“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle”
June 19, 2019 7:29 PM Subscribe
"In total, Trump faces at least 15 criminal or civil inquiries by nine federal, state and local agencies into his business, his charity, his campaign, his inaugural committee and his personal finances. […] Trump plans to characterize the investigations in these blue states — just like those by special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigations — as attacks by the same people: Democrats, the media and his critics. To his backers, it’s already been a winning strategy." "In a sign of that fervour, Trump’s campaign raised a staggering $24.8m in the less-than 24 hours after kicking off his re-election bid, according to Republican party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel," overshadowing the amount raised by the top Democratic 2020 contenders during the first three months of 2019.
• Danger to the Electoral Process Round-up:
• Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined (George Packer, Atlantic) "We are living with a new kind of regime that didn’t exist in Orwell’s time. It combines hard nationalism—the diversion of frustration and cynicism into xenophobia and hatred—with soft distraction and confusion: a blend of Orwell and Huxley, cruelty and entertainment." • In Front of Your Nose (George Orwell)
• A Date With the President in Pennsylvania's Coal Country (Playboy {SFW article}) This freewheeling account of Trump's Montoursville, PA rally last month captures the carnival atmosphere but concludes: "Despite the fun, after the sixth enthusiastic supporter passed out and had to be attended to by paramedics, hundreds of the faithful began leaving the venue. As the speech continued for 30 more minutes, people fled like my family used to flee church after communion."
• 'Pat's a Pit Bull’: Trump Has a New Favorite Lawyer (Politico): Pat Cipollone "has nevertheless been at the heart of the controversies that have gripped the White House since last winter, from clearing a legal path for the president to declare a national emergency on the southern border to shaping the White House’s defiant approach to congressional inquiries. Most recently, Cipollone was among the prominent voices who told Trump he could use his emergency powers to slap tariffs on Mexico — and then, alongside Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he helped shape a last-minute deal to end the showdown."
• Trump Delayed Pence's Tiananmen Square Speech in Hopes of Landing Xi Meeting (Bloomberg): "The president delayed the speech to avoid upsetting Beijing ahead of a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 meeting in Japan at the end of this month, according to several people familiar with the matter. Trump also put off U.S. sanctions on Chinese surveillance companies that Pence planned to preview in his remarks."
• ‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report (Guardian) "In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”."
• Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates gives Mitch McConnell a thorough history lesson on reparations (Vox) "Victims of that plunder are very much alive today. I am sure they’d love a word with the majority leader."
Today is the 881st day of the Trump administration. There are 504 days until the 2020 elections.
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MeFi Chat for live-blogging breaking news & events • Unofficial PoliticsFilter Slack • Help fund the site • Next FPP draft • Many thanks to Doktor Zed, zachlipton, and box for helping to create this thread.
• Danger to the Electoral Process Round-up:
In exclusive interview, Trump says he would listen if foreigners offered dirt on opponents (ABC News) "It's not an interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it," Trump said. "If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI -- if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research, 'oh let's call the FBI.' The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and that's the way it is. It's called oppo research."• Immigration Round-up:
Trump’s Mother of All Truth Bombs (Jack Shafer, Politico Magazine) “‘Unfit to be President’ is a gross understatement,” tweeted former CIA Director John Brennan [...]. The leading Democratic candidates for president—Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and even the undercard candidates—torched him as a danger to the electoral process. [...] Had Trump answered the hypothetical about taking campaign information from the Russians in 2020 in any other way than he did, it would have been read as a confession that he and his son did something wrong in 2016..." • Following Trump Comments, Federal Election Commission Chair Clarifies Law On Foreign Contributions to Election Campaigns (Newsweek) "Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept. Electoral intervention from foreign governments has been considered unacceptable since the beginnings of our nation."
Trump goes on Fox to clean up his foreign interference comments (Politico) Remarkably, Trump also asserted on Friday that he didn’t foresee that issue arising. “I don't think anybody would present me with anything because they know how much I love the country,” he said, despite well-documented attempts by Russian nationals to do just that during the 2016 election. “Nobody’s gonna present me with anything bad, and No. 2, if I was — and of course, you have to look at it, because if you don't look at it, you won't know it's bad, but, of course, you give it to the FBI or report it to attorney general or somebody like that,” he argued. • Mike Pompeo: Trump will ‘do the right thing’ if offered foreign election help (Politico) "Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Pompeo assured host Margaret Brennan that Trump would act appropriately, but he would not explicitly say that Trump would call the FBI."
Trump says millions in U.S. illegally to be deported starting next week (CBS News) "Immigration was a central theme of Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign and he is expected to hammer it as he tries to fire up his base heading into the 2020 campaign."• Tax and Wage Round-up:
ICE Signals Mass Immigration Arrests, but Not the ‘Millions’ Trump Promised (NYT) "Senior ICE officials, many of whom were blindsided by Mr. Trump’s tweet, have signaled for weeks that the agency would conduct raids targeting thousands of migrant families in homes and communities, something one of the homeland security officials confirmed on Tuesday was expected in the coming weeks."
