Post's Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey, Kelly told staff Friday to say he had decided to fire Porter within 40 minutes of learning allegations Porter abused two ex-wives were credible. Some staffers who were at the meeting left feeling that Kelly had effectively asked them to lie on his behalf.
It is extremely difficult to square that statement with everything we know. Kelly issued an initial statement Tuesday featuring effusive praise for Porter, and reports indicated that even as Porter was resigning, Kelly had urged him to stay on and fight. Even in issuing a second statement Wednesday night that said the allegations against Porter were "shocking," Kelly stood by his earlier statement that Porter was "a man of true integrity and honor, and I can't say enough good things about him."
More important, though, that this leaked out so quickly suggests Kelly has lost the confidence of his staff. When you combine this with that letter he sent to them Thursday night assuring them he takes domestic violence seriously, it suggests serious unrest in the West Wing and a chief of staff who is treading water with the staff he leads.
But then again, Kelly has survived other scandals during his tenure (such as lying about a Democratic congresswoman's speech and then refusing to apologize after video of the speech proved him wrong), so who's to say whether he'll ride this one out, too?
The Post also published a handy cheat sheet to help keep track of the 37 Trump administration officials who have either resigned or been fired, so far. With the sheer volume, it's admittedly hard to keep up, at times.
Outside of the wife-beater scandal, in celebration of the Olympics (or something), Donald Trump seems to be exhibiting signs of what might be called "Kim Jong Un envy." In the same week, Trump called Democrats who didn't leap to their feet and wildly cheer his State Of The Union speech "treasonous," and it was revealed that Trump's been forcing the Pentagon to come up with a plan for a full-on military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, just because he thought the one he saw in France was so cool. Remind you of anyone? Little Rocket Man, perhaps?
It was a big week in the world of economics, but Trump wasn't bragging about any of the news, that's for sure. The stock markets have gotten incredibly volatile and have lost over 10 percent of their value in a single week -- one that included both the biggest-ever point drop in the Dow and the second-biggest to boot. This also means that the markets just lost over 40 percent of the gains since Trump took office -- which Trump loves to brag about. Not so much bragging this week, though.
In the same week, figures were released showing that America's trade deficit went way up last year, even though Trump campaigned so heavily on what big beautiful trade deals he'd make as president, and how he'd personally fix that nasty old trade deficit. The trade deficit actually went up to levels not seen since 2008, meaning that for all his bluster Trump ran a higher trade deficit than every single year under Barack Obama. Our trade deficit last year even went up with China and Mexico, the two countries Trump usually singled out when promising he'd personally fix everything.
Other figures released this week showed that the annual budget deficit is now projected to be almost a trillion dollars in 2018. After Barack Obama carefully got the deficit down from the trillion-dollar-plus deficits left to him by George Bush, Trump is going to wind up doubling the deficit. All as a result of the Republican tax cuts, which (once again) are not paying for themselves. And that trillion-dollar deficit estimate was made before this week's budget deal was reached in Congress -- which is going to push those estimates hundreds of billions of dollars higher. Yet another unfulfilled promise for Trump not to be bragging about this week, eh?
A rather sweeping budget deal did make it through Congress this week, but only after Rand Paul singlehandedly caused a very brief government shutdown (perhaps he was just reacting to Trump's "I'd love to see a shutdown" statement earlier in the week?). We'll have more on the budget deal in the awards section, though, so let's just move along.
Let's see, what else is going on? Here's some good news for Democrats fighting Republican gerrymandering: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to delay redrawing congressional lines, meaning the 2018 elections in the state will most likely be held in districts far more favorable to Democrats." This could mean a pickup of four or five seats in November, so it's welcome news indeed.
Some ballot initiative notes worth pointing out: marijuana legalization looks like it'll be on the ballot in three states: Michigan, New Mexico, and Ohio. Medical marijuana legalization might also be on the ballot in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Utah. In Ohio, the threat of a ballot measure which would have taken redistricting out of the hands of politicians forced them to pass a rather convoluted measure -- one which doesn't go nearly as far, but still may help getting some better non-gerrymandered House districts drawn soon.
Want to feel old? Here's a fun fact: it's now been longer since the Berlin Wall came down than the time it was actually up. We can personally remember chipping pieces off the Wall (one year after its fall), so this one hit us pretty close to home. Has it really been that long?
And two rather silly notes to end on. In Kansas, apparently there is no age requirement for who can run for governor. So a whopping six teenagers who can't even vote are now running for the office. Lawmakers are scrambling to pass a law to institute an age requirement, but it won't go into effect until after the election. And heads up, teens in Massachusetts and Vermont -- you guys have no gubernatorial age requirement either! Just think of what an awesome "Here's what I did last summer" essay that'll make for!
And finally, billionaire Elon Musk test-fired the biggest rocket around, which was a glorious success. Normally in these test launches, the "payload" is nothing more than a big chuck of metal or concrete (that way, if it explodes upon launch, nobody's out a multimillion-dollar satellite or anything). Musk instead launched a Tesla convertible into space. While we found it amusing that he stuck in the glove box both a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and a towel, the David Bowie song is not actually playing from the car's radio, sorry. I mean, the speakers might even be moving to the tune and all, but there is no sound in space, period. Still, it is fun to imagine an alien spaceship arriving millions of years in the future and (while discovering the remains of human civilization) scratching whatever passes for their heads while wondering: "What the fizzbin is a ground vehicle doing in orbit?!?" Heh.
We had a whole slew of nominees this week for the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award. So we've got a bunch of Honorable Mention awards to give out first.
Senator Tammy Duckworth deserves recognition for fiercely pushing back at Trump's "treason" comments, which we wrote about earlier this week in more detail. She quoted another Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who took exactly the opposite stance as Trump did:
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Well done, Senator Duckworth (who incidentally lost both her legs while serving her country in battle). Well done.
Others responded more humorously, such as Senator Tim Kaine (obviously a big fan of Monty Python And The Holy Grail), who tweeted: "I clapped in his general direction." Heh.
We also have Honorable Mention awards for two state-level Democratic candidates, one for running and one for winning. In Ohio, Rachel Crooks is running for a seat in the state house. She is one of the many women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct.
And in Missouri, Mike Revis won a special election for a state house seat, beating a Republican in a district that went for Trump by 28 points. This is the 35th such state-level seat that Democrats have flipped since Trump got elected. In the same period, the Republicans have only flipped four seats, for a net gain of 31.
Two cautious notes: there were four such special elections held this week, and Democrats only flipped one (although they came close in others). Also, special elections have notoriously low turnouts, and may not translate into what is going to happen in the upcoming midterms. Even so, wins are always better than losses, and being up 31 is nothing to sneeze at.
Our final Honorable Mention goes to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who hammered out a budget deal that isn't great, but also doesn't totally suck. On the key subject of boosting spending past the sequester caps, Republicans were offering huge boosts in military spending with zero extra spent on domestic priorities. Democrats demanded a one-for-one ratio of dollars spent. What Schumer got was about 60-40, with the lean going to the military. Not the 50-50 that Democrats wanted, but a lot better than the 100-0 Republicans were offering.
The increase in spending will fund several programs Democrats have been pushing (including a number from the "Better Deal" outline), such as: funding for federal health programs, rural broadband, child care, and college tuition assistance, more help for Puerto Rico, money to fight the opioid crisis, and expanding CHIP funding years into the future. The bill will also raise the debt ceiling into next year, which pushes the issue off the table for the election cycle. For hammering out such a sweeping compromise with another shutdown deadline staring everyone in the face, Chuck Schumer deserves at least an Honorable Mention.
But the winner of the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week simply has to go to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, for mounting the longest filibuster-style speech the House of Representatives has ever seen. While wearing four-inch heels, her staff pointed out (she was not allowed to sit down once, so this is actually an impressive -- and literal -- footnote).
OK, we apologize for that footnote joke, but we just couldn't help ourselves. Ahem.
Perhaps the funniest reaction to Pelosi's speech came from The Onion, who tweeted out the headline: "Woman Speaks For Record-Breaking 8 Hours Without Being Interrupted By Man."
Kidding aside, though, Pelosi had an important point to make. In the previous government shutdown, Democrats accomplished getting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to make a promise to bring an immigration bill to the Senate floor and hold an open debate on how to fix DACA. But before Pelosi stood up to speak, there was no such bicameral promise from Speaker Paul Ryan to bring any DACA bill up in the House. This is important, since the last bipartisan immigration bill died in the House (after passing the Senate with a huge majority) when it was never even brought to the floor.
