"My family and I can't live in good intentions, Marge!"

October 3, 2017 6:27 PM

As America reels from the mass shooting in Las Vegas (the third such shooting regarded as the deadliest ever in a decade), Puerto Rico citizens have gone nearly two weeks without power, with reports that already ageing infrastructure has been irretrievably destroyed. (Puerto Rico's infrastructure status page reports only 5% of the network is operational.)

The Trump administration appeared to not have a plan in place after the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, with the President spending his time golfing and feuding with the NFL, while aid remains scarce two weeks after the hurricane. In response to the delay, Oxfam International, in a rare move, pledged disaster relief efforts to a developed country. (Residents of Flint, Michigan, may disagree on the definition of 'developed'.) President Trump belatedly visited Puerto Rico today to throw paper towels at victims.

Meanwhile, Congress has failed to reauthorise spending for the Children's Health Insurance Program in time for its expiry on September 30th; Congressional Republicans are claiming they still have the rest of the year, but in some states the program is already defunded.

It's not been a good week for America, basically.

posted by Merus (3091 comments total)

unceasingsuffering tag game is strong.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:28 PM on October 3, 2017 [47 favorites]

Politico: Pence’s chief of staff floats ‘purge’ of anti-Trump Republicans to wealthy donors -- Nick Ayers urges donors to ‘form a coalition’ to take on GOP leaders and members who don’t back the president.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:33 PM on October 3, 2017 [8 favorites]

Gonna repeat my link from the very end of the last thread, because it's too good.

Ginsburg Slaps Gorsuch in Gerrymandering Case

Gorsuch went on to give his colleagues a civics lecture about the text of the Constitution. “And where exactly do we get authority to revise state legislative lines? When the Constitution authorizes the federal government to step in on state legislative matters, it’s pretty clear—if you look at the Fifteenth Amendment, you look at the Nineteenth Amendment, the Twenty-sixth Amendment, and even the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2.” In other words, Gorsuch was saying, why should the Court involve itself in the subject of redistricting at all—didn’t the Constitution fail to give the Court the authority to do so?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is bent with age, can sometimes look disengaged or even sleepy during arguments, and she had that droopy look today as well. But, in this moment, she heard Gorsuch very clearly, and she didn’t even raise her head before offering a brisk and convincing dismissal. In her still Brooklyn-flecked drawl, she grumbled, “Where did ‘one person, one vote’ come from?” There might have been an audible woo that echoed through the courtroom. (Ginsburg’s comment seemed to silence Gorsuch for the rest of the arguments.)

posted by threeturtles at 6:33 PM on October 3, 2017 [205 favorites]

I badly wanted to fit the rest of the quote in the title: "Oh, your family's out of control, but we can't blame you, because you have goooood intentions!"
posted by Merus at 6:35 PM on October 3, 2017 [19 favorites]

"But I don't like this clown."
"Uh, I wouldn't take it down if I were you; it's a load-bearing presidential portrait."
posted by Sys Rq at 6:39 PM on October 3, 2017 [20 favorites]

Speaking of unceasing suffering, I found this article by (MeFi's own) John Scalzi about the complete drain on productivity that is our worst person in decades given office.

Ana Marie Cox likes to say how she's feeling "in Trump-adjusted terms" and that context will be with us forever.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 6:40 PM on October 3, 2017 [100 favorites]

Now We Are All Frank Grimes
posted by theodolite at 6:42 PM on October 3, 2017 [65 favorites]

I'd like to take this opportunity of being within the first 10 comments on one of these threads to say that you all are my lifeline in these trying times and that everything just sucks so much. But I have hope! Tiny, wondrous hope!
posted by numaner at 6:43 PM on October 3, 2017 [60 favorites]

Regarding Scalzi's post about writing productivity: His tweet linking to the post was followed by a long, long list of authors who all said, "Oh my god, me, too."

And for the record: Me, too.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:44 PM on October 3, 2017 [58 favorites]

CNN, Manu Raju, Dylan Byers and Dana Bash, Exclusive: Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin

A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Some of the Russian ads appeared highly sophisticated in their targeting of key demographic groups in areas of the states that turned out to be pivotal, two of the sources said. The ads employed a series of divisive messages aimed at breaking through the clutter of campaign ads online, including promoting anti-Muslim messages, sources said.

It has been unclear until now exactly which regions of the country were targeted by the ads. And while one source said that a large number of ads appeared in areas of the country that were not heavily contested in the elections, some clearly were geared at swaying public opinion in the most heavily contested battlegrounds.
...
One person with direct knowledge of the matter said that some of the ads were aimed at reaching voters who may be susceptible to anti-Muslim messages, even suggesting that Muslims were a threat to the American way of life. Such messaging could presumably appeal to voters attracted to Trump's hard-line stance against immigration and calls to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Schiff said that the committee was planning to investigate ads that suggested Muslims supported Clinton, and how those were geared to people who had been searching online for the Muslim Brotherhood and other items to suggest they were critical of Islam.

This is vague, and some of the ads were apparently not targeted to swing states at all, but the White House response of sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending they can't hear any of this is conspicuous.
posted by zachlipton at 6:44 PM on October 3, 2017 [35 favorites]

With 33 of 71 districts reporting in the Birmingham mayoral election, progressive challenger Randall Woodfin is looking good with 62% of the vote.
posted by duffell at 6:49 PM on October 3, 2017 [15 favorites]

The author productivity thing is funny for me, because this year, for the first time in almost a decade, I've started writing again. I've got most of a novel done and I've produced easily 100,000 words of fanfiction (in addition to the original novel.) That's INSANE for me. It started as desperately needing an escape from all this (and is very fluffy and self-indulgent fiction.) (Although focusing...yeah. I have 4 current WIPs.)

Sorry for the aside. But basically my life right now is these threads and writing.
posted by threeturtles at 6:50 PM on October 3, 2017 [45 favorites]

ELECTION RESULT

GOP HOLD in the special in Mississippi House 102, 68-32. I don't have presidential comparable to hand, but the district voted R for this seat last fall, 73-27.

Good result by the D just to get to the runoff (there were multiple Rs in the first round).
posted by Chrysostom at 6:52 PM on October 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

On the upside, at least Trump threw paper towels and not D batteries.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:58 PM on October 3, 2017 [18 favorites]

Fuck yeah, threeturtles. You grab that productivity and run with it like you stole it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:59 PM on October 3, 2017 [57 favorites]

Exclusive: Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin

The question is still who fed them voter targeting info. Anyone could've read a map of the electoral college, but if they had lists of individual swing voters in specific districts? Someone helped them. It was Jared Kushner.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:00 PM on October 3, 2017 [41 favorites]

Interesting McClatchy article about how things are going at the ACLU. Membership quadrupled after the election, and fundraising is about 20 times what it was in a normal year. They're using the money to go on the offense for things like voting rights.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:02 PM on October 3, 2017 [81 favorites]

And every new detail that comes out about Facebook's culpability should give us double the hope, both for what it shows about Trump campaign collusion, and that much harder for Zuckerberg to keep showing up "randomly" at Iowa county fairs. Lets hope being an accomplice to foreign interference is preculsive of a technodouche-2020 run.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:04 PM on October 3, 2017 [30 favorites]

Can I just say Fuck You Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's inception was predicated on creeping on girls at college. Now you're complicit in throwing an election. Are you happy? Are your parents proud of you sleazeball self-serving greedy, exploiting piece of shit.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:09 PM on October 3, 2017 [143 favorites]

Gorsuch went on to give his colleagues a civics lecture about the text of the Constitution

I said it during his confirmation hearing and I’ll say it again: Jesus Christ what a smarmy asshole he is. Ugh.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:09 PM on October 3, 2017 [36 favorites]

I wonder if that will backfire on him a bit. Kennedy has been there for umpteen years, he's not looking to be lectured by some little shit.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:11 PM on October 3, 2017 [59 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** NJ gov -- Monmouth poll has Murphy up 51-37. That's slightly narrower than other polls, but still a very healthy lead.

** 2018 House -- Noted in the other thread, PA-18 GOP congressman Tim Murphy is in hot water after it came out that he pushed his mistress to have an abortion. Murphy has been very vocally pro-life, so this is not so great for his brand. This would be a tough district for the Dems - it went Trump 58-39, but this greatly increases the chance of Murphy being primaried, if nothing else.

** Odds & ends -- New Pew survey finds Republicans down on the party's future. In December, 79% were optimistic about it, now that is down to 59%. College educated people had the greatest drop.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:14 PM on October 3, 2017 [28 favorites]

“Pro-Life” Congressman Caught Telling His Extramarital Boo to Get an Abortion -"Rep. Tim Murphy, a vocally anti-abortion congressman from Pennsylvania, asked his own girlfriend to terminate a pregnancy this year.
According to documents obtained by the Post-Gazette, Shannon Edwards—a Pittsburgh woman exactly half Murphy’s age with whom he recently admitted to having an extramarital affair—"
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:16 PM on October 3, 2017 [59 favorites]

Regarding Scalzi's post about writing productivity: His tweet linking to the post was followed by a long, long list of authors who all said, "Oh my god, me, too."

And for the record: Me, too..

To paraphrase President Obama after the election;

You’re allowed to drink to excess for a year, maybe weed if you really need it, but after that we need to brush ourselves off and get back to work.

Hmm, I it looks like I may have misremembered some details.

“I was telling my team you’re allowed to mope for week and a half, maybe two weeks if you really need it," he continued. "But after that, we gotta brush ourselves off and get back to work."

posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:17 PM on October 3, 2017 [68 favorites]

Gonna repeat my link from the very end of the last thread, because it's too good.

Gonna repeat my favorite too because the link is so good!
posted by Room 641-A at 7:20 PM on October 3, 2017 [17 favorites]

Gorsuch is the kid who graduated high school early and tested out of freshman level requirements, who thinks he's the first person in history to think of every idea and has to share it with the upper level class, while everyone else just wants him to shut the fuck up and let the teacher talk.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:21 PM on October 3, 2017 [126 favorites]

Vox's podcast "The Weeds" had an episode about Puerto Rico's many crises, and another episode today about Australia's gun control. They're really good with details and I found the PR episode really helpful.

The Ezra Klein podcast had an episode "How the Republican Party created Donald Trump" and it's just some Congressional scholars talking about their book, but it did me good to hear them talk about how much Mitch McConnell is at fault for this. Like, I keep telling myself I shouldn't simplify politics down to just one person. But McConnell has personally made this country worse with his own two hands.

Sorry if that's too shilly. The only way I can engage with politics anymore is podcasts while I'm exercising.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:22 PM on October 3, 2017 [16 favorites]

I thought The Weeds episode on gun control was extraordinarily bad. Matt Yglesias essentially trolled the other two hosts for half an hour.
posted by Automocar at 7:27 PM on October 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

Elon. I'm thrilled you're on-track to re-make a First World power grid with reliability and economy in mind in South Australia.

Puerto Rico really needs you, here. Look at it as a loss-leader, as every other developing country, like the Continental United States, will need your solar roofs and powerwalls, and if you prove it works here...

Man, I'm just a New Englander. I shouldn't care about Puerto Rico, as it's so far away, and the people are so unlike me.

But they are Americans. If there is one defining trait that makes us so dangerous and powerful, it's that We Leave No One Behind. It's not just suffering, it's Americans suffering, when we have the power to prevent it.

Elon, please, talk with Jeff, talk with Tim, talk with Bill, talk with Satya, talk with Warren. The USA is doing its best to fend of a junta, and will be of no help. Invest here, please, please, please. There's so much capital sloshing around, invest it here, please?

And now I need to take a long hot shower with a scoop of laundry detergent. Worth it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:30 PM on October 3, 2017 [33 favorites]

After the inauguration, I told an older friend that election night had felt like my generation's 9/11, but I was embarrassed to say so because I thought I was being hyperbolic and ridiculous. I don't feel that way anymore.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:30 PM on October 3, 2017 [93 favorites]

showbiz_liz: I'd give it a 1/3 to 2/3 chance we have civil war, in which case 9/11 will be a footnote or prologue, like Bleeding Kansas
posted by hleehowon at 7:32 PM on October 3, 2017 [28 favorites]

Man, I'm just a New Englander. I shouldn't care about Puerto Rico, as it's so far away, and the people are so unlike me.

What is wrong with you?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:33 PM on October 3, 2017 [35 favorites]

MSNBC is reporting that the official death toll in Puerto Rico has gone up to 34. :(

“Pro-Life” Congressman Caught Telling His Extramarital Boo to Get an Abortion -"Rep. Tim Murphy, a vocally anti-abortion congressman from Pennsylvania, asked his own girlfriend to terminate a pregnancy this year.

There must be so, so, so many of these stories.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:34 PM on October 3, 2017 [15 favorites]

ActingTheGoat, I hope his comment just missed a /s tag. because otherwise, that's a prime example of "FUCK JOO GOT MINE KTHX,"

see also: low information voters.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:35 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

ELECTION RESULT

Randall Woodfin has defeated the incumbent in the mayoral race in Birmingham, AL. Woodfin was the progressive and backed by Bernie.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:36 PM on October 3, 2017 [74 favorites]

What is wrong with you?

1) I'm a human being

2) I am reminded daily that people who do not look or sound like me are dangerous. In movies, TV, comics, books...

3) The President of the United States of America says they're different, and lazy, and greedy.

4) You and yours are soaking in it, too.

5) Decency is not natural. It is a learned behavior. Sometimes we let it lapse.

6) Leave no-one behind. A little spark to keep the dark at bay. Just a little one.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:38 PM on October 3, 2017 [22 favorites]

It turns out that Infrastructure Week wasn’t an event, it was a warning:

INFRASTRUCTURE WEAK
posted by dephlogisticated at 7:40 PM on October 3, 2017 [84 favorites]

Election night 2016 was worse than 9/11 IMO. 9/11 had limited scope, in comparison. So did the anthrax attacks. Because no matter what, we were still pretty much invulnerable to large scale attack from anyone but ourselves.

And now the monster is us, we've turned on ourselves, and there is no limit to what can happen.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:41 PM on October 3, 2017 [68 favorites]

ActingTheGoat, I hope his comment just missed a /s tag. because otherwise, that's a prime example of "FUCK JOO GOT MINE KTHX,"

If I've internalized one thing over the past year it's that I no longer give white people the benefit of the doubt when they spout racist bullshit.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:50 PM on October 3, 2017 [20 favorites]

Pence’s chief of staff floats ‘purge’ of anti-Trump Republicans

Come at us bro.
posted by corb at 7:52 PM on October 3, 2017 [82 favorites]

I need to back up the conversation a few hours (I know that's like a decade in Trump years) but wait throwing paper towels? How did that seem like a good idea to anyone? So they could, what, soak up the remaining feet of water in their homes? Like it didn't even make a good photo opp. Help me understand this please. Use small words.
posted by Joey Michaels at 7:52 PM on October 3, 2017 [14 favorites]

Tesla has already begun (Bloomberg, auto-play video warning) shipping Powerwall batteries over to Puerto Rico, so it's not off their radar. That said, it'd be a heck of a lot simpler if some over-arching governing body actually got around to taking care of its citizens.

On a related note, not everything needs a silver lining, 45. You're allowed to be sad sometimes. Sometimes life sucks. It doesn't need to secretly be a miracle. Grieve.
posted by Lykosidae at 7:53 PM on October 3, 2017 [8 favorites]

Help me understand this please. Use small words.

They're small and malleable, so they fit in his tiny hands.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:53 PM on October 3, 2017 [10 favorites]

Gorsuch went on to give his colleagues a civics lecture about the text of the Constitution

He's turning out to be the result of taking the worst of Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas and distilling it down to it's most pure evil essence. This guy is a toxic right wing libertarian bro mansplainer. His first term on the bench and he's lecturing the other justices like an earnest high school debater. I knew he was bad but I had no idea that he was world class epic bad. He's 50 years old and there for life.
posted by JackFlash at 7:55 PM on October 3, 2017 [72 favorites]

The screaming in my head about Puerto Rico hasn't stopped for 2 weeks. I expected better from our government. Like giant helicopters that are built to carry tanks airlifting food and water to the interior of the island. A massive mobilization for a month or two to get everything running again. It was obvious they were fucked as soon as the storm hit the island, and the recovery/rescue was obviously going to have to be massive.

It's been the opposite. Trump keeps saying the work in PR has been "incredible".

Yes, it's lacked any credibility whatsoever.
posted by hippybear at 7:55 PM on October 3, 2017 [26 favorites]

Hey everyone I just remembered that even though each day is worse than the one preceding it, each day ALSO brings us one day closer to the one where 45 dies on the toilet.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 7:59 PM on October 3, 2017 [93 favorites]

> There must be so, so, so many of these stories.

You mean like this post from 2006?
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:00 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

No, I meant stories of rabidly anti-choice male politicians who ask or force their mistresses or flings to have abortions.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:05 PM on October 3, 2017 [8 favorites]

I expected better from our government. Like giant helicopters that are built to carry tanks airlifting food and water to the interior of the island. A massive mobilization for a month or two to get everything running again.

The thing is, this is one of the main things the US Military is good at. So the fact it hasn't happened, still isn't happening, speaks volumes.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:05 PM on October 3, 2017 [32 favorites]

Hey everyone I just remembered that even though each day is worse than the one preceding it, each day ALSO brings us one day closer to the one where 45 dies on the toilet.

You know, of all the comments I've read in all the Trump threads (and I have read them ALLLLLL, every comment - you are a brilliantly witty and well-informed bunch, and I thank you), this is somehow the most comforting statement I've yet seen - the reminder that death will come for us all, Trump sooner than most, and that Trump will almost certainly die on the toilet. What a perfect notion. Thank you, mrjohnmuller.
posted by Go Banana at 8:08 PM on October 3, 2017 [62 favorites]

The last two weeks have been really hard. I mentioned way back in the Irma thread (all of. . . one month ago) that my husband has family there - mostly older aunts and uncles, some younger cousins but I would guess that the average age of his relatives that are there are in their late 60's. A lot of the worry is the aunt who needs dialysis, but none of them are young, and they're all in the mountains near the center of the island.

We've heard from all but one uncle, they're all alive, the aunt on dialysis received a manual machine yesterday with the first set of supplies to reach their town. I know it could be worse, but we're all just bracing for some small thing to tip the balance and that ends it. Communication is still difficult. My family and our friends mean well, but they keep on pressing for details that we don't have - I've been doing most of the communicating out for us, but it's just a chorus of "We don't know, we don't know, we don't know."

My father-in-law is still trying to get plane tickets to go down with cash and make plans - we might end up taking someone in, but, well, Minnesota in winter isn't anyone's first choice. They're saying it's likely to be another three weeks - over a month since the hurricane hit, they'll be able to start making plans to maybe evacuate.

And then fucking Trump. It's like my mind slides off the thought of what he's been saying because it's so horrible that I can't process it and keep on going on with my day-to-day life. I simply cannot imagine someone being so horrible.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:09 PM on October 3, 2017 [52 favorites]

Does SCOTUS have any kind of tradition where the newest justice, I don't know, has to get everybody's coffee or some similar task or duty?

More importantly, how long until the other justices convince Gorsuch of such traditions?

(My personal favorite is that the younger member of the Lions rugby team is in charge of caring for a stuffed lion toy during the tour. Stuffie gavel for Gorsuch?)
posted by kalimac at 8:13 PM on October 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

Did everybody see where we voted against a UN resolution condemning the death penalty as a punishment for gay sex?

If you're not feeling sufficiently crazy, one thing you can do is read the list of countries we joined in voting against it.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:15 PM on October 3, 2017 [40 favorites]

Does SCOTUS have any kind of tradition where the newest justice, I don't know, has to get everybody's coffee or some similar task or duty?

WHY YES. YES THEY DO.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:16 PM on October 3, 2017 [54 favorites]

Perhaps the ban on foreign refugees was simply in anticipation of the coming waves of American refugees.
posted by zenon at 8:16 PM on October 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Does SCOTUS have any kind of tradition where the newest justice, I don't know, has to get everybody's coffee or some similar task or duty?

Amazingly, yes. The newest justice always serves on the cafeteria committee.
posted by Tsuga at 8:17 PM on October 3, 2017 [10 favorites]

Does SCOTUS have any kind of tradition where the newest justice, I don't know, has to get everybody's coffee or some similar task or duty?

Yes. The junior Justice has to serve on the cafeteria committee, take notes and speak last at their private conferences, and open the door whenever they meet and someone knocks.
posted by zachlipton at 8:17 PM on October 3, 2017 [15 favorites]

I hope being on the cafeteria committee makes Gorsuch just seethe inside and I hope he has to wear a shit eating smile while doing the scut-work of the other justices, that illegitimate shitty little twerp.
posted by supercrayon at 8:20 PM on October 3, 2017 [45 favorites]

I read something recently someplace that said "If there's a mass exodus from Puerto Rico, there's no chance Florida will ever be a Republican stronghold ever again."
posted by hippybear at 8:21 PM on October 3, 2017 [15 favorites]

Yay for Birmingham, with Jackson that two southern cities with deeply progressive mayors - Atlanta next?

I basically lost a year of work on my Manuscript cause I'm not convinced it's worth my time and effort but organizing and showing up is. I heard the national office is behind on membership processing so I'm leading a small group of volunteers to show up on Friday and ...stuff envelopes. This is what fun is now.


I'm also hosting a fundraiser on Halloween and designed the poster
posted by The Whelk at 8:22 PM on October 3, 2017 [24 favorites]

Slap*Happy self-deprecating their ethical failing in misconstruable language aside,

The current environment could be an amazing opportunity for the truly rich to earn some goodwill/rebrand. Elon Musk, Jeff (Bezos?), Tim (some Apple guy?), Bill (Gates I presume), Satya (Nadella), talk Warren (I keep wanting to say Beatty, but Buffett).

I know Gates actually spends A Lot of his money on pretty decent stuff and I'm under the impression that the other billionaires say good progressive stuff sometimes. I'm not denigrating, I'm just ignorant/not exposed.

SpaceX and Tesla &al. is cool because rockets and starships, fancy cars*!

Transitioning an island with a population of 3.4 million completely to renewables is a little more difficult to brand, but a bold move that could possibly enshrine the backer(s) in The History Books. There have been many extraordinarily wealthy people, but history remembers heroes more fondly.

*(great to hear about the battery delivery to PR - donation? or are they going to charge someone?)
posted by porpoise at 8:24 PM on October 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

Did everybody see where we voted against a UN resolution condemning the death penalty as a punishment for gay sex?

No I did not see that.

Now that I read it this is doubly insane. It also condemned the death penalty for blasphemy, apostasy, etc. So it wasn't just a "gay rights" gesture. We're on record saying maybe that's OK though . . . .

Does anyone know if this vote means Nikki Haley herself actually voted on it? Or is it we delegate to someone else to vote on the Human Rights Commission?
posted by mark k at 8:30 PM on October 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Whelk: "Yay for Birmingham, with Jackson that two southern cities with deeply progressive mayors - Atlanta next?"

Vince Fort is the Bernie-backed candidate for Atlanta mayor. At this point, he doesn't look likely to make the runoff. I haven't really been following the race, so I'm not sure if there is anyone else good, though.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:31 PM on October 3, 2017

The White House Talking Points on Las Vegas.

Super fucking surreal to see this tweet underneath another one where a friend was taking a picture of the stairwell she and twenty other people hid in the night before. Things have been cutting too close lately, I can't compute.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:32 PM on October 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Las Vegas section of that memo has four talking points.

#1 - The president's thoughts and prayers are with the hundreds of victims who were killed and injured in this senseless act of violence.

#3 - All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:37 PM on October 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

Microgrids for the Caribbean?

For Caribbean islands plunged into darkness after hurricanes Irma and Maria, more resilient, small-scale electric systems powered by the sun are looking increasingly attractive. Transforming a grid, though, doesn’t come cheap... it would cost roughly $250 million to build about 90 megawatts of solar and storage across a chain of Caribbean islands. That’s enough to power an estimated 15,000 U.S. homes. While it may be sufficient for the Turks and Caicos, about a million households live in storm-battered and debt-ridden Puerto Rico...

Some funding efforts are under way. Earlier this month, the Energy Department said it was awarding as much as $50 million to its national laboratories to research technologies that would make the nation’s power grids more resilient. And even before Irma and Maria came along, the Rocky Mountain Institute had the hopes of leveraging $300 million in financing for energy projects on islands by 2020... Microgrid advocates say small systems that run on solar panels backed up by energy storage could help prevent widespread blackouts by steering dependence away from the antiquated, centralized systems islands now depend on.

cf. Quiet energy revolution underway in Japan as dozens of towns go off the grid

A northern Japanese city’s efforts to rebuild its electric power system after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami mark a quiet shift away from the country’s old utility model toward self-reliant, local generation and transmission.

After losing three-quarters of its homes and 1,100 people in the March 2011 temblor and tsunami, the city of Higashi Matsushima turned to the Japanese government’s “National Resilience Program,” with 3.72 trillion yen ($33.32 billion) in funding for this fiscal year, to rebuild.

The city of 40,000 chose to construct micro-grids and de-centralized renewable power generation to create a self-sustaining system capable of producing an average of 25 percent of its electricity without the need of the region’s local power utility.

The city’s steps illustrate a massive yet little known effort to take dozens of Japan’s towns and communities off the power grid and make them partly self-sufficient in generating electricity... the Program has spurred the creation of micro-grids and distributed power generation across Japan that reduces municipalities dependence on large power plants.

Japan’s government ministries are seeking to raise the budget for the Program by another 24 percent for the fiscal year starting in April 2018, the cabinet office said last month. The money earmarked for this fiscal year is going in part to the creation of smart energy management systems and distributed generation systems in towns across Japan...

Distributed generation uses small-scale power generation fueled by natural gas or solar and wind power arrays. Smart energy systems use the internet to connect appliances and meters to better direct electric power where and when its needed.

posted by kliuless at 8:42 PM on October 3, 2017 [46 favorites]

Pence’s chief of staff floats ‘purge’ of anti-Trump Republicans

Yes, please. Let's see the right wing split into two distinct parties. Where do I sign that petition?
posted by darkstar at 8:47 PM on October 3, 2017 [17 favorites]

My personal policy is every time I hear some talking head homunculus say the words "Thoughts and Prayers" I put a fiver in my Unidos Por Puerto Rico jar.

(and then a quarter in the swear jar, usually.)
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 8:52 PM on October 3, 2017 [15 favorites]

@ASlavitt [former CMS Administrator]: One Senator said to me tonight: the health care bill was about hidden tax cuts. Now the tax bill is about hidden health care cuts.

It's going to be the same damn fight for Medicaid, and Medicare too, but with the magic wand of tax cuts in front of health care cuts.
posted by zachlipton at 8:55 PM on October 3, 2017 [32 favorites]

also btw, re: storm-battered and debt-ridden Puerto Rico...
Puerto Rico Before Maria

Greg and I expected the new fiscal consolidation that was built into the (pre-Maria) budget to trigger a new downturn. And we thought that downturn would lead to more outmigration—which in turn would reduce Puerto Rico’s scope to recover. In the jargon, it would lower Puerto Rico’s economic potential—not just pull output temporarily below potential. Put simply, it means Puerto Rico’s economic plan—and debt restructuring—needs to be built on the assumption that output will be permanently lower.

And the available evidence from hurricanes seems to be that they tend to lower regional output—post hurricane growth tends to be lower than pre-hurricane growth. The short-term boost from rebuilding tends to fade.

The only potential positive is that Maria may catalyze a broad reconsideration of federal policy toward Puerto Rico. PROMESA provides tools to manage Puerto Rico’s legacy debt, tools that in my view are stronger than is commonly realized. But without other policy changes, lifting much of the burden of the legacy debt will not be enough to catalyze a recovery.

posted by kliuless at 9:00 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

The question is still who fed them voter targeting info. Anyone could've read a map of the electoral college, but if they had lists of individual swing voters in specific districts? Someone helped them. It was Jared Kushner.

Or it was in the data the grabbed from election databases:

The hack into Illinois’s election system is the one we know the most about. Ken Menzel, who serves as general counsel for the Illinois state board of elections, told Bloomberg that a part-time contractor for the state board of elections noticed unauthorized data leaving the network.

That data contained the personal information of around 15 million people, including names, birthdays, genders, and partial Social Security numbers. It was a huge coup for the Russians, as around half of those 15 million were active voters. Apparently, the cyber intruders aimed to delete or alter voter data they got a hold of.

posted by MikeKD at 9:05 PM on October 3, 2017 [10 favorites]

Is anyone else surprised that the US military can't seem to figure out how to clear fucking roads? Don't they train for this? I mean, I know that this is a huge disaster but they just seem to be helpless. It should be a wake up call to the people of this country that they can't just let everything around them go to shit then go crying to the federal government for help, but I'm sure it won't be. I'm already seeing comments on Facebook about how it's the Puerto Rican's truck driers fault because they went on strike for higher wages and similar bullshit. Of course these same people would be the first to have their hands out for help.

Wake up dumbassses! This could happen to you and if you've neglected your living space and your local environment and infrastructure badly then it will! Something will break or flood or leach toxic waste or fall down. And the govt is too f'ed to give a shit. Because you f'ed it. You morons.
posted by fshgrl at 9:07 PM on October 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

From the previous thread: In her still Brooklyn-flecked drawl, she grumbled, “Where did ‘one person, one vote’ come from?” There might have been an audible woo that echoed through the courtroom. (Ginsburg’s comment seemed to silence Gorsuch for the rest of the arguments.)

The Notorious RBG, indeed.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:10 PM on October 3, 2017 [33 favorites]

MetaFilter: There might have been an audible woo that echoed through the courtroom.
posted by hippybear at 9:13 PM on October 3, 2017 [20 favorites]

Oh god I hope the cafeteria committee is one of those "no titles in here" ones where the busybody secretary gets just as much say as the supreme court justice. One where there's no structure except someone who doesn't know Roberts Rules trying to simulate what they've heard about Roberts Rules because it seems official. Where there's no agenda, just a meandering hour-long shoot-the-shit that could have been a half-page email, and where everyone suggests things but nobody wants to do anything and no clear actions ever get assigned.

Just like the rec committee meeting I've been ordered to attend to "show management support"
posted by ctmf at 9:16 PM on October 3, 2017 [19 favorites]

"“Pro-Life” Congressman Caught Telling His Extramarital Boo to Get an Abortion -"Rep. Tim Murphy, a vocally anti-abortion congressman from Pennsylvania, asked his own girlfriend to terminate a pregnancy this year."

OF COURSE HE DID. Look, any GOP legislator (or lobbyist) who's legislating other people's sexual lives is committing adultery, paying for abortions, on the down-low, and/or a pedophile. At this point it's the First Rule of Republican Congressmen. One of these guys votes to restrict abortion, OF COURSE he's cheating on his wife and paying for his girlfriend's abortions, that's just how they roll.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:17 PM on October 3, 2017 [84 favorites]

It's the "first: assume everyone in the world is like me" method of legislating. It explains a lot.
posted by ctmf at 9:19 PM on October 3, 2017 [14 favorites]

> One of these guys votes to restrict abortion, OF COURSE he's cheating on his wife and paying for his girlfriend's abortions, that's just how they roll.

I think this is a corollary of the "Hastert Rule".
posted by tonycpsu at 9:20 PM on October 3, 2017 [14 favorites]

>> Ginsburg Slaps Gorsuch in Gerrymandering Case

This is a critical case. I've been waiting for it to come before the Supreme Court for months now. Apparently, Anthony Kennedy might be leaning toward the liberal wing on this one:

After spirited Supreme Court arguments on Tuesday, there was reason to think Justice Kennedy may be ready to join the court’s more liberal members in a groundbreaking decision that could reshape American democracy by letting courts determine when lawmakers have gone too far.

Justice Kennedy asked skeptical questions of lawyers defending a Wisconsin legislative map that gave Republicans many more seats in the State Assembly than their statewide vote tallies would have predicted. He asked no questions of the lawyer representing the Democratic voters challenging the map.

I really, really, really hope that they come down on the side of, you know, less partisan lunacy and hackery. But I am not going to get my hopes up. Case in point, our Chief Justice pulling out his aw-shucks-ain't-I-dumb routine to ignore the plaintiffs' arguments:

Much of the argument concerned various statistical tests for identifying extreme gerrymandering. Misha Tseytlin, Wisconsin’s solicitor general, said the challengers were relying on flimsy and hypothetical social science evidence. “Plaintiffs are asking this court to launch a redistricting revolution based upon their social science metrics,” he said.

Chief Justice Roberts told Mr. Smith that courts are poorly equipped to evaluate social science data. “It may be simply my educational background,” the chief justice said of the studies before the court, “but I can only describe it as sociological gobbledygook.”

Other justices seemed more comfortable with the studies.

“This is not kind of hypothetical, airy-fairy, we guess, and then we guess again,” Justice Elena Kagan said. “I mean, this is pretty scientific by this point.”

posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 9:36 PM on October 3, 2017 [24 favorites]

OF COURSE HE DID. Look, any GOP legislator (or lobbyist) who's legislating other people's sexual lives is committing adultery, paying for abortions (...) paying for his girlfriend's abortions, that's just how they roll.

are you kidding, because I don't see a goddamn word in that Slate story about him paying for anything.

when a Republican offers to pay for his own mistake instead of ordering a woman to take care of it with her own body and funds in his preferred style, it better be headline news because it will be the scandal of the century.
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:37 PM on October 3, 2017 [37 favorites]

I love all y'all but I can't wait for the day I can unpin the MeFi political thread tab from my browser.
posted by guiseroom at 9:38 PM on October 3, 2017 [73 favorites]

This has been the hardest week for me since July. I feel a social responsibility to pay attention to the news, but it is really bad for my mental health. I don't know what to do.
posted by miyabo at 9:39 PM on October 3, 2017 [20 favorites]

I'm Puerto Rican. Born in Rio Piedras, home of the University of Puerto Rico. I've got family all over the island; north, south, east, and west. In the mountains and in the coasts. I know most survived the hurricane, but I haven't heard from them in 15 days.

Fifteen. Days.

Imagine what you'd do if you hadn't heard from your family 15 days after a disaster. How you'd feel.

I'm fairly certain that -- based on the available evidence -- that my mom & step-dad's place on the east coast of the island is irretrivably destroyed. I have no idea whether my family members are homeless. I have no idea if they're sick. I know many of the older ones suffer from illnesses requiring medical attention; the current condition of Puerto Rico's hospitals is catastrophic.

94% percent of the island -- 3.5 million people -- are without power. 40% of the land lines are up. Only 11.6% of the cell antennae are up. 55% of the island is without pota water.

Trump had the gall (of course he did!) to say that because "only" 16 people died, this wasn't a real disaster, like Katrina. But the reality is that the death toll will only rise. As of right now, it's more than doubled, to 34. You see, Puerto Rico's governmental infrastructure was so devastated by Hurricane Maria that we don't know how many people have actually died. If you have no power, and your coroner isn't working because she's too busy trying to live day by agonizing day, then who counts the dead? Not to mention those critically ill patients in hospitals, and in long-term care facilities, who now are being deprived of critical care.

I cannot watch the news, because doing so only serves to alternately infuriate me -- at our government's callous disregard for American lives, when it isn't actively blaming us for wanting help -- and depress me, because it feels like the world's forgotten us. It feels like we're only getting a fraction of the attention, and of the relief given to people in Texas.

If you want to help:

- United for Puerto Rico: http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/

- The Maria Fund, which is helping low-income communities: http://www.mariafund.org

- The Hispanic Federation: https://hispanicfederation.org/unidos/

Please, please, please help us.
posted by arkhangel at 9:40 PM on October 3, 2017 [297 favorites]

Charlie Pierce: Folks? Quietly, progressive African American politicians are getting elected mayors in the Deep South.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:41 PM on October 3, 2017 [70 favorites]

Did everybody see where we voted against a UN resolution condemning the death penalty as a punishment for gay sex?

Yes, and may I suggest those of you who haven't check the last thread about this topic so we don't repeat ourselves? Thanks!
posted by greermahoney at 9:42 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

We know the Trump admin knows how to suspend Jones act and allow Food stamps to be used for hot food in an emergency, they did so quickly for Texas and Florida. Their failure to do so in Puerto Rico, or doing so only when forced by public attention... I'm comfortable saying its INTENSIONAL negligence. Put it together with "Bad hombres" ICE detension facilities and deaths, Private Prisons etc. I'm finding it hard not to call it all Ethnic Cleansing . I mean, 45 and his supporters are racist, advocate for police violence, denigrate the minority victims of natural disasters. Yeah, i know this isn't the shoah, but what is it. Intentional Racial Manslaughter? Passive cleansing?
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 9:58 PM on October 3, 2017 [32 favorites]

With Trump’s backing, House approves ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy

If anyone needs me, I'll be violently sobbing to myself. Now more than ever I am terrified to bring a child into this world. And part of that reason is that the government is trying to make it more and more likely to happen, regardless of whether I want it to.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:58 PM on October 3, 2017 [34 favorites]

I love all y'all but I can't wait for the day I can unpin the MeFi political thread tab from my browser.

I'm also excited for the day that megathread isn't the first and last thing I do each day.
posted by Glibpaxman at 10:01 PM on October 3, 2017 [54 favorites]

FirstMateKate, others, more well-versed in politics than I, seem confident this will fail in the Senate. I've called my reps, but I'm not freaking yet.
posted by greermahoney at 10:02 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

ELECTION RESULT

Results in from the mayoral election in Albuquerque, NM, where the incumbent Republican is not seeking re-election. Democrat Tim Keller, regarded as the most progressive candidate, took first with 39% of the vote. The race will go to a runoff Nov 7, with Keller versus the second place Republican, Dan Lewis (23%).

Keller looks likely to win the runoff - the third place candidate was a Dem who picked up 17%, and Lewis is considered extremely conservative.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 PM on October 3, 2017 [34 favorites]

Mod note: Folks, we need to not drive off the rails into forecasting worst-case scenarios. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 10:49 PM on October 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

This has been the hardest week for me since July. I feel a social responsibility to pay attention to the news, but it is really bad for my mental health. I don't know what to do.

You have a social responsibility to be an informed citizen, but you do not have a social responsibility to engage with 24/7 news coverage, especially if you are spending more time reading hot takes/comments about outrages you already knew about than you are learning new and important information.

I have an obsessive personality and find that if I'm not careful I can spend all day reading these threads and it's really damaging for my mental health. Personally I try to set time limits on the time I spend in here, and walk away if I feel myself getting into too dark of a headspace. It is good and healthy to set limits. Please take care of yourself.
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:57 PM on October 3, 2017 [47 favorites]

>> This has been the hardest week for me since July. I feel a social responsibility to pay attention to the news, but it is really bad for my mental health. I don't know what to do.

> You have a social responsibility to be an informed citizen, but you do not have a social responsibility to engage with 24/7 news coverage, especially if you are spending more time reading hot takes/comments about outrages you already knew about than you are learning new and important information.

also broadly speaking you don't have a responsibility to be informed. Instead, you have a responsibility to take part in informed political activity. Information is useful in guiding our political activity, but information decoupled from action is, in this crisis, useless. And knowledge that paralyzes you is worse than useless.

tbh we should probably all strive to spend less time reading news and to spend more time taking part in political action within trusted organizations. If we follow this maxim we get to actually do things to fight fascism instead of just hopelessly watching fascism's advance, but also on the other hand we get to share the burden of following every detail of the crisis with everyone else in our trusted organizations. Many hands make light work; many brains make less despair.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:25 PM on October 3, 2017 [39 favorites]

This may sound counterproductive, but it's actually helped me with such things: Remember, even during the best days of Obama, or the calmest days of Trump, that really, really bad things are happening all over the world all the time. Disasters, homicidal maniacs, totalitarian abuses, etc, etc. The only reason we have even a single good day, even had Clinton been elected, is mainly by ignoring 99% of the horror. That's not a bad thing. We have to do it in order to live, and we have to live and be functioning human beings if we want to improve the world even a modicum. Ignoring most of the world's suffering is a moral requirement, as long as we have some general plan to do good in the world, a reasonably accurate knowledge of what's going on, and a plan to regularly update our knowledge with new data. Ignoring suffering in order to live a decent, reasonable life is also a human right, as long as you reasonably believe you are also doing your part when you can manage it; we owe the world to make it better, but not to suffer uselessly. So figure out what you can and can't do, take some action, and then take a break, turn off the internet, do something utterly different, and have fun -- not just for a few hours, but for days or weeks if necessary. It's not just ok, it's the right thing to do.
posted by chortly at 11:49 PM on October 3, 2017 [44 favorites]

I mean the biggest good if you can say it of this year is the crystallization and distillation of my political thought, I am a leftist. I am a socialist. This is what I am and what I stand for . It's not just just a muddy version some of sentiments or leanings. It;s a complete ideology, a set of policy goals and and a firm viewpoint. I know what I am now and I know where my organizing community exists.

and I remind myself our electoral group is less than a year old.
posted by The Whelk at 12:03 AM on October 4, 2017 [29 favorites]

Even a stopped clock etc.: Thomas Friedman: If Only Stephen Paddock Were a Muslim

On crushing ISIS, our president and his party are all in. On asking the N.R.A. for even the tiniest moderation, they are AWOL. No matter how many innocents are fatally shot — no matter even that one of their own congressional leaders was critically wounded playing baseball — it’s never time to discuss any serious policy measures to mitigate gun violence.

And in the wake of last month’s unprecedented hurricanes in the Atlantic — that wrought over $200 billion of damage on Houston and Puerto Rico, not to mention smaller cities — Scott Pruitt, Trump’s head of the Environmental Protection Agency, also told us that it was not the time to discuss “the cause and effect” of these superstorms and how to mitigate their damage. We need to focus on helping the victims, he said. But for Pruitt, we know, it’s never time to take climate change seriously.

To take ISIS seriously abroad, but then to do nothing to mitigate these other real threats to our backyards, concert venues and coastal cities, is utter madness.

It’s also corrupt. Because it’s driven by money and greed — by gunmakers and gun sellers and oil and coal companies, and all the legislators and regulators they’ve bought and paid to keep silent.

posted by mumimor at 12:37 AM on October 4, 2017 [46 favorites]

He really expected them to clamor for the paper towels.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:05 AM on October 4
[3 favorites +] [!]

I really expected him to throw cans.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:50 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

From the Bleacher's song "Let's Get Married,": "I know that it's bad when we look out/ but bad bad people/ Don't live in our house."

Hug your people and pets.
posted by angrycat at 1:05 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

arkhangel - I'm going to donate and then share your links out on my social media. I'm so sorry you're going through this. Love you you and your family. And money and hopefully some more hands to help with the recovery.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:12 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

"Love to you" was what I meant to type.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:34 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Civil Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular (Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) in The Atlantic)

That the civil-rights movement was unpopular is not shocking to the activists who protested at the time. “When I’m told by people, ‘Thank you for what you did,’ I almost want to look around and see who they’re talking to,” Dorie Ladner told the Post. The paper quotes Julian Bond satirizing the kind of history Leonhardt’s argument is premised—“Rosa sat down, Martin stood up and then the white folks saw the light and saved the day.”

posted by kingless at 1:42 AM on October 4, 2017 [39 favorites]

ProPublica in collaboration with WNYC, Jesse Eisinger, Justin Elliott, Andrea Bernstein ,and Ilya Marritz, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Were Close to Being Charged With Felony Fraud: "New York prosecutors were preparing a case. Then the D.A. overruled his staff after a visit from a top donor: Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz."

In the spring of 2012, Donald Trump’s two eldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., found themselves in a precarious legal position. For two years, prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had been building a criminal case against them for misleading prospective buyers of units in the Trump SoHo, a hotel and condo development that was failing to sell. Despite the best efforts of the siblings’ defense team, the case had not gone away. An indictment seemed like a real possibility. The evidence included emails from the Trumps making clear that they were aware they were using inflated figures about how well the condos were selling to lure buyers.

In one email, according to four people who have seen it, the Trumps discussed how to coordinate false information they had given to prospective buyers. In another, according to a person who read the emails, they worried that a reporter might be onto them. In yet another, Donald Jr. spoke reassuringly to a broker who was concerned about the false statements, saying that nobody would ever find out, because only people on the email chain or in the Trump Organization knew about the deception, according to a person who saw the email.

There was “no doubt” that the Trump children “approved, knew of, agreed to, and intentionally inflated the numbers to make more sales,” one person who saw the emails told us. “They knew it was wrong.”

Then Kasowitz, one of the top donors to the Manhattan DA, shows up, meets with the boss directly, and the DA orders the case dropped a couple months later:

Kasowitz subsequently boasted to colleagues about representing the Trump children, according to two people. He said that the case was “really dangerous,” one person said, and that it was “amazing I got them off.” (Kasowitz denied making such a statement.

We knew about the investigation before, but not the emails or the focus on Ivanka and Don Jr. or Kasowitz or the donations or any of the rest of this ugly business.
posted by zachlipton at 1:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [132 favorites]

In case you're wondering why the Trump SoHo didn't sell well, it turns out it's hard to sell, at the height of a recession, multi-million dollar hotel rooms that owners can only legally stay in 120/days out of the year and not for more than 29 days at a time (the building isn't zoned as residential). Who knew? Oh, and your buyers pretty much have to pay in cash because banks stopped writing non-conforming loans for places like this.

And this isn't even getting into the Russian mobsters and other shady characters who financed the place, which Mueller is reportedly looking into.

Finally, these people are all extraordinarily bad about leaving behind incriminating emails. I can only imagine what other emails they left behind about the campaign.
posted by zachlipton at 2:16 AM on October 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

Tillerson’s Fury at Trump Required an Intervention From Pence
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House, according to multiple senior administration officials who were aware of the situation at the time.
Just days earlier, Tillerson had openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a “moron,” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, according to three officials familiar with the incident.

Tillerson has been a 'Dignity Wraith' (as coined by Josh Marshall at TPM) since the day he was hired but he just looks like an idiot more and more each day. Enjoy that meatloaf Rex!
posted by PenDevil at 3:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [49 favorites]

I love all y'all but I can't wait for the day I can unpin the MeFi political thread tab from my browser.

I use a dedicated browser for the political thread.

I'm also excited for the day that megathread isn't the first and last thing I do each day.

And I check the thread multiple times a day.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:48 AM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

Hee hee. Donny knows how awfully yesterday went and isn't happy about it. I also love how he woke up thinking things went pretty well, but then in the hour between the first "I'm sure it's good coverage" tweet and the second "it's all fake news!" tweet he realized it was a shitshow.

@realDonaldTrump (6:25am)
A great day in Puerto Rico yesterday. While some of the news coverage is Fake, most showed great warmth and friendship.

@realDonaldTrump (7:29am)
Wow, so many Fake News stories today. No matter what I do or say, they will not write or speak truth. The Fake News Media is out of control!
posted by chris24 at 4:38 AM on October 4, 2017 [25 favorites]

re Tillerson resignation attempt... how serious could it have been if you're able to be talked out of it by Pence? More likely, it was the Kelly/Mattis grownups-in-the-room intervention.

But anything that implies Trump is beholden to Pence will get his goat, so I guess it works.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:44 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

be unhappy. be very unhappy.
posted by angrycat at 4:45 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

We knew about the investigation before, but not the emails or the focus on Ivanka and Don Jr. or Kasowitz or the donations or any of the rest of this ugly business.

Is it just me, or does this "Trump administration" seem like they're trying to hide something?
posted by petebest at 4:50 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Among the many problems Trump has is that no one exists who is competent and respects Trump. So the best case scenario for the country is that the cabinet and White House staff have a reasonably high percentage of competent people who can mask their disdain for long stretches of time, always turning a positive face to 45. This, as far as I can tell, is Pence’s biggest strength. Tillerson, Kelly, and Mattis all have moments where their true opinion peeks through.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:52 AM on October 4, 2017 [27 favorites]

Phillip Adams, an ancient Aussie journo and host of Late Night Live on the Australian public broadcaster, the ABC, last night, talking to his American correspondent:

You should declare the NRA a terrorist organisation because that's what they are.
posted by adept256 at 5:10 AM on October 4, 2017 [43 favorites]

/I thought The Weeds episode on gun control was extraordinarily bad. Matt Yglesias essentially trolled the other two hosts for half an hour.
posted by Automocar at 10:27 PM on October 3

Matt Yglesias drives me nuts. The way he talks just grates on me. Ezra can be annoying, too (if he describes another paper or book he read as "fascinating" in his "golly I'm so smart" tone I'm going to scream).

Sarah Kliffe is the only reason I listen to The Weeds. She's brilliant, engaging and always has a unique perspective to share.
posted by glaucon at 5:11 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

We knew about the investigation before, but not the emails or the focus on Ivanka and Don Jr. or Kasowitz or the donations or any of the rest of this ugly business

Oh man, fuck Cy Vance. When's the next election for New York DA again? Did Manhattan JUST re-elect this asshole?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:12 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

OF COURSE he's cheating on his wife and paying for his girlfriend's abortions, that's just how they roll.

I think this is a corollary of the "Hastert Rule".

We were trying to come up with a name for it last thread; "Demonstrative hypocrisy" may have won out, but I'll have to go back and check.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

This hits keep coming for Bibi: Trump to UN Chief: Netanyahu Proving More Difficult Than Abbas in Peace Efforts
posted by PenDevil at 5:16 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

Donald Jr. spoke reassuringly to a broker who was concerned about the false statements, saying that nobody would ever find out, because only people on the email chain or in the Trump Organization knew about the deception, according to a person who saw the email.

How has our country been taken over by people so breathtakingly dumb.

They also just re-routed their email to Trump-owned servers, I guess to avoid the mail being stored on third-party servers at any point?

According to internet registration records reviewed by USA TODAY and cybersecurity researchers, Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, who is also a senior adviser, re-routed their email accounts to a server operated by the Trump Organization on either Sept. 26 or 27, as attention from the media and lawmakers intensified.

The Trump Organization did not respond to questions Tuesday about the email accounts.

A spokesman for Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not directly involved with the technical details, said in a statement that the couple's personal email "does not reside and never has resided in, nor passed through, through the Trump Organization email server." Instead, the spokesman said Kushner and Trump and used a "filtering service" to block viruses and malware.
posted by winna at 5:19 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Among the many problems Trump has is that no one exists who is competent and respects Trump. So the best case scenario for the country is that the cabinet and White House staff have a reasonably high percentage of competent people who can mask their disdain for long stretches of time, always turning a positive face to 45. This, as far as I can tell, is Pence’s biggest strength. Tillerson, Kelly, and Mattis all have moments where their true opinion peeks through.

On the other hand, Pence isn't competent.
posted by mumimor at 5:22 AM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

"There have been a lot of aspects of things that he's done and said that I've found very disturbing. But that stuff has been really upsetting — I feel that he is an affront sometimes to the whole country in the way he conducts himself. And that has been the worst."
-Senator Al Franken, holding back with both barrels in Salon magazine, 10/4/17
posted by petebest at 5:30 AM on October 4, 2017 [25 favorites]

Politico: Pence’s chief of staff floats ‘purge’ of anti-Trump Republicans to wealthy donors

No, no, no, this is backwards. First, the show trials, then the purges.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:31 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Did Manhattan JUST re-elect this asshole?

Essentially, yes. He was unopposed in the primary and will be unopposed in the general in Nov, so will be reelected. I suppose we could pressure him to resign after that - I'm not sure if that would lead to an appointment or special election.
posted by melissasaurus at 5:40 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

When trying to figure out why Ryan doesn't waiver in support of Trump, it makes me look at the Foxcon deal. It came mostly out of nowhere and suddenly they're going to build a giant factory in Ryan's district.
posted by drezdn at 5:43 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

to spend more time taking part in political action within trusted organizations.

Metafilter is my trusted organization.
posted by corb at 5:44 AM on October 4, 2017 [41 favorites]

If Trump is mad at Tillerson now, I'd expect him to start leaking negative stories about Rex.
posted by drezdn at 5:51 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

2 things:

1. That Ginsburg quote was pure GOLD. Flagged as fantastic in both threads threeturtles.
2. Almost 100% of an entire island in the American Samoa is powered by Tesla solar panels. Hell fucking YES this needs to happen everywhere it can, ESPECIALLY PR and USVI right now.
posted by yoga at 6:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

Good news, everyone! Trump heads to Vegas today for some patented leadership and national healing.

Can't wait for the film at 11? Here's a sneak peek:
"I think it means a lot to the people of Puerto Rico that I was there," Trump said. "They’ve really responded very nicely, and I think it meant a lot to the people of Puerto Rico."

Bonus quote: Trump declined to discuss what might have motivated the shooter, only that he was "a sick and demented person."

No word on the deeply awkward silence in the press area after that one.
posted by petebest at 6:21 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Another day, another look at how Rex Tillerson Is Running the State Department Into the Ground.

This is a generational problem, they're destroying Americas entire post-war diplomacy from the inside. Rex Tillerson was Russia's greatest triumph, not Trump. There's nothing more they could've hoped to achieve than the compete collapse of the US international standing, credibility and institutional capability.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:24 AM on October 4, 2017 [60 favorites]

There's nothing more they could've hoped to achieve than the compete collapse of the US international standing, credibility and institutional capability.

So, the dems 2020 could literally run on MAGA?!
posted by mikelieman at 6:33 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Nicole Chung: On American Identity, the Election, and Family Members Who Support Trump

You have a daughter who isn’t white, I reminded them, a daughter in an interracial marriage. Trump is racist, and he’s supported and influenced by white nationalists. He’s stoking the fears of other people who hold racist views. He’s talked about a Muslim ban, a registry, building a border wall, ending birthright citizenship. His supporters don’t just want to slow immigration; they want to end it. I’m your daughter, and I am a child of immigrants.

So do you think we shouldn’t even have borders? my father asked.

Another time, I tried appealing to them as grandparents. You have an autistic grandchild, I said. You’ve seen what a nonstop fight it is for us to advocate for our 5-year-old, for her rights and her education. Trump has mocked a disabled reporter and a deaf actress. He’s promoted the false claim that vaccines cause autism. There’s no way he cares about the education of kids like mine, or the rights of disabled adults. Hillary Clinton’s platform on disability rights is not a magic bullet, but it could be a real step forward.

Well, I guess it’s good that she’s thinking about that, my mother said. But there’s no way I’m voting for her.

posted by zarq at 6:34 AM on October 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

So, the dems 2020 could literally run on MAGA?!

Better they should run on MANGAA: Morons Are Not Governing America Anymore
posted by yoga at 6:42 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

So do you think we shouldn’t even have borders? my father asked.

Certainly willing to give that a trial run.
posted by delfin at 6:43 AM on October 4, 2017 [33 favorites]

Dems could run on basically the same platform they did in 2000:

PADA: Pull the auto out of the ditch again.
posted by darkstar at 6:46 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Better they should run on MANGAA: Morons Are Not Governing America Anymore

Ugh weebs DansGame
posted by Talez at 6:46 AM on October 4, 2017

it makes me look at the Foxcon deal. It came mostly out of nowhere and suddenly they're going to build a giant factory in Ryan's district.

He may doing it to look good to his constituents, but no doubt he kows the Foxxcon deal is actually total bullshit:

Bowen: Foxconn offers a bad deal for Wisconsin (David Bowen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

In 2011, Foxconn promised $12 billion in investment for production of cell phones, tablets, and TV screens in Brazil. It still hasn’t happened.

In 2013, Foxconn promised to build a $30 million high-tech factory in Harrisburg, Pa. It still hasn’t happened.

In 2014, Foxconn signed a deal with Indonesia that it would invest at least $1 billion over 3-5 years. It still hasn’t happened.

In 2015, Foxconn signed a memorandum of understanding with India that it would invest $5 billion and employ at least 50,000 new workers. The project still has not yet identified a construction spot.

Why are we working so hard to give away billions of dollars to a foreign company with a sketchy history when we have Wisconsin companies that are already committed to our state?

posted by Room 641-A at 6:48 AM on October 4, 2017 [49 favorites]

Better they should run on MANGAA: Morons Are Not Governing America Anymore

ODGPGTEIALOFRN: Oh Dear God Please Get The Extinguisher I Am Literally On Fire Right Now
posted by duffell at 6:51 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

KAFITTING: Kick A Fascist In Their Tiny, Insignificant, Noxious Groin.
posted by delfin at 6:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

These slogans are for 2018, right?
posted by fragmede at 6:59 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA: This Is Not An Acronym; It's Just How I Feel Right Now
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:02 AM on October 4, 2017 [114 favorites]

To take ISIS seriously abroad, but then to do nothing to mitigate these other real threats to our backyards, concert venues and coastal cities, is utter madness.

Nail firmly on the head. I know it's an unpopular idea but from my perspective over the Atlantic I've never understood why the second amendment is not recognised as a much bigger threat to American lives than middle east terrorism.

At the very least you probably should consider whether the right to bear arms need really include automatic rifles.
posted by walrus at 7:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

It just occured to me what's happening with the Russians' great interest and involvement with pulling apart the mechanisms of Western liberal democracy. It's not just an attempt to change the global balance of powers - although that's doubtless welcomed - it's an attempt to recreate what happened at the fall of the Soviet regime. The mechanisms of state fell apart, and the resources it had controlled got parcelled out to the gangsters who stepped in smartish. They parlayed that into positions of governance and power, solidifying their gains, which led to the Russian state we see today - one in which there is no obvious route to protect personal freedoms or expect justice in the face of the abuse of those powers.

What could be better than replicating that on a global scale? Hollow out the established systems of checks and balances, destroy the machineries of state, and its own great resources will be available to build new castles of power from which to rule the new serfdoms.

This meshes beautifully with the mutated Republicanism that touts small state, deregulation and the rollback of the social contract in the name of prosperity, efficiency and freedom (although they seem to have stopped bothering with those pretences now, except as post-hoc excuses for reactionary cruelty).

So every move, like Tillerson's evisceration of State and the promotion of proto-oligarchs to head state agencies, makes perfect sense in that light. Push nationalism in every nation? Perfect. Create and demonise new underclasses to underpin a new hierarchy of control? Lovey. Let's have some. It's not the Russians attacking liberal democracy, it's the gangsters within that democracy actively colluding with them to replay the downfall of the Soviet Union, for the basest and most transparent of motives.

There really is no mystery here. They have a clear goal in mind, and a playbook to follow which worked very well last time. And our future, should that occur, is wretched indeed, on every conceivable metric.
posted by Devonian at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2017 [97 favorites]

Ya'll with Trumpian family should read that Chung piece upthread, seriously. It's good stuff and the ending is even a little hopeful.
posted by emjaybee at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

An Esquire op-ed about our attitudes toward modern acts of gun violence points out - just as a sort of footnote - that the October 1st Las Vegas massacre wasn't even the only murder spree to happen in the US on that day.
posted by Western Infidels at 7:12 AM on October 4, 2017 [19 favorites]

So the best case scenario for the country is that the cabinet and White House staff have a reasonably high percentage of competent people who can mask their disdain for long stretches of time, always turning a positive face to 45.

No, the best case scenario would be if Kelly and Mattis and Tillerson would grow a spine and resign, telling Americans that Trump was unfit to lead the country. As it is, they are working as enablers for an abuser.
posted by JackFlash at 7:12 AM on October 4, 2017 [21 favorites]

If Trump is mad at Tillerson now, I'd expect him to start leaking negative stories about Rex.

According to the article, Tillerson called trump a moron after the Boy Scout Jamboree earlier this year. A few things:

1. The Boy Scouts raised a statue of Rex Tillerson since he is a former President of the Boy Scouts
2. According to reporting from Stephanie Ruhle, Tillerson actually called trump a "Fucking moron" but they didn't put that in the article for some reason.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:20 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Looks like Tillerson will be making unscheduled remarks shortly, per Reuters.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:27 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

It's not the Russians attacking liberal democracy, it's the gangsters within that democracy actively colluding with them to replay the downfall of the Soviet Union, for the basest and most transparent of motives.

These people are sick.

We call hoarders of stuff in their homes sick, but not the people who wish to hoard money and power. Those people we hold in some weird sort of awe, and I don't understand why.

It's like that Eddie Izzard joke where (I'm paraphrasing) we see a murderer of a single person as bad, a spree murderer as evil, but fascinating, and for a genocidal maniac, we're like, "Oh, you've offed 20 million in one go? My. Gosh, jolly well done!"
posted by droplet at 7:30 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

Furious Republicans are working hard to make Trump’s Russia scandal disappear

Trump loyalists lose patience with congressional Russia probes

They're getting nervous and trying to kill the Russia investigations.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:32 AM on October 4, 2017 [28 favorites]

> No, the best case scenario would be if Kelly and Mattis and Tillerson would grow a spine and resign, telling Americans that Trump was unfit to lead the country. As it is, they are working as enablers for an abuser.

If Kelly and Mattis resign, who shoots Trump if he tries to order a nuclear strike?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:37 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Nobody. But that would happen even if they were there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:40 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Damn. That Chung article hits hard. If there's one thing this election has done for me that is a vague gesture at a positive, it has been to show very clearly how willfully blind people are to impact their decisions on has others. I thought the friend who voted for Trump so he could have lower taxes was an anomaly (when our gay friends told him to enjoy his blood money, he thought they were being melodramatic). I thought the people with POC family members who supported someone who was an outright racist where few and far between. I thought, like many liberals, that the way we slowly kill this racist, homophobic, misogynistic streak in our country is to educate it out of our children and build real links to our elders and it would go away. Surely, no grandma is going to vote against the biracial grandchildren she loves, no dad would look at his gay son and vote for someone who wants to remove his right to be.

Right?

Nope. As we have seen time and again, racist motherfuckers will cloak their racism in self-interest, in religion, in patriotism, in any fucking thing they can to cling to this notion that straight, white people are Real Americans and everybody else can just get fucked.

So for me, as a straight, white person, it means that my job is easier. I don't have to coddle my racial and gender peers. I don't have to try and make them feel better about their decisions to support a total asshat. Being nice to them, building bridges, educating, we've tried that and they still don't give a fuck about anybody but themselves. So yeah. Now I can get on with doing what I can to stop the tide and help those who need it. But the grandmas and the dads and the uncles and cousins who look at their family members and say to themselves, "They're just being melodramatic. It's not that bad.", yeah. They can fuck right the hell off.
posted by teleri025 at 7:49 AM on October 4, 2017 [73 favorites]

The President has read the moron story.
posted by guiseroom at 7:50 AM on October 4, 2017 [19 favorites]

> Did Manhattan JUST re-elect this asshole?

Essentially, yes. He was unopposed in the primary and will be unopposed in the general in Nov, so will be reelected.

Not to mention that the voting turnout for the primaries was only about 11%.

(I voted, thankyouverymuch.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

because this year, for the first time in almost a decade, I've started writing again

Don't be apologetic - sometimes adversity actually helps the artistic processes. Personally, I hope to see alot of great anti-government, anti-corporate, anti-elite, anti-facist media over the next few years... Songs, albums, movies, shows and books...
posted by jkaczor at 7:51 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Please Rex, do one goddamn thing right in your entire bloodsucking, Russian oil-greased life and quit live on camera while Don is on AF1 on the way to Las Vegas.

Please.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [20 favorites]

I get a visceral shudder watching President Donald Trump emote on Twitter in real time.
posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 7:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Is it by chance, someone's birthday today? I will buy you a cake!
posted by Sophie1 at 7:57 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Re, writing, last fall I was working on a dystopian alternative history, and then this timeline started misbehaving and things in my book suddenly seemed less sci-fi and more actually happening. Erm, maybe I should reopen that file and write some happy stuff like a coup or something...
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:58 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Tillerson speaking live; sounds like he's about to resign.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:01 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

But the grandmas and the dads and the uncles and cousins who look at their family members and say to themselves, "They're just being melodramatic. It's not that bad.", yeah. They can fuck right the hell off.

But, if those of us who are related to them don't keep trying, who will? That piece that came out a while ago by a writer of color who basically said, we can't reach your racist relatives, you have to try to, hit me hard. I don't want to. I would much rather write them off. I'm not sure it's even possible to engage with them meaningfully. But maybe as an ally I have to try anyway.

Of course: my family was not abusive; they do not have any power over me financially or emotionally; therefore I have the bandwidth. There are lots of other folks who simply don't feel safe talking to their family.
posted by emjaybee at 8:01 AM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

Okay! Who put their money on "doubling down"?
posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 8:02 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

OK he's not resigning lol
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:02 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

He's switched to talking about how wonderful Trump is.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:02 AM on October 4, 2017

Wait... is it possible that the thinks the only way to tell Trump that he should fire McMaster is to hint at it in a nationally-televised press conference?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:04 AM on October 4, 2017

Seems bad that the only way cabinet members can talk the president is through the TV.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:04 AM on October 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

Dammit.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:04 AM on October 4, 2017

Regarding the Puerto Rico visit: I've gotta wonder if 45's aides thought, "Maybe he could throw loaves of bread to the crowd? Wait, no. Bad optics. Ooh, paper towels! That should be fine!"
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:05 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Tillerson declines to deny that he called the President a "moron" in front of cabinet members.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:05 AM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 8:02 AM on October 4

Your... your username upsets me
posted by instead of three wishes at 8:06 AM on October 4, 2017 [34 favorites]

Tillerson fucking declines to deny that he called the fucking President a "fucking moron" in front of cabinet members.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri:

Rex Tillerson steps to the microphone: I would like to clarify that donald trump is NOT a moron nor do i dwell in a hell of my own creation.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

Things seem to be heating up between people who call the President a moron and people who call him a dotard
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:09 AM on October 4, 2017 [36 favorites]

Apparently Alabama (and 8 other states) has a de facto poll tax; if you have any outstanding fines, you can't vote.

But in Alabama and eight other states from Nevada to Tennessee, anyone who has lost the franchise cannot regain it until they pay off any outstanding court fines, legal fees and victim restitution.

In Alabama, that requirement has fostered an underclass of thousands of people who are unable to vote because they do not have enough money.
posted by emjaybee at 8:10 AM on October 4, 2017 [38 favorites]

What does Trump have over these guys that he makes them miserable but they can't quit him?
posted by drezdn at 8:10 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Trump can handle things! He's smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... He's smart and he wants respect!" –Tillerson [fake, kind of]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:11 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I guess with Tillerson, maybe he's heard the bad ideas his possible replacements have had?
posted by drezdn at 8:12 AM on October 4, 2017

So let me get this straight:

Rex Tillerson just held an unscheduled press conference to deny on national television that he called the President a "fucking moron" just so he could keep a job he tried to resign from several months ago.
posted by zarq at 8:13 AM on October 4, 2017 [79 favorites]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA: This Is Not An Acronym; It's Just How I Feel Right Now


Ameliorate America! Ardently Abandon All Amoral, Angry-making Assemblymen Attempting Administrative Assholery! Assess and Allocate Assets Advantageously!


Works for me!
posted by darkstar at 8:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

What does Trump have over these guys that he makes them miserable but they can't quit him?

Their own lust for power?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

To be read in Ron Howard's voice:

NBC News said Tillerson's "moron" comment followed a meeting on Afghanistan in which Trump compared "the decision-making process on troop levels to the renovation of a high-end New York restaurant.
posted by piyushnz at 8:15 AM on October 4, 2017 [39 favorites]

Wait, no. That's not right.

Rex Tillerson just held an unscheduled press conference so he could fail to deny on national television that he called the President a "fucking moron" just so he could keep a job he tried to resign from several months ago.

It still doesn't make sense.
posted by zarq at 8:16 AM on October 4, 2017 [58 favorites]

Rex Tillerson just held an unscheduled press conference to deny to on national television that he called the President a "fucking moron" just so he could keep a job he tried to resign from several months ago.

He never denied calling him a moron.
posted by PenDevil at 8:16 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

But Tillerson had tons of power, Ryan has tons of power, Sessions had some, but they've all bent the knee.
posted by drezdn at 8:16 AM on October 4, 2017

What does Trump have over these guys that he makes them miserable but they can't quit him?

I think part of it is simply a matter of personal identity. If someone goes to work for an unknown startup, and it's shitty, they quit. If someone goes to work as a high-ranking White House official, they do so with the belief and the intent that there will be a powerful and positive narrative as the story of their tenure. Whether they want to help the country, build a path to becoming President themselves, or merely attain fame and respect, they do not want their story to end by saying "Hey, it turns out I made a terrible mistake and I lacked the ability to mitigate this shitshow; I can't deal with this horrible place any more and I am running away". That would be a depressing story to tell themselves. This is especially true if they had previously been a successful CEO of one of the world's largest companies.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:17 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm sure we'll hear moron this all in the days to come.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [47 favorites]

And on the reverse, why does Trump keep them around? Other politicians try to prevent turnover in their cabinet for political reasons, to not look like they're in turmoil. Trump seemingly doesn't care about that. Why does he stick with these people who have disappointed him and want out (Sessions, Tillerson, etc)?
posted by drezdn at 8:18 AM on October 4, 2017

After a hard day in the politics megathread, I like to unwind by sitting back and imagining “fucking moron” in Tillerson’s syrupy Texas brogue.

Ahh, that’s the stuff.
posted by notyou at 8:20 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

No, the best case scenario would be if Kelly and Mattis and Tillerson would grow a spine and resign, telling Americans that Trump was unfit to lead the country. As it is, they are working as enablers for an abuser.

I understand that case, but as long as Trump is president and has control of a nuclear arsenal, I want as many adults in the room as possible. It’s not like he’ll stop being president if those people resign. Dozens and dozens of leaders said clearly that Trump was unfit during the campaign. Three more people saying that after he’s in the Oval Office won’t fix this mess.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:21 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

This whole bending-the-knee business is more disgusting and perverse than I ever could have imagined.

For whatever reason, Tillerson really wants to keep his job. Trump made him his new target of fury, with Price/Gorka/Bannon/Priebus/etc out of the way. He knew the only way to guarantee job security was to shower the president with praise on live tv.

Because this has been demonstrated over and over again to be T's main weakness: if someone flatters him, he can't help but reciprocate in kind. People who are complimentary and "say very nice things about [him]" get the highest marks in his books. "Great guy, Rex! Best of the best!"

And Tillerson knows this and also 45's short term memory; I believe he 100% kept his position (for the week at least) with this Dear Leader bullshit. Seriously, how do you think Trump could fire him now? THIS MAN CANNOT HELP BUT FLATTER THOSE WHO FLATTER HIM. All part of the sycophantic cycle of bullshit. Bend the knee, live another day.
posted by andruwjones26 at 8:21 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

What does Trump have over these guys that he makes them miserable but they can't quit him?

Rosneft?
posted by melissasaurus at 8:21 AM on October 4, 2017 [20 favorites]

Trump isn't firing Sessions because people have warned him that it could speed up impeachment. Trump isn't firing Tillerson because he likes people who wrong him to grovel and twist in the wind.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!

wrong.gif
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

Also if he fired Sessions or Tillerson it would mean finding a replacement dumb enough to want the job but also able to get through senate hearings.
posted by octothorpe at 8:24 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Here's my working theory: Trump ordered Tillerson to have a press conference to deny that he called Trump a moron; Tillerson was unwilling to do so and held the conference in the hope that it would placate Trump anyway.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:25 AM on October 4, 2017 [19 favorites]

Trump: Going on TV and tell everyone you didn't call me a moron.
Tillerson: I can do one of those things right away!
Trump: Good!
posted by drezdn at 8:25 AM on October 4, 2017 [51 favorites]

Other politicians try to prevent turnover in their cabinet for political reasons, to not look like they're in turmoil. Trump seemingly doesn't care about that. Why does he stick with these people who have disappointed him and want out (Sessions, Tillerson, etc)?

Because he has no idea what the fuck he's doing and doesn't want to learn?
posted by Melismata at 8:25 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's never a good sign when your Secretary of State has to go before the nation to assure them that their President is smart. Especially when the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming.

--

@OhNoSheTwitnt: Congratulations to Rex Tillerson on earning the title of invertebro.
posted by zarq at 8:26 AM on October 4, 2017 [25 favorites]

Trump is a dignity singularity, or dingularity if you like.
He is so utterly devoid of dignity himself, that he emits a gravity well around him that traps and consumes the dignity of everyone who passes his event horizon.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 8:26 AM on October 4, 2017 [32 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews.

Jeez, the dumbass is going full Barbra Streisand on this, isn't he?
posted by darkstar at 8:26 AM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

(On preview)

Trump isn't firing Sessions because people have warned him that it could speed up impeachment. Trump isn't firing Tillerson because he likes people who wrong him to grovel and twist in the wind.

He isn't firing anybody because he's trying to get in more rounds of golf and is baffled why people keep bothering him.
posted by Melismata at 8:27 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Also if he fired Sessions or Tillerson it would mean finding a replacement dumb enough to want the job but also able to get through senate hearings.

Chuck Grassley in his inimitable way warned Trump that the senate wouldn't confirm any new AG this year, and I don't see any reason that wouldn't continue if Sessions continues to be popular with Senate Republicans.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:27 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Somewhere out there Trump is dancing around a burning room singing "I am the smart!"
posted by guiseroom at 8:28 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is petty as fuck, but as somebody who works in a profession where people are constantly, reflexively parsing status symbols -- look at the difference in the tan quality in the pic accompanying the article that piyushnz linked to.

If Tillerson's isn't real, it looks good. Trump's could not be more fucking obviously fake.

and it's just like, ONE OF THESE MEN ACTUALLY LOOKS RICH THE OTHER TALKS LIKE HE IS A BILLIONAIRE BUT LOOKS LIKE HE GOT A MONTH-LONG MEMBERSHIP AT A SPRAY TAN PLACE THAT GETS MOST OF ITS BUSINESS FROM GROUPON

... this what this Administration has brought me to.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:29 AM on October 4, 2017 [43 favorites]

Trump is a dignity singularity, or dingularity if you like. He is so utterly devoid of dignity himself, that he emits a gravity well around him that traps and consumes the dignity of everyone who passes his event horizon.

I'm quite fond of Josh Marshall's term "dignity wraith."

It conjures up the image of a faded husk of a once-human, moaning in a faint whisper, who has sold his dignity in exchange for a momentary taste of fame and power, and has been reduced to an undead creature now hollowed out by Trump's vampiric need for domination over those he works with, and who will soon be reduced to dust and carried off on the wind.
posted by darkstar at 8:30 AM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

My completely unsubstantiated theory:

Trump pressured Tillerson into doing this meeting, so he could have Rex shred his own dignity, just so he can turn around and fire him on Friday.
posted by Twain Device at 8:31 AM on October 4, 2017 [60 favorites]

Today may be my first experience running out of favorites.
posted by yoga at 8:33 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Twain Device, I guess we'll find out on Friday.
posted by drezdn at 8:35 AM on October 4, 2017

Mueller needs to make sure Trump didn't short a whole bunch of PR debt before telling everyone they're going to need to take a haircut.

I don't expect Trump to be that stupid and transparent but look what happened the last time we underestimated him.
posted by Talez at 8:36 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Mueller needs to make sure Trump didn't short a whole bunch of PR debt

Is that... a thing you can do? Short-sell national debt?

I'm clueless as hell about how any of this shit (mal)functions, but goddamn, markets in every fucking thing, I guess. Christ.
posted by duffell at 8:39 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Dignity Wraiths are the ghosts that haunt the space around the dingularity. The gravity well no longer has them, empty as they are, but they still cannot bring themselves to escape. It would be a pitiable fate if not so richly deserved.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 8:40 AM on October 4, 2017 [17 favorites]

As completely stupid and embarrassing as this whole exercise has been, I find my sense of humor to be fucked enough by this administration that I am cackling out loud with every reload of my twitter feed.

In other truly fucking moronic tidbits from Trump's visit to Puerto Rico that didn't get as much press as the paper towel grab, I give you this gem from the Washington Post:

The church is also distributing water purification kits, and a member explained the process to the president.
“Wait,” Trump said, “you put it in dirty water?”
“And then you can drink it after 10 to 12 hours,” she explained.
“Would you do it? Would you drink it?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said.
“Really?” Trump said, a disgusted look coming across his face.
“Really,” she said.
“Is this your company or something?” Trump asked the woman, seeming suspicious of the aggressive pitch.
“No,” she said, “I’m part of the church.”
“This is an interesting thing,” Trump said, as he started to hand out the kits. “Try that.”

posted by marshmallow peep at 8:41 AM on October 4, 2017 [124 favorites]

Everybody trying to help disaster victims is a fellow con-man to him, and every disaster victim is another sucker.

It's the mind of a sociopath in decline.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:45 AM on October 4, 2017 [57 favorites]

CBPP has come out with their analysis of the GOP tax framework: Vast Majority of Americans Would Likely Lose From Senate GOP’s $1.5 Trillion in Tax Cuts, Once They’re Paid For

The vast majority of Americans would be net losers from such a tax bill, if:
--The $1.5 trillion in tax cuts were anywhere near as skewed to the top as those in the tax plan that President Trump and congressional Republicans unveiled last week. That plan would deliver 80 percent of its tax cuts to the top 1 percent of households by 2027, the Tax Policy Center (TPC) estimates.
--The tax cuts were eventually paid for through the types of spending cuts in recent GOP budget proposals, which fall overwhelmingly on low- and moderate-income people. [...]

By 2027:
--The bottom fifth of the income spectrum would lose on average about $1,000 each, amounting to a 5 percent reduction in their after-tax incomes.
--The middle fifth of the income spectrum would lose on average about $800 each, amounting to a 1 percent reduction in their after-tax incomes.
--Every income group in the bottom 95 percent of the income spectrum would be net losers, on average, while only the top 5 percent would be net winners.
--The top 1 percent would be big winners, gaining on average about $128,000 each, a 5 percent increase in their after-tax incomes.
--The top 0.1 percent would be the biggest winners of all, gaining on average about $600,000 each, a 6 percent increase in their after-tax incomes.

posted by melissasaurus at 8:46 AM on October 4, 2017 [59 favorites]

My theory is that Putin has compromat on everyone. So as soon as you enter the oval office Trump shows you your own personal pee tape and dignity wraith it is!
posted by Glibpaxman at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

Mueller needs to make sure Trump didn't short a whole bunch of PR debt. Is that... a thing you can do? Short-sell national debt?

Yes, you can. You can even short U.S. Treasury bonds. You can buy options, but it isn't even that difficult. You can just buy an ETF mutual fund from your broker that does the shorting for you.

The more likely way of benefiting from Puerto Rico debt is simply buying it at a discount, say 10 cents on the dollar from people afraid of losing it all. This is what the vultures did in Argentina. They bought Argentina debt at a discount then found a friendly U.S. judge to demand that they get back 100%. That's a 10x payback.
posted by JackFlash at 8:49 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

You Can't Tip a Buick: tbh we should probably all strive to spend less time reading news and to spend more time taking part in political action within trusted organizations. If we follow this maxim we get to actually do things to fight fascism

corb: Metafilter is my trusted organization.

Some people are doing really valuable stuff here, but I would say there's more on the spectrum towards "reading news" than towards "taking political action" (unless there are things going on here which I don't know about), which I think was Buick's emphasis. Obviously there's value in forming a clear picture of the current news, legal situation, and electoral data, though.
posted by Coventry at 8:51 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

> (unless there are things going on here which I don't know about),

In what format would you like our daily reports of our off-site political actions, sir?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

Vast Majority of Americans Would Likely Lose From Senate GOP’s $1.5 Trillion in Tax Cuts, Once They’re Paid For

The important thing to remember is the second half of that statement. It's not just that Republicans are going to give themselves big tax cuts and run up big deficits. It's that once they are done looting the treasury, they are going to come back and demand cuts to social security, Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance because all the money is gone.
posted by JackFlash at 8:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [32 favorites]

No, they're going to cut them first. That's what the health care bill is about. Then they'll be like "Look at all the money we saved! Tax cut!" and voila.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:58 AM on October 4, 2017

Josh Marshall raises interesting points about debt, Puerto Rico, Wilbur Ross and the Big Jackpot

Then last night, he seemed to shift gears entirely, telling Geraldo Rivera that the government would “have to wipe that [debt] out” entirely. “You can say goodbye” to the existing debt no matter who takes a loss. He focused on “Goldman Sachs.” Was someone else talking to him? Was he just affected by what he saw? Was it all a show? Or will he just go back to his debt-punitive approach once he’s back? To this end, I was surprised to hear from TPM Reader RM that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a close associate and advisor of the President’s, was until quite recently the biggest shareholder and a board member of the company that is one of the biggest and most aggressive holders of the risk tied to Puerto Rico’s public debt.[...]

The relevant point is that by the end of 2014, as far as I can tell, Ross’s ownership stake and governance role in AG had come to an end. That’s over two years ago, long before Donald Trump became President and a good six months before he announced his campaign.

That means that at least in connection with AG, Ross appears to have no money on the line or conflict of interest with regards to Puerto Rico.

What interests me here however is that Ross must be highly versed on the Puerto Rican debt issue. He was until relatively recently the largest single owner and a board member of a company heavily exposed to any Puerto Rican debt default. That must color his views of the matter. One would assume that [Ross is] highly sympathetic to the debt holders’ point of view. (It’s important to note that purchasing distressed companies, debt at pennies on the dollar is Ross’s business. So he probably doesn’t need much coloring or convincing.) He’s also a major advisor to the President on just these issues. Is Ross one of the reasons Trump was talking so much about this? I’d say there’s a pretty good chance of that. Will that color Trump’s attitudes on the question as he quite likely will make a number of policy decision tied to Puerto Rico’s public debt? Again, I’d say that’s pretty likely. [...]

If past experience is any guide, once [Trump is] back in the White House, once he's back talking to his hedge fund and private equity pals in late night phone conversations, he’ll come entirely back to their point of view. That’s the way everywhere policy question has played out so far.

That’s why we need to know a lot more about who’s advising Trump on the Puerto Rican debt front. What’s Wilbur Ross’s role? Who else is involved? What does Trump and his family stand to lose or gain on Puerto Rican debt? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions and we need to.

In short, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross used to own a great deal of Puerto Rican debt, has a history of buying debt for ultra cheap, then later cashing in on it hard--an economic hitman, if you will--, and is likely influencing Donald Trump in how he talks about PR's debt. Now that Trump is away from him, he's off script and talking about dealing with debt in the only way he really knows how--getting it eliminated.

We also have very little idea who is providing advice on the situation Puerto Rican debt, nor do we have any idea whether or not the Trump family would benefit from particular actions taken with regard to said debt.

As usual, it's a fucking garbage fire.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:02 AM on October 4, 2017 [40 favorites]

2017!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:04 AM on October 4, 2017 [21 favorites]

Try the meatloaf Rex. I insist.
posted by adept256 at 9:06 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Assuming that cancelling the debt benefits Puerto Rico - I'm pretty much okay with Trump benefitting from it too. That's just capitalism for you. If profit leads people to do the right thing, that's like best case scenario.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

But Tillerson had tons of power, Ryan has tons of power, Sessions had some, but they've all bent the knee.

He was the CEO of Exxon.
He was the CEO of Exxon.
He was the CEO of motherfucking Exxon.

Tillerson has said before that he wasn't going to take the job, but his wife said, "God isn't finished with you." She pressured him to take the job and he did. I don't say this because I buy into any henpecked husband and domineering wife stereotype bullshit. Every relationship has its dynamics. But I keep thinking about that, because what else could get somebody to give up a job like that for...for this? What is going on in his head? What is their relationship really like? What do they talk about when he comes home every day from this bullshit? Or is it all really just a thin cover for him taking his orders from Putin and it's not about his wife at all?

He was the CEO of motherfucking Exxon.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:11 AM on October 4, 2017 [36 favorites]

The church is also distributing water purification kits, and a member explained the process to the president.
“Wait,” Trump said, “you put it in dirty water?”
“And then you can drink it after 10 to 12 hours,” she explained.
“Would you do it? Would you drink it?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said.
“Really?” Trump said, a disgusted look coming across his face.
“Really,” she said.

For reasons I am unable to ascertain (but have ideas), this is reminding me of a hotly-contested mayoral race in my home town during my last year of college, and the moment that I knew that I could predict who was going to win.

I knew both candidates, actually - the GOP candidate was my high school drama coach, so I had a bit of a soft spot for him despite his affiliation. But the Dem candidate was my neighbor, fresh off 3 years serving as one of the town's board of selectmen. So I had a soft spot for him too, and was torn.

My town has a pretty large Puerto Rican population (people have been moving there for years, first to work in the thread mill that's been there since the 1800's and then to work in the small farms surrounding town). And that July 4th, the Puerto Rican community was having a big community barbecue, and invited both candidates.

I was later told that my neighbor was loading his plate with pernil and plantains and arroz con gandules and was right there at the table with everyone else. Meanwhile, my drama coach sat in a corner with a single hot dog. And I knew right then that my drama coach would lose.

Life can get dirty, and earthy. Sometimes it can be earthy in a good way. If you can't handle it being earthy in a good way, there is no way you can handle it being earthy in a bad way, and eventually the people who have to deal with that grubbiness are going to remember that and turn on you.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

In what format would you like our daily reports of our off-site political actions, sir?

I'm a bit surprised it came across that way.
posted by Coventry at 9:15 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Assuming that cancelling the debt benefits Puerto Rico - I'm pretty much okay with Trump benefiting from it too.

Vultures like Ross don't benefit from cancelled debt. They benefit from
1. getting everyone to believe the debt is going to be cancelled
2. they sweep in and buy the debt for pennies on the dollar
3. and then they pull the switcheroo and get a friendly judge to rule that they get 100% of their money back.

Puerto Rico gets screwed, impoverishing their citizens to pay back the vultures who make out like bandits.

So Trump hinting at default is step one in this process.
posted by JackFlash at 9:22 AM on October 4, 2017 [45 favorites]

President Trump belatedly visited Puerto Rico today to throw paper towels at victims.

Cheeto's probably never used a paper towel to wipe up anything in his life. Maybe he... bought into the Bounty advertising hype a little too heavily and wildly overestimates how absorbent they are?
posted by orange swan at 9:24 AM on October 4, 2017

He's switched to talking about how wonderful Trump is.

It makes the press conference to praise Trump or else it gets the hose again.
posted by corb at 9:24 AM on October 4, 2017 [35 favorites]

Burr and Warner giving an update on the Russian Affair.
posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 9:27 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

In what format would you like our daily reports of our off-site political actions, sir?

I'm a bit surprised it came across that way.

Me too. The point that Metafilter is a great place to converse and learn but that actual organizing is facilitated more directly and effectively elsewhere was clear from my POV. I'm sure I'm missing some Mefi history/relationship details here, but this did not in any way seem like a dig at Metafilter or Mefites. Maybe we can be more generous to each other?
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:31 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm pretty much okay with Trump benefitting from it too. That's just capitalism for you. If profit leads people to do the right thing, that's like best case scenario.

Eh, if Trump were a private sector banker, yeah, this is what capitalism is for. But he isn't. He's a public servant, and he is charged first and foremost with looking after the public's interests and not his own.
posted by notyou at 9:33 AM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

Whenever a creditor is willing to take pennies on the dollar for bad debts, the debtor should have first crack at the reduced amount. Why can't we enshrine that in law, and eliminate the debt vultures?
posted by yesster at 9:35 AM on October 4, 2017 [33 favorites]

Among the things the President does not understand:

Water purification tablets.

I'm so tired.
posted by allthinky at 9:38 AM on October 4, 2017 [53 favorites]

Burr and Warner giving an update on the Russian Affair.

Be warned that the goal is apparently to "close the book" on as many aspects of the investigation as possible.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:42 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Naked Capitalism: Trump Says Puerto Rico Debt Needs to be Wiped Out

links to David Dayen's investigative reporting in The Intercept: We Can Finally Identify One of the Largest Holders of Puerto Rican Debt

tl;dr: it's some billionaire hedge fund ghoul and Hillary booster who went to incredible lengths to hide their involvement. seriously, read about all the hoops the reporter had to jump through to figure this out.
posted by indubitable at 9:45 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

scaryblackdeath: Tillerson has said before that he wasn't going to take the job, but his wife said, "God isn't finished with you."

Jesus, she must hate him.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:46 AM on October 4, 2017 [46 favorites]

US Presidents interacting with their people in times of need.
posted by jaduncan at 9:48 AM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

Oh jaduncan, don't give him ideas. If he tried to hug me I'd end up in prison.
posted by allthinky at 9:49 AM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Tillerson has said before that he wasn't going to take the job, but his wife said, "God isn't finished with you."

Jesus, she must hate him.

Kind of makes you wonder what horrible things he's done that God's STILL not done punishing him.
posted by Floydd at 9:50 AM on October 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

US Presidents interacting with their people in times of need

[photo of George W. Bush hugging some white lady]

love to humanize a serial war criminal and overseer of the Katrina debacle. that's a guy who really knows how to help people in their time of need.
posted by indubitable at 9:52 AM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

water that used to be dirty is gross. trump has never been in any situation wherein he had to drink something gross, except maybe as part of a hazing ritual at the military school his father made him attend. Drinking something gross is a way for the hazer to demonstrate the inferiority of the hazee. Therefore anyone who willingly drinks something gross is gross; they're someone eager to adopt an inferior role for no social reason — and as a phenomenally sheltered person, trump cannot understand that there exist reasons to do things other than social status seeking or social status demonstration.

Trump is entirely disconnected from material reality; like his bros on 4chan, he understands actions solely in terms of their social significance rather than in terms of what those actions actually are in the world. Again, he cannot understand that there are material situations wherein one drinks water not because of the social significance of drinking water but instead because one needs water to live.

Also, trump is stupid. He is not an innately bright man, he is not a well-educated man; he only barely has low cunning. He lacks the mental capacity to understand that all water has been, at some point, gross; it's been peed on and shat out by countless entities, it's been mixed with dirt to make mud, algae has at some point formed a thin layer of slime over it. For trump, water materializes in bottles, always new and always clean, and if it comes in the best bottle — the most golden bottle, the most expensive bottle — he drinks it, not because he needs to drink water to live but because drinking the best water from the best bottle shows his superiority over others.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:52 AM on October 4, 2017 [108 favorites]

Update on Cuba: back on Sept. 29, Gardiner Harris and Adam Goldman wrote for the New York Times that Illnesses at U.S. Embassy in Havana Prompt Evacuation of More Diplomats, but at that point, the US didn't think Cuba was behind the attacks, so all the Cuban diplomats in the US stayed were they were.

Yesterday, NPR reported State Department Expels 15 Cuban Diplomats, noting that this is more than half of Cuba's diplomatic staff in Washington.

Michele Kelemen, NPR: The State Department isn't blaming Cuba for the attacks, nor is the U.S. breaking diplomatic ties. But State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert says Cuba is responsible for protecting embassy officials.

Heather Nauert: Cuba is not living up to that. We cannot continue to allow our personnel to serve in Cuba when they are very clearly in harm's way.

Kelemen: She now says 22 Americans have suffered health problems ranging from hearing loss to trouble sleeping, though investigators have not figured out who or what is causing this.

Nauert: The most recent attack was in the month of August. So we need to keep probing and figuring out what on earth has been going on.

Kelemen: To limit the exposure of Americans, the U.S. ordered more than half of its embassy staff home. And now it's demanding the same of Cuba's embassy, giving them a list of 15 diplomats who must leave within seven days. Cuba's foreign minister called it unjustified. Bruno Rodriguez told reporters in Havana that the U.S. is acting in a, quote, "hasty and unthinking way."

posted by filthy light thief at 9:52 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

water that used to be dirty is gross.

All water "used to be dirty" if you go back far enough. The water I used to make my coffee this morning was probably just a couple trips through the water cycle away from having been peed out by a sheep or something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:53 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Be warned that the goal is apparently to "close the book" on as many aspects of the investigation as possible.

This article notes that Burr is under pressure but speculates without evidence that Burr is actually bending that pressure. From the article,

the presser is intended to brief the public on “the things we are either close to closing the book on or have closed the book on.”

But that doesn't say anything about an intent to close the book on as much as possible; it just says, in effect, [those things that we have closed the book on will be mentioned in the update].
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Before I get back to work, I keep meaning to ask:

Did the President ever give that million bucks to Houston?
posted by allthinky at 9:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [23 favorites]

We have to wait for all the facts before saying a word about mass murder by machine gun, but Russia electing the President? Nothing to see here, wrap this up right now, why do we even need to investigate this?

The Senate intel investigation is a total farce, just like the House investigation. We may still see real results from Mueller, but this needed a special Select Committee with subpoena power and independent investigators like the Warren and 9/11 Commissions. Burr and Gowdy are playing Trump's outside lawyers, we might as well have asked Sean Hannity to lead these "investigations".
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well this always ends well.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

There's a tweet for EVERYTHING.

(this one really kind of blew my mind)
posted by marshmallow peep at 9:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [58 favorites]

The Senate intel investigation is a total farce, just like the House investigation.

Where is the evidence that Burr is "playing Trump's outside lawyer"?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:59 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wells Fargo, Equifax Officials Left To Answer Tough Questions From Lawmakers (NPR, Oct. 3, 2017)

On Capitol Hill [yesterday], lawmakers laid into top executives from two scandal-plagued companies. They told Wells Fargo's CEO that he was failing and not doing enough to reform his bank. And the former head of Equifax got a similar grilling. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: In both the Equifax and the Wells Fargo debacles, millions of Americans got hurt while executives at the top of these companies made tens of millions of dollars. That wasn't sitting well with Senator Elizabeth Warren today as she faced Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELIZABETH WARREN: So it looks like you had a really good thing going. Talk up Wells Fargo's ability to open new accounts. Get investors excited. And hey, if the stock goes up by a dollar, you make a cool 2 million bucks.

ARNOLD: Sloan was brought in to replace the old CEO who stepped down after it was revealed that the bank had signed up millions of customers for accounts and credit cards that they didn't want. So Sloan is supposed to be the reformer. But Senator Warren said that Sloan worked at the bank for 30 years and that he denied there was anything wrong until the scandal broke.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WARREN: You knew there was a problem, and when you were asked about it, you lied. This is about personal responsibility. Wells Fargo cheated millions of people for years. You enabled this fake account scam. You got rich off it, and then you tried to cover it up. At best, you were incompetent. At worst, you were complicit. And either way, you should be fired.

Elizabeth Warren for President EVERYTHING. And wonderfully, she wasn't alone in the grilling: Representative Jan Schakowsky (D - IL) and Rep. Greg Walden (R - OR) were also outraged at the millions these CEOs are making at a time when their companies are actively harming thousands to millions of people. But it's unclear what comes next for either of these companies or their CEOs.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:00 AM on October 4, 2017 [42 favorites]

(Reminder: not everyone can access Twitter, and in some cases, it makes their devices do wonky things. If you can, please copy the text of tweets when linking, instead of just posting reactionary comments, thanks!)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:02 AM on October 4, 2017 [31 favorites]

Did the President ever give that million bucks to Houston?


The Hill says yes, and independently confirmed with most of the 12 NPOs.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

@Acosta
Trump has confidence in Tillerson, @PressSec told reporters on AF1.

Oh yeah. Tillerson will be lucky to make it to Friday. He'll probably find out by misspelled tweet while he's in the middle of trying to calm down the North Korea situation.
posted by mrgoat at 10:05 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

"hedge fund ghoul and Hillary booster"

Seth Klarman may have given some money to Hillary, but I think he's generally considered very right wing / conservative, at least in terms of economic policy.
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:06 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I really hope NYDN's going with the headline "Heel, Rex. Heel."
posted by duffell at 10:06 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

speaking of equifax, monopoly guy is my new hero
posted by entropicamericana at 10:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [60 favorites]

I really hope NYDN's going with the headline "Heel, Rex. Heel."

And when he does get fired: #Rexit
posted by zarq at 10:15 AM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

I now also love the Monopoly Guy photobomber, however:

A person dressed in a black top hat and bushy white mustache, occasionally putting a monocle on, sat in the audience of the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the Equifax data breach.

THE MONOPOLY GUY DOESN'T WEAR A MONOCLE!!
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:16 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm pretty sure that's just Trump's lawyer Ty Cobb. He gets mistaken for the monopoly guy all the time, I bet.
posted by sporkwort at 10:17 AM on October 4, 2017 [28 favorites]

...the President doesn't understand how water filtration works...

The President of the United States Of America doesn't. Understand. How. Water. Filtration. Works.

i'm sorry i just... i am having a very hard time coming to terms with this information
posted by halation at 10:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

THE MONOPOLY GUY DOESN'T WEAR A MONOCLE!!

okay this is some berenstein bears shit right here
posted by entropicamericana at 10:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [68 favorites]

Monopoly guy is a woman named Amanda. WHICH IS EVEN BETTER!!!!
posted by Sophie1 at 10:19 AM on October 4, 2017 [38 favorites]

Well this always ends well.

Thread comments for the twitter challenged:

Header tweet:

"Trump has confidence in Tillerson, @PressSec told reporters on AF1."

Subsequent comments:

Ruh roh!

All that is left is calling him a "fine man"

There it is. The kiss of death, just like the Godfather. #Rexit is coming.

#Rexit. I love it.

$10 says he’s canned on Friday.

Tillerson: Trump is a moron
Trump: I have confidence in Tillerson
Narrator: Donald Trump is a moron.

Rex, if he offers to take you out on the lake in a canoe, just say NYET.
posted by darkstar at 10:19 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Where is the evidence that Burr is "playing Trump's outside lawyer"?

He just said Russian ads didn't favor Trump, when we have stories literally yesterday that they targeted Michigan and Wisconsin with ads of Hilary behind bars, and the intel community reports that yes, they wanted Trump. What else would you call what he's doing? Dragging his feet, stonewalling, downplaying Russian intent to elect Trump. That sounds like what the Trump legal team is doing as well.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:22 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

>okay this is some berenstein bears shit right here
posted by entropicamericana at 12:18 PM on October 4

Everybody conflates Monopoly Man and Mr. Peanut.
posted by onehalfjunco at 10:24 AM on October 4, 2017 [21 favorites]

Gore/Nye 2020: Just Don't Let The Supreme Court Even Have To THINK About It

Metafilter: This administraton is just invertebros all the way down.
posted by tilde at 10:25 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mr Peanut famously painted the Monopoly man's face with a paint roller
posted by ian1977 at 10:26 AM on October 4, 2017 [37 favorites]

You know who else wore a monocle?
posted by darkstar at 10:28 AM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

The President of the United States Of America doesn't. Understand. How. Water. Filtration. Works.

i'm sorry i just... i am having a very hard time coming to terms with this information

The President of the United States of America doesn't understand how trees work, either. And yet we voted him in.
posted by Melismata at 10:33 AM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

At least Romney could identify when trees were the right height!
posted by drezdn at 10:35 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

The impression that I've gotten of the Senate Intelligence Committee is that it is way more functional, serious, and bipartisan than the House Intelligence Committee. It may be that this pre-existing impression is coloring my interpretation of ambiguous information.

In the Venn diagram of (Russian measures (Russian ads (Russian ads for Trump)), it seemed clear to me that Burr was talking about Russian ads. The existence of Russian ads for Trump does not mean that Russian ads were on balance pro-Trump. The overall pro-Trump nature of Russian measures (as noted by the IC) doesn't mean that the ads in particular were all pro-Trump.

That might seem like it's hair-splitting, but through the whole update, Burr's answers seemed to me like they were careful to stick to what he knew, and how.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:36 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

The President of the United States Of America doesn't. Understand. How. Water. Filtration. Works.

Pedant hat on: Technically water purification tablets are not the same thing as water filtration. They kill harmful bacteria, but don't remove particles of dirt and whatnot that could be removed by passing the water through a filter. Your water may still look cloudy, but it will be much safer to drink.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:40 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

So, I have recently drawn the ire of a spate of pro-Trump trolls (total strangers to me, I'm not sure if they are even real people). In response to my attempts to raise awareness about the situation in Puerto Rico, they are pushing a story that all the aid has arrived, but the local government is too dysfunctional to distribute it and/or the local truckers are on strike/refuse to deliver it.

I assume that this is completely made up (can't help but notice that it's a perfectly designed narrative to appeal to a bunch of racists), but does anyone know more about it? Where did this propaganda start? Is it based on any actual facts in reality? Who is pushing it?
posted by the turtle's teeth at 10:41 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

If Kelly and Mattis resign, who shoots Trump if he tries to order a nuclear strike?

If I was a military or security guy authorized to have a weapon in the presence of the president, you better believe I'd have already thought about this and talked to my buddies on the down-low. It must be creepy to be trump, looking every day at the poker faces of people who have already decided to kill you under certain conditions.
posted by ctmf at 10:42 AM on October 4, 2017 [18 favorites]

I suspect there might be rules-lawyering on Burr's part regarding the phrase "Pro-Trump." It's almost certain that the ads weren't all straight up saying "Vote for Trump" and, rather, pushed divisions by promoting Stein or painting DNC handling of Sanders in a bad light. All of those actions were in furtherance of a Pro-Trump Russian agenda, but they weren't in the absolute strictest literal sense "Pro-Trump ads."

The question is whether he's splitting this hair to protect the investigation or 45*.
posted by Freon at 10:53 AM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Burr has been my representative in congress one way or another for nearly twenty years. He is trash. Any scenario that involves him NOT being utter trash is invalid.

Look up his connections to DeVos for a start. He's bought and paid for trash.
posted by winna at 10:55 AM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

It must be creepy to be trump, looking every day at the poker faces of people who have already decided to kill you under certain conditions.

You're assuming he has the self-awareness to imagine such a scenario is possible. I doubt he does.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [35 favorites]

If I was a military or security guy authorized to have a weapon in the presence of the president, you better believe I'd have already thought about this and talked to my buddies on the down-low. It must be creepy to be trump, looking every day at the poker faces of people who have already decided to kill you under certain conditions.

Part of a 1960's RAND Corp. study which examined the two sides of the coin, "Compromise Premier/President" to game out what could happen if we managed to root the leader of the Soviet Union, while developing defenses in case the unthinkable ever happened here, and The President was compromised by the USSR.

Well, here we are, and part of the plan is to 1) Not let the soviet agent learn he's under counter-surveillance. and 2) Make damn sure he can't launch nuclear missiles.

It may or may not be true, but I the only way I can get through the night by telling myself it's true.
posted by mikelieman at 10:57 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Vox: Trump's reverse Midas touch.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

If we ever get to have elections that matter again, and we manage to oust this group of evil people, we need to put a **LOT** of things that used to be handled as social norms as laws that don't require Congress to enforce via impeachment.

But, and perhaps most critically, we absolutely must change the way nukes are handled.

Even when you have a president who isn't both evil and stupid, giving a single person the ability to launch nukes on nothing more than their whim is a bad idea.

That's the sort of decision that should involve the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, the Joint Chiefs, both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, and probably a few others.

You can make an argument for the President having the unilateral authority to launch a counter strike if there are incoming ICBM's. But allowing the President to just decide randomly that they want to launch nukes is an invitation to disaster.
posted by sotonohito at 11:07 AM on October 4, 2017 [39 favorites]

"When trying to figure out why Ryan doesn't waiver in support of Trump, it makes me look at the Foxcon deal."

You don't need to reach that far. Ryan is and always has been a partisan hack with no spine and a taste for cruel policies that fuck the poor. For some reason the media positioned him as a compassionate wonk, but there's no there there with Ryan -- his plans never made any sense, and they were never going to help anyone. Ryan supports Trump because Ryan has no spine and Trump is the big dog.

"I don't have to coddle my racial and gender peers. I don't have to try and make them feel better about their decisions to support a total asshat. Being nice to them, building bridges, educating, we've tried that and they still don't give a fuck about anybody but themselves."

It is with vast relief I've (mostly) quit believing in principled Republicans. For YEARS I engaged in good faith with people insisting they really cared about limited government, they really cared about the imperial executive, they really cared about the deficit, they really cared about the dignity of the office, blah blah blah. But now anyone who ever claimed one of those principled positions as their reason for opposing All That Democrats Do either a) silently swallowed their pride and voted for Hillary or b) is a big fat fucking liar and I don't have to pretend otherwise anymore.

"He was the CEO of motherfucking Exxon."

Alternative theory: It's been lost under the swarm of Trumpsanity, but Exxon's been getting a lot of heat for knowing about global warming and knowingly misleading the public, a la cigarette companies. The (rest of the) world is moving towards strong carbon limits. Other oil companies are frantically diversifying. Investment analysts are starting to price in the costs of global warming-related fraud risks, fossil fuel limits, carbon taxes, and things like that, when they assess companies, and those analysts have very poor outlooks for companies like Exxon. Tillerson is not a moron, and he knows that Exxon is in big, big trouble as a going concern -- one that misled the entire world into a possible extinction-level event, one that carries enormous liability for its role in promoting global warming (and eventually, like the cigarette companies, there are going to be lawsuits and big-money payouts), one that's looking at being regulated and legislated out of existence. The existence of Exxon's global warming fraud was known before Tillerson went to State, but the extent of it has only just begun to come out since he left. It's very possible Tillerson knows what a shitstorm is coming down the pike for Exxon and decided he'd like a lot better if someone else took that fall and he left with all his money intact and without being the CEO who was at the helm when Exxon hit the iceberg. (And Secretary of State is a nice way to burnish your somewhat tarnished reputation, although TRUMP'S Secretary of State not as much.)

If he was really smart and really wanted to cement his reputation for history, he'd do a 180 on global warming and become the world's leading voice against fossil fuels, then he could go down in history as an evil man who made a lot of money being evil, had a change of heart, and went down swinging for the good guys. But I don't think his reputation matters quite as much to him as his money.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:14 AM on October 4, 2017 [49 favorites]

When Trump went to Puerto Rico, I half-expected him to sing the intro to "America" from West Side Story.

Puerto Rico,
My heart’s devotion
Let it sink back in the ocean.
Always the hurricanes blowing,
Always the population growing,
And the money owing.
And the sunlight streaming,
And the natives steaming.
I like the island Manhattan,
Smoke on your pipe and put that in.
posted by w0mbat at 11:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

scaryblackdeath: Tillerson has said before that he wasn't going to take the job, but his wife said, "God isn't finished with you."

Jesus, she must hate him.

Do you mean his wife or god herself?
posted by adept256 at 11:18 AM on October 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

Meanwhile, on the other side of The Atlantic
posted by The Whelk at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2017 [17 favorites]

Manhattan DA Dropped Felony Investigation Into Trump Kids After Dad's Lawyer Stepped In.

Here's your quote of the day, from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.: "By the way, not every lie is a crime..."

Which is, you know, true, but when a lie is uttered in furtherance of a fraud, it sure as fuck is a crime. By the way.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:25 AM on October 4, 2017 [50 favorites]

> Here's your quote of the day, from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.: ""By the way, not every lie is a crime..."

Also works as a slogan for Trump/Pence 2020.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:27 AM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

That sounds like it should be a line from a jazz standard.
posted by ctmf at 11:29 AM on October 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

I assume that this is completely made up (can't help but notice that it's a perfectly designed narrative to appeal to a bunch of racists), but does anyone know more about it? Where did this propaganda start? Is it based on any actual facts in reality? Who is pushing it?

A bit of history of the anti-union propaganda bullshit being pushed by wingnut media recently (via Snopes).
posted by chaoticgood at 11:29 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

It is with vast relief I've (mostly) quit believing in principled Republicans.

@kjhealy: To think we spent the 1990s and 2000s getting lectured on honor and character by these clowns.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:32 AM on October 4, 2017 [57 favorites]

It is with vast relief I've (mostly) quit believing in principled Republicans. For YEARS I engaged in good faith with people insisting they really cared about limited government, they really cared about the imperial executive, they really cared about the deficit, they really cared about the dignity of the office, blah blah blah.

Every "I'm just for limited gov't" conservative I've talked to had, at their core, the belief that anyone who "tries hard enough" can get out of whatever poverty or privation they were born into, and therefore the government has no obligation to take action on their behalf. (This includes, of course, spending money and other resource enforcing safety regulations and preventing gerrymandering. If people want their votes to matter, they can always just move.)

My current stance for person-to-person arguments is: it may be "rational" to decide that the suffering of strangers is irrelevant to you, but it's fucking cold, and I have nothing but contempt for people who use that as their foundation for political decisions.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:33 AM on October 4, 2017 [26 favorites]

It's very possible Tillerson knows what a shitstorm is coming down the pike for Exxon and decided he'd like a lot better if someone else took that fall and he left with all his money intact and without being the CEO who was at the helm when Exxon hit the iceberg.

Let's just say that you appear to have a much greater confidence than I do that the people who occupy positions with that sort of power will face any significant repercussions. I find it utterly unbelievable that fear of consequences factored into Tillerson's decision-making even the tiniest bit.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

There is currently a need for volunteer truck drivers who hold a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to transport shipping containers from the port to distribution centers throughout the island. [from chaoticgood's article]

Fuck a CDL. Do you know how to make a truck go from here to there? Go.

I know how to drive a truck, but don't normally have any reason for a CDL.
posted by ctmf at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Fine. Vote yourself in a government so small it can't give you #(*#)UR)#(*$@#* any @$#!*)!#$ tax cuts!"
posted by tilde at 11:35 AM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's a tweet for EVERYTHING.

(this one really kind of blew my mind)

The Australian Special Tertiary Admissions Test is a high-school equivalency test for people who didn't finish high-school and wish to go to university.

Some Units test the comprehension of demanding and complex language with emphasis on analysing and understanding the stimulus material. Other Units test the understanding and processing of ideas presented in more elementary language with emphasis on manipulating information and solving problems. Units may deal with objective or subjective material, or conceptual or argumentative issues.

The test contains some cartoons and asks the candidate to discern their meaning. Since Trump clearly does not understand this rather plain cartoon, I wonder if he'd score high enough in on the STAT to be offered a position at any university.
posted by adept256 at 11:43 AM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

You can make an argument for the President having the unilateral authority to launch a counter strike if there are incoming ICBM's. But allowing the President to just decide randomly that they want to launch nukes is an invitation to disaster.

or you know we could just decide as a planet that we're not going to have nuclear weapons anymore
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:43 AM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

Just Security, Steve Vladeck, The Increasingly Unsettling Indifference Toward the US Citizen “Enemy Combatant”

It’s now been over three weeks since an American citizen who is being held by the United States in military detention as an “enemy combatant” after allegedly fighting on behalf of ISIS turned himself in to SDF forces in Syria. We still know shockingly little about the detainee (including his name, the circumstances of his capture, whether the government plans to keep him in military detention, etc.). Even the latest “news” in this case—that the Red Cross was notified of his capture and was planning to arrange a visit—is almost a week old.

One would think that the plight of an American citizen, the first to be subjected to military detention as an enemy combatant by his own government in almost a decade, would be a topic of interest to members of Congress. And yesterday was the perfect opportunity: Secretary of Defense Mattis and General Dunford (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) spent somewhere north of six hours on Capitol Hill testifying before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on the U.S. political and security strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia. But unless I’m missing something in the preliminary transcripts of the two hearings, in all that time, the civilian and uniformed heads of the US military were asked exactly zero questions about this case, or what it may augur for U.S. detention policy going forward.

There's been so much damn news, but a US Citizen being held incommunicado for weeks as an enemy combatant could occupy at least a couple minutes of our time.
posted by zachlipton at 11:46 AM on October 4, 2017 [36 favorites]

@CraryAP: Latest from Foggy Bottom: WASHINGTON (AP) — State Department spokeswoman denies that Rex Tillerson called President Donald Trump a 'moron'

First, a denial from a spokeswoman when you won't deny it yourself says something in and of itself.
Second, he reportedly called the President a "fucking moron." Can we get a denial on that too?
posted by zachlipton at 11:56 AM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

"The Secretary most definitely did not call that fucker a moron." /fake
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:02 PM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Bit of a derail, but as incident commander I'd do both. (IF the case is as described in the slopes link, they have everything but drivers and some people are getting nothing.) Take volunteers who are capable (not, "well, I'm willing to give it a try, how hard can it be" types), impress on them the need to drive extremely conservatively and make it there #1 priority. Replace as qualified drivers become available. Work like hell to make that happen stat.

Backup/parallel idea: small vehicle train. Volunteer your pickup. (I don't doubt they are doing that already)

People are dying. Some is better than none. The story just made it sound like they were standing around shrugging waiting on CDL'd drivers, which on second thought, is pretty unlikely to be the actual case.
posted by ctmf at 12:04 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Secretary was assured that remark would be off the record.
posted by ctmf at 12:05 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

The test contains some cartoons and asks the candidate to discern their meaning. Since Trump clearly does not understand this rather plain cartoon, I wonder if he'd score high enough in on the STAT to be offered a position at any university.

Depends. Is he a legacy thru his millionaire dad?
posted by Gelatin at 12:09 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

What a macho, gun-packing Instagram star did when he was caught in the Las Vegas shooting.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:18 PM on October 4, 2017 [17 favorites]

@CSPAN: .@SenBobCorker: "I think Sec. Tillerson, Sec. Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos." [video clip]

That's...wow.
posted by zachlipton at 12:28 PM on October 4, 2017 [34 favorites]

What a macho, gun-packing Instagram star did when he was caught in the Las Vegas shooting.

He seems unpleasant and foolish, but it's probably better that he wasn't actually packing during a crowded concert and had to go back to his vehicle for a gun.
posted by Coventry at 12:32 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

> He seems like an unpleasant and foolish person, but it's probably better that he wasn't actually packing during a crowded concert and had to go back to his vehicle for a gun.

I agree, but this is the opposite of the "good guy with the gun" fable that self-styled action heroes like himself insist is the only way we can truly be safe. Highlighting this rank hypocrisy doesn't mean much these days given who our President is and who is calling the shots in Congress, but it isn't nothing, either.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:35 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

That's...wow.

I think you mean accurate.
posted by corb at 12:35 PM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

Account: SEN. BOB CORKER
Metric: FUCKS REMAINING
E [\--------------] F
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 12:38 PM on October 4, 2017 [36 favorites]

I would say instead that the rank hypocrisy was in pretending that he *wouldn’t* have the perfectly natural reaction, in a crisis of widespread physical harm, of running for cover and then not knowing what to do. Everyone has that reaction, even people trained specifically for combat situations. I hope he fucking learned something, such as how talk is cheap, and posing with a bunch of guns is a lot different than having someone using guns just like that to aim at your head.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:42 PM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

Seems bad that the only way cabinet members can talk the president is through the TV.

But that's how everybody talks to Donald, even dead people
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:43 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Tillerson has said before that he wasn't going to take the job, but his wife said, "God isn't finished with you."

Jesus, she must hate him.

Kind of makes you wonder what horrible things he's done that God's STILL not done punishing him.


Did you miss the discussion up above about how he was CEO of Exxon?
posted by phearlez at 12:44 PM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

Jesus Christ, if you had told me two years ago that I might actually be a little bit proud of Bob Corker, I would have done a spit take.
posted by teleri025 at 12:44 PM on October 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

There are other people in the administration, in my belief, that don't. You know, I, you know I hope they stay because, uh, they're valuable to the national security of our nation, they're valuable to, uh, to us putting forth good policies, they're very valuable as it relates to our citizens feeling safe and secure.

Say, Senator? Maybe suggest to your colleagues in the House that now's a good time to begin the process of removing the Source of Chaos from the Oval Office.
posted by notyou at 12:52 PM on October 4, 2017 [39 favorites]

There seems to be no shortage of odious characters in this administration which is keeping me quite busy.
This would be Mike Pence, theocratic facist and all around idiotstick, of the most idiotsticking variety.

Also, at what point does the Republican Party get declared a terrorist organization by the rest of the planert? It seems we moved past that point decades ago.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:57 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Kelly pulled from AF1 Flight to Vegas
posted by Lord_Pall at 12:59 PM on October 4, 2017 [20 favorites]

When you control most of the weapons and are run by a madman and their lackeys, you're not a terrorist group -- you're just an imperial power.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:00 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trumo's monotone while reading prepared statements is so...odd and off-putting.

Trump is a dignity singularity, or dingularity if you like.

Dingus singularity, surely.

You know who else wore a monocle?

I know nahssink!
posted by Room 641-A at 1:02 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

I know nahssink!

If I may: I believe that's the tagline of the loyal military man that the leader kept close, and not something that he said himself.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:04 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's not a Friday, so I assume Kelly hasn't been fired. Though you know what would be over-the-top... Trump dropping Kelly and then bringing back the people Kelly got rid of.
posted by drezdn at 1:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

I know nahssink!

Something something Russian front.

[I LOVED Hogan's Heroes as a kid.]
posted by orrnyereg at 1:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

@SenBobCorker: "I think Sec. Tillerson, Sec. Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos."

So....

Corker is trying to get Tillerson, Mattis, and Kelly fired then?
posted by sotonohito at 1:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Reveal/Center for Investigative Reporting, They thought they were going to rehab. They ended up in chicken plants

Standing in a tiny wood-paneled courtroom in rural Oklahoma in 2010, he faced one year in state prison. The judge had another plan.

“You need to learn a work ethic,” the judge told him. “I’m sending you to CAAIR.”

McGahey had heard of Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery. People called it “the Chicken Farm,” a rural retreat where defendants stayed for a year, got addiction treatment and learned to live more productive lives. Most were sent there by courts from across Oklahoma and neighboring states, part of the nationwide push to keep nonviolent offenders out of prison.

Aside from daily cans of Dr Pepper, McGahey wasn’t addicted to anything. The judge knew that. But the Chicken Farm sounded better than prison.

A few weeks later, McGahey stood in front of a speeding conveyor belt inside a frigid poultry plant, pulling guts and stray feathers from slaughtered chickens destined for major fast food restaurants and grocery stores.

There wasn’t much substance abuse treatment at CAAIR. It was mostly factory work for one of America’s top poultry companies. If McGahey got hurt or worked too slowly, his bosses threatened him with prison.

And he worked for free. CAAIR pocketed the pay.

“It was a slave camp,” McGahey said. “I can’t believe the court sent me there.”

Soon, it would get worse.

So many fucked up things about this country, and it feels like we're constantly going backwards.
posted by zachlipton at 1:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [130 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: Rex Tillerson loves Big Donald

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, had to make a statement on Wednesday in response to an NBC News story that he had called the president a “moron” and needed to be persuaded by Vice President Pence to stay in his current position, given the continual daily humiliations to which he is subjected and the president’s tendency to undercut his diplomatic efforts.

The statement went approximately as follows.

Tillerson: Hello. I am making this statement of my own free will. (blinks rapidly) (keeps blinking) I AM NOT IN PAIN OR ANY SORT OF TROUBLE. I never even thought of leaving, and not because if I had thought it, Donald Trump — a good, smart man, the best of men — would have known at once and sent me to the cornfield.

Derrick.

That’s not a code word that I say to beg someone to come rescue me from this nightmare of my own creation. It’s just fun to say into a camera.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:28 PM on October 4, 2017 [46 favorites]

Yesssss, a reference to the cornfield! We are living in IT'S A GOOD LIFE now.
posted by Justinian at 1:31 PM on October 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

“It was a slave camp,” McGahey said. “I can’t believe the court sent me there.”

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the judge gets actual kickbacks from the slave labor camp. It's happened before. I don't doubt in the least that the judge is supported politically by the pro-slavery side.
posted by Gelatin at 1:33 PM on October 4, 2017 [49 favorites]

Mod note: A few deleted - followups on the Las Vegas attack should probably go over there.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:35 PM on October 4, 2017

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: Rex Tillerson loves Big Donald

Holy crap.

"(starts to sob faintly) I am just crying because I love Donald Trump so much. If you even knew his qualifications, you too would recommend him without qualifications. I am not saying that he is without qualifications. Oh god please don’t hurt the oil. It is not that he has my dearest oil and is threatening to put it somewhere that I will never see it again."

Daaaaaaaaamn.
posted by zarq at 1:38 PM on October 4, 2017 [36 favorites]

Tillerson has been absolutely savaged the last few days. Petri today, Dana Milibank's "Donald Trump's dog" in WaPo two days ago. All that's needed now is a Reek reference in the NYT. Come on guys, you can do it.
posted by Justinian at 1:42 PM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

"It's a Good Life" had little Anthony wish away the rest of the world for fear that it might hurt him, plus the adapted Twilight Zone episode had him obsessed with TV. So the analogy checks out!
posted by Quindar Beep at 1:46 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Okay, just to doublecheck: Sleepy T called a press conference specifically to address the news story that Colonel Clownwig is a fucking moron, then does not deny it, begs for another delicious nibble of Nixon Submission Meatloaf, then goes home?

K.

Also Kelly got ejected from National Cleansing Healing One, Corker barfed on Trump's tiny shoes, and Pence's lapdog attacked his party?

*takes long drag, stubs out cigarette, stares into space*
posted by petebest at 1:55 PM on October 4, 2017 [20 favorites]

The BuzzFeed story on Tillerson has an interesting nugget:

One US official expressed confidence in Tillerson's status due to a so-called "suicide pact" forged between Defense Secretary James Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Tillerson whereby all three cabinet secretaries vow to leave in the event that the president makes moves against one of them.

I don't know if I believe it, but even the fact that someone wants word of said "suicide pact" out there is fascinating.

And if you're wondering why it's so important to stay a year:

Other Trump insiders point to the potentially hefty tax bill Tillerson would have to pay if he resigns before serving a year in government.

Being able to diversify your portfolio of Exxon stock tax free is a huge bonus. Having to pay all the taxes anyway, not so much.
posted by zachlipton at 1:57 PM on October 4, 2017 [47 favorites]

"No no no - Donald is a kind and good master, he's good to his Reek. Don't call him Donny Two Scoops, please don't, he hates that, I'll lose another finger if he hears you call him that..."
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:57 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

That slave labor story is nightmarish, not only do you have to work in the chicken factory for free, you also have to go to Bible Study and church. I think I'd rather go to prison.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:58 PM on October 4, 2017 [48 favorites]

Senator Dianne Feinstein has announced a bill to outlaw devices that can be fitted to semi-automatic firearms to increase the rate of fire. It covers bump stocks and gat cranks.
posted by w0mbat at 1:58 PM on October 4, 2017 [38 favorites]

Being able to diversify your portfolio of Exxon stock tax free is a huge bonus. Having to pay all the taxes anyway, not so much.

I guess I'll never be a billionaire because I honestly can't comprehend a time when I would care whether my net worth were 14.79 billion or 14.43 billion because I had to pay some extra taxes.
posted by Justinian at 1:59 PM on October 4, 2017 [50 favorites]

Silly DiFi! Doesn't she know that now isn't the time?
posted by tonycpsu at 2:00 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

McGahey had heard of Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery. People called it “the Chicken Farm,” a rural retreat where defendants stayed for a year, got addiction treatment and learned to live more productive lives. Most were sent there by courts from across Oklahoma and neighboring states, part of the nationwide push to keep nonviolent offenders out of prison.

...

There wasn’t much substance abuse treatment at CAAIR. It was mostly factory work for one of America’s top poultry companies. If McGahey got hurt or worked too slowly, his bosses threatened him with prison.

I wish this was the first time I'd heard of judges sending convicts into slavery (likely, as Gelatin said, for kickbacks) but I'm still reeling at the sheer chutzpah of straight-up calling your slavery-staffed chicken farm pretending to be a rehab camp "The Chicken Farm" and just pretending it's a nickname.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:00 PM on October 4, 2017 [22 favorites]

Even a bunch of conservative Republicans are coming out with vague support for banning bump-fire stocks, presumably so they can say "look, I did my job" and not do anything more.
posted by zachlipton at 2:02 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

The biggest take away from that slave camp story for me was the need for some sort of judicial system oversight. Something well funded, broad based, that has the same educational requirements touting their existence in every jail that OSHA has in work places.

And if that oversight already exists it is doing a truly shit job of it.
posted by Slackermagee at 2:03 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

I guess I'll never be a billionaire because I honestly can't comprehend a time when I would care whether my net worth were 14.79 billion or 14.43 billion because I had to pay some extra taxes.

It's not about the taxes it's about the principle. If the government takes that money they'll spend it on shit like helping the misfortunate.
posted by Talez at 2:05 PM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

Silly DiFi! Doesn't she know that now isn't the time?

“The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day.”
“It must come sometimes to ‘jam to-day,’” Alice objected.
“No, it ca’n’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t any other day, you know.”

...I guess it'll never be jam today then. 'Jam' meaning 'a suitable time to talk about gun control', of course.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:05 PM on October 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

Even a bunch of conservative Republicans are coming out with vague support for banning bump-fire stocks, presumably so they can say "look, I did my job" and not do anything more.

Also in order to cover their asses so when the next mass shooting inevitably occurs they can say "See? We went along with the Democrats last time and what good did it do? None. Gun regulations simply don't work. Hey, NRA, more money please!"
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump has "social autism," doesn't see "other people," says conservative pundit George Will

“It’s not clear that he sees other people,” Will, who also writes a regular column in The Washington Post, said. “There’s such a thing as a kind of social autism—that he just doesn’t connect with other people. There’s no point in saying well maybe he’ll acquire it. This is not part of his genetic makeup. He’s 70 [71] years old.”

As for whether Trump would grow into the specific role of comforter-in-chief, Will was blunt in his assessment.

“It’s like explaining the color turquoise to someone who is colorblind,” he said. “He just doesn’t get this part of the presidential function. And he’s not going to.”

1. The word you want is "sociopathy," George.

2. Fuck you very much for demonizing people on the autism spectrum, George.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:09 PM on October 4, 2017 [139 favorites]

Can I just say that reading this:

It is with vast relief I've (mostly) quit believing in principled Republicans. For YEARS I engaged in good faith with people insisting they really cared about limited government, they really cared about the imperial executive, they really cared about the deficit, they really cared about the dignity of the office, blah blah blah. But now anyone who ever claimed one of those principled positions as their reason for opposing All That Democrats Do either a) silently swallowed their pride and voted for Hillary or b) is a big fat fucking liar and I don't have to pretend otherwise anymore.

With the dawning realization that I just said, out loud, almost this exact statement two or three days ago is a wonderful thing. Stay the course MetapetebestFilter, you're doing super!

Also if potential employers call, play it cool - I pasted a bunch of Megathreads into my CV for that soupçon of gravitas and dick jokes that make it pop.
posted by petebest at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

cjelli: "Not having to worry about getting reëlected is a hell of a drug."

cjelli has just been outed as working at The New Yorker.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2017 [76 favorites]

“He just doesn’t get this part of the presidential function. And he’s not going to.”

He doesn't get all parts of the presidential function. Always, always, always the whitewashing, sigh.
posted by Melismata at 2:13 PM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

@SenBobCorker: "I think Sec. Tillerson, Sec. Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos."

Friends, I give you soon-to-be ex-Sen. Bob DGAF Corker. Hope to hear lots more in this vein from him before he exits stage left.

The President of the United States Of America doesn't. Understand. How. Water. Filtration. Works.

Worse yet, I'm betting he doesn't grasp that water comes out of, you know, the ground. Where all the dirt is.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:16 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

If we make a concerted effort to tell him where all his food and water come from, including pictures of the production lines for his beloved fast food, you think we can get him to starve himself completely?
posted by mrgoat at 2:18 PM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

That could backfire and make him healthier, tho.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:20 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Worse yet, I'm betting he doesn't grasp that water comes out of, you know, the ground. Where all the dirt is.

And obviously, the fish aren't getting out to pee.
posted by mikelieman at 2:22 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Little Anthony was portrayed by Bill(y) Mumy, who also played two other much nicer kids on episodes of The Twilight Zone, Will Robinson (Danger!) on Lost in Space, and Lennier on Babylon 5, as well as being of Barnes & Barnes, one of the most requested acts on The Dr. Demento Show.

Bab 5 also provides this variation on Too Ticky's 'jam' quote: "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom, sooner or later... boom!"

And Bill Mumy is 63 years old, having outgrown the Twilight Zone 54 years ago, which Little Donnie never has.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Friends, I give you soon-to-be ex-Sen. Bob DGAF Corker. Hope to hear lots more in this vein from him before he exits stage left right.

Jesus, Fellini, this is Bob Corker, what the fuck are you thinking?
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: soupçon of gravitas and dick jokes
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

Maybe don't tell him about fluoridation, since he actually can pull a General Ripper.
posted by bonje at 2:28 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

One US official expressed confidence in Tillerson's status due to a so-called "suicide pact" forged between Defense Secretary James Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Tillerson whereby all three cabinet secretaries vow to leave in the event that the president makes moves against one of them.

And sometimes, it takes a Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic to drive the point home:

@emilynussbaum: This is totally normal, happens in every reality show, people form secret alliances against the guy with the Veto idol.
posted by zachlipton at 2:31 PM on October 4, 2017 [62 favorites]

Josh Marshall at TPM passes along this delightful tidbit:

“MS-13 turns young girls into sex slaves…yet Ralph Northam supports sanctuary cities…” That’s the text from a radio ad from Virginia GOP Governor candidate Ed Gillespie [...] on the heels of a series of TV ads with a similar topic and theme “Kill, Rape, Control.”

Such a moderate Republican, that Gillespie fellow.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:42 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

One US official expressed confidence in Tillerson's status due to a so-called "suicide pact" forged between Defense Secretary James Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Tillerson whereby all three cabinet secretaries vow to leave in the event that the president makes moves against one of them.

How the fuck would this even work? If Tillerson or Mattis currently wants to remain employed, why would that change upon Mnuchin's firing? Would they have more devotion to a promise to their now-ex-coworker than to their own career and legacy?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:42 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Corker's statement is very interesting in light of his comments on his retirement from approximately 30 years ago in 2017 Time:

“I also believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months,” Mr. Corker said, “and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career.”

posted by jason_steakums at 2:46 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

How the fuck would this even work?

If true, it's not out of loyalty to each other, it's to force Trump and his more immediate cronies to grant each of them their own measure of independence: i.e. if he moves against any too directly, they all resign and the idea is the administration can't take that hit.

It's blackmail.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

How the fuck would this even work? If Tillerson or Mattis currently wants to remain employed, why would that change upon Mnuchin's firing

I don't think any of them need the paycheck, and the corrupt political machines is always hiring.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:06 PM on October 4, 2017

'Trump dossier' on Russia links now part of special counsel's probe: sources
posted by rosary at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Pee tape? Reuters: 'Trump dossier' on Russia links now part of special counsel's probe: sources

The special counsel investigating whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election has taken over FBI inquiries into a former British spy’s dossier of allegations of Russian financial and personal links to President Donald Trump’s campaign and associates, sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.

A report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele identified Russian businessmen and others whom U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded are Russian intelligence officers or working on behalf of the Russian government.

A spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller declined comment. The FBI also declined comment.

Three sources with knowledge of Mueller’s probe said his investigators have assumed control of multiple inquiries into allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump, a Republican.

posted by zachlipton at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [21 favorites]

The Mattis-Mnuchin-Tillerson "suicide pact" is their defense against the Trump loyalists/Bannonites in the White House who want them gone, e.g. the anonymous sources for the Daily Beast's scoop White House Aides Wanted Rex Tillerson to Resign for Calling Trump a 'Fucking Moron'.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Account: SEN. BOB CORKER
Metric: FUCKS REMAINING
E [\--------------] F

Exhibit B, also today:
@sarahnferris of Politico: "Bob Corker, very excited about sitting in this budget markup right now."

"This is some of the most meaningless work that we do here"

Then ducked out right after his opening statement.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:18 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

One US official expressed confidence in Tillerson's status due to a so-called "suicide pact" forged between Defense Secretary James Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Tillerson whereby all three cabinet secretaries vow to leave in the event that the president makes moves against one of them.

If this was between Mattis, Kelly, and Tillerson, I might believe it.

The most unrealistic proposal I've heard today is that a guy like Steven Mnuchin would ever hold to a pact like that on principal. And despite how low my opinions of Mattis may have sunk, I have trouble thinking he would ever look at that guy and think he can be relied upon for anything.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:19 PM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

How the fuck would this even work?

It wouldn't, because they're all too self-interested to actually go through with it. Just a bit of brinksmanship to try to make him think they might.
posted by walrus at 3:19 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's called worker solidarity, people!
posted by whuppy at 3:23 PM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

White House Aides Wanted Rex Tillerson to Resign for Calling Trump a 'Fucking Moron'.

But I thought that truth was an affirmative defense.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:23 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

It wouldn't, because they're all too self-interested to actually go through with it. Just a bit of brinksmanship to try to make him think they might.

ah yes, the old “Jailer’s Dilemma”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:26 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

RedOrGreen: "Such a moderate Republican, that Gillespie fellow."

Incidentally, I would urge Mefites to help out the Ralph Northam campaign with their time and/or money, if they possibly can do so. He only has a narrow lead, and losing the Virginia governorship to Gillespie would be a very bad thing.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:45 PM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

if you need a laugh right now:

Internet’s Most Popular Donald Trump Chat Room Destroyed in Anime-Related ‘Coup’
posted by indubitable at 3:46 PM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

It is a majority democratic district but it also voted overwhelmingly for Trump last year so I don't know if it's a pickup possibility or not.
posted by octothorpe at 4:01 PM on October 4, 2017

It's great that Murphy's out, regardless, he was terrible. But +19 Trump is not going to be easy to overcome. Not a foregone conclusion, depending how things go over the next year, but tough.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

PA-18 apparently is R+11 according to Cook PVI.

Recent representatives:
Tim Murphy (R), 2003 - present
Michael F Doyle (D), 1995 - 2003
Rick Santorum (R), 1991 - 1995
posted by cybertaur1 at 4:08 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

>Other Trump insiders point to the potentially hefty tax bill Tillerson would have to pay if he resigns before serving a year in government.

>Being able to diversify your portfolio of Exxon stock tax free is a huge bonus. Having to pay all the taxes anyway, not so much.

Not so much? How about $70 million much. That's a lot of meatloaf to swallow.
posted by JackFlash at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Keep in mind there's a re-districting in there. Current PA-18 is not Santorum's PA-18.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:10 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think Santorum is rated MA-21.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:11 PM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

Wikipedia says that PA-18 has 70,000 more democrats than republicans but there doesn't seem to be a source for that.
posted by octothorpe at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2017

Tim Murphy (R), 2003 - present
Michael F Doyle (D), 1995 - 2003
Rick Santorum (R), 1991 - 1995

I know nothing about Michael Doyle, but judging by the caliber of people favored by his constituency, I can only assume he must have liked to bite the legs off crickets for fun.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2017

Doyle's a pretty solid, middle of the pack Democrat.
posted by octothorpe at 4:29 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

losing the Virginia governorship to Gillespie would be a very bad thing.

Yea...this is a huge understatement. The VA GOP has been held back from flipping like Kentucky has over the past two years only by Democratic control of the Governor's mansion. They've turned, hard, hard right, and if Gillispie wins, his embrace of the Corey Stewart Lost Cause Plus Double Racism campaign shows what kind of governor he's actually going to be. Republicans are all mini-Trumps now, there's no such thing as a moderate, and Gillispie doesn't actually have any public record to refute that, he's never held elected office, but people assume he'd be a moderate because...reasons? He was a lobbyist? I've never been clear on why anyone would assume he won't govern exactly like a Matt Bevin or Paul LePage.

And it's a MASSIVE disappointment the lack of national Democratic engagement for Northam. Tom Perriello to his credit has been busting his ass in the state, but none of the national figures like Bernie or Warren who endorsed Perriello have lifted a finger to help Northam hold off the Trumpists in Virginia.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:32 PM on October 4, 2017 [25 favorites]

I’ve said it before but Donald having consensual watersports with sex workers would be the most wholesome normal thing about the man. The pee tape is the least valuable or explosive part of that dossier.
posted by winna at 4:36 PM on October 4, 2017 [17 favorites]

Doyle is my current rep and he's to the left of Casey but not, like, a Warren. But he's pretty solid. Anyway, as you may have surmised PA 18 has been redistricted/gerrymandered since Doyle was its congressman.

Murphy is an a-hole and I wish Godspeed to the democrats running in that district. I'll help them any way I can. The biggest municipality in the district is wealthy and suburban but of a more liberal, urbane bent. It's an older, inner ring suburb. There's a pretty active, dedicated [day of week] With [shitbag congressman] group there that protests in front of his office every week.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:50 PM on October 4, 2017 [10 favorites]

Hurricane relief or better said nonrelief news
Dozens of U.S.-flagged offshore supply vessels are ready and waiting to assist in the humanitarian relief efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands should they be called on to do so by the federal government.
Well oiled fuck up
posted by adamvasco at 4:54 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

On a lighter note,

Obama interrupts Michelle's appearance with 25th anniversary tribute
posted by ActingTheGoat at 4:56 PM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

Donald having consensual

This never happens.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 4:59 PM on October 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

The pee tape is the least valuable or explosive part of that dossier.

But it's the most FUN. Can we at least have this little bit of OMGLOLWTF?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:06 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

FFS the point of the (alleged) tape is that it would be kompromat. Somehow we keep coming back to "so what if he did that", over and over again.
posted by uosuaq at 5:13 PM on October 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo (live now) just did a fine thing - something that many others would be wise to emulate. He mentioned Trump's visit to Las Vegas today, making it clear that he did so for one reason, and one reason only: to dismiss him. The only thing he had to say was that (paraphrasing), thanks entirely to the skill and good sense of the law enforcement community itself, the Preznut's visit did not hinder ongoing investigations or any other law enforcement operations related to the shooting.
posted by perspicio at 5:14 PM on October 4, 2017 [31 favorites]

Heads Up — An Impending Disaster in Virginia
In my Richmond neighborhood, which contains a relatively dense and walkable mix of swing, base and irregular voters. There is absolutely zero evidence of a Northam campaign beyond one neighbor who apparently drove to the campaign office downtown to pick up a yard sign. No phone calls, no canvassers, no mailings, no digital ads and very little earned media, much less net-positive earned media. Basically no Northam presence at all in a neighborhood that should be near the top of most Dem targeting operations.

We're so fucked.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:24 PM on October 4, 2017 [31 favorites]

> Internet’s Most Popular Donald Trump Chat Room Destroyed in Anime-Related ‘Coup’

According to two of the mutineers, Americans who go by the names of Hova and Pefimous, they destroyed Centipede Central to wrest control from Based_Brit for three reasons:

* He was sometimes inactive

* He argued for an anime channel on Centipede Central, which some moderators didn't want

* Some moderators did not want a British person running an American political server

Hmm, I wonder which of those is doing the most work... Thinking... thinking...
posted by tonycpsu at 5:25 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

The pee tape is the least valuable or explosive part of that dossier.

The value of the pee tape is that confirmation of its existence would immediately bolster the credibility of every other part of the Steele dossier.
posted by nubs at 5:31 PM on October 4, 2017 [30 favorites]

Hmm, I wonder which of those is doing the most work... Thinking... thinking...

It's an awoovement!
posted by Talez at 5:50 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

So if they dems blow the election in VA, that's them at 0/3 in important post-Trump elections, right?
posted by Slackermagee at 6:13 PM on October 4, 2017

The pee tape is the least valuable or explosive part of that dossier.

It's also the part of the dossier that rings the most true to me. THE PEE TAPE IS HEADCANON. I will not give up on the pee tape. 💦💦💦
posted by dis_integration at 6:18 PM on October 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

I Peelieve!
posted by tonycpsu at 6:32 PM on October 4, 2017 [16 favorites]

Heads Up — An Impending Disaster in Virginia

At some point, incompetence and malice are indistinguishable. Looking at you, DNC.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:48 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

The best thing about the Tillerson thing was this:

Media: Tillerson called Trump a moron!
Trump: That's a lie. #fakenews
Media: Trump says its a lie. So anyway, Tillerson called Trump a moron!
posted by Room 641-A at 6:51 PM on October 4, 2017 [42 favorites]

Incompetence with malice has a sad tendency to beat out incompetence without malice.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:52 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Eminent vaudeville straight man Chris Hayes teeing up the ball for Obama press secretary Josh Earnest tonight: "Do you think people other than Tillerson who work for [Trump] view him as a moron?"

Earnest's deftly vicious answer must be enjoyed in all its audiovisual glory (via Twitter).

Btw, Spicey and Huckabee Sanders: this is what an actual qualified WH Comms staff person sounds like, you sorry-ass dim bulbs.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:53 PM on October 4, 2017 [28 favorites]

San Juan mayor protests Trump with ‘nasty’ t-shirt (Newsweek/Raw Story)

Carmen Yulín Cruz 2020?
posted by Room 641-A at 6:59 PM on October 4, 2017 [38 favorites]

The best thing about the Tillerson thing was this.

No way! The best part is that "Trump" and "moron" have been spoken and printed together literally thousands of times and perma-chyroned ubiquitously (except FoxNews) for like 20 hours straight.

Trump is never going to see or think of Tillerson again without "guy that everyone knows called me a fucking moron" being his first association.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:59 PM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

I would be so tempted to slip it into conversation so he never truly forgets.

Pass the gravy, I want moron my meatloaf.
posted by adept256 at 7:15 PM on October 4, 2017 [32 favorites]

> Trump is never going to see or think of Tillerson again without "guy that everyone knows called me a fucking moron"

My favorite part too. And it's why I can't see how Rex will last the week.
posted by klarck at 7:30 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Don't forget the "-ing" modifier before the "moron". In these days when The F-Word is losing its taboo status, it needs to be part of the description.

Or you can just use them as 'middle initials': Donald F. M. Trump.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:38 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Anime-Related ‘Coup’

not another one!
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:42 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

A coup de oghibli perhaps
posted by adept256 at 7:47 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

No way! The best part is that "Trump" and "moron" have been spoken and printed together literally thousands of times and perma-chyroned ubiquitously (except FoxNews) for like 20 hours straight.

Why not both! Hooray! \o/
posted by Room 641-A at 7:50 PM on October 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Hey, remember when everybody was trying to make it so that googling the phrase "miserable failure" would return results about George W. Bush Jr.?

Yep, Trump is results #3 through 7 right now for the word "moron".

So much winning!
posted by mmoncur at 7:56 PM on October 4, 2017 [40 favorites]

So how do we get to this scenario:

Reporter: Mr. President, congratulations on beating former Senator Rick Santorum and becoming the most famous man on Google!
posted by Room 641-A at 8:05 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Data point: when one white house staffer talked about another one sucking his own cock, they were both toast within a month
posted by theodolite at 8:11 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Joey Michaels: "At some point, incompetence and malice are indistinguishable. Looking at you, DNC."

I know likes to say "DNC" when they mean "the Democratic establishment," but a gubernatorial campaign is not run by the DNC. And it doesn't really help to be pointing a finger at someone who is not running the campaign.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 PM on October 4, 2017 [24 favorites]

Slackermagee: "So if they dems blow the election in VA, that's them at 0/3 in important post-Trump elections, right?"