Trump says immigration roundup will start next week (Reuters) "Former officials and immigration experts said it would be unlikely for immigration authorities to move quickly to deport “millions” of people, but Trump’s tweet on Monday saying as much put cities around the country on high alert. [...] As of June 8, ICE had almost 53,141 people in adult detention centers, much higher than the levels for which it is funded by Congress, which would put logistical brakes on the possible scale of any operation."
An Expert on Concentration Camps Says That's Exactly What the U.S. Is Running at the Border (Esquire) "Not every concentration camp is a death camp—in fact, their primary purpose is rarely extermination, and never in the beginning. Often, much of the death and suffering is a result of insufficient resources, overcrowding, and deteriorating conditions. So far, 24 people have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration, while six children have died in the care of other agencies since September."
The Youngest Child Separated From His Family at the Border Was 4 Months Old (NYT) "Constantin was ultimately the youngest of thousands of children taken from their parents under a policy that was meant to deter families hoping to immigrate to the United States. It began nearly a year before the administration would acknowledge it publicly in May 2018, and the total number of those affected is still unknown."
Bosses pocket Trump tax windfall as workers see job promises vanish (Guardian) [Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness] noted only 4% of the US workforce saw any sort of pay increase or bonus from the tax cuts. Meanwhile, data collected by ATF shows corporations have cut thousands of jobs since the tax cuts were passed, while using tax windfalls to buy back $1tn of their own stock, which primarily benefits corporate executives and wealthy investors since half of all Americans own no stock."• Iran Round-up:
American Taxpayers Paid Over $90 Billion More Under Trump Tax Law (Yahoo Finance) "[A]fter refunds, the IRS collected about $93 billion more from individual American taxpayers than it did in 2017. [...] Last year, big businesses paid $91 billion less in taxes than they had in 2017, prior to the new law’s passage." • Big Businesses Paying Even Less Than Expected Under GOP Tax Law (Politico)
Federal minimum wage sets record with no increase since 2009 (Guardian) "The US federal minimum wage has gone a record length of time without an increase, with the $7.25-an-hour base, remaining unchanged for nearly a decade as of Sunday. [...] The number stands in sharp contrast to what some researchers believe is an average living wage. Two working parents in a family of four would need to earn $67,146 to cover expenses. That equates to $16.14 an hour for each parent, CNN reported."
US seeks to 'build international consensus' blaming Iran for tanker attacks (Guardian) Defense chief says attack was not just ‘US situation’, as UK joins Washington in accusing Iran, and Saudi Arabia calls for ‘rapid’ response • Saudi seeks oil supply protection as U.S and Iran face off (Reuters) "Germany said the video was not enough to prove Iran’s role, while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation to determine responsibility. China and the European Union called for restraint."IN OTHER HEADLINES:
As Trump Accuses Iran, He Has One Problem: His Own Credibility (NYT) "A Quinnipiac University poll last month found that only 35 percent of Americans trust Mr. Trump to tell the truth about important issues versus 52 percent who trusted the news media more." • Iran Has Ties to Al Qaeda, Trump Officials Tell Skeptical Congress (NYT) "“They are looking to bootstrap an argument to allow the president to do what he likes without coming to Congress, and they feel the 2001 authorization will allow them to go to war with Iran,” said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia."
• Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined (George Packer, Atlantic) "We are living with a new kind of regime that didn’t exist in Orwell’s time. It combines hard nationalism—the diversion of frustration and cynicism into xenophobia and hatred—with soft distraction and confusion: a blend of Orwell and Huxley, cruelty and entertainment." • In Front of Your Nose (George Orwell)
• A Date With the President in Pennsylvania's Coal Country (Playboy {SFW article}) This freewheeling account of Trump's Montoursville, PA rally last month captures the carnival atmosphere but concludes: "Despite the fun, after the sixth enthusiastic supporter passed out and had to be attended to by paramedics, hundreds of the faithful began leaving the venue. As the speech continued for 30 more minutes, people fled like my family used to flee church after communion."
• 'Pat's a Pit Bull’: Trump Has a New Favorite Lawyer (Politico): Pat Cipollone "has nevertheless been at the heart of the controversies that have gripped the White House since last winter, from clearing a legal path for the president to declare a national emergency on the southern border to shaping the White House’s defiant approach to congressional inquiries. Most recently, Cipollone was among the prominent voices who told Trump he could use his emergency powers to slap tariffs on Mexico — and then, alongside Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he helped shape a last-minute deal to end the showdown."
