I've been warning about Erik Prince's involvement in the shadows of this crew for the last couple of years. You can bet your bottom dollar that any draw-down in Afghanistan is going to be coincided with Prince's mercenary crews (who operate and are bound by no codes of conduct, just like in Iraq) will move in to pick up the slack. Trump's private Army accountable to no oversight or military justice. There were those of us who picked up stories of Prince pitching this idea to Trump in the old thread. He is one of the most dangerous people in America. If you don't believe me read the book Jeremy Scahill wrote about Blackwater.
U.S. Envoy to Anti-IS Coalition Quits Over Trump Syria Withdrawal
https://ktla.com/2018/12/22/u-s-envoy-to-anti-is-coalition-quits-over-trump-syria-withdrawal/?fbclid=IwAR0sYwyzOc7CDVwpSgMh182X9H_vixWKotAqF0GWVxLyobQSiyHOABMjrc0 Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest over President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a U.S. official said, joining Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in an administration exodus of experienced national security figures. Only 11 days ago, McGurk had said it would be “reckless” to consider IS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. McGurk decided to speed up his original plan to leave his post in mid-February.
Is Genocide Predictable? Researchers Say Absolutely
Robert Mueller's team, "exempt" from a partial government shutdown, will keep working
On the same page as above, this story... The Justice Department is one of several government entities that would be affected by a partial government shutdown, but not everyone is expected to pack their bags and go home. While the Justice Department oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Mueller's office will be able to continue working even if there is a partial government shutdown. “All employees with the Special Counsel’s Office are considered exempt and will continue their operations in the case of a lapse in appropriations," Special Counsel’s office spokesman Peter Carr told CNN in late November. The office "is funded from a permanent indefinite appropriation and would be unaffected in the event of a shutdown," a Justice Department spokesperson added. "The appropriation bills before Congress do not impact" the special counsel's office.
Alabama Police Department Blames Rise In Crime On Atheists And Satanists
Racists expected Nike to lose money after Kaepernick ‘Just Do It’ campaign, but they were wrong
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820871/-Racists-expected-Nike-to-lose-money-after-Kaepernick-Just-Do-It-campaign-but-they-were-wrong?detail=emaildkre Remember how racists all across America lost their minds when Nike announced in September that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of their “Just Do It” ad campaign? It’s sort of impossible to forget, since those very same racists took to social media right after to protest by burning Nike shoes and socks they’d already bought (go figure) and called Nike’s decision “disrespectful to the troops” and “un-American.” Nike remained unbothered by the pushback. This is because the company was very clear about who its target audience was, and that wasn’t a bunch of idiots who were setting fire to their own clothes (some of whom did it while still wearing them). Nike was targeting a younger, more diverse demographic that hopefully had enough sense to keep buying Nike products, especially since its new spokesperson is an advocate for racial justice. Experts thought it might be a gamble for the company, but the payoff would remain to be seen. It turns out, the gamble was worth it. In its first revenue report since Kaepernick became its newest brand ambassador, Nike has seen a major increase in sales. Ad Age reports: For the quarter, Nike Inc. saw revenue increase 10 percent to $9.4 billion, led by a 14 percent rise in the Nike brand to $8.9 billion. Net income was also up 10 percent to $847 million. Like the joke goes, their dogma got run over by Karma.
There's more Trump-caused pain for rural communities in his Christmas shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820802/-There-s-more-Trump-caused-pain-for-rural-communities-in-his-Christmas-shutdown?detail=emaildkre One quarter of the federal government is now very likely to shut at midnight tonight because Individual 1 is tailspinning out of control. That would take paychecks away from about 800,000 federal employees for who knows how long; Trump says "a very long time." More than half of those employees, about 420,000 of them, will have to stay on the job anyway. Here's who will probably be working and who won't for the duration if Mitch McConnell can't convince Trump to back down. These employees will have to stay on the job without pay: More than 41,000 law enforcement and correctional officers Up to 88 percent of Department of Homeland Security employees Up to 5,000 Forest Service firefighters Who will be furloughed home: Roughly 86 percent of the Department of Commerce staff About 96 percent of NASA employees About 52,000 IRS workers Roughly 95 percent of Housing and Urban Development employees They're all, rightfully, freaked out. "Our members are asking how they are supposed to pay for rent, food, and gas if they are required to work without a paycheck," David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement. "The holiday season makes these inquiries especially heart-wrenching."
The federal judge who struck down Obamacare gave Trump and Republicans a massive political problem
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820880/-The-federal-judge-who-struck-down-Obamacare-gave-Trump-and-Republicans-a-massive-political-problem?detail=emaildkre If the Affordable Care Act really does fall in the hyper-partisan courts, following last week's bananas decision by Texas federal Judge Reed O'Connor to declare the whole thing unconstitutional, it's not going to just hurt the people who gained coverage under the law. It's going to screw everyone. Kaiser Health News counts the 5 ways it could "upend the entire health system." "To erase a law that is so interwoven into the health care system blows up every part of it," said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health. "In law they have names for these—they are called super statutes," she said. "And [the ACA] is a super statute. It has changed everything about how we get health care." That concept was developed by Abbe Gluck, a professor at Yale Law School.
Trump reportedly rages at video of his incoming Chief of Staff calling him a 'terrible human being'
Rick Wilson: 'Mattis Was The Only Thing Keeping Trump's Insane Clown Posse In Check'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820887/-Rick-Wilson-Mattis-Was-The-Only-Thing-Keeping-Trump-s-Insane-Clown-Posse-In-Check?detail=emaildkre Trump called Mattis “a Democrat” during a recent interview, but Wilson correctly smells “the sour odor of jealousy” where Mattis is concerned. Low, weak men like Donald Trump may pretend to praise people like Mattis, but always secretly revile those who possess virtues and values they lack. Trump resented Mattis for his accomplishments, his judgment, and his knowledge. Donald Trump, a man of the most shallow intellect and indifferent ability, faced a man who has forgotten more about war, diplomacy, and strategy that Trump has ever learned. [,,,] One supreme irony of Jim Mattis working for Donald Trump was apparent to me from the beginning. Mattis wasn’t just a better man on every axis; Trump was the kind of man Jim Mattis spent his career training to defeat; the authoritarians and oppressors of this world, the big-bore despots and the small-bore warlords. The type of people Trump either admires or lets himself be manipulated by—Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Kim Jong Un, and others—are the kind of men Mattis sees as obvious adversaries of the United States. Mattis sees the risks of failed states, while Trump seems determined to create one. Mattis understands American institutions; Trump monomaniacally craves royalty, a literal Imperial Presidency.
Surprise! Trump administration totally not prepared to do a shutdown
This simply cannot continue. Any other politician in history would be out the door because of something like this. From CNN:
President Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced the President's actions in crimes his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.
The first known instance took place when Trump made his displeasure clear to acting attorney general Matt Whitaker after Cohen pleaded guilty November 29 to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow. Whitaker had only been on the job a few weeks following Trump's firing of Jeff Sessions.
Over a week later, Trump again voiced his anger at Whitaker after prosecutors in Manhattan officially implicated the President in a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of women around the 2016 campaign -- something Trump fiercely maintains isn't an illegal campaign contribution. Pointing to articles he said supported his position, Trump pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control prosecutors in New York who brought the charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue.
The previously unreported discussions between Trump and Whitaker described by multiple sources familiar with the matter underscore the extent to which the President firmly believes the attorney general of the United States should serve as his personal protector.
The episodes also offer a glimpse into the unsettling dynamic of a sitting president talking to his attorney general about investigations he's potentially implicated in.
Whitaker and William "Bill" Barr, Trump's nominee to replace Sessions, are facing increased scrutiny this week for their criticisms of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling. Whitaker refused to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe. And a memo from Barr came to light in which he wrote that Trump's decision to fire former FBI director James Comey did not amount to obstruction.
Trump has already shown a willingness to use the Justice Department to settle political scores. As CNN previously reported, the President questioned Whitaker about the progression of the investigation against Hillary Clinton when Whitaker was Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.
I am just sitting here kind of dumbfounded that there would be anyone who thinks this would be remotely acceptable. I can't tell if the tide is turning against this guy, or if he is going to walk away from it all with hardly a scratch. Does anyone honestly think if Hillary Clinton was behaving in this way we wouldn't have already started impeachment hearings?? If ANY other President was doing this?? How can the dynamic be that the more brazenly corrupt you are, the more you can get away with. Because that seems to be the overwhelming arc of Trump's Presidency. You flood the zone with so many scandals and completely unacceptable acts that no one can stem the tide. At a certain point, it has to be on the public to demand this shit come to an end. And it's going to take more than just the left screaming at the top of their lungs that the house is on fire and we need to put it out. Independents and Republicans have to start stepping up to the plate here as well, or this will just continue to spiral downward.
This simply cannot continue. Any other politician in history would be out the door because of something like this. From CNN:
President Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced the President's actions in crimes his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.
The first known instance took place when Trump made his displeasure clear to acting attorney general Matt Whitaker after Cohen pleaded guilty November 29 to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow. Whitaker had only been on the job a few weeks following Trump's firing of Jeff Sessions.