Er, what elections are you referring to? It's totally true that they haven't swung any of the Congressional special elections (there have been four), all of which were GOP-held seats, running from fairly to extremely Republican. They've also picked up eight GOP-held state legislature seats so far, several very red indeed.

Also - and I don't say this to pick on you personally, Slackermagee - for everyone bitching "the Democrats are going to blow it again" -- What have YOU done personally to help? Have you donated to campaigns? Have you signed up to phone bank? Have you helped out organizations that register voters?

Lord knows I'm not saying the Democratic party is flawless. But if you aren't helping to get folks elected....
posted by Chrysostom at 8:27 PM on October 4, 2017 [49 favorites]

This is a hell of a line in the Post's latest on Tillerson: ‘Death spiral’: Tillerson makes nice but may not last long with Trump:

And as Tillerson has traveled the globe, Trump believes his top diplomat often seems more concerned with what the world thinks of the United States than with tending to the president’s personal image.

posted by zachlipton at 8:32 PM on October 4, 2017 [63 favorites]

Trump believes his top diplomat often seems more concerned with what the world thinks of the United States

That's just the definition of a diplomats job...

Apparently trump is mad at the very definition of diplomacy.

I guess that's where we're at now. *shrug emoji*.
posted by dis_integration at 8:43 PM on October 4, 2017 [32 favorites]

And as Tillerson has traveled the globe, Trump believes his top diplomat often seems more concerned with what the world thinks of the United States than with tending to the president’s personal image.

When Tillerson accepted this job didn't he understand that the most important thing the Secretary of State does is brown-nose the President all the time and give him good PR? That's everyone's most important thing! What's this nonsense about "the rest of the world" who the fuck is that? There's only one real person in the whole world, Donald Trump, and then there are shadows on the cave wall who are either willing tools who help you grift early and grift often, or who can be exploited and ripped off like the rubes they are.

Trump is the literal worst. He's running this administration exactly like he's run his whole life, through a combination of bluster and bullshit. There's no thought, there's no delivery or payoff, there's nothing at all below the surface, it's just ego and spin and narcissism careening from one catastrophe to the next before the house of cards collapses. And it's working because so many Americans are complete fucking knobs.
posted by supercrayon at 8:56 PM on October 4, 2017 [47 favorites]

> Everybody conflates Monopoly Man and Mr. Peanut.

Mr. Peanut doesn't have a mustache. It could be Julius Pringles.
posted by guiseroom at 9:04 PM on October 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

Bob Ho-Ho's.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:09 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

And it doesn't really help to be pointing a finger at someone who is not running the campaign.

You are correct and it was lazy of me not to be more accurate and specific. Apologies to all.
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:13 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the RCP average is Northam +4.4, so that *is* an outlier.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:26 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Rick Perry’s plan to subsidize coal and nuclear plants is bonkers

Rick Perry wants to attack the oil industry to prove Trump can bring back coal. Or something.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:26 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Btw, Decision Desk is running a series on Virginia House of Delegates races. It's pretty close to the takeaway from the DailyKos diary - maybe 10-12 seat pickup for Dems.

Decision Desk is conservative, but usually pretty straight shooting on analysis.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:31 PM on October 4, 2017

Just donated to the Northam campaign...
posted by dhens at 9:36 PM on October 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Mr. Peanut doesn't have a mustache. It could be Julius Pringles.

Mr. Peanutbutter doesn't have a mustache but he has whiskers.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:40 PM on October 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

Data point: when one white house staffer talked about another one sucking his own cock, they were both toast within a month

I don't know why you're bringing 19th Century political events into this oh wait
posted by darkstar at 9:55 PM on October 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

When Tillerson accepted this job didn't he understand that the most important thing the Secretary of State does is brown-nose the President all the time and give him good PR?

If you don't have double-barrel pinkeye, you're not brown-nosing hard enough.
posted by chortly at 9:55 PM on October 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

outlier poll alert: WaPo polling has Northam (D) up 13 in VA.

Apparently, they asked which way people lean and included that as support, even as 1/4th of likely voters say they may change their mind.

So, um, here's that donation link for Northam if that concerns you as much as it does me.
posted by zachlipton at 10:01 PM on October 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

The Republican candidate for governor in Virginia is establishment through and through. His turn toward Trumpism is a dire omen for the party: How Ed Gillespie Became a Trumpist.
posted by peeedro at 3:56 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Of all the myriad ways I hate Donald Trump more than I have ever hated anyone in my 47 years on this dear planet, I want to acknowledge this specific grievance: he's planting seeds of future disunity. That's his instinct. He breeds foment. I mean, I care more about the people actually suffering right now v. the possible infighting within the union, but it's hard not to look ahead ten years or so and seeing some really big fucking chickens come home to roost.
posted by angrycat at 4:11 AM on October 5, 2017 [48 favorites]

Also I am looking at Michelle Obama's twitter feed and tearing up help
posted by angrycat at 4:13 AM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Donny's still melting down over 'fucking moron' and calling for congressional investigations of the free press.

@realDonaldTrump
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!
posted by chris24 at 4:16 AM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

Can John Kelly just give him some toaster waffles and put cartoons on?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:23 AM on October 5, 2017 [42 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!

There's so much here fucked up, I don't know where to begin.

"Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!"
- Wolfgang Pauli
posted by mikelieman at 4:24 AM on October 5, 2017 [16 favorites]

Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!

You know, I kind of wish they would.

Maybe that would finally get Breitbart, FOX, and Gateway Pundit shut down.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:26 AM on October 5, 2017 [42 favorites]

Donny's still melting down over 'fucking moron' and calling for congressional investigations of the free press.

A lot of these tweets are actually from Dan Scavino, his Director of Social Media.
posted by PenDevil at 4:54 AM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

What have YOU done personally to help?

A fair question, to be sure. My answer s that I haven't joined the willful, blind badgering of fellow Democrats until their mental mailbox explodes with inane platitudes to "put experience to work". I haven't called them during dinner and hissed, "can we count on your supportseses?!?" for the forty-third fucking time this week.

I pointed out this alarming trend towards wasteful resource allocation a hundred thousand megathreads ago and was informed by a stalwart volunteer that they would in fact be contacting me, repeatedly, extremely unsolicited, over my explicit protest because we "liked to win elections".

Reader, is it any wonder we don't? We are wrestling with GOP pigs in GOP shit. It's designed to fail us. We could actually learn something from Russia's victorious campaign operatives. (No, not planting fake news ads, but it's closer to a viable strategy than "Hello [Registered Voter], my name is [Your Name Here] and I am also calling from offshore to ask if you'll help save humanity. Well, will you? Huh? DID YOU GET OUR FLYERS?!? Well?!"
posted by petebest at 4:57 AM on October 5, 2017 [24 favorites]

A lot of these tweets are actually from Dan Scavino, his Director of Social Media.

The level of incompetence of "Professionals" never ceases to amaze me. But you know, fucking-2017...
posted by mikelieman at 4:58 AM on October 5, 2017

So Dan Scavino has affected Trump's scattershot capitalization and inappropriate emphasis elements? I don't know if that's professional or just regular craz- no, wait, I do.
posted by petebest at 5:01 AM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

And again I wonder if the president of the United States is living in a fantasy world that his own brain creates for him, or if he is purposefully kept in the dark by his handlers and the yes-men he surrounds himself with.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 5:07 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

So Dan Scavino has affected Trump's scattershot capitalization and inappropriate emphasis elements? I don't know if that's professional or just regular craz- no, wait, I do.

Reminds me of Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time

Igor was puzzled. Igor had never worked for a sane person before. He'd worked for a number of... well, the world called them madmen, and he'd worked for several normal people, in that they only indulged in minor and socially acceptable insanities, but he couldn't recall ever working for a completely sane person. Obviously, he reasoned, if sticking screws up your nose was madness, then numbering them and keeping them in careful compartments was sanity, which was the opposite- Ah. No. It wasn't, was it... ? He smiled. He was beginning to feel quite at home already.

posted by mikelieman at 5:10 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

It is actually a problem, because it seems Scavino has permission to tweet AS Trump, not merely on his behalf. If I recall correctly during the election HRC who would sign tweets that she wrote personally as opposed to those sent by her staff.

Which means that we might be plunged into nuclear war because of a hastily written tweet by some low level WH official because Trump is too busy trying to sink a double bogey putt (or 'par' as it will be signed off on the card) on the 14th at Bedminster.
posted by PenDevil at 5:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [44 favorites]

If there isn't something officially wrong about a member of the White House staff posting as Trump to Trump's personal account, there damned well should be.
posted by mikelieman at 5:17 AM on October 5, 2017 [24 favorites]

A lot of these tweets are actually from Dan Scavino, his Director of Social Media.

Doesn't matter who typed them in. It's not like when there were the few sane tweets and we could see they came from an iPhone rather than Android and say, well, some staffer did the right thing. These are unhinged, contrary to the constitution and authoritarian, and going out from his personal account as him. Trump owns them and their message. Tweets definitely equal endorsements.
posted by chris24 at 5:18 AM on October 5, 2017 [10 favorites]

he's planting seeds of future disunity.

If we get him out only to have a civil war /anyway/ ten years later because of this, I will just cry and cry and cry and cry.
posted by corb at 5:23 AM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

Also for more sadness, Nine NYC businesses get hate mail with seastika, MAGA message.
posted by corb at 5:58 AM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

More twitterstorm: Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me.

My god. He really can't let it go. How can any of the adults behind the scene not be terrified by this? This fragile petty little ego has to spend the whole morning going on an on about the "fake news" instead of dealing with the thousands of pressing issues that actually mean something. Can you imagine the level of hate R's would give to Obama if he did this? How are all the supposed guardians of our democracy continuing to let us down?

It is no longer an exaggeration to think that this man's comments will seriously trigger a crisis resulting in millions of deaths. We all know this, we've all been fearing it for awhile, but it rings truer every day. The power he has is wielded so carelessly, and with such vicious disregard for reality or compassion of others...it's simply too much.

THIS MAN IS UNWELL. REMOVE HIM FROM OFFICE NOW PLEASE.
posted by andruwjones26 at 6:04 AM on October 5, 2017 [59 favorites]

No verification from me.

Your contract with The People of the United States doesn't include pre-publication approval, dude.

Unwell, indeed. Article 25 dudes. Stat.
posted by mikelieman at 6:09 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Again, he truly seems to think that news networks job is to do PR for him.
posted by thelonius at 6:10 AM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

My god. He really can't let it go. How can any of the adults behind the scene not be terrified by this?

tax cuts
posted by entropicamericana at 6:11 AM on October 5, 2017 [25 favorites]

No verification from me.

That isn't how this works! That isn't how any of this works!
posted by diogenes at 6:15 AM on October 5, 2017 [31 favorites]

> My god. He really can't let it go.

And it's pretty strong evidence he knows - or at least, believes - Rex called him a moron. Given his lifetime practice of denial and self-delusion, Trump letting Tillerson's slur make it through his defenses is an unexpected delight.
posted by klarck at 6:18 AM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

No verification from me.

"Sir, CNN is on the line, they just want to check that McMaster ever called you a quote unquote 'Fuckboi'?"
posted by PenDevil at 6:20 AM on October 5, 2017 [46 favorites]

No verification from me.

SEE? THIS IS WHY WE NEED VERRIT, PEOPLE!
posted by entropicamericana at 6:39 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Meet the ‘Monopoly Man’ who photobombed Equifax CEO (Christianna Silva, Newsweek/Raw Story)
posted by Room 641-A at 6:51 AM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

The one thing that gives me hope about the Northam campaign (I'll admit, that Medium piece scared the shit out of me, echoes of Wisconsin and so forth) is the incredible amount of grassroots support that's getting out the vote for Democrats in VA statehouse races, including some real uphill battles. We talk a lot about the problem of Democratic "undervotes"--folks who vote at the top of the ticket but leave the rest of the ballot blank--but I think it's possible that the reverse will happen in this election: big GOTV efforts turn out Democratic voters for the "little" races, which ends up strengthening Northam's showing. I hope to fucking Christ.
posted by duffell at 6:58 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Again, he truly seems to think that news networks job is to do PR for him.

It's not like he has precedent or anything...
posted by Talez at 7:12 AM on October 5, 2017

How can any of the adults behind the scene

Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence.
posted by god hates math at 7:27 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

I'm surprised the Monopoly Man story didn't point out that the character is based on literal-no-foolin-above-the-law-i-am-the-law JP Morgan.
posted by petebest at 7:42 AM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

Driving last night I heard the BBC World Service top of the hour news report with the exquisitely enunciated 'whether Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the president a moron' and I laughed like a hyena.

It's all very troubling and sad but this is kind of funny.
posted by readery at 7:45 AM on October 5, 2017 [21 favorites]

"No verification from me."

Really? Really?

Just every day, all the time, Donald.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:48 AM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

Since you mention it, I heard, or rather didn't hear, Tillerson's press conference live on the BBC World service. The announcer talked all over him, he introduced Rex three times in three minutes, then cut to the half-hour news bulletin. Not the standard of reporting I expect from the BBC.
posted by adept256 at 7:51 AM on October 5, 2017

Jeff Sessions Just Reversed A Policy That Protects Transgender Workers From Discrimination

Monsters, the lot of them.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:58 AM on October 5, 2017 [53 favorites]

Maybe some of those people who didn't renew are wary of giving the Trump administration updated information that will be used in the pogroms.
posted by adept256 at 8:00 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

The DACA recipients probably just forgot to go down to the the cellar where the display department is located, with a flashlight and a ladder to go and look at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”
posted by fragmede at 8:17 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Jeff Sessions Just Reversed A Policy That Protects Transgender Workers From Discrimination

I hope, for this and other reasons, that he dies in jail. He's a racist, trans-ist, classist traitor who uses his power to destroy equality before the law, and is the very definition of a threat to the constituion. He is no better than the cesspit of hate that he habitually resides in. I'm aware this is ironically fairly hateful of me, but I really don't care. He's worse than Trump, because Trump is too much of an idiot to realise how much damage he's doing in a lot of cases. Sessions does it all intentionally, and has apparently also betrayed his country to do a deal with Putin.

In short, fuck this administration and fuck Jeff Sessions in particular.
posted by jaduncan at 8:18 AM on October 5, 2017 [67 favorites]

The day you become an adult is the day you realize there are no adults in the room.
posted by Captain l'escalier at 8:19 AM on October 5, 2017 [53 favorites]

Jeff Sessions Just Reversed A Policy That Protects Transgender Workers From Discrimination

Remember when Elizabeth Warren was told to shut up and sanctioned for speaking the truth about Sessions during his confirmation hearing? She persisted.

Every single Republican voted for the sanction, including "moderates" Collins and Murkowski. There are no moderate Republicans.
posted by JackFlash at 8:42 AM on October 5, 2017 [57 favorites]

I mean, I get that. But saying there is zero difference between Collins and, I don't know, Roy Moore is just not true. Yes, they're all bad, but I think it's important to realize some of them are worse than others.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:56 AM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

Every single Republican voted for the sanction, including "moderates" Collins and Murkowski. There are no moderate Republicans.

Well, every Republican that voted, voted for the sanction. And every Democrat that voted, voted against the sanction. Some didn't cast a vote either way (presumably they weren't on the floor at that time?) and the vote was 49-43 along party lines. None of this contradicts your larger point, because of course, you're right--the supposed moderates you mentioned chose not to sit that vote out, and sure as hell did vote to sanction Warren. As did Flake. As did Heller. As did McCain.
posted by duffell at 8:59 AM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

Captain l'escalier: The day you become an adult is the day you realize there are no adults in the room.

Or as my man Frank says:

Well it was bad enough the feeling, and the first time it hit
When you realized your parents had let the world all go to shit
And that the values and ideals for which many had fought and died
Had been killed off in the committees and left to die by the wayside

posted by wenestvedt at 9:00 AM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

> if you need a laugh right now:

Internet’s Most Popular Donald Trump Chat Room Destroyed in Anime-Related ‘Coup’

I really could have used a laugh, but what I wound up doing was shaking my head sadly and wondering what the hell is wrong with people, like Marge Gunderson at the end of Fargo.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:02 AM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

Biden: “Guys, the wealthy are as patriotic as the poor. I know Bernie doesn’t like me saying that, but they are.”

I just don't understand this fondness for Uncle Joe. Sure he served as an amusing comic relief sidekick to Obama, but Biden's record is decidedly from the right end of the Democratic spectrum, at least on economic issues.
posted by JackFlash at 9:04 AM on October 5, 2017 [31 favorites]

Biden: “Guys, the wealthy are as patriotic as the poor. I know Bernie doesn’t like me saying that, but they are.”

Who gives a shit? I can't pay my rent with patriotism. Kids don't get fed with Respect For The Flag And Our Troops.

The hearts and minds of the rich are not relevant; I do not care what they think and believe. I care whether they're hoarding money that could be used for food, shelter, healthcare, and education.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [91 favorites]

Did other first ladies accompany the president when they visited disaster scenes for the first time? I think it's strange that Melania is just silently standing or sitting there through all the these press conferences. I tried searching for examples of other first ladies doing this and all I find is first ladies (sometimes with the president) doing the comfort thing, but days or weeks later. As far as I can tell Michelle Obama wasn't there during the Obama/Christie hug fest, and I can't find pictures of Laura Bush next to her husband during the initial Katrina briefings

I'm aware that Teump acknowledged her at one recent briering, but it feels weird to me. I'm not looking for a reason to hate on her; I have no shortage of reasons to do that. I'm more looking for a reality check here to see if its as weird as it seems or just my bias.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Given that folks are worried about the Virginia election for Governor, here's the website for Postcards for VA. Maybe we can make a difference and help people remember to vote a Democratic ticket on November 7th.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [16 favorites]

Other first ladies actually had plenty of things to do with their time.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:15 AM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

Suffolk University-USA Today poll:

GOP Unfavorable 62% (+7 since June, 23% favorable)
Dem Unfavorable: 48%

America on wrong track: 64% (+8 since June)
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:15 AM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

I love this postcard idea! I have so few spoons to spread around but this I can do and it wouldn't even count towards my activism hours.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:16 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Other first ladies actually had plenty of things to do with their time.
but her online bullying campaign
posted by entropicamericana at 9:22 AM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

Reader, she married it.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:26 AM on October 5, 2017 [44 favorites]

Greg Sargent in the Washington Post: Trump is failing, and the White House is covering it up with lies

This entire narrative is a fiction. Or rather, this entire narrative contains a large truth wrapped in fictional packaging. The truth this story line contains is that Trump is not racking up any major accomplishments — which is to say, he is failing. This is the tacit admission of Trump’s own allies. But this admission of failure is packaged in a fictional explanation: that Trump is failing because GOP leaders (or the “Republican establishment,” as Stephen K. Bannon puts it) want his agenda to fail.

But what has really happened is not that congressional Republicans have sold out on some supposed Trump agenda that is different from theirs. Rather, Trump and Republicans have jointly failed to deliver on the agenda that they agree upon. Trump went all in on every version of Obamacare repeal-and-replace that was pushed by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Those failed not because the GOP establishment didn’t want what Trump wanted, but rather because a handful of GOP senators balked at the manner in which repeal-and-replace was constructed, while still supporting that general goal. Similarly, Trump is campaigning hard for the huge tax cuts for the wealthy that McConnell and Ryan want, and if there are any disagreements, they mostly reside in the details. [...]

The difficulties Trump and Republicans are facing on tax reform — and the failure of repeal — both tell the same story: The real cause is the inability to translate the general goals they agree on into serious policies. As Brian Beutler notes, this represents years of GOP bad faith on policy catching up with the party. Repeal failed because GOP lies about their professed replacement goals collided violently with the reality that it would leave millions uninsured. Now, on tax reform, the GOP agenda, which is being sold as a tax cut for working and middle classes, is colliding with the reality that the plan itself is primarily a tax cut for the rich.

Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post: At least some Republicans realize their party is on the road to ruin

The mood change among so many Republicans tells us something about the GOP.

First, Trump’s crutches — yelling “Fake News!” or blaming others or self-praise or continually changing the topic to avoid any one scandal taking hold — have not worked to abate rising pessimism even if the vast majority of Republicans say they still support the president. Trump’s devices are aimed at defending himself, not his party or a larger ideological movement. As he struggles for his own political survival, he’s allowing (or intending) the party to atrophy and descend into chaos.

Second, the numbers don’t bode well for the GOP in midterms when Trump will not be on the ballot. Other polling shows a big lead for Democrats in generic congressional surveys and confirms that Republicans are less excited about the election, a sign many may sit out the 2018 races. They might still love Trump (or refuse to admit they were wrong about him), but Trump may have successfully demonized his own party within the GOP, thereby making it much harder for him to turn around next year to ask voters to return GOP majorities in the House and Senate.

posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:34 AM on October 5, 2017 [52 favorites]

White House is covering it up with lies

Not "covering it up" so much as gingerly placing the world's smallest fig leaf on top of the omnishambles and then inviting everyone to move along please
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:39 AM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

FYI: there are still 11 days to register people to vote in VA for the Nov 7 election. The deadline is Oct 16.

Through Oct 31, voters can request an absentee ballot to be mailed; absentee ballots can be requested in person through Nov 4. Completed absentee ballots are already being accepted.

Virginia requires photo ID to vote in person. You can get a free Voter Photo ID at a voter registration office, even on election day; no birth certificate or other documentation is required. A voter at a polling site without photo ID can vote via provisional ballot.

If you're in or travelling to VA, New Virginia Majority has several registration and organizing events over the next 11 days.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:39 AM on October 5, 2017 [15 favorites]

Ok, but is he wrong? And has something changed, magically, that means we no longer need money to win elections?

Chasing donations and donor class issues over actual (lets say leftish) policy is how we got Middle of the Road Triangulating Clinton Democrats that have, for example, sacrificed worker protections and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting gay marriage.

If I want republican policies, I know how to vote republican. Dems need to stand for something above and beyond "not as bad as republicans".

Or, more to the point - Dems have been collecting money and not winning elections for decades. Does the money set policy ?
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:45 AM on October 5, 2017 [27 favorites]

Patriotism is a scourge.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:47 AM on October 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

Biden: “Guys, the wealthy are as patriotic as the poor. I know Bernie doesn’t like me saying that, but they are.”

Something about the majesty of medical deferments affecting both the rich and the poor in the same way.

So no.

Also, on preview, what Pogo Fuzzybutt said.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:48 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Social media tracking by DHS update: 2,170 approved for posting. Spread the word.

The Department of Homeland Security, therefore, is updating the “Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-001 Alien File, Index, and National File Tracking System of Records notice to: (1) Redefine which records constitute the official record of an individual's immigration history to include the following materials and formats:

[...]

(4) update category of individuals covered by this System of Records Notice, to include individuals acting as legal guardians or designated representatives in immigration proceedings involving an individual who is physically or developmentally disabled or severely mentally impaired (when authorized); Civil Surgeons who conduct and certify medical examinations for immigration benefits; law enforcement officers who certify a benefit requestors cooperation in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal activity; and interpreters; (5) expand the categories of records to include the following: country of nationality; country of residence; the USCIS Online Account Number; social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results; and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Office for Immigration Review and Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings information;

[...]

(11) update record source categories to include publicly available information obtained from the internet, public records, public institutions, interviewees, commercial data providers, and information obtained and disclosed pursuant to information sharing agreements;

[...]

There's a lot more in there I didn't read earlier that's troubling as well ...
posted by tilde at 9:50 AM on October 5, 2017 [15 favorites]

Writer David Lewis snuck into the Northwest Forum, "Seattle’s hottest closed-door white nationalist convention" and wrote about it for The Stranger:

I was never more aware that I was dealing with Seattle racists than when it came time for questions and people were asking the same kind of self-righteous, rambling, statement-questions you encounter at Town Hall. One of the questions came from an East Indian-Canadian. I don’t remember what he asked because I was too busy sharing confused looks with the Neo-Nazis. Right guys? WTF?

[...]

It was actually kind of a letdown, and by the time the convention ended, the voyeuristic novelty of sneaking into a Nazi meeting had worn off. I was just bored in a Masonic Hall on Queen Anne. My interest picked up when Dr. Johnson, seated on a Masonic throne, announced that we would all be going to dinner at Buca di Beppo. When I called one of my emergency contact friends about the change of location she said, “Buca di Beppo? Do Nazis need to carbo load?”

posted by Atom Eyes at 9:50 AM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

cjelli: "As predicted by many people: Marsha Blackburn announces Senate campaign to fill Bob Corker's seat in 2018."

And Gov Haslam says he's NOT running, leaving Blackburn as the front-runner at this point.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:56 AM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ok, but is he wrong? And has something changed, magically, that means we no longer need money to win elections? Joe Biden seems, as always, to be a realist here.

I'm having trouble finding the context for the quote. It seems tone-deaf, but hard to tell for sure without knowing what his broader point was.
posted by Coventry at 10:10 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's a lot of eyebrow-raising over the Alabama Senate runoff, apparently, where major donors are concerned that McConnell wasted their money in backing the losing candidate.


Look, I'm as appalled by the Turtle as any other decent person, but ANYONE who makes even a token effort to keep Roy fucking Moore out of the Senate doesn't deserve a rebuke for that. And any donor who thinks Moore is the best choice should be thrown into a duck pit.
posted by delfin at 10:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

The pace of Trump and GOP-led fuckery is so blistering that I'm just going to go ahead and file this under "Biden gonna Biden" and devote my energy elsewhere.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [24 favorites]

I'm not saying anyone should like Burr, necessarily, or even trust him

CNN—Burr On Trump Tweet: Panel Will Hold Media 'Accountable' on Russia "Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr warned news organizations Thursday that his panel would hold them 'accountable' for any false reporting in the Russia investigation, saying that some will have 'egg on their face' the when the panel ultimately produces its findings." He then walked his statement back a bit, saying "If, in fact, we find that news organizations have not covered it factually, I think that you'll see that in our report. You'll see that in our hearings, and you should expect it because I think that the reporting of this -- judging just by yesterday's press conference -- is loose at best, and they'll have to stand behind what they report." While I'd like to find a complete transcript, the "egg on their face" sound bite is being picked up as a defense of Trump everywhere from The Daily Caller to Russia Today.

As Burr drew criticism from the beginning of the Senate Intel investigation about his conflict of interest since he was a national security advisor to the Trump campaign, it's probably the safer bet not to trust him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:14 AM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

I don't know that it's so much that Turtle backed a losing candidate as that he had no effectual influence on the race. Why give money to a political operative who can't make what you want to happen happen?
posted by LionIndex at 10:16 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Look, I'm as appalled by the Turtle as any other decent person, but ANYONE who makes even a token effort to keep Roy fucking Moore out of the Senate doesn't deserve a rebuke for that.

Before you go all misty-eyed, keep in mind that McConnell didn't oppose Moore because he thought he was wrong. McConnell doesn't care about right or wrong long as he votes the Republican agenda. The reason McConnell opposed Moore is because he thought he was the weaker candidate in the general against a Democrat.
posted by JackFlash at 10:20 AM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

Short twitter thread from Marco Rogers: "We like to talk about our laws in terms of prevention and deterrence. But the subtext and the outcomes are always focused on punishment./ . . . Conservative politics especially. When we analyze political issues through that lens, we can usually predict what stance they will take./ Republicans will happily legislate pregnancy and childbirth, because they already think that mothers who do it wrong should be punished./ Republicans will resist legislating gun ownership because at the end of the day, they don't see a problem with a proliferation of guns./ . . . They would rather prosecute each gun action on a case by case. Hence "lone wolf"./ Compare this to abortion, where the common conservative sensibility is that even talking about it is a sin./ . . . We're not interested in reducing harm. America is only interested in making sure ppl get punished and exonerated according to our values."

And then user @ScientistMother replies, "[America values] the well being of white males > white females > men of colour > women of colour."

I would add, the other main value this disproportionately politically powerful minority has demonstrated is, fellating super-rich authoritarians (giving them tax cuts).
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 10:22 AM on October 5, 2017 [26 favorites]

Politico: White House plans to demand immigration cuts in exchange for DACA fix: "Aide Stephen Miller, Trump's top immigration adviser, is crafting a hardline plan that risks blowing up any deal with Democrats."

Basically, the White House wants to use DREAMers as a bargaining chip in exchange for the RAISE Act (which was dead on arrival even among Republicans), plus other awfulness:

In addition to provisions in the RAISE Act, the White House’s immigration principles also include parts of the Davis-Oliver Act, including measures that would give state and local law enforcement power to enforce immigration laws, allow states to write their own immigration laws and expand criminal penalties for entering the U.S. illegally.

The principles would also incorporate a provision from the Davis-Oliver Act that puts the onus on Congress to designate Temporary Protected Status, which allows immigrants to temporarily stay in the United States because they are unable to return to their home country as a result of a natural disaster or other dangerous circumstances.

The Davis-Oliver Act gives Congress 90 days to approve a measure extending TPS protections to a foreign state. If Congress does not act, the designation will be terminated. Lawmakers have raised concerns that Congress will be unable to agree on the designations, effectively killing the program.

In addition, the principles call for billions of dollars in border security, as well as money for detention beds and more immigration judges, according to the people familiar with them. Republicans are likely to support those moves.

I don't think I'm being needlessly hyperbolic when I say that requiring Congress to approve TPS status will cause people to die while Congress sleeps. And "allow states to write their own immigration laws" sounds terrifying and insane.

Reuters: Energy secretary took charter flight day before Price resigned

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a chartered jet to Ohio last week, according to an airport management company, the day before fellow Cabinet member Tom Price resigned over his use of private charter flights for government business.

Perry took the private plane from Hazleton Regional Airport in Pennsylvania to the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport in southern Ohio on Sept. 28, PMH Aviation, the company that runs the Portsmouth airport, said on Wednesday. The purpose of his trip was to visit a uranium facility in Piketon, Ohio, according to the Energy Department.

There are commercial flights to Allentown and Scranton an hour away. He also did this at the height of the Price scandal, which takes some chutzpah.

Gravwell (via BongBoing) did an analysis on the FCC's net neutrality comments:

When looking at the raw total number of comments, the majority fall into the anti-neutrality camp. However, after refining comments to include only those submitted organically via the FCC website (as opposed to those which were submitted via the FCC provided API for bulk submissions or by bots) the extreme opposite is true. People who submitted comments directly to the FCC website are overwhelmingly in support of net neutrality regulations. In fact, it was difficult to do any machine learning training or automated classification of anti-net neutrality comments, simply because they were that scarce. So, seeing a clear difference of opinion between bulk submitted comments vs those that came in via the FCC comment page we're forced to conclude that either the nature of submission method has some direct correlation with political opinion, or someone is telling lies on the internet.

Bulk submissions aren't necessarily a problem, groups solicited comments and submitted them through the API, but enormous numbers of comments were clearly submitted by anti-net neutrality bots ("over 1,000,000 comments in July claimed to have a pornhub.com email address"), and the FCC seems to have zero interest in investigating who was responsible.
posted by zachlipton at 10:24 AM on October 5, 2017 [33 favorites]

Well, and McConnell thought Moore would be more likely to be a thorn in his side, as opposed to Strange, who was just a hack. McConnell wants people who will do what they're told.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:26 AM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yes. Moore probably actually believes what he's saying, which makes him potentially terribly troublesome. He's already demonstrated his willingness to give up high positions for his hobbyhorses. Twice.
posted by jaduncan at 10:32 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Perry took the private plane from Hazleton Regional Airport in Pennsylvania to the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport in southern Ohio .... There are commercial flights to Allentown and Scranton an hour away.

I can only speak for Allentown, but flights from there go to a very limited set of places (Chicago, Charlotte, Florida), and even the advertised "flight" to EWR is really a bus. So it makes some sense that for flying from small place to small place, a charter flight might be necessary to waste a LOT of time connecting.

But for Price's DC - Boston trips, et al., I'm rolling my eyes along with everyone else.
posted by Dashy at 10:33 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

please don't be a milkshake duck

I had to google that one. I thought maybe it had something to do with "I drink your milkshake!"

We live in a strange world...
posted by diogenes at 10:40 AM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Before you go all misty-eyed, keep in mind that McConnell didn't oppose Moore because he thought he was wrong. McConnell doesn't care about right or wrong long as he votes the Republican agenda. The reason McConnell opposed Moore is because he thought he was the weaker candidate in the general against a Democrat.

And he's not wrong about that. I do not want to suggest that Yertle has ever had a laudable motive for anything.

But Moore is hideous in ways that even Trump isn't. He is so far beyond the pale that he's gone infrawhite. I damn Yertle with faint praise for supporting anyone else for any reason.
posted by delfin at 10:40 AM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Chasing donations and donor class issues over actual (lets say leftish) policy is how we got Middle of the Road Triangulating Clinton Democrats that have, for example, sacrificed worker protections and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting gay marriage.


Yeah, I remember when Biden had be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting gay marriage, too (eyeroll).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:49 AM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

And there was that time Joe Biden wrote The Patriot Act in 1994.

But hey, on balance I like Joe, I'm sure it was meant well in context. (The 'rich people' quote, not the proto-destroy-our-privacy act)
posted by petebest at 10:58 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

can we ditch the Biden derail ourselves without bringing the mods into this?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:01 AM on October 5, 2017 [45 favorites]

More from the "liberal media basically ignored Trump crimes until Donald was put into office" file, it turns out that we have actual emails between Don Jr and Ivanka where they detail their plans to commit fraud and reassure a third party that the email is totally safe and secure so it's ok to discuss their plans to commit fraud there.

Calling the Trump family business dealings dirty is a bit like calling the Pacific Ocean a touch moist. They are all guilty of many crimes and have not only never paid a legal price for them, but have never paid a social price for them either.

The NYT treated Trump and his clan like NYC royalty to be feted and praised, at worst it drew attention to the Trump clan's legendarily awful taste and all around tackiness. The crimes went by without notice.

Our entire society is complacent though. Rich people are excused for absolutely any wrongdoing no matter how heinous up to and including literal rape of literal babies (see Robert H. Richards IV).

It is no surprise at all that Rob Ford, of Toronto infamy, is already being "rehabilitated" and will soon be remembered as a great man and have many large objects named after him. Rich, powerful, white, people can get away with absolutely anything.

So of course it shouldn't shock me that basically the entire business and media world knew that the Trump family is running a real estate front on a criminal enterprise, and at the same time thought that it would be somehow wrong to mention that fact to us plebes. It does shock me, but it shouldn't. They're rich, white, and connected, of course they can commit many, many, crimes without any penalty at all.

I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that we need to just end massive wealth. Set a maximum on how much money (or money equivalent like stock or whatever other cute games rich people play with money) any individual can own and confiscate 100% of anything above that amount. Hell, set the number fairly high, $50 million or even $100 million maybe. But I'm coming to the conclusion that the mere existence of billionaires is going to ruin us.
posted by sotonohito at 11:04 AM on October 5, 2017 [76 favorites]

Guys, maybe we've been too hard on Republicans, after all:
For the first time ever, more than half of Republicans (54%) now think homosexuality should be tolerated by society. (By contrast, Democrats had reached this same level of acceptance by 1994 — almost a quarter of a century ago.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:04 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Here's a problem I have in general with this argument (lower class/poor > upper class/rich patriotism). This is the entire history behind the Nazi blood and soil argument. Essentially the Nazis (and Germans going back a century prior) ennobled those who worked with their hands and were rural land workers over the city folk who were less patriotic and less connected to the literal and figurative land. This is a minefield we are already perilously close to in the U.S. The farmer or manual laborer is no more laudable than the librarian or the office worker just because the former works with their hands and the latter with their minds (in broad terms).
posted by Sophie1 at 11:11 AM on October 5, 2017 [21 favorites]

I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that we need to just end massive wealth. Set a maximum on how much money (or money equivalent like stock or whatever other cute games rich people play with money) any individual can own and confiscate 100% of anything above that amount. Hell, set the number fairly high, $50 million or even $100 million maybe. But I'm coming to the conclusion that the mere existence of billionaires is going to ruin us.

Sotonohito, I flagged your comment as "excellent" and I agree with you. There was an author whose name and title of book I forget, but he (I think it was a he) talked about how we need a maximum wage in America. Yes we do. We need not just a mincome, but a maxcome, if I can coin a word. I'm happy to set the number high, like $50 or $100 million, but anything above that should be redistributed.

Billionaires are going to ruin us, if anything does. The Mercers, the Kochs - the damage they have done to our democracy is incalculable. I think they are right up there with Fox News as things that are destroying our country.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:12 AM on October 5, 2017 [57 favorites]

And "allow states to write their own immigration laws" sounds terrifying and insane.

In an American context it probably would turn out insane, but this is actually what happens in Canada. The provinces make decisions on what kind of immigrants they would like to bring in. AFAIK immigrants have free movement between the provinces, but they have to live and work in the one that brung em.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:12 AM on October 5, 2017

(The Canadian cultural context is very different, obviously, especially in that they don't have a big illegal immigration problem. And refugees are in a different channel entirely.)
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:14 AM on October 5, 2017

Sophie1, I think that's a good point - I don't think it's good to exalt certain classes of workers as more "American" than others. But there is Both-Sides-Ism afoot here to some extent, as there was so much ink/pixels spilled on The White Working Class and The White Rural People And How Do We Win Them Back.

And only certain manual work gets lionized - we hear all about the plight of the coal miner and the factory worker, but home health care workers and retail workers get short shrifted. This has a lot to do with the race and gender of those doing the jobs - home health care workers are mostly women of color.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:17 AM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

democracy never took root in america because the masses see themselves not as a nation of equals but as temporarily toppled despots
posted by entropicamericana at 11:17 AM on October 5, 2017 [16 favorites]

(The Canadian cultural context is very different, obviously, especially in that they don't have a big illegal immigration problem. )

Neither does the US.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:18 AM on October 5, 2017 [36 favorites]

(The Canadian cultural context is very different, obviously, especially in that they don't have a big illegal immigration problem. )

Yet. If 45 isn't brought down soon, Canada might find itself in need of a wall of their own.
posted by dnash at 11:19 AM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

> At least some Republicans realize their party is on the road to ruin

Well, you know, fingers crossed...but the GOP has been on various alleged roads to ruin and demographic death spirals and what have you for almost my entire adult life, and yet here we are with them in control of all three branches of government plus the Supreme Court. So I'll believe it when it happens.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:22 AM on October 5, 2017 [31 favorites]

I'm so thrilled to learn that most Republicans think I should be tolerated. Could they maybe talk to my family?
posted by greermahoney at 11:28 AM on October 5, 2017 [16 favorites]

Hillary had an interesting response to the question of taking donations from the rich on her interview on Pod Save America, basically that if a politician is up front about their desire to raise taxes on the rich, impose regulations that will affect their bottom line, etc, then what's the problem?

It's not that simple for a number of reasons, for instance those rich donors could be banking on the low likelihood that those reforms would get passed in our current political climate. But it's a notion worth thinking about and I'm still sympathetic to the vague idea of plenty of the rich being okay with making sacrifices for society, and certainly there are examples, BUT - the onus is on them to prove it above and beyond supporting politicians. To get any trust back there, there need to be some grand gestures, some significant organized public voluntary sacrifice for the civic good, more than political support, more than traditional philanthropy. Like some serious, heavy lobbying for higher taxes and reforms and limits regardless of which politicians are in power or running, and a significant class justice movement with prominent wealthy citizens putting skin in the game. And, their employment practices in their private businesses had better fucking voluntarily go the extra mile to lift up the workers across the board. Do something like that and I think more people will be inclined to trust politicians cozying up with these donors. But it absolutely has to start with the rich working to earn that trust and we are absolutely not there.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:29 AM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

Yeah, I remember when Biden had be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting gay marriage, too (eyeroll).

Gay marriage was legal in Massachussets in 2003. Biden's gay marriage "gaffe" was in 2012. Hillary didn't change her mind until 2013(!)...

That's not exactly leading from the front, is what I'm saying.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:29 AM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

Guys, maybe we've been too hard on Republicans, after all:
For the first time ever, more than half of Republicans (54%) now think homosexuality should be tolerated by society. (By contrast, Democrats had reached this same level of acceptance by 1994 — almost a quarter of a century ago.)

The administration they support just voted in the UN to back the idea that countries should be able to impose the death penalty on people for being gay soooo
posted by jason_steakums at 11:31 AM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

But only because they worried that someone might nag them for having the death penalty at all, so that makes everything alright again!
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:34 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Three branches = Executive, Legislative (includes House and Senate), Judicial.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:38 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

One big point of practice in preventing any forward going foundational state programs from being looted by the rich is making them truly universal so they can’t opt out or create a two tiered system. Once people have Good Things they become very protective of them.

As for wealth caps, it’s a harder sell but you know, capital income Means the richest of the rich are generating millions upon millions of dollars completely passively (it’s why I don’t trust the rich at all, the Gates could pay for the funding of every rape kit in the US using pocket change, they’re not giving anything away)

But actually enforcing (and funding the IRS sufficiently, imagine that as a jobs creation program, going after white collar criminals) our tax code would be a start and higher tax rates on the upper 5% (this includes me, technically, raise my freaking taxes) and % role for compensation tying it to the lowest paid worker - this would work well in the truly free national university system we create after forgiving all student debt and we all follow my plans for the socialist utopia.
posted by The Whelk at 11:40 AM on October 5, 2017 [21 favorites]

Pretty great take-down of the GOP's surrender to their donors.

Trump-era Republicans have done their utmost to comport themselves as though they have a fiduciary duty to the Koch retreat’s annual attendees.

On the regulatory front, the Trump administration, and the Republican Congress, have done the bidding of their conservative donors even when doing so required them to perform a heavy-handed satire of “business-friendly” governance. The White House has expanded the liberty of coal companies to dump mining waste in streams; pushed to preserve the rights of retirement advisers to gamble with their clients’ money; allowed internet service providers to track and sell consumers’ data without seeking their permission; banned states from setting up retirement savings plans for private sector workers (a betrayal of federalism that serves no purpose beyond eliminating one of Wall Street’s potential competitors); freed employers from the burden of logging all workplace injuries; ended discrimination against serial labor law violators in the bidding process for government contracts; and relaxed enforcement on evasion of the estate tax.

posted by suelac at 11:45 AM on October 5, 2017 [24 favorites]

As a New Yorker I am enraged by this and wish the revelation had come early enough for Cyrus Vance to be primaried.

I'm enraged as a New Yorker, as an American, as a human being. Because now you can add Vance to the small list of people who singlehandedly could've stopped this whole nightmare. If he doesn't sell out, and Don Jr. and Ivanka are prosecuted, even if not convicted/pled out, Trump most likely doesn't run or is at least viewed by many more people as a probable crook. And if convicted, it's an almost certainty.
posted by chris24 at 11:45 AM on October 5, 2017 [40 favorites]

I'm fairly optimistic about the VA elections. In special elections this year, Democrats are outperforming their performance in the last two presidential elections in the same districts by an average of 14%.

I know we lost some special elections in safe Republican districts that got a lot of media attention, but overall we've been doing pretty well. It looks like Democrats are turning out in in off-year elections this year. If this keeps up, we should be able to win the governor's race and get a majority in the House of Delegates. Clinton carried a majority of VA House of Delegates districts in the last election. If we meet or exceed those percentages, as we have in almost every special election this year, we'll win.

The WaPo poll that has Northam, the Democratic candidate for governor, ahead by 13% is a poll of registered voters who said they were definitely planning to vote in November. This technique of screening likely voters is sensitive changes in turn-out, and can give more accurate results than likely voter screens based on previous voting behaviour that most pollsters use. Given the increase we've seen in Democratic turn-out this year in special elections, I was hoping to see a poll that used this methodology. Finally we've got one, and I'm loving the results! According to this poll, 66% of Democrats definitely plan to vote in this election as opposed to 57% of Republicans. I like those numbers, though there are enough people who say they could still change their minds to make me worried.

Vote, volunteer, donate to our candidates! Don't listen to the trolls telling you to give up and stay home.
posted by nangar at 11:50 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

WaPo: President Trump plans to announce next week that he will “decertify” the international nuclear deal with Iran, saying it is not in the national interest of the United States and kicking the issue to a reluctant Congress, people briefed on an emerging White House strategy for Iran said Thursday.

NYRB (August 2017) -- Nuclear Diplomacy: From Iran to North Korea?:

[T]he US must preserve the Iran deal—which cannot be taken for granted. The deal’s greatest weakness is not to be found in its provisions but in the hostility of those in Tehran, Washington, and Jerusalem who, for mostly political reasons, would like to see it die. In the US, through more than thirty years of frozen nonrelations, Iran became a two-dimensional cartoon of evil that too many members of Congress, especially, and leading officials in the present administration, including the president, still believe in....The administration and opponents of the deal in Congress—nearly all of them Republicans—need to update their rhetoric. Contrary to what they expected, the deal is being honored and continuing denunciations are not cost-free. They undermine the working relationship with the Iranian government needed to keep the deal in force—technical and financial issues crop up and must be managed—and they encourage dangerous mischief on Capitol Hill by members who want to score what seem to be cheap political points or even see the deal collapse. Provocations from Washington will be instantly responded to by Tehran—especially as the US escalates its military activity in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. And the criticisms raise expectations among Iran’s opponents in the Middle East that the US cannot meet without throwing away what has been achieved.

It may be too much to hope that the Trump administration will come to recognize that pariah status does not improve any nation’s behavior, and that the Iran deal is the starting point from which other issues the US has with Iran, beginning with the future of Syria, can be addressed. But we should at least be able to expect that the administration is capable of recognizing the boon to national security it has inherited and that it can exercise the discipline and focus necessary to maintain it.

Well, shit.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:52 AM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

No doubt about it, a jolly good war against an insignificant enemy is just what the Trump campaign needs to turn things around.
posted by Coventry at 11:54 AM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

Mic- are progressives turning the tide in local elections?
posted by The Whelk at 11:58 AM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

If this keeps up, we should be able to win the governor's race and get a majority in the House of Delegates.

FWIW, the Official Chrysostom Forecast is Dems retain Governor, LG, AG, and pick up...say 12 seats in the House of Delegates.

I hope we do even better, of course! If we get 17 in the HOD and keep the governor, we could see pressure on an R in the Senate to defect, or at least caucus with the Dems, and then we'd have unified control.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:02 PM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

the Official Chrysostom Forecast is Dems retain Governor, LG, AG, and pick up...say 12 seats in the House of Delegates.

If it's easy to outline, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to read your reasoning.
posted by Coventry at 12:04 PM on October 5, 2017

Reex? Rhymes with Leaks?
posted by steveminutillo at 12:05 PM on October 5, 2017

Gerrymandering: how to fix it
posted by The Whelk at 12:16 PM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

There's also a rumor tomorrow morning that Trump will roll back the Obamacare birth control mandate tomorrow morning.

It's like he, or his staff, are upset at the lack of accomplishments and so are rushing to be terrible.
posted by zachlipton at 12:20 PM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

I mean it would be good if large media outlets would stop prodding them about that lack of terrible accomplishments.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:22 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

If the elites go down, we're all in trouble (Boston Globe)
posted by Melismata at 12:24 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's like he, or his staff, are upset at the lack of accomplishments and so are rushing to be terrible.

It's like they're hearing the grousing of big donors about not getting anything accomplished. They can't, really, so all they can do is roll back positive Obama executive orders.

I suppose it'll appease some, but I'd bet the big donors are hankering for those sweet, sweet tax cuts and won't be satisfied with just a little more of the usual misogyny.
posted by Gelatin at 12:32 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

I mean it would be good if large media outlets would stop prodding them about that lack of terrible accomplishments.

That's an absurdly benign portrait of Trump, to the point where he is almost unrecognizable. Trump has never looked that serene and self-assured in his entire fucking life.
posted by lydhre at 12:33 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

WaPo: President Trump plans to announce next week that he will “decertify” the international nuclear deal with Iran

CALL the senate switchboard [phone] to patch you through to your senators.

FAX your senators with faxzero.com's free service.

Let's puncture this trial balloon.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

Great, Trump is doing with Iran what Junior did with the DPRK: breaking our national word and convincing the government in question that the only way it can avoid random US invasions is by developing atomic weapons.

If Trump voids the Iran deal no country will ever deal with the US to limit nuclear proliferation again, and frankly I'm amazed Iran did after Junior so thoroughly demonstrated that the US has no honor and will break any treaty or agreement the instant a Republican needs a quick popularity boost or just feels like being an asshole.

But there can be no doubt now, America's word simply is not good. Anything negotiated by a Democratic President will be gleefully undone and undermined by the next Republican in office regardless of whether or not the other party kept their end of the bargain.

Next time anyone tries to negotiate a deal with a hostile nation to keep them from getting nukes they'll say "WTF do you think we're stupid? We remember how Trump screwed Iran and Bush screwed Korea. No way, we're going to build all the nukes we can so fuck off!"
posted by sotonohito at 12:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [77 favorites]

A federal watchdog investigating whether the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative political groups seeking tax-exempt status said that the agency also scrutinized organizations associated with liberal causes from 2004 to 2013.

If memory serves me correctly, this information was known at the time. But it complicated the narrative, and the so-called "liberal media" basically ignored it.

“This report reinforces what government watchdogs and congressional investigators have confirmed time and time again: bureaucrats at the I.R.S., such as Lois Lerner, arbitrarily and haphazardly administered the tax code and targeted taxpayers based on political ideology,” said Representative Kevin Brady of Texas

Good! Because that section of the tax code does not allow tax exemptions for political groups, jackass.
posted by Gelatin at 12:59 PM on October 5, 2017 [23 favorites]

Jenna Johnson, Washington Post: FEMA removes statistics about drinking water access and electricity in Puerto Rico from website
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:03 PM on October 5, 2017 [35 favorites]

Scott Wong [via Twitter]: BREAKING: @RepTimMurphy (R-PA) has resigned after abortion scandal, Speaker Ryan says
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:09 PM on October 5, 2017 [59 favorites]

Is it not known that the IRS was legitimately scrutinizing bullshit applications, by political groups, to be registered as non-political non-profits?
posted by thelonius at 1:11 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

Is it not known that the IRS was legitimately scrutinizing bullshit applications, by political groups, to be registered as non-political non-profits?

I should be surprised at the number of idiots who don't understand either basic math or forensic auditing.

But I'm not. There are folks who LEGITIMATELY BELIEVE that the IRS shouldn't be scrutinizing bullshit applications by political groups' fraudulent filings. Many are in the "All taxation is theft" camp. It's a short ride from there to Sovereign Citizen, Gold Fringed Flags, and only silver and gold coinage being really money.

( FWIW, re: money. I can exchange Federal Reserve Notes for coffee, either roasted, or brewed. I really don't care about the theory of money past that. )
posted by mikelieman at 1:17 PM on October 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

Argh - breaking news whiplash . . .

Librul Media: Breaking news- FEMA is screwing over Americans blatantly
Me: that's bad
Librul Media: But it comes with a House Republican scandal resgination!
Me: that's good!
Librul Media: Trump is still "Predisent".
Me: . . . Can I go now?
posted by petebest at 1:22 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

No doubt about it, a jolly good war against an insignificant enemy is just what the Trump campaign needs

Insignificant? For context, Iran is much larger than Iraq and has more than double Iraq's population. Its military is Russian supplied and supported. The kicker is that Iran is currently the only country in the world that flies the F-14 Tomcat. Would the US really want to start a war against Iceman and Maverick?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:25 PM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Librul Media: But it comes with a House Republican scandal resgination!
Me: that's good!

Librul Media: Harvey Weinstein is a serial sexual harasser.
Me: that's bad...
Librul Media: But he's going to be taking on the NRA!
Me: that's... what the fuck?
posted by Talez at 1:35 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

BuzzFeed, Joseph Bernstein, Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream: "A cache of documents obtained by BuzzFeed News reveals the truth about Steve Bannon’s alt-right “killing machine.”"

These new emails and documents, however, clearly show that Breitbart does more than tolerate the most hate-filled, racist voices of the alt-right. It thrives on them, fueling and being fueled by some of the most toxic beliefs on the political spectrum — and clearing the way for them to enter the American mainstream.

It’s a relationship illustrated most starkly by a previously unreleased April 2016 video in which Yiannopoulos sings “America the Beautiful” in a Dallas karaoke bar as admirers, including the white nationalist Richard Spencer, raise their arms in Nazi salutes.

These documents chart the Breitbart alt-right universe. They reveal how the website — and, in particular, Yiannopoulos — links the Mercer family, the billionaires who fund Breitbart, to underpaid trolls who fill it with provocative content, and to extremists striving to create a white ethnostate.

They capture what Bannon calls his “killing machine” in action, as it dredges up the resentments of people around the world, sifts through these grievances for ideas and content, and propels them from the unsavory parts of the internet up to TrumpWorld, collecting advertisers’ checks all along the way.

And the cache of emails — some of the most newsworthy of which BuzzFeed News is now making public — expose the extent to which this machine depended on Yiannopoulos, who channeled voices both inside and outside the establishment into a clear narrative about the threat liberal discourse posed to America. The emails tell the story of Steve Bannon’s grand plan for Yiannopoulos, whom the Breitbart executive chairman transformed from a charismatic young editor into a conservative media star capable of magnetizing a new generation of reactionary anger. Often, the documents reveal, this anger came from a legion of secret sympathizers in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, academia, suburbia, and everywhere in between.

There's a lot in here, and while it's easy to roll your eyes and say "of course," BuzzFeed did the hard work to get the documents and nail down the details.

Oh, and Milo's excuse for the Nazi salutes:

He added that during his karaoke performance, his "severe myopia" made it impossible for him to see the Hitler salutes a few feet away.

posted by zachlipton at 1:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [70 favorites]

Iran also fields the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missle system and a domestically produced copycat system, which is far more advanced than anything Iraq has ever had and the US has never faced in live combat. The US would likely lose a whole lot of planes taking out those systems, even to conduct some kind of limited strike. Iran is in no way insignificant, they've been expecting an attack by the US and/or Israel for decades and have a lot more resources than even North Korea to prepare for it. War with Iran is unwinnable, and would be a far, far, bigger debacle than even Iraq, that's all there is to it. Even a limited strike would have only temporary benefits to the extent their nuclear program was set back, but that would be overcome as they obviously would double down and accelerate it in response.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

If memory serves me correctly, this information was known at the time. But it complicated the narrative, and the so-called "liberal media" basically ignored it.

I find it hard to believe that the media ignored a 'both sides' narrative!

Narrator voice: He did not find it hard to believe
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:53 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

Iran also has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz - which is no longer the most important shipping lane in the world, but it's still definitely up there. As of 2011 35% of the world's oil passed through the strait. Blocking or constricting that flow is one of the best weapons Iran could use against the US. They would almost certainly do it.

That would kneecap the global economy, 2008 style, and after that idek. Point is that the US starting that war would be punching its citizens in the face with $6-a-gallon gas prices.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 1:54 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

his "severe myopia" made it impossible for him to see the Hitler salutes a few feet away.

I guess I'm not surprised to learn that Milo's vision is myopic because that becomes clear every time he opens his mouth.

Wait, does he mean his sight?
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:55 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

That Buzzfeed article could be an FPP all by itself.
posted by PenDevil at 1:56 PM on October 5, 2017 [18 favorites]

BuzzFeed, Joseph Bernstein, Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream:

I object to the term "smuggled". It was wide open and brightly lit to anyone to glanced at it. This and that Nicole Chung story are going to be a double-header reference for some of my former acquaintances on - what's that TwitFace thing that doesn't have ads? Oh yeah, "email".
posted by petebest at 2:02 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Iran may not have nukes, but Israel sure does. Billions of dollars worth of American stamped nukes. (Which is why Iran wants nukes.) Conflict in that region is likely to end up with Israel involved, and I see no path where that ends well.

And, as mentioned above, rescinding the Iran deal will destroy faith in America's ability to negotiate. We are letting madmen destroy the country's core values all so Ryan and Bros can slip another bill under the Koch and Mercer g-strings.

The Republicans are willing to sacrifice everything for tax cuts, and that includes all life on this planet.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:08 PM on October 5, 2017 [23 favorites]

One portion of the BuzzFeed article that deserves highlighting if you can't read the whole thing, but there's seriously so much here:

First came Tim Gionet, the former BuzzFeed social media strategist who goes by “Baked Alaska” on Twitter, whom Yiannopoulos pitched to Fleuette as a tour manager in late May. Gionet accompanied Yiannopoulos to Florida after the June 2016 Pulse nightclub killings in Orlando. The two planned a press conference outside a mosque attended by the shooter, Omar Mateen. (“Brilliant,” Bannon emailed. “Btw they are ALL ‘factories of hate.’”) But after some impertinent tweets and back talk from Gionet, Fleuette became Yiannopoulos’s managerial confidante.

This is a guy who was, until quite recently, a senior advisor to the President of the United States, describing all mosques as "factories of hate."
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on October 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

Insignificant?

In the sense that the best of my knowledge, Iran is causing no harm to US interests, despite hostile relations.

In case my sarcasm was unclear, I think starting an unprovoked war is almost always a bad idea.
posted by Coventry at 2:13 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

My understanding is that there is no evidence that Iran is working toward nuclear weapons, that they have furthermore consistently emphasized that nuclear weaponry is un-Islamic and that the issue stems from adequate verification, not any positive evidence Iran is pursuing a bomb. Am I just being a naïf?
posted by tivalasvegas at 2:17 PM on October 5, 2017

Is it not known that the IRS was legitimately scrutinizing bullshit applications, by political groups, to be registered as non-political non-profits?

An important thing to note is that it isn't the non-profit status that is the issue. The organizations likely spend everything they take in so they have no profits to tax anyway.

What is the real issue is secrecy and anonymity. These political organizations could easily be set up as legal 527 or PAC non-profits, but if you do so, you are required to disclose all of your donors and all of your spending.

What these illegal political organizations were doing was setting up 501(c)(4) groups which are supposed to be for "social welfare" but more importantly are not required to disclose the names of donors or spending. So they were convenient vehicles for the Koch brothers to pour millions of dollars into local Tea Party groups anonymously. And they in turn could spend their money anonymously on Tea Party candidates. This is highly illegal.

So you can have a political non-profit (527 or PAC), but it can't act anonymously. Or if you want anonymity, you can't be political. But you can't do both and that is why many of these groups deserved scrutiny. Don't get hung up on the non-profit angle, because both the legal and illegal political organizations are non-profit.
posted by JackFlash at 2:19 PM on October 5, 2017 [34 favorites]

My understanding is that there is no evidence that Iran is working toward nuclear weapons,

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure General Electric and Westinghouse have a dozen or so between them...
posted by mikelieman at 2:20 PM on October 5, 2017

Billions of dollars worth of American stamped nukes.

I was under the impressions that Israel's nuclear weapons were home grown (with help from France at one point), and the U.S. officially does not acknowledge their nuclear weapons program. Is that not accurate?
posted by cell divide at 2:24 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

At least Iran's neighbors haven't been conducting a decade-long clinic on how to use asymmetric warfare to stymie a superpower.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:28 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

"Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran."

That's from an April 2003 article called "War Without End" that suggested we'd be bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like that would ever happen.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:30 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Well, it looks like Republicans are putting forward a law banning bump stocks, with NRA approval. The NRA is delighted that everyone is focusing on a trivial issue, one that nobody cared about a week ago and few gun owners care about. But it is a great distraction from the real issues and I'm sure the NRA is delighted.

This is how bad gun laws get written -- and it ain't about Democrats and semantics.
posted by JackFlash at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2017 [40 favorites]

"We will negotiate a better deal" is the new "we will be greeted as liberators."
posted by peeedro at 2:37 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Why would North Korea, or anyone, negotiate with the USA on nuclear weapons if Trump makes it clear than any deal can and probably will simply be torn up upon change of administration? This is absurd.
posted by Justinian at 2:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

Oh how nice John Kelly's personal phone has been compromised for months. Maybe this is a good thing?
posted by Brainy at 2:41 PM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

Obligatory note that we overthrew Iran's democratically-elected government in 1953 and replaced it with a dictatorship complete with US-trained torturing secret police.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:41 PM on October 5, 2017 [34 favorites]

"potentially as long ago as December"

BUT HER E-MA...oh fuck it.
posted by zachlipton at 2:42 PM on October 5, 2017 [27 favorites]

But it is a great distraction from the real issues and I'm sure the NRA is delighted.

I salute their willingness to roll back mass murder to more tolerable Sandy Hook and Pulse nightclub levels. /s
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:44 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

If Kelly's phone is compromised then Trumps must be a direct line to GRU HQ at this point.
posted by PenDevil at 2:46 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

You can't say it's "compromised" if he granted them the access. Trump, that is.
posted by VTX at 2:48 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

You can outlaw bump stocks, or automatic weapons, extended clips or whatever, but there's one thing you can outlaw that'll make a real difference: Outlaw the NRA.
posted by adept256 at 2:49 PM on October 5, 2017 [21 favorites]

If Kelly's phone is compromised then Trumps must be a direct line to GRU HQ at this point.

As opposed to two years ago?
posted by petebest at 2:49 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Everyone should read that Buzzfeed piece. Seriously.
Or at the very least, Sarah Jeong's twitter feed highlighting some of the gory details: Gotta love the men of media...
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Everyone should read that Buzzfeed piece. Seriously.

I just made it an FPP of its own.
posted by zachlipton at 2:59 PM on October 5, 2017 [20 favorites]

But wait, there's yet more damn news. CNN: Exclusive: Mueller's team met with Russia dossier author

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators met this past summer with the former British spy whose dossier on alleged Russian efforts to aid the Trump campaign spawned months of investigations that have hobbled the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Information from Christopher Steele, a former MI-6 officer, could help investigators determine whether contacts between people associated with the Trump campaign and suspected Russian operatives broke any laws.

CNN has learned that the FBI and the US intelligence community last year took the Steele dossier more seriously than the agencies have publicly acknowledged. James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, said in a January 2017 statement that the intelligence community had "not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable."

The story goes on to discuss the fight among over intelligence agencies as to whether to include the dossier's allegations in January report on Russian interference, with Comey not wanting Trump to believe the FBI was trying to blackmail him.

However, "the most salacious allegations in the dossier haven't been verified."
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on October 5, 2017 [21 favorites]

peetape
posted by Justinian at 3:19 PM on October 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open he's standin' out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
It struck me kinda funny, seemed kinda funny sir to me
Still at the end of every hard day people find some reason to peelieve
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:22 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

make my tape the P-tape
gonna need my eyeballs bleached
make my tape the P-tape
I want my Trump impeached
posted by uosuaq at 3:33 PM on October 5, 2017 [15 favorites]

What kind of monster would wish Trump on a dog?
posted by scarylarry at 3:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [86 favorites]

Internet’s Most Popular Donald Trump Chat Room Destroyed in Anime-Related ‘Coup’

Kind of an interesting parallel to Obamacare-Trumpcare there: they list all of these supposed criticisms of the original Discord server, which allegedly meant that the original server and community were right on the brink of dying... but, y'know, they had to carry out their "coup" by using administrative tools to wreck it and help along its demise, which just so happened to bump up the population of the alternative server they've set up where everything is totally under their control.
posted by XMLicious at 3:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Oh good lord no, no dog deserves that.
posted by mrgoat at 3:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

Let's be real, the dog would be foisted on some intern. Trump is a germophobic narssicist with no real interest in even most other humans.
posted by jaduncan at 3:44 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

the FBI and the US intelligence community last year took the Steele dossier more seriously than the agencies have publicly acknowledged.

OH REALLY. GOOD TO KNOW. NOW. THANKS, INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES. THANKS LIBRL MEDIA.

In other news, trump really should get a dog.

Nüüüüpe. You just put that idea away, niiiiiice and easy like.
posted by petebest at 3:44 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

If Mueller's investigators met with the dossier's author and are now investigating the dossier, it suggests that they found some, if not most, of the allegations credible.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:46 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump getting a dog is a bad idea and you are a bad person for saying it.

I do take your point about how forgiving the media is to Republican presidents, however.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 3:48 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Y'all, Trump would totally fuck up getting a dog, and it would be hilarious and horrifying for everyone but the dog, for whom it would only be the latter. He'd probably name the dog "Mitch McConnell" or some shit and make jokes about beating the dog whenever actual Human* Mitch misbehaves.

*allegedly
posted by duffell at 3:49 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

The perfect pet would be a two year old tortie cat. Torties are psychotic and temperamental under normal circumstances. (I love torties because they are just so good at disdainful catting.) There's no way a tortie wouldn't shred several people at the WH.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 3:49 PM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

If there's one thing the White House doesn't need right now it's yet another psychotic and temperamental creature.
posted by mmoncur at 3:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

Also. I'm unsure how this much insane shit keeps happening daily and it's like no one inside the house is really saying or doing much. I know we talk about this a lot but how is it that every person in congress isn't screaming?
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 3:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

if Trump had a dog he would fire the dog like a dog
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:54 PM on October 5, 2017 [38 favorites]

What kind of monster would wish Trump on a dog?
Historical Perspective
posted by mikelieman at 3:56 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

In other news, trump really should get a dog. Guaranteed bump in approval rating, plus it would do the fucker some good to play with a dog for a minute or two.

Like for example several unsocialized and untrained black Russian terriers? Hungry ones?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:56 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

(because see those were bred by the NKVD to eat dissidents so they might be unkind towards him)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:57 PM on October 5, 2017

If Trump does get a dog, I vote we all immediately start calling it "Alpha," and only ever call Donald Trump "Beta," forever.
posted by duffell at 3:57 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm calling the ASPCA on you people RIGHT NOW for even toying with this idea.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:58 PM on October 5, 2017 [29 favorites]

Pee Tape, to the tune of Shotgun by Jr. Walker and the All-Stars
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:05 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

if Trump had a dog he would fire the dog like a dog

Fake Trump: more and more people are discovering that dogs don't get fired or sweat like dogs.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:12 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

‘Pee Tape,’ never-released, discovered by the archivist at Paisley Park. Sounds a lot like ‘Gett Off’ with new lyrics and a different guitar solo.
posted by box at 4:14 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Here in the Bay Area, everyone is so excited for Fleet Week. But a bunch of low flying planes just went past and I actually ducked. I had a moment of "oh, fuck, we're under attack!"

Fuck Trump for making me fear death from above for the first time since the 80's. Well, ever, because I was young and immortal in the 80's.
posted by greermahoney at 4:34 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Um, this is concerning, from Justin Sink of Bloomberg:

So the White House broke a lid to summon us for photo op with Trump and military. Then things got weird
"You know what this represents?" Trump said. "Maybe it's the calm before the storm." Pressed on what "storm," Trump says, "You'll find out"
"We have the world’s greatest military people in the room,” Trump also said. Then the press was ushered out

Here's the photo with military brass and spouses.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on October 5, 2017 [40 favorites]

I think the ideal pet distraction would be some kind of extremely rare and expensive/prized breed of cat, gifted from a fellow head of state and specifically selected for its aloofness.

That way Trump might fixate on why the cat wasn't showering him with affection and approval the way a pet is supposed to, instead of lashing out at the media and the rest of the country.
posted by prosopagnosia at 4:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

There was some comment (in the last thread?) that had me thinking that Trump was getting a dog. I was starting to think about how a person might be able to rescue that dog before I realized I had simply parsed the sentence incorrectly.

Trump should not have a dog and I don't think anyone should let their dog near him.
posted by VTX at 4:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ivana Trump turned down ambassadorship offer from her ex (WaPo):

Ivana Trump, the first wife of President Trump and the mother of his three eldest children, is still close to her ex. Despite their tabloid-chronicled split, the pair still talk on a weekly basis, she said in a new interview, and he even offered her an ambassadorship to the Czech Republic, her native country — but she turned him down.

Why not take the high-profile diplomatic post? Ivana Trump, she of the perma-blonde updo and dramatic fashion sense, is too busy being fabulous, apparently.

“Why would I go and say bye-bye to Miami in the winter, bye-bye to Saint-Tropez in the summer, and bye-bye to spring and fall in New York?” she said in an interview with CBS’s “Sunday Morning” to air this weekend, a preview of which was posted on Thursday. “I have a perfect life.”

posted by peeedro at 4:53 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

NYT, Seven Flights for $800,000: Mnuchin’s Travel on Military Jets

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has flown on military aircraft seven times since March at a cost of more than $800,000, including a $15,000 round-trip flight to New York to meet with President Trump at Trump Tower, according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General.

The inquiry into Mr. Mnuchin’s air travel, prompted by an Instagram posting by his wife, found he broke no laws in his use of military aircraft but lamented the loose justification provided for such costly flights.

“What is of concern is a disconnect between the standard of proof called for” by the Office of Management and Budget “and the actual amount of proof provided by Treasury and accepted by the White House in justifying these trip requests,” the inspector general wrote.

The flights included a $15,000 trip to New York to visit Trump at Trump Tower in August. He claimed he needed the plane so he could have a classified phone call with Tillerson on the way, though making that call before he left would have saved taxpayers, say, $14,900 or so. A trip to Miami to meet with the Mexican finance minister cost nearly $44,000 on military aircraft.
posted by zachlipton at 4:53 PM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

zachlipton: Pressed on what "storm," Trump says, "You'll find out"

I hate coy "haha I might start a war" Trump. Storms are bad and to be dreaded, my dude. That's the whole point of the fucking idiom.
posted by bluecore at 4:57 PM on October 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

Ugh. It feels like it has been a tsunami of news in last couple of days and it is so hard to focus on one thing.

My Senator, Thom Tillis, tweeted out that he is happy to co-sponsor the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act." That means he cares nothing for the living-- no interest in making sure children or pregnant women have Health Insurance, no interest in protecting families through sane gun control legislation-- but he sure as hell worships the fetus. So much so that he is willing to ignore science and just pretend we have to disallow all abortions after 20 weeks.

@Andy Slavitt

GOP is now trying to create what I call "synthetic repeal." Before I explain what that means let me tell you why this is happening. GOP has 7 years of promises and a lot of fundraising to pay back. Moore's win in AL punctuates the point that the R base is very unhappy. GOP needs to compete in primaries & fundraise. Make no mistake that is a 2018 reality weighing on them.

Three strategic choices: a- say repeal failed & move on b- promise to try again next yr c- "synthetic repeal." Synthetic repeal allows them 2 say: sure, we didn't repeal the ACA because of RINO holdouts, but before long it will be effectively done. ynthetic repeal goes after ALL the big cahuanas: huge Medicaid cuts, pre-ex protections & the mandates. WITHOUT REPLACEMENTS. CBO would score the synthetic repeal an absolute disaster.

The tools for synthetic repeal are: - An Executive Order coming next week - The budget/tax plan - Sabotage of the ACA (not even denied.) The EO allows "association health plans"-- ability for plans to be offered with no pre-ex protections & turn ACA into a high risk pool. In states that have done things like this, like TN, premiums have skyrocketed and competitors have left the market.

This Executive Order next week is a massive undermining of state's, insurance markets & American families. Anyone will be able to create a plan that usurps state authority. And across state lines. Graham Cassidy "state's rights"

I added periods and paragraph breaks to make the thread more readable. He goes on to talk about how tax bill will be a way to cut Medicaid. Also the ways they are planning to sabotage the ACA. When it is useless it will be easy to repeal.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:57 PM on October 5, 2017 [20 favorites]

NBC News: Tillerson Summoned to White House Amid Presidential Fury. In which Trump spends hours venting to Kelly about the Tillerson story and got angry when Tillerson didn't deny it. And then White House staffers leak the whole thing to NBC News.
posted by zachlipton at 4:59 PM on October 5, 2017 [32 favorites]

Torties are psychotic and temperamental under normal circumstances

FAKE NEWS. My tortie is the sweetest creature ever and just wants love and access to a bottomless bowl of cat food.
posted by threeturtles at 5:01 PM on October 5, 2017 [15 favorites]

[Trump] even offered her an ambassadorship to the Czech Republic

To those of you who would question his judgement, I say good day.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:02 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Here's my hot take on the pee tape; Trump tries to wave it off, saying he's a germaphobe. That he is was recently demonstrated when he was so grossed out by water purification tablets in Puerto Rico. I mean, yes, he's a fucking moron, but usually somebody confronted with, I don't know, some water that has a bit of sediment in it but has been treated is not going to do an all WOULD YOU DRINK THAT HORRIBLE THING I MEAN WHO WOULD.

But! A driving force of this man is to negate Obama. Okay, here's a beautiful bed where Obama lay next to his lovely partner. And he gets to, in his mind, completely defile the scene. I mean, I don't really get it get it because pee is not the grossest bodily fluid to me, and who cares if people peed in the bed Obama slept in.

But I bet Trump would care. I bet he sees pee as demon germ fluid that can negate presidential legacies, used in the right way.
posted by angrycat at 5:03 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

We lost three soldiers to an ambush in Niger on Wednesday. Is this getting much in the way of attention in the news? I'm old enough to remember when something like this would be a top story for the day.

We've gotten to the point where we're losing soldiers in fights overseas outside our already-known warzone(s) and it's hardly even a blip on the radar.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:05 PM on October 5, 2017 [24 favorites]

I bet he sees pee as demon germ fluid that can negate presidential legacies, used in the right way.

You're seriously overthinking it. I guarantee it was more along the lines of "Obama and his wife slept there? Let's have some hookers piss all over it." And he thought it was hilarious.

I know, because I once had the intellect of an 11 year old boy.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 5:07 PM on October 5, 2017 [25 favorites]

We probably shouldn't overdo it on the pee tape thing tonight -- plenty of time for that -- but am I the only one who remembers this weird interview?
“It’s made up. Never existed. Never happened. And the reason I say that so strongly because nothing is ever going to show up. There’s never going to be a tape that shows up. There’s never going to be anything that shows up. Now, I would be very embarrassed if a tape actually showed up, saying something like that. It would be double embarrassed because I’m saying there is no tape. There is no event. I was never even in that room for that period of time.”
I always thought that deserved a little more attention. Nobody mentioned a room or a period of time...
posted by uosuaq at 5:22 PM on October 5, 2017 [42 favorites]

I was hoping based on the pool transcript that the "calm before the storm" remark was just more yammering about his much-threatened crackdown on the free press, but after watching the video it does indeed sound like he wants people to think he has a big military action up his sleeve.
posted by contraption at 5:25 PM on October 5, 2017

He's got something up something, for sure.
posted by uosuaq at 5:27 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

Here's where I'm unclear on the Iran deal, if Trump decertifies Iran's compliance, that doesn't end the deal, it goes to Congress to reimpose sanctions on Iran, yes? Are we sure 8 Democrats would vote for new sanctions? I can see 4-5 defections for sure, your Manchin, Donnley, Hietkamps, maybe Tester, and probably Feinstien, but Democrats should have the ability to block this, if they want to.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:30 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure it would be subject to filibuster. That said, I'm also not sure the Senate would reimpose sanctions. There would be R defections. Corker, for example.
posted by Justinian at 5:33 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Resistbot and I are so chummy but it gets so confused when I try to tell it goodnight.
posted by tilde at 5:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

but her online bullying campaign

To be fair, Melania knows what it's like to be bullied. She just doesn't know how to stop a bully.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

I am NOT FALLING for this stupid "Tune in later, you'll see" audience building trickery.

I AM NOT FALLING FOR IT, YOU HEAR ME TRUMP?

What time did you say to tune in? Next week?
posted by notyou at 5:40 PM on October 5, 2017

I always thought that deserved a little more attention. Nobody mentioned a room or a period of time...

"Period of time" is one of the many annoying and meaningless phrases he uses quite frequently in his ramblings. I wouldn't read too much into it
posted by zakur at 5:43 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

So this story just broke. It concerns how Trump personally intervened to sabotage Iowa's healthcare marketplace. It's lighting up my Facebook page, but I have no idea how much impact it will have on Iowans who don't already think Trump is evil.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:46 PM on October 5, 2017 [30 favorites]

he needs to go

Cy Vance just won the Dem primary and is running unopposed for a third term. If we want to get rid of him, it will have to be by like...pressure from a criminal investigation or something.

Which I would fucking LOVE.

Lawyers? What does it take to open up an investigation into this kind of sale of prosecutorial discretion / justice etc?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:48 PM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

There's still time to make it a more painful victory.
posted by rhizome at 5:50 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wow, ArbitraryAndCapricious, as an Iowan who hates Trump with the burning fires of the sun, that article actually made my hate go super-fucking-nova. These are people's lives the administration is fucking with.
posted by lineofsight at 5:54 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

@Kyle Griffin Elijah Cummings wants evidence Tom Price repaid taxpayers for his travel on private flights—wants a copy of the check he promised to write

Twitter link has a copy of the Letter from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to Secretary Mnuchin.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:00 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

There's still time to make it a more painful victory.

You saw that Cy Vance is running unopposed, right?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:01 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

So, today was a terrible day in here, because honestly, they're all terrible days in here now, but if you're needing some respite from the mind-bogglingly assinine/evil actions of our government, may I suggest taking a look at the rest of the blue? Maybe it's just me, but today's posts have been delightful. Kudos to all involved.
posted by greermahoney at 6:11 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

There is no rest of the blue really. As a matter of fact it's all dark.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:13 PM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

Will do, and I'll also write some more postcards to voters. Always a good (and productive!) calm-down.
posted by duffell at 6:14 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Well, it looks like Republicans are putting forward a law banning bump stocks, with NRA approval. The NRA is delighted that everyone is focusing on a trivial issue, one that nobody cared about a week ago and few gun owners care about. But it is a great distraction from the real issues and I'm sure the NRA is delighted.

A friend of mine pointed out that the NRA supports banning bump stocks as a regulation by the ATF, which can be undermined/waived/killed quietly later on, and would pre-empt having the ban being enacted as a law. Meanwhile, they expect to get credit from the so-called "liberal media" that "look! even the NRA is prepared to be reasonable now!"

To its credit, NPR actually noted the difference.
posted by Gelatin at 6:15 PM on October 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

Yes yes, Duffell! I got cardstock tonight to do postcards, too!
posted by greermahoney at 6:19 PM on October 5, 2017

I could not finish the Steve Bannon book before he got canned. So I'm reading some historical books.

Liars poker by Michael Lewis.

I wish I'd read it when it came out, but in my defense I was still reeling from puberty. While I was interested in all this shit, I didn't have the context of them that I have now. I do wish I'd read it in the early 2000's though. I might've come out of the bubble a little better, though I did pretty well as it was. You know in not having to file bankruptcy and live in a cardboard box like some of my friends did.

Anyway, I just read something that really made sense to me and made me understand Trump more.. Except for the part where he's not nearly as smart as the dumbest people in the book, he just likes "the look".

The context of this quote is that the guy who sold Solomon brothers was mad that people making him millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars wanted to be paid more than a couple hundred thousand a year. He didn't think they should. Because, it was his company making the money, and the people were just Lucky to bleeping be there.

The concept that he presided over no more than Jews with leverage it was alien to Gutfreund as the [company being big but not, say, the] Netherlands. Solomon brothers, where he was boss, was bigger than that. By the commutative property of executive grandeur John Gutfreund was bigger than that. Howie Ruben [The training who made lots of money and wanted to be paid more], on the other hand, didn't really figure, except as a cog. He could be replaced by another trainee.

Emphasis mine. That's what's going on with Trump. The commutative property of executive grandeur of being president of the United States, he must win there is no other way to be.
posted by tilde at 6:20 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

but I have no idea how much impact it will have on Iowans who don't already think Trump is evil.

"See, I told you Obamacare was failing! Suck it liebruls!"

actually, this is what Senators Grassley and Ernst will say
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:25 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine pointed out that the NRA supports banning bump stocks as a regulation by the ATF, which can be undermined/waived/killed quietly later on, and would pre-empt having the ban being enacted as a law. Meanwhile, they expect to get credit from the so-called "liberal media" that "look! even the NRA is prepared to be reasonable now!"

Writing a resistbot message is an artform. Longer than a tweet, longer than Limerick, but you must be economical with your screed. Most of my messages tonight were between 32 and 37 words. Otherwise you just get cut off.

I used a one word descriptor for the NRA bump ban: weaksauce. Now I'm really glad I did. That's a travesty. I mean on top of all the other travesties in this travesty Sharknado.
posted by tilde at 6:27 PM on October 5, 2017

Who investigates the district attorney?

I don't think that's the proper translation from the Latin.
posted by Gelatin at 6:37 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

So this story just broke. It concerns how Trump personally intervened to sabotage Iowa's healthcare marketplace.

I'm not so sure that article means what you are suggesting. Just because Trump is stupid doesn't mean that the Iowa Stopgap Plan is good.

What the Stopgap plan does is take subsidies away from poor people and give them to the better off people (presumably aggrieved upper middle-class whites).

For example, currently under Obamacare a family of four with income of $100,000 gets no subsidy for health insurance. The Stopgap plan would take money from poor people to give to that upper middle class family of four. As a result of stripping away subsides, a poor family, instead of having a subsidized plan that provided them a low deductible of, say, $500, would now have a deductible of $7000.

Keep in mind that the Iowa Obamacare is run by Republicans. They got in this mess because they implemented Medicaid expansion but using a previous waiver that relied on "free market" solutions that blunted it's effectiveness and contributed to the high premiums that they are seeking to fix using their Stopgap plan.

So, no, it doesn't appear that the new waiver they seek is beneficial to most Iowans in need. I'm guessing that Trump doesn't know the details but heard that Iowa was trying to "fix" Obamacare and just rejected it out of hand. He might inadvertently be doing Iowans a favor.
posted by JackFlash at 6:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

In other news, trump really should get a dog. Guaranteed bump in approval rating, plus it would do the fucker some good to play with a dog for a minute or two.

The good news is that he's only getting an Aibo. The bad news is that it's already been rooted by Russian intelligence.
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:52 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Secret Life of Gravy: "The tools for synthetic repeal are: - An Executive Order coming next week "

Just a note of caution that a lot of stuff is always coming "next week" from Trump.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:54 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

but after watching the video it does indeed sound like he wants people to think he has a big military action up his sleeve.

And all the other world leaders are laughing their asses off.
posted by Melismata at 6:57 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

tilde, the secret to longer Resistbot letters is to text them one sentence at a time. But I like your Omit Needless Words approach.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:03 PM on October 5, 2017

In other news, trump really should get a dog. Guaranteed bump in approval rating, plus it would do the fucker some good to play with a dog for a minute or two.

There is literally no dog in existence who deserves to deal with that guy.

Like if Milo Y. died and was immediately reincarnated as a dog and I knew that dog was Milo, I'd be like, "Okay he was raging scum as a human being but this is supposed to be his chance to mend his ways, so can't we find him a better home than this?"
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:03 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

Johnny Wallflower: tilde, the secret to longer Resistbot letters is to text them one sentence at a time.

No, I was filling up fax page one and it apparently doesn't send page two? It's hard enough (#firstworldproblems) to use as it is ... but apparently, I can send physical letters now ...
posted by tilde at 7:05 PM on October 5, 2017

Resistbot users who hate typing out letters on smartphones can also install MightyText and use a desktop browser instead. The free version should work just fine for that. Android only, sorry.
posted by christopherious at 7:13 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

NYT: President Trump nominated Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist with links to outspoken deniers of established science on climate change, to help lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Only the best people.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:13 PM on October 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

Resistbot users using Google Voice and who hate typing out letters on smartphones can go to voice.google.com and text that way. (Now I figure this out ... thanks christoperious!)
posted by tilde at 7:18 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) who is alive only because of the actions of a woman who happens to be both black and a lesbian will be attending the Family Research Council's summit where he, and the other attendees, will literally plot how best to take legal rights away from LGBT people and demonize them socially.

There's a word for someone who lacks the slightest hint of introspection, gratitude, or plain thoughtfulness required to do that. The word is "Republican".
posted by sotonohito at 7:26 PM on October 5, 2017 [97 favorites]

Every single behind-the-scenes White House story has so many people leaking stuff to the press that it makes me think of the telephone booth scene in Airplane.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:35 PM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

I use Facebook messages to type out resistbot letters, which lets me use a real keyboard.

Keep in mind that the Iowa Obamacare is run by Republicans.

Gosh! You don't say! That must be why everything is such a shitshow! How on earth did I fail to notice that the Republicans run everything here?!?

I promise you that I'm real aware that this state is run by Republicans, but thanks for the reminder, I guess. And while every aspect of the implementation of the ACA here has been a disaster, it's still significant that the President is deliberately intervening to sabotage a last ditch effort to prevent tens of thousands of people here from not having any access to insurance.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** PA-18 special -- Good backgrounder on the Tim Murphy seat and some potential candidates from Payday Report. Reschenthaler is my state senator, and as far as I can tell, he's dumber than a post.

** Odds & ends:
-- WaPo: Democrats just keep winning Republican seats they shouldn't be winning. It's Cillizza, so you know we've hit the conventional wisdom.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:47 PM on October 5, 2017 [27 favorites]

Remember, the Republican replacement plan was state "flexibility".

Which apparently they intended to deny if it resulted in more people getting insurance.

Republicans do not believe in the idea of health insurance, period. It's inarguable. They want to end healthcare delivery, period. Full stop. Unless you are rich enough to pay out of pocket. Including ending Medicare and Medicaid, even for old and disabled people. That is the goal. Either you have the cash in hand, immediately, or you fucking die you fucking moocher. That's the Republican healthcare system.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:50 PM on October 5, 2017 [37 favorites]

Goddammit, I accidentally hit post. More:

Virginia stuff:

-- MoJo on Dems expanding the field in House of Delegates races.

-- DKElections skeptical of that super Northam WaPo poll.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:52 PM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Has this Seth Abramson tweetstorm been posted yet? Lordy.
posted by un petit cadeau at 8:03 PM on October 5, 2017 [49 favorites]

I take comfort in imagining that Mueller and his team are probably having the time of their lives digging through this stuff.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:08 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I hope that whoever had to watch the Pee Tape got hazard pay.
posted by jferg at 8:11 PM on October 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Lordy is right...
posted by Windopaene at 8:25 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Coventry: "If it's easy to outline, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to read your reasoning."

Keep in mind I'm really Just Some Guy On The Internet. I am not secretly Nate Silver, I know campaign professionals and pollsters, but I am neither myself. I don't even live in Virginia anymore.

That all said, here are my thoughts.

* For governor - Dems have been (narrowly) winning statewide the past decade. The last GOP win to a statewide office was in 2009.

* Trump approval is -12, and Gillespie has not been trying to distance himself from Trump. At all.

* Polling has consistently had Northam with small leads. Gillespie's not led any poll for quite some time.

* Gillespie had an extremely divisive primary, Northam's was way more positive. Afterwards, Stewart basically told Gillespie to fuck himself; Perriello pledged to campaign for Northam (and has). We may see at least a few GOP stay-at-homes, I don't think we're going to see any serious defection on the left.

* Both Northam and Gillespie are known quantities - Northam is the LG, Gillespie ran for Senate in 2014. So, people are somewhat baked in with their opinions.

* Northam seems to be winning the money race - he raised $6.4M in Sept, has $5.7M on hand.

* As for LG, that normally follows the governor, if there is no incumbent. Neither Fairfax nor Vogel are super well known, so it's a fair bet they'll follow along.

* The GOP had a long winning streak for AG, broken by Herring, who is running again. Adams doesn't have a high profile. This will probably follow the gov result, with a slight chance of Herring winning even if Northam does not. I can't see Adams winning with a Gillespie loss.

* On the HOD races, I've had to rely on some of the analysis I've see out there. The Dems are running a lot more people this year (some good candidates, too), and there's a general sense that changing voter demographics are catching up to guys like Bob Marshall. And there's the fact that the state voted for Hillary, and there are 17 Hillary districts held by the GOP. But incumbency + gerrymandering can get you pretty far, and there is some serious money backing the GOP. A lot of people seem to think the Dems pick up about 10 seats; special election results make me a little more optimistic, but the needed 17 seats just seems a bridge too far. I hope to be wrong.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:25 PM on October 5, 2017 [30 favorites]

Oh, I'm planning to do an FPP for Election Day, with some stuff on the NJ and VA regulars, plus the 40 or so specials. Thought it would be best to keep the many many results out of this thread.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:29 PM on October 5, 2017 [32 favorites]

Today's report from the legal front, courtesy of LAT -- these points seem a bit undigested, but are the highlights of potentially important developments on the immigration fight:

Federal appeals court judges on the West Coast and in Virginia cited Trump’s tweets and his campaign pledge to enact a “Muslim ban” in rulings that blocked the earlier versions of the travel order from taking effect.

Those opinions “remain legally consequential,” Justice Department lawyers said in a letter to the justices, but should not stand because they could shape future court battles.
...
The skirmishing follows the Supreme Court’s decision to postpone arguments on Trump’s immigration power, which had been set for Oct. 10.

On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers said the current cases should be dismissed as moot. The ACLU and Hawaii insisted they were not moot because the essential dispute is still alive.

But a new round of litigation is already underway. A federal judge in Maryland has scheduled a hearing on the new travel order for Oct. 17.

posted by snuffleupagus at 9:29 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Once again, Chrysostom, Thanks for all you do. You're seriously doing great work.

Chrysostom for President!!!
(No, really. Save us.)
posted by greermahoney at 9:31 PM on October 5, 2017 [20 favorites]

Has this Seth Abramson tweetstorm been posted yet? Lordy.

I would really like to know how many of those Russian guys who died in weird situations were connected to Steele
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:36 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

Chrysostom for President!!!

Oh, God, I'd be lousy. We could find better people just in these threads.

Still, I would be a huge improvement, that's true.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:40 PM on October 5, 2017 [14 favorites]

Vote Whelk for Socialist Utopia.
posted by The Whelk at 9:50 PM on October 5, 2017 [58 favorites]

(Oh hey the city’s community board positions are like mostly empty and people can run unopposed.


Hmmm)
posted by The Whelk at 9:51 PM on October 5, 2017 [19 favorites]

yes plz whelk for basically any office.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:59 PM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

Oh, now I thought there might be a Whelk/YCTAB primary.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:00 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Civil war starts when Mueller and company present an air-tight case against Trump, et al, and congress refuses to do anything about it. I'd guess less than a quarter of people who consider themselves "republicans" will demand justice, so it's going to be ugly. It's going to come down to who among the military cares more about partisanship than the citizenry, which is utterly fucked, but there we are.

(It's telling that if I were to watch Basic Instinct right now I'd be "So the deal is you get to have sex with Sharon Stone and when death comes, ahem, an infinite nap with no more republicans...forever? Hm. Hmmmmmm.")
posted by maxwelton at 10:10 PM on October 5, 2017 [13 favorites]

You could write in Marc Fliedner , the progressive , gay, Our Revolution backed DSA member who lost his primary for Brooklyn DA and I’m not just saying that cause his son follows me on twitter.
posted by The Whelk at 10:11 PM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

NYT: For Republican Leaders in Congress, the Headaches Keep Mounting

Too many choice bits to excerpt!

Republican leaders in Congress are under attack from all sides of their own party, battered by voters from the right and left, spurned by frustrated donors and even threatened by the Trump White House for ineffective leadership and insufficient loyalty.
...
Republicans are increasingly mystified by their own grass roots, an electorate they thought they knew, and distressed that a wave of turnover in their ranks could fundamentally change the character of Congress.
...
Mr. Trump is not helping.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:16 PM on October 5, 2017 [10 favorites]

The Whelk, could DSA organize a write in campaign for NYC district attorney? It seems like it wouldn't be crazy, lots of New Yorkers must be mad.
posted by medusa at 10:27 PM on October 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

I bring even more rage.

Politico reports that Tim Murphy's abortion scandal was the least of his problems, in which he and his chief of staff are accused of harassing and mistreating aides. The headline kind of hits the point hard: Inside Tim Murphy's reign of terror. He was pushed to resign immediately after it became clear the House Ethics Committee might have to start investigating his office. Allegations include verbal and emotional abuse by his chief of staff, such as berating staff for their restroom use or using a paper clip instead of a staple.
posted by zachlipton at 10:34 PM on October 5, 2017 [29 favorites]

The Whelk, could DSA organize a write in campaign for NYC district attorney? It seems like it wouldn't be crazy, lots of New Yorkers must be mad.

DSA city steerage has basically said they’re not going to get formally involved in DA races cause ...DAs, but one can encourage ones’ comrades to make to some noise and put on some pressure cause , this is a big cross left and cross liberal problem, we all want Cy out, so let’s work on making that Happen..

It would be a very good thing if every manhattan DSA member wrote in a vote is what I’m saying and a very good thing if everyone else did so .
posted by The Whelk at 10:41 PM on October 5, 2017 [7 favorites]

I feel like this has been a particularly enraging day.

How can you tell?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:47 PM on October 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

Meant to say it earlier, but: excellent title for this FPP, Merus!

Another topical, deep cut from the Golden Age of The Simpsons!
posted by darkstar at 10:48 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

We had a recommendation slate for city primaries but that’s only cause we only wanted to focus on our candidates.

There’s some hostility towards electoral politics within the city steerage membership, basically we don’t want to get hijiacked by the state’s machine politics (like say Working Families Did, and the De Baliso situation where someone runs as a leftist then RUNS to the center once elected) but I think that will change as we get larger and time goes on, but we really want to focus on running socialists and socialist afiliated canidates.

And as I remind myself, The electoral ground is less than a year old and we nearly won a primary against an incumbent in a conversative distinct.
posted by The Whelk at 10:56 PM on October 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Like I do wish they got into DA races but the argument is, NYC is unique in having progressive organizing infrastructure, it’s still werid for us to be in electoral politics and not just labor organizing, let’s grow slow and just focus on a few things now and spread it out , policy, electoral, labor, etc (that being said vote Jabari in Brooklyn for city council )
posted by The Whelk at 11:00 PM on October 5, 2017

(To Be Fair we’re a political organization that organizes people and supports canidates VS. we’re a political organization that RUNS canidates and legislators is kind of the big unspoken rift in the organization now )

It’s are we a political organization or are we a subliminal party?

And that’s going to be answered by ...how well elections go ...this year
posted by The Whelk at 11:03 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

How the hell was "the White House Chief of Staff's phone has been compromised since, idk, maybe last December" a comparatively minor story today?
posted by zachlipton at 11:17 PM on October 5, 2017 [73 favorites]

I'm just saying, somebody needs to organize a write in campaign or just call up the Ladies' Assassination Squad already.
posted by medusa at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Like I think being extremely angry at Cy online in a fun side project I can fold into “stuffing envelopes at the National Office” and “running the Halloween lower manhattan party”

PS everyone come to the lower manhattan DSA party
posted by The Whelk at 11:39 PM on October 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Whelk you're gettin me all riled up
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:54 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I had the worst nightmare I can remember having the other night. Under the right conditions (migraine, forgetting to take medication) I have these nightmares where time seems to fold and the nightmare goes on for a fucking month.

I won't go into details, because they were really horrific, aside from the fact that there was this weird dream thing going on where there were no authorities, just a bunch of us looking at radar and seeing this slow moving thing on the radar, and in some fucked-up dream logic, we were all, "That's either a hurricane OR a nuclear missile! We got to run."

And aside from details I won't go into, the worst thing about the dream was that aside from a few of us, nobody was running. It was terrible: earnestly shouting into people's faces that they had to act now, and nothing was happening.

Anyways, happy Friday!
posted by angrycat at 3:44 AM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

CIA director Pompeo considered to replace Tillerson
Trump advisers and allies are floating the idea of replacing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, age 53 — someone who's already around the table in the Situation Room, and could make the switch without chaos. We're told that Trump is quite comfortable with Pompeo, asking his advice on topics from immigration to the inner workings of Congress. Pompeo personally delivers the President's Daily Brief, making him one of the few people Trump spends a great deal of time with on a daily basis.
posted by PenDevil at 4:44 AM on October 6, 2017 [10 favorites]

The Daily Brief is that printout of flattering comments from Fox News, right?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:46 AM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Daily Brief is that printout of flattering comments from Fox News, right?

I just assumed Donnie needs someone to remind him to put on a clean pair of drawers every day.
posted by phunniemee at 5:09 AM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

I'll write in The Whelk for Manhattan Attorney General in November.

Yeah, when an asshole is running unopposed is basically the time to do a write in, but also this is why small third parties shouldn't give up any seat, because otherwise Working Families or something could be cleaning up.
posted by corb at 5:27 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

So, Tillerson out by the end of the weekend? That'll suck some oxygen out of the NRA/Puerto Rico/Tim Murphy/Relentless Mueller news cycle.
posted by lydhre at 5:29 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pretty accurate, as metaphors go, angrycat. Things are bad enough as it is, but all signs indicate that a colossal catastrophe of as-yet indeterminate form inexorably approaches. How could it be otherwise? A malevolent creature is at the helm. He will do horrible things at every turn - in his role as president, in self-defense, in order to shock, please, or punish, and for no discernable reason at all (as we will continue to discover in the aftermath) - because that is who he is. And even though our system was constructed with some degree of safeguards against such a situation, those safeguards require sensible people to invoke them.

And that's not even a swipe at Republicans in particular, or any other political set. In simplified terms, it seems to be a common human condition that, once a monster has slipped past an individual's perceptual defenses and passed as human, that individual is essentially rendered insensible to the indicators that would otherwise plainly reveal the malevolence of the monster's actions. Excuses and rationalizations preempt that awareness from emerging. Each egregious act trends to be treated singularly as an outlier, instead of as part of the dominant pattern. And so on.

In my direct and indirect experience, it may be well nigh impossible for an individual in that state to subsequently acquire the comprehension that they are living cheek to jowl with a monster. And all the alarms that others raise are seen as, well, alarmist.

It's as though the individual's psychological defenses get reprogrammed to protect them from experiencing the horror that would accompany becoming aware of how they, themselves, assisted a monster in creating a catastrophe of their own lives. Maybe the mechanism works that way because, evolutionarily, once you're in it that deeply and intimately, your best chance of survival is self-sublimation.

And happy Friday to you, too.
posted by perspicio at 5:32 AM on October 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

That'll suck some oxygen out of the NRA/Puerto Rico/Tim Murphy/Relentless Mueller news cycle.

You forgot Peetape.
posted by petebest at 5:34 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Which would mean a new director of the CIA, yet another opportunity for teh awful to multiply itself.

This is like watching a collapsing star - at each stage, a different sort of force prevents gravity from winning and turning it into a black hole, until whatever is fuelling one pause runs out and the next stage of collapse occurs. At this point, it's only the back pressure of quantum stupidity which is keeping the lights on.
posted by Devonian at 5:34 AM on October 6, 2017 [34 favorites]

Roy Moore’s Neo-Confederate Sugar Daddy Has Deep Ties To Secessionists (Cameron Joseph, TPM)

There’s a long history of southern conservative politicians playing footsie with fringe groups that hold controversial views on race. But that’s become more fraught in recent years as the advent of YouTube, camera phones and campaign trackers has made it harder to keep those meetings quiet. It’s also become more controversial to speak to Confederate groups in recent years as parts of the South have changed and in the wake of murderous racist violence in Charleston and Charlottesville. But even by the old standards, Moore’s deep ties to Peroutka — and Peroutka’s views — stand out, as most of those groups weren’t actively calling for the South to secede again.

Peroutka, a 2004 Constitution Party presidential nominee who in 2014 won a seat as a Republican on the county commission in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, spent years on the board of the Alabama-based League of the South, a southern secessionist group which for years has called for a southern nation run by an “Anglo-Celtic” elite. The Southern Poverty Law Center designates the League of the South as a hate group (a designation Peroutka regularly jokes about). That organization, after Peroutka left, was one of the organizers of the Charlottesville protests last summer that ended in bloodshed..

posted by Room 641-A at 5:42 AM on October 6, 2017 [20 favorites]

Has this Seth Abramson tweetstorm been posted yet? Lordy.

Where does Abramson fall on a scale of 1 to Louise Mensch? I really can’t remember who to trust anymore in the media. Except Ashley Feinberg. Her I trust
posted by dis_integration at 5:43 AM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

So, Tillerson out by the end of the weekend?

Not unless Trump is willing to lose Mnuchin and Mattis at the same time. Tillerson and Mnuchin have massive tax bills at stake if they get dismissed before February '18 and they will not go quietly.
posted by Talez at 5:48 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

That'll suck some oxygen out of the NRA/Puerto Rico/Tim Murphy/Relentless Mueller news cycle.

>You forgot Peetape.

I was filing that under Relentless Mueller but it could very well stand to have its own heading.
posted by lydhre at 5:50 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Talez, I've heard of "the pact" but I'll believe it when I see it. Like you said, they have huge tax bills at stake and Mnuchin does not exactly strike me as a principled man who will stick his neck out for Tillerson but what do I know it's 2017 we're now actively rooting for James Comey.
posted by lydhre at 5:51 AM on October 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

> "... the Charlottesville protests last summer that ended in bloodshed."

Bloodshed and murder. They murdered someone. How the hell has that one gotten lost in all the noise?
posted by kyrademon at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2017 [29 favorites]

There’s a long history of southern conservative politicians playing footsie with fringe groups that hold controversial views on race.

I love how they can't just say "racist groups". No, that'd be too direct. Instead they have to play this weird game with talking around it.
posted by sotonohito at 6:03 AM on October 6, 2017 [21 favorites]

Tillerson and Mnuchin have massive tax bills at stake if they get dismissed before February '18

Talez, can you say more about this, please?
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:06 AM on October 6, 2017

Wait. I screwed up. It's not one year it's 60 days. So it looks like it's already passed.
posted by Talez at 6:37 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

MT - High officials are required to divest certain investments (Trump "gave away" his companies to his sons).
Clearly it would be unethical for the SoS to be a major Exxon stockholder. So he is forced to sell.
Normally this would trigger a huge tax bill, but there's an excemption for this situation (fair, I guess).
But the official must stay in this position for a period of time to prevent abusing this.
Tillerson hasn't yet been in his position long enough to avoid the tax bill if he resigns/is fired.
posted by jclarkin at 6:41 AM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Where does Abramson fall on a scale of 1 to Louise Mensch?

Mensch is on a completely different axis - she's an opportunistic conspiracy theory–peddler who's burned her bridges with the Tories and Rupert Murdoch alike but has an eye for the next controversy bandwagon upon which to jump, e.g. Gamergate. Her FISA warrant claims, which have been thoroughly taken apart, are a classic case of a broken clock being right twice a day.

Abramson, a lawyer by vocation rather than a journalist, may go off into the weeds and slip in an apoplectic and/or apocalyptic tone, but at least he's scrupulous about extrapolating his claims from published, vetted media sources. For instance, in his latest tweetstorm, when he attributes a quote "There is more than one [Trump] tape, audio and video, from more than one place, on more than one date, of a sexual nature." to "The CIA", he's referring to a BBC story by Paul Wood - who have stood by it. It's not a direct quote, however, only information passed on anonymously through an intermediary, and Wood's source(s) in The Company clammed up once Trumpist Mike Pompeo came on board as Director.

So, caveat lector, but being a lector of his Twitter feed is OK with a grain of salt. Where mainstream journalists have been playing catch-up to the Trump-Russia affair, he's at least trying to get ahead of received ideas about what's going on.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:51 AM on October 6, 2017 [20 favorites]

So, pee tapeS?
posted by furtive at 6:55 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I thought we determined that there is no pee tape, there never was a pee tape, and there never will be a pee tape, because who uses tape anymore? There's a pee DVD or maybe a pee SD card.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:00 AM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

Honestly, one should be sceptical of the Moscow Ritz-Carlton pee-party story since its luridness sounds like exactly what would appeal to campaign oppo research—and let's remember that the Steele Dossier started out as that (and expect that Trump's supporters will lean on its origins heavily in his defense). What's completely believable is that at the very least, the then-married Trump got into numerous sexual peccadillos on his Russian trips - such as propositioning a former Miss Hungary - that would inevitably have made it into his every-growing kompropat file with the FSB.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:10 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a pee DVD or maybe a pee SD card.

in any case it's probably an .mpeeg
posted by cortex at 7:17 AM on October 6, 2017 [51 favorites]

Oh, God, it'll be the Calvin peeing window sticker, but with Trump's hair, won't it?
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:19 AM on October 6, 2017 [19 favorites]

The only way a pee tape gets Trump fired is if the prostitute is black.
posted by PenDevil at 7:22 AM on October 6, 2017

The “calm before the storm” stuff seemed like his usual Drunk Uncle bullshitting to fill the space, and when reporters in that video asked him to clarify, he says “you’ll find out” as a continuation of the bullshitting.

Just a reminder Obama had them rolling in the aisles at the Correspondents Dinner and 24 hours later was watching the Bin Laden raid. Can you imagine Trump doing a public speech before a top secret operation he knows about is supposed to go down after the way he gave Israeli sourced intel up to the Russians in the Oval Office?
posted by PenDevil at 7:31 AM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

When the pee tape surfaces, it will raise the credibility of everything else in the dossier to 100%.
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:32 AM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's not one year it's 60 days.

From my reading the 60 Days refers to exemptions from divestiture (if the appointee will not serve beyond 60 days, they may be exempt from the requirement) rather than any time requirement for the tax deferral to kick in. Speaking of, I've seen this described as a tax deferral rather than a waiving of taxes -- when the property (bonds, funds, whatever) that the divested funds were redirected to are sold, the capital gains are to be paid then. I have not been able to learn if the tax basis from the old investments carries over to the new, or if the "deferred taxes" uses the new tax basis of the new investments when taxes are calculated on their eventual sale. (If the latter, then that's a big tax break, depending on past performance, etc.) ("Tax basis," for those who may not know, is the price at which the property was bought, and serves as the floor for calculating the value -- and the hence the taxes due -- of any gains.)

Scaramucci divested way back in January, but didn't get the job until ... whenever that was in Trump Time ... and the issue he has is that the law is clear that property that was divested prior to the requirement for divestiture (hire date, basically) is ineligible for the special treatment.
posted by notyou at 7:35 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's 2017. If the pee isn't streaming, it really should be.
posted by emelenjr at 7:38 AM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's 2017. If the pee isn't streaming, it really should be.

I’m not a doctor, but I believe that’s accurate regardless of the year.
posted by Superplin at 7:44 AM on October 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

If you search for 'pee tape' on Giphy the first hits are Pee-Wee Herman and Ralph Wiggum. So, hooray?
posted by Room 641-A at 7:45 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I’m not a doctor, but I believe that’s accurate regardless of the year.

If you find yourself experiencing weak-stream, move the router closer to the toilet
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:50 AM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Janell Ross, WaPo: In Puerto Rico, Trump's paper-towel toss reveals where his empathy lies

Trump’s behavior during his four-hour trip to Puerto Rico follows a familiar pattern. This is what grudging benevolence rooted in a sense of personal superiority and belief in the power of performance looks like.

Nicholas Vargas, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Florida, noted that Trump doesn’t approach everyone in such a state of callous disconnect. In August, Trump said there were “very fine people” among the white supremacists at a rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead. Soon after, he pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, formally expressing concern for a man known for racially profiling Latinos and housing jail inmates outdoors in tents.

In these cases, Trump showed compassion.

“But when it comes to Puerto Rico and the humanitarian crisis there, what we see is a hands-off, bitter, hardly restrained resentment that anything is expected of him at all,” said Vargas, who studies issues related to race and ethnicity. “This is a man who has the capacity to empathize. It — even in a catastrophe — is just a selective thing.”

These images show a president without mercy for certain human beings, “people unlike him,” Vargas said. “That is women, people of color — even in the most dire of circumstances.”

posted by ZeusHumms at 8:16 AM on October 6, 2017 [37 favorites]

“This is a man who has the capacity to empathize. It — even in a catastrophe — is just a selective thing.”

"It was previously thought that psychopaths lacked the capacity for empathy but new research shows they are able to switch it on and off 'at will'. [...] The study, conducted by the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and published in the journal Brain, suggests that the ability to selectively ‘switch on’ their empathy allows psychopaths to more effectively manipulate those around them."
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:20 AM on October 6, 2017 [39 favorites]

WaPo: Trump administration narrows Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate

"Senior Justice Department officials said the guidance was merely meant to offer interpretation and clarification of existing law. But the interpretation seemed to be particularly favorable to religious entities, possibly at the expense of women, LGBT people and others."

Possibly at the expense of women, LGBT people and others. POSSIBLY? YOU DON'T FUCKING SAY. I'm ready to ragequit and it's not even noon yet.
posted by lydhre at 8:42 AM on October 6, 2017 [38 favorites]

Trump Administration Set to Roll Back Birth Control Mandate

The administration lists health risks that it says may be associated with the use of certain contraceptives, and it says the mandate could promote “risky sexual behavior” among some teenagers and young adults.

...The Trump administration said the new rules would take effect immediately because “it would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest to engage in full notice and comment rule-making.” Still, it said, it will accept comments from the public.

The new rules, drafted mainly by political appointees at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, seek “to better balance the interests” of women with those of employers and insurers that have conscientious objections to contraceptive coverage.

posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:44 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

“The wolf eats, possibly at the expense of the sheep.”

Fuck your weasel words, WaPo. Call it what it is.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:45 AM on October 6, 2017 [37 favorites]

Not unless Trump is willing to lose Mnuchin and Mattis at the same time. Tillerson and Mnuchin have massive tax bills at stake if they get dismissed before February '18 and they will not go quietly.

To invoke the spirit of Toby Ziegler: I will bet all the money in my pockets against all the money in your pockets that Mnuchin will never live up to that alleged "suicide pact." This is not a man who does anything on principle.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:50 AM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

US Intelligence Unit Accused Of Illegally Spying On Americans’ Financial Records (Jason Leopold & Jessica Garrison, BuzzFeed News)

The intelligence division at the Treasury Department has repeatedly and systematically violated domestic surveillance laws by snooping on the private financial records of US citizens and companies, according to government sources.

Over the past year, at least a dozen employees in another branch of the Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, have warned officials and Congress that US citizens’ and residents’ banking and financial data has been illegally searched and stored. And the breach, some sources said, extended to other intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency, whose officers used the Treasury’s intelligence division as an illegal back door to gain access to American citizens’ financial records. The NSA did not respond to requests for comment.

The new rules, drafted mainly by political appointees at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, seek “to better balance the interests” of women with those of employers and insurers that have conscientious objections to contraceptive coverage

Can all the women Ds please sponsor a bill which would eliminate insurance coverage and tax to hell and back Viagra and other ED drugs. Not as a stunt, as a real fucking bill.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:51 AM on October 6, 2017 [48 favorites]

Everything Odinsdream is saying is correct from what I hear as well, with the exception that JetBlue has decided to offer discount fares off the island after the outrage over price gouging. They are also offering free fares to volunteers arriving.
posted by corb at 9:10 AM on October 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

Trump Guts Requirement That Employer Health Plans Pay For Birth Control (NPR, Oct. 6, 2017)

The Trump administration is rolling back the Obama-era requirement that employer-provided health insurance policies cover birth control methods at no cost to women.

According to senior officials with the Department of Health and Human Services, the goal of the new rule is to allow any company or nonprofit group to exclude the coverage for contraception if it has a religious or moral objection.

"This provides an exemption and it's a limited one," said Roger Severino, director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights. "We should have space for organizations to live out their religious identity and not face discrimination."

He said he expects most companies will continue to provide coverage for birth control and that the changes will only affect a tiny percentage of U.S. women. The new rules are being published Friday in the Federal Register and go into effect immediately.
...
The Affordable Care Act requires employer-provided health insurance policies to include coverage for preventive health care. After the law passed, HHS used its regulatory authority to specify what has to be included in those preventive services, and birth control, including "all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity."

But the policy was controversial from the start.

Several companies and religious groups sued, saying the rule infringed on their religious freedom.

So this is the extension of religious freedom and corporate personhood - a company can be religious. What was the last time that Hobby Lobby went to church? Anyway, how is this not forcing your religious beliefs on those who work for you, restricting their religious freedoms? I know that Hobby Lobby's case was settled in 2014, but I'm still seething about that bullshit.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:20 AM on October 6, 2017 [32 favorites]

After reading the incomprehensible, horrifying report that odinsdream shared, the paranoid part of my brain--usually nearly completely dormant--suddenly reared up and noticed that the timing of the Las Vegas shooting sure was convenient to completely turn the media narrative away from Puerto Rico, and wow that might explain the LV shooter's multiple bookings in different places, overlooking different music festivals, over the last few weeks, which until now didn't really make too much sense to me.

But it is now within realm of consideration, at least for my brain, that the powers-that-be have various true believers ready to go, continually in place at public events around the country, ready to start shooting should an appropriately large "distraction" be needed. And I absolutely hate that the world is now a place where I not only think that, but don't also dismiss the thought as ugly and ridiculous, and instead just plainly consider it, and note that it's not implausible.

This is all horrifying.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:21 AM on October 6, 2017 [10 favorites]

MetaFilter: I'm still seething about that bullshit
posted by kirkaracha at 9:22 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh fucking fuck, there's more in that NPR article:

HHS officials say they also plan more stringent enforcement of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that prohibits federal subsidies from being used for insurance policies that cover abortion. The agency will issue guidelines for insurers today on how they have to charge women who want abortion coverage at least $12 a year more for such a policy, and they have to keep that money in a separate fund to be used only to pay for abortions.

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!

The Trump administration's rule is likely to face its own legal challenges from groups that favor contraception.

You don't say, NPR. You don't say.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:23 AM on October 6, 2017 [40 favorites]

So this is the extension of religious freedom and corporate personhood - a company can be religious. What was the last time that Hobby Lobby went to church?

And what other parts of your compensation for employment can bosses control? No more spending your salary on food at a restaurant they dislike. Don't buy Bounty, we hate lumberjacks. Fuel up exclusively at Exxon.

Not that they'd be any less fucking awful (see: Hyde amendment) when government drives health care, but having health care tied to employment is fucking hideous.
posted by phearlez at 9:32 AM on October 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

The firm helping Republicans relocate to red states BBC, video

Fed up with California politics, Paul looked to Texas.
Now he's helping others do the same.

I'm just so tired today. I imagine that the Mueller team is racing against time in order to get Trump impeached before he bombs Iran or NK. And I imagine the Rs in Congress are racing against time in order to get as many of their obscene inhumane proposals through before they either are obliged to impeach Trump or are voted out in a landslide.

And then I look around at what else is going on and I feel like have aged 100 years.

The account odinsdream posted makes me think that when all those stranded tourists and climate-refugee Puerto Ricans really begin arriving in mainland US, this is going to be a huge, global scandal. The reason it hasn't happened already is that not enough is known, not that other things are distracting.
posted by mumimor at 9:35 AM on October 6, 2017 [26 favorites]

Oh, and some fun news at the state level from New Mexico, which I only recently heard on the local public radio station, but Mother Jones picked up back in mid September: New Mexico Doesn’t Want Your Kids to Know How Old the Earth Is. Or why it’s getting warmer. (Andy Kroll, Sept. 15, 2017)

New Mexico’s public education agency wants to scrub discussions of climate change, rising global temperatures, evolution, and even the age of planet Earth from the standards that shape its schools’ curriculum.

The public meeting is on a Monday morning from 9 to noon, but I can send feedback via email or fax, so I will. If I was to attend in person, I'd go with a snarky approach, thanking PED for ensuring that New Mexico has a steady stream of low-skill, uninformed worker drones for the industries that are sure to come to the state and bring economic prosperity to our rural, poor corner of the Southwest. Why else keep the truth of the world from our students, than make sure they can't adapt and cope, or even find ways to improve the present and future realities they'll face?

So instead, I'll plead for positive changes in the face of daunting realities, realities that we'd like to ignore or deny, which we as current adults might be able to do, but won't be an option for the next generation and the generations to follow.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:37 AM on October 6, 2017 [13 favorites]

So this is the extension of religious freedom and corporate personhood - a company can be religious. What was the last time that Hobby Lobby went to church? Anyway, how is this not forcing your religious beliefs on those who work for you, restricting their religious freedoms? I know that Hobby Lobby's case was settled in 2014, but I'm still seething about that bullshit.

Gun Control and Religious Freedom: How Thinking in Constitutional Absolutes Is Killing People

In 1977, the National Rifle Association experienced the “Revolt in Cincinnati,” where extreme gun rights advocates took over the NRA and converted it from an organization that primarily advocated for firearm safety education, marksmanship training, and recreational shooting into a lobbying powerhouse focused nearly exclusively on Second Amendment advocacy. One excellent summary of this transformation includes this note: “The NRA’s new leadership was dramatic, dogmatic and overtly ideological. For the first time, the organization formally embraced the idea that the sacred Second Amendment was at the heart of its concerns.” Sound familiar?

Since the Revolt in Cincinnati, the gun rights lobby has successfully pushed an absolute right to gun ownership in courts and legislatures, culminating in the 2008 Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller, which established for the first time a dramatic reimagining of the Second Amendment as creating an individual right to own a gun. This dramatic reimagining is exactly what groups like Liberty Institute are trying to do with the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. They are trying to turn free exercise into an absolute right that must be protected even when it infringes on the rights of others.

To hear those seeking to redefine religious freedom tell it, any action motivated by religion is permissible, no matter what its impact. If they deny an LGBTQ citizen a cake because of sexual orientation, that’s their god-given right. Logically, that means they could deny atheists, Jews or even discriminate on the basis of race, though they would be unlikely to say so out loud.

posted by T.D. Strange at 9:38 AM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

“I’m certainly not going to move a high-tech company here, because I’m not going to get a scientifically educated population,” said Kim Johnson, a physicist and former president of the New Mexico Academy of Science.

That article, and the Mother Jones article, missed something reported by KUNM: PED has not made public the parties involved or behind these changes. In other words, cowardly donors who don't want to be outted as regressive anti-science religious zealots of the worst sort.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:41 AM on October 6, 2017 [25 favorites]

Fed up with California politics, Paul looked to Texas.
Now he's helping others do the same.

Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:46 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Actually, do.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:46 AM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

odinsdream: I honestly didn't think, even in my paranoid fantasies, that we'd see a climate disaster the likes of PR, and just, NOTHING HAPPENS, because literally nobody gives a fuck.

Unfortunately, Puerto Rico is far away, and generally not on the minds of most people in the Continental US, aka the majority of the voting public. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy were catastrophic, and coverage of those events were heavily broadcast and reported on during and after those storms.

In this terrible darkness of a severe failure to help people, specifically US citizens, as others have noted, the President has possibly flipped Florida to a blue state, where people who are able to leave PR resettle and have vivid memories of this, and vote accordingly, and in force. It's looking ahead to a possible positive outcome instead of focusing on the catastrophe that is currently unfolding, but it's something.


In response to the delay, Oxfam International, in a rare move, pledged disaster relief efforts to a developed country

In reflecting on this point, I realized that Trump is treating PR as a rental property like a slum lord would - do as little as you have to, because the complaints aren't that loud, and at some point the government will step in and fix things if it gets really bad. Except by being POTUS, Trump is turning to other agencies, instead of local or federal US agency to save lives.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:47 AM on October 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

I actually think that people sorting into ideologically-likeminded places is increasing polarization and is harmful to the functioning of democracy.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:50 AM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

I actually think that people sorting into ideologically-likeminded places is increasing polarization and is harmful to the functioning of democracy.

And it can fuck up the "likeminded" places they move to. The worst and most politically active racists I've met in rural Montana have almost always been transplants from California or other blue-to-bluish states. Nice for Californians to have them out, for sure, but when CA's most awful 5% move to sparsely-populated areas they can really do a lot to make them darker places.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:57 AM on October 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

While our democracy is under the stranglehold of the electoral college, I'll support Republicans moving to heavily red states. Especially if they're moving out of my Republican-controlled district and/or county.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:57 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I actually think that people sorting into ideologically-likeminded places is increasing polarization and is harmful to the functioning of democracy.

Before 24/7 radio, TV, and Internet this would be the only truth. I'd like to think that Texas would get woke at some point and that carpetbagging rulers-for-hire would give up on such a scheme due to lack of interest.
posted by petebest at 9:59 AM on October 6, 2017

Anyway, how is this not forcing your religious beliefs on those who work for you, restricting their religious freedoms?

Yeah, so as I've mentioned before I'm a speaking-in-tongues Pentecostal (no snakes, those are with the other guys) who actually belongs to a denomination that had a national meeting with a guest talk from the Hobby Lobby folks in recent history. Anyway, I was somehow raised with the understanding that "you do you, and I'll do me", and that there's really no legal difference between alleged "Sharia Law" and "Christians don't like things so we're restructuring health care rules."

I apparently lost the thread a while back or something because now all of a sudden I'm a big scary liberal and all my childhood influences want IOKIYAChristian as the law of the land.

Like, sure, I have Thoughts on abortion*, but I dunno, nickel-and-diming away things the Supreme Court said was OK just can't end well. Alternatively, has anyone got the Jehovah's Witnesses clamoring for a separate fund for blood transfusion money yet?

And anyway, as I've said before, even if I think I have the inside scoop on eternal life, I really don't want that turned into the state religion. Wasn't that the whole thing with the Pilgrims?


/returns to banging head on desk


*I have Thoughts on other people's Thoughts as well. I really wish my schedule would have allowed for me to join Life Chain last week with a "Reauthorize CHIP" sign. Alas, maybe next time around.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:59 AM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

We have that here. It's called St Charles County.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:00 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

(I know Jpfed and Rust have the better point. I'm just going through some culture shock.)
posted by elsietheeel at 10:01 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

To do that we'd actually have to care about Puerto Rico and want to know what's going on there.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:10 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Women’s rights organizations and some medical professionals portrayed it as a blow to women’s health, warning that it could lead to a higher number of unintended pregnancies.

Well gddamn Washington Post, could you be more toadying or obsequious in your reporting? "Democracy dies in darkness" alright. Make. An. Effort fer fucks sake.

"Crazed Lunatic Donald J. Trump's scandal-plagued department of Health And Human Services defied it's own name and propped up religious bigotry by working against the health of women today . . ." I mean, do you not understand there's no more time left on the clock?! SHOOT THE BALL.
posted by petebest at 10:10 AM on October 6, 2017 [28 favorites]

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH01) will not seek re-election. She's one of a handful of Democrats in a Trump-winning district.

The ACLU and the National Women's Law Center have both announced their intention to sue to keep the contraception coverage mandate.

An Apprentice Producer remind us Trump Said ‘Despicable’ Racist Comments About Blacks, Jews in Taped ‘Apprentice’ Meetings. Not that it will necessarily do a damn bit of good after everything, but someone has to be a hero and release the tapes.
posted by zachlipton at 10:12 AM on October 6, 2017 [38 favorites]

Tom Arnold said they made copies of those remarks and distributed them in a sort of bloopers-reel to industry insiders.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:14 AM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Justice department issues new 'religious freedom' memo that invites anti-LGBTQ discrimination

Well. If anyone outside the US is hiring a librarian and doesn't care if they're transgender, please message me, I'd like to get the hell out. It only applies to federal employees right now, but I'm sure it's not the last step.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:16 AM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

It says a lot about America that someone can be that way in a leading position on a tv show, say shit on tape, and all those people just shrug and dude keeps the gig and it doesn't become a huge scandal and get broadcast everywhere.

Which I guess given the stuff buzzfeed just dropped shouldn't be any surprise - this shit is everywhere, including all over supposed enlightened/progressive spaces. But how fucking depressing.
posted by phearlez at 10:18 AM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

The abdication of responsibility by the federal government in Puerto Rico, should it continue, will leave a power vacuum; this power vacuum will be filled by whatever organization best organizes to provide the services and support that the federal government is refusing to provide. That organization will to some degree become the de facto goverment.

This indicates that — for the first time in my lifetime, certainly — it's possible to imagine a condition of dual power within parts of the United States; a condition wherein both the United States government and also some other organization — some General Assembly, some Central Committee, some union, some whatever other organization coördinates the provision of services that the official government refuses to provide — both have valid claims to legitimacy.

Should the big earthquake hit the Bay Area, I'm not going to be looking to the federal government to tell me what to do, because the federal government is going to leave Oakland to its own devices. Instead, I'm most likely going to be following... who? The leaders of the Anti Police-Terror Project?

This is, needless to say, fucking terrifying.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:19 AM on October 6, 2017 [46 favorites]

An Apprentice Producer remind us Trump Said ‘Despicable’ Racist Comments About Blacks, Jews in Taped ‘Apprentice’ Meetings. Not that it will necessarily do a damn bit of good after everything, but someone has to be a hero and release the tapes.

Marc Burnett had thousands of hours of this stuff and choose to say nothing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:20 AM on October 6, 2017 [32 favorites]

We're more likely to see the pee tape than the Apprentice outtakes.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:22 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is the kind of video that requires an emergency visit to the Strategic Evens Reserve.

Trump uses a Spanish accent to say "Puerto Rico" twice during a Hispanic Heritage Month event

"We love Puerto Rico...And we also love Porto Rico" What the actual fuck is this?
posted by zachlipton at 10:22 AM on October 6, 2017 [30 favorites]

The administration lists health risks that it says may be associated with the use of certain contraceptives, and it says the mandate could promote “risky sexual behavior” among some teenagers and young adults.


Because when I was a teenager and everyone I knew was having sex, we all did a thorough cost benefit analysis and carefully considered all available options before coitus.

Nah. We all just fucked like rabbits out of prison. Contraception is harm reduction not enabling.
posted by Talez at 10:26 AM on October 6, 2017 [23 favorites]

I'll be honest, given how people turned out and still stand for Trump, I don't honestly believe those thousands of hours would have changed their support for him.

His numbers cratered during the Access Hollywood tape, and all the national figures were actively distancing themselves or in hiding. Imagine if there had been a steady drumbeat of those tapes every 2-3 days over the entire election cycle like there was a steady push of EMAILS stories from the NYT? Mark Burnett could've ended the Trump campaign. He didn't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:26 AM on October 6, 2017 [54 favorites]

fluttering hellfire: We have that here. It's called St Charles County.

Oof. It seems half the people I went to high school with (Hazelwood school district) have moved to St. Charles.
There are reasons I'm not in touch with very many folks from my childhood.
posted by Superplin at 10:27 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Like if having contraception was mandatory or sex was off the table we would have stuck our dicks inside pig intestines from carefully sucked out sausages if we had to.
posted by Talez at 10:30 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

The abdication of responsibility by the federal government in Puerto Rico, should it continue, will leave a power vacuum; this power vacuum will be filled by whatever organization best organizes to provide the services and support that the federal government is refusing to provide. That organization will to some degree become the de facto goverment.

At this rate it's looking like Tesla
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:30 AM on October 6, 2017 [20 favorites]

We could air-drop island-wide comms in 72 hours, and get media hooked up to it. But we aren't.

Less than 72 hours.
At my last station in the Coast Guard, we had a two-man telephone tech team with a communications trailer that got deployed to various disaster spots. They'd just load up onto a plane after a typhoon or whatever and disappear for a couple weeks. I can't remember the coverage range, but it was pretty big, and this was just one of the rigs the smallest of our military branches had. And this was twenty years ago. It ain't like the tech has regressed since then.

The real kicker? Once they got the trailer set up and running, they'd go find other recovery work to do. Because they were bored and they were good guys who wanted to help. I know 'cause I was the guy who wrote up their medal citations after Typhoon Paka. My biggest challenge was cramming everything they did into a single page. And it was all perfectly routine to them.

We have tons of people like that in the military and it's not just communications units. They'd be more than happy to go if someone would just give them the fucking order.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:31 AM on October 6, 2017 [80 favorites]

Perry Stein, WaPo: Trump’s lewd ‘Access Hollywood’ tape is playing on repeat for 12 hours on the Mall

A women’s advocacy group [UltraViolet] is playing the infamous and lewd “Access Hollywood” video of President Trump on a large screen Friday on the Mall. On repeat. Again and Again. For 12 hours straight.

The demonstration comes the day before the first anniversary of when The Washington Post released the explosive footage, which showed Trump in 2005 bragging in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women. The previously unaired footage was released Oct. 8, 2016, when Trump was the Republican presidential nominee.

posted by ZeusHumms at 10:31 AM on October 6, 2017 [60 favorites]

Musk is doing it to prove he and his company can unequivocally do things cheaper, faster, and better.
posted by Talez at 10:32 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

The abdication of responsibility by the federal government in Puerto Rico, should it continue, will leave a power vacuum; this power vacuum will be filled by whatever organization best organizes to provide the services and support that the federal government is refusing to provide. That organization will to some degree become the de facto government.

1. Agreed and totally scary as all get out. 2. This taps into something that part of my brain flagged as really weird and ultimately not good nor normal: in light of the current regime's attitude on, well, everything, we've seen CEOs of companies step up to the plate to issue big grand statements. This, to me, is dangerous and ties into what you're suggesting here: yes, it's cool that [organization X] actually aligns with my beliefs. But isn't that just a parallel of the horrid Go Ahead And Discriminate Because Religion statement from the DOJ? Both are bad, for different reasons.

I don't want to look to the CEO of Apple to say, hey, we should keep immigrants here. That's really, really dangerous.
posted by hijinx at 10:34 AM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

or sex was off the table

Uhh . . wait . . hang on . . ahhhh . . more like sex off the ta- wait, no hangon . . uhhh . . ooo it's right there . . ummmm

Happy Friday
posted by petebest at 10:34 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Should the big earthquake hit the Bay Area, I'm not going to be looking to the federal government to tell me what to do, because the federal government is going to leave Oakland to its own devices. Instead, I'm most likely going to be following... who? The leaders of the Anti Police-Terror Project?

I have been advocating since literally the day after the election that all of us in California need to prepare for the big one. If it hits, we are only going to have ourselves (which includes Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris) to rely on. Things are going to get very hairy. I highly recommend and have been telling anyone who will listen to get to know your neighbors and make sure that you are all prepared with water, food, first aid supplies, etc. so that we aren't dependent on the feds.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:39 AM on October 6, 2017 [16 favorites]

That convinces me about Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an intentional dystopia. Eff the whole administration.
posted by tilde at 10:40 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Trump uses a Spanish accent to say "Puerto Rico" twice during a Hispanic Heritage Month event

"We love Puerto Rico...And we also love Porto Rico" What the actual fuck is this?

Prior art.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:43 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Sorry, post apocalyptic dystopia. Intentional post apocalyptic dystopia. This is Puerto to Rico. Dictation doesn't spell bad words well also insert what you feel is appropriate.
posted by tilde at 10:48 AM on October 6, 2017

Interesting snippet from that "Republicans in disarray" article:

Mr. Trump is not helping. Speaking at a high-dollar fund-raiser for his re-election at Le Cirque restaurant in New York last week, Mr. Trump asked contributors what they would think if he worked with Democrats on health care, should Republicans prove unable to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to a dinner attendee.

“I might very well end up making a deal with the Democrats,” he said, drawing applause

Also, this part confuses me:

[McCain's and Cochran's] absence from the Senate for health reasons could make it more difficult for the party to gather the 50 votes needed to pass a tax package.

Do they really only need 50 votes to pass something, not a majority?

And I love this part:

“[The 2010-2012 strife] was more ideological, whereas now it’s just more everybody is just angry at everybody.”

posted by Coventry at 10:52 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Do they really only need 50 votes to pass something, not a majority?

Fifty plus Pence.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:55 AM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Do they really only need 50 votes to pass something, not a majority?

It depends, but if they need a majority, 50 votes will do it, because Pence will vote in that situation, thus giving them 51.
posted by suelac at 10:56 AM on October 6, 2017

Trump to Hispanic Americans: “You have a wonderful president in Mexico, I can tell you that.”
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:58 AM on October 6, 2017 [32 favorites]

Fifty plus Pence.

Ah, thanks.
posted by Coventry at 10:59 AM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Talez: We all just fucked like rabbits out of prison. Contraception is harm reduction not enabling.

Who puts rabbits in prison? What were their offenses? And do rabbits understand the limitations of prison? Or is it the fact that gender-separated rabbits would go at it once let loose? So many rabbit-related questions now.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:00 AM on October 6, 2017 [10 favorites]

So the way the United States falls apart isn't going to be a civil war, it's going to be federal withdrawal, probably fractalized into other withdrawals. The federal government will just...stop governing, wherever that serves its interests. No more enforcing federal civil rights laws, for instance. Attenuation of aid and services to blue states - not a cut-off at first, just a slow-down. And that will get passed down the line, with services and enforcement being withheld from non-compliant areas and poor areas as this serves the interests of elites, probably from both parties. (You can't convince me that St Paul, where there has just been another police shooting, wouldn't withhold, eg, emergency services from poor neighborhoods - they'd love to do that, they already under-deliver, they left the people who were shot by white supremacists at the protest two years ago without any help, and as soon as there's a precedent, they'll just cut people off entirely.)

The American empire will collapse by withdrawal, not by war. So yeah, I think the moral of the story is that DSA and them had better get their acts together, because I strongly suspect that what's going to happen is that neighborhoods and cities will just drop off the map as big expenses (like disaster response or infrastructure failure) are incurred.
posted by Frowner at 11:01 AM on October 6, 2017 [81 favorites]

Trump to Hispanic Americans: “You have a wonderful president in Mexico, I can tell you that.”

This should not be too surprising, since it's pretty clear that Trump considers himself the President of White People, By White People, For White People.
posted by Frowner at 11:02 AM on October 6, 2017 [23 favorites]

I highly recommend and have been telling anyone who will listen to get to know your neighbors and make sure that you are all prepared with water, food, first aid supplies, etc. so that we aren't dependent on the feds.

By the way, if this wasn't perfectly clear, this is something people who are wondering "What can I DO?" can actively be doing in this time. Here's a little list:

1. Meet your neighbors
2. Have a neighborhood meeting taking Puerto Rico and the (non)-response into account
3. Go to the 99 cent store once a week and buy $10 bucks worth of cheap duct tape (batteries, flashlights, rope, tarps, first aid supplies, granola bars, etc.)
4. Make community emergency supply kits
5. Talk to your friends and see if they would be interested in going in on a bulk supply of emergency rations
6. Make sure your elderly and disabled neighbors have water supplies and flashlights with batteries
7. Make a list of all of the things you need in an emergency supply kit and make a plan to buy one thing a week until you have a good kit.

And so on.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:02 AM on October 6, 2017 [45 favorites]

Who's got a navy that could embarrass the shit out of the trump admin by offering to rescue PR and make him explicitly refuse? China?
posted by ctmf at 11:05 AM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

So the way the United States falls apart isn't going to be a civil war, it's going to be federal withdrawal, probably fractalized into other withdrawals.

Yeah, a while ago I thought the top four states in contributing federal tax should hold it hostage until substantial commitments to climate change where made but I don't think anyone in power would notice or care? The goal is to kill the government, it's the long slow prologue to Snow Crash we;ve been living in for the last 30 years.

Oh well time to step up mutual aid programs I guess? *Opens book So You Want To Create A Government*
posted by The Whelk at 11:07 AM on October 6, 2017 [13 favorites]

So many rabbit-related questions now.

So a dear friend was majoring in film and he was taping a comedic take on film noir. Part of the comedy was narration that used excessive and ridiculous analogies and comparisons. But at one point, near the climax, the protagonist was being tempted back to his addiction, and my friend had run out of analogies. So I suggested "I was tempted... I was as tempted as a rabbit, on rabbit prom night." He thought it was terrible, but it was all due the next day so my nugget of comedic gold made it in.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:07 AM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Also, hand crank radio/flashlight/cell phone chargers start at about $25 on Amazon and is 100% worth the investment. In my opinion, every household in California should have one.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:14 AM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

I'd add to Sophie1's list — which is excellent — the following items:

8. Join an explicitly political organization that meets regularly. (DSA is probably the most obvious choice in most places)
9. Go to regular meetings of that organization.

also, though:

> The American empire will collapse by withdrawal, not by war. So yeah, I think the moral of the story is that DSA and them had better get their acts together, because I strongly suspect that what's going to happen is that neighborhoods and cities will just drop off the map as big expenses (like disaster response or infrastructure failure) are incurred.

You could replace my mefi account with a bot that just posts "listen to frowner!!!" every so often. but now, more than ever, LISTEN TO FROWNER.

If you don't want a consortium of Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Larry Page and Peter Theil splitting up what used to be America, plz go join DSA (or whichever other organization best suits your politics).
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:16 AM on October 6, 2017 [34 favorites]

The American empire will collapse by withdrawal, not by war. So yeah, I think the moral of the story is that DSA and them had better get their acts together, because I strongly suspect that what's going to happen is that neighborhoods and cities will just drop off the map as big expenses (like disaster response or infrastructure failure) are incurred.

Gonna take that a step further and say that neighborhood orgs will step into the power vacuum, like Hamas. The US will turn into a competing warlord situation, the good guys trying to protect the people and provide some sort of social function, while the established predatory gangs that already exist take advantage of the opportunity. Complete abdication by the government, as they retreat to only taking care of their own (rich, white). Problem is, they have no exclusive territory, so they're going to have to consolidate somewhere to keep "eat the rich" from happening. Wonder where the new US is going to be? Florida? North Carolina?

/dystopian fiction
posted by ctmf at 11:18 AM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

zachlipton: The ACLU and the National Women's Law Center have both announced their intention to sue to keep the contraception coverage mandate.

Add two more groups fighting back: Center for Reproductive Rights and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the latter has an effort and website called Protect Thy Neighbor, with the tagline "because religion is no excuse to harm others."

To which I say: Fuck Yes.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:18 AM on October 6, 2017 [42 favorites]

What's with this push on multiple fronts from the Trump administration? Are they trying to hide their incompetence and fatal negligence for Puerto Rico, trying to hype up the deplorables for the coming elections (and hopefully dividing the GOP in the process)? Probably both, right? Because I had hoped that all the efforts to ruin the country were petering out. Lololol, me and my naïvety.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:22 AM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

YCTAB: I need that ListenToFrowner bot. Frowner's comments are wise and well worth heeding. America will end not with a bang but with a whimper, as the saying goes. I am all for California and the other blue states withholding their tax money - after all, the blue states are the revenue-producing ones - but for the fact that I don't want my Democratic brothers and sisters in red states left high and dry. I hate the Vile Circus Peanut and I hate the Mercers* and I hate Granny Starver and Yertle and all the rest of them, but I'm not ready to pull up the drawbridges just yet.

Sophie1: I'll add to your list "Don't forget the pets!" Have shelf-stable pet food available. Make sure your pets have ID - microchip, tags, etc. Have enough carriers for your cats if you need to evacuate.

*Maxcome! Bring on the maxcome! Make the billionaire an endangered, if not extinct, species. They are bad for democracy. I found the guy who proposed a maximum wage - Graef "Bud" Crystal, who died earlier this year.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:25 AM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

WaPo, David Nakamura, How an Oval Office meeting led to a Trump tweet that changed U.S. policy toward Venezuela. This was the process that led to a new Venezuela policy:

President Trump’s decision to suddenly announce a major change in U.S. policy toward Venezuela in February began with an unexpected Oval Office meeting with Lilian Tintori, the wife of the country’s most prominent political prisoner.

At the White House to meet Vice President Pence and press the administration to do more about human rights in her home country, Tintori was whisked in to see Trump, who seemed unfamiliar with her story but praised her past as a reality television star in Venezuela’s version of “Survivor.”

Later, as Tintori made her case during the 40-minute meeting, first lady Melania Trump, who was also in the room, said she sympathized with the conditions Tintori’s husband, Leopoldo Lopez, faced in jail back in Caracas because the White House often felt as confining as a prison, according to two people familiar with the meeting, a point on which the president agreed.

Finally, as the meeting ended, the president suggested a group photo, including Pence and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a Tintori ally who was at the White House for a pre-scheduled dinner with the president. After a couple of attempts — Trump didn’t like the first photo because he was smiling — the president was pleased enough with the final version, which showed him scowling and giving a thumbs-up sign under a portrait of Andrew Jackson. He promptly posted the photo on Twitter.

“Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/@marcorubio) out of prison immediately,” Trump wrote, typing out his tweet right there in the Oval Office.

posted by zachlipton at 11:26 AM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

House often felt as confining as a prison, according to two people familiar with the meeting

Reince and who?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:31 AM on October 6, 2017

Anyway, as I have literally endless optimism as a defense mechanism, I've been quoting some Leonard Cohen to my self on the regular:

It's coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It's here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it's here they got the spiritual thirst
It's here the family's broken
And it's here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the USA
posted by The Whelk at 11:40 AM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'm thinking the trump group sees the collapse of the USSR as a model to be emulated, not a warning to be avoided. Worked out good for Putin and his buddies, didn't it?
posted by ctmf at 11:42 AM on October 6, 2017 [33 favorites]

By the way, if this wasn't perfectly clear, this is something people who are wondering "What can I DO?" can actively be doing in this time. Here's a little list:

Get maps of your area. Know your neighborhood in addition to your neighbors. Mark churches and schools and hospitals and the like. For instance, where I live there's a Mennonite church nearby and they are part of the Mennonite Disaster Service.

Know your house too. Where do you turn the gas off? Where's the water main?
posted by elsietheeel at 11:45 AM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

So the way the United States falls apart isn't going to be a civil war, it's going to be federal withdrawal, probably fractalized into other withdrawals. The federal government will just...stop governing, wherever that serves its interests. No more enforcing federal civil rights laws, for instance. Attenuation of aid and services to blue states - not a cut-off at first, just a slow-down.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, this program -- which I agree we're seeing from the Trump Administration right now, as an implementation of radical Republican policy preferences -- is not at all what the majority of American taxpayers want.
posted by Gelatin at 11:48 AM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Less than 72 hours.
At my last station in the Coast Guard, we had a two-man telephone tech team with a communications trailer that got deployed to various disaster spots. They'd just load up onto a plane after a typhoon or whatever and disappear for a couple weeks. I can't remember the coverage range, but it was pretty big, and this was just one of the rigs the smallest of our military branches had. And this was twenty years ago. It ain't like the tech has regressed since then.

An understatement of massive proportions. I have what my wife refers to as a "Chinapost problem," meaning that as an electronics hobbyist I squander $20 here and there via Banggood and various EBay drop-ship resellers on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes it turns into a home gadget or a bespoke solution I can get paid for, so she tolerates this foible.

I bought five of these some months ago (for under $40 shipped) and haven't gotten around to fiddling with them. But they have a little pissing-about distance test with the thing here. The long and the short of it is the little thing the size of your thumb, with a soldered on little antenna that's barely bigger than the spring in your ballpoint pen, moved text data with 100% success at a distance of 800 meters.

Consider that, then consider on the other side of things stuff like Firechat, which a lot of us used during various protests earlier this year. It's a piece of chat software you use to insure you can still talk to people if the cell networks crash and it does it by using all the phones to make a mesh network with their bluetooth stuff.

Take that gadget above and forget 800m. Let's dial down to saying it covers 1 square km. Puerto Rico's entirety is a bit over 9000 square km.