• Trump Delayed Pence's Tiananmen Square Speech in Hopes of Landing Xi Meeting (Bloomberg): "The president delayed the speech to avoid upsetting Beijing ahead of a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 meeting in Japan at the end of this month, according to several people familiar with the matter. Trump also put off U.S. sanctions on Chinese surveillance companies that Pence planned to preview in his remarks."
• ‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report (Guardian) "In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”."
• Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates gives Mitch McConnell a thorough history lesson on reparations (Vox) "Victims of that plunder are very much alive today. I am sure they’d love a word with the majority leader."
Today is the 881st day of the Trump administration. There are 504 days until the 2020 elections.
Do you need some comic relief? The Hyucking Hyuck Thread is your place for jokes and one-liners
Do you need to vent? The Fucking Fuck Thread is there for you, both for catharsis and sympathizing
Do you want to discuss related topics? Elsewhere on MetaFilter, there's private political thoughts • The TV Run State • Jon Stewart's House Judiciary Committee testimony on the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund • "We are writing to express our grave concern..." (Hong Kong) • The "Dead Consensus" Conservative Manifesto • Common Wealth and Collective Power (Bernie Sanders) • Existential Climate-Related Security Risk • Fox News->Breitbart->Stormfront • OnceUponATime's Active Measures site
Previously in U.S. Politics Megathreads: Surely some revelation is at hand;
MeFi Chat for live-blogging breaking news & events • Unofficial PoliticsFilter Slack • Help fund the site • Next FPP draft • Many thanks to Doktor Zed, zachlipton, and box for helping to create this thread.
Bonus round-up—War:
Federation of American Scientists, DoD Doctrine on Nuclear Operations Published, Taken Offline
posted by zachlipton at 7:41 PM on June 19, 2019 [24 favorites]
Federation of American Scientists, DoD Doctrine on Nuclear Operations Published, Taken Offline
he Joint Chiefs of Staff briefly published and then removed from public access a new edition of their official doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons. But a public copy was preserved. See Joint Publication 3-72, Nuclear Operations, June 11, 2019.HuffPost, 18 Years Later, The House Finally Repeals The President’s 9/11 War Authority
The document presents an unclassified, mostly familiar overview of nuclear strategy, force structure, planning, targeting, command and control, and operations.
“Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability,” according to one Strangelovian passage in the publication. “Specifically, the use of a nuclear weapon will fundamentally change the scope of a battle and create conditions that affect how commanders will prevail in conflict.”
And now, with President Donald Trump and his administration strongly signaling they would use the 2001 AUMF to justify a new war with Iran, the newish Democratic majority controlling the House is taking its most serious steps to repeal the war authority.The article has a detailed look at where things go from here, given McConnell's refusal to budge.
Included in the base text of the appropriations bill is a provision that would repeal the 2001 AUMF eight months after the legislation is enacted. It is a significant development in Congress trying to restrain Trump and many of his most hawkish advisers’ thirst for war. And it’s the first time the House has passed a repeal of the 2001 AUMF.
posted by zachlipton at 7:41 PM on June 19, 2019 [24 favorites]
the IRS collected about $93 billion more from individual American taxpayers than it did in 2017. [...] Last year, big businesses paid $91 billion less in taxes than they had in 2017
So effectively, in the context of these two groups under the new plan, the government mostly broke even, but the taxpayers just gave $90 billion of their money to big businesses? Great. Just checking.
posted by p3t3 at 7:45 PM on June 19, 2019 [73 favorites]
So effectively, in the context of these two groups under the new plan, the government mostly broke even, but the taxpayers just gave $90 billion of their money to big businesses? Great. Just checking.
posted by p3t3 at 7:45 PM on June 19, 2019 [73 favorites]
Meanwhile, Trump has a happy message for his faithful: (h/t filthy light thief from the last thread)
"[Democrats] wanted to deny you the future you demanded and the future America deserves and that now America is getting," Trump continued. "Our radical Democrat opponents are driven by hatred, prejudice and rage. They want to destroy you, and they want to destroy our country as we know it."
You know, it's a good thing that nobody's taking such a call to action as justification for, say, mailing bombs to prominent Democrats and Robert De Niro. Or picking up a gun, since we have a pretty good handle on keeping guns out of the hands of wackadoos here in America. Or taking the guy who regularly incited violence at his 2015-16 rallies at his word that he's got their back if they target the enemy. (The Enemy of the People, specifically, who just happen to be standing in the back of said rallies, being specifically called out by the orange one on a regular basis.)
Weird times are ahead. So do everything possible to resist... but don't forget to duck.
posted by delfin at 7:50 PM on June 19, 2019 [18 favorites]
"[Democrats] wanted to deny you the future you demanded and the future America deserves and that now America is getting," Trump continued. "Our radical Democrat opponents are driven by hatred, prejudice and rage. They want to destroy you, and they want to destroy our country as we know it."