Pelosi pushed the issue as hard as she could, and for over eight hours read stories of Dreamers sent in by the Democratic caucus, as well as their favorite Bible verses. Paul's office finally issued a semi-promise, which passed the buck in a big way. Paul now says he will bring a DACA bill to the House floor, but only if it's a bill that Trump supports. So if Trump tweets even the slightest putdown of any bill that emerges from the Senate, Paul thinks he'll be off the hook. It may not work out this way for him, though, because if the Senate does pass a bill the pressure on Paul is going to get enormous, what with the deadline of early March staring him in the face.
In both cases, McConnell and Ryan have really only issued very weaselly promises to act on DACA, but Democrats have been doing an excellent job of holding their feet to the fire. This week, it was Nancy Pelosi who did so, by giving what the House Historian's office told CNN was "the longest on record on the House floor, according to their records."
For quite literally standing up for the Dreamers in such dramatic fashion (and in four-inch heels), for exploiting a parliamentary loophole that few even knew existed to give a "House filibuster," for using her time to focus on the stories of the Dreamers themselves, and for finally getting Paul Ryan to make even a halfhearted commitment, Nancy Pelosi is easily the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week. Sit down and take a load off your feet, Leader Pelosi, you've certainly earned it!
[Congratulate House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on her House contact page, to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]
This one is certainly depressing, but then turn-about is certainly fair play, right?
California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has been "a high-profile champion of the #MeToo movement," is under investigation for two allegations of sexual misconduct. From the Los Angeles Times comes the story:
[Two men] said Garcia made improper advances toward them. One, a former legislative staffer, said Garcia groped his back and buttocks and attempted to grab his crotch during a legislative softball game in 2014. The former staffer, Daniel Fierro, told his former boss, Assemblyman Ian Calderon [D] about the incident several weeks ago, his office said. Calderon then reported the incident to the Assembly Rules Committee. Fierro told the Times he decided to speak out because he thought Garcia's behavior was at odds with the #MeToo movement, which could harm the cause she was so closely associated with. [The second accusation was made by a lobbyist, who said] Garcia attempted to grab his genitals and made an explicit sexual proposition at a 2017 event. Garcia denied wrongdoing and said she will participate "fully" in the investigation.
If you're pushing for a high standard when it comes to such accusations, then you have to live up to that high standard yourself, obviously. Garcia may have denied wrongdoing, but then again plenty of men who have been accused have also denied wrongdoing and still had their political careers ended. Live by the sword, die by the sword, in other words.
For allegedly not practicing what she's been preaching, Cristina Garcia is the easy choice for the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week. Zero tolerance means zero tolerance -- for men and women.
[Contact California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia on her official page, to let her know what you think of her actions.]
Volume 471 (2/9/18)
We've got a rather mixed bag of talking points this week, with a three-part series of "remember when Trump...?" stuck in the middle, and one that was divinely inspired at the end for everyone's amusement. Enjoy, and as always, use responsibly.
The Rand Paul shutdown
There isn't any reason to play the blame game over this one, obviously.
"For the second time in three weeks, the federal government shut down again. But this time it's pretty obvious who is responsible -- Senator Rand Paul. It's the Rand Paul shutdown, plain and simple. But whether you agree with his tactics or not, he did have a point. Republicans used to froth at the mouth at the trillion-dollar-plus budget deficits when Barack Obama was in charge, but now that one of their own is in the White House, they have giddily returned to the Dick Cheney worldview of 'deficits don't matter,' it seems. The stench of Republican hypocrisy was pretty hard to avoid, this week. However, even Rand Paul doesn't exactly have clean hands either, since he voted for the GOP tax cut plan which will cost a whopping $1.5 trillion. Partial hypocrite or not, though, it's pretty hard to call what happened this week anything other than the Rand Paul shutdown."
Remember when Trump cared about deficits?
Part one of a three-part series.
"Donald Trump used to promise people, back when he was campaigning, that he was the, quote, 'king of debt,' unquote, so he and only he knew how to fix the budget deficit. At times, he promised to wipe out the deficit during his first term in office. Well, let's just check in with his record so far. Last fiscal year, the government ran a $666 billion deficit. This fiscal year, that number might just double. Already, the GOP tax cut bill has pushed estimates to almost one trillion dollars, and with the budget deal just struck we can expect trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see into the future. Remember when Trump used to care about budget deficits and promised everyone he'd wave a magic wand and make them disappear? Yeah, those were the days, eh?"
Remember when Trump cared about the trade deficit?
Part two...
"Speaking of Trump nostalgia, remember when he used to care about trade deficits? This was also a big deal for him out on the campaign trail, as Trump would regularly zero in on China and Mexico when he railed against trade deficits. He loudly promised that he'd be the dealmaker-in-chief and get far better deals than anyone had ever seen before on the face of the Earth. Remember all of that? Well, let's just check in and see how he's doing -- the Commerce Department just released figures for last year showing the trade deficit had climbed to $566 billion, a nine-year high. Got that? In his first year in office, Trump ran a trade deficit that was higher than any year Barack Obama was in office. The trade deficit with both China and Mexico rose sharply last year (Mexico's increased from $55.6 billion to $71.1 billion). Looks like just one more major issue that Trump conned all his supporters into believing he could fix -- when he really hadn't a clue what to do about it."
Remember when Trump used to talk about the stock market?
And the third of three...
"Remember when Trump used to constantly brag about how well the stock market was doing? Didn't hear much of that in the past week, did you? The Dow Jones average dropped over 1,000 points on Thursday, which was the second-biggest point drop of all time. The biggest point drop in history happened on Monday, when it dropped almost 1,200 points in a single day. This bear market correction has wiped out a full 40 percent of all the gains since Trump took office, in fact, and the instability in the market seems far from over, at this point. The stock market actually rose by a higher percentage during Barack Obama's first year in office, but you didn't hear him constantly bragging about it. Trump, on the other hand, used to love personally taking credit for the Dow's rise. So, of course, he'll be taking all the blame now, right? Well, no. In fact, he's gone almost completely silent on the issue. No surprise, really."
Where's the Dem memo?
By the time this is published, this may be a moot point.
"Two Mondays ago, the House Intelligence Committee voted on party lines to release the Republican memo on the F.B.I. and the FISA court, but not to release the Democratic response. They released the Nunes memo with much fanfare, and it turned out to be an absolute dud. Because it went over like a lead balloon, the very same committee this Monday voted unanimously to release Adam Schiff's memo. This started a five-day clock ticking for Trump, who gets to make the decision about whether to release the Democratic memo or not. Late on Friday, the White House still hadn't acted. So where's the Dem memo? Release the Dem memo!"
Treason is not a subject to joke about
Let's hear some reactions from Trump's fellow Republicans, shall we?
"This week President Trump called Democrats who wouldn't applaud him 'treasonous.' This didn't exactly go do well among his fellow Republicans. Bill Kristol tweeted: 'I really did feel I was seeing a once decent and principled political party crumble before my eyes,' after he couldn't get other Republicans to criticize Trump. David Frum, former speechwriter to George W. Bush tweeted: 'Useful guide: Not clapping = treason. Welcoming clandestine offer of stolen information from a hostile foreign government to your presidential campaign? "That’s politics!"' Joe Scarborough accused Trump of 'acting like an autocrat.' Speaking of autocratic behavior, Trump's desire to hold a military parade for himself got this response from Navy SEAL Robert James O'Neill: 'A military parade is third world bullshit. We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation.' You may not recognize his name, but he was the guy who killed Osama Bin Laden, so I'll take his advice on military decorum over Trump's, in a heartbeat."
The message gets through
Sometimes advertising dollars are well-spent, no matter where they come from.
"Michelle Bachmann was reportedly considering running for Al Franken's former Senate seat in Minnesota. She reportedly was praying for some sign of God's will before making her decision. Funny thing, though, this time 'God' responded. Someone paid for a billboard in St. Paul which consisted of only four gigantic words: 'Michelle Bachmann, NO. --God'. Sometimes these heavenly signs can be hard to see or hard to interpret, but this time God apparently didn't want to be misconstrued. The sign was literal, and unequivocal. Apparently, Bachmann received the message, and she's now announced she won't be running. So God doesn't always work in mysterious ways, it seems. Sometimes the signs are crystal clear!"
-- Chris Weigant
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Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
CW: Turns out there are actually a lot of folks in the White House (including Jared Kushner) who haven't gotten their security clearances yet. Who knew?
*hand goes up*
The Washington Post is now even reporting that Kelly tried to get his staff to lie about how Porter's exit happened, and openly speculating whether Kelly may be on the brink of leaving himself...