Over a week later, Trump again voiced his anger at Whitaker after prosecutors in Manhattan officially implicated the President in a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of women around the 2016 campaign -- something Trump fiercely maintains isn't an illegal campaign contribution. Pointing to articles he said supported his position, Trump pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control prosecutors in New York who brought the charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue.
The previously unreported discussions between Trump and Whitaker described by multiple sources familiar with the matter underscore the extent to which the President firmly believes the attorney general of the United States should serve as his personal protector.
The episodes also offer a glimpse into the unsettling dynamic of a sitting president talking to his attorney general about investigations he's potentially implicated in.
Whitaker and William "Bill" Barr, Trump's nominee to replace Sessions, are facing increased scrutiny this week for their criticisms of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling. Whitaker refused to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe. And a memo from Barr came to light in which he wrote that Trump's decision to fire former FBI director James Comey did not amount to obstruction.
Trump has already shown a willingness to use the Justice Department to settle political scores. As CNN previously reported, the President questioned Whitaker about the progression of the investigation against Hillary Clinton when Whitaker was Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.
I am just sitting here kind of dumbfounded that there would be anyone who thinks this would be remotely acceptable. I can't tell if the tide is turning against this guy, or if he is going to walk away from it all with hardly a scratch. Does anyone honestly think if Hillary Clinton was behaving in this way we wouldn't have already started impeachment hearings?? If ANY other President was doing this?? How can the dynamic be that the more brazenly corrupt you are, the more you can get away with. Because that seems to be the overwhelming arc of Trump's Presidency. You flood the zone with so many scandals and completely unacceptable acts that no one can stem the tide. At a certain point, it has to be on the public to demand this shit come to an end. And it's going to take more than just the left screaming at the top of their lungs that the house is on fire and we need to put it out. Independents and Republicans have to start stepping up to the plate here as well, or this will just continue to spiral downward.
Well, for my part, as I've said before, I'm done with this idiot. Next week I'll get to talk with my parents and sister about him. Yay.
I've watched some Fox News lately and even they're not as sycophantic as they used to be. Limbaugh hasn't jumped ship yet only because of Trump's turnabout on the wall. I'm getting tired of all the bullshit and even tired of trying to defend my conservatism while this moron makes us all look like buffoons. I think I've presented some valid viewpoints from my side of the spectrum but I'm growing very weary. Legitimate conservative arguments are being thrown out like pearls before swine because of a few 'enlightened ones' who think all of our problems will be solved by building a $1,000,000,000,000 wall. Yes, that's how many 0's are in a trillion and that's likely what it'll eventually cost for us a build a steel wall the size that they want across the entire Mexican border which will probably just lead to two separate species of Gila Monster on separate sides of this monstrosity.
The $5 billion Trump wants would pay for a lot of drones and check points along the border but why would we do that when we can waste it building an idiotic physical barrier?
We definitely shouldn't conflate conservative views with Trump. I might be frustrated with his high approval ratings among Republicans, but no one person can truly reflect the beliefs of that many people. If we must gauge the views of the average American conservative, polls on specific issues will be more informative than the words of Trump.
Most of the countries aren't too surprising; they tend to be third world countries with a recent history of violence. Two examples that surprise me are India and China. Perhaps they shouldn't--India has a long-running history of persecuting Christians and Muslims (I recall Modi himself denying the genocide in Gujarat), and China has already started concentration camps for any Xinjiang Muslims who dare to grow a beard or encourage a friend to stop smoking (both of which the Communist Party views as signs of Islamic radicalism).
We definitely shouldn't conflate conservative views with Trump. I might be frustrated with his high approval ratings among Republicans, but no one person can truly reflect the beliefs of that many people. If we must gauge the views of the average American conservative, polls on specific issues will be more informative than the words of Trump.
Most of the countries aren't too surprising; they tend to be third world countries with a recent history of violence. Two examples that surprise me are India and China. Perhaps they shouldn't--India has a long-running history of persecuting Christians and Muslims (I recall Modi himself denying the genocide in Gujarat), and China has already started concentration camps for any Xinjiang Muslims who dare to grow a beard or encourage a friend to stop smoking (both of which the Communist Party views as signs of Islamic radicalism).
Don't see any Christian nations on that list, other than Haiti. I thought Christians were the worst of the lot! Oh, and what about that new 3rd Reich that's about to happen in the US? I thought we'd be on this list according to what I've been hearing from the left. You might even think we're not the worst country on the planet if you read this...
The primary terrorist threat in this country according to the FBI would be white supremacist groups, which demographically would skew Christian, but I don't think Christianity is the problem in that case.
I'm not worried about the total fall of American democracy, but the influence of Trump on our institutions disturbs me. Even a partial shift away from liberal democracy represents a loss for the nation.
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
"Protecting The Children", Abuse continues. LDS Church Tosses Bishop for protecting children!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820703/-Mormon-Church-Excommunicates-former-Bishop-Sam-Young-for-trying-to-protect-children?detail=emaildkre What would you, as a parent, think if your 12-year-old son came to you and asked “What does chastity mean? What is masturbation?” Being a good parent, you manage not to show surprise at his questions, but you calmly ask him, “Where did those questions come from?” His reply set off alarms in your head and heart. “It was Bishop _____. He asked me to come into his office at church and he shut the door. It was just him and me, no one else was there.” A single male adult alone in a closed room with a minor male child? Asking your son sexually explicit questions? Your heart beats faster and your hands tremble as you ask yourself, “What’s going on here?” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has for many years conducted “Worthiness Interviews” with both boys and girls, starting when the child reaches 12 years of age. These interviews usually take place twice a year and are conducted by the bishop, behind closed doors, and only the bishop and the child are present in the room. NOTE: Earlier this week, the LDS Church announced that both boys and girls beginning at age 11 may now partake in certain temple ceremonies, and boys may be ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood. Worthiness Interviews that start at age 12 (now may start at age 11) are fraught with danger for both the child and also the bishop conducting the interview. The LDS Church leadership has provided bishops a recommended list of 15 questions to be asked, one of which is: “Do you live the law of chastity?” The LDS General Handbook of Instructions directs bishops that “Worthiness interviews must be private. They should not be rushed. Interviewers should not add any requirements to those that are outlined in the temple recommend book.” [Emphasis added.] Although the LDS General Handbook of Instructions specifically states that interviewers should not ask any questions not found in the temple recommend book, many members report that they have been asked personal and probing questions, especially regarding sexual behavior. Sam Young is Mormon and was raised Mormon. At 19, he served a 2-year full-time mission to Guatemala and El Salvador. He got married in the temple and raised 6 children in the church. Sam Young has actively served in many callings, including a 5-year stint as an LDS bishop. After he had been released from his calling as a bishop (still in good standing with the LDS Church and its leadership), he learned from his four daughters that their bishop had asked them if they masturbate. Sam was outraged to learn that his daughters’ personal, intimate boundaries had been callously bulldozed without his knowledge or consent. Sam Young tried to communicate his concerns with his Bishop and with his Stake President. (An LDS Stake is composed of several wards, and the Stake Presidency is composed of three laymen, just as a Bishopric is). Sam Young got nowhere; he was ignored. During this time, he also became aware of several other instances of children being asked inappropriate and sexually explicit questions behind closed doors with a single adult male, the bishop of that ward. The upshot? They excommunicated him for objecting to this. :P
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
The only thing I'll say here is that it is long past time the Democrats in the House had a couple "radicals" of their own (and I'm talking less than 10) to counter the talk-radioification that has taken over the Republican side of that chamber. The reason AOC seems so novel is because she IS novel. No one has even been talking about her core issues in remotely the same way until she showed up. In a body with over 400 members, having a small handful who hold those views isn't the worst thing in the world, if only because the Overton Window has swung SO far to right since Reagan.
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
The only thing I'll say here is that it is long past time the Democrats in the House had a couple "radicals" of their own (and I'm talking less than 10) to counter the talk-radioification that has taken over the Republican side of that chamber. The reason AOC seems so novel is because she IS novel. No one has even been talking about her core issues in remotely the same way until she showed up. In a body with over 400 members, having a small handful who hold those views isn't the worst thing in the world, if only because the Overton Window has swung SO far to right since Reagan.
Well, her message will resonate with the young and clueless so it's probably a good thing for your party. The party that occasionally represents me has endless old, white dudes in a suit and tie. Inspiring, if it was 1952...
I'm not a great fan of written constitutions in any case, but some of the proposed things here could cause major future problems (in the incredibly unlikely event they made it into the constitution). In particular, while I'm strongly in favor of protecting the environment and making health care universally available, I don't think they should be in the constitution as over-riding human rights. The sorts of problems that could cause include for instance: - making it impossible to balance risks associated with environmental management. For instance there was a lot of discussion about wildfires not long ago. How do you balance management methods that change the risk of fire, while working towards some other goal (like species conservation)? - any interventionist policies, implicitly or explicitly, have a budget associated with them and there needs to be some mechanism to manage the service if the budget runs out. In the case of health care that might be done through waiting lists in the short term for instance, while in the longer term entitlements to particular types of care might change. Managing this sort of prioritization is a problem even with ordinary laws, but would become much worse if embedded in the constitution. That would certainly result in the better off / better educated finding ways to get what they want, while others were screwed.