You know, it's a good thing that nobody's taking such a call to action as justification for, say, mailing bombs to prominent Democrats and Robert De Niro. Or picking up a gun, since we have a pretty good handle on keeping guns out of the hands of wackadoos here in America. Or taking the guy who regularly incited violence at his 2015-16 rallies at his word that he's got their back if they target the enemy. (The Enemy of the People, specifically, who just happen to be standing in the back of said rallies, being specifically called out by the orange one on a regular basis.)
Weird times are ahead. So do everything possible to resist... but don't forget to duck.
posted by delfin at 7:50 PM on June 19, 2019 [18 favorites]
Rachel Maddow just broke down the latest Russia twist about Maria Butina & Mike Pence’s national security adviser
posted by growabrain at 7:53 PM on June 19, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 7:53 PM on June 19, 2019 [11 favorites]
Trump’s campaign raised a staggering $24.8m in the less-than 24 hours after kicking off his re-election bid, according to Republican party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel
Surprisingly, that's apparently without any money from the Mercers, Vanity Fair reports. Why the Mercers, Trump’s Biggest 2016 Backers, Have Bailed on Him
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:16 PM on June 19, 2019 [8 favorites]
Surprisingly, that's apparently without any money from the Mercers, Vanity Fair reports. Why the Mercers, Trump’s Biggest 2016 Backers, Have Bailed on Him
[A] large part of the problem is that Trump has lost the financial support of one of his biggest backers in 2016: the Mercers. With their ties to Steve Bannon, Breitbart, and Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah were superstars last cycle. According to half a dozen sources familiar with the reclusive family’s political activities, the Mercers have drastically curtailed their political donations in recent months and will likely not play a significant role in 2020. “They think that the administration could do so much more. They’ve been very vocal about that to the president,” a person familiar with the Mercers’ thinking told me. “It’s like they’ve disappeared,” the former West Wing official added. “Crickets. They’re gone,” a prominent Republican strategist said.[…]So once again, Trump has burned his early investors yet somehow managed to con even more funding from new ones. This strategy of playing with "other people's money" worked for him in his private business, so naturally he's adopting it for his political operation.
Another factor driving the Mercers off the national stage is that Trump was never their ideal candidate, despite the millions they spent helping him, sources told me. “They never really liked Trump,” the person close to the Mercers said.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:16 PM on June 19, 2019 [8 favorites]
Courthouse News, Feds Tell 9th Circuit: Detained Kids ‘Safe and Sanitary’ Without Soap
The Trump administration argued in front of a Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday that the government is not required to give soap or toothbrushes to children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border and can have them sleep on concrete floors in frigid, overcrowded cells, despite a settlement agreement that requires detainees be kept in “safe and sanitary” facilities.posted by zachlipton at 8:31 PM on June 19, 2019 [47 favorites]
All three judges appeared incredulous during the hearing in San Francisco, in which the Trump administration challenged previous legal findings that it is violating a landmark class action settlement by mistreating undocumented immigrant children at U.S. detention facilities.
“You’re really going to stand up and tell us that being able to sleep isn’t a question of safe and sanitary conditions?'” U.S. Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon asked the Justice Department’s Sarah Fabian Tuesday.
...
The settlement landed back in court in 2015, when class members moved to enforce it following the Obama administration’s announcement that it would scrap bond hearings because they conflicted with newer immigration laws. In legal filings, the class contended the elimination of bond hearings and dirty and dangerous conditions at short-term holding facilities operated by the Border Patrol violated the agreement.
Courthouse News, Feds Tell 9th Circuit: Detained Kids ‘Safe and Sanitary’ Without Soap
Reverend Wright said nothing wrong
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on June 19, 2019 [38 favorites]
Reverend Wright said nothing wrong
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on June 19, 2019 [38 favorites]
If a facsimile of a card-carrying progressive gets the Dem nom, the Mercers will be back. Reclusive money-bin-swimmers deathly afraid of socialists not backing Trump over, say, Sanders or Warren? Nonsense. They'll pump in political funding in exchange for more tax cuts and deregulation, at a minimum.
posted by delfin at 8:46 PM on June 19, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by delfin at 8:46 PM on June 19, 2019 [13 favorites]
.
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:11 PM on June 19, 2019
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:11 PM on June 19, 2019
Good news dept: Maine has enacted automatic voter registration.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19, 2019 [65 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19, 2019 [65 favorites]
I wonder what happens to the Trump campaign funds if he's ultimately unable to run. Like "shoots someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, discovers the senate actually doesn't have his back on impeachment" unable to run. Hiding out in a safehouse somewhere in St. Petersburg unable to run. Serious medical conditions, etc.