Cue the contest data. If any one of us had predicted then that Kelly would leave the job because he got caught in his lying and coverup for the multiple wife and girlfriend beater allowed to work in the White House and handle top secret information when he could never obtain a security clearance to do that, the rest of us would have thought they were nuts. :)
Pardon my ignorance, but I believe you meant 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'.... other than that, well done, sir.
Kelly was inadvertently prophetic. He couldn't say enough good things about Rob Porter. A day later, Porter is out the WH door.
CW: great FTP, as usual. Good use of the word 'fizzbin'.
- it's too bad that Rachel Crooks, the Trump accuser you honorably mentioned, isn't running for the actual House of Representatives, so that a future house speaker could put her in charge of negotiating with Trump.
- I was quite psyched by discussion tonight in Bill Maher's show about the President's apparent illiteracy. No one is saying that he can't read (he got through the Wharton business school on something other than sexual conquests, somehow), but his performance last week at the State of the Union address was, in the words of my 85 year old mother, "pathetic", reading so slowly that it became the one of longest spoken SoU addresses ever. Now we hear that he doesn't read his daily intelligence Brief, and, according to Kelly, 'hadn't finished reading' the 10 page Rebuttal of the Nunes Memo (though I'm with those who think that the Rebuttal is no longer important, since the Nunes memo managed to actually contradict itself in several places). So the fate of the nation rests now in part in the hands of the copy writers and producers of Fox News. What could go wrong?
- As for Elon Musk's stunt with the Tesla: well done! Like everyone else of my generation, I kept thinking about the 1981 movie "Heavy Metal", which came out years after I first picked up the one-time graphic art-laden magazine. Anyway, for some reason, I'd gotten it into my head that I remembered the astronaut in the corvette returning to earth while Don Henley's theme song played, but was surprised to learn that I was wrong about that when I went this week to revisit the video (the actual backing track written by 'Riggs', actually one of the only non-notable tracks on the score).
So, pinballs. Too bad, that track would have been so much better with it.
Remember when Trump cared about deficits?
If tax revenues are lower than calculated for the same reasons as they did in Kansas (partly by people who were taxed as individuals changing their status so they are taxed as small businesses) we could be running a non-recession deficit of $1.5T/year.
If/when a recession hits and tax revenues go down further, this could rise towards $2T/year, particularly if there is an attempt at a stimulus package.
Even if the Fed tries to lower rates, the treasury will struggle to sell that amount of bonds, plus all the bonds that mature every year. Thus interest rates will be forced up, or we will have to print a lot of money.
We have had a goldilocks economy for a while, with low interest rates and low inflation. We seem to have forgotten that the basic rules of the economy still apply.
Even if the White House doesn't care about the deficit any longer, somebody needs to be the adult, and Rand Paul throwing himself on a rubber sword isn't good enough.
I believe Trump will not be able to suppress the Democratic memo. The legislative and executive branches routinely leak classified material to the press. Such leaks are rarely prosecuted, because the law sets a very high bar against Government secrecy. Just because the President says something is classified on grounds of National Security doesn't automatically make it so - it is ultimately up to a jury to decide the matter, if the matter is pressed. Embarrassment is not grounds for classification. Trump is setting himself up to be hoisted (again)on his latest "bombshell."
See 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
NEW YORK TIMES CO.v.UNITED STATES.
I believe Trump will not be able to suppress the Democratic memo.
I think the memo serves a better purpose for the Democrats unpublished.
They can state that it clears the FBI of any wrongdoing, forcing the White House to either keep quiet and let the story run, or insist that memo doesn't clear the FBI, and that the FBI engaged in criminal activity.
Regardless, it will look to rank-and-file FBI agents as though the White House is against them. Since the vast, vast majority are proud of the work they do and the FBI as an example of decency and American values, this is a visceral attack on them.
Trump is also said to be ticked off at Hope Hicks, White House gal Friday and future domestic violence victim, for choosing to protect the reputation of her boyfriend (oh, did I mention she is currently dating Rob Portman?) over protecting Trump from being criticized!
Trump wouldn’t be able to do a ride along with Devon’s police department with his background, so it’s pretty obvious that we have a president that should not be given even the most minimal of security clearances.
This is why we need some process in place that requires those running for office to pass both a criminal background check and a psychiatric exam to be cleared to run for a federal position.
The memo was not released by Trump, claiming it had too much sensitive data in it. They could have chosen to redact that information, but instead chose to deny the memo’s release and claiming that the Dems needed to run the memo by the DOJ before it can be released.
I was under the impression that the FBI and DOJ had reviewed it prior to it being sent to Trump, so it’s kinda weird that they cleared it a few days ago but now the info contained in the response suddenly has a higher clearance level.
his one is certainly depressing, but then turn-about is certainly fair play, right?
California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has been "a high-profile champion of the #MeToo movement," is under investigation for two allegations of sexual misconduct. From the Los Angeles Times comes the story:
:D
And finally, billionaire Elon Musk test-fired the biggest rocket around, which was a glorious success. Normally in these test launches, the "payload" is nothing more than a big chuck of metal or concrete (that way, if it explodes upon launch, nobody's out a multimillion-dollar satellite or anything). Musk instead launched a Tesla convertible into space. While we found it amusing that he stuck in the glove box both a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Universe and a towel, the David Bowie song is not actually playing from the car's radio, sorry. I mean, the speakers might even be moving to the tune and all, but there is no sound in space, period. Still, it is fun to imagine an alien spaceship arriving millions of years in the future and (while discovering the remains of human civilization) scratching whatever passes for their heads while wondering: "What the fizzbin is a ground vehicle doing in orbit?!?" Heh.
It's already been done. :D
The USS Voyager found a 1963 Ford Truck floating in space in the Delta Quadrant :D
Regardless, it will look to rank-and-file FBI agents as though the White House is against them. Since the vast, vast majority are proud of the work they do and the FBI as an example of decency and American values, this is a visceral attack on them.
Whatever you have to tell yourself to make it through your day.. :D
Trump is also said to be ticked off at Hope Hicks,
Any FACTS that prove this??
No?? Of course there isn't...
- I was quite psyched by discussion tonight in Bill Maher's show about the President's apparent illiteracy. No one is saying that he can't read (he got through the Wharton business school on something other than sexual conquests, somehow), but his performance last week at the State of the Union address was, in the words of my 85 year old mother, "pathetic", reading so slowly that it became the one of longest spoken SoU addresses ever. Now we hear that he doesn't read his daily intelligence Brief, and, according to Kelly, 'hadn't finished reading' the 10 page Rebuttal of the Nunes Memo (though I'm with those who think that the Rebuttal is no longer important, since the Nunes memo managed to actually contradict itself in several places). So the fate of the nation rests now in part in the hands of the copy writers and producers of Fox News. What could go wrong?
Wow... Such a long spewage with not a SINGLE FACT in it..
That's impressive, Bathtub.... Even for you...
. Late on Friday, the White House still hadn't acted. So where's the Dem memo? Release the Dem memo!"
BUT!! BUT!!! National Security!!! All hell will break loose!!! IT WILL BRING ABOUT THE END OF DAYS!!!!!
:D
Sound familiar???
You guys are soooo predictable.. :D
Listen,
I was under the impression that the FBI and DOJ had reviewed it prior to it being sent to Trump, so it’s kinda weird that they cleared it a few days ago
Actually, they didn't..
But why let *FACTS* screw up a perfectly good hysterical bullshit rant, eh? :D
I was under the impression that the FBI and DOJ had reviewed it prior to it being sent to Trump, so it’s kinda weird that they cleared it a few days ago
You see, we have ya'all's bullshit claims...
Schiff: Dems will review suggested memo redactions from DOJ, FBI
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/373234-schiff-dems-will-to-review-recommended-memo-redactions-from-doj-fbi
And then there are the *FACTS*...
And nay the two shall ever meet....
LWYH [7]
Re Hope Hicks 'defending her boyfriend (Porter). You have to presume that even a serial abuser isn't dumb enough to begin the abuse during courtship (dating). With his previous relationships, he waited until the honeymoon!
neilm-6
"I think the memo serves a better purpose for the Democrats unpublished."
Trump's suppression of the Democratic memo is something of a "Rosemary Woods" with his fingerprints AND signature on it. Trump does not have the last word on what is classified. Classified information can be presented as evidence to a grand jury. The grand jury process itself is highly secretive.
Trump has, yet again, panicked under pressure. With his latest impulse, he is building the case against him for obstruction of justice.
Every day, in every way, the United States is getting closer to what seems to be an inevitable Constitutional Crisis.
[10] Michale
"It's already been done. :D
The USS Voyager found a 1963 Ford Truck floating in space in the Delta Quadrant :D"
1) But Earth won't know about that for at least another 400 years or more, not until Voyager gets back to the Alpha Quadrant.