I'm not suggesting this is a serious solution, but it's a pretty huge supporter for William Gibson's statement that the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed. You could build a mesh network with mail-order parts at a non-volume cost of $60,000 that would cover the entirety of Puerto Rico, not including batteries. We live in an amazing age of wonders and lack the political will to apply them to the most minimal standard of keeping people alive.

$60,000, for scale, is how much money golfer Phil Mickelson earns in about 10 hours of a typical day. So if he paid an effective tax rate of 2% we could pay for this and have a few bucks left over..
posted by phearlez at 11:51 AM on October 6, 2017 [57 favorites]

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH01) will not seek re-election. She's one of a handful of Democrats in a Trump-winning district.

I'm going to miss her, but I wouldn't be too worried, or at least more worried than usual. NH-1 is one of the true swing districts in the country (she went back and forth with Frank Guinta a few times), and we've got a fairly deep bench, thanks to our rather large state government.
posted by damayanti at 11:53 AM on October 6, 2017

I think the idea that American government will collapse is dead wrong. It's being attacked -- as all democracy is -- by Capital because it distributes power equitably in a way Capital doesn't like. Puerto Rico isn't an example of the natural decay of empire -- It's a result of a deliberate strategy to cripple democratic government in favor of government by Capital.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:54 AM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

I'm thinking the trump group sees the collapse of the USSR as a model to be emulated, not a warning to be avoided. Worked out good for Putin and his buddies, didn't it?

More I think about it, I bet you that's exactly the plan. Explicitly. It's everything Trump idolizes, 80's style hostile takeover and looting of companies, but on a nation-state scale. Putin became the richest guy in the world, what's not to like? Putin gives assistance and coaching for a cut. People who know what's coming are totally willing to give up every shred of dignity for the chance to be one of the oligarchs who come out ahead, or at least looked out for by them.
posted by ctmf at 12:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

They'd just load up onto a plane after a typhoon or whatever and disappear for a couple weeks. I can't remember the coverage range, but it was pretty big, and this was just one of the rigs the smallest of our military branches had. And this was twenty years ago. It ain't like the tech has regressed since then.

You could build a mesh network with mail-order parts at a non-volume cost of $60,000 that would cover the entirety of Puerto Rico, not including batteries.

Amateur radio is dying. In a really crippling disaster-cum-collapse, it may be all we have left. A license is not hard to get. If you're considering getting CERT training, please also consider getting a ham license (even if you're not technical) and join RACES (the emergency message relay system).

Given advances in software defined radio, amateur operators are in a position to do more than they've been able to in the past, just as the scene is really dying out.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:01 PM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

One thing to keep in mind is that all the things that Sophie1 posted, and also things like joining and participating in DSA, are things that are worthwhile even if we get through this crisis with what passes for liberal democracy in America intact.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:01 PM on October 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

Republicans are increasingly mystified by their own grass roots, an electorate they thought they knew, and distressed that a wave of turnover in their ranks could fundamentally change the character of Congress.

well, when you lie down with and try to fuck toxic scum, you can hardly be surprised when you end up with drug-immune herpes and a mutant candiru in your dickhole.

I'm not buying this storyline that Republicans are distinct from their base. They are their base. They rise up from that base. They are all base.

All their base belong to them.
posted by srboisvert at 12:17 PM on October 6, 2017 [102 favorites]

All their base belong to them.

You’ve been saving that for 18 months of megathread, haven’t you?
posted by notyou at 12:25 PM on October 6, 2017 [72 favorites]

I think the idea that American government will collapse is dead wrong. It's being attacked -- as all democracy is -- by Capital because it distributes power equitably in a way Capital doesn't like.

IDK, capital seems to get along just fine with democracy in continental Europe — the anti-democratic thugs there don't seem to have much if any connection to big money. I mentioned over in the Nazi thread that the welfare state is a conservative invention. And even Henry Ford, who was not a good person, saw the wisdom of have a middle class of consumers. The guys trying to kill off American democracy are more like robber barons on acid, or wannabe oligarchs.

More I think about it, I bet you that's exactly the plan. Explicitly. It's everything Trump idolizes, 80's style hostile takeover and looting of companies, but on a nation-state scale. Putin became the richest guy in the world, what's not to like? Putin gives assistance and coaching for a cut. People who know what's coming are totally willing to give up every shred of dignity for the chance to be one of the oligarchs who come out ahead, or at least looked out for by them.

This is it.
posted by mumimor at 12:33 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

A friend on FB just shared the Hill piece with Sessions issuing his "religious liberty guidance" (also known as discrimination). The FB post has a pic of 45 standing next to Sessions.

And I immediately thought, "I'm still so angry at my secretary of state calling me a fucking moron that I'm gonna go play with the attorney general I've been shitting on for months."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:36 PM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

damayanti: "I'm going to miss her, but I wouldn't be too worried, or at least more worried than usual. NH-1 is one of the true swing districts in the country (she went back and forth with Frank Guinta a few times), and we've got a fairly deep bench, thanks to our rather large state government."

Yeah. Nate Cohn said arguably this INCREASES Dem chances to hold the seat.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:39 PM on October 6, 2017

U.S. Lost 33,000 Jobs Amid Last Month’s Hurricanes
posted by mumimor at 12:44 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

From @zachlipton's link above:

first lady Melania Trump, who was also in the room, said she sympathized with the conditions Tintori’s husband, Leopoldo Lopez, faced in jail back in Caracas because the White House often felt as confining as a prison according to two people familiar with the meeting, a point on which the president agreed.

Am I reading this correctly? This guy was in prison and they compared it to being in the White House?
posted by gucci mane at 12:51 PM on October 6, 2017 [59 favorites]

As seen on Eschaton:

The Bigger Issue...
Is over the past several decades, our discourse progressed something like this:

Guys, the're racists.

Sensible Center: No, they just believe the very important science that suggests that black people are stupid. Also, crime and poverty. Black people are poor and get arrested a lot and stop&frisk is not racist so stop saying that. QED

Guys, they're white supremacists.

Sensible center: No, they're just celebrating the very important heritage of the Confederacy, which is their history, even in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, which were very important Confederate states. I don't see any actual Klan hoods. Maybe they are white nationalists, which just means they want to preserve their culture. QED

Guys, they're Nazis.

Sensible center: Actually, I don't see much evidence (some, but not too much) of anti-Semitism, which seems to be an important feature of Nazism, right? I mean, the obsession with George Soros and the word globalist is simply political. Obviously they have some views about race which liberals don't support, but it isn't racism, and it certainly isn't Nazism.

Nazis: hey, uh we're Nazis.

Sensible center: No, I really don't think you are.

Nazis: No, really, we're fucking Nazis. Heil Hitler! Check out my Nazi tattoos! We're Nazis!

Sensible center: This is disturbing, but Stalin was bad, too, so, really, both sides.

posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:52 PM on October 6, 2017 [124 favorites]

Odinsdream, I've taken a screenshot of your friend's testimony for circulating purposes. Thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:53 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Megathread? Is that like Megaweapon?
posted by orrnyereg at 12:56 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Michael Del Moro: “ABC News: Robert Mueller's team met behind closed doors today w an unknown group of attorneys & chief judge of US District Court in DC”
posted by stopgap at 1:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [48 favorites]

We've reached an interesting point in American history. A point at which being anti-Nazi is now "controversial".

Back in 1992 the game Wolfenstein 3D, a very early entrant into the FPS genre, was released to great acclaim and even more piracy. The game was nothing but killing Nazis. That was the plot, your character was a POW during WWII, escaped and killed a shit load of Nazis until you found, and killed, cyborg mecha Hitler at the end. The choice of villains in the game was utterly and completely non-controversial.

They're making a sequel/remake/whatever called Wolfenstein II. And apparently now having your character kill actual, literal, no fooling Nazis is being portrayed by some as an attack on the American right wing. Yes, really.

If you'd told me, back in 1992 that in a bare quarter century the mainstream American right would view attacks on Nazis as attacks on themselves I'd have laughed at you.

Today the American right views a game portraying a heroic American (blonde hair, blue eyes, super manly) killing a bunch of Nazis as an attack on the American right.

I think I goes without saying that I'll be buying Wolfenstein II.
posted by sotonohito at 1:14 PM on October 6, 2017 [89 favorites]

blnkfrnk: Justice department issues new 'religious freedom' memo that invites anti-LGBTQ discrimination

As Josh Gerstein noted in his coverage of the topic for Politico:

As governor of Indiana in 2015, Pence signed a religious freedom law that appeared to give businesses broad rights to deny service to gays and lesbians and perhaps others. An uproar followed, with many business leaders warning that the move could harm the state economically. Within days, he reversed himself and endorsed a revised measure designed to assuage concerns about discrimination.

A Justice Department official who briefed reporters on the new legal guidance insisted that it does not amount to a license to discriminate.

"It doesn't legalize discrimination at all," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
...
The new Justice Department memo appears to advocate religious freedom protections so robust that they could impact authorities' ability to target a violent religious sect or a particular ideology with religious components.
...
Sessions also issued a separate directive Friday that seeks to impose closer scrutiny of the religious freedom impact of rules issued by agencies across the federal government. The memo requires that anytime a proposed federal agency action is sent to the Justice Department by the Office of Management and Budget for review, Justice's Office of Legal Policy and Civil Rights Division will vet the move for any potential adverse impact on religious freedom protections.

First, I'd love to hear what Pence had to say about this. Or maybe he just stood quietly in the corner, as I sometimes imagine he does. Human Rights Campaign has already stood up to say "Donald Trump and Mike Pence have proven they will stop at nothing to target the LGBTQ community and drag our nation backwards. We will fight them every step of the way." I look forward to more major and visible pushback from all sectors. Too bad there aren't more advisory councils to disband. (Oh wait, there's his evangelical advisers, but they're probably thrilled.)

Second, you know your direction is rotten and unsupportable when your spokesperson speaks on condition of anonymity.

Third, interesting that this could make religiously-active terrorists *cough* Evangelical Nazis *cough* harder to target by law enforcement.

And fourth, another shining example of the Party of Smaller Government hiding that asterisk pretty well. You know, the one that says *smaller, unless it can ruin the lives of women, LTBTQ individuals and communities, people of color, and anyone else who doesn't look or think like we do, then we're all for making government really big and far-reaching, all-knowing and as ominous as possible.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:14 PM on October 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

NBC: Trump Dossier Author Is in Talks With Senate Intel Committee

One source close to Steele said that in late September, Steele relayed to Washington, through an associate, that Steele in fact would be happy to meet with Burr and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee's ranking Democrat. Two other sources said the situation was "more complicated" than portrayed by Burr during a news conference Wednesday.

Those two people, one close to Steele and one familiar with the committee discussions, said that one of the sticking points was Steele's unwillingness to discuss who underwrote his work. Steele, who once worked as a British spy in Russia, was hired by the firm Fusion GPS, which was conducting opposition research originally funded by undisclosed Republican opponents of Donald Trump, according to a source close to Steele. During the general election, unknown Democrats began picking up the tab, sources familiar with the matter have said.

Essentially, Steele knows that burning his clients will allow Burr and Team Trump to undermine the dossier by politicizing its underwriters.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:19 PM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

“ABC News: Robert Mueller's team met behind closed doors today w an unknown group of attorneys & chief judge of US District Court in DC”

Is that how a major indictment typically starts? What kinds of things would they be discussing?
posted by Coventry at 1:25 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

A comment on the fucking Trump and abortion and birth control coverage nonsense:

I spent a significant part of yesterday holding the hand and supporting a friend in labor who was trying to deliver vaginally. She was in a Level-1 trauma center in a major US city. She is in good health. She is tough. She went to prenatal classes. Her pregnancy went so smoothly that she actually went well into the second trimester (!) without realizing she was pregnant -- her periods have never been regular, and she only put on ten pounds through seven months, so she thought she was just hitting the candy sale bin a little harder than normal. By the time she rolled into into the maternity ward, she was eight cm dilated. She got an epidural promptly.

I mean, I know there are pregnant people who deliver without much pain, even without an epidural.

But, like, for the vast majority of pregnant people -- if you're a cis dude, unless you've stood by someone in labor or have had other reason to stand there, largely helpless, and watched someone in agony for hours, you have no idea of the kind of prolonged torture involved in vaginally delivering a child. There is an entire fucking stage where the baby's head is stuck in your vagina, and can only be moved forward by being slowly, agonizingly pushed out millimeter by millimeter during periods when your body is already racked with pain. So yeah, you're in horrible pain, and then when the pain spikes, they put your legs in the air and tell you to fucking do crunches so that you can push the baby out with the weight of your upper body.

Basically, if you push the kid out an inch in an hour, the midwife will say that you're doing a great job. And every time you push, there is blood. And shit. And more blood.

And like, in the end, this was a normal delivery. In many ways, this was a best-case scenario. Again, my friend was healthy. The fetus was healthy. She has health insurance. The hospital is a good one, and my friend only required "some" stitching for the vaginal tearing. The anesthesiologist was able to take the edge off the pain, so that she could rest for a bit, then get back to pushing the kid the last couple inches into the world.

But, like, if you carry to term, your options are risking this kind of agony.

Or, y'know, major abdominal surgery, which carries its own set of risks and its own difficulties and agonies.

I've believed for a long time that denying uterus-havers cheap, effective birth control including abortion on demand is a human rights issue, but today, I have a BRAND NEW LEVEL OF RAGE ABOUT IT.

The real justification is punishing sluts for having sex, so FUCK. THEM. ALL. Abortion on demand. Free birth control in every vending machine.
posted by joyceanmachine at 1:29 PM on October 6, 2017 [83 favorites]

Newly-released Kobach documents show that Trump election "integrity" commission's goal is voter suppression. Tweetstorm link. Confirms the obvious, but it's nice to see in writing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:31 PM on October 6, 2017 [54 favorites]

Essentially, Steele knows that burning his clients will allow Burr and Team Trump to undermine the dossier by politicizing its underwriters.

I half suspect "burning his clients" would mean burning the British government or something equally earth-shaking.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:34 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

the existential despair is strong today, peeps.
posted by Dashy at 1:37 PM on October 6, 2017 [22 favorites]

I think the problem is there's just no shame in everyone knowing you're an asshole anymore.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:41 PM on October 6, 2017 [16 favorites]

I was a college student in the pre-Obamacare era, working 10hrs a week and interning for free and going to school full time. I distinctly recall doing the mental math of "Birth control is $20/month... and no birth control is risky but means I could afford five days of an on-campus bagels and cream cheese lunch."

I was overjoyed when I learned that the Obamacare provisions meant that modern young women would never have the option to make the same idiotic choice I did ("Screw it, my boyfriend will pay for condoms!" - knowing that I hated condoms and was less likely to use them).

I am so, so angry.
posted by samthemander at 1:42 PM on October 6, 2017 [25 favorites]

This is disturbing, but Stalin was bad, too, so, really, both sides.
As I just wrote in a more Nazi-centric thread, my education taught me (although not by the intent of most of the teachers) that the Soviet Russians moved from Mostly Sincere Socialists to, under Stalin, As Fascist As The Nazis but In Socialist Sheep's Clothing. Not to mention that Hitler and Stalin were allies until they discovered some territory they each claimed separately. Stalin was bad, too, and on the same side.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:43 PM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

Newly-released Kobach documents show that Trump election "integrity" commission's goal is voter suppression. Tweetstorm link. Confirms the obvious, but it's nice to see in writing.

Unfortunately, this will hurt his chances of getting elected Governor of Kansas not one bit. Hell, it'll probably help.
posted by god hates math at 1:58 PM on October 6, 2017

Republicans hate women, they always have and I’m afraid they always will. I’m 31 weeks pregnant and I want to fly my giant belly over to the US and punch every member of the GOP in the crotch, then every Nazi, then every tech bro, then every asshole defending the confederacy, then every gamer gator, then every single dude who has either actively harassed women or people of color or LBGTQ folks, then every dude who stood idly by while said harassment was happening, then everyone who ever began a sentence with “both sides” or “but her emails”. I will punch everyone who ever looked the other way while white nationalist fascism took over America. My arm muscles shall grow and grow from all the punching I will need to do so that by the time bubs gets here I will be ripped enough to take on the final boss and stuff Trump and his whole family in a rocket aimed at the sun powered solely by my rage. Then I will fly back to New Zealand and punch Peter Thiel while the punching is good.

This fantasy brought to you by the rivers of molten hatred running through my veins since Trump took office.
posted by supercrayon at 1:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [78 favorites]

The FBI’s New U.S. Terrorist Threat: ‘Black Identity Extremists’

“The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence,” reads the report, marked for official use only and obtained by Foreign Policy.

The August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, was the catalyst for widespread anger and violence, the FBI report says, concluding that continued “alleged” police abuses have fueled more violence.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely incidents of alleged police abuse against African Americans since then have continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement,” the report states.

posted by T.D. Strange at 1:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

I wonder what the FBI think of angry white men with guns?
posted by Dashy at 2:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

> I wonder what the FBI think of angry white men with guns?

Depends on how the job interview goes.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:03 PM on October 6, 2017 [101 favorites]

I half suspect "burning his clients" would mean burning the British government or something equally earth-shaking.

Yeah, my thought was 'some state actor' and more 'suicidal' than 'earth-shaking.'
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:03 PM on October 6, 2017

my shrink and I have been doing this interesting dance where he's trying to both acknowledge the reality of the situation and talk me out of conclusions of imminent disaster. There's also this tension because he's a Jewish man who has memories of Hitler, and I think he's sort of blinded by the fact that Trump couldn't find his ass with two hands and a flashlight, whereas I don't know Hitler was I guess effectively genocidal, and my shrink has been making this point, but when nukes are on the table, I mean Jesus all Trump has to figure out how to do is give the order.

And it's unfortunate, because he'll say things like "Puerto Rico wasn't caused by Trump; human activity may have exacerbated hurricane season but not Trump activity" and I feel like saying 'well that's not really the issue I'm talking about the response' but at that point I remember that he has a granddaughter with the Peace Corp in Cameroon and I'm frankly worried about bumming him out.
posted by angrycat at 2:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

The House has passed its "budget" 219 to 206. As expected it guts Medicare and Medicaid to give around $4 trillion in tax cuts to the very rich.

Now on to the Senate where we find out if we can stop it like we did the ACA repeal.
posted by sotonohito at 2:09 PM on October 6, 2017 [32 favorites]

supercrayon: I want to fly my giant belly over to the US and punch... everyone who ever began a sentence with “both sides” or “but her emails”...

mini-meetup at my ma's, brunch is on me after
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:10 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

frankly worried about bumming him out.

It's unusual to need to worry about bumming your therapist out. A crucial part of his professional role is to handle whatever emotional content you throw his way.
posted by Coventry at 2:14 PM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

I think that's more an I am neurotic thing.
posted by angrycat at 2:15 PM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

the existential despair is strong today, peeps.

It is, and that is why I want to endorse Postcards for Virginia, which was linked to upthread. I got assigned addresses in District 42 (link goes to Chrysostom's House of Delegates breakdown), so I am channeling that energy into encouraging people to vote for Kathy Tran, who came to the US as a refugee from Vietnam and is my bright beacon of hope today. I needed a bright beacon of hope today.
posted by Ruki at 2:17 PM on October 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

Or a trump-is-the-president thing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:17 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

“The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence,” reads the report, marked for official use only and obtained by Foreign Policy.

The August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, was the catalyst for widespread anger and violence, the FBI report says, concluding that continued “alleged” police abuses have fueled more violence.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely incidents of alleged police abuse against African Americans since then have continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement,” the report states.

The FBI has always been at war with Afro-America.
posted by srboisvert at 2:22 PM on October 6, 2017 [25 favorites]

So, one side of my family has a long and storied history of gtfo of places before it all goes to hell. (Except for that one ancestor who was boiled in a pot by angry Dutch, but these things happen.)

And my urge to run is high. I mean, I can't, because of new id laws, I need to make a 100 mile trip, and hope I have all the right documentation to prove that I am me before they'll reissue my passport. The new voter id laws really fuck with women who have taken a husband's name at any point, and then divorced. And remarried. Pro tip to young women, do not change your name when you get married.

But even if I had a passport again, I have friends who can't escape. And damn it, this is my country. It's where I keep all my stuff. But i don't know how to fight what is coming.

I live in tornado alley. Out here, you can often time see the edge of the storm coming. It's like a wall of black and purple and green, and it goes from horizon to heavens, and all you can hope for is that it doesn't start twisting.

The GOP and the Nazis who cosplay them, are that wall. It's coming.

But, I tell you that story to tell you this one. In April of 2016, my house, neighborhood, and town were devastated by a storm. And when it was over, we all helped each other tarp up, and find animals, and start rebuilding.

We can't avoid the storm any more. It's too late for that. We can be ready to rebuild.

I'm sorry, I suppose that's not as optimistic as I was hoping to close on. I'm terrified, you guys. I'm worried, for the first time in my life, that we may not make it through, and it will all be because rich people and their enablers never learned to share.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:44 PM on October 6, 2017 [33 favorites]

first lady Melania Trump, who was also in the room, said she sympathized with the conditions Tintori’s husband, Leopoldo Lopez, faced in jail back in Caracas because the White House often felt as confining as a prison

This is the Lincoln bedroom.

This is a prison cell in Caracas.

Get a fucking grip. When you and your equally out of touch with reality husband find yourself in a cell, you'll be glad it's not in Caracas.
posted by adept256 at 2:48 PM on October 6, 2017 [25 favorites]

Anyone else notice Melania's expression change when Trump says 'Porto Rico' in the video zachlipton shared above? Wow.
posted by meowf at 2:49 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is the Lincoln bedroom.

This is a prison cell in Caracas.

Alas, your links go to the same image of the Lincoln bedroom.
posted by jedicus at 2:53 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe an outlier, but the new AP poll has Trump at 67% with Republicans. As comparison, anything below 80% is typically considered very bad. Most other polls still have him close to 80, but if it's not an outlier... And the poll dates for this don't include his visit to Puerto Rico, the contraception mandate, and other fuckups since Oct. 2nd.

Presidential approval remains on a downward trend. Thirty-two percent of Americans say they approve of the way President Trump is handling his job and 67 percent disapprove. His approval rating is down from 42 percent in March and 35 percent in June. While 67 percent of Republicans still approve of the job the president is doing, support among Republicans has decreased significantly since March when 80 percent of Republicans expressed approval. Twenty-eight percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats say they approve of Trump’s handling of his job. Among Democrats, this also represents a decline since March when 11 percent said they approved.

If this turns out to be a pattern, this article from Paul Waldman from WaPo may have a clue why.

Why Trump is scaling back the contraception mandate and trying to destroy Obamacare

The explanation comes down to this: Trump is willing to do things that are politically foolhardy in order to satisfy his base voters, no matter how limited a portion of the electorate they make up. This is certainly not rooted in any principles — instead it likely reflects either a failure to understand how things play with the broader electorate or that he believes a relentless focus on maintaining that base’s loyalty is the key to his political survival, or some combination of both. [...]

It’s true that certain far-right Christian groups have complained about the contraceptive mandate. But it’s also true that it is hugely popular among the public as a whole. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in June found that Americans supported it by a margin of 68 percent to 29 percent. Even a majority of Republicans supported the mandate. [...]

And they’re doing all this after it has become clear they won’t be repealing the ACA any time soon. From a political standpoint it’s impossibly stupid, because it gives Democrats all kinds of ammunition to say that Trump and the Republicans are destroying your health care. A different Republican administration would grudgingly implement the ACA and look for conservative ways to allow states to improve their systems. The Trump administration, and Trump personally, seem to want to make things as awful as they can for as many Americans as they can.

If you’re a venomously anti-government Trump voter, this is great news. Forget all those lazy freeloaders who want to suckle on the government’s teat and think they have a right to some help in affording health care! Take that, Barack Obama! But if you care about whether the Republican Party is going to hold Congress and the White House, it’s a terrible idea.

These kinds of actions are guaranteed to provoke a backlash that will put the Republican majorities in Congress at greater risk, in an upcoming midterm election where things already look dangerous for them. But Trump doesn’t seem to care. So if you’re a certain kind of Trump voter, he’s coming through for you, bigly. At least for now.

posted by chris24 at 2:55 PM on October 6, 2017 [16 favorites]

New Yorker, Dexter Filkins, Rex Tillerson at the Breaking Point. There's a bunch in here; I'll do two highlights.

First, the relationship between the Secretary of State and the UN Ambassador seems...not great:

According to the senior Administration official, Nikki Haley, the U.N. Ambassador, is seen as the most effective diplomat in the crisis; twice she has rallied unanimous support for tighter sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, despite the members’ reluctance to discomfit China. “Nikki’s getting it done,” the official told me. “She’s bringing home the bacon.” This has apparently fed an enmity between Tillerson and Haley. “Rex hates her,” the official said. “He fucking hates her.”

But there's also the question of why Trump was sitting around in February ranting about how unfair it was that American businesses can't pay bribes:

In February, a few weeks after Tillerson was confirmed by the Senate, he visited the Oval Office to introduce the President to a potential deputy, but Trump had something else on his mind. He began fulminating about federal laws that prohibit American businesses from bribing officials overseas; the businesses, he said, were being unfairly penalized.

Tillerson disagreed. When he was an executive with Exxon, he told Trump, he once met with senior officials in Yemen to discuss a deal. At the meeting, Yemen’s oil minister handed him his business card. On the back was written an account number at a Swiss bank. “Five million dollars,” the minister told him.

“I don’t do that,” Tillerson said. “Exxon doesn’t do that.” If the Yemenis wanted Exxon on the deal, he said, they’d have to play straight. A month later, the Yemenis assented. “Tillerson told Trump that America didn’t need to pay bribes—that we could bring the world up to our own standards,” a source with knowledge of the exchange told me.

Oh well. I'm sure it was just a random thought unrelated to anything he's experienced in his business life.
posted by zachlipton at 2:57 PM on October 6, 2017 [58 favorites]

67% with Republicans would indeed be apocalyptic but I won't believe those numbers until and unless we get confirmation from some other polling firms.
posted by Justinian at 2:57 PM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a prison cell in Caracas.
posted by adept256 at 2:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Get a fucking grip. When you and your equally out of touch with reality husband find yourself in a cell, you'll be glad it's not in Caracas.

This is what Obama said about the White House:

“It is a very nice prison. So you don’t have the freedom of movement to be able to just take a walk, or to sit at a cafe, because there’s always this security concern around you. I don’t miss that.”

Being president is very isolating and quite an adjustment even for people who have a normal degree of emotional intelligence and coping skills. Even Truman called it living in a "great white jail".
posted by peeedro at 2:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

a source with knowledge of the exchange told me.

Reince again, right? Can he just keep running his mouth to the press as 'a source' because I'm liking this Friday tea.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 3:02 PM on October 6, 2017

I understand that. It's still extraordinarily tone deaf to say you know how it feels to be in a Venezuelan prison because you're in the white house.
posted by adept256 at 3:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

Did Obama or Truman also compare the White House to a Venezuelan prison?
posted by Room 641-A at 3:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

There is a really fundamental difference, which should be clear to anyone who speaks human as a first language, between comparing something to a prison metaphorically and comparing something to the actual, brutal prison in which someone's husband is currently incarcerated. It's the difference between saying that my chocolate cravings are a disease and telling someone with cancer that I can understand their predicament, because my chocolate cravings are a disease. This is not really a subtle distinction.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:09 PM on October 6, 2017 [55 favorites]

Is it scoop o'clock? I need a scoop to get me through the weekend.
posted by suelac at 3:09 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

If this turns out to be a pattern, this article from Paul Waldman from WaPo may have a clue why.

It doesn't matter. He's going to start a war. Presidential approval ratings in the modern era skyrocket when we're at war due to the rally 'round the flag effect. The effect tends to be relatively short-lived, but it's a very effective diversionary tactic that has worked time and time again -- and it tends to have a greater effect when Presidents begin wars when they have low approval ratings.

Trump knows this. He tweeted that Obama would strike Libya or Iran in 2012 to wag the dog, in response to low poll numbers.
posted by zarq at 3:10 PM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm worried about the contraception EO, because as far as I can tell, it's not outright stripping the provision, but allowing religious companies?!? to pull coverage from their employees. So while the contraception mandate may have wide appeal, it the EO will cause (hopefully) a very small subset of women effected, and if it isn't my company, why should I care? Well, we all care, because we're paying attention, but it just seems like something could slip through the cracks, because it isn't going to be implemented widely enough. Hopefully the ACLU and PP can get a favorable ruling, but I'm still worried :/
The whole extra provision of having a completely separate "abortion insurance charge & fund" is another maddening issue. >:| >:| >:|
I hate everyone
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 3:10 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump has a unique skill at saying almost the same thing previous Presidents have but make them come out sounding extraordinarily tone deaf. Of course, most of those were edited out of The Apprentice.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:12 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's the difference between saying that my chocolate cravings are a disease and telling someone with cancer that I can understand their predicament, because my chocolate cravings are a disease

Or telling your Secretary of State that you understand foreign policy because you redecorated a restaurant.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:12 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

And remember, he doesn't read anything closely, so there's a solid chance his contraception EO is not driven by any polls, rather his need to do something on a regular basis that makes feminists/liberals cry.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:16 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Presidential approval ratings in the modern era skyrocket when we're at war due to the rally 'round the flag effect.

I totally expect them to start some shit overseas. I expect it to be awful. And I expect that yes, there will be a poll numbers bump. The media will oooh and aaah about the power of the military and normalize it like Brian Williams talking about how pretty it is to see cruise missiles launch because that's what they do and they're desperate for normalcy. Cheering on a military action is normal for them. But at this point I kind of expect the bump won't be nearly what any other administration would get. They're gonna fuck this up, too, and it'll be an atrocity in terms of very real lives, but they won't even get the sort of public opinion bump they want out of all that bloodshed. And it'll just go downhill from there.

Imagine how angry they're gonna be if they start a bullshit war for a bullshit reason and they still can't get their poll numbers up over 40ish %.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:18 PM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

He called the White House a DUMP while a lot of people are living in their cars and tents. The only bright side I can think of is that his actual prison cell will be so much worse for him than for some one with any perspective.
posted by adept256 at 3:18 PM on October 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

[In re: things I'd thought I'd never type, 2017 version

Folks, I'm so sorry for what I said above about my mom. She was a 'but her emails' shill, who couldn't bring herself to vote last fall. We have Schrodinger's relatives in Puerto Rico right now, and our stateside family's just fighting one another at this point. I'm exhausted and frustrated, but this site helps. Thanks.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:28 PM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

Trump at record low approval in new AP/NORC poll:

32 Approve
67 Disapprove
NET -35
posted by octothorpe at 3:35 PM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

Or telling your Secretary of State that you understand foreign policy because you redecorated a restaurant.

Well, not exactly but a restaurant you liked once decided to redecorate and it seemed to you like a boondoggle that could've been done better.
posted by contraption at 3:40 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

The House has passed its "budget" 219 to 206.

This is a surprisingly tight margin for a Republican budget resolution, which does not bode well for Trump's tax cuts. All Democrats and 18 Republicans voted no. This is a much worse margin than the previous budget resolution for Obamacare repeal. It indicates significant division in Republican ranks, not regarding tax cuts pe se, but regarding the resulting deficits.
posted by JackFlash at 3:42 PM on October 6, 2017 [29 favorites]

Right-wingers warn of antifa "purge"
posted by jgirl at 3:51 PM on October 6, 2017

The Flagrant Sexual Hypocrisy of Conservative Men (Jennifer Weiner, NYT Op-Ed)
posted by Room 641-A at 4:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

"antifa purge"? Sounds like a good cover story for a Right Wing American Kristallnacht Thingy.

And only Conservative Men? Sexual Hypocrisy is an important part of being just plain cis male.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

More Cy Vance - Criminal Defense Firm Bankrolled Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Kept Clients Out Of Prison (ibtimes)

A New York City criminal defense firm and its partners together gave more than $42,000 to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., according to an International Business Times review of campaign finance records. Vance’s office negotiated deals that resulted in light sentences for some of the firm’s clients, and in certain cases allowed them to avoid prison time altogether.

posted by zakur at 4:05 PM on October 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

heh, watching NBC Nightly News just now, the reporter (Peter Alexander I think) discussing the "calm before the storm" gabble, referred to Trump as the "former reality star turned president".
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:11 PM on October 6, 2017 [26 favorites]

“ABC News: Robert Mueller's team met behind closed doors today w an unknown group of attorneys & chief judge of US District Court in DC”

Is that how a major indictment typically starts? What kinds of things would they be discussing?

Twitter analysis by Renato Mariotti‏ @renato_mariotti, a former federal prosecutor:
MINI-THREAD: What does news that Mueller met with the Chief Judge of the D.C. federal court and a group of attorneys mean?
1/ This is an unusual meeting, so the purpose of this meeting—whatever it was—was out of the ordinary.
2/ The best I can do is give you some educated guesses about possible purposes for the meeting.
3/ The Chief Judge oversees the grand jury program, so this could be related to a leak or a security issue regarding a grand juror.
4/ This could be coordination of security for an upcoming event, such as the arraignment (initial hearing) after an indictment.
5/ Or defense counsel could be challenging a subpoena or order that Mueller served, and the Chief Judge heard the matter in private.
6/ If I had to guess, I’d pick the latter. Usually prosecutors wait until an investigation ends to indict, so they have all the evidence.
7/ Leaks or security issues with a grand jury are rare (but obviously this is a very unusual case).
8/ There may be other unusual possibilities that don’t come immediately to mind, but it’s certainly not something ordinary. /end
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:33 PM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

Right-wingers warn of antifa "purge"

Seems to be a theme: Desperate Virginia Republicans Claim Antifa Working to Elect Ralph Northam

"Antifa" is the new ACORN, they always need to have a liberal boogeyman to rally the Sturmabteilung.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:35 PM on October 6, 2017 [38 favorites]

MINI-THREAD: What does news that Mueller met with the Chief Judge of the D.C. federal court and a group of attorneys mean?

Definitely not a prosecutor, but my guess would be motions to quash subpoenas filed by defense counsel. Who's defense counsel would be the verrrry interesting question.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:40 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Who puts rabbits in prison? What were their offenses? And do rabbits understand the limitations of prison? Or is it the fact that gender-separated rabbits would go at it once let loose? So many rabbit-related questions now.

They're in prison mostly for murder. The use rope not handcuffs. They might use a jury of their peers. The lawyers are humans. The bailiffs are horses. There are special ramps to bring them to the witness box. They understand the proceedings using interpreters. The maximum sentence is rabbit stew. There may be a rabbit traffic court; I've heard of it but I've never seen it. They make the rabbits stop squealing by use of a gavel. Rabbits call cops "pigs" but it's not as funny as when a pig does it. They also use bow ties instead of prison outfits and it's adorable.

Any other questions?
posted by Talez at 5:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [44 favorites]

Bannon installed a former Breitbart-writer at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and now the guy thinks there's a conspiracy where the Office of Cuba Broadcasting is secretly in league with the Castro government in Cuba.
posted by zachlipton at 5:03 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Louise Mensch is in the twitter thread Doktor Zed linked to asking about sealed indictments. Does she actually believe her own bullshit? I assumed she was just an attention seeking troll.
posted by Justinian at 5:25 PM on October 6, 2017

Bannon is signaling he'd support Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in a primary against Jeff Flake. Gosar just told Vice that he believes George Soros funded the white nationalists and Nazis in Charlottesville.
posted by peeedro at 5:32 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Gosar just told Vice that he believes George Soros funded the white nationalists and Nazis in Charlottesville.
Okay, time to TrumpMirror that. Spread the word: Robert Mercer and the Koch Brothers fully fund Antifa. Oh, what the heck... and ISIS.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:40 PM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Yeah gonna need a cite on the IRS thing.
posted by Justinian at 5:41 PM on October 6, 2017

Because "trump loyalists" couldn't search Google for "pee tape" without misspelling both words.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:44 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: As I just wrote in a more Nazi-centric thread...

*sigh*
posted by Cookiebastard at 6:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

Yeah the OIA/FinCEN fight is problematic from a civil liberties perspective, and just a "the government should function properly" one (see also FinCEN getting locked out of classified networks due to a turf war), but I haven't seen anything that puts it in the category of politically motivated targeting, rather than intelligence agencies being shitty. Which isn't, you know, good, but it's different than Trump loyalists specifically targeting people's financial data.
posted by zachlipton at 6:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

Is Louise Mensch's sealed indictment from the Marshal of the Supreme Court?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:21 PM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

with the insinuation that it's led by Trump loyalists

The article specifically mentions that this has (allegedly) been going on for years.

Sources claimed the unauthorized inspection and possession of Americans’ financial data have been going on for years but only became controversial in 2016, when officials at FinCEN learned about it and began objecting. Early last year, Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which oversees OIA, proposed transferring much of FinCEN’s work to OIA.

posted by xyzzy at 6:27 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Hard to believe it’s been a whole year since we learned that the (current) President of the United States confessed (proudly) on video to having committed a spate of sexual assaults.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:29 PM on October 6, 2017 [10 favorites]

It feels simultaneously a few weeks ago and a lifetime.
posted by Justinian at 6:37 PM on October 6, 2017 [24 favorites]

"Ms. Stone, you don't know me, but...oh, I see. Just a character, eh? Heh. Just checking. Sixteenth call today? Wow. Well, thanks anyway. Just have to ask one more...ok, got it, character it is. Based on real life, maybe, did they have a number...hello? Hello?"
posted by maxwelton at 6:55 PM on October 6, 2017

It feels simultaneously a few weeks ago and a lifetime.

That's because we're living in the Dark Groundhog Day Mirror timetangle.
posted by perspicio at 6:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

Bannon is signaling he'd support Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in a primary against Jeff Flake. Gosar just told Vice that he believes George Soros funded the white nationalists and Nazis in Charlottesville.

It's very concerning that Gosar is even in this dimension, apparently without the intervention of Zuul.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:00 PM on October 6, 2017 [22 favorites]

Maybe a Slor is coming in whose depths we can roast them?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [19 favorites]

What are the top Democratic chances for Senate pickups in '18. Nevada, obviously. Arizona as well?
posted by Justinian at 7:05 PM on October 6, 2017

I can definitely see Trump using the financial data spying news to try and muddy the waters on any financial data Mueller uncovers even though Mueller was surely meticulously by the book, just like he tried to muddy the waters with legal unmasking. Wouldn't surprise me if the nazis and bots were busy spreading that narrative already.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:10 PM on October 6, 2017

Of the 10 seats most likely to flip in 2018, only two of them have Republican incumbents--NV & AZ. So THAT'S exciting.
posted by xyzzy at 7:11 PM on October 6, 2017

I just want Claire to keep her seat in 2018.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:15 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Right-wingers warn of antifa "purge"

....Which looks like it was a far-fetched story spun out of an actual casting notice for a 4th sequel to the "Purge" film.

I just told him that "Look, it sucks you blew the audition, but making this up as a cover story is pretty damn stupid."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 PM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

Yeah it was a casting call for The Purge: The Island, due for release on July 4. How patriotic.

Dipshit can't spend 5 seconds on IMDB before spreading panic with his gullible friends. Or maybe that's the point.
posted by adept256 at 7:50 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

ICE is just straight up threatening the people of California now:

“ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites,” Homan said, “which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests.” This will happen, he claimed, because the new California law will block ICE agents from gaining access to criminal immigrants at jails and prisons.

"Will have no choice?" As if roaming the streets terrorizing people is something over which the director of the agency has no control whatsoever.

His statement is also blatantly inaccurate:

At least one part of Homan’s statement is clearly inaccurate because state prisons were excluded from the final version of SB 54, so ICE agents are still free to enter prisons at will. The law also allows federal agents to interview detainees in county jails, though not to hold permanent office space, and to access databases showing an inmate’s release date.

The new law will also permit local law enforcement officers to communicate with federal agents about detainees with felony convictions in the past 15 years as well as those awaiting trial for serious felonies for which a judge has found probable cause — and to coordinate transfers of those people into federal custody.

posted by zachlipton at 7:50 PM on October 6, 2017 [31 favorites]

Justinian: "What are the top Democratic chances for Senate pickups in '18. Nevada, obviously. Arizona as well?"

Nevada and Arizona are both rated tossups. They're far and away the most likely to flip to D. Tennessee (Corker retirement) would be third, but it's a ways back. I personally feel there's still a chance in Alabama (Roy Moore derangement) but obviously, that's a real stretch. Other seats are safe, barring indictments or whatnot (TX, MS, NE, UT, WY).

Morbidly, there's also the chance of another decent shot in Arizona if McCain passes away or retires shortly.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:56 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

The contraception / birth control exemption makes me so eye-bleeding mad that I could scream.

How in the world is a corporation's religious freedom infringed by having to pay some insurance? My read of the constitution is that religious freedom applies to PEOPLE not corporate entities. (And I highly disagree with the Hobby Lobby ruling.)

I could understand the religious non-profit exception. Hell, even though I disagree I could understand a company-size exemption (Similar to how the Americans with Disabilities Act starts at 25 full time employees or whatever.)

But now, an owner could just say they don't want to cover it on "moral" grounds. No need to prove anything. Who's to say they won't just do it to save a few bucks or try to get women out of their company??

Of course my biggest complaint is that your religious ideas don't get to overrule mine. If I want to go out and have an orgy every weekend then that's my right. You don't get a say in that as my employer.

If it just isn't the right time to have a baby, that's my right. My employer should have no say. If I don't want children at all, that's my right. My employer should have NO say!

You're not forcing the business owner to PAY directly for this birth control. The COMPANY is paying for it. Hence the limited liability options for owners of businesses and corporations. They are separate from each other. The revenue from the company goes to insurance.

Next, many many many people NEED birth control and hormone treatment to LIVE. I have fucking endometriosis. And my life is hell without birth control - and I HAVE to be without it since my body stopped tolerating it. But jesus christ if I could have it again it would likely make my life so much better.

I RARELY see articles talk about the fact that it's actual a fucking medication to treat illness, not just a "get out of babies free" card. It makes me so damn mad that it's not even mentioned. Would a company who says they are against birth control make an exception? Do you have to beg for your own health?

Both babies and hormone related health problems affect people with a uterus. And if those people cannot AFFORD birth control, and end up sick or with a baby, then they are forced out of work and economic growth. It highly disproportionately affects poor and minority people.

So many arguments say "well, it's not that much money" but IT IS. $20 was at least a week's worth of groceries when I was in college. An IUD can cost hundreds of dollars. There is an overall economic benefit to the company and to insurers to have people choose when and if they want babies.

It's clearly a pull to control women and force women out of the world and back into the home. It's a way to try to control women's sex lives.

And if they can make an exception based on morals for this, what's next? I hate the slippery slope argument, truly. But there are religious groups that don't allow blood transfusion. Would they be allowed to have insurance not cover that too?

It's insanity and it makes me so fucking mad. And I'm so tired of a fucking argument about a medication. I'm so thankful my husband got a vasectomy.
posted by Crystalinne at 7:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [68 favorites]

T.D. Strange: "Newly-released Kobach documents show that Trump election "integrity" commission's goal is voter suppression. Tweetstorm link. Confirms the obvious, but it's nice to see in writing."

Lots of links on this stuff at Election Law Blog, if you want to dig deeper.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

Biden on the campaign trail today: “I’ve been around so long, I worked with James Eastland,” said Biden, referring to a segregationist senator from Mississippi. “Even in the days when I got there, the Democratic Party still had seven or eight old-fashioned Democratic segregationists. You’d get up and you’d argue like the devil with them. Then you’d go down and have lunch or dinner together. The political system worked. "

Ah, nostalgia for the good old days -- when the system worked -- for some people.
posted by JackFlash at 8:15 PM on October 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

I see Nevada flipping. Heller barely won in 2012; he eked out a 1.2% lead, a total of 12,000 votes.

The Las Vegas shooting is likely going to end him.

Heller has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association for his ongoing support of pro-gun legislature. The NRA endorsed Heller during his 2012 senate run. Since 1998, the NRA has donated $122,802 to Heller's political campaigns.

Heller voted for legislation, in 2011, allowing veterans to register guns, bought in foreign countries, in the U.S. During his 2012 campaign, he hosted a campaign rally at a gun store in Las Vegas.

In 2013, Heller voted against legislature to limit gun magazine capacity, ban assault weapons and to expand background checks on gun sales at gun shows and made on the internet. In the past he has supported more restrictive background checks but voted against them due to fear that a national gun registry could be created.

In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting, Heller offered thoughts and prayers to the victims.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:18 PM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

I wonder if survivors of the aftermath of Maria have standing to sue the govt for abandoning them.
posted by tilde at 8:22 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate -- Dems hoping to capitalize on extremist GOP candidates, a la Todd Akin in 2012. [Politico]

** 2018 House:

-- Dem PAC focusing on demonizing Paul Ryan. [WP]

-- Wasserman: Dems could use some GOP retirements in the House to increase their chances.

-- Mentioned earlier, Carol Shea-Porter [D-NH] announced she would not run for re-election. CSP has won elections for this seat four times, but lost twice. Two of the NH special election Dem upsets have been in CSP's district, so I would see this as a likely Dem hold.

-- PA-18 special:

-- District backgrounder from Decision Desk.

-- Lots of candidates on both sides floating their name on this seat. PA special election candidates are picked by the parties, rather than a primary, so who knows will end up emerging. Gov. Wolf has latitude on when to set the actual election date, but it will surely be after the regular election Nov 7; a low turn out might help the Dems.

-- VA gov: Trump endorsed Gillespie with an inflammatory tweet; Gillespie didn't sound real pleased about it, perhaps remembering Trump's approval in VA is way underwater.

** Odds & ends -- 538 muses on impacts of California moving up its presidential primary.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:25 PM on October 6, 2017 [22 favorites]

From Massachusetts comes Brianna Wu vs. Trumpzilla. Wu is running for Congress against Steve Lynch, as close to a DINO as you'll find in Massachusetts. The district covers about half of Boston, where an actual clown is running for an at-large city-council seat next month.
posted by adamg at 8:25 PM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

TPM: EPA Inspector General’s Office Widens Probe Into Scott Pruitt’s Travel
posted by Chrysostom at 8:28 PM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Dems hoping to capitalize on extremist GOP candidates, a la Todd Akin in 2012.

Or Donald Trump in 2016.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:30 PM on October 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

From Massachusetts comes Brianna Wu vs. Trumpzilla.

I love it!

But, fucking A, Google. Why do you have surface a bunch of Gamergoober shit as "recommended for you". How do you know so fucking little about me ?
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 8:34 PM on October 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

"... You’d get up and you’d argue like the devil with them. Then you’d go down and have lunch or dinner together. The political system worked. "

I'm going to preface this by saying that yes, I understand why Biden's remark pisses some people off.

In my own job providing services to legislators, since I started almost ten years ago, there has been a change. It used to be possible to hold a collaborative meeting including Dems and Reps about what software features they wanted us to work on. Not anymore. Dems and Reps seem much more alienated from one another now; they're in the same room when they're on the chamber floor but otherwise we meet with them individually. For WI, this breakdown seemed to happen around the passage of Act 10.

I totally get the "total-resistance-all-the-time" mindset, but it does seem as though there is just less communal interest in making the process work nowadays. Everyone's just playing to win- "full-contact politics".

Anyway, Pepperidge Farm remembers, is what I'm saying.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:34 PM on October 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

Don't you think it is just a little tone deaf to give a speech, with everything that is going on today, about how nice it was in the days when you could get along nicely with white supremacists? Giving that speech today?
posted by JackFlash at 8:53 PM on October 6, 2017 [24 favorites]

It's just so fucking refreshing that Republicans are bringing us at long last once and for all to actualizing the truths in Jesus' Sermon on the Mountain Dew, e.g.: Blessed are the corporations, for they shall inherit the earth.

/hamburger, fucking hamburger
posted by riverlife at 8:59 PM on October 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's just so fucking refreshing that Republicans are bringing us at long last once and for all to actualizing the truths in Jesus' Sermon on the Mountain Dew, e.g.: Blessed are the corporations, for they shall inherit the earth.

I'm not the worlds best christian or anything, but I'm just not so sure where they get that my wife's boss should have more dominion over my wife than her husband does. As reprehensible and stupid as it is, at least one of those has actual biblical support.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:04 PM on October 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

Haha, didn't you get the approved, amplified translation that exhorts women to marry their self-incorporated bosses?

Jesus wept.
posted by riverlife at 9:07 PM on October 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Fifty plus Pence

Fiddy Pence
posted by kirkaracha at 9:16 PM on October 6, 2017 [22 favorites]

Everyone's just playing to win- "full-contact politics".

For a lot of people, the policies and politics of both today and back in the day are "full-contact" in terms of the impact on life, health, and security.
posted by nubs at 9:24 PM on October 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

I totally get the "total-resistance-all-the-time" mindset, but it does seem as though there is just less communal interest in making the process work nowadays. Everyone's just playing to win- "full-contact politics".

When Republicans decided to oppose Obama no matter what, that was it. When they stole his rightful Supreme Court appointment, that was really it. I have zero. ZERO. Z-E-R-O. Interest in compromise with Republicans after 8 years of this shit.

We need to play the same game. From now on. Process means fuckall, and I don't want to hear our alleged Democratic leaders acting like it does.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:31 PM on October 6, 2017 [70 favorites]

The Trump Family is the definition of "Special Snowflakes".
Frozen, and very white.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:50 PM on October 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

> It feels simultaneously a few weeks ago and a lifetime.

Extreme suffering is well known to induce changes in the perception of time.
posted by runcifex at 11:09 PM on October 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I didn't think i had to say this, but Biden was able to sit down and have lunch with those guys because he was white. If that's his criteria for the political process "working", which I honestly don't agree with, it worked because there wasn't a real threat to white supremacy. Legislators could get things done because they had already assented to the most important question on the table. Biden did not agree with the segregationists, but if they invited him over to dinner, then he wasn't actually threatening them either.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:20 PM on October 6, 2017 [43 favorites]

Well this is just great: RNC fundraising greatly exceeds DNC funding this year.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH people are paying for more of this WHY
posted by angrycat at 3:31 AM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

What will all these people do when it breaks through to them that he is a crook?
posted by mumimor at 3:43 AM on October 7, 2017

Yeah. I posted here about DNC funding a few weeks ago and people tried to calm me down by saying that the DCCC/DSCC is more important. I was not especially calmed at the time BUT it did occur to me recently that the RNC has a lot of expenses that the DNC doesn't have right now. Like, funding their President's legal defense.

If it's any consolation, the smarties at MeFi were right: the DCCC smashed fundraising records.

House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official told NBC News.

posted by xyzzy at 3:43 AM on October 7, 2017 [15 favorites]

What will all these people do when it breaks through to them that he is a crook?

ask why they weren't dealt in on the action
posted by pyramid termite at 4:29 AM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH people are paying for more of this WHY

The same i̶d̶i̶o̶t̶s̶ small donors who are getting ripped off by Trump and the RNC are the same people who got robbed by Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist/prosperity gospel creep of the month. His rightwing "Christian" base are suckers going way back.

And while DNC $$ is lower, the DCCC and individual candidates are killing it. It seems people are expressing their frustration with Democratic leadership by not donating to DNC as much, but are donating elsewhere in big numbers.
posted by chris24 at 4:47 AM on October 7, 2017 [24 favorites]

That's it. In the past I would have donated to the DNC but now I give to SwingLeft.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:06 AM on October 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

I did a Google search for Trump moron and found this fun little analysis.

Is Trump Really a 'Moron,' as Tillerson Said, or Just Racist and Obnoxious? by Chemi Shalev (his twitter)

Churchill was one of the main supporters of the Mental Deficiency Act legislated by the British Parliament in 1913, which replaced the 1886 Idiots Act.
posted by phoque at 5:11 AM on October 7, 2017

Good morning, why not all three? Or all 30? He is all the bad things.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:33 AM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

What a fragile little snowflake:

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes (The Hill)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:44 AM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes (The Hill)

It's like during Bush2: the comedians are getting the message across far better than the media.
posted by mumimor at 5:48 AM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

I’m sure Fox would love a revival of the Fairness Doctrine. Lol
posted by chris24 at 5:51 AM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

mumimor What will all these people do when it breaks through to them that he is a crook?

They'll say:

a) Hillary was worse!

and

b) He's **OUR** crook!

And go right on supporting him and worshiping the ground he walks on.
posted by sotonohito at 5:59 AM on October 7, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes

Those aren't even jokes, they're just news headlines repeated with incredulity. The applause and laughter are just people agreeing.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:05 AM on October 7, 2017 [30 favorites]

Arrrrrrgh. I do not understand this attempt to treat BC as though it is ONLY sex-related and not a health issue at all. As though the uterus is not connected to the rest of a woman's body. There are lots of reasons why doctors prescribe BC other than to prevent pregnancy but let's just talk about that for a minute. Plenty of women have medical conditions that need management including limiting pregnancy: high blood pressure, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, cancer, thyroid disorders. There are medications that cannot be taken while pregnant: pain meds, anti-psychotics, some vaccines. Then there is always the chance that pregnancy can end in death. To pretend that managing pregnancies is somehow not related to a woman's health is wrong and morally reprehensible.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:23 AM on October 7, 2017 [71 favorites]

Birth control is also required during a course of Accutane.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:44 AM on October 7, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes (The Hill)

More and more people are suggesting that Republicans (and me) should be given Equal Time on T.V. when you look at the one-sided coverage?

Hah Trump wants to bring back the Equal Time laws. Ok buddy. We'll start with Fox News and move on to AM Talk radio. The centrist networks wouldn't have to change much, they already bring on a bunch of wingnuts for "balance" all the time. You would've never been elected under Equal Time laws, you git. More and more people are complete morons, meaning you, Mr Trump.
posted by dis_integration at 6:48 AM on October 7, 2017 [52 favorites]

Hilarious. Rush and his ilk have been loudly warning us that the Democrats are going force the FCC to bring back the Fairness Doctrine for the last twenty years as a way to silence them.
posted by octothorpe at 7:04 AM on October 7, 2017 [17 favorites]

What will all these people do when it breaks through to them that he is a crook?

"....But her emails!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:19 AM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

I do not understand this attempt to treat BC as though it is ONLY sex-related and not a health issue at all.

On the one hand, that's true, but on the other hand, I'm not sure that I think it's a good idea to emphasize that point. For one thing, a lot of religious organizations claim that they'll cover those drugs for uses other than contraception, so it's an easily answered argument. But also, contraception is a health issue. It's not secondary. It's not lesser. It's fine to use birth control just because you want to be able to have sex without getting pregnant. That's a health issue, too.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:21 AM on October 7, 2017 [44 favorites]

More and more people are suggesting that Republicans (and me) should be given Equal Time on T.V. when you look at the one-sided coverage?

Hear hear! Well said Mr. Man! Fairness Doctrine is an excellent starting point to repair my shattered law practice country! MAFA!

Guys I think this is the pivot. This is it. It's time to kick arse.

"[the] Republicans (and me)"?? Srsly Dan Scavino, you're not - you're not good.
posted by petebest at 7:30 AM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

Birth control is also required during a course of Accutane.

Whoa. Isn't this an equal protection law-thingy? Because unless we charge men more for their Accutane women are being forced to pay more for their Accutane.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:31 AM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

No idea, but I do know you have to have a confirmed negative pregnancy test within 7 days of the Accutane refills too. It causes some horrendous birth defects.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:34 AM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes

He just wants a safe space for conservatives. It's pure coincidence that the space he wants is a sphere with a diameter of 7,917.5 mi.
posted by srboisvert at 7:35 AM on October 7, 2017 [6 favorites]

POTUS just followed me on Twitter. Not sure whether to laugh at the world's absurdity or worry that I'm now on a list.
posted by Lyme Drop at 8:04 AM on October 7, 2017 [47 favorites]

Lyme Drop, you should see just how fast you can get him to unfollow!
posted by jason_steakums at 8:16 AM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

"More and more people are suggesting ..."
[Narrator: no one was suggesting]

Jebus, the whole "people are talking" sales-speak is, and has always been, the most transparent snake oil flimflamery. Is he selling us a monorail? Is it Amway?

Who falls for this?
posted by Horkus at 8:23 AM on October 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

This is a clear-eyed (and sobering) view from a Democratic political strategist.

Doug Sosnik, WaPo: Trump is on track to win reelection

Since Trump’s inaugural address, his focus has been on maintaining his support among this loyal base rather than expanding it. As counterintuitive as it may seem, this could be a winning political strategy.

First, Trump knows that gaining the support of a majority of voters in a presidential election is not a requirement; it’s simply an aspiration. In fact, two out of the last three presidents were elected despite losing the popular vote.

Second, the continued decline in support for both political parties works to Trump’s advantage. The lack of voters’ faith in both parties increases the probability that there will be a major third-party candidate on the 2020 ballot. It will also lead to other minor-party candidates joining the presidential race. The multi-candidate field will further divide the anti-Trump vote, making it possible for him to get reelected simply by holding on to his current level of support.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:42 AM on October 7, 2017 [32 favorites]

Is he selling us a monorail?

Hey hey hey. Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook all bought monorails and by gum it put them on the map.
posted by Talez at 9:03 AM on October 7, 2017 [13 favorites]

Watch out for dexter filkins profile of tillerson in the New Yorker. It's despair inducing though wonderful writing, natch
posted by angrycat at 9:17 AM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

No idea, but I do know you have to have a confirmed negative pregnancy test within 7 days of the Accutane refills too. It causes some horrendous birth defects.

When my teenage daughter was on Isotretinoin (generic Accutane) she had to take BC and get a monthly pregnancy test, and see the dermatologist before every RX refill.

When my son was on it, he had to drop by the dermatologist's office once a month for "counseling" with the PA. It consisted of "How are you feeling?" "Everything going OK?" "All right, here's your prescription."

https://www.ipledgeprogram.com/
posted by zakur at 9:19 AM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump slams late night comedians for 'unfunny' anti-Trump jokes (The Hill)

Trump’s tweets came about an hour after Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” aired a segment accusing late night comedians like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel of “[taking] a hard turn to the left.”

Of course!
posted by zakur at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

Trump is on track to win reelection

Fear not fellow MeatFilters, be not bewoeden. This is mostly clickbaity but it has a pretty nifty disclaimer at the top that really ought to tell one a lot more about the point of view than the rest of the article opinion does:

If Trump isn’t removed from office and doesn’t lead the country into some form of global catastrophe, he could secure a second term simply by maintaining his current level of support with his political base.

Okay yeah if he's not ridden out of town on a rail, and doesn't plunge us into utter destruction - which to be fair are the two most likely things possible - he'll still have his pepe-base people. Okay, "could" he win with them again? Sssssure? I mean with all that is known about him he _could_ win with just the Democrats I guess. Or any number of combinations that would result in slightly more Electoral College votes than the other person.

The article also helpfully notes that Democrats need to win Wisconsin and Michigan. So, sage advice there. I predict the good dinner-eaters of Wisconsin and Michigan will get meeelions of phone calls and texts, every hour of every day, pleading for ill-defined 'support'. So yeah it's possible the Dems could screw up 2020 AS WELL. *cough*.

Or we could be the nation that elected Obama in 2008 and/or better. Let's do that.
posted by petebest at 9:25 AM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

Yeah, I don't want to ignore the threat of 45 being reelected, because that threat is real. If nothing else, the reelection of Dubya despite his failures shows just how many Americans refuse to admit they were wrong even if given an opportunity in private. And, y'know, 2016 demonstrated how many Americans prioritize their racism and sexism over everything including their basic survival instincts.

But that "Trump Is On Track to Win Reelection" article skips over all of the sheer fuckery that went into 2016. They're either assuming things will be as bad or worse next time around, or they're completely forgetting everything from a super-bitter Democratic primary to a last minute November surprise from the fucking FBI. And they're forgetting that 2020 will absolutely not see the country in the same condition it was in for 2016.

Those conditions are gonna be hard to replicate.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:45 AM on October 7, 2017 [31 favorites]

Wolfenstein II twitter: Make America Nazi-Free Again. #NoMoreNazis #Wolf2
posted by octothorpe at 10:06 AM on October 7, 2017 [15 favorites]

Massachusetts attorney general's complaint against the new birth-control regulations. In addition to citing the First Amendment issue (which, well, Hobby Lobby?), it also raises a Fifth Amendment issue: The regulations only affect women and so therefore deny them their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection (the complaint also raises administrative issues - like how the rules were promulgated without public comment and any chance of administrative review).
posted by adamg at 10:33 AM on October 7, 2017 [33 favorites]

And they're forgetting that 2020 will absolutely not see the country in the same condition it was in for 2016.

2016 is the election Democrats are going to be trying to win in 2020. Frankly I doubt Dems are strong enough to make Trump a one-term'er.
posted by rhizome at 10:37 AM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here it is, Your Moment of Zen: So someone created an event on FB inviting folks to come sing Toto's Africa in front of the White House. We went. Here is the result.
posted by zachlipton at 11:05 AM on October 7, 2017 [38 favorites]

Here it is, Your Moment of Zen: So someone created an event on FB inviting folks to come sing Toto's Africa in front of the White House. We went. Here is the result.

This right here. This restores my hope that Humanity is worth saving.
posted by mikelieman at 11:14 AM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

Frankly I doubt Dems are strong enough to make Trump a one-term'er.

We're going to do it, and you're going to have to eat a cake.
posted by greermahoney at 11:15 AM on October 7, 2017 [67 favorites]

MetaFilter: We're going to do it, and you're going to have to eat a cake.

< dusty>I am humbled to be acquainted, however tenuously to y'all, for whom the most humiliating thing you could ever do is eating a cake< /dusty>
posted by mikelieman at 11:25 AM on October 7, 2017 [18 favorites]

Russia begs to differ. By the 2020 election, it will literally be illegal to criticize Nazis because of a massive Facebook campaign to protect their fragile feelings.

I think it's easy to underestimate the role of economic distress in the turn towards authoritarianism in post-Soviet Russia and Weimar Germany, and how far the US would have to fall economically, to be vulnerable to that.
posted by Coventry at 11:26 AM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

how far the US would have to fall economically, to be vulnerable to that.
Most of us in the US has been falling, albeit more slowly, about as long as post-Soviet Russia, and we started out at a much higher standard... and much much more spoiled of our privilege. And that privilege, more than any real distress, made us vulnerable, at least at this point. The Rise of Trump was the Decline of America.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:34 AM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

Well, the good news from the fundraising reports is that the Republican Party is operating totally Top Down, while the Democrats are working from the Bottom Up, the same way the "Tea Party" had its success.

But keep the faith: The Deep State has us covered.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:09 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

My experience with modern elections tells me that to win, the Democrats need to nominate a once-in-a-generation political genius, experienced yet still an outsider, brilliant yet empathetic, a skilled communicator capable of appealing to people from all walks of life.

The Republicans, to win, need to nominate someone who is technically breathing and occupies physical space, and hope that the above is not the case.

So, um, I guess we'll see what we get.
posted by kyrademon at 12:30 PM on October 7, 2017 [55 favorites]

they will keep manipulating us using platforms like Facebook to amplify their message to Trump's upper middle-class white Christian base.

If they can use Facebook raise the death rate by 50%, raise inflation to 5000%, and cut GDP in half, I'll start to worry.
posted by Coventry at 12:39 PM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

@realDonaldTrump
Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid.........hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!

He's going to blow up the fucking world.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:47 PM on October 7, 2017 [21 favorites]

The same i̶d̶i̶o̶t̶s̶ small donors who are getting ripped off by Trump and the RNC are the same people who got robbed by Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist/prosperity gospel creep of the month. His rightwing "Christian" base are suckers going way back.

This is my mother-in-law and her entire family. She’s given money to all of these charlatans. I’ve recently seen mail from Joel Osteen on her kitchen counter. She’s on social security and Medicare and has not a pot to piss in yet she sends Osteen money. These people really exist and there’s nothing you can do to change their minds.
posted by photoslob at 12:47 PM on October 7, 2017 [32 favorites]

Good news: Russia Today is having trouble operating in the US.

The editor-in-chief of Russia Today, the propaganda arm of the Russian government, said on Thursday that American members of its staff are quitting in their "masses" because of security concerns, appearing to suggest they were at threat of U.S. law enforcement action.

Margarita Simonyan, the head of the news site, told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that its staff on American soil "fear for their security."

It has become so tough for the news site to operate in the U.S. that "it's hard for us now even to find a stringer in the USA," Simonyan said.

posted by Coventry at 12:50 PM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

Sorry, but only one thing will work!

Please be talking about your own resignation.

People keep saying that he's all bluster, but how long can this go on? How long can the "president" of the U.S. continue to (completely unsubtly) threaten one or more wars that could kill a substantial portion of the world's population? How do we survive with supervillains at the helm?

Gah. Ack. I'm not feeling great today. Must close blue window.
posted by Gaz Errant at 12:58 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is my mother-in-law and her entire family. She’s given money to all of these charlatans. I’ve recently seen mail from Joel Osteen on her kitchen counter. She’s on social security and Medicare and has not a pot to piss in yet she sends Osteen money. These people really exist and there’s nothing you can do to change their minds.

Yanno...I'm spiritual but not religious, and don't believe in a "heaven" or "hell." But, just for once, I'd like to believe that an all-powerful Jesus will condemn the so-called prosperity gospel preachers to the deepest, helliest depths of hell just to see the looks on their faces when their Lord and Savior tells them LOLNOPE Fuck Off!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:20 PM on October 7, 2017 [15 favorites]

He's going to blow up the fucking world.

I dunno. He can't figure out how to thread tweets properly, so how could he ever figure out the nuclear football?
posted by dis_integration at 1:23 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seems like it's in all of our best interests not to find out.
posted by Justinian at 1:25 PM on October 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

Hey all, can anyone tell me realistically how soon individuals can expect birth control coverage to be rescinded? I know this supposedly goes into effect immediately, but are there any political/legal impediments being offered up? If my plan started last month and includes coverage, will I remain covered until the term of the plan expires or can they change it? Basically I have been lazy about getting my tubal ligation done, and now I am panicking. I am pretty sure my employer will continue some form of birth control coverage--but in the past that's included permanent sterilization and I don't know whether that's the case any more.
posted by Anonymous at 1:34 PM on October 7, 2017

Sorry, but only one thing will work!

Jesus Christ. He wants to drop a nuke, tactical or bigger. I've said it from the beginning: he wants to be the second president in history to drop a nuke.

Even if he starts a conflict and zero Americans are hurt (unlikely given the US troops stationed in South Korea) even if somehow magically zero South Koreans are hurt (unlikely given Seoul is in artillery range) there are still 20+ million North Koreans who were just by happenstance born on the north side of an imaginary border instead of the south side. The absolutely terrifying things is that the sociopathic jackals on Fox & Friends, along with 30% of the country, would likely cheer the incineration of those millions of people as a "necessary evil."
posted by bluecore at 1:38 PM on October 7, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'm way behind on reading the thread, but wanted to let y'all know that I put some tax talking points, information, and resources up on my profile page. Feel free to use any of it, if you find it helpful. I'll be updating and refining it as we get more detailed plans or actual legislation.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:09 PM on October 7, 2017 [41 favorites]

Hurricane Maria: I thought the response would be different to past disasters — but it wasn't - Zoey Daniels ABC

The Trump administration has been criticised for its slow response.

But really, the big mistake it has made has been to repeatedly claim that everything is OK when it's plainly not the case.

Supplies are arriving, but they're not yet getting to people who need them in anything like the required volume because there are not enough troops, vehicles, or aircraft to deliver them.

And there's no way to communicate with people to tell them where to pick them up, even if they did have fuel and transport.

This is creating a disconnect where the Government is saying, "We are helping, what's the problem?" And the people are saying, "We haven't had any help, you don't care about us, that's the problem".

Communities are working together and people are doing their best to support each other during the disaster, but it's now almost three weeks since Maria hit.

At this rate, it's going to be a long, gruelling road to recovery, longer and harder than you'd expect from America.

posted by adept256 at 2:23 PM on October 7, 2017 [19 favorites]

Trump has said since long before his Presidency that he would like to use nuclear weapons.
He has also said that he would like to get populations under control by keeping them under siege, starving them, etc.

He’s already doing one of those things by omission and is stating his intention to do the other.

Well, #notallamericans, it was nice knowing you.

Who was it said that a narcissistic abusive father, when it all comes crashing down and he can’t pretend any more, will resort to family murder? This is what Trump seems to want to do, but with the world instead of his family.

Yeah it’s possible he’s doing it for attention or bluster, or whatever, but he certainly has the means to carry out his threat and theoretically nobody can countermand him. I speculate that we’re reliant on somebody stopping him, or on his just being too mentally impaired to execute the codes.
posted by tel3path at 2:36 PM on October 7, 2017 [27 favorites]

Who was it said that a narcissistic abusive father, when it all comes crashing down and he can’t pretend any more, will resort to family murder?

I believe these are called family annhilators.

And yeah, that's what keeps me up at night and praying there's a military coup waiting in the wings, too.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:40 PM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

I speculate that we’re reliant on somebody stopping him, or on his just being too mentally impaired to execute the codes.

My fantasy is that some prescient individual gave him fake codes on election day.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:41 PM on October 7, 2017 [6 favorites]

@kaitlancollins: Trump gets asked on the South Lawn what is the one thing that will work with North Korea. His answer? “You’ll figure that out pretty soon."

brb, vomiting.
posted by zachlipton at 2:45 PM on October 7, 2017 [22 favorites]

Once he’s done with Korea, there’s the rest of the world for him to teach a lesson to.
posted by tel3path at 2:47 PM on October 7, 2017

@kaitlancollins: Trump gets asked on the South Lawn what is the one thing that will work with North Korea. His answer? “You’ll figure that out pretty soon."

"If you could go back in time and stop Hitler..."
posted by Talez at 3:09 PM on October 7, 2017 [17 favorites]

Imagine if Hillary implied she was planning on preemptively nuking Kim Jong de Jure.

25th amendment paperwork would be on the speakers desk in minutes, articles of impeachment would be there as a backup, and the house would be reconvened within the hour to start removal of the hysterical woman.
posted by Talez at 3:13 PM on October 7, 2017 [40 favorites]

Has anyone bothered to tell him the Olympics are in Korea this winter? Seems they were actually in talks to hold some events in the North until the last couple months of breakdown in peaceful discussion. I mean, I know, in the face of the destruction a nuclear strike on NK would cause it's a small issue, but, like, maybe it would have some effect on his psyche? Losing the chance for Americans to win medals? I suppose it's too much to hope he likes a sport, right?

SIGH.
posted by threeturtles at 3:16 PM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

This execrable, inexorable slog to the endgame is unbearable. My nightmares are bleeding into my waking hours and my waking hours are shifting sands of anxiety. I sit here waiting on Nate to hit my little town and I'm glad it's not going to be that bad, but part of me really no longer gives a shit.
posted by thebrokedown at 3:18 PM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

that statement, coupled with the statement from earlier this week about the generals or military and the calm before the storm is freaking me the fuck out
posted by localhuman at 3:23 PM on October 7, 2017 [17 favorites]

If we're counting on Kelley and the brass to save us, we are fucking fucked.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:32 PM on October 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

cosign - my level of freaked the fuck out is nontrivially high
posted by prefpara at 3:39 PM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

I'm also counting on greed. And for someone to explain to him the amount of money he would lose if he fucks up on a nuclear level and we become a complete pariah.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:41 PM on October 7, 2017

Among the responses to Kaitlan Collins' tweet are very few defenses of Trump, the most telling being "I love reading how Trump sets the libtards butts on 🔥! This is so entertaining to hear them whining still!" Yes, they will be standing and saluting when the bombs go off, and preparing to totally enjoy playing Fallout in Real Life.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:43 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

that statement, coupled with the statement from earlier this week about the generals or military and the calm before the storm is freaking me the fuck out

I'm trying to come up with a way that this string of statements doesn't warrant freaking out. It isn't easy. He clearly thinks military action is the solution, and he believes that some sort of action is imminent. I guess I'm pinning my hopes on the fact that he's crazy and he says crazy things that don't correspond with reality.
posted by diogenes at 3:43 PM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

And greed-wise, the greatest threat that he may blow up the world would be if he decides that he could only become The Richest Man in the World by default.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:45 PM on October 7, 2017

World leaders should start a golf tournament amongst themselves where the winner gets to nuke a remote atoll but only if he or she also retires from public life and moves permanently to Trump Tower in New York City and then let Trump win.

Side benefit being that we'd finally learn what kind of midrange game Theresa May has.
posted by Lyme Drop at 3:48 PM on October 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

There's a theory - just a theory - out on the Interwebs somewhere that the Clownwig administration is the coup.

Evidence against that theory include such diverse elements as . . .

Hang on, something will come up.
posted by petebest at 3:49 PM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hang on, something will come up.

An almost fanatical devotion to the Christian Right?
posted by Talez at 3:51 PM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

WSJ: Trump to Sign Order Easing Health Plan Rules, Official Says

Mr. Trump will order three agencies, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury, to take steps to make it easier for people to band together and buy insurance through “association health plans,” the official said.

Such plans would in some ways be like large employer’s health plans, subject to some restrictions set by the Affordable Care Act, including a ban on lifetime limits. But they would be free of other regulations, including the requirement that insurance plans cover a set package of benefits. These plans are popular with conservatives; some insurers fear that associations would peel off healthier and younger individuals and leave traditional insurance plans to cover sicker and older customers.

The president also will order the agencies to start winding back an Obama-era rule curbing coverage known as “short-term medical insurance,” a low-cost but limited-protection option, and allow people to once again buy those plans for up to a year, the official said.
...
Some industry officials say that siphoning off healthier individuals from the existing insurance markets with the promise of skimpier benefits but lower premiums could further undermine those markets, increasing premiums ever more for the sicker, costlier enrollees that remain.

“Its aim is clearly to do with the pen what Congress wouldn’t—eliminate pre-existing condition protections, essential benefit protections and lifetime caps and turn the ACA into a sparsely available high-risk pool,” said Andy Slavitt, who was the Obama administration’s top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

posted by zachlipton at 3:52 PM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

curbing coverage known as “short-term medical insurance,”

a.k.a. "toilet paper".

Unless your company's communications are paperless in which case you'll truly be up shit creek without a paddle.
posted by Talez at 3:54 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

man if trump gets us nuked before i finish watching the new Blade Runner tonight, i’m gonna be PISSED.
posted by entropicamericana at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2017 [13 favorites]

I really, really, hope that the military is willing to mutiny to prevent Trump from launching a first strike against the DPRK.

And I can't believe that I'm literally at the point of hoping for mutiny to save us from Trump.

I'm fairly sure that his sane senior advisers, especially generals Kelly, and even Mattis despite the latter being a raving war monger, would realize that a first strike from America against anyone is going to be catastrophic, and that a first strike against the DPRK would result in the destruction of Seoul and the world pretty much instantly turning on the USA.

Even a non-nuclear first strike against the DPRK would be an unmitigated catastrophe, because again it'd result in the instant destruction of Seoul by the DPRK military, and doubtless the entire world uniting against America until Trump is removed and we demilitarize.
posted by sotonohito at 4:10 PM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

the entire world uniting against America until Trump is removed and we demilitarize

you say that like it's a bad thing
posted by entropicamericana at 4:12 PM on October 7, 2017 [16 favorites]

It's not so much that it's a bad thing -in the long run-, but in the short run it's probably a horrible military conflict, and possibly things get nuked.

I mean, Trump ain't gonna go quiet into that good night, no matter who says so.
posted by Archelaus at 4:20 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

So since we're here, can we go ahead and do - the thing that gets him the hell out of here? Article 25, etc etc?

Seriously, news media, you're seeing this, right? Your Lexus SUV isn't going to help you. Lets start using the words. The real ones. Unwell. Removal. Emergency. You've kind of laid down on the job too long and our webcast nation isn't as mind-bedazzling just yet. So. If you could. Y'know. Do The Right Thing.

Now. Yeah, like right now. Have your conferences, get your signoffs. Quit fucking around.
posted by petebest at 4:26 PM on October 7, 2017 [40 favorites]

I don't wanna live on the West Coast anymore.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:27 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I really, really, hope that the military is willing to mutiny to prevent Trump from launching a first strike against the DPRK.

No way. They went into Vietnam and Iraq enthusiastically. Bombing the shit out of distant lands at the President's pleasure is kind of what they stand for.
posted by Coventry at 4:28 PM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

eh, i'd rather be dead on the west coast than alive in florida.
posted by entropicamericana at 4:33 PM on October 7, 2017 [16 favorites]

There's another possibility that frightens me. Assume for a moment that a more competent previous administration laid the groundwork for a North Korean coup that leads to a far less hostile NK government. And assume that Trump manages to pull it off.

The press would fall over themselves with the, "this is the moment he truly became president," articles. And he'd solidly lock in his base, who'd take it as proof that he really is a genius (no matter how much of the heavy lifting had been done by the previous administration) and that you have to accept a little pussy grabbing to get a leader of that caliber.
posted by Candleman at 4:40 PM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

Didn't a majority of the military vote for Trump? All of them willingly signed up for a job with a description that includes killing people they don't know based on the orders of other people they don't know. They are the hammer; war is the nail. Don't pin any hopes on them.
posted by Blue Genie at 4:46 PM on October 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

Assume... a more competent previous administration laid the groundwork for a North Korean coup that leads to a far less hostile NK government.

Since the US keeps being surprised by NK's weapons development and proliferation activities, it's outrageously unlikely that they have the intelligence capabilities to pull an effective coup off.
posted by Coventry at 4:46 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

What we say publicly and what the IC knows are very different things.
posted by Candleman at 4:50 PM on October 7, 2017

On the other hand, history strongly suggests that the US IC is composed mostly of incompetent clowns.
posted by Coventry at 4:54 PM on October 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

And assume that Trump manages to pull it off.

I would also like a pony. To be delivered by Rush when they play my backyard BBQ.

His fuckwittery is truly astounding. There's no way he can do something that requires considered thought for others, or even a process, without borking it up. Any best-laid-plans have met a worthy adversary. As soon as he discovers them, that is.
posted by petebest at 5:00 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

the US IC is composed mostly of incompetent clowns.

Well, that's too harsh. Decent people tasked with a mostly impossible job who felt they could not in any circumstances let the nation down, and were plagued by groupthink and a culture of secrecy which prevented most of them from realizing they were doomed to failure from the start, would be the charitable interpretation.
posted by Coventry at 5:01 PM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

history strongly suggests that the US IC is composed mostly of incompetent clowns.

Probably too harsh yes, I mean, credit where due, with 54 years to figure it out and a friggin film of the actual event, we're still going with the lone gunman story. So, well played Team Spook.
posted by petebest at 5:06 PM on October 7, 2017

TPM: Secret Service Bans Personal Mobile Devices From West Wing

Translation: It might be easier to list the devices in the West Wing that weren't compromised.
posted by PenDevil at 5:08 PM on October 7, 2017 [42 favorites]

The Tillerson phone thing is a hoax to get rid of Trump's phone.
posted by rhizome at 5:32 PM on October 7, 2017 [11 favorites]

DJT is having a pretty rough week—hence the flurry of life-ruining EOs and religious “freedom” regulations, and his lashing out at TV personalities, and his stoking the will-he-or-won’t-he flames of the PRNK situation. He’s grasping at anything that will distract from what a miserable fuck-up he is.

It's to distract from, and refocus reporting on Mueller's grand jury sessions and closed door meetings with other prosecutors and officials, and Steele's testimony.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:56 PM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Translation: It might be easier to list the devices in the West Wing that weren't compromised.

Indeed, and also conveniently makes it harder for leakers.

But, this is a group of people who think rules don't apply to them. They're going to have to wand people (who think they're too important for that) on the way in, then endure the blowback when they have to take someone's phone away.

First time management backs them or caves determines how that rule goes forever.
posted by ctmf at 6:02 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's not compromised when it's intentional. Pity the career IT staff playing whackamole here, they'll close one leak, and the next day Trump and Kushner undoubtedly get updated links to "Click Here for Best President Brief Today Comrade, Also Enjoy The Big Caviar From You Friend Who Also Like Caviar, Ha-Ha! - Sign Joe America, From Ohiotown, American!".
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:07 PM on October 7, 2017 [12 favorites]

He should just stop waiting for us to notice the pattern and learn, and just come right out and say it. Lay off the Russia thing or I'm going to shoot another hostage. What do you like, doesn't matter what it is. Health care? Civil rights? I can fuck that RIGHT up.

(Except that he hasn't shown the part where he won't fuck stuff up if we do lay off.)
posted by ctmf at 6:09 PM on October 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Richard Spencer and the tiki-torch Nazis are back in Charlottesville, right now.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:27 PM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

“The group also chanted ... ‘Russia is our friend.’”

What the what?
posted by notyou at 6:34 PM on October 7, 2017 [6 favorites]

The group also chanted "The South will rise again" and "Russia is our friend."

Huh. Well . . . it's a strategy, I guess.
posted by petebest at 6:37 PM on October 7, 2017 [11 favorites]

“The group also chanted ... ‘Russia is our friend.’”

They chanted that the first time around too. Russia is a White Supremacist state. Putin is the leader of the global White Supremacist movement. They're not hiding any of this.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:41 PM on October 7, 2017 [53 favorites]

They are such failures at life that they are even terrible at being Nazis.
posted by Justinian at 6:41 PM on October 7, 2017 [48 favorites]

eh, i'd rather be dead on the west coast than alive in florida.

You have crystallized my thoughts eloquently. And I’m in Florida.
posted by photoslob at 7:38 PM on October 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

Daniel Dale has quotes from Trump's interview with Mike Huckabee, and it's wild. The paper towels he threw were "these beautiful, soft towels. Very good towels," he said "it makes you feel good" when he can help people after hurricanes, and accuses Iran of funding North Korea, which really doesn't seem like the kind of major intelligence judgement you ought to just casually drop on a Saturday night interview with the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
posted by zachlipton at 7:48 PM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

you know, I honestly don't think he's got dementia; I think he just is THAT in his head and is a psychopath; that a lot of what we see as dementia like symptoms are in fact, his psychopathia and stupidity run rampant.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:51 PM on October 7, 2017 [12 favorites]

He lies like a six year old.
posted by rhizome at 8:00 PM on October 7, 2017 [17 favorites]

Personally, I think it's sleep deprivation. I wish someone would give the guy 10mg of ambien.
posted by Coventry at 8:01 PM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I wish someone would give the guy 10mg of ambien.

Please, no. Ambien makes people wander around and do things without inhibition. He'd definitely get the football out and nuke someone.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:04 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

you know, I honestly don't think he's got dementia; I think he just is THAT in his head and is a psychopath; that a lot of what we see as dementia like symptoms are in fact, his psychopathia and stupidity run rampant.

I'm not assuming anything about 45's mental health other than that he's a narcissist, but I happen to have a narcissistic parent who now has Alzheimer's. It was damn hard for us to tell at first that there were cognitive problems because early-stage dementia didn't look much different from the usual selective memory, gaslighting, self-aggrandizement, paranoia, etc. that we were accustomed to.
posted by camyram at 8:14 PM on October 7, 2017 [54 favorites]

Mod note: The Ambien Walrus wants me to tell you guys to quit bickering about Ambien.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:15 PM on October 7, 2017 [28 favorites]

from the link above: White nationalists returned to Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday less than two months after one person was killed and dozens were injured

fuck you, The Hill. what you meant to write was "White nationalists returned to Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday less than two months after they killed one person and injured dozens." I'd offer to be your editor but you pricks can't afford me. and if you could I'd tell you to keep your money and save up for a sense of decency.

is what I say to The Hill.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:19 PM on October 7, 2017 [63 favorites]

Please, no. Ambien makes people wander around and do things without inhibition.

That explains everything.
posted by adept256 at 8:28 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hold on. Trump gave an exclusive interview to TBN? TBN?!? The ludicrous televangelist scam network I used to hate-watch as a teenager 20 years ago? Benny Hinn faith healer speaking-in-tongues TBN? Pendant keychain "love gift" TBN? The fuck is going on?
posted by contraption at 8:42 PM on October 7, 2017 [21 favorites]

Metafilter: The fuck is going on?
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:51 PM on October 7, 2017 [16 favorites]

I hate the construct "gave an interview to" like it's some big gift and he's doing someone a favor. It's his fucking job to tell us what's going on. No points for the bare minimum. (Shopping for uncritical outlets is arguably less than the bare minimum.)

I know that's not what you meant. It just irritates me.
posted by ctmf at 8:56 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

> And, y'know, 2016 demonstrated how many Americans prioritize their racism and sexism over everything including their basic survival instincts.

Racism and sexism are survival instincts.

(Note: Survival instincts don't guarantee survival.)
posted by runcifex at 10:15 PM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

Politico reports that some big Republican donors are withdrawing their financial support, not because they disagree with the Republican agenda, but because the Republicans are so incredibly incompetent about getting any of it done. This is good to hear even if the donors aren't turning off the tap for the right reason.
posted by orange swan at 10:17 PM on October 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

Ted Lieu makes me laugh.

From 09/28:

Today, Congresman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) along with Representatives Gallego (D-AZ), Raskin (D-MD), and Jayapal (D-WA) introduced the Stop Waste and Misuse by Presidential Flyers Landing Yet Evading Rules and Standards (SWAMP FLYERS) Act. The bill is in response to senior Trump cabinet officials using taxpayer funds for luxury jet travel.

He previously introduced the MAR-A-LAGO Act, which calls for open visitor logs to show who has access to the President.
posted by xyzzy at 10:47 PM on October 7, 2017 [67 favorites]

I wonder if South Koreans are in kind of a "there's a certain providence in a fall of a sparrow" place. I say this not knowing jack shit about what it means to be a South Korean, but why people are not flipping the fuck out over there is beyond me.

I have the most wonderful dentist who put in my implants. After doing his grad work at U Penn, he went back to Taiwan, I learned when I got a couple of messages from him regarding my follow up visits with a colleague at Penn at like 3AM.

A few weeks ago I texted him that I was so sorry about Donald Trump. It was like saying, "hey, sorry for quite possibly being a citizen of a country that is going to bring horrible destruction to your neck of the woods." It's like, great, I'm sorry, that's so fucking inadequate.

But what else do you say to the world? Yeah, we'll get right on that coup?
posted by angrycat at 4:24 AM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Resignation letter of Joel Clement, Senior Advisor in the US Dept of the Interior
posted by maggiemaggie at 4:43 AM on October 8, 2017 [126 favorites]

Wow, that letter! We need many more of these. We need people to speak from positions of competence and to the miserable bastards who temporarily have the reins of power.
posted by stonepharisee at 5:02 AM on October 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

That letter is heartbreaking. There's so much pain and anger in those few paragraphs although it is very controlled. I have been thinking that while Trump's administration is so terrible to those of us paying attention, it must be horrific to the non-Trump people working for him because they can see all of the awful shit that is being done in great detail. For example, I knew that the work on Climate Change had ceased and some DOI randomly reassigned but I didn't know about the way they are cheating the tax payers out of royalties. The damage goes deep and wide. Maybe I'm glad I don't know the extent of it.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:53 AM on October 8, 2017 [24 favorites]

Holy shit, the shade in this line (emphasis mine):

Secretary Zinke, you and your fellow high-flying Cabinet officials have demonstrated over and over that you are willing to waste taxpayer dollars, but I’m not.

posted by duffell at 5:57 AM on October 8, 2017 [48 favorites]

In a switch, GOP deserts its budget-cutting mantra

“I felt there was a period, two or three years ago, when there was a real seriousness about trying to solve our fiscal issues,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a longtime deficit hawk who is part of a scarce group of Republicans consistently preaching restraint. “When the election result turned out what it was [in November], any thought of fiscal responsibility has gone out the window.”

He added, “It’s very disheartening to me that when the other side of the aisle was in charge we cared about fiscal issues, and now that we’re in charge we don’t care about fiscal issues. It’s very disheartening.”

posted by octothorpe at 6:26 AM on October 8, 2017 [32 favorites]

Daniel Dale wrote a column for the Toronto Star about Trump's interview with Huckabee. It contains this:

“I think one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with is ‘fake.’ I guess other people have used it, perhaps, over the years, but I’ve never noticed it,” he said.

I remember awhile ago Trump took credit for inventing another word or phrase in common usage but I can't remember what it was.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:37 AM on October 8, 2017 [39 favorites]

He took credit for "priming the pump" in an interview with The Economist. At this rate he'll soon be claiming to have invented the letter "a."
posted by vathek at 6:39 AM on October 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

He's made the word 'fake' intolerable. That's all he's done, the pathetic fucking piece of shit.
posted by h00py at 6:43 AM on October 8, 2017 [15 favorites]

Next thing you know he'll claim to have invented the question mark.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:44 AM on October 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

My updated daily Resistbot fax, tailored to be applicable for all my House and Senate reps:

Each time you fail to speak out when this president...

(1) acts to deepen or inflame divisions among Americans,

(2) exhibits racism, misogyny, or other misanthropic behaviors, or

(3) demonstrates contempt or disregard for the laws and ethical standards that define us as a civilized society,

...you are COMPLICIT in the harm that he inflicts.

Any time you actively voice support for, vote in favor of, or fail to vocally oppose any of his divisive, destructive, negligent, or abusive acts or policy proposals, or one of his partisan, unqualified, compromised, or otherwise toxic judicial nominees, cabinet members, or other appointees, you brand yourself a COLLABORATOR with his degenerate agenda.

Every time you choose to advance your political causes with propaganda instead of fostering the use of facts, reasoning, and critical thinking, or you prioritize party over country, or elevate winning above good governance, you reveal yourself to be an ENEMY of the public trust, upon which peace and civilization depend.

If you're honest with yourself, you know that this president is malevolent, and if he is not stopped he will do irrevocable damage to this nation and the world. Where do you stand on this? Are you doing everything in your power to stop him?

There is no such thing as neutrality. You cannot hide in silence, or behind unrelated good works.

We watch. History will remember. Your response to the overarching, ongoing calamity in which we are embroiled tells the most important tale of your lasting imprint on the nation.

Sing it with me if you like it. Or write your own verse.
posted by perspicio at 6:49 AM on October 8, 2017 [47 favorites]

So, the I Invented Words thing, there's a podcast that Paul F. Tompkins did called Dead Authors. In one episode, Andy Daly played L.Ron Hubbard, and it is hysterical. But among the whoppers told by LRH, is the I Made Up Words thing. Trust me when I tell you that this episode will make you laugh and feel better that the world has such comedians.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:51 AM on October 8, 2017 [13 favorites]

If in doubt, please refer to this random 2013 interview (anything from a few years ago will do).

He's talking about Miss Universe in Russia, and yes he's sales-speaking non-stop, he's got his go-to talking points and other Trumpy rhetorical flair on display. But it seems clear he wasn't "record skipping" all over the way he does now. He's able to merge complex sentences successfully.

No one would claim campaigning for, or being, Predisent is easy, but this goes beyond lack of sleep and possible pharmaceutical influence. He's snapping dendrites at a record pace and it is way late in the game to start this ball rolling but it has to roll.
posted by petebest at 6:58 AM on October 8, 2017 [12 favorites]

How could it all get any worse? Well, murderer founder of Blackwater/Xe/Academi/etc, brother of Betsy DeVos, and wannabe Viceroy of Afghanistan Erik Prince could be the next Senator of Wyoming, continuing the state's tradition of electing absolute goddamned monsters.

Peters, Haberman and Thrush, NYT: Erik Prince, Blackwater Founder, Weighs Primary Challenge to Wyoming Republican

Mr. Prince appears increasingly likely to challenge John Barrasso, a senior member of the Senate Republican leadership, according to people who have spoken to him in recent days. He has been urged to run next year by Stephen K. Bannon, who is leading the effort to shake up the Republican leadership with financial backing from the New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah.

Over the weekend, Mr. Prince traveled to Wyoming with his family to explore ways to establish residency there, said one person who had spoken to him.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:04 AM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

If in doubt, please refer to this random 2013 interview (anything from a few years ago will do).

From there a link in the sidebar leads to an interview with Tom Brokaw in 1980 and Trump seems positively normal.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:05 AM on October 8, 2017

Ta-Nehisi Coates: the laureate of black lives (David Smith interview, The Observer)

Worried About Trump’s Mental Stability? The Worst Is Yet to Come. Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept

I'm just not happy with using his mental instability as an argument for ousting him. He needs to be impeached and imprisoned, because he is a crook, and also because he stands for white supremacy and that cannot be tolerated anywhere . He has been elected because he acts like he does, not in spite of it. His fans will continue to vote for crazy white people as long as they can.
Also, when reading the Intercept article linked above, I realized that mental health examinations can become a political weapon used at random.
posted by mumimor at 7:20 AM on October 8, 2017 [7 favorites]

The NYT buries the lede six feet under in their incredibly Trump-friendly article "Hoping to Have Trump Cleared, Legal Team Eases Resistance to Inquiry". Their reporters devote a couple dozen paragraphs to the nothingburger of how Trump's lawyers are cooperating with the Mueller investigation before getting to Team Trump's real strategy in the conclusion:

The White House also hopes for a favorable report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating Russian election interference and several related matters. The committee’s leaders said this week that they planned to release a public report about their findings.

That report could be finished before Mr. Mueller’s investigation. Although committee leaders said they would leave any criminal matters to the Justice Department, a determination by the committee that none of Mr. Trump’s associates assisted the Russian campaign would be a boon for the White House even if Mr. Mueller refuses to publicly clear Mr. Trump.

“They want them to write a report saying ‘no collusion,’” said Ms. Van Gelder, the defense lawyer. “And then they can let Mueller twist in the wind.”

And once the Republican-led Capitol Hill committee inquiries have rushed out their whitewashes, their no-collusion conclusions will be amplified all over the airwaves by the right-wing noise machine and echoed by the complacent mainstream press, like the NYT.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has published an updated overview on the Steele Dossier—The Trump-Russia dossier: why its findings grow more significant by the day.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:27 AM on October 8, 2017 [11 favorites]

Looks like someone told Donny about Sen. Corker's "chaos" comments. Wonder if he's aware Corker still gets to vote for the next 16 months. Corker had already been making a lot of noise about voting against tax cuts that increase the deficit. When you can only lose 2 senators, continuing to piss them off seems like the Art of the Deal. But please, feel free to keep attacking your own party.

@realDonaldTrump
Senator Bob Corker "begged" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said "NO" and he dropped out (said he could not win without... my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said "NO THANKS." He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal! ... Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn't have the guts to run!
posted by chris24 at 7:30 AM on October 8, 2017 [24 favorites]

“They want them to write a report saying ‘no collusion,’” said Ms. Van Gelder, the defense lawyer. “And then they can let Mueller twist in the wind.”

Like I said, Richard Burr is acting as Trump's outside counsel to legalize the coverup.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:48 AM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

I just want to be clear: he can't actually unilaterally authorize a strike of any kind against a nation we aren't at war with, correct? Congress has to agree that we're at war with that country, and THEN he can use the arsenal?
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:50 AM on October 8, 2017

Adding, to avoid abusing the edit window: the last couple Presidents made this line a little grey with Iraq, drone strikes and special forces operations, so I ask for those better versed in the law and the technicalities of the position what the limit on that power is.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 7:51 AM on October 8, 2017

Why does not not realize that putting quotation marks around the word "begged" CHANGES THE MEANING OF THE FUCKING SENTENCE.

#$#%$_)$W%_)!

>I just want to be clear: he can't actually unilaterally authorize a strike of any kind against a nation we aren't at war with, correct?

He can authorize a nuclear strike.
posted by xyzzy at 7:53 AM on October 8, 2017 [7 favorites]

I just want to be clear: he can't actually unilaterally authorize a strike of any kind against a nation we aren't at war with, correct?

Sure he can. The War Powers Resolution didn't stop Clinton from bombing Kosovo, didn't stop Bush from intervening in Somalia, and didn't stop Obama from airstrikes in Libya and Syria.
posted by peeedro at 8:02 AM on October 8, 2017 [19 favorites]

I just want to be clear: he can't actually unilaterally authorize a strike of any kind against a nation we aren't at war with, correct? Congress has to agree that we're at war with that country, and THEN he can use the arsenal?

Sorry. But he totally can.

The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period, without a Congressional authorization for use of military force (AUMF) or a declaration of war by the United States.

He can attack anyone he wants. Congress has to agree later. Much later. And after everyone already has war fever.
posted by Glibpaxman at 8:04 AM on October 8, 2017 [12 favorites]

I just want to be clear: he can't actually unilaterally authorize a strike of any kind against a nation we aren't at war with, correct? Congress has to agree that we're at war with that country, and THEN he can use the arsenal?

This is why Rep. Ted Lieu has introduced bill H.R.669 - Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 which prohibits the President from launching a first strike unless Congress approves. It's been stuck in Committee for 9 months, as far as I can tell.
posted by bluecore at 8:06 AM on October 8, 2017 [30 favorites]

Corker responds!

@SenBobCorker
It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.
posted by chris24 at 8:19 AM on October 8, 2017 [157 favorites]

Me, I'm putting my money in the WD-40 company, the makers of Lava pumice soap.

Because before too long, about 60 million Americans will wonder why all this fucking blood won't wash off of their hands.
posted by delfin at 8:22 AM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Wow, the Corker response! And wow, the latter from Joel Clement. He's a hero.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:35 AM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Politico reports that Trump is lying: Corker spoke to Trump, and Trump encouraged him to run again, saying he'd support him.

And @StevenTDennis: "Wish I could share with everybody the look on Corker's face a while back when I reminded him he had been considered for Trump's VP & SoS"

Picking a fight with the guy who has the least to lose seems like an extraordinarily bad idea.
posted by zachlipton at 8:54 AM on October 8, 2017 [44 favorites]

> He can attack anyone he wants. Congress has to agree later. Much later. And after everyone already has war fever.

According to formal rules Trump can launch an attack any time he wants. However, formal rules don't carry themselves out, meaning that informal interventions — involving individual deviations from what formal rules say one should do — are possible.

For example, some people in the room where Trump issues this order will have firearms on their person. They could respond to Trump's order by shooting him. This is the primary check on Trump's power to launch nuclear weapons.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:57 AM on October 8, 2017 [7 favorites]

That letter is heartbreaking. There's so much pain and anger in those few paragraphs although it is very controlled. I have been thinking that while Trump's administration is so terrible to those of us paying attention, it must be horrific to the non-Trump people working for him because they can see all of the awful shit that is being done in great detail.

If hope doesn't fail me, the Mueller Indictments are going to be orgasmic.
posted by mikelieman at 8:58 AM on October 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

At least until the first tactical nuke lands on Mueller's winter residence.
posted by delfin at 9:01 AM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Like I said, Richard Burr is acting as Trump's outside counsel to legalize the coverup.

Man, would Mueller's indictment of a sitting senator be so, so sweet. I know I'm "blue-skying" here, but... Gotta take hope whenever you can...
posted by mikelieman at 9:02 AM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

If the GOP decides to go full Russian collaboration, and pushes out a whitewash before Mueller files indictments, the odds of civil war climb rapidly in my opinion. Because at that point, the republic has been compromised and a majority of our ruling class has sided with Russian oligarchs over America and her citizens. Open revolution is on Vladimirs to do list, and it will be horrific in a country as heavily armed as one side is.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:07 AM on October 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is why Rep. Ted Lieu has introduced bill H.R.669 - Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 which prohibits the President from launching a first strike unless Congress approves. It's been stuck in Committee for 9 months, as far as I can tell.

FAX your representatives with faxzero.com's free service. (Here are the members of House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for reference.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:09 AM on October 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

perspicio, thanks for that. I’ve been sending it via resistbot to my reps since you posted it a while back.
posted by photoslob at 9:28 AM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I feel like the GOP has been compromised by Russian oligarchs and intelligence services for much longer than anyone realizes. Putin has pushed a massive, long-running social media campaign about his image for over 10 years now. When digg was popular it was pretty typical to see pictures of Putin doing “manly” things, and that was the same for Reddit (which was a smaller site then). Putin has been acting out Alexander Dugin’s 1997 book on Russian geo-politics in the 21st Century for a while now. I’d even put my bets on Fox News being heavily compromised by Russian intel, and if not, then they’re just coincidentally spreading Russian propaganda or at the very least their values align with Putin’s. I agree with whoever said it above: Putin is the ringmaster of global white supremacy, and the more Republicans cozy up to him and the disparate groups that parrot his policies, the more and more it becomes astonishingly clear that there’s something other than collusion going on. Putin’s funding of right-wing political parties and the steady growth of them across the globe in recent years is haunting.

I don’t think there will ever be a “civil war” in America like THE Civil War, the country will just dissolve into a useless, impotent failed state. I think Obama and his people understood this and was crafty about using economic war via sanctions and other instruments in order to hold Putin at bay. Putin may be the world’s richest man, and he’s got a lot of instruments at his disposal to wield power across the globe.

This is all so simple: Putin got Trump elected, and the reason doesn’t necessarily matter. Republicans shot the country in the foot, they’re traitors.
posted by gucci mane at 9:30 AM on October 8, 2017 [50 favorites]

No, Senator Corker, the White House hasn't just "become" an adult day care. You and your party worked ceaselessly and spent millions of dollars to install the moron there and make it one. This wasn't magic, it was YOU and your ilk.

*endless frustrated screaming*
posted by Heretic at 9:31 AM on October 8, 2017 [74 favorites]

@SenBobCorker
It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

Damn. This has to be a new record for the worst insult from a sitting Senator to a President from his own party.
posted by diogenes at 9:39 AM on October 8, 2017 [32 favorites]

Civil war, oligarchs, almost embarrassed to post, any conspiracy theory that discounts the vast tech revolution, we are all pawns in the great AWS/Google world order.
posted by sammyo at 9:42 AM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

feel like the GOP has been compromised by Russian oligarchs and intelligence services for much longer than anyone realizes.

Yeah, that. I've been trying to wrap my head around Masha Gessen's attitude towards the Russia stuff - she says we're engaging in conspiracy thinking about it ...

The closest I can get is: Russia interfering with us is normal. They do that to everyone. We should have expected that, and we should expect it in the future. The bigger problem is that we're not defending ourselves. The fact that Republicans aren't doing anything - is a problem above and beyond Russia's actions. The fact that a third of the electorate voted for this trash fire is a huge problem above and beyond Russia. Like, pneumonia is a problem, but our compromised immune system is in some ways the bigger problem.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:43 AM on October 8, 2017 [26 favorites]

Between the shoot-down of the Obamacare repeal (crediting Murkowski and Collins most of all), the failure of the most recent attempt at the same, and now this, I'm hoping we're going to see more Republicans start to find their spines. The more examples we see of Republicans in Congress giving the White House the finger and remain standing, the better.

Although I'm not giving too much credit for waking up this late. Something I really want to share from Oliver Willis off Twitter last night:

I’m not really here for conservatives who suddenly discovered their movement was shit last year. This has been building for decades.

It’s like Serpentor strikes and I’m sposed to forget all the shit Cobra Commander did?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:53 AM on October 8, 2017 [24 favorites]

The invention of social media was like the invention of airplanes. Propaganda can fly right over our gatekeepers like bombers fly over cavalry lines. We didn't see how it could be weaponized until it was too late.

Propaganda is most effective when it is telling people something they want to believe. So Putin finds destructive movements that already exist and encourages them, tells them what they want to hear.

The neo-Confederacy is home grown and has been tolerated but not indulged much in the Republican party for a long time. Putin helped it take over the Republican party. The "establishment" cavalry watched helplessly as the propaganda flew over their heads.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:00 AM on October 8, 2017 [37 favorites]

No, Senator Corker, the White House hasn't just "become" an adult day care. You and your party worked ceaselessly and spent millions of dollars to install the moron there and make it one. This wasn't magic, it was YOU and your ilk.

It "became" an adult daycare the instant Corker decided he didn't want to run for reelection and thus no longer needed to play along with the Republicans. He's as scummy as the rest, but now that he's out of the running in 2018 he seems willing to attack Trump and his party so I'm willing to use him. In a fight like this you grab whatever weapon you can find, and if Corker is willing to weaponize himself I'll go with it.

That doesn't mean I like him, or I forgive him for his decades of evil. But I'll use him as a rhetorical weapon and not feel even slightly bad.
posted by sotonohito at 10:01 AM on October 8, 2017 [72 favorites]

Plenty of time for pointing fingers after we get the fucker out and get adults back in charge. If it helps to let someone be shocked, shocked that they "unwittingly" helped get us into the situation we're in, then let them. For now.
posted by ctmf at 10:01 AM on October 8, 2017 [15 favorites]

“I felt there was a period, two or three years ago, when there was a real seriousness about trying to solve our fiscal issues,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a longtime deficit hawk who is part of a scarce group of Republicans consistently preaching restraint. “When the election result turned out what it was [in November], any thought of fiscal responsibility has gone out the window.”

He added, “It’s very disheartening to me that when the other side of the aisle was in charge we cared about fiscal issues, and now that we’re in charge we don’t care about fiscal issues. It’s very disheartening.”

Fuck all these fucking guys for pretending this is remotely new or a surprise. The father of modern deficits is their dear departed Saint Reagan. They took a 55B debt increase in Carter's last year and turned it into 400B annually by the time Bush Prime left office. You can see clear as day in the chart in this article the identifier "Reagan's first budget" where the debt increase suddenly doubles and stays that way. You can see how tiny they are in Clinton's term.

Fiscal conservatism has always been a lying fig leaf.
posted by phearlez at 10:03 AM on October 8, 2017 [48 favorites]

Corker & Co. enabled this and brought it on themselves. He's not a hero. But I'll take a likelier vote against tax cuts and for impeachment. And I definitely prefer a Republican Civil War than an American one.
posted by chris24 at 10:04 AM on October 8, 2017 [34 favorites]

Fiscal conservatism has always been a lying fig leaf.

No shit. The guy is trying to turn on his own team. Let him. (Just don't ever trust him.)
posted by ctmf at 10:06 AM on October 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

Boy, people, add me to the list of those not sleeping well at all.

about 60 million Americans will wonder why all this fucking blood won't wash off of their hands.

Not the diehard trumpanzees, if we're talking about mostly Asians being killed. They are not white people after all, just lesser humans.

Besides, "at least he took care of" something that wasn't even on their radar before his propagandizing.

OTOH I do see signs of serious anger even where I wouldn't expect it.

"If you could go back in time and stop Hitler..."

I live in a Bavaria sort of place. Yet even here I've heard people shockingly, casually speculate that someone might, uh, ya know, try that.
posted by NorthernLite at 10:07 AM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

For example, some people in the room where Trump issues this order will have firearms on their person. They could respond to Trump's order by shooting him. This is the primary check on Trump's power to launch nuclear weapons.

All the armed people in the room probably voted for him.
posted by Mavri at 10:08 AM on October 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

Fiscal conservatism has always been a lying fig leaf.

No shit. The guy is trying to turn on his own team. Let him. (Just don't ever trust him.)


I strongly disagree. These people turning on Trump are trying to play True Republican and preserve their brand, making out the current crop to be the ones who are Failing Conservatism. When they come out and say this was always bullshit I'll accept the idea they're turning on the team. This is just squabbling over who gets to hold the remote control.
posted by phearlez at 10:18 AM on October 8, 2017 [11 favorites]

And I definitely prefer a Republican Civil War than an American one.

When I look at the White Supremacists marching with Confederate Flags, I'm certain they've already declared Civil War 2.0. And until everyone treats them like the enemies of America they are, shit's not changing.
posted by mikelieman at 10:30 AM on October 8, 2017 [13 favorites]

"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more, no less." (maxim 29)

That being said I am definitely in favour of Republicans turning on 45. This will greatly exacerbate his narcissistic injuries and make him lash out against his own party to demand shows of loyalty, which will further humiliate and alienate them, making it more likely for others to turn on him and so on and so forth until he has his bunker moment.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 10:30 AM on October 8, 2017 [21 favorites]

Like, pneumonia is a problem, but our compromised immune system is in some ways the bigger problem.

Not just in some: in all ways, if we can live through our pneumonia (Trump), it is still just a symptom of the real problem, which is in part:

The invention of social media was like the invention of airplanes. Propaganda can fly right over our gatekeepers like bombers fly over cavalry lines. We didn't see how it could be weaponized until it was too late.

This is spot-on, but we need to scale this frame shift beyond social media to all mass media. This has been brewing for over 60 years because we introduced massively-mediated realities and invented propaganda based upon modern understanding of human consciousness (PR/advertising), without considering or closely monitoring the impact and effects on the individual and human beings collectively. Over the past half-century, the delivery methods (media) have been ruthlessly improved and scaled and are so pervasive and ubiquitous that at least half of all human beings alive right now know more about the world by mediation than by first-person experience.

Awareness that this makes each of us (and, crucially, all of us) is vulnerable to manipulation, mis/disinformation, etc., needs to be as common as dirt, and until it is we will only be fighting symptoms. The difficulty about trying to educate people about this perceptual water we all swim through is not the complexity of the ideas--it's that this is our water, and getting most people to even notice that we're swimming in it all the time, is a substantial challenge.

(I'll start: "I know your arm has fallen off and you're still bleeding, but while we fix that I really need to talk to you about how your heart is about to explode.")

("OK, so, think about how you know things.....")

("Russia has been attacking us, openly and aggressively, for years....no, not militarily, they've been doing it through the internet......no, not financial stuff, more like, spreading and advocating terrible ideas through social media, and conspiring with other rich people to do it through traditional media.....well, there's not really a specific goal in mind, as much as disruption......well, we could just not listen, but.....")
posted by LooseFilter at 10:36 AM on October 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

Pence flees Colts game after National Anthem display of protest

Pence, I hope you remember, in Hell, how you did this but you went to Hell anyway, because God is probably on the side of the protestors and even if She isn't, you are such a POS you went to Hell regardless of your performative bullshit.
posted by angrycat at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2017 [45 favorites]

Pence flees Colts game after National Anthem display of protest

TRIGGERED
posted by PenDevil at 10:52 AM on October 8, 2017 [27 favorites]

This will greatly exacerbate his narcissistic injuries and make him lash out against his own party to demand shows of loyalty

Exactly, and what's interesting about Corker is that Trump doesn't have any leverage over him. He can't fire him or force him to go on TV and apologize. He can't resolve it, and he's incapable of dropping it, so there's a good chance the spat gets uglier and uglier.
posted by diogenes at 10:54 AM on October 8, 2017 [31 favorites]

If I have to live with endless and multifarious anxieties through this administration, I'm happy to watch ANYone poke poke poke the man. His defenses are weak and he telegraphs just how to get through them. It is a patriotic duty to poke poke poke.
posted by thebrokedown at 11:02 AM on October 8, 2017 [25 favorites]

So the Charlottesville nazis came back. Here's your chance Donald, you can take another swipe at decency and act like a normal human by condemning white supremacy unequivacally. What are you waiting for? Are those your friends?
posted by adept256 at 11:05 AM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I’m an American in Los Angeles, and I’ve stopped regarding myself as a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. On days like these I see myself more as temporarily sentient fallout.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:15 AM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump explains why he’s different than Harvey Weinstein (John Legum, Think Progress)
His statement comes on the one year anniversary of the release of the Access Hollywood tape.

“I’ve know Harvey Weinstein a long time. I’m not at all surprised to see it,” Trump said in response to a question.

[...]

He was subsequently asked by CNN’s Elizabeth’s Landers how Weinstein’s conduct differed from the conduct Trump bragged about on the infamous Access Hollywood tape, which was released one year ago today.

Trump responded that the tapes were merely “locker room” talk, before moving quickly to the next question. (Trump did not make the comments in a locker room.

posted by Room 641-A at 11:16 AM on October 8, 2017 [11 favorites]

Pence flees Colts game after National Anthem display of protest

What a delicate little snowflake.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:32 AM on October 8, 2017 [9 favorites]

Another tweet:

“I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.”

Right.
posted by AwkwardPause at 11:34 AM on October 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

The good news is that we've figured out how to make him leave.
posted by adept256 at 11:37 AM on October 8, 2017 [59 favorites]

Dear feckless president, the country doesn't belong to only straight white boys regardless of what you believe. Fuck off.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:54 AM on October 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

Wonderful, let's all go kneel in front of the White House for an afternoon or two.
posted by lydhre at 11:58 AM on October 8, 2017 [31 favorites]

Pence tries to play it as having his principles offended; trump immediately humiliates him by making it clear Pence was doing what he was told. It's the public humiliation fetish from the Kellyanne/Rudy campaign days.
posted by ctmf at 12:01 PM on October 8, 2017 [76 favorites]

So Pence "went" to this game at taxpayer expense
When he knew that there was likely to be a protest
So we just funded this guy to go shit all over PoC, essentially

/projectile vomiting
/more projectile vomiting
/an ocean of vomit
posted by angrycat at 12:23 PM on October 8, 2017 [56 favorites]

If Corker's tweet is a prototype of an "equal time" approach, like the Preznut has suggested is needed, to counter left-leaning jokes at the president's expense...

...I mean, show me some more prototypes first, but so far I like what I see.
posted by perspicio at 12:37 PM on October 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'd like to think that if I was a fan in the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium, I'd have the guts to kneel too. I don't.
posted by klarck at 12:37 PM on October 8, 2017

@SenBobCorker
It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

Sick burns on Twitter are great and all, but initiating impeachment proceedings would be better.
posted by danielleh at 12:42 PM on October 8, 2017 [35 favorites]

Wonderful, let's all go kneel in front of the White House for an afternoon or two.

I don't have the means to fly to DC but if this was a thing I would try almost anything else to get there.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:46 PM on October 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

the other day a woman threw her drink at some people who didn't stand for the anthem, filmed herself doing it, posted the video on twitter.

I live in Philadelphia, don't understand the sports fever here at all, and the fans scare me. I mean, this is the place where an off-duty cop stuck his finger down his throat to puke all over a guy and his daughter when the guy asked the cop to stop swearing or something

I'm not especially afraid of drinks and puke, but I think we are like a day away from some brawl breaking out in the stands.

Which is to say I don't think calling people part of the problem for being scared to kneel is okay. I think it's much better to celebrate the bravery of those who do
posted by angrycat at 12:53 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Then you're part of the problem, I guess.

Back in 1990, when I was freshly 18 years old, there was a wave of false-controversy regarding the “need” for a anti-flag-burning constitutional amendment. I wrote a letter to the editor (back when news only came in paper form) in opposition.

Within hours of the morning paper’s circulation, I had received multiple death threats over the phone. (ring) “You like to burn flags? I like to burn houses down.” (click) (ring) “If there’s anybody in the house you better get them out now.” (click) etc.

People lose their minds over this flag-worshipping stuff. And based on my experience, it’s absolutely reasonable to be concerned for your safety. Protestors are right, but they’re also (necessarily) brave.
posted by rodeoclown at 12:59 PM on October 8, 2017 [55 favorites]

So Pence's tweet from the game before walking out? Used the picture from a 2014 game as Governor. If you're gonna fake it, why bother flying all the way there to walk out and wasting hundreds of thousands of $$$. I also love that he walked out before rightwing Peyton Manning's halftime honoring.

@VP
Looking forward to cheering for our @Colts & honoring the great career of #18 Peyton Manning at @LucasOilStadium today. Go Colts! [PIC]

@GovPenceIN
Cheering on our @colts w/@FirstLadyIN as they kick off the 2nd half! Go #Colts, beat Jaguars! #JAXvsIND [PIC]
posted by chris24 at 1:01 PM on October 8, 2017 [15 favorites]

Sick burns on Twitter are great and all, but initiating impeachment proceedings would be better

I do believe Corker will be the first Republican member of Congress to come out for impeachment, probably in early 2018. Trump attacking him is... counterproductive at best. So I hope he keeps doing it.
posted by Justinian at 1:15 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

The IndyStar sports columist is not happy. And the column is the red banner breaking news story on top of their site.

Doyel: Vice President Mike Pence uses Colts for political purposes

The bigger part of me is stunned that the President – and now Vice President – of the United States would take such a public position against the one of the greatest rights the U.S. Constitution grants us: freedom of speech. It’s one thing for you to rip NFL players for kneeling during the anthem. They have the right to kneel, and you have the right to hate it. You have the right to boo. You have the right to rise from your seat and leave the game. So many of my family members fought overseas, some of them not coming back completely whole, for you to have that right. So, boo. So, leave. You don’t have my agreement, but you have my support.

But when the top two elected leaders of our democracy decide that political speech – in this case, a silent and non-violent form of political speech – is unacceptable to the point of walking out of the game where it happens, well, that’s chilling. That’s the kind of oppressive nonsense our ancestors were leaving when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of years ago.

As an aside, how much taxpayer money did Pence waste to make this grandiose statement of political oppression, anyway? He traveled here with his usual contingent of aides and bodyguards, and he didn’t fly standby on Delta. Chew on that for just a minute.

As another aside, what was Pence thinking, doing this on a day the Colts franchise thought he was in town to honor Peyton Manning and celebrate his induction into the Ring of Honor? As VP of the country, and as Indiana’s former governor, Pence has a standing invitation to come to a Colts game and watch it from a suite. A few weeks ago he accepted that offer. He claimed a suite just off mid-field.

The presence of the U.S. Vice President is a disruption, anywhere he goes. Colts fans were urged in an announcement by the team – and by IMPD – to come early to navigate the expected delays...

The Colts had no idea – none – that he would be leaving before kickoff. They were just the wall Pence was using to paint his political graffiti.

posted by chris24 at 1:28 PM on October 8, 2017 [109 favorites]

So in case anyone was feeling nostalgic, this was us exactly a year ago today.

H/T the MeFi sidebar "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 years ago" links, which are yet another thing that the Trump administration has completely fucking ruined.
posted by Westringia F. at 1:37 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

I cannot fucking believe it's been a year. Good lord. I don't know that my liver can survive.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:45 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

I still blame myself for posting that thread without doing the whole"go outside, spin around, and spit" thing.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:45 PM on October 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

“I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.”

Right.

Peter Alexander of NBC calls bullshit on Pence's manufactured outrage: 'FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt? Reporters were told to stay in van bc "there may be an early departure from the game."'
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:52 PM on October 8, 2017 [56 favorites]

FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt?

ANSWER: Yes, definitely yes.
posted by diogenes at 2:02 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

A stunt that cost a half million dollars. While PR, TX, FL and probably soon MS and LA are desperate for $$ and aid.
posted by chris24 at 2:05 PM on October 8, 2017 [34 favorites]

I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country.

Political stunts work better if you don't tell everybody that you arranged a political stunt.
posted by diogenes at 2:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [26 favorites]

a half million here, a half million there, it DOESN'T add up for these people
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:08 PM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Bill Kristol with the sick burn:

If you're leaving any event featuring individuals who've disrespected our soldiers, you should walk out of the Oval Office when next there.
posted by diogenes at 2:09 PM on October 8, 2017 [108 favorites]

Pence left the game early to attend a fundraiser for Dana Rohrbacher of all people...
posted by PenDevil at 2:16 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

Pence left the game early to attend a fundraiser for Dana Rohrbacher of all people...

Russian assets gotta stick together, you know...
posted by mikelieman at 2:21 PM on October 8, 2017 [21 favorites]

Sick burns on Twitter are great and all,

I think it was more than just a sick burn. He called the White House an adult daycare center. Adult daycare centers are a specific thing:

Adult day care centers primarily focus on providing care for people with a specific chronic condition, including: Alzheimer's Disease and related forms of dementia; additionally, these services may be available for any adult with disabilities and also the elderly population. (Wikipedia)

I don't think this was the usual "adults in charge" commentary. He's basically saying the president has dementia. I agree with Justihian that Corker's a good bet for impeachment; with bold statements like this, he may even be trying to lay ground for the 25th.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:34 PM on October 8, 2017 [43 favorites]

via twitter: "'Leaving early' is also Mike Pence's birth control strategy"
posted by angrycat at 2:50 PM on October 8, 2017 [35 favorites]

Pence left the game early to attend a fundraiser for Dana Rohrbacher of all people...

Ugh. That fact that Rohrbacher isn't a pariah in Washington continues to astound me.
posted by diogenes at 2:52 PM on October 8, 2017 [9 favorites]

Corker's a good bet for impeachment; with bold statements like this, he may even be trying to lay ground for the 25th.

I didn't address adult daycare centers in my comment, though I worked as a nurse in long term care for years and you're absolutely right that they're a specific thing designed to serve a particular population. It's a bit of nuance that adds to the heat in Corker's tweet. I'm still boggling that Twitter is the medium for some of these conversations, with the audience scouring every character for meaning. It's weird to me, but here we are.
posted by danielleh at 2:53 PM on October 8, 2017 [13 favorites]

[...] But I'll use him as a rhetorical weapon and not feel even slightly bad
My comment was a criticism of the passive language of his statement, nothing more.
posted by Heretic at 2:54 PM on October 8, 2017

Bill Kristol with the sick burn:

If you're leaving any event featuring individuals who've disrespected our soldiers, you should walk out of the Oval Office when next there.

Bill Kristol’s principled integrity still confuses the heck out of me. I guess part of it is, like Jonah Goldberg and Jennifer Rubin, he recognizes that you don’t. fuck. around. when it comes to Nazi sympathizers.

So I don’t know that the fuck Bibi Netanyahu’s problem is.
posted by leotrotsky at 3:02 PM on October 8, 2017 [20 favorites]

Russian assets gotta stick together, you know...

Assets gonna ass
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:06 PM on October 8, 2017 [15 favorites]

That fact that Rohrbacher isn't a pariah in Washington continues to astound me.

Now, now, Dana just wants to make sure the goverment doesn't try to legislate morals. At least, the ones he doesn't agree with.

2017 is so fucking weird, guys.

Disclaimer: twitter self-link
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:31 PM on October 8, 2017

The IndyStar sports columist is not happy. And the column is the red banner breaking news story on top of their site.

Hoosier here. We love Peyton. So much that we even wore half colts half broncos jerseys when he left. The children’s hospital that helped save my daughter from a severe asthma attack was named after him.

Pence? He was an incumbent Republican governor about to lose re-election in the reddest state in the Midwest. He brought us nothing but grief and bad press. ...and it was always clear he wasn’t too bright.

This bullshit doesn’t help with that assessment.
posted by leotrotsky at 3:31 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

in other news, I am learning that not only do folks in ADAPT do things like charge police lines in their manual wheelchairs, they're also a bunch a stoners

I have found my people
posted by angrycat at 4:17 PM on October 8, 2017 [82 favorites]

For Deal on ‘Dreamers,’ White House Will Demand Crackdown on Child Border Crossers

The White House will demand this week that lawmakers harden the border against thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America before President Trump will agree to any deal with Democrats that allows the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers to stay in the United States legally.

Golly do these people hate children
posted by theodolite at 4:23 PM on October 8, 2017 [13 favorites]

brown children
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:33 PM on October 8, 2017 [38 favorites]

Pence left the game early to attend a fundraiser for Dana Rohrbacher of all people...

Ugh. That fact that Rohrbacher isn't a pariah in Washington continues to astound me.

Traitors gotta stick together with other traitors. Who else is gonna want to hang with them?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:37 PM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

brown children

Poor children, children of single mothers, children of homosexual couples.

They hate anyone outside of Leave it to Beaver.
posted by Talez at 4:38 PM on October 8, 2017 [12 favorites]

They hate anyone outside of Leave it to Beaver.

Now, now. The LOVE Russian "adoptions".
posted by mikelieman at 4:43 PM on October 8, 2017 [9 favorites]

They've taken the wave of demographic change against them to heart. Oh, not like that - they haven't decided to stop being white supremacists. No, the lesson is "they're out-breeding us".

You'd think they'd want to outlaw birth control for white women, but give it away to everyone else. I guess that would be too obvious.
posted by ctmf at 4:44 PM on October 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

They hate anyone outside of Leave it to Beaver.

And they think June Cleaver is just a tad too strident and willful.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:44 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

President Eddie Haskell
posted by ian1977 at 4:55 PM on October 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

Former GWB speechwriter Matt Latimer @ Politico wants to know: "Does it matter whether or not the president of the United States understands how the Constitution that elected him works?"
posted by LeLiLo at 4:56 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

President Lumpy Rutherford
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:57 PM on October 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

sorry, it's [real]
posted by theodolite at 4:59 PM on October 8, 2017 [17 favorites]

God that guy's a taint
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:00 PM on October 8, 2017 [35 favorites]

Well, things continue to go swimmingly on the international stage.

Erin Cunningham and Kareem Fahim, WaPo; U.S. and Turkey announce tit-for-tat travel restrictions, in sign of deteriorating alliance

The increasingly strained alliance between Turkey and the United States took a sharp downward turn on Sunday when both governments abruptly announced they were canceling most visitor visas between the two countries, sowing confusion among travelers and exposing a widening rift between the NATO partners.

I wonder if they've moved the nukes yet or not.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:01 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

They've taken the wave of demographic change against them to heart. Oh, not like that - they haven't decided to stop being white supremacists. No, the lesson is "they're out-breeding us".

You'd think they'd want to outlaw birth control for white women, but give it away to everyone else. I guess that would be too obvious.

Well, cops in the US are keeping on with their lynching campaigns against black and brown people and so far they're being punished with free vacations at full pay. Pretty sure white supremacists see their brothers in blue as doing the work of "population control."
posted by duffell at 5:04 PM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

So he admits admits he doesn't appreciate what he's done to Puerto Rico.
posted by adept256 at 5:04 PM on October 8, 2017

That tweet is sort of crazier than usual. I mean the bar is high but.
posted by angrycat at 5:05 PM on October 8, 2017 [22 favorites]

It really is
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

What's he done? He went for four hours and pegged some hungry people with paper towels.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

I keep thinking about that time we invaded and occupied Haiti like it was no big deal. Like a chunk of the US military just went on a weekend road trip. I totally remember that being how I spent my 20th birthday.

45's got a *US Territory* in the same neighborhood in need of help and he's fuckin' it all up and yet nobody could've done it better, though, so I guess that whole "massive sudden sea and air lift" I saw happen 20 years ago was like a daydream or something.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

Some days it’s really his fucking whining that gets me.
posted by lydhre at 5:10 PM on October 8, 2017 [70 favorites]

he really is king of the failsons
posted by entropicamericana at 5:12 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Dude, "Thanks, Obama" is a meme, not an expression of gratitude.
posted by peeedro at 5:14 PM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

Like in the mind of every abuser, he's the real victim.
posted by vac2003 at 5:16 PM on October 8, 2017 [31 favorites]

Erin Cunningham and Kareem Fahim, WaPo; U.S. and Turkey announce tit-for-tat travel restrictions, in sign of deteriorating alliance

This is a mess, apparently applying to visas obtained at the border as well (which is how most Americans get a visa to visit Turkey, basically just paying a fee for a sticker when you arrive). This is going to cause chaos for anybody who wants to travel between the two countries, which are supposed to be NATO allies.
posted by zachlipton at 5:19 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Some days it’s really his fucking whining that gets me.

I think he mispronounced one of his campaign promises. It should have been, "There's going to be so much whining, you're going to get tired of whining."
posted by orange swan at 5:22 PM on October 8, 2017 [41 favorites]

The Pod Save America guys have been talking about this. When Haiti had the earthquake in 2011 we sent the military to effectively occupy them then too. I mean, it was in order to help. But the military swarmed in and set up, like, temporary runways, docks, medical tents, communication equipment, temporary power and water infrastructure. Military engineers are really really good at that. And they haven't been sent to Puerto Rico in any kind of number.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:22 PM on October 8, 2017 [32 favorites]

FEMA's own stats (after they tried to hide them)-

Only 11.7% have power
Only 56% have water
7000 still in shelters
25/66 hospitals have power

This is going on A MONTH later. 18 days.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:28 PM on October 8, 2017 [31 favorites]

Military engineers are really really good at that.

Not only are they really really good at it, it's literally their job to be prepared for this kind of thing in advance, so that they can continue to be really really good at it when the deployment orders come in. This is why things like not sending the USNS Comfort is so hurtful. Everyone in charge of that vessel knew a hurricane was coming and that they might be needed in the area, and I can virtually guarantee they had a plan ready to execute if only someone would give them the "GO" order. Coast Guard. Navy. Army Corps of Engineers. National Guard. They're all planning for this kind of thing when it's in the news, just in case it becomes their problem.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2017 [33 favorites]

Military engineers are really really good at that. And they haven't been sent to Puerto Rico in any kind of number.

This is just your regular reminder that the Clinton presidency would, for the record, not be "just as bad."

Also, for the accelerationists among us who are horrified at Puerto Rico, what do you think that "destroying the state" would look like? It's miserable and a lot of people who aren't to blame for anything are going to die.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 5:33 PM on October 8, 2017 [78 favorites]

Well, i mean, he did play some golf. It gets hot out there. Lookit this sunburn.
posted by valkane at 5:34 PM on October 8, 2017

Everyone knew ... that they might be needed in the area, and I can virtually guarantee they had a plan ready to execute if only someone would give them the "GO" order.

Wasn't that the plot of Benghazi ?
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 5:35 PM on October 8, 2017

I don't think this was the usual "adults in charge" commentary. He's basically saying the president has dementia.

Following Corker's tweet, Rep. Ted Lieu told CNN that Corker's more or less saying in public what all of D.C. is in private: "I wish I could replay what people tell me on the floor from my colleagues across the aisle. I can't do that, but they are similar to Senator Corker. I could just say this, the President is not respected by many members of Congress."

Also, Corker's chief of staff called Trump a liar about claiming he refused to endorse Corker for reelection: "The president called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:39 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

This is why things like not sending the USNS Comfort is so hurtful. Everyone in charge of that vessel knew a hurricane was coming and that they might be needed in the area, and I can virtually guarantee they had a plan ready to execute if only someone would give them the "GO" order. Coast Guard. Navy. Army Corps of Engineers. National Guard.

The USNS Comfort is there. I also have personal knowledge that there are some other military personnel in the area.

It’s not enough, I know. Also? I hate 45 with a white-hot rage because the response isn’t enough.
posted by _Mona_ at 5:45 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

He had to be shamed by Clinton into sending the Comfort. It should've been in place off shore before landfall.

The US military is mostly a logistics operation. For every tank and rifleman than made it to Iraq, there were hundreds of support flights and supply ships that made that happen. Puerto Rico is 1000 miles away, not 8000, and all they needed was food and water and generators, not tanks. Maybe some backhoes and bulldozers.

All Trump had to do was say, 'get ready to help', 3-4 days ahead of time, and they could've done it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:56 PM on October 8, 2017 [58 favorites]

I fantasize about the alternate universe Clinton presidency sparingly (it's not healthy). Puerto Rico would be safe, stocked and in recovery, and the GOP would be bitching about how Hillary wasn't in the water with a bullhorn like Carmen Cruz. I mean, they're already blaming Hillary for Weinstein somehow. *puke*
posted by erisfree at 5:57 PM on October 8, 2017 [15 favorites]

All Trump had to do was say, 'get ready to help', 3-4 days ahead of time, and they could've done it.

Absolutely. I don't want to diminish the very real suffering and very real need, but this was an opportunity to exercise logistics movements and see what systems are working, what's broken, all of that. People spend much of their careers planning and training for these kinds of tasks and very rarely get to do them -- and in particular, they very rarely get to do them in a situation where everybody really will be happy to see you. Where the need is strong and nobody's gonna question whether this was necessary or "Are we the baddies?"

One of the many things that kills me about all of this is there's gotta be some real qualified people in an office at the Pentagon or FEMA or whoever who foresaw how bad this was gonna be and drew up an appropriate plan with charts and lists and figures...only to have the White House tell them, "Nah." And I can't imagine how it feels to be one of those people right now.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:08 PM on October 8, 2017 [41 favorites]

Honestly the thing that's sort of troubling to me is that they didn't have processes in place to go ahead and do what they knew needed to be done w/o involving 45 in it. That indicates to me that they're still, to some extent, respecting the formal chain of command, instead of just doing what they want to do and then, after the fact, flattering the moron into thinking it was his idea.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:22 PM on October 8, 2017 [25 favorites]

Perhaps they were specifically told to stand down? That's be about on par with this administration's attitudes toward both authority and humanitarian aid toward non-white folk.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 6:24 PM on October 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's usually a good thing that the military respects its civilian leadership.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 6:27 PM on October 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

Following Corker's tweet, Rep. Ted Lieu told CNN that Corker's more or less saying in public what all of D.C. is in private: "I wish I could replay what people tell me on the floor from my colleagues across the aisle. I can't do that, but they are similar to Senator Corker. I could just say this, the President is not respected by many members of Congress."

The Argonaut is a local paper that covers a wide swath of Ted Lieu's district. He's on the cover this week with an interview that won't reveal too much for people following along, but it's worth clicking over just to see the his halo.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:27 PM on October 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

If I had to guess I'd say that the trump organization doesn't actually know how to tell them to stand down. see: 45 not realizing that the united states has hospital ships until Clinton made a fuss about the need to mobilize the USNS Comfort, see also 45 promptly ordering said ship mobilized once he found out about its existence.

The people present in this thread would almost certainly have an easier time figuring out how the levers of power work than the trump organization has. We're a bunch of misfits and gadflies... but at least a few of us aren't moronic narcissists or scammers.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:30 PM on October 8, 2017 [17 favorites]

> It's usually a good thing that the military respects its civilian leadership.

Yes, it's usually a good thing that the military respects its civilian leadership.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:31 PM on October 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

Metafilter: at least a few of us aren't moronic narcissists or scammers.

(sorry. had to.)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:33 PM on October 8, 2017 [14 favorites]

Disaster tourist: Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

5 minute audio of ABC correspondent visit to Puerto Rico. She talks about covering other disasters in impoverished nations and not seeing any difference.
posted by adept256 at 6:38 PM on October 8, 2017

Honestly the thing that's sort of troubling to me is that they didn't have processes in place to go ahead and do what they knew needed to be done w/o involving 45 in it. That indicates to me that they're still, to some extent, respecting the formal chain of command, instead of just doing what they want to do and then, after the fact, flattering the moron into thinking it was his idea.

All of those processes at some point lead back to the office of the President, and someone either bringing it directly to the President, or having the delegated authority to say, "yes, go. do it. quickly." That why its imperative that a new administration has skilled, knowledgeable people in place to build out the functioning of the White House, because when administrations turn over, all the processes stop. Until the new guys come in and say, "here's how things are going to work now". Usually that happens in a routine and prescribed manner, things change, but people who know what the fuck the government even is, as a concept, are the ones taking over from the people who have been doing those jobs for 4 or 8 years.

This White House did not have any of those people. None. Zero. They had hacks, sycophants, Russian agents, Wall St. vampires, FOX News personalities, fucking reality show hangers on, and the President's family of Fail Sons and Daughters. Then there were the dregs of the Obama administration like Kelly and Mattis, who were too incompetent to function under an actual govenrment, but somehow getting fired by a black President made them qualified to hold this shit together.

We don't have a functioning government as we knew it for 300 years. We have a bunch of fuckups going on TV, and some racist and warmongering generals who failed upwards.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:41 PM on October 8, 2017 [96 favorites]

That indicates to me that they're still, to some extent, respecting the formal chain of command, instead of just doing what they want to do and then, after the fact, flattering the moron into thinking it was his idea.

We try to anticipate what the leadership wants and do it before being asked, but that's a tall order when the leadership doesn't know what the fuck it wants and often orders the exact opposite of what everyone thinks they should be doing.

I mean, you'd THINK it would be obvious that we would want to be ready to help, but with trump, who the fuck knows? You'd also think he would want diplomats to handle the NK situation, his spokespeople to make the latest scandal blow over while he lies low, etc.
posted by ctmf at 6:58 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

I mean, you'd THINK it would be obvious that we would want to be ready to help, but with trump, who the fuck knows?

Yeah, and Pence is supposed to be this big Jesus fan. Y'all KNOW that if Carter was just 10 years younger, he'd be there now clearing debris and stuff.
posted by mikelieman at 7:03 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

Pence was picked by Manafort, who insisted quite firmly that the Trump organization select Pence as VP, even though Trump himself preferred Christie. Manafort is Putin's creature; Manafort's preference for Pence indicates that Pence is also Putin's creature.

Which is to say, what Pence wants is what Putin wants.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [41 favorites]

even though Trump himself preferred Christie

Chris Christie. Luckiest bastard in the whole cast of characters.
posted by mikelieman at 7:09 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

This White House did not have any of those people.
Trump has not even bothered to nominate people to fill half of the relevant positions, which I'm sure had something to do with the lack of response.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:21 PM on October 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Trump has not even bothered to nominate people to fill half of the relevant positions, which I'm sure had something to do with the lack of response.

This is true too. They've actively said they're not going to fill many positions, either because lean government like a business something something, or more sinister, because of active sabotage at the direction of Russia. But even giving credence to their insane theory that you can downsize government functioning by just not appointing people...those tasks don't just go away. They just don't get done, or get done in a haphazard manner by the remaining, directionless, career staff waiting for orders. Statutory mandates don't just go away because there's no Assistant Secretary. Expectations of allies and trading partners don't just stop because there's no ambassador. Citizens in need don't just forget about their need because there's no outreach coordinators or service representatives reaching out to them. That shit just doesn't get done, and things fall apart slowly, and then all at once. It's happening at every agency (other than maybe ICE). FEMA is in the news now, but things are falling apart at every single corner of the government, through malice, incompetence, intentional ideology, and active foreign sabotage abetted by Republicans.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:32 PM on October 8, 2017 [35 favorites]

The transition to the next administration ( if that ever happens ) will likely, i guess hopefully, be the first ever where the incoming administration will know more about the inner workings of government than the old one
posted by localhuman at 7:35 PM on October 8, 2017 [33 favorites]

The transition to the next administration ( if that ever happens ) will likely, i guess hopefully, be the first ever where the incoming administration will know more about the inner workings of government than the old one

"And this is the briefing room, but there's no way to turn on the lights..."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:37 PM on October 8, 2017 [43 favorites]

The transition to the next administration ( if that ever happens )

Can you imagine the depth of the sigh and the release of immense tension if we get a sane liberal technocrat in the whitehouse in 2020. Jesus. My whole being will improve. It will be like how heroin makes you feel but not so bad for you. Not as good as I'd feel about gay luxury space communism but even still.
posted by dis_integration at 7:47 PM on October 8, 2017 [16 favorites]

And yet Corker had an ~80% voting record with trump. The implication, as with every 'principled' conservative fuck, is that it's a breach of propriety with everything else being peachy keen. Fuck American conservatives - every one of them,. I hope they do the right thing, and then fuck right the hell off. Against a wall, maybe.
posted by codacorolla at 7:59 PM on October 8, 2017 [25 favorites]

Inspired by another MeFite, I've decided to join the postcards to voters project. While shopping for tasteful but eye catching postcards at amazon, I noticed an amusing amount of activism occurring in the "customer images" area of the reviews section. A set of 100 flag and patriotic postcards had reviews like, "Perfect for mailing to my idiot congressman once a week!" A set of abstract images had a review photo where a postcard was addressed to President Bannon and the text was something like, "QUIT." A group of cards depicting women scientists had a review that said something like, "Awesome as a reminder to my Senators that smart women exist!" It kind of made my day to see all of this quiet activism happening in amazon reviews.
posted by xyzzy at 8:01 PM on October 8, 2017 [47 favorites]

Of 602 key positions requiring Senate confirmation…

No nominee: 289
Awaiting nomination: 6
Formally nominated: 165
Confirmed: 142
posted by kirkaracha at 8:09 PM on October 8, 2017 [17 favorites]

Calling it now: once the actual Puerto Rico death toll comes out, Trump will call it fake news. And nobody who can do anything about it will do a goddamn thing about it.
posted by Rykey at 8:19 PM on October 8, 2017 [25 favorites]

They'll call it fake news, yes. And they'll say it's not their fault. And they'll try to blame it on local officials. And they'll say it's not fair and that it's disrespectful to make a political issue out of people who died in a tragedy. And they'll point to some false equivalency with a Democratic president (I'm honestly surprised they haven't said something like "Bbbbut Clinton didn't intervene in Rwanda!"). And they'll do some other horrible thing to set off another five-alarm reaction just to change the narrative.

They're going to do all of that. They aren't consistent with their lies or their defenses. They throw everything they can find up against the wall to see what sticks.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:40 PM on October 8, 2017 [22 favorites]

Politico, Matt Latimer, This Is How Donald Trump Thinks the U.S. Government Works

Then again, it’s also possible, and indeed there is ample evidence, that the president of the United States really doesn’t understand the constitutional process, or even American history, much at all. This is a man, after all, who at the age of 70 seemed surprised to learn that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.

So here’s a weird question—weird since in our current political culture the answer is unknown: Does it matter whether or not the president of the United States understands how the Constitution that elected him works? Many Americans simply don’t seem to care about that question—which I suppose says a great deal about how much we expect from presidents these days. Or, conversely, how much faith our country has lost in any of our leaders that the bar has fallen so low.

Actually it really should matter to Trump’s supporters that their champion does not seem to understand how the constitutional process works—if, that is, they actually want to accomplish any of their stated goals. For anyone who still cares about such petty matters as separation of powers and representative democracy, it might be instructive to see just how far our country’s chief executive is from understanding them.

This is written by a former speechwriter for W, to be clear. It is now October and the President of the United States has not developed a basic understanding of how the government works. I know we have a lot of issues at once, but that's a really big one.
posted by zachlipton at 8:48 PM on October 8, 2017 [34 favorites]

Can you imagine the depth of the sigh and the release of immense tension if we get a sane liberal technocrat in the whitehouse in 2020.

Followed by the attempted violent overthrow of the government by the 4chan/gamergate/Putin/Fox ameboid hivemind.
posted by benzenedream at 9:06 PM on October 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was on I-65 in Indianapolis a week or two ago when Pence's motorcade was coming the other way. There were lots of police cars and a helicopter. It was very exciting. I rolled down my window and waved to our vice president, but my hand was tired from writing code all day, so I only used one finger. I felt like I was speaking for all of us with my gesture. I have big hands. I hope the little twerp saw it.
posted by double block and bleed at 9:07 PM on October 8, 2017 [110 favorites]

You Can't Tip a Buick: "We're a bunch of misfits and gadflies... but at least a few of us aren't moronic narcissists or scammers."

I'm both!
posted by Chrysostom at 9:17 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Also, the one thin silver lining of that jackass becoming VP was at least we were supposed to be getting him the fuck out of Indiana.
posted by double block and bleed at 9:20 PM on October 8, 2017 [7 favorites]

Followed by the attempted violent overthrow of the government by the 4chan/gamergate/Putin/Fox ameboid hivemind.

