US Politics Thread |OT| SAD TRUMP

[Mandark]

Trump's maybe dumb enough to think it's a legit offer. McConnell has to be looking at this as PR leverage. Dems have been able to say that they're passing bills in the House to open the government, that he's not allowing a vote on a bill which already passed the Senate at the end of the lame duck session, etc.

The media has a very strong both-sides tendency to describe these sorts of impasses, so the idea is to make a show of wanting to compromise even if it's bullshit. I don't think it's going to work, but can't blame him for trying.

[shosta]

I think McConnell played this the best he could but it's also worth noting that he's really losing the public on this. Last week 54% blamed Trump and his party, with like 30-something blaming the Dems. Not sure what it is now but imagine what happens when something really goes wrong. It's only downhill from here, both for Trump and for the nation.

[Mandark]

Really reminiscent of Boehner dealing with the Tea Party.

There's a minority faction (in this case one guy but he's the president) that's wildly unrealistic about what can be achieved, is willing to attack fellow Republicans, and can credibly threaten to swing some primaries against incumbents. So the rest of the caucus is paralyzed, even though they know the demands are delusional.

[team filler]

Director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy,  Steven Aftergood filed a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA request on August 15, 2018, asking for a copy of the list that was given to Congress on all US Defense Intelligence Agency products created under the Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program contract. The Defense Intelligence Agency just issued their response, and it’s a doozy.

 

[james]

apparently you couldn't?

I don't link to right wing propaganda

[Nintex]

If you wonder why Trump's DACA compromise is a wet noodle... Kushner came up with it.

Jared, Pence and Mulvaney spend time convincing Trump that a way out of this mess would be a DACA compromise because Trump had convinced himself that the Democrats were in favor of a Steel Wall just not a concrete one.
Bigger though was the plan to allow to apply for asylum from outside the United States and the increased budgets for humanitarian help and migration judges.

There's also been talk that it would be better for Trump to offer a grand bargain by giving the dems something they actually want. Such as trading campaign finance reform for the wall.

In any case the Democrats having to put 'a government that isn't shutdown' as a 'win' in their column just really shows how far the pendulum has swung towards Trump and the GOP.
We can't really blame Trump for thinking that Schumer would fold at the sign of any shutdown. Especially considering what happened with the previous shutdown.

[Mandark]

you're so desperate to believe that trump is winning

[Nintex]

you're so desperate to believe that trump is winning

Basically everything is a shit show and most of the cabinet is 'acting' he has already won. 

[Mandark]

yeah everyone quitting on him is a big victory

[Occam]

Director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy,  Steven Aftergood filed a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA request on August 15, 2018, asking for a copy of the list that was given to Congress on all US Defense Intelligence Agency products created under the Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program contract. The Defense Intelligence Agency just issued their response, and it’s a doozy.

 

So? While some of it is clearly out of reach (wormholes, and the Drake equation is nonsense), there is nothing wrong with the stuff that's being researched. There are prototypes of invisibility cloaks for soldiers already; I see no reason why for instance invisibility cloaks for fighter jets should not be developed. Depending on how much exactly is being spent, what's ridiculous about it?
NB, RT is a Russian propaganda outlet, and it very much shows.

[Mandark]

Responding to a filler post. Rookie mistake right there.

[team filler]

 

[Occam]

By the way, unless you are Russian, doesn't working for RT basically make you a traitor?
Reminds me of Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw.

[Mandark]

By the way, unless you are Russian, doesn't working for RT basically make you a traitor?
Reminds me of Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw.

no no no

[Trojita]

https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1087841570479632384

This kid is trying to outZuck Zuckerberg in acting like a robot.

 

[team filler]

agenda or not.  rt america gives better reporting than MSM

[Occam]

Then again, if the US President himself works for Russia, too, who am I to judge.

[agrajag]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/22/politics/senate-vote-trump-border-wall-shutdown/index.html

is McConnell cracking?

[Mandark]

Presumably they won't be whipping votes for the clean CR. Feels like it's being set up to fail so McConnell can say he allowed a vote on a clean CR but it couldn't pass, that his side has shown a willingness to negotiate and Dems need to meet them in the middle, etc.