2) That 1963 Truck was left in space by aliens, the Briori, not launched into space like the Tesla was by humans themselves. :-)
Trump has, yet again, panicked under pressure. With his latest impulse, he is building the case against him for obstruction of justice.
Donald Trump promised that if I voted for Hillary I'd be stuck with a criminal President under constant federal investigation from day one.
He kept his promise! I voted for Hillary and I'm stuck with a criminal President under constant federal investigation from day one.
(Stolen from the Interwebs.)
One of the scary things 45 has to deal with ...
Under the so-called “doctrine of willful blindness,” reinforced by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a majority opinion in 2011, juries are instructed to “consider whether the defendant deliberately closed his eyes to what would otherwise be obvious to him.”
This is getting more and more funny.
Let's add a new question for the press to ask the White House:
"So, have you stopped obstructing justice, or is it still ongoing?"
JM,
The USS Voyager found a 1963 Ford Truck floating in space in the Delta Quadrant :D"
1) But Earth won't know about that for at least another 400 years or more, not until Voyager gets back to the Alpha Quadrant.
2) That 1963 Truck was left in space by aliens, the Briori, not launched into space like the Tesla was by humans themselves. :-)
Well done... I won't pick on you today.. :D
Michale,
Actually, the FBI and DOJ did review the documents before they were sent to Trump. They have already suggested which items they felt needed to be redacted. Trump, however, could have released the document with those redactions — like he did with the Nunes’ memo. Schiff said that Democrats would be reviewing the redactions that the agencies suggested needed to be in place, not that they needed to have them review the memo.
Keep trying to spin it, Sparky! You might get it right one day.
CRS,
Re Hope Hicks 'defending her boyfriend (Porter). You have to presume that even a serial abuser isn't dumb enough to begin the abuse during courtship (dating). With his previous relationships, he waited until the honeymoon!
I guess Hicks believes as long as she is willing to have sex with Porter whenever he wants it, she has nothing to fear! I’m sure that this line of thinking had nothing to do with all the time she’s spent around Trump these past few years!
Actually, the FBI and DOJ did review the documents before they were sent to Trump. They have already suggested which items they felt needed to be redacted.
Yea, that's what I said..
Which means they did NOT clear it a few days ago, as you claimed..
Trump, however, could have released the document with those redactions
He could have.. He chose not to..
Waaaaaa...
Keep trying to spin it, Sparky! You might get it right one day.
Says the guy who got caught in a blatant lie...
Grrrrrrrrr
Trump’s twisting the story surrounding the Steele dossier to claim that it was really the Democrats and Hillary that colluded with Russia in an attempt to keep him from being President. If Hillary was working with Putin against Trump, then wouldn’t that mean that Putin was lying to Trump when Putin claimed Russia had not interfered with out election in any way???
Whenever anybody does or says anything against Trump, he responds by attacking them on Twitter and in the press, yet with Putin he just curls up in the fetal position and sucks his thumb. Trump refused to renew/add new sanctions against Russia that Congress had voted in favor of — a foreign country that he and his minions claim colluded with the Democrats against him; and he isn’t going to make them pay for their crimes?!?! How very UN-Trump of him.
I guess Hicks believes as long as she is willing to have sex with Porter whenever he wants it, she has nothing to fear! I’m sure that this line of thinking had nothing to do with all the time she’s spent around Trump these past few years!
This is EXACTLY why it's simply *IMPOSSIBLE* to take you people seriously..
Yes, Russ... ONLY women who are exposed to President Trump would be abuse victims..
Women exposed to good and "moral" Democrats like Harvey Weinstein or Bill Clinton or Jeffery Epstein are ALWAYS safe and sound and well adjusted..
Once again, you prove beyond ANY doubt how UTTERLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY ya'all are ruled and enslaved by your ideological fanaticism....
then wouldn’t that mean that Putin was lying to Trump when Putin claimed Russia had not interfered with out election in any way???
And you find it hard to believe that Putin lied???
So, when it supports your agenda, Putin is the liar from hell..
When it DOESN'T support your agenda, Putin is the epitome of truth-telling..
Once again...
THIS is why it's impossible to take you people seriously...
"What do you mean, 'YOU PEOPLE'..???"
-Robert Downey Jr, TROPIC THUNDER
Nunes did not allow the DOJ or FBI review his memo prior to asking Trump to release it. The Democrats did have them review their response. Trump was aware of the parts of the response that the DOJ and FBI wanted redacted. He chose not to release the redacted response, which was his prerogative to do.
Why not allow the release a redacted response? Because even a blind man could see that Trump’s claim that he was pushing for complete transparency in the matter is utter bullshat! It is likely that the parts of the Democrats’ response that did not need to be redacted were more than enough to show that Nunes’ memo had been a cherry-picked work of fiction, and Trump doesn’t want that getting out.
Of course, if he truly cared about transparency, Trump would release his tax returns. Could Mueller’s investigation be cover for the IRS’s investigation into Trump’s tax returns? Will they be the ones to take down Trump like they did Al Capone? Keeping Trump distracted with Mueller while the IRS auditors bring his empire to its knees?
Yes, Russ... ONLY women who are exposed to President Trump would be abuse victims..
No where did I say that! You made it about politics, not me! Anytime a woman has a man in authority over them that has a history of being abusive, it increases the risk of the woman becoming a victim. I do agree with you that women exposed to Trump are likely to be victims.
Weinstein and Trump are one in the same. I couldn’t support either one of them and still be able to look my niece in the eye. Don’t know how you explain supporting someone who bragged about sexually assaulting women simply because he thinks his wealth allows him to do so!
then wouldn’t that mean that Putin was lying to Trump when Putin claimed Russia had not interfered with out election in any way???
And you find it hard to believe that Putin lied???
So, when it supports your agenda, Putin is the liar from hell..
When it DOESN'T support your agenda, Putin is the epitome of truth-telling..
Never said I believed Putin...Trump did! Man, you are really getting bad at spinning what I say to fit your distractions from the truth...I meant your responses! Trump claimed that he believed Putin when Putin said he didn’t interfere with our elections.
But now Trump is claiming Hillary was the one colluding with Putin against him. That means Putin DID interfere with our elections. So why isn’t Trump calling Putin out? Because Trump is a coward? Because Trump is lying? The answer is C: All of the above!
Then you and I are in complete agreement..
Let's have FULL transparency and expose ALL the wrong doing and let the chips fall where they may..
There is no National Security issues with full transparency....
Let it ALL hang out...
So much for that. Got cognitive dissonance?
Comment source: http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/02/02/ftp470/#comment-115020
But now Trump is claiming Hillary was the one colluding with Putin against him. That means Putin DID interfere with our elections. So why isn’t Trump calling Putin out? Because Trump is a coward? Because Trump is lying? The answer is C: All of the above!
There is another option to explain Trump's behavior ... perhaps he is being blackmailed ...
Why not allow the release a redacted response?
Because the President didn't want to...
Deal with it..
Of course, if he truly cared about transparency, Trump would release his tax returns.
You didn't demand Odumbo release school records in the name of transparency...
You have no moral ground to stand on... All you have is the ground that reaks with the stench of partisan slavery...
No where did I say that!
I guess Hicks believes as long as she is willing to have sex with Porter whenever he wants it, she has nothing to fear! I’m sure that this line of thinking had nothing to do with all the time she’s spent around Trump these past few years!
You sure as hell implied it..
But now Trump is claiming Hillary was the one colluding with Putin against him.
Chaps yer ass that Trump would claim that without ANY FACTS to prove it, eh?
Welcome to my world, sunshine.. :D
There is another option to explain Trump's behavior ... perhaps he is being blackmailed ...
Another option to explain Trump's behavior...
He's a Ferengi! :D
There is another option to explain Trump's behavior ... perhaps he is being blackmailed ...
Another option to explain Trump's behavior...
He's a Ferengi! :D
Remember when the GOP thought that Odumbo was being controlled by the Iranian Mullahs???
Yea... Same crazy... :D
So much for that. Got cognitive dissonance?
You did when you were arguing AGAINST releasing the Nunes Memo...
Now that it's the Dumbocrat memo, *NOW* you want full transparency...
I don't care if the Dumbocrat memo is released.. But President Trump made the call and it's his call to make..
Deal with it...
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6282c7120b87de99182e140414261b8139e4ef2fe2664fa3cb6db429d72f74d.jpg?w=800&h=520
"It's funny because it's true."
-Homer Simpson
Israel Attacks Syrian, Iranian Posts as Border Region Boils
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-10/syria-downs-israeli-f16-jet-pilots-safe-israeli-army-says
That's the Israeli AF I know and love..