Well, with the resources of the southern states, insurrection didn't work in Civil War 1.0, so I don't maybe 20% of Republicans "rising up" is going to end pretty quickly. I suggest this time we don't even consider Amnesty just to make sure it's not see as another "Lost Cause of the Confederate Traitors."
posted by mikelieman at 9:26 PM on October 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Axios:

Steve Bannon and his allies are planning a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. And only one Senator running in 2018 will get a free pass: Ted Cruz.

Breitbart's Washington Editor Matt Boyle writes today that conservatives are "running or actively seeking out" serious primary challengers for every incumbent Republican senator running in 2018 except the Texan.

So, here's what I don't get. Incumbents tend to be very successful at getting re-nominated, for obvious reasons. You *can* knock off an incumbent - e.g., Dick Lugar - but it's not easy. And then, since it was probably someone more to the fringes that got "the base" excited, it becomes harder to win the general. Again, the former Dick Lugar seat.

Set this against - if I'm a John Barrasso or Roger Wicker, and I'm voting with Trump 97% of the time, and they're STILL trying to pick me off? It's not like I can do much more to be more supportive. So, what is my incentive to keep carrying water for Trump?

It just seems like this is likely to mostly backfire on Bannon. Maybe I'm being too optimistic here.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:30 PM on October 8, 2017 [27 favorites]

"Does it matter whether or not the president of the United States understands how the Constitution that elected him works?"

It's been pretty friggin' entertaining in Illinois to watch Bruce Rauner (billionaire republican turned governor) who was going to run the state like a business ride into town and promptly proceed to fail at every single thing he tried for two solid years because he has no fucking clue how state government works and because his attitude is "state government is run badly by stupid and corrupt people," he didn't think he needed to learn, and he hired basically no one with experience in Illinois state government. So the UNentertaining part is how he's basically destroyed social services through incompetence, but he's been able to put through basically zero of his policy goals because he couldn't be arsed to learn how governing or legislating worked. The paradigmatic example was, his initial team was all wunderkinds from Indiana (thanks Mike Pence!) who started proposing bills that were all flatly unconstitutional because nobody on his team was aware that the Constitution of Illinois forbids multi-subject bills (you have to do a bill to change the statute of limitations on sex crimes, and a separate bill to outlaw gun silencers; you can't do a thing where you go "okay we'll extended the sex crimes SoL in exchange for outlawing gun silencers, all in one bill."). Literally none of them bothered to read the state Constitution. They had dozens of other stupid-ass missteps of this sort, where they just didn't know how judges got their jobs, were unaware of rules on bargaining with state employees, didn't understand how federal pass-through funds worked, didn't know how to introduce bills in the legislature, etc. So it's actually working out pretty great for Democrats! Because he burned through all his goodwill in the 18 months of floundering that have left him on his fourth nearly-entire-staff turnover (each one he calls the "Best Team in America!" before firing them shortly thereafter for his failures), alienated almost the entire Republican caucus in the legislature, pissed off GOP voters statewide, and failed to pass his budget priorities, his school funding priorities, his union-busting bills, or anything else he promised the state. He's also destroyed the careers of a lot of GOP legislators and think-tankers and high-level staffers. I mean the downside is he's running the state into the ground and we need some grown-ups to deal with our state debt problem which has no easy answers (it's gonna be big tax hikes, kids, that's the only legal solution). But on the upside the state GOP has finally erupted into open warfare, since everyone was seething about his budget failures and the way he hung his allies out to dry on the budget, and then he had to veto or sign SB40 (which keeps abortion legal in IL even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, and provides state funding for abortions for poor women). When he ran, one of the ways he picked up enough moderate swing oters to get elected in a blue state was by promising he had " no social agenda" and would vote pro-choice. Then he spent a bunch of last year promising GOP legislators that if they hung on and voted to prolong the budget impasse (despite the incredible harm it was inflicting on the state), he'd veto it. He promised the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago the same. And then it landed on his desk and he was on the record making promises in both directions. He signed it, and the GOP is calling for his head, especially given how many legislators agreed to prolong the impasse (and harm their constituents, and endanger their own reelection campaigns) with the promise he'd veto SB40.

So, yeah, leaving aside the incredible damage plain incompetence and bad staffing of executive agencies can do, Trump's wild ignorance of how the US government works is good for Democrats and bad for Republicans, since it means he can't get legislation passed and has no idea how to achieve any goals, and the longer he flounders around making a dick of himself, the more GOP legislators are going to break ranks.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:38 PM on October 8, 2017 [96 favorites]

In which the Daily Beast reports that Russia recruited rapping YouTubers to attack Clinton: "Wannabe YouTube stars and diehard Donald Trump supporters ‘Williams & Kalvin’ totally swear they’re from Atlanta. In reality, they were working for the Kremlin."

According to the YouTube page for “Williams and Kalvin,” the Clintons are “serial killers who are going to rape the whole nation.” Donald Trump can’t be racist because he’s a “businessman.” Hillary Clinton’s campaign was “fund[ed] by the Muslim.”

These are a sample of the videos put together by two black video bloggers calling themselves Williams and Kalvin Johnson, whose social media pages investigators say are part of the broad Russian campaign to influence American politics. Across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, they purported to offer “a word of truth” to African-American audiences.

“We, the black people, we stand in one unity. We stand in one to say that Hillary Clinton is not our candidate,” one of the men says in a November video that warned Clinton “is going to stand for the Muslim. We don’t stand for her.”

Williams and Kalvin’s content was pulled from Facebook in August after it was identified as a Russian government-backed propaganda account, The Daily Beast has confirmed with multiple sources familiar with the account and the reasons for its removal. Williams and Kalvin’s account was also suspended from Twitter in August. But the YouTube page for Williams and Kalvin remains live at press time.

I just couldn't an even I didn't think I had left in me.
posted by zachlipton at 9:39 PM on October 8, 2017 [61 favorites]

It just seems like this is likely to mostly backfire on Bannon. Maybe I'm being too optimistic here.

For every 5 Sharon Angles and Todd Akins, they get a Dave Brat or Rand Paul. And mostly their wins have stuck around so far. That's why they're doing it. Once they have an insane person in a relatively safe R +10 district or strong Red state, that person will never lose, and the death caucus agenda is advanced. Rand Paul was reelected. Mike Lee was reelected. Ted Cruz will be reelected. Even when they lose, the threat of a credible challenger pulls incumbents ever rightward.

They've hit on a good model, really. Politicians are fucking scum. Even the good ones have to be browbeaten into doing the right thing, as opposed to the thing that their moneyed backers are paying them to do, 99% of the time. The Bernie primary campaign was fundamentally the same idea as the tea party insurgency, just the exact opposite. He pulled Clinton far more left than she ever would've gone on her own.

The problem is they have the backing of the 0.0001% billionaires and unlimited funding, and that's the agenda they're running in service of. Primaries are not the issue. Ideally, every incumbent should face a robust primary challenge, every single cycle, and we should strive to primary every single one of our failing Democrats just the same as they're trying to primary Roger fucking Wicker (Hi, Dianne Fienstien!). It's who is funding the primaries, and why, not the fact that they're happening.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:48 PM on October 8, 2017 [11 favorites]

More about the longstanding fight about Gulen between the US and Turkey in this New Yorker article from last year.
posted by lauranesson at 11:14 PM on October 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm waiting for the Diamond and Silk shoe to drop. I have no evens but I have infinite expectations that Trump shills charge for every service they render for him.

You're a wizard, Harry.
posted by PenDevil at 11:23 PM on October 8, 2017 [17 favorites]

Two things I've been thinking about lately:

* I hate Trump's penchant for superlatives. Everything he does is the biggest, the most, the longest; nobody could have known, no one ever did this, this thing never existed before. It is just so... gauche. It's like a five-year-old bragging, with no subtleties or real understanding of nuances behind it.

* With all the horrible things happening in Puerto Rico I wish the good guys had a Grima Wormtongue in the White House that had convinced Trump to elevate it to full statehood in the aftermath of the storms: "Imagine, you'd be the first president since Eisenhower to add a whole new state! A new bright star on every one of thousands of flags, and everyone looking at it would be thinking of you and your huge achievement! You would be in history books forever!" And then convince him that it was his idea, letting him go all out with support and aid, and having him bathe in the adoring smiles of masses of happy and grateful Puerto Ricans. I think Trump could be played like a fiddle by pandering to his base instincts, so why not get some good out of it?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 12:51 AM on October 9, 2017 [28 favorites]

It's usually a good thing that the military respects its civilian leadership.

Couldn't they just take a very short break and then get right back to normal after airdropping this administration right into the middle of the biggest possible desert?
posted by walrus at 1:26 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

The IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans Association) polled over 8,000 of its members (both vets and active troops) and found 62% thought professional athletes had a first amendment right to protest during games compared to 34% who disagreed. (MoE 1.1%)
posted by chris24 at 4:23 AM on October 9, 2017 [31 favorites]

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms

Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited the company’s platforms in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the company's investigation.

The Silicon Valley giant has found that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation across Google’s many products, which include YouTube, as well as advertising associated with Google search, Gmail, and the company’s DoubleClick ad network, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not been made public. Google runs the world’s largest online advertising business, and YouTube is the world’s largest online video site.

The discovery by Google is also significant because the ads do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated troll farm that bought ads on Facebook -- a sign that the Russian effort to spread disinformation online may be a much broader problem than Silicon Valley companies have unearthed so far.

posted by peeedro at 4:37 AM on October 9, 2017 [34 favorites]

I just read the story of Neil De Grasse Tyson and LeVar Burton’s interchange about “Goodnight Moon”, and I thought, “Aw... Awwwwwwww! This is so sweet! These are good people!” And then I read the Bowie story. More good people!

And then I remembered that Jeff Sessions and Richard Spencer would kill all the men like them, among many others, if they thought they could get away with it. I have a friend who is a white Hispanic woman, and she chastises me frequently about giving into such thoughts, and is always telling me to be cheerful, to not give these thoughts power, and that everything will be OK, that’s no one is after me or other POC, or anyone who’s not a cisgender heterosexual White Christian who believes in white male supremacy. I tell her that I don’t want to panic, but that what’s happening can’t be dismissed. I asked her to explain how the castatrophe is happening in PR right now and then how he’s telling an outright lie that his administration is doing a fantastic job. She could not reconcile this, and changed the subject. I can’t do that “Oh, never mind all that, let’s think of PLEASANT things!” business. I can’t.

But I hate, hate, HATE that these days, this possibility of something awful happening to me (or anyone who isn’t some white supremacist 1950s throwback) is constantly in the back of my mind as a POC, yet I’m supposed to carry on as if everything is normal - especially as where I work is owned and run by a private equity made up of late middle age-ish, uptight, rich white men, who, when they see me at meetings, wrinkle their noses at me in distaste (and have some in their number who’ve admitted that they voted for that man to my horrified European colleagues).

If we can’t make a stand now and in 2018, I’m scared that we’re doomed.
posted by droplet at 4:43 AM on October 9, 2017 [36 favorites]

As Donald threatens North Korea again this morning --

@realDonaldTrump: Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didn't work!

-- some thoughts on how it's playing in NK and the world from some experts in the field.

@ArmsControlWonk (Jeffrey Lewis, Foreign Policy columnist & Middlebury Inst of Int'l Studies)
For the record, IMHO the North Koreans read empty threats like this as weakness. It invites further provocations from Pyongyang.

@MiraRappHooper (Senior Fellow at Paul Tsai China Center & Adjunct Sr Fellow at CNAS) Retweeted Jeffrey Lewis
I hear empty threats are also playing poorly in Beijing. Interpreted as totally unserious. Trump looks weak to most relevant audiences.

@thomaswright08 (Brookings Institute) Retweeted Mira Rapp-Hooper
Fully agree. Weakness and indecisiveness emerging as defining traits of the Trump administration.
posted by chris24 at 4:43 AM on October 9, 2017 [43 favorites]

I hope John Kelly hides Fahrenthold's latest from Trump, Trump’s golf clubs in Scotland lost more than $24 million in 2016:

At Turnberry, a visiting Washington Post reporter earlier this year spotted one sign that Trump's political persona seemed to be turning some customers off. The Post reporter was there to look for a fake Time magazine cover — with fake headlines celebrating Trump's success as a TV star — that had been hung up in a number of Trump golf clubs.

The cover had been hung in a bar at Turnberry. But by the time the reporter visited in June, it had been taken down and replaced by an old photo of the course.

Why had it come down? An employee said the reason wasn't because it was fake.

The actual reason: because it was a photo of Trump.

“We certainly have been hearing more grumbling about all the stuff like that up on the walls since his election,” the employee said. “From Americans, mostly, funny enough. That’s why we all assumed they started taking some of his photos off the walls.”

posted by peeedro at 4:48 AM on October 9, 2017 [34 favorites]

Metafilter: at least a few of us aren't moronic narcissists or scammers.

Cite?
posted by petebest at 5:23 AM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms

We are going to have to decide whether elections free of foreign interference or our current norms around electoral speech must go. I predict that it is the latter which politicians will prefer to keep, as that's too much money to pass up.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:48 AM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

52 U.S. Code § 30121 - Contributions and donations by foreign nationals

(a) Prohibition It shall be unlawful for—
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make—
(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or
(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or
(2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms


I can't imagine how much server space Mueller's using. Here's a whole nother wall of photos and string...
posted by mikelieman at 6:02 AM on October 9, 2017 [16 favorites]

The russians were even hacking Google Analytics last fall, so that the user agent was always something like *** VOTE TRUMP ** or some dumb shit. I didn't mind but the marketing team was having a fit about all the bad data flowing into analytics
posted by localhuman at 6:02 AM on October 9, 2017 [14 favorites]

I predict that it is the latter which politicians will prefer to keep, as that's too much money to pass up.

So far, the amounts the Russians are alleged to have spent on electoral communactions aren't that large: $100K on FB, $100K on Google. Compared to the nearly $2B raised by the major campaigns, it's chicken feed.

I think just giving the FEC some teeth would have been enough to stop this without slowing the flow of money.
posted by Coventry at 6:02 AM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

In which the Daily Beast reports that Russia recruited rapping YouTubers to attack Clinton:

At this point the next Democratic administration will probably have to start with ceaseless attacks against Russian network infrastructure, including physical attacks like severing cables. Combined with a semi-covert campaign of for lack of a better word fucking with Russian oligarchs -- hacking bank accounts and property records, etc.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:07 AM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

So far, the amounts the Russians are alleged to have spent on electoral communactions aren't that large: $100K on FB, $100K on Google.

In my reading of the law I cited above, just discussing it in a meeting, Russians and the Trump Campaign is enough. Even though the defense will challenge the "elections communication" due to not including the internet in the text, they do consider CABLE, and look here, my cable tv comes in over TCP/IP along with the Internet.

Man, the US Supreme Court case is going to be a hoot.
posted by mikelieman at 6:10 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

ROU_Xenophobe Problem is that any nation with decent subs can cut undersea cables, and Russian retaliation in the form of essentially indiscriminate cable cutting could be a lot more disastrous to the rest of the world than it is to Russia.

Basically they can break the internet anytime they feel like it. So can we. So can the PRC. So can just about any country. And the cost of cutting cables is orders of magnitude lower than the cost of repairing them or laying new cable.

I don't know what the solution is. Obviously it's a bad idea to keep letting Russia hack the world. But strong internet pushback, trying to isolate Russia from the net, etc is likely to escalate things to the point where Russia decides to just break the entire internet.

It's the sort of problem that requires large scale international cooperation and careful diplomacy, in other words exactly the sort of thing that Trump is not only awful at, but actively tearing down. On this subject there really isn't much difference between Trump's actions and what we'd imagine an actual Kremlin agent in the White House would be doing.
posted by sotonohito at 6:18 AM on October 9, 2017 [15 favorites]

just discussing it in a meeting, Russians and the Trump Campaign is enough

I agree it's very serious: in my view this all means the Cold War is back on, and it's uncomfortably warm. I'm only disputing that the pork has to stop flowing, to stop the Russian electoral communications. The amounts they spent are tiny, and could be regulated without much difficulty.
posted by Coventry at 6:20 AM on October 9, 2017

The russians were even hacking Google Analytics last fall, so that the user agent was always something like *** VOTE TRUMP ** or some dumb shit. I didn't mind but the marketing team was having a fit about all the bad data flowing into analytics

Localhuman, I had completely forgotten about that but I did see that last fall in our website analytics! In retrospect, the interference was everywhere and we just shrugged it all away...
posted by armacy at 6:29 AM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

100KUSD here, 100KUSD there, pretty soon you're talking real treason.
posted by mikelieman at 6:33 AM on October 9, 2017 [32 favorites]

There's a chance I might have committed some light (100k) treason.
posted by Twain Device at 6:34 AM on October 9, 2017 [16 favorites]

> Can you imagine the depth of the sigh and the release of immense tension if we get a sane liberal technocrat in the whitehouse in 2020.

Followed by the attempted violent overthrow of the government by the 4chan/gamergate/Putin/Fox ameboid hivemind.

Chances are, though, that that ameboid hivemind would be smaller after people have had a chance to see what happens when one of theirs is in charge (have a look at the "trumpregrets" twitter feed).

Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!

I just tweeted back in response that I'm afraid I agree with "Mr. Lin-Manuel Miranda's assessment."

Speaking of which - I've been repeatedly streaming Lin's "Almost Like Praying" song; most of the lyrics are simply a list of the 77 cities and towns on the island, and he says it's becuase that was what he was seeing on his social media feed, was everyone asking "Has anyone heard what it's like in Isabella/Rincon/Arecibo/San Juan, my grandma/cousin/best friend is there and we haven't heard from them...." He also said in interviews that "this way those towns will be remembered forever," and that just made me realize that what with the scale of destruction, and what with the relocation to the mainland that I'm sure is going to happen, some of those towns may die.

(FYI, too, apparently there is a small donation to the Hispanic Federation fund for hurricane relief every time you stream it, so stream early, stream often)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:45 AM on October 9, 2017 [24 favorites]

The amounts they spent are tiny, and could be regulated without much difficulty.

I agree that this is a small amount comparatively, but is it, relatively? I'm curious what 100K buys you in FB ads and what it buys you in other media.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:12 AM on October 9, 2017

> the next Democratic administration will probably have to start with ceaseless attacks against Russian network infrastructure, including physical attacks like severing cables.

Defense doesn't have to involve crude measures like cutting cables. The French government has been pretty proactive about dealing with this kind of thing, as well as internet crime in general.

We've been sitting ducks, and we still are. Law enforcement in the US hasn't been taking crime on the internet seriously, whether ordinary crime like scams, harassment, threats, or efforts by foreign governments influence our elections. Russian efforts to influence the French elections were ineffective, in part because their national law enforcement already has a specialized division in place that deals with stuff like this.
posted by nangar at 7:18 AM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

So far, the amounts the Russians are alleged to have spent on electoral communactions aren't that large: $100K on FB, $100K on Google. Compared to the nearly $2B raised by the major campaigns, it's chicken feed.

You misunderstand me- it's not about politicians getting money from outside, it's that the level of regulation and change in norms that would prevent such outside spending would also take an axe to the firehose of money being thrown by domestic donors at politicians. They'll do nothing to risk that source of cash, and Russia or whoever buying up campaign ads will be presented as "well, there's no alternative to the current system, so whaddya gonna do?"
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:40 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Feinstein is running again.
posted by chris24 at 7:41 AM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

FUCK
posted by entropicamericana at 7:46 AM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

I can't imagine how much server space Mueller's using. Here's a whole nother wall of photos and string...

They should go full Battlestar Galatica and go entirely non-network. It's the only way to be sure.
posted by orrnyereg at 7:52 AM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'm curious what 100K buys you in FB ads and what it buys you in other media.

One weird trick! I think this is obfuscated and obfuscated and obfuscated some more across big ad buys through companies like Google and FB and I think that the worth of those ads is inflated; based on the craptastic ads I see on a fairly regular basis you could buy them like people buy remnant ads.

So I think 'a lot of ads'. It's not like a Toyota ad during the Super Bowl. I think you could flood with stupid ads depending on how you spent that money.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 8:01 AM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not even touching on the odious and no doubt even more insidious in this instance: 'sponsored content.'
posted by A Terrible Llama at 8:02 AM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

it's not about politicians getting money from outside, it's that the level of regulation and change in norms that would prevent such outside spending would also take an axe to the firehose of money being thrown by domestic donors at politicians.

Don't worry, Facebook will self-regulate, Facebook begins ‘human review’ of potentially sensitive ads (WaPo):

Facebook says it will begin manually reviewing advertisements that target certain groups and address politics, religion, ethnicity and social issues.

The company has informed some advertisers about the new “human review” requirement, warning them that it might cause delays before their ads can appear on the social media platform.

Also, Russian operatives used Twitter and Facebook to target veterans and military personnel, study says (WaPo):

Russian trolls and others aligned with the Kremlin are injecting disinformation into streams of online content flowing to American military personnel and veterans on Twitter and Facebook, according to an Oxford University study released Monday.

The researchers found fake or slanted news from Russian-controlled accounts are mixing with a wide range of legitimate content consumed by veterans and active-duty personnel in their Facebook and Twitter news feeds. These groups were found to be reading and sharing articles on conservative political thought, articles on right-wing politics in Europe and writing touting various conspiracy theories.

And to round things off, this article has some of the inside story of how the Trump campaign worked with Facebook, Trump campaign’s embrace of Facebook shows company’s growing reach in elections (WaPo):

More than half of the campaign’s Facebook budget was spent on ads designed to pull in contributions, many of them featuring some of Trump’s most provocative remarks. “Only Trump can stop Crooked Hillary,” declared one ad in June. “Teach Hillary Who’s Boss.”

In a setup that officials said resembled a high-frequency Wall Street trading shop, the Trump operation pitted teams of staffers and outside ad buyers against each other to see which could get more Facebook users to convert into donors. Those who won got more money to play with.

posted by peeedro at 8:06 AM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms

Every day my estimation of humanity drops more.

WTF. What a discovery! Monocles dropping everywhere. These people are lying pieces of shit. If they didn't know where these ad were coming from by mid-2016, they didn't want to know and I don't believe them. They knew damn well what was going on and sat on their hands and averted their eyes to protect their business while the country was set on fire.

Fuck Google and fuck them sideways.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 8:08 AM on October 9, 2017 [21 favorites]

Feinstein will continue to run until her phylactery and soul gems are all destroyed by intrepid adventurers.
posted by delfin at 8:10 AM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

So I think 'a lot of ads'. It's not like a Toyota ad during the Super Bowl. I think you could flood with stupid ads depending on how you spent that money.

And furthermore (I hate this topic but can't walk away from it) they'd be really strategic about how they spent it. No point in displaying those ads in Massachusetts. No point in displaying them to someone who follows the ACLU. They could target really narrow groups. The electoral college was missed -- I think -- by less than 100k votes across four states. Just need to move that needle *a little bit*.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 8:13 AM on October 9, 2017 [13 favorites]

Hmm, so if you weren't trying to sell a product or click but just wanted to bombard people with a ton of Pro-trump anti-hillary background noise it could be cheap and effective way to do it, especially since I assume you can target the ads. (See also, Kushner said to have helped the data people target, and the assumptions of someone here helping the Russians.)

Re DiFi, time to phone Ted Lieu and encourage a Senate run. Again.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:14 AM on October 9, 2017 [7 favorites]

Even if Feinstein were the most wonderful senator in the whole world, she'd still be 84 years old. What arrogance or desperate need for approval drives an 84- year-old to run again? Just retire! Let the next generation take their place!
posted by kerf at 8:23 AM on October 9, 2017 [42 favorites]

NYT: E.P.A. Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule

Stealing a comment from /r/LateStageCapitalism about our amoral overlords:

"It's not that I want them to die per-se, it's that I want them to drive an hour and a half every day to a job they hate, at an unregulated factory that pays minimum wage, from a tiny apartment in a bad neighborhood that costs half their paycheck and doesn't allow pets for forty or fifty years while their body slowly shuts down because of a preventable illness brought on by decades of stress, lack of healthcare and poverty... That's all."

For Pruitt, I would also request the preventable illness be brought on by bad air/water. Maybe black lung.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:31 AM on October 9, 2017 [59 favorites]

I expect Facebook's human review will be as effective as Twitter's.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:33 AM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

“The war on coal is over,” Mr. Pruitt said. “Tomorrow in Washington D.C., I will be signing a proposed rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan. No better place to make that announcement than Hazard, Kentucky.”

As the song goes: Making their way the only way they know how.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:34 AM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

84-year-old Democratic senator is bucking calls for her retirement and running for reelection (Joe Perticone, Business Insider)

(Feinstein ^)
posted by Room 641-A at 8:44 AM on October 9, 2017

Pruitt's really more of a Roscoe to Trump's Boss Hogg, I'd think.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:44 AM on October 9, 2017

True, but I'm willing to bet that they see themselves as the Duke brothers.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:53 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not at all surprising, but seems to confirm the last detail of the Pence NFL story:

Exclusive: NFL Owners, Coaches Pressuring Players To Stop Kneeling During Anthem

So, to recap (thanks in large part to this Indy Star tweet roundup):

Pence plans to attend Colts-49ers game in Indy. As a former governor, he has a standing box seat available. He tweets a photo from 2014, and expressed hope that Indianapolis Colts players will not kneel. Despite having supported the practice in the past, they stood and locked arms. This seems to be in response to pressure from owners and coaches, some of whom seem to have said that players should be respectful of... Peyton Manning. In a conversation on Sunday, Trump orders Pence to leave the game if any players kneel for the anthem. Some of the 49ers, who invented this kneeling thing (with the help of a former Green Beret), kneel. Like they've done every week this season. This catches at least one Pence aide by surprise--not reporters, though, who were told to stay in their van because there might be an early departure.

And, speaking for all of Indiana, an Indy Star columnist asks, 'what were you thinking, doing this on Peyton Manning's very special day?'

So much winning.
posted by box at 8:56 AM on October 9, 2017 [39 favorites]

I recently read that Eric Reid piece (box's "who invented this kneeling thing") and was blown away, especially because of the deep Christian belief that drives his actions. You'd think conservatives might appreciate that. Not to mention the fact that he and Kaepernick consulted with no less than a Green Beret to come up with the most respectful form of protest, and people still yammer on about how disrespectful they are. Pence and other critics of the players drive me nuts because their behavior is totally disrespectful, while that of the protestors is unfailingly thoughtful. I mean, if you believe that standing for the anthem is such an important show of respect, how do you reconcile leaving during it? Booing a prayer before it?
posted by ferret branca at 9:24 AM on October 9, 2017 [23 favorites]

WaPo, The Daily 202 (By James Hohmann With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve) : Bob Corker tirade encapsulates five reasons why Trump has failed at governing

1) Trump is unserious about passing legislation.
2) Trump has alienated several Senate Republicans that he needs more than they need him.
3) Trump cares more about showmanship than statesmanship.
4) Trump still does not understand how government works.
5) The president’s credibility is shot in Washington.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:27 AM on October 9, 2017 [26 favorites]

And, speaking for all of Indiana, an Indy Star columnist asks, 'what were you thinking, doing this on Peyton Manning's very special day?'

Yes, how could you disrespect the ceremony honoring one wealthy sexual assaulter at the behest of another
posted by Existential Dread at 9:37 AM on October 9, 2017 [19 favorites]

I mean, if you believe that standing for the anthem is such an important show of respect, how do you reconcile leaving during it? Booing a prayer before it?

Because it's really all about the negro getting too uppity.
posted by Talez at 9:40 AM on October 9, 2017 [21 favorites]

Like Tupac said, "Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me."

The War on Poverty was ended in 1996 in a shameful display. The War on Drugs continues to this day, a massive failure, but we keep doing it because, well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ gotta do something and my family aren't poor and being thrown in prison.
posted by Talez at 9:44 AM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

lol at anyone expecting anything like consistency or integrity or good faith from modern republicans
posted by entropicamericana at 9:45 AM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

I recently read that Eric Reid piece (box's "who invented this kneeling thing") and was blown away, especially because of the deep Christian belief that drives his actions. You'd think conservatives might appreciate that.

they only appreciate their god when he's dead on a couple of sticks of wood - the minute he starts moving around and questioning things they turn their backs on them and worship their red white and blue idol
posted by pyramid termite at 9:45 AM on October 9, 2017 [21 favorites]

Then there were the dregs of the Obama administration like Kelly and Mattis, who were too incompetent to function under an actual govenrment,

What the fuck are you on about? Kelly functioned fine on Southcom and Mattis is the most universally beloved figure in the entire military.
posted by corb at 9:48 AM on October 9, 2017 [7 favorites]

NYT Editorial: The Republican’s Guide to Presidential Etiquette

Republicans used to care a whole lot about how a president comported himself, and whether he acted at all times with the dignity his station demands. ... But hey, that was then! In 2017, there’s a whole new bar for tolerable conduct by the commander in chief. ... This expanded list is meant to ensure that Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and other congressional Republicans never forget what they now condone in a president.

When they say "expanded list", they're not kidding.

(Link didn't turn up in a quick search - sorry if it's a dupe.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:56 AM on October 9, 2017 [37 favorites]

BS like the ginned-up outrage over anthem kneeling serves as an in-line tester of propaganda effectivity.
posted by perspicio at 10:12 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

What the fuck are you on about? Kelly functioned fine on Southcom and Mattis is the most universally beloved figure in the entire military.

"Beloved by the military" is not the criterion for responsible government service.

Kelly was the one who implemented the first Muslim ban at the Department of Homeland Security. Mattis is the one during the election campaign who said he stood 100% behind Trump and gave him credibility. I would have to say that his judgement is garbage. He's part of the reason we have Trump in office.
posted by JackFlash at 10:27 AM on October 9, 2017 [47 favorites]

lord i miss the days before 9/11 when i could actually go a full day without hearing dozens of people publically and loudly slobbering the knobs of the military, the police, et cetera
posted by entropicamericana at 10:31 AM on October 9, 2017 [58 favorites]

You are confusing things that happened during Obama's tenure with things that happened after the election of Trumo, and you cannot evaluate the latter without remembering that if we don't have people in key positions, Trump can burn the entire world. Any analysis that suggests Kelly and Mattis are happy to be in this position is fundamentally flawed and severely lacking in evidence.
posted by corb at 10:35 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Kelly's body language alone whenever Trump speaks should give you a massive insight to his demeanor.
posted by Talez at 10:41 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

What arrogance or desperate need for approval drives an 84- year-old to run again?

Nobody competent to pass the baton to? Unwilling to let all her work fall on the floor? I guess that's arrogance, but it's not entirely without basis if she feels that way. I mean, you could say the same about Justice Ginsburg, except that we like her more than Feinstein.
posted by ctmf at 10:43 AM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

Kelly and Mattis are shitty human beings who are Trump enablers. And this goes back before Trump was elected. They helped Trump get elected. You can't say that someone who helped Trump get elected is somehow better because they are in his cabinet. They are Trump enablers.
posted by JackFlash at 10:46 AM on October 9, 2017 [7 favorites]

Nobody competent to pass the baton to? Unwilling to let all her work fall on the floor?

yeah there's a real shortage of young californian democrats *eyeroll*

it's typical older generation holding onto everything as long as they fucking can.. can't pin her on the boomers, she's Silent Generation.

if this were the private sector:

"ENTRY-LEVEL JUNIOR SENATOR POSITION OPEN: MUST HAVE AT LEAST SIX YEARS OF SENATORIAL EXPERIENCE"
posted by entropicamericana at 10:48 AM on October 9, 2017 [23 favorites]

What arrogance or desperate need for approval drives an 84- year-old to run again?

Nobody competent to pass the baton to?

California has a larger population than the entirety of Canada. I think she could find a person or two who's up for the job.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:48 AM on October 9, 2017 [14 favorites]

There might be some confusion of Mattis and Kelly with Flynn going on here. As far as I know (please feel free to correct me, though), neither Mattis nor Kelly were around Trump during the election, but Mike Flynn was. It was Flynn who delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention, it was Flynn who was basically one of Trump's surrogates through the election, and it was Flynn who retired from the Obama-era DIA a year before his term was actually up, reportedly after clashing with other officials.
posted by creampuff at 10:51 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Feinstein's replacement would not automatically become ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, or member of the Intelligence Committee, Appropriations Committee, etc. They would also not have her network of contacts and whatever level of trust, favors owed, or other influence. It's not simply putting a different person in the chair, it's trading a senior, powerful senator for a newbie.

Not that I want her to stick around, but it's not crazy that she would feel like leaving wouldn't be best for California or the country at this moment, depending on what she's got going on.
posted by ctmf at 11:00 AM on October 9, 2017 [57 favorites]

I did a quick Google search, but I don't see Secretary Mattis ever saying anything publicly about President Trump before he was picked to be Secretary of Defense. In what ways did he help get President Trump elected?

I feel like I "defend" Mattis a lot in these (and other) threads because it seems like people put words into his mouth an awful lot. I'm not even saying he's a good person or worth defending, but let's at least criticize the man for things he's actually done (and if he did publicly endorse President Trump before the election I would like to see it because I couldn't find any evidence).
posted by Tevin at 11:01 AM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

yeah, it sucks that we gotta do kremlinology to figure out what's going on in what's left of the federal government, but, well, we gotta do kremlinology. and our kremlinological methodology has to be something more sophisticated than just "they all suxx0rzzz!!!" if we wanna get real insight about what the different fractions of the administration are up to.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:18 AM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

Any analysis that suggests Kelly and Mattis are happy to be in this position is fundamentally flawed and severely lacking in evidence.

they're satisfied enough to stay in their positions - q e d
posted by pyramid termite at 11:21 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Or, now just bear with me here, we could, okay, could stop using the Facepals and the Gorgols.

*dives behind concrete wall*
posted by petebest at 11:27 AM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

they're satisfied enough to stay in their positions - q e d

If you were Kelly or Mattis, would you look at Trump's cabinet and assume that if you did quit and/or find the sweet release of death that the person that replaces you wasn't an incompetent fuckup?
posted by Talez at 11:28 AM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

they're satisfied enough to stay in their positions - q e d


Because other positions might be worse? Come on, this isn’t as hard to do in good faith as y’all are making it seem.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 11:30 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Or, now just bear with me here, we could, okay, could stop using the Facepals and the Gorgols.

Doesn't matter as long as the targets keep using them. We're better off forcing regulation on advertising content and transparency.
posted by lydhre at 11:30 AM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

Kelly pushed a bunch of sycophantic dipshits out of the White House. He fired Scaramucci, Gorka, and got rid of Bannon. The man is a god damn hero doing god's work in my eyes.
posted by Talez at 11:30 AM on October 9, 2017 [17 favorites]

Or, now just bear with me here, we could, okay, could stop using the Facepals and the Gorgols.

while morse code may have worked well for organizing the resistance in id4, i'm not sure how effective it would be irl
posted by entropicamericana at 11:30 AM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Daily Beast, Stung Over Being Called a Moron, Donald Trump Now Insists NBC is ‘Run by Morons': "The president has a habit of taking the insults hurled his way and boomeranging them back at the hurler."

The president of the United States is still furious at his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for reportedly calling him a “moron” or, upon further reporting, a “fucking moron.” And he won’t stop venting to friends and senior aides about the news outlet that broke the story.

In yet another sign of how deeply NBC News has managed to get under his skin, Donald Trump has, in recent days, taken to saying that the network is “run by morons,” two sources who have spoken to the president told The Daily Beast.

Trump regularly complains during the day and evenings about NBC as “fake” and out to “get” him in the “same way he [recently] did with CNN,” according to one White House official.
...
Sources spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations about alleged morons. Reached for comment, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, didn't explicitly deny the story, so much as use it as an opportunity to take another whack at the network.

"I haven't heard him say that," she said in an email. "But there has definitely been frustration voiced by many about NBC's fake news reporting on this issue."

And from the department of extraordinarily obnoxious people, this is really happening: Melania Trump fires back at Ivana Trump calling herself 'first lady'. Ivana did Good Morning America this morning (her book comes out tomorrow):

"I have the direct number to White House, but I no really want to call him there because Melania is there," Ivana Trump said.

"I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that," she continued, "because I'm basically first Trump wife. I'm first lady, OK?"

Melania's spokeswoman responds:

"Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and The President. She loves living in Washington, DC and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books. There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise."

These people are exhausting.
posted by zachlipton at 11:38 AM on October 9, 2017 [61 favorites]

I feel like I "defend" Mattis a lot in these (and other) threads because it seems like people put words into his mouth an awful lot. I'm not even saying he's a good person or worth defending, but let's at least criticize the man for things he's actually done (and if he did publicly endorse President Trump before the election I would like to see it because I couldn't find any evidence).

I'm gonna point out that people frequently read whatever they want into the things Mattis says. Remember the oohs and aahs about Mattis Speaks to the Troops in Afghanistan a couple months ago? Lots of people on the left assumed he was making some level-headed, plain-spoken but veiled critique about the 45 regime and his followers. If you put aside any veneration of Mattis and pay attention to what he actually said, most of it is entirely boiler-plate pat-the-troops-on-the-back stuff and anything critical could be just as easily read to be a reference to the other side (liberals).

You can believe Mattis is quietly trying to hold things together behind the scenes, you can believe he's a complete shit who's just better at playing the game, or you can believe anything in between (I do, and I tend toward criticism). He has pushed back on some incredible bullshit, he turned 45 around on torture (for now), and at the same time he has backed 45 on some other incredible, reprehensible bullshit.

Ultimately you have to realize you're just projecting your hopes and/or fears onto him. We're not gonna know how he's really playing this until either he decides to let us know.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:39 AM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

He fired Scaramucci, Gorka, and got rid of Bannon. The man is a god damn hero doing god's work in my eyes.

This is true, but is it really so heroic if he's doing it in the interest of making Trump's malignant kleptocracy run more smoothly and competently?
posted by contraption at 11:40 AM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

I, for one, thought we'd get at least a season or two into this before the writers would have the wives start publicly fighting.
posted by zachlipton at 11:40 AM on October 9, 2017 [44 favorites]

If you were Kelly or Mattis, would you look at Trump's cabinet and assume that if you did quit and/or find the sweet release of death that the person that replaces you wasn't an incompetent fuckup?

If you were the Secretary of Defense and supposedly a very-respected person among the military and you believed the president was incapable of performing the job with a basic level of competency (as in, understands what "countries" are), I would think that you would have a duty to convey that to those who are in the position to change who the president is. We actually have procedures for removing a president. They are in the Constitution. One of these "heroes" needs to stand up and actually use their clout and credibility to get us a new President. Not ignore the Constitution and form some kind of shadow government around a madman.
posted by melissasaurus at 11:42 AM on October 9, 2017 [62 favorites]

"I haven't heard him say that," [White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders] said in an email. "But there has definitely been frustration voiced by many about NBC's fake news reporting on this issue."

It's one thing for Trump to bang the tired old "liberal media" drum with his "fake news" baloney (itself an example of him turning a criticism of his campaign and allies around). It's one thing for Huckabee Sanders to seat the likes of Britbart and Russia Today in the White House briefing room. But it should be absolutely beyond the pale for Huckabee Sanders to accuse NBC, on which she depends to communicate the Trump Administration's message, of making up the Tillerson story. And it should be beyond the pale for the media to let her throw that kind of accusation unchallenged. "Put up or shut up" should be the only response, but they accept it just like NPR got in the habit of repeating the Republican "repeal and replace" slogan. Feh.
posted by Gelatin at 11:44 AM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: Some other protests Mike Pence has planned

After briefly refusing to dignify a football game with his absence, Vice President Pence jetted to California for a previously scheduled event, and I guess President Trump thought this was how protests ought to go. Below are a few more ideas for protests that Pence doubtless has planned.

Take Secret Service detail 80 miles out of the way to glower at a yard sign that says “No Matter Where You’re From, I’m Glad You’re My Neighbor.”

Pointedly refuse a piece of toast because it appears to contain an image of the Virgin Mary and his wife is not present to guard his virtue.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:44 AM on October 9, 2017 [27 favorites]

I, for one, thought we'd get at least a season or two into this before the writers would have the wives start publicly fighting.

Dude, on Dynasty those chicks would be fighting within three episodes. We're lucky it's waited this long.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:46 AM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

'the wives'?

'those chicks'?
posted by medusa at 11:50 AM on October 9, 2017 [27 favorites]

Dude, on Dynasty those chicks would be fighting within three episodes. We're lucky it's waited this long.

how long do you reckon until the oil wrestling ppv to decide who shall retain the title of first lady
posted by entropicamericana at 11:50 AM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

"I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that," she continued, "because I'm basically first Trump wife. I'm first lady, OK?"

I know it's a common phenomenon these days, but I read that and immediately had a sustained scream ringing in my brain for at least five minutes.

You could write a master's thesis on the intersections of awful bullshit of power and privilege and internalized sexism and patriarchy and entitlement just in that quote. Fucking horrifying.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:51 AM on October 9, 2017 [25 favorites]

btw in case anyone was wondering, golf isn't just for weekends any more.

Josh Dawsey, 8:17 AM: Pool report: Trump just left the White House "destination unknown," though "staff loaded golf clubs into one of the cars."

Kyle Griffin, 11:04 AM: Per pool, Trump has arrived at Trump Nat'l Golf Club in VA. This is his 71st day at a golf course, 91st day at a Trump property as POTUS.
posted by martin q blank at 11:55 AM on October 9, 2017 [45 favorites]

This is true, but is it really so heroic if he's doing it in the interest of making Trump's malignant kleptocracy run more smoothly and competently?

It's like a remake of Bridge on the River Kwai.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:58 AM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

Well, the likelihood of Ivana emerging from her lifetime NDA divorce agreement to write (or get a ghost writer for) something meaningful about the making of this monster has dropped from 1-in-a-million to 1-in-a-gazillion.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:58 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

"The president has a habit of taking the insults hurled his way and boomeranging them back at the hurler."

“Everything I see, [Putin] has no respect for [Hilary Clinton].”

“Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”

“No puppet. No puppet...You’re the puppet!”
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:58 AM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

я не марионетка. я не марионетка. ты марионетка!
posted by kirkaracha at 12:01 PM on October 9, 2017 [14 favorites]

Honestly, if he wants to go golfing everyday I'm ok with it. Would I prefer a President who took daily intelligence briefings and spent time giving a shit about national affairs? Yes. Is that person DJT? No. So let the moron be. If he's golfing he isn't nuking anyone. Or tweeting racist bile.
posted by Glibpaxman at 12:01 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

agreed, I'd rather have him pay golf every damn day. and watch cartoons in his PJs. but it's good to point out the hypocrisy (thanks, cjelli!) especially as 2 million-plus people in Puerto Rico sweat it out in the dark with no water*.

(*but with paper towels.)
posted by martin q blank at 12:05 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

> btw in case anyone was wondering, golf isn't just for weekends any more.

Well, those unseasonably warm temperatures aren't gonna last forever, now are they?!

I mean, they probably will, but it's not like he can admit that climate change is real.


(It is a federal holiday today, for what that's worth... ie, very little when one is president and there are a multitude of crises to address.)
posted by Westringia F. at 12:07 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

Would I prefer a President who took daily intelligence briefings and spent time giving a shit about national affairs? Yes.

Would it be too much to ask for him to spend at least a little time having some of the stuff he may be signing explained to him? Like, maybe an afternoon 3-hour "how healthcare works for dummies morons" instead of one of his golf trips?

I mean, he doesn't even have to change his mind. Just enough to not say stupid shit every fucking time he's in public.
posted by ctmf at 12:08 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm more than happy to head-shake at Trump's incessant golf trips for the grifting and for doing so after years of sneering at Obama, but today's a federal holiday so calling it not a weekend seems misguided. It's the last day of a three day weekend for all the federal offices.
posted by phearlez at 12:08 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

I mean, I'm all for Trump staying the fuck away from actually governing but there's a point where the hypocrisy and gall becomes intolerable.

He can sit around and watch Fox and Friends in his goddamn bedroom if he doesn't want to work. As citizens, we are allowed to be outraged at having to fund this asshole's golfing trips.
posted by lydhre at 12:09 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

> As citizens we are allowed to be outraged at having to fund this asshole's golfing trips.

No, no, it's only bad when a Democrat does it. Did you really not get the memo?
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:11 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

(sorry. forgot about that Columbus Day thing, as it's not a holiday for my college.)
posted by martin q blank at 12:12 PM on October 9, 2017

"Bullshit non-holiday" sounds too much like the standard lionization of time at work versus time at rest for me, thanks, though I'd be happy to ditch the name of this particular day of rest.

This seems very jerk eating crackers to me.
posted by phearlez at 12:15 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

This seems very jerk eating crackers to me.

If this were just the oh, 30th day he wasted golfing in the past nine months I might be inclined to agree with you. However, it's the seventy first. And we're paying him directly to do it, since he's once again staying at a Trump property.

This is worthy of outrage. Don't let him fucking normalize his grifting just because we've got even bigger scandals to worry about.
posted by lydhre at 12:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [77 favorites]

Has anyone calculated how many paper towels it would take to mop up in Puerto Rico?
posted by Coventry at 12:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Bullshit non-holiday" sounds too much like the standard lionization of time at work versus time at rest for me, thanks, though I'd be happy to ditch the name of this particular day of rest.

FWIW, I interpreted it as bitterness on the part of those of us who don't get the day off. My wife and kid have the day off. I don't have the day off.

Also I am bitter that I work for the US branch of a German company and we don't get the same number of days off the German employees do
posted by Fleebnork at 12:23 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't have the up-to-date spreadsheet in front of me, but I think Sloth is fairly far back in the pack at this point. Fifth or sixth place, just ahead of Gluttony.
posted by Iridic at 12:27 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

(sloth love chunk)
posted by entropicamericana at 12:30 PM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

His using the office to line his own pockets is absolutely gross and unacceptable and I support calling it out every single time it happens. I do not want to participate in "this is gross but it wouldn't be if my person did it," both out of personal integrity and because I don't want to give the crowd incessantly screaming about persecution anything remotely resembling a legit thing to point to. Why call out "he's going to play golf today" when we can call out "he's going to play golf and collect secret service golf rental fees again."

FWIW, I interpreted it as bitterness on the part of those of us who don't get the day off. My wife and kid have the day off. I don't have the day off.

Ditto. But I don't want to be a participant in this fallacy either. I know who to be angry with about my not having the day off.
posted by phearlez at 12:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

The Hill: Trump lets Jones Act waiver expire for Puerto Rico, won't renew.

Pure. Fucking. Evil. I'm calling my reps now.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:36 PM on October 9, 2017 [51 favorites]

Reminder that Trump initially didn't issue the waiver because the shipping industry didn't want him to. This is profiteering over a humanitarian crisis.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:39 PM on October 9, 2017 [41 favorites]

He initially didn't issue the waiver.
They initially weren't going to send the Comfort.
They initially denied a waiver to allow people to use food stamps to buy hot food.

At every single step, this regime's first reflex is one of cruelty.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:51 PM on October 9, 2017 [70 favorites]

Oh right, it's a Federal holiday. I'll call tomorrow.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:51 PM on October 9, 2017

If I've done the math right, 45 has spent one out of every four days at a trump owned property since inauguration.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:54 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

So what was that, two weeks?

ESPN suspends Jemele Hill over tweets (Frank Palotta, CNN)

On Sunday, Hill tweeted about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones having said that any player who "disrespects the flag" will not play. Hill said that "Jerry Jones also has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones. If they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts."

She later said, "If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players."

"Just so we're clear: I'm not advocating a NFL boycott," Hill tweeted. "But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas & Miami w/ anthem directives."

posted by Room 641-A at 1:03 PM on October 9, 2017 [20 favorites]

Here are the Cowboys official sponsors.

I don't drink Miller Lite or buy Petit Jean meats but I sure do shop at Acme, one of the Albertson's brands. Time for an email and a boycott.
posted by cmfletcher at 1:15 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

I don't drink Miller Lite or buy Petit Jean meats but I sure do shop at Acme, one of the Albertson's brands. Time for an email and a boycott.

Not Just Miler Lite. The Miller brand is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. And they own a huuuuuge portfolio of beer brands.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:24 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

those who are in the position to change who the president is.

I don't think that includes any living human, including the Predisent himself.*

*Maybe the wig can.
posted by petebest at 1:25 PM on October 9, 2017

on preview, in addition to the sponosrs, there is probably a list of their advertisers circulating now or soon.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:28 PM on October 9, 2017

Not that it's important in comparison to the obvious problem, but why does the USSS need golf carts anyway? I haven't played golf for a long time, but I never found that walking with a pull cart slowed anything down. Golf's just not a high-speed game. Spread out a little, some people ahead, some behind, walk the course. He'll vary a little in position in the line, but someone will be near him all the time. Communicate with radios.
posted by ctmf at 1:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

AB/InBev doesn't own Miller anymore. Now you can have YET ANOTHER reason to boycott Coors!

On October 11, 2016, the company sold the Miller brand portfolio outside the US and Puerto Rico to Molson Coors, which also retained "the rights to all of the brands currently in the MillerCoors portfolio for the U.S. and Puerto Rico".

Edit: Or not? I'm confused. Again.
posted by elsietheeel at 1:29 PM on October 9, 2017

I, for one, thought we'd get at least a season or two into this before the writers would have the wives start publicly fighting.

speaking as someone who's studied narrative, we are in season 2 now. Hurricane Maria was the season finale. Comey's hearings were the mid-season. Note how both of them were foreshadowed - Comey was foreshadowed by Yates, and Hurricane Maria was foreshadowed by the 2-3 natural disasters before it.

In about 6 weeks there will be a big public revelation in one of the criminal cases, that is both salacious and mindblowing but not meaningful enough to wrap up all the plot threads, followed by the mid-season break.

/s
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 1:30 PM on October 9, 2017 [37 favorites]

You know, the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC are going on and on today about Trump's tweets and the chance he could start WWIII by being an incompetent moron, and I just can't believe they have already forgotten that Hillary Clinton once ran a private email server.
posted by Justinian at 1:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [49 favorites]

If Trump uses a golf cart I'd think the secret service would need to keep up with him.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:32 PM on October 9, 2017

I just can't believe everyone moved on from Jared and Ivanka running a private email server right now.
posted by zachlipton at 1:34 PM on October 9, 2017 [24 favorites]

You know, the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC are going on and on today about Trump's tweets and the chance he could start WWIII by being an incompetent moron, and I just can't believe they have already forgotten that Hillary Clinton once ran a private email server.

I can't believe that I once had a conversation with a politically astute, effective local labor policy activist who has achieved things that most mefites would admire and who told me that they could not see clear to voting for Hillary because she would "get us into WWIII".
posted by Frowner at 1:34 PM on October 9, 2017 [42 favorites]

i can't believe i woke up in this stupid timeline
posted by entropicamericana at 1:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [43 favorites]

I just can't believe everyone moved on from Jared and Ivanka running a private email server right now.

Ah but they moved to a different private server so it is all good.
posted by srboisvert at 1:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ditto. But I don't want to be a participant in this fallacy either. I know who to be angry with about my not having the day off.

Wait--seriously? You should have interpreted it as bitterness on the part of people who don't celebrate genocide. Columbus Day should not exist, least of all as a federally recognized holiday. Indigenous Peoples' Day is another story.

I am a man of such multitudes and complexity that I can think celebrating Columbus is gross and inappropriate and yet still want a day off. I am helped in this by my consistency of wanting every day off.
posted by phearlez at 1:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [44 favorites]

Not that it's important in comparison to the obvious problem, but why does the USSS need golf carts anyway? I haven't played golf for a long time, but I never found that walking with a pull cart slowed anything down. Golf's just not a high-speed game. Spread out a little, some people ahead, some behind, walk the course. He'll vary a little in position in the line, but someone will be near him all the time. Communicate with radios.

Golf used to be a fine walk spoiled. It is 2017. Now it is the spoiled spoiling a fine walk spoiled.
posted by srboisvert at 1:40 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

So, here's a thing about the aca and healthcare.gov. I today went to apply, since we lost our jobs in a buyout. I knew we wouldn't qualify for subsidies, but figured the plans might be less than our obscene cobra price.

Only we have a kid, and so the software automatically says, if you don't have current income, child must be checked for Medicare and chips eligibility. This means we cannot get a policy to cover our child in the marketplace, until Texas says if he's eligible. (Hes not.) Texas says there's a 90 day wait before they issue a determination. So, if we want to use the marketplace, we have to leave our kid uninsured until Texas gets around to denying him coverage. None of this takes into account that the republicans defunded chips, so nobody knows if anyone is even doing eligibility checks.

And that doesn't even begin to cover how badly the site is coded, how many opportunities there are for injection hacks because of the scripting, the sheer volume of trackers and what have you, it's a hot mess. And the way things are phrased and designed, it is no wonder some folks need help to get through the site.

Frankly y'all, I'm beginning to think the government doesn't care about the people.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:42 PM on October 9, 2017 [53 favorites]

It's probably not to chase him in carts - if the area's secure he can drive wherever the fuck in the area. It could be to sweep the whole place for bombs, people hiding, and whatnot in a reasonable amount of time ahead of him.
posted by ctmf at 1:42 PM on October 9, 2017

ESPN suspends Jemele Hill over tweets (Frank Palotta, CNN)

She went and touched the money button.
posted by srboisvert at 1:42 PM on October 9, 2017 [17 favorites]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:44 PM on October 9, 2017 [13 favorites]

Melania Trump fires back at Ivana Trump calling herself 'first lady'.

I initially read this as Ivanka rather than Ivana and believed this was a fight between Melania and Ivanka for at least half an hour. It made about as much sense honestly.
posted by Justinian at 1:46 PM on October 9, 2017 [31 favorites]

Donald Trump Jr. tried to come for Jimmy Kimmel this weekend—and it didn't work out too well (Martha Sesma, Mashable)

I don't how scientific this is, but I've watched all the Real Hoisewives, from New Zealand to Atlanta to Orange County, and these two women would last one season, maybe a second as a downgraded 'friend' due to viewer complaints that they were too awful for even Bravo.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:47 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

If you were the Secretary of Defense and supposedly a very-respected person among the military and you believed the president was incapable of performing the job with a basic level of competency (as in, understands what "countries" are), I would think that you would have a duty to convey that to those who are in the position to change who the president is. We actually have procedures for removing a president. They are in the Constitution. One of these "heroes" needs to stand up and actually use their clout and credibility to get us a new President. Not ignore the Constitution and form some kind of shadow government around a madman.\

Ah but perhaps he also took a look at congress and rightfully thought "Oh Fuck. We have to hold down this fort for 24 months."
posted by srboisvert at 1:47 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

I woke up about eleven months ago in this timeline, swapped for my counterpart -- who presumably is now living my real life, with Madam President Clinton in the White House and genial Tim Kaine breaking ties in the Senate. That lucky bastard!

I am *SO* pissed, and I *HAVE* to figure out a way to get back there. I guess I'll need a film festival of all the "Back to the Future" movies plus a bunch of Disney "Freaky Friday"-type movies to do my research, or maybe "E.T."...
posted by wenestvedt at 1:58 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ah but perhaps he also took a look at congress and rightfully thought 'Oh Fuck. We have to hold down this fort for 24 months.'

"For the record, it's my call. Dump everything you've got left on my pos. I say again, expend all remaining in my perimeter. It's a lovely fucking war. Bravo Six out."
posted by kirkaracha at 2:01 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Not that it's important in comparison to the obvious problem, but why does the USSS need golf carts anyway? I haven't played golf for a long time, but I never found that walking with a pull cart slowed anything down. Golf's just not a high-speed game. Spread out a little, some people ahead, some behind, walk the course.

Whether you as a golfer would be willing to walk the course is irrelevant almost everywhere, as the course owners don't want you walking it because they want to serve the largest number of people possible in a day.
posted by phearlez at 2:07 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

This was a *complete nightmare* of paperwork and insanity. I spent *literal days* on the phone, and *literal days* in lines at offices trying to work out issues. And I'm a "simple" case. I can't fucking imagine the nightmare if you add on top of that other intersectional marginalizations.

I'm going through the exact same thing now, because our previous healthcare provider decided to close up shop in our area (due to Trump? I don't know). I haven't even relocated, and yet it takes days and days of phone calls to try and get our coverage merely working correctly again (let alone finding new doctors that are in-network, getting the prior insurance to actually cover the things they said they would, etc.).

I remember reading, a while ago, about the what life was like in the USSR for average citizens just prior to its collapse, with things like standing in line for hours to get basic goods and services, mass incarceration of political undesirables, a high rate of drug overdoses, the feeling of being left behind as you see citizens of other countries receiving a higher quality of life, rampant inequality, etc., and, well, it's starting to hit closer and closer to home.
posted by ragtag at 2:18 PM on October 9, 2017 [61 favorites]

> standing in line for hours to get basic goods and services, mass incarceration of political undesirables, a high rate of drug overdoses, the feeling of being left behind as you see citizens of other countries receiving a higher quality of life, rampant inequality, etc.

And tens of millions of your fellow citizens still wouldn't have it any other way. Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:30 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Whether you as a golfer would be willing to walk the course is irrelevant

Not only was I willing, I DID almost always walk at every course I played, everywhere. Is not allowing walking a thing now?
posted by ctmf at 2:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

The government sent me a medicare card when I turned 18 and they send me a new one every few years. I lost my wallet once and they replaced it after I gave them a call. That's my experience with Australian government healthcare. Not sure how it is with other people but I have literally never had to deal with paperwork.
posted by adept256 at 3:23 PM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

Room 641-A: "Donald Trump Jr. tried to come for Jimmy Kimmel this weekend—and it didn't work out too well (Martha Sesma, Mashable)"

I hate to say this but I'm starting to think that Lil' Donny Jr. just isn't all that bright.
posted by octothorpe at 3:29 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

Morons run in the family.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

a chip off the ol' block
posted by entropicamericana at 3:32 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not that it's important in comparison to the obvious problem, but why does the USSS need golf carts anyway?

Because it's their job to protect Trump, and he drives one (even on the greens).
posted by zakur at 3:32 PM on October 9, 2017

Because it's their job to protect Trump, and he drives one (even on the greens).

As I understand it, common knowledge is that Donald J. Trump cheats at golf.

If he's going to cheat, why expect him to follow any other sportsman's convention?
posted by mikelieman at 3:40 PM on October 9, 2017

SecretAgentSockPuppet I don't have kids so I haven't dealt with that situation but I've been through the marketplace BS a LOT. Is there a chance there's a question you can answer differently to tell them your child isn't eligible for state assistance or are they demanding proof in the form of documents? Sometimes if you start a new application you can answer questions differently and swear you're eligible and you just get threatened with penalties later if you lie. (This is the case for "I swear my employer provided insurance doesn't meet the minimum requirements of the ACA" which is a case I've dealt with. )

I have to say, as someone who helped a few hundred disabled people sign up for Medicare part D when that premiered, the ACA marketplace is downright simple (if frustrating) in comparison.
posted by threeturtles at 3:54 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

The Times has a Stephen Miller profile, focusing entirely too much on his high school career. Some of the anecdotes we knew, such as his speech asking why they were told to pick up their trash when the school employs janitors, and some are about him being racist, but this one is new to me, and incredibly WTF-worthy:

He jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls’ track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex. (The White House, reaching for exculpatory context, noted that this was a girls’ team from another school, not his own.)

Among the many problems here, it's...it's really not clear to me why the White House thought that adding this detail would be helpful.

It's also never a good sign when your childhood rabbi is telling the New York Times that he tried his best:

“We did our best here,” said Mr. Miller’s rabbi, Jeff Marx, “to teach Jewish ethics and talk about our need to reach out to the strangers, to those less fortunate than we are.”

posted by zachlipton at 4:00 PM on October 9, 2017 [46 favorites]

Not Just Miler Lite. The Miller brand is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. And they own a huuuuuge portfolio of beer brands.

Well, I've been not exactly boycotting them for years, but I won't buy their beer because it's tasteless crap.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:17 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Among the many problems here, it's...it's really not clear to me why the White House thought that adding this detail would be helpful.

*ding*

"What is 'because they're a bunch of STUPID FUCKING MORONS WHOSE VENALITY IS ONLY MATCHED BY THEIR AVARICE?'"

(i'm sorry i should probably step away from the keyboard for a bit, it's just this hellworld is really getting to me)
posted by entropicamericana at 4:18 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Organizers behind armed white supremacist protest in Houston revealed as Russian
(Thinkprogress)

Not only did the “Heart of Texas” page call – successfully – for protesters to bring firearms (“concealed or not!”) but Russian operatives were able to convince armed white supremacists to congregate in downtown Houston, facing off with dozens opposed to their message. Given recent events in Charlottesville, the fact that Russian operatives organized rifle-toting white nationalists into a confrontation with counter-protesters should give pause to politicians on both sides of the aisle – all the more as one of the comments on the “Heart of Texas” page called to “blow … up” the Islamic center.

I remember when this happened, and the calls for counterprotest, so it's especially chilling knowing this is straight up Russian attempts to start violence in my hometown.
posted by threeturtles at 4:18 PM on October 9, 2017 [85 favorites]

We’ve tracked the caller, and evidently the Russian tweets are coming from inside the White House.
posted by valkane at 4:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

According to this story in WCPO in Cincinnati, Deandre Harris—the man seen being beaten by a mob of Nazis in Charlottesville not long ago—is being arrested for fighting back against his attackers.
posted by StrawberryPie at 4:24 PM on October 9, 2017 [33 favorites]

And that doesn't even begin to cover how badly the site is coded,...

As someone who regularly applies for and receives US government grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to do my research, I deal with a plethora of federal websites. I have yet to come across one that is well designed, user friendly, and easily navigated. They are, as a whole, an abomination. I'm not quite sure why. Do they not feel an obligation to serve their "customers" well? Are they unable to hire competent web designers/coders? Are there secret federal regulations that forbid making font size and style readable, using logical flow, phrasing instructions interpretably, and using common styles across pages to facilitate quick comprehension? Do the government IT folk just hate us? I need to know. And I swear I'm not bitter that they forced me to register as a federal employee so they could do a background check on me, only to let hackers get all my information from their weak-ass, insecure OPM database. Fuck those guys.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:30 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

That's my experience with Australian government healthcare. Not sure how it is with other people but I have literally never had to deal with paperwork.

I'm pretty sure we had to fill out a form or something when our kids were born, and although our super-discounted price for medication under the Family Safety Net kicks in automatically sometime around the middle of the year, I'm always to scared to ring up and check our eligibility because I know I'll be on hold for minutes.

There are definitely people here who are let down by the system, particularly (from what I read) Indigenous Australians in rural areas, but it's amazing how smoothly a health system can run when it's not composed of a bunch of mutually-antagonistic providers and funders fighting over the bill.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

What. The. Everloving. Fuck. They are charging the victim? Are you fucking kidding me? Dude, I'm broke and unemployed, but I will contribute to getting Deandre the best lawyer money can buy.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [34 favorites]

He jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls’ track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex. (The White House, reaching for exculpatory context, noted that this was a girls’ team from another school, not his own.)

The man just oozes inferiority complex. Note the phrase "final stretch," no doubt calculated to avoid the humiliation of losing in a fair match.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:39 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

There is a lot that's fucked up in the country (as we all know), but the Deandre Harris story, to me, marks a whole new level of evil.
posted by StrawberryPie at 4:43 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

Is there an active Deandre Harris defense crowdfund? Only one I could find is no longer accepting donations.
posted by christopherious at 4:46 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

He's got a lawyer, so maybe there isn't another one just to keep things simple.
posted by rhizome at 4:50 PM on October 9, 2017

So there's a lot of "clear video evidence" comments kicking around on those news sites. The only video I've found of what happened if of someone (Corey Long is the name tossed around without much proof) near Harris grabbing some old guy's (Harold Crews, again, not much in the video to suggest that this is in fact the guy) confederate flag_on_a_beating_stick and yanking it backwards.

Old guy doesn't let go and appears to either have the beating stick pulled into flag_grabber or is jabbing it at flag_grabber. Deandre Harris (and given that the videos tend to jump all over the place at times there's still a big ol' "?" for him here) then hits Old guy with something swung overhead.

Then someone discharges a chemical of some kind.

Then brief pandemonium.

Then a short time later the beating of Deandre Harris begins.

Video is here, not for the faint of heart and I certainly didn't watch it with the sound on so it might be some nutjob's crime against videography for all I know. The action starts at the 16 minute mark.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:05 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

All of that to say, that if anyone says "clear video evidence" then they either have the second shooter tape or are lying their asses off. It looks like Harris may have been the one to hit the guy but it also looks like the guy might have been fighting at that point anyway so... hopefully Harris has a good defense attorney.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:09 PM on October 9, 2017

I would think that you would have a duty to convey that to those who are in the position to change who the president is.

Is there anyone in the government at this point who is /unaware/ of how incompetent Trump is for his position? I'm sure everyone in that position already knows - it's just a matter of if they think they can accomplish it/care to do so.
posted by corb at 5:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

the Deandre Harris story, to me, marks a whole new level of evil.

The Michigan judicial system accepts your challenge. How about giving a rapist shared child custody with the woman he'd held captive (along with her sister) when she was 12.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:25 PM on October 9, 2017 [27 favorites]

There are no words. None. UGGGGGG.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:27 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think the game is still the same. Try to keep Trump contained but in place to accomplish their odious mission. As long as he'll sign off on denying poors and their children benefits, pushing women and minorities down, and cutting taxes, they'll keep enabling him while simultaneously trying to keep him from starting a nuclear conflagration. It's a tightrope, but apparently they're so set on doing all these things that they're willing play Flying Wallendas for the duration.
posted by Mental Wimp at 5:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Michigan judicial system accepts your challenge...

I ... I ... give up.
posted by StrawberryPie at 5:37 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Rude Pundit: Columbus Day for the Conquered: Yeah, Trump Dicks Over Indigenous People, Too
posted by homunculus at 6:15 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

why does the USSS need golf carts anyway?

What the USSS probably really needs is armored golf carts. Golfing has to one of the most vulnerable times for a president, and a nice armored vehicle to throw him in when the shooting starts would set my mind at rest, if I was a responsible agent.
posted by Coventry at 6:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

White House aides lean on delays and distraction to manage Trump

this is fine
posted by entropicamericana at 6:34 PM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

Who was the last President who didn't play golf? Woodrow Wilson? What's the deal with golf?
posted by thelonius at 6:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

What the USSS probably really needs is armored golf carts.

Golf courses have bunkers. He'd be safe enough if they threw him in one of those. Or a lake.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

What's the deal with golf?

It's the default rich white asshole sport, once you're too old for lacrosse?
posted by jammer at 6:37 PM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

Who was the last President who didn't play golf? Woodrow Wilson? What's the deal with golf?

Carter was the last president who didn't play golf.

But presidents probably like it because it doesn't require much in the way of physical fitness which can be at a premium if you struggle to get to the gym, it gets you outside, the nature of the game lets you discuss things with others at the same time, and it can be played by yourself in necessary.
posted by Talez at 6:42 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Golf courses have bunkers.
You know who else had bunkers?

It's the default rich white asshole sport, once you're too old for lacrosse?
What about Jimmy Carter? DId he have to play golf to show people he was a regular white man? The only recreation I recall him enjoying was canoeing.
posted by thelonius at 6:43 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

on preview - yes! Carter ftw.
posted by thelonius at 6:44 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

He jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls’ track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex. (The White House, reaching for exculpatory context, noted that this was a girls’ team from another school, not his own.)

The man just oozes inferiority complex. Note the phrase "final stretch," no doubt calculated to avoid the humiliation of losing in a fair match.

Olympian Alexi Pappas: I'll race him any day.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:49 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

I just can't believe everyone moved on from Jared and Ivanka running a private email server right now.

I just can't keep up anymore.
posted by Coventry at 6:52 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Morons run in the family.

Do they run, though? Or do they take the golf cart?
posted by um at 6:54 PM on October 9, 2017 [22 favorites]

But you know, the corruption is so blatant that abuse of a private email server isn't really that incriminating, on top of everything else. Whether they're doing an end run around public record-keeping requirements or not doesn't really change my view of the situation.
posted by Coventry at 6:55 PM on October 9, 2017

> the nature of the game lets you discuss things with others at the same time

As Adam Smith put it:

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”¹

Private clubs for golf provide space in pleasant surroundings for people of a certain class to meet and have this sort of conspiratorial conversation, away from the prying eyes and ears of the general public. The game itself is mainly valuable as a cover story, so that one can say "oh, so-and-so is my golfing buddy" instead of "so-and-so is my co-conspirator."

1: I bet I'm not the only one here who always hears that quote as spoken by Leonard Nimoy...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:55 PM on October 9, 2017 [51 favorites]

Mental Wimp: "And that doesn't even begin to cover how badly the site is coded,...

As someone who regularly applies for and receives US government grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to do my research, I deal with a plethora of federal websites. I have yet to come across one that is well designed, user friendly, and easily navigated. They are, as a whole, an abomination. I'm not quite sure why. Do they not feel an obligation to serve their "customers" well? Are they unable to hire competent web designers/coders? Are there secret federal regulations that forbid making font size and style readable, using logical flow, phrasing instructions interpretably, and using common styles across pages to facilitate quick comprehension? Do the government IT folk just hate us? I need to know. And I swear I'm not bitter that they forced me to register as a federal employee so they could do a background check on me, only to let hackers get all my information from their weak-ass, insecure OPM database. Fuck those guys."

As a software developer, I have a choice. Choice A is wearing business casual, never working remote, using mandated outdated technology, and dealing with rigid bureaucracy and byzantine rules. I did that for over a decade for a fortune 100 company. Choice B is wearing shorts and a t-shirt, working remote when I want to, using cutting-edge technology, being agile and having agency to quickly make meaningful changes. Choice B also has a beer fridge in the office and pays about 1.5 times better than choice A did. I dreaded going to work at choice A. I can't wait to get to work at choice B tomorrow because I have a really cool project I'm working on.
posted by double block and bleed at 7:06 PM on October 9, 2017 [15 favorites]

There's nothing wrong with golf as a game. It's one of the few sports you can drink while playing and arguably get better at. And it really is a perfect conversational game, Presidents need to talk to people at the same time as relaxing a bit. It was fine for every other President (since Carter) and that's why the attack on Obama playing "too much gold" was always hypocritical bullshit, like every other Republican attack that they conveniently forgot about 9 months ago.

It's the classist, racist, and sexist history surrounding the game that sucks. And with Trump, there's the added bonus of enoulments clause violations every single time the tax payers pay for him to golf at his own properties.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:11 PM on October 9, 2017 [15 favorites]

Choice A only wins when it comes with "It's really really hard to get fired for laziness/incompetence/negligence" and a pension. Particularly that last one, which is why Choice B wins so often.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:12 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Group opposing nuclear weapons wins Nobel peace prize (Jamey Keaten & Mark Lewis, AP)

What's the deal with golf?

It’s a Cinderella story.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:18 PM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

Choice A only wins when it comes with "It's really really hard to get fired for laziness/incompetence/negligence" and a pension.

Choice A also comes with public service loan forgiveness (until Republicans manage to repeal it). That's worth a lot to some of us, although maybe not as much in IT.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

> Presidents need to talk to people at the same time as relaxing a bit. It was fine for every other President (since Carter) and that's why the attack on Obama playing "too much golf" was always hypocritical bullshit, like every other Republican attack that they conveniently forgot about 9 months ago.

Any amount of golf played by a Black man is too much. Especially when it's played by a politically powerful Black man, and most especially when he's playing it for the reasons it's played by wealthy and powerful White men (i.e., to provide a cover story for extended private conversation among others of their class, race, and position). It's okay when (say) Tiger Woods plays golf, because he's there to play golf. It is most definitely not okay when Barack Obama plays golf.

Barack Obama's presence on a golf course, from this perspective, represents nothing less than a total breakdown of all social order.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:23 PM on October 9, 2017 [41 favorites]

> Barack Obama's presence on a golf course, from this perspective, represents nothing less than a total breakdown of all social order.

Don’t like Trump’s piggish prejudice? Blame the world of golf.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

See also: every time a Republican cared about the budget deficit
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:28 PM on October 9, 2017

T.D. Strange: "Choice A only wins when it comes with "It's really really hard to get fired for laziness/incompetence/negligence" and a pension.

Choice A also comes with public service loan forgiveness (until Republicans manage to repeal it). That's worth a lot to some of us, although maybe not as much in IT."

Choice A also often comes with a pre-employment urine test.
posted by octothorpe at 7:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

What's the deal with golf?

Crack for rich white guys
posted by zakur at 7:28 PM on October 9, 2017

Trump's schedule tomorrow has him meeting with Kissinger, lunch with Tillerson and Mattis, and then celebrating with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So there's a good chance we could be at war with the world, his own cabinet, and the NHL by 3pm.
posted by zachlipton at 7:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [9 favorites]

Augusta "National" Golf Club only began admitting black members in 1990, women in 2012.

I figure that's the Republican platform in a nutshell.
posted by rhizome at 7:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [30 favorites]

It's okay when (say) Tiger Woods plays golf, because he's there to play golf.

If you say so, but the only golfers I've ever heard of to receive death threats are Tiger Woods and Lee Elder.
posted by peeedro at 7:34 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

So there's a good chance we could be at war with the world, his own cabinet, and the NHL by 3pm.

Nah, the NHL is even more the Trump base than the NFL. All the players are Trump voters too, there's a 0% chance you'll see any NHL players kneeling this season. If Republicans need a sports safe-space, maybe that's what will save the NHL from irrelevance.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:36 PM on October 9, 2017

Republicans would never throw their hat in with a foreign sport.
posted by rhizome at 7:37 PM on October 9, 2017

Barack Obama's presence on a golf course, from this perspective, represents nothing less than a total breakdown of all social order.

And then he asked for dijon mustard in the clubhouse restaurant. How can the white working class be expected to have a beer with that elitist? It's almost as if he couldn't win with some people, no matter what. I wonder why that was?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:46 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

1: I bet I'm not the only one here who always hears that quote as spoken by Leonard Nimoy...

Ah yes, the ol’ Civ IV Syndrome.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:47 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

rhizome: "Republicans would never throw their hat in with a foreign sport."

It's a very popular sport in Russia.
posted by octothorpe at 7:48 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

there's a 0% chance you'll see any NHL players kneeling this season

Relevant: ‘He’s all by himself’: Capitals’ Devante Smith-Pelly considers anthem protest after J.T. Brown
posted by Lyme Drop at 7:49 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Stuff:

1) everyone, especially the media, needs to start calling Stephen Miller the real president.

2) it's been two full days since four US soldiers were killed in Niger. Trump has not mentioned them or the incident.

3) California is on fire. At least 10 people are dead, at least 2,500 structures destroyed. He has not said anything. I think I once mentioned that I would not expect any relief if we had an big earthquake. Well, we see what he's done to Puerto Rico. I now have a baseline and think we will get a little more help because we have the representation they don't.

4) you may heard about or seen the leaked viral video of a Miami Dolphins coach snorting coke. It turns out it was leaked by a former girlfriend as retaliation for the dolphin’s new rule requiring all players to stand. She claims to have more videos and says that people should leave Colin Kaepernick alone.

If you say so, but the only golfers I've ever heard of to receive death threats are Tiger Woods and Lee Elder.

I never heard of Lee Elder was so I clicked the link. Assumed the worst, was not surprised.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:02 PM on October 9, 2017 [58 favorites]

WaPo, A ‘pressure cooker’: Trump’s frustration and fury rupture alliances, threaten agenda

Trump in recent days has shown flashes of fury and left his aides, including White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, scrambling to manage his outbursts. He has been frustrated in particular with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was reported last week to have earlier called the president “a moron.” Trump’s Sunday morning Twitter tirade against Corker caught staffers by surprise, although the president had been brooding over the senator’s comment a few days earlier about Trump’s “chaos” endangering the nation.

One Trump confidant likened the president to a whistling teapot, saying that when he does not blow off steam he can turn into a pressure cooker and explode. “I think we are in pressure cooker territory,” said this person, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

I'll believe all the people saying Trump has grown into the job once those closest to him stop describing like a toddler, part #341252 (yes, this is extremely unfair to toddlers).
posted by zachlipton at 8:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump's schedule tomorrow has him meeting with Kissinger

Ye gods, when is that old war criminal gonna shuffle off
posted by Existential Dread at 8:40 PM on October 9, 2017 [15 favorites]

2) it's been two full days since four US soldiers were killed in Niger. Trump has not mentioned them or the incident.

Remember The Benghazi 'scandal' was about the deaths of 4 Americans.
posted by srboisvert at 8:41 PM on October 9, 2017 [45 favorites]

It's one of the few sports you can drink while playing and arguably get better at.

Darts.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:47 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Nah, the NHL is even more the Trump base than the NFL. All the players are Trump voters too, there's a 0% chance you'll see any NHL players kneeling this season. If Republicans need a sports safe-space, maybe that's what will save the NHL from irrelevance.

The NHL is only 27% American.

Do you really think the 50% Canadians and the Swedes are Trumpers?

They might not kneel but they are probably not Republicans.

(Also there are some black players in the league so who knows?)
posted by srboisvert at 8:52 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

DAMMIT MUELLER HURRY THE FUCK UP
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:58 PM on October 9, 2017 [17 favorites]

Mod note: A few deleted; not a huge deal but please don't fake the mod-type, and let's skip the argument over darts.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:03 PM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

From the racists:

Hunter Wallace‏ @occdissent

I would like to thank everyone who helped us with the DeAndre Harris case particularly those who painstakingly compiled the video evidence

Given the history of right-wingers forging videos, I'd like to see a forensic analysis of any "evidence"...
posted by mikelieman at 9:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

California is on fire. At least 10 people are dead, at least 2,500 structures destroyed.

Whole neighborhoods are gone. These fires are across several counties, but for perspective: the largest city hit in Sonoma County is Santa Rosa, with a population of 171,000 people. So far it has only been the edges, but again, we're talking neighborhoods gone. The evac zone stops about half a mile short of the community college.

I've already got one friend there who has lost his home. Others are gonna be up all night waiting to see if they have to evacuate theirs.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

Trump golfs while California burns.
posted by mikelieman at 9:25 PM on October 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

There are 30 black players in the NHL, roughly one per team or 4% of players.
posted by furtive at 9:27 PM on October 9, 2017

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate - As mentioned earlier, Feinstein is formally in for re-election. One interesting point here - if another Dem runs a reasonably serious campaign, there's a decent chance that the Senate and gubernatorial runoffs will both be all-Dem races (CA has a top two runoff). This would likely suppress Republican turnout, which could be critical in several House races.

** VA gov: Two new polls in the race: Christopher Newport has Northam up 49-42. Emerson has Northam up 49-44. Overall polling average is about Northam +6.

** Odds & ends:

-- Charlie Cook: GOP chaos is improving Dem odds at retaking House and picking up seats in the Senate.

-- Reuters poll finds Trump support eroding in rural areas. Down to 47/47 from 55/39 in February.

=> Special election tomorrow in Florida HD-44. This GOP-held district went Clinton 51-45, but the original Dem candidate was DQed for residency issues, so I'm not super optimistic for a flip.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [27 favorites]

Yes, but does Zuck toss any virtual paper towels?
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

God, Zuckerberg is such an egregious garbage human
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:35 PM on October 9, 2017 [17 favorites]

As someone who regularly applies for and receives US government grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to do my research, I deal with a plethora of federal websites. I have yet to come across one that is well designed, user friendly, and easily navigated. They are, as a whole, an abomination. I'm not quite sure why.

This episode of Reply All explains that to bid on a contract to design a website for the government, you have to a registered contractor at sam.gov, which itself requires an identifying DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet. And inefficiencies can lead to years between when contracts are awarded, and projects get subcontracted out and everything goes to hell.
posted by Theiform at 9:36 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

I honestly read that as porno and my jaw hit the floor.
posted by mochapickle at 9:37 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Given the history of right-wingers forging videos, I'd like to see a forensic analysis of any "evidence"...

Indeed. They arrested the poor kid because they're pissed that Shaun King and his Facebook followers identified three of the people who beat him. They arrested him because in these United States we can't ever say that a Black person is a legitimate victim - they always have to be painted as the criminal and the aggressor. They arrested him because it pisses them off that the narrative is that a bunch of white men are the bad guys - have to fix that by showing that the Black guy deserved it, was "no angel", etc etc. They want revenge and they want to change the story, and they're probably working behind the scenes to try to fix things so that he goes to jail and his assailants get a slap on the wrist.

What it feels like is that Jim Crow never actually went away, it just retreated a little. The same things have been going on all this time, just a bit fewer since the civil rights movement, and now they're surging back. We never really stopped it, we just drove it back out of the light a little bit, and now it's coming back.
posted by Frowner at 9:38 PM on October 9, 2017 [72 favorites]

God, Zuckerberg is such an egregious garbage human

It's times like these when I'm reminded how much direct control Zuckerberg still has over Facebook. Y'know, when there's fires in Sonoma County and I don't see that certain friends are okay or that they're taking in people who've had to evacuate until like 15 hours after they say so because FB still totally wants "top stories" to be a thing no matter how often I reset it.

Thanks, Zuck!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:56 PM on October 9, 2017 [13 favorites]

...he added before he and Rachel high-fived within the virtual space with the sombre scenes of Puerto Rican devastation around them.


What. The. Fuck?


I want to blame income inequality, and the rise of the dumbass billionaire, but at some point, it just begins to seem like we are, indeed, in a bizarro universe. Where is my portal gun?
posted by darkstar at 9:58 PM on October 9, 2017 [15 favorites]

We never really stopped it, we just drove it back out of the light a little bit, and now it's coming back.

Yes, and "out of sight, out of mind". Take the allegations about Trump's behaviour on the set of The Apprentice, for example. He has a racist history, he's a horrible person, the stories appear to be widespread: they're probably true. And there are reportedly tapes that were shown (and distributed!) to multiple people. But nobody is willing to come forward with the tapes or even with firm details of abuse because discretion and confidentiality are more important than the fact that an unrepentant racist is governing the USA.

What's worse is: maybe the tapes wouldn't make any difference. He got away with his misogyny; why should I think racism would be any different.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:07 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

...he added before he and Rachel high-fived within the virtual space with the sombre scenes of Puerto Rican devastation around them.

"We did it! We recorded our gestures as animated characters in the context of a tragedy!"
posted by rhizome at 10:08 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

So in a just universe I'd be mildly dismayed at Dianne Feinstein seeking re-election, but then I remember that Bernie Sanders is 76, and Joe Biden is 74. and that women have a demonstrably longer life span than men. Funny thing, but I can't quite recall any leftier than thou brocialist ever putting up age numbers as reasons alone that these gentlemen should be disqualified from seeking public office. Forgive me for presuming that ageism is not the primary motivator behind people calling for DiFi to step back. Present-day "liberalism" has a misogyny problem. Fact.
posted by Go Banana at 10:09 PM on October 9, 2017 [13 favorites]

So in a just universe I'd be mildly dismayed at Dianne Feinstein seeking re-election, but then I remember that Bernie Sanders is 76, and Joe Biden is 74. and that women have a demonstrably longer life span than men. Funny thing, but I can't quite recall any leftier than thou brocialist ever putting up age numbers as reasons alone that these gentlemen should be disqualified from seeking public office.

Plenty of people have raised Bernie and Biden's respective ages as very good reasons they should not run in 2020.
posted by mightygodking at 10:14 PM on October 9, 2017 [40 favorites]

I think the left does often have a misogyny problem, but Dianne Feinstein is too damn old. Bernie is too damn old, and Joe Biden is also too damn old. I'm a little dismayed at the fixation on the olds running everything considering that for once I feel like on the Dem side of the aisle we have a pretty deep bench of Senators and Reps who are great, who have or are gaining national recognition, who aren't afraid to speak up and spit a little fire when necessary, and who weren't born around the time Toll House invented chocolate chip cookies. It's weird to talk about "younger" politicians who are in their 40s and 50s. It just shows how old that cohort really is.
posted by supercrayon at 10:15 PM on October 9, 2017 [47 favorites]

who weren't born around the time Toll House invented chocolate chip cookies

For those of you thinking this is a bit of hyperbole, Diane Feinstein predates the invention of the chocolate chip cookie by five years. [real]
posted by ryanrs at 10:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [37 favorites]

we have this Gen X sized hole in politics that I keep seeing all over - everyone is 25 or 85 - and the Dem back bench is pretty empty?

But I see that as an opportunity not a crisis - There's prime grounds for younger leftists and progressives to start filling in the ranks.
posted by The Whelk at 10:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

It's weird to talk about "younger" politicians who are in their 40s and 50s. It just shows how old that cohort really is.

Well, you DO have to be 30 to be a senator, and 35 to be president. It does set some floor under how young a crop we're going to get.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:22 PM on October 9, 2017 [8 favorites]

We never really stopped it, we just drove it back out of the light a little bit, and now it's coming back.

We became content with the negative peace, avoiding racial tension for order. We neglected the positive peace of justice because confronting white supremacy means upending the very foundations of our nation. Imagine how different an America we would have if we made equality and justice for POC a hard priority. Now a white supremacist president, his administration, and Nazi-American followers are bringing the racial tension back to the foreground... but their aim is not equality or justice. It is to make sure POC don't forget that the boot is supposed to be on their necks.
posted by Mister Cheese at 10:24 PM on October 9, 2017 [16 favorites]

I also think the focus on her age is strange. The reason I don't want Feinstein to be my senator isn't her age—I just don't think she proactively represents me in Congress. On the single axis of voting for or against Trump's policies, for example, she has the largest difference between her actual voting record and the will of the people she represents (the "Trump plus-minus" on that page) of any Democratic senator.
posted by panic at 10:29 PM on October 9, 2017 [33 favorites]

Well the thing about getting old is that quite frequently you end up knowing more than people younger than you because you’ve had more time to learn it.
posted by um at 10:30 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

we have this Gen X sized hole in politics that I keep seeing all over - everyone is 25 or 85 - and the Dem back bench is pretty empty?

Where is our Ted Cruz?!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:31 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Well, you DO have to be 30 to be a senator, and 35 to be president. It does set some floor under how young a crop we're going to get.

Hmm.. well, let's start running senators at 30 and presidential candidates at 35.

Who doesn't like the idea of nationwide mobile, universal broadband, and universal medicare in the first 100 days. Seriously, how about some NEW IDEAS instead of fucking arguing about the same shit I heard you arguing about over 40 years ago?

Literally, the political discussion in this nation has regressed, if not stood still.
posted by mikelieman at 10:40 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]

we have this Gen X sized hole in politics that I keep seeing all over - everyone is 25 or 85 - and the Dem back bench is pretty empty?

Kirsten GIllibrand = 50 years old
Corey Booker = 48 years old
Kamala Harris = 52 years old
Cuomo (ick) = 59 years old

I wouldn't say any of them are the progressive hope for the future but all are big names, three of the four (all but Harris) are legitimate 2020 candidates and three of the four (all but Cuomo) are unquestionably generation X.

I personally think the back bench is in much better shape than it was in 2012.
posted by mark k at 10:53 PM on October 9, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump's schedule tomorrow has him meeting with Kissinger

Ye gods, when is that old war criminal gonna shuffle off

No one lives forever.
But evil never dies.
posted by dirigibleman at 10:58 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

okay but whatever comes out of this discussion of Dianne Feinstein's age, we must also keep in focus the fact that she's basically the worst Senator California could elect.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:59 PM on October 9, 2017 [14 favorites]

we must prepare for the Dictatorship Of The Teen
posted by The Whelk at 11:09 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well, now you’re just tempting the writers fate.
posted by um at 11:09 PM on October 9, 2017

Baron Barron?
posted by benzenedream at 11:26 PM on October 9, 2017

Dr. Jen Gunter noticed the new strategic plan for HHS, and ugh. Life begins at conception is now apparently a part of their mission, and there's a whole section devoted to how foisting your religious beliefs on people who want health care is great.

Spencer Ackerman tells us how ‘We Don’t Stand by Our Agreements’: Diplos Brace for Donald Trump’s Assault on the Iran Deal:

“Given what we’ve seen thus far, who the hell knows? It could certainly get worse,” a State Department official told The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity. “State could go from being underutilized and dormant, as it is now with Tillerson, to actively furthering really scary policies.”

Trump is expected to decline to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline, even though Iran has not violated the deal. He’s likely to give a speech on Friday denouncing Iranian support for terrorism and its development of ballistic missiles, both of which are outside the terms of the accord.

For the U.S. to sabotage the Iran deal in this way, particularly if Congress takes Trump up on reimposing sanctions, will lead allies, partners, adversaries and neutral powers to consider the U.S. “unable to take yes for an answer,” according to a former senior diplomat, diminishing American leverage on everything from North Korea’s nuclear crisis to the seemingly endless picayune complications of routine diplomacy like trade deals.

And an interesting item in Defense One: Mattis to Generals: Start Talking to the Press, in which Mattis encourages more communication with the press. This is, in part, to sell his budget requests, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out if we start hearing more from the Pentagon, particularly as that has recently tended to mean hearing more things that contradict what we hear from the White House.
posted by zachlipton at 11:37 PM on October 9, 2017 [18 favorites]

I don't think Trump will nullify the Iran deal. It's risky for him, it doesn't carry any payoff, and it's probably not in Russia's interests. He's just doing stupid brinkmanship for the ratings.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:13 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, remember when we were on THE VERGE OF NUCLEAR WAR like three weeks ago?
posted by rhizome at 12:28 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Baron Barron?

Nepotist-in-Chief Javanka and the Triangle Shirtwaist Sinecurate.
posted by darkstar at 12:48 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yeah, remember when we were on THE VERGE OF NUCLEAR WAR like three weeks ago?

Dude, that wasn't even three days ago
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:57 AM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

I've been thinking about the supposed adults in the room (Mattis et. al) for a while, and I suppose it is a marker of my despair about how things are going that I can no longer find it in myself to extend the benefit of the doubt in terms of the benefits of say, Mattis, staying on.

Okay, I've heard good things about Mattis. A true patriot. Fine. I've heard alarming things w/r/t his position on Iran, but out of this cast of characters, he's the only person that I could stand to be polite to at this point.

Except he could've quit, say, after the Puerto Rico response. He could resign and protest, testify for Meuller.

He could do that, and he's not, and that's pretty damning. I think these people think that they're capable of managing Trump, and that seems like some dangerous hubris right there.

Like this stupid fucking suicide pact. Assuming that's true, they're still dealing with an insane man. A suicide pact would only work with a rational actor, right? Somebody who's delusional--how is that going work?

Bullshit. Ultimately, they're enabling a dangerously ill man. And many lives are at stake.
posted by angrycat at 1:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

re: how state government works...
How conservative states and liberal cities vie for control - "Pre-emption allows American states to block municipal laws and ensure statewide uniformity"

AT FIRST glance, they seem unrelated: a fracking ban in Denton, Texas; a minimum-wage increase in St Louis, Missouri; and an anti-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yet each was passed in a city then later overturned by a Republican-controlled state legislature. Legal observers see a trend in the rollbacks. Grassroots Change, a nonprofit organisation, counts 140 state bills introduced this year specifically to block municipal laws. These laws vary, but reflect the generally progressive bent of America’s cities. They include measures for public health (nutrition labelling and gun control), the environment (bans on fracking and plastic bags), workers (paid family leave) and immigrants (sanctuary-city designations). Conservative legislators respond by passing laws to invalidate them at the state level...

This is troubling for blue mayors in red or purple states. Also worrisome is that pre-emption laws are getting broader and more punitive. State lawmakers are blocking whole swathes of regulatory authority from local control... Democrats had pinned their hopes on cities after they were shut out of power at the national level in elections in 2016. They have consistently seen cities as their political stronghold, but that confidence is being tested.

also btw...
Tyranny of the Minority - "I recently had the chance to ask Gov. Jerry Brown of California what might happen if we have more elections like 2016, where a majority of voters and a supermajority of Californians are thwarted. Polls already show a third of Californians favor secession. Could that fringe movement become mainstream? Brown said it was 'not beyond the realm of possibility' that the country could eventually break apart, even if he doesn't think it's likely."

Trump's popularity is slipping in rural America: poll - "The 70-year-old retired banker said he is unhappy with infighting and turnover in the White House. He does not like Trump's penchant for traveling to his personal golf resorts. He wishes the president would do more to fix the healthcare system, and he worries that Trump might back down from his promise to force illegal immigrants out of the country. 'Every president makes mistakes,' Wilson said. 'But if you add one on top of one, on top of another one, on top of another, there's just a limit.' Trump, who inspired millions of supporters last year in places like Morgan County, has been losing his grip on rural America."

oh and fwiw, re: middle-aged candidates...
New Wall Street candidates emerge to test Trump-era appeal - "Meanwhile, industry trade groups including the American Bankers Association are launching formal programs to teach members in various states how to campaign successfully." (ugh)
posted by kliuless at 2:46 AM on October 10, 2017 [20 favorites]

I don't think Trump will nullify the Iran deal. It's risky for him, it doesn't carry any payoff...

It undoes a signature Obama legacy. That's the ultimate payoff.
posted by chris24 at 3:07 AM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

Obama was a great president, given who and what he had to work against. But his presidency is the gift that keeps on giving to the Republicans. The Republicans will literally drive us all to extinction if it means they get to undo something, anything, which was accomplished during his presidency.
posted by maxwelton at 3:32 AM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

[Nullifying the Iran deal] undoes a signature Obama legacy. That's the ultimate payoff.

Mmmaybe. But Trump doesn't get any money out of imposing sanctions, and in fact many people will lose money if he does. He's been happy to reverse Obama on things that are irritating or irrelevant to the 1%, but on this occasion he'd have everybody plus Putin opposing him.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:48 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

With all due respect, I think you are missing the full extent of his malevolence.

He is not there to enrich himself. He is there to eradicate those treasures of civilization which depend upon enlightened values and exist to lift humanity up. Enriching himself is a low-hanging side benefit.
posted by perspicio at 4:09 AM on October 10, 2017 [11 favorites]

for those of you who read stephen king's "it," it is helpful to realize donald trump is patrick hockstetter: in his head, he is the only thing that is real, so it doesn't really matter to him if the world burns when he is gone
posted by entropicamericana at 4:21 AM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

Oh lord no please don't let's start the 'everything as Harry Potter analogy' process with Stephen King novels.
posted by winna at 4:34 AM on October 10, 2017 [11 favorites]

Nah, Trump is definitely Toomey from Langoliers.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 4:35 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's been a busy morning for the president:

Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

58m
With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have "tanked," in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!

1h
Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST

1h
The problem with agreeing to a policy on immigration is that the Democrats don't want secure borders,they don't care about safety for U.S.A.

1h
Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law
posted by Room 641-A at 4:44 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST

I'm torn between "Ha ha ha we're all going to fucking die" and "He knows he can't do that, right?".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:46 AM on October 10, 2017 [21 favorites]

I for one am looking forward to seeing this amazing healthcare-providing pen that Trump has found!
posted by mmoncur at 4:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [25 favorites]

I'm looking forward to the NFL'S response to Trump putting their tax breaks on the table. Maybe ESPN can suspend him!
posted by Room 641-A at 4:53 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well, why *is* the NFL getting massive tax breaks?
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:53 AM on October 10, 2017 [16 favorites]

It doesn’t matter right now because he’s not talking about tax policy, he’s just trying to punish the people who aren’t nice to him. They’re lucky he can’t send them into the cornfield.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:59 AM on October 10, 2017 [10 favorites]

Yeah, and why does the NFL have that antitrust exemption?

Somebody oughta sue.
posted by box at 5:06 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Maybe he meant he would be using the power of the "pen" to give great HealthCare to many people

Or his name isn't donald "trump"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:07 AM on October 10, 2017

I'm torn between "Ha ha ha we're all going to fucking die" and "He knows he can't do that, right?".

My hypothesis, the senile old man does NOT know he can't do that. You know, that whole "change tax law" thing requires the House AND Senate. And the Senate appears to being "Nope" in the hope that someone will do something about the 27% who can fuck up primaries, and can rely on gerrymandering for the general. I don't doubt that many Republicans are not happy and quietly wish we weren't here. Yeah, that's great. It's your fucking mess to clean up, but I'll offer this, we have a 25th amendment for this case. The MOST FRUSTRATING THING is that I am certain Mueller can put almost everyone in the Trump Admin in federal prison, but the wheels of justice are grinding too slow for my sanity.
posted by mikelieman at 5:16 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump proposes IQ tests face-off with Tillerson after Secretary of State calls him a moron (Real)

This was it. This was the moment I stopped being able to tell that things weren’t satire.
posted by bluemilker at 5:22 AM on October 10, 2017 [134 favorites]

And the Senate appears to being "Nope" in the hope that someone will do something about the 27% who can fuck up primaries, and can rely on gerrymandering for the general.

They're hoping that someone else is going to suddenly make 90%+ of their base suddenly rational? Lazy little fuckers.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

This was it. This was the moment I stopped being able to tell that things weren’t satire.

The Onion effect has infected the fabric of reality. I was afraid of this when the Weekly World News stopped publishing.
posted by mikelieman at 5:26 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

Wow, the actual quote is: "I think it's fake news, but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

It's us, right? America? We're gonna win, right? Till we're tired of it?
posted by aspersioncast at 5:27 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump proposes IQ tests face-off with Tillerson after Secretary of State calls him a moron

In response, Rick Perry calls Trump's dance moves "uninspired". [fake, for now]
posted by peeedro at 5:28 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

[real] from 2013:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure,it's not your fault
6:37 PM · May 8, 2013
posted by Room 641-A at 5:34 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

NFL abandoned their federal tax exempt status a few years ago, they were not 501(c)(3) orgs prior (different exempt org type), the teams are not tax exempt, and tax exempt entities have to pay tax on unrelated business income in any case. Most of the tax advantages for sports teams are at the state/local level.

Unless he's proposing raising the top rate on ordinary income and capital gains to penalize wealthy owners, in which case....please proceed Mr. President.....
posted by melissasaurus at 5:34 AM on October 10, 2017 [21 favorites]

The Onion effect has infected the fabric of reality. I was afraid of this when the Weekly World News stopped publishing.

i blame gilette.

reminder: the proper name for this timeline is the onionverse
posted by entropicamericana at 5:35 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law

Why is Trump getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our People, our Constitution, and Common Decency? Change tax law.
posted by lydhre at 5:36 AM on October 10, 2017 [27 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: Highly respected author, Christopher Bedford, just came out with book, "The Art of the Donald, Lessons from America's...." Really good book!

1) Shilling from the White House again, are we?
2) The stupid placement of the ellipsis makes it look like he's trailing off before saying something naughty.

Lessons from America's Top Asshole, perhaps?
posted by jammer at 5:39 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

They're hoping that someone else is going to suddenly make 90%+ of their base suddenly rational? Lazy little fuckers.

Lazy, yes. Avoiding responsibility, yes. Cowards.

But my math works different. Trump: 46.4 of the votes. Clinton 48.5.

Trump 62,984,825 which is the intersection of the subsets:

sane republicans ( old-school fiscal conservatives voting GOP out of habit );
probably sane republicans ( Clinton isn't the perfect candidate);
probably insane republicans ( BENGHAZI! , librul tears.)
White supremacists;
Misogynists;
and "The Keynes Effect" voters. ( 27% )

I expect significant overlap in there, but those are the constituencies.

Opposing Trump are the sane and probably sane subsets.

Supporting Trump are the probably insane; white supremacists; misogynists; and the 27%.

So, I can't do a numerical breakdown, other than 27% of the Trump voters of in the general is a shade over 17 million. so it's some number between 17 million and 63 million. When their constituency is clear that this gotta stop, they'll act.

So far, not enough. Going forward. More Trump Senility? Nope. Undercutting other country's ability to trust the USA? Nope. Mueller? Mueller? Mueller?

Help us Bob Mueller The-Third, you're our only hope....
posted by mikelieman at 5:39 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

we must prepare for the Dictatorship Of The Teen

Maybe then someone younger than 50 can set foot on a lawn!
posted by srboisvert at 5:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Each time Trump goes more bonkers than bonkers, I look for the thing from which he's trying to distract.
posted by runcifex at 5:42 AM on October 10, 2017 [11 favorites]

i blame gilette.

reminder: the proper name for this timeline is the onionverse

Gillette. Or is it Gilette here. Sometimes I think I'm getting cross-time psychosis, other times i PRAY I'm ONLY getting cross-time psychosis.

I second "onionverse"
posted by mikelieman at 5:42 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

@realDonaldTrump: Highly respected author, Christopher Bedford, just came out with book, "The Art of the Donald, Lessons from America's...." Really good book!

2) The stupid placement of the ellipsis makes it look like he's trailing off before saying something naughty.

My reading is Senile Grandpa Trump literally trailed off, and then woke up and remembered he was talking about a book.
posted by mikelieman at 5:45 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

How Smart Is Donald Trump? A History Of The President's Weird Obsession With IQ (Ryan Bort, Newsweek)

There's a nice list there, from 6/2017
posted by Room 641-A at 5:48 AM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

God what do you think Trump would score on a legit IQ test at this point? What would the Vegas over/under be? 70?
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

JFC

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!

Liddle' 😫
posted by Room 641-A at 6:01 AM on October 10, 2017 [17 favorites]

Uh... Corker hasn't refuted anything in that convo. Also his aides taped it as well.
posted by PenDevil at 6:03 AM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

I wouldn't say any of them are the progressive hope for the future but all are big names, three of the four (all but Harris) are legitimate 2020 candidates and three of the four (all but Cuomo) are unquestionably generation X.

Harris isn't a legit 2020 candidate? A black first term Senator can't go on to be President? This is news to me.
posted by Talez at 6:04 AM on October 10, 2017 [29 favorites]

Watch, in a week Corker will appear on tv with a glassy far off stare and say "The only one acting like a child was me. Trump provides a firm hand on the tiller of state, especially since he has such gigantic hands."
posted by drezdn at 6:06 AM on October 10, 2017 [15 favorites]

Liddle' 😫

This was from a NYTimes article that was posted then completely re-written: "Mr. Trump considered Mr. Corker as a candidate for secretary of state after last year’s election but was said to have told associates that the 5-foot-7 senator was too short."
posted by peeedro at 6:10 AM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!

Hey, anyone who can pass on a note to Bob Corker's people. Dare Trump to an IQ test tonight on TV...
posted by mikelieman at 6:11 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Harris isn't a legit 2020 candidate? A black first term Senator can't go on to be President? This is news to me.

Speaking as a constituent, if anything, the only "Um. No." on that list is Cuomo. I expect he'll run for another term in Albany, and if he doesn't get it, then move onto the next Dem. Admin, maybe an ambassadorship.
posted by mikelieman at 6:14 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Watch, in a week Corker will appear on tv with a glassy far off stare and say "The only one acting like a child was me. Trump provides a firm hand on the tiller of state, especially since he has such gigantic hands."

Beyond not running again and facing Republican voters, Corker is worth $50m. He doesn't need a sweet lobbyist or consulting gig once out of office. I'm betting/hoping he's not caving.
posted by chris24 at 6:16 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

> we have this Gen X sized hole in politics that I keep seeing all over - everyone is 25 or 85 - and the Dem back bench is pretty empty?

Kirsten GIllibrand = 50 years old
Corey Booker = 48 years old
Kamala Harris = 52 years old
Cuomo (ick) = 59 years old

Don't forget:

Barack Obama = 56 years old
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:22 AM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

But Liddle with an apostrophe? I don't get that.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:22 AM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

Trump proposes IQ tests face-off with Tillerson after Secretary of State calls him a moron (Real)

Let's do this on Halloween! It will be horrifying!
posted by srboisvert at 6:24 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

But Liddle with an apostrophe? I don't get that.

You have the apostrophe when you write it as Lil'. Maybe that's what he was going for.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:25 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Onion effect has infected the fabric of reality.

HOLY SHIT
MAN WALKS ON FUCKING MOON
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:28 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!

Most white people look up to this man.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:35 AM on October 10, 2017 [16 favorites]

TRUMP WALKS ON FUCKING MOON, DISCOVERS THAT EARTH REVOLVES AROUND IT, COMPLAINS ABOUT LACK OF GOLF COURSE
posted by pyramid termite at 6:39 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Lil' Lager, for the Trump generation!

Ain't that a corker
posted by petebest at 6:41 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

"It's one of the few sports you can drink while playing and arguably get better at."

Darts.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:47 PM on October 9 [4 favorites +] [!]

I *just* had a co-worker top my story of being beaten at bowling by a girl with one finger and a thumb, by her story of being beaten at darts by a blind guy.

So, synchronicity?
posted by notsnot at 6:46 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

North Korea Suspected of Hacking U.S.-South Korean War Plans

guys im beginning to think the internet may have been a bad idea
posted by entropicamericana at 6:49 AM on October 10, 2017 [18 favorites]

How Smart Is Donald Trump? A History Of The President's Weird Obsession With IQ (Ryan Bort, Newsweek)

It's not weird at all. It's totally of a piece with his racism and obsession with "good genes"
posted by octothorpe at 6:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump is actually trying to compare Corker to Alice Liddell, the inspiration for "Alice In Wonderland." Another sly reference from our dear leader.
posted by drezdn at 6:52 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Today is my birthday, what should I wish for?

Right now I'm leaning towards "Bob Corker v Dolt 45 IQ-off" but nothing set in stone, or written on a cake, yet.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:59 AM on October 10, 2017 [27 favorites]

Today is my birthday

Happy Birthday!
posted by kingless at 7:04 AM on October 10, 2017 [15 favorites]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!

From the conclusion to the Politico article linked above:

Trump has, on several occasions, walked down to the Oval Office in the morning and told aides he knew they didn’t like the tweets he’d sent that morning.

“They’re not presidential, I know,” he said, with a mocking tone on the word “presidential,” according to one person familiar with his comments.

Then, the next day, he’d wake up and send more tweets they didn’t like.

While Trump may be exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer's, he knows quite well how he's behaving.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:05 AM on October 10, 2017 [45 favorites]

It's not weird at all. It's totally of a piece with his racism and obsession with "good genes"

I was just coming in to say this. 100% chance there's a copy of The Bell Curve gathering dust on 45's bookshelf, right next to The Fountainhead and a couple of Ann Coulter's later diatribes.
posted by Mayor West at 7:07 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

And man, I think I've fucked up my wish already, since it's T.Rex v Dolt 45 IQ throw down. Not Corker. Although that could also be a good time, in a pinch. (I suspect Corker and Trump are more evenly matched. Rex is a shitbird with zero interest in his current job, but he doesn't strike me as truly stupid.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:13 AM on October 10, 2017

guys im beginning to think the internet may have been a bad idea

"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans."
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [44 favorites]

"Rex is a shitbird with zero interest in his current job, but he doesn't strike me as truly stupid"

He hitched his wagon to Trump. How smart could he be?
posted by ian1977 at 7:24 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

He hitched his wagon to Trump. How smart could he be?

It's smart to do what your boss in Moscow tells you to do.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:27 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

100% chance there's a copy of The Bell Curve gathering dust on 45's bookshelf

Hah trump doesn't read. He heard about genetics on TV and it justified the racism he learned from his dad and his own inflated self-esteem. It also worked to explain how he could be rich without ever doing anything of value. It's an important feature of his psyche. He thinks he's super smart but has likely read nothing that wasn't a newspaper/magazine article about him in 50 years. Trump probably hasn't even read his own books.
posted by dis_integration at 7:39 AM on October 10, 2017 [32 favorites]

guys im beginning to think the internet may have been a bad idea

New birthday wish: Butlerian Jihad.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [21 favorites]

another hack of a major us system

at this point i can only assume that all of our vital computer systems are running on an unpatched install of Win98

WHAT ARE YOU SYSADMINS DOING ALL DAY? PLAYING OVERWATCH?
posted by entropicamericana at 7:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [19 favorites]

Most white people look up to this man.

Bullshit. An unfortunately large minorty of white people look up to him.
posted by thelonius at 7:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [10 favorites]

[Nullifying the Iran deal] undoes a signature Obama legacy. That's the ultimate payoff.

If Twitler could somehow resurrect Osama bin Laden, he'd do it. He would absolutely do it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:46 AM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

Y'know, when there's fires in Sonoma County and I don't see that certain friends are okay or that they're taking in people who've had to evacuate until like 15 hours after they say so because FB still totally wants "top stories" to be a thing no matter how often I reset it.

Helpful Facebook Control Hint valid until they fuck this up too:

If you use

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr

It goes direct to "Most Recent"

If you use this consistently a few times it turns into the autocomplete in firefox or chrome
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

But Liddle with an apostrophe? I don't get that.

It's Trump's go-to insult for shorter people, he used the same line on Marco Rubio.

Turning his attention to Mr. Rubio, whom he calls “Little Marco,” Mr. Trump spelled out his preferred nickname: “L-I-D-D-L-E. Liddle, Liddle, Liddle Marco.”
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 7:55 AM on October 10, 2017

WHAT ARE YOU SYSADMINS DOING ALL DAY? PLAYING OVERWATCH?

Not the sysadmins. Values come from the top. Put a few negligent CIO's and IT Directors on trial, then execute them if found guilty. That'll make security a priority.

Then, since the CIO and IT Director fraudulently certified their PCI and other compliance certifications under the watch of the Board of Directors, liquidate their assets and pull the corporate charter. Then the Board of Director will care about not faking security.
posted by mikelieman at 7:56 AM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

Helpful Facebook Control Hint valid until they fuck this up too:

There's a FB Purity add-on for Firefox that you can tell to do that automatically.

Load FB. Wait while everything you don't want is hidden. They update fairly regularly to keep up with "Whatever FB is doing this time"
posted by mikelieman at 7:57 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump is having lunch with Tillerson and Mattis today
posted by angrycat at 8:02 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr

This doesn't work for me, unfortunately. First post displayed is from 2 hours ago, then 2, 2, 9, 16, 2, 2, 9, 4, etc.
posted by mikepop at 8:03 AM on October 10, 2017

More info from Washington Post about Deandre Harris: one of the Nazis who attacked him says he's not a white supremacist and claims he was only defending himself from Harris. "There were some non-racist members who were going to a free speech rally".
posted by StrawberryPie at 8:08 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Most white people look up to this man.
---
Bullshit. An unfortunately large minorty of white people look up to him.

According to Gallup, 49% of whites approve of his job performance. It has ranged from 56% at inauguration to as low as 45%. He was last above 50% with whites May 28th.

For comparison, he started at 22% with non-whites and is now at 15%. And 15% with blacks and now at 9%.
posted by chris24 at 8:10 AM on October 10, 2017 [33 favorites]

Most white people look up to this man.

White Supremerrancy.
posted by srboisvert at 8:18 AM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump is having lunch with Tillerson and Mattis today

meatloaf ahoy
posted by rodeoclown at 8:31 AM on October 10, 2017 [23 favorites]

> I remember when this happened, and the calls for counterprotest, so it's especially chilling knowing this is straight up Russian attempts to start violence in my hometown.

I remember when Republicans called those protesting the Vietnam War dupes of Moscow, if not out-and-out Commies.

How modern conservatism has fallen.
posted by Gelatin at 8:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

According to Gallup, 49% of whites approve of his job performance. It has ranged from 56% at inauguration to as low as 45%. He was last above 50% with whites May 28th.

Based on self-reporting, he has been and remains at 100% for men who shout to themselves in public restrooms.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

Most white people look up to this man.
---
Bullshit. An unfortunately large minorty of white people look up to him.

Of white Americans, perhaps.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

I don't think Trump will nullify the Iran deal. It's risky for him, it doesn't carry any payoff

The payoff is switching to War President mode, and the more forgiving domestic politics which come with that. Also, potential control over 10% of the world's proven oil reserves.
posted by Coventry at 8:53 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

A lot of detailed info in this new Morning Consult analysis. A snippet:

Trump Approval Dips in Every State, Though Deep Pockets of Support Remain

Fewer than nine months into President Donald Trump’s White House tenure, a Morning Consult survey in all 50 states indicates that voters have grown bearish on his performance in office.

Trump has failed to improve his standing among the public anywhere — including the states he won handily as the Republican nominee during the 2016 presidential election, according to the survey, which was based on interviews of 472,032 registered voters across each state and Washington, D.C., from Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration to Sept. 26.

The negative swings in net approval ranged from as high as 30 percentage points in solidly blue Illinois and New York to as low as 11 points in red Louisiana. But in many of the states Trump easily carried last year — such as Tennessee (-23 points), Mississippi (-21 percentage points), Kentucky (-20 points), Kansas (-19 points) and Indiana (-17 points) — voters have soured on the president in 2017.

A majority of voters in 25 states and the District of Columbia said they disapproved of the president’s job performance in September, including those residing in Upper Midwest states with large Electoral College hauls that were critical to Trump’s victory over 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — and some of which are home to some of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats of the 2018 election cycle. Fifty-five percent of respondents in Michigan said they disapproved of Trump, as did 53 percent in Wisconsin and Iowa and 51 percent in Pennsylvania.

Fifty-one percent of voters in Nevada and Arizona, where the Senate GOP’s most vulnerable members are up for re-election next year, also disapproved of Trump’s handling of the presidency.

posted by chris24 at 9:03 AM on October 10, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump, live:

1) He will be signing something, probably later this week (ie, never)
2) Henry Kissenger doesn't want to pay a 116% increase in his health insurance

[Real]
posted by Room 641-A at 9:06 AM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

Re DeAndre Harris - this is from Shaun King's facebook:

The Charlottesville Police just told me that they did NOT issue an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris. What happened is very nefarious.
A white supremacist who was injured in a fight with people other than DeAndre Harris tried to get police to arrest DeAndre. They declined.
So the white supremacist found a judge he knows, who did something one officer told me he had never seen before....
The white supremacist got a random local magistrate, who never conducted an investigation, to issue a bogus arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris.
In the meantime, the main men who assaulted him have yet to be charged.

So judges can just...do that? Tell the cops to arrest someone based on nothing at all, when they have nothing to do with the case? Is this one more thing that isn't supposed to happen but there's no law actually forbidding it, so in theory anyone could be arrested for anything at any time?
posted by Frowner at 9:10 AM on October 10, 2017 [67 favorites]

Aside from job performance, is-the-country-in-the-right-direction type stuff, has anyone polled how people think of Trump as a person? How many voters think that tweeting playground insults at Senators is OK, for example?
posted by thelonius at 9:16 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

So judges can just...do that? Tell the cops to arrest someone based on nothing at all, when they have nothing to do with the case? Is this one more thing that isn't supposed to happen but there's no law actually forbidding it, so in theory anyone could be arrested for anything at any time?

That's the way Jim Crow worked for almost a hundred years.
posted by JackFlash at 9:18 AM on October 10, 2017 [63 favorites]

yeah just from being vaguely anarchy adjacent and growing up on the west coast hearing stories about tre arrow etc and also growing up in hick towns and knowing about corrupt hick sherriffs etc, that sounds plausible. shitty but plausible.
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 9:27 AM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

WP: "Inspectors general have opened at least five investigations into charter or military flights by Cabinet officials amounting to millions in federal spending."
posted by Chrysostom at 9:32 AM on October 10, 2017 [38 favorites]

The cops have *fully* bought the absurd line that there's some terrorist organization of "antifa leaders" who are hell-bent on... I don't even fucking know.

Based on the name, fighting fascists?
posted by mikelieman at 9:43 AM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

2) Henry Kissenger doesn't want to pay a 116% increase in his health insurance

Well we could just let him die. It's a win win for everyone.
posted by Talez at 9:45 AM on October 10, 2017 [18 favorites]

No, really, they think there's some kind of *other* nefarious "real" purpose.

Yeah, well, Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, Trump will call you bad names on Twitter.
posted by mikelieman at 9:45 AM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

So judges can just...do that? Tell the cops to arrest someone based on nothing at all, when they have nothing to do with the case? Is this one more thing that isn't supposed to happen but there's no law actually forbidding it, so in theory anyone could be arrested for anything at any time?

Welcome to the justice system. Shit like this happens literally every day. Every hour of every day. What should happen is the prosecutor will see the bogus arrest come up on his docket and immediately drop the charges, because there's no evidence or probable cause whatsoever, and file a complaint against the judge with the state judicial commission or state supreme court. That's what the public defender should be arguing as well. But by that time Harris could've sat in jail for several days for no reason other than a white supremacist is friends with a white supremacist judge.

The system does have checks against this kind of bullshit. When they work. Assuming the prosecutor isn't also a white supremacist, or isn't one of the ones that will never drop any case for any reason because they think it makes them look soft on crime, or something. Or one of the ones that loves their numbers just for the sake of numbers. And if he gets a public defender, and gets one that has the time/will to live to actually look at the case. If not, well, innocent people are routinely imprisoned and even executed over exactly this kind of bullshit every single day. Harris is lucky here that it was all on camera.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:47 AM on October 10, 2017 [56 favorites]

Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody tweet what's going down
posted by fomhar at 9:47 AM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

2) Henry Kissenger doesn't want to pay a 116% increase in his health insurance

Seeing as how he's 94, wouldn't his primary insurance be Medicare anyway?
posted by SpaceBass at 9:50 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Seeing as how he's a demi-lich slowly decomposing into a skull in a glass jar, he doesn't need health care.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:51 AM on October 10, 2017 [39 favorites]

his primary insurance should be through the fucking prison at the hague
posted by entropicamericana at 9:52 AM on October 10, 2017 [55 favorites]

This is some bullshit:

In response to such illegal threats of violence, Drexel has chosen to place me on administrative leave. Earlier in the week, I asked my students to explain the relation between white masculinity and mass killings, and they offered in a few short minutes of class discussion far more insight than any mainstream media outlet has offered all week. But now, their own academic freedom has been curtailed by their university, and they are unable to even attend the classes they registered for.

By bowing to pressure from racist internet trolls, Drexel has sent the wrong signal: That you can control a university’s curriculum with anonymous threats of violence. Such cowardice notwithstanding, I am prepared to take all necessary legal action to protect my academic freedom, tenure rights and most importantly, the rights of my students to learn in a safe environment where threats don’t hold sway over intellectual debate. Alongside organizations like the Campus Antifascist Network, I will continue to challenge white supremacists in an effort to make Drexel and all universities safe space for an intellectual debate among equals.

posted by tonycpsu at 9:57 AM on October 10, 2017 [68 favorites]

Coinciding with World Mental Health Day, the Washington Post reports President Trump’s Temper Tantrums are coming at an accelerating pace by Daniel W. Drezner, who, incidentally, has a curated Twitter thread "I'll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler."
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:02 AM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: The good news about Bob Corker’s comments? Everyone in the Senate agrees!

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Lame Duck, Tenn.) recently gave an explosive 25-minute interview to the New York Times describing the president as being in need of constant supervision who is liable to get us into World War III. Great. […] A rough summary of his comments follows.

The president? Oh, no, he’s totally unfit. I am terrified for this country. Everyone in the Senate agrees. That is why we have, so far, not really said or done anything to contradict his agenda (except by a margin of one or two harrowing votes after receiving approximately 1,850,000 irate phone calls apiece).

But you have to understand: We are all constantly terrified. We all should be terrified. It’s even worse than you realize. Picture what you think it is, and then light it on fire and toss rusty nails and loose plague rats everywhere.

Listen, this is a living nightmare. The president no longer speaks in complete sentences, if he ever did. The last time we visited together he was gnawing on what appeared to be a severed human leg. You know that painting of Saturn devouring his children? That’s his bedtime ritual.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:11 AM on October 10, 2017 [40 favorites]

Gorsuch seems to be breaking his back to piss off Roberts. [CNN]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:11 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Gorsuch's habit of mansplaining EVERYTHING is so fucking annoying.
posted by Glibpaxman at 10:20 AM on October 10, 2017 [19 favorites]

Man, how big a piece of shit do you have to be to make Scalia seem calm and humble by comparison? A small number of people I have some respect for came out in the media during Gorsuch's confirmation to say, "Yes, this process is terrible and I object to it, but Gorsuch is a good judge with strong opinions I disagree with". Before I thought they were naive or just trying to make the best of a bad situation, but now I'm starting to question their judgment in a fundamental way. Who thought this jackass was going to be even a tolerable justice?
posted by Copronymus at 10:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

Gorsuch is seriously increasing the likelihood that Roberts will join the Liberals and Kennedy on key decisions... I am hopeful for the prospect of some good 6-3 votes.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:26 AM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

> ESPN suspends Jemele Hill over tweets (Frank Palotta, CNN)

ESPN Supports Diverse Voices If It Can Control What They Say

A woman has experienced the world—news, sports, politics, life—differently from a man. A person of color has experienced the world differently from a white one. A gay person has experienced the world differently from a straight one. A working-class person has experienced the world differently from a trust-fund kid. Their perspectives will be different. They will have different thoughts about the news of the day, and different things to say about it. In a culture—a sports culture in particular—still overwhelmingly defined by and geared toward the tastes and prerogatives of a narrow range of straight white men, some of the thoughts and opinions from outside that narrow range inevitably, necessarily, will challenge the familiar ways of thinking about and talking about things, if not by the mere fact of their presence, then certainly by their actual content. [...]

ESPN, itself one of the inhuman corporate machines that makes its money off the way things already are, has no interest in that kind of diversity. In fact, as it now has demonstrated, it regards that kind of diversity—real diversity, the things people from different backgrounds will think and say because they have experienced the world differently from the familiar white dudes who have defined that company’s existence and therefore have a different perspective on it—as a threat.

All ESPN ever wanted was to have some black faces, brown faces, women’s faces, different kinds of faces open their mouths and let ESPN speak through them, so that it could congratulate itself for granting them the privilege. But behind those faces are real, actual, whole people, the mere fact of whom is inescapably radical and challenging in an environment as homogenous and corporatized as the industry ESPN dominates. See what happened when one of them gave voice to an idea, not even a particularly radical one, that ran even glancingly up against its interests and those of its corporate partners—up against the way things already are. It silenced her. It pulled her off the air altogether.

The flagship SportsCenter will air in Jemele Hill’s absence, of course. The machine can always find another face. It can look however it wants. But it only speaks with one voice.

posted by tonycpsu at 10:28 AM on October 10, 2017 [67 favorites]

oneswellfoop: "Gorsuch is seriously increasing the likelihood that Roberts will join the Liberals and Kennedy on key decisions... I am hopeful for the prospect of some good 6-3 votes."

I don't want to overstate this - Roberts is never even going to be Kennedy or Sandra Day O'Connor. But we know that he's very concerned about "legacy." I doubt Roberts would really go against the right side of the court, but I can see him doing some separate concurrence, splitting the difference kind of junk.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:35 AM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

I am trying really hard to keep myself from being optimistic about the gerrymandering case, because I don't want to get my heart broken. But that case could blow the political map wide open, and I think there's a slim but real chance that the court will do it. And Gorsuch being a complete ass probably helps a little bit.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:38 AM on October 10, 2017 [11 favorites]

Who thought this jackass was going to be even a tolerable justice?

The thing is, what makes a good judge does not always make someone a good justice. Love him or hate him, Gorsuch is a very clever man, but he suffers deeply from the Cruz problem- he's used to always being the smartest guy in the room, and acts accordingly. That doesn't fly when he's among other smart people, even if his positions were justified, which they aren't always.

Like, I think he's probably right that most of the justices consider the effect of their decisions on humans more than whether the Constitution itself authorizes the decision. But he doesn't have the empathic skills to conceal his disdain on that score, and that means he will be less influential on a court whose decisions often are built on personal relationships.
posted by corb at 10:38 AM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

Stephanie Gaskell, Heavy: Christopher Bedford: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Impeccable conservative credentials.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2017

The good news about Bob Corker’s comments? Everyone in the Senate agrees!

So does the WSJ Editorial Board.
posted by chris24 at 10:42 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

ESPN Supports Diverse Voices If It Can Control What They Say

Yeah, as someone mentioned elsewhere, this kind of thing wasn't a problem when Trump was calling for a boycott of the NFL.
posted by rhizome at 10:46 AM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

On the lighter side, ur-Milkshake Duck Ken Bone is not happy with Trump.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:47 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

On the lighter side, ur-Milkshake Duck Ken Bone is not happy with Trump.

Outside of the Bone Zone is not where you want to be.
posted by diogenes at 10:52 AM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

The reality-TV/high-school drama theme continues: Mensa offers to host IQ test for Trump and Tillerson.
posted by Coventry at 10:58 AM on October 10, 2017 [39 favorites]

I can see Roberts rolling his eyes at Gorsuch on a lot of things, save one: voting rights. I would be enormously surprised that any amount of Gorsuch being a piece of shit will stop him from his crusade against voting rights for anyone who's not a white man.

Remember, Roberts was brought into the Reagan administration to hollow out the Voting Rights Act, and did his best to do so for several years. Then he was one of the point men (along with Ted Cruz) in W's campaign to dissuade or even disenfranchise voters, culminating in being a major player in the 2000 election boondoggle down in Florida. Then, of course, he was given the highest position in the highest court of the land, where he's been trying to bring back Jim Crow-era voting restrictions whenever and wherever he can. He's the reason Shelby v Holder--one of the worst white supremacist SCOTUS decisions in recent history, and where he repeatedly ignored massive amounts of evidence to come up with his opinion--went so far in gutting the VRA, and IMO is personally responsible for all the shitty white supremacist laws that have popped up since then.

tl;dr I don't really trust the accounts of Roberts being anything more than slightly annoyed by Gorsuch, and given the chance I'm assuming he will play along on taking away basic democratic freedoms from marginalized groups.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:01 AM on October 10, 2017 [19 favorites]

The reality-TV/high-school drama theme continues: Mensa offers to host IQ test for Trump and Tillerson.

If we have to endure all of this garbage, then when Trump fails his IQ test and is certified a Fucking Moron, I want the Press Your Luck sound effect of the Whammy to play just as the result is announced, perhaps with The Price Is Right fail horns right after.
posted by Servo5678 at 11:03 AM on October 10, 2017 [25 favorites]

he's probably right that most of the justices consider the effect of their decisions on humans more than whether the Constitution itself authorizes the decision.

I was going to comment on this but then thought better and will just leave this laying there to speak for itself as representative of the steaming pile of Republican thought.
posted by JackFlash at 11:05 AM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Eyebrows McGee: mean the downside is he's running the state into the ground and we need some grown-ups to deal with our state debt problem which has no easy answers (it's gonna be big tax hikes, kids, that's the only legal solution).

THIS is the problem with adults fixing things -- they do the hard work that no one likes or appreciates, then the shouty babies pretend they could have done the same thing, without raising taxes, so people say "yeah, let's try that!" And we're back in the same place.

Democrats will raise taxes, collect funds, and get things on the road to recovery, while the Party of No will shout "LOOK, MORE TAXES! WE TOLD YOU SO!" and come back into power, because "HIGHER TAXES" is easy to shout, compared to "GOOD GOVERNMENT MEANS HAVING THE FUNDS TO PAY FOR THINGS YOU WANT, AND BY YOU I MEAN EVERYONE BECAUSE WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER." At some point, people tune out and say "boy, those Democrats are sure shouty, and why do they love taxes so much? Prolly because they just increased their own paychecks! Let's let the GOP show them how to run government like a business!" And we cycle back, with more shouting and anguish all around.

At least, that's how I imagine things will play out.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:07 AM on October 10, 2017 [40 favorites]

"How Many Puerto Ricans Will Leave Home After Hurricane Maria?"

I hope most of them move to Florida and vote Democrat forever
posted by Tarumba at 11:12 AM on October 10, 2017 [17 favorites]

Hi, back online, 3 weeks after Maria. Is Trump still president?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:15 AM on October 10, 2017 [103 favorites]

When Trump's IQ test comes back in the low 80's, conservatives will just adopt this as The Thing We've Wanted All Along.

"We've tried smart politicians for decades - why not try letting an idiot run the show? Someone with poor reasoning skills is exactly what America's been missing."
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:21 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

And we cycle back, with more shouting and anguish all around.

At least, that's how I imagine things will play out.

That's American history since the New Deal. Republicans break the world, Democrats come in and fix it, then get voted out of office for not fixing it fast enough, or cheap enough, or good enough. And Republicans break everything again immediately, much worse than before until they're voted out for how shitty things are. Democrats come back in, fix everything again, but it never quite gets back to as good as it was the last cycle, so people vote in the Republicans again...who break everything WAY WORSE THAN EVER. We're going to see how many times the cycle can continue before we get to the point where nothing Democrats can even do will put things back together.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:34 AM on October 10, 2017 [53 favorites]

It's juvenile, sure, but id love to see somebody like Mark Cuban pledge, say, $5 million to the charity of Trump's choice if he can prove his IQ is greater than his age.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:36 AM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

> Re DeAndre Harris - this is from Shaun King's facebook:

The Charlottesville Police just told me that they did NOT issue an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris. What happened is very nefarious...So the white supremacist found a judge he knows, who did something one officer told me he had never seen before....The white supremacist got a random local magistrate, who never conducted an investigation, to issue a bogus arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris.

The next city council meeting in Charlottesville should be interesting. (We've already had some interesting city council meetings since the rally. This will be another one.)
posted by nangar at 11:40 AM on October 10, 2017 [10 favorites]

Could a test for dimentia be disguised as an IQ test?
posted by nat at 11:43 AM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

Johnny Wallflower already posted a link to National Treasure Alexandra Petri's latest, but I wanted to highlight this bit:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Lame Duck, Tenn.): ... The last time I visited the White House, they had put those little plastic things in all the sockets, and when I casually went to plug in my cellphone, three different aides screamed at me not to touch anything because of “what happened last time.” I don’t know what happened last time. After looking into an aide’s haunted eyes, I don’t think I ever want to know. I think the only thing that lets me sleep at night is that I have not seen what he has seen.

That is why I have voted with President Trump more than 80 percent of the time.

posted by RedOrGreen at 11:45 AM on October 10, 2017 [23 favorites]

I am certain Mueller can put almost everyone in the Trump Admin in federal prison...

Prisons, like taxes, are for little people.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:53 AM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

Something we're all losing sight of in this IQ test discussion is that here in the year of our lord 2017, only total morons still think that IQ tests are an effective way to get a single-number measurement of intelligence — indeed, these days only dim bulbs think that single-number measurements of intelligence are even possible.

(this is why, for example, the modal mensan is a self-regarding trilby-wearing half-bright, even though mensa presents itself as an organization for smart people.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:54 AM on October 10, 2017 [57 favorites]

he's used to always being the smartest guy in the room, and acts accordingly.

this is the same line people bought about Scalia on no evidence. Gorsuch, like Scalia before him, is used to being TREATED like and FEELING like the smartest guy in the room, and acts accordingly. excuse my yelling, but it is not the same thing.

anybody who thinks he's actually clever really ought to spend more time with a random assortment of people who went to some kind of grad school. not for pleasure, god knows. just for perspective. this is in no way a brag, not even a humblebrag or a shamebrag, but I have had to be in the same room with tens of white men who went to good schools for some kind of postgrad experience. they're all like that. a very few of them are as smart as their non-white and non-male colleagues, or just about; the rest compensate with unearned confidence and smarm.

Gorsuch, I mean. he's just some fuckin guy who went to law school.
posted by queenofbithynia at 11:55 AM on October 10, 2017 [58 favorites]

(the actual brag part is that none of those tens of Gorsuch-alikes and Gorsuch-variants I have been in a room with were the smartest person in the room, because I was also there.)
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:01 PM on October 10, 2017 [55 favorites]

"... only total morons think that IQ tests..."

I agree. I chalked it up to trump being morally and intellectually stuck in last century. To me, the fact that he cares so much about his IQ just shows how out of touch he is.

Like, things that were perfectly fine in the 80s aren't appropriate at all now but trump never got the memo. Even his aesthetics are extremely dated.
posted by Tarumba at 12:01 PM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

> anybody who thinks he's actually clever really ought to to spend more time with a random assortment of people who went to some kind of grad school. not for pleasure, god knows. just for perspective. this is in no way a brag, not even a humblebrag or a shamebrag, but I have had to be in the same room with tens of white men who went to good schools for some kind of postgrad experience. they're all like that.

one thing that's maybe hopefully changed me since the start of the trump organization's attack on the federal government is the experience of reading (extremely apt) descriptions like this one and not knowing whether I should be thinking "there but for the grace of god go I," or if I should instead be thinking "It me!"

And it is super uncomfortable thinking about how "it me" might be the right reaction, so I'm forced to try to do whatever I can to make me at least slightly less it.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:03 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

I was also there.

I can't back away from this. IQ tests at dawn! Start after 10 paces!
posted by Coventry at 12:06 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

Something we're all losing sight of in this IQ test discussion is that here in the year of our lord 2017, only total morons still think that IQ tests are an effective way to get a single-number measurement of intelligence

I 100% agree, and I also think we should pursue this line of enquiry to its most absurd, darkest-timeline conclusion, wherein he, Tillerson, and Kissinger (because why the fuck not) compete in a primetime special to figure out Who's The Smartest Nazi. We'll spend weeks building up to the main event, during which the administration will be completely paralyzed as Trump tweets furiously about his own prowess and does his best to sandbag the workings of the State Department as part of some idly-conceived revenge plot. The rest of the world will shake its head at us in stunned disbelief, and we'll set another low-watermark for ourselves, but we'll at least keep them from actively fucking things up worse for a while.

I guess what I'm saying here is, when you find yourself in the darkest timeline, sometimes you just gotta steer into the skid.
posted by Mayor West at 12:07 PM on October 10, 2017 [27 favorites]

Ben Stein should host.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:12 PM on October 10, 2017 [21 favorites]

Ok. So twice now in this thread we've referred to Jewish people as Liches, (DiFi and Kissinger) and now you're referring to Kissinger as a nazi? pls stop. Just. stop. It's antisemitic as hell.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:13 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

...and Jimmy Kimmel could have his old job as announcer.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:14 PM on October 10, 2017

I'm trying to calculate the odds of Trump saying something overtly racist during the NHL thing.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:15 PM on October 10, 2017

Republicans to Trump and Corker: Please just stop

Everyone else: please don't.
posted by piyushnz at 12:18 PM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

And it is super uncomfortable thinking about how "it me" might be the right reaction, so I'm forced to try to do whatever I can to make me at least slightly less it.

several of the guys I went to grad school personally with were very nice and genuinely clever! the ones I have had to stand around in rooms with since moving to DC though, well.

(and I in fact like lawyers quite a lot. but in my experience they are often not at all well prepared for arguments with intelligent people who are not also lawyers. not because we outside the profession have such different argumentative styles, but because they sometimes seem to believe that logical reasoning and facile rhetorical tricks are special trade secrets that nobody else knows. and it drives me crazy especially in the case of a Scalia who stole half his paradoxes from sub-Chestertonian sources anyway and passed off his thirdhand lukewarm reboiled unpicked and restitched aphorisms as brilliance for those who figure if they can't understand an incoherent thought, it's probably witty in some esoteric fashion.)
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:18 PM on October 10, 2017 [13 favorites]

This is our reality now—@SteveKopack: The State Dept. spokeswoman says Secretary Tillerson has a "high IQ". She was also asked what his SAT scores were. She did not have that.

Hi, back online, 3 weeks after Maria. Is Trump still president?

Didn't you reconnect to the internet with the paper towels he brought? I knew they would be useful.

Seriously, glad you're ok and back.
posted by zachlipton at 12:24 PM on October 10, 2017 [20 favorites]

Ok. So twice now in this thread we've referred to Jewish people as Liches, (DiFi and Kissinger) and now you're referring to Kissinger as a nazi? pls stop. Just. stop. It's antisemitic as hell.

Fair point on DiFi. We still need a word to describe ancient skeletal entities of malign intent blighting our political landscape with their barest touch though. And I don't think "Kissinger" can be run through the same treatment that Santorum got with regards to the undead.
posted by Slackermagee at 12:27 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

The main problem with "Lich" is that the word phylactery was appropriated from Jewish Religious practices. Also known as Tefillin. And there's the whole history of calling Jews "Vampires" so how about just sticking with calling Kissinger a war criminal? its accurate! and not antisemitic!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:29 PM on October 10, 2017 [18 favorites]

let's refer to DiFi as a terrible senator and Kissinger as one of the top ten war criminals of the 20th century (a century that as we all know wasn't light on war criminals).
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:30 PM on October 10, 2017 [17 favorites]

Something we're all losing sight of in this IQ test discussion is that here in the year of our lord 2017, only total morons still think that IQ tests are an effective way to get a single-number measurement of intelligence

My guess is Trump took a "test-your-own" IQ test published in Omni magazine and cheated by looking at the answers in the back before proclaiming to his kids that he aced the test and was thus the smartest on in the family.

"Ha! I bet I'm the first person to ever think to do that," he thought proudly.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [16 favorites]

> The solution they've come up with to the puzzle is to spend decades pretending their own opinions have no inherent power or authority - that they are merely conduits for the pure text of the Constitution, and thus beyond question. It follows, then, that the Warren Court and its progeny, which were not strict constructionist approaches, betrayed that sole source of real authority and must, therefore, be disregarded. I've often remarked to my strict constructionist friends and colleagues that, if I didn't know better, I'd think they were trying to overturn Marbury v. Madison, and that's what's happening here, as well.

The ever-insightful Slacktivist has a recent piece linking the reading practices of strict constructionists and the reading practice of biblical fundamentalists that's maybe worth a read.

"this text speaks for itself without interpretation and let me show you what it says" is a really unfortunate rhetorical strategy, wherein one tactically pretends to not know how language works in order to seize power over people. No one who uses it should be trusted farther than you can throw them.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [61 favorites]

Prisons, like taxes, are for little people.

gibbets, like guillotines, for the rest
posted by entropicamericana at 12:50 PM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Washington Post: Roger Goodell says NFL believes players should stand during national anthem

While stopping short of saying the NFL would require its players to stand, Goodell strongly suggested in a letter to NFL teams that at next week’s meeting the league would propose to owners that players be required to do so, while also providing a platform to recognize their community activism.

“Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem,” Goodell wrote to NFL club presidents and chief executives. “It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us. We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues. The controversy over the anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”

No legislative victories in sight, but after nine months in office, the President has browbeaten the NFL into forcing its players to stand for the national anthem.
posted by notyou at 12:55 PM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

"this text speaks for itself without interpretation and let me show you what it says" is a really unfortunate rhetorical strategy, wherein one tactically pretends to not know how language works in order to seize power over people. No one who uses it should be trusted farther than you can throw them.

I don't think it's tactical for many religious fundamentalists; I think they truly believe it.

What's always bothered me is how few of them have even a passing familiarity with Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. I mean, if I'm to accept your argument in good faith that the text speaks for itself, shouldn't you at least be able to read the language that the text was written in? Otherwise you're at the mercy of your translator.

That's even setting aside the fact that the meanings of words change significantly over time, you know, like the word "girl." And very few have any historical knowledge regarding the sociopolitical or cultural climate of Roman Judea.

If they're refusing to even engage with their own arguments seriously, I'm not sure why I should bother.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:56 PM on October 10, 2017 [43 favorites]

meatloaf ahoy

Well hellooooo new sockpuppet name
posted by petebest at 1:05 PM on October 10, 2017 [15 favorites]

And the Aramaic holy book, written in byblos theoretically in the era when the Nazarene was in living memory, is not the same book as the King James version from which most English translations are taken. The king James doesn't even map to the Greek or Latin versions. KJ took quite a few liberties, in a time when very few could have argued because most people then, as now, do not read dead languages.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:06 PM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

What's always bothered me is how few of them have even a passing familiarity with Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.

This is really just the beginning of the problem. Even if you have learned all these languages, you also have to trust that the texts were correctly transcribed for 1,500 years before the invention of the the printing press. There is also the problem of "Why these ancient texts and not other ancient texts?"... "Oh, an ancient council of totally random men? That's not suspicious at all." And also, all of the ancient texts were written years or even decades after their events occurred.

So yeah. A rabbit hole of historical bullshit. Which always just leads back to "God says so. Stop asking questions." Much like the constitutional originalists, who if pressed even slightly will always resort to "The Founders said so. Stop asking questions."
posted by Glibpaxman at 1:09 PM on October 10, 2017 [53 favorites]

No legislative victories in sight, but after nine months in office, the President has browbeaten the NFL into forcing its players to stand for the national anthem.

Is it just me, or is the combination of this and Jemele Hill's suspension bone-chillingly terrifying? I mean, the fact that ESPN and the NFL suck and are racist organizations is 0% news, but does the executive office now have a way to censor the media without violating the Constitution?
posted by capricorn at 1:11 PM on October 10, 2017 [36 favorites]

> I don't think it's tactical for many religious fundamentalists; I think they truly believe it.

That's what happens when illiterates hijack religions that venerate texts.

(that said, one of my primary beeves with christian metaphysics on the whole is the attempt to dodge the need for textual interpretation by identifying logos with god with christ, stated most straightforwardly in John 1:1-14. As I read it, all that "and the word was god" is a claim that in one very specific circumstance logos became capable of carrying itself out, and that this in turn opens up the possibility for a "religion of the book" wherein the practices of textual interpretation become unnecessary; instead, one can gesture toward christ as self-interpreting language made incarnate. tl;dr I think there's a somewhat illiterate attitude toward textuality present within the religion from the start, and so the current use of the religion by illiterates isn't terribly surprising.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

Roger Goodell: "The controversy over the anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”

I mean, if you really believe this in good faith, why not have all players stay off the field during the anthem altogether? This is bullshit wording about neutrality when you are explicitly taking a side by pressuring players to stand.
posted by orbit-3 at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

I'm starting to think that Roger Goodell fella is a bad seed.
posted by petebest at 1:15 PM on October 10, 2017 [13 favorites]

does the executive office now have a way to censor the media without violating the Constitution?
The "Sports Media", which has been drifting toward WWE-level fakery for decades...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:16 PM on October 10, 2017

I mean, if you really believe this in good faith, why not have all players stay off the field during the anthem altogether?

They did this pre 2009, but the NFL would like you to think they've been having players stand since their founding.
posted by PenDevil at 1:20 PM on October 10, 2017 [31 favorites]

why do we need to have the national anthem before sporting events anyway

oh right, jingoism
posted by entropicamericana at 1:25 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

In light of the New Yorker's haunting Weinstein investigation and audio recording (cw: rape; there are only awful things behind this link) and their previous story on Trump SoHo real estate fraud, that makes two New Yorker stories in the past week where Manhattan DA Cy Vance declined to prosecute famous, powerful people of serious crimes amid campaign donations.

The statement his office put out blaming the NYPD is a particular piece of work.

Somebody has to start a write-in campaign against this guy now, right?
posted by zachlipton at 1:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [36 favorites]

The statement his office put out blaming the NYPD is a particular piece of work.

Somebody has to start a write-in campaign against this guy now, right?