[agrajag]

Presumably they won't be whipping votes for the clean CR. Feels like it's being set up to fail so McConnell can say he allowed a vote on a clean CR but it couldn't pass, that his side has shown a willingness to negotiate and Dems need to meet them in the middle, etc.

I think there is a slight chance that a few repubs will break from the ranks, some of them have to be feeling the pressure now, especially those whose seats are up for reelection next year.

[shosta]

It's only a matter of time. From WaPo yesterday:

Yet in private, key Republicans are signaling more concern about the long-term repercussions of the shutdown and the atmosphere in Washington deteriorating after weeks of bitter brinkmanship and no substantive negotiations to reopen the government.

White House officials and GOP leaders would accept virtually any offer from Democrats to end the impasse, hoping they sell it to Trump as a “victory” and move forward, said one Republican with close ties to both the administration and congressional leaders. This person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said there is extreme consternation about how poorly the shutdown was playing out and how polling shows many Americans heaping blame on Trump.

There is growing concern in the GOP that the longer the shutdown drags on, the more the party will stand to suffer politically.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

“What I don’t understand is how Nancy Pelosi can be such an inept negotiator as to not try to get something that her and her colleagues really, really want,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said.

 

[close]

[agrajag]

why didn't he do that to begin with, instead of refusing to put the clean cr on the floor? He already made drew blame on himself for the shutdown that he didn't have to

[Mandark]

Maybe thought it would be bad PR for them to vote down a bill they'd unanimously supported a week before? I dunno, it's all dumb.

[agrajag]

Yikes.

Curious to see who the general public blames more after both bills fail to pass. If they are able to alter the narrative we are in for a bad time.

[kingv]

I feel like the party that doesn’t have the presidency always has an advantage in shutdowns. There’s so many downstream effects that the President will end up getting blamed for.

The Democrats should be perfectly willing to let Trump crash the economy while standing up frothier principles.

That said, he’s looking so hard for a way out, the dems should consider slipping something like Mueller protection into their compromise. But now the DACA thing has no weight whatsoever. Republicans should be praying the Supreme Court doesn’t take that up in the middle of an election year.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1087865000671236096

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1087834805348298752

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1087832114072932352

The guy in charge of thumbnails should be given a raise. 

Anyway it seems that the Democrats are feeling the heat because some of them don't want to be 'weak' on border security.
While Republicans are feeling the heat because the government is still shutdown.

In general it seems like everyone is just working around Pelosi/Trump who are not budging and flinging shit at one another to come up with a compromise.

[agrajag]

Did you read the article you posted, Nintex?

He is one of Congress's most conservative Democrats and represents Minnesota's 7th Congressional District, an area Trump won by 30 points during the 2016 presidential election.

[Mandark]

you're so desperate to believe that trump is winning

.

[Joe Molotov]

Dems in disarray! Gullible removed from dictionary!

[agrajag]

https://twitter.com/jeremymbarr/status/1087861413840850944

wtf does that even mean?

[team filler]

https://twitter.com/jeremymbarr/status/1087861413840850944

wtf does that even mean?

this wouldn't happen if russia were funding them 

[I'm a Puppy!]

https://twitter.com/jeremymbarr/status/1087861413840850944

wtf does that even mean?

It means there's a transgendering time machine out there somewhere, all we have to do is find it!

[Mandark]

I think it's "Joe Biden wants to be hip and popular like AOC so he transformed himself into her, first by using a time machine to get younger (???) and then becoming female by Doing A Transgender."

[I'm a Puppy!]

I think it's "Joe Biden wants to be hip and popular like AOC so he transformed himself into her, first by using a time machine to get younger () and then becoming female by Doing A Transgender."

No.

[Mandark]

yes

[shosta]

https://twitter.com/SavannahGuthrie/status/1087786191531974656

[Tripon]

https://twitter.com/emilymbadger/status/1087708149153452032

[james]

   

The proletariat are finally rising up and amassing in order to take back their country

Brothers, join me as we call in sick and spend the day playing Super Smash Brothers Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch Entertainment System. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has smashed sales records and become the fastest selling exclusive game of all time. Available now only on the Nintendo Switch Entertainment System.

Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service employees have received permission to skip work during the partial government shutdown due to financial hardship, and union leaders said Tuesday they expected absences to surge as part of a coordinated protest that could hamper the government’s ability to process taxpayer refunds on time.

The Trump administration last week ordered at least 30,000 IRS workers back to their offices, where they have been working to process refunds without pay. It was one of the biggest steps the government has taken to mitigate the shutdown’s impact on Americans’ lives.

But IRS employees across the country — some in coordinated protest, others out of financial necessity — won’t be clocking in, according to Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, and several local union officials. The work action is widespread and includes employees from a processing center in Ogden, Utah, to the Brookhaven campus on New York’s Long Island.

The move is the leading edge of pushback from within the IRS, and it signals the potential for civil servants to take actions that could slow or cripple government functions as the shutdown’s political stalemate continues in Washington. U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspectors have begun to call in sick, Transportation Security Administration sickouts at airports have been rising, and federal law enforcement agencies say the shutdown is increasing stress among agents and affecting investigations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hundreds-of-irs-employees-are-skipping-work-that-could-delay-tax-refunds/2019/01/22/1885e74e-1e7d-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html?utm_term=.df89b5affa00

[team filler]

[Trojita]

https://twitter.com/jeremymbarr/status/1087861413840850944

wtf does that even mean?

It means there's a transgendering time machine out there somewhere, all we have to do is find it!

 

[agrajag]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/22/trump-rudy-giuliani-relationship-1120008

Asked who in the White House is responsible for handling Giuliani’s missteps, a White House aide said, “Handling Rudy’s f--- ups takes more than one man.”

He also dismissed talk that he doesn’t grasp the facts. “I do have a mastery of the facts, which is why I can spin them honestly, argue them several different ways,” Giuliani said.

 

[Tripon]

https://twitter.com/courierjournal/status/1087507900585652224

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1087573989277474816

https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1087847187927760896

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1087354276421271552

 

[kingv]

I don’t get why people keep stabbing for the black Israelites so much on some “oh they say provocative things sometimes!”

Like being a grown ass man standing around calling a bunch of 15 year olds crackers is a smart and good thing to do.

By that standard trump says Provocative things sometimes, as does the Donald reddit, and q supporters.

Like it’s ok for none of these people to be worth defending.

[Mandark]

Okay but do you denounce and reject them?

[james]

I don’t get why people keep stabbing for the black Israelites so much on some “oh they say provocative things sometimes!”

Like being a grown ass man standing around calling a bunch of 15 year olds crackers is a smart and good thing to do.

By that standard trump says Provocative things sometimes, as does the Donald reddit, and q supporters.

Like it’s ok for none of these people to be worth defending.

Eh, theyre like the LaRouche folks.

Equal opportunity assholes.

If you live in the city, theyre just another pigeon or plastic bag in your way

[Coitus]

People who live in cities understand the black Israelites are an amusing joke at best, a tedious annoyance at worst.

But to someone who lives in a McMansion in a subdivision in exurban Cincinnati and attends a mediocre Catholic school, they’re the most frightening thing imaginable.

[Tripon]

https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/1087931379139166210
https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/1087938079212613632

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1087354276421271552

31 tweets, Jake Tapper is a war criminal

[team filler]

the black israelites are the real heroes in all this

[Trent Dole]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1087865000671236096

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1087834805348298752

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1087832114072932352

The guy in charge of thumbnails should be given a raise. 

Anyway it seems that the Democrats are feeling the heat because some of them don't want to be 'weak' on border security.
While Republicans are feeling the heat because the government is still shutdown.

In general it seems like everyone is just working around Pelosi/Drumpf who are not budging and flinging shit at one another to come up with a compromise.

smug don is smug

[benjipwns]

Unionizing. Paying interns $15 an hour. Ensuring time off. Institutionalizing salary transparency.

To staffers on presidential campaigns past, who were long accustomed to brutal hours and low pay, that was the stuff of liberal fantasies.

But this cycle, there is an intensifying conviction among progressive operatives that internal campaign culture should reflect the very values that 2020 Democratic hopefuls passionately tout on the trail.