Kickin' ass and takin' names!!! :D
You did when you were arguing AGAINST releasing the Nunes Memo...
I never cared about the memo. I thought it was a joke all along. They were obviously going to release it, as soon as they got the fanboys slavering and ready to swallow anything. And it worked - look at the frenzy it put you into - you kept bringing it up day after day.
Sad.
That's the Israeli AF I know and love..
Kickin' ass and takin' names!!! :D
you do know they just got one of their planes shot down, right?
Sort of a failure in most people's books.
SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
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GABRIEL!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!
you do know they just got one of their planes shot down, right?
Sort of a failure in most people's books.
Only in those people's books who are ignorant of military matters...
Israel struck 12 targets in Syria, including four Iranian targets, in a “large-scale attack” after the drone infiltration, the Israel Defense Forces said. An F-16 fighter plane crashed in northern Israel after coming under fire from Syrian anti-aircraft missiles, and the pilots were hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries.
Israel could have lost 10 times the fighters and it STILL would have been a success....
What's the *NUMBER ONE* priority to ANY military operation??
I'll give you a hint..
"You keep yer priorities straight.. Your mission and your men.."
-Gene Hackman, CRIMSON TIDE
Only in those people's books who are ignorant of military matters...
So they wanted to have one of their planes shot down?
And you think that is sound military planning?
You didn't demand Odumbo release school records in the name of transparency...
You are right., I didn’t. If he had promised he would release the records if he were elected and then showed what a lying coward he truly was by refusing to release them after he took office....I would have demanded that he release them! You can request his college transcript if you need them.
Trump’s tax records would show just how much or how little influence foreign money has on his present life. Obama’s transcripts showing that he passed Table Tennis 101 as an elective really isn’t that relevant. I know you just cannot accept that a black man could be smart enough to earn a degree, but they aren’t the lesser species that you and Trump seem to think that they are.
Some folks just need to ease up on the Plutonian Nyborg, man...
Michale,
You know what would be even better than Trump being blackmailed?
That would be one or both of the Clintons being blackmailed.
Seriously.
neilm
21
*LOL* So true... from second one of his presidency.
IN CASE Y'ALL MISSED IT
A federal court just unsealed Trump’s 20-year-old dirty secrets
A federal appeals court just issued a ruling (embedded
below[at link]) that will unseal records dating back 20-years about Donald Trump’s former senior advisor and original Russian connection, the mobster Felix Sater. Forbes Media LLC and reporter Richard Behar filed the successful request to reveal Felix Sater’s criminal past.Sater’s company, Bayrock, developed the Trump SoHo Hotel-Condominium in lower Manhattan and a tower in Fort Lauderdale, which both spawned fraud lawsuits, one of which went all the way to the Supreme Court to partially unseal his criminal past and mafia ties.
Now, the 2nd Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has issued a ruling to publicly reveal the court dockets, briefings and records related to Sater’s 1998 conviction for running a massive pump-and-dump penny stock scam. The three-judge panel opined:
The special master shall, in close consultation with the Office of the Clerk of Court, oversee the unsealing all the documents on the dockets of the two above-captioned appeals for which the Report recommends unsealing.
The 21 documents on those dockets which the Report recommends be unsealed subject to redaction shall be redacted in the manner set forth in the Report and the Addenda.
Notably, in addition to unsealing Sater’s criminal history, the court’s order will release a brief in the case written by Trump biographer and Pulitzer-winning journalist David Cay Johnson.
http://washingtonpress.com/2018/02/10/federal-court-just-unsealed-trumps-20-year-old-dirty-secrets/
__________
It's always a fun day when the courts unseal the secret things. Unleash the indictments. More to come. :)
So they wanted to have one of their planes shot down?
Don't you think doubling down on your military ignorance is a stoopid move??
And you think that is sound military planning?
Once again, you are wallowing in your ignorance of military matters.
NO battle plan survives contact with the enemy..
Russ
You are right., I didn’t.
Then you have no moral foundation to condemn President Trump...
DACA Recipient Slams Dems Using ‘Dreamers’ As ‘Pawns’
“Dreamer” Hilario Yanez praised President Donald Trump’s leadership on immigration and slammed Democrats for using DACA recipients as “pawns” during a Saturday interview on Fox News.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/10/daca-recipient-dems-using-dreamers-pawns/
Yep... Yep... Yep....
Dumbocrats.. :^/
It's always a fun day when the courts unseal the secret things. Unleash the indictments. More to come. :)
Ooooooo Another "bombshell"...
BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The Associated Press sums it up nicely: “Senate Democratic leaders have dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for the ‘Dreamer’ immigrants.”
That’s a nice way of saying that Democrats folded. But why? Recall that just two weeks ago Democrats called a DACA-based amnesty nothing short of a moral imperative and “the civil rights issue of our day.” Rhetorical modesty is not considered a virtue on the Left. Neither, apparently, is constancy.
After the Schumer Shutdown turned into a public relations debacle Dick Durbin inveighed, Chuck Schumer threatened, and Nancy Pelosi…well, we couldn’t quite decipher what Nancy Pelosi said but we’re pretty sure it was meant to express Resistance™! They postured and preened for a few days but then Donald Trump offered them a DACA deal that gave them more than they asked for—nearly 2 million people legalized with a path to citizenship in exchange for some modest border security—and they walked away. Apparently, Democrats couldn’t take yes for an answer.
https://amgreatness.com/2018/02/07/democrats-fold-immigration-america-wins/
Dumbocrats got played like an out-of-tune fiddle and President Trump was the fiddle-master!!! :D
I wonder how illegal immigrant criminals like their Dumbocrats now?? :D
You know what would be even better than Trump being blackmailed?
That would be one or both of the Clintons being blackmailed.
Seriously.
I am not sure if "better" would be the term I would use...
"More likely" would be more apropos..
The Clintons strike me as being much more "status conscious" than President Trump and more inclined to be susceptible to blackmail..
You really can't blackmail a person who doesn't give a flying frak as to what people think of them...
So they wanted to have one of their planes shot down?
And you think that is sound military planning?
I know you, Neil..
And I KNOW you are not THIS stoopid..
So, I can only assume that you actually don't believe this spewage and are just trying to push my buttons... :D
https://nypost.com/2018/02/10/the-woke-police-have-ruined-entertainment/
WORD......
CNN has some brief footage purporting to show one of the F-16 pilots descending by parachute. It's not the typical circular dome chute of a "stock" F-16 ACES II ejection system, it looks to a "square" ram air chute like a sport jumper would use.
Ram air chutes have better glide ratios, are more maneuverable and land more softly than a traditional dome, but are generally considered less reliable. The ability to pick a better landing zone (think cover), and not breaking bones on impact (think evasion) may outweigh an increase in chute failure.
The Israeli arms industry is sophisticated and often thinks outside the box. Or the footage shown on CNN (and elsewhere) might be misattributed to the shoot down. Anyhow, it caught my eye.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/02/10/israel-military-jet-crash-new-day-weekend.cnn
So, I can only assume that you actually don't believe this spewage and are just trying to push my buttons... :D
I'd never do that Michale ;)
Is the Israeli's plan to have two planes shot down next time so they are twice as successful?
goode trickle-
49
Look, man, if there's one thing I know, it's how to post while I'm stoned. It's like you know your perspective's fucked so you just let your hands work the keyboard as if you were straight.
Barry Ritholtz had an interesting chart on his daily diary (if you don't real Ritholtz, I recommend you check him out, he usually has interesting links on his daily "Reads" and his investment advice is usually very sound).
http://ritholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/advantages.png
Anyway, it looks like a lot of Republicans are ungrateful for the leg up they have been given in America. They should be thankful that America gave them better schools, safer neighborhoods, and wealth built over generations when non-whites were kept out of good opportunities.
Instead they watch Fox News and whine all the time that they don't think all Americans should get the same opportunities they got. And the lazy and useless among the Republicans (i.e. most of them) are collecting social security and medicare and whining as hard working, education-hungry immigrants and previously oppressed Americans overtake them.
Maybe it would be quicker for the White House to list only the people that do have full security clearances.
I mean, we were promised the "best people", and with thought that would usually overlap with "the people the FBI trusts with America's secrets".
Time for a new CoS.
BB [64] - at my company we call it EUI when we see a somewhat regrettable work email go out late at night.
Is the Israeli's plan to have two planes shot down next time so they are twice as successful?
There were no planes shot down in the Israeli raid on Iranian and Syrian targets...