To make it worse, here's some context from Melissa Gira Grant on twitter [link to thread]:

To prosecute a woman for prostitution in 2015? For DA's, one handwritten form saying she wore a minidress is enough. But Weinstein, in 2015, on a wire admitting to a pattern of unwanted groping, and a woman's testimony, that isn't enough for Vance?

No way I'm filling in the bubble next to that dude's name. I hope a legit write-in candidate emerges, otherwise I'm voting for myself.
posted by melissasaurus at 1:42 PM on October 10, 2017 [45 favorites]

Somebody has to start a write-in campaign against this guy now, right?

lalex, you left yourself logged in as zachlipton.
posted by petebest at 1:43 PM on October 10, 2017 [23 favorites]

American Kakistocracy: a term that was first used in the 17th century; derived from a Greek word, it means, literally, government by the worst and most unscrupulous people among us.
posted by numaner at 1:56 PM on October 10, 2017 [10 favorites]

only total morons still think that IQ tests are an effective way to get a single-number measurement of intelligence

It may not be an effective way to measure intelligence, but it does just fine as a way for Trump to measure his dick.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 1:56 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

tonycpsu: ESPN Supports Diverse Voices If It Can Control What They Say

notyou: “It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us. We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues. The controversy over the anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”

ESPN and NFL are on the same page: journalists and players serve at the whim and will of their boards and owners, but their owners/boards would like it if they engage with the public and draw attention to their platforms/ brands/ companies, as long as it's not offensive.

See: SportsCenter Host Is Caught Up In The NFL's Free Speech Debate, in which NPR's David Greene talks to sports journalism professor Kevin Blackistone, who occasionally appears on ESPN, and they don't touch on the fact that these companies make it impossible for their employees to speak as an individual and not as part of their parent company, which is 100% pure bullshit when it comes to calling the president a white supremacist, when he has trouble distancing himself from (the praise of) David Duke and saying that the Nazis in Charlottesville were bad people.

So, we spend time talking about what Jemele Hill tweeted out of anger and frustration, and her own recognition of dual realities, where

Twitter wasn’t the place to vent my frustrations because, fair or not, people can’t or won’t separate who I am on Twitter from the person who co-hosts the 6 p.m. SportsCenter. Twitter also isn’t a great place to have nuanced, complicated discussions, especially when it involves race. Warriors player Kevin Durant and I probably need to take some classes about how to exercise better self-control on Twitter. Lesson learned.

Yet the President is free to blather on hatefully without serious repercussion. But he's the country's #1 White Man, and Jemele Hill and so many of the NFL players are people of color who are daring to call foul on the treatment of other people of color by police in this country, and on the rhetoric of that very hate-spewing President.

What is fundamentally at stake? I mean, if - if you have this moment when you have, I mean, a president calling for journal - for people to be fired. I mean, it's - and news networks trying to figure out, you know, how to make sure their journalists remain neutral. But - but - but also, you know, Jemele Hill's fans, they want to hear what she has to say. They don't want her silenced.

Dear David Green, that's not just a president, lower case "p," but the President of the United States of America, a man with such thin skin that he lashes out at every perceived slight or diss at him or his ideas. It's networks and the NFL trying to dance the fine line of "increased attention to our company" and "outrage being bad for business," with nothing about freedom of speech. And this isn't one of those cases where freedom of speech is the last card to play because everyone has called the speaker out as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and/or flat-out wrong, it's a very real and very hard conversation to have. We're saying that the President of the United States of America is racist, or having the gall to say what has been reported and tallied time and time again, that police across the US act upon racial biases, and in retaliation, he wants people fired. In this case, reality is not neutral, so you cannot ask your journalists to be neutral

At least David and Kevin called Donald Trump a white supremacist three times in that piece, without the usual journalistic soft-shoeing around what someone (rightfully) called someone in power. So there was that.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on October 10, 2017 [26 favorites]

It looks like Marc Fliedner is down with being a write-in candidate for Manhattan DA. More info on Fliedner here (he ran in the Brooklyn DA primary last month).

Spread the word!
posted by melissasaurus at 2:05 PM on October 10, 2017 [17 favorites]

ZOMG these demands on HRC to denounce Weinstein quicker faster stronger are making me want to put my fist through Twitter
posted by angrycat at 2:07 PM on October 10, 2017 [26 favorites]

Um, I thought Nunes was supposed to have recused himself. Because this sure as hell does not sound like recusal: CNN—Nunes signs off on new subpoenas to firm behind Trump-Russia dossier

Indeed, the move blindsided some committee members, multiple sources told CNN. And it has angered some on the committee who say that Nunes is still seeking to direct an investigation he was supposed to have no involvement in leading.

"He's not in any way, shape or form working on the investigation," said one Democratic committee member. "He's sitting outside the investigation and pushing it in a political direction."

Asked by CNN Monday why he issued the subpoenas, Nunes declined to comment. "You can ask, but you're not going to get a response," Nunes said.

posted by zachlipton at 2:12 PM on October 10, 2017 [34 favorites]

The would be good time for the black power salute to make a comeback.
posted by srboisvert at 2:12 PM on October 10, 2017 [49 favorites]

The main problem with "Lich" is that the word phylactery was appropriated from Jewish Religious practices. Also known as Tefillin. And there's the whole history of calling Jews "Vampires" so how about just sticking with calling Kissinger a war criminal? its accurate! and not antisemitic!

Thanks for that; I don't believe I've ever thought about or heard the term lich outside of my long-distant D&D days and had no idea of its etymology. I remain confused about why referring to Kissinger as a nazi is anti semitic (rather than just rhetorical Godwin overreach). Is there some tradition of calling the victims of the nazi regime nazis that I am unaware of? I get why using kapo is a problem but this confuses me. Sorry for a "educate me!" but I'm at zero on googling for this particular; feel free to memail me or just "google this phrase, dummy" so this isn't a big derail.
posted by phearlez at 2:14 PM on October 10, 2017

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of."
posted by JackFlash at 2:25 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Reuters: AFL-CIO wants SEC to probe trading in shares of loan servicer Navient

The AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions, on Tuesday called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate a few large trades in the stock of student loan servicer Navient Corp that occurred just before a government announcement favorable to the company was made public. [...]

The AFL-CIO said the nearly 900,000 shares were purchased at or after the market close on Aug. 31, in the hours between the CFPB’s being notified of the policy shift and its becoming public. Navient’s stock on Sept. 1, the day the policy change was announced, closed at $13.75 a share, up from its Aug. 31 closing price on the Nasdaq at $13.20.

The AFL-CIO said in the letter that it wants the SEC to find out whether the stock purchases were done illegally, in violation of insider trading laws or the STOCK Act, a 2012 law that makes clear it is illegal for members of Congress or their staff to personally profit on private information obtained in their work.

Apparently the Department of Education will no longer be sharing information about student loans with the CFPB, because the CFPB began investigating Navient's predatory behavior. (Note: Navient was spun off from Sallie Mae a few years ago.)
posted by melissasaurus at 2:26 PM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of."

Dan Murphy: Emmet Till would be the same age as Mike Ditka if he hadn't been lynched for being black when he was 14 years old.
posted by Existential Dread at 2:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [124 favorites]

Kissinger's grand MAGA strategy: Sleep (Ian Bremmer's Facebook)
posted by mumimor at 2:40 PM on October 10, 2017

Not to abuse the edit window: you can read the comments.
posted by mumimor at 2:42 PM on October 10, 2017

From that photo, it appears that the sheer mass of Kissinger's evil has developed its own gravity well somewhere around his solar plexus.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:44 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of."

The last time the Chicago Bears won a Super Bowl, South Africa was still under apartheid.
posted by box at 2:46 PM on October 10, 2017 [59 favorites]

@abbydphillip
Trump to Pittsburgh Penguins: "You are true true champions and incredible patriots." Notable that by my count, 9 of 23 players are Americans
posted by chris24 at 2:54 PM on October 10, 2017 [13 favorites]

Politico: Carter Page says he won’t testify before Senate Intelligence panel in Russia probe

Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, informed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that he will not be cooperating with any requests to appear before the panel for its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and would plead the Fifth, according to a source familiar with the matter.

What, he doesn't want to use the opportunity to tell the world how he's like Martin Luther King and being persecuted by Hillary Clinton?
posted by zachlipton at 3:03 PM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

a man with such thin skin that he lashes out at every perceived slight or diss at him or his ideas

One thing worth noting though is that it's not every perceived slight or diss: he tends to focus on black people and women he perceives as getting out of line and white men he doesn't deem sufficiently alpha.

For example, as far as I can see, he never responded directly to anything Golden State Warriror's coach Steve Kerr said about him or anything Spurs coach Greg Popovich has said about him, and neither of those two pulled any punches when they criticized him.
posted by lord_wolf at 3:11 PM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

For example, as far as I can see, he never responded directly to anything Golden State Warriror's coach Steve Kerr said about him or anything Spurs coach Greg Popovich has said about him, and neither of those two pulled any punches when they criticized him.

Well, you know, when you're being subjected to a constant barrage of accurate, pointed criticism, you have to pick and choose your childish tantrums carefully or you'll be having them all day.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:14 PM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

Outside of politics, who has he attacked?

Judge Curiel - Hispanic
Jemelle Hill - Black
Colin Kaepernick - Black
Steph Curry - Black
The Khans - Pakistani Muslims
Carmen Yulín Cruz - Hispanic
Chelsea Manning - Trans

I honestly can't think of a white man he's attacked who wasn't a political enemy.
posted by chris24 at 3:19 PM on October 10, 2017 [34 favorites]

Our national dependence on the emotional labor of women, particularly women of color, is so strong that it extends to the duty to get into public fights with the President.
posted by zachlipton at 3:20 PM on October 10, 2017 [33 favorites]

> ZOMG these demands on HRC to denounce Weinstein quicker faster stronger are making me want to put my fist through Twitter

When Weinstein Wanted to Trash a Victim, Some of the Right's Favorite News Sources Did What He Wanted

Where do you suppose I found some of the stories that painted Gutierrez in a bad light? Well, here's one published by Rupert Murdoch's New York Post on April 3, 2015:

Model asked for film role from Weinstein after molestation claim [...]

A couple of days prior to that, England's Daily Mail -- where American right-wingers frequently find politically compatible news -- published this:

Model who says Harvey Weinstein groped her in his NYC office also accused her wealthy 70-year-old former lover of rape in Italy four years ago

[...]

So, given the chance to help topple a famous Hollywood liberal, these right-leaning news organizations chose instead to run salacious stories meant to damage the accuser's reputation. Elsewhere on the right, the Daily Caller -- which has published 39 stories tagged "Harvey Weinstein" since last Thursday -- ran precisely one story on the Gutierrez case, headlined "Did Harvey Weinstein Grope This Model Or What? [PHOTOS]" -- and "PHOTOS" seems to be the key word, because three photos of Gutierrez dwarf the few words devoted to the story. (The Post and Daily Mail stories are also accompanied by revealing photos.)

I've been reminding you that it was the "liberal media" that brought down Weinstein, in part because the conservative press really doesn't do journalism. But the Gutierrez story didn't require a lot of shoe leather. It was in plain sight -- yet the right-wing press either ignored the opportunity to go after Weinstein or simply sullied his accuser's name. So spare me the lectures, conservatives.

posted by tonycpsu at 3:22 PM on October 10, 2017 [31 favorites]

Outside of politics, who has he attacked?

Women
posted by Groundhog Week at 3:27 PM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

I honestly can't think of a white man he's attacked who wasn't a political enemy.

Does Joe Scarborough count, or are TV show hosts inherently political now? Serious question. I can no longer tell.
posted by Archelaus at 3:29 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Does Joe Scarborough count, or are TV show hosts inherently political now? Serious question. I can no longer tell.

Ah, forgot that. But even there, he pretty much always attacked Mika with him if I'm remembering/googling right, but explicitly attacked Mika alone and awfully (the bleeding facelift tweet/lie.) So yes, women.
posted by chris24 at 3:39 PM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ugh ugh ugh. On my walk from daycare to the train station today (in hot-as-fuck-in-October DC), who should I encounter in the middle of the crosswalk but Michael Fucking Flynn? Seeing as I had my toddler with me, I wasn't about to get into it with a disgraced general, but I did shoot him a withering scowl. Pretty sure he was headed to the CNN studio between the Capitol and Union Station.

If I hadn't known who he was, I would've just assumed he was the world's most ill-tempered jockey.
posted by duffell at 3:43 PM on October 10, 2017 [35 favorites]

Does Joe Scarborough count

You could say Joe is in the other class of white males Trump has attacked by name, journalists (and people who pretend to be them on tv). That includes David Cay Johnston, Anderson Cooper, Jonathan Martin, David Brooks, Shep Smith, Erick Erickson, and on and on.
posted by peeedro at 3:52 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Um so Hillary calls herself a feminist but didn't kill harvey weinstein when she had a chance???? what a hypocrite
posted by idiopath at 3:54 PM on October 10, 2017 [22 favorites]

Remember the Clintons attended Trump's third wedding? There are pictures. She had a perfect opportunity to off him them.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:59 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mod note: guys it really might be a great idea to veer away from this particular murder stuff?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:00 PM on October 10, 2017 [24 favorites]

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of."

Huh. I did not know there was an Ignorance Hall of Fame.

I guess you really do learn something every day. (Or at least some of us do.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:02 PM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

WaPo: Trump Misleadingly Blames Bob Corker for Iran Deal
posted by StrawberryPie at 4:14 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of."

Yeah dude, that you're not aware is damn near the whole damn problem!
posted by VTX at 4:15 PM on October 10, 2017 [34 favorites]

HEY LOOK GUYS JESSAMYN’S SLUMMING WITH US
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:19 PM on October 10, 2017 [48 favorites]

Bannon backed candidate, constitutional originalist, MO Atty General and all around garbage person Josh Hawley is going after McCaskill's seat.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:49 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm simply aghast at the state of the US presidency on this day. Surely this kindergarten mayhem must undo him. It's horrifying. I waited all day to check in on any news . . . and it was overwhelming.
posted by rc3spencer at 4:56 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Can I just treasure in my mind Fight-Club era Brad Pitt with an Inglorious Basterds era Brad Pitt accent promise a "Missouri Whooping" if Harv came at Gwyneth like that again? In front of everyone at a very prestigious party at full volume? And the description of how Harvey tried to laugh it off and make excuses for it and then listened very, very carefully as this did not go over well at all with Brad Pitt.

It's a start. Harvey had a lot of well-connected, powerful friends who could and did make and ruin careers at his whim and will. This is the one he couldn't. I mean, the guy basically couch-surfed, a homeless millionaire, a Todd to a number of Bojacks, until right around Fight Club. What are you going to take away from him?

There are other men with unassailable careers. They need to call out assholes on the red carpet rather than in exclusive industry parties.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:59 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

Gabe Sherman tells Chris Hayes [video] that a "very prominent Republican" imagines that Kelly and Mattis have had literal discussions about what they would do if Trump "lunged for the nuclear football," as in "would they tackle him?"

So all in all, today has not really been the best World Mental Health Day.
posted by zachlipton at 5:29 PM on October 10, 2017 [18 favorites]

So all in all, today has not really been the best World Mental Health Day.

Wait... they have those?

Because of all the times to have the world take a day off and go to the beach or something, chill out, and come back to all of the issues with a fresh perspective, this one's probably pretty crucial. Maybe a couple of days, even. We could all use it.
posted by MrVisible at 5:35 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

At least the Dr Strangeglove redux will be a blast.
posted by Coventry at 5:44 PM on October 10, 2017

Who the fuck cares what Brad Pitt thought about the whole thing? Fucking white knight bullshit. Ugh.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:45 PM on October 10, 2017 [12 favorites]

It's a start? It would have been a fucking start hundreds if not THOUSANDS of years ago.

It's a start? Fuck that fucking shit.

It's a start... Lord give me strength.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:47 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

I honestly can't think of a white man he's attacked who wasn't a political enemy.

He attacked Stephen Colbert after the whole Putin/blowjob joke.
posted by Weeping_angel at 5:57 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Which is when I started watching Stephen Colbert again...
posted by Weeping_angel at 5:58 PM on October 10, 2017

Crucially, Trump seems to go after racial and sexual minorities irrespective of whether they've said word one about him. The same isn't generally true of white cishet folk, at least not that I can think of.
posted by duffell at 6:02 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe not, but white cishet people are certainly among the first to deflect. Which kinda makes them complicit...

Jesus, can we stop making excuses for straight, white, cisgender men? It's fucking exhausting.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:19 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Another very disconcerting report about the VA gov race, Gillispie internal polling has him even, supposedly. And Bannon is intervening to have racist Corey Stewart finally endorse Gillispie
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:26 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

I honestly can't think of a white man he's attacked who wasn't a political enemy.

....And the reason this observation is relevant is....?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:32 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

if Trump "lunged for the nuclear football,"

Not buying that. When Nixon got drunk and decided to nuke chunks of South East Asia, he asked the military to give him targeting options. You don't just 'press the button'; you have to have the things set up first, and the whole MAD system was predicated that, while you may have minimal warning of a surprise first attack, you would previously have known where the attack would come from so would be prepared - months or years in advance.

So just 'lunging for the football' is nonsense, unless Trump has previously ordered the targeting, and if those around him can't find ways to deflect him from that - as they did with Nixon - they're really not trying. He's stupid, he's infinitely distractable.

It's absolutely shocking that this is a subject for sane conversation in 2017, of course, and every day the GOP don't bundle him out of the door is a thousand years in purgatory for their black souls, but... here we are.
posted by Devonian at 6:49 PM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

So how long before Trump notices California is on fire and even gives the cursory "good luck!"
posted by Talez at 6:52 PM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

....And the reason this observation is relevant is....?

Because the point was made that Trump had not attacked Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich despite their frequent and strong rebukes of him.

Lord_Wolf: One thing worth noting though is that it's not every perceived slight or diss: he tends to focus on black people and women he perceives as getting out of line and white men he doesn't deem sufficiently alpha.

For example, as far as I can see, he never responded directly to anything Golden State Warriror's coach Steve Kerr said about him or anything Spurs coach Greg Popovich has said about him, and neither of those two pulled any punches when they criticized him.

So in reply to this observation I noted with some examples that Trump has a conspicuous habit of going after people who are not white men. Honestly not sure how detailing that a misogynistic white supremacist favors white men is troublesome.
posted by chris24 at 6:52 PM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

So how long before Trump notices California is on fire

"Sending my warmest condolences"
posted by omegar at 6:58 PM on October 10, 2017 [34 favorites]

What did California become illegal by not voting fo- . . ooohhhhhh riiight.
posted by petebest at 7:08 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Lawrence O'Donnell is going down the dementia hole about that 'Liddle'' tweet.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:10 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hall of Fame football coach Mike Ditka whitesplains: Man, CTE is a terrible thing indeed.
posted by TwoStride at 7:11 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

the Dr Strangeglove redux

Do you want to know how I can tell you're not Radchaai?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

Did I miss a story today saying Kelly was getting fired? Or is Trump just unable to not talk about what he's thinking of doing?

@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News is at it again, this time trying to hurt one of the finest people I know, General John Kelly, by saying he will soon be..... ...fired. This story is totally made up by the dishonest media.The Chief is doing a FANTASTIC job for me and, more importantly, for the USA!
posted by chris24 at 7:50 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Eminem rips Donald Trump in blistering freestyle rap during BET Hip Hop Awards
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:52 PM on October 10, 2017 [37 favorites]

He could just be starting shit.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:52 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Or maybe Kelly's who missed the shift at the adult daycare. Idk. Can't find anything on twitter about vacation firing rumor.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:54 PM on October 10, 2017

0xFCAF: "When Trump's IQ test comes back in the low 80's, conservatives will just adopt this as The Thing We've Wanted All Along.

"We've tried smart politicians for decades - why not try letting an idiot run the show? Someone with poor reasoning skills is exactly what America's been missing.""

"Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos."
posted by Chrysostom at 7:54 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

Who the fuck cares what Brad Pitt thought about the whole thing? Fucking white knight bullshit. Ugh.

This, right here, is bullshit. Utter, unmitigated bullshit, couched in 4-chan language. White Knight?

Serious. You used that term in a denigrating way, for a privileged man who decided to go after a more powerful, more privileged man, in the service of basic human decency.

I am sorry, but I will not accompany you upon the journey you are upon.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:57 PM on October 10, 2017 [25 favorites]

Oh, you know it could be this vanity fair article from yesterday.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:00 PM on October 10, 2017

"You used that term in a denigrating way, for a privileged man who decided to go after a more powerful, more privileged man, in the service of basic human decency"

I agree, although I did find it infuriating that commenters on the new york times were giving him kudos while shitting on Gwyneth and Angelina for not speaking up sooner.

I mean... he also didn't bring it to the media, and he wasn't struggling with personal trauma, but his ex girlfriend and his wife were traumatized and somehow people think they should have run to the newspaper the day after or they are pretty much accomplices.
posted by Tarumba at 8:04 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

That Eminem piece is pure raw rage.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:12 PM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

T.D. Strange: "Another very disconcerting report about the VA gov race, Gillispie internal polling has him even, supposedly. And Bannon is intervening to have racist Corey Stewart finally endorse Gillispie"

Yeah, I am skeptical? I share your anxiety, but internal polling should be taken with a shakerful of salt. The last public poll that had Gillespie tied was a month ago, the last one to have him in the lead was March.

Related news: Biden coming to stump for Northam this weekend. And Northam was endorsed by the United Mine Workers this week.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:13 PM on October 10, 2017 [5 favorites]

Do you want to know how I can tell you're not Radchaai?

I don't know, do I? The book looks good.
posted by Coventry at 8:17 PM on October 10, 2017

Pseudo-moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins will announce on Friday whether she will run for governor of Maine.

Since her term ends in 2021 and the election is 2018, what's to prevent mini-Trump term-limited Governor LePage from nominating himself to fill out her term?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:19 PM on October 10, 2017

SPECIAL ELECTION RESULT

GOP HOLD in Florida House 44, 56-44. This district went for Clinton 51-45. The GOP incumbent had been unopposed last time, and won 74-26 in 2014, so this is a pretty red district downballot. There was also an issue where the Dem nominee had to drop out late due to a residency challenge.

Disappointing, although not a bad performance, given the circumstances.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:19 PM on October 10, 2017 [8 favorites]

Since her term ends in 2021 and the election is 2018, what's to prevent mini-Trump term-limited Governor LePage from nominating himself to fill out her term?

Nothing, this could absolutely happen.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:21 PM on October 10, 2017

Since her term ends in 2021 and the election is 2018, what's to prevent mini-Trump term-limited Governor LePage from nominating himself to fill out her term?

One assumes she wouldn't resign her seat in the Senate unless she wins, and if she wins it would be Collins who fills the vacancy.
posted by Justinian at 8:21 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: Movies that wouldn’t exist if male protagonists hadn’t ‘put themselves in that situation’

There is so much in the Harvey Weinstein story to find infuriating and disgusting and sad. But one of the things that gets me most is the injunction to people that “you shouldn’t have put yourself in that situation.” The superb awfulness of this idea is hard to convey to someone who has never been told that something that was not their action was mysteriously their fault. But that’s what women and victims of sexual assault get told all the time.

Picture, for a moment, the restrictions of a world where anything bad that someone does to you turns out mysteriously to have been your fault. Where you are held responsible for other people’s behavior, so you act accordingly. Here are just a few stories that may never have happened.

Star Wars: You sit down for a private session with Obi-Wan Kenobi, your father’s old mentor, a man who works in the field you would like to enter. There are no other humans present to witness what happens next. What happens next is that Obi-Wan shows you how to wield a lightsaber and provides you with valuable life guidance!

The Empire Strikes Back: Next, you show up on a remote swamp planet for what you thought might be a school for Jedi. It turns out to be just a hut where one very old individual lives by himself. He gives you helpful mentoring and never once mentions your looks, even though you have just been in a disfiguring accident.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:21 PM on October 10, 2017 [30 favorites]

Nothing, this could absolutely happen.

Please to explain? Am I confusing the timeline?
posted by Justinian at 8:22 PM on October 10, 2017

Guys, I woke up early today thinking about my effed up MI judicial system that gives a rapist an extremely light sentence, then further torments the victim by putting him back in her life as "the father" of her child.

All these hours later I'm going to sleep thinking about a part of the US farther from me, Puerto Rico. (I cant even finish this article.)

But I feel like I need a concise update on the broken relief efforts before I toss out some questions about ways to help. (E.g., I'm wondering - if our facist leaders cant get it right, why we cant marshal our own flotilla of smaller boats or private planes to take supplies.)

Can someone point me to the best way to get an overall view of relief efforts. (I cant find an active specific thread here.)
posted by NorthernLite at 8:25 PM on October 10, 2017

Am I confusing the timeline?

Well, one of us is!

The Portland Press-Herald here thinks that LePage would get to appoint her successor. So I don't know.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:26 PM on October 10, 2017

although the other comment was not mine and I do not speak for other commenters, I am quite sure that Pitt himself is fairly incidental to any outrage sparked by mention of his name. the white-knight aggravation is about those who choose to fawn over him in this context rather than, say, Georgina Chapman, whose public statement contradicting Weinstein's declaration that she was going to be working hard to fix him was somewhat surprising as well as brave, considered in light of the long tradition of women whose husbands do terrible things being expected to be loyal to their husbands over other women. her name is ruined by association anyway, there's no fixing it; she didn't have to leave him and it won't do her all that much good. but she did.

or who choose to praise Pitt in this context when they could be praising any of the many, many women who told the truth about Weinstein, who did so without keeping their own names secret for very reasonable self-protection.

people always say you can do both, or all three, or all twillion things at once. but nobody is actually pointing at every single praiseworthy speech or action all at once since it is not possible. comment fields are limited in length, and we pick and choose what we think is special and important, and who.
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:27 PM on October 10, 2017 [9 favorites]

The Portland Press-Herald here thinks that LePage would get to appoint her successor. So I don't know.

Right, it says

Were Collins to run and be elected, she would have to resign her Senate seat with two years remaining in her term, setting up a scenario allowing LePage to appoint a replacement for the unexpired term. If elected, Collins would be Maine’s first female governor.

But I don't see why she can't resign her Senate seat approximately 5 seconds before being sworn in as governor?
posted by Justinian at 8:28 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Huh, I wonder if Marchesa is going to fold.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:32 PM on October 10, 2017

But I don't see why she can't resign her Senate seat approximately 5 seconds before being sworn in as governor?

Because constitutionally she can't be a Senator once she's been elected to another office.
posted by Talez at 8:33 PM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

So apparently Marc Fliedner agreed to stand for a write-in campaign for Manhattan DA against Cy Vest- it;s more of a symbolic protest then anything but it helps spook the incumbent plus you can all see some of the campaign art I did for Marc
posted by The Whelk at 8:35 PM on October 10, 2017 [20 favorites]

I don't believe that's accurate. She can't HOLD two offices, but she doesn't become Maine governor until whatever date that is, not on Election Day.

I found this counterexample: In California, Pete Wilson appointed John Seymour to replace himself in the US Senate when Wilson beat Feinstein for Governor.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

I don't believe that's accurate. She can't HOLD two offices, but she doesn't become Maine governor until whatever date that is, not on Election Day.

This is my theory of the case.
posted by Justinian at 8:47 PM on October 10, 2017

Antonio Olivo, WaPo: Conservative groups take aim at Va. Democrat’s transgender identity

Conservative groups are taking aim at a Northern Virginia Democrat who is vying to become the state’s first openly transgender elected official, launching robo-calls and ads that raise issues of gender identity.

Until now, the statehouse race between Democrat Danica Roem and Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) has focused mostly on traffic congestion and other local issues, even as the historic nature of Roem’s candidacy has brought her waves of publicity and donations from across the country.

But this week, the American Principles Project — a conservative think tank in Washington — took initial steps to support Marshall by calling voters in his Prince William County district and asking about positions they attributed to Roem.

“Danica Roem supports policy that requires schools to allow boys to play on girls’ sports teams and compete in girls’ leagues,” said a recorded voice in a telephone poll that reached 500 voters in the 13th District, according to a script provided by the group Wednesday. “Does this make you more or less likely to support Danica?”

Marshall is a waste of oxygen and an excruciating embarrassment to my state.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:49 PM on October 10, 2017 [14 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:

-- Josh Marshall on that Charlie Cook article the other day indicating that things may be tilting the Dems' way in the Senate.

-- Dems starting to get a bit more optimistic about Senate gains. [Politico]

-- GOP leaders worried that Bannon is imperiling their majority. [The Hill]

-- Bannon trying to pry donors away from McConnell, allies. [CNN]

-- Mitchell poll has Stabenow leading (sigh) Kid Rock 46-38.

** Odds & ends -- Like we were just talking about, Susan Collins announcing Friday whether she is running for governor. Signs point to yes. [CNN]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:49 PM on October 10, 2017 [13 favorites]

Y'know, William Cohen is 77 years old, but I can totally see him returning to his old stomping ground in the Senate if Collins asked him to fill in for two years. He had an interesting first term when he was a Congressman too...
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:57 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Guess I need to go give some more money to Danica Roem. Anyone aware of any polling? Comparing the turnout in the primary for her and her opponent (aprox 4200 combined) to the amount Rep Shitbird got in 2015 (7200 to his opponent’s 5200) I’m not feeling optimistic.
posted by phearlez at 9:04 PM on October 10, 2017

In a bit of good news, the Utah detective who arrested a nurse for doing her job has been fired. Twice 👍🏼
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:12 PM on October 10, 2017 [62 favorites]

Guess I need to go give some more money to Danica Roem. Anyone aware of any polling? Comparing the turnout in the primary for her and her opponent (aprox 4200 combined) to the amount Rep Shitbird got in 2015 (7200 to his opponent’s 5200) I’m not feeling optimistic.

You don't see much, if any, public polling on state legislature seats. The district went narrowly McAuliffe, narrowly Gillespie for Senate, and then +14 for Clinton.

For what it's worth, this DailyKos guy calls it Leans D, Decision Desk also has it as Leans D, and Cook Political has it as Toss Up.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:25 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

They need to play up the "voting for Roem is a big middle finger to conservatives and will make them cry" angle. People seem to like voting with their middle finger lately.
posted by ctmf at 9:34 PM on October 10, 2017 [7 favorites]

"Conservative groups are taking aim at a Northern Virginia Democrat who is vying to become the state’s first openly transgender elected official, launching robo-calls and ads that raise issues of gender identity."

Oh, speaking of Trump's reverse Midas touch, I was speaking with one of my vanishingly few remaining Republican friends (never Trumpers only), fairly culturally conservative, and she was like, "Have you heard about this transgender thing? Like Caitlin Jenner?"

I was like, "Right, I know what the word means."

And she just exploded with indignation. "I don't understand why Trump is trying to keep them out of the military! They just want to fight for their country! It's terrible, just terrible! Who are they hurting? They just want to defend America and pee in peace! I don't understand why he's attacking them! I mean, it must be hard enough to feel like you're in the wrong body! They just want to pee!"

I'm not sure that prior to Trump I would have called her someone who was particularly sympathetic toward minorities or aware of systemic oppression, but now she is fired the fuck up about a BUNCH of things I couldn't get her to care about pre-Trump (like BLM -- guys she is SO MAD at cops, it's unreal) because Trump is so fucking mean and unfair that it's shaking her out of her "it's a meritocracy, everyone can achieve if they work hard!" thing. She does not follow pop culture, I'm sure the first she heard of Caitlin Jenner specifically and transgender people in general was Trump's military "ban." BUT MAN SHE'S PISSED and calling her reps about it. (I also got the sense that she'd been holding in that explosion for DAYS AND DAYS until she could tell her one Democrat friend since they mostly move in GOP circles.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:48 PM on October 10, 2017 [118 favorites]

disconcerting report about the VA gov race, Gillispie internal polling has him even,

It also says he's the VERY strongest and bestest and will definitely get a pony for Christmas.
posted by corb at 10:00 PM on October 10, 2017 [6 favorites]

Re: Drexel and the conservative thought police, I'm don't think this has been posted yet ...

Forbes: There Is No Free Speech Crisis on Campus
by Chris Ladd, former GOP Precinct Committeeman, author of The Politics of Crazy

Over the past year or so we’ve been treated to an escalating cycle of apparent violence aimed at conservatives. This is not an accident. It is engineered by the same class of wealthy donors who produced that poll. Campus riots are irresistible journalistic porn, flaming evidence to buttress our preconceived biases. Screaming crowds provide the proof missing from our data. There is little incentive to look beyond the frame to ask what is actually happening.

Having lost the battle of persuasion, and largely swept from the campus environment, right wing speakers have to be foisted onto universities from the outside. When characters like Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Charles Murray appear on campus, their appearances are funded by extremist donors and their events are orchestrated by outside groups. Finding students among the organizers, attendees, protestors, or counter-protestors is a challenge. This is theater and the university is a prop.

There is virtually no support for, or interest in these events at the schools being targeted. At universities with tens of thousands of students, campus Republican organizations can seldom recruit more than a few dozen participants. For people too young to have ever sipped the cool, sweet waters of the whites’-only fountain, much of modern conservatism feels morally equivalent to Fascism or Communism – a repugnant, cultural cancer than can’t be eradicated quickly enough. Conservatives aren’t sending Ann Coulter to Berkeley as a missionary. They are sending her to get B-reel footage they can play in fundraising pitches to aging Alabamans. She is there to incite violence. If no one sets anything on fire, then they’ve failed.

And concludes:

Is it lonely and isolating to be a Trump supporter on a college campus? Here's a better question: Why wouldn’t it be? It is difficult to occupy an ideological position with little rational basis in a place where evidence-based intellectual persuasion is the dominant value. When you find that your ideas are unpersuasive in an atmosphere of open, fact-driven debate, the problem might be you.

posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:00 PM on October 10, 2017 [151 favorites]

Guys, I woke up early today thinking about my effed up MI judicial system that gives a rapist an extremely light sentence, then further torments the victim by putting him back in her life as "the father" of her child.

The judge has issued a stay of that order, pending a hearing next week. Apparently, the prosecutor never told the judge the facts of the case, so he just did what he does in a normal case.

I haven't been able to confirm, but I understand that the prosecutor who messed this up is the very same one who offered our nice white sex offender the initial 6 month jail term for the imprisonment and rape. Totally a coincidence that he's a republican, I'm sure.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:06 PM on October 10, 2017 [42 favorites]

So just 'lunging for the football' is nonsense, unless Trump has previously ordered the targeting, and if those around him can't find ways to deflect him from that - as they did with Nixon - they're really not trying. He's stupid, he's infinitely distractable.

You're right, the Football doesn't have any launch buttons to push. There's a big book of all the scenarios DoD can dream up, a short list of the most likely ones & a radio to give the order with after authenticating to...James Mattis! Or his designated alternate, more likely. It takes two men to launch: the President (or VP who has his own Football) & SecDef who authenticates but has no veto authority. If Trump had any idea what he was doing (one case where thankfully he doesn't) he could just fire Mattis & appoint his butler to the post so he could authenticate him & get the missiles in the air. It's an awkward compromise but that's the system keeping the end of the world at bay.
posted by scalefree at 10:09 PM on October 10, 2017 [4 favorites]

> If Trump had any idea what he was doing (one case where thankfully he doesn't) he could just fire Mattis & appoint his butler to the post so he could authenticate him & get the missiles in the air.

Now you just gave him the idea.
posted by runcifex at 11:36 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

In addition to Eyebrows McGee's never-Trumper friend, in the article Chrysostom links to about Ken Bone above, Bone is similarly critical (though not as articulately) about Trump's directives on trans people in the military.
posted by XMLicious at 11:51 PM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

RT's new ad campaign in Washington DC:

Stuck in traffic? Lost an election? Blame it on us!

They are also apparently driving around a car labeled "Watch RT and find out who we are going to hack next."

This is like living in the dumbest Cold War spy novel ever.
posted by zachlipton at 11:56 PM on October 10, 2017 [70 favorites]

Apparently there's evidence that Kaspersky Lab, which makes a popular anti-virus program, has been severely compromised by the Russian government for years. This only came to light when the Israelis also compromised it, and found themselves watching the Russians. This is potentially huge because the software is very widely used by state-level entities, including (until recently) the US government: How Israel Caught Russian Hackers Scouring the World for U.S. Secrets
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [35 favorites]

Now you just gave him the idea.

Happily he doesn't read so I think we're ok.
posted by walrus at 12:01 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Now you just gave him the idea.

If Trump or any of his flying monkeys were reading MeFi we'd have been fucked long ago.
posted by scalefree at 12:02 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

This is like living in the dumbest Cold War spy novel ever.

Agreed. It's like Stupid Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, or Stupid Manchurian Candidate, or Stupid The Americans. Whatever it is, it sure is stupid.
posted by supercrayon at 12:22 AM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

The "Dumb Starbucks" of espionage
posted by en forme de poire at 12:24 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Kapersky has been believed to be compromised for some time. Even MSNBC did a special report over the summer about it. The interviewer incredulously asks how it is possible for Kaspersky to NOT be a spy, considering he graduated from KGB math school and met his wife at a KGB vacation resort.
posted by xyzzy at 1:33 AM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

For those who think Roberts might be pushed leftward by Gorsuch's sheer douchery, here is today's Scotus Blog account of the Gill v. Whitford case:

The argument will go on, with more than one justice referring to the social science surrounding gerrymandering as “gobbledygook.” Justice Neil Gorsuch will tell Smith that the search for a standard for too much partisan gerrymandering “reminds me a little bit of my steak rub.”

“I like some turmeric, I like a few other little ingredients, but I’m not going to tell you how much of each,” Gorsuch says. “And so what’s this court supposed to do, a pinch of this, a pinch of that?”

Toward the end, though, the argument takes a loftier turn. The chief justice tells Smith that he is worried that if this partisan gerrymandering claim is allowed to proceed, “there will naturally be a lot of these claims around the country.”

“And every one of them will come here for a decision on the merits,” says Roberts, who questions whether the average person will understand that the court is deciding such cases based on complex efficiency-gap calculations.

“And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.”

What pisses me off about this case is that the technology and the statistical techniques that can put partisan gerrymandering on steroids *already exist* and have already been used with laser precision. hell, the same principles and the same tech turned Facebook into a behemoth and swung the 2016 election. the weapons are sophisticated, and our democracy needs equally sophisticated defenses. but here sit the conservative justices, quaking with terror and indignation that they are being confronted with statistics and social science.

This is to say nothing of the cowardice of Roberts's argument. I mean, I thought you got that lifetime appointment so you wouldn't have to worry about the tides of public opinion. Did the Warren court gave a flying fuck about what Orval Faubus might think when they ruled on Brown v. Board?
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 1:51 AM on October 11, 2017 [63 favorites]

“reminds me a little bit of my steak rub.”

Have you ever had a take-away curry and they've left an entire cinnamon stick in there, and when you bite into it you're entire world is cinnamon and nothing else. That's bad. The spices should be evenly distributed. And if there's a huge log of cinnamon in one spot it seems you've fucked up the curry.

Or something. The steak rub metaphor is terrible though. Did he really say that?
posted by adept256 at 3:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

more than one justice referring to the social science surrounding gerrymandering as “gobbledygook.

You know how people frequently argue that funding education is a public good, because in a democracy you need an educated citizenry?

I have never felt the truth of that so forcefully as in the past year.

But I would have thought with the system we've got, that we'd be able to find at least nine people with sufficient eduvation to understand issues like this, critical to our democracy, to serve on the Supreme Court!

I've spent so much time trying to understand "What IS about Republicans that makes so many of them them act this way?"

Are they authoritarian? Are they just intensely tribalistic? It is because they ALL buy into the just world fallacy? Is it some patriarchal instinct bequeathed by evolution?

I'm starting to think the biggest problem is just that they hate math.

(I used to think Wall Street Republicans at least knew accountancy and economics, but it seems like most of Wall Street is now "get ich quick" scammers. )
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:21 AM on October 11, 2017 [19 favorites]

Gorsuch: "The point is, life is like a juicy steak: I've got mine." [implied]
posted by perspicio at 3:25 AM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

Tillerson called Trump a moron because Trump wanted a tenfold increase in US nuclear weapon stockpiles.
posted by PenDevil at 3:42 AM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

I've spent so much time trying to understand "What IS about Republicans that makes so many of them them act this way?"

Fundamentally, it's a lack of compassion for human suffering. I think it's been like this since they implemented first the Southern Strategy and then Fox news. It helps if the human is queer, poor, disabled, of color, female, etcetera.

They would feign an interest in math if the analysis lead to a result they liked.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:55 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Tillerson called Trump a moron because Trump wanted a tenfold increase in US nuclear weapon stockpiles.

The insecure fucking moron literally has to be at the top of a chart plot.

Trump’s comments, the officials said, came in response to a briefing slide he was shown that charted the steady reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons since the late 1960s. Trump indicated he wanted a bigger stockpile, not the bottom position on that downward-sloping curve.

posted by chris24 at 3:59 AM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

Quick, someone show him a graph of our high school education levels compared to other countries.
posted by mmoncur at 4:11 AM on October 11, 2017 [65 favorites]

A good breakdown of the legal implications re Javanka’s email funny business:

What Does the Presidential Records Act Have to Say About Private Email Use? (Andy Wright, Just Security)

Private email account interaction with official White House email accounts presents several potential legal issues, including record preservation, security, and subpoena compliance.

All the Trump White House staff who have used private-to-private email account platforms to communicate about official matters trigger an obligation to forward those emails to official, archived White House accounts. For those communications that occurred over 20 days ago without having been forwarded, those White House aides have violated the law.

posted by Room 641-A at 4:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

You don’t get in trouble for modernizing.

According to this article from the beginning of the year which I posted in a past politics thread, "modernization" of nuclear weapons in the form of improving their targeting systems by the Bush and Obama administrations has already greatly increased the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to the point of creating a dangerously threatening imbalance with Russia:

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: How US nuclear force modernization is undermining strategic stability: The burst-height compensating super-fuze

New Zealand Radio interview with one of the authors, Hans M. Kristensen
posted by XMLicious at 4:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

You know, this is a crazy man with access to nuclear weapons.
He really likes them.
He thinks we should use them.

I know this is known, but somehow the reality of it keeps sort of eluding me.

I'd grown up as a Cold War kid fearing annihilation, but this is a new kind of dread; being a citizen of a nation that would use nukes as some sort of fucking demented dick-measuring move.
posted by angrycat at 4:30 AM on October 11, 2017 [30 favorites]

Downgrade Donnie gets the bum's rush from the Queen... - looks like that UK state occasion is now just another flying visit.
posted by Devonian at 4:34 AM on October 11, 2017 [15 favorites]

@RWPUSA (Richard Painter, GWB's WH Ethics lawyer)
IQ test for Tillerson and the rest of the cabinet: how do you use the number 25 to change the number 45 into 46? This is a timed test.
posted by chris24 at 4:43 AM on October 11, 2017 [139 favorites]

Joe Namath certainly has had his issues, but good for him on this.

Joe Namath responds to Mike Ditka: 'Look up the meaning of oppression'

In an appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, the former Jets quarterback defended the NFL players’ protest of racial inequality and responded to Ditka.

Namath said when asked about Ditka’s remarks at the end of the interview: “Look up the meaning of oppression. Look up the definition of oppression, and you understand that it’s obviously taken place.”

Namath, who last year urged the Jets to consider Colin Kaepernick, defended the message that Kaepernick initially set out to bring attention to with his protests: “Going back to what Colin Kaepernick initially did, it was to point out some injustice that’s being done to the black race. Or to people that obviously when you look — and I say obviously, some of these dash cams and shootings that were done to unarmed people and all. He was reaching out to try to get it more investigated. So that’s where this oppression thing comes in.”

Namath believed that the message of NFL protests during the national anthem had turned into a national dialogue about patriotism and the flag rather than the intended message of standing up to racial inequality.

When asked if he would kneel for the anthem, Namath wasn’t ready to go that far. But he did say: “I’m not there, but I’ve never walked in a black man’s shoes either.”

posted by chris24 at 4:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [59 favorites]

Tillerson called Trump a moron because Trump wanted a tenfold increase in US nuclear weapon stockpiles.

Oh, good, people are talking about this.

I probably really need to stop waking up at like 3-4 AM and looking at the internet and news, because I'm sitting her just kind of involuntarily half-cackling or even giggling about how utterly, absurdly, madly ridiculous this even is.

Like the nukes we already have aren't enough to just end civilization as we know it. Like the manufacture of those weapons didn't already cause an insane amount of pollution and real financial costs. Like a ten fold increase wouldn't mean 40,000 megaton-class weapons and that's just...

I can't... haha heeee... I can't even... heeeeheeeehee oh god make it stop... look, I've wrapped my poor head around some pretty fucked up, apocalyptic, world-ending shit but... what the fuck? Does he plan to nuke the rest of the solar system?

I love that even the DoD is like "Yeah, no, that's totally not happening."
posted by loquacious at 4:54 AM on October 11, 2017 [32 favorites]

The insecure fucking moron literally has to be at the top of a chart plot.

HE IS AT THE TOP OF THE CHART. THE CHART IS CALLED THE BIGGEST FUCKING INSECURE IDIOT MORON TO EVER SET FOOT IN THE WHITE HOUSE IN THE HISTORY OF ALL CARBON LIFE FORMS IN THE INFINITE UNIVERSE NOW AND FOREVER
posted by yoga at 5:06 AM on October 11, 2017 [19 favorites]

Like a ten fold increase wouldn't mean 40,000 megaton-class weapons and that's just...

Beyond the apocalyptic idiocy, a nuclear warhead costs the US $20 mill EACH. So we're talking close to a $800 billion expenditure. And this doesn't include delivery vehicles which would be another $3 trillion or so.

So around $4 trillion so Donny can be at the top of the chart.
posted by chris24 at 5:09 AM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

I've spent so much time trying to understand "What IS about Republicans that makes so many of them them act this way?"

Are they authoritarian? Are they just intensely tribalistic? It is because they ALL buy into the just world fallacy? Is it some patriarchal instinct bequeathed by evolution?

I'm starting to think the biggest problem is just that they hate math.

Education is a tool. Like any other tool, it depends how you use it. If you have a hammer and you are a decent person you use it to build houses or boxes or furniture. If you have a hammer and you're a garbage disaster you use it to bash people in the head and riffle their pockets for loose change.

What a good education does is make sure that everyone has hammers. Since most people are not actually garbage disasters on everything you can sort of steer toward using the hammers for houses and not wack a mole. In theory.
posted by winna at 5:17 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Good news: we don't even have the capacity to produce 10x the warheads in any foreseeable timeframe, much less 3.5 years.

Bad news: the we have a president who even thought something this stupid, mich less said it out loud
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:23 AM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country

If you were worried about public perceptions of the integrity of the court you and your four Republican friends probably shouldn't have handed the fucking presidency to a fucking Republican by forbidding Florida from counting votes. Scumbag fuckwit.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:30 AM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

a standard for too much partisan gerrymandering “reminds me a little bit of my steak rub.”

“I like some turmeric, I like a few other little ingredients, but I’m not going to tell you how much of each,” Gorsuch says. “And so what’s this court supposed to do, a pinch of this, a pinch of that?”

Fucking recipes, how do they work?
posted by mikelieman at 5:35 AM on October 11, 2017 [30 favorites]

Since Donny continues to rant/brag about the stock market, some perspective.

@michaelsantoli
The S&P 500 is up 19.21% since Election Day 2016.

On this date in 2013, the S&P 500 had gained 19.24% from Election Day 2012.
posted by chris24 at 5:46 AM on October 11, 2017 [15 favorites]

Ditka says there hasn't been oppression in 100 years

A perfect opportunity to point out that the NFL, having sporadically employed a few African American and Native American players in its ragtag early history, was officially segregated from 1932 to 1946. The bar was only broken when the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles, and the city refused to allow them to use the Coliseum unless the team was integrated. Slowly the rest of the league followed suit, but the Washington team, whose slimebag owner was the major proponent of the 1932 ban, held firm until 1962 - again, because of stadium access issues (the Feds, part-owners of the new D.C. Stadium, insisted upon team integration). By 1962 Mike Ditka was already 23 years old and had played in the NFL for a year, for Da Bears of course. So his inability to notice the presence of an all-white team that had finished bottom of the league the season he'd won Rookie of the Year can only be described as willful ignorance.
posted by hangashore at 5:57 AM on October 11, 2017 [63 favorites]

Apparently there's evidence that Kaspersky Lab, which makes a popular anti-virus program, has been severely compromised by the Russian government for years

is kaspersky still a prominent sponsor of npr
posted by entropicamericana at 6:01 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

Tillerson called Trump a moron because Trump wanted a tenfold increase in US nuclear weapon stockpiles.

So, in high school, I was the captain of the debate team (yes yes, I know, but you're my people here), and we competed in a policy league, which means every debate all year is about the same topic, and everyone is thoroughly knowledgeable about all the primary sources related thereto. My senior year, the resolution was something to the effect of "The United States government should do something to substantially decrease the use of nuclear weapons." Since there hasn't been any de facto "use" of nuclear weapons since 1945, everyone pretty quickly came to the consensus that we were actually supposed to argue about slowing nuclear proliferation, and preventing a rogue state from acquiring nukes. Me being a consummate smartass, I went and rules-lawyered the meaning of "use" to come up with our plan, which was essentially "bolster the US nuclear stockpile, and proliferate them to all our non-nuclear allies so we re-ignite MAD fears and leave everyone so terrified of global conflict that they wouldn't dare shoot first." The primary benefit to this plan, of course, was that every team we went against was prepared to make the same arguments that we made, so we could catch them flat-footed by turning all their boilerplate arguments back on them. As a delightful added bonus, as the season wore on and teams started to catch wind of our insane plan, I ratcheted up the spectacle by going full General Turgidson at the podium, working myself into a froth about the former Soviet states and how we needed to cow them into submission, as the opposing team stared helplessly at the spectacle they were totally unprepared to deal with.

The moral of the story:
1. High school debate was great
2. I never in a million years imagined I'd be giving the goddamned president a blueprint on how to shape foreign policy
posted by Mayor West at 6:03 AM on October 11, 2017 [55 favorites]

Sen. McConnell Says He’s Killing Blue Slips for Judicial Nominees, with Potential to Shift Federal Appeals Courts to Far Right

Let's give another round of applause to Patrick Leahy for reimplementing blue slips after the last time Republicans killed them and allowing them to hold many more appeallate seats open for Trump to fill. Just a master class in Democratic shooting themselves in the foot by refusing to play the same game as Republicans and believing that Republcians would ever operate in good faith. They won't. Ever.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:08 AM on October 11, 2017 [51 favorites]

is kaspersky still a prominent sponsor of npr

They were listed as of the 2016 annual report (p. 43) and mentioned as a sponsor on All Things Considered during a story about Kaspersky Lab this summer.
posted by xyzzy at 6:19 AM on October 11, 2017

I love that even the DoD is like "Yeah, no, that's totally not happening."

Isn't nuclear weaponry the DoE's domain? So Rick Perry....
posted by srboisvert at 6:24 AM on October 11, 2017

mich less said it out loud

Yes, I curse a lot these days. Loudly and plaintively. Fuck this timeline.
posted by michswiss at 6:28 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

This is as close as I can ever imagine my user name being used in a comment. (sorry)
posted by michswiss at 6:31 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Isn't nuclear weaponry the DoE's domain? So Rick Perry....

DoE doesn't dictate defense requirements or develop entire weapons-systems, nor field the weapons. And it's all ultimately controlled by the budgetary process (even if it's the 'black budget').
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:32 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pseudo-moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins will announce on Friday whether she will run for governor of Maine. Since her term ends in 2021 and the election is 2018, what's to prevent mini-Trump term-limited Governor LePage from nominating himself to fill out her term?

As others have pointed out, there is nothing in the Maine constitution requiring her to resign until she is sworn in as Governor. Whether she might resign earlier for some strategic/political reason is unclear.

This article cites that LePage has at some point said he won't appoint Collins' successor, should she win:

LePage has, at least once, ruled out the possibility that he would appoint Collins’ replacement if she were elected governor.

So that would preclude him from appointing himself. Of course with LePage, words don't really have meaning so I still wouldn't discount the possibility.
posted by mikepop at 6:41 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

XMLicious : Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: How US nuclear force modernization is undermining strategic stability: The burst-height compensating super-fuze

ftfa:

"We cannot foresee a situation in which a competent and properly informed US president would order a surprise first strike against Russia or China"

Everyone should read this. Everyone should be prepared to schedule a doctor's visit afterwards. I'm in the middle of a full-blown anxiety attack. Just got off the phone. I see her tomorrow at 10.

Dear G-d. We're going to need whatever help you got to get us through this. And adjustments to our meds.
posted by mikelieman at 6:42 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

So Rick Perry....

Rick Perry might be a typical bigot fanning Republican but he's been taking his DoE role VERY seriously and is probably one of the few people in cabinet rising to the challenge of his role rather than looting the country. I can at least respect him for that.
posted by Talez at 6:43 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well he’s not going to nuke Russia, so you can reduce your worry by half. /s
posted by furtive at 6:46 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well he’s not going to nuke Russia, so you can reduce your worry by half. /s

True, but ∞/2 = ∞, right?
posted by mikelieman at 6:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

In these dark times, you take good news where you can find it. This morning the news is that Megyn Kelly is ruining the Today show.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:54 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

Even Trump knows how stupid this looks. (Though I suspect it's Scavino since I don't think Donny uses demean on the regular, unless he read it about his tweets about others.) I guess calling it fake news means it's confirmed.

And it wouldn't be a morning in Trump-merica without an attack on the First Amendment.

@realDonaldTrump
Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a "tenfold" increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!

@realDonaldTrump
With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!
posted by chris24 at 6:57 AM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

Good news: we don't even have the capacity to produce 10x the warheads in any foreseeable timeframe, much less 3.5 years.

Bad news: the we have a president who even thought something this stupid, mich less said it out loud

Bad news for your good news: once you kick off a many-year defense related expenditure and it becomes a big source of spending and employment in various districts it becomes way harder to turn it back off.
posted by phearlez at 6:58 AM on October 11, 2017

Do you know, it never crossed my mind for a second that there was a particular incident that prompted Tillerson's moron comment? I was imagining something like, "Good morning, sir." "Yes, good morning. God, the president is a fucking moron." "Yes, sir. Today and every day. We know." "Well, enjoy your coffee."
posted by thebrokedown at 7:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [81 favorites]

Rick Perry might be a typical bigot fanning Republican but he's been taking his DoE role VERY seriously and is probably one of the few people in cabinet rising to the challenge of his role rather than looting the country. I can at least respect him for that.

Yea...about that. Rick Perry has been trying to kill renewables and even natural gas to prop up outdated dirty coal plants. He's as bad as the rest, don't be fooled by the smart guy glasses.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

don't be fooled by the smart guy glasses.

“It is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone,” he said, beginning to lay out one of the staples of his stump speech. “Commerce, Education, and the — what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said.

“Commerce and, let’s see,” he continued. “I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”

Those smart guy glasses got him the job.
posted by adept256 at 7:07 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Rick Perry has been trying to kill renewables and even natural gas

That doesn't even make sense. Natural gas is abundant, cheap, produced in lots of states, and releases less greenhouse gases than coal. And Texas is the #1 producer of it!

"Just a decade ago, coal provided roughly 50 percent of the fuel used to generate the nation's electric power while natural gas accounted for less than 20 percent -- and those shares had been pretty stable since the early 1970s (see nearby chart). But thanks to the shale revolution and a bonanza of cheap natural gas, the share of electricity generated from natural gas rose above 20 percent in 2007 and has climbed steadily since then. It reached an all-time high of nearly 34 percent last year and surpassed coal's share (30.4 percent) for the first time ever."

I just, who is this for? It's not like there are more voters in coal states, or more employees in the coal industry. There's literally no argument for it. Even if you don't like renewables, natural gas is as Texas as oil.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:10 AM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the punchline, the third federal agency he wanted to eliminate was the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.
posted by adept256 at 7:11 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

Never, you halfwit. The FCC has only revoked a few licenses in its history, and only for clearly illegal behavior (like bribery). Stop writing checks you can’t cash.
posted by notyou at 7:13 AM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

Step 1: Issue executive order declaring NBC/CNN/whoever to be operating extralegally
Step 2: Get viciously smacked down by every court in the land
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Bees
posted by Mayor West at 7:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

natural gas is as Texas as oil.

<Hank Hill> That boy ain't right. </Hank Hill>
posted by octobersurprise at 7:19 AM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

It also kind of sounds like he is threatening that the Republicans are going to instead of just trying to abide by the ruling, launch a thousand test cases to try and push the limits of and break the standards the court lays out. You know, like any sociopathic group of people would do if they formed a political party. Intelligence to them is just knowing when to put the knife in the back.
posted by lumnar at 7:21 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

And she just exploded with indignation. "I don't understand why Trump is trying to keep them out of the military! They just want to fight for their country! It's terrible, just terrible! Who are they hurting? They just want to defend America and pee in peace! I don't understand why he's attacking them! I mean, it must be hard enough to feel like you're in the wrong body! They just want to pee!"

You have reminded me of my sister-in-law. Late last year I was chatting with some family, and we were commiserating about US politics, about this and that, and mentioned the Supreme Court. And my sister-in-law had not been participating in the conversation. But the thing that caused her to say "I am SO MAD ABOUT THIS" is that the Republican Congress refused to Do Its Job in giving Merrick Garland a hearing. She is like a Commander Adama from the BSG reboot about this. You have a job, Do Your Job, there is no question about this. She was so indignant. How dare they betray our work ethic and their remit.

It reminds me of siderea's note just after the election: 'It is conservation values – such as courage, sacrifice, patience, honesty, and faith, as mentioned above – which will be most salient to us. Add in duty, tradition, propriety, dignity, and the very concepts of "virtue", "value", "principle", and "morality".'
posted by brainwane at 7:21 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

> Well he’s not going to nuke Russia, so you can reduce your worry by half. /s

True, but ∞/2 = ∞, right?

I think we're going to have to bust out ℵ to properly represent the infinities we're dealing with. ∞ doesn't cut it anymore.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:22 AM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Florida...

Rep. Joe Gruters — a freshman Republican from Sarasota and co-chairman of Donald Trump’s Florida campaign — wanted Florida to punish people more harshly if they commit crimes based upon “political beliefs.”

He said he’d seen people intimidated for wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and felt he needed to do something to curb political violence “on all sides.”

So he filed House Bill 209, calling for harsher punishments for crimes “based on political affiliation or beliefs.”

I love my home state but so many people here are just terrible.
posted by Servo5678 at 7:23 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think we're going to have to bust out ℵ to properly represent the infinities we're dealing with. ∞ doesn't cut it anymore.

Fucking 2017.
posted by mikelieman at 7:31 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

What in the fuck? Next week we get the Trump Truth broadsheet, Truvda?
posted by Talez at 7:35 AM on October 11, 2017

Does the set of everything fucking moronic contain the set of everything fucking moronic?
posted by adept256 at 7:35 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

really what we're dealing with here is the set of all fucking morons that cannot contain themselves.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:48 AM on October 11, 2017 [40 favorites]

We're gonna need to bust out fractal dimensions to quantify just how fucking moronic he is, because despite being completely one-dimensional, Trump is somehow able to fill all of 3-D space with fucking moronicity.
posted by Westringia F. at 7:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

The sense of being adrift I felt when I learned that there are different orders of infinity (an infinite number, wow) prepared me well for the Trump era.

Or, it would've, if anything could.
posted by allthinky at 7:50 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think we're going to have to bust out ℵ to properly represent the infinities we're dealing with. ∞ doesn't cut it anymore.

Explanation please :)
posted by Melismata at 7:52 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Explanation please :)

Aleph-naught is an infinite cardinal and contains all other infinite sets.

Like you can have a set of of all integers and a set of all even integers. Even though both are infinite, the former is clearly twice as big as the latter.
posted by Talez at 7:57 AM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

If you're interested, here's "A Hierarchy of Infinities" by Kelsey Houston-Edwards.
posted by Talez at 8:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

WE INTERRUPT THIS APOCALYPSE TO EXPLAIN A MATH JOKE

So, although infinity is always infinity regardless of what you add to it, and even though infinity divided by a finite number is still just infinity, there are actually types of infinity that are larger than other types of infinity. In the late 19th century the mathematician Georg Cantor produced a very clever proof that although the set of all natural numbers (i.e. numbers like 0, 1, 2, 3, and so forth) is infinite, the set of all real numbers is demonstrably larger than that set. (I've also seen this described in terms of the size of power sets: for example, Cantor's proof can be used to show that the set of all sets contained within the natural numbers is larger than the set of all natural numbers, even though both sets are infinite.

Cantor introduced aleph-notation to sort out the different sizes of infinity, designating the set of all natural numbers as ℵ₀, and with successively larger infinities designated ℵ₁, ℵ₂, and so forth.

The joke is that we're so terrified of what's happening that we have to resort to higher-order infinities to describe our terror levels, instead of just the regular infinity we're all familiar with.

WE RETURN YOU TO YOUR APOCALYPSE ALREADY IN PROGRESS
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [112 favorites]

Whoa.
posted by notyou at 8:01 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Explanation please :)

"A brief introduction to infinity" and why some infinities are bigger than others.

The tl;dr is that ℵ is a way to express infinities that are bigger than 'regular' infinity (infinitely bigger, in fact). It's the math version of "we're gonna need a bigger boat."
posted by jedicus at 8:01 AM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

Love you guys!
posted by Melismata at 8:03 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

The joke is that we're so terrified of what's happening that we have to resort to higher-order infinities to describe our terror levels, instead of just the regular infinity we're all familiar with.

My horror at the present achieved transfinity around 2am Nov 9th and is now indescribable according to current mathematical language.
posted by dis_integration at 8:03 AM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

> Like you can have a set of of all integers and a set of all even integers. Even though both are infinite, the former is clearly twice as big as the latter.

This is actually not true, though. Because every element in the set of all even integers can be paired up with an element in the set of all integers (for example, by the following method:

Integers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,...
Evens...: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8,...

the set of all integers and the set of all evens actually have the same cardinality. Cantor's proof involves constructing infinite sets that demonstrably can't be paired off by any method.

Infinity is weird.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:04 AM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

Next week we get the Trump Truth broadsheet, Truvda?

Trump's vice president (a former talk radio host) once attempted to set up a state propaganda news office until he was basically shamed out of doing so. Trump wouldn't hesitate. The even stupider thing is, he already has Fox News.
posted by Gelatin at 8:06 AM on October 11, 2017

Now to devise a means to convert all of this horror into paperclips.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:06 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

(also though if the set of evens were smaller than the set of integers, ∞ / 2 would be smaller than ∞, but we know that ∞ divided by any finite number is still just ∞).
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:07 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Cantor introduced aleph-notation to sort out the different sizes of infinity, designating the set of all natural numbers as ℵ0, and with successively larger infinities designated ℵ1, ℵ2, and so forth.


In my discrete math class this was often referred to as the difference between infinitely countable and infinitely uncountable, which strikes me as a memorable way to describe it.
posted by phearlez at 8:08 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

(So as not to abuse the edit window, I forgot to mention that Pence did so while governor of Indiana, which helped lead to the perception that he is neither especially bright nor effective.)
posted by Gelatin at 8:10 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the math lesson! Now I know why I ran out of evens.
posted by WordCannon at 8:10 AM on October 11, 2017 [85 favorites]

Just a reminder that the DoD lost $6.5 Fucking Trillion-with-a-T Dollars, For Fuck's Sake, Scot Paltrow, Reuters, August 19, 2016. Title may have been edited for clarity.

Lost it by blatantly and fraudulently double-booking everything until Six Point Five Fucking Trillion Dollars was missing. DoD shrugs, generations of Americans get screwed out of money they, like, need, man.

So take your $800 Billion you just gave them, WAY more than they even asked for (wtf) and shove it.

Where's The Money Lebowski McConnell?!
posted by petebest at 8:11 AM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

I thought we agreed we were out of evens?
posted by orrnyereg at 8:13 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

You know, Roberts could say that about almost every decision ever made by the Supreme Court -- civil rights, voting rights, abortion, same sex marriage, guns.

What Roberts is saying is that if they don't decide issues in favor of Republicans, that Republicans will scream and holler at them. What a coward.
posted by JackFlash at 8:14 AM on October 11, 2017 [50 favorites]

Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a "tenfold" increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!

Okay, so right now he's denying the story because it makes him look stupid. The thing is, he doesn't want to look stupid, and he also doesn't want to feel stupid.

This means the real problem isn't that somebody leaked the stupid thing he said; it's that everyone thinks what he said was stupid. And deep down, though his first reaction may be to cover it up, he'll want to be vindicated in his initial stupidity.

So mark the date, mark the time, and see how long it is before he says something to defend the stupid thing he's currently denying he said. Because he's going to do that, too.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

The insecure fucking moron literally has to be at the top of a chart plot.

Why don't they just turn the chart upside down?
posted by JackFlash at 8:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

WE INTERRUPT THIS APOCALYPSE TO EXPLAIN A MATH JOKE

MeFi friends are the best friends. I love you all.
posted by mikelieman at 8:26 AM on October 11, 2017 [23 favorites]

WE INTERRUPT THIS APOCALYPSE TO EXPLAIN A MATH JOKE

Man, Pacific Rim 2 just sounds stranger every time I read about it.
posted by nubs at 8:30 AM on October 11, 2017 [27 favorites]

WaPo this morning.

- World War III watch: The Japanese defense minister said yesterday that Trump might take military action against North Korea as soon as next month. “I think President Trump will judge in the middle of November how effective pressure and other efforts have been,” Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo. “If there have been no changes from North Korea, it’s possible that the U.S. will take severe measures.” The White House put out a statement last night saying that Trump was briefed on his North Korea options by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr.
posted by Oyéah at 8:31 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

President Trump will judge in the middle of November how effective pressure and other efforts have been

Well there's your doomsday clock Mueller. You've got till mid November.
posted by Twain Device at 8:32 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

So just 'lunging for the football' is nonsense, unless Trump has previously ordered the targeting, and if those around him can't find ways to deflect him from that - as they did with Nixon - they're really not trying. He's stupid, he's infinitely distractable.

Unless Trump has previously ordered targeting? You are aware that the US military has plans for bombing, attacking and invading just about every country on earth at all times right? They have plans for attacking Canada for crying out loud!

He doesn't have to previously order anything. He just has to select from a catalog.

Now whether he is capable of that.... I don't know...
posted by srboisvert at 8:34 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

“Baby body parts” campaign ad from US House member blocked by Twitter -- Ad says, "I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts." (David Kravets for Ars Technica, Oct. 10, 2017

Here's something you don't see everyday: a Silicon Valley platform, whose revenue is based on advertising, has shunned a political advertisement because it's "inflammatory." The company is Twitter, and the buyer was Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee.

The micro-blogging service on Monday took down a Blackburn campaign video ad that said, "I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts, thank God." In the advertisement, Blackburn also announced her 2018 Senate bid to replace retiring Republican Bob Corker.

Blackburn tweeted that "@Twitter shut down our video ad, claiming it's 'inflammatory & 'negative.'" The video is blanketing Twitter and social media now, but Twitter has solely blocked the ability to pay to promote the advertising campaign. Twitter hasn't removed Blackburn's tweet or other tweets from people who link to the video.

Bold move, Twitter. Bold move.

Luckily, Blackburn is not alone in seeking to be the Republican nomination for Corker's seat.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:35 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Well there's your doomsday clock Mueller. You've got till mid November.

You don't think Twitler will go straight to "get me somebody to bomb" the minute Mueller recommends any charges against him? Besides, all that happens with Mueller is he issues a report and recommends whatever he recommends. Nothing after that happens instantly, even assuming he does recommend charges against 45 directly, which is still a hope/assumption. There is no guy off to stage left with a giant hook to pull 45 out of office in a single sweep.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:42 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

In support of Mike Ditka, he did not say there had been no racist suppression for the last hundred years. He said, he was not aware of any. He was admitting that he is an ignorant dumb-fuck.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:45 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

I don't know, do I? The book looks good.

The books are very good but the joke was just that Radchaai people have a strong taboo against touching things with bare hands so they're pretty much always wearing gloves. So they wouldn't refer to Dr. Strangeglove but to Dr. Highlynormalorindeedrequiredglove.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:47 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

More details from a nuclear weapon expert on why it's moronic.

@CherylRofer
I think @NarangVipin is right - 10x current nuclear weapons is nuts. But here's a thread on why it won't happen.
1. Los Alamos is the only place in the US that can manufacture the fissile parts of nuclear weapons. It can maybe produce 80 a year.
2. Pantex is the only place that can assemble or take apart nuclear weapons. Its capacity is currently stretched.
3. That's for remanufacture and disassembly.
4. It would take years to build new Los Alamos or Pantex, and probably trillions of dollars.
5. We currently have 700-800 nuclear weapons on ready, We have a stable agreement (New START) with Russia.
6. More nuclear weapons, as I think it was Harold Agnew said, would just make the debris bounce if we had a nuclear war.
7. So I agree with everyone else (@wellerstein here) that it's Trump's ignorance and grandiosity speaking.
8. Military people have proposed as few as 300 weapons at the ready as sufficient for deterrence. Others down to 100. /fin
posted by chris24 at 8:47 AM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

I propose "Trump's Apocalypse Number". It's 3 ↑ ↑ ↑ ... ( ℵ0 of these ) ... ↑ ↑ ↑ 3.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:48 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Roundup of Trumpian news from Ars Technica:

- FCC’s claim that one ISP counts as “competition” faces scrutiny in court -- FCC should be forced to reinstate price caps in business broadband, groups say. (Jon Brodkin, Oct. 10, 2017)

A Federal Communications Commission decision to eliminate price caps imposed on some business broadband providers should be struck down, advocacy groups told federal judges last week. The FCC failed to justify its claim that a market can be competitive even when there is only one Internet provider, the groups said.

Led by Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC's Republican majority voted in April of this year to eliminate price caps in a county if 50 percent of potential customers "are within a half mile of a location served by a competitive provider." That means business customers with just one choice are often considered to be located in a competitive market and thus no longer benefit from price controls. The decision affects Business Data Services (BDS), a dedicated, point-to-point broadband link that is delivered over copper-based TDM networks by incumbent phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink.

But the FCC's claim that "potential competition" can rein in prices even in the absence of competition doesn't stand up to legal scrutiny, critics of the order say.
...
Fewer than 10 percent of potential customers benefit from price controls under the FCC's new market test, according to (PDF) Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

- EPA chief says wind tax credits should be eliminated -- Makes no mention of subsidies fossil fuel industry enjoys. (Megan Geuss, Oct. 10, 2017)

"I’m not in Congress, and the state of Oklahoma has similar incentives, [but] I would do away with these incentives that we give to the wind industry. I would let them stand on their own and compete against coal and natural gas and other sources," Pruitt told the audience, with senator Mitch McConnell at his side. (Senate majority leader McConnell, notably, does have sway over federal tax incentives.)

Free market?

Pruitt added that he believed the US government should, “let utility companies make real-time market decisions on those kinds of things as opposed to being propped up with tax incentives and other types of credits that go through the federal and state level.”

The statement in favor of real-time market decisions without government meddling seems in opposition to the proposed rule that Energy Secretary Rick Perry put forward in September, which would require utilities to increase compensation to power plants that can store more than 90 days worth of fuel reserves on site (i.e., coal and nuclear plants). Such a rule must be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), but energy stakeholders say that under it, markets would be distorted to favor coal and nuclear, which are more expensive sources of energy than natural gas. Last week Robert Powelson, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member appointed by Trump, even said he would resign before he allows FERC to “destroy the marketplace,” according to UtilityDive. This week Cheryl LaFleur, another FERC commissioner, endorsed Powelson's comments.
...
In his dismissal of wind tax credits, Pruitt also made no mention of the $2 billion in federal tax incentives that are given to fossil fuel producers every year. A recent study found that at the current price of $50 a barrel for oil, nearly half of the discovered-but-not-yet-developed crude oil fields in the US are profitable where they otherwise would not be.

- Trump’s DOJ tries to rebrand weakened encryption as “responsible encryption”
-- DOJ rekindles fight with Apple, wants government access to encrypted devices. (Jon Brodkin, Oct. 10, 2017)

A high-ranking Department of Justice official took aim at encryption of consumer products today, saying that encryption creates "law-free zones" and should be scaled back by Apple and other tech companies. Instead of encryption that can't be broken, tech companies should implement "responsible encryption" that allows law enforcement to access data, he said.

"Warrant-proof encryption defeats the constitutional balance by elevating privacy above public safety," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a speech at the US Naval Academy today (transcript). "Encrypted communications that cannot be intercepted and locked devices that cannot be opened are law-free zones that permit criminals and terrorists to operate without detection by police and without accountability by judges and juries."

Rosenstein was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the DOJ's second-highest-ranking official, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was confirmed by the Senate in April.

Rekindling fight with Apple

Rosenstein's speech makes several references to Apple, continuing a battle over encryption between Apple and the US government that goes back to the Obama administration. Last year, Apple refused to help the government unlock and decrypt the San Bernardino gunman's iPhone, but the FBI ended up paying hackers for a vulnerability that it used to access data on the device.

That's right -- FBI paid at least $1.3M for zero-day to get into San Bernardino iPhone. FBI Director James Comey: "But it was, in my view, worth it."
posted by filthy light thief at 8:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

Sen. McConnell Says He’s Killing Blue Slips for Judicial Nominees, with Potential to Shift Federal Appeals Courts to Far Right

This is so they can appoint radical right wing judges to rule over Democratic states. Whatever happened to federalism and states rights they always go on about?
posted by JackFlash at 8:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

There is no guy off to stage left with a giant hook to pull 45 out of office in a single sweep.

I just keep telling myself "Despair is a sin", and try to think that the House and Senate have enough people sick of Adult Daycare in the Oval Office that they've already drafted the impeachment papers. The moment Mueller drops, the house votes. the senate votes, and impeachment happens. Of course, they'd have gone all Article 25 already if the General Frustration was high enough, so there's my %5 chance bet... And I can narrowly avoid total despair, again.
posted by mikelieman at 8:51 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

That's right -- FBI paid at least $1.3M for zero-day to get into San Bernardino iPhone. FBI Director James Comey: "But it was, in my view, worth it."

Well if you consider definitively ruling out an organized conspiracy, yeah.. But then you have to deal with the workplace bullying and evangelical Christians thing. Ever buy something, find out it's perfectly fine but the opposite of what you want? OH SHIT! That must have been what they felt.
posted by mikelieman at 8:54 AM on October 11, 2017

With thanks to Jefferson Airplane

Somebody To Bomb

When the truth is found
To be lies
And all the joy
Within you dies

Don't you want somebody to bomb
Don't you need somebody to bomb
Wouldn't you love somebody to bomb
You better find somebody to bomb, bomb.

When the garden flowers, (and everything you loved,)
Baby, are dead, yes
And your mind, your mind
Is so full of red

Don't you want somebody to bomb
Don't you need somebody to bomb
Wouldn't you love somebody to bomb
You better find somebody to bomb.

I'll give a couple of hints here. Insurance companies, worldwide, should drop their coverage for Trump properties, everywhere. If he has property in Seoul, South Korea would be best served by immediately dropping coverage for his businesses. The insurance business would be best served, (like I care, but,) by dropping all risk coverage, physical coverage for all the family businesses world wide. They need to serve public notice.
posted by Oyéah at 8:54 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Sen. McConnell Says He’s Killing Blue Slips for Judicial Nominees, with Potential to Shift Federal Appeals Courts to Far Right

This is so they can appoint radical right wing judges to rule over Democratic states. Whatever happened to federalism and states rights they always go on about?

If this can't be prevented we need to make sure it's strongly identified with McConnell, so when the script flips and it's the Dem's turn everyone's used to calling it the McConnell rule.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:57 AM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

This is a profoundly general argument that implies that SCOTUS should be unwilling to redress any problem that affects one party more than another, regardless of the merits of either side. Jay Rosen said that "asymmetry between the major parties fries the circuits of the mainstream press"; apparently the same compulsion for artificial neutrality will fry the circuits of SCOTUS.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:59 AM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

- World War III watch: The Japanese defense minister said yesterday that Pussy grabber might take military action against North Korea as soon as next month. “I think President Pussy grabber will judge in the middle of November how effective pressure and other efforts have been,” Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo. “If there have been no changes from North Korea, it’s possible that the U.S. will take severe measures.”

What worries me the most about this sort of quote is that there is no specific desired non-war outcome stated:
How effective pressure and other efforts have been at WHAT?!
If there have been no changes from North Korea WHAT CHANGES ARE YOU LOOKING TO SEE?

So far this has been a pissing match on Twitter, with literally all life on Earth hanging in the balance and the only stated concrete outcome has been Trump's desire to push the nuclear button. No diplomat or politician is saying what the sort of peaceful outcome they're looking to see, and I myself am having trouble coming up with something.

Do I want a return to the false normalcy of the way it was before? With huge arsenals pointed at each other? Not really. But I'm having trouble even imagining what the peaceful future I desire looks like. I need, and I feel like America (and the rest of the world) needs someone who can articulate what that future looks like on a national and global scale but also for individual people.
posted by carsonb at 9:00 AM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

At a cost of roughly $156,800,000 not including "delivery services" including gas and maintenance, original equipment purchases for "delivery service," and wages, for all involved, and rent for foreign airfields, trying to assassinate one man accused but not convicted of terrorist activity. They failed to eliminate the targeted individual. I have wondered if that happened at all, and if someone just took the cash on the side for the 98 Cruise missiles they used that day.

You can go on all day about monies spent, no one does it better than military procurement.
posted by Oyéah at 9:00 AM on October 11, 2017

Vox highlights an article on a pharmacy which fills and delivers prescriptions to Congress, noting that many of the prescriptions are for Alzheimer's.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:02 AM on October 11, 2017 [53 favorites]

My guess is 45 is giving someone else a chance to get the job done by that rough time span.
posted by Oyéah at 9:03 AM on October 11, 2017

> apparently the same compulsion for artificial neutrality will fry the circuits of SCOTUS.

alternately, it is possible that the chief justice of the supreme court is not arguing in good faith.

i am shocked, shocked to find gambling in this establishment
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:06 AM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Kim, "the pharmacist" is either making fake news or is going to jail for violating HIPPA. I think this is propaganda, and you had better watch out for this kind of thing. I am not oblivious to the last name, and it seems a joke.

from TFA:

"The pharmacist doesn’t appear to have violated any patient privacy laws, which only restrict providing medical information that would identify a specific patient. (If he’d said which senator, for example, fills Alzheimer’s prescriptions, that would violate the law.)"

If he were a real pharmacist he would be in jail, will be in jail, in short order.

Maybe out of job.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:09 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

> Vox highlights an article on a pharmacy which fills and delivers prescriptions to Congress, noting that many of the prescriptions are for Alzheimer's.

Maybe they'll bother to do something about Puerto Rico if their supply of meds gets disrupted.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:09 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

oh, i forgot to add re: the vox article:

*endless screaming*
posted by entropicamericana at 9:09 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Neil Cavuto (!) talking directly to the God-Emperor: “Last time I checked, you are the president of the United States, so tweeting out these tacky insults just seems beneath you, and I think it is going to cost you. You are running out of friends faster than you are running out of time. You might not like Bob Corker, but a lot of senators do, and you need those senators, sir.”

The Corker trial balloon looks to be floating.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:14 AM on October 11, 2017 [36 favorites]

When you've lost Neil Cavuto you've lost... nothing, because you're still President, and you can still give Neil Cavuto tax cuts to shut him up.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:16 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Vox highlights an article on a pharmacy which fills and delivers prescriptions to Congress, noting that many of the prescriptions are for Alzheimer's.

Maybe they'll bother to do something about Puerto Rico if their supply of meds gets disrupted.

Lots of meds important to older folks, indeed. This will be interesting...

With more than four dozen FDA-approved pharmaceutical plants, Puerto Rico manufactures 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the US. The list of drugs made there includes 13 of the world’s top-selling brand-name drugs, such as Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis drug, and Xarelto, a blood thinner for stroke prevention, The New York Times reported. Some of the medicines made there are made nowhere else.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:17 AM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

When you've lost Neil Cavuto you've lost... nothing, because you're still President, and you can still give Neil Cavuto tax cuts to shut him up.

Right, and Cavuto's pissed off that he's too incompetent to give him those tax cuts. Neil's not one of the good guys, but the fact that he's in intervention-mode is significant.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

I've spent so much time trying to understand "What IS about Republicans that makes so many of them them act this way?"

I think Pratchett nailed it with this quote:
"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
"It's a lot more complicated than that--"
"No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts."
posted by Eddie Mars at 9:20 AM on October 11, 2017 [56 favorites]

So take your $800 Billion you just gave them, WAY more than they even asked for (wtf) and shove it.

...shove it into education, and healthcare, and renewables. Man, that would do so much fucking good.
posted by emjaybee at 9:22 AM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

> If he were a real pharmacist he would be in jail, will be in jail, in short order.

Maybe out of job.

Only one of his jobs, though. If you click through to the full article, it says he's also a lobbyist.

So all of Congress's prescriptions are filled by a pharmacist who is also a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry:

“You know, they gently push it aside and say, ‘Well, let’s set up a meeting,'” he said. “Unless they’re involved in one of the topics in pharmacy, they probably don’t know what’s going on. But they don’t want to say they don’t know, so they say, ‘Oh, I don’t have time right now.'”

posted by XMLicious at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Does Donnie Two-Scoops even WATCH Cavuto? He's on in the afternoon, well after the morning shows and the daytime blonde lady parade.

It's nice that this is on FOX, so FOX viewers can see it, but Donnie probably isn't watching that time slot.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:28 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Corker trial balloon looks to be floating.

Which is why the unchained Steve Bannon is trying to weaponize it in his Trumpist war on the Capitol Hill establishment: “This is what they think about President Trump behind closed doors,” Bannon told Steve Hannity Monday night on Fox News. "When you want to talk about why there’s no repeal-and-replace, why there’s no tax cut, why there’s no tax reform, why there’s no infrastructure bill, you saw it right there. Corker, McConnell, and the entire clique—establishment, globalist clique—on Capitol Hill have to go. And if we need any more proof about what [these senators] think, you heard it tonight. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:29 AM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Vox highlights an article on a pharmacy which fills and delivers prescriptions to Congress, noting that many of the prescriptions are for Alzheimer's."

What the fuck, that is a huge violation of privacy. They could be for spouses, parents, and also none of our damn business.

I would hate it if my pharmacy told the newspaper that there are people with adhd in my agency.

That's just fucking wrong.
posted by Tarumba at 9:30 AM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

"When you want to talk about why there’s no repeal-and-replace, why there’s no tax cut, why there’s no tax reform, why there’s no infrastructure bill, you saw it right there. Corker, McConnell, and the entire clique—establishment, globalist clique—on Capitol Hill have to go. And if we need any more proof about what [these senators] think, you heard it tonight. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

Yeah, it's totally not because the president has no idea what he's doing.
posted by Melismata at 9:30 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

With more than four dozen FDA-approved pharmaceutical plants, Puerto Rico manufactures 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the US.

The pharmaceutical industry provides half of all Puerto Rico's manufacturing jobs. This is a relic of a special tax exemption, Section 936, that exempted drug manufacturers in Puerto Rico from federal taxes. This special exemption began in 1976 but started to phase out in the late 1990s and was fully repealed in 2006. Since then, the economy of Puerto Rico has been in sharp decline.

There is no longer the big tax advantage for pharmaceutical companies in Puerto Rico and they have gradually been relocating to cheaper countries like Brazil, China and India.

Most of those remaining damaged pharmaceutical plants will never be reopened. The drug companies will take their insurance payouts and rebuild elsewhere where they can get cheaper labor. This will be a huge blow to the Puerto Rico economy.
posted by JackFlash at 9:33 AM on October 11, 2017 [31 favorites]

"Warrant-proof encryption defeats the constitutional balance by elevating privacy above public safety," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a speech

"Those two things aren't in total or even majority opposition, you fucking dipshit," an angry pro-privacy internet commenter who is me said right here.

Privacy over my ability to get into and inspect anything a person has, says, or does, more like.
posted by phearlez at 9:34 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Does Donnie Two-Scoops even WATCH Cavuto? He's on in the afternoon, well after the morning shows and the daytime blonde lady parade.

Pussy grabber's TV Obsession... - Even after becoming president, Pussy grabber reportedly manages to fill his days with “plenty of television,” ...

It's tempting to contextualize this administration within the history of how previous White House administrations ran. But you have to remember that this one is NOT NORMAL.
posted by carsonb at 9:35 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

You know what else is just fucking wrong?

(this is free-form, go nuts)

Fucking everything, judging by the way my morning is going. I need one of those primal scream MeTas, I think, because the level of just general shitty seems to get worse every time I open anything to do with the internet. Or go to work. Or look at the news.
posted by nubs at 9:37 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's tempting to contextualize this administration [...]

No no no, that's not what I was trying to do. This guy tweets a lot in response to Morning Joe and Fox & Friends. We know he watches those ardently. Has he ever tweeted about things on Cavuto's show?

I think the only way he's going to see that clip is if he hears people talking about it and goes to look it up himself.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:42 AM on October 11, 2017

fondle and praise his balls

dude, i was eating lunch
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:43 AM on October 11, 2017 [32 favorites]

I need one of those primal scream MeTas, I think, because the level of just general shitty seems to get worse every time I open anything to do with the internet. Or go to work. Or look at the news.

Take it to MeTa (we're on iteration #4).
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:48 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Has he ever tweeted about things on Cavuto's show?

trumptwitterarchive.com turns up 27 mentions, the most recent being in March 2016. So Cavuto's not Fox & Friends, but still on the radar and no doubt part of the background of his ball-fondling sessions.

(not to be confused with ball-fondling Sessions)
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:49 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

"Vox highlights an article on a pharmacy which fills and delivers prescriptions to Congress, noting that many of the prescriptions are for Alzheimer's."

What the fuck, that is a huge violation of privacy. They could be for spouses, parents, and also none of our damn business.

I would hate it if my pharmacy told the newspaper that there are people with adhd in my agency.

That's just fucking wrong.

So is running for, or holding office while concealing dementia or Alzheimers from your constituents.

And then voting to defund the same care for others.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:54 AM on October 11, 2017 [61 favorites]

This is so they can appoint radical right wing judges to rule over Democratic states. Whatever happened to federalism and states rights they always go on about?

This is no normalcy, there is no comity, so if the Dems don't impeach every single judge installed by the puppet of a foreign power in the first few months then the Dems haven't learned how to play the new game in DC.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:54 AM on October 11, 2017 [33 favorites]

Quick, someone show him a graph of our high school education levels compared to other countries.

That was funny at first, then terrifying: the score gap largely disappears when you adjust for poverty. I can find no way to believe this administration would ever consider dealing with poverty but a near certainty that this would be the basis for a huge push to privatize everything.
posted by adamsc at 10:08 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

"So is running for, or holding office while concealing dementia or Alzheimers from your constituents."

I completely agree, but since when do we use Republicans as the moral standard? I don't decide my professional code of ethics all of a sudden doesn't apply when I'm dealing with people I disapprove of. Sharing this kind of information is not okay.
posted by Tarumba at 10:09 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

ball-fondling

These threads (and Trump's incessant awfulness) really are hard enough to get through. Is there any chance we might we just completely skip this and any other childish Trump / porn-related metaphor? Please?
posted by zarq at 10:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [15 favorites]

Hamilton Nolan, Splinter: Stop Flogging CEOs For President

Disney CEO Bob Iger... is he going to run for president? Let me answer this question with one of my own: Can Bob Iger and the rest of America’s CEOs take their fawning media enablers and fuck off to Neverland, forever?

Fresh off a sewer-dwelling presidential campaign that left an idiotic real estate CEO as the American president to the shock of the media and political establishment, the same media and political establishment is now trying to make up for their mistake by dragging us all through the excruciating every-four-years process of Talking Up The Magical Potential Outsider Candidates. Because actual election years are so dreary and painful, they tend to be followed in short order by speculation about which potential savior might appear to save us from having to suffer something equally dreary during the next election. Politicians? Meh. What the political media loves to imagine is a dark horse arising from the mythical private sector to seize control of our entrepreneurial nation, in the mold of the guy from the Ayn Rand book, or, uh, the current president. [...]

The job of a CEO is to steer a huge algorithm for making profits. The job of a president is, ONE HOPES, to work to realize a moral ideal. They are not the same job. Beware of anyone who says that they are. All that means is that they misunderstand one job or the other. Or that they have no morals. And on a more human scale, the persistent tendency of the press to elevate business people to the status of national demigods reflects a pathetic craving for a Rich Superman Boss to solve all our problems with Bold Leadership, political complexities be damned.

That’s what we have now.

posted by tonycpsu at 10:17 AM on October 11, 2017 [80 favorites]

T.D. Strange: Rick Perry has been trying to kill renewables and even natural gas to prop up outdated dirty coal plants.

leotrotsky: That doesn't even make sense. Natural gas is abundant, cheap, produced in lots of states, and releases less greenhouse gases than coal. And Texas is the #1 producer of it!

Not to mention wind energy: Wind Energy Takes Flight In The Heart Of Texas Oil Country (Aro Shapiro and Matt Ozug, NPR, March 8, 2017)

It's not just Georgetown that is defying expectations of conservatism and renewable energy (by becoming one of the first cities in America to be entirely powered by renewable energy). As a state, Texas is by far the No. 1 producer of wind energy in the United States; it produces more wind energy than the next three states combined. In fact, if it were its own country, Texas would be the fourth-largest largest wind-producing country in the world by the end of 2017. Ross says former Texas Gov. Rick Perry deserves the credit: "I truly believe he was a visionary."

What's that, you ask? How did Rick "Mr. Coal" Perry get these accolades?

Gov. Perry signed into law a 2005 bill to build transmission lines connecting the windy plains to population centers like Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. And Perry made every Texas citizen pay for it in their energy bills.

But there can't be that many jobs making wind turbines spin, can there?

Already, the fastest-growing job in the U.S. is wind turbine technician. Though the absolute numbers are small — 4,400 in 2014 — it's growing at more than double the pace of the next closest profession.
...
Demand is high [for workers] — renewable energy companies are hiring [...] students, sometimes before they even finish the program — and the salaries are good, too: Median pay in 2015 was about $50,000.

And it's good pay for land owners, too: The income derived from leasing a single turbine varies. But Wortham, the former mayor of Sweetwater, Texas, said $10,000 per turbine per year is a good estimate.

So let's compare all this to coal, Trump's favorite commodity. There are fewer coal miners than you might realize (Philip Bump, Washington Post, March 20, 2017)

So how many coal miners are there? In the most recent jobs report, the mining industry accounted for 183,300 jobs. But that includes a lot of mining unrelated to coal and a lot of support occupations, too: supervisors, truck drivers and so on. In May 2015, there were 69,460 jobs in coal mining itself — only 15,900 of which were extraction workers or helpers, mining machine operators or earth drillers.

And the salary range for coal miners is $31,516 - $63,253 -- hey, that's a lot like a wind turbine technician! Except, with more black lung. Assuming the astronomical growth rate of 108% for a few years, and there might even be more wind turbine technicians than coal miners right now (starting with 4,400 WTTs in 2014). Hey, look! You don't need to guess at those numbers, someone else has compiled them! The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100,000 people (Brady Dennis, Washington Post, April 19, 2017) As a whole, wind energy is going to overtake coal as a broad sector for employment in the very near future.

Long story short: this fight to prop up coal mining is looking a lot like Trump and the Republicans caving (or catering) to yet another special interest, with no interest in the working (and breathing) people of the US (and the world at large).

Let's get those coal states to set up wind turbine technician training centers in dying coal towns, train the current and possible future coal miners and to be technicians in a booming field, and extend and improve their lives, and the health of the earth.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on October 11, 2017 [88 favorites]

When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth.

that's the first thing people who like to oversimplify things say
posted by thelonius at 10:24 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

It's never been about the relative merits of coal vs wind or solar or even natural gas. Coal is the one Republican symbol that they can point to as evidence they care about literally any other thing besides tax cuts. It's also the symbol of climate denialism, because fuck wind, wind is for dirty liberals, roll coal drill baby drill! Rick Perry is propping up coal because Trump likes coal, and because coal is a short cut for the real Republican platform in all things: "fuck whatever liberals want".
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:32 AM on October 11, 2017 [18 favorites]

flt, you're in the zone, baby. +1 would favorite again.
posted by petebest at 10:35 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Forbes' pro-Trump interview is online. It will appear in their November 17th issue.
posted by zarq at 10:48 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

this fight to prop up coal mining is looking a lot like Trump and the Republicans caving (or catering) to yet another special interest, with no interest in the working (and breathing) people of the US (and the world at large).

Here's what I don't get. It isn't like natural gas and wind aren't special interests! They're better than coal and growing! Why would you back the loser?

It's never been about the relative merits of coal vs wind or solar or even natural gas. Coal is the one Republican symbol that they can point to as evidence they care about literally any other thing besides tax cuts. It's also the symbol of climate denialism, because fuck wind, wind is for dirty liberals, roll coal drill baby drill! Rick Perry is propping up coal because Trump likes coal, and because coal is a short cut for the real Republican platform in all things: "fuck whatever liberals want".

They're literally the party in favor of things that kill you, out of pure spite. Coal, Firearms, Tackle Football, Foreign Wars, Taking Away Healthcare, and Climate Change. These things have nothing in common. There's no ideological consistency that ties them together.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:52 AM on October 11, 2017 [39 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

You know, Roberts could say that about almost every decision ever made by the Supreme Court -- civil rights, voting rights, abortion, same sex marriage, guns.

It seems that, like reality, the law has a decidedly liberal bent.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:55 AM on October 11, 2017

Here's what I don't get. It isn't like natural gas and wind aren't special interests! They're better than coal and growing! Why would you back the loser?

Because coal is a better fit for false nostalgia and toxic masculinity.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:55 AM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

Why would anyone ever strike a deal with America if Trump sets the precedent that no deal with American can actually be made -- only a deal with the President? Trump is a terrible fucking deal-maker who does not understand diplomacy.

Forbes, eh? We're very lucky that they don't have international distribution and not many will learn this.
posted by mikelieman at 11:04 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney

Not the intelligent man, John. Because intelligent people don't think that numbers are weird and scary ...gobbledygook.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:05 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

So this weekend we sent off our check, and today our home solar installation was added to our roof. In one hour, techs arrived, installed racks, and hoisted 16 panels onto our roof. The electrical guys are here longer, but all in all, it will be constructed in a about half a day, with 6 guys working.

A solar tech installer makes 26k-55k/year, and these guys all live downstate, closer to "coal country". In 2014, there were 5,900 solar tech jobs, with a 24% growth rate. Those are old numbers, but it's (was) a growing field!

The solar salesman stopped by, and said that already panel prices have gone up, just with the threat of tariffs. Even without actually implementing tariffs, the administration is going to hurt this local business because the hardware cost has increased by 30% over the past few weeks. Now, we're buying the cheaper Chinese panels, and maybe buying American panels would be better for US manufacturing, but there must be a sweet spot between balancing the construction and installation jobs. And if we want to support the US manufacturing, why not do more innovation investment (yeah, yeah Solyndra) , instead of punitive tariffs. Oh wait, this is the idiot administration.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 11:07 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

I think the glaring obviousness of Trump's stupidity and incompetence is what is saving us right now, so the more visible it can be made, the better. Other powers-that-be might be more inclined to perceive a genuine threat or slight if he were plausibly in charge or compus mentis, but even the most stupid dictator can see that the President* of the US is a buffoon who is all at sea.
posted by stonepharisee at 11:07 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

***NYC ALERT***

If you are a registered voter, the deadline to select or change your party affiliation for primary elections in 2018 is this Friday, Oct. 13. You can check your party affiliation and registration status here. If you have a NYS ID, you can register/change your party online.
posted by melissasaurus at 11:07 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

The steak rub metaphor is terrible though. Did he really say that?

When people say this or that conservative (I'm looking at you, Scalia, Roberts, Cruz, Gorsuch, et al.) is really, really smart, just add on to the end "for a conservative."
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:10 AM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

There's no ideological consistency that ties them together.

Yes there is: Liberals are against them. Remember cleek's law (now in its eighth year!): Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily.
posted by Gelatin at 11:12 AM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

I think the glaring obviousness of Trump's stupidity and incompetence is what is saving us right now, so the more visible it can be made, the better. Other powers-that-be might be more inclined to perceive a genuine threat or slight if he were plausibly in charge or compus mentis, but even the most stupid dictator can see that the President* of the US is a buffoon who is all at sea.

Foreign Policy-wise, the guy's like a fart in a crowded room. Awful, but everyone's going to pretend he's not there until his stench is gone, and then they'll pretend like he never happened. He'll leave no lasting legacy other than his profound failure as a President and as a human being.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:12 AM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

It isn't like natural gas and wind aren't special interests! They're better than coal and growing! Why would you back the loser?

"Dang, I don't get it. Coal worked just fine for my family when I was a kid, and even my grandparents. But now suddenly these scientists come along and say it's bad and just because they say so, they close down these coal plants and I have to switch to something more expensive - just becuase some scientists said so. Well, what do they know?"

....this conjecture based on a conversation I had with a super-conservative type in my home town back in 1992, on the topic of "why we should renovate the local high school as opposed to letting the 100-year-old building that had violated six fire codes at last count just stay as is".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:12 AM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

WaPo, Greg Sargent, This may be Trump’s most insulting scam yet

But that’s not all: One administration official says Trump will sell estate-tax repeal as beneficial to family-owned trucking companies that pass on assets from one generation to the next.

I spoke this morning to David Cay Johnston, a veteran tax reporter who has written numerous books on how the wealthy game the tax system to their advantage. When I ran this claim about the estate tax by Johnston, he burst out laughing and dismissed the assertion as “absurd” and a “scam.”

People are starting to realize the whole "have to get rid of the estate tax to help farmers" thing is largely a scam, so they're moving on to even more ridiculous pitches.
posted by zachlipton at 11:14 AM on October 11, 2017 [29 favorites]

When informed that his predecessor did, several times, Trump pivots immediately. "He never hit it on a yearly basis. Never hit it on a yearly basis.

Of course, neither has Trump, obviously, so it's less a "pivot" than an "obviously covering up for getting caught in a lie by implausibly obfuscating." Though Forbes, inexplicably, seemed to consider it plausible.
posted by Gelatin at 11:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

He'll leave no lasting legacy
posted by leotrotsky at 2:12 PM on October 11

Eponysterical.
posted by Melismata at 11:15 AM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's just too bad that there aren't countries with working healthcare systems we could learn from, Donald.

head, desk, head, desk, repeat, etc.,
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

POTUS is going to the mat for the little guy, who just wants to pass on his >$5.49 million asset to his kids without any of it being diverted to losers with less than $5.49 million to pass on to their kids.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

Trump in the Oval Office with Trudeau, per pool:

On whether he said the US should have 10 times the nuclear weapons:

Trump said that report was fake news.

Ten times would be totally unnecessary and he wants the US nuclear arsenal in tip top shape.

I want them in perfect shape, he said.

It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write, Trump said.

posted by zachlipton at 11:18 AM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

...or even better, how about a massive partnership where poor communities get the start-up cash for panels, and then subsidize the energy bills for their low income residents, like this, but on a national scale?

And here's more information about the trade complaint and rising costs. 250k installation jobs! And of course, the "US" companies raising the complaints have overseas owners.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 11:20 AM on October 11, 2017

People are starting to realize the whole "have to get rid of the estate tax to help farmers" thing is largely a scam, so they're moving on to even more ridiculous pitches.

No one who actually believed a liberal media existed -- as opposed to a cowed and cowardly media that would at least pretend to take their even more ridiculous pitch seriously in the name of "balance," settling instead for a "critics say the estate tax repeal only benefits the rich" approach -- would dare.

An objective media would point out that the estate tax repeal actually does benefit the rich, but the media is not interested in being objective. And it isn't to liberals' benefit, and the Republicans, for all their decades-long branding effort to the contrary, know it.
posted by Gelatin at 11:21 AM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

But that’s not all: One administration official says Trump will sell estate-tax repeal as beneficial to family-owned trucking companies that pass on assets from one generation to the next.

For the audience, any competent estate planner will use the portability of the exemption to allow a married couple to pass $10.9 million free from federal estate and gift taxes.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the top 1% of households have a net worth of at least $6.8 million.

So this is an issue that literally affects less than the top 1% of Americans. I wonder why they're so keen to repeal it?
posted by leotrotsky at 11:26 AM on October 11, 2017 [33 favorites]

I'm hoping that Forbes' publishes a version of this interview without the storification -- that they just publish the straight interview, without interpretation -- because the formatting they've gone with make Trump sound a lot more sensible than he actually is in reality.

Maybe some brave intern will leak the actual transcript at some point, but the "interview's" massive ratio of generous paraphrase to actual Trump quotes (quotes padded out by excerpts from The Art of the Deal, which was largely ghostwritten) indicates that the reporter and editor knew very well that Trump would sound like a rambling maniac if they released the transcript verbatim.
posted by Iridic at 11:26 AM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

lemme just strunk and white that for you:

donald trump has long record of not understanding

there we go
posted by entropicamericana at 11:27 AM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

TPM's Josh Marshall: Houston, We Have a Problem. LA, Chicago, STL, ATL, NYC, You Guys Too

Last night on Chris Hayes’ show, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman suggested retired Generals Mattis and Kelly were discussing what they would do if President Trump made a “lunge” for the nuclear football. Would they tackle him? Restrain him. Sherman said he’d met with a “very prominent” Republican.

The sourcing on this is at a minimum murky. If you watch closely, what Sherman says is that this senior Republican told him he “imagined” these conversations were taking place...In other words, on his second account, Sherman suggested ‘imagined’ was a turn of phrase and that he had sources that knew these conversations were happening. [...]

Some of these reports seem squishy. But the sum total of them suggests that the worst we could have imagined of what’s going on in the Trump White House is probably true. It may be worse than we thought.

There’s endless debate about what impeachment is for and what it is. At the end of the day, it’s really not about criminal infractions or which misdeeds might be impeachable. The ultimate reason is that the architects of the constitution wanted a path to avoid what we would now call a coup. I believe Franklin referred to it more brutally as assassination. You need a constitutional framework – not acts outside the constitution or legality – by which a President who is clearly dangerous to the Republic or not capable of filling the job can be removed. The odds of this happening any time soon or any time during Trump’s term seem close to nil. But this is the kind of President it was designed for.

In a healthy republic with moral members of Congress or Cabinet, this clown would have been gone within 2 weeks. Impeach or invoke the 25th, I don't care, but he needs to be gone from the White House as soon as possible.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 11:45 AM on October 11, 2017 [55 favorites]

Mattis:

Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible.

Sounds like Trump demanded backup here. Of course, it's vague enough to not be a full denial of the report. "Called for an increase" implies some kind of formal order or request, as opposed to, say, just looking at a graph sloping downwards and going all "why can't we be at the top?" As long as they talked him out of it or slow walked it, they can deny it even though it happened.
posted by zachlipton at 11:51 AM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

You need a constitutional framework – not acts outside the constitution or legality – by which a President who is clearly dangerous to the Republic or not capable of filling the job can be removed. The odds of this happening any time soon or any time during Trump’s term seem close to nil. But this is the kind of President it was designed for.

True, but this is also the kind of president the Electoral College was designed for, and it already failed to fulfill its purpose. Because of Republicans -- of hundreds of individual Republican electors who put party over country.

Democrats need to avoid any temptations to let bygones be bygones if they retake power in 2018 and 2020.
posted by Gelatin at 11:51 AM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

Maybe some brave intern will leak the actual transcript at some point, but the "interview's" massive ratio of generous paraphrase to actual Trump quotes (quotes padded out by excerpts from The Art of the Deal, which was largely ghostwritten) indicates that the reporter and editor knew very well that Trump would sound like a rambling maniac if they released the transcript verbatim.

By contrast, Forbes spent most of President Obama's eight years railing against him as anti-business, anti-capital, anti-private sector, anti-prosperity and anti-economic growth. Dinesh D'Souza used Forbes' platform to attack President Obama with unhinged rants, such as calling him "the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history."

Stark difference.
posted by zarq at 11:52 AM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

The solar salesman stopped by, and said that already panel prices have gone up, just with the threat of tariffs.

Yup. A friend of mine works for a national non-profit that does solar development & job-training in low-income neighborhoods; they've already started layoffs, just out of fear of the proposed tariffs.
posted by suelac at 11:53 AM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

> Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible.

Funny that they're digging into the reasons why T.Rex might have called T-rump a moron. OK, if not that, there's plenty of other reasons . . .
posted by stonepharisee at 11:56 AM on October 11, 2017

Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair, “I Hate Everyone in the White House!”: Trump Seethes as Advisers Fear the President Is “Unraveling”: "In recent days, I’ve spoken with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president that seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods."

In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”

According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!” (A White House official denies this.) Two senior Republican officials said Chief of Staff John Kelly is miserable in his job and is remaining out of a sense of duty to keep Trump from making some sort of disastrous decision. Today, speculation about Kelly’s future increased after Politico reported that Kelly’s deputy Kirstjen Nielsen is likely to be named Homeland Security Secretary—the theory among some Republicans is that Kelly wanted to give her a soft landing before his departure.

One former official even speculated that Kelly and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have discussed what they would do in the event Trump ordered a nuclear first strike. “Would they tackle him?” the person said. Even Trump’s most loyal backers are sowing public doubts. This morning, The Washington Post quoted longtime Trump friend Tom Barrack saying he has been “shocked” and “stunned” by Trump’s behavior.
...
Even before Corker’s remarks, some West Wing advisers were worried that Trump’s behavior could cause the Cabinet to take extraordinary Constitutional measures to remove him from office. Several months ago, according to two sources with knowledge of the conversation, former chief strategist Steve Bannon told Trump that the risk to his presidency wasn’t impeachment, but the 25th Amendment—the provision by which a majority of the Cabinet can vote to remove the president. When Bannon mentioned the 25th Amendment, Trump said, “What’s that?” According to a source, Bannon has told people he thinks Trump has only a 30 percent chance of making it the full term.

posted by zachlipton at 11:56 AM on October 11, 2017 [47 favorites]

Democrats need to avoid any temptations to let bygones be bygones if they retake power in 2018 and 2020.

Day One: Statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington DC, USVI.
9 new House reps, 8 new Senators.

Democratic President in 2020? 2 3 new Supreme Court seats. That's what you get for stealing.

Let them bitch. Fuck 'em.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:58 AM on October 11, 2017 [92 favorites]

In a healthy republic with moral members of Congress or Cabinet, this clown would have been gone within 2 weeks.

Because of Republicans -- of hundreds of individual Republican electors who put party over country.

Trump is the opportunistic infection that kills you after your immune system refuses to function. His own personal failure of responsibility pales before and is dwarfed by that of the GOP.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:59 AM on October 11, 2017 [28 favorites]

Marshall Islands is the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Already their own country (though they do have a Compact of Free Association with the US).

But otherwise, agreed!
posted by orrnyereg at 12:02 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

When Bannon mentioned the 25th Amendment, Trump said, “What’s that?”

BANNON: "That's the one that deals with succession to the Presidency."

TRUMP: "No, what's a Men Mint?"
posted by leotrotsky at 12:16 PM on October 11, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump Seethes as Advisers Fear the President Is “Unraveling”:

How in the hell would anyone know if he were "unraveling"? As if he's been the picture of sanity for years. As if he weren't a chronically unprepared blowhard who revels in his SUPERSEKRIT agent of chaos status.
posted by zarq at 12:17 PM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

Lindsey "Very concerned" Graham apparently spent 30+ minutes on the phone with a Golf.com reporter gushing about trump's golfing prowess. [Twitter link]
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:20 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

HHAHAHAHA SO WHO ELSE IS GETTING DRUNK AND EATING JOE-JOE'S TILL THEY PUKE TONIGHT
posted by entropicamericana at 12:25 PM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

Day One: Statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington DC, USVI.
9 new House reps, 8 new Senators.

And more electoral votes.
posted by azpenguin at 12:26 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Guys .... I don't understand the math that the gerrymandering people are using. I wouldn't call it gobbledygook, but I think it's reasonable and realistic for SC justices to not fucking understand this moderately complicated computer model that was just developed in the last year or two. And they're also right that it matters whether people trust their democracy. If they can't explain the process to Supreme Court justices, how is everybody else supposed to trust it?

My understanding of it is that they're generating an arbitrary number of possible maps, so they can compare a particular given map against the range of possibilities. I don't know how they do that, aside from "computers are magic". I couldn't possibly double-check it. If they show me some charts I have to just take their word for it. That might work for court cases, but it's not a solution that improves transparency and trust, and it doesn't help us figure out if a map is actually fair.

And, all that aside, there still isn't a consensus on what makes a fair map.

And all of that aside, asking justices and judges to rule on things they don't understand is really a much bigger problem than this. It's a problem with forensic science. It's a problem with medical malpractice cases. It's a problem with patent cases sometimes. It was a problem with the Apple-FBI encryption case - I recall one of the judges assuming that the FBI's request was a reasonable one, and the other side had to explain that it was impossible to do. Sometimes the lawyers themselves don't understand the "merits of the case". It's not realistic or reasonable to expect judges to understand all these different fields to the level we want them to. It might be reasonable to ask judges to specialize, so the judiciary as a whole can cover all of these fields, but that's not exactly realistic for the Supreme Court with only nine justices.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:26 PM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

Lindsey "Very concerned" Graham apparently spent 30+ minutes on the phone with a Golf.com reporter gushing about trump's golfing prowess. [Twitter link]

I feel like Lindsey is one of those folks who just wants to be able to say something nice about everybody, and he's struggled, but finally found something positive to say about Trump.

I assume Lindsay never actually paid attention when he played golf with Trump, because (obviously) he cheats like crazy.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:27 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Is it really cheating when you own the golf course? Come, now, don't be fatuous.
posted by loquacious at 12:32 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”

Trump will never even consider that he is the tool of an ugly facet of America, and not vice versa, and it's a very important distinction to understand. He thought he was the user and not the tool with Strange/Moore and was irrelevant the moment he stepped out of his role.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:33 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump Seethes as Advisers Fear the President Is “Unraveling”

My suggestion for TIME/Newsweek/whatever cover:

Text: The Unravelling
Image: Something like this
posted by mikepop at 12:33 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

HHAHAHAHA SO WHO ELSE IS GETTING DRUNK AND EATING JOE-JOE'S TILL THEY PUKE TONIGHT

Better. A friend of mine just finished organizing a rummage sale where somebody donated an honest-to-Grod Ku Klux Klan robe. Tonight we're gonna drink rum and burn that sucker to ashes. The event will, of course, be recorded for posterity.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:34 PM on October 11, 2017 [42 favorites]

Faint of Butt: hopefully that means the person has no more use for it? hopefully?
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 12:36 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

in the context of Trump taking a golf vacation on a Monday

"Even though he sent Vice President Mike Pence to Indiana -- at great taxpayer expense -- to showboat over the flag at an NFL game on Sunday, Trump couldn’t be bothered to head to Dover Air Force Base to greet the flag-draped coffin of one of the soldiers he claims to honor, on Monday. Instead, the president was busy playing golf with Sen. Lindsey Graham."

Trump’s Benghazi? Ambush of U.S. soldiers in Niger goes unnoticed
posted by chris24 at 12:39 PM on October 11, 2017 [62 favorites]

And the intelligent man on the street is going to say that’s a bunch of baloney,” Roberts says. “It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. … And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

"Well, we had to do this evil thing so stupid people would think we're good."
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!” (A White House official denies this.)

RON HOWARD NARRATOR VOICE: There were no exceptions.
posted by Gelatin at 12:45 PM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

somebody donated an honest-to-Grod Ku Klux Klan robe. Tonight we're gonna drink rum and burn that sucker to ashes. The event will, of course, be recorded for posterity.

The worrywart in me is now saying "and then some 4Chan jerk finds the footage and next thing you know you're getting death threats from guys with shaved heads and Aryan fetishes."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:45 PM on October 11, 2017

Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair, “I Hate Everyone in the White House!”:

LOLLO GABE, SO DO I! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGggghhhhh
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:46 PM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

Rainbo Vagrant, this is something I see happening at all scales. Whether it's college students not knowing where the papers they write are stored, when I see multi-million dollar companies run on a bunch of hacked together Excel docs that are completely un-auditable, or when I see Twitter dealing with weaponized internet by doing nothing. I'm not going to use a Frankenstein metaphor for technology, but most people who are entrusted to deal with it don't know what they're doing. And I can only see a (lot more) crisises coming from that.
posted by Brainy at 12:49 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Day One: Statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington DC, USVI.
9 new House reps, 8 new Senators.

Maybe as half-measure: 5 new reps to represent the combined Electoral Territories, 2 Senators, and 7 Electors.

In any case, the colonial territory thing needs to end. Cut them loose or give them full representation.
posted by notyou at 12:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Day One: Statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington DC, USVI.
9 new House reps, 8 new Senators.

Democratic President in 2020? 2 3 new Supreme Court seats. That's what you get for stealing.

Repeal the Apportionment Act of 1914, the century-old law that caps the number of representatives, increasing the number so that large Democratic populations are better represented, and populous states like California and New York wield more clout in the House -- as the founders intended.

More representatives also ought to allow for fewer opportunities for gerrymandering no matter how the SCOTUS rules.

Also, impeach Gorsuch as the fruit of a poisoned tree.
posted by Gelatin at 12:52 PM on October 11, 2017 [53 favorites]

I don't understand the math that the gerrymandering people are using. I wouldn't call it gobbledygook, but I think it's reasonable and realistic for SC justices to not fucking understand this moderately complicated computer model that was just developed in the last year or two.

Unfortunately, it seems you are being fed gobbledygook to mislead you. It isn't that complicated. Here is a 5-minute explainer from Vox.

The principle of gerrymandering is very simple -- packing and cracking. Packing as many Democrats into a very few districts and everywhere else cracking or splitting Democrats into uncompetitive districts.

Scoring is likewise very simple. You calculate how many "wasted" votes there are in each district.

It isn't rocket surgery. You can do it with pencil and paper. The reason you use computers is to handle the large data sets, not because it is some sort of mathematical wizardry. The smaller you break down the districts into pieces, the more accurate the method. Republicans have used neighborhoods of as few as 50 people in their computer models to create the most effective gerrymanders. You could do it by hand but it would take a long time. Computers just speed up the job.

To claim that it is all un-understandable is just an excuse for doing nothing. It isn't a "complicated computer model that was just developed in the last year or two." In fact, Republicans have been using the very same models to create their gerrymanders for many years now. The principles are very simple.

You can't simultaneously claim that it is too complicated to use to reduce gerrymandering when Republicans are using the very same computer methods to create more gerrymandering.
posted by JackFlash at 12:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [68 favorites]

Maybe Trump was playing a par 3 course.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”

The fact that he's even now, still, leaving Puerto Rico a disaster area, surpassing Bush's failure with Katrina, seems not to occur to him.
posted by Gelatin at 12:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Repeal the Apportionment Act of 1914, the century-old law that caps the number of representatives, increasing the number so that large Democratic populations are better represented, and populous states like California and New York wield more clout in the House -- as the founders intended.

The House will never pass an Act that drastically reduces the power of individual Congresspeople.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House!"

trump hates every aide he sees
from Seb. Gork Ay
to Scaramu Chee
no they'll never make a monkey out of he
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [25 favorites]

I don't know about you guys but I sure could use a couple of SCOOPS today.
posted by yoga at 12:58 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

does this count?

Daily Beast: Russia Probe Now Investigating Cambridge Analytica, Trump’s ‘Psychographic’ Data Gurus

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is looking at Cambridge Analytica’s work for President Donald Trump’s campaign as part of its investigation into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 race, according to sources familiar with the probe.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [24 favorites]

"Homer, that's just an urban legend. People don't do that type of thing with Russian prostitutes."
posted by history_denier at 1:03 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Puerto Rico: US officials privately acknowledge serious food shortage

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) say that the government and its partners are only providing 200,000 meals a day to meet the needs of more than 2 million people. That is a daily shortfall of between 1.8m and 5.8m meals.

posted by XMLicious at 1:03 PM on October 11, 2017 [43 favorites]

Repeal the Apportionment Act of 1914, the century-old law that caps the number of representatives, increasing the number so that large Democratic populations are better represented, and populous states like California and New York wield more clout in the House -- as the founders intended.

I don't see that it would have much effect. It's not like Montana or Wyoming have major clout in the House. It would be much more important to provide two senators to DC or Puerto Rico, and of course to have the courts restrict gerrymandering.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:04 PM on October 11, 2017

Repeal the Apportionment Act of 1914, the century-old law that caps the number of representatives.

This is the solution. We're in a crisis of representation that can only be solved with more representation.
posted by baltimoretim at 1:05 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Repeal the Apportionment Act of 1914, the century-old law that caps the number of representatives, increasing the number so that large Democratic populations are better represented, and populous states like California and New York wield more clout in the House -- as the founders intended.

I don't see that it would have much effect.

It would have a huge democratizing effect on the House and the Electoral College. I'm trying to recall the numbers. If you roll back to the apportionment levels in effect at the time of the cap, you're talking about more than doubling the size of the House.
posted by baltimoretim at 1:08 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

...that's not exactly realistic for the Supreme Court with only nine justices.

I believe you've just provided us with a solution. More Supreme Court Justices so that some cases can be heard by at least one Justice who does understand to the level we'd like them to.

Is there any reason we couldn't have, say, twelve justices and they figure out among themselves which nine will hear and rule on a case? I mean, it would probably take a constitutional amendment to make it happen, so it's actually impossible regardless, but other than that minor inconvenience?
posted by VTX at 1:08 PM on October 11, 2017

Rainbo Vagrant, I was shocked at how simple some of the methods are for measuring fair maps used in the recent Gill v. Whitford SCOTUS case. The newest one, called Efficiency Gap or E.G. for short, is literally addition and division. How many votes were wasted on losing candidates + surplus for winning candidates, divided by the total votes cast. There are other methods for measuring partisan bias, but they're all equally simple. E.G. was developed to convince one man: Justice Anthony Kennedy.

You might be confused about some of the methods used to generate new maps during the planning process, but this is different from scoring maps. District drawing has always been a deeply black art, and new measurements will help voters understand what those mapping artists are doing.
posted by migurski at 1:09 PM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is looking at Cambridge Analytica’s work

I think we have to assume that any "looking into" by the House Intelligence Committee is just Republicans on the committee ratfucking any real investigation.
posted by diogenes at 1:12 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Doubling the House would probably be a hard pill to swallow. But if you gave everyone 1 rep per 500k people, you'd get 600ish reps and it would still restore proportionality to the EC.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:12 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

It would have a huge democratizing effect on the House and the Electoral College.

Right, it wouldn't completely solve the problem but it would get us a lot closer to something approaching fairness. The Senate is supposed to advantage small population states and the House large population states... but right now they both advantage small states. It's bullshit.
posted by Justinian at 1:13 PM on October 11, 2017 [18 favorites]

I thought we agreed we were out of evens?

The set of evens we are out of (imaginary evens) is demonstrably larger than the set of evens that we could (real evens).
posted by walrus at 1:14 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is there any reason we couldn't have, say, twelve justices and they figure out among themselves which nine will hear and rule on a case? I mean, it would probably take a constitutional amendment to make it happen, so it's actually impossible regardless, but other than that minor inconvenience?

Nine justices to rule them all is set in the Judiciary Act of 1869, just normal legislation.
posted by XMLicious at 1:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

If you want anything like any of the schemes that y'all are suggesting to actually happen, I suggest you JOIN DSA.

Should the Democrats regain power, the only way they'll actually exercise that power to the extent that they need to is if there is a loud, rowdy, effective, well-organized group forcing them to do so. And right now it's looking like DSA is best positioned to become that group.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [26 favorites]

“I hate everyone in the White House!"

Good, good. Let the hate flow through you.

My only consolation in all of this has been that Donald Trump is fucking miserable.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

Late on Monday afternoon, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), offered, by way of Twitter, a report on his Columbus Day round with President Trump: "President Trump shot a 73 in windy and wet conditions!"

This is reminiscent of the famous Chairman Mao's swim which was ridiculed by the western press as a hoax because he would have to swim faster than an Olympic swimmer.

Today the western press seems to be asleep at the wheel when confronted with Chairman Trump's fantastical glorification as a scratch golfer at the level of a PGA pro.
posted by JackFlash at 1:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Puerto Rico: US officials privately acknowledge serious food shortage

Do these people not know how to leak information?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:22 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Guys .... I don't understand the math that the gerrymandering people are using. I wouldn't call it gobbledygook, but I think it's reasonable and realistic for SC justices to not fucking understand this moderately complicated computer model that was just developed in the last year or two.

The underlying mathematics, as I understand it, is really very simple. The central metric is the efficiency gap, which is simple enough to be suitably explained with a four-page walkthrough of an example calculation and explanation of its meaning. It is simple enough that I intend to teach it to students in our math-for-general-education course which doesn't fulfill any major-specific requirements (i.e. "Math for Poets").

This is a metric which lets you say "this apportionment is fairer than that apportionment" about any two given maps. Where the heavy crunching comes in is turning that comparative into an absolute: how do you get from "this map is fairer than that one" to "thus that one is unfair"? Do you attempt to hew close to extant boundaries when improving maps, to minimize disruption? How do we reasonably build an "ideal" map to compare against? These are questions which get into difficult computational territory and, yes, maybe arbitrary decisions as to where to draw the line between "fair" and "unfair". But the difficult computational aspects are all incidental to the question which is being answered, and the answers are easily comprehensible.

An analogy: the computer-science literature on the Knapsack Problem is deep, detailed, and abstruse. The leading-edge algorithms are impenetrable to all except the initiated. And yet, the question being posed is very simple, and the verification that an answer is satisfactory is likewise simple. How it gets there is completely mysterious, but if you're just trying to fill your backpack optimally, you don't actually need to know how a particularly clever solution was built, just that it works.
posted by jackbishop at 1:22 PM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) say that the government and its partners are only providing 200,000 meals a day to meet the needs of more than 2 million people. That is a daily shortfall of between 1.8m and 5.8m meals.

That article misspelled "famine."
posted by Gelatin at 1:25 PM on October 11, 2017 [54 favorites]

It's not realistic or reasonable to expect judges to understand all these different fields to the level we want them to. It might be reasonable to ask judges to specialize, so the judiciary as a whole can cover all of these fields, but that's not exactly realistic for the Supreme Court with only nine justices.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:26 PM on October 11 [3 favorites +] [!]

There are mechanisms in some courts to get around that problem.

"Lawyers need to be able to recommend a Special Master to their clients who they’re confident

- knows the law of claims construction,
- can understand the technical issues,
- will give the case the time it needs, and
- can make recommendations to the judge that reflect the complexity of their case."
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:30 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

somebody donated an honest-to-Grod Ku Klux Klan robe. Tonight we're gonna drink rum and burn that sucker to ashes. The event will, of course, be recorded for posterity.

The worrywart in me is now saying "and then some 4Chan jerk finds the footage and next thing you know you're getting death threats from guys with shaved heads and Aryan fetishes."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:45 PM on October 11 [+] [!]

True story:
I made an extremely polite and reasonable email request to remove a confederate memorial in my northern state. Sent it to the county conservation board in charge of the land.

Within 48 hours, I got a linkedin connection request from an infantryman in Texas.
posted by Caxton1476 at 1:30 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Jackflash, I was working from this op-ed in the NYT, which says

The main tool in the Duke paper is a method called the “Markov chain Monte Carlo” algorithm. Starting from the current Wisconsin district map, it makes a sequence of random changes, swapping wards from one district to an adjacent one, carrying out a “random walk” through the set of all possible maps. ...

Few if any of these maps provide the Republicans the firewall against a Democratic electorate that the Wisconsin district map does. In other words, the map is an “outlier” — so far outside the ordinary run of things that it can’t be mistaken for a map without partisan purpose.

A Monte Carlo algorithm can be done by hand, I think? but Markov chains mostly can't. But my point is that those are reasonable things for judges to not understand. I also saw this from The Nib, which describes something similar in addition to the efficiency gap.

I know it's the same math that gerrymander-ers are using, but that's precisely the problem - the fact that our voting is controlled by experts with opaque data sets and intense math is precisely what's causing such distrust. If the solution is bringing in different experts with slightly different kinds of math - I mean. It works in court, but I don't think it's a good solution.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 1:31 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's not realistic or reasonable to expect judges to understand all these different fields to the level we want them to.

Yet they do this every day for every other kind of technical issue -- medical malpractice, climate laws, DNA testing, patent cases, bankruptcy, etc. It seems rather convenient to suggest the one technical issue they can't handle is Republican gerrymandering.

Judges have several avenues to assist them with technical issues. Judges have clerks that can spend hours researching technical issues for them. Judges can appoint a "special master", an expert in the field, who can help them understand and interpret technical testimony.

For right wing Supreme Court judges to throw up their hands and say they can't understand the single issue of Republican gerrymanders is just a ridiculous excuse to turn their heads in order to assist Republicans.
posted by JackFlash at 1:32 PM on October 11, 2017 [64 favorites]

People who want to dig in on the gerrymandering might also be interested in this recent FPP about gerrymandering.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:35 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

US police killings undercounted by half, study using Guardian data finds
Harvard study finds over half of deaths wrongly classified, in latest example of databases greatly undercounting police killings

(Error rate is in the National Vital Statistics System)
posted by XMLicious at 1:36 PM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

A Monte Carlo algorithm can be done by hand, I think? but Markov chains mostly can't. But my point is that those are reasonable things for judges to not understand.

Bullshit. All a judge needs to know is that Republicans used a computer to try millions of possibilities until they came up with one that guarantees them the most seats. The exact algorithm is unimportant. All you need to know is the motive and the results, which are measurably unfair.
posted by JackFlash at 1:37 PM on October 11, 2017 [46 favorites]

It would have a huge democratizing effect on the House and the Electoral College. I'm trying to recall the numbers. If you roll back to the apportionment levels in effect at the time of the cap, you're talking about more than doubling the size of the House.

In 1911 the 435-member House represented one representative for (approximately) every 225,000 citizens. Using that proportion today would result in a House of about 1,436 members - a bit more three times as large.

But why stop there? Why not go to the ratio most first-world countries use for their legislatures: about one representative for every 100,000-120,000 citizens? At 120,000 citizens per representative, that would give the House 2,692 members, and every state would have a true House delegation. It would make the House much, much harder for rich people to influence with money because the races become smaller and more intimate, and it would mean that the House would truly be a house of the people, because when you're one in 100,000, basically everybody in your district will either know you personally, know someone who knows you, or worst case, know someone who knows someone who knows you. It would also go a long way towards making the EC more democratic (although not entirely).

(As for the Senate: admit DC and Puerto Rico as states, invite the US Virgin Islands to become part of Puerto Rico since they're too small to reasonably be a state themselves, and invite Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas to be a single state themselves.)
posted by mightygodking at 1:37 PM on October 11, 2017 [39 favorites]

Even Bloomberg is throwing shade at Trump's bogus fake-news tweets.

For those not wanting to click the tweet link, its orange saying "It would be really nice if the Fake News Media would report the virtually unprecedented Stock Market growth since the election.Need tax cuts".
posted by H. Roark at 1:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

At 120,000 citizens per representative, that would give the House 2,692 members, and every state would have a true House delegation.

It's 2017. Distributing information and real-time polling of 3000 people is trivial. Though you definitely shouldn't, you can do it by spinning up a WordPress container.

Going to MeTa to scream incoherently..
posted by mikelieman at 1:47 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Late on Monday afternoon, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), offered, by way of Twitter, a report on his Columbus Day round with President Trump: "President Trump shot a 73 in windy and wet conditions!"

It's a shame the old man is incontinent.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:47 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

so. todo list (do in whichever order makes most sense):

• Pack the supreme court
• Admit several US territories as states, specifically those territories where Democratic Party or leftist candidates could be guaranteed to beat Republicans and other fascists in all elections
• greatly expand the size of the house of representatives

but at some point we're going to have to start thinking about things like:

• embed political officers within the military — the organization on the whole skews right, and they might rebel against the counter-coup described above
• launch major, ruthless campaign against violent right-wing organizations, using the COINTELPRO-style methods that the U.S. government typically only uses against left-wing groups.

Even in an over-the-top optimistic scenario wherein the Democrats, emboldened by / afraid of organizations on their left, do what needs to be done to establish democracy in America, even if all the stars align just right, even in this scenario we're in for a long weird ride.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:49 PM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

I can't even tell if people are serious anymore. You're proposing commissars and a NKVD seriously or sarcastically?
posted by Justinian at 1:52 PM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

We have all these ideas for retaking democracy, and what we're going to get is Cory Booker 2020. Because that's how real world Democrats work.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:52 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, our solons are moving on to gerrymander judicial districts as well.
posted by thelonius at 1:53 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

I can't even tell if people are serious anymore. You're proposing commissars and a NKVD seriously or sarcastically?

Purely temporary measures, only until the bourgeoisie can be eliminated altogether.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Lesson of Every Powerful Sexual Assaulter is That Hillary Clinton Is Bad

We will never reach peak Cillizza, but:

It took Hillary Clinton five days to issue this statement about Harvey Weinstein

By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Needless to say, Cillizza is far from the only person to find an angle to make this about Hillary Clinton. There are lessons to be learned here!

• R.I.P. the Sacred Longstanding Principle that losing presidential candidates vanish forever from public life (11/9/16 – 10/10/17).  (Susan Hennessy observes that it would be nice to have what Hillary Clinton is never allowed to speak about and things Hillary Clinton is required to comment on immediately specified in advance. The answer, of course, is whether the underlying issue makes the media look bad.)
• Is the fact that Clinton is still allegedly acting badly despite releasing the statement Cillizza demanded never any right way for Clinton to meet the ad hoc tests created for her by this kind of pundit. If she had released a statement 15 minutes after the first story broke, she would be making it about herself, or revealing her guilt, or something else.
• An admitted sexual predator was the Republican nominee for president of the United States. Cillizza’s reaction to this at the time was to write dozens of stories about his opponent’s email server management and remarkably non-corrupt charity, helping to pave his way to the White House. Heckuva job!

posted by tonycpsu at 1:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [39 favorites]

> I can't even tell if people are serious anymore. You're proposing commissars and a NKVD seriously or sarcastically?

I'm doing that obnoxious thing I do where I see people proposing One Weird Trick to restore democracy, and then, deadpan, noting the things that would have to be done to actually implement that One Weird Trick, and likewise the things that would have to be done to keep armed reactionaries from rebelling against the One Weird Trick.

Note that the Republican Party has thrown a tantrum that's brought the United States to its knees simply because a Black man passed nationwide Romneycare. Imagine what they'll do if we pack the courts and admit new states full of Latinx and Pacific Islander people.

That said: yup, I think we need to pack the courts and admit new states. And I think we need to take the necessary measures to prevent a countercoup following that. I don't think any of that will happen... but, to be fair, back when I started shouting "socialism or barbarism!" I had no idea liberal democracy would start to fall apart so soon, and I didn't expect the unraveling to move so fast once it started.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:59 PM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is looking at Cambridge Analytica’s work for President Donald Trump’s campaign as part of its investigation into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 race, according to sources familiar with the probe.

This is Jared. Oh, I'm getting excited.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:59 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

likewise the things that would have to be done to keep armed reactionaries from rebelling against the One Weird Trick.

Yeah, I always stare in bewilderment when people are like "add 3 extra Supreme Court justices!" or "add 5 new states!" and wonder if people realize things like that are likely to get us from the cold civil war to a hot civil war.
posted by corb at 2:04 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

srsly though all you nice polite liberals need to figure out how to fix your shit, cause it is just beyond weird living in a world where corb and I agree on most substantive issues.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:07 PM on October 11, 2017 [34 favorites]

Kim Davis, the many-times-divorced Kentucky County Clerk who refused to do her job of issuing marriage licenses to people who want to get married, is on a bigotry tour of Romania.

These fucking people.
posted by chaoticgood at 2:07 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

I got a text from my 75 year-old mama:
"I just discovered I have more in common with Eminem than I ever dreamed possible." Hahaha!
As bad as this administration has been for her mental health, she is slowly regaining some of her old spirit. We take turns pulling each other out of the Pit of Despair.
posted by thebrokedown at 2:13 PM on October 11, 2017 [49 favorites]

It's very easy for me to see people getting very upset about 3 extra justices. Adding new states? If Congress were to allow it, it's hard to imagine anyone except rabid partisans too worked up about it (and, uh, they're already rabid).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 2:14 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

lord knows we've never added states before and certainly not in living memory

(the justice thing, while fun to fantasize about, has been tried (by fdr) and iirc he got spanked. still, we need to do something about the blatantly stolen seat, because this aggression will not stand, man)
posted by entropicamericana at 2:17 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Chris Cillizza is literally the worst person in the world.

Ok, fine, I exaggerate (slightly) but he's really a seriously loathsome pile of steaming wombat doo.
posted by holborne at 2:17 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

I don't like the conflation of court packing and adding states. If a territory wants to join, and they have enough support to make that happen, I don't see that as undemocratic. If the result is that there are more D votes in Congress, that's the result, as defined by the will of the people who live in the 51, 52, or whatever states.

Court packing is another matter -- the judiciary needs to be decoupled from politics as much as is humanly possible, so I support anything that keeps any particular side from gaming it. Of course the Republicans just gamed it with Gorsuch, and, while I do not support a retaliatory move, I also don't support unilateral disarmament. The Democrats should use every bit of leverage the Republicans used to get Gorsuch in order to right that wrong and get the Court back to the state it should have been at the end of Obama's term. If they reached further and decided to start packing the Court or whatever, yeah, that's a no-go.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:18 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

So, I'm all for options that aren't Civil War II. I'm also not OK with life continuing on this shitty track here.

Where is door number three and what is behind it? Not the ghost of General Sherman shouting, "The South we'll raze again!" surely.

What is the way forward from being held hostage by the bat shit crazies every time voters participation drops below X% and what is the price that needs to be paid?

And I'd also love to fast forward to the part where any success the democrats have nationally isn't met with threats of violence or revolt when catching_up_with_the_modern_world is the goal. If that time doesn't exist then do we just accept that the crazies win?
posted by Slackermagee at 2:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I always stare in bewilderment when people are like "add 3 extra Supreme Court justices!" or "add 5 new states!" and wonder if people realize things like that are likely to get us from the cold civil war to a hot civil war.

They stole a Supreme Court seat already. The proportional response to theft is Court packing. It's perfectly legal. It's been done many times before. Expanding a statute by 2 is not the road to civil war, while permanent rule by the Republican Judicial Junta once they have one more seat very well may be. This is the one I'm absolutely serious about. Democrats should appoint new justices.

And if that gets you to take up arms, well, once again your side will have started the escalation to violence.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [39 favorites]

I don't like the conflation of court packing and adding states.

Me neither. And if we're looking for low-hanging fruit or the least inflammatory option that gives us the most democratic return, I think increasing the apportionment of representation in the House is it.

All it takes is an act of Congress.
posted by baltimoretim at 2:22 PM on October 11, 2017

Chris Cillizza is literally the worst person in the world.

His wife was a friend of mine's Field Hockey coach in college (CUA). Apparently he's not a bad dude on the whole. He just has the worst opinions.
posted by dis_integration at 2:27 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

this reality is sort of like a psychological real-life version of the movie Funny Games
posted by angrycat at 2:27 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

So, I'm all for options that aren't Civil War II. I'm also not OK with life continuing on this shitty track here.

Where is door number three and what is behind it? Not the ghost of General Sherman shouting, "The South we'll raze again!" surely.

What is the way forward from being held hostage by the bat shit crazies every time voters participation drops below X% and what is the price that needs to be paid?

And I'd also love to fast forward to the part where any success the democrats have nationally isn't met with threats of violence or revolt when catching_up_with_the_modern_world is the goal. If that time doesn't exist then do we just accept that the crazies win?

There's no third way because power doesn't surrender when it's asked nicely. There's a reason why cops don't beat nazis - nazis are reinforcing the power structure, and their opponents threaten it.

The violence is already here. Starving Puerto Rico is violence, just like the prison system is violence. Tacitly state-endorsed gangs of white supremacists are here. Our choices are to stand together, at a terrible cost, or to capitulate, at a greater one.
posted by The Gaffer at 2:35 PM on October 11, 2017 [65 favorites]

The leading-edge algorithms are impenetrable to all except the initiated. And yet, the question being posed is very simple, and the verification that an answer is satisfactory is likewise simple.

So you're saying explaining NP is, itself, an NP problem?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 2:35 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Expanding a statute by 2 is not the road to civil war

Shit, let's add 12 more for an 'even' 21.
posted by mikelieman at 2:36 PM on October 11, 2017

And if we're looking for low-hanging fruit or the least inflammatory option that gives us the most democratic return, I think increasing the apportionment of representation in the House is it.

All it takes is an act of Congress.

Like XMLicious pointed out upthread though, so does court packing.
posted by jason_steakums at 2:37 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't like the conflation of court packing and adding states. If a territory wants to join, and they have enough support to make that happen, I don't see that as undemocratic.

I agree, I was talking more about the people who were saying "Let's admit 5 new Democratic states on Day One" and similar things. Though honestly right now I'm not sure PR is feeling in the mood for anything but independence with how badly the Trump administration is handling things.
posted by corb at 2:42 PM on October 11, 2017

Not to worry everyone - if flaming bag of demented assaulty poo can beat a candidate exponentially more qualified, the Democrats can lose all over again so this is never going to be a problem!

Seriously though, I'm not seeing or hearing about any change at the DNC or the DCCC or the Double-D-XYZ committee and I've have had several decades to expect The Democrats to run lukewarm ads for so-so candidates and get the snot beat out of us again. (Maybe this DSA thing has the goods, I dunno. Yes, I should volunteer and contribute, but somehow I doubt that's the common thread here.)

I'm just saying it's never been so objectively bad the Dems can't lose. Reagan. Reagan II. Bush. Bush Jr. Bush Jr II. And now Clownwig the Mad. And "Better Jobs" is what we've got so far? I don't think there's an appropriate 80's-style Kenny Loggins-themed soundtracked smashcut montage to go with that. And THAT probably cost a million dollars.

We're through The Dean Scream here, people.
posted by petebest at 2:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

Yeah, I always stare in bewilderment when people are like "add 3 extra Supreme Court justices!" or "add 5 new states!" and wonder if people realize things like that are likely to get us from the cold civil war to a hot civil war.

Why think that court packing would be any more likely to lead to a hot civil war than the blatant disregard for the rule of law that we saw with the Gorsuch confirmation? I think you still don't really get how unforgivable that was. What the Republicans did to Obama on the Garland nomination was within the letter of the Constitution. But it was clearly, clearly a violation of its spirit. Suspending the filibuster to ram Gorsuch through was adding insult to injury. I think the minimal acceptable response at this point is to remove Gorsuch and replace him. If that's not possible, then court packing is the next best alternative. If Democrats are unwilling to do that when they have power again. Well. I don't think you'll have to look to the reactionary right for the next civil war.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 2:46 PM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

"We cannot foresee a situation in which a competent and properly informed US president would ..."

But what about in the meantime?
posted by MtDewd at 2:47 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump Seethes as Advisers Fear the President Is “Unraveling”:

If you want to destroy this POTUS
Tell the truth then just walk away
Watch him unravel - he'll soon be seething
Lying in his tweets he's come undone
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:48 PM on October 11, 2017 [29 favorites]

> the judiciary needs to be decoupled from politics as much as is humanly possible, so I support anything that keeps any particular side from gaming it.

This is what I used to think — that although justice can't be fully decoupled from politics, attempting to devise formal legal systems as separated as possible from moment-to-moment political concerns was the way forward.

Weirdly, it was reading an old article by arch-technocrat-liberal Lawrence Lessig that started me off on the path toward thinking that not only is justice inseparable from politics, justice is entirely inseparable from politics — that politics, at its core, is an active neverending struggle over what counts as just and what counts as unjust, and that therefore law and the institutions that carry out law are always shot through in every particular with politics.

At one point in that article Lessig explains what led him to his terrible performance in the Eldred v. Ashcroft copyright case as follows:

The idea that the Supreme Court decides cases based upon justices' political preferences struck me as extraordinarily boring. I was not going to devote my life to teaching constitutional law if these nine justices were going to be petty politicians.

Driven by this intuition, Lessig crafted an apolitical argument in Eldred v. Ashcroft. Because the Supreme Court is indeed a political institution — despite how boring that fact is to Lessig — he lost badly.

Earlier in this thread there was a little tangent about strict constructionist textual interpretations; I added that there's a commonality in the rhetorical strategies deployed by strict constructionists and religious fundamentalists, since both make claims that can be loosely summarized as "this text speaks for itself without any interpretation needed, and let me tell you what it says."

Although there is not enough space in this comment box for a proof of this claim, I would like to posit that there's in turn a commonality between the constructionist/fundamentalist reading strategy and the liberal idea that law can be depoliticized, even partially. Whereas constructionist/fundamentalist reading strategies hinge on the idea that texts speak for themselves, liberal ideas of depoliticized law are derived from a sense that written law can carry itself out; that we can build a textual-legal apparatus that can make fair and consistent decisions for us based on semi-formal rules, without messy human politics intruding on the application of those rules. As Lessig so painfully learned in Eldred v. Ashcroft, this idea is, when push comes to shove, balderdash.

As I see it, the dramatic failures of the Democratic Party to recognize the threat to democracy leveled by the Republican Party can be similarly explained by the leadership of that party having succumbed to the idea that justice can be depoliticized; this is why they continually focus on establishing rules that look "fair" (see: the Democratic Senate's reëstablishment of the blue slip system) instead of accepting that politics exist and taking power when it's given to them.

And so tl;dr instead of pretending that political actors can set up a depoliticized system, we must (I argue) accept that we are cursed to be always-already within politics — that there never has been, never will be, and cannot be a depoliticized system for the administration of justice — and we must either act according to this grim truth or else learn to enjoy getting stomped on by fascists.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

Well, DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison seems to be at least talking the talk. Now, we have yet to see whether this deputy is allowed to be better armed than Deputy Barney Fife (who Sheriff Andy gave ONE bullet that he kept in his pocket, not his gun).
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

> Why think that court packing would be any more likely to lead to a hot civil war than the blatant disregard for the rule of law that we saw with the Gorsuch confirmation?

because liberals think that being right and being nice is more important than winning power and using power, and so they're loathe to even take to the streets in protest, much less take up arms.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

because liberals think that being right and being nice is more important than winning power and using power, and so they're loathe to take up arms. Even when good people will die if they don't.