Ok, let's unpack this. Brett McGurk is the coordinator of the anti-ISIS campaign. He just resigned for the same reasons Mattis did. It is, on one hand, inconceivable that Trump doesn't know who this is. However, if he truly DOESN'T know who this man is after two years in office, then it is simply iron-clad, 100% proof that he is totally unfit and incapable of doing this job. How can you spend the last 3 days talking about how much you have done to destroy ISIS and then claim not to even know who the man coordinating the effort internationally is?? What in the hell is going on in the White House?? This is nuts. He is either a.) lying his ass off or b.) he doesn't even know who the f**k is working in high-level posts in his own Administration. There are no good explanations here. And this guy has such a fragile ego that he just ADMITS one of those two things is the case because he can't shut up for 2 or 3 hours. I think we've underestimated just how unbelievably stupid this guy is. Who admits something like this and thinks it makes them look good?? This is like a restaurant owner saying he has no idea who his cooks are. Again, Trump has been strutting on Twitter for the past 72 hours claiming he personally destroyed ISIS, yet he apparently managed to do so without running into the guy who heads up that operation.
I suspect Trump meant he doesn't know him personally, rather than he doesn't know who he is - not of course that that makes his behavior a great deal more understandable or acceptable.
So, predictably, Trump is just making declarations on Twitter and not even communicating with the military about the implementation of these "orders". Thus troops have no earthly idea whether they are staying or going. Because Trump thinks running the country is the same as scripting a reality show.
He's also appointed a temporary replacement for Mattis with effect from 1 Jan, i.e. not providing the breathing space Mattis suggested for a new appointment. Shanahan is unusual in having no military experience prior to being recruited at the Pentagon by Trump in 2017 - his presumed suitability for the post is that he spent the bulk of his working life at Boeing.
He's also appointed a temporary replacement for Mattis with effect from 1 Jan, i.e. not providing the breathing space Mattis suggested for a new appointment. Shanahan is unusual in having no military experience prior to being recruited at the Pentagon by Trump in 2017 - his presumed suitability for the post is that he spent the bulk of his working life at Boeing.
Translation: he is handing over the Pentagon to a former weapons manufacturer.
NYT: Trump feels 'totally and completely abandoned,' even by Kushner
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821083/-NYT-Trump-feels-totally-and-completely-abandoned-even-by-Kushner?detail=emaildkre Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker have a new piece in The New York Times today that portrays our pr*sident as a puddle of fondue getting ready to evaporate into God’s blessed ether. It will unsettle you to your bones (if you’re not already way past that point) and clearly shows that Trump is essentially one giant urine collection away from being Howard Hughes. He rants at his advisers, calling them “fucking idiots.” He’s obsessed with the media’s criticism of him, wondering, “Why is it like this?” (Uh, because you’re president, and a horrible one at that.) Oh, but he still loves parts of the job — namely the parts that allow him to inconvenience other Americans who are trying to get to work: “’The roads closed for me!’ he declared to friends earlier this year after a motorcade ride.” Yeah, that’s what the president’s 6-year-old child is supposed to say — not the president himself. Overall, you get the impression that if he were the guy changing the oil in the cruller fryer at Dunkin’ Donuts rather than the president of the United States, he would have been quietly removed months ago. But perhaps most alarming are these two excerpts: Always impulsive, the president increasingly believes he does not need advisers, according to people close to him. He is on his third chief of staff, third national security adviser, sixth communications director, second secretary of state, second attorney general and soon his second defense secretary. Turnover at the top has reached 65 percent, according to the Brookings Institution. Um … yeah, ya do need advisers, Biff. You more than anyone. The only thing you don’t really need is a surgeon. Feel free to do that work yourself. And this: More recently, the president has told associates he feels “totally and completely abandoned,” as one put it, complaining that no one is on his side and that many around him have ulterior motives. That extends even to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was credited for helping push through the criminal justice bill, praise that Mr. Trump took note of. Longtime associates said Mr. Trump’s relationship with his children has grown more removed and that he feels he does not have a friend in the White House. He disagrees with Mr. Kushner and Ivanka Trump much of the time, but cannot bring himself to tell them no, leaving that instead to Mr. Kelly, according to former aides. That made Mr. Kelly the heavy, they said, and therefore the target of their ire until he was finally forced out.
McConnell refuses to take responsibility for Trump and the Republicans' Christmas shutdown
Clad in a festive red sweater vest and green tie, the Kentucky Republican took to the Senate floor just after noon on Saturday, and, rather than acknowledge that this wall has always faced opposition, McConnell blamed Dems for pandering to a “far-left” base who objects to a wall at the southern border. McConnell’s critique, of course, is not slightly based in reality. And it’s never been the “far left” who Is against Trump’s Spiky Wall By Any Other Name.
Trump's big mouth comes back to bite him, shatters his defense for felony campaign-finance fraud
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820457/-Trump-s-big-mouth-comes-back-to-bite-him-shatters-his-defense-for-felony-campaign-finance-fraud?detail=emaildkre Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s term in office, there’s been a “tweet for everything.” Twitter users have been amused that no matter the topic, there was an archive of big mouth Trump bashing Obama (and others) for the same things (or worse) happening during his administration. Here is a prime example: Trump: 3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can't manage to pass his agenda. Prior to taking office, attention-seeking Donald Trump was always angling to get himself on the front page of major newspapers and he frequently pitched himself as a financial and political expert for the purposes of getting on the nightly news. For whatever reason, newsy folks like Larry King ate it up and frequently had him on as a guest. Now those appearances could be used against him and he’ll have nobody to blame but himself. As Michael Cohen faced a judge and received a 36-month prison sentence, federal prosecutors presented evidence Donald Trump had committed a felony in the campaign-finance case when he directed Michael Cohen to payoff Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in order to silence them before the election. Trump took to Twitter to put the full blame on Michael Cohen, indicating he was only listening to legal counsel. Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly...... Ignorance of the law is not a viable defense, but in any case, here is Donald Trump shattering his own weak defense by telling Larry King in 1999, “I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.”
Gov. Kasich signs incredibly restrictive abortion ban, worsening reproductive rights in Ohio
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821078/-Gov-Kasich-signs-incredibly-restrictive-abortion-ban-worsening-women-s-rights-in-Ohio?detail=emaildkre Governor John Kasich (R) banned one of the most common abortion procedures in the entire state of Ohio on Friday, when he signed Senate Bill 145 into law. The bill referred to abortions that typically take place in the second trimester (which is often the earliest pregnant people are able to access an abortion, for any number of reasons). Specifically, the bill makes D&E (dilation and evacuation) abortions illegal in the state. And for physicians, performing this abortion now means committing a fourth-degree felony. That means possible fines and prison time. There is one—one—exception to this horrendous law. That exception is if the person carrying the fetus is at risk of losing their life by carrying to term. Disturbingly, the law does not make exceptions even in cases of rape or incest, which is a new low, even for conservatives.
Congressmembers still get paid during government shutdowns, but some Dems call it what it is: wrong
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821084/-Congressmembers-still-get-paid-during-government-shutdowns-but-some-Dems-call-it-what-it-is-wrong?detail=emaildkre Over 800,000 federal workers are impacted by the partial government shutdown that began Saturday, after Senate Democrats called Donald Trump’s bluff on funding for his stupid Border Wall By Any Other Name. Republican lawmakers—like Freedom Caucus kooks Mark Meadows and Scott Perry—seem to think it’s no big deal to deny government workers their paychecks while they both continue to collect their Constitutionally-protected six-figure salaries. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, both Democrats, see things a little differently. Cortez-Masto, the soon-to-be senior senator from Nevada, who also happens to be Nevada’s first-ever woman Senator and the first-ever Latina elected to the Senate, has, for the second time this year, used her platform to protest politicians’ shutdown paychecks.
Senator Cortez Masto ✔ @SenCortezMasto · Dec 22, 2018 Sadly, President Trump has brought our country into yet another crisis right before the holidays. We should be working together to end to this shutdown. Senator Cortez Masto ✔ @SenCortezMasto I cannot take a salary during a government shutdown knowing that so many federal workers in Nevada and across the country will go without pay. I’ll be donating my salary to a Nevada charity for every day of the Trump shutdown. I support both these Senators
They took on the GOP, the NRA, and Fox News—now these Parkland survivors may take on the Ivy League
TRUMP IS A 'TERRIBLE CEO' AND HIS 'DECOMPOSING' PRESIDENCY IS RUNNING AMERICA 'INTO THE GROUND,' REPUBLICAN CNN HOST SAYS
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-failure-ceo-cnn-host-1269851?fbclid=IwAR2ZjeLVHpP5rBmsZlfvbe0xKnyzKkvpsEvY1BOeK5n2cIjMwBB1QfJRIZo Conservative CNN Host S.E. Cupp has blasted President Donald Trump, pointing out that he’d be considered a failure as a CEO and arguing that his “presidency is decomposing before our very eyes.” Speaking on her Saturday television program S.E. Cupp Unfiltered , the host pointed to a slew of high profile resignations, foreign policy blunders, allegations targeting numerous entities associated with the president, a slowing stock market and the government’s weekend shutdown just before the holidays, despite bipartisan congressional support for a funding bill that would have averted the crisis. “It’s not a wonderful life for President Trump,” Cupp quipped, in an apparent reference to the popular Christmas classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. “In fact, the past several weeks have been nothing short of a nightmare for him,” she said.
Fox News’ Shepard Smith Stunned Trump Is Doing Vladimir Putin’s ‘Bidding’ On Syria
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shepard-smith-trump-putin-syria_us_5c1d70e5e4b05c88b6f8b6f7?fbclid=IwAR1pbuY_LQ_6S9qEifDKLbkP74aihTqwZ4Q9Sj-SoEeWNGMWSn14EcV38p8 Stunned/ Now? Has he been sleeping? Fox News host Shep Smith called President Donald Trump’s decision to yank about 2,000 American troops out of Syria a case of doing Russia’s bidding that is “unprecedented in American history.” Smith made the comments as he addressed news reports Friday that Trump decided to pull U.S. troops from Syria in the middle of a phone call last week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who requested that he do so. The precipitous decision was so upsetting to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who tried to talk Trump out of it, that Mattis submitted his resignation Thursday.
ELIZABETH WARREN PLAN WOULD ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO MANUFACTURE ITS OWN GENERIC DRUGS
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
The only thing I'll say here is that it is long past time the Democrats in the House had a couple "radicals" of their own (and I'm talking less than 10) to counter the talk-radioification that has taken over the Republican side of that chamber. The reason AOC seems so novel is because she IS novel. No one has even been talking about her core issues in remotely the same way until she showed up. In a body with over 400 members, having a small handful who hold those views isn't the worst thing in the world, if only because the Overton Window has swung SO far to right since Reagan.
Well, her message will resonate with the young and clueless so it's probably a good thing for your party. The party that occasionally represents me has endless old, white dudes in a suit and tie. Inspiring, if it was 1952...
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
Saving the earth isn't righteous. It just needs to be done.
Free University and free healthcare, which of course are not free but funded from your taxes, are a thing in many countries. Why can't it work here in the richest country in the world?
Why do tax cuts have to be the only goal? 'Screw you I gots mine' doesn't make for a healthy society. How about we get stuff that improves people's lives for our taxes? And we shift the burden of taxes back to the wealthy from the middle class. With the GOP tax cuts the middle class effectively pay more taxes than the rich who can employ tax avoidance schemes as well.
Currently the rich own the politicians due to Citizens United ruling. Especially the Republican party they are completely responsive to the rich and corporations they ignore regular people. Republicans don't even bother with town halls because they listen to their donors.
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
The only thing I'll say here is that it is long past time the Democrats in the House had a couple "radicals" of their own (and I'm talking less than 10) to counter the talk-radioification that has taken over the Republican side of that chamber. The reason AOC seems so novel is because she IS novel. No one has even been talking about her core issues in remotely the same way until she showed up. In a body with over 400 members, having a small handful who hold those views isn't the worst thing in the world, if only because the Overton Window has swung SO far to right since Reagan.
Well, her message will resonate with the young and clueless so it's probably a good thing for your party. The party that occasionally represents me has endless old, white dudes in a suit and tie. Inspiring, if it was 1952...
This is the 3rd government shutdown since Trump took office with his party in control of both the House and Senate. Unless my memory is way off, EVERY time it has been about wall funding. Has anyone even talked to any engineers and geologists about how this thing would even hypothetically get built if it DID have the funding?? And now apparently it's not going to be a wall but a steel barrier??
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
Politics is more and more built on perception, and emotion, not reality (on both sides I'm afraid). I'd be more than happy to come up with some compromise with the liberals in this forum that would leave all of us feeling a bit empty but that would likely be an improvement over what we have now. We don't need to get people's votes though, so the point would be rather moot. It seems we have to jump on this damned teeter-totter every 4 or 8 years where whichever party gets 51% of the vote (give or take a couple percent) gets to Lord it over the other like they don't exist. As bad as Trump is I bet he's still able to get around 45% of the vote by the time the election cycle is over, if hes around that long. That's about 70-80 million more votes than I'd get...
I would guess the delusion on the left would be that Bernie Sanders is going to walk into the White House and somehow pass Medicare for All and free college within his first two years. Neither of which has any chance of happening with the way the Senate is currently tilted toward conservative States. If Obama had made such a promise and stuck to it, rather than going for the incremental steps of the ACA, he would have walked away with nothing. What (especially in retrospect) I appreciate more about Hillary is that she had actual plans to implement modest change, rather than no plan to implement massive change.
I was thinking more on the lines that Ocasio-Cortez (or Bernie) is going to pass free university, free healthcare, free houses, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage by taxing Bill Gates and the evil Amazon/Wal-Mart/oil companies/pharmaceutical companies and car companies (while somehow keeping people employed - I guess by employing them to count all of the wealth that will flow into the government coffers).
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
Saving the earth isn't righteous. It just needs to be done.
Free University and free healthcare, which of course are not free but funded from your taxes, are a thing in many countries. Why can't it work here in the richest country in the world?
Why do tax cuts have to be the only goal? 'Screw you I gots mine' doesn't make for a healthy society. How about we get stuff that improves people's lives for our taxes? And we shift the burden of taxes back to the wealthy from the middle class. With the GOP tax cuts the middle class effectively pay more taxes than the rich who can employ tax avoidance schemes as well.
Currently the rich own the politicians due to Citizens United ruling. Especially the Republican party they are completely responsive to the rich and corporations they ignore regular people. Republicans don't even bother with town halls because they listen to their donors.
In my eyes the Democratic Party is no better. They just preach more. Name one great thing that they preach about that they actually fight for. They get their gold from the rich as well. They just hide it better. They throw the commoners a bone once in a while to get votes then blame the evil Republicans for everything they don't get. They're the main reason our tax laws take 'expert' lawyers to figure out. The same 'expert' lawyers that make sure the rich have all the loopholes because the rich are the ones that pay them. The far-right AND the far-left will never get anything but lies from the powers that be. I'd like to see both sides get some of the bones but they'd rather blame each other for getting nothing. Meanwhile, our politicians are laughing all the way to the bank. Trump is just the most obvious...
When the Dems have all the power, what changes? When the Repubs have the power, what changes? They argue and fight about puissant nothings
I'd like to see one plan from either party where the real cost is plainly stated so everybody could understand and make an enlightened choice. Oh no, it's "You get to keep your doctor", or "the rich will pay for it" and on the other side, "we don't need a government unless it's to enforce our morals", or "a wall will solve all our problems".
Comments
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/22/isil-launches-fierce-counterattack-deir-ezzor-trumps-withdrawal/
Trump is just going to double down on his statement saying “it isn’t our problem, let it be Turkey’s and Syria’s problem.”
But then there is also this:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/ominous-blackwater-is-coming-advert-raises-prospect-trump-has-privatised-war/news-story/784ce81fc6ebdd9113edba2e2da17044
Which is an even scarier scenerio IMO.
(Sorry, couldn't resist the reference)
Glee in Russia Over Trump’s Foreign Policy Largess
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/world/europe/russia-trump-foreign-policy.html?fbclid=IwAR08CWkb1UwywNleHNg4zCBVCo8lrYEZz8bY3jcpZ0xGiS2yw3UsnNPBIt4Markets suffer worst year since global financial crisis
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/markets-suffer-worst-since-global-103427475.html?fbclid=IwAR3WqXcJua7jLrPm2prm6h6mL12bmaTJkoJgHPWCNIxv8nIsKiqzyRZUsDUAgain, only the rich are really suffering here.
Opinion: When will Trump voters realize they’ve been had?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-will-trump-voters-realize-theyve-been-had-2016-12-02?mod=mw_share_facebook&fbclid=IwAR3LXcqQ7Iv3hr8vNXW3_9cnYUpep9gl7TK7StFYjLq6xLVUdunNJAj8q88Some will never realize it and keep coming back for more. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
U.S. Envoy to Anti-IS Coalition Quits Over Trump Syria Withdrawal
https://ktla.com/2018/12/22/u-s-envoy-to-anti-is-coalition-quits-over-trump-syria-withdrawal/?fbclid=IwAR0sYwyzOc7CDVwpSgMh182X9H_vixWKotAqF0GWVxLyobQSiyHOABMjrc0Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest over President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a U.S. official said, joining Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in an administration exodus of experienced national security figures.
Only 11 days ago, McGurk had said it would be “reckless” to consider IS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. McGurk decided to speed up his original plan to leave his post in mid-February.