So, once again, leave military matters to professionals.. :D
I'd never do that Michale ;)
Hehehe of course not... SIlly me... :D
There were no planes shot down in the Israeli raid on Iranian and Syrian targets...
To clarify.. There were multiple raids....
There was a raid on the C&C bunker controlling the drone that violated Israeli airspace.. During the course of that raid, a single IAF F-16 was hit by AA flak, but made it back to Israeli territory...
There was a subsequent raid as a result of that downing and that raid was flawless...
Once again, Israel proves that they are the best of the best.. :D
neilm [65] 2nd para, "Anyway it looks like . . .etc"
Your statement, "Republicans are ungrateful for the leg-up they have been given in America", seems to convey the premise that "America" and "Republicans" are somehow separate entities. What is your point in that? You seem to be implying thereby that "America" consists only of Democrats, right?
Otherwise, it would amount to something akin to 'Republicans are ungrateful for they leg-up they have provided for themselves', would it not?
A disturbing video of a La Mesa police officer body-slamming a 17-year-old student onto the cement ground of a local charter school in San Diego, California, has sparked outrage among students, parents, community members and nationwide social media users.
https://sputniknews.com/society/201801221060977012-san-diego-cop-slams-teenage-girl-cement-school-campus/
Another instance of, if you fight the law, the law will win....
And my old high school to boot!!! :D
Look, man, if there's one thing I know, it's how to post while I'm stoned. It's like you know your perspective's fucked so you just let your hands work the keyboard as if you were straight.
Don't get stoned and these things wouldn't happen.. :D
CR: [70]: Your statement, "Republicans are ungrateful for the leg-up they have been given in America", seems to convey the premise that "America" and "Republicans" are somehow separate entities.
No more than the statement "Girls are upset about all the frogs brought to Gym Class" conveys the premise that 'girls' and 'Gym Class' are separate entities.
Let me rephrase it: There are a lot of 'snowflake Republicans' who piss and moan as if they're the true victims of the modern age. After the election, rivers of newsprint were devoted to the angst of mostly white, rural men who told reporters that they felt that something had been 'taken from them' over the course of the Obama years, when in fact all that had happened was that a Democrat occupied the White House for two terms, and he was a black man. What did they lose?
Their minds, apparently. Their sense of decency, morality, and propriety. All sense of fiscal responsibility, evidently. They seem to want desperately to blame all of their problems on black folks, immigrants, uppity women, gays, the press and distant academics.
My advice to them is to stop consuming Right wing media, which only exists to make them angry and outraged, and does so because it's profitable.
That done, the GOP snowflakes need to 'man up' and stop blaming folks at the bottom of the heap for all of their problems.
Let me rephrase it: There are a lot of 'snowflake Republicans' who piss and moan as if they're the true victims of the modern age. After the election, rivers of newsprint were devoted to the angst of mostly white, rural men who told reporters that they felt that something had been 'taken from them' over the course of the Obama years, when in fact all that had happened was that a Democrat occupied the White House for two terms, and he was a black man. What did they lose?
And THERE is the race card... :^/
What *IS* it with you people that you have to drag RACE into EVERY discussion???
That done, the GOP snowflakes need to 'man up' and stop blaming folks at the bottom of the heap for all of their problems.
Du auch....
Balthy,
What you don't see thru your Party slavery is that there is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE between the GOP reaction to Odumbo and ya'all's reaction to President Trump..
NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER....
And THERE is the race card... :^/
Arthur: How do you do, good lady. I am Arthur, king of the Britons. Whose castle is that?
Woman: King of the 'oo?
Arthur: King of the Britons.
Woman: 'Oo are the Britons?
Arthur: Well we all are! We are all Britons! And I am your king.
Woman: I didn't know we 'ad a king! I thought we were autonomous collective.
Man: (mad) You're fooling yourself! We're living in a dictatorship! A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes--
Woman: There you go, bringing class into it again...
Man: That's what it's all about! If only people would--
-THE PEASANTS, Monty Python
Yer a bunch of hysterical activists in search of a cause..
And if ya can't find one, you'll invent one...
Yer a Rebel Without A Clue.....
Balthazar [73]
1) Your Frogs'n'gym-class comparison is NOt an equivalence, it's a non sequitur.
2) You've never heard me "piss'n'moan".
3) I don't have any "problems" (in the sense you use the word), so I can't blame them on black folks.
4) I do not "consume right-wing media",'cause I have no access to it. MY only TV comes over an old-fashioned roof-top antenna. Actually, believe it or not, the only political media I do consume is LEFT-WING media (specifically, Amy Goodman's stuff) 'cause that's all I can receive.
Don't get stoned and these things wouldn't happen.. :D
I know this is totally not your thing, but we were riffing on movie quotes...
I know this is totally not your thing, but we were riffing on movie quotes...
Totally not my thing.. :D
Okay Stucki, let me put it this way:
The Trump phenomenon is famously one of grievance.
You have to admit that much.
Now I used to have a buddy who would say, "I'm free, white and over 21, what CAN'T I do?
And he had a point.
But many in the GOP these days seem to feel the opposite, that they are the oppressed class in America, and that the playing board has been tilted against them. You've complained yourself about the government money that goes to 'non-productive' folks at the expense of the 'productive'.
Which all means that you (and the GOP) think that the underclass is taking too much of the pie, which is nonsense in an America where the top one percent own as much as everyone else put together. And just got richer, thanks to a craven Republican majority.
But Republicans keep whining about payments to the poor, as though that's what's keeping us all down.
Which is also so much nonsense. Someone calculated once that just a third of the US military budget would be all we'd need to give every American a suite in a luxury hotel for life.
So we come back to Neil's point. In global terms, Republican Americans hit the lottery at birth. What are they all whining about?
Balthy
I have indeed expounded on the theme of "productive vs. unproductive", but I don't recall that the subject of those discourses was ever gov't welfare. I'm actually not unalterably opposed to gov't welfare transfers.
My objections to neilm's "leg-up" and "ungrateful" terminology would be that it implies that our "freewhite&twenty-one" favored status was achieved at somebody else's expense.
If we did indeed "hit the lottery at birth", it's because the forbears of the "haves and the have nots" were the "dids and the did nots".
Ooooooo Another "bombshell"...
BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ooooooo Another "mugshot." I lost count. Lecture us more about criminals and hypocrisy.
BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
neilm
65
http://ritholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/advantages.png
Very interesting.
Instead they watch Fox News and whine all the time that they don't think all Americans should get the same opportunities they got. And the lazy and useless among the Republicans (i.e. most of them) are collecting social security and medicare and whining as hard working, education-hungry immigrants and previously oppressed Americans overtake them.
Nailed it! :)
Neilm-63
Touche'
Bromaces between visiting US military and their lsraeli hosts are common.. The phenomenon is similar to Jerusalem Syndrome. The
Isaelis are clear headed about it - the goys with their memories, not so much.
[81] My objections to neilm's "leg-up" and "ungrateful" terminology would be that it implies that our "freewhite&twenty-one" favored status was achieved at somebody else's expense.
*cough*slavery*cough* *cough*indians*cough*
If we did indeed "hit the lottery at birth", it's because the forbears of the "haves and the have nots" were the "dids and the did nots".
Or, more realistically, the 'coulds' and the 'could nots'.
Balthy
So, your contention is that it was the Indians and the black folks who built (To quote neilm's [65], which is where this discussion began) the "better schools, safer neighborhoods and wealth built up over generations" which are the things that gave you and me our "leg up" and enabled us to "hit the lottery at birth"??
*cough*cough*cough*
*cough*slavery*cough* *cough*indians*cough*
And what does that have to do with the here and now???
Absolutely nothing...
Reuben Foster, San Francisco 49ers linebacker, arrested on domestic violence charges, reports say
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2018/02/11/reuben-foster-san-francisco-49ers-linebacker-arrested-on-domestic-violence-charges-reports-say.html
What *IS* it about Dumbocrats and beating their wives/girlfriends, eh???
Today the Jerusalem Post ran a short article about the F-16 shoot down.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israeli-F-16-pilots-speak-The-force-of-the-blast-could-have-killed-us-542346
Four key points in the story:
The missile warhead exploded "at some distance"
The crew were injured by warhead fragments.
The aircraft was rendered unmanageable by the explosion.
The crew ejected "seconds" after the missile exploded.
The above are consistent with speculation that the F-16 was hit close to home by a long range SA-5 (AKA S-200) which is a rather old design and has been in the Syrian active inventory since the 1980s.
All this raises four questions relating to what happens next:
Lucky shot?
Israeli pilot/command control error?
Israeli countermeasure network hardware malfunction?
SA-5 upgrade?
I doubt anybody really knows yet.