I disagree with your decision to stab me, but I will defend to my death your right to swing a knife around.
posted by The Gaffer at 3:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

(apologies for the edit window abuse there, btw. Today I keep finding myself making apocalyptic statements and then thinking "wait that's a bit much." I blame Trump-induced madness and the fact that a giant cloud of hellish smoke has descended on the Bay Area.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:08 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump was largely following the prompter, but paused that to conduct an applause-o-meter poll on whether people like "Made in America" or "Made in the USA" better. Then he spots Jeffrey Lord in the crowd: "he was one of my few sources of truth" among the fake news and describes his presence at the rally as "a great honor," calls him a "good man."

That "good man" was fired in August for tweeting "Sieg Heil!" at the head of Media Matters.
posted by zachlipton at 3:10 PM on October 11, 2017 [35 favorites]

because liberals think that being right and being nice is more important than winning power and using power, and so they're loathe to even take to the streets in protest, much less take up arms.

For most that's no doubt true. Though lots of people have been in the streets protesting since January. But it's also true of "conservatives" that they are, on the whole, loathe to take up arms. That's because very few people really want to take up arms. So the question again: Why think that people on the political right will be more likely to literally take up arms in reaction to perfectly legal court packing than were people on the left in reaction to nominally legal (though, I think, really deeply illegal) court shenanigans?
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 3:11 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think you still don't really get how unforgivable that was. What the Republicans did to Obama on the Garland nomination was within the letter of the Constitution. But it was clearly, clearly a violation of its spirit. Suspending the filibuster to ram Gorsuch through was adding insult to injury. I think the minimal acceptable response at this point is to remove Gorsuch and replace him.

Honestly I am not hearing enough of this from anyone else. I agree, full stop. But nobody's laying the groundwork to treat Gorsuch's seat as illegitimate. Nobody's floating trial balloons, nobody's building a narrative.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 3:11 PM on October 11, 2017 [31 favorites]

> and we must either act according to this grim truth or else learn to enjoy getting stomped on by fascists.

This is the second order cybernetic insight.
posted by stonepharisee at 3:11 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Day One: Statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington DC, USVI.
9 new House reps, 8 new Senators.

> Marshall Islands is the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Already their own country (though they do have a Compact of Free Association with the US).

Puerto Rico's Partido Popular Democrático, which is affiliated with the mainland Democratic Party, is opposed to Puerto Rico becoming a state and wants a semi-independent status similar to the Marshall Islands.

There's a constitutional process US territories have to go through to become states, which includes citizens of the territory voting in a referendum for a proposed state constitution, and congress voting to approve their admission as a state. This isn't something a new president can enact by decree on "day one". And in previous referenda on statehood on Puerto Rico, most citizens have voted "no".
posted by nangar at 3:13 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

And so tl;dr instead of pretending that political actors can set up a depoliticized system, we must (I argue) accept that we are cursed to be always-already within politics — that there never has been, never will be, and cannot be a depoliticized system for the administration of justice — and we must either act according to this grim truth or else learn to enjoy getting stomped on by fascists.

American exceptionalism will always be cursed by the existence of Canada and its evidence of the possible.
posted by srboisvert at 3:14 PM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

> > and we must either act according to this grim truth or else learn to enjoy getting stomped on by fascists.

This is the second order cybernetic insight.

This is where I admit that pretty much my whole deal is just marx + cybernetics.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:15 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Why think that people on the political right will be more likely to literally take up arms in reaction to perfectly legal court packing than were people on the left in reaction to nominally legal (though, I think, really deeply illegal) court shenanigans?

Because they have already staged the Brooks Brothers riot?
posted by srboisvert at 3:16 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Sacramento Bee, Steyer takes a shot at Feinstein, ‘very much looking at the Senate seat’

Tom Steyer, the liberal California billionaire donor who wants President Donald Trump impeached, took a broadside at U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and may run against her, a close associate said Wednesday.

The associate said Steyer feels the need to challenge the Democratic establishment to stand tougher against Trump and is “very much looking at the Senate seat” held by fellow Democrat Feinstein as a way to accomplish that.

Steyer’s criticism of Feinstein came in a letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a day after the 84-year-old incumbent had announced her bid for a fifth full term in 2018.

Steyer urged candidates to support impeachment, writing “this is not a time for ‘patience.’” “Donald Trump is not fit for office,” he continued. “It is clear for all to see that there is zero reason to believe ‘he can be a good president.’”

its(maybe)happening.gif
posted by zachlipton at 3:17 PM on October 11, 2017 [15 favorites]

because liberals think that being right and being nice is more important than winning power and using power, and so they're loathe to even take to the streets in protest, much less take up arms.

Not anymore.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:20 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Because they have already staged the Brooks Brothers riot?

That was a demonstration that turned violent. Unless I'm missing something in the history, though, it was not an example of the political right taking up arms.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 3:20 PM on October 11, 2017

Considering the Trump Administration response to one protest that got 'kinda violent' (200 arrests for rioting and a full legal assault on the website used for organizing), 'taking up arms' is only going to increase the income for the for-profit prisons. What's needed is not only standing firm and unmoving (remember 'nevertheless she persisted'?) but using some finesse (a quality not ever applied to anyone named Clinton... or Obama) and even some misdirection (to use a football metaphor, when they expect a 'hail mary' pass, do an end run, even if it doesn't gain as much yardage the first time).
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

(okay really my whole deal is marx + cybernetics + more marx — the old M+C+M' circuit.)

todo:
make obscure joke about orders of infinity
lay out materialist theory of law
make recherché reference to the early chapters of Capital
actually get work done today
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:22 PM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

Mother Jones, Dan Friedman, Trump Just Blew Off a Deadline for Implementing Russian Sanctions He Approved

The White House has blown by an October 1 deadline for beginning to implement new sanctions targeting Russia, drawing concern in Congress that President Donald Trump is planning to ignore parts of a bill he grudgingly signed in August.

“The delay calls into question the Trump administration’s commitment to the sanctions bill which was signed into law more than two months ago, following months of public debate and negotiations in Congress,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said in a joint statement Wednesday. “They’ve had plenty of time to get their act together.”

The bill required the Trump administration to issue by October 1 “regulations or other guidance to specify the persons that are a part of, or operate for or on behalf of, the defense and intelligence sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation.” The administration has yet to do so. The Treasury and State departments also have not issued guidance on their plans for imposing the measure, a Senate aide said. The aide said that members of the White House’s National Security Council have assured senators that they are “getting to” the sanctions and “it’s gonna happen.” But lawmakers are wary.

Cardin and McCain said the White House has also ignored a September 28 letter they sent asking for information on implementation plans. “In addition to the administration’s lack of responsiveness on this deadline, there does not appear to be a significant diplomatic effort to engage our allies in Europe and lead an effort to increase pressure on Moscow,” they said in their joint statement. “Congressional intent was clear, reflected in the overwhelming bipartisan majority in favor of the legislation.”

Yeah that's not suspicious at all.
posted by zachlipton at 3:24 PM on October 11, 2017 [74 favorites]

And in previous referenda on statehood on Puerto Rico, most citizens have voted "no".

In the most recent one, I believe the result was "yes", though.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

there does not appear to be a significant diplomatic effort to engage our allies in Europe and lead an effort to increase pressure on Moscow

There does however appear to be a significant effort to work with our enemies in Moscow to increase pressure on Europe.
posted by diogenes at 3:28 PM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

And in previous referenda on statehood on Puerto Rico, most citizens have voted "no".

Previous as in "in the previous century," yes. You have to go back to 1998 to find a referendum where statehood was rejected and that was 46% to 50%. So even if you rewind an entire voting generation you don't get to "most citizens have voted no." You can argue reasonably that the 2012 referendum was badly worded but in that case the minority wanted to keep the current scheme.
posted by phearlez at 3:32 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

>> And so tl;dr instead of pretending that political actors can set up a depoliticized system, we must (I argue) accept that we are cursed to be always-already within politics — that there never has been, never will be, and cannot be a depoliticized system for the administration of justice — and we must either act according to this grim truth or else learn to enjoy getting stomped on by fascists.

> American exceptionalism will always be cursed by the existence of Canada and its evidence of the possible.

If I'm understanding you correctly, it seems less like I'm making an American exceptionalist argument and more that you're making a Canadian exceptionalist one. As I see it, Canadian law — like German law, like U.K. law, like Chinese law, like United States law — is always-already political; it's just that at this moment politics in Canada are less inimical to human life than United States politics are.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:33 PM on October 11, 2017

There's no third way because power doesn't surrender when it's asked nicely.

Nor does it get voted out when only 14% of the fucking voters turn up to the polls.

I know voting doesn't feel as fist-swingy and fun, but it actually might work if everyone actually did it for a change.

I know I sound bitter, and maybe naive. But we're looking at a situation where in New York City, only 14% of the eligible voters showed up to the primaries - which means that Cy Vance, a.k.a. the DA who let Trump pay him off to drop a suit against the Trump Kids, a.k.a. the DA who dropped a rock-solid case against Harvey Weinstein back in 2015, is going to get re-elected because he won the primary and no one is opposing him from the other party. I have a feeling the other 86% of voters showing up might have altered things somewhat.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:34 PM on October 11, 2017 [27 favorites]

> Nor does it get voted out when only 14% of the fucking voters turn up to the polls.

I know voting doesn't feel as fist-swingy and fun, but it actually might work if everyone actually did it for a change.

And, in turn, people might be more likely to vote if there was a sense that the Democratic Party would actually take power when given it.

Despite the apocalyptic turn I've taken lately, and despite how most real commies are like "ew reformism get it away from me" about DSA, I really am feeling hopeful about the rise of DSA and about DSA's medium-term influence on the Democratic Party.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm not arguing against voting, I'm saying that anything done to create systemic change or to bring actual justice will see real opposition, opposition that isn't Marquis of Queensbury.

I know it doesn't feel as safe and comfortable, but getting those people to the polls means offering real change, and that means stepping on some toes.
posted by The Gaffer at 3:46 PM on October 11, 2017

Yeah there’s some interparty fighting about Marc running a write in compain (and some of it is that libs like him) but basically anything that gets people thinking about the DA race and more involved is good (and I’m biased, a gay DA who isn’t a MONSTER is a huge plus in my book) it’s mostly about cooks control in that he’s not endorsed but he is vocal about being a DSA member everyone is touchy about how we’re seen in media.

Gah, it’s so complicated, and not at all where I was this time last year. If I’ve turned COMPLETELY red in 9 months then we can reach other people as well (and electoral is but one tool in our shed)
posted by The Whelk at 3:47 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

But yeah, the answer to the problems of democracy is more democracy.
posted by The Whelk at 3:48 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

that means stepping on some toes.

Explain!
posted by petebest at 3:50 PM on October 11, 2017

Apparently he's not a bad dude on the whole. He just has the worst opinions.

I’m one to judge people by actions not words. But when you’re a columnist/pundit, your words, your opinions are your actions. That’s what he contributes to society. So fuck him with his horrendous takes. He’s every bit as awful of a person as he is a pundit. No different than if his job was pouring pollutants into the water supply, which is basically what he does.
posted by chris24 at 3:54 PM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

Like, what are the tools of the left and how can we best use them?

ELECTORAL- voting in sympathetic people, getting your people in power, pushing the Overton window
MUTUAL AID - intervention in people’s lives to replace failing social services, from fixing brake lights to having free breakfasts to disaster relief
TRADE UNIONISM - collective action and bargaining, organizing around labor and the means of production
SOLIDARITY - an injury to one is an injury to all, intersectionality, supporting anyone oppressed or injured by the top
DIRECT ACTION - protests, boycotts, mass organized strikes, marches
POLITICAL EDUCATION - consciousness raising, canvassing, bringing the message to people, education and arguments, straight up PR
posted by The Whelk at 3:57 PM on October 11, 2017 [51 favorites]

Yeah, I always stare in bewilderment when people are like "add 3 extra Supreme Court justices!" or "add 5 new states!" and wonder if people realize things like that are likely to get us from the cold civil war to a hot civil war.

So instead you'd rather avoid doing something legal that's a good idea because of an assumed threat of violence that may or may not be real?

Screw that. If something is a good idea and we can get it done, get it done. We'll worry about the threat of civil war II if and when the threat materializes.
posted by VTX at 3:59 PM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

That was a demonstration that turned violent. Unless I'm missing something in the history, though, it was not an example of the political right taking up arms.

You don't seem to understand that it was fake. They manufactured a bogus demonstration. Those political operatives got violent deliberately. Then the violence was used to justify the supreme court's actions to avoid unrest. It was an ultra-light coup. Back when they cared a bit about appearances.

This time around?
posted by srboisvert at 4:05 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Like, what are the tools of the left and how can we best use them?

In my anarchist opinion, I do not think of those as tools of the left, or not ones they've been using lately.
posted by jessamyn at 4:13 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Explain!

So, let's say that we have some candidate(s) for office that want to end police brutality, extrajudicial murder in their bailiwick. This candidate is proposing whatever actual reform leads to cops that murder, assault, etc. people going to actual prison.

This candidate is going to see some real pushback. They're going to get condemnations from police-affiliated groups that will get pious retellings from various media sources. Powerful donors will threaten to back out if that candidate isn't ostracized. If they're leading an actual movement, cops will beat, arrest, perjure themselves against supporters, and there will be no official remedy. Remember that resisting arrest is more or less a "fuck you" that cops can apply as they desire.

This will not just be a Republican effort. Mainstream Democrats, especially Democrats with some measure of comfort will participate in our usual veneration of cops and hatred of reform and willful ignorance of our atrocities.

Whatever the manifestation, there will be found some moderate excuse to wash one's hands, while those with actual power act against change. Remember how BLM protestors are tarred and propagandized against, while Blue Lives Matter* protestors are painted as earnest patriots.

* whose position is entirely that cops should be able to brutalize and murder black people without consequence.
posted by The Gaffer at 4:22 PM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

You don't seem to understand that it was fake.

No, I get that. I just don't think the escalation to armed conflict is so obvious.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 4:27 PM on October 11, 2017

MetaFilter: We take turns pulling each other out of the Pit of Despair.
posted by Johann Georg Faust at 4:37 PM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

MetaFilter: We take turns pulling each other out of the Pit of Despair.

Out of?
posted by Existential Dread at 4:42 PM on October 11, 2017 [22 favorites]

Journalist-assaulting thug congressman Greg Gianforte's mugshot was released. It's less a portrait of remorse and more a U MAD LOL face, as he were possessed by an alt-right version of Twin Peaks's Bob (presumably with the face of Pepe).

It's also clear that he got special treatment: there's no goddamned way a normal mugshot for a normal assault would lack all the trappings (labels, height markings, alternate angles etc) that we Americans love for shame-association purposes. It might as well be a passport photo.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:46 PM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS - NOVEMBER ADDENDUM

Three late-breaking candidates for Maine and Massachusetts. These are all Nov 7 general election dates.

====

Maine House 56 -- Scott Gaiason

HD-56 is currently an R seat (the incumbent passed away); the R won 58-42 in 2016, was unopposed in 2014, and won 52-47 in 2012. The district was won by Trump 57-35 but by Obama 50-47. Interesting candidate matchup here - the D is the 2016 candidate, the R is the widower of the former incumbent (their son is the Senate Majority Leader).

=> Seems like a pickup is possible, but I wonder how the sympathy vote will play in, plus this is clearly a well-known family locally.

====

Massachusetts House 1st Berkshire -- John Barrett

HD-1st Berkshire is currently a D seat (the incumbent passed away); the D was unopposed in 2016, 2014, and 2012. The district was won by Clinton 65-29 and Obama 76-22. The D is the former longtime mayor of North Adams.

=> Should be an easy D hold (but get a website, John).

====

Massachusetts House 3rd Essex -- Andy Vargas

HD-3rd Essex is currently a D seat (the incumbent resigned for a lobbying job); the D was unopposed in 2016, 2014, and 2012. The district was won by Clinton 55-39 and by Obama 58-40.

=> Should be easy D hold.

posted by Chrysostom at 4:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [15 favorites]

I'm smiling in my mugshot but in my defense, I was tripping balls.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [41 favorites]

filthy light thief: "Let's get those coal states to set up wind turbine technician training centers in dying coal towns, train the current and possible future coal miners and to be technicians in a booming field, and extend and improve their lives, and the health of the earth."

Here's an interesting article on that just the other day in the NYT.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:57 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

McMaster briefed members of Congress today on Trump's plans to refuse to certify the Iran deal. One important detail: he only briefed Republicans. Because apparently, pretending that the minority party even exists isn't part of the plan anymore.
posted by zachlipton at 5:09 PM on October 11, 2017 [40 favorites]

leotrotsky: "The House will never pass an Act that drastically reduces the power of individual Congresspeople."

Getting rid of blue slips reduces the power of individual Senators, but here we are.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:11 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** VA gov:

-- Victoria Research poll has Northam up 46-44. That one is a couple of weeks old, not sure why it is just coming out. Note that Victoria is a Dem shop.

-- Obama coming to Richmond to stump for Northam.

Odds & ends:

-- Tech engineering group mobilizing to help Dems.

-- How DailyKos picks candidates to support.

-- New Quinnipiac poll has Trump support at 38-56.

posted by Chrysostom at 5:36 PM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

“The delay calls into question the Trump administration’s commitment to the sanctions bill which was signed into law more than two months ago, following months of public debate and negotiations in Congress,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said in a joint statement Wednesday. “They’ve had plenty of time to get their act together.”

Well, McCain, your remedies are either holding his tax cuts and confirmations hostage until he does it, passing bills to defund things he considers important (hey, defunding CBP and ICE would get his ass in gear) until he does it, or pressuring the House to impeach and your fellow senators to convict, and everybody knows you won't, so maybe stop wringing your hands about it until you're prepared to do something.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:49 PM on October 11, 2017 [9 favorites]

Whoa, McConnell walking back blue slip abolition:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will continue to honor the blue slip rule ― an arcane but hugely consequential Senate tradition that lets lawmakers block a president’s judicial nominees from their home states ― even though a news article suggested he would get rid of it, his spokesman said. [HuffPo]

posted by Chrysostom at 5:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [39 favorites]

It has been noted frequently that 45 is the first President in a lo-o-ong time NOT to have a dog. Apparently, Vlad Putin has them all.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:57 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Whoa, McConnell walking back blue slip abolition

So now we get to see what a chaotic, leaderless, do-nothing Senate really looks like!
posted by Glibpaxman at 6:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

So now we get to see what a chaotic, leaderless, do-nothing Senate really looks like!

A little bit louder a little bit worse? 10th month same as the 9th?
posted by Talez at 6:01 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Tonight on Frontline: War on the EPA

How did Scott Pruitt go from fighting the EPA to running the agency and rolling back years of environmental protections? With access to key players behind his rise, “War on the EPA” is an inside look at the triumphant ascent of the anti-regulatory movement in America.

To Sway Scott Pruitt, EPA Experts Must “Hope Against Hope,” Says Former Insider
posted by homunculus at 6:12 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Sure feels like infighting, but who knows.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:25 PM on October 11, 2017

Trump's Hannity interview is bonkers. Here he is conflating the national debt and the performance of the stock market, as if they can cancel each other out. He also blames Hillary for wanting to shut down coal production, because nothing ever changes. He claims "I actually think right now we have the votes" because I guess his Senator got out of the fake hospital or something.

Also, two stories on the health care executive order that's expected for tomorrow:
WSJ, In Start to Unwinding the Health Law, Trump to Ease Insurance Rules
The Hill, Officials detail Trump executive order on healthcare coming Thursday
It's sounding like they may preserve the individual mandate for now and limit the association health plans to small businesses, rather than the individual market, which wouldn't be as catastrophic, but allowing "short term" plans to siphon off healthy people will raise premiums for everyone else.
posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Update: The "Klan robe" turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Upon closer inspection and research, we learned that the hooded, white robe in question was actually a Catholic religious garment of some type. No Klan robes were burned tonight.

Meanwhile, on Facebook, Robert Reich has posted a new conversation with his (possibly imaginary) friend, the former Republican congressperson. Take it with as much salt as you require. A full copy-and-paste follows for the Facebook-averse.

This morning I phoned my old friend, a Republican former member of Congress.

Me: So what’s up? Is Corker alone, or are others also ready to call it quits with Trump?

He: All I know is they’re simmering over there.

Me: Flake and McCain have come pretty close.

He: Yeah. Others are thinking about doing what Bob did. Sounding the alarm. They think Trump’s nuts. Unfit. Dangerous.

Me: Well, they already knew that, didn’t they?

He: But now it’s personal. It started with the Sessions stuff. Jeff was as loyal as they come. Trump’s crapping on him was like kicking your puppy. And then, you know, him beating up on Mitch for the Obamacare fiasco. And going after Flake and the others.

Me: So they're pissed off?

He: Not just that. I mean, they have thick hides. The personal stuff got them to notice all the other things. The wild stuff, like those threats to North Korea. Tillerson would leave tomorrow if he wasn’t so worried Trump would go nuclear, literally.

Me: You think Trump is really thinking nuclear war?

He: Who knows what’s in his head? But I can tell you this. He’s not listening to anyone. Not a soul. He’s got the nuclear codes and, well, it scares the hell out of me. It’s starting to scare all of them. That’s really why Bob spoke up.

Me: So what could they do? I mean, even if the whole Republican leadership was willing to say publicly he’s unfit to serve, what then?

He: Bingo! The emperor has no clothes. It’s a signal to everyone they can bail. Have to bail to save their skins. I mean, Trump could be the end of the whole goddam Republican party.

Me: If he starts a nuclear war, that could be the end of everything.

He: Yeah, right. So when they start bailing on him, the stage is set.

Me: For what?

He: Impeachment. 25th amendment.

Me: You think Republicans would go that far?

He: Not yet. Here’s the thing. They really want to get this tax bill through. That’s all they have going for them. They don’t want to face voters in ’18 or ’20 without something to show for it. They’re just praying Trump doesn’t do something really, really stupid before the tax bill.

Me: Like a nuclear war?

He: Look, all I can tell you is many of the people I talk with are getting freaked out. It’s not as if there’s any careful strategizing going on. Not like, well, do we balance the tax bill against nuclear war? No, no. They’re worried as hell. They’re also worried about Trump crazies, all the ignoramuses he’s stirred up. I mean, Roy Moore? How many more of them do you need to destroy the party?

Me: So what’s gonna happen?

He: You got me. I’m just glad I’m not there anymore. Trump’s not just a moron. He’s a despicable human being. And he’s getting crazier. Paranoid. Unhinged. Everyone knows it. I mean, we’re in shit up to our eyeballs with this guy.

posted by Faint of Butt at 6:30 PM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

Robert Reich writes the best and most terrifying Trump fan fiction because its believable. I believe the Republicans are so stupid and venal that they'd risk nuclear war if it means getting their precious tax cuts for zillionaires. I believe their zillionaire backers are willing to risk being reduced to ashes if it means they might have a chance to resurface their driveway with latiinum (extra expensive because its currently fictional, just like Reich's imaginary friend).

None the less, it feels believable so I want to believe it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:39 PM on October 11, 2017 [10 favorites]

Only in Massachusetts? There are now two candidates who are not only competing for a Congressional seat opening up next year (Niki Tsongas, D-3rd, is retiring) but for the right to call themselves "Trump's worst nightmare." Juana Matias, a Dominican immigrant who is now a state rep from Lowell, declared she would be Trump's worst nightmare last week. Nadeem Mazen, a Muslim city councilor in Cambridge (which is outside the district, but he grew up in one of the towns in the district) says he's already Trump's worst nightmare.
posted by adamg at 6:39 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Re:Reich. David Vitter? Dan Coats? Max Baucus? Harry Reid?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:42 PM on October 11, 2017

I mean, the latter two are Democrats, but I am trying to think of former senators that would go idgaf talking to Reich.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:46 PM on October 11, 2017

How credible is Robert Reich, normally?

People with actual sources > Seth Abramson > Robert Reich > Louise Menchiverse
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:46 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Rick Perry has been trying to kill renewables

He's trying to break wind?
posted by ctmf at 6:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [40 favorites]

Trump on missile defense: "We have a missile that can knock out a missile 97 percent of the time. So if you fire two you're gonna get it."

As Max Fisher writes: "This is not remotely correct, and it’s worrying if the USG doesn’t know own BMD success rate" [I believe that's Ballistic Missile Defense]
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

Robert Reich writes the best and most terrifying Trump fan fiction because its believable.

Owen Ellickson's months-long twitter thread is the best and most terrifying Trump fan fiction because it made you laugh, made you cry, was truthful without being literally true... but most importantly, made you feel "no way could this guy win the election."
posted by infinitewindow at 6:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

MA-03 already has five Dem candidates, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more. The Massachusetts delegation tends to be pretty long-lived, so when a spot opens up, there's a long line of people who want it.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:56 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Owen Ellickson's months-long twitter thread is the best and most terrifying Trump fan fiction because it made you laugh, made you cry, was truthful without being literally true... but most importantly, made you feel "no way could this guy win the election."

So much like Metafilter all last year. *breaks into heavy sobs*
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:57 PM on October 11, 2017 [18 favorites]

Trump on missile defense: "We have a missile that can knock out a missile 97 percent of the time. So if you fire two you're gonna get it."

As Max Fisher writes: "This is not remotely correct, and it’s worrying if the USG doesn’t know own BMD success rate" [I believe that's Ballistic Missile Defense]

97% IS NOT REMOTELY ACCEPTABLE. IT ONLY TAKES ONE.

The real rate is about 50%. Out of only 19 trials since 1999.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:58 PM on October 11, 2017 [27 favorites]

I texted my brother and told him his Wharton MBA is trash.

Trump doesn't have a Wharton MBA although he often implies that he does. Trump spent two undergraduate years at Fordham University and then two undergraduate years at U Penn. He took some undergraduate courses in business at the Wharton School. He has a plain old bachelor degree in business, not an MBA.
posted by JackFlash at 7:10 PM on October 11, 2017 [31 favorites]

So if you fire two, you get a 75% chance of hitting your target. Is that right?

So then how many would you need to fire to get up to a 97% chance?
posted by VTX at 7:13 PM on October 11, 2017

This morning I phoned my old friend, a Republican former member of Congress.

Re:Reich. David Vitter? Dan Coats? Max Baucus? Harry Reid?

Sounds too sober to be John Boehner.

Harry Reid is a Dem
posted by chaoticgood at 7:16 PM on October 11, 2017

The Reich posts don't sound like real conversations. I'm assuming they're an amalgam of stuff he's hearing, and he's not great at writing dialog. He should be more clear about what he's doing with those posts.
posted by diogenes at 7:17 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Why so Cynical, diogenes?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [36 favorites]

Not to reignite any primaries talks, but I'll say this much for Reich: even as someone who never really dug Bernie, I found Reich's early pro-Bernie posts much more sensible than the stuff he's saying now. Like at least back in the primaries Reich was talking more policy and facts and figures and proposals. His post-election stuff really sounds like he's just making shit up.

It's not completely unbelievable or anything, but it's awful... narratively convenient. If he turns out to have been legit on all of these things I'll write an apology to him on a cake and eat it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

> 97% IS NOT REMOTELY ACCEPTABLE. IT ONLY TAKES ONE.

okay so I stepped away from the thread and got some work done and decided to pop back in after dinner and...

... well, I need you all to tell me to stop panicking. There's no way the United States could actually have a secret, reliable anti-missile system, right? all the tests for such a thing would have to take place in open air where satellites can see, right? It is not possible that General [x] and General [y] have told him we've got a beyond-top-secret 97% reliability anti-missile system, and that he's planning on launching nuclear weapons against North Korea next Wednesday, and because he's a total fucking moron he's just revealed that the logic of mutually assured destruction has broken down, right? because that is the most species-suicidal thing a president of the united states could ever publicly announce.

if it's possible that that is true, every country with means to put a nuclear weapon on a container ship has just put a nuclear weapon on a container ship. even if it's not true, even if the fucking moron was just making dumb shit up, if it's possible that it's true we're now in a world where the leaders of every nuclear-armed nation thinks it's possible that the logic of mutually assured destruction has broken down. that is, um, bad. that is literally the worst.

please talk me down folx. I'll tell more funny math jokes if you talk me down. I will be thread morale officer forever if you can pull me out of the pit of despair right now.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:28 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

So then how many would you need to fire to get up to a 97% chance?

Enough to look a whole lot like an attack on Russia.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:29 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Capturing the beauty of MetaFilter in a comment right there:

Why so Cynical, diogenes?
posted by Barack Spinoza
posted by AwkwardPause at 7:29 PM on October 11, 2017 [44 favorites]

There's no way the United States could actually have a secret, reliable anti-missile system, right?

No, there's not.

all the tests for such a thing would have to take place in open air where satellites can see, right?

Yes, they would.

It is not possible that General [x] and General [y] have told him we've got a beyond-top-secret 97% reliability anti-missile system,

Nope.

and that he's planning on launching nuclear weapons against North Korea next Wednesday, and because he's a total fucking moron he's just revealed that the logic of mutually assured destruction has broken down, right?

Ah, now there I can't help as much.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:39 PM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

thanks!

(what's big and grey and proves the uncountability of the reals?

...

...

cantor's diagonal elephant.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:40 PM on October 11, 2017 [20 favorites]

This tweet from Sen. Ben Sasse certainly seems to be another ratchet up on Senate contempt of Trump:

Mr. President:
Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan. 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?

Insert standard commentary about "great, why don't you actually DO something about it?" but I do think that this follows on the Corker stuff as a slow path upward. I totally agree that they should have been convening impeachment hearings by say, early March, but this has the air of something going somewhere.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:45 PM on October 11, 2017 [38 favorites]

Secretary Mattis: “Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the US nuclear arsenal are absolutely false."

Mattis choking down some hefty meatloaf.
posted by JackFlash at 7:51 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

cantor's diagonal elephant.

“I don’t see any elephant!”
“That’s because the first one is Eleph Null.”
posted by leotrotsky at 7:54 PM on October 11, 2017 [14 favorites]

I cannot get a read on anything Ben Sasse at all. From what I understand he's a closet Dem but is more obsessed with being the cool guy republican to attract a younger base, yet wrote a tone deaf book on snake people being pudding soft.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:55 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Speaking of Ben Sasse...he isn't making Hannity happy tonight:

@seanhannity: One of the biggest mistakes in my career was supporting @BenSasse Just useless.

posted by mmascolino at 8:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ben Sasse is going to be a serious contender in 2020. He is a Republican who has TV charisma and is positioning himself for a run. Someone to really watch out for and potentially dangerous.
posted by JackFlash at 8:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

I cannot get a read on anything Ben Sasse at all.

Think of him as angling to be the new John McCain, without any of the track record. Occasionally says the "right" thing and wants all the credit for it, but has never once voted against the orthodox Republican party line and is a long shot to ever actual do so.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [29 favorites]

The World Famous: "So, following that bizarre analysis"

Bizarre? It's the most sense a Republican talking about Economics has made since the 70s.

I'm sure he was trying to prove some other horrible point, but instead we got a Freshman-level defense of Keynesian economics (which, though perhaps lacking in nuance, is somehow still more coherent than anything we've seen out of the GOP in a generation).

Far from me to defend the guy, but, uh... that's a pretty solid case in favor of deficit spending and the policies of the Obama administration.
posted by schmod at 8:01 PM on October 11, 2017

please talk me down folx. I'll tell more funny math jokes if you talk me down. I will be thread morale officer forever if you can pull me out of the pit of despair right now.

stop panicking

Everybody with nukes knows trump talks out of his ass and think his microwave hot pockets are magic

math isn't funny
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:09 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

> math isn't funny

well i was going to tell a joke about imaginary numbers... but it's probably too complex...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:15 PM on October 11, 2017 [64 favorites]

DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT
posted by Chrysostom at 8:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [25 favorites]

Btw, this is a nice list of Things You Can Do to help Dems get elected Nov 7. Many, but not all of which, have been mentioned here.

The subreddit is new to me, but looks pretty decent.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Noticeably absent from the nice list of things you can do to help Dems get elected Nov 7th? VOTE.
posted by Justinian at 8:30 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Fine, it's for people who don't live in the places where the elections are being held. Fiiine.
posted by Justinian at 8:31 PM on October 11, 2017

DELETE YOUR PRESIDENCY
posted by kirkaracha at 8:33 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

WaPo, ‘He threw a fit’: Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise

President Trump was livid. Why, he asked his advisers in mid-July, should he go along with what he considered the failed Obama-era policy toward Iran and prop up an international nuclear deal he saw as disastrous?

He was incensed by the arguments of Secretary of State Rex ­Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others that the landmark 2015 deal, while flawed, offered stability and other benefits. He did not want to certify to Congress that the agreement remained in the vital U.S. national security interest and that Iran was meeting its obligations. He did not think either was true.

“He threw a fit,” said one person familiar with the meeting. “. . . He was furious. Really furious. It’s clear he felt jammed.”

So White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other senior advisers came up with a plan — one aimed at accommodating Trump’s loathing of the Iran deal as “an embarrassment” without killing it outright.

Imagine if this effort were applied to our nation's problems instead of stuff Trump is personally throwing a fit over. Imagine if our government's national security advisors weren't occupied figuring out ways to slow walk around the President's tantrums.
posted by zachlipton at 8:36 PM on October 11, 2017 [41 favorites]

Justinian: "Noticeably absent from the nice list of things you can do to help Dems get elected Nov 7th? VOTE."

I think that if you are following a politically oriented subreddit, it's pretty much taken for granted that you are going to vote.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:38 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Neal Gabler: The Entertainer: The media continue to view Trump through a political lens when an entertainment lens would be more appropriate.

It is becoming increasingly clear that to speak of a “Trump presidency” is a misnomer. There is no presidency, at least not by traditional standards. There is a “Trump show,” and that makes all the difference in the world. I and many others have written about how heavily our president borrows from entertainment: the cooked-up suspense (this week’s “calm before the storm” remark), the high concepts he keeps purveying (“Build a wall!”), the strong-man movie persona attached to the common man appeal, and the psychological underpinnings that tap American’s contrarian anti-elitism, which is a staple of our popular culture. By means of all these things and others, Trump has not only turned the presidency into a B-movie, which would be a remarkable feat unto itself; he has turned it into the very dregs of entertainment: a reality TV show.

This much is readily apparent to most people and has been much discussed. What is less apparent is how thorough the conversion has been and how dire the consequences. The media continue to view Trump through a political lens when an entertainment lens would be more appropriate. They continue to report on the ongoing chaos in the White House as if this were some sort of dereliction and not design. They continue to treat his tweets and intemperance as political errors of a novice or perhaps a borderline psychotic, and not as a complete reimagination of the presidency.

Whether by design or experience — and I suspect it is both — Trump never saw the presidency as a political institution. Originally, I wrote earlier here, he thought of it as a form of celebrity — the best way to get attention, which is what celebrities do. Now I fear that I was too optimistic. He actually seems to see it as an entertainment — not just a way to be the center of attention, though he clearly loves that — but as a way to tickle the public appetite for excitement. In doing so, he has replaced political values with entertainment values. Politics mean nothing to him. Policy is a bore for him as for most Americans. They want a show. So does he. And he intends to provide it.

posted by homunculus at 8:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [17 favorites]

This has to be at least the third round of "Trump is losing it...in private" stories.
posted by rhizome at 9:00 PM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

What the Republicans did to Obama on the Garland nomination was within the letter of the Constitution.

I disagree. The letter of the Constitution specifies that the Senate advise and consent. They did neither. But the rest of what you said I wholeheartedly agree with.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:09 PM on October 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

> Trump has not only turned the presidency into a B-movie, which would be a remarkable feat unto itself; he has turned it into the very dregs of entertainment: a reality TV show.

So this is, if I'm remembering correctly, what Baudrillard was on about with his "precession of simulacra" idea. People learn that it's easier to grab and hold power through performing a potemkin version of the rituals of power; for example, through being an actor who leverages the power of celebrity to seem like a political officeholder, even though the business of being a celebrity is nothing like the skills needed to be a political officeholder. Where it gets interesting/terrifying is when the simulacral appearance becomes incorporated into the real; if the way to win power is by playing a politician on tv — or, for that matter, on the internet — then the skills required to play an officeholder in the media become part of the core skill set of a real politician, a part actually more important than really doing the job of an officeholder.

The actor Reagan becomes President by acting like a politician; subsequently, politicians have to become, to some degree, actors. This situation holds until clever people figure out some way to fake up being a celebrity that's easier than actually being an actor — for example, by being a reality show businessclown with no real acting acumen. The new skills of reality tv clowning/internet clowning displace the old acting skills; first the simulacrum becomes real, then the simulacrum of the simulacrum, then the simulacrum of the simulacrum, and so on, until our decisionmaking processes become fully untethered from any underlying reality whatsoever... and we all starve to death, cause in the final analysis we need food to live, not a simulacrum of a simulacrum of a simulacrum of food.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:13 PM on October 11, 2017 [58 favorites]

The actor Reagan becomes President by acting like a politician;

I still object to this characterization. Reagan had served two terms as the governor of the most populous state in the country. He WAS a politician when he ran for president.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:19 PM on October 11, 2017 [18 favorites]

> I still object to this characterization. Reagan had served two terms as the governor of the most populous state in the country.

And he did such a great job!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:21 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

He was incensed by the arguments of Secretary of State Rex ­Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others that the landmark 2015 deal, while flawed, offered stability and other benefits.

So this is G.W. Bush redux. Bush's international policy was "everything the opposite of Clinton." That is how the agreement with North Korea was blown up and North Korea became a nuclear power. We are about to experience the same with Trump as "everything the opposite of Obama." There is no intellectual reasoning behind it. Just a blind hatred for the predecessor. And this is how Iran will become a nuclear power.
posted by JackFlash at 9:22 PM on October 11, 2017 [13 favorites]

Agreed! But I still feel Reagan and Trump are not really comparable in terms of "this person is purely celebrity."
posted by Chrysostom at 9:23 PM on October 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

> I still object to this characterization. Reagan had served two terms as the governor of the most populous state in the country.

And he did such a great job!

He did enact some pretty strict gun control...
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:26 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump on missile defense: "We have a missile that can knock out a missile 97 percent of the time. So if you fire two you're gonna get it."

I figured it out. In the article about advanced fuzing for warheads, we learned they got a new one, and so our OFFENSIVE CAPABILITY is to knock out hardened silos. He's not talking about Ballistic Missile Defense.

Well, he THINKS he is, but being senile, he's mixed up a briefing on our OFFENSIVE capability and discussing defense against North Korea, etc...
posted by mikelieman at 9:27 PM on October 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

You don't seem to understand that it was fake. They manufactured a bogus demonstration. Those political operatives got violent deliberately. Then the violence was used to justify the supreme court's actions to avoid unrest. It was an ultra-light coup. Back when they cared a bit about appearances.

Roger Stone was a Brooks Brothers rioter. True fact.
posted by scalefree at 9:30 PM on October 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

He did enact some pretty strict gun control...

In reaction to the Black Panthers patrolling streets with rifles.
posted by scalefree at 9:33 PM on October 11, 2017 [12 favorites]

> Agreed! But I still feel Reagan and Trump are not really comparable in terms of "this person is purely celebrity."

Well that's sort of the point of the precession of simulacra idea, isn't it? Trump is four or five layers farther removed from reality than Reagan was; the fake becomes real, then the fake of the fake becomes real, then [... and so forth... ] until we've lost the plot altogether.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:35 PM on October 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

I get it. I'm just saying, I don't find "Reagan as starting point" convincing.

Sonny Bono, maybe.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:37 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Look, Nixon was the last real Republican politician, every other one since has been a series of Russian nesting dolls.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Bush's international policy was 'everything the opposite of Clinton.' That is how the agreement with North Korea was blown up and North Korea became a nuclear power

It's also how we got nearly 3,000 people killed during the 9/11 attacks and five people killed during the anthrax attacks, which Bush himself called a "second wave of terrorist attacks."

During the Clinton-Bush transition senior Clinton administration officials "repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation" and the Bush administration blew it off.

Thus do we confront what we can call The Great Mulligan, which is granted by the dimmer lights in the chandelier to the president and to the national security team — Hi, Condi! — who presided over the most massive intelligence failure in American history, and over the greatest loss of life to an enemy attack on American soil since everybody hugged it out at Appomattox. This has popped up from time to time in the years since it became obvious what a complete and utter failure the Bush presidency really was. Sorry we lied you into a war, but we kept you safe. Sorry we demolished American values, and just about every shred of American moral credibility in the world, but we kept you safe. Sorry we let New Orleans drown, but we kept you safe. Sorry we allowed the national economy to blow up, but we kept you safe. In fact, if you sent C-Plus Augustus into his own museum, and had him take that interactive quiz, and provided he didn't break a thumb trying to get a Diet Coke out of the exhibit, his answer to everything would be I kept you safe.

No. In fact, you didn't. Stop saying that before 3000 ghosts come to your room some night and pummel you with ectoplasmic bags of sheep dung.

The historical record is quite clear. Upon taking office, the Bush administration de-emphasized the Clinton team's almost-obsessive search for Osama bin Laden. That's why Richard Clarke got shoved aside. That's why John Ashcroft changed the FBI's focus from the pursuit of international terrorists to the pursuit of Tommy Chong. That's why presidential daily press briefings didn't get read while the president was clearing brush the month before the attacks. It's also why his briefer on the topic got himself told, "You covered your ass now." But that was nothing compared to the ass-covering that went on in the aftermath of the attacks — Really, now, Condi. A "historical document"? That's still hilarious. — as the members of the administration tried to prevaricate their way out of their abject failure to keep anyone safe. It was nine months of misfeasance in office, and inexcusable neglect of duty, that ended in the deaths of more than 3000 Americans.

And I am sorry. But you don't get a free one on these. You cannot argue that you kept us safe after your obvious negligence played a role in getting 3000 of us killed.

posted by kirkaracha at 9:43 PM on October 11, 2017 [80 favorites]

When I was looking for The Great Mulligan I found this weird-ass article from August 20, 2001:

President Bush Is No Mulligan Man

The public glimpses of President Bush on his summer vacation here are rare and generally orchestrated. He picks up a hammer at a Habitat for Humanity building site. He goes to church. He stops at a roadside coffee shop for a burger. Each projects an image: the compassionate conservative. Piety. Down-home guy.
...
And he demonstrates passion--for golf.

Two weeks before this article Bush was given a briefing that said Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US, one of dozens of warnings he received about al Qaeda during 2001. He stayed on vacation.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:52 PM on October 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

MetaFilter: a simulacrum of a simulacrum of a simulacrum of food
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:07 PM on October 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Mulligan Man is like the Culligan Man's evil twin
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:29 PM on October 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Philip Rucker and Damian Paletta, WaPo: Trump says minorities ‘want’ and ‘need’ more police protection than other Americans

“Minorities want police protection more than anybody,” Trump said. “They need it more than anybody. What's going on is crazy. And you look at some of these inner cities where it's just out of control.”

Trump's comments came during a discussion of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who have demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem in protest what they see as injustices against blacks in this country.

“We have incredible police in this country,” Trump said. “They could stop [crime] if they were allowed to do their jobs... In many cases, it's the police are not allowed to do their job. They have to be politically correct.”

Trump placed the blame for what he described as rampant murders and shootings squarely on Democratic politicians. “Don't forget, the Democrats have ruled the inner cities for 100 years,” he said. “This is their rule.”

Engage Full-Racist Mode
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:36 PM on October 11, 2017 [65 favorites]

A MATH JOKE

"Clearly Jesus was pro-choice. How else would he feed 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish without using Banach-Tarski?"
posted by Coventry at 10:50 PM on October 11, 2017 [21 favorites]

Why think that court packing would be any more likely to lead to a hot civil war than the blatant disregard for the rule of law that we saw with the Gorsuch confirmation? I think you still don't really get how unforgivable that was. What the Republicans did to Obama on the Garland nomination was within the letter of the Constitution. But it was clearly, clearly a violation of its spirit.

McConnell could have allowed the nomination process to go forward and instructed his caucus, which controlled the Senate, to vote him (and any subsequent nomination) down. Of course, doing so would have risked defection by one of the so-called moderate or maverick Senators. But openly stealing the nomination was, indeed, unforgivable.
posted by Gelatin at 2:45 AM on October 12, 2017 [28 favorites]

Well, he THINKS he is, but being senile, he's mixed up a briefing on our OFFENSIVE capability and discussing defense against North Korea, etc...

Considering he said this yesterday with Trudeau, anything is possible.

"Mutual defence is very important. And I guess we'll also be discussing mutual offence. Which people don't mention too often, but offence is part of defence."
posted by chris24 at 4:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Teacher: The only use of Ti Kwan Leep is self-defense. Do you know who said that? Ki Lo Ni, the great teacher.

Ed Gruberman: Yeah? Well, the best defense is a good offense, you know who said that? Mel, the cook on Alice.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:12 AM on October 12, 2017 [12 favorites]

This motherfucker. 90% without electricity, 40% without water, people starving, and it's time to quote a Sinclair Broadcasting rightwing nutjob blaming PR for their issues and implying it's about time for the US to get out.

@realDonaldTrump
"Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making." says Sharyl Attkisson. A total lack of..... ...accountability say the Governor. Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend.... ...We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!
posted by chris24 at 4:12 AM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

Trump is signing a health care EO at 11:15, so, uh, smoke 'em if you got 'em
posted by angrycat at 4:21 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

math isn't funny

Que dijo el numero dos al numero diesiocho?

Vente conmigo!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:45 AM on October 12, 2017 [21 favorites]

We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!

Does this get any play on mass media in the US? He's basically pissing on 3+ million USians. Where is the outrage?
posted by michswiss at 4:46 AM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

If we can keep the military in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade and a half, they definitely can stay in Puerto Rico for longer than a week or two.
posted by drezdn at 4:52 AM on October 12, 2017 [63 favorites]

I cannot get a read on anything Ben Sasse at all.

He's a fresh faced Nebraskan Gen X'er, which means his Republican conservatism doesn't map neatly on the old map - people are calling him a "closet Dem" but I think he's more just a guy in the McMullin model - wanting a Republicanism devoid of shitty prejudices.

I don't think he's a contender in 2020 at /all/ - he just hasn't done enough, and unlike Obama no one has given him a chance to make big speeches to the entire nation, which is what let us elect a new senator to the Presidency in the first place. But I think he could be a contender in something like 2028, after a realignment of parties happens.
posted by corb at 5:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I really don’t think he understands Puerto Rico is part of the United States. He is so dumb and so mean and SO DUMB.
posted by something something at 5:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [25 favorites]

Does this get any play on mass media in the US? . . . Where is the outrage?

Mass media's narrative is tightly controlled by The Powers That Be. There's lots of regular, everyday, people-at-the-diner outrage, but it will either not be televised, or it will be "managed" to ineffectiveness. They're not new at this.

This is my plea to the DNC/DCCC to get the hell away from traditional media as often as possible. HRC didn't lose on the ground, it was the airwaves that got her. Time to breathe life into our own.
posted by petebest at 5:08 AM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

@dandrezner
Fun fact: FEMA and the military are still in Texas and Florida, you total f**king idiot.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-based-military-lends-hand-to-FEMA-12262644.php

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article177937296.html
posted by chris24 at 5:10 AM on October 12, 2017 [49 favorites]

I really don’t think he understands Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

The whole very point about Trump is that he doesn't believe that people of color are really Americans. He rose to political prominence by challenging the citizenship of the first black president. It's not that he's somehow ignorant of the political reality that Puerto Ricans have American citizenship. It's that he doesn't give a shit what the law says, because he knows what an American looks like, and he knows what language an American speaks at home, and they're not it. It's not ignorance. It's white nationalism, and I mean that literally.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:18 AM on October 12, 2017 [124 favorites]

maddow was spitting some fiery truth last night about PR, haven't heard her this upset in a while. definitely worth a listen/watch if you get a chance. ( msnbc video link )

this whole presidency is a fucking disgrace.
posted by localhuman at 5:25 AM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

Oh I just realized why reality reminded me of the experience of watching Funny Games

It's because my vocalized reaction to every other scene is FUCK NO WHY DID HE MAKE THIS SADISTIC THING (twice)

carry on
posted by angrycat at 5:29 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

We're watching someone carry out their narcissistic injury/rage out on 3.4 million people.
posted by drezdn at 5:33 AM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

CNN has Republican Congressman Scott Perry on for some reason, direct quote "What is enough? What is enough to sastify your network?" So. They're going with Fake News CNN is making it all up.

Every headline should be "Trumps gives up on Puerto Rico recovery"
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 AM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

If you really wanted to goad Trump on Puerto Rico, something like "Trump is loser on Puerto Rico" would probably get under his skin.
posted by drezdn at 5:36 AM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

math isn't funny

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof that math is funny which this comment box is too small to contain.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:43 AM on October 12, 2017 [54 favorites]

I drafted a letter to Representative Tonko regarding the Las Vegas shooting. Let me know if you think there are particular weak spots.

Address To: Federal Representatives and Senators

Topic: Amend the NFA to cover certain semi-automatic firearm designs which trivially permit automatic fire.

Dear Representative or Senator Person,

Due to the inherent risk that machine guns (automatic firearms) present -- with their design goal of ability to empty a magazine without requiring multiple functions of the trigger -- machine guns and the parts required to convert semi-automatic firearms into them are strictly regulated under the National Firearms Act (Footnote 1).

As we are all aware, following the tragic loss of life at the concert in Las Vegas, "semi-automatic" designs exist that are currently unregulated (e.g.: Armalite's AR-15) that can be held in a way or fitted with an accessory that trivially defeats the "single function of the trigger" requirement for a semi-automatic firearm.

Clearly, no practical difference exists. All semi-automatic firearms vulnerable to this "hardware-hacking" that permits "bump-firing" must be regulated under the National Firearms Act, like any other machine gun.

Thank you,
Mike Lieman
Albany, NY 12203-1101

Footnote 1: 26 U.S.C. ยง 5845(b) For the purposes of the National Firearms Act the term Machinegun means: Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.

posted by mikelieman at 5:50 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

I cannot get a read on anything Ben Sasse at all.

Those that have said Ben Sasse is the next John McCain are right on the money. Sasse is basically your typical spineless weasel politician. He'll say whatever just to be on the winning side of a debate, once he figures out exactly which way the wind is blowing. He's not a leader of men, and isn't approaching politics with any convictions other than "what makes Ben Sasse look good?"

... Granted, with all the other members of the GOP and their strongly-held views, it's rather a breath of fresh air, but don't mistake him for some kind of savior of the GOP or Nebraska or the United States. He's just a man that's in it for his own glory.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:58 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

cantor's diagonal elephant

ok, i really should not have googled that. i'll be in the corner gibbering senselessly and hoping beyond hope that you smart people can keep the t-rumP from destroying everything.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:22 AM on October 12, 2017

"What is enough? What is enough to sastify your network?"

SRSLY? I'm gonna go with "the same efforts made by the US government when something of geopolitical importance is at stake literally anywhere on the planet," dickhead.
posted by Rykey at 6:24 AM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

Considering he said this yesterday with Trudeau, anything is possible.

"Mutual defence is very important. And I guess we'll also be discussing mutual offence. Which people don't mention too often, but offence is part of defence."

Particularly ignorant since Canada has a history of opting out of American bullshit wars. We largely skipped the second Iraq War because its premise was an obvious lie even though we were there for America in Afghanistan and the First Gulf War.
posted by srboisvert at 6:29 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Those that have said Ben Sasse is the next John McCain are right on the money.

I'd say he's more like Paul Ryan, down to how he's being viewed by conservatives as some sort of savior and are trying to position him as one of the good guys. In reality, like Ryan, he's an amoral Randian scumbag who just prefers the dogwhistles be kept to subsonic levels and the destruction of people's lives be done behind curtains so as to maintain plausible deniability:

Ben Sasse is insufferable

Sasse is one of those "intellectual" conservatives for whom the answer to whether banks should be allowed to increase overdraft fees is to be found in the pages of Tocqueville.

In the last year and a half, Sasse has made a career branding himself as "the last honest man in the GOP," which is journalism code for someone who makes a lot of hay about Trump's character while inventing Principled Conservative reasons for gleefully implementing the worst parts of the administration's agenda. Were President Trump to consider governing like Trump the candidate and propose, say, a single-payer health-care program to be financed by higher taxes on the wealthy, Sasse would dust off his Madison quotes and fire off a few tweets about the erosion of our democratic heritage. Because Trump is actually just governing like a non-tweed-wearing version of Sasse himself, right down to his bombing of Syria, Sasse is allowed to continue his world-weary posturing. But really he is just a glorified tone-policer. Don't believe me? Try to find a single criticism of the president from Sasse that is substantive rather than stylistic (appropriately cautious-sounding procedural hang-ups about the nonsense Flynn scandal don't count).

The Wasted Mind of Ben Sasse

Dignity is one of Ben Sasse’s things. He’s also into duty, thoughtfulness, empiricism, and respect for democratic traditions—and while most politicians would probably claim to support those ideals, Sasse sets himself apart by frequently challenging his party on their behalf. The Morning Joe incident was not nearly the first time Sasse has criticized Trump without rationalizing or minimizing his behavior the way so many in the GOP do; during the 2016 presidential campaign, Sasse refused to endorse the real estate heir even as almost all of his Republican peers in elected office folded. (He called for an independent candidate to run against Trump and Clinton in a widely discussed Facebook post but reportedly rebuffed suggestions by Mitt Romney and Bill Kristol that he become that candidate himself.) Just this Sunday, Sasse called Trump’s claim to be working on a cybersecurity commission with Vladimir Putin “bizarre” and noted (correctly) that it “should obviously not happen.”

In a world of phonies, Sasse stands out by educating himself earnestly and speaking honestly about complicated matters of history and policy.
But at the same time, Sasse’s Senate votes have so far aligned with Trump’s wishes 95 percent of the time, the same level of support that Trump has gotten from right-wing ideologues like Ted Cruz and party loyalists like Chuck Grassley. Sasse voted to confirm ill-informed Cabinet appointees like Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos; he’s voted to steamroll the judicial filibuster and stayed silent about the secretive way the Republican health care bill was written and presented to the public.
[...]
This, in a nutshell, is the central problem of Ben Sasse. He is a performatively deep thinker, an advocate of public decency who makes a case for good-faith discourse that is both eloquent and, in the FAKE NEWS!!!!!!1! era, timely. He states that case convincingly in his new book about raising hard-working and civic-minded children, The Vanishing American Adult. “Living in a republic demands a great deal of us,” he writes in a sort of mission statement for his public persona. “Among the responsibilities of each citizen in a participatory democracy is keeping ourselves sufficiently informed so that we can participate effectively, argue our positions honorably, and hopefully, forge sufficient consensus to understand each other and then to govern.” But so far, Sasse’s practical participation in our democracy—he was elected to the Senate in 2014—has mostly advanced the interests of an increasingly authoritarian, unreasonable Republican Party. In his first remarks on the Senate floor, he argued that the body should “strengthen and clarify meaningful contests of ideas.” Four months later, he wouldn’t even give Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a perfunctory meeting. And he certainly didn’t advocate giving Garland a hearing and a floor vote, as one would imagine he should have given his expressed desire for the Senate to become a lively forum for dramatic, legitimate debate rather than pre-written sound bites and predictable party-line votes.

posted by zombieflanders at 6:32 AM on October 12, 2017 [30 favorites]

Developing at WaPo: U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias
posted by Room 641-A at 6:33 AM on October 12, 2017 [18 favorites]

whoah
posted by angrycat at 6:34 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Establishment Republicans mystified by their base should look at Ed Gillespie’s campaign

The difference between these guys and the new crop of kooks — between a respected colleague like Bob Corker and a feared soon-to-be-colleague like Marsha Blackburn — as I understand it, is that the establishment politicians are aware that they are lying. Nobody at Republican Governors Association headquarters, in other words, actually thinks that Gillespie believes a crackdown on Virginia sanctuary cities (which, again, don’t exist) will reduce the risk of MS-13 violence. He’s not an ignorant maniac, in other words; he’s just working with ad guys and conservative media to promote ignorance and mania in the general population.

The problem is the marks grow up.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:42 AM on October 12, 2017 [19 favorites]

"What is enough? What is enough to sastify your network?"

Compare and contrast:

@realDonaldTrump
Texas & Louisiana: We are w/ you today, we are w/ you tomorrow, & we will be w/ you EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, & REBUILD!

@realDonaldTrump
...We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!
posted by chris24 at 6:43 AM on October 12, 2017 [100 favorites]

Developing at WaPo: U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias

Fucking EXCUSE ME? What the fuck.
posted by lydhre at 6:43 AM on October 12, 2017 [14 favorites]

Trump's "virtue" signalling again.

Apparently "The U.S. stopped paying its dues to the Paris-based organization in 2011 after UNESCO voted to include the Palestinian Authority as a member." Which is weird, given that the official policy of the US Government is a two party solution.

I mean, it's an open secret that UNESCO's historically been a den of corruption and cronyism. The US left once before, in the 80's, along with the UK and Singapore.

But still, this is still stupid Kabuki for the base who hate the UN.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:44 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

Link to three-sentence story by Washington Post staff: U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias.

Apparently, the US stopped paying dues in 2011 after the Palestinian Authority was included as a member??
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:47 AM on October 12, 2017

The problem is the marks grow up.

The Tea Party movement was a prime example of why you should never get high on your own supply. They encouraged maniacs to get involved in politics and whoops! now there's a bunch of maniacs involved in politics. Who could possibly have predicted this? /s
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:51 AM on October 12, 2017 [31 favorites]

Apparently, the US stopped paying dues in 2011 after the Palestinian Authority was included as a member??

The Palestinian Authority's policy of destroying Jewish antiquities makes a mockery of UNESCO's charter.

Stopped clock and all, this is a good and proper move.
posted by ocschwar at 6:52 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Foreign Policy has a longer article on the UNESCO withdrawal (note that you may get an annoying nag screen popup about subscribing, but x it out because you can read 5 articles free).
posted by gudrun at 6:53 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now, UNICEF, on the other hand:

II. A Day at UNICEF Headquarters, as I Imagined It in Third Grade
(UNICEF sits on a throne. He is wearing a cape and holding a sceptre. A servant enters, on his knees.)
Unicef: Halloween is fast approaching! Have the third graders been given their little orange boxes?
Servant: Yes, your majesty!
Unicef: Perfect. Did you tell them what the money was for?
Servant: No, sir, of course not! We just gave them the boxes and told them to collect for unicef. We said it was for “a good cause,” but we didn’t get any more specific than that.
Unicef: Ha ha ha! Those fools! Soon I will have all the money in the world. For I am unicef, evil king of Halloween!
Servant: Sir . . . don’t you think you’ve stolen enough from the children? Maybe you should let them keep the money this year.
Unicef: Never! The children shall toil forever to serve my greed!
(He tears open a little orange box full of coins and rubs them all over his fat stomach.)
Unicef: Yes! Oh, yes!
Servant: Wait! Your majesty! Look at this! Our records indicate that there’s a kid out there—Simon—who’s planning to keep his unicef money this year.
Unicef: What?! But what about my evil plans? I was going to give that money to the Russians so they could build a bomb!
Servant: (aside) I guess there’s still one hero left in this world.
Unicef: No!
(He runs out of the castle, sobbing.)
Servant: Thank God Simon is keeping his unicef money.
Second Servant: Yes, it’s good that he’s keeping the money.
Third Servant: I agree. Simon is doing a good thing by keeping the money from the unicef box.
Servant: Then we’re all in agreement. Simon should keep the money.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:54 AM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

This doesn't directly relate to US politics, except it does. Because it's yet another strong indicator of how someone who doesn't fit completely into the affluent straight white male category does not have an equal voice in media:

Rose McGowan was temporarily suspended from twitter for speaking out about powerful men and sexual assault in the entertainment business.

Meanwhile, David Duke, Richard Spencer & t-Rump all have active accounts.

(And FB's awful too. I wish a new SM platform with a decent moderation system would take hold.)
posted by NorthernLite at 7:12 AM on October 12, 2017 [51 favorites]

It isn't even noon and already I've said OH MY GOD twice today.
posted by Soliloquy at 7:19 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

LA Times doubling down on Trump/Kelly schism: Trump unleashes himself from would-be handlers, lashing out mornings, nights and weekends
Allies see signs that Trump is frustrated with Kelly and increasingly unwilling to be managed, even just a little. The person close to the White House said the two men had engaged in “shouting matches” in recent days. (Hannity declined to comment about his role in advising the president on immigration policy.)

“The president has started to call people more on the weekends, from the cellphone, which he didn’t used to do,” the person said, noting that Trump often calls Hannity after the Fox News host’s nightly show. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relations with Trump.
posted by PenDevil at 7:20 AM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

And FB's awful too. I wish a new SM platform with a decent moderation system would take hold.

I love social media, but despise the dominant platforms. Wish I could get people to move to something new or at least healthier and less full of bullshit. So far Tumblr seems great but I don't know how to get people who use Facebook to migrate over.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:20 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pence yesterday as he hosted a National Hispanic Heritage Month reception at his official residence.

And so we know the people of Puerto Rico will recover, and we will be with them every step of the way. And as the President said on his visit to the island earlier in the week, and I said as well, and I say to all of you gathered here today to the people of Puerto Rico: We are with you, we stand with you, and we will be with you every single day until Puerto Rico is restored bigger and better than ever before. Puerto Rico se levanta!

posted by chris24 at 7:28 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump cuts him off at the knees again. What a good doobee widdle Mikey is!
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 7:32 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

So, I wonder.

The right wing has had fantasies of people moving enmasse to places like New Hampshire to create their little utopias.

Why not ORGANIZE the migration of Puerto Ricans to contestible jurisdictions with some available housing space?

They're already leaving the island to avoid waterborne disease. As risky as it is to broach the question of the island's status with Puerto Ricans, I suspect there's a consensus against remaining a territory, and it's time either for statehood or independence. An organized effort to help them move to congressional districts whose present representatives have earned a warm Puerto Rican embrace might accomplish something towards ending GOP opposition to PR statehood.

Lots of vacant housing stock in Janesville, WI, for example.
posted by ocschwar at 7:38 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

While I sympathize with your sentiment, my fear is that any immigrants from PR would quickly become Janesville's most convenient scapegoats.
posted by Rykey at 7:42 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump to Puerto Rico: "Get a job!"
posted by lumnar at 7:48 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

They aren't immigrants.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:49 AM on October 12, 2017 [81 favorites]

Bernie Sanders chosen to keynote the Women's convention and women are mad about it.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:50 AM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

Bernie Sanders chosen to keynote the Women's convention and women are mad about it.

Just saw this myself. The comments on Facebook are almost uniformly negative.

It is stunning to me that the convention's organizers would be so completely tone-deaf to not only choose a MAN to open a WOMEN'S convention (and a man with a questionable history on women's issues, at that), but that, rather than look to the future, they would choose to rip open the festering wound that is the 2016 primary season YET AGAIN.

This is why we lose and this is why we will continue to lose.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:53 AM on October 12, 2017 [54 favorites]

It's truly a bit shocking to me that, at least to my knowledge, no footage of The Jackass screaming like a toddler has ever emerged. In the past eternity of the past 28 months, no one has surreptitiously recorded him throwing a fit, nor has anyone dropped raw footage of him screaming like an unhinged child from one of his stupid game shows.

In the last couple of weeks, we've had many reports of this guy raging out in private...how long before someone just records it and gives it to a media outlet. My hope would be that people see that sort of behavior as Not Normal For An Adult, but then again, we live in the stupidest timeline.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:55 AM on October 12, 2017 [29 favorites]

AP: Trump nominates AccuWeather CEO to head US weather agency
posted by mynameisluka at 8:00 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Bernie Sanders chosen to keynote the Women's convention and women are mad about it.

Yup, my strategic reserves of evens have been depleted.

Of course women are mad about it, you fuckers. The Women's Convention might, MIGHT, be the kind of thing that ought to have a woman as the goddamn keynote speaker. There's only 162 million of us in the United States but I'm sure they could have managed to find someone even remotely qualified.
posted by lydhre at 8:02 AM on October 12, 2017 [83 favorites]

My hope would be that people see that sort of behavior as Not Normal For An Adult, but then again, we live in the stupidest timeline.

35-40% would love it, because to them it either is normal behavior or represents their personal fantasies. A white man throwing a tantrum is the very heart of modern conservatism and if anything it would shore up his base of support.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:04 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
posted by achrise at 8:06 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

AP: Trump nominates AccuWeather CEO to head US weather agency

Say goodbye to weather.gov.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:06 AM on October 12, 2017 [31 favorites]

Why not ORGANIZE the migration of Puerto Ricans to contestible jurisdictions with some available housing space?

Because they are people, and not pawns to be moved around a chessboard in an attempt to fix a broken democracy. I imagine they quite like Puerto Rico, pre-hurricane?
posted by tillermo at 8:06 AM on October 12, 2017 [37 favorites]

The number of new comments on my tab is 666. I can't start catching up until it changes.
posted by danielleh at 8:07 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The US pulling out of UNESCO because of anti-Israel bias is kinda BS considering that Israel is still a member of UNESCO.
posted by PenDevil at 8:16 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Apparently, the US stopped paying dues in 2011 after the Palestinian Authority was included as a member??

US federal law (Pub.L. 103-236, Title IV, § 410, Apr. 30, 1994, 108 Stat. 454 (103rd Congress, 4/30/94)) does not allow funding of U.N. agencies or affiliates that “grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.” The US does not recognize Palestine as a state. So when the PLO joined UNESCO and the Palestine was recognized by that body as a member state in 2011, the US could no longer legally fund the agency.

Legislation would have to be passed rescinding or modifying the existing law for this to change.

However, if Congress wanted to fund UNESCO, they probably could. Even though doing so would break a federal law. Look at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as an example. You see, the same law prevents us from legally funding the UNFCCC. But we didn't bother to actually try to defund them until earlier this year, when the submitted Trump budget didn't include them as a line item. The (Republican-led) Senate Appropriations Committee funded them anyway in September, though.

We've left UNESCO before, in 1984. At the time we cited pro-Soviet bias. We rejoined under Bush II.

This was prompted by the passage of a UNESCO resolution in May that said Israel is an occupying force that has no legal or historical claims to Jerusalem. Not simply East Jerusalem, but all of Jerusalem. The country's capitol. The resolution was sponsored by Jordan. It infuriated the Israelis and pretty much affirmed the body's anti-Israel (as in against its existence) bias to Israelis and at least some American Jews.

So the Israelis suspended relations with UNESCO, and complained to the US. They aren't voting members anymore. They suspended their funding to UNESCO at the same time we did, for the same reasons.

Then, after the Jerusalem resolution, UNESCO passed one denying Jewish historic or cultural claims in Hebron and Bethlehem. Hebron and Bethlehem are Palestinian cities in the West Bank. There's an occupying group of approximately 500 Israelis in Hebron. Bethlehem is a Palestinian city, owned and managed by the Palestinians and one that (I believe?) has no occupying Settlers. Hebron contains what is considered the oldest existing Jewish community in the world by Israel. It's also supposed to be the site where a bunch of Torah Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried. Bethlehem has a similar site of historical and cultural importance to some religious Jews.

All of this is part of a campaign that some countries in UNESCO have engaged in for a while now, to systematically try to deligitimize Israel's claim to a Jewish homeland as well as their claim on sites within Palestinian cities. On some level, this is an anti-Settler action. On another, they're saying that religious Jews cannot make religious claims on some of their holy sites. Which is frankly more problematic. (Imagine if the body declared that Christians had no historic or cultural claims to either Bethlehem or the Vatican. Denying Jews' claims to religious sites in all three cities is kind of on the same level.) Note that claiming those sites' cultural and historic value is not the same as saying Jews should own, govern or occupy those cities. Merely that there are sites there of cultural significance to us.

As with most things to do with Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East, it's complicated.
posted by zarq at 8:20 AM on October 12, 2017 [37 favorites]

math isn't funny

Math joke time! Holy shift, look at the asymptote on that mother function! (High School kids love this one, because it sounds like you're swearing, but it's just math terms, and it's accurate)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:21 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Darren Samuelsohn, Politico: President's lawyers may offer Mueller a meeting with Trump

Donald Trump’s lawyers are open to having the president sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller, according to a senior White House official, as part of a wider posture of cooperation with the special counsel’s Russia probe.

If Mueller doesn’t request an interview by Thanksgiving, Trump’s lawyers might even force the issue by volunteering Trump’s time, the official said. The White House believes such an interview could help Mueller wrap up the probe faster and dispel the cloud of suspicion over Trump.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:23 AM on October 12, 2017 [12 favorites]

Oh man. That totally screams of Trump pressuring his lawyers to let him talk to Mueller. He's probably been doing it all along.

45: I can fix this. Just let me talk to him. Let me talk to him.

Narrator: He can't fix this.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:28 AM on October 12, 2017 [67 favorites]

The White House believes such an interview could help Mueller wrap up the probe faster and dispel the cloud of suspicion over Trump.

I'm just a little black rain cloud,
Hovering over the GOP.
I'm just a little black rain cloud,
Pay no attention to me.
Oh, everyone knows that a rain cloud
Never would indict the President, no not a bit
I'm just popping balloons of optimism,
Wondering' where Trump will slip.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:28 AM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's truly a bit shocking to me that, at least to my knowledge, no footage of The Jackass screaming like a toddler has ever emerge

I think the closest we got so far is that disheveled picture of him coming off of AF1 after the hourlong mystery meeting.

The White House believes such an interview could help Mueller wrap up the probe faster and dispel the cloud of suspicion over Trump.

LOL. DO IT.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:29 AM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

LA Times doubling down on Trump/Kelly schism: Trump unleashes himself from would-be handlers, lashing out mornings, nights and weekends
Allies see signs that Trump is frustrated with Kelly and increasingly unwilling to be managed, even just a little. The person close to the White House said the two men had engaged in “shouting matches” in recent days. (Hannity declined to comment about his role in advising the president on immigration policy.)

“The president has started to call people more on the weekends, from the cellphone, which he didn’t used to do,” the person said, noting that Trump often calls Hannity after the Fox News host’s nightly show. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relations with Trump.

Kelly not long for this administration? I mean, we all knew it was just a matter of time.

I wonder if he's been circled in on the suicide pact? That would make sense if you're Mattis; Kelly's what allows you to keep him on a leash. The threat of joint resignations might keep Trump in line, to avoid looking like a failure.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:30 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ugh, the selection of Bernie Sanders as the keynote speaker at The Women's Convention is just totally inappropriate. I voted for him, but I volunteered and voted for Clinton.

Here are a couple of particularly good threads responding to that announcement--these are not intended to start a discussion relitigating the primaries but rather to give people without access to Twitter a sense of how folks are reacting.

@odetteroulette:
-Guys, are you noticing all the unhappy women under this post? Come on. You're asking a white guy to open up a Women's Convention. 1/
-Still DIVIDING this along Hillary/Bernie lines. We can see this from looking at the speakers. You are erasing the women of color vote 2/
-I mean, yes, a few women of color voted for Bernie but let's be real abt where most of those votes went. 3/
-Plus, by having him open it, it feels like a man is giving us permission to speak. It's not right. Pls have more respect for ppl.4/
-We don't want to talk about the issues important to white men. We want to talk abt the issues important to WOMEN. 5/
-Bernie called PP& NARAL "establishment" becuz they didn't endorse him & he was pissed off. Is that really representative view for all women?
-I'm asking u to look beyond ur own desires for who u want to promote and recognize real unity. Nomiki for example is paid in Repub money 7/
-U really asking women to listen to some1 paid by Repub billionaire? I have already heard Republican view. They want to crush our rights. 8/
-This convention should be WOMEN SPEAKING. Where are Michelle Obama, Gillebrand, Kamala Harris? Tammy Duckworth? 9/
-Where are the women who want to center women's issues? Come on. Do better. 10.

@dianelyssa:
-I'm just here to see y'all get #ratioed™, tbh. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves.
-Bernie Sanders LOST to Hillary Clinton by 4 MILLION VOTES, and you pick him over her? What a load of crap.
-Bernie Sanders pitched a fit and called Planned Parenthood "establishment" when they endorsed Hillary over him.
-Bernie Sanders called abortion + other women's issues "boutique issues" & distractions, then turned around and endorsed pro-life candidates.
-Bernie Sanders spoke over Hillary and other women CONSTANTLY and you let him be the opening night voice for a "woman's" convention? A joke.
-And even if Bernie Sanders was the best male feminist to ever feminist, he's still A MAN. STOP LETTING MEN SPEAK FOR WOMEN.
-I'd be upset over this being President Obama or Joe Biden or Joaquin Castro. But you managed to pick the absolute worst male Senator ever.
-You could've chosen Kirsten Gillibrand or Kamala Harris or Maggie Hassan or Amy Klobuchar. But no. Gotta get your Bernie rocks off.
-I'm glad I don't have the money or transportation to attend this convention. It's obvious I wouldn't be welcome there.

@oncaffeine: So… You’re choosing the “women’s issues are identity politics” white dude over actual progressive women? Bye.

There's a lot of very unhappy people in those comments, and I could put endless quotes up. There are sooo many women who could open the convention...Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Catherine Cortez-Masto, Barbara Lee, Angela Davis, Dolores Huerta...We need women leading the discussion about women's issues, not dudes.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:32 AM on October 12, 2017 [80 favorites]

In the last couple of weeks, we've had many reports of this guy raging out in private...how long before someone just records it and gives it to a media outlet. My hope would be that people see that sort of behavior as Not Normal For An Adult, but then again, we live in the stupidest timeline.

This literally happened with Rob Ford multiple times when Ford was the mayor of Toronto and it mostly did not ding his supporters one bit.
posted by mightygodking at 8:32 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Room 641-A: Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST

Mr. Bad Example: I'm torn between "Ha ha ha we're all going to fucking die" and "He knows he can't do that, right?".

Trump Says He'll Sign Order To Expand Health Insurance Options (NPR, Oct. 10, 2017, under the header "Policy-ish" -- high five on the shade, NPR)

President Trump is poised to sign an executive order that he says will make it easier for people to join together as a group and buy health insurance from any state.

The president tweeted about his plans on Tuesday morning.

"Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people — FAST," he wrote.

The order would direct government agencies with jurisdiction over health insurance to find ways to allow consumers and small businesses to create associations to buy health coverage, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited an unnamed Trump administration official.

Proponents of the move say that association health plans, which could be offered by trade groups, chambers of commerce or groups of small businesses, would not be bound by Affordable Care Act regulations that require insurance policies to cover everyone, no matter their health status, and to cover a specific set of benefits.

Conservatives have long advocated for these kinds of plans because they say they will boost competition and lower premiums. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued for them on NPR's All Things Considered in September.
...
But health industry analysts say that if the policies don't have to follow ACA rules, they would likely draw healthier people out of the traditional insurance market with the lure of low-premium policies that offer few benefits. That would leave the Obamacare markets with a sicker, more expensive population and could drive their premiums higher.

"If the executive order is as expansive as it sounds and association plans are allowed to cherry-pick healthy people, it could truly cause the individual insurance market under the ACA to collapse, leaving people with pre-existing conditions without access to affordable coverage," says Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
...
Joseph Antos, a health policy scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, agrees. "Trying to exempt these new associations from ACA rules that apply to all other plans doesn't strike me as something that's going to stand up in federal court," Antos says.

Likely to undermine ACA further, and probably not legal, which will further undermine ACA as insurers and insured scramble to figure out what they can and cannot do? Yup, sounds like our brave leader.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 AM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

As with most things to do with Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East, it's complicated.

It is indeed complicated.

And it's UNESCO's duty to say as much, by treating with impartiality ALL cultural links to sites in the region.

Unfortunately, UNESCO has not acted like it's complicated. And that is wrong.
posted by ocschwar at 8:37 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

This was prompted by the passage of a UNESCO resolution in May that said Israel is an occupying force that has no legal or historical claims to Jerusalem. Not simply East Jerusalem, but all of Jerusalem. The country's capitol.

Israel's capital is Tel Aviv, despite what the Jerusalem Law says.
posted by mikelieman at 8:40 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think the closest we got so far is that disheveled picture of him coming off of AF1 after the hourlong mystery meeting.

Pretty sure there's at least one photo shot through the windows of the Oval Office too.
posted by scalefree at 8:40 AM on October 12, 2017

Oh man. That totally screams of Trump pressuring his lawyers to let him talk to Mueller. He's probably been doing it all along.

45: I can fix this. Just let me talk to him. Let me talk to him.

Narrator: He can't fix this.

The stupid bastard's complete ignorance of the law, (together with his never suffering the consequences of any of his actions), have caused him to believe he's actually innocent.

...and he's going to try to talk his way out of it with a former US Attorney and FBI Director. Holy crap is that a dumb idea. It's even dumber than trying to fire Mueller. He is so completely and utterly screwed.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:41 AM on October 12, 2017 [14 favorites]

...and he's going to try to talk his way out of it with a former US Attorney and FBI Director. Holy crap is that a dumb idea. It's even dumber than trying to fire Mueller. He is so completely and utterly screwed.

Meanwhile, it'll open up a dozen new investigations for Mueller's team, as Trump just digs himself in deeper.
posted by mikelieman at 8:43 AM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

Israel's capital is Tel Aviv, despite what the Jerusalem Law says.

Is this a test to see how fast the mods can write:

[SO HELP ME I WILL TURN THIS THREAD RIGHT AROUND AND BAN THE LOT OF YOU. WE ARE NOT HAVING AN I/P DEBATE HERE!]

?

:D
posted by zarq at 8:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [22 favorites]

Trump just forgot to fucking sign the ACA-gutting bill. AGAIN.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [12 favorites]

I wonder if he tries to bribe him.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Please stop posting multiple paragraphs of articles, have mercy on those of us with slow connections.
posted by agregoli at 8:48 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Countries in UNESCO who haven't left the agency because of its 'anti-Israel bias': Israel
posted by Omon Ra at 8:52 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

...and he's going to try to talk his way out of it with a former US Attorney and FBI Director. Holy crap is that a dumb idea. It's even dumber than trying to fire Mueller. He is so completely and utterly screwed.

To clarify, if you ever find yourself talking to a federal agent, particularly one investigating a crime of which you have been accused, you say AS LITTLE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

18 U.S.C. § 1001 is not something you want to fuck with.

"...in the wake of such cases, many observers have concluded that it is best for anyone with the slightest degree of criminal exposure to refrain from submitting to an interview by government agents."
posted by leotrotsky at 8:54 AM on October 12, 2017 [12 favorites]

The order would direct government agencies with jurisdiction over health insurance to find ways to allow consumers and small businesses to create associations to buy health coverage, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited an unnamed Trump administration official.

Is this one of those open ended "direct agencies to look into it but give no expectation to actually act" wheel-spinning orders where he can look like he did something without actually necessarily doing anything? I seem to recall some earlier EOs like that.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:56 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I wonder if he tries to bribe him

Does anyone not take that for granted?

Lawyer: Don't offer him any favors.

45: C'monnn, that's how things get done!

Lawyer: It could be seen as a bribe.

45: I'm not gonna try to bribe him! It's not a bribe! How is it a bribe?

Lawyer: And absolutely do not offer him any money or anything that could be construed as money.

45: Cons...what?

Lawyer: ...

45: I'm not gonna offer him money. No money at all. Won't even bring it up. Okay, maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit of money.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:59 AM on October 12, 2017 [23 favorites]

Que dijo el numero dos al numero diesiocho?

Vente conmigo!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:45 AM on October 12 [13 favorites +] [!]

Jeje...
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

1. Threaten, bribe and cajole Mueller
2. Mueller adds the attempted obstruction against himself to the investigation
3. "Bob Mueller is investigating so-called 'obstruction' involving himself, he's too close to this to investigate impartially."

Or at least I could see that crazy hail mary play if I could imagine Trump planning anything.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:06 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

45: I'm not gonna try to bribe him! It's not a bribe! How is it a bribe?

The voice of Melissa McCarthy doing Spicer and saying "It's not a ban. It's not a ban. The travel ban is not a ban, which makes it not a ban." is now in my head.
posted by Melismata at 9:07 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Is this a test to see how fast the mods can write

*nods meaningfully from the shadows*
posted by cortex at 9:07 AM on October 12, 2017 [52 favorites]

Countries in UNESCO who haven't left the agency because of its 'anti-Israel bias': Israel

This sounds like you intend it to be some sort of a 'gotcha', although I'm not really sure why? Israelis have been alleging UN and UNESCO bias against them for years, and in recent years some Israelis have expressed hope that the country's interests were making progress at UNESCO. The US leaving could conceivably have an impact on the group's direction. Israel leaving would mean they didn't think they could make their case anymore. A different dynamic.

Anyway, Israel has "suspended ties" with UNESCO over the recent resolutions. Which means they've ceased all professional activities. They already don't pay dues and are not a voting member. That's probably as much as they can do if they still hope to influence things in any way.
posted by zarq at 9:08 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think he's more just a guy in the McMullin model - wanting a Republicanism devoid of shitty prejudices.

So, he wants to go back to when they didn't embrace racists, i.e., when they only had about 30% of the electorate.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:08 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Donald Trump’s lawyers are open to having the president sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller

Please proceed, Mr. President.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:09 AM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

Tim Bontemps and David A. Fahrenthold, WaPo: Pro sports teams were once reliable patrons of Trump’s hotels. Not anymore.

The Post found that 17 teams from across the four major sports had stayed at Trump properties in recent years. Now, at least 16 are no longer customers.

“The president has seemingly made a point of dividing us as best he can,” [NBA's Golden State] Warriors coach Steve Kerr told The Post in an interview this week, explaining the shift. His team quit using Trump SoHo in 2016. “He continually offends people, and so people don’t want to stay at his hotel. It’s pretty simple.”

The Post reached out to all 123 teams in the four major U.S. sports leagues to find out how many men’s teams are still Trump customers. A total of 105 responded. Not a single team confirmed its players stay at Trump properties.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:12 AM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

The White House believes such an interview could help Mueller wrap up the probe faster and dispel the cloud of suspicion over Trump.


Here is how the scene will probably go down.

In this scene, Leonardo DiCaprio, in the white polo shirt and khaki pants, represents Trump.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:13 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

The idea that his lawyers will allow him to make statements to Robert Mueller really suggests that his team are not especially good at lawyering. Making false statements to federal investigators is the fast track to ending up in a lot of trouble, and it's really easy to do. Furthermore, The Douche Canoe is not known for being especially clever or careful in the things he says. If he were smarter and his lawyers were better--he'd never submit voluntarily to a interview with Mueller, much less seek out an opportunity to make statements to him.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:16 AM on October 12, 2017 [16 favorites]

Not a single team confirmed its players stay at Trump properties.

Patrick Kane has a place in Trump Tower Chicago.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:17 AM on October 12, 2017

The Douche Canoe is not known for being especially clever or careful in the things he says. If he were smarter and his lawyers were better--he'd never submit voluntarily to a interview with Mueller, much less seek out an opportunity to make statements to him.

Shhh. This is going to be delicious.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:18 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The idea that his lawyers will allow him to make statements to Robert Mueller really suggests that his team are not especially good at lawyering.

I have to wonder if they see it as a way out of their own shitty situation. Maybe they figure if 45 blows himself out in a legal kamikaze because he wanted an interview with the prosecutor, they'll be able to wash their hands of responsibility for his demise.

"He wouldn't listen to us. He did it to himself. Nothing any lawyer could've done to stop it. The lesson here is people should listen to their lawyers. Hey, while we're all here, I want to mention I'm open to new clients..."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:20 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Okay, here's the most childish mathematical joke I can make.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:22 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

Putin has Trump wired in order to gleam any information available from Mueller (although it probably won't succeed).
posted by gucci mane at 9:23 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

The idea that his lawyers will allow him to make statements to Robert Mueller really suggests that his team are not especially good at lawyering.

Or they think Trump will just fire Mueller eventually and somehow make the whole thing go away.
posted by dilaudid at 9:24 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

The order would direct government agencies with jurisdiction over health insurance to find ways to allow consumers and small businesses to create associations to buy health coverage

As usual, this is going to mostly screw people in Republican red states. What isn't always clear is that insurance markets are controlled by the insurance commissioners in each state, not the feds. State officials decide what is acceptable insurance in their state and in blue states they will fight in court to prevent these "association health plans" from being sold. The court battles will likely delay them for years. But in red states with compliant state officials, the insurance markets will likely be gutted. Local elections matter.
posted by JackFlash at 9:24 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Okay, here's the most childish mathematical joke I can make.

There may be alternatives, but there is no substitute.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:24 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I suspect Trump volunteering an interview goes to their intent to have Burr and the Senate committee issue a covering report. Either Trump forces Mueller to accept an interview he's not prepared to conduct yet before laying the proper investigative groundwork, or Mueller is forced to decline for that reason, which Trump will claim as vindication and Burr will use as evidence the investigation is over.

Mueller won't accept this, it's a poison pill.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:28 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof that math is funny which this comment box is too small to contain.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:43 AM on October 12 [28 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

Hehe.

I can prove there's no such thing as an uninteresting number:

Suppose there was an uninteresting number.

Suppose it is four.

Wouldn't that be interesting?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:28 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

@cspanJeremy: Watch Rand Paul as President Trump enters the room.
@davidmackau: i made a gif i call Rand Paul Mustering The Courage To Get Through The Day
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:31 AM on October 12, 2017 [51 favorites]

The governor of PR after Trump's tweets.

@ricardorossello
The U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico are requesting the support that any of our fellow citizens would receive across our Nation.

---

The mayor of San Juan was less polite.

@CarmenYulinCruz
@POTUS your comments about Puerto Rico are unbecoming of a Commander in Chief they seem more to come from a “Hater in Chief”.
posted by chris24 at 9:34 AM on October 12, 2017 [61 favorites]

Darren Samuelsohn, Politico: President's lawyers may offer Mueller a meeting with Trump

This is of a piece with the NYT article that Trump's legal team planted last week, "Hoping to Have Trump Cleared, Legal Team Eases Resistance to Inquiry", discussed earlier in this thread. Most likely, this trial balloon is intended to create the appearance of cooperation. Maybe Trump's legal team is hoping Mueller doesn't call this bluff and won't talk to their client until he's good and ready, maybe they think they can attach so many conditions that Mueller will refuse, all making Trump somehow look better by comparison.

Team Trump needs every delaying tactic and diversion they can muster while Trump's allies in the Capitol Hill investigations rush to create "no collusion" reports. That well isn't going to poison itself.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:34 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Carmen Yulín Cruz for President
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:35 AM on October 12, 2017 [23 favorites]

Of an independent Puerto Rico.
posted by corb at 9:37 AM on October 12, 2017 [14 favorites]

At what point does willfully harming 3.5 million of your own citizens count as malfeasance or one of the other feasancees?

Malfeasance: The commission of an act that is unequivocally illegal or completely wrongful.

Malfeasance is a comprehensive term used in both civil and Criminal Law to describe any act that is wrongful. It is not a distinct crime or tort, but may be used generally to describe any act that is criminal or that is wrongful and gives rise to, or somehow contributes to, the injury of another person.

Malfeasance is an affirmative act that is illegal or wrongful. In tort law it is distinct from misfeasance, which is an act that is not illegal but is improperly performed. It is also distinct from Nonfeasance, which is a failure to act that results in injury.

posted by Room 641-A at 9:45 AM on October 12, 2017 [16 favorites]

18 U.S.C. § 1001 is not something you want to fuck with.

I think of it as the "Martha Stewart NEVER FIB TO A FED" law..
posted by mikelieman at 9:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Okay, here's the most childish mathematical joke I can make.

The theorem, proven by Tits,

pffffttt teeeheeee!
posted by numaner at 9:52 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

And as though we needed it, Charles Pierce gives us something else to worry about:

Last Sunday, Joy Reid hosted a discussion between former Senator Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican and Teresa Tomlinson, the mayor of Columbus, Georgia. (While in the Senate, you may recall, Coburn was reckoned to be relatively normal because he served with Jim Inhofe, who is a failed replicant prototype that howls at the moon.) At issue was the proposed constitutional convention that would be called under Article V of the Constitution, a longtime conservative dreamshot that at the moment is as close to fulfillment as it ever has been. Under Article V, which deals with amending the Constitution, a constitutional convention must be called if two-thirds of the state legislatures called for it. At the moment, 27 state legislatures have done so. That leaves the plan a mere seven states short of the 34 that would meet the Article V threshold. As it happens, there are seven state legislatures with Republican majorities out there that have yet to take up the question. You can see why I’m just a little nervous.

posted by holborne at 9:53 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Fun fact: FEMA and the military are still in Texas and Florida, you total f**king idiot.

I think the term of art is "fucking moron."
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:54 AM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

Other than the official statement, has shithead mentioned the California fires?
posted by Room 641-A at 9:55 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

At the moment, 27 state legislatures have done so. That leaves the plan a mere seven states short of the 34 that would meet the Article V threshold. As it happens, there are seven state legislatures with Republican majorities out there that have yet to take up the question. You can see why I’m just a little nervous.

Any proposed amendments would still have to ratified by 3/4 of states.
posted by Justinian at 9:58 AM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

That leaves the plan a mere seven states short of the 34 that would meet the Article V threshold. As it happens, there are seven state legislatures with Republican majorities out there that have yet to take up the question. You can see why I’m just a little nervous.

Yeah, I'm gonna say no. This is literally never going to happen. It's way too risky and doomed to failure. The point with these fuckers is that they can NEVER deliver what that loony tunes base wants, because what the base wants is completely politically impossible. Like with the Obamacare repeal. Or tax reform. Or the border wall. Or literally anything.

The Constitutional Convention is this 10x over. It would be a complete clusterfuck and anyone tied to it would be pegged with failure forever.

The way they work is to keep holding out the promise of stuff, but never actually delivering.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:00 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is the proposal that Mueller interview Trump under oath?
posted by Rumple at 10:03 AM on October 12, 2017

Any proposed amendments would still have to ratified by 3/4 of states.

In that case they might actually do it. Like the Clinton impeachment, and the Obamacare repeal votes, and the Trump candidacy (whoops!), these assholes love play-acting when there's no chance of actual success, and therefore consequences.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:04 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oopsie, some reporter misunderstood that Robert Reich Facebook post from yesterday and treated it as news: Former Republican member of congress: 'Trump is unhinged. We are waiting to get tax bill through before impeachment'
posted by christopherious at 10:10 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure it matters if Trump is under oath or not. I believe the law is such that it's always illegal to lie to a fed.

I'm curious, for anyone more familiar with criminal law, under what circumstances it would make sense for Trump to request a meeting with Mueller? My impression is that this is a stupid idea whether you're guilty or not. But there has to be some circumstance where, if you were Trump's lawyer, you would want this meeting (this assumes that you're a competent lawyer looking out for your client's interests in good faith).
posted by VTX at 10:10 AM on October 12, 2017

Dylan Scott at Vox has a good overview of the healthcare EO: Trump’s executive order to undermine Obamacare, explained. There's a lot of uncertainty as to how the regulations implementing it will be written, particularly whether individuals will be allowed to buy into association health plans. If that's allowed, it would allow healthy people to buy cheaper, less valuable, plans, driving up premiums for Obamacare plans on the exchanges.

The White House even acknowledges this will raise premiums, but says it won't matter for people who receive subsidies. Of course, it's the people who don't receive subsidies they claim to be so concerned about all the time, yet that concern seems to have evaporated in the service of a talking point.

And here's the video of him walking out, forgetting to sign the damn thing. Pence reminds him: "Mr. President, you need to sign it."

Bloomberg reports that Trump Is Angry About a Proposal in His Own Tax Plan, Sources Say. He supposedly got mad when he learned that ending state and local tax deductions "would hurt some middle-income taxpayers." Which, hilariously, means that in an attempt to make him look caring and concerned, they leaked that he was utterly ignorant of the basics of the policy he was proposing.
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 AM on October 12, 2017 [48 favorites]

But there has to be some circumstance where, if you were Trump's lawyer, you would want this meeting (this assumes that you're a competent lawyer looking out for your client's interests in good faith).

There are essentially zero circumstances where you should want to speak to a federal investigator if there is the smallest chance you are the target of an investigation, even tangentially.
posted by Justinian at 10:18 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Re: the Women's Convention. I really felt it would help motivate and guide me into doing some much-needed work here in Michigan heading toward the '18 elections. I can't afford to go to the full convention, but was thinking of spending-still-too-much ($125) to participate one day, opening day, the day BS is supposed to be there.

Hillary is speaking in nearby Ann Arbor 3 days prior to the Convention. I can't afford her $200+ ticket either, and perhaps she wasn't available that following weekend anyway. But migawd, it would've been great if the convention could've gotten SOME extremely prominent female politician (Kamala, Gillibrand, etc.) to keynote. That would've been definite added incentive for me.

Doesn't it also seem they're spinning fewer registrants than originally projected as a decision to limit participants.

(This also concerns me because it's at least the second prominent women's resistance group that's started making strategic errors, after the Pantsuit Nation debacle.)
posted by NorthernLite at 10:19 AM on October 12, 2017 [12 favorites]

This is the second time he's walked out of the EO signing ceremony before signing the EO he was all het up to sign?
posted by notyou at 10:20 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

There are essentially zero circumstances where you should want to speak to a federal investigator if there is the smallest chance you are the target of an investigation, even tangentially.

But what if you're just a totally awesome deal maker and, like, a smart guy?
posted by paper chromatographologist at 10:22 AM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

Oh, in that case you should totally talk to federal investigators. Believe me. Maybe threaten and/or bribe them also.
posted by Justinian at 10:23 AM on October 12, 2017 [19 favorites]

But what if you're just a totally awesome deal maker and, like, a smart guy?

And also super charming and avuncular in person, not like they show on the FAKE NEWS all the time?
posted by notyou at 10:23 AM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

> They’re just praying Trump doesn’t do something really, really stupid...

Never a good idea to plan something contingent on that!

> "Look, all I can tell you is many of the people I talk with are getting freaked out," the former senator said.

Welcome to the club, fellas! Not sure why it took so long, but how does it feel? Not great, right?
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:25 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oopsie, some reporter misunderstood that Robert Reich Facebook post from yesterday and treated it as news: Former Republican member of congress: 'Trump is unhinged. We are waiting to get tax bill through before impeachment'

Great. Robert Reich's imaginary friends are now being treated as credible news sources.

I can't wait for their next big scoop: "Anonymous White House staffer reveals that Robert Reich is way cool and his dad could totally beat up trump's dad."
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:26 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

The only thing I can come up with is if Trump is innocent, a victim, has evidence that proves it, wants to help Mueller somehow, and has had to play along with everyone around since they're in on it.

That's the most plausible scenario I can come up with that makes it seem like an interview with Mueller would make sense and it's utterly ridiculous and all of his actions previously point in exactly the opposite direction.
posted by VTX at 10:29 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

The best explanation I can come up with is that they believe a subpoena to testify is inevitable and this leak is spin to make it look like talking to Mueller was their idea when it happens.
posted by Justinian at 10:30 AM on October 12, 2017 [22 favorites]

There is a Michael O'Donoghue sketch for SNL that never aired, called the Good Excuse. A Nazi officer is captured, and the GI yells "before I blow your brains out, tell me WHY you and your kind did these atrocities!" The Nazi shrugs and says "We had a good excuse." When the GI is incredulous, the Nazi whispers in his ear and the GI changes his tone immediately.

Other GIs burst in and are about to gun down the Nazi when the first GI says "No, no, stop! They had a GOOD EXCUSE!" He whispers it to them, they too are mollified, and it continues. Eventually the Good Excuse is eaten by a small dog and lost to posterity.

If Trump has a Good Excuse of this magnitude, it is in his best interest to whisper it to Mueller. Part of me hopes that he thinks he does.
posted by delfin at 10:32 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

The pharmacist to Congress has something to say about that Alzheimer’s remark

WASHINGTON — The pharmacist who prepares prescription drugs for Congress would like you to know that he does not know of any members with Alzheimer’s. And if he did, he wouldn’t tell you.

“I am not aware of any member that actually has Alzheimer’s and would certainly not disclose any such information if I did know,” Mike Kim said, adding that “patient privacy is a very serious matter that I am committed to upholding.”

[...]

“I was speaking very broadly about disease states that the general American population have and that it also applies to everyone including members of the U.S. House and Senate since they are also people just like you and I,” he said.

He added: “My pharmacy is in a very unique location on Capitol Hill and fortunate to have the opportunity to service the U.S. Capitol.”

posted by XMLicious at 10:39 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I'm gonna say no. This is literally never going to happen. It's way too risky and doomed to failure.

Yeah, I don't think it's going anywhere, either (altho in the Age of Truxit I'm not going to state that as confidently as once I might have), but it's not going to go away because A) LARPing is everything to these assholes B) the associated grifting opportunities are enormous and C) it offers yet another way to cloud, dispute, and disparage the authority of the currently constituted government of the United States.
posted by octobersurprise at 10:40 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

And here's the video of him walking out, forgetting to sign the damn thing.

Again??
posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:44 AM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

John Kelly is doing the press briefing himself, because nothing makes sense anymore, should you like to watch him repeatedly insist he's not being fired and he's not quitting and somehow how Trump's tweets about Puerto Rico are absolutely correct while also affirming our commitment to Puerto Rico's recovery.

He explains that the cameras catch him when he's "thinking hard, and it looks like I'm frustrated and mad."
posted by zachlipton at 10:58 AM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

And also super charming and avuncular

Avuncuwhat did you just call me?
posted by elsietheeel at 10:59 AM on October 12, 2017

Kelly: "I'm not quitting today... I just talked to the president and I don't think I'm being fired today."

interesting use of the word "today"... twice.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:00 AM on October 12, 2017 [40 favorites]

That pharmacy guy was in so much trouble ya'll. I'm feeling like he's already fired.
posted by emjaybee at 11:01 AM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

He owns the pharmacy, he'd have to fire himself.
posted by peeedro at 11:03 AM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I posted this on Facebook, but y'all are welcome to it, too:

This latest Executive Order from the White House appears to be an attempt to flood the market with junk insurance, likely wreaking havoc on insurance premiums for people with serious health issues while offering no meaningful extension of coverage, and offering a new profit line for insurance companies seeking to unethically profit from junk plans.

Right now there are a few different approaches to fixing health care and health insurance in the US right now. One (being advanced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers) says, "the law right now needs a tune-up. Let's gather our wrenches and screwdrivers and get this working better for people." Another (being advanced by many Democrats) says, "our existing laws really can't get us where we need to be. This was a good start, but we should build a better system from the ground up, one that will serve everyone."

The approach now being advanced by the White House, along with some of their Republican partners in Congress, says, "let's make some fine adjustments with baseball bats and flamethrowers. When we're done, we can ask people with serious illnesses who are struggling to pay for their care to cover the cost of repairs."
posted by duffell at 11:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Typical example of how the briefing is going:

Reporter: Is the Trump's tweet saying Democrats don't care about the country a fair characterization?
Kelly: *talks for 10 minutes, never comes close to answering question*

That's basically the whole briefing.
posted by Justinian at 11:05 AM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

@cspanJeremy: Watch Rand Paul as President Trump enters the room.

I would love to see a supercut of people reacting in horror or dismay or bewilderment or disgust -- particularly people who are trained to otherwise maintain a neutral expression when cameras are present -- whenever Trump enters a room or starts speaking. (Eg: Various heads of state, Buzz Aldrin, John Kelly, Rand Paul, etc.)
posted by lord_wolf at 11:08 AM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

FEMA counters Trump.

@FEMAspox:
.@fema will be w/Puerto Rico, USVI, every state, territory impacted by a disaster every day, supporting throughout their response & recovery
posted by chris24 at 11:09 AM on October 12, 2017 [47 favorites]

He added: “My pharmacy is in a very unique location on Capitol Hill and fortunate to have the opportunity to service the U.S. Capitol.”

So, if I were a foreign agent with the desire to poison or otherwise slip brain chemistry-altering substances to members of Congress or their aides, basically all I'd have to do is fuck with this guy's ordering system and supply chain? I'm wondering if this has already happened.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:09 AM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Reporter: Is the Trump's tweet saying Democrats don't care about the country a fair characterization?
Kelly: *talks for 10 minutes, never comes close to answering question*

What I don't understand is why the next journalist doesn't just repeat the same question. Over and over. Make them answer questions with actual answers. The White House press corps should be working together to hold these pathetic jerks accountable.
posted by something something at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2017 [25 favorites]

And here's the video of him walking out, forgetting to sign the damn thing.

I wonder what the threshold is for dementia diagnosis by layperson or simple observation. Because it seems like there isn't any--like the only symptoms of observable dementia that remain options are nearly unthinkable because it would have to be something like the president literally peeing into a potted plant in the middle of a press conference. And even then I feel like his cabinet would close ranks in front of him until he finished and walked back to the cameras, zipping up.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 11:14 AM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

I mean, I forgot my ATM card at grocery store self-serve check-out lane about a month ago and the woman behind me looked at me like I was a lunatic when I went back to get it.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 11:15 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Goyal somehow winds up with the last question, which is some kind of long rambling question that boils down to "what's the US relationship with India?" to audible groans from the rest of the press corps, who, unlike this guy, represent media outlets that actually exist.
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

What I don't understand is why the next journalist doesn't just repeat the same question. Over and over. Make them answer questions with actual answers.

Because he can't answer that question or any other "Is Trump An Idiot" questions without breaking the law and risking getting fired from the job of keeping the President from killing us all.
posted by corb at 11:17 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

All I'm getting from this press conference is John Kelly will be gone within a week.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:19 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm starting to get REALLY ANGRY at the reports of all these Trump officials sticking around because they are trying to stop Trump from doing something awful. No. They all need to leave. Abandon him. Stop being complicit. Leave and do something from the outside. Are we supposed to feel hopeful, relieved, what? That this crazy train continues unabated? FUUUUUUUCK
posted by agregoli at 11:24 AM on October 12, 2017 [23 favorites]

I'm starting to get REALLY ANGRY at the reports of all these Trump officials sticking around because they are trying to stop Trump from doing something awful and hoping he will suddenly become presidential so they can push their own agenda. Added that for you.
posted by Melismata at 11:26 AM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

@fema will be w/Puerto Rico, USVI, every state, territory impacted by a disaster every day, supporting throughout their response & recovery

Heckuva job, Brawny.
posted by Slackermagee at 11:41 AM on October 12, 2017 [24 favorites]

No "adding" to my comment necessary, thanks. I know what I mean when I write a comment, and I do not for ONE SECOND believe that the people closest to Trump think they will be able to pull off any of their agendas with this President. They need to leave.
posted by agregoli at 11:42 AM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

They need to leave.

But what if it turns out they're the only thing standing between us and a Trump-launched nuclear apocalypse?
posted by zarq at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm starting to get REALLY ANGRY at the reports of all these Trump officials sticking around because they are trying to stop Trump from doing something awful [...] Are we supposed to feel hopeful, relieved, what?

I think it's a bit like experimental jazz appreciation:
It's not about the fascism that's happening, it's about the fascism that's not happening, daddy-o.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2017 [21 favorites]

The people closest to Trump are in no way the only barriers to nuclear holocaust - and also, we've been asked repeatedly not to speculate about nuclear war and end times and stuff in here, but this thread has a lot of that.
posted by agregoli at 11:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

And here's the video of him walking out, forgetting to sign the damn thing.

THIS

KEEPS

HAPPENING
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:47 AM on October 12, 2017 [16 favorites]

The people closest to Trump are in no way the only barriers to nuclear holocaust

There's a process, yes. But once the order is given, it's unlikely that anyone in the chain of command would stop a launch from happening.

- and also, we've been asked repeatedly not to speculate about nuclear war and end times and stuff in here,

Fair enough. I'll drop it now.
posted by zarq at 11:56 AM on October 12, 2017

Mod note: I know the volcano bait is everywhere right now but yeah let's cut it out with that. You want to talk about doomsday magma chamber stuff, go buy a geologist a beer.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:56 AM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

Kushner Hid One of His Companies On A Disclosure Form — Then Profited (Chris Riotta, Newsweek)

Kushner's failure to cite Cadre on his financial disclosure form came as the Office of Government Ethics was deciding whether to grant him a Certificate of Divestiture, which requires incoming government employees to divest "100% of all financial interests" from listed companies so they don't violate conflict-of-interest laws. It also allows those government employees to sell their assets without paying heavy capital gains taxes.

The timeline suggests more than just an inadvertent oversight, but an effort by Kushner to hold onto Cadre rather than be forced to divest his interests in the emerging company, according to ethics experts.

posted by Room 641-A at 12:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [40 favorites]

doomsday magma chamber stuff

Dude. Dude.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:14 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The idea that his lawyers will allow him to make statements to Robert Mueller really suggests that his team are not especially good at lawyering.

Not so sure about that. I would think that the idea is in having Mueller talk to Trump sooner rather than later, it makes it more difficult for Mueller to talk to Trump a second time. In offering Trump up now -- before Mueller has finished his investigation and has the full set of facts -- Mueller would be questioning Trump on an incomplete picture, and may well be precluded from questioning Trump on the full picture later.

All of which is a tacit admission that there's Bad Stuff to be found. It's a strategy of limiting Trump's exposure as much as they can.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:16 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

CNN: Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort

One Russian-linked campaign posing as part of the Black Lives Matter movement used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and Pokémon Go and even contacted some reporters in an effort to exploit racial tensions and sow discord among Americans, CNN has learned.

The campaign, titled "Don't Shoot Us," offers new insights into how Russian agents created a broad online ecosystem where divisive political messages were reinforced across multiple platforms, amplifying a campaign that appears to have been run from one source -- the shadowy, Kremlin-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.

Stupidest fucking timeline.
posted by zachlipton at 12:16 PM on October 12, 2017 [35 favorites]

It's Congress' job to protect the country from a dangerous President, they just don't want to. If Kelly and Mattis are somehow protecting America from Trump, it's only as part of their primary role which is protecting GOP congresspeople from doing their damn jobs even if it means losing the MAGAhat vote.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:19 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Donald Trump tweet suggests that FCC should take NBC off the air -- That’s “not how it works,” FCC commissioner tells the president. (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, Oct. 11, 2017)

President Donald Trump today suggested that the Federal Communications Commission should challenge an NBC license because of "fake news."

"With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" Trump tweeted.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel offered a brief response to Trump, saying that's "not how it works" and linking to a manual [PDF] that discusses the FCC's regulation of broadcast radio and TV licenses. (We asked Rosenworcel to expand on her thoughts but haven't heard back yet.)

Threats from public officials to stifle protected speech can violate the First Amendment. Adam Steinbaugh, who previously practiced law and is now a writer and free speech advocate, pointed to [via Twitter, natch] a federal appeals court decision from 2003 that tackles this subject.

The court decision said:

[A] public-official defendant who threatens to employ coercive state power to stifle protected speech violates a plaintiff's First Amendment rights even if the public-official defendant lacks direct regulatory or decision-making authority over the plaintiff or a third party that facilitates the plaintiff's speech.

Trump's threat came shortly after he claimed [on Twitter] an NBC news story about his nuclear ambitions is "pure fiction." NBC reported that Trump "said he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the US nuclear arsenal during a gathering this past summer of the nation's highest-ranking national security leaders."

The White House has previously confirmed [NBC News, nice shade, Jon!] that Trump's tweets are official statements from the president.

Trump also told reporters today that "it is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write." (Trump can blame the First Amendment for that.)

UPDATE: A few hours after this story published, Trump intensified his call for network licenses to be challenged and possibly revoked in a new tweet. "Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!" Trump tweeted.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also responded to Trump's call for challenging licenses, tweeting, "Revoking a broadcast license on such grounds will only happen if we fail to abide by the First Amendment." Clyburn and Rosenworcel are the only two Democrats on the commission.

Just another blip or three in the steady pulse of WTF flowing from our brave leader.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:27 PM on October 12, 2017 [66 favorites]

It has been _0_ days since the last Trump disaster.
posted by Melismata at 12:31 PM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel

"Soon-to-be fired FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel "
posted by A Terrible Llama at 12:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

"The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term."

Via Wikipedia.

This will go well.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 12:37 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's amazing to me how much he stomps and whines about things not being 'fair'. He sounds like a five year old.

LIFE ISN'T FAIR, DONNY.

ALSO PLEASE LEARN WHAT FAIR MEANS.

privileged motherfucker bitching about fairness...
posted by elsietheeel at 12:39 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

"Soon-to-be fired FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel "

Well, she's a woman, and we can't have that.
posted by Melismata at 12:41 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I wonder how much of the effort to “control” Trump right now is to prevent him from tweeting out solidarity with and admiration for Harvey Weinstein.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 12:45 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

It has been _0_ days since the last Trump disaster.

Public art concept: That, exactly that, etched in stone fucking tablets.
posted by duffell at 12:49 PM on October 12, 2017 [30 favorites]

Are networks even licensed by the FCC? I thought licenses applied to the individual broadcast affiliates. He'd have to make a case for each of them that they're somehow violating the terms of their broadcast license.
posted by rocket88 at 12:54 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not to revisit the derail, but just as a quick aside: the earlier anxiety-provoking USA Today headline about the Yellowstone super volcano was, of course, not much more than sensationalized clickbait embellished from a much drier science story from the NY Times. [Twitter link]
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:54 PM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

LIFE ISN'T FAIR, DONNY.

Donny, you're out of your element
posted by kirkaracha at 12:56 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

going back to cheeto's (clearly misguided) MDA assertions...david willman at the la times has been on this beat for years. like SDCs, it doesn't work, and it's never going to work. MDA is a boondoggle of the first order, a middle class jobs program, a piece of candy for the DOD, a goldmine for the contractors, and at it's core an essentially criminal enterprise.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:15 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

TV Broadcast networks are NOT licensed by the FCC, but the parent companies of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox own a handful of "O&O" stations whose licenses could be challenged, less in quantity than the biggest chains, like Sinclair (leftover from when the FCC limited the number you could own, and signifying their relative disinterest in the O&Os), but most are in the biggest TV markets and relatively easy profit centers the parent companies (Disney, CBS Inc., Comcast and 21st Century) would not be happy losing. Of course, if Trump follows through and gets way with it with NBC/Comcast, the others will probably happily sell off their O&Os to anyone who'd keep them as "network affiliates". As for the 200+ affiliated non-owned stations, challenging all of them (a) would be a paperwork nightmare and (b) would piss off some owners of NBC stations who take some of the money they make airing anti-Trump shows and make political donations to Republicans. At least NBC would immediately cancel The Apprentice forever, along with any other reality show Trump owns a part of.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:15 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

From way upthread, but:

While I sympathize with your sentiment, my fear is that any immigrants from PR would quickly become Janesville's most convenient scapegoats.

They aren't immigrants.

Yeah, my bad. I typed that in haste and was AFK for a bit, then saw my own comment just now and realized my goof. I should have said "arrivals" or some such. Either way, I'm not convinced PaulRyanville would make life easy for PR hurricane victims, even though they are US citizens.
posted by Rykey at 1:20 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is the second time he's walked out of the EO signing ceremony before signing the EO he was all het up to sign?

And not the last. His brain is going.

Someone upthread hit upon it - ah yes, snuffy called it, So is running for, or holding office while concealing dementia or Alzheimers from your constituents.

Somebody with America's interest at heart is going to need to check him out. Don't get up, Dr. Jacoby - we'll find someone.
posted by petebest at 1:27 PM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

Haven't seen this mentioned here:
Last Friday, Michael Christopher Estes planted a bomb in the Asheville Regional Airport (links to The Intercept; also at The Independent).
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:29 PM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

Last Friday, Michael Christopher Estes planted a bomb in the Asheville Regional Airport (links to The Intercept; also at The Independent).

IOKIYAR, right?
posted by mikelieman at 1:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

[A] public-official defendant who threatens to employ coercive state power to stifle protected speech violates a plaintiff's First Amendment rights even if the public-official defendant lacks direct regulatory or decision-making authority over the plaintiff or a third party that facilitates the plaintiff's speech.

HEY NBC HOW MUCH FUN WOULD IT BE TO SUE FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF JUST TO FUCK WITH HIM?

LOTS FUN.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:38 PM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

Waaaaaaaaaaait a second. Just had a really interesting thought, in light of oneswellfoop's breakdown of who owns the Network Stations above.

Because - it wouldn't just be the networks themselves on the hook if the President decides to try funny business. Because - each of the networks is owned by some big corporation (as spoofed on SNL once upon a time).

In the case of NBC, it is GE that is one of the key owners. So....Trump tries to pull something with NBC, then...does that mean that GE is holding the bag?

And - how would that affect whether Trump follows through with his threat? And if he does still follow through, how would that affect GE? And would that then spook the other companies who have interests in other networks, and get them to sell them off and divorce themselves from media?

.....This could be really interesting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:39 PM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

It feels petty to be this mad about Bernie Sanders keynoting the women's convention, but I really can't stop being mad about it. This whole past week has just been a gauntlet of indignities and atrocities for women. Jemele Hill silenced on ESPN. Hillary Clinton hounded for Harvey Weinstein's crimes against women (like wtf). The attack on reproductive rights. The attacks on Puerto Rico's mayor. Rose McGowan suspended on Twitter for saying "fuck you" to a sexual harasser. Then Women's March chooses THIS shockingly tactless moment to announce that the voice they're elevating is...wait for it... a man's. Fuck it, I'm just done.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 1:42 PM on October 12, 2017 [68 favorites]

Comcast owns NBC now, not GE.
posted by zachlipton at 1:44 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

I stand corrected on the identity of the corporate owner who would be on the hook if Trump goes after NBC.

the balance of my point remains unaltered.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:46 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hey look, Twitter cares when people say certain things on their platform! There's hope for us all! Rose McGowan suspended from Twitter after accusing Ben Affleck of lying about Harvey Weinstein

Oh, never mind - it's a female celebrity saying that a male celebrity knew about sexual misconduct of a male Hollywood bigwig, so politicians can't be blocked, right?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:48 PM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

i know there's people here who knew jack and biz before they hit it big... tell us, did you realize they were sexist nazis or were they better at keeping it hidden back then
posted by entropicamericana at 1:52 PM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

the latest story from the twits is that she had posted a 'private phone number' in a tweet, 'in violation of rules'. and it was 'only' for 12 hours, and reversed when she deleted the offending tweet. Big dumb mistake looking worse or Rose McG is a master troller?

as for NBC ownership, it really gets complicated since Comcast is the Biggest Cable Company, and as such, is very friendly with Trump's new FCC chairgoon.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:56 PM on October 12, 2017

Oh, never mind - it's a female celebrity saying that a male celebrity knew about sexual misconduct of a male Hollywood bigwig, so politicians can't be blocked, right?

She puts someone's private number in a tweet which is one of the few cardinal sins on Twitter. As soon as that tweet was removed she was reinstated.
posted by Talez at 1:56 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I gotta be honest here. Until this story broke, I spent decades conflating Harvey Weinstein with Harvey Firestein.

I'm not doing that anymore, obvs.
posted by mikelieman at 1:56 PM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

I gotta be honest here. Until this story broke, I spent decades conflating Harvey Weinstein with Harvey Firestein.

It's easy. Harvey Firestein is the guy from the ovulation watch and Harvey Weinstein is the one you don't want to let anywhere near a lady's private parts.
posted by Talez at 2:00 PM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

*runs screaming into thread*

Guys! Guys! There's people making math jokes out there! And I think they're serious!

*scrolls up, gasps*
*runs screaming out of thread*
posted by petebest at 2:01 PM on October 12, 2017 [18 favorites]

I don't see this in the thread yet? He'll be speaking at the Family Research Council summit. From the link:

Critics have called out the Family Research Council as being anti-LGBTQ. On its website, which boasts “Our vision is a culture in which all human life is valued, families flourish, and religious liberty thrives,” the council says it believes homosexuality is “harmful” to people.

“Family Research Council believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed,” the website reads. “We oppose the vigorous efforts of homosexual activists to demand that homosexuality be accepted as equivalent to heterosexuality in law, in the media, and in schools.”

Garbage humans and garbage enablers, all the way down.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:01 PM on October 12, 2017 [32 favorites]

She puts someone's private number in a tweet which is one of the few cardinal sins on Twitter. As soon as that tweet was removed she was reinstated.

Right but PEOPLE POST PRIVATE PHONE NUMBERS ALL THE TIME, people report it and Twitter says sorry, that does not violate our terms of service.
posted by kate blank at 2:02 PM on October 12, 2017 [31 favorites]

She puts someone's private number in a tweet which is one of the few cardinal sins on Twitter.

The fact that that is one of the few cardinal sins of twitter is one of a list of reasons I'm gone from that platform unless called. If they gave half a shit they'd have been shamed into changing policy years ago, long before Anita Sarkeesian started sending daily screenshots of threatening tweets to the FBI.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:03 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

IOKWAMDI
posted by entropicamericana at 2:04 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's people making math jokes out there! And I think they're serious!

Something about this just doesn't add up. I'm going to need more proof.
posted by nubs at 2:05 PM on October 12, 2017 [11 favorites]

Guys! Guys! There's people making math jokes out there! And I think they're serious!

Serious math jokes look like this. Algebraic topology on the space of proofs? Pull the other one!
posted by Coventry at 2:07 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Just so everyone's clear on where Twitter's priorities are: they already know who the Nazis on their platform are. They're required to flag Nazi accounts so that they do not appear when you use Twitter from a German or French IP address. That means that there's already an existing flag that they could use to trivially ban a huge portion of the fascist recruiting and propaganda effort from their service at any moment. Guess why they haven't.

The fastest way to get infracted on Twitter is still to yell at fascists or white supremacists. You can say back to them the same things that they're saying to you and you will get suspended while they will not. On the other hand, people do not get infracted for talking about how they wish they could enslave black people or shovel Jewish people into ovens, and of course basically any kind of harassment is okay as long as the target is a woman. The company is too cowardly to make their positions clear, but if you just follow the pattern of their behavior it becomes pretty obvious.

She puts someone's private number in a tweet which is one of the few cardinal sins on Twitter.

That's not true. People do this all the time. Tons of protesters have been doxxed very thoroughly (and often incorrectly!) on right-wing Twitter, and if you report those posts you'll be told that they don't violate the ToS. This is a bald-faced lie from the Twitter support team that is meant to sound reasonable to people who aren't very involved with Twitter. Please don't fall for it.
posted by IAmUnaware at 2:08 PM on October 12, 2017 [84 favorites]

Footnote: Math jokes are critical in keeping the Despair stat from going asymptotic. Fucking 2017. Where math jokes are self-care.
posted by mikelieman at 2:09 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

She puts someone's private number in a tweet which is one of the few cardinal sins on Twitter. As soon as that tweet was removed she was reinstated.

trump violates their TOS on a weekly basis, thousands of people report him for it, and nothing gets done about it. Which means it's obvious there is not an automated process in place; there are humans deciding which accounts get axed and which can violate their rules with impunity. Obviously someone behind the scenes made a decision that Rose McGowan's voice was one they'd rather not have on their dumb website (er, platform).
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:10 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Fucking 2017. Where math jokes are self-care.

You sure they're not poin-care?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:11 PM on October 12, 2017 [18 favorites]

Algebraic topology on the space of proofs? Pull the other one!

You might think it's funny, but for me it's actually pretty HoTT. (Also, Voevodsky just died. Anyone want to put together an obit?)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 2:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

You sure they're not poin-care?

That's purely conjecture.
posted by Floydd at 2:14 PM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

You sure they're not poin-care?

that's just conjGODDAMMIT
posted by cortex at 2:17 PM on October 12, 2017 [24 favorites]

I'm getting a sinus headache.
posted by Melismata at 2:18 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

UNSUBSCRIBE
posted by um at 2:20 PM on October 12, 2017 [24 favorites]

Voevodsky just died. Anyone want to put together an obit?

.
posted by Coventry at 2:22 PM on October 12, 2017

...plus a constant!
posted by MtDewd at 2:23 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Rebecca Solnit on Harvey Weinstein, Hillary Clinton, and Blaming Women for the Acts of Men: Harvey Weinstein is Hillary Clinton’s fault, we have learned from many sources. So is eczema and the Civil War and the fact that your child refuses to learn to tie shoelaces and sticks to Velcro shoes. The hairs and stuff that get caught in the Velcro are also Hillary Clinton’s fault...
posted by sunset in snow country at 2:23 PM on October 12, 2017 [43 favorites]

Folks like jack and biz don't need to be nazis or possibly even sexist in any conscious way. They are folks who are sexism/racism/awfulwhatever enablers who have found it within themselves to look the other way because it's in their personal interest. Some of these people do so because they overtly benefit. Some just because it's easier. Such people don't contain more hate or bias than the rest of us were programmed with by virtue of growing up in this sexist and racist country. They're just completely hollow, either by upbringing or by studied personal effort. They are Ellis from Die Hard, but they have survived and taken charge and will enable whatever evil is convenient and profitable for them.

I say that not to defend them - not by a long shot - but the jacks and bizes are easy to spot as they languish at the top, doing nothing. We can't miss spotting the far more numerous army of the complicit who never say a sexist word we might hear... all while maneuvering on behalf of the Weinsteins and Trumps and providing their cover.
posted by phearlez at 2:27 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Shitting Predisent, surely.
posted by petebest at 2:40 PM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

I posted that upthread a bit and it got buried in math jokes. Just sayin.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:42 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Quitting president, with any luck.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:45 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

Folks like jack and biz don't need to be nazis or possibly even sexist in any conscious way. They are folks who are sexism/racism/awfulwhatever enablers who have found it within themselves to look the other way because it's in their personal interest.

We are far past the point of passive enabling. They take active steps to support Nazis and misogynists and to silence those who oppose them.

"I was just following algorithms" is not a defense.

People who help Nazi pieces of shit are also Nazi pieces of shit. That's where we're at. I don't care what they call themselves.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:49 PM on October 12, 2017 [49 favorites]

They are folks who are sexism/racism/awfulwhatever enablers who have found it within themselves to look the other way because it's in their personal interest. Some of these people do so because they overtly benefit. Some just because it's easier.

This. I saw a whole lot of sexism, racism, and a host of other terrible behaviors in the Bay Area startup scene, but on top of that, and beneath it, and woven around it, was greed. In this crowd, to a huge degree, money is morality. Whatever leads to more money is good, and whatever threatens to stop up the money spigot is bad.

The Twitter founders don't have to themselves be sexist or Nazis, but I promise you that they are very, very cognizant -- as in laser-focused cognizant, as in interactive dashboards refreshed every five minutes displayed on huge monitors in senior management offices cognizant -- that sexists and Nazis are driving impressions and clickthroughs and engagement, and those in turn are driving ad buys and pricing. They will never kick Trump off Twitter or censure him in any way because Trump is making them a shitload of money, and being rich is more important than being right.

I don't doubt that the part they find most entertaining is when people like us engage with sexists or Nazis on Twitter (or on Facebook, or on Instagram, or whatever). We may be there railing against horrible behavior and calling them out, but we're still eyeballs on the site and clickthroughs and impressions to drive ad revenue. I'm sure as far as they're concerned its as if we bought day passes to Disneyland just to stand there and argue with the actors in Mickey costumes. If we actually wanted to hurt them we'd abandon these platforms, but we'll never do that either, not en masse, not while there are people being wrong on the internet.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 2:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [42 favorites]

People who help Nazi pieces of shit are also Nazi pieces of shit. That's where we're at. I don't care what they call themselves.


I don't either. I just don't want to fail to identify them long before they get up to levels where they can be enablers on this scale. They were the people who shrugged off a million tiny little behaviors before they were enabling them at a national level. If we only look for folks throwing a seig heil until they're atop the media company we're waiting too long.
posted by phearlez at 2:52 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Dude. Dude.

Dude, what the hell, man? Not cool!

I blacked out halfway through that video and came to wearing some kind of druid-like robes apparently making preparations to ritually sacrifice my roommate's acoustic guitar!
posted by loquacious at 2:54 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Isn't attacking the First Amendment breaking his oath of office? As in, pima face?
posted by Devonian at 3:02 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

My suggestion for Twitter is, to rephrase Lisa Simpson & Paul Anka's advice: JUST DON'T LINK.

Even the people who post 10-part-tweetchains filled with good, factual stuff, are enabling the Twits. In fact, I discount the goodness of a 'good tweetstorm' 20% if the person doing it has no other place to post it. Get Your Own Blog, Dude... even Facebook is less heinous.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:03 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Welp, I've finally found the straw that broke the camel's back.

I've had a crush on Ben Affleck for 32 years and I didn't think there was anything that could kill it, but now it's dead dead dead.

Ugh.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:06 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Whatever leads to more money is good, and whatever threatens to stop up the money spigot is bad. [...] Sexists and Nazis are driving impressions and clickthroughs and engagement, and those in turn are driving ad buys and pricing.

Twitter lost 116 million dollars last quarter and added no new users. Investors would have been better off putting their money in Going in Style, Zach Braff's geriatric heist comedy. It made $85 million on a $25 million budget and did nothing to imperil human civilization.
posted by Iridic at 3:19 PM on October 12, 2017 [38 favorites]

I simply won't read a tweetstorm on twitter itself. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to re-format them for a comment here but even then, Twitters character limit really affects how people write.

It's not hard to simply write a paragraph in wordpad or whatever and then take a screen grab. Every Windows PC, at the least, includes the program "Snip-It" which will do exactly that.

Or, you know, just stop using Twitter for that sort of thing.
posted by VTX at 3:20 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Every Windows PC, at the least, includes the program "Snip-It" which will do exactly that.

And every Mac running OS X let you hit shift-command-4 to take a screencap and save it to the desktop. Hold control as well to skip the file and just put the screencap on the clipboard. Seriously, I use this every day. Take heed, long winded Mac users on Twitter.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 3:26 PM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

Is the proposal that Mueller interview Trump under oath?
posted by Rumple at 10:03 AM on October 12 [+] [!]

IANAL, but my understanding is that the law makes it a crime to lie to a federal investigator, full stop. No oath required.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:30 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I quit Twitter two weeks ago and I have no regrets. Occasionally I glance at it and 50% of my feed is... people complaining about Twitter. It's very nice to be mentally freed from the outrage du jour.
posted by AFABulous at 3:32 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

AFABulous: I deactivated my FB account ten days ago and feel similarly. I miss my friends for sure, but I'm getting a lot more accomplished during the day.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Screen caps of long pieces of text are inaccessible to people with visual impairments, y’all.
posted by Andrhia at 3:38 PM on October 12, 2017 [28 favorites]

If you take a screen cap off of a website you can link to it in the ALT text (which I do) or you can also include all the words again in the ALT text (which I also do, except in Tweetdeck because fuck twitter) but it's definitely easier and more accessible to just put your text in your tweets.
posted by jessamyn at 3:40 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

There's a movement going around to boycott Twitter tomorrow for those frustrated but not wanting to quit the service. Check out #WomenBoycottTwitter

And, you know, tomorrow you can use mastodon instead :)
posted by antinomia at 3:43 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I pray at the altar of Mueller ... but the person I would (kill, pay lots of money, give firstborn progeny, etc) to see examine the Toddler under oath is Kamala Harris.
posted by Dashy at 3:46 PM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

I've never gotten the hate for Twitter as an idea. I like it very much in fact. But the increasingly visible assholery of its owners is making me wonder if we could all move to ello or Mastodon and leave Twitter to stew in its hatefulness without us.
posted by emjaybee at 3:55 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

It feels petty to be this mad about Bernie Sanders keynoting the women's convention, but I really can't stop being mad about it.

It doesn't feel petty to me. A women's convention should put women front and center. And on all sides. Everywhere. Bernie is a white guy who's been dismissive of reproductive rights and and identity politics. What is he doing at an intersectional women's convention? His only role there should be to listen.
posted by Mavri at 3:58 PM on October 12, 2017 [63 favorites]

WaPo, Lisa Rein, Where’s Zinke? The Interior secretary’s special flag offers clues

At the Interior Department’s headquarters in downtown Washington, Secretary Ryan Zinke has revived an arcane military ritual that no one can remember ever happening in the federal government.

A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever Zinke enters the building. When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag — a blue banner emblazoned with the agency’s bison seal flanked by seven white stars representing the Interior bureaus — comes down.  

In Zinke’s absence, the ritual is repeated to raise an equally obscure flag for Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt.

Responding this week to questions from The Washington Post, a spokeswoman for Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander, defended the Navy flag-flying tradition as “a major sign of transparency.”

“Ryan Zinke is proud and honored to lead the Department of the Interior, and is restoring honor and tradition to the department, whether it’s flying the flag when he is in garrison or restoring traditional access to public lands,” press secretary Heather Swift said in an email.

This is the guy who gave a speech to oil execs where he declared 30% of his employees to be "not loyal to the flag." Does he think he's the goddamn Queen of England?
posted by zachlipton at 4:00 PM on October 12, 2017 [53 favorites]

I'd also love to see Harris question Mueller. Her time in the Comey hearing belongs in one of those videos of people doing amazing things. It was so competent it was soothing. It was the first I had seen of her and all I knew is that mefites think she's awesome. I was sold.
posted by VTX at 4:02 PM on October 12, 2017 [6 favorites]

It feels petty to be this mad about Bernie Sanders keynoting the women's convention,

If you picture Sanders giving a 45 minute speech that Bernsplains how capitalism is the real cause of the issues women face you won't feel petty.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:03 PM on October 12, 2017 [37 favorites]

I've never gotten the hate for Twitter as an idea. I like it very much in fact.

Because the idea of Twitter isn't just the platform, but a bunch of toxic "free speech absolutism" as well.
posted by NoxAeternum at 4:08 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Using the 25th Amendment to depose Trump would require a Cabinet mutiny CNN, 6 hours ago

You phrased that lousily, CNN. As a bedrock establishment lickspittle, I know these must be confusing times for you but damn.

The fabulous Googlers of the Washington press corps and political class were searching for the 25th Amendment this week after reading an anonymously sourced piece by Gabe Sherman in Vanity Fair . . .

Ugh. Why do I even try with them.
posted by petebest at 4:11 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Man oh man GOP pols sure go for weird pseudo-martial rituals, don't they! (Hello Chief Justice Rehnquist! What are those funny looking stripes on the sleeves of your Impeachment Trial Robe supposed to mean?)
posted by notyou at 4:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

people, please, these math jokes are starting to become a real tangent.

cosined.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 4:15 PM on October 12, 2017 [54 favorites]

Man oh man GOP pols sure go for weird pseudo-martial rituals, don't they! (Hello Chief Justice Rehnquist! What are those funny looking stripes on the sleeves of your Impeachment Trial Robe supposed to mean?)

Grifting: Not just for the legislative branch anymore!
posted by Talez at 4:17 PM on October 12, 2017

This is the guy who gave a speech to oil execs where he declared 30% of his employees to be "not loyal to the flag." Does he think he's the goddamn Queen of England?

I don't remember the Queen ever talking about expecting loyalty, let alone to the flag, and most especially not in a way to exclude anyone in the UK. It's all rather infra dig, dontcha know? Not quite how it's done over here.

Meanwhile, for those who're feeling gung-ho about some rockem-sockem with the North Koreans, here's a dispatch from the USS Shiloh guided missile cruiser, currently based in Japan and part of the force that will shoot down the baddies with invincible force.

The Pacific command’s mission is to deter North Korea but members on board the vessel are concerned about how the crew’s compromised morale would affect this.

"I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea," a distraught sailor said, "because then our ineffectiveness will really show."

The link has much, much more, all horrible. HMS Troutbridge is HMS Saltash Castle by comparison.
posted by Devonian at 4:20 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm not linking to this stupidity because they don't deserve it, but if you want to know the latest outrage of the day, it's the geniuses at Newsweek who thought it would be a good idea to interview Dennis Hastert about what's going on in Congress nowadays, dropping a note somewhere around the 20th paragraph about him, you know, committing sexual assault and going to prison for his attempts to cover it up.

There's truly nothing that will keep people from giving monstrous powerful men more chances.
posted by zachlipton at 4:22 PM on October 12, 2017 [50 favorites]

I'm not linking to this stupidity because they don't deserve it, but if you want to know the latest outrage of the day, it's the geniuses at Newsweek who thought it would be a good idea to interview Dennis Hastert about what's going on in Congress nowadays, dropping a note somewhere around the 20th paragraph about him, you know, committing sexual assault and going to prison for his attempts to cover it up.

I can only assume it's because Middle America loves a good redemption story. You know, so long as they're white and distinguished.
posted by Talez at 4:26 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is the guy who gave a speech to oil execs where he declared 30% of his employees to be "not loyal to the flag." Does he think he's the goddamn Queen of England?

I don't remember the Queen ever talking about expecting loyalty, let alone to the flag, and most especially not in a way to exclude anyone in the UK.

I think the OP was referring to the practice of the Royal Standard only flying when the Queen is in residence.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can only assume it's because Middle America loves a good redemption story. You know, so long as they're white and distinguished.

Because when a white distinguished male "goes through difficult trials" and is then redeemed, that's The American Story all over. That's some Hero's Journey shit right there and Americans eat it up with a spoon (as long as they weren't the ones who got stepped on in the course of those "difficult trials"). Whereas the standard American narrative for (say) black males is a bit different; when a black male fails or falls in America, it's not a setup for redemption, it's just the natural and expected end of that narrative. Likewise women; Americans love their narratively-appropriate women, providing comfort with their womanly graces, standing beside their heroic men through their difficult trials (and nobly looking past those difficult trials that involved their men succumbing to the womanly graces of other less noble women). Not like Hillary or Elizabeth Warren, women who don't know when to sit down and get out of the way of the male narrative.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 4:37 PM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

But what if it turns out they're the only thing standing between us and a Trump-launched nuclear apocalypse?

well, the upside would be they will be the first to vaporize.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 4:38 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think the OP was referring to the practice of the Royal Standard only flying when the Queen is in residence.

Oh, we have an imperial shit-ton of that sort of thing, and don't get me wrong - it's part of the DNA. But it's like having a family nose is part of the DNA; you like it, and you'd be upset if it went away, but you don't think about it and it's rude to bring it up in conversation.
posted by Devonian at 4:41 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The world is chock-full of right-wing political parties called the Nationalist Party in each of their respective countries, and unless Mueller gets his act together and establishes the validity of the Steele Dossier claims in a way that can convince the most ardent partisan, even Republicans developing backbones at the last minute and ejecting Trump may still leave us with the substantially more difficult conundrum of a Nationalist Party of the US packed full of ardent and unrepentant Trumpistas as a real and havoc-wreaking political force.

It's the case of a pee versus NP problem, if you will.

</mathjoke>
posted by XMLicious at 4:44 PM on October 12, 2017 [27 favorites]

for reals though sanders needs to turn that keynote gig down yesterday. or else his speech needs to be written by some socialist women and he needs to start the speech by calling out to the writers and note that he follows their leadership on women's issues and further observe that the only reason he's giving his speech is because folks in this fallen world will listen to him but not to the women he's following.

is what sanders needs to do.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 4:46 PM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

Devonian: The link has much, much more, all horrible.

The link is to Newsmax, which is horrible in and of itself.
posted by emelenjr at 4:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I see what you did there, XM.
Gonna commute home on my purple (interrupting) cow now.
posted by Dashy at 4:52 PM on October 12, 2017

Trump talks through ceremony honoring soldiers, including a joke that they were honoring Sean Hannity's ratings.
posted by dirigibleman at 4:57 PM on October 12, 2017 [16 favorites]

why does everyone keep referring to this as a "keynote gig"? Bernie Sanders is not the keynote speaker, Maxine Waters is the keynote speaker. you don't know that because the people who chose how this issue would be framed decided to erase a woman of color who's toward the left end of political views in Congress.
posted by indubitable at 5:00 PM on October 12, 2017 [30 favorites]

Responding this week to questions from The Washington Post, a spokeswoman for Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander, defended the Navy flag-flying tradition as “a major sign of transparency.”

This sounds very much to me like the kind of guy who saw the military courtesies rendered for a ship's commander and felt like someday he wanted to get a piece of that. "Oh man they ring a bell on the ship when the CO arrives? Oooh man that's soooo cool."

In other news, some military officers are embarrassed or annoyed at that kind of thing but keep it up 'cause it's expected of them, while other officers are really, really egotistical. I have a suspicion as to which sort we have at the Interior.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:05 PM on October 12, 2017 [11 favorites]

“Ryan Zinke is proud and honored to lead the Department of the Interior, and is restoring honor and tradition to the department, whether it’s flying the flag when he is in garrison or restoring traditional access to public lands,” press secretary Heather Swift said in an email.

"In garrison"? What the fuck kind of language is that for describing the location of a civilian department?

I had assumed that Ms. Swift had simply copied and pasted the hideous language coming out of some tool elsewhere in the organization as a form of subtle protest - not wanting to defend the practice in her own words, trying to send a (very quiet) cry for help, that kind of thing. But then I discovered that "Before her appointment as the Department's Press Secretary, Heather Swift was a member of the Interior Beachhead Team."

I... I just don't even know what to do with the fact that I live in a country where there was an organization with that name.
posted by nickmark at 5:08 PM on October 12, 2017 [19 favorites]

a spokeswoman for Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander

Was this Swift?
posted by Coventry at 5:13 PM on October 12, 2017

> why does everyone keep referring to this as a "keynote gig"? Bernie Sanders is not the keynote speaker, Maxine Waters is the keynote speaker. you don't know that because the people who chose how this issue would be framed decided to erase a woman of color who's toward the left end of political views in Congress.

Conventions like this typically have a "keynote" for each night, and Tamika Malory describes both as keynotes.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:14 PM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

Oh, hey. Did we talk about the prospect that trump might go to the Korean DMZ and do a Pence Glare there?

This is me studiously not saying what I'm pretty sure millions are thinking.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:19 PM on October 12, 2017 [17 favorites]

why does everyone keep referring to this as a "keynote gig"? Bernie Sanders is not the keynote speaker, Maxine Waters is the keynote speaker.

And if you keep scrolling down from that tweet, you'll see Ms. Mallory respond to a comment that Bernie is the keynote speaker by saying "Rep. Waters is also a keynote speaker." Or maybe it's not so much the word used to describe the speech as the prominence of the speech and the choice of speaker.
posted by Mavri at 5:19 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

The link is to Newsmax, which is horrible in and of itself.

Ah yes, sorry, I actually misread the source. It's been a long day...

Here's The Navy Times report the original story was based on. That's published by an MSM company (Gannett - yes, USA Today, etc), but is no more sanguine.
posted by Devonian at 5:29 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Daily Beast, which I sincerely hope Trump doesn't read, McMaster Wants to Save the Iran Deal by Hiding It From Trump

In a meeting with Senate Democrats last week, President Donald Trump’s top national security aide had a message for those worried that the administration may scuttle the Iran nuclear deal: If Trump doesn’t have to see it, he won’t be able to kill it.

The point National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster conveyed, according to a congressional Democratic aide, was that “[Trump] wants this out of sight and out of mind.”

So he'll get to make a bunch of noise because hes tired of, and this is sadly real, noted national security expert Sean Hannity (and noted warmonger John Bolton) being upset with him for certifying Iran's compliance (Bolton's access to the White House apparently having been curtailed after Bannon was ousted). So they'll claim he took decisive action and then punt the issue to Congress, and we all know that punting to Congress is the least decisive thing possible.
posted by zachlipton at 5:31 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Honestly, I've decided to save my rage for the fact that people are dying in Puerto Rico because our elected leaders are racist asshats, rather than getting worked up about who is speaking at some $250 convention that I wasn't planning to go to anyway. If I'd bought a ticket, I'd be pissed, but this just doesn't seem like the thing this week that merits my outrage.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:44 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

porqué no los dos
posted by salix at 5:48 PM on October 12, 2017 [20 favorites]

for reals though sanders needs to turn that keynote gig down yesterday

A friend who helped organize our local Women's March posted this:

I’m going to say this one time. Bernie Sanders is NOT the headliner of the Women’s March convention, nor is he the keynote speaker. Congresswoman Maxine Waters is. The convention is literally called “reclaiming our time!” Where was the USA TODAY article when they announced that?

It does seem like a pretty awesome line up of speakers, the vast majority of whom are women. So I think we ought to be celebrating the awesome a little more rather than crapping all over it because of one scheduling choice.

For those complaining about the price... Y'all know Soros doesn't actually fund this stuff, right? Just, y'know, regular people who don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare?
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

Because honestly, I have outrage fatigue. I'm so overwhelmed by all the things to be livid about that I have to triage.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [16 favorites]

I'm not familiar enough with California politics to tell whether he's a serious challenger or not, but.

The most hopeful take I've seen is this one:

@SeanMcElwee: A de Leon v. Feinstein Senate race + a Villaraigosa v. Newsom Gubernatorial election could cost Rs the House.

You want to see major turnout for people to vote against, say, Issa next year and no real reason for GOP voters to show up? Have two well-known Latino names on every single ballot in the state of California.

I don't actually think it's enough for the House, not alone certainly, but tipping a few California seats would make a huge difference, and competitive races for Democrats running for Senate and Governor could be just the ticket.
posted by zachlipton at 5:55 PM on October 12, 2017 [13 favorites]

why does everyone keep referring to this as a "keynote gig"? Bernie Sanders is not the keynote speaker

Yeah I don't really want the dude who [delete delete delete] ...thinks women's rights are negotiable and blamed "identity politics" for Trump's win without ever acknowleding his own contributions to what may actually have been the most damaging witch hunt in history to be speaking, at all, ever, at the "Women's Convention"
posted by schadenfrau at 6:03 PM on October 12, 2017 [19 favorites]

Because honestly, I have outrage fatigue. I'm so overwhelmed by all the things to be livid about that I have to triage.

I feel like Walter Sobchek.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:06 PM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

I thought people still got shot (or shot at) in the DMZ once in a while.
posted by ctmf at 6:21 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Thoughts and prayers.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:24 PM on October 12, 2017 [33 favorites]

. . . aaaaand - Thread.
posted by petebest at 6:33 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I was done with that dude after Argo.

Argo fuck yourself, Affleck!
posted by kirkaracha at 6:37 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

Villaraigosa v. Newsom Gubernatorial election

Newsom is a handsome waste of skin.

Am I really the only one who thinks John Chiang is in it to win it?
posted by elsietheeel at 6:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I thought people still got shot (or shot at) in the DMZ once in a while.

Its pretty rare, usually when someone tries to defect. When I went in 2013 I wasn't worried, but I'm not (a) the President of the US and (b) someone who has been personally harassing the leader of North Korea on Twitter.