Is Genocide Predictable? Researchers Say Absolutely
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/12/20/675582639/is-genocide-predictable-researchers-say-absolutely?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2050&fbclid=IwAR0-KgC49h6NGG-aQkbR5ho-7VpAx3Rfz4muVD4sHb74Y6zRxt3Hguz9kdISince 2014, the Holocaust Museum and scholars from Dartmouth have mapped the conditions that precede a genocide. They built a database of every mass killing since World War II. Then they went back and looked at the conditions in the countries where the killings occurred just prior to the attacks. And now they use that computer model to analyze which nations currently are at greatest risk.
Thankfully the US isn't on the list.
BUSTED: Russia supported Jill Stein with a social media blitz to help propel Trump to Oval Office
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/busted-russia-supported-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-propel-trump-oval-office/?fbclid=IwAR1N1-3pOaUjSP76YXEws_KFS7AvuXB50HPOYFhObLEdgQt-FIgopB8l3-cAccording to a report from NBC, Russian operatives gave a big boost to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein just before the 2016 election to draw away voters from Democrat Hillary Clinton and boost Donald Trump’s chances of winning the presidency.
NBC claims a report compiled by the Senate shows Stein was the subject of a social media blitz designed to raise her profile and create a better playing field for eventual winner Trump.
The Russians had their fingers all over the place, didn't they?
FEMA sells more than 34,000 unused meals in Puerto Rico instead of giving them to people in need
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820816/-FEMA-sells-more-than-34-000-unused-meals-in-Puerto-Rico-instead-of-giving-them-to-people-in-need?Detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2HLsOvfvqThHmKJ7VfNtJzI2uAQsrxe2XsIK-SWQtH0x9BuUUTR-8o7yoThis is just... enraging.
Trump says he's working with Democrats during the partial government shutdown, but his border security meeting only included Republicans
https://www.businessinsider.com/president-donald-trump-border-security-meeting-government-shutdown-republicans-democrats2018-12?fbclid=IwAR2u6yuGUQZ-1jVf7tITwePQCbEo_EB_8W6TLoG8gKDe7XoLQTA_mvwHmEgBelieve what I say, not what I do! This is so he can blame Democrats, and divorce blame from himself.
'You know what? It's yours': Trump reportedly threw his hands up on Syria during phone call with the Turkish president
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-syria-us-troops-pullout-turkish-president-erdogan-2018-12So much for President Dealmaker!
Government shutdown begins while negotiations continue
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/government-shutdown-december-2018/h_07e5d0c8b09d78d17073dd5fe38d7cb2?fbclid=IwAR3aEWrzximU2LzLWWnfkT9U0Zp-v1KlyAHxrCzc8o1AoMC_HY05zsdJzfcNegotiations with Republicans only, mind you!
Robert Mueller's team, "exempt" from a partial government shutdown, will keep working
On the same page as above, this story...The Justice Department is one of several government entities that would be affected by a partial government shutdown, but not everyone is expected to pack their bags and go home.
While the Justice Department oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Mueller's office will be able to continue working even if there is a partial government shutdown.
“All employees with the Special Counsel’s Office are considered exempt and will continue their operations in the case of a lapse in appropriations," Special Counsel’s office spokesman Peter Carr told CNN in late November.
The office "is funded from a permanent indefinite appropriation and would be unaffected in the event of a shutdown," a Justice Department spokesperson added. "The appropriation bills before Congress do not impact" the special counsel's office.
Alabama Police Department Blames Rise In Crime On Atheists And Satanists
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/12/alabama-police-department-blames-rise-in-crime-on-atheists-and-satanists/?fbclid=IwAR3Yhknbw-4WC5GTeh4hNB1fwP0VoAaDd71OroRJc1m9nIMLMNLngRslwWEYeah, yeah, That must totally be it... /sarcasm
You know who perfor most crime in America? Christians. Why? Most people in America identify *as* Christians!
'Our leader the idiot!': Controversial Trump billboard splits New Jersey town with hundreds complaining about it
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6107549/Billboard-calling-Trump-idiot-roils-New-Jersey-town.html?fbclid=IwAR2CTpPX6vhDYYwo0QTpnaG3mptjmaLNQCQXFBO4DRUqvzgBDNjOiC-RSjsIt's an ad for a new movie, but because it's a private billboard, the town can't take it down.
Louisiana cop charged with having sex with animals and filming the encounters
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-louisiana-cop-bestiality-bust-20181221-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1CcyoKGxKSQd3NiAbPt8_or_zz0sQxYA1TvX-yf5QZB3rVGIuC1vHtqr8Maybe they should talk to that Alabama Police Dept. above!
"He previously had been honored for championing the protective rights of domestic violence victims and their families, according to the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office."
Supreme Court rejects Trump's asylum ban in 5-4 ruling as Chief Justice Roberts sides with liberal judges
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-trump-s-asylum-ban-5-4-ruling-n951051?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_maI wonder if Trump will proclaim him "Kind of a Democrat" as well. Despite Roberts being Republican and appointed by a Republican President.
Oregon Zoo otter, known for slam dunking and self-pleasuring, dies at age 20
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/12/oregon-zoo-otter-known-for-slam-dunking-and-self-pleasuring-dies-at-age-20.htmlYup, not just humans are guilty of the so-called "Sin of Onan" (which was actually coitus interruptus).
Nancy Pelosi fact checks Donald Trump on his government shutdown, sets his pants on fire
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820775/-Nancy-Pelosi-fact-checks-Donald-Trump-on-his-government-shutdown-sets-his-pants-on-fire?detail=emaildkreShe posted his own words back at him when he said he'd take Blame for the government shutdown!
Racists expected Nike to lose money after Kaepernick ‘Just Do It’ campaign, but they were wrong
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820871/-Racists-expected-Nike-to-lose-money-after-Kaepernick-Just-Do-It-campaign-but-they-were-wrong?detail=emaildkreRemember how racists all across America lost their minds when Nike announced in September that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of their “Just Do It” ad campaign? It’s sort of impossible to forget, since those very same racists took to social media right after to protest by burning Nike shoes and socks they’d already bought (go figure) and called Nike’s decision “disrespectful to the troops” and “un-American.”
Nike remained unbothered by the pushback. This is because the company was very clear about who its target audience was, and that wasn’t a bunch of idiots who were setting fire to their own clothes (some of whom did it while still wearing them). Nike was targeting a younger, more diverse demographic that hopefully had enough sense to keep buying Nike products, especially since its new spokesperson is an advocate for racial justice. Experts thought it might be a gamble for the company, but the payoff would remain to be seen.
It turns out, the gamble was worth it. In its first revenue report since Kaepernick became its newest brand ambassador, Nike has seen a major increase in sales. Ad Age reports:
For the quarter, Nike Inc. saw revenue increase 10 percent to $9.4 billion, led by a 14 percent rise in the Nike brand to $8.9 billion. Net income was also up 10 percent to $847 million.
Like the joke goes, their dogma got run over by Karma.
There's more Trump-caused pain for rural communities in his Christmas shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820802/-There-s-more-Trump-caused-pain-for-rural-communities-in-his-Christmas-shutdown?detail=emaildkreOne quarter of the federal government is now very likely to shut at midnight tonight because Individual 1 is tailspinning out of control. That would take paychecks away from about 800,000 federal employees for who knows how long; Trump says "a very long time."
More than half of those employees, about 420,000 of them, will have to stay on the job anyway. Here's who will probably be working and who won't for the duration if Mitch McConnell can't convince Trump to back down. These employees will have to stay on the job without pay:
More than 41,000 law enforcement and correctional officers
Up to 88 percent of Department of Homeland Security employees
Up to 5,000 Forest Service firefighters
Who will be furloughed home:
Roughly 86 percent of the Department of Commerce staff
About 96 percent of NASA employees
About 52,000 IRS workers
Roughly 95 percent of Housing and Urban Development employees
They're all, rightfully, freaked out.
"Our members are asking how they are supposed to pay for rent, food, and gas if they are required to work without a paycheck," David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement. "The holiday season makes these inquiries especially heart-wrenching."
The federal judge who struck down Obamacare gave Trump and Republicans a massive political problem
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820880/-The-federal-judge-who-struck-down-Obamacare-gave-Trump-and-Republicans-a-massive-political-problem?detail=emaildkreIf the Affordable Care Act really does fall in the hyper-partisan courts, following last week's bananas decision by Texas federal Judge Reed O'Connor to declare the whole thing unconstitutional, it's not going to just hurt the people who gained coverage under the law. It's going to screw everyone. Kaiser Health News counts the 5 ways it could "upend the entire health system."
"To erase a law that is so interwoven into the health care system blows up every part of it," said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health. "In law they have names for these—they are called super statutes," she said. "And [the ACA] is a super statute. It has changed everything about how we get health care." That concept was developed by Abbe Gluck, a professor at Yale Law School.
Trump reportedly rages at video of his incoming Chief of Staff calling him a 'terrible human being'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820751/-Trump-reportedly-rages-at-video-of-his-incoming-Chief-of-Staff-calling-him-a-terrible-human-being?detail=emaildkreAnd this is the only guy who wanted the job. Oh well...
And if you think Trump’s mad about Mulvaney, just wait until someone tells him that he probably shouldn’t go to Mar-A-Lago for a golf holiday after he just shut down the government …
George Conway Sums Up Don the Cons Latest Antics in a Single Tweet
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820696/-George-Conway-Sums-Up-Don-the-Cons-latest-Antics-in-a-Single-Tweet?detail=emaildkreAll this talk about the lack of “process” is valid and true, but it’s also a proxy for the unstated postulate that Trump doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing.
Rick Wilson: 'Mattis Was The Only Thing Keeping Trump's Insane Clown Posse In Check'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820887/-Rick-Wilson-Mattis-Was-The-Only-Thing-Keeping-Trump-s-Insane-Clown-Posse-In-Check?detail=emaildkreTrump called Mattis “a Democrat” during a recent interview, but Wilson correctly smells “the sour odor of jealousy” where Mattis is concerned.
Low, weak men like Donald Trump may pretend to praise people like Mattis, but always secretly revile those who possess virtues and values they lack. Trump resented Mattis for his accomplishments, his judgment, and his knowledge. Donald Trump, a man of the most shallow intellect and indifferent ability, faced a man who has forgotten more about war, diplomacy, and strategy that Trump has ever learned. [,,,]
One supreme irony of Jim Mattis working for Donald Trump was apparent to me from the beginning. Mattis wasn’t just a better man on every axis; Trump was the kind of man Jim Mattis spent his career training to defeat; the authoritarians and oppressors of this world, the big-bore despots and the small-bore warlords. The type of people Trump either admires or lets himself be manipulated by—Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Kim Jong Un, and others—are the kind of men Mattis sees as obvious adversaries of the United States. Mattis sees the risks of failed states, while Trump seems determined to create one. Mattis understands American institutions; Trump monomaniacally craves royalty, a literal Imperial Presidency.
Surprise! Trump administration totally not prepared to do a shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820781/-Surprise-Trump-administration-totally-not-prepared-to-do-a-shutdown?detail=emaildkreNope! Not a surprise. At all, really.
TEN REASONS THIS NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS GOING TO END: Saturday's Good News
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1820743/-TEN-REASONS-THIS-NATIONAL-NIGHTMARE-IS-GOING-TO-END-Saturday-s-Good-News?detail=emaildkre1. Trump Is Losing His Hold On Power
2. Trump Is In Enormous Russia Related Trouble
3. Trump Is In Enormous Legal Trouble...
House Republicans on shutdown: Who really needs a paycheck in December anyway
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820753/-House-Republicans-on-shutdown-Who-really-needs-a-paycheck-in-December-anyway?detail=emaildkre
They'll still get theirs...
James Mattis didn't simply resign, he pulled every fire alarm at the Pentagon on the way out
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820758/-James-Mattis-didn-t-simply-resign-he-pulled-every-fire-alarm-at-the-Pentagon-on-the-way-outn?detail=emaildkreAlert! Alert! Alert!
But, Mattis did something else extraordinary, something that should quite seriously set off alarm bells for us all. As Donald Trump was tweeting that Mattis was heading off to retirement, Mattis was ordering his aides to distribute 50 copies of his resignation letter throughout the highest echelons of the Pentagon. The New York Times has the extraordinarily unusual details of Mattis’s resignation.
Chef José Andrés offers to feed federal workers who won't get paid during Trump shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820788/-Chef-Jos-Andr-s-offers-to-feed-federal-workers-who-won-t-get-paid-during-Trump-shutdown?detail=emaildkreThis guy is amazing! He did this before in 2013, and fed people during the fires in California. He's originally from Spain, and he's a better American than Donald Trump, someone who was born here!
President Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced the President's actions in crimes his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Trump was frustrated, the sources said, that prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made Trump look bad. None of the sources suggested that the President directed Whitaker to stop the investigation, but rather lashed out at what he felt was an unfair situation.
The first known instance took place when Trump made his displeasure clear to acting attorney general Matt Whitaker after Cohen pleaded guilty November 29 to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow. Whitaker had only been on the job a few weeks following Trump's firing of Jeff Sessions.
Over a week later, Trump again voiced his anger at Whitaker after prosecutors in Manhattan officially implicated the President in a hush-money scheme to buy the silence of women around the 2016 campaign -- something Trump fiercely maintains isn't an illegal campaign contribution. Pointing to articles he said supported his position, Trump pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control prosecutors in New York who brought the charges in the first place, suggesting they were going rogue.
The previously unreported discussions between Trump and Whitaker described by multiple sources familiar with the matter underscore the extent to which the President firmly believes the attorney general of the United States should serve as his personal protector.
The episodes also offer a glimpse into the unsettling dynamic of a sitting president talking to his attorney general about investigations he's potentially implicated in.
Whitaker and William "Bill" Barr, Trump's nominee to replace Sessions, are facing increased scrutiny this week for their criticisms of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling. Whitaker refused to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe. And a memo from Barr came to light in which he wrote that Trump's decision to fire former FBI director James Comey did not amount to obstruction.
Trump has already shown a willingness to use the Justice Department to settle political scores. As CNN previously reported, the President questioned Whitaker about the progression of the investigation against Hillary Clinton when Whitaker was Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.
I am just sitting here kind of dumbfounded that there would be anyone who thinks this would be remotely acceptable. I can't tell if the tide is turning against this guy, or if he is going to walk away from it all with hardly a scratch. Does anyone honestly think if Hillary Clinton was behaving in this way we wouldn't have already started impeachment hearings?? If ANY other President was doing this?? How can the dynamic be that the more brazenly corrupt you are, the more you can get away with. Because that seems to be the overwhelming arc of Trump's Presidency. You flood the zone with so many scandals and completely unacceptable acts that no one can stem the tide. At a certain point, it has to be on the public to demand this shit come to an end. And it's going to take more than just the left screaming at the top of their lungs that the house is on fire and we need to put it out. Independents and Republicans have to start stepping up to the plate here as well, or this will just continue to spiral downward.
Plus, shit like this continues to happen:
New Jersey ref with history of racism forces high school wrestler to cut off dreadlocks
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820811/-New-Jersey-ref-with-history-of-racism-forces-high-school-wrestler-to-cut-off-dreadlocks?detail=emaildkreI've watched some Fox News lately and even they're not as sycophantic as they used to be. Limbaugh hasn't jumped ship yet only because of Trump's turnabout on the wall. I'm getting tired of all the bullshit and even tired of trying to defend my conservatism while this moron makes us all look like buffoons. I think I've presented some valid viewpoints from my side of the spectrum but I'm growing very weary. Legitimate conservative arguments are being thrown out like pearls before swine because of a few 'enlightened ones' who think all of our problems will be solved by building a $1,000,000,000,000 wall. Yes, that's how many 0's are in a trillion and that's likely what it'll eventually cost for us a build a steel wall the size that they want across the entire Mexican border which will probably just lead to two separate species of Gila Monster on separate sides of this monstrosity.
The $5 billion Trump wants would pay for a lot of drones and check points along the border but why would we do that when we can waste it building an idiotic physical barrier?
Two examples that surprise me are India and China. Perhaps they shouldn't--India has a long-running history of persecuting Christians and Muslims (I recall Modi himself denying the genocide in Gujarat), and China has already started concentration camps for any Xinjiang Muslims who dare to grow a beard or encourage a friend to stop smoking (both of which the Communist Party views as signs of Islamic radicalism).
I'm not worried about the total fall of American democracy, but the influence of Trump on our institutions disturbs me. Even a partial shift away from liberal democracy represents a loss for the nation.
First Mexico was going to pay for it, then it shifted to the American tax payer, but don't worry because a trade deal that hasn't even been ratified will pay for it (which is not only not true, but not even possible). We hear it's going to be a wall. Then it's going to be a beautiful "see-through" wall. I seem to remember last year they were claiming some repairs on some fence qualified as a start on the wall. Now apparently as of Saturday December 22nd, 2018, we have shifted to a steel slat barrier. How can anyone even keep up with this nonsense?? If Trump's border wall promise should teach any politician anything, it's to never make such an absurdly INSANE promise the focus of your campaign. He can't possibly deliver on it, not just because Congress won't fund it, but because it may not even be possible to build the damn thing based on geography. Thus, we are stuck in a perpetual argument over something that is as close to make-believe as any major political issue I have ever seen. We might as well be arguing about whether we should give Sauron money to rebuild the Black Gate to protect Mordor. This is just so unbelievably DUMB on top of everything else. A serious country would not be having this discussion.
"Protecting The Children", Abuse continues. LDS Church Tosses Bishop for protecting children!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820703/-Mormon-Church-Excommunicates-former-Bishop-Sam-Young-for-trying-to-protect-children?detail=emaildkreWhat would you, as a parent, think if your 12-year-old son came to you and asked “What does chastity mean? What is masturbation?”
Being a good parent, you manage not to show surprise at his questions, but you calmly ask him, “Where did those questions come from?”
His reply set off alarms in your head and heart. “It was Bishop _____. He asked me to come into his office at church and he shut the door. It was just him and me, no one else was there.”
A single male adult alone in a closed room with a minor male child? Asking your son sexually explicit questions? Your heart beats faster and your hands tremble as you ask yourself, “What’s going on here?”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has for many years conducted “Worthiness Interviews” with both boys and girls, starting when the child reaches 12 years of age. These interviews usually take place twice a year and are conducted by the bishop, behind closed doors, and only the bishop and the child are present in the room.
NOTE: Earlier this week, the LDS Church announced that both boys and girls beginning at age 11 may now partake in certain temple ceremonies, and boys may be ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood.
Worthiness Interviews that start at age 12 (now may start at age 11) are fraught with danger for both the child and also the bishop conducting the interview. The LDS Church leadership has provided bishops a recommended list of 15 questions to be asked, one of which is: “Do you live the law of chastity?”
The LDS General Handbook of Instructions directs bishops that “Worthiness interviews must be private. They should not be rushed. Interviewers should not add any requirements to those that are outlined in the temple recommend book.” [Emphasis added.]
Although the LDS General Handbook of Instructions specifically states that interviewers should not ask any questions not found in the temple recommend book, many members report that they have been asked personal and probing questions, especially regarding sexual behavior.
Sam Young is Mormon and was raised Mormon. At 19, he served a 2-year full-time mission to Guatemala and El Salvador. He got married in the temple and raised 6 children in the church. Sam Young has actively served in many callings, including a 5-year stint as an LDS bishop.
After he had been released from his calling as a bishop (still in good standing with the LDS Church and its leadership), he learned from his four daughters that their bishop had asked them if they masturbate. Sam was outraged to learn that his daughters’ personal, intimate boundaries had been callously bulldozed without his knowledge or consent.
Sam Young tried to communicate his concerns with his Bishop and with his Stake President. (An LDS Stake is composed of several wards, and the Stake Presidency is composed of three laymen, just as a Bishopric is). Sam Young got nowhere; he was ignored. During this time, he also became aware of several other instances of children being asked inappropriate and sexually explicit questions behind closed doors with a single adult male, the bishop of that ward.
The upshot? They excommunicated him for objecting to this. :P
Republicans are not prepared for what's coming
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820439/-Republicans-are-not-prepared-for-what-s-coming?detail=emaildkreAnd they are going to be angry and violent about it.
The "Everything Terrible Trump Has Done So Far" Omnibus (Week 100)
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820626/-The-Everything-Terrible-Trump-Has-Done-So-Far-Omnibus-Week-100?detail=emaildkreAnd there is a lot.
On Indicting and/or Prosecuting a Sitting President
How A Private Norwegian-Lutheran College Confronted An Ugly Truth About Themselves and The Holocausthttps://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/17/1819678/-How-A-Private-Norwegian-Lutheran-College-Confronted-An-Ugly-Truth-About-Themselves-and-The-Holocaust?detail=emaildkre
The name of their college, Waldsee, was also used as a nickname for Auschwitz.
BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820586/-BILL-OF-RIGHTS-FOR-THE-21ST-CENTURY?detail=emaildkreI agree with these. What would you add?
Oh, and don't forget saving the entire Earth by implementing a 'carbon tax' on the US. All they need is the stigmata to prove how righteous they are.
- making it impossible to balance risks associated with environmental management. For instance there was a lot of discussion about wildfires not long ago. How do you balance management methods that change the risk of fire, while working towards some other goal (like species conservation)?
- any interventionist policies, implicitly or explicitly, have a budget associated with them and there needs to be some mechanism to manage the service if the budget runs out. In the case of health care that might be done through waiting lists in the short term for instance, while in the longer term entitlements to particular types of care might change. Managing this sort of prioritization is a problem even with ordinary laws, but would become much worse if embedded in the constitution. That would certainly result in the better off / better educated finding ways to get what they want, while others were screwed.
Tsunami triggered by volcano kills at least 43 in Indonesia
https://news.yahoo.com/least-20-killed-165-wounded-tsunami-hits-indonesia-234614807.html?.tsrc=notification-brknewsOk, let's unpack this. Brett McGurk is the coordinator of the anti-ISIS campaign. He just resigned for the same reasons Mattis did. It is, on one hand, inconceivable that Trump doesn't know who this is. However, if he truly DOESN'T know who this man is after two years in office, then it is simply iron-clad, 100% proof that he is totally unfit and incapable of doing this job. How can you spend the last 3 days talking about how much you have done to destroy ISIS and then claim not to even know who the man coordinating the effort internationally is?? What in the hell is going on in the White House?? This is nuts. He is either a.) lying his ass off or b.) he doesn't even know who the f**k is working in high-level posts in his own Administration. There are no good explanations here. And this guy has such a fragile ego that he just ADMITS one of those two things is the case because he can't shut up for 2 or 3 hours. I think we've underestimated just how unbelievably stupid this guy is. Who admits something like this and thinks it makes them look good?? This is like a restaurant owner saying he has no idea who his cooks are. Again, Trump has been strutting on Twitter for the past 72 hours claiming he personally destroyed ISIS, yet he apparently managed to do so without running into the guy who heads up that operation.
So, predictably, Trump is just making declarations on Twitter and not even communicating with the military about the implementation of these "orders". Thus troops have no earthly idea whether they are staying or going. Because Trump thinks running the country is the same as scripting a reality show.
NYT: Trump feels 'totally and completely abandoned,' even by Kushner
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821083/-NYT-Trump-feels-totally-and-completely-abandoned-even-by-Kushner?detail=emaildkreMaggie Haberman and Peter Baker have a new piece in The New York Times today that portrays our pr*sident as a puddle of fondue getting ready to evaporate into God’s blessed ether.
It will unsettle you to your bones (if you’re not already way past that point) and clearly shows that Trump is essentially one giant urine collection away from being Howard Hughes.
He rants at his advisers, calling them “fucking idiots.” He’s obsessed with the media’s criticism of him, wondering, “Why is it like this?” (Uh, because you’re president, and a horrible one at that.)
Oh, but he still loves parts of the job — namely the parts that allow him to inconvenience other Americans who are trying to get to work: “’The roads closed for me!’ he declared to friends earlier this year after a motorcade ride.”
Yeah, that’s what the president’s 6-year-old child is supposed to say — not the president himself.
Overall, you get the impression that if he were the guy changing the oil in the cruller fryer at Dunkin’ Donuts rather than the president of the United States, he would have been quietly removed months ago.
But perhaps most alarming are these two excerpts:
Always impulsive, the president increasingly believes he does not need advisers, according to people close to him. He is on his third chief of staff, third national security adviser, sixth communications director, second secretary of state, second attorney general and soon his second defense secretary. Turnover at the top has reached 65 percent, according to the Brookings Institution.
Um … yeah, ya do need advisers, Biff. You more than anyone. The only thing you don’t really need is a surgeon. Feel free to do that work yourself.
And this:
More recently, the president has told associates he feels “totally and completely abandoned,” as one put it, complaining that no one is on his side and that many around him have ulterior motives. That extends even to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was credited for helping push through the criminal justice bill, praise that Mr. Trump took note of.
Longtime associates said Mr. Trump’s relationship with his children has grown more removed and that he feels he does not have a friend in the White House. He disagrees with Mr. Kushner and Ivanka Trump much of the time, but cannot bring himself to tell them no, leaving that instead to Mr. Kelly, according to former aides. That made Mr. Kelly the heavy, they said, and therefore the target of their ire until he was finally forced out.
McConnell refuses to take responsibility for Trump and the Republicans' Christmas shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821066/-McConnell-criticizes-Dems-for-shutdown-claims-they-embraced-border-wall-until-the-last-few-weeks?detail=emaildkreSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has joined Oval Office Occupant Donald Trump in falsely blaming Democrats for the current government shutdown over the border wall that both Trump and Republicans featured as a prime issue in both the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, and that Trump promised to take responsibility for barely 10 days ago.
Clad in a festive red sweater vest and green tie, the Kentucky Republican took to the Senate floor just after noon on Saturday, and, rather than acknowledge that this wall has always faced opposition, McConnell blamed Dems for pandering to a “far-left” base who objects to a wall at the southern border.
McConnell’s critique, of course, is not slightly based in reality. And it’s never been the “far left” who Is against Trump’s Spiky Wall By Any Other Name.
Trump's big mouth comes back to bite him, shatters his defense for felony campaign-finance fraud
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820457/-Trump-s-big-mouth-comes-back-to-bite-him-shatters-his-defense-for-felony-campaign-finance-fraud?detail=emaildkreSince the beginning of Donald Trump’s term in office, there’s been a “tweet for everything.” Twitter users have been amused that no matter the topic, there was an archive of big mouth Trump bashing Obama (and others) for the same things (or worse) happening during his administration. Here is a prime example:
Trump:
3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can't manage to pass his agenda.
Prior to taking office, attention-seeking Donald Trump was always angling to get himself on the front page of major newspapers and he frequently pitched himself as a financial and political expert for the purposes of getting on the nightly news. For whatever reason, newsy folks like Larry King ate it up and frequently had him on as a guest. Now those appearances could be used against him and he’ll have nobody to blame but himself.
As Michael Cohen faced a judge and received a 36-month prison sentence, federal prosecutors presented evidence Donald Trump had committed a felony in the campaign-finance case when he directed Michael Cohen to payoff Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in order to silence them before the election. Trump took to Twitter to put the full blame on Michael Cohen, indicating he was only listening to legal counsel.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly......
Ignorance of the law is not a viable defense, but in any case, here is Donald Trump shattering his own weak defense by telling Larry King in 1999, “I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.”
Gov. Kasich signs incredibly restrictive abortion ban, worsening reproductive rights in Ohio
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821078/-Gov-Kasich-signs-incredibly-restrictive-abortion-ban-worsening-women-s-rights-in-Ohio?detail=emaildkreGovernor John Kasich (R) banned one of the most common abortion procedures in the entire state of Ohio on Friday, when he signed Senate Bill 145 into law. The bill referred to abortions that typically take place in the second trimester (which is often the earliest pregnant people are able to access an abortion, for any number of reasons). Specifically, the bill makes D&E (dilation and evacuation) abortions illegal in the state.
And for physicians, performing this abortion now means committing a fourth-degree felony. That means possible fines and prison time.
There is one—one—exception to this horrendous law. That exception is if the person carrying the fetus is at risk of losing their life by carrying to term. Disturbingly, the law does not make exceptions even in cases of rape or incest, which is a new low, even for conservatives.
Congressmembers still get paid during government shutdowns, but some Dems call it what it is: wrong
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821084/-Congressmembers-still-get-paid-during-government-shutdowns-but-some-Dems-call-it-what-it-is-wrong?detail=emaildkreOver 800,000 federal workers are impacted by the partial government shutdown that began Saturday, after Senate Democrats called Donald Trump’s bluff on funding for his stupid Border Wall By Any Other Name. Republican lawmakers—like Freedom Caucus kooks Mark Meadows and Scott Perry—seem to think it’s no big deal to deny government workers their paychecks while they both continue to collect their Constitutionally-protected six-figure salaries.
Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, both Democrats, see things a little differently.
Cortez-Masto, the soon-to-be senior senator from Nevada, who also happens to be Nevada’s first-ever woman Senator and the first-ever Latina elected to the Senate, has, for the second time this year, used her platform to protest politicians’ shutdown paychecks.
Senator Cortez Masto
✔
@SenCortezMasto
· Dec 22, 2018
Sadly, President Trump has brought our country into yet another crisis right before the holidays. We should be working together to end to this shutdown.
Senator Cortez Masto
✔
@SenCortezMasto
I cannot take a salary during a government shutdown knowing that so many federal workers in Nevada and across the country will go without pay. I’ll be donating my salary to a Nevada charity for every day of the Trump shutdown.
I support both these Senators
They took on the GOP, the NRA, and Fox News—now these Parkland survivors may take on the Ivy League
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821116/-They-took-on-the-GOP-the-NRA-and-Fox-News-now-these-Parkland-survivors-can-take-on-the-Ivy-League?detail=emaildkre2 of them, David Hogg and Jaclyn Corin, have been accepted to Harvard.
Senate Republicans flee DC to enjoy Christmas while shutdown screws government workers
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/22/1821094/-Senate-Republicans-flee-DC-to-enjoy-Christmas-while-shutdown-screws-government-workers?detail=emaildkreTo quote Sinistar, "Run, Coward!"
NPR Writes Trump/Russia Case "Weaker than ever" - Gets Twitter Bombed.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/15/1819367/-NPR-Writes-Trump-Russia-Case-Weaker-than-ever-Gets-Twitter-Bombed?detail=emaildkreNPR is getting more and more right-leaning, isn't it?
Beto O'Rourke baits Donald Trump's ire with viral border tweet
https://www.salon.com/2018/12/21/beto-orourke-baits-donald-trumps-ire-with-viral-border-tweet?utm_source=quora&utm_medium=referralHe posted pics of the border and asked people to share their favorite border area pics.
Archbishop’s computer contained over 100,000 child porn files
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/10/archbishops-computer-contained-over-100000-child-porn-files/?fbclid=IwAR3xWi0FsZwLhRY5lysW6O-SUfbUyeWOlC4V9jpnsSqsC6IX1dpRw7dmV20More than 100,000 child porn videos and photos have been found on the computer of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who is also accused of raping numerous children in the Dominican Republic and Poland.
Wesolowski, currently under house arrest at the Vatican, is one of the highest-ranking church officials to be accused of sexually abusing children during the Catholic Church’s widespread and costly sexual abuse scandal.
Blech!
TRUMP IS A 'TERRIBLE CEO' AND HIS 'DECOMPOSING' PRESIDENCY IS RUNNING AMERICA 'INTO THE GROUND,' REPUBLICAN CNN HOST SAYS
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-failure-ceo-cnn-host-1269851?fbclid=IwAR2ZjeLVHpP5rBmsZlfvbe0xKnyzKkvpsEvY1BOeK5n2cIjMwBB1QfJRIZoConservative CNN Host S.E. Cupp has blasted President Donald Trump, pointing out that he’d be considered a failure as a CEO and arguing that his “presidency is decomposing before our very eyes.”
Speaking on her Saturday television program S.E. Cupp Unfiltered , the host pointed to a slew of high profile resignations, foreign policy blunders, allegations targeting numerous entities associated with the president, a slowing stock market and the government’s weekend shutdown just before the holidays, despite bipartisan congressional support for a funding bill that would have averted the crisis.
“It’s not a wonderful life for President Trump,” Cupp quipped, in an apparent reference to the popular Christmas classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. “In fact, the past several weeks have been nothing short of a nightmare for him,” she said.
Fox News’ Shepard Smith Stunned Trump Is Doing Vladimir Putin’s ‘Bidding’ On Syria
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shepard-smith-trump-putin-syria_us_5c1d70e5e4b05c88b6f8b6f7?fbclid=IwAR1pbuY_LQ_6S9qEifDKLbkP74aihTqwZ4Q9Sj-SoEeWNGMWSn14EcV38p8Stunned/ Now? Has he been sleeping?
Fox News host Shep Smith called President Donald Trump’s decision to yank about 2,000 American troops out of Syria a case of doing Russia’s bidding that is “unprecedented in American history.”
Smith made the comments as he addressed news reports Friday that Trump decided to pull U.S. troops from Syria in the middle of a phone call last week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who requested that he do so. The precipitous decision was so upsetting to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who tried to talk Trump out of it, that Mattis submitted his resignation Thursday.
ELIZABETH WARREN PLAN WOULD ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO MANUFACTURE ITS OWN GENERIC DRUGS
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/18/elizabeth-warren-generic-drugs-bill/This is a good idea, if they re safe, then go ahead.
A closer look at Trump's White House turnover
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/12/10/reality-check-trump-revolving-door-avlon-newday-vpx.cnn?fbclid=IwAR2P5rsP4QF6Iw3X0N5m9A2YFaAnKyMRXp4uf8-GjZqo64_sYQReLLXvgHQCorker responds to Trump tweet: 'Alert the daycare staff'
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/422676-corker-fires-back-at-trump-calls-him-out-for-saying-mexico-would-pay-for?fbclid=IwAR3YODR81J7wbiDKUovzrQXjGd7SmOFYJ4nu9Ylwa3_ua5tQyoaNuaARZl4And this is new, even though something like this was said earlier.
Patagonia’s CEO is donating company’s entire $10M Trump tax cut to fight climate change.
https://www.upworthy.com/patagonia-s-ceo-is-donating-company-s-entire-10-m-trump-tax-cut-to-fight-climate-change?g=2&fbclid=IwAR0ysqBvsJoN6UuYXYNA4_XxFbSlJNceGcJcQke0vKOCHZhlUzWShnRY4uoI'd rather she pass it on to the workers, but this is an okay second choice.
Farm bankruptcies surpass Great Recession levels in upper Midwest
https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-war-farmers-upper-midwest-bankruptcy-88d4b7bf-1fb5-4316-a19a-c7cd4a48707e.html?fbclid=IwAR1N0fzGIjTrIw8lM_22jlzsHeFY4BnaOXIHdQjrhYw_ggSUKnMiNBwvY2ASoon, Trump will be the new Dust Bowl.
Free University and free healthcare, which of course are not free but funded from your taxes, are a thing in many countries. Why can't it work here in the richest country in the world?
Why do tax cuts have to be the only goal? 'Screw you I gots mine' doesn't make for a healthy society.
How about we get stuff that improves people's lives for our taxes? And we shift the burden of taxes back to the wealthy from the middle class. With the GOP tax cuts the middle class effectively pay more taxes than the rich who can employ tax avoidance schemes as well.
Currently the rich own the politicians due to Citizens United ruling. Especially the Republican party they are completely responsive to the rich and corporations they ignore regular people. Republicans don't even bother with town halls because they listen to their donors.
When the Dems have all the power, what changes? When the Repubs have the power, what changes? They argue and fight about puissant nothings
I'd like to see one plan from either party where the real cost is plainly stated so everybody could understand and make an enlightened choice. Oh no, it's "You get to keep your doctor", or "the rich will pay for it" and on the other side, "we don't need a government unless it's to enforce our morals", or "a wall will solve all our problems".