Josh Marshall says it well:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rob-porter-is-the-illumination-flare-of-trumpist-rot
ll of it starts to feed on itself. The President is defined by his predation. He attracts these people to him or they are the only options available and he in turn protects them. He’s staffed by the inexperienced, the incompetent and the reprobate. They are unable to hide his nature even when it would be in his interest to allow them to do so. The rush of crises and incapacity yields desperation and lying, in part because of the nature of the situation but even more because these behaviors are validated from the top. Did John Kelly start out as a liar? We don’t know. He seems to be one and a not terribly good one now. Porter’s exposure is like a brief but sustained flash of light amidst the moral darkness and squalor of Trump White House, briefly illuminating all the dreck and rot of the rough beast of Trumpism.
All
[81] C. R. Stucki
"My objections to neilm's "leg-up" and "ungrateful" terminology would be that it implies that our "freewhite&twenty-one" favored status was achieved at somebody else's expense."
It was achieved at someone else's expense. Not all of it. But a lot of it was. If you can't even acknowledge that as a real part of our history, then you are being deliberately ignorant. This country has a long tradition of being built at the expense of others, as Balthasar pointed out to you, regarding both the use of slave labor and cheating and stealing from Native Americans. Both gave huge parts of the nation unfair advantages for decades at their expense. You can't expect to move forward today without acknowledging the past.
[86] C. R. Stucki
"So, your contention is that it was the Indians and the black folks who built (To quote neilm's [65], which is where this discussion began) the "better schools, safer neighborhoods and wealth built up over generations" which are the things that gave you and me our "leg up" and enabled us to "hit the lottery at birth"??"
In a word, YES. Who provided the land for those wealthy homes? In a lot of cases, it was land taken from Native Americans.
Who built those mansions and served as domestic workers? In a lot of cases, it was black labor.
Who was shut out of those wealthy neighborhoods by practices like red lining by banks? Black folk.
Who built up wealth in major corporations from railroads to mines at the expense of exploited non union labor, miners, farm workers, ranch hands, share croppers, etc?
Let's get real Stucki. You can chose to turn a blind eye. But all was not and is not the clear black and white photo you try to make it out to be, and never was.
John M [92]
Valid points indeed, but also mostly beside the point I've been trying to make.
Nevertheless, I would NEVER attempt to minimize or to downplay the problems and hardships that the brown and the black folks have had to endure in dealing with being overrun by white folks.
However, I would point out that prior to their involvement with white folks, both those other two groups were firmly ensconced in the stone age, where only rarely did anybody ever have any chance to be involved with anything beyond the struggle for the next meal.
Hard as their current lives have been, I'm betting that not a single one, given the choice, would choose to revert to the stone age.
[87] Michale
"*cough*slavery*cough* *cough*indians*cough*
And what does that have to do with the here and now???
Absolutely nothing..."
If ignorance is bliss, you must be in a permanent state of ecstasy, rapture, and euphoria.
It has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with today. The present does NOT exist in a vacuum. It didn't just "spring" out of NOWHERE. History, has a starting point, a middle (the present) and an end. Even today has an origin point that can't be ignored. How many effective policies do you think that there are that ignore the root causes they are trying to solve? In any field of endeavor?
[94] C. R. Stucki
"However, I would point out that prior to their involvement with white folks, both those other two groups were firmly ensconced in the stone age, where only rarely did anybody ever have any chance to be involved with anything beyond the struggle for the next meal."
THAT is an ignorant statement that totally ignores real world history. Native Americans were building pyramids at the same time as Rome was building its empire. And several African kingdoms were coming into being at the same time as Charlemagne's empire in Europe. Timbuktu in West Africa was a major center of writing, philosophy and literature and had a University at the same time as the Middle Ages were taking place in Europe.
John M [93]
Re our "Theft of Native American land" to build our "mansions".
Just a couple points. First, private ownership of land was an alien concept for the Indians. Most of them tried to enforce some degree of tribal territoriality, but it never even occurred to them that any specific individual could or should "own" a specific parcel of mother earth.
Second, the Native Americans had the entire western hemisphere all to themselves for hundreds of thousands of years, and never even came close to populating it to any significant degree. I'd say that that failure pretty much obviated their claims to ownership of most of that land.
John M [96}
Correct, but is not a pyramid just a stack of stones?
So, where did those writers, philosophers and university professors go? I doubt that they were there when their Arabic north African neighbors were rounding up the West African Negros to sell them to the white slave traders.
[98] C. R. Stucki
"Correct, but is not a pyramid just a stack of stones?
So, where did those writers, philosophers and university professors go? I doubt that they were there when their Arabic north African neighbors were rounding up the West African Negros to sell them to the white slave traders."
WOW, JUST WOW. How much more of a deliberate downplay can you put on display to try to justify European superiority???
A pyramid is JUST a pile of stones, really???
Ignoring all the engineering required and involved in building such a structure?
All the complex mathematics involved to so precisely cut stone, place it correctly, the sophisticated level of cooperation needed both socially and politically, to sustain such an effort, dedicate resources and planning to it over YEARS? Align it with the specific stars and the solstice during certain times of the year.
To do it without modern machinery like cranes and bull dozers. Without even using modern cement. Yet still not have any seems between stones.
By the way. Timbuktu as famous AS an ISLAMIC center.
A very good piece about how we got here:
https://crooked.com/article/boycotting-republicans-isnt-enough/
The Republican Party isn’t going to “right itself or implode” unless that kind of unprincipled behavior is rendered toxic. It should be considered disreputable outside of movement conservatism to work for Fox News or for the same RNC that propped up Trump, and then backed Roy Moore in Alabama. If you conduct yourself the way Devin Nunes has conducted himself as Trump’s agent atop the House Intelligence Committee, you shouldn’t just have to worry about losing your seat, but about your name being dirt.
[97] C. R. Stucki
"Second, the Native Americans had the entire western hemisphere all to themselves for hundreds of thousands of years, and never even came close to populating it to any significant degree. I'd say that that failure pretty much obviated their claims to ownership of most of that land."
So, actually taking STEWARDSHIP of the land and not GROSSLY OVERPOPULATING it justifies saying that any claim to it is necessarily void???
It also ignores the millions of people who WERE HERE in the Aztec and Inca empires at the time of European contact and were wiped out by European diseases.
That would be like saying if the next strain of the FLU came from China and wiped out 90 percent of the population of the United States, the Chinese would then be justified in taking over North American because Europeans were unsuccessful in filling up the land. It pretty much amounts to the same line of reasoning.
Also, even if Native Americans did not view the land as individual ownership, they were still here and occupied it FIRST. How does that excuse Europeans displacing them by force? By unequal and broken treaties? By treaties largely written in English, in a language Native Americans both neither spoke nor understood? How FAIR would a written contract be today if YOU had to sign one written in Arabic or Russian or Chinese?
[98] C. R. Stucki
"So, where did those writers, philosophers and university professors go? I doubt that they were there when their Arabic north African neighbors were rounding up the West African Negros to sell them to the white slave traders."
Where did all of Western Civilization go after the fall of Classical Greece or the fall of Rome?
The condition of the present does not negate or erase the achievements of the past.
It does not justify the present, it merely helps explain it.
And it is not always a reliable predictor of the future, it just provides a context.
John M
You're right, I should have said "an ELABORATE pile of stones".
I dunno "where western civilization went", but it didn't revert to the stone age.
Just yankin' your chain a mite.
[103] C. R. Stucki
"You're right, I should have said "an ELABORATE pile of stones".
I dunno "where western civilization went", but it didn't revert to the stone age.
Just yankin' your chain a mite."
Neither did American or African civilizations revert to the stone age either. Though plenty did lament just how far a majority of European civilization fell and how much knowledge that was lost and did not get rediscovered until the Renaissance. To go from Hippocrates to the Black Death is quite a drop. It wasn't called the "Dark Ages" in Europe for nothing.
But I accept your concession and apology.
What *IS* it about Dumbocrats and beating their wives/girlfriends, eh???
Since Trump took office, you could say someone who commits domestic violence is acting downright “presidential”, and you’d be correct!
It was achieved at someone else's expense. Not all of it. But a lot of it was.
Assumes facts not in evidence....
It has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with today. The present does NOT exist in a vacuum. It didn't just "spring" out of NOWHERE. History, has a starting point, a middle (the present) and an end. Even today has an origin point that can't be ignored. How many effective policies do you think that there are that ignore the root causes they are trying to solve? In any field of endeavor?
So, you are saying your entire existence is on the backs of slaves and native Americans???
That being the case, you have no right to exist..