“Every candidate should practice what they preach,” said Rebecca Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “If they’re talking about the American Dream, they should provide it for their own staffers as well.”

“It’s hard to be going door-to-door, telling people you should vote for this candidate because they support a $15 minimum wage when you yourself are making less than that,” added Ihaab Syed, secretary of the Campaign Workers Guild, a union for campaign staffers. “It’s hard to go door-to-door, calling for Medicare for All, when you’re not being given health care.”

McClatchy contacted representatives for 12 Democrats who have declared or are considered likely to declare presidential campaigns and asked detailed questions about their approaches to internal campaign culture. The questions ranged from whether they would support a campaign unionization effort to whether they would commit to paying workers a minimum wage.

Only one already-declared presidential contender made a commitment: Julián Castro, the former Obama administration housing secretary and the ex-mayor of San Antonio, would support his staffers if they want to unionize and will pay a $15 minimum wage, a representative for his team told McClatchy.

I'm not being snarky, but I actually do wonder if some of these might actually run afoul of the often impossible to meet standards of campaign finance law.

Unionizing seems like the most obvious one to me as running into a thicket of issues, in fact, that actually seems like an epic way to knee cap an opposing campaign.

[benjipwns]

Sam Seder considering a bid for the Libertarian nomination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPwAJhd_4AM&t=2h42m0s

[agrajag]

posting Sam Seder clips is my schtick!

 

[benjipwns]

i am a journalist you can't criticize me

[Coitus]

Unionizing. Paying interns $15 an hour. Ensuring time off. Institutionalizing salary transparency.

To staffers on presidential campaigns past, who were long accustomed to brutal hours and low pay, that was the stuff of liberal fantasies.

But this cycle, there is an intensifying conviction among progressive operatives that internal campaign culture should reflect the very values that 2020 Democratic hopefuls passionately tout on the trail.

“Every candidate should practice what they preach,” said Rebecca Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “If they’re talking about the American Dream, they should provide it for their own staffers as well.”

“It’s hard to be going door-to-door, telling people you should vote for this candidate because they support a $15 minimum wage when you yourself are making less than that,” added Ihaab Syed, secretary of the Campaign Workers Guild, a union for campaign staffers. “It’s hard to go door-to-door, calling for Medicare for All, when you’re not being given health care.”

McClatchy contacted representatives for 12 Democrats who have declared or are considered likely to declare presidential campaigns and asked detailed questions about their approaches to internal campaign culture. The questions ranged from whether they would support a campaign unionization effort to whether they would commit to paying workers a minimum wage.

Only one already-declared presidential contender made a commitment: Julián Castro, the former Obama administration housing secretary and the ex-mayor of San Antonio, would support his staffers if they want to unionize and will pay a $15 minimum wage, a representative for his team told McClatchy.

I'm not being snarky, but I actually do wonder if some of these might actually run afoul of the often impossible to meet staendards of campaign finance law.

Unionizing seems like the most obvious one to me as running into a thicket of issues, in fact, that actually seems like an epic way to knee cap an opposing campaign.

What issues?  Seems more fraught for a Dem candidate to union bust than not to oppose unionization.

[Coitus]

I didn’t realize Harris was Tamil. Gabbard will try to stab her at the first debate.

[benjipwns]

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is forming an exploratory committee to run for president, he announced Wednesday, making him the seventh Democrat to throw his hat in the ring to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.

In a video announcing his exploratory committee, Buttigieg framed his candidacy as offering a “new generation” of leadership and a “fresh start” for the country. At 37 years old, Buttigieg would be the first millennial president if he were elected.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1088058134713823233

[kingv]

Started my taxes last night. Looks like I’m going to be on the hook to send Uncle Sam $800 this year.

I knew this tax bill was going to fuck me.

[Uncle]

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is forming an exploratory committee to run for president, he announced Wednesday, making him the seventh Democrat to throw his hat in the ring to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.

In a video announcing his exploratory committee, Buttigieg framed his candidacy as offering a “new generation” of leadership and a “fresh start” for the country. At 37 years old, Buttigieg would be the first millennial president if he were elected.

No one is going to elect president Butt Geek