Sounds like Obama went to one of the observation posts, not the treaty village place, which probably makes a little more sense. When you go to the little room where they signed the treaty you are being watched by armed NK soldiers in easy shooting distance, which would be insane for a President.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:53 PM on October 12, 2017

Politico, Josh Dawsey, Trump will scrap critical Obamacare subsidy

President Donald Trump plans to cut off critical subsidy payments to insurers selling Obamacare coverage, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The decision to end the payments, estimated at $7 billion this year, marks Trump's most aggressive move yet to dismantle Obamacare after months of failed GOP repeal efforts on Capitol Hill. The move is likely to draw lawsuits and may put pressure on Congress to appropriate funding for the subsidies, which help insurers reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers.

The decision follows Trump's signing of an executive order earlier today that directs federal agencies to rewrite regulations to encourage the rise of a raft of cheap, loosely regulated health insurance plans that don't have to comply with certain Obamacare consumer protections and benefit rules. Trump touted the move as a step toward unwinding Obamacare.

The CBO says this will raise premiums 20%, which ultimately just costs the government more money. Refusing to pay the CSRs costs the government more than paying them. Worse, insurance companies will sue saying they're entitled to the money, and they'll probably win, but it could mean insurers backing out of the market even after they've set their rates (or mid-plan-year even) and uncertainty, which just means higher premiums.

In short: christ what an asshole.
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on October 12, 2017 [38 favorites]

(P.S. The only good Newsom is a harpist Newsom.)
posted by elsietheeel at 6:55 PM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

So it occurs to me, do Trump's only achievements lie in writing Executive Orders and rescinding others? Aside from revealing his powerlessness in using Congress, it shines a light on how much stuff is enacted via EO. This seems bad in general, and maybe EOs should be hemmed in a little.
posted by rhizome at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

When you go to the little room where they signed the treaty you are being watched by armed NK soldiers in easy shooting distance, which would be insane for a President.

Somebody tell Trump that Obama was afraid to visit the treaty room.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:03 PM on October 12, 2017 [19 favorites]

This is the thing which results in silver plans actually possibly costing more than gold plans, right?
posted by Justinian at 7:04 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

And if you want to read President Donald J. Trump's New Strategy on Iran, the geniuses running the country sent it out to the public press list tonight even though it's supposed to be "EMBARGOED UNTIL 5:00AM on October 13, 2017."

It looks long on "Iran is very bad" talk and extremely short on actual policy steps beyond "stop Iran from being very bad." Which tracks well with the Daily Beast story earlier about Trump making a bunch of noise and leaving it to Congress to not do anything.
posted by zachlipton at 7:06 PM on October 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

(I really want to discuss the California gubernatorial race now...should I put a post together for that? Because Newsom is a joke, Delaine Eastin is a QUADRUPLE joke [quadruple is me being kind], and Villaraigosa is mostly unknown to me at this point in time but I see he's got the most endorsements, with second place going to my current personal choice, John Chiang...but I'm also a state employee and I, along with most of my ilk, remember who kept the paychecks coming back when Arnie furloughed most of us...)
posted by elsietheeel at 7:14 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

The United States new Iran strategy focuses on neutralizing the Government of Irans destabilizing influence and constraining its aggression, particularly its support for terrorism and militants.
and
The Trump Administrations Iran policy will address the totality of these threats from and malign activities by the Government of Iran and will seek to bring about a change in the Iranians regimes behavior.

Looks like the apostrophe key is broken on the White House computer.
posted by vac2003 at 7:17 PM on October 12, 2017 [17 favorites]

"I was done with that dude after Argo."
I think "Mallrats" told us all we need to know about Ben Affleck.
posted by TheCoug at 7:18 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

I can’t figure out who benefits from Trump’s insurance EO. Who pushed him to sign it? What industry or demographic will make money when the insurance market collapses?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:23 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

No one benefits. The whole point is to collapse the insurance market and then claim "SEE OBAMACARE FAILED LIKE WE SAID".
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:25 PM on October 12, 2017 [53 favorites]

Nobody, he wants the market to collapse so the can say that Obamacare failed. Since it is named Obamacare. It is pure evil spite.
posted by Justinian at 7:25 PM on October 12, 2017 [29 favorites]

Dylan Scott has a quick explainer on CSRs and why cutting them off is bad: C-S-R you sure you want to do this?

David Anderson has been working with a bunch of people to figure out how each state will respond to lack of CSRs, with more extremely wonky data in this spreadsheet. As noted above, this could cause silver plans to cost more than gold in some states, and could lead to significant savings by buying plans off the exchange for people who make too much to qualify for subsides. But there's also a real question as to whether it's too late; enrollment starts in a couple of weeks, with auto-enroll already going out tonight, so how anybody is supposed to change their rates now is anyone's guess.

And as for Rose McGowan's twitter, BuzzFeed reports that Twitter can only take action on entire accounts, rather than individual tweets because "the company doesn’t want to be seen as making editorial decisions." Except, you know, they still are.
posted by zachlipton at 7:31 PM on October 12, 2017 [11 favorites]

One assumes there are some true believers somewhere among Trump’s supporters/fellow travelers who will be happy to see this bit of creeping socialism uncrept and who may not benefit directly from today’s EO (like say the Koch Broz and possibly some of my OC neighbors.)

I guess the insurers who will sell crappy Associations insurance stand to gain, too.
posted by notyou at 7:33 PM on October 12, 2017

"since everyone hates Obamacare we are abolishing it and instead enforcing an existing legislation, a little known health care reform called ACA"
posted by idiopath at 7:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

> Trump talks through ceremony honoring soldiers, including a joke that they were honoring Sean Hannity's ratings.

I bet Trump talks about himself in his sleep.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:36 PM on October 12, 2017 [8 favorites]

so how anybody is supposed to change their rates now is anyone's guess.

Massachusetts announced today it is going with a 10.5% average increase for Silver subscribers, rather than the 26% worst-case increase it was looking at. Bronze subscribers will see average increases of nearly 14%.

"We will continue to monitor the federal conversation around CSRs and continue to formulate a plan in case that funding is eventually halted."
posted by adamg at 7:40 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Calling back to the Robert Reich stuff, people dug up this old Slate piece catching him making up quotes in his memoir.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:42 PM on October 12, 2017

I don't think we got this story in here yet. Trump's Hannity interview was conducted at an Air National Guard hangar in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and during the interview, loudspeakers started to play "Retreat," you know, to lower the flag, which is the sort of occasion people are usually aware is a thing sometime before they get to have commanded the armed services for ten months. Except for Trump, who is so concerned with how athletes behave during the anthem, he joked a military ceremony was to honor Sean Hannity's ratings:

It's part of a firmly rooted tradition that predates the American Revolutionary War; the US military tune signals the end of the official duty day on military installations.

"What a nice sound that is," Trump said, as the tune began playing. "Are they playing that for you or for me?"

"They're playing that in honor of his ratings," Trump quipped, answering his own question to Hannity. "He's beating everybody."

[Video]
posted by zachlipton at 7:48 PM on October 12, 2017 [21 favorites]

As someone who's been subject to the ACA and Medicaid over the past year, it would really be nice if people who technically have no income could purchase insurance through the marketplace instead of immediately being shunted off to Medicaid.

I tried to sign up for a really phenomenal plan through the marketplace with a deductible of $50/mo, but was deemed ineligible because I'm unemployed. Didn't matter that I was willing to pay for the plan myself, I was absolutely not allowed to sign up for it because I didn't make enough money.

Who cares that I can't see my regular GP on MediCal (although she was in network on the $50/mo plan). If you don't technically have an income with pay stumps then you can fuck off.

Also don't bother contacting anyone at your state agency because they're just going to send you through a bunch of hoops and nothing will ever be resolved even though you're a state employee yourself and you know how bureaucracy works. Nope, you can just get fucked, and also because you're mentally ill and too exhausted to deal with it, now you have a ton of bills from your GP that were billed directly because you couldn't manage to make your insurance work out...even though you were unemployed AND willing to pay a deductible each month.

(Don't get me wrong, I love Obamacare and am glad that exists, but I'm not the only person out there who is suffering this kind of bullshit...)
posted by elsietheeel at 7:52 PM on October 12, 2017 [11 favorites]

Want to know how a true patriot who honors the flag and the fallen acts when The Retreat is playing in the middle of their act? Here you go.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:54 PM on October 12, 2017 [42 favorites]

(The cap toss and the immediate response gives me chills to this day.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:05 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Where’s Zinke? The interior secretary’s special flag offers clues

As if the flag nonsense wasn't bad enough, we've got this little gem from that article:

He has commissioned commemorative coins with his name on them to give to staff and visitors

These fucking people are the worst.
posted by zakur at 8:19 PM on October 12, 2017 [40 favorites]

In garrison"? What the fuck kind of language is that for describing the location of a civilian department?

Isn't he a veteran? I doubt it means anything sinister about Interior.
posted by corb at 8:22 PM on October 12, 2017

He's a Navy vet. Military language is still not appropriate for civilian departments.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:25 PM on October 12, 2017 [32 favorites]

He has commissioned commemorative coins with his name on them to give to staff and visitors

That's a military thing! WTF, dude, the DOI is not a military department!
posted by suelac at 8:26 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

Could we (individually, not as, like, a rule or policy or whatever) consider not posting Tweets in the thread starting at midnight to honor the 10/13 Twitter boycott?
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:29 PM on October 12, 2017 [31 favorites]

Challenge coins are creeping into all corners of government. NASA even has them now.
posted by peeedro at 8:30 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Challenge coins are creeping into all corners of government. NASA even has them now.

Seriously? Urgh.
posted by suelac at 8:31 PM on October 12, 2017

I mean, come on, who hasn't commissioned commemorative coins with their names on them to give to visitors and house guests?
posted by perhapses at 8:31 PM on October 12, 2017 [11 favorites]

Challenge coins are creeping into all corners of government. NASA even has them now.

and do you know who else liked handing out meaningless tokens to those easily amused by shiny things?
posted by entropicamericana at 8:34 PM on October 12, 2017 [5 favorites]

Maybe if they were made of chocolate (that would maybe be kind of cool).
posted by glitter at 8:34 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:

-- Mentioned earlier, Kevin de León is allegedly on the verge of announcing he will challenge Diane Feinstein. It does not appear that that he's actually announced yet, though. As to how serious a challenge that would be, some observers think so. He's president pro tem of the state Senate, and has been in the legislature for 11 years, he obviously could be effective with Hispanic voters (he heads up the Latino caucus), plus he's from L.A. FWIW, 538 comments that Feinstein could be in trouble here.

Also, there has been some research on this, and top of ballot races with only one party do appear to reduce participation by the excluded party on downballot races (sorry, don't have a link handy). So all-Dem governor and Senate runoffs in CA would probably assist the Dems in House races. Of course, if multiple Dems challenge DiFi - Tom Steyer is allegedly mulling it, too - that could slice up the vote too much.

-- Dem senators concerned Russia may try to hack their Senate campaigns. [Politico]

** AL senate special -- Cygnal poll has Moore up, 49-41. That's similar to other polling so far (Cygnal also polled the GOP primary well).

** 2018 House:

--PPP released polls of a dozen GOP-held seats. Mostly "good, not great" results for the Dems.

-- Cook Political: Dems plan to use the anti-Pelosi playbook against GOP, tie reps to Ryan.

** VA gov:

-- Sabato's latest on the race. This reads a little weird, because he spends a lot of time pouring cold water on Northam's chances, then still rates it Leans Dem.

-- Vox: Gillespie is exactly what the GOP has become, so don't act all surprised by your base being lunatics.

** Odds & ends:

-- Landmark Communications poll of the Atlanta mayoral race has independent city councilor Mary Norwood in the lead, with mayoral endorsed Dem city councilor Keisha Lance Bottoms as her perspective runoff opponent. Everyone else pretty far back, including Bernie candidate Vince Fort.

-- Looks like the Kobach "voting commission" might not ever meet again. Presumably, skulduggery continues in the shadows. [HuffPo]

-- The prosecution has rested in the Sen. Bob Menendez corruption trial, and the judge seems very skeptical of any crime. SCOTUS made corruption convictions much more difficult with its recent McDonnell decision. This could have Senate impact, depending on how it goes, when, and how much of a dick Chris Christie is.

-- Vox: What we really need is proportional representation.

-- You may remember we have a potential opportunity to flip a MO state senate seat. Poll shows Dem Hilary Shields is currently tied.

posted by Chrysostom at 8:34 PM on October 12, 2017 [22 favorites]

Also, who is paying for these Zinke, I want to type zinc so bad here, commemorative coins? Are we the taxpayers paying for them? Cause if we are he can knock that sh!t off right now, we got people to feed and care for in Houston, Florida, and Puerto Rico.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 8:35 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I don't mind the flag thing so much, but Zinke court-martialing and summarily executing people who park in his reserved spot is a little over the top.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:35 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

TPM: House Ethics Watchdog: ‘Substantial Reason To Believe’ Chris Collins [R-NY-27] Broke Law
posted by Chrysostom at 8:37 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

(This also concerns me because it's at least the second prominent women's resistance group that's started making strategic errors, after the Pantsuit Nation debacle.)

What is the debacle?
posted by medusa at 8:45 PM on October 12, 2017

I have a server I've neglected for years, and was cleaning it up after a WP hack because I hadn't updated it, and was backing up and archiving off things from forever ago, but this post, from August of 2002...dudes, for 15 years we here at MeFi have been watching this slow slide into fascism.

I was in a heated discussion over at Metafilter about the rights of the Executive Branch vs. the Judicial branch vs. the rights of American citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution. ... this is why we’re about to slide into a totalitarian fascist police state…because people don’t understand why it’s SO wrong.

How can this be? At what point did our education system fail so terribly that we have a population that doesn’t understand how their own government is supposed to work? We have Ashcroft and crowd trying to turn us into East Berlin with their little Operation T.I.P.S., we have American citizens sitting in military brigs with no legal representation and virtually no chance of a trial, the government is considering using the military against citizens, in direct disregard of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, FEMA is taking bids for contractors to build large camps…for whom, nobody has said…it’s sheer, bloody madness, and yet people go blithely along, sucking down their Vanilla Cokes and Big Macs, seemingly unaware that right behind them is possibly the largest political coupe since the burning of the Reichstag. 

I'm just saying, I think I may qualify for Cassandra status.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:57 PM on October 12, 2017 [30 favorites]

I knew it! It was the Vanilla Cokes! Right in front of our faces the whole time! Damn.
posted by perhapses at 9:00 PM on October 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

political coupe

This just made me want to run out and buy a Mazda Miata and put a license plate on it that says JUNTA.
posted by MrVisible at 9:01 PM on October 12, 2017 [41 favorites]

So it occurs to me, do Trump's only achievements lie in writing Executive Orders and rescinding others? Aside from revealing his powerlessness in using Congress, it shines a light on how much stuff is enacted via EO. This seems bad in general, and maybe EOs should be hemmed in a little.

Governments have to be able to, you know, govern, and EOs are a way of achieving that when Congress is broken, which is always because the American political system is a masterclass in bad political design.
posted by mightygodking at 9:06 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh, secretagentsockpuppet, some of us absolutely saw that deep slide toward demolished democracy with the installation of Dumbya by SCOTUS, and then EVERYTHING post-9/11. On my worst days, I'm not sure I've evr lived in a functioning democratic republic, and I'm AARP-eligible.

BTW & FYI this is a minor thing, but speaking as we were earlier of social media, people are boycotting twitter for the entire 24 hrs. of Friday. It'd be interesting if their analytics showed a significant dip.
posted by NorthernLite at 9:11 PM on October 12, 2017 [14 favorites]

I keep trying to convey my astonishment of how hugely motherfuckingly crazy Zinke is and find that I can't, really.
posted by angrycat at 9:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Governments have to be able to, you know, govern, and EOs are a way of achieving that when Congress is broken, which is always because the American political system is a masterclass in bad political design.

I don't buy it. Governing by EO removes the checks and balances between the branches.
posted by rhizome at 9:15 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Medusa: Pantsuit Nation
posted by NorthernLite at 9:23 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

Governing by EO removes the checks and balances between the branches.

Not really. Congress can override almost any executive order, although they might also need to override a veto. And courts can also overrule executive orders as in the case of the Muslim bans. Executive orders only apply as far as congress and courts allow. If you have a dysfunctional congress, the president by default can exercise more power. But that is all in the checks and balances.
posted by JackFlash at 9:29 PM on October 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't buy it. Governing by EO removes the checks and balances between the branches.

This presumes that dividing the executive and the legislature is a good idea in the first place (since the judicial branch can overturn EOs). It isn't, not even remotely, and that's only one of the many reasons the American political system is remarkably bad at what it does.
posted by mightygodking at 9:30 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I hesitate to put this at the bottom of this thread, because it deserves higher notice, but WaPo has an absolutely insane story about Edrogan's extraordinary efforts to interfere in the case of a Turkish gold dealer/money launderer about to go on trial, including demanding the firing of Preet Bharara, and tying in the hiring Flynn and Giuliani.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:32 PM on October 12, 2017 [26 favorites]

"...We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"

I know I'm jumping way back, but ... don't the First Responders, like, live there?

"With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" Trump tweeted.

OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE make broadcast licenses (TV and radio!) contingent upon honest reporting, that will NOT AT ALL backfire on Fox and the right-wing nut-o-sphere!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:53 PM on October 12, 2017 [15 favorites]

This just made me want to run out and buy a Mazda Miata and put a license plate on it that says JUNTA.

“Outflank the Joneses.”
posted by notyou at 9:57 PM on October 12, 2017 [7 favorites]

Alexis Madrigal, What Facebook Did to American Democracy

In the middle of the summer of the election, the former Facebook ad-targeting product manager, Antonio García Martínez, released an autobiography called Chaos Monkeys. He called his colleagues “chaos monkeys,” messing with industry after industry in their company-creating fervor. “The question for society,” he wrote, “is whether it can survive these entrepreneurial chaos monkeys intact, and at what human cost.” This is the real epitaph of the election.

The information systems that people use to process news have been rerouted through Facebook, and in the process, mostly broken and hidden from view. It wasn’t just liberal bias that kept the media from putting everything together. Much of the hundreds of millions of dollars that was spent during the election cycle came in the form of “dark ads.”

The truth is that while many reporters knew some things that were going on on Facebook, no one knew everything that was going on on Facebook, not even Facebook. And so, during the most significant shift in the technology of politics since the television, the first draft of history is filled with undecipherable whorls and empty pages. Meanwhile, the 2018 midterms loom.

I know I'm jumping way back, but ... don't the First Responders, like, live there?

Yes, but after 9/11, "First Reponders" lost all meaning as a category of people who literally respond first to emergencies and instead became a way to separate the parts of the government Republican see as heroes (especially if they carry guns) from the rest which they consider useless, which include the people who keep seniors, people with disabilities, and children from starving to death by running Social Security and SNAP, the people who keep airplanes from crashing into each other, the people who stop companies from dumping toxic waste into rivers, the people who forecast hurricanes, the people who force the utility company to trim trees before they catch on power lines and start massive fires, and the people who run the Do Not Call List, to name just a few. First Responder no longer expresses any meaning other than "not bureaucrats."
posted by zachlipton at 10:13 PM on October 12, 2017 [47 favorites]

Rep. Maxine Waters is the headliner at the Womens' Convention, not Bernie Sanders
posted by Apocryphon at 10:28 PM on October 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hmm, yeah. I’ve been chafing at the first responder nonsense, too, and I think it’s time to start dragging them back into “public service.”

“And especially, I’d like to acknowledge the tireless public servants who worked hard to put out the fire and to keep those Social Security checks flowing into the disaster zone.”

Let’s tweet Ted Lieu about this, stat.
posted by notyou at 10:31 PM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

So how long before Trump notices California is on fire

"Sending my warmest condolences"

Guys. I think this was a joke originally but it's [Real]

I'm in actual tears right now. Not the laughing kind of tears. The 'my community is burning and my president just said this' kind of tears.

Bonus, he also said he would be there for us in this time of need in a Very. Threatening. Way.

"I just want to pay my warmest respects."

[Edit: Why does MSN have this catalogued under the "Animals" tag? Seems a little brazen, even for this year]
posted by greermahoney at 11:16 PM on October 12, 2017 [37 favorites]

As someone who's been subject to the ACA and Medicaid over the past year, it would really be nice if people who technically have no income could purchase insurance through the marketplace instead of immediately being shunted off to Medicaid.

There ARE reasons for this. Medicaid is limited in providers because the fees providers get paid through Medicaid are WAY WAY lower than through any other kind of plan. So it's far cheaper for the government to pay for Medicaid than an ACA plan. And though you SAY you were willing to pay for the $50/month plan, there isn't any such plan on the ACA marketplace. That would be after a subsidy, paid by the government to a private insurance company. The full cost with no income-based subsidy would be more like $500/month, based on my experience. So the government wants to use it's money to get the most coverage for it's $, which is the whole point of single payer, of course. The good news about Medicaid is that although the providers you can see are limited, the dollar amount for treatment is NOT, so if you need expensive care like serious illness often requires, it's 100% free. (Medicare, while providing more choice, has limits in coverage and has copays, and requires monthly plan fees for mediation, while everything is free with Medicaid.)
posted by threeturtles at 11:51 PM on October 12, 2017 [9 favorites]

"They're playing that in honor of his ratings"

Oh, hey, so this is the point where I realize that my rage gland is depleted again. I was going to go off on an extended tear about WHAT THE FUCK IS IT WITH THIS GODDAMNED MORON AND RATINGS AND PEOPLE'S HEIGHTS ARGH CAN HE FUCKING FOCUS ON HIS JOB FOR FIVE FUCKING SECONDS, but I can't muster the proper mouth froth at the moment.

Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight and try again in the morning.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:45 AM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

So according to NPR, 45 just blew up both the aca and the Iran deal. So,that's nice.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:26 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

About the Iran deal:

Paul McCleary in Foreign Policy...

"National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster delivered a classified briefing to Republican lawmakers — and Republicans only — on the administration’s plan for the 2015 agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program Wednesday night. Democrats also huddled with former Secretary of State John Kerry to talk through their response if president Trump claims Iran is not in compliance with the agreement this week, as he is expected to.
...
The meeting with Republicans only is notable not only for its partisanship, but also because McMaster remains an active duty 3-star general, who isn’t supposed to play politics.

posted by OnceUponATime at 4:33 AM on October 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

Could we (individually, not as, like, a rule or policy or whatever) consider not posting Tweets in the thread starting at midnight to honor the 10/13 Twitter boycott?

Whatever people want to do, but be aware that the boycott isn't without issue.

@BlairImani (founder Equality for Her)
I won’t be boycotting Twitter tomorrow. I support those who do. I only ask that you be honest about whether you are showing up selectively.

@BritniDWrites (Essence, Teen Vogue, WaPo)
Umm. Where was #WomenBoycottTwitter when Jemele Hill was being silenced and attacked by the White House?

@eveewing (author, sociologist specializing in race & education)
who called for this boycott? I was eating dinner.
- I'm not sure where to begin or even whether I feel like explaining but if you've been around for a minute you can probably infer my opinion 🙃
- You know who faces the most harassment #onhere. Consistently. For years. Harassment that spills over in scary ways into real life.
- What happened with Rose McGowan being suspended was wrong. Unequivocally wrong. But if that's what activated your awareness, I don't especially trust you.
- Also since some people don't seem to get the reference..? #tbt #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen: women of color's issue with digital feminism
- Interesting thing about [intersectional] feminism: what's radical for one might be regressive for another. In this case, silence. For women of color, maybe... that might work differently for us as a strategy? Or, say, not work?
- white feminists in the 20th century: AND WE WOMEN DEMAND TO BE ALLOWED TO WORK AND NOT STAY HOME WITH OUR KIDS. women of color who didn't get to be with their own kids because they had to do domestic work and childcare for generations: 🤔🤔🤔🤔
- "Rose McGowan was silenced so we shall now be silent as well" women of color: well I think-- "SILENCE!"
- If it feels like the right thing to do for you, boycott. I know some WoC will, too. As a strategy I think it's debatable, but hey, that's the nature of strategy I guess.
- But, you know. Think about why this is the catalyst.
- Do you, boo. Anyway perhaps one day we'll do a black twitter boycott and then no one will have slang to steal or fodder for buzzfeed listicles. Disaster
posted by chris24 at 4:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

"So according to NPR, 45 just blew up both the aca and the Iran deal."

Foxnews: "MAJOR BLOW TO OBAMACARE: Trump to halt ‘massive subsidy payments’ to health insurers ‘immediately’
Trump to halt ‘massive subsidy payments’ to health insurers ‘immediately’."

The narrative is clearly "Trump's blowing up Obamacare", not "Trump's letting failing Obamacare fail". Sure, that'll play well with his base, but I think we learned from the polls over the last year that the ACA has pretty broad, majority support. Congress' cruel repeal plans all had the diffusion of responsibility going for them; idiot Trump just volunteered to take point, alone. This just does not seem to be a politically astute move.
posted by klarck at 5:05 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

someone is actually working on Black Twitter
posted by Wilder at 5:15 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

That is very possibly the worst pirate name ever.
posted by Archelaus at 5:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

So as predicted, this fucks up health insurance more-or-less across the board, right?

If everyone involved in health insurance was extremely responsible and in no way connected to the capricious boosterism of the bulk of the economy, they'd probably have structured last years plans in such a way as to account for this possibility . . .
posted by aspersioncast at 5:19 AM on October 13, 2017

Looks like that narrative isn't going away... (The Hill)

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said that cutting key payments to ObamaCare insurers will mean more of her constituents will be uninsured.

“POTUS promised more access, affordable coverage,” Ros-Lehtinen tweeted. “This does opposite.”
posted by Devonian at 5:24 AM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

... idiot Trump just volunteered to take point, alone. This just does not seem to be a politically astute move.

I hope so. MSNBC had Rand Paul on a little while ago and he did the thing where they list off a bunch of the protections and benefits conferred by HIPPA, by Hillary Clinton et al's 20th century work on health care, such as guaranteed issue for group insurance plans, and acted as though they're the result of something Trump just signed. The Coffee Wonder Twins and company just let Paul bullshit away without objections, of course.

(I haven't read up on the details of the E.O. yet but note that even before the ACA, some states took the enlightened step of passing laws defining one person as a "group" for the purposes of group health insurance, making it possible for an individual to obtain at least some of the protections for group plans provided under HIPPA.)
posted by XMLicious at 5:24 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Background check chief has 'never seen' mistakes and omissions at level of Jared Kushner forms (Kara Scannell, CNN)

As Mr. Kushner has consistently stated, he is eager to cooperate and share what he knows," Gorelick said

posted by Room 641-A at 5:30 AM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

they'd probably have structured last years plans in such a way as to account for this possibility . . .

The industry has it's problems, obviously. But I don't think you can blame them for designing their plans to operate under existing law.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:37 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ignorant question: healthcare is one of the biggest sectors of the US economy, yes? If the insurance marketplace spins into chaos, could it take the rest of the economy down with it into recession?
posted by duffell at 5:40 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I kind of forgot in the last few weeks steady stream of terrible... but what happened to the CHIP payments? Were those ever re-authorized? Did they kick a shitton of children and mothers off their insurance?
posted by localhuman at 5:41 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've never gotten the hate for Twitter as an idea. I like it very much in fact. But the increasingly visible assholery of its owners is making me wonder if we could all move to ello or Mastodon and leave Twitter to stew in its hatefulness without us.

I liked Twitter, but found I was much happier after I deleted my account of 8 years just a few months ago. I encourage anyone and everyone to leave. You won't regret it.

This could have Senate impact, depending on how it goes, when, and how much of a dick Chris Christie is.

However much of a sweaty, itchy dick you think Chris Christie is now, multiply by ten.
posted by duffell at 5:48 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Senator Collins is staying in the Senate and not running for governor.

Did they kick a shitton of children and mothers off their insurance?

Yes. And still not reauthorized.
posted by chris24 at 5:51 AM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

I bet Trump talks about himself in his sleep.

I talk about Trump in my sleep.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world
posted by srboisvert at 5:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Have to admit, I'm surprised by the Collins decision.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:54 AM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

I agree, but I almost read this as 'I need to stay here to help contain Trump.'

Her final decision, she said, came down to “my sense of where I can do the most for the people of Maine and for the nation.”
posted by chris24 at 5:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Have to admit, I'm surprised by the Collins decision.

I'm not. I actually think she might have a hard time wining. Also, Governor is a big come down in status and influence from United States Senator.

Honestly, the most surprising thing about her announcement is that I never realized that she's married. I think this might be the first public mention I've ever heard of her spouse.
posted by anastasiav at 6:01 AM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

"With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" Trump tweeted.

OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE make broadcast licenses (TV and radio!) contingent upon honest reporting, that will NOT AT ALL backfire on Fox and the right-wing nut-o-sphere!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:53 AM on October 13

I mean, yes, of course, but we all know there's not a chance in hell he's talking about restoring some kind of Fairness Doctrine or fact-check requirements (which should absolutely be a priority when the Democrats retake Congress) - this is more Dictator Of Idiot nonsense where he thinks he can just tell the FCC to revoke their license because they're mean to him.

Of course, he's far too stupid to realize that such an attempt would be such an egregious violation of the first amendment that the administration would be deluged with lawsuits, and that almost every other media entity plus their parent company CEO's and directors and investors would freak right the fuck out. Because now he's messing with their millions. Even Fox News might feel compelled to put the brakes on their Trump Handjob Coverage; for all that they're not subject to the same regulation as broadcast media, direct administration interference with a media company for political reasons could be a bridge too far even for Murdoch.

So, sure, Donny, go right ahead and poke NBC in their license - you think the news people are mean to you now. . . .
posted by soundguy99 at 6:14 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Ignorant question: healthcare is one of the biggest sectors of the US economy, yes? If the insurance marketplace spins into chaos, could it take the rest of the economy down with it into recession?

Would also like an expert opinion on this as the general talk has been how the economy is looking like it's 2008 again.
posted by Slackermagee at 6:20 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Have to admit, I'm surprised by the Collins decision.

She's concerned about the primary as a Republican against wackadoodles, maybe?
posted by leotrotsky at 6:21 AM on October 13, 2017

Did they kick a shitton of children and mothers off their insurance?

Yes. And still not reauthorized.

CHIP is a block grant to states and most of them still have funds left, so nobody has been kicked off insurance yet. There are a number of states that will run out of funds before the end of the year, but there is still time to fund CHIP before anyone loses their insurance. Will it happen? No idea. I assume *someone* in congress is working on this? Or is that too optimistic?
posted by dis_integration at 6:31 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I assume *someone* in congress is working on this? Or is that too optimistic?

Colorado Senators Bennet and Gardner have co-sponsored a bi-partisan bill to restore funding. It also has a cute acronym and has made it out of committee, but not to a vote yet.
posted by danielleh at 6:42 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Twitter deleted data potentially crucial to Russia probes (Josh Meyer, Politico)
posted by Room 641-A at 6:42 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

you think the news people are mean to you now. . . .

Without going into the corporate news media's role in GETTING US IN THIS MESS . . *ahem* excuse me

The fact remains that a demented fatalistic aggressive ignorant fuckwit is destroying the country in myriad ways and the corporate news still can't bring themselves to confront anyone in this administration about the lies and the insanity of it all.

Twitter?! Fuck Twitter, the core of our mediated shared reality is blatantly racist and working for evil and they're not gonna do a goddamned thing about it. Boycott all that shit.

MetaFilter Projects . . . Assemble!
posted by petebest at 6:47 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

isn't the solution just to promote an exodus to Mastadon en masse? talk to your friends and get them to use Mastadon for the next 24 hours to see if they like it, and then encourage them to keep using it afterwards, rather than continually bitch about Twitter's well known problems?
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 6:50 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ted Lieu @tedlieu
I endorsed Senator Feinstein immediately when she announced. She is a great leader for CA & America and I look forward to working with her

Booooooooooo.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:10 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

the corporate news still can't bring themselves to confront anyone in this administration about the lies and the insanity of it all.

See my point in the previous paragraph - the media is complicit because $$$$. Trump starts to seriously fuck the money train, that's a different story.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:13 AM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ted Lieu may aspire to that seat; he’ll have a better chance filling it if it’s empty in six years rather than occupied by a newish incumbent.
posted by notyou at 7:14 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

From Michael Gerson, former chief speechwriter and senior policy advisor for GWB.

Republicans, it’s time to panic

But the real problem has always been Trump's fundamental unfitness for high office. It is not Trump's indiscipline and lack of leadership, which make carrying a legislative agenda forward nearly impossible. It is not his vulgarity and smallness, which have been the equivalent of spray-painting graffiti on the Washington Monument. It is not his nearly complete ignorance of policy and history, which condemns him to live in the eternal present of his own immediate desires.

No, Corker has given public permission to raise the most serious questions: Is Trump psychologically and morally equipped to be president? And could his unfitness cause permanent damage to the country?

It is no longer possible to safely ignore the leaked cries for help coming from within the administration. They reveal a president raging against enemies, obsessed by slights, deeply uninformed and incurious, unable to focus, and subject to destructive whims. A main task of the chief of staff seems to be to shield him from dinner guests and telephone calls that might set him off on a foolish or dangerous tangent. Much of the White House senior staff seems bound, not by loyalty to the president, but by a duty to protect the nation from the president. Trump, in turn, is reported to have said: "I hate everyone in the White House." And also, presumably, in the State Department, headed by a secretary of state who apparently regards his boss as a "moron."

It was once urged, "Let Reagan be Reagan." Who, besides the oleaginous Sean Hannity, would say, "Let Trump be Trump"? The security of our country — and potentially the lives of millions of people abroad — depends on Trump being someone else entirely. It depends on the president being some wise, strategic, restrained leader he has never been.

The time for whispered criticisms and quiet snickering is over. The time for panic and decision is upon us. The thin line of sane, responsible advisers at the White House — such as Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — could break at any moment. Already, Trump's protests of eternal love for Kelly are a bad sign for the general's future. The American government now has a dangerous fragility at its very center. Its welfare is as thin as an eggshell — perhaps as thin as Donald Trump's skin.

Any elected Republican who shares Corker's concerns has a political and moral duty to state them in public. If Corker is correct, many of his colleagues do have such fears. Their silence is deafening and damning.

"Brave men are all vertebrates," said G.K. Chesterton. "They have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle. But these modern cowards are all crustaceans; their hardness is all on the cover, and their softness is inside."

More than anything else at this moment, the nation has need of Republican vertebrates.

posted by chris24 at 7:17 AM on October 13, 2017 [96 favorites]

Ignorant question: healthcare is one of the biggest sectors of the US economy, yes? If the insurance marketplace spins into chaos, could it take the rest of the economy down with it into recession?

Trump's changes affect only the individual insurance market which is only about 7% of the total. Most people get their insurance from Medicare, Medicaid, their employer or military/VA.

So this is a relatively small segment of the insurance economy which is one reason why the insurance companies aren't fighting all that hard to save it. It's not much of a profit center for them. It's a relatively small segment of the population which is why there isn't all that much political pressure to save it. Most people get and like their employer insurance and could care less about the individual market (until they lose their job).
posted by JackFlash at 7:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

the media is complicit because $$$$. Trump starts to seriously fuck the money train, that's a different story.

soundguy99 wins today.
posted by Melismata at 7:21 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm about as non-military as it gets. Until two years ago I'd never been on a military base in my entire life.

Since then I got a job that had me doing some contract work on several military bases (army, air force, and navy) and you know what? I learned what the playing of retreat was about the first damn day I was on a base (Ft. Bliss if it matters). It played, I saw some people in uniform going to attention, and being a curious person I asked about it once the ceremony was over.

Trump, as the Commander in Chief, presumably got a briefing on military protocol at some point, and if not he's doubtless been on more military bases than me. But he's stupid and incurious so I suppose it isn't surprising that he doesn't know about it.

Normally I wouldn't give a shit. I understand that to military types their ceremonies are important, but I don't really care because I'm not military and the President is a civilian. However, since this is Trump and a lot of his supporters are military fetishists maybe we can bash him with this and by doing so convince a few of them to stay home on election day.

More important I think is the fact that Trump is going full bore hurt lots of people mode with both his Puerto Rico decision and his ACA decision, I think both because he's in a snit and wants to hurt some poor people, and because I think he's noticed his ratings drop and wants a hit of the hate adoration his cultists will give him for fucking up some people they want to fuck up.

The Trump Cultists see Puerto Ricans as worthless brown people who aren't really American, they want them to be hurt, so Trump's decision to hurt them will make the Cultists cheer. Likewise, even if they're on ACA subsidized health insurance they see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires and will cheer ACA subsidy recipients being hurt because they imagine ACA subsidy recipients as being brown people stealing money from their white betters.

I'm 100% certain that Trump's latest bits of evil will shore up his support among his Cultists, he's hurting people they hate (or they imagine his anyway, which is the same thing to them). Maybe the flag/retreat BS will offend enough that we still have a net loss of Cultist support for Trump.
posted by sotonohito at 7:23 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump, as the Commander in Chief, presumably got a briefing on military protocol at some point, and if not he's doubtless been on more military bases than me. But he's stupid and incurious so I suppose it isn't surprising that he doesn't know about it.

Trump went to a military boarding school -- he almost certainly had flag etiquette, including Retreat, drilled into his head every single day he was there. He just thinks that he is more important than the flag and military protocol and, unlike anyone in the NFL, it's literally part of the job description.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:37 AM on October 13, 2017 [38 favorites]

Ted Lieu @tedlieu
I endorsed Senator Feinstein immediately when she announced. She is a great leader for CA & America and I look forward to working with her

Booooooooooo.

I would take very seriously the possibility that Ted Lieu appreciates some real assets she brings to the table. Yes, her voting record is less progressive than the rest of CA would have her be, but if Ted Lieu is saying this my immediate reaction would be open-minded curiosity; what is it that he sees?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump, live: No religious group will ever be targeted.

Me: Hold on while I make this donation to the Church of Satan. Sorry 'bout that; here's your beer.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:46 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

He just thinks that he is more important than the flag and military protocol

Eh. You're not wrong, but what I got from the video was it's more like he's so self-absorbed that the sounding of retreat barely even registered, and as soon as it did he just assumed the trumpets were playing "Hail To The Chief" or some other tune meant to glorify his presence. The idea that things can happen around him that don't have anything to do with him is seriously inconceivable to his ego. Just doesn't compute.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:47 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump starts to seriously fuck the money train, that's a different story.

Depending on the definition of money train, that's been a given from before the election. His only real business skill besides laundering Russian mafia money is going bankrupt.

Say that minds me, how's that Debt Ceiling thing going? Oh Yes, our fabulous terrific stock market will handle that pesky debt.

Seriously the money train thing - Jeff Zucker and Les Moonvees still need some kind of income I presume? Those 8 houses aren't going to landscape themselves amirite. They're going to get hosed like everybody else even if CNN doesn't go down the tubes from Predisential fiat.
posted by petebest at 7:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Some links I think are worth sharing and haven't seen here yet...

Cameron Joseph at Talking Points Memo: Roy Moore Led Charge Against Removing Segregation From Alabama Constitution

The changes were purely symbolic — all of the state constitutional language had already been struck down by state and federal courts — but civil rights and business leaders saw it as a way to heal old wounds and make the state more attractive to big business.
...
Alabama’s state constitution still contains the following language:

“Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race.”

Alexis C. Madrigal at The Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy

In June 2014, Harvard Law scholar Jonathan Zittrain wrote an essay in New Republic called, “Facebook Could Decide an Election Without Anyone Ever Finding Out,” in which he called attention to the possibility of Facebook selectively depressing voter turnout.
...
Facebook, of course, said it would never do such a thing. “Voting is a core value of democracy and we believe that supporting civic participation is an important contribution we can make to the community,” a spokesperson said. “We as a company are neutral—we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”

They wouldn’t do it intentionally, at least.

Eliza Barclay and Alexia Fernández Campbell at Vox: Everything that's been reported about deaths in Puerto Rico is at odds with the official count

We found reports of a total of 81 deaths linked directly or indirectly to the hurricane. Of those, 45 were the deaths certified by the government. The remaining 36 deaths were confirmed by local public officials or funeral directors, according to the reports. We also found another 450 reported deaths, most of causes still unknown, and reports of at least 69 people still missing.

Jeff Stein at Vox: “WE WILL DIE”: San Juan mayor sends extraordinary plea to President Trump

Tweet away your hate to mask your administration’s mishandling of this humanitarian crisis. While you are amusing yourself throwing paper towels at us, your compatriots and the world are sending love and help our way. Condemn us to a slow death of non drinkable water, lack of food, lack of medicine while you keep others eager to help from reaching us since they face the impediment of the Jones Act.

I ask every American that has love, and not hate in their hearts, to stand with Puerto Rico and let this President know we WILL NOT BE LEFT TO DIE. I ask the United Nations, UNICEF and the world to stand with the people of Puerto Rico and stop the genocide that will result from the lack of appropriate action of a President that just does not get it because he has been incapable of looking in our eyes and seeing the pride that burns fiercely in our hearts and souls.

posted by OnceUponATime at 7:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [53 favorites]

I'm FB buds with a couple of old high school classmates who went into the military briefly, and there are other military-adjacent fellows in my feed. I've posted that link about the talking turing "Retreat" to ask them how big a mis-step this was.

....Although I am actually hoping they will be pissed enough to share it themselves to a wider audience.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:56 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

what is it that he sees?

Someone who knows that being adult means you don't go blindly along with the electorate. Your job is to do the right thing for as many people as possible not slovenly follow popular opinion.

Progressives and conservatives each have their role to play in the political system. Progressives need to tear down walls, equalize the playing field, and look for the best in everybody and let everybody get what they want out of life. Conservatives are needed to make sure we don't tear down the wrong walls, that the playing field isn't destroyed, and maintain a healthy skepticism about people who aren't nice and defend against those who would otherwise try to subvert our way of life.

The problem is that the balance on the right leadership is so far out of fucking whack that Feinstein looks like a healthy opposition of liberalism right now.
posted by Talez at 7:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Holy shit, that letter from the San Juan mayor. Has there ever been a more scathing indictment of a U.S. President by another American politician?

A few minutes ago I walked past a tv at work that was showing Trump's speech at the Value Voters Summit. I wasn't close enough to hear what he had just said, but the crowd was rising to give whatever it was a standing ovation, and it made me feel physically sick. I've said this before, but these religious "values" voters throwing their lot in with a man like Trump is just so astoundingly fucking gross. If they actually cared about their professed "values" more than about power - accumulating it for themselves and taking it away from those they hate - Trump would be a pariah to them. They should be disgusted by him.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:58 AM on October 13, 2017 [47 favorites]

he could be negging the military

I hope not because if he's in that head space I guess it's time to start stockpiling my meds.

But it's probably time for that anyway.
posted by angrycat at 7:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

It kind of annoys me that far-right people claim that liberalism is a mental disease. Buddy, the entire western world that you want to "save" is based on liberalism you clueless tool. It's why we don't discriminate agains the Irish or the Italians, or the Poles, or the Slavs, or why your definition of "white" stretches all the way to Moscow. Because there has been a wholesale movement towards tolerance and inclusiveness in the context of what race is "white".
posted by Talez at 8:01 AM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

From coverage of what's happening in Puerto Rico in RedState and other conservative sites and media outlets, most conservatives would appear to feel that the problem is that what is actually being done by FEMA and the military is not being reported properly by the media, or talked about by the White House. They also would appear to believe the Hannity talking point that the government of PR is corrupt and not doing what they can to mitigate the crisis.

They're so far down the rabbit hole that they're not seeing reality.
posted by zarq at 8:02 AM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Jpfed but if Ted Lieu is saying this my immediate reaction would be open-minded curiosity; what is it that he sees?

He sees that primary challenging her would almost certainly fail and that he'd hurt his own political career if he openly went against an extremely powerful and senior member of the US Senate. Nothing exciting or amazing here.

California should have two firebrand leftist Senators leading the charge and being the tip of the spear against Trump and Republicanism in general. Instead it has Senator Harris, who does a good job of that, and Senator Feinstein who would obviously be more comfortable as a Republican.

One problem with really deeply blue states like California is that once a person is in with the Party establishment they're pretty much set for life and challenges to them are tilting against windmills.

I can't even really hate Lieu for his choice. He knew it'd be the end of his political career if he crossed Feinstein.
posted by sotonohito at 8:08 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Talez Please, we'v got the entire Republican Party to be utterly regressive and oppose any and all progress. We don't need any "balance" in the Democratic Party.

There is utterly no reason for Feinstein or the other regressive, wannabe Republican, "Democrats" to exist except institutional inertia and their own personal longevity.
posted by sotonohito at 8:13 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Trump lashes out at Puerto Rico as House passes $36.5 billion aid package, Ken Thomas and Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, 10/12/17 (via tronc)

The debate played out as the House passed, on a sweeping 353-69 vote, a $36.5 billion disaster aid package that includes assistance for Puerto Rico's financially-strapped government. . . . The legislative aid package totals $36.5 billion and sticks close to a White House request. For now, it ignores huge demands from the powerful Florida and Texas delegations, which together pressed for some $40 billion more.
posted by petebest at 8:14 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Senator Feinstein who would obviously be more comfortable as a Republican.

I assume you're speaking in hyperbole. Feinstein is far removed from the Republicans as measured by DW-NOMINATE scores. She is on the conservative end of the Democrats, but she's not the most conservative, and of course is far more liberal than any Republican (including Collins and Murkowski). I think people sometimes underestimate exactly how much Democrats and Republicans overall have pulled apart.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:15 AM on October 13, 2017 [47 favorites]

Have to admit, I'm surprised by the Collins decision.

Well ((blush)) I did call her office two days ago and said that "people" were concerned about who gets to nominate her successor and that it would be a real campaign issue if she's depending on crossover votes and she'd basically be shitting on her legacy if current governor LePage ended up in the Senate.

She was running a million ads in August re "Susan Collins supports healthcare for all Mainers" which kind of hinted at her intention to expand Medicaid which LePage has quashed. She got up on stage with Cindi Lauper at a concert and got all sorts of acclaim after her No vote in the Senate. But my guess is that it wasn't that she might lose the gubernatorial but that she really does want to be one of the sane voices and that, like Corker, she'll be less conciliatory in the future.

I did have a really good name though, to fill out her term: Bill Cohen. Only 77 years old and (technically) Republican with a very pertinent record on a certain issue.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:18 AM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

Maybe she's the Grassley whisperer on Judiciary Committee.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:18 AM on October 13, 2017

people sometimes underestimate exactly how much Democrats and Republicans overall have pulled apart.

Yesterday I grew curious about whether the selective enforcement of twitter TOS described here violates the Civil Rights Act, and learned that the section on women's rights was added to appeal to Republicans, who had had equal rights for women in the Republican platform since 1944. It was also expected to "embarrass northern Democrats who opposed civil rights for women because the clause was opposed by labor unions."

How things have changed.
posted by Coventry at 8:23 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

Dianne Feinstein, On the Issues. In case anyone is curious.
posted by zarq at 8:25 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I hope not because if he's in that head space I guess it's time to start stockpiling my meds.

Well in addition to going bankrupt and laundering Russian money, Trump's third area of subject matter expertise IS negging. Burnett hired him to do it on TV with the Apprentice.
posted by mikelieman at 8:27 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

They're so far down the rabbit hole that they're not seeing reality.

Cognitive Framing is a hell of a drug.
posted by mikelieman at 8:29 AM on October 13, 2017

She is on the conservative end of the Democrats

That's starting with votes from 1992. And let's face it - this administration isn't so much about shades of liberal/conservative. That's all out the window. It's Cake or Death. She's voted Death many times already this year.

DiFi, wake up!
posted by petebest at 8:29 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

A few more stories I don't recall seeing here yet and can't find with a quick search, though some of these are from a week or more ago... I'll label the dates for clarity.

First one says it is from just yesterday. Rob Taylor at the Wall Street Journal: Cyberattack Captures Data on U.S. Weapons in Four-Month Assault

A cyberattacker nicknamed “Alf” gained access to an Australian defense contractor’s computers and began a four-month raid that snared data on sophisticated U.S. weapons systems.
...
The identity and affiliation of the hackers in the Australian attack weren’t disclosed, but officials with knowledge of the intrusion said the attack was thought to have originated in China. Alastair MacGibbon, the government’s chief cybersecurity adviser, said the type of information stolen made it more likely that the hackers were working for a foreign nation than for a criminal enterprise.

(The WSJ reminds us also that this is at least the 3rd big hacking story this week: "On Tuesday, a South Korean lawmaker said North Korean hackers had accessed a military database and stolen top-secret files, including a plan for a decapitation strike against top leaders in Pyongyang. That followed reports that hackers working for the Russian government stole details of how the U.S. penetrates foreign computer networks and defends its own." We also learned recently that Russians are hacking the cell phones of NATO forces deployed in eastern Europe, including Americans, though WSJ didn't mention that one)

This one kind of encapsulates the combination of terror and absurdity that is our reality these days...

Jeffrey Lewis at Foreign Policy (OCTOBER 3, 2017): Donald Trump Threatened North Korea After Completely Imaginary Negotiations

The New York Times version of events is deeply misleading, having turned a statement of the obvious by Tillerson into a revelation of a covert back-channel disarmament push.
...
We’ve already seen multiple stories suggesting that President Trump gets his information from television and newspapers, not briefings.
...
According to a subsequent story in the New York Times, the president had been “caught off guard” by the news — small wonder, as it was a fiction — and was “upset.”

An enraged Trump took to Twitter with a pair of tweets that promise to deepen the ongoing crisis with North Korea: "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man... / ...Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"

And then a couple stories about a different kind of fake news...

Aja Romano at Vox (OCTOBER 5, 2017): Most people saw the Las Vegas shooting as a tragedy. Propagandists saw an opportunity.

Several contradictory threads about Paddock’s motive, for example, were notably linked to a 4chan plot to create a fake narrative around what had happened. Examples included suggesting that Paddock had recently converted to Islam, falsely identifying him as a leftist Democrat who watched mainstream liberal media, and claiming he was an “antifa Bernie Bro.” Further muddling the situation were several instances of random people being falsely identified as victims.
...
But for many who deliberately spread it, the goal seems clear: exploit the news of the day in order to create anti-leftist propaganda — even if that news is a major tragedy.

Abby Ohlheiser at WaPo (OCTOBER 7, 2017): A ‘liberal teacher’ became a conservative enemy for a viral Vegas tweet. But does she actually exist?

Sean Hannity [...] mentioned a tweet that he said had been sent his way. It was written by “a teacher,” can you believe it? Hannity paraphrased the tweet: “Oh they’re probably Trumptards. I hope only Trumptards were killed.”
...
The two people on the Internet who say for sure that they saw the actual tweet, and not the [screenshot] of it, aren’t exactly forthcoming with more information.

posted by OnceUponATime at 8:34 AM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

WaPo video: Trump says he 'met with the president of the Virgin Islands'

President Trump said on Oct. 13 that his administration will continue to help with hurricane recovery, and that he "met with the president of the Virgin Islands." President Trump is the president of the U.S. Virgin Islands. He met with its governor, Kenneth Mapp, on Oct. 3.

I think the realization has pretty well dawned here, but it still becomes clearer every day that he believes only white people and white places are actually American.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:35 AM on October 13, 2017 [91 favorites]

I've said this before, but these religious "values" voters throwing their lot in with a man like Trump is just so astoundingly fucking gross. If they actually cared about their professed "values" more than about power - accumulating it for themselves and taking it away from those they hate - Trump would be a pariah to them. They should be disgusted by him.

The Values Voters Summit is made up of some of the the most anti-LGBTQ right wing activists in the country. They're classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This year's gift bag for attendees included a pamphlet titled, "The Health Hazards of Homosexuality." They're fanatics and whackjob fundamentalists, and the only value they seem to hold dear is hatred.
posted by zarq at 8:35 AM on October 13, 2017 [34 favorites]

"President of the Virgin Islands" sounds like a mean nickname middle school boys would give to each other. (which of course makes it 100% appropriate for Trump)
posted by Wulfhere at 8:37 AM on October 13, 2017 [49 favorites]

Twitter: PR went from 13% w/ electricity to 9% this morning
posted by angrycat at 8:40 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

She'd be a semi-tolerable compromise "Democrat" for some conservative state. Better than scum like Manchin in many ways.

For a Senator from California she's obscenely, horrifyingly, conservative and often actively works to undermine the more progressive position.

We need the leftmost Senators we can get in any state. In California that means someone like Harris at the absolute rightmost. It does not mean a very conservative "Democrat" like Feinstein. California, New York, and other deep blue states need to be our bulwark of leftism, their politicians the leaders of the cause and tireless workers to drag the Overton Window to the left.

But, reality is what it is, and we're stuck with her until she dies or retires.

I've got much the same to say about Chuck Schumer, he's way too right wing for my taste especially when it comes to economic policy and Wall Street but also on social issues. Like Feinstein he should be one of our fringe left Senators, instead he's center right. And Gillibrand is even worse than Schumer is.

Name a deep blue state that should have firebrand leftists who lead the Party to the left, and mostly what you find is milquetoast center right types. Harris is one of the very few exceptions to that rule.

The Republicans understand better how to do it. In solid red states they run the most far right Tea Party fringe types they can find. That's why we've got Cruz and Cornyn here in Texas. And they're a **LOT** less tolerant of even slightly leftward leaning among their caucus than the Democrats are about blatant center rightism from their caucus.
posted by sotonohito at 8:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [16 favorites]

President Trump is the president of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Also, I think the Post is wrong about this part: as of this time, there is no actual president of the Virgin Islands (or Puerto Rico), and the governor is the de-facto head of his own abandoned country. The next time will be what, Hawaii? Continental states? This is how the dissolution of a Union begins.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Here in the Bay Area, San Francisco exactly, there is Twitter. About 45 miles south is Facebook. How about a big protest at those locations? Signs about them colluding with the Russians, threats to our democracy, etc. They need the bad press, scenes of angry protesters with signs marching at their entrances would be good. During the Vietnam war, people marched in front of companies. Maybe we should start doing that too.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:45 AM on October 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

they run the most far right Tea Party fringe types they can find.

The party doesn't pick who runs. Voters do, and the candidates themselves. "The Republican party" (by which I guess we mean the Republican establishment, donors and currently elected officials) did not support Roy Moore for instance. He will likely be elected anyway. Ditto for Dave Brat, who unseated the candidate of "The Party" Eric Cantor. Ditto for Trump himself -- "the party" wanted Rubio or maybe Jeb Bush.

That's why we've got Cruz and Cornyn here in Texas.

By all accounts NOBODY likes Ted Cruz, including other Republicans.

All of which is to say -- if you don't like Dianne Feinstein, don't blame the DNC. They can't control who runs under their banner any more than the Republicans can.
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:51 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

NOBODY likes Ted Cruz, including other Republicans.

That reminds me, there is a debate on the Trump Tax plan between Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders on CNN next week. Cruz supports it.
posted by Coventry at 8:56 AM on October 13, 2017

All of which is to say -- if you don't like Dianne Feinstein, don't blame the DNC. They can't control who runs under their banner any more than the Republicans can.

::takes deep breath to relitigate 2016 primaries; cortex hits me with a folding chair::
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:56 AM on October 13, 2017 [36 favorites]

Bahgawd, It's The RattleMod!!
posted by petebest at 8:58 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Gillibrand is even worse than Schumer is.

Isn't she one of the few who voted against most of the Cabinet nominees?

@BritniDWrites
Where was #WomenBoycottTwitter when Jemele Hill was being silenced and attacked by the White House?

So Britni is also leading a boycott of ESPN, the company that suspended Hill? Making sure everyone she knows gives up their precious football for at least one weekend?
posted by NorthernLite at 9:03 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

*stands on turnbuckle, glaring and breathing intensely*
posted by cortex at 9:04 AM on October 13, 2017 [48 favorites]

Echoing Slavery & Chain Gangs, Louisiana Sheriff Laments Release of Prisoners Who Work in Jails

A Louisiana sheriff has sparked outrage after he lamented the scheduled release of nonviolent prisoners, using language that evoked slavery and the U.S.’s long history of imprisoning African Americans in order to serve as free or cheap labor. This is Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator.

Sheriff Steve Prator: I don’t want state prisoners, OK? They are a necessary evil to keep the doors open, that we keep a few or keep some out there. And that’s the ones that you can work. That’s the ones that can pick up trash, the work release programs. But guess what. Those are the ones that they’re releasing. In addition to the bad ones—and I call these bad—in addition to them, they’re releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money. Well, they’re going to let them out.

(video)
posted by XMLicious at 9:10 AM on October 13, 2017 [42 favorites]

Gillibrand is even worse than Schumer is.

They're my Senators and I'll continue to vote for them every single time they run. They're on the correct side of over 90% of the issues I personally believe and stand for, have fought like crazed wolverines for New York residents and have been willing to have their minds changed over time by their electorate. Gillibrand in particular has shifted hard to the left on both gun control and immigration.

You're open to your opinion, of course. But Schumer and Gillibrand are my Senators and I'm damned proud of that.
posted by zarq at 9:12 AM on October 13, 2017 [54 favorites]

On The Issues
* Gillibrand
* Schumer
posted by zarq at 9:18 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

And that's why we will never achieve true victory.
posted by sotonohito at 9:18 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I used to think we should abolish all prisons. Now I think we should have exactly one prison, just so we can put Sheriff Steve Prator in it.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

My attention is completely dominated by our ongoing slow-motion implosion at the national level, but:

> ... they’re releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money. Well, they’re going to let them out.

Seriously, what the actual fuck???

> Schumer and Gillibrand are my Senators and I'm damned proud of that.

I co-sign this. Yes they have their flaws, but have you seen the other 98?
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

So Britni is also leading a boycott of ESPN, the company that suspended Hill? Making sure everyone she knows gives up their precious football for at least one weekend?

So a black woman can't comment unless she's protesting exactly the way you think she should be?
posted by chris24 at 9:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

> Here in the Bay Area, San Francisco exactly, there is Twitter. About 45 miles south is Facebook. How about a big protest at those locations? Signs about them colluding with the Russians, threats to our democracy, etc. They need the bad press, scenes of angry protesters with signs marching at their entrances would be good. During the Vietnam war, people marched in front of companies. Maybe we should start doing that too.

I believe zachlipton may be the guy to point us toward organizations that are putting protests like this together.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:20 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know Schumer is a showboat, but something about how he managed the health care vote in the senate--shutting down celebration over McCain's vote with a wave--that and the photo in the White House with Trump pawing at him after Schumer and Pelosi got concessions (was that on DACA?)--he's won my respect.
posted by angrycat at 9:21 AM on October 13, 2017 [19 favorites]

And that's why we will never achieve true victory.

Bullshit. Not everyone will place the same priority on specific issues that you or I do.

My touchstone issues with regard to voting are social programs, support for the poor and those in need, women's rights -- especially their right to bodily autonomy, lgbt and trans rights, fighting discrimination and inequality, education, separation of church and state, gun control and expanded access to healthcare. I could honestly give a shit whether a politician takes money from Wall Street if their voting record appears to remain unaffected by it.

In my not-so humble opinion, the politicians to target aren't the ones who agree with us on 90% of the issues -- it's the ones who are diametrically opposed to our values that most deserve our focus and attention.
posted by zarq at 9:23 AM on October 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

Talez: I agree, there should be ideological diversity in any decent political party. Specifically, a decent political party should accomodate views from across the entire acceptable range — everything from democratic socialism on the right all the way to anarchosyndicalism on the left.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:24 AM on October 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

Chrysostom: Mitchell poll has Stabenow leading (sigh) Kid Rock 46-38.

Kid Rock is already posing as President Kid Rock, and one-upping Trump at the Conservative-Style Hyper Nonsense game, rap-preaching about "deadbeats milking the system" of healthcare, gender identity ("whatever you have between your legs should determine the bathroom that you use"), and Nazis ("I say fuck all you assholes, stay the fuck away"). Somehow, he's better and worse than Trump at this point. And his audience was partially there for this political ranting:

For many, this was what they had truly come for. Wearing "Kid Rock for U.S. Senate" merch, the night took on the air of an early stop on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, as the crowd greeted the moment with rapturous screams and applause.

Yeah, he's serious about politics, but not serious about politics.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:31 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

C-SPAN has the caption transcript of the Value Voters event this morning. It's exactly what you would expect.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:32 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Never change, YCTAB.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:34 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

political coupe

This just made me want to run out and buy a Mazda Miata and put a license plate on it that says JUNTA.

I had to go check and this made me laugh.
posted by phearlez at 9:35 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

You're open to your opinion, of course. But Schumer and Gillibrand are my Senators and I'm damned proud of that.
posted by zarq

And that's why we will never achieve true victory.
posted by sotonohito

Are you sure you're not mistaking "true victory" for "Phyrric victory"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:35 AM on October 13, 2017 [16 favorites]

> everything from democratic socialism on the right all the way to anarchosyndicalism on the left.

I sense that this is said somewhat tongue-in-cheek -- it's hard to tell with you because of your view-from-the-peanut-gallery style of commenting where you sometimes claim to be a participant and sometimes talk as if we're all just pieces on a chess board and you're just enjoying the match -- but I think it depends on whether you enjoy living in the fantasy world where this range of opinions can lead to congressional majorities, or the real world, where it won't get more than 20 Senate seats and 100 House seats.

I'm all in for democratic socialism, but my vision of how things should be isn't going to win elections in more than a tiny fraction of states. And once you get out past the Sanders-ish style of democratic socialism and toward more radical forms of it, you can probably count the number of districts on the fingers of one hand.

I get that this won't always be the case, and that things that were unmentionable by politicians like single payer and free college can now be talked about openly, but if we're talking about what the Democratic party needs to be right now, the most important thing is that it needs to be a vehicle through which the left side of the spectrum can gain enough seats to control both houses. That is, at least for 2018, going to include some wishy-washy conserva-dems. We need those seats a lot more more than we need an anarchosyndicalist in one or two seats or a true democratic socialist to replace someone like Feinstein.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

I think "true victory" means "exactly what I want never mind your priorities"
posted by phearlez at 9:37 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

I'm pretty sure a big part of the problem is that as the Republican party has become the party of conspiracy-fueled reality-denying racist/sexist nutbars, the Democratic party has to adopt everyone else -- from socialists all the way to the people who used to be called just called plain old conservatives. The entire unifying theme of the party at this point is "we're not crazy." And that big group of different views doesn't get along all that well.
posted by miyabo at 9:45 AM on October 13, 2017 [41 favorites]

Jesus the guy who introduced Trump did so with this tale the speaker said he heard from a farmer, something about throwing a rocks into a pigpen and squealing and liberals and entitlement.

That's how the POTUS is introduced these days, I guess. So regardless of what he said, it was bracketed by this fucking violent imagery I mean so much for values. Unless it's evil values.
posted by angrycat at 9:46 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

C-SPAN has the caption transcript of the Value Voters event this morning. It's exactly what you would expect.

Interesting that he quoted Washington's "religion and morality are indispensable" line. Hamilton wrote that. And Washington specifically rejected a line in the prepared speech which said that a "national morality" could only exist if supported by a "generally accepted and divinely authoritative" religion. One religion, not many. Washington himself believed in tolerance and acceptance by government of many religious faiths, not just Christianity. Something the Values Voters Summit is against.
posted by zarq at 9:46 AM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

There's a Twitter joke about whatever news event occurs, it confirms my beliefs that we should do X.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:47 AM on October 13, 2017

I Found it -- the Absolute Worst Harvey Weinstein Take [TW: Rape, victim-blaming, conservative pretzel logic, overuse of all-caps for emphasis.]

If you've traveled to the furthest reaches of the Internet in a quest to find the worst possible take on the Harvey Weinstein story, trust me, you can stop looking, because I found it: a guest post at Instapundit by the sci-fi and military novelist John Ringo.

Shorter Ringo: When Hollywood women attack conservative men, it's because they really hate Harvey Weinstein. [...]

It never ceases to amaze me that conservatives -- who control the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, most governors' mansions, most state legislatures, all of talk radio, and the highest-rated news channel on cable TV, and who also brag about being being rootin'-tootin', gun-totin', dirt-under-the-fingernails, working-class Regular Americans who regularly wave a semi-automatic in our faces and dare us (in multiple languages) to "come and take it" -- also choose to portray themselves as weak, terrified, relentlessly persecuted omega males. Dudes, have some self-respect.

... It’s all part of abuse syndrome, people.... People who are subject to long-term abuse MUST find an outlet for the anger that bubbles in them all the time. They don’t, dare not for various reasons, lash out at their abusers. Think of children in abusive homes. How can they lash out at their parents who are abusing them? They are powerless. So they become bullies in turn.

I've never been raped. No one has ever invited me up to a luxury hotel suite, greeted me wearing nothing but a bathrobe, an erection, and a beer gut, and tried to force me into a sex act against my will, on penalty of destroying my career if I failed to comply. So why do I despise Republicans with every fiber of my being? Oh, right: because they're destroying the country. I knew there had to be a reason.

It gets way, waaaay worse, trust me.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Every time Trump is embraced by power-lusting religious leaders, I go back to the Old Testament prophet Amos, often regarded as a bit of a killjoy. Speaking from God's point of view, he says: "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me." And then: "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
posted by duffell at 9:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

You know, I remember that there was a brief period when I took Instapundit seriously, and that fills me with shame.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

OH JOHN RINGO NO
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

Tom Jacobs, PSMagazine: Liberals Aren't As Divided As They Think.

Peter Ondish and Chadly Stern, psychologists at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, argue that liberals' love of individualism can make effective group activism more of a challenge. But worries that they are fundamentally split on policy positions appear to be overblown.

"On a national level, liberals consistently possessed more in-group consensus on political issues than did conservatives," they write in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Link to abstract of journal article.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:02 AM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

the oleaginous Sean Hannity

What a perfect word.
posted by diogenes at 10:05 AM on October 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

Ringo should stick to the military sci fi and man-o-sphere tropes he's used to. He doesn't understand the Hughes/Heckerling high school genre at all. The varsity jocks are not the liberals. The nerds are not the conservatives.

Heathers, QED.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:09 AM on October 13, 2017

Thinking about it... that Washington line is from his farewell address. Most people will remember that address as the one where he warned against foreign entanglements. Maybe they'll remember him speaking about the dangers of factional discord and political parties of the State. But the speech itself talks about separating powers and allowing them to work in harmony to form a good government. Because he knew that we had a very diverse nation, made up of people who held many - at times incompatible -- ideologies and beliefs.

In Washington's view, the legislature, the justice system and the Presidency would be parts that made up a greater whole -- a government for the whole. And that's the context in which he was speaking of national morality, too. Pillars of government. Political ideas and ethics as well as religious ones. And education. He specifically said that if the rule of government should turn to public opinion, it was important that public be enlightened. Because the sole source of moral and ethical and smart governance was not religious belief.
posted by zarq at 10:12 AM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

> OH JOHN RINGO NO

From the excellent LJ post:

He rescues the coed, name of Ashley, but refuses to tell her who he is -- he's killed a bunch of people, and he's worried about legal repercussions.

From the No More Mister Nice Blog post I linked to:

So let’s follow the career of a freshman aspiring JV cheerleader named, oh, Ashley.

Which is totally not meant to sound like a porn name.

As part of Ashley’s tryout she’s invited to a HIGH SCHOOL PARTY! (YAY! WE’RE REALLY GROWN UP NOW!) And at that high school party she gets a little drunk and ends up in the morning in a bed full of strangers (various male varsity jocks) wearing nothing but her socks.

John is now typing with one hand, isn't he?

I wonder how many Ashleys are out there who had the audacity to not fuck John Ringo in high school.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:20 AM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

Mod note: For folks who want to dive in on Oh No John Ringo, let me suggest visiting this old post instead of making it a running thing in here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:24 AM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

zachlipton: Responding this week to questions from The Washington Post, a spokeswoman for Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander, defended the Navy flag-flying tradition as “a major sign of transparency.”

I know it's not quite the same scale, but in our office, we just have a magnetic "In/Out" board and whiteboard markers, so everyone knows who's in and who isn't. It's good for office safety checks (drills and the real thing), and generally knowing who's where. And it doesn't require someone keep tabs on another person and literally fly a different flag. I imagine you could figure out something like that, but digital, so you could do it with the click on your phone.

Just sayin'.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:24 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Performance art suggestion: A RenFest-lookin handlebar-moustached herald-at-arms motherfucker standing outside the Dept of Interior (think Bob Odenkirk in this Mr. Show sketch) to shout loudly, "His Excellency Mr. Ryan Keith Zinke, fifty-and-second Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, has honored us with his arrival! All stand to receive him!" and so forth, trilling the r's ridiculously and pronouncing Secretary like a posh royal.
posted by duffell at 10:32 AM on October 13, 2017 [17 favorites]

Queen Zinke grows weary of your non-awesomeness. See the special flag which is hoisted when The Queen goes potty.
posted by petebest at 10:33 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Maybe round out the look with a bugle and a comically large scroll, from which to read updates of Sir Lord Zinke's whereabouts every five minutes, town crier style.
posted by duffell at 10:36 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Three flags. One for widdly wee, one for the devil's donuts, one for special occasions in which The Queen requires professional assistance.
posted by delfin at 10:36 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I know we're kinda jaded, but seeing the comments from the last hour or two... we know this is perhaps the single most important day of events in the Trump administration thus far, right?
posted by Justinian at 10:37 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think my problem here is that the Feinsteins, the Schumers, the Gillibrands, and the people who proudly vote for them, utterly and completely dishearten me.

I live in Texas. I'm dealing with, and fighting tooth and nail against, the very worst the Republican Party has to offer on a daily basis. I lived the first 40 years of my life surrounded by the proudly racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Christofascist types who worship the ground on which Trump walks. And now I'm in a slightly blue island in that state where thanks to gerrymandering I'm "represented" by Lamar Fucking Smith.

And I'd like to think that the fight isn't totally without value, that somewhere in the theoretical liberal oases of the nation there's people who have my back and who are living the good life enjoying the fruits of the victory I hope to one day achieve. I'd like to be able to look to California, to New York, to the other Democratic strongholds and say "hell yes, those people won and they've got it good there! They've got politicians who really care, who really do the right thing just because it's the right thing!"

Then it turns out that they're "proud" to vote for Blue Dog scumvermin like Gillibrand. That they're "proud" to vote for people who must be "willing to have their minds changed over time by their electorate" instead of just being real liberal leaders. Or worse that they will "shift" to the left instead of already being there.

Seriously? That's the absolute best that the most Democratic places in the USA can do?

You're so beaten down, even in NYC, that you manage to be "proud" of the fact that your Senators can, with great and heartbreaking effort, be nudged ever so slightly to the left?

THAT is what I have to look forward to? Not to actual victory, not to having politicians who lead the fucking fight, but to politicians who can be, maybe, sometimes, possibly, induced to shift a little to the left?

If you're telling me that is the best I can expect or deserve to expect I don't know what to say. Seriously? At the end of the day you want me to think that sort of hyper reluctant liberalism is what I should be proud to achieve?

It really takes the wind out of my sails. I feel betrayed and like the struggle I'm engaged in over here is pointless. If the best American liberalism has to offer is Feinstein and Schumer then I just don't know what to say or do. I don't know if I can keep struggling if that's what I've got to look forward to.

Not a real victory. Not getting people into office who actually, really, truly, support the cause and work for it with all their might, but the hollow victory of merely getting a slightly less awful politician on whom I must expend my every effort to merely get them to do the right thing every now and then?

I mean, yeah, sure, in theory that's better than Cruz where I know for a fact that no effort will ever make them do the right thing, but as a slogan "fight really damn hard to get a Democrat elected so you can fight a heartbreaking battle in hopes that maybe, someday, they'll do good" is a really shitty slogan.

By "true victory" I mean a winning sufficiently that we elect people who **LEAD** to the left rather than fighting tooth and nail against us while we drag them leftward against their express wishes and desires.

By "true victory" I mean a victory where I can take a fucking breather afterward and say "whew, that's done and now I can relax a bit confident that my representatives are doing right". Not the sort of hollow false victory of "winning" the right to yet another endless struggle.

I mean a real fucking win. The kind where we can stop, for even just a year or two, fighting afterward.

And I don't see how that's even remotely possible where my ostensible allies, people who are theoretically on my side, tell me that they're proud, **PROUD?!**, to vote for DINO's like Schumer and Gillibrand.

What's the fucking point? How can we ever win if you'll settle for such meager scraps and call it a feast?

You guys are supposed to be the vanguard! The place we can take solace from, the leaders, the ones showing us the way, the bright shining city on the hill we can look to when the darkness we're mired in threatens to overwhelm us.

Is it really too much to ask that in the Democratic strongholds we have real Democrats in office who just do the right thing without having to be bullied and cajoled into doing it? Is that really just a fantasy?
posted by sotonohito at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [24 favorites]

Here is a Vox explainer on the Iran Nuclear Deal decertification...

What Trump’s decision to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal actually does by Zack Beauchamp

"To unravel this weirdness, you need to understand two basic things. First, the Iran deal is working — working so well, in fact, that the US can’t withdraw without creating a giant mess. Second, Trump hates the Iran deal anyway, basically for reasons of personal pride. When you put those together, this principally appears to be a way for Trump to save face without having to suffer the consequences."

posted by OnceUponATime at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

I appreciate that sentiment Justinian.

Spent my morning commute listing the admin's greatest sins and trying to decide if they were in the correct order. Felt more than a little like Arya Stark: DACA, Health Care, Puerto Rico, Taxes, Iran. . . Health Care, DACA, Puerto Rico, Taxes, Iran. . .
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I guess this is what normalization looks like. :-/
posted by Coventry at 10:47 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

who just do the right thing

Geez, I mean, people can disagree about what "the right thing" is, you know?

A majority of Americans think the Republicans have the wrong answers, but that doesn't mean we all agree on what the right answers are.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:48 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

> I know we're kinda jaded, but seeing the comments from the last hour or two... we know this is perhaps the single most important day of events in the Trump administration thus far, right?

This statement is true of most days. What the fuck do you want us to do? I've called my reps, I've written them. I'm supporting better candidates for 2018. Is the only allowable comment here one where we lament each day the latest horrible things that the administration has done?
posted by tonycpsu at 10:49 AM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Just a mere eighteen months ago (or 37 Trümpenjahr) we thrilled to the launch of The Healthineers.

And now its - all this.
posted by petebest at 10:49 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

If moderate concessions and compromise are going to be rejected by everyone we have no choice but to swing for the rafters. The overall political establishment in this country is a wealthy alcoholic telling his doctor liver disease is a liberal conspiracy. If we want to get anywhere we have to demand the impossible.
posted by The Whelk at 10:50 AM on October 13, 2017 [18 favorites]

tonycpsu; i wasn't saying you should necessarily do anything, just hoping maybe for fewer weird John Ringo jokes or something. But I see cortex already dealt with that.
posted by Justinian at 10:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

demand the impossible

Yeah, like Trump's healthcare plan that was going to cover everybody better and be cheaper. That's what I want too!

Demand the impossible! [throws up hands]
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

I live in Texas.

I've lived in Texas. A bunch of my family members are buried in El Paso and Amarillo. I have family and a lot of friends still living in Texas. Some of them are Democrats.

Do you know what they never, ever bother to do? They don't complain to me about New York's Senators. Because living under Schumer and Gillibrand would be a goddamned paradise compared to living under John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. And we all know it. What they're doing is fighting for their own representatives that mirror their values and will act in their interests.

And I'd like to think that the fight isn't totally without value, that somewhere in the theoretical liberal oases of the nation there's people who have my back and who are living the good life enjoying the fruits of the victory I hope to one day achieve. I'd like to be able to look to California, to New York, to the other Democratic strongholds and say "hell yes, those people won and they've got it good there! They've got politicians who really care, who really do the right thing just because it's the right thing!"

Well, I'm sorry, but we are not be required to be your fucking Token Left Wingers just because you're being represented by assholes.
posted by zarq at 10:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [36 favorites]

I'm sorry you're feeling disheartened, sotonohito. I personally try to take a relentlessly pragmatic view, focusing on the achievable delta, but after you laid it out like that I can at least appreciate how you're feeling.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:56 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I mean, yeah, sure, in theory that's better than Cruz

And also very much so in practice.
posted by mikepop at 10:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

You're so beaten down, even in NYC, that you manage to be "proud" of the fact that your Senators can, with great and heartbreaking effort, be nudged ever so slightly to the left?

Two things make this difficult: (1) a lot of the rest of the state is Trump-loving deep red; and (2) the rules for voting in primary elections in NY are horrible -- you have to have selected your party over a year in advance in order to vote in the Democratic primary. (PS, New Yorkers, TODAY IS THE DEADLINE to select or change your party in order to vote in primary elections in 2018.)

I mean, our governor is Cuomo and the Republicans control the state senate because of the IDC (a group of Dems who caucus with the GOP, preventing the Dems from having the majority -- including progressive reps from NYC!). It's not exactly a liberal utopia up here; our wins are few and far between.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [25 favorites]

Then it turns out that they're "proud" to vote for Blue Dog scumvermin like Gillibrand.

There is literally no other senator who has been as consistent in their opposition to Trump.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:58 AM on October 13, 2017 [53 favorites]

By "true victory" I mean a victory where I can take a fucking breather afterward and say "whew, that's done and now I can relax a bit confident that my representatives are doing right". Not the sort of hollow false victory of "winning" the right to yet another endless struggle.

If this is the kind of victory you seek, you will never be satisfied. The fight is never over. But take a break if you need one. I promise there's no victory in burning yourself out attacking your allies.
posted by rocketman at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [21 favorites]

“This thing is going into the toilet”

Another Trump-related story. You'll have to click on the (SFW) link to see what it's about. Could be pretty much anything!
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2017

Could be pretty much anything!

Without spoiling the main surprise, I will spoil the surprise that there's an auto-play video there.
posted by Devonian at 11:03 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Disaster Relief Workers in Puerto Rico Treat Themselves to Taxpayer-Funded ‘Spa Day' Given by ... Puerto Ricans

Let’s say it again slowly: Medical personnel. On a tax-funded relief mission. Charged with treating sick and injured Puerto Ricans. Opted to use the triage tents intended to provide care. To instead bring in local residents. The same population they were supposed to caring for. People with limited access to drinking water, food and electricity. And had those Puerto Ricans give them manicures and pedicures at cut-rate prices.

posted by homunculus at 11:03 AM on October 13, 2017 [33 favorites]

Then it turns out that they're "proud" to vote for Blue Dog scumvermin like Gillibrand.

Gillibrand voted no on Trump's nominees more often than Sanders and Warren did and she's only two spots behind Bernie on progressive votes. So maybe think twice about who you call scumvermin.
posted by xyzzy at 11:04 AM on October 13, 2017 [52 favorites]

the rules for voting in primary elections in NY are horrible -- you have to have selected your party over a year in advance in order to vote in the Democratic party

That's not quite accurate. If you haven't been registered in NY before and register with a party, you can vote in their primaries immediately.

The delay is for people who had previously stood up before God and man and announced, in a document filed under penalty of perjury, that they were not Democrats. If they wanted to vote in Democratic primaries, maybe they shouldn't have taken an affirmative step to prevent themselves from doing so.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:04 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm also really tired of people dragging Gillibrand for being a conserva-dem because she came from a conserva-dem NY district. I mean, "Blue Dog scumvermin"? Come the fuck on.

It turns out that you do actually have to represent your constituents in a conservative district, even in New York. It's easy for you to say you'd rather have true liberals win there, but they don't, because the electorate doesn't want them. It's easy to say they should worry less about keeping their job, but in a district like that, it likely means another lock-step vote for Republican priorities.

FDR said "'I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." It's the politician's job to win the seat and hold it. It's our job to make them more scared of losing ground to their left than to their right. I don't care how liberal they are on the inside -- I just care about how they vote.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:05 AM on October 13, 2017 [43 favorites]

If Gillibrand is a blue dog... how many actual Democrats are there? Two, and one of them is dead? I mean, yeah, I was hoping Feinstein would retire and be replaced by someone more liberal too... as I've repeatedly stated... but the country isn't going to collapse because Feinstein and Gilibrand are Senators, it will be because we can't elect enough Democrats in places like North Carolina and Ohio and the Great Plains states.

Anybody else think Iran is gonna be a nuclear power by 2020?
posted by Justinian at 11:05 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

Then it turns out that they're "proud" to vote for Blue Dog scumvermin like Gillibrand.

There is literally no other senator who has been as consistent in their opposition to Trump.

Yes, but are there some male Senators who have been not quite as consistent but have been more self-congratulatory? Gotta give the people what they want!
posted by duffell at 11:09 AM on October 13, 2017 [20 favorites]

Two things make this difficult: (1) a lot of the rest of the state is Trump-loving deep red; and (2) the rules for voting in primary elections in NY are horrible -- you have to have selected your party over a year in advance in order to vote in the Democratic primary.

Also, New York State is gerrymandered beyond belief and the rules for aspiring candidates to state office are literally designed to protect those in power.

Include Suffolk County on Long Island in the Trump-loving section. Trump won there by slightly more than a 12% margin.
posted by zarq at 11:11 AM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Then it turns out that they're "proud" to vote for Blue Dog scumvermin like Gillibrand.

Please to be explaining what makes Karen Gillibrand "scumvermin."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:13 AM on October 13, 2017 [28 favorites]

Yeah, definitely thinking everyone criticizing Glibrand without deepish knowledge of NYS politics is missing a lot of the point. Sure, NYC in general and Brooklyn in particular are some of the bluest places in the country, but did you know that the goddamn New York Statehouse doesn't even have a Dem majority (well, if we want to get technical its untrue because there are more dems, however there is a group of nominal Dems who have formed a coalition with republicans to get benefits sent to their purple districts - plus one dem who just straight up caucuses with republicans which is its own story).

If you want to know more about the 8 state legislators who fuck it up for the rest of us, the Wikipedia link is a decent place to start.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:14 AM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

If they wanted to vote in Democratic primaries, maybe they shouldn't have taken an affirmative step to prevent themselves from doing so.

This is a choice that NY has made that lowers turnout in primary elections and generally just makes voting seem like this super-complex system with arbitrary rules. Yes, everyone should always know the rules perfectly and know that they've selected the right party or that they need to select a party or that they have to change it so far in advance, and they should verify their registration online well in advance of the deadlines, and make sure they've researched the ballot and and and and and. In real life, people are busy, people's opinions change and their party affiliation might change as well -- people who didn't have a party affiliation for the general election last year but who were 'activated' by Trump's win/behavior literally could not participate in primary elections this past September.

It doesn't encourage voting. It doesn't encourage participation in the political process. We shouldn't penalize people for not knowing that they need to select a party 11 months before the primary election actually takes place. It's absurd and undemocratic and I have yet to hear a valid justification for it. Other states have same-day party affiliation, and it seems to work out just fine.
posted by melissasaurus at 11:16 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]

Anybody else think Iran is gonna be a nuclear power by 2020?

No. Israel will go to any lengths to prevent that.
posted by Coventry at 11:18 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

God you guys, hate to see what you say about Claire.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:18 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Once in a while, I have been known to note that even the most retrograde, bumfuck scarlet parts of these here quasi-United States have good-thinking, left-leaning people living there. Even Alabama. Even Oklahoma. There are foxholes of civilization and compassion even in the most Teabot-ridden battlefields.

But that cuts both ways. There are conservatives and Teahadis and rednecks and self-absorbed fuckwits in every state, every district, every town. There are always teens who make the mistake of reading Atlas Shrugged and gaze in awe at their new life plan. There are always aging folk who decide that their bank balance and mental image of How Things Should Be mean more than all other considerations. There are always pockets of moralizing prigs who pop up like pushing bubbles on wallpaper, only to see new God Says You're Wrong picketers burst forth.

You can go farther left in Berkeley than you can in Des Moines and still win. But you still have to win. We live in an age where corporate interests drive policy, where one unguarded statement can make you a national laughingstock and a target for outside fundraising, where sound left-leaning policy ideas have been mocked for decades by media and pundits with strong financial incentives to maintain the status quo. And politicians know this, which is why Punch the Filthy Hippies is one of our few bipartisan national pastimes.

sotonohito, I feel your anguish. But age and experience have moved me from Deep Cynicism to Deeper Cynicism, to get Narnian for a moment. I don't get as despondent about how fucked we are as a nation when I think about how fucked we have always been, how whitewashed the histories we were fed have been, and how checkered America and Americans really are.

So what makes me pull my face out of my cereal bowl each morning? There are bright spots among us who try, in whatever ways they can, to make life better for more than just themselves. It may be throwing buckets of water at the incoming tide but fuck it, they're at least gonna try. There are no Pure Liberal Outposts in America but there are ways to make wherever you are a smidge better at a time.

Sometimes it helps.
posted by delfin at 11:19 AM on October 13, 2017 [45 favorites]

FDR can go fuck himself. Powerful politicians actually do have a moral responsibility.
posted by LarsC at 11:20 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is it really too much to ask that in the Democratic strongholds we have real Democrats in office who just do the right thing without having to be bullied and cajoled into doing it? Is that really just a fantasy?

I feel what's you're saying, but to answer your last question... Yes. There is no liberal city on the hill. Not in America. There's just racist Republicans and socially conscious Republicans with just enough of a feel-good fringe to give false hope to naive progressives.

Maybe with enough effort we can pull our government left over the next generation or so, but keep in mind the other side is pulling just as hard. Harder probably, and they're working hard in the EU as well.
posted by FakeFreyja at 11:23 AM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Justinian: Gillibrand was an actual, official, member of the Blue Dog coalition.


And after today, I think Iran will be a nuclear power this time next year unless Trump gets his war on before then.
posted by sotonohito at 11:24 AM on October 13, 2017

It really takes the wind out of my sails.

And yet your word count is completely unimpeded with regards to telling us all the ways we're failing liberalism. I get the need to vent, I value the discussion about what should and shouldn't be a negotiating point for making progress. But you're such a disappointment? If I have to hear that it would be nice if it could stay at a sub-novella length, at least.
posted by phearlez at 11:27 AM on October 13, 2017 [24 favorites]

I was trying to find some kind of citation for this, which I am striking out on today. But in general, even hippie capital of the world San Francisco isn't the liberal utopian paradise. The world is not as liberal as you'd like.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:27 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Libby Watson, Splinter: The Democratic Party's Harvey Weinstein Problem Is Actually a Rich Guy Problem

Any Republican using Weinstein to score political points is ridiculous and repulsive, not least the GOB Bluth of the first family, Donald Trump Jr.

But it’s not exactly unfair to expect answers of Democrats, including but not limited to Clinton, who took money from Weinstein and attended fundraisers he held for her. Clinton released a statement condemning Weinstein yesterday afternoon, but didn’t address the possibility of returning the $5,400 that he donated to her presidential committee (which still has nearly a million dollars in cash on hand) or the $25,000 that he donated to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with the DNC. [...]

But finding the thousands of dollars Weinstein donated over the many years he has spent as a major Democratic donor, and dutifully Doing Something with it, does not solve The Harvey Problem. The problem does not go away along with his money. Instead, the Weinstein story—and the collateral damage it has caused Democrats—should provoke a moment of reflection: As long as they keep taking money from the super-rich—as long as sustaining the party depends on huge sums of money from people like Harvey Weinstein—things like this will happen. It’s not that every super-rich guy is a predator, though wow, a ton of them are; it’s that when you run your campaigns largely on the donations of rich people, you tie yourselves to them, whether you like it or not, whether you mean to or not.

Scott Lemieux, LGM: Unilateral Disarmament is Not a Great Plan

I’ve mentioned before how a lot of online lefty discourse — and this tendency, ironically, is particularly strong among people who define themselves as non- or anti- liberal — takes a liberal individualist approach to what are primarily structural problems. The idea that the Democratic Party is just making an unfettered choice to be reliant on rich donors to be competitive is problematic, to say the least. Because of Buckley v. Valeo and its progeny, there will be tons of money in American politics whatever the Democratic Party does. Bernie (and to a lesser extent Obama) may have shown that you can run a presidential campaign relying mostly or exclusively on small donors — but it just doesn’t scale down. There just aren’t enough small donors to competitively fund every marginal congressional and state or local race. And it’s not just venal Democrats who are vulnerable to this money — Russ Feingold can be drowned by PAC money just like Evan Bayh.

The obvious way out of this dilemma — and there’s no disagreement between Sanders and Clinton on this point — is 1)to get a median Democratic justice on the Supreme Court who will vote to give Congress and state legislatures much more leeway to regulate election spending and 2)healthy Democratic majorities in Congress that can pass campaign finance legislation. But how this can happen if the Democratic Party engages in preemptive unilateral disarmament is…not obvious.

posted by tonycpsu at 11:29 AM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Gillibrand was an actual, official, member of the Blue Dog coalition.

Was. When she became a Senator she lost her NRA "A" grade and became much more progressive, to the point where she wants to reject anti-abortion Democrats from the caucus. I know it's hard for you to believe, being a Texan and all, but where I live in NY I am surrounded by gun loving Republicans with pro-life stickers. That describes the vast majority of NYS. NYS is NOT NYC.
posted by xyzzy at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2017 [49 favorites]

I believe zachlipton may be the guy to point us toward organizations that are putting protests like this together.

I don't really have much for you. There are groups in the Bay Area of tech workers, including Twitter and Facebook employees, and I've known small-scale protests to stop in front of Twitter and holler for a bit, largely on weekends when nobody's home. I guess I'm skeptical of the extent to which a global metric-driven company really would respond to physical protest. A long-term sustained boycott with a defined list of demands and massive participation maybe, but people shouting at the building? I don't know.

There is a guy who sometimes drops by the Twitter headquarters at night and projects messages onto it, which is cool, though also sort of a nighttime-after-employees-have-gone-home activity. I said hi once, but don't really know who he is or if he's affiliated with any group.

I was trying to find some kind of citation for this, which I am striking out on today. But in general, even hippie capital of the world San Francisco isn't the liberal utopian paradise. The world is not as liberal as you'd like.

Start talking to San Franciscans about homeless people, and you'll quickly hear an awful lot of illiberal ideas about how to treat fellow human beings. I also like to remind people who think California is some crazy communist wasteland that we couldn't scrounge up statewide majority votes to end the death penalty or allow gay marriage.
posted by zachlipton at 11:33 AM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

FDR cannot go fuck himself because he has moldered to dust.

Sotonohito, no doubt: it's exhausting, more now than ever, but no matter what happens and who gets elected, it doesn't really get less exhausting from here. I mean, look at the damn place.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/12/penguin-catastrophe-leads-to-demands-for-protection-in-east-antarctica

I think this: "...think about how fucked we have always been, how whitewashed the histories we were fed have been, and how checkered America and Americans really are" is really good advice, and then you can go on to think about how fucked we are going to be in the future, even if Trump does not annihilate us all, and be glad that at least we are not there, yet, and that at least we are not penguins, and soldier on.
posted by Don Pepino at 11:35 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

*flattens cortex off the turnbuckle with a totally illegal flying elbow drop from the lighting scaffolds, tags in the quidnunc kid*
posted by loquacious at 11:51 AM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

As seen on Twitter:

45 said he met with the President of the Virgin Islands.

45 is the President of the Virgin Islands.
posted by Devonian at 11:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

where I live in NY I am surrounded by gun loving Republicans with pro-life stickers. That describes the vast majority of NYS. NYS is NOT NYC.

It's hard to really get your head around this; nearly half of NYS's population lives in the five boroughs, but the other half largely doesn't live in "liberal New York." I live near the border of Nassau and Suffolk counties, on Long Island, and around here, I'd lose count of "blue lives matter" and "keep christ in christmas" bumper stickers about half a mile from my house.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

The other thing - and maybe this will be cheerier - is that you make a tiny difference just by showing up, by speaking up, by making the vote non-unanimous.

The hard right wing doesn't view politics and society and law as competitions that they're trying to win; they view them as birthrights where they're the only ones qualified to play. They take it for granted that _of course_ tax cuts are always good, welfare and food stamp recipients are lazy bums, America is Great, God is Greater, our armed forces are Tireless Defenders of Freedom, white Christian men should be in charge, women should gracefully defer to Man's Ways, Reagan was coherent at any time after 1956 and that conservative policy is in their personal best interests. There are no other options to which they grant validity.

Know what pisses them off good? When the other side refuses to sit back and let that happen. When people say no, you won't run unopposed and no, you won't have a peaceful town hall and no, I won't stand for your anthem and no, I won't let you use Jesus Wants This as justification for public policy and no, _you're not the majority, motherfucker._

You don't always win. In fact, you rarely do. But it can be satisfying to see the look on their faces when they know it's gonna be a fight after all.
posted by delfin at 11:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [30 favorites]

Meanwhile:

Cruz warns Koch donors re: 2018 — "If we don't get our act together, we could face a bloodbath." Says "Watergate-level blowout"is possible.

posted by Chrysostom at 11:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

If you want to know more about the 8 state legislators who fuck it up for the rest of us, the Wikipedia link is a decent place to start.

The person running against Jose Peralta is a sixteen year old Stuyvesant student named Tahseen Chowdhury. He's not old enough to vote for himself in an election, but he's running for state office.

I've seen him at two campaign appearances now. He is brilliant and has a firm grasp of how Peralta is failing to properly represent the needs and interests of his constituents. Chowdhury will be a great a representative for them if he wins. He's up against massive political machinery and inertia in Queens but I hope like hell he makes it.
posted by zarq at 11:56 AM on October 13, 2017 [25 favorites]

More on Mr. Chowdhury: Too Young to Vote, but Asking for Yours. Looks like he's 17 now.
posted by zarq at 12:00 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

The political shift isn’t red to blue, it’s center to left and the result of decades of activist work now showing fruit
posted by The Whelk at 12:01 PM on October 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

More Louisiana Sheriffs On Parade /movietone_news

A sheriff in Louisiana is taking a stand on the issue of whether NFL players should stand for the national anthem. Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington has told a local Ford dealership his department will stop buying Ford police vehicles as long as the automaker advertises with the NFL.

For the bewildered, that's a different sheriff than the one who' expounding on the wonderfulness of modern slavery. This one, okay, won't buy Ford cars if they advertise during NFL games. Because . . . because the sheriff, is, wait no the - Okay Ford said they support the players' protest, and the NFL said it didn't so the sheriff is boycotting the NFL over Ford's support against it.

- I'll come in again.
posted by petebest at 12:07 PM on October 13, 2017 [25 favorites]

So remember how Trump said he'd declare the opioid crisis a national emergency two months ago and then just didn't do that at all? Somebody got around to asking him: "We're studying national emergency right now."

As for why Trump cut off CSR payments, which reduce or eliminate co-pays for those with lower incomes:

THE PRESIDENT: That money is going to insurance companies to lift up their stock price, and that's not what I'm about.

Take a look at who those insurance companies support, and I guarantee you one thing: It's not Donald Trump.

Thus reinforcing his view of government as a tool to punish those who do not support him. Also, perhaps they don't support him because he randomly announces in the middle of the night that he'll stop paying them the legally mandated premiums they were promised? Just a thought.

TPM reports on how Roy Moore Led Charge Against Removing Segregation From Alabama Constitution (poll taxes too). Thanks to Moore, Alabama's Constitution right now declares that "Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race." It is, and I honestly checked this, the year 2017.

NYT: European Leaders Condemn Trump’s Decision on Iran. May, Merkel, and Macron put out a joint statement that preserving the deal is "in our shared national security interest." Even Putin expressed concern and Russia's foreign minister called his Iranian counterpart to say Russia will stand by the deal.

Bloomberg, from the department of Only The Best People: How the Pentagon Spun Hurricane Maria

Late last month, Pentagon communications officials inadvertently included Bloomberg climate reporter Christopher Flavelle on an internal distribution list, in which Defense Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials discussed their evolving strategy for presenting the response to Hurricane Maria.

Despite repeatedly alerting officials to the error, Bloomberg continued receiving the emails for five days. Those messages, each of which was marked “unclassified,” offer a glimpse into the federal government’s struggle to convince the public that the response effort was going well. That struggle was compounded by the commander-in-chief, and eased only when public attention was pulled to a very different disaster.
...
Oct. 2: The massacre in Las Vegas dominates the headlines.
The Government Message: The shooting “has drawn mainstream TV attention away from Puerto Rico response,” FEMA says. Still, the roundup seems to have lost some of its previous optimism. It concludes, simply: “Negative tonality.”

Yahoo News, Hunter Walker and Michael Isikoff, FBI document cache sheds light on inner workings of Russia’s U.S. news (and propaganda) network, in which Andrew Feinberg shares internal Sputnik documents, as the FBI investigates Russian media in the US. It's a long article; two highlights, including a non-zero number of Sputnik employees boasting of their chats with Guccifer 2.0:

The documents also suggest Sputnik journalists had relationships with hackers linked to Russian intelligence and key American allies of Donald Trump. The information Fionda sent to the Justice Department highlighted a tweet in which one of Sputnik’s radio hosts boasted about his role in connecting Guccifer 2.0, the hacker behind the Democratic National Committee leaks, to Roger Stone, an early architect of Trump’s campaign. On April 30, Feinberg emailed Martinichev about a party he attended that was sponsored by the conservative blog Gateway Pundit. Feinberg said he stepped out for a cigarette and encountered Michael Flynn Jr., the son of Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

“I introduced myself, told him I was Sputnik’s WH reporter and that I’d love a chance to give him and his dad to tell their story without the Russia conspiracy mongering. He said he and his dad are BIG fans of Sputnik and gave me his contact information,” Feinberg wrote.
...
The packet of information Fionda provided to the Justice Department focused on two Sputnik employees: Cassandra Fairbanks and Lee Stranahan.

Stranahan came to Sputnik in April. He previously had worked at the conservative website Breitbart, under Trump’s former campaign guru and adviser Steve Bannon. The month before he joined Sputnik, Stranahan sent out a tweet boasting that he was the one who “introduced” former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone to Guccifer 2.0, the hacker who obtained emails from the Democratic National Committee that were published by WikiLeaks. American officials have said Guccifer 2.0 was working with Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU as part of the coordinated effort to help Trump in the election.
...
Fionda also alerted law enforcement about another colleague who claimed to be in communication with Guccifer 2.0. In the information Fionda gave to the Justice Department, he included copies of Twitter messages in which Cassandra Fairbanks discussed exchanging messages with the hacker. Fairbanks is an activist who wrote for Sputnik from late 2015 until this year, when she joined the pro-Trump website Big League Politics.

Fairbanks told Yahoo News that Fionda was making too much of what she describes as a journalistic endeavor.

“I did communicate with Guccifer. I tried to interview him because … I was covering the leaks,” Fairbanks explained. “I published like all of my conversations with him so they’re public.”

The Guardian, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Flynn ally sought help from 'dark web' in covert Clinton email investigation. This story is also about someone suspiciously turning to hackers to look for Hillary's emails: Barbara Ledeen, an associate of Flynn's and staffer on the Senate judiciary committee (why yes, that is one of the committees that is supposed to be investigating this stuff and all the Congressional investigations are completely compromised and useless, thankyouverymuch). In many ways, I think there's a lot less to this story than it lets on: she supposedly works on judicial nominations and isn't involved with the investigation, and it sounds like she was freelancing, but I think it's quite important with the connection to the above story: Michael Flynn. There were clearly a bunch of efforts for Republican operatives to to talk with hackers to discuss Clinton's emails, and the common link in all of them are ties to Michael Flynn. This man is dirty as hell.

And because it's always the same goddamn assholes every time with the GOP, Barbara Ledeen's husband is Michael Ledeen, who helped broker Iran-Contra, among his accomplishments. Oh, and he has a literal track record of involvement in disinformation campaigns involving a foreign power's attempts to influence our elections. A little on the nose?
posted by zachlipton at 12:15 PM on October 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

Karen Gillibrand

Kirsten
posted by zarq at 12:18 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Take a look at who those insurance companies support, and I guarantee you one thing: It's not Donald Trump.

Holy fuck. I thought that was a paraphrase or an editorial aside, but no. Trump actually said that. He just explicitly admitted that he's punishing people who don't boost him personally. I mean, we all knew that, but he just came right out and said it. And he referred to himself in the third person.

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:21 PM on October 13, 2017 [25 favorites]

This Gillibrand smear started off as depressingly ill-informed and mean-spirited and is now full-on stupid. Shall we move on?
posted by baltimoretim at 12:22 PM on October 13, 2017 [49 favorites]

Look. I once thought gays were icky and shouldn't be allowed to marry because of that. It's a ridiculous thought but it was 2001 and I was 18. One interaction, one that I hadn't truly had before, changed that view and forever crystallized my support of gay rights and marriage. Should I be a scumvillian ever begging for forgiveness unable to show my face in the hallowed halls of progressivism? Should I go just register Republican and forget about my backpack and all my not-WASP friends? Or if I don't meet the criteria where exactly should we draw the line?

Or should we all agree I held a shitty position, I changed it, and now we can all move on and have fun at more weddings?
posted by Talez at 12:22 PM on October 13, 2017 [46 favorites]

Then, after their lives of service to those they hurt they die in poverty, I will accept that they were serious about their proclaimed change of heart.

So. What are your feelings about Elizabeth Warren? You know, the Elizabeth Warren who was an actual Republican before she had a change of heart?
posted by lydhre at 12:23 PM on October 13, 2017 [24 favorites]

I also quit my job whenever I change my mind about something.
posted by beerperson at 12:25 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

It doesn't seem like a very pragmatic approach to life. Are you still doing such penance for your fuckups, sotonohito? (Notional fuckups, since I don't know anything about you, but to err is human.)
posted by Coventry at 12:25 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm out for the day, this has become too much the sotonohito vs. everyone else show and is bad for the thread.

I'll try to recover some equilibrium and be less assholish tomorrow.
posted by sotonohito at 12:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

If you want people to change their minds and come around to your point of view, maybe demonizing those that do change isn't the best tactic. Admitting you were wrong and evolving is rare and difficult given human nature, especially in today's hyper-partisan environment. It should be encouraged, not attacked.
posted by chris24 at 12:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

Mod note: Couple comments removed. sotonohito, I know you feel strongly about this stuff but yeah we've talked before about trying to keep it a little more reined in and this is a nudge to do that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:28 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I talk about Trump in my sleep.

I had a dream last night that I was at the White House for some official function and there was an open mic because it was required for First Amendment reasons and there was just a huge line of people going to the mic and telling off Trump, reading angry poetry, etc. And Trump had to sit there and listen to it. And I was starting to worry that this might set him off into firing a missile or something because people were just tearing him UP.
posted by threeturtles at 12:29 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Cruz is engaging in hyperbole to raise more money. Of course he is going to tell the Koch brothers that if they don't give a ton of cash the Republicans will lose.
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 12:29 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's absurd and undemocratic and I have yet to hear a valid justification for it

"Party primaries should be limited to people who are in the party."

Other states have same-day party affiliation, and it seems to work out just fine.

Depends on what you think is fine. In states with open primaries it's commonplace in situations where one primary is boring or nonexistent (ie Dems in 2012) for people to just vote in the more interesting primary, which means that the voices of actual Republicans in 2012 were being countered and silenced by Democrats and others. I don't think that's fine, but I think having primaries at all is bad and wrong and parties should nominate people however they want to.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2017

I talk about Trump in my sleep.

I woke up this morning and it took me nearly 15 minutes to remember that Trump was president. I'd like more mornings like that.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:31 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

What if they want to nominate people via a primary?
posted by Chrysostom at 12:32 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

....which leads me to realize I never imagined that "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast" would ever be an actual governing strategy by a sitting president.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:32 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

"May all your firing squads be circular."
posted by aspersioncast at 12:33 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think having primaries at all is bad and wrong and parties should nominate people however they want to.

Yeah this is a really peculiar thing to those of us who grew up in Westminster systems. They're really a hack job based on the duopoly of FTTP politics mixed with the United States separating the legislative and executive into separate branches rather than executive functions being exercised by the ministry of the legislative branch.

Even in the Federal government it feels like each party has three variants, the house member party, the Senate variant of the party, and the executive of the party and none of the branches ever want anything to do with each other compared to party room caucuses in Westminster systems.
posted by Talez at 12:35 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

I think having primaries at all is bad and wrong and parties should nominate people however they want to.

Here in NY we're stuck with a bunch of Democrats who caucus with the Republicans and it's terrible. They're endorsed and supported by the local party. If it weren't for the primary elections, we'd never, ever get better options.
posted by zarq at 12:36 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I feel primaries vs party selection is one where either method has problems.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:41 PM on October 13, 2017

Take a look at who those insurance companies support, and I guarantee you one thing: It's not Donald Trump.

This needs to be the biggest deal.

People are already dying in Puerto Rico because his ego wasn't fluffed enough.

Now, more people will die for lacking insurance because his ego wasn't fluffed enough.

His narcissism is so malignant that he is careless and cruel with people's lives over it.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:41 PM on October 13, 2017 [60 favorites]

Cruz warns Koch donors re: 2018 — "If we don't get our act together, we could face a bloodbath." Says "Watergate-level blowout"is possible.

What
posted by Melismata at 12:53 PM on October 13, 2017

Stealing this news from the latest Star Trek: Discovery thread over in Fanfare. (Thank you, mstokes650.)

John G. Hurtzler, the actor who played Martok on Deep Space Nine (see this clip -- he's the one in leather and fur,) is apparently running for Congress in character as Mark Twain. If you live in New York State's district 23, you can vote for General Martok for Congress, and how often does an opportunity like that come along?

He could challenge half the House to personal combat-to-the-death and win. Nothing of value would be lost.
posted by zarq at 12:55 PM on October 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

Take a look at who those insurance companies support, and I guarantee you one thing: It's not Donald Trump.

HOW is this not the lighting of the fuse to rocket his ass out of here? For fuck's sake he's just said out loud in front of Liddle' Baby Jesus (tm) and everyone that he's used his office specifically to fuck over people for personal gain. In as much as he can tell the truth, that's it.

Republicans - you are seriously getting pulled in the Sarlaac pit. Save yourselves, man. You're like an unrepentant Dolphins' coach right now.
posted by petebest at 12:55 PM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

Feinstein is far removed from the Republicans as measured by DW-NOMINATE scores.

Bookmarked. Awesome site that had escaped my notice. Amy Klobuchar, from my neck of the woods (Minnesota), whom many are lionizing as Presidential timber, is to the right of Feinstein, who's pretty moderate.

I'm pretty far left. I think a woman's right to control her own body is absolute. I think war is failure and that the standing military needs to be dismantled. I think everyone should be guaranteed a comfortable living. I think everyone has a right to healthy food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, and education, and that the government should guarantee those things. I think companies are companies and should be constrained in what they can do beyond their business, and that large ones should be broken up to foster more competition and innovation. I think we need to spend on research what we now spend on the military.

But I do not want the Democratic party to become a mirror image of the GOP. If it becomes a race to the "extreme left" while bastardizing what "liberal" means, there are some places to go that are equally bad compared to the places the GOP has taken us. If the distribution of all politicians looked like that of the Democrats in today's Senate as shown in the Voteview website, with those on the right most likely GOP and vice versa, I would be pretty happy, though not completely satisfied.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:56 PM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

apparently running for Congress in character as Mark Twain

I can't stop thinking of that Cheers where Woody stayed in Mark Twain costume all the time, because he was understudying the role and had to be ready at a moments notice.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:59 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Now, more people will die for lacking insurance because his ego wasn't fluffed enough.

"What? They want to live off my tax money, they give me shit in the polling booth, and I should give them somewhere nice to live? Eat me."

Never thought Warren Ellis's cartoonish villains would seem more human than the real political monsters we're stuck with.
posted by jackbishop at 1:02 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Cruz warns Koch donors re: 2018 — "If we don't get our act together, we could face a bloodbath." Says "Watergate-level blowout"is possible.

What

Nixon resigned August '74. Dems pick up 49 House seats, 4 Senate seats, 4 governorships in '74 elections, in '76 Carter is elected President, no real change to Senate, 1 Dem win in House, 1 Dem governor win

Someone I think on MeFi remarked that much of the current Republican political leadership's fears can be traced back to seeing the Watergate scandal as Democrats and media people out to get Nixon and current maneuvers by R's as pure revanchism. I think this characterization of R's not wanting another Nixonian downfall is broadly correct.

The way you do that is by not electing one in the first place....
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2017 [17 favorites]

apparently running for Congress in character as Mark Twain

I can't stop thinking of that Cheers where Woody stayed in Mark Twain costume all the time, because he was understudying the role and had to be ready at a moments notice.

Or Dana Gould portraying Dr. Zaius portraying Mark Twain.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

If you live in New York State's district 23, you can vote for General Martok for Congress, and how often does an opportunity like that come along?

Never before has the phrase "Ithaca is 10 square miles, surrounded by reality" been so true.
posted by zachlipton at 1:06 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump: "That money is going to insurance companies to lift up their stock price."

Why aren't the news media calling him out on this flat out lie. The money doesn't go to the insurance companies. It goes to low income citizens to help them afford healthcare. The insurance companies are legally obligated by the ACA to pay out that money whether Trump reimburses them or not.
posted by JackFlash at 1:08 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

John G. Hurtzler, the actor who played Martok on Deep Space Nine (see this clip -- he's the one in leather and fur,) is apparently running for Congress in character as Mark Twain. If you live in New York State's district 23, you can vote for General Martok for Congress, and how often does an opportunity like that come along?

I'd support him, but only if in every debate he randomly screams YOU!

THE ONE WHO IS MOVING NOW!

ANSWERRRRRRRRRRRR
posted by middleclasstool at 1:10 PM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

CNN's lower third was pretty direct this morning: "TRUMP ENDS HEALTH SUBSIDES FOR POOR PEOPLE"

Though kind of frighteningly misleading given its propensity to scare people into thinking that all premium subsides are gone.
posted by zachlipton at 1:10 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

Never thought Warren Ellis's cartoonish villains would seem more human than the real political monsters we're stuck with.

The Beast was a villain, but he was a villain with a rational thought process: the country is too far gone to be able to save more than slightly more than half of it, so do that, and make sure you remain in power to do that by rewarding slightly more than half of it.

Trump doesn't even match THAT standard. He's a less charming, stupider version of the Smiler.
posted by mightygodking at 1:12 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

...the Republican party has become the party of conspiracy-fueled reality-denying racist/sexist nutbars...

Nah, there's still a huge dollop of "I hate paying taxes and why do those poor people have all our money?" types.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:12 PM on October 13, 2017

I can imagine Kid Rock on a platform on the back of a pick-up truck with a dwarf whisking away with a broom while pronouncing how he will clean up politics and how he stands up for the little guy.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:13 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

(early, because it's Friday, dammit)

ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:

-- New race ratings from Cook. 11 races move in D direction; one to R (AZ-09, because Sinema is running for Senate).

-- Decision Desk has made a model tweak, now has Dem chance of retaking House at 46%.

-- Way more detail on said model at The Crosstab.

** NJ gov -- Stockton poll shows Murphy with continued substantial lead, 51-33.

** Odd & ends:

-- NYT: How Much Can the Youth Vote Actually Help Democrats? tl;dr: Who knows?

-- So, Sen. Thad Cochran seems to be pretty sick. [Politico]

-- In addition to Ryan, Trump, Dems also using Bannon as bogeyman.

posted by Chrysostom at 1:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

I'd like to see him walk into a debate in full Klingon garb, cradling a Bat'leth and roar, "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" His opponent(s) would wet themselves.

Holy crap, they sell them on Amazon.
posted by zarq at 1:15 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

KY, NY, CA, MA, CT suing the administration over CSR cutoff.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:17 PM on October 13, 2017 [42 favorites]

Holy crap, they sell them on Amazon.

That is some EXCELLENT pollution for my "Recently viewed items" list. Thanks, zarq!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:23 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS...

Chrysostom is the hero we need right now, but not one we are worthy of.
posted by azpenguin at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

Somebody take a big "experience bij" sign to a Hertzler campaign stop
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

KY, NY, CA, MA, CT suing the administration over CSR cutoff.

Yay! Money for lawyers! Good thing it's fake money from The Taxes right.

Yo DoD, any progress on that missing $6.5 Trillion?

A further mystery is what happened to thousands of documents that should be on file but aren’t. The IG study found that DFAS “did not document or support why the Defense Departmental Reporting System . . . removed at least 16,513 of 1.3 million records during Q3 FY 2015. As a result, the data used to prepare the FY 2015 AGF third quarter and year-end financial statements were unreliable and lacked an adequate audit trail,” the IG’s report stated.

Wow, that is a mystery! Lookout Scoob!
posted by petebest at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

So how long before Trump notices California is on fire

"Sending my warmest condolences"

Guys. I think this was a joke originally but it's [Real]

I'm in actual tears right now. Not the laughing kind of tears. The 'my community is burning and my president just said this' kind of tears.

You know, I was actually considering NOT making that joke, as it's kinda dumb and rude to the people that the fire has hurt...
posted by omegar at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

sonohito, I get what you're saying, but I've lived in New York and Texas and it's NOT that different, despite what election night colored maps may make you believe.

The only time I've been targeted for violence based on my apparent liberal identity was in New York. I had things thrown at me for dressing weird there (upstate, not NYC). My boyfriend and I were harassed by a carload of high school jocks because he had long hair and therefore was a "fag." They got out of their car and came after us, to do exactly what I don't know cause we ran. That kind of thing has never happened to me in Texas, and I now live in very conservative rural Texas.

The main difference is that when it comes down to statewide votes, NY goes reliably Dem by a few points and Texas goes reliably GOP. This country is very divided, and there are both very liberal and very conservative people everywhere.
posted by threeturtles at 1:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump Has No Plan on Iranian Nukes
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:32 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

*leaves offerings at the tree of new thread gnomes*
posted by petebest at 1:39 PM on October 13, 2017 [24 favorites]

I'm traveling to London tomorrow. Does that mean I have to start participating in the Brexit threads instead of the Trumpocalypse threads?
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:43 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd support him, but only if in every debate he randomly screams YOU!

THE ONE WHO IS MOVING NOW!

ANSWERRRRRRRRRRRR

*pushes up glasses, wipes cheeto dust off of fingers*

Ex-cuuuuuse me, but I be-lieeeve if you check the Internet Movie Database, you will find that you have in-eeeex-plic-ably confused actor John G. Hurtzler (who portrayed General Martok) with Robert O'Reilly, best known for playing Chancellor Gowron, and later the Klingon captain "Kavok" from the same Star Trek: TNG VHS board game to which you are referring. I realize this must be deeeep-ly embarrassing for you.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:45 PM on October 13, 2017 [42 favorites]

Jaguars... leopards... close enough.

What Jaguars owner Khan said today on Trump, NFL owners and a $20 minimum wage (Nona Tepper, Zoe Galland, Crane's Chicago)

"You have to give Trump credit, people are confused on the First Amendment versus patriotism, that if you exercise your First Amendment you're not a patriot, which is crazy... People are confused on it, (Trump) knew he could hit on it and take advantage. I think what we're seeing is the great divider overcoming the great uniter."

(early, because it's Friday, dammit)

Friday the 13th!

MetaFilter: we all agree I held a shitty position
posted by Room 641-A at 1:50 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Trump Has No Plan on Iranian Nukes
posted by Justinian at 1:57 PM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

I realize this must be deeeep-ly embarrassing for you.

Needs more eyeball.
posted by zarq at 1:58 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

I am having a little hard time understanding why the questions from the press corp aren't like:
Why did the President lie about x y z.
Why doesn't the President act to prevent the loss of American lives in Puerto Rico?
Why is the president acting to jeopardize the health insurance market when doing so threatens to destabilize the economy and threaten the health of millions of Americans?

Every single interaction with SHS. Every press conference with the latest iteration of the meatloaf eating enablers. Just take this projectile stream of diarrhea and divert it to their fucking faces.

Sorry, I'm a little pissed off here. I don't like this stuff where it feels like the scene in In the Handmaid's Tale where the Constitution is suspended and everybody just watches TV because they don't know what else to do.

Not that I know what to do, especially.
posted by angrycat at 2:02 PM on October 13, 2017 [76 favorites]

This country is very divided, and there are both very liberal and very conservative people everywhere.

Yeah, even in my Clinton+50 LA district, all I have to do is go on NextDoor to see that we still have our MAGA-types...
posted by thefoxgod at 2:02 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

> I am having a little hard time understanding why the questions from the press corp aren't like:

Well, you said it-- they're a Press Corp., not a press corps. If they don't play along as if the administration is engaging in good faith, then they'll at least be seen as "partisan", which we all know is ten times worse than being wrong. That means fewer Americans will tune in to see their particular brand of reporting on the administration's spin, which in turn means fewer advertising dollars, which means they can lose their jobs, and we all know the Upton Sinclair quote for that situation by now.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

That Buzzfeed expose of the Nazi influencer ring in media just out the final stamp in my mind that a lot of people in the media/journalism worlds are cowards at best and collaborators at worst and too scared of risking personal ambition to push back on someone with a 30% approval rating.
posted by The Whelk at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [23 favorites]

That is some EXCELLENT pollution for my "Recently viewed items" list. Thanks, zarq!

The honor is to serve, sir.
posted by zarq at 2:20 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump has a lot of old friends in The Media, dating long before his TV show. They looked away when he was money laundering for American Mobs, long before the Russian Mob. He didn't get racistly political until there was a Black President and even then it fit in with his 'decades of wacky outbursts' reputation. They're still trying to be "fair" to him, which is stark raving stupid - they didn't even notice how the consistent lying of the New Right of the the 2000s-2010s made "both sides" coverage obsolete. And since he considered them all - Fox, CNN, NYT, WSJ, NBC - to be "with him" all through the campaign, he considers "fair coverage" a betrayal. It's a big failure of The Media that goes WAY back.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:35 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Reuters, Chad withdraws troops from fight against Boko Haram in Niger:

There was no immediate explanation or comment from defence officials in Chad.

But the move came a month after the vast central African country complained about an unexpected U.S. travel ban imposed on its nationals. Chad warned at the time the order could affect its security commitments - which include its involvement in the U.S.-backed fight against Boko Haram.

Anyone have more or better sources or knowledge on what's going on here? The Chad travel ban situation, and now this, has been one of the more baffling things lately, and it's gone very much under the radar given all the other nonsense.
posted by zachlipton at 2:38 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

The Chad travel ban situation, and now this, has been one of the more baffling things lately, and it's gone very much under the radar given all the other nonsense.

The Chad travel ban was done at the behest of Stephen Miller, over objections from the State and Defense Dept.
posted by PenDevil at 2:56 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Never thought Warren Ellis's cartoonish villains would seem more human than the real political monsters we're stuck with.

And as mightygodking points out, that's The Beast, who turned out to be the lesser evil. We're way past him and into (Frowning) Smiler territory.
posted by phearlez at 3:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Occasional Dana, Special Two-Part Episode: Episode One: Assange Upends Rohrabacher, Denies He Will Reveal DNC Emails Source (Roll Call)

Julian Assange appeared to dispute Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s assertion that the WikiLeaks founder is ready to give up the source who provided his website with the Democratic National Committee emails it published last July.

“WikiLeaks never has and never will reveal a source,” Assange tweeted Wednesday.

He was responding to a Daily Caller report that Rohrabacher, a California Republican, and Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul met to discuss a deal for Assange to out his source in exchange for a pardon from President Donald Trump.

“Offers have been made to me — not the other way around. I do not speak to the public through third parties,” Assange tweeted.

Episode Two: Cook Political Report shifts 11 House races towards Democrats (The Hill)

Cook Political Report, a top nonpartisan election handicapper, released new ratings changes on Friday for 12 House districts, with all but one shifting in favor of Democrats a year ahead of the 2018 midterms.

The newsletter highlighted that President Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress have generated a candidate boom for House Democrats, noting that many of them are political newcomers — a class that recalls the GOP’s candidates during the 2010 cycle.

Some of the most notable ratings changes include the shift of three House districts — GOP Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Rod Blum (Iowa) — from Lean Republican to toss-up.

[...]

In California, Rohrabacher has been in Congress for nearly three decades, but The Cook Political Report pointed to his pro-Russia stance and his district’s shifting demographics as potentially tough obstacles for him next year. A crowded Democratic field is also shaping up to unseat him, and Clinton won the district by about 2 points.

Yesterday on twitter I asked Dana if he would be seeking permission from Assange to ask the President when we could expect the additional sanctions Congress (and Dana!) voted for last July. No comment yet, but maybe that's because Dana's honoring today's twitterblackout.
posted by notyou at 3:16 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

Politico: Priebus was interviewed by Muller's team today (that's basically all the story says).
posted by zachlipton at 3:16 PM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

"Would you please spell your name for the stenographer. Emm hmm. Er, again please?"

[Stenographer reads it back]

"For the love of ... It's R-E-I-N-C-E P-R-I-E-B-U-S, just like it sounds!"
posted by notyou at 3:20 PM on October 13, 2017 [18 favorites]

in exchange for a pardon from President Donald Trump.

... are these people under the impression Trump can pardon folks for offenses in other countries? Sweden may have stopped actively trying to extradite but they haven't dropped charges; he's still vulnerable though 2020 was my understanding. Has Assange said fear of extradition to the U.S. is the only reason he's still hiding in a cupboard?
posted by phearlez at 3:25 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Politico: Priebus was interviewed by Muller's team today (that's basically all the story says).
posted by zachlipton at 3:16 PM on October 13 [+] [!]

'He was happy to answer all of their questions,' the former White House chief of staff's lawyer said.

That was the subhead. JFC, that is not even news, much less a subhead. What lawyer ever said that their client reluctantly talked to investigators?
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:34 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

... are these people under the impression Trump can pardon folks for offenses in other countries? Sweden may have stopped actively trying to extradite but they haven't dropped charges

I don't think he was ever charged for rape. This Rohrbacher claim would be regarding potential espionage charges, and possibly theft or other charges related to the DNC emails.
posted by Coventry at 3:36 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

What lawyer ever said that their client reluctantly talked to investigators?

Yeah, you rarely hear "He reluctantly answered some of their questions and refused to answer the problematic ones."
posted by diogenes at 3:37 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

"He mostly stonewalled, occasionally crossed over into outright perjury."
posted by Chrysostom at 3:43 PM on October 13, 2017 [18 favorites]

NBC News, Aggelos Petropoulos and Richard Engel, Manafort Had $60M Relationship with Russian Oligarch

Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, has much stronger financial ties to a Russian oligarch than have been previously reported.

An NBC News investigation reveals that $26 million changed hands in the form of loan between a company linked to Manafort and the oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin.

The loan brings the total of their known business dealings to around $60 million over the past decade, according to financial documents filed in Cyprus and the Cayman Islands.
...
Manafort’s spokesman, Jason Maloni, declined to give specific answers about the loans, but released a statement to NBC News saying, in part: "Mr. Manafort is not indebted to former clients today, nor was he at the time he began working for the Trump campaign.”

He later revised the statement, removing that sentence entirely. It now reads: “Recent news reports indicate Mr. Manafort was under surveillance before he joined the campaign and after he left the campaign. He has called for the U.S. Government to release any intercepts involving him and non-Americans in hopes of finally putting an end to these wild conspiracy theories. Mr. Manafort did not collude with the Russian government.”

Yeah, this all seems totally on the level. Nothing suspicious here at all.
posted by zachlipton at 3:47 PM on October 13, 2017 [30 favorites]

Mr. Manafort did not collude with the Russian government.”

He was however paid for espionage, so good thing "collude" has no legal definition, eh?
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

That NYT Chad article reeks of spinning bullshit. Smells like oil and payback.
posted by petebest at 4:05 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ed Gillespie’s blatant racism has spread to New Jersey (Vox, Yglesias)

On that topic of "Republicans are everywhere". I thought New Jersey was relatively safe from this. We were never a slave state. We're crazy cosmopolitan. We haven't had any police shootings make the news. We did elect Chris Christie, but only because the democrats had really screwed the pooch, and he's not an ideologue. I thought we had reasonable, New England type republicans. I thought that bullshit like that wouldn't fly in my state.

I was wrong. .... I'll just leave it at that. Law-n-order type racism, in particular, still penetrates really well. I've had to explain sanctuary city policies a couple times this week.

----

Also from Vox, The real fix for gerrymandering is proportional representation.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:11 PM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

It wasn't recent, but NJ did have a police shooting of some notoriety in the 90s, as explained in the NYT article about the indictment of the state troopers involved. Of course, they avoided jail time.
posted by mollweide at 4:18 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Manafort’s spokesman, Jason Maloni, declined to give specific answers about the loans, but released a statement to NBC News saying, in part: "Mr. Manafort is not indebted to former clients today, nor was he at the time he began working for the Trump campaign.”

He later revised the statement, removing that sentence entirely.

I'm guessing that Manafort's lawyer is going to institute a new policy of running statements by him before sending them to the media.
posted by diogenes at 4:20 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh, by the way, the writers continue to fuck with us. Apparently, AG Flood is prosecuting Dr. Wells over the Flint water crisis. How stupid do they think we are?
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:21 PM on October 13, 2017 [16 favorites]

Oh man, I like this section of the NBC article:

Lawyers specializing in money laundering said the loans appeared unusual and merited further investigation.

“Money launderers frequently will disguise payments as loans,” said Stefan Cassella, a former federal prosecutor. “You can call it a loan, you can call it Mary Jane. If there's no intent to repay it, then it's not really a loan. It's just a payment.”
posted by diogenes at 4:23 PM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

> If there's no intent to repay it, then it's not really a loan. It's just a payment.

This bit of wisdom has somehow eluded Donald Trump's creditors for many decades.
posted by tonycpsu at 4:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [20 favorites]

Manafort’s spokesman, Jason Maloni, declined to give specific answers about the loans, but released a statement to NBC News saying, in part: "Mr. Manafort is not indebted to former clients today, nor was he at the time he began working for the Trump campaign.”

And current clients?
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:26 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Reading between the lines re: Thad Cochran, it's prostate cancer.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:38 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo, Bob Corker on Trump’s biggest problem: The ‘castration’ of Rex Tillerson

“You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state without giving yourself that binary choice,” Corker told me in a phone interview Friday. “The tweets — yes, you raise tension in the region [and] it’s very irresponsible. But it’s the first part” — the “castration” of Tillerson — “that I am most exercised about.”

That was not an image I wanted in my head this Friday afternoon, Senator.
posted by zachlipton at 4:45 PM on October 13, 2017 [16 favorites]

HAHA. Corker sure knows how to stir shit up. Trump’s fuming that anyone would suggest a known germaphobe such as he would get that close to Tillerson’s sweaty balls and Tillerson’s fuming about everyone being reminded that Trump has taken them.
posted by notyou at 4:55 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

Also from Vox, The real fix for gerrymandering is proportional representation.

That or increasing the size of the House, which I can't get out of my head since the discussion in this thread a few days ago. It's a really elegant solution with a lot of good selling points.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:12 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

That or increasing the size of the House

That wouldn't fix gerrymandering it would just make it more complicated. But with computer modeling that's not a barrier. But it's still something which should be done for non-gerrymandering reasons.
posted by Justinian at 5:29 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

We could do both!
posted by Chrysostom at 5:30 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

That wouldn't fix gerrymandering it would just make it more complicated. But with computer modeling that's not a barrier. But it's still something which should be done for non-gerrymandering reasons.

We need to amend the freaking Constitution to account for 21st Century tools the framers literally could not imagine...
posted by mikelieman at 5:31 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Not to abuse the edit window: And to get rid of the 2nd Amendment since the security of a State is no longer dependent on the ability to suppress slave insurrections.
posted by mikelieman at 5:32 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

I strongly support both significantly increasing the size of the House **AND** some form of proportional representation or other non-geographic representation.

If one is good, both are better, no?

Like a lot of things about the American political system, we've got a really ratfucked district setup because our precious Founding Fathers were mostly aristocrats who were deeply distrustful (at best) of the whole democracy idea. And, like most of the power elite in non-democratic nations, they both hated and feared political parties.

It was the same in Japan after the Meiji restoration. The old power elite didn't want to surrender power, they hated the idea of the Diet getting any significant power, so they introduced all manner of anti-democratic measures, most especially trying to fight against the very concept of political parties. The result, in Japan, was a brief flowering of democracy in the early Taisho era followed by quasi-Fascists [1] using the anti-democracy measures put in place by the Meiji era power elites to produce the horribly oppressive government of Imperial Japan.

In America we kept the authoritarianism unwittingly set up by our anti-democracy founders away for longer than they managed in Japan, but it looks like we may finally see an authoritarian regime in the US coming from our own anti-democracy measures.

What we need, desperately, is around 3,000 people in the House. And some non-single member district way of electing most of them.

Then we have the separate, but vastly worse in the long run, problem of the Senate.

[1] There's serious academic arguing over whether the oppressive Japanese government from the 1920's through the end of WWII was actually Fascist or just something that looked a lot like Fascism.
posted by sotonohito at 5:36 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

What we need, desperately, is around 3,000 people in the House. And some non-single member district way of electing most of them.

Try to imagine a 3,000 person House that contains a couple of hundred equivalents to Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachmann, Steve King and Marsha Blackburn.

Now try to imagine ANYTHING ELSE.
posted by delfin at 5:42 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Wow Bachmann sort of disappeared didn't she?
posted by jessamyn at 5:48 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Rapture is real.

Though in her case it was more of a Rupture.
posted by delfin at 5:53 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

What we need, desperately, is around 3,000 people in the House

What I think we need is a Parliamentary system. If current-day is telling us anything...
posted by rhizome at 5:57 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

So did Christine 'I am not a witch' O'Donnell.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:57 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think that with a much larger house more people in the district woule know the rep or know someone who knows the rep (there was a comment to that effect in the last thread). I think that makes people more likely to vote. That has the effect of making more moderate candidates and more moderate policies more successful (also in some previous thread).

There would similar knock-on effects on the senate and presidency. SCOTUS too I imagine, thought that would take a while.

If some weird sequence of events happens where mefites come to power, these threads will be a goldmine.
posted by VTX at 5:58 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

What I think we need is a Parliamentary system.

Yes, because the parliamentary system is working sooo well in the UK. Parliamentary systems and presidential systems both have pros and cons. Pining for the opposite of what one has generally ignores the real problems at the root of one's dissatisfaction.
posted by JackFlash at 6:02 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

I agree, it all goes back to the cancellation of WKRP In Cincinnati.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:03 PM on October 13, 2017 [37 favorites]

As God is my witness, I thought Bachmanns could fly.
posted by delfin at 6:05 PM on October 13, 2017 [35 favorites]

> If some weird sequence of events happens where mefites come to power, these threads will be a goldmine.

Me talking about the democrats: "Take power when it's given to you, you fools!"
me thinking about having power myself: "There's not enough ativan in the entire world. If you need me I'll be hiding under my bed, next to the cats."
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:08 PM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

Alternately:
1917: All power to the soviets!
2017: All power to The Whelk!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:10 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'd settle for* a favorable gerrymandering ruling from Anthony Kennedy, and the Dems taking voting rights reform seriously if they ever retake power. Passing national automatic voting registration, ending felony disenfranchisement, restore and enhance the VRA, repeal Citizens United and pass aggressive campaign disclose requirements of every cent from any source, reform the FEC to make it a functional agency and charge it with aggressively enforcing all of the above with real, criminal, penalties for violations. Basically take voting rights and access as seriously as the Right takes guns. Cleaning up Republican suppression and gerrymandering first and we might not need more exotic reforms, we don't know what our Constitutional system would look like if it was implemented in a fair and impartial manner with emphasis on universal access and participation, because we have never for one day lived in a world where that system existed.

* - Oh, and packing the Court with 2 more Justices. That one is non-negotiable. Reap what you fucking sowed, Republicans.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:10 PM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

Try to imagine a 3,000 person House that contains a couple of hundred equivalents to Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachmann, Steve King and Marsha Blackburn.

But, each nowhere near as powerful. Duck sized horses! And I'd be interested to see the dynamics of political money being spread more thinly and what a campaign would look like in these smaller districts - it feels almost silly to say it with political cynicism running so deep in me, but maybe good ideas and working to persuade voters would gain more traction with smaller constituencies?
posted by jason_steakums at 6:11 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

On the topic of larger legislatures...

Part of the problem seems to be the sheer size of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives. It has 400 members — combined with the 24-member state Senate, the General Court “is the largest state legislature in the United States and the fourth-largest English-speaking legislative body in the world, behind the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of India, and the United States Congress” (Wikipedia). This is in a state with only 1.3 million residents.

It seems clear that 400 seats is way too many for the people of New Hampshire to fill with sane, smart, capable or reasonable people. Instead they’ve got a bunch of crazy racists who think black people all have forged birth certificates, a bunch of people who don’t seem to understand that New Hampshire isn’t part of England, a bunch of people who want to make it harder to arrest men for beating their wives, and at least one person who thinks that taking oral contraceptives is bad for one’s prostate.

Also expanding the House would, I believe, require a constituional amendment. Proportional representation does not.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:16 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

As a native of New Hampshire, I can say that when it comes to legislators more is not necessarily better. There is a 400-seat House of Representatives for a state with 1.3 million people, and a lot of the representatives are full-on wacko.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:17 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

OnceUponATime, I owe you a Coke.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:18 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

If some weird sequence of events happens where mefites come to power, these threads will be a goldmine.

And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:20 PM on October 13, 2017 [17 favorites]

Besides the whackadoodles, can you imagine the corruption? Look at the bullshit 500 people get away with.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:22 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

at least one person who thinks that taking oral contraceptives is bad for one’s prostate.

That one might be true! I don't think there's a lot of data on how oral contraceptives would affect the prostate.

Also expanding the House would, I believe, require a constituional amendment.

It didn't the last several times they did it. The only Constitutional limit on House representation is that the constituencies can be no smaller that 30,000 people (Article I, Section 2). So as long as we keep the House smaller than 10,000 people or so, we're fine.
posted by jackbishop at 6:28 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

but maybe good ideas and working to persuade voters would gain more traction with smaller constituencies?

Washington said he wanted 30,000 citizens per constituency. We've lost the fucking plot sitting at around 750,000.
posted by Talez at 6:30 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

Yes, because the parliamentary system is working sooo well in the UK. Parliamentary systems and presidential systems both have pros and cons. Pining for the opposite of what one has generally ignores the real problems at the root of one's dissatisfaction.

Remember that UK Parliament was a move away from a unitary executive.
posted by rhizome at 6:33 PM on October 13, 2017

DNC Chairman Tom Perez appoints Georgia Restaurant Association union buster Daniel Halpern to deputy national finance chair

National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro: "Neoliberals gonna neolib, workers pay the price."
posted by Apocryphon at 6:37 PM on October 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

The Forward: Republican Congressman Brought Holocaust Denier To Capitol Meeting

Charles C. Johnson was a guest at, yeah you can guess who this is going to be, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's meeting with Sen. Paul to discuss Julian Assange. Why a man who has been deemed too irresponsible to have a Twitter account, truly the lowest bar imaginable, is allowed to hang out with members of Congress is beyond me.
posted by zachlipton at 6:56 PM on October 13, 2017 [31 favorites]

Why a man who has been deemed too irresponsible to have a Twitter account, truly the lowest bar imaginable, is allowed to hang out with members of Congress is beyond me.

If people too irresponsible to have Twitter accounts are allowed to be president, why not let them hang out with Rand Paul too?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Jesus, New Hampshire, that's not even 3,500 people per representative. There would be three representatives and change for Wildcat Stadium at the University of New Hampshire at capacity.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:05 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: Besides the whackadoodles, can you imagine the corruption?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:07 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yeah, if you've looked at these New Hampshire House special elections, people are winning like 500-425.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:08 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think that with a much larger house more people in the district woule know the rep or know someone who knows the rep (there was a comment to that effect in the last thread). I think that makes people more likely to vote.

I just looked with some data I have sitting around and... eh. There's a very small effect in that direction, but it's entirely driven by California. Drop California and there's nothin':

. reg ex di if distsi(lessthansymbol)400

      Source |       SS       df       MS              Number of obs =      48
-------------+------------------------------           F(  1,    46) =    1.64
       Model |  .005807481     1  .005807481           Prob > F      =  0.2069
    Residual |  .162984345    46  .003543138           R-squared     =  0.0344
-------------+------------------------------           Adj R-squared =  0.0134
       Total |  .168791826    47  .003591315           Root MSE      =  .05952

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   extremity |      Coef.   Std. Err.      t    P>|t|     [95% Conf. Interval]
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------
    distsize |   .0003121   .0002438     1.28   0.207    -.0001786    .0008027
       _cons |   .2271543   .0141818    16.02   0.000     .1986078    .2557009
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With these measures, the average of state-average-extremity is 0.242 with an average district size of about 46000. If you reduced it to 10000, you'd reduce average extremity to 0.23.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:18 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Could you elaborate on that analysis? I don't follow. What is state-average-extremity, and how does it relate to likelihood that someone knows their rep?
posted by Coventry at 7:28 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Okay you . . . math . . people! I've got a pointed stick! Back! Back I say!
posted by petebest at 7:35 PM on October 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

hey it's the math people that messed up our politics through gerrymandering, so we should get some math people on our side to (hopefully) balance out the ideological war.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 8:01 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

If some weird sequence of events happens where mefites come to power, these threads will be a goldmine.

I’m merely a humble representative on the worker’s council, Artistians and Word Talking Guys Local 446
posted by The Whelk at 8:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

Also the fact that we didn’t have a 2nd constitutional congress post civil war to undo all the anti-democratic let’s appease the slaveowners stuff in there is nuts
posted by The Whelk at 8:10 PM on October 13, 2017 [22 favorites]

> Washington said he wanted 30,000 citizens per constituency. We've lost the fucking plot sitting at around 750,000.

I'm not opposed to increasing the size of the House, but the world has changed a lot since the 18th century, so any numbers that were pulled out of ol' George's wooden posterior are irrelevant to what we should do today, even as guidelines. (Obviously, one for every 30,000 would be incredibly impractical in a country of 320+ million.)

Besides, if we could go back in time and show Washington what today's House members are like, he would have declared himself King right then and there.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:18 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I swear, if I read the phrase "too much democracy" Imma shit a brick
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:40 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Also the fact that we didn’t have a 2nd constitutional congress post civil war to undo all the anti-democratic let’s appease the slaveowners stuff in there is nuts

If anyone knows of good fanfic about Lincoln serving out his second term, I think it might be the escapism I need.
posted by Coventry at 8:41 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

James "Mad Dog" Mattis: "I stand by this Iran strategy as it came out today."

It is past time for saying that Mattis is a moderating influence. He is fully complicit.
posted by JackFlash at 8:42 PM on October 13, 2017 [16 favorites]

I swear, if I read the phrase "too much democracy" Imma shit a brick

Pretty sure we're headed there, though.
posted by Coventry at 8:42 PM on October 13, 2017

>Besides, if we could go back in time and show Washington what today's House members are like, he would have declared himself King right then and there.

apropos of nothing I'll just put up a link to this newspaper advertisement from 1796, wherein a reward of ten dollars was offered to anyone who returned Oney Judge to George Washington's household. As the advertisement puts it:

Absconded from the household of the President of the United States, ONEY JUDGE, a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed, about 20 years of age.[...]

Ten dollars will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city, or on board any vessel in the harbour;—and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at, and brought from a greater distance, and in proportion to the distance.

The ad and others like it were unsuccesful. According to this piece, Washington would spend years quietly conspiring with kidnappers to try to re-enslave Oney Judge, who he considered his rightful property.

tl;dr: can't say I've got a high opinion of this Washington fellow, or much interest in his views on who should or shouldn't be in the House.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:48 PM on October 13, 2017 [41 favorites]

> James "Mad Dog" Mattis: "I stand by this Iran strategy as it came out today."

It is past time for saying that Mattis is a moderating influence. He is fully complicit.

What's going on in the mind of Mattis is a purely metaphysical question at this point, not determinable through observation, since the public behavior of a Mattis who actually supports Trump's military schemes is indistinguishable from the behavior of a Mattis who's telling the press what Trump wants to hear in order to low-key keep the football out of Trump's hands.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:54 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Besides, if we could go back in time and show Washington what today's House members are like, he would have declared himself King right then and there.

No. He would have mounted up as General of the United States Army, lead a counter-revolution against the freeloaders who have representation, but still won't pay any tax for the common weal, and then step down back to President when the freeloaders started paying their fair share. Also when his second term was up, he went back to Virginia, and tried to free as many of his slaves as he could under Virginia law, no, wait, we had a Civil War that made that much easier.

No, he'd now be the hype-man in an Eminem political video, mugging like a bastard for the cameras when a righteous line was dropped. Or maybe Missy Elliot.

George Washington relied upon the French Navy to win a fleet battle against the British with inferior odds after dragging the various British armies all over North America, losing almost every battle, while every loss made his army stronger.

Of course the French pulled off the impossible. Of course Washington would seal the deal at Yorktown.

We are an old republic. Trump isn't even in the top five most corrupt and incompetent presidents. We'll survive, and then thrive, once he is gone, but HE AND HIS MUST BE GONE. Vote, in your city, in your town. In your county. In your state. I can almost guarantee you there will be a public vote in your town designed to make your life more miserable as a resident to shave off a percent or two of commercial property tax. Find out what it is, convince your neighbors, VOTE!
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:59 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'll give you corrupt; there have been some real humdingers of corrupt Presidents. The jury is out on incompetent, though.
posted by Justinian at 9:01 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump isn't even in the top five most corrupt and incompetent presidents.

Only by bodycount, and it's early.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:03 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Adding seats to a single chamber of our bicameral legislature doesn't in and of itself increase "democracy". Our byzantine system has a so many points at which the relationship between the will of the people and what gets written into law diverge that the House itself matters a lot less than we might think. Adding House members increases the bitrate of that weak signal, if you will, but what comes out is still just roughly half of one third of a political system that's got way bigger problems than a bit of malapportionment and reps who speak for too many people. Those are indeed problems, but there are much larger problems that have simpler solutions that would do much more to increase democracy. (Among them: extending voting to a full weekend or week, reducing the length of campaigns, regulating campaign spending, nationalizing federal elections.)
posted by tonycpsu at 9:04 PM on October 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump isn't even in the top five most corrupt and incompetent presidents.

I really, seriously, need a citation on this one. Maybe Harding was just as moronic, but at least had the self awarness to know he was totally out of his element within a few months. Jackson was surely more hateful, but that's a low bar to clear.

As far as *personal* corruption, no one else even comes close in the Presidency. I would agree there are many people in the history of US national politics that are as stupid, as hateful, an as narrow minded as Trump - or even moreso - but at the level of PRESIDENT?

There have only been 45 of these people. Trump is 2.25 percent of the entire total of US Presidents. 5 president is like 11% of all presidents ever!

I'm going to need to see the work on this here claim. It's really, really bold.
posted by absalom at 9:08 PM on October 13, 2017 [54 favorites]

Or, perhaps worse, tremendously normalizing.
posted by absalom at 9:11 PM on October 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

Obviously, one for every 30,000 would be incredibly impractical in a country of 320+ million.

We're going to need floaty pod technology like the Galactic Senate chamber from Star Wars, for one.

Also to continue my newfound fascination with New Hampshire government, it appears that the city of Manchester NH is represented by more members of the state House of Representatives than by Manchester city aldermen! 16 House districts, 14 aldermen. Craziness!
posted by jason_steakums at 9:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mod note: anem0ne and Coventry, cut it out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:30 PM on October 13, 2017

Adding seats to a single chamber of our bicameral legislature doesn't in and of itself increase "democracy". Our byzantine system has a so many points at which the relationship between the will of the people and what gets written into law diverge that the House itself matters a lot less than we might think.

I mostly care because the number of electors a state sends to the electoral college is the number of senators plus the number of representatives. Reapportioning the House = reapportioning the EC, which 2000 and 2016 showed is incredibly consequential.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:40 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Washington would spend years quietly conspiring with kidnappers to try to re-enslave Oney Judge

Judge probably had beautiful teeth.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:46 PM on October 13, 2017

> I mostly care because the number of electors a state sends to the electoral college is the number of senators plus the number of representatives. Reapportioning the House = reapportioning the EC, which 2000 and 2016 showed is incredibly consequential.

Yeah, I'm aware of the analysis that showed that Gore would have won if the House had 500+ seats, and I'd certainly like to get mulligan on that one, but I don't know that the same pattern held in 2016. The malapportionment can give or take depending on the circumstances.

Again, I'm not opposed to increasing the size of the House, I just see it as very far down on the list of priorities I mentioned. It also comes with some significant logistical questions, not the least of which is that getting both entrenched parties to agree to something that could upset the power balance is kind of a pipe dream these days.

But if you show me a paper that says 2016 would have gone differently if we had 10,000 House members, I'll put House expansion at the top of my list and declare my own candidacy tomorrow.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:47 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

You guys know what's coming, don't you? Yes, we'll get more house members. However, the new members come from the new semi-sovereign entities known as corporations, among whose "populations" will be apportioned 300 new representatives, "apolitical" and ready to run the government like a business!
posted by maxwelton at 10:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

These threads just get weird on the weekends.
posted by threeturtles at 11:06 PM on October 13, 2017 [35 favorites]

Metafilter: We’re gonna need floaty pod technology.
posted by notyou at 11:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump isn't even in the top five most corrupt and incompetent presidents. We'll survive, and then thrive, once he is gone, but HE AND HIS MUST BE GONE.

I appreciate what you're saying but disagree. Trump isn't the problem. Trump is the symptom. Getting rid of Trump without fixing the deeper issues we have as a society will just mean more Trumps. (Figuratively, I hope.)

The things that keep me up at 2AM on a Saturday is that the well of discourse is so utterly poisoned that I don't see how we fix those deeper issues any time this generation. Indeed, we seem to be getting sicker by the week.

(Not that we shouldn't try, of course. Seriously, go out of your way to meet your neighbors. Like, this weekend. Emergency planning and preparation would also be a very good idea if you haven't done so already.)
posted by ragtag at 11:33 PM on October 13, 2017 [19 favorites]

Former Trump Staffer Killed After Being Shot 13 Times in His Sleep (Christal Hayes, Newsweek)

Deputies found Corvino dead in his bed. He'd been shot in the head, back and legs, according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel.

His roommate, Scott Waddell, 45, had blood covering his hands and feet but didn't say why he shot his roommate, deputies said. Waddell told deputies he is mentally disabled and took several medications, adding he couldn't remember anything, the newspaper reported.

Waddell said he woke up and saw "Nicholas covered in blood with a gun lying next to him," deputies wrote in a report obtained by the Sentinel.

posted by Room 641-A at 1:07 AM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

There is a 400-seat House of Representatives for a state with 1.3 million people, and a lot of the representatives are full-on wacko.

and a lot of our national representatives aren't? hell, we've only got one president and he's a couple holes short of a golf course
posted by pyramid termite at 2:19 AM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

... a free dimples shy of a golf ball ... a few wheels short of a golf cart ... a few alligators short of an Izod shirt ... a few clubs short of a bunch of clubs ... I got nothing.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:53 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Former Trump Staffer Killed After Being Shot 13 Times in His Sleep (Christal Hayes, Newsweek)

why am i suddenly viewing a goddamn RT video featuring Julian Assange on this Newsweek report of an Orlando Sentinel story? fuck.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 3:38 AM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

The NH house wackiness factor is also helped by the fact that they're only paid $100 (plus travel to/from Concord; there was a scandal where some people were cleaning up with that, but I digress). So it's also disproportionally folks with nothing better to do but to run. On the one hand, you can get things like, "Spouse of a new-ish UNH professor who hasn't found steady work yet"; on the other hand, you get "Dude who founded /r/theredpill".

But yeah, the small size does mean you know your reps. And also the like, 5 other reps that represent your town.
posted by damayanti at 4:48 AM on October 14, 2017 [11 favorites]

And why, you ask, does the NH legislature only get paid $100/year? Because there's no sales tax in the state (which makes it a popular shopping destination for Massachusetts people).
posted by Melismata at 5:12 AM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

**** performs new thread pentagram ritual - the greater one, not the lesser one ****
posted by wittgenstein at 5:55 AM on October 14, 2017 [14 favorites]

Could volunteers for write in candidate Marc Fliedner for Manhattan District Attorney pass out loaner ink stamps with his name on them to voters at the polls? I think a Democratic write in candidate successfully used this tactic in a recent Philadelphia special election.
posted by jointhedance at 6:08 AM on October 14, 2017

I propose increasing the size of the House because it can be done relatively easily.

Undoing the horrible, anti-democratic, clusterfuck that is the Senate is going to be next to impossible. Per the US Constitution the states get equal representation, regardless of population, states can't have their borders changed without their consent, and even a "simple" Constitutional amendment can't actually change either of those conditions.

When faced with a huge problem that seems impossible, first do what you can then see if that changes the parts you think are impossible. Increasing the House size is doable. Dealing with the Senate seems neigh impossible. Therefore I say let's increase the House size and see how the Senate looks after we do that.

3,000 was a number I pulled out of my ass on the grounds that it'd get us to around one Rep per 100,000 people, which seems to be a fairly reasonable number of people per Rep.

But any size increase would be beneficial. Just boosting it to 870, doubling its current size, would be of tremendous benefit.

Increasing the House size would reduce the harm done by the EC, it'd make gerrymandering less effective (though it wouldn't actually fix the problem), and most important it's doable.

****************

Leaving aside yesterdays funk and rage, the Senate terrifies me because I honestly do think that at some point it will be what brings about the end of the USA.

The move from rural areas to urban areas seems unlikely to change anytime in the future, especially as farming gets even more automated. That means that the horrible anti-democratic nature of the Senate is going to get much, much, worse as time passes.

Right this second there are 20 Senators representing 50% of the US population [1], and 80 Senators representing the other 50%.

Looking at it another way, Senators representing less than 20% of the US population have a majority in the Senate.

Basically the majority of the US population is ignored in the Senate and a tiny, minuscule, minority is able to dictate to the majority.

That's simply not a stable political setup. Eventually the majority will get tired of being dictated to by the minority and then the country comes apart at the seams because there's apparently no legal means of fixing the problem.

So let's address the House, since that is in the realm of the fixable, and see if maybe once that's done it gives us some insight into how to fix the Senate.

[1] Because let's dispense with the refuge in technicality, politicians represent people not lines on a map.
posted by sotonohito at 6:20 AM on October 14, 2017 [27 favorites]

Dealing with the Senate seems neigh impossible.

Ah, the old Caligula solution.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:25 AM on October 14, 2017 [51 favorites]

Note also that the next big grab on the Republican agenda is repealing the 17th Amendment and making the Senate appointed by state legislatures again.

Why?

Because thanks to gerrymandering the state legislatures, the Republicans have an absolute, unbreakable, hold on frighteningly close to 3/4 [1] of state legislatures. If it weren't for that pesky 17th Amendment that'd mean they own the Senate with a 75 vote majority and could not merely pass any laws they want, but if by some chance a Democrat managed to get elected they could simply impeach them and remove them from office.

They're already pushing the idea of a 17th Amendment repeal on several fronts (Breitbart, hate radio, conservative message boards, you name it), and ALEC is considering adding a 17th Amendment repeal to their agenda as well.

If they repeal the 17th Amendment then I figure civil war is inevitable.

[1] I say "frighteningly close" because 3/4 is the magic number that it takes to change the US Constitution to whatever they want it to be.
posted by sotonohito at 6:29 AM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

And why, you ask, does the NH legislature only get paid $100/year? Because there's no sales tax in the state (which makes it a popular shopping destination for Massachusetts people).

Ahhh Pheasant Lane. What would I do without you?
posted by Talez at 6:42 AM on October 14, 2017

the Republicans have an absolute, unbreakable, hold on frighteningly close to 3/4 [1] of state legislatures.

They're never getting MA, RI, IL, CA, OR, HI, NY, NJ, MD, VT. They would need a miracle to take CT or NV again.

There's a constitutional bulwark there.
posted by Talez at 7:10 AM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Leaving aside yesterdays funk and rage, the Senate terrifies me because I honestly do think that at some point it will be what brings about the end of the USA.

....uh....

The House/Senate construction is based on the House of Commons and House of Lords in the UK, and it seems to have been working for them longer than the USA has been a nation. It's not a perfect system, but it's far from a nation-ending one.

You may want to dial back the catastrophizing just a scoche.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:19 AM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

They're never getting MA, RI, IL, CA, OR, HI, NY, NJ, MD, VT. They would need a miracle to take CT or NV again.

There's a constitutional bulwark there.

That's what we said about the electoral college just before Clinton's defeat.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 7:36 AM on October 14, 2017 [10 favorites]

That's what we said about the electoral college just before Clinton's defeat.

Good thing there's no midwest states, except for IL which is a Democratic stronghold, on that list.
posted by Talez at 7:38 AM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Look at the bullshit 500 people get away with.
I would assume diluting their individual power would actually help with corruption as well?

Re the Corvino murder, has there been a huge conspiracy-tinged freakout yet like there was about the kid here in DC? Has anyone asserted yet that Hillary somehow orchestrated it? Was pizza involved? Does Alex Jones even care?

why am i suddenly viewing a goddamn RT video featuring Julian Assange on this Newsweek report of an Orlando Sentinel story?

I don't touch Newsweek outside a private tab with adblock.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:40 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Does Alex Jones even care?

Since it was a Trump staffer shot 13 times he probably thinks it was natural causes.
posted by Talez at 7:43 AM on October 14, 2017 [8 favorites]

Former Trump Staffer Killed After Being Shot 13 Times in His Sleep (Christal Hayes, Newsweek)

Clinton Strikes Again!
posted by entropicamericana at 7:46 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

The full list of 17 states (+DC) suing over the CSR cutoff:

California, Kentucky(!), Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, North Carolina, Illinois, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico, Washington, Iowa, and the District of Columbia.

From https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-file-lawsuit-today-defend-americans-health-care-against.
posted by fragmede at 7:47 AM on October 14, 2017 [12 favorites]

Good thing there's no midwest states, except for IL which is a Democratic stronghold, on that list.

I'm not saying you're wrong. I think you're right. (Though that Democratic stronghold of IL, where I live, currently has a Republican governor.) And I've said similar things before when the same threat has been raised. But ... I don't think we can afford to be relaxed about this, even a little. So, it's maybe worth remembering that we thought the presidency was completely safe this last time -- I know I certainly did -- precisely because we thought there were enough solidly blue states that would never all go over to Trump. I hope that Trump is hurting the Republican brand enough that the Democrats will take back a bunch of state-level government in 2018 and 2020, but I don't think there are any guarantees.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 7:49 AM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

How about we make it a crime not to vote?

Compulsory voting would make it so the vast majority of voters put in their vote. Surveying the current President's behavior, voting (for or against) should be considered a civic duty; at least we'd know where the vast majority of the populous actually stands, instead of some 40% sitting it out.
posted by fragmede at 8:02 AM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

I really think campaign finance reform - with real teeth - is the best way to improve democracy. Imagine how different our gun laws would be if the NRA couldn't donate to campaigns.
posted by AFABulous at 8:09 AM on October 14, 2017 [22 favorites]

It seems clear that 400 seats is way too many for the people of New Hampshire to fill with sane, smart, capable or reasonable people. Instead they’ve got a bunch of crazy racists who think black people all have forged birth certificates, a bunch of people who don’t seem to understand that New Hampshire isn’t part of England, a bunch of people who want to make it harder to arrest men for beating their wives, and at least one person who thinks that taking oral contraceptives is bad for one’s prostate.

Though before the most recent round of gerrymandering, it was also filled with the people who made New Hampshire the second state after Vermont to institute same-sex marriage via legislative statute. (As opposed to via court decision.)

New Hampshire's all-female, all-Democratic U.S. Congressional delegation is more indicative of the attitudes that would hold sway in the state legislative bodies at the moment, were it not for gerrymandering.
posted by XMLicious at 8:25 AM on October 14, 2017

Australia has compulsory voting. Of course their electoral politics are fucked up for a whole other set of reasons (well, and the familiar white nationalism).
posted by aspersioncast at 8:26 AM on October 14, 2017

I really think campaign finance reform - with real teeth - is the best way to improve democracy. Imagine how different our gun laws would be if the NRA couldn't donate to campaigns.

That can't happen until Citizens United gets overturned, and that can't happen for another generation, because elections have consequences, and the Trump administration is going to shape the Supreme Court in ways that will last for decades.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:28 AM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

How about we make it a crime not to vote?

I think we have enough laws already that disproportionately penalize and incarcerate the poor.
posted by gurple at 8:29 AM on October 14, 2017 [15 favorites]

Australia has compulsory voting. Of course their electoral politics are fucked up for a whole other set of reasons (well, and the familiar white nationalism).

What? No. Australia has the closest thing to a white nationalist in the Senate thanks to Turnbull calling his cockamamie double dissolution and allowing Pauline back in on 8% of the vote but she'll be out when her seat is up when she has to pull 16 and nobody will preference her. The Liberal party (conservative) caucus may currently be held hostage by the nutjob right by threatening an internal leadership battle over gay marriage but nobody is really angling to outright destroy Medicare or disband Centrelink like over in the US.

Australia is a god damn paradigm of excellence compared the the clusterfuck that is US federal politics.
posted by Talez at 8:32 AM on October 14, 2017

Australia has compulsory voting. Of course their electoral politics are fucked up for a whole other set of reasons (well, and the familiar white nationalism).

Their penalties for not voting seem similar to getting a traffic ticket (light); their voting day always seems to be on a Saturday; state and federal elections are kept separate by law; and they use multiple forms of proportional voting.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:33 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

How about we make it a crime not to vote?

Then you'll have to pay a fine for not being able to vote between the hours of 4AM and 4:05AM at the location "we're not going to tell you, just drive around until you see the huge line of people."
posted by dirigibleman at 8:36 AM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

the Trump administration is going to shape the Supreme Court in ways that will last for decades.

... uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh... no, I refuse to acknowledge the reality of this. Superman will rescue us or Batman or Wonder Woman or Jean Grey or... something...

It's like being on a sinking boat where the water rises just a little faster than you can pump
posted by From Bklyn at 8:38 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

How about we make it a crime not to vote?

Before we create yet another crime which will be unevenly enforced, how about making election days a federal holiday? Redefine Veterans Day to be the second Tuesday, add a big dose of “Celebrate American Freedom!” emphasizing your patriotic duty to honor those sacrifices, etc. and see how many people vote when they don't have to pay money or deal with childcare.
posted by adamsc at 8:42 AM on October 14, 2017 [38 favorites]

OK, now I'm convinced I've gone insane and all this is just some deep psychotic delusion I'm having. You know, like that dream where something's terribly wrong and everyone else is just ignoring it, but then thank FlyingSpaghettiMonster you wake up.

Early today an alleged Republican alleged POTUS BRAGGED he made stocks fall.

And so far hardly anyone on the media I follow is even discussing it.

(Also, paraphrasing a Stephen Colbert joke re: Agolf Twitler's tax plan: "tRump says it's the best tax plan in 80 years. Yes, taking us back to the 1930s, an era fondly remembered as The Great Happiness.")
posted by NorthernLite at 8:43 AM on October 14, 2017 [12 favorites]

• Double the size of the House for better representation, spreading House race spending more thinly, making the Electoral College at least a little less of a failure point, and creating more opportunities for regional third parties.
• Legislative and judicial strategies to undo the damage of the Citizens United and VRA-gutting decisions, throw everything at it from rules-lawyering the courts in suit after suit (hand in hand with doing everything in our power to get GOP activist judges off the benches) to a moonshot push for a constitutional amendment or two.
• Real, lasting campaign finance reform.
• Automatic voter registration, restoring voting rights to felons, national holiday for election day, increased access to vote-by-mail and early voting. Ranked choice voting across the board. Hardening our elections systems against bad actors foreign and domestic. This is all vital stuff but will require so much state-by-state work because of the autonomy of states in running elections that it will be the toughest to fully realize.
• Rebuilding the FCC into an organization less susceptible to political whims and tasking them with oversight of a new Fairness Doctrine. Building up capability and further political independence in the FEC or another, possibly new, agency to address wild political spending online. Fill the FTC with big, nasty trust busting heavies and set them loose to prevent unchecked consolidation of corporate power and spending, and for their first hunt they can team up with the new and improved FCC to go after Sinclair.

That and more is the kind of road we have ahead to pull our electoral system out of the garbage. Real hard work that will require some serious political capital. But honestly I think it would be a popular plank in a platform for populist Dems. Paired with a strong anticorruption policy and even more of a trust busting platform than mentioned above I think you'd tap into some real bone-deep desire to fix our situation among large parts of the electorate, the real Drain The Swamp types and not just the MAGAhats using it rhetorically.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:56 AM on October 14, 2017 [19 favorites]

I really think campaign finance reform - with real teeth - is the best way to improve democracy.

You can pass all the laws you want. It doesn't matter if there's no enforcement. One of the major things preventing that is the lack of funding for state and federal agencies. That's one big reason why Republicans hate taxes.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

There's something I saw mentioned about multi-member districts - in some places they were part of Jim Crow? I'm guessing it's because a majority white district would elect a slate of three representatives. But I'm not sure how to research that. And multi-member districts are one of the solutions i've heard for gerrymandering. So I'm hoping someone here knows the answer, how it worked then and why it would be different now.

If you made each existing district have three reps - tripling the size of the House - that would make gerrymandering a lot less effective, and it would be a clean and simple proposal. Unless I'm wrong and it would enable gerrymandering of a different sort.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:30 AM on October 14, 2017

Imagine how different our gun laws would be if the NRA couldn't donate to campaigns.

I don't think it's the campaign donating that's the problem with the NRA. Yes, they donate a lot of money, but there are dozens of Congresspersons and Senators with F ratings from the NRA who don't get a dime from them and still somehow manage to get elected. The actual problem is their ad machine.
posted by xyzzy at 9:31 AM on October 14, 2017

Day one the next time Dems can pass bills, though, should be going over the list of government norms that have been broken during this administration and through Mitch's tenure as Senate majority leader and encoding into law every one of them that can be, as well as beefing up and giving more autonomy to those parts of government that could have hit the brakes on some of this garbage. Bob Mueller as the first head of a kind of permanent government Internal Affairs with some innovative legal protections against Executive meddling and checks against a potential future head who is more J. Edgar Hoover than Bob Mueller is something worth thinking about.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:52 AM on October 14, 2017 [16 favorites]

I keep imagining a new D president in the Oval Office, on day one, surrounded by stacks and stacks of boxes of pens.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:23 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

The actual problem is their ad machine.

Yeah it's almost like whoever runs the media effectively, controls the conversation.

I thought HRC's ads were effective enough at the time but that's all gone. 2018 and 2020 better see some new fresh approaches or its 1984 all over again.
posted by petebest at 10:25 AM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

You can pass all the laws you want. It doesn't matter if there's no enforcement. One of the major things preventing that is the lack of funding for state and federal agencies. That's one big reason why Republicans hate taxes.

If we actually enforced some of our corporate tax laws we'd have buckets of cash and maybe a few new federal pen guests but the IRS is deliberately underfunded and staffed.

You could be a moderate Dem and still run a Fight White Collar Crime/Corruption campaign, promise to restaff the IRS and fund big business investigation teams. People really, really hate the banks and we're coming up on the tenth anniversary of giving them billions of entire for crashing the economy, putting everyone in debt, and eliminating 40% of all African-American wealth in this country.
posted by The Whelk at 10:29 AM on October 14, 2017 [27 favorites]

So this is fun. The word is that Larry Flynt/Hustler Magazine will run this ad in tomorrow's Post offering $10 million "for information leading to the impeachment and removal of Donald J. Trump." Flynt retweeted it, which is a sort of confirmation anyway.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on October 14, 2017 [33 favorites]

You could be a moderate Dem and still run a Fight White Collar Crime/Corruption campaign

You really, really, can't, and that's the entire problem. Trump would've never happened if the Obama DOJ prosecuted the housing crash like the Reagan/HW Bush DOJ prosecuted the Savings and Loan crisis. Thousands of bankers should've been jailed, including Jamie Dimon and Steve Mnuchin. Billions should've been spent on saving underwater mortgages for the homeowners benefit, not for making the predatory lenders and counter-parties 100% whole. JP Morgan and Goldman should've been allowed to be wiped out, and then nationalized. Obama's handling of the financial crisis for the sole benefit of Wall St very directly gave rise to the anger that became Trumpism's crossover appeal. It could've been prevented, and Obama hailed as a working class hero like FDR. Instead. Well, Corey Booker 2020?
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:05 AM on October 14, 2017 [38 favorites]

I don't think Obama would have had to fully prosecute the criminals who caused the housing crash. Just a few bankers and hedge fund managers perp walked would have done the trick.
posted by rdr at 11:10 AM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

The point is, he didn't, lending legitimacy to the perception that DC is an out-of-touch swamp.
posted by Coventry at 11:16 AM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't think Obama would have had to fully prosecute the criminals who caused the housing crash. Just a few bankers and hedge fund managers perp walked would have done the trick.

And yet he didn't even do that. He handed them all billions of dollars while kicking millions of working people out of their homes. And then we wondered why Clinton lost Michigan.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:19 AM on October 14, 2017 [16 favorites]

In an election that was decided by a handful of voters across a handful of states, we can all come up with our own "one weird trick" explanations of why a particular issue led to Trump. If Obama had used all the tools he had available to jail banksters, Trump could have easily still happened if he'd just squeezed a few more votes out of the racists and xenophobes. Or he could have gone the other way and courted the establishment a bit more, since he never paid the price for speaking out of both sides of his mouth during the campaign.

Obama should have prosecuted bankers, but the idea that failing to do so is what gave us Trump is entirely without merit. There are dozens of other factors that went into creating Trump -- none was so significant that removing it would have kept him from winning. These just-so narratives are a dime a dozen.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:20 AM on October 14, 2017 [26 favorites]

Counter-point: any one individual "one weird trick" ... could've been the one trick that saved 80,000 votes. Nothing mattered, except everything.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:22 AM on October 14, 2017 [10 favorites]

> Counter-point: any one individual "one weird trick" ... could've been the one trick that saved 80,000 votes. Nothing mattered, except everything.

Precisely, but you didn't make a conditional statement, you unequivocally said "Trump would've never happened."
posted by tonycpsu at 11:24 AM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you're interested in this corner of the conversation — in the "what did we do wrong in 2008, and what should we do the next time the wall street casino blows itself up?" subthread — I strongly recommend reading Kim Stanley Robinson's recent New York 2140, which is sort of a novel about the aftermath of catastrophic climate change and sort of a novel about the need for revolution, but also, despite all that, completely optimistic. Here's two characters from that novel talking about 2008, and about the mechanism by which take advantage of the next 2008-style crisis to establish democratic control over the economy by tying bailout funds for banks to nationalization of those banks:

"Even in 2008 they nationalized General Motors, and they could have nationalized the banks too, as a condition for giving them about fifteen trillion dollars. They didn’t do that because they were bankers themselves, and chickenshits. But they could have. And now you can do it.”

“But what do you mean, nationalize? I don’t even know what you mean.”

“Sure you do. I don’t know, but you do. So you tell me what it means! All I know is you protect the depositors. And I presume any profits the banks make from then on will go to the government, to pay back what they borrowed from it. So they turn into like federal credit unions.”

“Why would anyone work in a bank, then?”

“For a salary! A good salary, but just a salary. Like anyone else.”

“Why would shareholders invest in a bank, then?”

“Same reason they buy T-bills. Security. Secure investment.”

“I can’t even imagine it.”

“Your lack of imagination is not good grounds for making policy.”

Larry shook his head. “I don’t know. Why would they say yes to this?”

“Say yes or go bust! You offer the deal to the biggest bank, or the biggest bank in the worst trouble, the one about to blow up first. Put the fucking screws on them, they accept the deal or you let them fail as an encouragement to the others. So either way you’re okay. If they accept, the others have to fall in line or collapse. If they don’t accept, you blow the worst one up and go to the next one in line on the gangplank and say, Do you want to go down like Citibank or do you want to live?”

posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:26 AM on October 14, 2017 [38 favorites]

It's not an inscrutable "one-weird-trick" issue... The Tea Party would have remained solely the province of people who couldn't stand being led by a black man, if there hadn't been so much blatant economic injustice. And Trump would have had to take a very different path without the Tea Party.
posted by Coventry at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

Like with the Democrats, the one weird trick the GOP could have used was to run a better set of candidates so that Trump never rose to the General Election.
posted by rhizome at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

> It's not an inscrutable "one-weird-trick" issue... The Tea Party would have remained solely the province of people who couldn't stand being led by a black man, if there hadn't been so much blatant economic injustice. And Trump would have had to take a very different path without the Tea Party.

First off, the Tea Party was never actually about Wall Street, it was always about "undeserving" people getting handouts. This was true when it was just a bunch of people attending Ron Paul rallies, it was true when Rick Santelli did his infamous NYSE floor rant, and it's true to this day.

Consequently, Trump's open racism was entirely sufficient for him to own 100% of the Tea Party voters throughout the GOP primary and the general. There are no Tea Party voters for whom the Democrats could have sufficiently dealt with Wall Street that would have pulled the lever for any Democrat, and probably not for any other Republicans, either. He just abandoned the pretense of it being about "government hands on my Medicare" or repossessed houses.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:34 AM on October 14, 2017 [25 favorites]

It's not an inscrutable "one-weird-trick" issue... The Tea Party would have remained solely the province of people who couldn't stand being led by a black man, if there hadn't been so much blatant economic injustice. And Trump would have had to take a very different path without the Tea Party.

I believe you are badly underestimating the breadth and depth of white supremacy in the USA.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:35 AM on October 14, 2017 [40 favorites]

> the Trump administration is going to shape the Supreme Court in ways that will last for decades.

... uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh... no, I refuse to acknowledge the reality of this. Superman will rescue us or Batman or Wonder Woman or Jean Grey or... something...

In a sense this is an optimistic outlook, because it assumes the Supreme Court and the United States will still exist in decades.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:41 AM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

First off, the Tea Party was never actually about Wall Street, it was always about "undeserving" people getting handouts.

That's how it was recast by Santelli, but that's not where the anger started:

How the Tea Party movement began

Even before Barack Obama was inaugurated as president on 20 January 2009 the talk boards of several websites frequented by conservative voters were already humming with angry conversations about the global economic meltdown. Why were the banks being bailed out, correspondents wanted to know, why were billions of their tax money being spent on government programmes, what would happen to their children saddled by public debt?

One website that proved to be key in the inception was Market Ticker, an investment site run from Florida by Karl Denninger. "I saw everybody fawning over Obama with the inauguration and yet here he was appointing people like Larry Summer and Tim Geithner to his team who were all part of creating the problem," he said.

Stephanie Jasky, a paralegal from Detroit, Michigan, was one of the angry voices that took part in the Market Ticker chats. She and her husband had a business fixing up and selling houses, and they were hit when the housing market collapsed.

"We were haemorrhaging money. I was looking for answers - I wanted to know what had happened. The more I looked the more it became clear to me that the problem was our government, that the government had become the criminal."

The chat boards started to fill with calls to protest. But what was the best way to express anger?

Somebody on Market Ticker suggested posting tea bags to their elected representatives in Congress as a form of protest. Jasky immediately leapt on the idea.

"All these bailouts and stimulus packages, that was taking our money and spending it without our permission. Taxation without representation. We thought, didn't that happen to us in the Revolutionary wars? Hello! Anyone remember King George?"

Jasky bought an economy box of tea bags and posted one to every member of Congress. Other people did too.

Wouldn't have happened if people like Jasky had gotten some relief from the bailouts/stimulus
posted by Coventry at 11:45 AM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump himself is "one weird trick". The weirdest.

Of course, the best way to prevent his rise would've been to dump him into prison when he was defrauding investors and contractors, laundering money for American Mobs and raping women in the '80s and '90s. If we wouldn't nip him in the bud, we couldn't stop anything or anyone. Still, my last bit of hope remains that his egomania and incompetence will result in him causing LESS damage than a competent Fascist Republican would've, and in the process, he will cause irreparable damage to the Fascist Republican Machine, making it impossible for them to ever become "the majority" again.

I believe you are badly underestimating the breadth and depth of white supremacy in the USA.
I believe you are badly overestimating it; otherwise, how the @#$% did Obama get re-elected? There are other deep prejudices in the USA that contributed to the rise of the "Tea Party", including misogyny and hatred of the poor (NOT "economic injustice").
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:46 AM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

so when we're talking in the register of "what must we actually do?" rather than the register of "what is, in the abstract, good?", my one-weird-trick is as follows (and I apologize for switching back and forth between those two registers so often — tonycpsu called me out on this back upthread and it's a fair cop), anyway, here's what I think is to be done, and why:

The government of the United States is a capitalist government. The media of the United States are capitalist media. The Republican Party is viciously capitalist; it's so capitalist it's taken worship of capital-holders to its logical conclusion in neofeudalism. The Democratic Party is also viciously capitalist; it'd shrivel and die without money from the big bourgeoisie, and so most of the higher-ups in its hierarchy follow the leadership of specific capital-holders on most substantive issues. And the other parties are irrelevant distractions.

however

the Democratic Party is also somewhat beholden to democratic, rather than capitalist, power; unlike the Republican Party, it can't win seats unless it pays lip-service to the idea of democracy. And just like the Republican Party leadership has only tenuous control over what the party does — which made them susceptible to hijacking by first the Tea Party and then by Trumpist fascists — the Democratic Party leadership is stuck a double-bind; they can't abandon their capitalist leaders, but they can't totally disavow intra-party democracy either. They can be toppled. And they can be co-opted to work for our ends against their own desires.

So what needs to be done is what Kim Stanley Robinson (who's maybe my favorite academic Marxist) so delightfully laid out in that fictional conversation above — but because the Democratic Party leadership themselves depend upon the support of bankers and move in the same social circles as bankers, they're not going to do it of their own volition. But as I noted in the previous paragraph, they're weak; when the next crisis comes, we can force them to abandon their friends and do what's right instead. They'll scream bloody murder about being forced to do what's right, and they'll call us splitters and commies and anarchists, and they'll say we're dooming the party, and they'll say we're a bunch of electorally suicidal Mcgovernites, and some folks will fall for that old stale story, but some folks won't, and maybe we'll win and maybe we'll finally for once make democracy a real thing.

But we gotta lay the groundwork for it now. We gotta find leaders outside the party organization to listen to when the pro-capitalist Democratic leadership starts screaming bloody murder, and we're gonna have to count on some mainstream Democrats (lookin' at future President Elizabeth Warren here) joining our movement. But if we lay the groundwork now, when the next financial crisis hits we just might win.

so that's my one-weird-trick. for whatever it's worth.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:50 AM on October 14, 2017 [17 favorites]

A little levity from Language Log.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2017 [23 favorites]

> Susan B. Glasser interviews Ed Rogers, a lobbyist and lifelong Republican

That New Yorker article linked to above...so much whining, so little self-awareness.

“Why does it have to be this way?” [It didn't *have* to be this way.]
“You want to be loyal,” he said. “You want to be a good member of the team.” [Party before country, got it. Coolcoolcool.]
“When is he going to help? Life is all about the net, not the gross. Where’s the help?”[Trump only helps himself, dude. Where the hell have you been all these years?]
“And is the totality of Trump still a net plus? Is it going to be a net plus?” [No. Not for anyone.]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:59 AM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

Like with the Democrats, the one weird trick the GOP could have used was to run a better set of candidates so that Trump never rose to the General Election.

They had plenty of strong candidates, and that was the problem. Trump never won a majority of Republican votes, he just kept getting a few more points than one of the other 15 or 12 or 9 guys.
posted by xyzzy at 12:00 PM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

A little levity from Language Log
Best. Trump Meme. Ever.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:01 PM on October 14, 2017

> Wouldn't have happened if people like Jasky had gotten some relief from the bailouts/stimulus

"People like Jasky?" It sounds to me like she and her husband were house flippers who got upset when their investment vehicles went south. That's a far cry from supporting people who can't pay the mortgage on the home they actually live in.

And if we're talking about "how the movement started", the history of angry white conservatives opposing government intervention for anyone except themselves goes back way longer than the housing crisis of the mid '00s. If you can start the clock in February 2008, then I can start it in the 1980 when Reagan was talking about welfare queens, or in 2009 when the "Tea Party" brand was repurposed by the conservative establishment.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2017 [34 favorites]

I might start it when we slipped out of the Deanne Fainstain universe.
posted by riverlife at 12:47 PM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

Here's the thing, managing a crisis for your benefit is ugly.

BUT IT WORKS.

We're up against a wall here, but one "advantage" we have is that Trump is already handing us crisis after crisis. We, by which I mean the Democratic Party in its various committees and forms, is going to have to be willing to do the ugly thing and exploit those crises for our collective benefit.

Trump is ratfucking healthcare? Use that as a way to push for single payer, or at least some vastly more liberal form of healthcare than the ACA. Managed properly Trump's utterly pointless cruelty and evil in ending the ACA subsidies can be used to bring about a better future.

Trump is going to start at least one war. That's absolutely, flat out, guaranteed. We know this is happening, we've got a pretty good idea where (either Korea or Iran), with the right propaganda groundwork, and a willingness to let FOX shriek about us being unpatriotic, we can turn that against Trump and the Republicans as well.

Trump is ratfucking the economy and putting tax evasion and the crony aspect of our capitalism on display? THAT IS WONDERFUL! We can exploit that crisis to build public demands for massive taxation of the wealthy, breaking up the big economic gamblers, and otherwise closing the wealth gap and improving things. We know, not quite as certainly as we know that Trump will start a war, that Trump's awful economic BS is going to cause an economic catastrophe. Lay the groundwork now so we can exploit it when it happens.

We, the people right here on metafilter, can try some grassroots prepping for this in our non-metafilter social circles. Get people talking about the inevitability of a Trump war for his ratings. Get people talking about how Trump's tax evasion and crooked dealings are going to wreck the economy. Get people talking about how if we had single payer Trump wouldn't be able to screw up healthcare for everyone.

Then when the catastrophe hits we're ready to use that to our electoral advantage **AND** we'll have the Democratic Party painted into a corner so they'll have to take action.

If we're stuck with a bunch of Democrats who don't want to exploit the crisis, well, we can march and maybe force them to.

It's ugly, it's dirty, and it won't work by itself. But using crisis management for political advantage is probably a necessary element in success.
posted by sotonohito at 1:00 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

tonycpsu: Yes, the Jaskys were investing in real estate; the point is that their investment wasn't protected, while other powerful parties' were. People who buy a house to live in are investing in real estate, too. Yes, there were conservatives prior to 2008, the point is the illegitimate response to the crisis gave them a legitimate, severe grievance to organize a disruptive movement around, and Trump used it to huge advantage.
posted by Coventry at 1:05 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think that we should get biblical on this. 45 is the Anti-Christ. That about sums it up, if such a thing exists. It's the hair, the paper towels, (probably the only birth control acceptable to his followers,) and then the evil. The end.
posted by Oyéah at 1:05 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump is ratfucking the economy and putting tax evasion and the crony aspect of our capitalism on display? THAT IS WONDERFUL!

Accelerationism has never worked.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:11 PM on October 14, 2017 [14 favorites]

a few more votes out of the racists and xenophobes

You know, I get kinda tired of
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:16 PM on October 14, 2017 [13 favorites]

Fuck it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:17 PM on October 14, 2017 [40 favorites]

leotrotsky I phrased myself badly. I don't mean the actual economic destruction is wonderful, I mean only that our ability to predict that Trump's economic "policy" will produce bad results should allow us to prime America for effective anti-capitalist advertising in the future.

You are, of course, correct in that ruining the economy does not magically make people want to see a socialist utopia rise from the ashes of the capitalistic system that was ruined. Accelerationism does not work.

But I do think that advertising works, especially when paired with a reality people can see in their daily lives. I do think that we may be able to exploit the inevitable economic harm Trump will bring about to try and get some reforms. We managed it with the S&L crisis. Obama refused to use the Bush recession as a cudgel to smash the worst of the banks, but I think he could have and if he had he'd have done better in the long run.

And I do think that Trump's rise is at least in part due to Obama's decision to reward the banksters and punish their victims. People got evicted from their homes, the banksters got bailouts. That's not a good look for the Democratic party, and while I don't think that was decisive in Trump's rise I do think we'd be foolish not to consider it as a factor.
posted by sotonohito at 1:24 PM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

> Trump is ratfucking the economy and putting tax evasion and the crony aspect of our capitalism on display? THAT IS WONDERFUL!

> Accelerationism has never worked.

COMPILER ERROR INVALID TYPECAST

The acceleration has already happened. It is the year of our lord 2017 and a fucking moron with a combover and a spraytan is President of the United States and capitalism is eating itself alive as quickly as it possibly can. Yeah, accelerationists — people who were like "I know! it's a good idea to do the worst thing as fast and hard as we can so we can bring the crisis faster so we can come out of the crisis ahead!" — were/are dumb privileged twerps. But that's not relevant now, because now we are in the crisis. There is no need to be an anti-accelerationist anymore, because there's no space to be an accelerationist anymore; the crisis the accelerationists wanted is now.

At this moment, right now, October 2017, responding to plans to manage the crisis for popular benefit by saying "accelerationism sucks!" is like standing in the middle of a hurricane and saying "we don't need to plan for what we're doing in the aftermath of this hurricane because hurricanes suck and no one should want them to happen."

"Accelerationism sucks" is a perfectly valid sane stance to take... in 2012. But it's not 2012.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:25 PM on October 14, 2017 [40 favorites]

No! My favorite Rapid Offensive Unit is no more?

I'm sorry man. I wonder if Rocket88 will hold out or also abandon a name that was chosen with good intent but has turned bad?
posted by sotonohito at 1:26 PM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

> Yes, there were conservatives prior to 2008, the point is the illegitimate response to the crisis gave them a legitimate, severe grievance to organize a disruptive movement around, and Trump used it to huge advantage.

Wait, are we talking about the bailouts or the Obama administration's failure to implement HAMP?

As a matter of historical accuracy, the finance industry bailouts were initiated under GWB and Hank Paulson. Yes, Obama and Geithner continued them, and they can and should be rightly criticized for not taking the banks into receivership and gutting their institutional structures, but the act of bailing out the banks (and later the automakers) in some fashion was not optional. Behind those institutions were real people whose own lives hung in the balance -- just like the Jaskys.

The Obama administration's failures to supplement those necessary bailouts (including the auto bailouts) with relief for homeowners was an inexcusable sin, but that happened long after the Tea Party was astroturfed by the Kochs et al. Don't try to retcon in Obama's misdeeds to explain the rise of the Tea Party.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:39 PM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

Fuck it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 16:17 on October 14 [has favorites +] [!]

EponyWTF first comment.
posted by Skaffen-Amtiskaw at 1:40 PM on October 14, 2017 [13 favorites]

> At this moment, right now, October 2017, responding to plans to manage the crisis for popular benefit by saying "accelerationism sucks!" is like standing in the middle of a hurricane and saying "we don't need to plan for what we're doing in the aftermath of this hurricane because hurricanes suck and no one should want them to happen."

The left should absolutely make hay out of Trump's failures, but there's a big difference between doing that and saying "THAT IS WONDERFUL" at a time when people are dying because of those failures. sotonohito clarified their stance, but I think leotrotsky's reaction to that almost gleeful cackling at the omelette being made out of someone else's eggs was justified.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:44 PM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

The failure of HAMP was just about a foregone conclusion by February 2008, with Geithner running it. It was clear whose interests were being served.
posted by Coventry at 2:03 PM on October 14, 2017

> The failure of HAMP was just about a foregone conclusion by February 2008, with Geithner running it. It was clear whose interests were being served.

February 2009, I assume. And if that's where you want to leave the goalposts for now -- with the fact that people on an investment forum decided that Obama was a failure before he was even inaugurated as your only evidence that he gave the Tea Party a legitimate grievance, thus leading to Trump's election -- then I'll let that logic speak for itself.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:14 PM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

The acceleration has already happened. It is the year of our lord 2017 and a fucking moron with a combover and a spraytan is President of the United States and capitalism is eating itself alive as quickly as it possibly can.

This isn't nearly as bad as it can get. It can always get worse.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:23 PM on October 14, 2017 [18 favorites]

> This isn't nearly as bad as it can get. It can always get worse.

And the appropriate way to respond to how bad it is right now is to use every available lever of power to respond to the crisis appropriately. This means not pretending that we're not in a crisis, and also not pretending that crisis situations don't present opportunities that aren't available in non-crisis (or less-crisisey) situations, and also not pretending that we can forego those opportunities and come out of the crisis in one piece.

Sure, it can always get worse. Nevertheless, denouncing accelerationists in 2017 — and making dislike for accelerationists a guide for policymaking — is basically shadowboxing at this point.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:31 PM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump
The Democrats in the Southwest part of Virginia have been abandoned by their Party. Republican Ed Gillespie will never let you down!

Gillespie's gonna give you up
Gillespie's gonna let you down
Gillespie's promoted by the clown
It should alert you
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:36 PM on October 14, 2017 [16 favorites]

Sure, it can always get worse. Nevertheless, denouncing accelerationists in 2017 — and making dislike for accelerationists a guide for policymaking — is basically shadowboxing at this point.

If accelerationism worked we'd all be living on gay space communist stations by now. If accelerationism worked we wouldn't have had let Rs get a word in edgewise after Nixon but we got a temporary reprieve and then Saint Gipper ready to restore America to Father Knows Best. Accelerationism is dumb because the electorate either don't learn (STEIN '16 MAYBE THIS TIME WE CAN HIT 2%) or don't care because our accelerationism is their preferred policy (well I know he's a thrice divorced pussy grabber who has absolutely no clue what's going on but his SCOTUS pick will let me punish sluts).

Accelerationism is stupid because it's been displayed time and time again that we think that swaths of Middle America will surely wake up to how bad things are getting for them and how badly they're being used but sure as shit they find new depths to plumb.
posted by Talez at 2:38 PM on October 14, 2017 [15 favorites]

tonycpsu: We seem to agree that the seed of the Tea Party was anger about how the financial meltdown was being handled, and that the handling of it was unforgivable. That you don't regard that as handing them a legitimate grievance is perplexing to me.
posted by Coventry at 2:40 PM on October 14, 2017

Gillespie's promoted by the clown

There's been talks about Trump campaigning for Gillespie, so expect more tweets about the Va gubernatorial race.
posted by peeedro at 2:40 PM on October 14, 2017

I mean LBJ figured this shit out 50 years ago.

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

As long as they can punch down, Republican America will punch down, consequences be damned.
posted by Talez at 2:41 PM on October 14, 2017 [34 favorites]

> Accelerationism is stupid because it's been displayed time and time again that we think that swaths of Middle America will surely wake up to how bad things are getting for them and how badly they're being used but sure as shit they find new depths to plumb.

And again, denouncing accelerationists in 2017 is shadowboxing. The acceleration is here. its_happening.gif. its_happening.gif even though we didn't want it to happen.

I think what's going on is that leotrotsky is seeing an implicit "and therefore we shouldn't oppose Trump" in sotonohito's original comment; but that implicit statement isn't actually there. Trotsky is wrong on this one. It's not the worst mistake he's ever made — c'mon, Leo, why'd you send the Red Army into Kronstadt? that was awful! — but it's a mistake.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:42 PM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

(okay if this succeeds I'll be the first person in history to ever defuse an argument by bringing up Kronstadt.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:44 PM on October 14, 2017 [10 favorites]

> We seem to agree that the seed of the Tea Party was anger about how the financial meltdown was being handled

Not really, no. You really want to make this about what a handful of house flippers say they were thinking in Winter of 2008-2009 than about what we know the Tea Party became only a few months later. Even if I grant that this small number of people truly felt anger at the bailouts that started under Bush, the fact that they were marshaling action against Obama before he took office says to me their grievance wasn't going to be changed by anything he did in office.

And even if it did, this was a small number of people. When the Tea Party became a political force to be reckoned with, it was a bunch of retirees in hoverounds who were living in houses they owned outright on fixed incomes.

Your story has way too much butterfly effect in it for me. If Obama had handled the bailouts differently than his predecessor, I don't see any change in how the Tea Party would have assembled, and certainly no causation between that and the outcome of the last election.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:51 PM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

So this is fun. The word is that Larry Flynt/Hustler Magazine will run this ad in tomorrow's Post offering $10 million "for information leading to the impeachment and removal of Donald J. Trump." Flynt retweeted it, which is a sort of confirmation anyway.

Aahahhha. Hey, he still sends all the members of congress a free copy every month, no?

That idea is so crazy it might actually work. Can we start a gofundme to amplify this? I mean, yeah, it's totally not ok to live in a world where we're talking about essentially bribing civil servants to do the right thing, but the standard ops doesn't seem like it's going to be any cheaper or more effective at this point.
posted by loquacious at 3:01 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

When the Tea Party became a political force to be reckoned with, it was a bunch of retirees in hoverounds who were living in houses they owned outright on fixed incomes.

I don't think that's true.

Tea Party supporters are decidedly Republican and conservative in their leanings. Also, compared with average Americans, supporters are slightly more likely to be male and less likely to be lower-income. In several other respects, however -- their age, educational background, employment status, and race -- Tea Partiers are quite representative of the public at large.

posted by Coventry at 3:03 PM on October 14, 2017

> I don't think that's true.

There's a big difference between answering a Gallup poll and showing up to the rallies.

But sure, there were some people across the age spectrum that identified as Tea Partiers, but by late 2009 / early 2010 it was all about opposition to Obama's agenda, particularly the ACA, and barely anyone cared about bailouts.
posted by tonycpsu at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2017

The Tea Party started out as a movement against the bailouts, but it was quickly co-opted by the GOP and redirected into the "mainstream GOP wingnuttery" we see today. I find it amusing that the Koch brothers are regretting Trump, because they're the ones that screwed the Tea Party up in the first place.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 3:14 PM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

I generally don't trust the conclusions of social science studies much, but: The Tea Party Movement and the Geography of Collective Action:

We examine the geography of the Tea Party movement by drawing upon a unique data source that harvested thousands of events from the Meetup.org and Tea Party Patriots websites during the latter half of 2010. The spatial distribution of events strongly suggests that Tea Party activism was borne out of economic grievance, as it corresponds quite closely to the incidence of home foreclosures.

I don't have time to read it... Probably the results can also be explained in terms of unrelated socioeconomic correlates. Looks like an interesting approach, though.
posted by Coventry at 3:29 PM on October 14, 2017

Por que no los dos? Downward mobility as a result of the housing crisis + racism and rage at having a black President (how much of that was "I like black people! [Insert athlete/actor/musician name here] is my favorite celebrity! But a black President...I dunno about that!") + astroturfing by the Kochs and other fascist deep-pockets = the Tea Party.

Yes, economic distress contributed, but without the Kochs playing on white racism, there'd be no Tea Party as we know it. I wish Obama and his Congress had been tougher on bankers, and perp-walked a few of them, but, realistically, nothing Obama could have done would have erased the fact that he was Presidenting While Black and that pissed a LOT of white people off.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:46 PM on October 14, 2017 [11 favorites]

That one might be true! I don't think there's a lot of data on how oral contraceptives would affect the prostate.

You’re not supposed to put them up there, for starters.
posted by um at 3:53 PM on October 14, 2017 [10 favorites]

I think everyone here agrees that Presidenting While Black was a major factor in the resistance Obama faced.
posted by Coventry at 3:56 PM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

[reads last 150-odd comments]

Yup, back to watching MST3K.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:04 PM on October 14, 2017 [9 favorites]

It would have been a good idea to tie the bailouts to nationalization of the bailed-out banks, not because of anything related to how it plays in the media or among the electorate, but instead because nationalizing banks would have been in and of itself good for the economy, democracy, America, and the world. But.. um... I don't remember the 2008 financial crisis timeline well enough to say whether or not nationalizing Merrill Lynch or whatever was still an option when Obama came in — it wasn't, right? As I recall (correct me if I'm wrong) but the crisis itself was more or less over by the time Obama took office — and also, most of the opportunities associated with the crisis.

(if we magically replace 2009-Obama with a leftist, what could that hypothetical left-Obama have permanently nationalized? Just GM? Or not even GM?)

And it's best to keep in mind that the Tea Party was an astroturf movement, not a grassroots one. Yeah, sure, some folks said it was about widespread opposition to Obama's implementation of HAMP, but that was just a cover story. Really what it was about was billionaire opposition to Obama's existence — billionaires who were more than willing to empower the overt racists who came to drive the Tea Party and who were clear harbingers of the rise of Trumpist racist fascism.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 4:10 PM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

Hockey is on, too. SNL is new tonight. House needs cleanin. I'm set with distractions tonight.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:10 PM on October 14, 2017

> (if we magically replace 2009-Obama with a leftist, what could that hypothetical left-Obama have permanently nationalized? Just GM? Or not even GM?)

Friendly reminder that Congress was a thing, even way back in 2009, so unless you're aware of some regulatory authority that could be used to nationalize firms without involving legislators, assuming a leftist Obama also requires assuming at least 268 leftist votes in Congress.
posted by tonycpsu at 4:18 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

Sen. Gillibrand is the first guest on Lovett or Leave it, talking emotionally about changing her mind on guns when she moved from representing a rural district to Senator for all of New York. Lovett presses her hard on the switch, and she's got good answers.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:30 PM on October 14, 2017 [13 favorites]

President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 15 through October 21, 2017, as National Character Counts Week: "I call upon public officials, educators, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs."
posted by jocelmeow at 4:32 PM on October 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

A ceremonial reading of The Making of Donald Trump sounds appropriate.
posted by Coventry at 4:37 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm frankly surprised he had the restraint to not declare "National Donald Trump Week in Celebration of Donald Trump".
posted by rifflesby at 4:37 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm still celebrating infrastructure week.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:39 PM on October 14, 2017 [30 favorites]

> President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 15 through October 21, 2017, as National Character Counts Week: "I call upon public officials, educators, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs."

Robert Mueller, that's your cue...
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 4:42 PM on October 14, 2017 [36 favorites]

Yeah, I was prepared to be cynical about Gillibrand, but she won me over. I believe in her conviction about gun issues.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:44 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm still celebrating infrastructure week.

We'll always have infrastructure week
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:44 PM on October 14, 2017 [15 favorites]

From Trump's proclamation:

Character can be hard to define, but we see it in every day acts -- raising and providing for a family with loving devotion, working hard to make the most of an education, and giving back to devastated communities.

Nope, he doesn't read these things at all, does he.
posted by Rykey at 4:53 PM on October 14, 2017 [23 favorites]

I wasn't convinced about the multiverse theory but I am now.
posted by AFABulous at 4:58 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

President Donald J. Trump Proclaims October 15 through October 21, 2017, as National Character Counts Week

I'm sure he thought he was making a proclamation about Twitter.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:58 PM on October 14, 2017 [60 favorites]

Only the best people: Trump voter fraud commission researcher arrested on child pornography charges
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:50 PM on October 14, 2017 [27 favorites]

And it's best to keep in mind that the Tea Party was an astroturf movement, not a grassroots one.

no, it's not - i can remember the roots of this going back to the 60s and 70s and perhaps even further - while the republican elite are very happy to use the tea party for their advantage and herd them in certain directions, there are genuine adherents to this philosophy and when the so called RINOS betray them they are outraged - in fact, right now a significant number of these people are beginning to think that trump has betrayed them

you might as well argue that tiger riders are responsible for the existence of tigers - no, they're finding out that the beasts have their own minds and it's very hard to get off without getting eaten ...

do not underestimate the genuine and dangerous nature of these tea party people - ask yourself - was the klu klux klan an astroturfed group of people in the 50 years past the civil war?

they weren't - and these spiritual descendants aren't either
posted by pyramid termite at 5:57 PM on October 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump voter fraud commission researcher arrested on child pornography charges

He's not hiring the best. He's hiring people that have lots of problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And none, I assume, are good people.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:22 PM on October 14, 2017 [27 favorites]

Yea...I'm gonna need everyone to start prefacing claims of who the "tea party" really was and was influenced/coopted by with a Venn diagram first. Because even I am having a hard time separating the conflicting definitions going on here.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:24 PM on October 14, 2017

We need another fuckit thread in MetaTalk. Resistance fatigue is setting in for everyone. It's obvious.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:31 PM on October 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

Go for it.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:54 PM on October 14, 2017

There's something I saw mentioned about multi-member districts - in some places they were part of Jim Crow? I'm guessing it's because a majority white district would elect a slate of three representatives. But I'm not sure how to research that. And multi-member districts are one of the solutions i've heard for gerrymandering. So I'm hoping someone here knows the answer, how it worked then and why it would be different now.

Say you are in a multi-member district that will seat three legislators. If you give everyone the ability to vote for (or approve) three legislators, minority candidates won't get any seats; the majority (voting as a bloc) will be able to determine all three legislators. This was how it was in the bad old days, to the point where there are legal hurdles in place for multi-member districts.

Here's how it *should* be done: minorities will get more representation if the number of legislators to be seated exceeds the number of candidates each voter is allowed to vote for.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:06 PM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

Like with the Democrats, the one weird trick the GOP could have used was to run a better set of candidates so that Trump never rose to the General Election.

They had plenty of strong candidates, and that was the problem. Trump never won a majority of Republican votes, he just kept getting a few more points than one of the other 15 or 12 or 9 guys.

I know several Republicans who were holding their noses as they voted for Trump, and they have agreed with me that if the GOP had used approval voting in the primaries it would have stopped Trump from getting the nomination. I have no idea how GOP leadership could be pushed in this direction. For whatever reason, they've had *really* crowded fields in their primaries last few times and FPTP doesn't cope well with that. I know people here would probably rather the GOP field weaker candidates as a result of a defective primary process but the status quo is one way we can end up with a Trump-like finger on the nuke button, which is a whole other level of concern than a President Rubio.

*The last few Dem primaries wouldn't have been affected by approval voting. However, if superdelegates in Dem primaries are intended to have a moderating effect, approval voting in their primaries would accomplish the same thing but give people the impression of having *more* say in the process rather than less.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:41 PM on October 14, 2017

So approval voting and range voting both come up with the same problem, then? That's interesting. Approval/range voting is what I'd prefer, in general, to solve the FPTP problem. Thank you.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:44 PM on October 14, 2017

And the voting system is one thing the federal government can't really choose.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:46 PM on October 14, 2017

The last two Republican primary clusterfucks were the result of a hated rival in Obama, that too many of them thought was beatable, and refused to coalesce behind a standard bearer. Democrats will see the same thing in 2020, and it'll be also a clusterfuck, for essentially the same reasons.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:26 PM on October 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

It kind of annoys me that far-right people claim that liberalism is a mental disease. Buddy, the entire western world that you want to "save" is based on liberalism you clueless tool.

save your breath - i disemboweled one of these clowns on disqus the other day.

quonsar -> ThyWillBeDone • a day ago
Your perspective of seeing the world as a contest and other people as conquests quite clearly illustrates the extent to which you are bent, broken, and yes - deranged. Your glee at contributing to the misery of others blinds you to the fact that you only continue to live out of the generosity of those you despise. A less generous society would simply weed out those of you who are afflicted and deranged and destroy you at birth.

ThyWillBeDone -> quonsar • a day ago
That was a parable of God. The workers in the Vineyard. It was to point out hypocrisy. Liberals don't realize when God's words are spoken. God says no matter when you come to Him, you will still be treated equally, fairly. The first will be last and the last will be first. Ok, so let's consider Obamacare. The middle class has been working tirelessly paying for insurance for someone else and paying for their own which they can't use because of high deductibles. While the others have been working PT and having another pay their insurance. Now the Master says, I want the middle class to take a rest and the others to carry their own weight. The other workers say NO! Absolutely not!!! Why? The Master only wants to treat both equally and fairly. Narcissism can keep one from seeing beyond themselves. You must understand charity. God was of the mind if you don't work then you don't eat. Why? Because God doesn't create lazy people or cowards. Now those who can't work are the ones to whom we are charitable. There is no contest...no conquest...and no free ride.

quonsar -> ThyWillBeDone • 21 hours ago
You need to keep digging. You live and perceive in a worldview that measures literally everything in terms of money. Go a bit deeper - how "powers and principalities" like for example, the predatory insurance industry are allowed to exist and are even praised. How your thinking is so twisted that you can feel joy at being looted so long as there are "lesser" folks for you to loot. Get thee behind me "christian"...

ThyWillBeDone -> quonsar • 19 hours ago
Q, you are caught up in the worldly. Lose the obsessions and you will have clarity.

frankly, i'm back to destroying them at birth.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 9:08 PM on October 14, 2017 [21 favorites]

Because God doesn't create lazy people or cowards.

Murderers, rapists, sure, God creates those. But lazy people and cowards are actually homunculi created by the village alchemist! It's all there in the good book, quonsar.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:49 PM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

Corey Robin, Triumph of the Shill

Having achieved so many conservative goals — a labor movement in terminal decline, curtailed abortion rights, the deregulation of multiple industries, economic inequality reminiscent of the Gilded Age, and racial resegregation — the right can now afford the luxury of irresponsibility. Or so it believes. As we have seen in the opening months of the Trump presidency, the conservative regime, despite its command of all three elected branches of the national government and a majority of state governments, is extraordinarily unstable and even weak, thanks to a number of self-inflicted wounds. That weakness, however, is a symptom not of its failures, but of its success.

posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:50 PM on October 14, 2017 [12 favorites]

Of course, those people that Jesus fed with those two fish and five loaves of bread were all charged a reasonable amount for the food they ate. No free rides, after all.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:36 AM on October 15, 2017 [18 favorites]

German soccer team takes a knee before Bundesliga game ‘for a tolerant Berlin’ (Matt Bonesteel (@MattBonesteel) in WaPo)

Some NFL players, as well as a few other U.S. athletes, have been taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem for some time now, but Hertha Berlin is thought to be the first European soccer team to do the same. The German national anthem is not usually played before Bundesliga games and was not Saturday.

Oddly enough, Zoo Station by David Downing is one of the books on the nightstand now (so far it feels like reading Alan Furst). It's set in Berlin just before WW2. The protagonist and his son root for Hertha.
posted by kingless at 3:02 AM on October 15, 2017 [13 favorites]

The image of the whole team, on the pitch and on the bench, taking a knee, is just so powerful in its solidarity and humility.

Why is this place suddenly getting so much dust...
posted by runcifex at 3:40 AM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

Data point of one: my conservative, religious, Texas residing, niece-in-law posted a video explaining privilege to Facebook, and got a thumbs-up from an aunt, also conservative, on the other side (and from me as well, obvs).
posted by maggiemaggie at 5:46 AM on October 15, 2017 [7 favorites]

That was a parable of God. The workers in the Vineyard.

this is amazing to me - he's getting the exact opposite of the meaning of that parable he should be getting - the meaning being that those who show up at the last minute and only do a little work are just as entitled to the kingdom as those who've been working all day

he who has ears to hear, let him hear ...

and most of the middle class doesn't have obamacare but employercare

but this is what happens when you listen to some asshole at a pulpit push his political line in the name of religion instead of actually looking at the information and thinking for yourself - people like thywillbedone don't read - in fact, i don't even think he reads the bible - and if he does, he doesn't understand it

this is the other consequence of 2016 - it has revealed the utter moral bankruptcy of the evangelical right
posted by pyramid termite at 6:00 AM on October 15, 2017 [34 favorites]

I thought we agreed that had happened when they all voted for Reagan over Carter in 1980?
posted by aspersioncast at 6:06 AM on October 15, 2017 [24 favorites]

this is the other consequence of 2016 - it has revealed the utter moral bankruptcy of the evangelical right

I thought we agreed that had happened when they all voted for Reagan over Carter in 1980?

"DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY SAVIOR? I WORSHIP MAMMON NOT THAT HIPPY!"
posted by Talez at 6:11 AM on October 15, 2017 [7 favorites]

reagan left them some room for plausible deniability - trump?

ha, ha, ha
posted by pyramid termite at 6:32 AM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

> this is amazing to me - he's getting the exact opposite of the meaning of that parable he should be getting

Is that like Chris Christie's love of Bruce Springsteen's music?
posted by runcifex at 6:40 AM on October 15, 2017 [7 favorites]

Dumbest timeline update: The Secretary of State just had to publically announce that he still has his balls.
posted by tau_ceti at 7:22 AM on October 15, 2017 [14 favorites]

I'm skeptical. President Johnson would have proudly given a physical demonstration.
posted by Coventry at 7:26 AM on October 15, 2017 [35 favorites]

“I checked, I’m fully intact,” Tillerson responded.

So I guess our iteration of the western Roman empire has already collapsed and we've now skipped ahead to Byzantium 2.0
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:35 AM on October 15, 2017 [14 favorites]

Derail to mention that the first time I went to the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum in Austin, I absolutely swear that the animatronic LBJ told a story about getting so drunk he fell off his horse. This was around 2006, and the next time I went a year or two later, he definitely didn't.

And he probably would've made one of his aides facilitate the demonstration.
posted by tapir-whorf at 7:41 AM on October 15, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Washington Post and 60 minutes have an investigative piece on how lobbying and the revolving door between government and industry have shaped the response to the opioid epidemic.

The shorter takeaway is this from Mother Jones, Drug Companies Sure Are Cozy With Trump’s Pick to Solve the Opioid Crisis:

On a Friday afternoon in September, President Donald Trump nominated Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania, to spearhead the federal response to the most deadly drug epidemic in the nation’s history. If approved by the senate, Marino would become the country’s so-called “drug czar,” or director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

During his time in Congress, Marino has developed a cozy relationship with the drug distributors that his office would help oversee—and which stand to lose from a federal crackdown on painkiller distribution. Pharmaceutical distributors, which disseminate drugs to pharmacies across the country, were among the top contributors to Marino’s House campaigns. They lobbied extensively to support legislation, signed into law last year, that Marino co-sponsored making it more difficult for the Drug Enforcement Agency to shut down pharmacies it suspects are diverting pills. Today, Marino’s former chief of staff is a vice president at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

posted by peeedro at 7:45 AM on October 15, 2017 [19 favorites]

Alternative title for that MJ piece (and many others): Trump Again Appoints Fox to Guard Henhouse.
posted by jaduncan at 7:47 AM on October 15, 2017 [16 favorites]

God was of the mind if you don't work then you don't eat.

The religious right is quite fond of that bit, but I don't interpret it as an indictment of welfare. Just the opposite, I see it as an indictment of capitalism and the idle rich, living off of wealth rather than labor.
posted by jedicus at 8:48 AM on October 15, 2017 [11 favorites]

Wow, SNL was good last night.

Brings up Melania's "bullying campaign" a bit.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:49 AM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

“I checked, I’m fully intact,” Tillerson responded.

Intact but clearly out of touch if he had to check.
posted by srboisvert at 9:46 AM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

A little levity from Language Log.

Not yet. He's still getting used to "Obergroperführer."
posted by xigxag at 9:55 AM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

The problem with reality television government is every plot twist has to be more shocking than the one before. This one isn't pacing itself at a sustainable rate.
posted by double block and bleed at 10:11 AM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

"Nuh-uh, I still have all my balls"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:32 AM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Marino has developed a cozy relationship with the drug distributors that his office would help oversee

That's worth watching, obviously, but I'm getting weary of stories that present picking regulators from the industry they would regulate as an automatic outrage. (This particular story is better than most in that regard).

That's who you WANT to do it. They know the lingo, the issues and pressures, the temptations and techniques to circumvent regulation, where the bodies are buried, etc. It makes them good at interest-based bargaining for win-win solutions, when they can understand the other side.

Obviously, every regulator needs to be scrutinized for conflicts of interest. But having an intimate knowledge of the industry, a network of contacts, and respect is a positive not easily reduced to "cozy relationship" smears.

[no opinion on Marino, just generally]
posted by ctmf at 10:36 AM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump Given A Subpoena For All Documents Relating To Assault Allegations (Jessica Garrison, Kendall Taggar, BuzzFeed News)

A high-stakes legal showdown is brewing for President Donald Trump, as a woman who said he groped her has subpoenaed all documents from his campaign pertaining to “any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.”

The previously unreported subpoena was issued in March but entered into the court file last month. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Trump’s attorney.

posted by Room 641-A at 11:09 AM on October 15, 2017 [40 favorites]

Trump Given A Subpoena For All Documents Relating To Assault Allegations (Jessica Garrison, Kendall Taggar, BuzzFeed News)

FYI, this is part of the Summer Zervos litigation

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice, accused Trump of kissing and grabbing her when she went to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 to discuss a possible job at the Trump Organization. After Zervos made the accusation last October, just weeks before the election, Trump denied her accusation and called it a lie.

She responded by suing him for defamation. As part of that suit, her lawyers served a subpoena on his campaign, asking that it preserve all documents it had about her.

Unlike the woman who alleged that in 1994, Donald J. Trump raped her when she was 13, and withdrew her lawsuit, Ms. Zervos has no reason to back down, and since this story broke, I have been in her corner, and from my layman's POV, her case looks pretty damned solid.
posted by mikelieman at 11:22 AM on October 15, 2017 [20 favorites]

BONUS Summer Zervos litigation point: She alleges he was naked. It is completely reasonable that the court orders a naked photo of Trump to compare to her statement. IIRC, this was part of the Michael Jackson civil litigation too...

From my lips to G-d's ears, yes I know. But I can only get through the day by imagining that there WILL be an accounting someday...
posted by mikelieman at 11:24 AM on October 15, 2017 [9 favorites]

Defense Attorney: To support your claim that the defendant showed his naked body to you, can you describe, in detail, the defendant's naked body?

Witness: Uh, no. I was trying not to look. I mean seriously, would you want to see that? If I got a really good look at Donald Trump naked, I'd have to gouge my eyes out with a melon baller!
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:28 AM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

I dunno, seems to me that the problem with Trump is that he's a narcissistic asshole who bragged about sexual assault and not that he's kinda ugly.
posted by Justinian at 11:46 AM on October 15, 2017 [16 favorites]

It is completely reasonable that the court orders a naked photo of Trump to compare to her statement.

well, i was going to have lunch
*pours his smoothie down the sink*
posted by entropicamericana at 11:47 AM on October 15, 2017 [9 favorites]

[no opinion on Marino, just generally]

Fair points, but in Marino's case, it's worth looking at the joint WaPo/60 Minutes investigation that came out today: The drug industry’s triumph over the DEA:

The law was the crowning achievement of a multifaceted campaign by the drug industry to weaken aggressive DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market. The industry worked behind the scenes with lobbyists and key members of Congress, pouring more than a million dollars into their election campaigns.

The chief advocate of the law that hobbled the DEA was Rep. Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican who is now President Trump’s nominee to become the nation’s next drug czar. Marino spent years trying to move the law through Congress. It passed after Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) negotiated a final version with the DEA.

Marino really stands by his work too:

Marino declined repeated requests for comment. Marino’s staff called the U.S. Capitol Police when The Post and “60 Minutes” tried to interview the congressman at his office on Sept. 12. In the past, the congressman has said the DEA was too aggressive and needed to work more collaboratively with drug companies.

Honestly, I don't know what the hell you do to stop it when 30 pills are worth $900 on the street, and a lot of this can end up hurting patients who need pain medication by enforcing super vague standards, but taking away the tools to require distributors to figure out where their product is going and report suspicious orders doesn't sound like a particularly useful thing for anyone besides drug companies.
posted by zachlipton at 12:06 PM on October 15, 2017 [13 favorites]

As per twitter, FEMA is giving out lunches with a) a can of Vienna sausages b) a nutrigrain bar c) and a bag of Skittles.
posted by angrycat at 12:29 PM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Were those items donated?? I thought FEMA gave our MREs. Because three Vienna sausages (one serving) has 470mg of sodium. For reference, Lay's potato chips has 170mg of sodium per serving. That's a hell of a thing to give to people with limited access to potable water. Also, a can of Vienna sausage is considered 2.5 servings.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:04 PM on October 15, 2017 [8 favorites]

angrycat, I need to believe that's [fake].

(FEMA: What more do you want? It's protein, grains, and fruit!)
posted by elsietheeel at 1:05 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

I hope it's fake. It's a photo going around on twitter.
posted by angrycat at 1:16 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mentioned by a retired Lt General, so probably not fake. (Towards the end of the interview.)
posted by AFABulous at 1:54 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah my first thought, assuming that it was true, was that some deal was made to get those particular products in there. It's just too fucking weird, otherwise.
posted by angrycat at 2:13 PM on October 15, 2017

FEMA: 'Not Our Job to Deliver Water and Food' to Puerto Ricans.
posted by adamvasco at 2:23 PM on October 15, 2017 [7 favorites]

Reminding everyone again that even though the PR situation is a fucking travesty, AlterNet is a really crappy source, and it doesn't seem like anyone from FEMA actually said the phrase that is presented in quotation marks above.
posted by neroli at 2:31 PM on October 15, 2017 [10 favorites]

MREs are also high in sodium content; while something's unequivocally gone wrong in Puerto Rico, the salt content of Vienna sausages isn't it.
posted by fragmede at 2:36 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yep. 470mg of sodium isn't all that much. It's not going to do anything particularly bad to your water intake. For comparison, an In-N-Out double double has like 1600mg of sodium and you don't dehydrate yourself eating them.

But a tin of vienna sausages and some Skittles is not an acceptable meal to be providing almost a month after the storm.
posted by Justinian at 2:40 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Honestly the FEMA thing is so weird. Like, I remember during Ike the stations where FEMA was handing out bottles of water and MREs. I know people who got a bunch of MREs from FEMA when they didn't really need them, but just because the power was out for over a week, there was FEMA handing out food. (One guy ate MREs for lunch at work every day for a while.)

And yet, in this last round of storms, I haven't heard much of anything about FEMA giving out food and water. During Harvey some friends were stuck in their neighborhood with no money and running out of food and I tried to find out if FEMA was anywhere giving out supplies and...NOPE. The Red Cross was providing food to shelters, but no sign of FEMA.

So it seems like something has changed. Where ARE the MREs? The food given out both during Harvey and in PR seems to be whatever is laying around, maybe from the Red Cross, maybe from random donations.
posted by threeturtles at 2:43 PM on October 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

neroli I get it you don't like alternet. However you are wrong because FEMA said just that.
See the Rachel Maddow clip FEMA: Not our job to distribute food and water in Puerto Rico
posted by adamvasco at 2:44 PM on October 15, 2017 [13 favorites]

There are distribution problems in Puerto Rico, that are due to roads being inaccessible. Widespread damage to local infrastructure, blocked roads and most of the island being without power have stymied local officials. In some cases, food and water are geographically close to the people that desperately need it, but there's no way to get the supplies from point A to point B.

Reporting this story properly and with deeper context would be both more helpful and responsible.
posted by zarq at 3:03 PM on October 15, 2017 [14 favorites]

In Virginia election news, I'd like to report I just received a call from REPUBLIC PARTY, according to what appeared on the caller ID. Clarice wanted to be sure I was aware of a litany of reasons not to vote for Ralph Norman. "Norman?" I asked her. "Don't vote for Ralph Norman is what you're saying?" She said yes. "The script you're reading says Norman?" Yes, she said.
posted by emelenjr at 3:15 PM on October 15, 2017 [39 favorites]

There are distribution problems in Puerto Rico, that are due to roads being inaccessible. Widespread damage to local infrastructure, blocked roads and most of the island being without power have stymied local officials. In some cases, food and water are geographically close to the people that desperately need it, but there's no way to get the supplies from point A to point B.

If only we'd spent trillions of dollars building up a huge number of trained individuals with a supply of vehicles to move people and supplies through the air and over land and water, virtually regardless of conditions; a group whose mission is to serve and protect the American people. Then perhaps they could be mobilized to save lives. Too bad the only group we have like that seems to believe it's only mission is to take lives.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:23 PM on October 15, 2017 [54 favorites]

Appropo of nothing: am watching some of the PBS Vietnam series, with footage of the 1968 Chicago riots. Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley are very clearly telling the whole country exactly what they think of the situation. Where, O Lord, where is the courage of the press now??
posted by Melismata at 3:59 PM on October 15, 2017 [20 favorites]

(Walter Cronkite said: “here we are, at the Democratic convention...[pause] in a police state.”)
posted by Melismata at 4:03 PM on October 15, 2017 [15 favorites]

Where, O Lord, where is the courage of the press now??
No longer part of the job description for the Corporate Media. Not economically feasible.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:04 PM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

U.S. Vets: FEMA Is Lying To Us About Puerto Rico.
In a remote section of western Puerto Rico, a group of veterans turned volunteers have become a lifeline for residents who have seen little in the way of official aid in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
(via alternet and dailykos)
posted by adamvasco at 4:08 PM on October 15, 2017 [14 favorites]

"if we reported on x we would lose our access, and wouldn't be able to report on y; therefore we won't report on x, y, or anything else substantive."
posted by entropicamericana at 4:12 PM on October 15, 2017 [19 favorites]

For comparison, an In-N-Out double double has like 1600mg of sodium and you don't dehydrate yourself eating them.

Because you can also order a large, refreshing cup of iced tea. With free refills. And an MRE is a complete meal. Three Vienna sausages isn't a meal. I'm not saying people will get dehydrated, I'm saying they will get thirsty.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:57 PM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Meduza, An ex St. Petersburg ‘troll’ speaks out-Russian independent TV network interviews former troll at the Internet Research Agency. This is fascinating:

According to Max, the IRA’s “foreign desk” had open orders to “influence opinions” and change the direction of online discussions. He says this department within the agency considered itself above the “Russian desk,” which he claims is generally “bots and trolls.” The foreign desk was supposedly more sophisticated. “It’s not just writing ‘Obama is a monkey’ and ‘Putin is great.’ They’ll even fine you for that kind of [primitive] stuff,” Max told Dozhd. People in his department, he says, were even trained and educated to know the nuances of American social polemics on tax issues, LGBT rights, the gun debate, and more.

Max says that IRA staff were tasked with monitoring tens of thousands of comments on major U.S. media outlets, in order to grasp the general trends of American Internet users. Once employees got a sense of what Americans naturally discussed in comment forums and on social media, their job was to incite them further and try to “rock the boat.”

According to Max, the Internet Research Agency’s foreign desk was prohibited from promoting anything about Russia or Putin. One thing the staff learned quickly was that Americans don’t normally talk about Russia: “They don’t really care about it,” Max told Dozhd. “Our goal wasn’t to turn the Americans toward Russia,” he claims. “Our task was to set Americans against their own government: to provoke unrest and discontent, and to lower Obama’s support ratings.”

There's also kind of a civil war inside Iraq right now that nobody is mentioning: AP—BREAKING: Iraqi state media say federal troops have entered disputed territory controlled by the nation's Kurds.

Some background from the BBC.
posted by zachlipton at 4:59 PM on October 15, 2017 [40 favorites]

Michael Isikoff also reported on the Russian interview in Russian trolls were schooled on ‘House of Cards’

“At first we were forced to watch the ‘House of Cards’ in English,” said Maksim in the interview. It was part of a documented “strategy” in the English language department to fully understand how the American political system works. “It was necessary to know all the main problems of the United States of America. Tax problems, the problem of gays, sexual minorities, weapons,” he said.

“You were given a list of media that you had to monitor and comment on — New York Times, Washington Post,” he added. The trolls were required to look through thousands of comments on the publications’ articles. “It was necessary to look through all this and understand the general trend, what people were writing about, what they are arguing about,” he said. “And then get into the dispute yourself to kindle it, try to rock the boat.”

The trolls were even measured by “how much you got ‘likes.’ The comment was supposed to provoke a discussion.”

First, no wonder they have a screwed up view of American politics. They should have watched Veep.

Second, it's amazing how well they zeroed in on comment sections as the worst of our society and used them to develop and amplify their messages. It's not just a Russia problem. It's a people being toxic on the internet problem too.
posted by zachlipton at 5:05 PM on October 15, 2017 [60 favorites]

The lack of aid is damning, but I guess clickbait-y pullquotes get page views, and so we're talking about that instead.

this shit just enrages me. the fuck is wrong with people? when your adversary is basically standing in 'there is no such thing as truth', or 'truth is what i say it is' you must NEVER abandon truth, you must NEVER offer sloppily flung about semi- or pseudo-truth EVER. there are dozens of "liberal", "proud democrat" et al sites spewing forth COMPLETE BULLSHIT.

STOP LINKING, QUOTING AND SHARING THAT SHIT.
STOP IT.

THINK, FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 5:09 PM on October 15, 2017 [44 favorites]

California burns: Where’s the president? (Editorial, SF Gate)

That’s it? No talk of visiting California? No expressions of appreciation for the first responders? No condolences for those who lost their lives, or the many more who lost their homes? No recognition or pledges of federal support for the monumental task of rebuilding the neighborhoods and business that were devoured in the fire?

So how can it be that the loss of 40 human beings on American soil did not merit a single tweet? The most forgiving interpretation would be that Trump, along with the cable networks that seem to attract his laser focus and have not made this a huge story, have a case of disaster fatigue. Perhaps the problem is that he hasn’t been blasted for his underwhelming response:There is no surer way to provoke him to his phone. The most cynical speculation would be that he could not care less about a state that despises him like no other.

posted by Room 641-A at 5:37 PM on October 15, 2017 [34 favorites]

Part of the problem seems to be the sheer size of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives. It has 400 members — combined with the 24-member state Senate, the General Court “is the largest state legislature in the United States and the fourth-largest English-speaking legislative body in the world, behind the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of India, and the United States Congress” (Wikipedia). This is in a state with only 1.3 million residents.

1,300,000 / 400 == 3,250 persons per rep.

Yep that's kinda crazy. What's the US at right now?

323,127,513 / 435 == 742,821 persons per rep.

Oh what if we make it 10x as big?

323,127,513 / 4350 == 74,282 persons per rep.

How about 20x?

323,127,513 / 8700 == 37,141 persons per rep.

So maybe let's put the slippery slope worries about how we'd end up as bad as NH off until we've got a proposal to make the US House 40,000 members. At which point there'd be one rep per 8078 people, still more than twice as big as NH.
posted by phearlez at 5:39 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

STOP LINKING, QUOTING AND SHARING THAT SHIT.
STOP IT.

It's literally the government. I don't think ignoring it is going to accomplish anything.
posted by krinklyfig at 5:53 PM on October 15, 2017

That’s it? No talk of visiting California? No expressions of appreciation for the first responders? No condolences for those who lost their lives, or the many more who lost their homes? No recognition or pledges of federal support for the monumental task of rebuilding the neighborhoods and business that were devoured in the fire?

To be fair he did send his warmest condolences.
posted by Talez at 6:21 PM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

Hillary Clinton appears on Australian television tonight. On an investigative journalism show which is much respected called Four Corners, on the public broadcaster the ABC. Here's a little preview, where she describes her unhappiness with Julian Assange (nobody cares).

Anyhow it's on at 8:30pm our time.
posted by adept256 at 6:53 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't think ignoring it is going to accomplish anything.

I don't believe I said anything about ignoring it. Call it out. Just like you would if it was right-wing bullshit. Because if you think about it, it IS right-wing bullshit.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:56 PM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump is telling people privately he expects to replace both RBG and Sotomayor.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:56 PM on October 15, 2017 [13 favorites]

That's worth watching, obviously, but I'm getting weary of stories that present picking regulators from the industry they would regulate as an automatic outrage. (This particular story is better than most in that regard).

That's who you WANT to do it. They know the lingo, the issues and pressures, the temptations and techniques to circumvent regulation, where the bodies are buried, etc.

This wasn't mentioned upthread, but the problem with getting someone familiar with the industry to regulate it is that if they have a close enough relationship, they're likely to be biased in favour of what they see as their in-group. You need people familiar with the industry, absolutely, but you want the head honcho to be an outsider so they have no reason to think well of the people they're regulating and thus no pressure to kill things their underlings are doing.
posted by Merus at 6:59 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump also thinks signing an executive order is making a law. Which it isn't. I think his idea of the supreme court goes back to his wrestlemania days. Notorious RBG 'one person, one vote' can put the smack down, and that's appalling that he's effectively saying 'I hope she dies'. We all have dreams donald. Not all of them include people dying, but if that's the way you're going I've got a list like Arya Stark.
posted by adept256 at 7:01 PM on October 15, 2017 [9 favorites]

"Sotomayor," Trump said, referring to the relatively recently-appointed Obama justice, whose name is rarely, if ever, mentioned in speculation about the next justice to be replaced. "Her health," Trump explained. "No good. Diabetes."

Ugh, he's such a ghoul. I hope both RBG and Sotomayor outlive him and are able to join the queue to spit on his grave.
posted by chaoticgood at 7:03 PM on October 15, 2017 [58 favorites]

"Her health," Trump explained. "No good. Diabetes."

have another quarter-pounder with cheese, donny.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 7:06 PM on October 15, 2017 [27 favorites]

Here's a little preview, where she describes her unhappiness with Julian Assange (nobody cares).

I care. Don't speak for me ok?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:07 PM on October 15, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump is telling people privately he expects to replace both RBG and Sotomayor.

If that happens we might as well kiss liberalism goodbye. It'll be a white supremacist theocracy, optionally fascist in many areas of the nation.
posted by Talez at 7:10 PM on October 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

no, I'm not trying to speak for you or her. I don't think it's going to change much though. I put the link up because I want you and metafilter to know it's happening. Julian is actually from my neighborhood, and there's that. Sorry I didn't mean to be flippant, you can speak for yourself.
posted by adept256 at 7:12 PM on October 15, 2017

but you want the head honcho to be an outsider

It's not generalizable like that. It's up to each person's integrity and motivation. I know in my experience, getting audited by someone who used to have my job is the WORST, even if I know them well.

I mean best! Best, because I want to find all my errors and be argued with challenged on the smartest way to do things.
posted by ctmf at 7:12 PM on October 15, 2017

So how can it be that the loss of 40 human beings on American soil did not merit a single tweet? The most forgiving interpretation would be that Trump, along with the cable networks that seem to attract his laser focus and have not made this a huge story, have a case of disaster fatigue.

This is really starting to remind me of a relationship with an abusive spouse. We have to stop trying to figure out why he does the things he does. We have to accept that he is a sociopath and stop expecting him to act like anything approaching a rational human being. I don't mean ignore him, I mean that attempts to shame or engage him do not work. Like an abused spouse, it's best to focus on the exit strategy and meanwhile, go gray rock.
posted by AFABulous at 7:13 PM on October 15, 2017 [55 favorites]

each person's integrity

I know, Trump, etc.
posted by ctmf at 7:14 PM on October 15, 2017

Julian is actually from my neighborhood, and there's that.

was he always a vicious sexist, antisemitic, racist creep? or is that new?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:14 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

He's in love with his ego. It's all about him. He's not really a mindless bigot, he's just solipsistic. I didn't like him.

In answer to your question, it's not new, he's always been like this.
posted by adept256 at 7:17 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

I've heard a little more of her interview now, and she is blaming julian and comey. julian has already tweeted in reply, and it's not even repeatable here. Twitter is like the nazi hotline, so you can imagine.
posted by adept256 at 7:38 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

The really frightening thing is that other than the odd thought that he'll replace Sotomayor, I can't say I think Trump is wrong about the others.

Kennedy is a Republican Justice, he's been making noise about retiring. He's definitely right up there on the list of possibilities for Trump to replace.

Ginsburg is deathly ill and elderly to boot. She's kept her mind, unlike Trump, but her body is failing her and while I desperately hope she'll survive through 2020 [1], I wouldn't put money on it.

I'm a bit doubtful Trump will get to replace four, but three isn't as unlikely as we'd like to hope.

Worse, Breyer is elderly too. It seems likely that he'll outlive Ginsburg, but it's far from guaranteed.

It isn't actually impossible that Trump will get to appoint four justices.

And, of course, if the odds of a Democrat winning in 2020 look good enough, it's quite possible one of the older Republican Justices will retire simply to allow Trump to appoint a younger successor for them. Thomas perhaps.

[1] Or, rather, Jan 21, 2021. Because you know damn well that if RBG dies on Jan 20 Trump will appoint her successor and the Republican Senate will confirm before the new Democratic president is sworn in. All that BS they spewed about the last year in a President's term not counting doesn't apply to Republican Presidents.
posted by sotonohito at 7:56 PM on October 15, 2017 [10 favorites]

As for Clinton, I'd say she's not wrong. There were other factors, but Comey and Assange certainly would be at the top of the list of people who helped Trump win.
posted by sotonohito at 7:57 PM on October 15, 2017 [9 favorites]

"Her health," Trump explained. "No good. Diabetes."

My great grandmother just died a few years ago, in her nineties, so I may have some bad news for Trump about the longevity of stubborn elderly Hispanic ladies who have diabetes.
posted by corb at 8:06 PM on October 15, 2017 [55 favorites]

One of my former partners is named Ruth, and I told her this poem, I know it's based on a stupid pun, but it made her smile

I lay in bed and looked up at the stars
And I thought, where is my roof?
posted by adept256 at 8:07 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump will get another appointment. And one more is all they need to end America as we knew it and rule by judicial fiat.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:18 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

on the mountain of the worst things 'I wish she was dead' is sort of the pinnacle.
posted by adept256 at 8:18 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

As a native Sonoma County-an, Trump can take his 'warmest condolences' and shove them up his stupid moronic orange troglodyte ass. We neither need nor want him in Norcal. As for him getting to pick more justices I don't know where the hell he gets off speculating about anyone's health, that dude is a walking STEMI waiting to happen.
posted by supercrayon at 8:34 PM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

Kevin de Leόn has officially declared he's running against Diane Feinstein.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:34 PM on October 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

"Rest assured that talks will continue until the inevitable and fast-approaching moment in which we destroy humanity"

Time: Diplomacy With North Korea Will Continue 'Until The First Bomb Drops,' Says Rex Tillerson
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:37 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

From Adept257's link:

"It is not just her constant lying. It is not just that she throws off menacing glares and seethes thwarted entitlement," he said. "Something much darker rides along with it. A cold creepiness rarely seen."

OMG OMG OMG.

You want to know what Assange seemed like back in the day? THAT.

I didn't know him, per se, but the BBS world wasn't that big and I'd run into him on occasion. He was the guy who would bring a portable computer to a meet and sit in a corner with it.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:38 PM on October 15, 2017 [8 favorites]

Maybe Trump realized that he can get the warring GOP factions to hang together if they smell a SCOTUS appointment. Or 4, cause he can't think in subtle terms. You know, like in 2016, when he got elected against all reasonable odds.
posted by Glibpaxman at 8:43 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

I know joe, I'm from Brisbane and I had a commodore 64 with a modem when I was a kid. Mendax? That weird blonde kid, of course I knew him. He was supposed to be a genius, but he got busted once, and he was supposed to be anonymous. Then he holds a press conference. ???
posted by adept256 at 8:44 PM on October 15, 2017

CBS: Graham Says ‘We’re Dead’ If Tax Reform Fails
posted by Chrysostom at 9:05 PM on October 15, 2017

"Once employees got a sense of what Americans naturally discussed in comment forums and on social media, their job was to incite them further and try to “rock the boat.”"

And now they're moving on to step two: letting you know you were pwned.

Why? Because now you know outsiders were deliberately 'rocking the boat', you'll start to doubt the veracity of anyone who rocks the boat. Anyone who doesn't march in lock-step with you is fair game, you'll turn on them, and you'll stop barking at the enemy and start eating your own.

And the enemy's basilisk-like laser focus can continue unimpeded…
posted by Pinback at 9:10 PM on October 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

CBS: Graham Says ‘We’re Dead’ If Tax Reform Fails

He added: “It will be the end of Mitch McConnell as we know it.”

I too, as a normal person, refer to my colleagues as "it". Shit is McConnell Pennywise?
posted by dis_integration at 9:23 PM on October 15, 2017 [20 favorites]

Meanwhile, the steady drip-drip-drip continues:

WaPo: Interior looks at behind-the-scenes land swap to allow road through wildlife refuge

The Interior Department is preparing to set aside a decades-old ban on development in federally protected wilderness areas by pursuing a controversial proposal to build a nearly 12-mile road through a wildlife refuge in ­Alaska. [...] Allowing the project would violate the founding principle of federal wilderness — areas that are to remain pristine, off-limits to vehicles.

It's not like we were going to need wildlife refuges after we were done here, anyway...
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:09 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

That road isn't a drip drip. That's been on the table for years, almost as an emotional replacement for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The tiny village does not have a reliable way to get to the giant airstrip across the bay because the weather is that bad. That's the stated reason. Some might notice that a road would be very handy for fish processors, though. But this has been going on for years. You should see Murkowski get riled up on this.
posted by kerf at 10:14 PM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

The proposed road to King Cove has been a high-profile Alaskan political issue for years now. Even though it directly effects very few people it has taken on some broader significance as a symbolic proxy issue for development vs. wilderness protection.

My personal belief is that the medical necessity excuse is a pretext but I'm pretty sure nobody who will be making the decision cares -- the state's legislators are strongly pro-road development and under the new leadership the Department of the Interior is unlikely to continue to fight to protect the wilderness. I at least hope that construction of a road to King Cove doesn't wind up being the price that Murkowski gets for selling out something nationally important because that would be a really crappy bargain.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:25 PM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

the Alaska article is another good example of what quonsar was talking about - don't post seemingly outrageous things without understanding more context.
posted by AFABulous at 10:29 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

Apologies if this has been posted. Paul Krugman rounds up some Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies the Republicans have been telling about taxes for decades and the ones they're telling now.

Quick preview:

Lie #1: America is the most highly-taxed country in the world
Lie #2: The estate tax is destroying farmers and truckers
Lie #3: Taxation of pass-through entities is a burden on small business
Lie #4: Cutting profits taxes really benefits workers
Lie #5: Repatriating overseas profits will create jobs
Lie #6: This is not a tax cut for the rich
Lie #7: It’s a big tax cut for the middle class
Lie #8: It won’t increase the deficit
Lie #9: Cutting taxes will jump-start rapid growth
Lie #10: Tax cuts will pay for themselves

Standard disclaimers that Krugman is a Keynesian centrist neolib, so anyone triggered by free-market capitalism (with limits, always the limits with Krugman) portrayed in a positive light should not read. I find Krugman super useful for learning economic concepts and having some numbers to back me up when Uncle James starts weeping crocodile tears about "all the farmers" who are losing their legacies to estate taxes.
posted by xyzzy at 11:18 PM on October 15, 2017 [31 favorites]

We have a symbol for the lies: ∞. We talked about this the other day. The lies, they maybe ∞ over the horizon, forever, until the end of time.
posted by adept256 at 11:24 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's just a few hours before Hillary gives her interview. I know that she's promoting her book, and good for her. But it's 8:30pm, you've had dinner and helped the kids with their homework, and now you're watching four corners. In the United States, it's dawn yesterday. This is the first time you will have seen this, at breakfast. Why did she come here to do this? It's prime time for us, but back home everyone is asleep. She's going to spill her guts +16gmt
posted by adept256 at 12:49 AM on October 16, 2017

Wouldn't it be fun if she's doing it in Australia because Four Corners asked nicely and no-one else (with credibility) thought to?

Normally Four Corners can be trusted to ask difficult questions, but Australian journalists are usually so excited to get a foreigner on that they tend to treat them with kid gloves.
posted by Merus at 1:15 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Good evening Mrs Clinton, how do you like Australia?"
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:25 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Actually, that would be really fun. Four Corners is not cnn or fox or msnbc. They are going to ask difficult questions. They can, they're not beholden to any commercial interests. If I were to guess, maybe Hillary chose them because the ABC is a government funded broadcaster with a mission statement that forbids subjectivity.
posted by adept256 at 1:27 AM on October 16, 2017

I think the interview was conducted in New York, but it would be fantastic if she flew out.
posted by zachlipton at 1:27 AM on October 16, 2017

I would think it's fantastic that it's Samantha Bee's double there, and she says I'm canadian! I can get you over the border!

And then Liz Warren becomes president, and Barack and Michelle and I Just spend all day dunking. Just shooting hoops. Good dream.
posted by adept256 at 1:37 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Four Corners is not cnn or fox or msnbc. They are going to ask difficult questions.

Well, Fox would, they just wouldn't be good questions.

But more importantly access journalism isn't really a thing in Australia. The electorate tends to get suspicious of politicians who don't front up often enough to a grilling from a tenacious political interviewer. In America, there appears to be an expectation that politicians aren't going to answer difficult questions so you don't have to expect that they'll be asked.
posted by Merus at 1:45 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

To not abuse the edit window: we can definitely count on Four Corners to not take the email 'scandal' that seriously, because for one thing, you have to explain it to a foreign audience, and when you actually say it out loud you realise that there was very little to it, New York Times, you fucking numptys

...excuse me, clearly need to up my dose of Dontritheprim.

Dontritheprim: You Can't Change The Past, But You Can Medically Induce Amnesia
posted by Merus at 1:53 AM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

I feel like I have to defend Four Corners here. In the 1980s they had to put their reporters in physical danger. What they uncovered was systemic police corruption. When everyone saw what they had revealed, it was unanimous, it has to stop now.

I dunno, have you seen spotlight? It's like that, except an Australian version.
posted by adept256 at 1:57 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

White House Officials Tone Down Trump Rhetoric, Insist U.S. Will Stay in Iran Deal

Much confidence. Such negotiation. Wow.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:14 AM on October 16, 2017 [23 favorites]

WaPo: Inside the ‘adult day-care center’: How aides try to control and coerce Trump

Especially in the early days of his presidency, aides delivered the president daily packages of news stories filled with positive coverage and Trump began meetings by boasting about his performance, either as president or in winning the White House, according to one person who attended several Oval Office gatherings with him.

Some aides and outside advisers hoping to push their allies and friends for top postings, such as ambassadorships, made sure their candidates appeared speaking favorably about Trump in conservative news outlets — and that those news clippings ended up on the president’s desk.

posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:33 AM on October 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

"Containing Trump" is an euphemism. Those people are willing participants in this crime scene centred around the white-male-groper-supremacist-crook-in-chief, each with their own agenda and interests to serve.
posted by runcifex at 4:50 AM on October 16, 2017 [31 favorites]

Jerry Brown vetoes bill to pry loose Trump's tax returns
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:23 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Goddamnit, Jerry.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:45 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

> Standard disclaimers that Krugman is a Keynesian centrist neolib

This is tongue-in-cheek, right? Krugman reads as a social democrat to me, not a neolib. like as I understand it, when neoliberalism was actually new it referred to the freshwater economist types who broke from the Keynesian consensus back in the 70s, in favor of the Chicago School's version of economic liberalism. The descriptor "Keynesian neolib" causes my brain to skip a beat...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 5:58 AM on October 16, 2017 [17 favorites]

WaPo: Inside the ‘adult day-care center’: How aides try to control and coerce Trump

It is positively brain-warping to see how hard the media is working to present what we are going through as normal, to put it in some kind of context that doesn't reveal clearly what we have done.

I never really understood how profoundly true the story of the emperor with no clothes was, before.
posted by winna at 6:11 AM on October 16, 2017 [60 favorites]

it's a little troubling, I think, that the press is scrupulously avoiding noting what "adult day-care center" really means.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:14 AM on October 16, 2017 [47 favorites]

From Jerry Brown vetoes bill:

Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards?

No, just tax returns.

Look, if those other things get required in CA, it will be because the state has been turned over to red-meat GOP Teapublicans. That's not a slippery slope, that's free fall into brimstone, and nothing done today will have any impact on that sad, but hypothetical occurrence.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:15 AM on October 16, 2017 [14 favorites]

STOP LINKING, QUOTING AND SHARING THAT SHIT.
STOP IT.

THINK, FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

In a year that saw tens of thousands comments posted here, how many false reports were mistakenly posted? 50? 100? How many of those were particularly egregious? We probably have less [fake] news here than anywhere on the internet. No one here is deliberately posting bullshit (and if you think someone is, that's a job for the mods)

Everyone who is posting in these threads is doing so on their own time, for free. If someone makes a mistakes, let's just correct it and move on; things are stressful enough without MeFites unloadimg on each other. People make mistakes.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:18 AM on October 16, 2017 [40 favorites]

> During the campaign, when President Trump’s team wanted him to stop talking about a certain issue — such as when he attacked a Gold Star military family — they sometimes presented him with polls...

I initially read the last word as "dolls."
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:19 AM on October 16, 2017 [10 favorites]

But, to be somewhat fair, trump was never banking on CA's EVs, so he could give a crap less if he's not on the ballot there.

You're probably right, but the down-ballot Republicans in many districts would like the base to turn out, and if they can't vote for Mr. "Stick Your Finger in the Eye of a Liberal and Make Her Cry," they'll just stay home. It could flip quite a few seats.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:22 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

Can you imagine a tornado ripping through the Midwest, killing 40 people, destroying 5700 homes and businesses, and the president of the United States completely ignoring it? Does Trump understand that California is not literally going to burn to the ground. We will be here to fight you forever.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:25 AM on October 16, 2017 [34 favorites]

> Does Trump understand that California is not literally going to burn to the ground. We will be here to fight you forever.

well, except when fighting might lead to some kind of slippery slope.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:28 AM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

This is tongue-in-cheek, right?

A little. Sometimes his appreciation for capitalism rubs people the wrong way.
posted by xyzzy at 6:29 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Does Trump understand that California is not literally going to burn to the ground. We will be here to fight you forever.

Donald Trump is President* of everyone who can produce a photocopy of a ballot proving they voted for him...
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:30 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Can you imagine a tornado ripping through the Midwest, killing 40 people, destroying 5700 homes and businesses, and the president of the United States completely ignoring it?

TBH, as a midwesterner at the very north end of Tornado Alley, I am haunted by the likelihood of this, because Trump and the Republicans are greedy assholes and if there's any way for them not to provide aid, they'll take it. Also worth remembering that the Midwest is a land of contrasts - Minnesota (despite our performance in the last election) is a pretty blue state even now, and so are parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, etc. Screwing the blue parts of the midwest would be completely Trumpian.
posted by Frowner at 6:34 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Maybe the way to reform elections is to temporarily block social media (and specific parts of the physical world) at the DNS level.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:39 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Everyone who is posting in these threads is doing so on their own time, for free. If someone makes a mistakes, let's just correct it and move on; things are stressful enough without MeFites unloadimg on each other. People make mistakes.

yeah, didn't mean to come off that way. i was referring to the dubiously named "leftist news" sites, and honestly we don't see much of those here. sites named prouddemocrats.org and the like infest facebook, etc. i thought it was pretty clear the subject i was ranting about was sites featuring "clickbait-y pullquotes" but i guess not.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:49 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Der Spiegel interview with President of France Emmanuel Macron: 'We Need to Develop Political Heroism'

--

Mr. Macron also gave his first live primetime television interview last night as President. (He's been in office five months.) His critics have been casting him as the "President for the rich" after he began watering down France’s solidarity tax on wealth by restricting it only to the taxation of property. The tax represents billions of dollars in income for the government. He denied having disdain for the working class.

Bloomberg:

Macron, whose party has a commanding majority in parliament, has been accused by unions and opposition parties of overly favoring the rich by cutting the wealth tax, levies on capital gains and corporate income taxes, while at the same time reducing subsidies for housing and some jobs.

posted by zarq at 6:53 AM on October 16, 2017

I actually think that people on the coasts don't entirely realize how intensely many Midwesterners, especially non-urban Midwesterners, feel that disasters here don't get the same attention as disasters on the coasts. I think that the difference has to do with population density: a wildfire in Northern California is going to affect a lot more people than a wildfire in Montana or rural Kansas. A friend of mine said something snarky to me during Sandy about how much more attention it was getting than the 2008 Iowa floods, and then she apologized after I sent her the New York Times's list of every person in the tri-state area who died in the storm. (I think there were some fatalities in the 2008 floods, but not on anywhere near the same scale, even if you account for population differences.) But the answer to "can you imagine the president ignoring a disaster in the Midwest" is that many people in the Midwest think that everyone does ignore stuff here.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:54 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

But the answer to "can you imagine the president ignoring a disaster in the Midwest" is that many people in the Midwest think that everyone does ignore stuff here.

Well, they do. We're flyover.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:56 AM on October 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

Donald Trump won Georgia by a little over 5%.

January 23, 2017: "Desperate officials pleaded with President Donald Trump to send federal assistance Monday after at least 20 people were killed by storms and tornadoes that caused devastation authorities likened to the impact of a nuclear blast."
posted by zarq at 7:03 AM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

But the answer to "can you imagine the president ignoring a disaster in the Midwest" is that many people in the Midwest think that everyone does ignore stuff here.

Well, they do. We're flyover.

Obama not only publicly recognized several major tornado disasters, but also personally visited the locations and spoke with residents. Even W at least pretended to empathize with victims during his terms. This is something unique with this president, and (sadly) not so unique with conservatives in Congress.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:07 AM on October 16, 2017 [24 favorites]

winna It is positively brain-warping to see how hard the media is working to present what we are going through as normal, to put it in some kind of context that doesn't reveal clearly what we have done.

We saw exactly the same thing during the Reagan years. It was horrifyingly obvious to anyone who paid the slightest bit of attention that Reagan was senile. And the "liberal media" worked overtime for 8 years to pretend he wasn't.

There's an excellent book, The Clothes Have No Emperor which chronicled the day to day batshit insanity of the Reagan White House, it's cast of courtiers, and the refusal of the "liberal media" to acknowledge the truth. Originally in dead tree format, now available (for free if you want) electronically.

It's well worth the read because it provides some insight into the Trump era. Most especially it serves as a reminder that there is literally nothing the establishment media won't try desperately to spin as normal, no behavior too blatantly insane for them to ignore and minimize.

The good news is that we've got the net these days, and it's easier for people outside the establishment media to promote the simple fact that our president is unfit for office. It may not do much good, but at least the idea isn't as hushed up as it was during the Reagan years.
posted by sotonohito at 7:10 AM on October 16, 2017 [23 favorites]

Maybe we can get him to try and make a horse a Senator.
posted by Archelaus at 7:14 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'mma start losing sleep over the term "flyover" again when I can make it 2 consecutive days without hearing about "real Americans." Neither is okay, but at least the "flyover" folks get outsized control over the federal legislative branch.
posted by phearlez at 7:16 AM on October 16, 2017 [11 favorites]

Obama not only publicly recognized several major tornado disasters, but also personally visited the locations and spoke with residents

Trump hasn't even tweeted about the fires, which is literally the least he could do.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:17 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

at least the "flyover" folks get outsized control over the federal legislative branch.

And the electoral college. And by virtue of controlling those two branches more often than not, the make up of the federal judiciary.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:20 AM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

Obama not only publicly recognized several major tornado disasters, but also personally visited the locations and spoke with residents.

In 2013, President Obama traveled to Oklahoma. His remarks there are worth reading. Four years later, the second and third paragraphs still stick in my mind as exactly the right thing for a President to express during a crisis:

"THE PRESIDENT: There are a couple of acknowledgements that I want to make, but let me begin by just saying that whenever I come to an area that’s been devastated by some natural disaster like this, I want to make sure everybody understands I’m speaking on behalf of the entire country. Everywhere, fellow Americans are praying with you, they’re thinking about you, and they want to help.

And so I’m just a messenger here today, letting everybody here know that you are not alone, that you’ve got folks behind you."

The White House blog also noted what the President was doing during the crisis, and included links to organizations that Americans could reach out to, to help. From what I can see, the current administration uses the Press Office for similar announcements, but putting out a sanitized press release to the media is less personal and not the same as public outreach. The WH blog has a very different voice and positioning than it did last year.
posted by zarq at 7:22 AM on October 16, 2017 [28 favorites]

Even W at least pretended to empathize with victims during his terms.

The W presidency was a national disaster and an unconstitutional travesty of justice, but I will at least admit that W, the halfwit failson, felt sad when bad things happened to people.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:22 AM on October 16, 2017 [80 favorites]

> There's an excellent book, The Clothes Have No Emperor

That book is indeed excellent (and appalling). The Trump version, should we be fortunate to survive long enough for someone to write it, will be 20,000 pages long.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:22 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

You guys realize tornadoes don't just target Republicans, right?
posted by LarsC at 7:23 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

To be clear, I used tornados because I didn't want to make an example out of people who are still suffering from the recent crop of natural disasters.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:36 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump hasn't tweeted anything about the four special forces soldiers that were killed in Niger either.
posted by PenDevil at 7:36 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

Maybe they were from California. But yes, this needs a ton of attention from the media and I don't understand why it hasn't. So much for respecting the military. Again.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:41 AM on October 16, 2017

Trump hasn't even tweeted about the fires, which is literally the least he could do.

He only tweets about the things he gives a shit about.

Apparently he made an address from the White House last Tuesday and spoke with Governor Brown. Since then the death toll has doubled and thousands of homes have been destroyed, but “one voice has been conspicuously mute.”
posted by zarq at 7:44 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

...menacing glares and seethes thwarted entitlement...Something much darker rides along with it. A cold creepiness rarely seen.

It's always projection with these people, isn't it?
posted by adamgreenfield at 7:52 AM on October 16, 2017 [13 favorites]

I imagine if he does ever comment on the fires, it will be something about how it impacts his winery's market share - similar to how his reaction to 9/11 was that his building was now the tallest in NYC as a result (narrator: it wasn't).
posted by melissasaurus at 7:53 AM on October 16, 2017 [12 favorites]

The winery that only produces 36,000 cases a year and isn't even owned by Donny?

“Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates,” the disclaimer reads on the legal section of the website.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:06 AM on October 16, 2017

Trump Health Officials Just Quietly Defined Life As ‘Beginning at Conception’

Throw in the news that Trump will be meeting with Duterte during Trump's tour of Asia, and I am, to steal a phrase from another FPP, a cesspool of hate and a plague of frogs this morning.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:11 AM on October 16, 2017 [34 favorites]

The winery that only produces 36,000 cases a year and isn't even owned by Donny?

Didn't stop him from bringing it up after Charlottesville (and lying about its size and ownership).
posted by melissasaurus at 8:11 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

More news about the US Embassy in Cuba:

Sound of mystery attacks in Cuba released. It’s as obnoxious as you’d expect (Beth Mole, Ars Technica)

On Thursday, the Associated Press released the first audio recording of the sound that some diplomats say they heard during mystery attacks in Havana, Cuba. Those attacks have so far left 22 Americans with a puzzling range of symptoms, from brain injuries to hearing loss.

The sound is high-pitched and grating. You can listen to it here (but beware: it’s unpleasant).

The noise is composed of 20 or more different frequencies, all around about 7,000 Hz and 8,000 Hz. It reportedly came in abrupt pulses of varying lengths.

Not all those attacked heard the noise. Some heard nothing, and others heard variations. But several individuals involved told the AP that the recorded noise was consistent with their experience.

posted by Room 641-A at 8:19 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mod note: Y'all we have talked before about not collapsing the red/blue electoral balance of different states and regions in the US into crappy blanket dismissal of everybody living in the red ones and that is an important thing that needs to stay on your radar even if you're grumpy about shit. If you're gonna drop a dismissive "flyover" or "redneck" thing in the thread on the basis of Yeah But They... then just don't.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:20 AM on October 16, 2017 [12 favorites]

That sound thing sounds like the plot of a few podcasts.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:26 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Blasting Nickelback at the diplomats would have been cheaper and just as effective.
posted by delfin at 8:26 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Especially in the early days of his presidency, aides delivered the president daily packages of news stories filled with positive coverage and Trump began meetings by boasting about his performance

I've mentioned this before, but again, what the fuck? If I'm owner of a goddamn frozen banana stand I want to know what the naysayers and gripers and haters are saying even more than what the yes-people are saying. Who runs a real estate empire, let alone the most powerful country in the world, without wanting to know what's in the shadows? I'd be paranoid as hell, but then again I guess I'm not, um, presidential material.
posted by Rykey at 8:35 AM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

If you own a certain frozen banana stand then you're likely to be as presidential as Trump, up to and including the light treason.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:43 AM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

Transcript of the Four Corners interview is up.

It's pretty good, as I'd expect from Sarah Ferguson. Polite without being fawning and very few bullshit questions.
posted by flabdablet at 8:46 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

> Who runs a real estate empire, let alone the most powerful country in the world, without wanting to know what's in the shadows?

Narcissistic morons. next question.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:47 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

From Buzzfeed: Trump Given A Subpoena For All Documents Relating To Assault Allegations

Go, Gloria, go.
posted by Dashy at 8:48 AM on October 16, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump joked that Pence wants to hang gay people. Somehow, as with so much else, this will barely make a ripple.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:53 AM on October 16, 2017 [53 favorites]

Transcript of the Four Corners interview is up.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated.

There's nothing particularly new here If you've read "What Happened." Most of her answers are covered in the first few chapters, in some cases nearly word for word.
posted by zarq at 8:55 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

The noise is composed of 20 or more different frequencies, all around about 7,000 Hz and 8,000 Hz. It reportedly came in abrupt pulses of varying lengths.

In that short clip it didn't sound as annoying as I thought it would be (and less annoying than that kid's skateboard slapping the sidewalk for an hour every day) and I wonder if my hearing loss is part of that. I think that's the range of where my hearing is the worst, and the skateboard is just something I'm hearing more of. Audio folks, what stands out to you about this new information?

On preview, Pence is getting it from Bannon, too: Bannon: Kochs ‘would own’ Pence if he became president
posted by Room 641-A at 8:58 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

> A staff member from Trump’s campaign recalls him mocking Pence’s religiosity. He said that, when people met with Trump after stopping by Pence’s office, Trump would ask them, “Did Mike make you pray?”

Onward, Christian solider.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:00 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

The sound is high-pitched and grating. You can listen to it here (but beware: it’s unpleasant)

Just a commonsense caution from a former PSYOPer that you may want to strongly consider not listening to this recording, considering the range of symptoms people are reporting. It sounds goofy, I know, but I'm not at all confident that listening to it at lower volume/at shorter duration/in low resolution would be sufficient to protect you from all foreseeable harms. (For this reason, despite the audience's understandable curiosity, I think it's irresponsible for broadcasters to disseminate this recording.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:01 AM on October 16, 2017 [37 favorites]

Trump joked that Pence wants to hang gay people. Somehow, as with so much else, this will barely make a ripple.

"As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me." -- Donald Trump

"Hey, I didn't say I'd protect you for hateful domestic ideology." -- Donald Trump [fake, but c'mon]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:18 AM on October 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

It sounds goofy, I know, but I'm not at all confident that listening to it at lower volume/at shorter duration/in low resolution would be sufficient to protect you from all foreseeable harms.

Yeah, uh. This. I at least like to think I'm pretty skeptical and not at all prone to suggestion, but I just listened to the sound 3 or 4 times, not all that loudly, and all of a sudden I'm feeling rather nauseated and disoriented.

Could just be coincidental, and I know it sounds weird as heck, but, um, I'm a bit unnerved. Be careful?
posted by jammer at 9:27 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's always projection with these people, isn't it?

btw someone told the red pillers about "projection" and practically all they do now is accuse people of doing it
posted by thelonius at 9:28 AM on October 16, 2017 [13 favorites]

Pres. Trump: "Obamacare is finished, it's dead, it's gone... You shouldn't even mention it. It's gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore."

I will call my Republican senators to congratulate them on replacing Obamacare with Trumpcare, and ask whether they expect premiums to be lower under Trumpcare.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:50 AM on October 16, 2017 [64 favorites]

Cool now that it's online we can look forward to getting rickrolled by haunted snow crash audio clips that turn your brain into jello
posted by theodolite at 9:51 AM on October 16, 2017 [33 favorites]

During an interview with the Toronto Star, former Taliban captive Joshua Boyle mentioned in passing: "One of the captors told Boyle the new U.S. president was Donald Trump before he was forced to make a 'proof-of-life' video. 'It didn’t enter my mind that he was being serious,' he said."
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:54 AM on October 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

I just listened to the sound 3 or 4 times, not all that loudly, and all of a sudden I'm feeling rather nauseated and disoriented.

Could just be coincidental, and I know it sounds weird as heck, but, um, I'm a bit unnerved.

It sounds to me really, really similar to noises I've heard coming out of shitty switching power supplies squegging under light loads. And I've often been unnerved by that, because who knows when TF the F thing is gonna fall over completely?
posted by flabdablet at 10:05 AM on October 16, 2017

Cleanse your ears, here's Obama singing Amazing Grace. I've read some of you writing that Trump hasn't displayed enough compassion for the victims of disasters, and I think it's true, he doesn't have the empathy. But anyway, there's Obama, in the church where the mass shooting was, actually singing.
posted by adept256 at 10:05 AM on October 16, 2017 [12 favorites]

btw someone told the red pillers about "projection" and practically all they do now is accuse people of doing it

I expect nothing less from the world's leading natural source of NO U
posted by palomar at 10:06 AM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm not at all confident that listening to it at lower volume/at shorter duration/in low resolution would be sufficient to protect you from all foreseeable harms.

I'm not at all confident that inducing people to react fearfully to noises that could have been made by the insects in my back yard is protecting them from all foreseeable harms.
posted by flabdablet at 10:08 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

In her efforts to stay out of politics, Ivanka appointed Flynn as National Security Advisor. From the New Yorker "Danger of President Pence" piece (served with a hot ladleful of Christie humiliation):

On November 11, 2016, Christie was chairing a transition meeting, when, according to four sources, Flynn walked in with an ally, General Keith Kellogg. “Gentlemen, can I help you?” Christie asked. Ivanka Trump, who was a member of the transition team’s executive council, announced that she had invited them. Christie tried to reclaim control of the meeting, but Ivanka took over. Praising Flynn’s “amazing loyalty to my father,” she turned to him and asked, “General, what job do you want?” A participant at the meeting said, “It was like Princess Ivanka had laid the sword on Flynn’s shoulders and said, ‘Rise and go forth.’ ”
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:10 AM on October 16, 2017 [36 favorites]

Pres. Trump: "Obamacare is finished, it's dead, it's gone... You shouldn't even mention it. It's gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore."

Ah, ok. Let's go back to what it was originally called: Romneycare.
posted by Melismata at 10:11 AM on October 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

It was like Princess Ivanka had laid the sword on Flynn’s shoulders and said, ‘Rise and go forth.’

Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
posted by flabdablet at 10:15 AM on October 16, 2017 [46 favorites]

I have no idea if this is important or not any longer, but BREAKING NEWS apparently:

WaPo: Manchin calls on Trump to withdraw Marino’s nomination as drug czar

After revelations that Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) was the chief advocate for the measure that hobbled the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said the agency needs a leader “who believes we must protect our people, not the pharmaceutical industry.” Meanwhile, another lawmaker introduced legislation to undo the law that Marino championed.

Foxes being nominated to guard hen houses is what I expect now, so I'm totally confused.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:20 AM on October 16, 2017 [12 favorites]

some farcical aquatic ceremony.

The lady of the lake gave King Arthur a sword? I don't understand 'aquatic'.
posted by adept256 at 10:20 AM on October 16, 2017

Lake...aquatic...Pythonesque.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:23 AM on October 16, 2017

Do the noises the insects in your back yard make have a history of causing mysterious symptoms for mysterious reasons?

There is evidence that those weird sounds have caused physical harm in people in Cuba and no one seems to know how. I'm not going to listen to those sounds until that changes. It doesn't add anything for me or give me knew information. A description of the sound is plenty.
posted by VTX at 10:26 AM on October 16, 2017 [13 favorites]

Do the noises the insects in your back yard make have a history of causing mysterious symptoms for mysterious reasons?

Can't say for sure that they haven't; I've certainly had mysterious symptoms for mysterious reasons on occasion.

Hold on, I'll check.
posted by flabdablet at 10:31 AM on October 16, 2017

Guys, there’s nothing to worry about, I listened to the sound and it’s finALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO TOAD
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:32 AM on October 16, 2017 [42 favorites]

So anyone you share that to dies in 7 days, right?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

No, you die in 7 days unless you share it.
posted by flabdablet at 10:36 AM on October 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

adept256: The lady of the lake gave King Arthur a sword? I don't understand 'aquatic'.

Yes, she did.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:38 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Dumbest timeline update: The Secretary of State just had to publically announce that he still has his balls.

Why not? Trump himself assured a primary debate audience that there was no, ah, shortcoming about the size of his penis.

And then Republicans far and wide voted for him.
posted by Gelatin at 10:40 AM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Damnit, Austria: Austria’s Rightward Lurch Is Europe’s New Normal (Steven Erlanger and James Kanter for New York Times, Oct. 16, 2017)

Rather than a sudden lurch to the right, the victory of conservative and far-right parties in Austria’s elections Sunday was another reflection of the new normal in Europe, where anti-immigration populism and nationalism are challenging the European Union’s commitment to open borders for trade and immigration.

Nearly 58 percent of Austrians who voted cast ballots for center-right or far-right parties, with the far-right Freedom Party running neck-and-neck for second place with the establishment center-left. But the theme of the election was identity — anti-immigration and anti-Islamization — with the charismatic winner, Sebastian Kurz, just 31, tellingly absorbing much of the far-right’s agenda to transform his once-mainstream conservative People’s Party.

Mr. Kurz must now decide whether to create a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party or to renew a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, which would ease European concerns to some degree about another populist party in government. But the message is clear: populism is vibrant in democratic Europe, and especially so in its eastern precincts.

There's still a hope that Kurz can go center-left, but that's a very slim hope, as NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported:

he just collapsed the existing government. I mean, he basically called it quits with the center-left partners they had - the Social Democrats. So it doesn't really make much sense to partner with the Social Democrats, who are coming in either second or third of - the vote count is still going on. Plus, Kurz campaigned on Austrian insecurity, which he links to uncontrolled immigration of refugees. For example, the big wave that came to Austria and the rest of Europe in 2015. He also has been pretty strict about Islam and Muslims here. He helped pass a burka ban. He's a strong advocate for making all immigrants and refugees in Austria fit in or get out.

Where are those immigrants coming from again? Syria is still the source of most refugees, which is largely due to Russian influences (TIL: Russia used or is still using market-based incentives tied to oil and mining rights to reward private security contractors who secure territory from the extremists, Russian news outlets have reported (Andrew E. Kramer for NYT, July 5, 2017)).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:53 AM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

Ok thanks, I get it now. I'm the idiot you have to explain the joke to. From your helpful link:

The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.

Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
posted by adept256 at 11:06 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's pretty cunningly villainous, using our worst impulses against us. Drive refugees into our countries and count selfishness, fear, and racism to make us pull up the drawbridge and lock ourselves in. And now that we're locked up inside our own borders, squabbling with each other, Russia can do what they like.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:06 AM on October 16, 2017 [14 favorites]

more like lady of the fake amiright
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:14 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump explains he still hasn't called the family members of those killed in Niger, but it's ok because other Presidents didn't call either: "If you look at Pres Obama +other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. A lot of them didn't make calls." (This is the first time he's mentioned the soldiers in the 12 days since it happened.) Then we get a "I'll totally do my homework sometime later, mom" story: "I’ve written them personal letters. They have been sent or are going out tonight. I will at some point call the parents and the families." Peter Alexander (thankfully!) pushed back on Trump's lie about Obama: "I don't know if he did," Trump says. "...probably did sometimes."

Alyssa Mastromonaco, Obama's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, responds: "that's a fucking lie. to say president obama (or past presidents) didn't call the family members of soldiers KIA - he's a deranged animal."
posted by zachlipton at 11:19 AM on October 16, 2017 [78 favorites]

> A participant at the meeting said, “It was like Princess Ivanka had laid the sword on Flynn’s shoulders and said, ‘Rise and go forth.’ ”

If we're going with fictional stories, I get more of a Zardoz barfing guns and intoning "Go forth and kill!" vibe from the Trump administration.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:23 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

btw someone told the red pillers about "projection" and practically all they do now is accuse people of doing it

Well, it's basically a grown-up sounding version of "I'm rubber, you're glue."
posted by Coventry at 11:27 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump on the situation in northern Iraq: "We don’t like the fact that they are clashing, but we’re not taking sides." He doesn't even fucking bother to suggest they stop this or that we're trying to help broker a resolution or anything. Just a totally passive observer I guess. (Some background on what's going on from NPR.)

Now he says he wants NFL players suspended for "disrespecting our country."
posted by zachlipton at 11:29 AM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

What if they invited the Vice-President to a rally, and no one came?

Pence, meanwhile, traveled to the Washington County fairgrounds, one of the few politically safe regions of the state to bring a Trump administration official. His rally with Gillespie in Abingdon, where the Republican presidential ticket took home 75 percent of the county vote, was expressly political. Pence repeatedly attacked Northam in front of the crowd of 400 people. [Politico]

Well, maybe nobody knew about it? Oh, well, yeah, a tractor pull IS pretty amazing.

Emma Clark, a Republican activist, worked the phones earlier in the day to try to drum up more attendees. She and others said it was hard to compete with other activities on a beautiful Saturday, including football, hunting and the wedding of two local Republican leaders, which drew a number of GOP activists as guests. A tractor pull took place on the fairgrounds just as the rally kicked off.[WP]

Certainly, though, Trump's endorsement must have the Gillespie campaign revved up?

Ed Gillespie, the Republican nominee for Virginia governor, deployed just about every tactical evasion he had learned from a lifetime in politics as he dodged questions about President Trump.

Then he finally flashed irritation.

“I don’t know the president,” Mr. Gillespie said in an interview at his headquarters here when asked whether he thought Mr. Trump was ethical. “I’ve not met him.”[NYT]

posted by Chrysostom at 11:30 AM on October 16, 2017 [30 favorites]

"I will at some point call the parents and the families."

It's awful that he hasn't called yet. It's inexcusable. And fuck him for his lying whataboutism defense, too.

At the same time: imagine experiencing the loss of a loved one in combat overseas, and then imagine having to endure a phone call about it with this absolute fucking ghoul.

People have every right to say whatever the hell they want after losing a loved one, and I'd applaud anyone who told this guy to fuck off after losing somebody like this. But let's face it, social pressures and grief and the impulse to support a loved one's choices (in this context, the choice to serve in uniform) can create a lot of barriers to speaking one's mind. One might expect an overriding sense of obligation to be respectful or patient or whatever. But they still have to suffer through that phone call.

Imagine losing someone you loved, and then as you're dealing with that grief imagine the extra dose of cruelty of having to deal with this fucking ghoul.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:40 AM on October 16, 2017 [34 favorites]

Do the noises the insects in your back yard make have a history of causing mysterious symptoms for mysterious reasons?

History of the Necronomicon:

Original title Al Azif—azif being the word used by Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos’d to be the howling of daemons.

posted by Dr Dracator at 11:46 AM on October 16, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump's last 6 weeks of approval ratings via Gallup.

Nothing that has happened has budged his numbers. They are exactly where they have been, and where they'll stay. I honestly don't know that it is possible for these people to change their minds.
posted by Justinian at 11:48 AM on October 16, 2017 [15 favorites]

I thought the whole point of Trump was to do exactly the opposite of what Obama did in every way. So if Obama wouldn't call, shouldn't that mean you do?

(But seconding the ghoul phone call sufferage, and neither those folks nor anyone in CA want his thoughts or fake condolences.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:51 AM on October 16, 2017

Cochran still not back at work, and maybe not anytime soon:

Politico: Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) will not return to Washington on Monday as planned due to continued health problems — denying Senate Republicans a reliable vote as they take up a must-pass budget later this week.

USAT: Cochran’s failure to return to work Monday has prompted numerous national news reports saying GOP leaders are worried about an extended absence of a key member of the budget-setting process and a Republican vote they can’t afford to lose on pending measures.

posted by Chrysostom at 11:51 AM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

If he steps down, MS goes to special election.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:55 AM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

I honestly don't know that it is possible for these people to change their minds.

I've been thinking lately, the key to Trump is the Sarah Palin phenomenon. Most people looked at that and said, wow, look at those assholes. A completely unqualified candidate, very popular with people who find that she validates their identity. But Trump saw the opportunity, he saw that people loved Palin BECAUSE she was an idiot, who was proud of her ignorance, and because "liberals" had contempt for her. And he saw that that went for the GOP establishment, too - these same voters were also fed up with them. Look how easily he defeated the "serious" candidates in the primaries.
posted by thelonius at 11:55 AM on October 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

TPM: Dossier Firm’s Lawyers Accuse Devin Nunes Of ‘Unprofessional Conduct’

Lawyers representing the firm that put together the so-called Trump dossier wrote a scathing letter to House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) — who has recused himself from the committee’s Russia probe, but nonetheless issued subpoenas to the firm — accusing Nunes and his staff of operating with a “pattern of unprofessional conduct.”

“Now that you, and by extension, your staff, have proven to be unreliable partners in good faith negotiations, we cannot reasonably be expected to trust anything that you or your staff would represent to us,” the lawyers for Fusion GPS said Monday in the letter. “We cannot in good conscience do anything but advise our clients to stand on their constitutional privileges, the attorney work product doctrine and contractual obligations.”

The lawyers signaled that Fusion GPS would not be turning over the documents Nunes’ subpoena requested (though the firm did preserve them). The lawyers said that, if compelled to appear in front of the committee, Fusion GPS representatives would invoke their constitutional privileges not to testify. They laid out a number of reasons they believed Nunes and his staff had acted in “bad faith” in issuing the subpoenas, including him doing so unilaterally despite his recusal as well as various “infirmities” in the subpoenas themselves.

The 17-page letter is behind the link. As an example of how screwed up these subpoenas are, they instruct the CIA, not Fusion GPS, to hand over documents, because I guess nobody bothered to do a find & replace? And, you know, the whole thing about Nunes recusing himself and then issuing subpoenas anyway.
posted by zachlipton at 11:58 AM on October 16, 2017 [32 favorites]

I honestly don't know that it is possible for these people to change their minds.

Yea, I think he's at his approval floor absent smoking gun level evidence of Russia collusion, or starting a war, or the economy collapsing. He'll always have the 27%. We've seen enough now to say he'll also always have the bulk of the Republican establishment and the habitual Republican voter, and those people take him to 36-38 that are never leaving him absent some actual catastrophe that seriously impacts their daily life directly. What he's maybe lost is the marginal Republican and independent voter, and we don't know how far gone from him those people are, and if they're gone enough to vote for a Democrat down ballot. And if he's at 40 in 2020, that's about where he was for much of 2016, it's not inconceivable he could get reelected again with 40% approval, depending on the Democratic candidate and how many moron billionaires we have running as independents.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:59 AM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

The only thing that's put Trump in potential danger with ~the base~ was the brief period he was saying nice things about Chuck & Nancy and the DACA kids.
posted by theodolite at 12:00 PM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's unkind to call Sarah Palin an idiot. If I may, can I appropriate a pejorative from the white house? She's a fucking moron.
posted by adept256 at 12:01 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe McConnell would rather fly in a sick Cochran once a month than risk getting a second Roy Moore. And for once I kinda agree with Mitch.
posted by Glibpaxman at 12:05 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

fluttering hellfire: "If he steps down, MS goes to special election."

Right, MS doesn't do appointments to fill Senate vacancies. A special will be scheduled if he leaves office this year; if next, it would just happen at the 2018 general.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:06 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well, Mike Lee endorsed Roy Moore today, so if you were somehow, absurdly, still clinging to the whole "principled conservative" concept as a thing, sorry.
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on October 16, 2017 [15 favorites]

> if you were somehow, absurdly, still clinging to the whole "principled conservative" concept as a thing, sorry.

So it goes. So it goes.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:24 PM on October 16, 2017

Trump On GOP Failures: 'I'm Not Going To Blame Myself, I'll Be Honest' It is 100% NOT worth reading this article, but it is 100% worth looking at that photo.
posted by duffell at 12:24 PM on October 16, 2017 [47 favorites]

Hahaha that is ripe for turning into a meme
posted by supercrayon at 12:26 PM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

That Rose Garden press conference with Mitch McConnell was something. First Trump had to pretend that he & McConnell are besties. How many times has this same situation been played out in this administration? It's become a regular routine.

Next Trump said "Healthcare will be back next year" so don't get sick until then, I guess.

Then he told his usual lies about taxes and dragged the Democrats into it. I think we're all supposed to blame the Dems if the taxes don't get reformed.

Trump also promised that the opioid epidemic was going to be declared a National Emergency next week although I swear I remember him saying something similar weeks ago.

The best moment was when the press called him out on his lie about Obama's and previous presidents not calling the families of dead soldiers. Trump had to walk that lie back. He is pretending that he has letters of condolence ready to go out. He couldn't lie about the plane returning their remains because we all know he was golfing.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:31 PM on October 16, 2017 [15 favorites]

Yeah, but after the press conference, they held hands and walked off together. Trump stood there and blatantly lied about Obama not calling the families of dead service members, not to mention pointing out that McConnell "maybe" takes drug company money while McConnell is standing right there, and it doesn't matter a damn bit: he'll still take his hand. The GOP will not let go.
posted by zachlipton at 12:32 PM on October 16, 2017 [19 favorites]

Trump also promised that the opioid epidemic was going to be declared a National Emergency next week although I swear I remember him saying something similar weeks ago.

He said he would in early August, still no action.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:34 PM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yeah, but after the press conference, they held hands and walked off together.

Real talk: that's not hand-holding. He's grasping Mitch's scaly little limb to steady himself up the hated steps.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:36 PM on October 16, 2017 [19 favorites]

*gasp* *choke* new thread please?
posted by yoga at 12:37 PM on October 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

Hmm, looks like SecCommerce Wilbur Ross is dodging federal ethics rules. [Forbes]
posted by Chrysostom at 12:38 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

looks like SecCommerce Wilbur Ross is dodging federal ethics rules.

What, were there no international ethics rules to dodge today? I'm here all week.
posted by Rykey at 12:45 PM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

iPad is too chocked to quote or preview, but images with Rust Moranis that he is steadying himself. But I appreciate the first reply in the Twitter thread:

@daftafterdark
They are merely exchanging long protein strings. If you can think of a simpler way, I’d like to hear it.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:46 PM on October 16, 2017 [19 favorites]

So Tom Cotton is being floated as next CIA director. Arkansas replaces senators by appt. Bleh.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:47 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well, it would be hard to do worse than Cotton....
posted by Chrysostom at 12:49 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

have you seen 2017?
posted by localhuman at 12:51 PM on October 16, 2017 [22 favorites]

Well that's a bold strategy picking Cotton let's see if it pays off for them.
posted by Talez at 12:52 PM on October 16, 2017 [22 favorites]

There's some talk of replacing Tillerson with Mike Pompeo and replacing Pompeo as CIA director with Senator Tom Cotton. Does Arkansas have special elections or does the Governor just appoint someone? Have we ever had so many Senators being replaced? I suspect Trump knows nobody outside of people he's met since starting the job so he just keeps thinking of Senators as nominees. Good thing he has a list for SCOTUS nominations because if he had to come up with his own names we'd end up with worse than Gorsuch. His barber maybe or the hotel concierge.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:52 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well that's a bold strategy picking Cotton let's see if it pays off for them.

Jump down, spin around, pick a bale o' Cotton...
posted by Melismata at 12:53 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's the comprehensive list of how states fill Senate vacancies.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:54 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Good thing he has a list for SCOTUS nominations because if he had to come up with his own names we'd end up with worse than Gorsuch. His barber maybe or the hotel concierge.

Perhaps Harriet Miers could take another crack at it.
posted by Coventry at 12:55 PM on October 16, 2017 [10 favorites]

Although, Asa Hutchinson isn't required to pick a republican for Cotton's seat. Hmmm...
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:55 PM on October 16, 2017

Ha, I was just going to link that, fluttering hellfire!

Anywho, Cotton's appointed replacement would serve until the 2018 general. That person (Cotton or person who defeated him) would serve until 2020, then we're back to normal.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:56 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Asa Hutchinson expanded Medicaid under Obamacare... but he also supported repeal and go fuck yourself Graham Cassidy soooo.
posted by Justinian at 12:58 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

until 2020, then we're back to normal

That's optimistic ;)
posted by diogenes at 12:58 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Cotton at CIA is terrifying. The blackops torture sites will be back up within days and we'd probably have wetwork teams inside Iran by week two.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:59 PM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

I honestly don't know that it is possible for these people to change their minds.

It's easily done. All he has to do is work with Democrats on something substantial and speak in favor of things/people that they despise. Or did I imagine yahoos burning Trump hats after he merely flirted with acknowledging that DACA wasn't all bad?

Of course, he backtracked once the TRUMP BETRAYED US, HE SUPPORTS AMNESTY shrieking kicked in because he knows what got him there in the first place -- being the Great White Avenger. But he is only their idol so long as he keeps speaking out what they demand to hear.
posted by delfin at 1:01 PM on October 16, 2017

Asa Hutchinson isn't required to pick a republican for Cotton's seat

There's no way the Republican governor of a deeply red state doesn't pick a Republican to replace one of the most conservative Republican senators. Hutchinson is up for reelection in 2018 and would almost certainly be primaried if he appointed a Democrat.

But in any event, even if they're replaced by more Republicans, pulling Republican senators does three useful things: 1) it narrows the Republican majority until a replacement is made, 2) it removes the incumbent advantage, and 3) it replaces a more senior senator with a more junior one.
posted by jedicus at 1:03 PM on October 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

Yeah, strictly in terms of the Senate, Cotton leaving is a plus. As T.D. Strange mentions, actually having him at CIA would be Not Good.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:08 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

How Fallon fell: why is the late-night host floundering in Trump's America?

At a time when his peers are earning points for smart rebukes of the Trump administration, Fallon’s self-effacing anecdotes and best-friend schtick often feel like an undercooked hors d’oeuvre preceding Seth Meyers’ acerbic political main course, which airs after him.

The ratings have proved that viewers are deserting The Tonight Show, too. Where Fallon once towered above his 11.35pm time-slot rivals, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, he’s now in danger of slipping into third place – something that was unthinkable even 12 months ago. Fallon averaged nearly 4 million viewers a night in 2015, and almost 3.5 million the year after. In 2017, he’s pulling in just over 2.5 million a show, a steep drop by Tonight Show standards.

posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:11 PM on October 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

After tousling Trump's hair, he can rot in the bowels of late night for all I care. He got old on SNL fast, and he was tolerable at best on late night talk. He gets zero sympathy from me.
posted by Twain Device at 1:15 PM on October 16, 2017 [44 favorites]

Fallon should have been a stronger Clinton supporter; his ratings would still be healthy if politics was mostly dull and the Administration mostly competent.
posted by notyou at 1:17 PM on October 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Fallon wants to be a cheerful clown and not have much to do with politics. He doesn't fit in with the new reality that we can't come back from.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:19 PM on October 16, 2017 [43 favorites]

You'd think that fuckin weedhound would have turned on Trump the moment the KKKebler elf started banging the drug war drum again.
posted by phearlez at 1:21 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is he the guy who gets all the celebrities to play wacky parlor games on his youtube channel? I didn't know he had a show.
posted by cmfletcher at 1:24 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mike Schur, another SNL alum from the Fallon era, describes writing (or doing anything) in the Trump era that felt very true to me:

Trump is like a blue-light bulb that you put into a room: As soon as you switch out the old light bulb for a blue-light bulb, everything in the room is affected by it. It has a different hue. The shadows are different. Everything’s colored differently, you look at everything differently, you feel different. You get nauseous. You might throw up. I don’t think it’s possible to utterly remove yourself [from him] — this is true whether you’re a sculptor or a painter or a novelist or a TV writer or a film writer or anything. He’s sucking all the oxygen out of the room. You are affected by his presence. (link, totally unrelated, spoiler-filled interview about The Good Place)

Jimmy Fallon hasn't adjusted to the blue light, but his viewers have.
posted by gladly at 1:27 PM on October 16, 2017 [56 favorites]

And while everybody's distracted by the obvious clusterfuck, they're quietly allowing us to be irradiated.

Ari Natter, Bloomberg: EPA Says Higher Radiation Levels Pose ‘No Harmful Health Effect’

In the event of a dirty bomb or a nuclear meltdown, emergency responders can safely tolerate radiation levels equivalent to thousands of chest X-rays, the Environmental Protection Agency said in new guidelines that ease off on established safety levels.

The EPA’s determination sets a level ten times the drinking water standard for radiation recommended under President Barack Obama. It could lead to the administration of President Donald Trump weakening radiation safety levels, watchdog groups critical of the move say.

[...] Ruch said he was concerned the document signals that in the event of a "Fukushima-type" nuclear meltdown the EPA would allow public consumption of radiation-contaminated drinking water.

"Dr. Strangelove is alive and lurking somewhere in the corridors of EPA," he said.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:30 PM on October 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

Trump joked that Pence wants to hang gay people. Somehow, as with so much else, this will barely make a ripple.

I too am shocked that more notice isn't being given to what is surely the most honest thing Trump will say all week.
posted by phearlez at 1:40 PM on October 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

In other things that haven't really made a ripple: is there somewhere on mefi where the Mogadishu bombing is being discussed? I'm sad to see just how neglected that's been by the media but I'm not sure I can speak with the authority or knowledge needed for an FPP.
posted by mosst at 1:47 PM on October 16, 2017 [10 favorites]

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Tennessee, is considering a bid to succeed retiring Republican Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate.

Probably the best chance to pickup Corker's seat.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:48 PM on October 16, 2017 [29 favorites]

Brian Beutler, Trump’s Golden Rule of Governing makes the case that we're all subject to "government by pee-pee tape" now: Trump keeps thinking he's peeing on Barack Obama’s bed, but just like the alleged Moscow incident, Obama's long gone now, and all he's done is arrange for people to piss all over his own bed, our country's bed.

Whether the pee tape is real or not, the psychology behind it damn sure seems to be driving everything Trump does.
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on October 16, 2017 [25 favorites]

How Fallon fell: why is the late-night host floundering in Trump's America?

Searched for, did not find words "smarmy," "cloying," "obsequious," "toadying." Argument invalid.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:18 PM on October 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

Oh my God, I can't climb or descend stairs, so I should have sympathy with Trump /projectile vomiting/ on that score, but all I can think of is what a fucking excellent opportunity to be like 'sure take my hand' and then mid-step be all 'PSYCH!' and down Trump goes, rolling and rolling and rolling, the SS comes in but they yank him up so that his belly, a strange non-orange pale that looks like a cousin to a salamander, is exposed to the entire world. And then his weave sort of falls over his face so that he looks like a Wookie with a wobbly shaved belly.

Is this immature, perhaps disturbingly juvenile, to have such a fantasy? Yes. Does Trump deserve this moment of humiliation. Yes. Do we, the long-suffering public, deserve to see such a display again and again as it's turned into an inescapable meme that taunts Trump with the knowledge that he is unloved, unwanted, and disgusting in every conceivable away? YES YES I SAY YES.
posted by angrycat at 2:19 PM on October 16, 2017 [24 favorites]

Jimmy Fallon, like Kimmel, is totally insufferable.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:24 PM on October 16, 2017

Hahaha that is ripe for turning into a meme

"the new national dish is turtle soup"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:33 PM on October 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

I liked Fallon as Neil Young. That's about it.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:34 PM on October 16, 2017

Whether the pee tape is real or not, the psychology behind it damn sure seems to be driving everything Trump does.

What I've said all along is that he apparently has very mainstream sexual tastes sliding to the prototypical skinny young blonde play-toy end of the bell curve. But I can totally believe the pee-tape story because it's about the symbolic degradation of an enemy. Regardless of politics, the guy seethes like no one since Nixon.
posted by dhartung at 2:35 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I liked Fallon as Neil Young. That's about it.
Well, there was the Jim Morrison 'Reading Rainbow' too.
posted by MtDewd at 2:37 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'll tune in the day they swap roles for Questlove and Jimmy.
posted by cmfletcher at 3:00 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe they'll bring Leno back!
posted by Servo5678 at 3:04 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Cleanse your ears, here's Obama singing Amazing Grace.

Empathy, motherfucker, do you speak it?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:21 PM on October 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe they'll bring Leno back!

Can't - Jeff Zucker, the weasel who shivved Conan went on to direct some other non-fictional dystopia.
posted by petebest at 3:22 PM on October 16, 2017

Well, at least the Trumpters aren't car bombing good journalists.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:22 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Remember when the President was, at least, competent? Very competent.?
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:26 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

We all float down here, and you will, too.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:46 PM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

🥛🍪🍪

Did I do it right?
posted by mgrrl at 4:35 PM on October 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

Huh I was wondering why I hadn't seen the (new post) number on the tab.

* goes back to drinking the rage away *
posted by numaner at 4:38 PM on October 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

The salt swamp water in the Dead Drumpf Sea is much denser (from raw sewage, coal pollution, decaying Russian bodies, orange suntan spray runoff, etc.) than freshwater, which is why it is so much easier to float down here.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 4:42 PM on October 16, 2017

>>We all float down here, and you will, too.
>Wait, do we float in this place that is low lying, or did we sink?

*suddens falls silent, stares off in the distance with wall-eyes and slack jaw*
posted by entropicamericana at 7:04 PM on October 16, 2017

Trump also promised that the opioid epidemic was going to be declared a National Emergency next week although I swear I remember him saying something similar weeks ago.

Opioids are nothing like opiods.
posted by flabdablet at 9:30 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]