Since Trump took office, you could say someone who commits domestic violence is acting downright “presidential”, and you’d be correct!
YOU would say that..
Considering how you Dumbocrats revered Bubba Clinton, it's been "presidential" for quite a while now...
[106] Michale
"It was achieved at someone else's expense. Not all of it. But a lot of it was.
Assumes facts not in evidence...."
NOT TRUE. You might actually want to try studying HISTORY sometime Michale.
[107] Michale
"So, you are saying your entire existence is on the backs of slaves and native Americans???
That being the case, you have no right to exist.."
NO. Where did I say that? Where did I use the word ENTIRE?
Stop putting words into people's mouths and reading things into things that simply aren't there. You have been warned about doing both before Michale. Along with making sweeping generalizations that simply aren't true, lack of reading comprehension, and interjecting other topics that are not relevant to the subject at hand in order to obscure the fact that you don't really have any relevant counter points.
NOT TRUE. You might actually want to try studying HISTORY sometime Michale.
You are confusing causation with whatever you are spewing..
Along with making sweeping generalizations that simply aren't true, l
Says the guy who makes a huge sweeping generalization that racism is the fault of every white American...
Which is hilarious because it's YOU DEMOCRATS who institutionalized racism in this country....
Vanessa Trump taken to hospital as precaution after white powder sent to her home
by TOM WINTER and JONATHAN DIENST
The suspicious letter that sent President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law to a Manhattan hospital was postmarked from Boston and appeared to contain corn starch, multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.
The letter was addressed to Vanessa Trump's husband, Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, officials said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vanessa-trump-taken-hospital-precaution-after-suspicious-letter-n847231
NeverTrumpers.. :^/ Their hatred of President Trump and his family knows no depths...
Vanessa Trump and two other people were taken to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center strictly as a precaution.
The NYPD said the white powder in the envelope was deemed to be non-hazardous and was taken to a lab for further analysis. More testing is being done, but officials said it appeared the substance was harmless corn starch.
"How disturbed must a person be to do what they did to a mother of five children?'' Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal attorney, said in a statement. "This dangerous and reckless act goes beyond political differences."
NeverTrumpers.... Sick people.....
Russ: Since Trump took office, you could say someone who commits domestic violence is acting downright “presidential”, and you’d be correct!
Michale: YOU would say that..
Considering how you Dumbocrats revered Bubba Clinton, it's been "presidential" for quite a while now...
Wrong. Michale was 100% correct when he confessed he wasn't a "history buff." While there are many things to which he could deflect regarding Bill Clinton's behavior in order to absolve His Orange Worship, being "someone who commits domestic violence" is NOT one of them.
The Clintons are all-purpose straw men arguments; you just make up whatever bullshit you like and stick their name to it. It's the hallmark of GOP propaganda.
NeverTrumpers.. :^/ Their hatred of President Trump and his family knows no depths...
Setting aside the fact that you've provided no proof that the origin of the envelope was a "NeverTrumper": How is mailing a harmless powder any different than your serial statements where you threaten that Trumpers will take up arms against others?
"Hatred"... "Sick people"?
We accept your admission.
Paula
100
A very good piece about how we got here:
https://crooked.com/article/boycotting-republicans-isnt-enough/
That about covers it. :)
Paula [100]: That's a very good article.
It's a good reminder that GOP truculence, incompetence, blithe insistence on obviously insincere statements, blame casting, and fiscal irresponsibility aren't at all new. Trump is just the GOP personified.
Funny how none condemned the sick act committed by sick NeverTrumpers...
Like ya'all have established...
Silence gives assent...
You people really are consumed with hate, aren't ya... :^/
https://static.pjmedia.com/trending/user-content/51/files/2018/02/180212113953-special-cut-barack-obama-portrait-exlarge-169-699x1024.jpg
Find the 10 things wrong with this picture.. :D
Find the 10 things wrong with this picture.. :D
I have a better idea... you find your head up your ass.
Once again, we see how Victoria is obsessed with my ass... :D
On the other hand, I have finally seen a picture of Victoria...
https://tinyurl.com/yd3hwelj
Now I understand why she is the way she is.. :D
BBBWWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA
Nope... never will be interested in fat, bald, poor, repetitive, and uneducated, but would it hurt you to get some new material? Troll harder and less repetitive? You know, remove your head out your ass? :D
Michale
123
Cute. A little more creative but obviously fake.
Shall I post the real mugshots?
BBBWWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Shall I post the real mugshots?
Go for it, bitch....
Cute. A little more creative but obviously fake.
Nope, not fake at all.. A perfect picture of you in your environment...
The only question that remains, is why were you terrorizing school children in Hong Kong???
So, in addition to a fat slob, you go after little children???
Yer a sick sick person...
Welfare-Girl...
Shall I post the real mugshots?
When are you going to get it thru that fat slob head of yours that you **CAN NOT** extort me into silence...
Go for it, bitch....
You mad again, bro? Thank you so much for revealing yourself and your ilk to the board.
Have a nice day! :)
You mad again, bro? Thank you so much for revealing yourself and your ilk to the board.
Have a nice day! :)
Yea... That's what I thought.. :D
BBBWWWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Michale
131
Yea... That's what I thought.. :D
Oh, come on, bro! Please do give thinking a try instead of the cut-and-paste quality of your hatred and repetitive spew. :)
BBBWWWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Victoria.. I mean, Welfare-Girl....
Oh, come on, bro! Please do give thinking a try instead of the cut-and-paste quality of your hatred and repetitive spew. :)
You can deflect all you want, ya fat cow...
But I called yer bluff and you are left hold yer 300 pound belly in your hands.. :D
BBBWWAHAHJAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You are truly so effing gullible. Not everyone is quite as stupid as you and moron enough to reveal their true identity.
I'll just leave that right there. *LOL* :)
You are truly so effing gullible. Not everyone is quite as stupid as you and moron enough to reveal their true identity.
See, that's what you don't get about here...
And sadly, you never will....
I'll just leave that right there. *LOL* :)
Sure ya will..... :D
You've been PWNED......
You bluffed and I called yer bluff... You've been PWNED... :D
Enjoy your fantasy, though. *LOL*
So effing gullible. :)
I'll just leave that right there. *LOL* :)
Enjoy your fantasy, though. *LOL*
So effing gullible. :)
BBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Like I said... PWNED....
Dance, lil Welfare-Girl... Dance... :D
You are so effing gullible; you swallowed it hook, line, and sinker and have been dancing as fast as you could ever since and whining and moaning like the easily conned sucker that you are. *LOL*
Link to your "personal history," coming right up:
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2012/08/14/midsummer-u-s-geography-trivia-game/#comment-25180
Tell us Michael: Why would anyone else have to post your "personal history" when you have offered it up on your own?
Think, McFly, think! :) *LOL*
You are so effing gullible; you swallowed it hook, line, and sinker and have been dancing as fast as you could ever since and whining and moaning like the easily conned sucker that you are. *LOL*
Like I said. I KNEW you couldn't "leave it right there", ya fat cow..
You have to go on and on dancing to my tune.. :D
Where's the "mugshot" you claim you have, Welfare-Girl??
I showed everyone YOUR pic...
https://tinyurl.com/yd3hwelj
You tried to extort me into silence by claiming you had a mugshot of me.... And when I called yer bluff you deflected like the fat-assed cow you are.. :D
BBWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Dance, lil Welfare-Girl, Dance!! :D
Michale
140
You tried to extort me into silence by claiming you had a mugshot of me....
Your lies are as pathetic as they are predictable. I said I lost count of the mugshots of your Trumpian-like crime family and encouraged you to troll harder.
So you are either quite content to lie or you have reading comprehension problems. What part confused you?
Again... I encourage you to troll harder. Your fabrication and repetitive bullshit does not quite live up to what we here expect in our board trolls. :) *LOL*
Dance, lil Welfare-Girl, Dance..
With every comment you PROVE that I pwn you!!! :D
Once again you prove what a low life scumbag fat cow you are by attacking my family...
No wonder you are alone and bitter..
https://tinyurl.com/yd3hwelj
Who would want to be with THAT!! Your only companion just ran out of batteries....
BBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Dance Fat Cow, Dance!!! :D
Still waiting for you to post that supposed mugshot picture, Welfare-Girl...
You ain't got jack and we both know it..
Dance Fat Cow, Dance!!!!!
BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Awwwww. Here are the facts. Anyone like you who has provided their personal information and that of their family online has no one to blame but themselves if people can pull up their multiple mugshots... yes, we do both know it as does anyone with two brain cells to rub together.
So nice try, though, bro! Look on the bright side. You can now stop pretending.
As always... troll harder. :) *LOL*
BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA