US Politics Thread |OT| SAD TRUMP

[FStop7]

I want all of the old guard Democratic "leaders" (Pelosi, Schumer, Feinstein, anyone with the last name Kennedy or Clinton) run the fuck out of town on a rail.

[Nintex]

I want all of the old guard Democratic "leaders" (Pelosi, Schumer, Feinstein, anyone with the last name Kennedy or Clinton) run the fuck out of town on a rail.

They should be publicly shamed for having their little squabbles turn Trump into president.

2 winning tickets for 2016:
Clinton - Sanders (after primaries, to unify the party. Gib kids free college = instant win, don't care about the details or walk it back later, no one cares anyway and your opponent is selling walls paid for by Mexico)
Biden - Clinton (replace Hill with Joe post her 9/11 collapse and have him laugh at Trump at the last debate for 2 hours straight, it made so much sense and Joe would've swept the Rustbelt)

But nooo, must keep the party pure and elect the queen. Must not reward Sanders for almost stealing the queen's throne. Must believe the pollsters who use the same MacBook and have drum circles at Starbucks.
Must not have a man president, when it's woman's turn. 

Idiots

[Brehvolution]

https://twitter.com/ReutersPolitics/status/968588978751492097

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178

[seagrams hotsauce]

FWIW it's worth noting that even though we're dumping chemicals by the boatload and there's a literal continent of trash in it, the ocean will be just fine. It takes up two-thirds of the Earth and we've barely explored any of it. Life exists in every inch of it. Unless we start detonating nukes in the Mariana Trench or some shit ocean life will be here for millions of years longer than humanity

[Phoenix Dark]

One of the things that happened on the west coast was the invasion of an invasive species. There's been free reign on tilapia fishing for awhile because they overpopulate and drive out other fish.

white people?

[Kurt Russell]

[Nola]

FWIW it's worth noting that even though we're dumping chemicals by the boatload and there's a literal continent of trash in it, the ocean will be just fine. It takes up two-thirds of the Earth and we've barely explored any of it. Life exists in every inch of it. Unless we start detonating nukes in the Mariana Trench or some shit ocean life will be here for millions of years longer than humanity

I'm by no means an expert, but Climate Change fascinates me so I find myself reading random books on it and the like, from what I have gathered one of the biggest concerns is how human activity and the warming planet is going to affect phytoplankton and the like. The bottom of the food chain that so many species ultimately rely upon and produces half of the planets oxygen. As temperatures and acidification rises it either kills off phytoplankton, grows certain species, and/or forces them to migrate to cooler waters, upending the food chains in that area. And that chaos is hard to predict but you could imagine how devastating that could be to a poorer fishing community that suddenly finds their primary source of food close to collapse. Or how that could affect the carbon cycle if you are suddenly losing a ton of oxygen producing species in a short amount of time due to accelerating climate change forces. How that could affect marine life when these once stable food chains are completely upended in short order.

[Joe Molotov]

Oh, I've already seen a "Abortion kills more kids than guns, guess you libetards want that banned too, checkmate" on my Facebook.

[Kurt Russell]

half of all ocean ecosystems are in the process of ecological collapse or well on their way.

You are so fucking depressing. Can't you say something heartwarming and uplifting pls?

[Joe Molotov]

You are so fucking depressing. Can't you say something heartwarming and uplifting pls?

extreme poverty is on the rise in the US
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/12/21/extreme-poverty-returns-to-america/?utm_term=.ea3f74e6e5ba

Here, let me fix that

poverty is on the rise in the US
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/12/21/extreme-poverty-returns-to-america/?utm_term=.ea3f74e6e5ba

[etiolate]

That's kind of being loose with "extreme poverty".

To be sure, poverty in the United States is not equivalent to poverty in less developed countries.

Kind of an important factor there. So how is it defined here?

Then there are the extremely poor who live on less than $2 per day per person and don’t have access to basic human services such as sanitation, shelter, education and health care. These are people who cannot find work, who have used up their five-year lifetime limit on assistance, who do not qualify for any other programs or who may live in remote areas.

Having homeless family members, the "not found work" is one of the main things. They don't even get onto any assistance program in the first place. (This piece also doesn't touch on how certain programs may be harming people int he long run.) A new concern may be the job market changing so much that a meaningful percentage of the population just won't be able to handle the majority of work to be found. We may end up with 10% of the population trying to filter into every physical labor job.

My issue is using extreme poverty in an American sense rather than the world view and then ignoring much of the picture to make an appeal to assistance. You should also mention that outsourcing has alleviated world poverty but probably at a cost to the middle and lower class in developed countries. Following that, get into tech's impact and that even simple retail or food jobs are getting higher tech. I'm for public assistance, but be smart about it and realize that having jobs for the people is far better than dependency. One way to kill economic mobility is to create generational dependency.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/CarolLeonnig/status/968609368005664768

"Yes my friends, we have manipulated the President's son in law now we can get anything done"

Jared: "Donald"

Donald: "Yes Jared"

Jared: "Donald, I spoke to Pakistan I think you should give them money"

Melania: "Hello"

Donald: "THAT'S A SHITHOLE, pass me my MAGA hat I gotta go Golf"

[Phoenix Dark]

I really can't imagine Kushner NOT selling state secrets or doing favors in exchange for finances. He was basically selling visas to Chinese nationals last year. 

But again...gotta think Mueller won't indict Kushner and Don Jr until he's near or at the finish line.

[Nola]

1.2 billion dollar loans due next February don’t pay for themselves.

At least not when you invest in property well above market value at the height of the real estate bubble.

[kingv]

Ivanka would be a great spy. She has so much filler in her face you can’t tell when she is lying.

[Nintex]

Ivanka is even better at telling bullshit than her father is.
It's basically a hot cop / bad cop routine between the two of them.

[agrajag]

I hate that bitch's raspy ass voice

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968620661349470209
Trump: "Drain the swamp, away with the politicians"

Also Trump: "... and treasurer of Bumville Ohio, Mr. McCormand Mcormy, great job, also under janitor Mason Steele cleaning floors at the RNC Fantastic job"

https://twitter.com/georgepbush/status/968626207049822208
Trump insulted your grandma and called your dad a loser 


No Ben why  :'(
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/ben-carson-hud-furniture.html

Department of Housing and Urban Development officials spent $31,000 on a new dining room set for Secretary Ben Carson’s office in late 2017

[Nola]

Trump Tower officially lists the tenant as the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, but make no mistake who's paying the rent: the Chinese government, which owns a majority of the company. And while the landlord is technically the Trump Organization, make no mistake who's cashing those millions: the president of the United States, who has placed day-to-day management with his sons but retains 100% ownership. This lease expires in October 2019, according to a debt prospectus obtained by Forbes. So if you assume that the Trumps want to keep this lucrative tenant, then Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. could well be negotiating right now over how many millions the Chinese government will pay the sitting president.

Forbes estimates these tenants pay a collective $175 million a year or so to the president. And they do so anonymously. Federal laws, drafted without envisioning a real estate billionaire as president, require Trump to publicly disclose the shell companies he owns--but not the hundreds of businesses pouring money into them or even the extent of the money involved.

Boiled down, the Trump Organization is more a collection of deals than an operating business. While Wal-Mart and General Motors rely on millions of customers around the world, the Trump Organization relies on a handful of large entities. That insulates the president's business from consumer whims--and lagging favorability ratings--while leaving him vulnerable to corporate (or government) interests.

How, then, to consider the backroom discussions between federal officials and Walgreens Boots Alliance, one of the largest pharmacies in the world? Through its brand Duane Reade, it is the highest-paying tenant in Trump's skyscraper at 40 Wall Street in New York, with $3.2 million in annual rent, according to a 2015 prospectus. In October 2015, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced a $9.4 billion merger with rival Rite Aid, requiring a sign-off from antimonopoly regulators. After the deal failed to secure approval under President Obama, it then fell to the Trump administration, which arrived in Washington during the first quarter of 2017. According to federal disclosures, that was the same quarter Walgreens Boots Alliance began directly lobbying the White House on "competition policy issues." In September, despite objections by one of the two commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, Trump's tenant got the green light for a slimmed-down, $4.4 billion version of the deal. In January, Trump announced he would nominate the commissioner who supported the deal, Maureen Ohlhausen, to be a federal judge.

How much, if at all, did the business relationship affect the government's decision? It's inherently impossible to measure. Walgreens Boots Alliance says there was no connection whatsoever and that their lobbying was not specific to the deal. But even if Trump tried to rule without any personal favor, or if this was decided without his direct input, the appearance of a conflict of interest is unavoidable. The companies know their landlord is the president. And it's hard to get into the heads of regulators, however well-intended or removed from the White House, who serve a president famously obsessed with personal loyalty.

Consider banks. Capital One rents space for an estimated $1 million at the bottom of Trump's Park Avenue condo building--while the Justice and Treasury departments investigate the bank's anti-money-laundering program. Four years ago, the Department of Justice reached a nearly $17 billion settlement--the largest ever of its kind--with Bank of America, the biggest tenant (an estimated $18 million a year) at the 555 California Street complex in San Francisco, where Trump owns a 30% stake. Like all big banks, BofA remains under scrutiny by federal officials. In December, Trump tenants UBS, Barclays and JPMorgan, plus Trump lender Deutsche Bank, got waiver extensions from the Department of Labor that allow them to avoid part of their punishment for illegally manipulating interest rates and foreign exchange rates.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/02/13/trump-conflicts-of-interest-tenants-donald-business-organization-real-estate-assets-pay/#644d77ef48f9
The conflicts go on and on.

The best cronyism, folks, the best.

[FStop7]

Imagine being the lickspittle for someone who publicly insulted your entire family in some really shitty ways.  Someone who would do that isn't even a man, in my eyes.  Maybe some kind of talking dog.  But not a man.

[Mandark]

That's kind of being loose with "extreme poverty".

No, it's literally the threshold set by the World Bank regardless of the country.

[Tasty]

A L T E R N A T I V E F A C T B O Y S

[Mandark]

JARED KUSHNER'S SECURITY CLEARANCE JUST GOT DOWNGRADED LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

That story might not even have come out if Kelly hadn't decided that Rob Porter was so irreplaceable that they needed to overlook his wifebeating in the middle of the #metoo explosion.

[Nola]

(CNN)Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for president, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Questions to some witnesses during wide-ranging interviews included the timing of Trump's decision to seek the presidency, potentially compromising information the Russians may have had about him, and why efforts to brand a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, two sources said.
The lines of inquiry indicate Mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the Russians might have sought to influence Trump at a time when he was discussing deals in Moscow and contemplating a presidential run.

Several lines of questioning to witnesses have centered on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Moscow, and unsuccessful discussions to brand a Trump Tower Moscow, two sources said.
For the pageant, Trump partnered with Aras Agalarov, and his son, Emin Agalarov, billionaire real estate developers in Russia. In congressional testimony last year, Donald Trump Jr. said that "preliminary discussions" to build a tower in Moscow began between the Trump Organization and the Agalarovs after the Miss Universe pageant. Trump tweeted with excitement about the potential project, saying "Trump Tower-Moscow is next."

One of the sources said, based on the questions, that Mueller's team was focused on the financing of the Miss Universe Pageant, such as who paid for what and what money was paid to whom.

The Trump Organization has never disclosed exactly how much it was paid to hold the beauty pageant in Russia. But Trump's lawyers said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Trump Organization made $12.2 million from foreign sources that year, and a "substantial portion" came from the Moscow event.

A second area of focus was what happened during the event. The source said questions also focused on meetings Trump had with Russian business people or government officials, leading the source to believe the investigators were probing the possibility of "kompromat," or compromising material, on Trump.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/trump-russia-investigation/index.html

[thehunter116]

Open question, are we (human society) ever going to do something about the destruction of ocean ecosystems or are we just going to keep doing nothing about it forever and barely even mention it as a major issue until there are no large fish left in the ocean

We're currently polluting our only home so people that are 80 years old get a little richer.

What do you think?

[kingv]

The mueller info is interesting. So far he hasn’t seemed to have actually done anything until he was pretty sure what the answers would be.

[Great Rumbler]

(CNN)Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for president, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Questions to some witnesses during wide-ranging interviews included the timing of Trump's decision to seek the presidency, potentially compromising information the Russians may have had about him, and why efforts to brand a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, two sources said.
The lines of inquiry indicate Mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the Russians might have sought to influence Trump at a time when he was discussing deals in Moscow and contemplating a presidential run.

Several lines of questioning to witnesses have centered on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Moscow, and unsuccessful discussions to brand a Trump Tower Moscow, two sources said.
For the pageant, Trump partnered with Aras Agalarov, and his son, Emin Agalarov, billionaire real estate developers in Russia. In congressional testimony last year, Donald Trump Jr. said that "preliminary discussions" to build a tower in Moscow began between the Trump Organization and the Agalarovs after the Miss Universe pageant. Trump tweeted with excitement about the potential project, saying "Trump Tower-Moscow is next."

One of the sources said, based on the questions, that Mueller's team was focused on the financing of the Miss Universe Pageant, such as who paid for what and what money was paid to whom.

The Trump Organization has never disclosed exactly how much it was paid to hold the beauty pageant in Russia. But Trump's lawyers said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Trump Organization made $12.2 million from foreign sources that year, and a "substantial portion" came from the Moscow event.

A second area of focus was what happened during the event. The source said questions also focused on meetings Trump had with Russian business people or government officials, leading the source to believe the investigators were probing the possibility of "kompromat," or compromising material, on Trump.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/trump-russia-investigation/index.html

Cloaked figure: Mueller indictments soon, fellow Russian colluder!

Trump: Oh really? When?

Cloaked figure: *places hand on Trump's shoulder, revealing himself to be Mueller" NOW

[thehunter116]

The mueller info is interesting. So far he hasn’t seemed to have actually done anything until he was pretty sure what the answers would be.

Biggest hint to where the investigation is headed in the end.

He doesn't ask these "questions" unless he know's and can prove(so far) criminal acts have occurred.

[kingv]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/the-mysterious-professor-at-the-center-of-the-russia-trump?utm_term=.wqA22vlx#.xja55DAg

Looks like that Joseph Mifsud dude disappeared... also that he is a massive shit head.

Interesting article that is more interesting by the fact it’s basically his baby momma dragging him by exposing all of their text messages because he disappeared on her when she was pregnant.

[benjipwns]

 

[Barack Hussein Obama at the Sloan Conference] opined that the NBA would be well-served by junior league "so that the NCAA is not serving as a farm system for the NBA with a bunch of kids who are unpaid but are under enormous financial pressure."

"It's just not a sustainable way of doing business," said Obama. "Then when everybody acts shock that some kid from extraordinarily poor circumstances who's got 5, 10, 15 million dollars waiting for him is going to be circled by everybody in a context in which people are making billions of dollars, it's not good." Creating an alternative league for people eventually headed to the NBA "won't solve all the problems but what it will do is reduce the hypocrisy" of pretending that all student-athletes are both students and athletes.

IMPEACHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOWWWWWW

[Joe Molotov]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968856971075051521

mrw my AG is a Deep State Daddy

[benjipwns]

you just don't realize all the places the deep state has infiltrated until you look for it everywhere

[kingv]

The way he complains about people he appointed without taking any responsibility is embarrassing.

If he’s so damn bad, fire him.

[agrajag]

he's just askin questions man

[FStop7]

That Rubio tweet whining about those darn kids ruining his NRA party induced full body cringe.

[Mandark]

Dude who ran a campaign on the idea that Obama was deliberately trying to hurt and weaken the United States is now getting the feels that politics has become too mean-spirited.

Poor guy.

[Joe Molotov]

Dude who ran a campaign on the idea that Obama was deliberately trying to hurt and weaken the United States is now getting the feels that politics has become too mean-spirited.

Poor guy.

He just needs to wait for Melania's cyberbullying initiative to take hold. Any day now....

[agrajag]

Little Marco... Trump was right?

 

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

Dude who ran a campaign on the idea that Obama was deliberately trying to hurt and weaken the United States is now getting the feels that politics has become too mean-spirited.

Poor guy.

Let's dispel with the myth that Barack Obama didn't know exactly what he was doing. Barack Obama knew exactly what he was doing.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968856971075051521

mrw my AG is a Deep State Daddy

This is so bizarre. Did he lose Sessions' phone number or something? 

[FStop7]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/politics/meghan-mccain-cindy-mccain-trump-cpac/index.html

During a joint appearance with her mother on ABC's "The View," Meghan McCain said the moment made her feel "naïve" following a conversation she had with the President last fall.
The President and first lady Melania Trump called her, she said, in the wake of an Axios report that Trump mocked the Arizona senator's Vietnam War injuries.
"I had a really nice conversation with him and Melania and I really was under the impression this sort of fight between our families and between him and my father, especially at this particular moment would end. I understand the argument is he's talking about policy, and that's the attack, but it's still particularly hurtful, especially after I've had this conversation with him on the phone, to have this moment of booing at CPAC ... at this particular moment in time is incredibly hurtful and I feel, quite frankly, very naïve to have believed that this would be any different," she said.

   

[Joe Molotov]

lol

[thehunter116]

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/968932263173001216

[thehunter116]

Anyone want to summarize manafort stuff for me? What the charges are for etc. I presume it's over being a consultant for Yanakovich. As a Filipino I'd like to see him nailed for Marcos too but that might be a big ask because it looks bad on Reagan.

Do you like your Manaforts crispy or extra crispy?

[thehunter116]

https://twitter.com/AP_Images/status/968938936973365255

 

[Trent Dole]

Oh hey it's the ARG for Year Zero part 2. This would be funny if it wasn't so unsettling.

[thehunter116]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/us/politics/hope-hicks-resign-communications-director.html

[kingv]

Hopefully she starts taking bookings.

[team filler]

Balls deep state

[Great Rumbler]

“Number one, you can take the guns away immediately from people that you can adjudge easily are mentally ill, like this guy,” he told a bipartisan group of legislators durning a televised meeting.

The President was referring to Nikolas Cruz, who allegedly murdered 17 people during a Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Vice President Mike Pence said later that “the focus is to literally give families and give local law enforcement additional tools if an individual is reported to be a potential danger to themselves or others.”

“Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons in the possession—”

Trump cut him off: “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system.”

“Because a lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures, I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida,” he continued. “He had a lot of firearms. They saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying but take the guns first, go through due process second.”

Trump's new idea is to use the government to take people's guns.

[agrajag]

Hope Hicks annihilated

[Trent Dole]

“Number one, you can take the guns away immediately from people that you can adjudge easily are mentally ill, like this guy,” he told a bipartisan group of legislators durning a televised meeting.

The President was referring to Nikolas Cruz, who allegedly murdered 17 people during a Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Vice President Mike Pence said later that “the focus is to literally give families and give local law enforcement additional tools if an individual is reported to be a potential danger to themselves or others.”

“Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons in the possession—”

Drumpf cut him off: “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system.”

“Because a lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures, I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida,” he continued. “He had a lot of firearms. They saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying but take the guns first, go through due process second.”

Drumpf's new idea is to use the government to take people's guns.

HITLER CONFIRMED

[Nola]

We need our guns to protect us from the police state, we need our police state to protect us from the guns.


....if nothing else, Trump manages to distill modern conservatism down to its core essence.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/968949817874370560

Who's this person, what has he done with Donald Trump

[Great Rumbler]

[nachobro]

 

I'll laugh my ass off if proper gun control somehow happens under Trump

[Nintex]

Trump signs the guns away.
Guns confiscated. Murder rate drops, Trump receives Nobel Peace Prize.
Mueller drops investigation

*6 months later*

Russian paratroopers land in California

 

[kingv]

NRA has been silent on Trumps remarks.

[Mandark]

They probably figure that they can wait for someone else to talk to him, and he'll be tweeting the opposite within a day.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/968997277128974337