There have been plenty of aborted presidential campaigns but probably never with that level of donations coming in.
posted by allegedly at 9:27 PM on June 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
There have been plenty of aborted presidential campaigns but probably never with that level of donations coming in.
posted by allegedly at 9:27 PM on June 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
Life is a Black Mirror episode where the descendants of Holocaust survivors scream that history is repeating itself before their eyes and the descendants of the perpetrators keep saying "Stop minimizing the Holocaust and being antisemitic."
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:28 PM on June 19, 2019 [81 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:28 PM on June 19, 2019 [81 favorites]
Trump’s campaign raised a staggering $24.8m in the less-than 24 hours after kicking off his re-election bid, according to Republican party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel
Let's think about who we're dealing with here... how much of that is a loan from Deusche Bank via TrumpCo?
posted by chiquitita at 9:37 PM on June 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
Let's think about who we're dealing with here... how much of that is a loan from Deusche Bank via TrumpCo?
posted by chiquitita at 9:37 PM on June 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
how much of that is a loan from Deusche Bank via TrumpCo?
Deutsche Bank nothin', is any of it from US citizens?
posted by rhizome at 10:43 PM on June 19, 2019 [6 favorites]
Deutsche Bank nothin', is any of it from US citizens?
posted by rhizome at 10:43 PM on June 19, 2019 [6 favorites]
Where is Obama in relationship to the 24 candidates?
posted by growabrain at 10:59 PM on June 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by growabrain at 10:59 PM on June 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
He won't endorse in the primary and then he'll come out with a full-throated endorsement of the candidate. Backing a primary candidate before that person has the nomination locked up, barring an insane Trumpian candidate who must be opposed at all costs, has absolutely no upsides for Obama or the party or most importantly the country.
posted by Justinian at 11:04 PM on June 19, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 11:04 PM on June 19, 2019 [27 favorites]
Also, the conversation from now on has to center on the fact that they are building and operating right now a series of concentration camps in the USA
posted by growabrain at 11:06 PM on June 19, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 11:06 PM on June 19, 2019 [15 favorites]
For anyone who's been looking for a mass protest against the concentration camps: Lights for Liberty is organizing events on Friday, July 12th. I haven't heard of them before this but they're being hyped by at least a couple of folks with big voices and hopefully other orgs will jump in.
Mass protest might not fix everything but it's sure as fuck better than what's been happening for the last few months.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:11 PM on June 19, 2019 [18 favorites]
Mass protest might not fix everything but it's sure as fuck better than what's been happening for the last few months.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:11 PM on June 19, 2019 [18 favorites]
NYT, The Evangelical, the ‘Pool Boy,’ the Comedian and Michael Cohen. This one largely catches up with what BuzzFeed and Reuters have already done on the story, but it will get you up to speed.
posted by zachlipton at 11:44 PM on June 19, 2019 [15 favorites]
Over the last two years, Mr. Arnold has fashioned himself an anti-Trump sleuth and crusader, working to dig up evidence of past malfeasance on television and in social media. In that role, Mr. Arnold befriended Mr. Cohen — who had lately become a vivid, if not entirely reliable, narrator of the Trump phenomenon — and then surreptitiously recorded him describing his effort to buy and bury embarrassing photographs involving the Falwells.Miami Herald, How cut-rate SoBe hostel launched Jerry Falwell Jr. ‘pool boy’ saga, naked picture hunt
...
“These are photos between husband and wife,” Mr. Cohen added, joking that “the evangelicals are kinkier than Tom Arnold.” He explained, “I was going to pay him, and I was going to get the negatives and do an agreement where they turn over all the technology that has the photographs or anything like that, any copies.”
But the payoff “never happened,” he said, “and the guy just either deleted them on his own or what have you.”
...
Rick Tyler, a senior Cruz adviser, called Mr. Falwell to say that if there was ever a good time to make his support official, this was it. That was when Mr. Falwell told him he had learned that he could not make any endorsement in the primaries. “He said his board wouldn’t allow him to endorse,” Mr. Tyler said in an interview.
Around that time, Mr. Falwell was coming under heavy pressure to get behind Mr. Trump, according to someone who spoke to Mr. Falwell then. A few days later, Mr. Falwell announced his endorsement of Mr. Trump, calling him “a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.”
Three photographs have been seen by the Herald, however. They are images not of Falwell, but of his wife in various stages of undress. It is not known who took the photographs or when they were taken, and the Herald was not given the photographs and therefore has not been able to authenticate them independently. Two of the photographs appear to have been taken at the Falwells’ farm in Virginia, and a third at the Cheeca Lodge.There's a long, long list of Trump-related mysteries that we're nowhere near the end of (virtually everything involving Michael Flynn, for instance), and this story certainly is one of the stranger ones. But the Miami Herald seeing naked photographs of Falwell's wife, if they are authentic, takes this in a whole different direction. Who still has them and why?
The timing of Cohen’s alleged photo-recovery mission roughly preceded Falwell’s pivotal evangelical endorsement of Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, which Cohen says he helped engineer. Ted Cruz, who became the last candidate standing in the fight to deprive Trump of the Republican nomination, wanted to land that endorsement for himself. That he didn’t get it remains a sore point with some of his backers and a source of curiosity, including speculation that the “pool boy” saga and the presidential endorsement could be somehow related.
“You have the chancellor of the largest Christian university in the world in South Beach, which is not exactly a hot spot for evangelicals to take a vacation, [who buys] a piece of property for someone with no business experience. There is something odd there,’’ said Rick Tyler, former spokesman for Cruz.
posted by zachlipton at 11:44 PM on June 19, 2019 [15 favorites]
This week's New Yorker has a profile of Elizabeth Warren. I thought it was pretty good.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:18 AM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 12:18 AM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
Another factor driving the Mercers off the national stage is that Trump was never their ideal candidate, despite the millions they spent helping him, sources told me. “They never really liked Trump,” the person close to the Mercers said.
Doesn't matter, they'll back GOP down ballot candidates and any voters they bring out for those candidates will most likely pull the lever for Trump as well. Same happened with the Kochs as well in 2016, they held off donating directly to Trump, but poured truckloads of money into other GOP races.
posted by PenDevil at 12:27 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Doesn't matter, they'll back GOP down ballot candidates and any voters they bring out for those candidates will most likely pull the lever for Trump as well. Same happened with the Kochs as well in 2016, they held off donating directly to Trump, but poured truckloads of money into other GOP races.
posted by PenDevil at 12:27 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Jelani Cobb: You should not have to explain to a Democratic presidential frontrunner why you don’t speak admiringly about a segregationist in 2019. Even Trent Lott could tell you that.
Jamelle Bouie: Literally had this thought earlier this morning. Joe Biden speaking nostalgically about working with segregationists is halfway to Trent Lott behavior. Telling your black rival that *he* needs to apologize to *you* for having a problem with it brings you all the way there.
posted by zombieflanders at 4:56 AM on June 20, 2019 [50 favorites]
Jamelle Bouie: Literally had this thought earlier this morning. Joe Biden speaking nostalgically about working with segregationists is halfway to Trent Lott behavior. Telling your black rival that *he* needs to apologize to *you* for having a problem with it brings you all the way there.
posted by zombieflanders at 4:56 AM on June 20, 2019 [50 favorites]
Welp...Iran admitted to downing a US Navy drone today. I have a hard time imagining I-1 won't do a tit-for-tat operation. He's normally all about reprisals on just about everything.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 5:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
It would solve so many problems for him. It would distract everyone from the impeachment question, he could use it as an excuse to put the country under all kinds of restrictions, and then next year, gee whiz, we’re in a state of emergency so we can’t have elections, what a shame.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:08 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Autumnheart at 5:08 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
(Although these clowns can’t even keep an intact Cabinet, or execute on anything that doesn’t own-goal the US harder than it ever affects any of the supposed targets. God only knows what kind of Benny Hill sketch they would make out of trying to go to war.)
posted by Autumnheart at 5:12 AM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 5:12 AM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
This situation(s) in Iran is looking more and more to me like Pompeo and possibly Bolton have been given their marching orders from Saudi Arabia, UAE. All parties involved probably just have decided they'll handle the WH after they get things started.
posted by Harry Caul at 6:08 AM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 6:08 AM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
Wonder why we're not hearing about Venezuela any more? Trump is giving up on regime change in Venezuela because it's complicated and he got bored, report says.
posted by bonehead at 6:25 AM on June 20, 2019 [65 favorites]
posted by bonehead at 6:25 AM on June 20, 2019 [65 favorites]
If Warren gets the nomination it will be 24/7 war whoops and Pocohontas and “she’s a liar, I just don’t trust her.” It will be so repetitively stupid we’ll feel like our brains are being split with a chisel, but it won’t modulate or let up. Exit polls will show “she lied about her background” will be the main reason for her losing.
Does anyone see a realistic way out of this?
posted by argybarg at 6:32 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Does anyone see a realistic way out of this?
posted by argybarg at 6:32 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
"There you go again" with a woeful head shake or a patronizing chuckle.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:39 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:39 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
You'd think Biden would be toast given how his campaign has gone but if there's one thing the last couple years have taught me it's that basically nothing matters
Almost no one aside from weirdos like us are paying attention to the primary race yet. He's doing well because people recognize his name. That's literally the reason.
posted by Automocar at 6:51 AM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
Almost no one aside from weirdos like us are paying attention to the primary race yet. He's doing well because people recognize his name. That's literally the reason.
posted by Automocar at 6:51 AM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
Does anyone see a realistic way out of this?
Been asking that for years and so far, no.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:52 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
Been asking that for years and so far, no.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:52 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
Does anyone see a realistic way out of this?
Impeachment inquiries, House arrests of subpoenaed witnesses refusing to comply, full press exposure and coverage of the concentration camps with representatives forcing entry, defunding Homeland Security, exposure of Trump's tax returns, coverage of the 12+ investigations into Trump entities still ongoing, following through on emoluments violations. Basically just a Democratic controlled House doing its job.
posted by Harry Caul at 6:54 AM on June 20, 2019 [53 favorites]
Impeachment inquiries, House arrests of subpoenaed witnesses refusing to comply, full press exposure and coverage of the concentration camps with representatives forcing entry, defunding Homeland Security, exposure of Trump's tax returns, coverage of the 12+ investigations into Trump entities still ongoing, following through on emoluments violations. Basically just a Democratic controlled House doing its job.
posted by Harry Caul at 6:54 AM on June 20, 2019 [53 favorites]
If Warren gets the nomination it will be 24/7 war whoops and Pocohontas
I don't see this as a strong argument against supporting Warren. It will be a similar dynamic regardless of the Democratic candidate. We just happen to have a good idea of the specific attack for Warren. I assure you they will come up with a corresponding attack for anybody else.
For example, if it's Sanders instead of Warren, do you really we're going to have a civil debate about the tenants of Democratic Socialism?
posted by diogenes at 6:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [36 favorites]
I don't see this as a strong argument against supporting Warren. It will be a similar dynamic regardless of the Democratic candidate. We just happen to have a good idea of the specific attack for Warren. I assure you they will come up with a corresponding attack for anybody else.
For example, if it's Sanders instead of Warren, do you really we're going to have a civil debate about the tenants of Democratic Socialism?
posted by diogenes at 6:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [36 favorites]
I bet Trump's never even heard of of the movie, "Wag The Dog".
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
I don’t really mean “what do we do about Trump in general.” I mean that the “Pocahontas” thing, which is at an almost unprecedented level of stupidity in American politics, is also almost certainly fatal for Warren.
I foresee us spending a year or more saying “surely this is going to stop, it can’t keep being an issue.” And it never will stop.
posted by argybarg at 7:00 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
I foresee us spending a year or more saying “surely this is going to stop, it can’t keep being an issue.” And it never will stop.
posted by argybarg at 7:00 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
Can we please please stop with the Debbie Downer “she’s doomed we’re gonna LOOOSE” stuff, or at least take it to the Fucking Fuck thread? I Don’t think it’s helping our cause to doomsay this far out about a candidate who has great potential to win. Besides, find me a candidate who has no opposition. Go ahead. I’ll wait. I’m sick of giving Republicans hecklers veto.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [106 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [106 favorites]
Trump administration threatens furloughs, layoffs if Congress doesn’t let it kill personnel agency (Lisa Rein, WaPo)
The Trump administration is threatening to furlough — and possibly lay off — 150 employees [out of 5565 total] at the federal personnel agency if Congress blocks its plan to eliminate the department.posted by ZeusHumms at 7:04 AM on June 20, 2019 [11 favorites]
The Office of Personnel Management is preparing to send the career employees home without pay starting on Oct. 1, according to an internal briefing document obtained by The Washington Post. The employees could formally be laid off after 30 days, administration officials confirmed.
The warning of staff cuts is the administration’s most dramatic move yet in an escalating jujitsu between Trump officials and Congress over the fate of the agency that manages the civilian federal workforce of 2.1 million.
I don’t really mean “what do we do about Trump in general.” I mean that the “Pocahontas” thing, which is at an almost unprecedented level of stupidity in American politics, is also almost certainly fatal for Warren.
Why is this fatal for Warren? It seems to me like it will only really appeal to the GOP (and I admit, I'm disappointed in how Warren handled this, but nowhere near disappointed enough not to vote for her if she gets the nom - I mean what, she's better than Biden and light fucking years better than Trump).
Honestly - and this is a bad reason, but I think it's true - I don't think the mainstream non-Native Democratic electorate is sophisticated enough on Native issues that this is going to resonate with them. I think it will fizzle utterly, and if it's the worst thing that the GOP can throw at Warren, we'll all be lucky.
And honestly, yes, I am disappointed that she said such a fool thing in the first place and in her response. It doesn't make me think better of her. But I have voted for worse candidates, and I've definitely voted for candidates I felt would be much harder to push to the left. Because we are ruled by rich white people in this country, we have always have a mostly-disappointing slate of candidates, but Warren is actually a lot less disappointing than most.
In any case, why would "Pocahontas" (itself an embarrassingly racist, transparently instrumentalist way to phrase this criticism that I think will repel by its very nature) resonate with a Democratic electorate who seems largely indifferent to Uncle Joe's various problems? I just don't see it getting traction.
posted by Frowner at 7:15 AM on June 20, 2019 [23 favorites]
Why is this fatal for Warren? It seems to me like it will only really appeal to the GOP (and I admit, I'm disappointed in how Warren handled this, but nowhere near disappointed enough not to vote for her if she gets the nom - I mean what, she's better than Biden and light fucking years better than Trump).
Honestly - and this is a bad reason, but I think it's true - I don't think the mainstream non-Native Democratic electorate is sophisticated enough on Native issues that this is going to resonate with them. I think it will fizzle utterly, and if it's the worst thing that the GOP can throw at Warren, we'll all be lucky.
And honestly, yes, I am disappointed that she said such a fool thing in the first place and in her response. It doesn't make me think better of her. But I have voted for worse candidates, and I've definitely voted for candidates I felt would be much harder to push to the left. Because we are ruled by rich white people in this country, we have always have a mostly-disappointing slate of candidates, but Warren is actually a lot less disappointing than most.
In any case, why would "Pocahontas" (itself an embarrassingly racist, transparently instrumentalist way to phrase this criticism that I think will repel by its very nature) resonate with a Democratic electorate who seems largely indifferent to Uncle Joe's various problems? I just don't see it getting traction.
posted by Frowner at 7:15 AM on June 20, 2019 [23 favorites]
~If Warren gets the nomination it will be 24/7 war whoops and Pocohontas
~I don't see this as a strong argument against supporting Warren. It will be a similar dynamic regardless of the Democratic candidate. We just happen to have a good idea of the specific attack for Warren. I assure you they will come up with a corresponding attack for anybody else.
You're misconstruing this as a reason for not voting for Warren. I'm pretty sure it's an entreaty for workable ideas to counteract those types of attacks when they come.
Pointing out probable avenues of attack ≠ omg she can't winz i give up!!!
posted by Thorzdad at 7:15 AM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
~I don't see this as a strong argument against supporting Warren. It will be a similar dynamic regardless of the Democratic candidate. We just happen to have a good idea of the specific attack for Warren. I assure you they will come up with a corresponding attack for anybody else.
You're misconstruing this as a reason for not voting for Warren. I'm pretty sure it's an entreaty for workable ideas to counteract those types of attacks when they come.
Pointing out probable avenues of attack ≠ omg she can't winz i give up!!!
posted by Thorzdad at 7:15 AM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Mod note: Folks, the Pocahontas thing is not new and the doomsaying about it doesn't go here. Let's give it a rest. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 7:23 AM on June 20, 2019 [25 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 7:23 AM on June 20, 2019 [25 favorites]
I mean that the “Pocahontas” thing, which is at an almost unprecedented level of stupidity in American politics, is also almost certainly fatal for Warren.
It's been tried twice before. It failed both times. That's why she's now Senator Warren and not Professor Warren. Granted, this was in Massachusetts, but don't underestimate the right wing here - that's how we (briefly) wound up with Senator Brown (OK, that, and a Democratic candidate who ran an uninspired campaign).
posted by adamg at 7:25 AM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
It's been tried twice before. It failed both times. That's why she's now Senator Warren and not Professor Warren. Granted, this was in Massachusetts, but don't underestimate the right wing here - that's how we (briefly) wound up with Senator Brown (OK, that, and a Democratic candidate who ran an uninspired campaign).
posted by adamg at 7:25 AM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents: Whose Concentration Camps?
A key charge in the [Jewish Community Relations Council of NY]’s letter, that the Holocaust (and concentration camps) can be discussed only in direct reference to the Nazi plot of Jewish extermination, was expanded on by the Twitter account of Yad Vashem: “Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of ‘extermination through labor.’ Learn about concentration camps.” In other words, say Yad Vashem and the JCRC, both the purpose of concentration camps and the nature of the Holocaust were so unique that they are past the point of any possible comparison.posted by zombieflanders at 7:29 AM on June 20, 2019 [42 favorites]
But if we’re to go by the definition Andrea Pitzer has used, which has the support of other historians, concentration camps are used for “mass detention of civilians without trial.” Although other camps rushed Jews to the gas chamber, consider what the New York Times wrote about Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, when it opened in 1933: “Dachau, the site of the concentration camp for those who have incurred the displeasure of the present rulers of Germany but have committed no offense for which they could be tried.”
What, then, is the meaning of a phrase like “never again” when the institutions that proselytize it also argue that Holocaust memory cannot be sullied by the present tense? “Never again” is the common refrain that young Jews are taught, particularly by leaders at groups like the JCRC and tour guides at Yad Vashem. But by the time many of these young Jews become adolescent or twenty-something Jews, the mantra becomes a question: “never again, for whom?” Rather than broaden the scope of the lesson to include injustices not committed by Nazis against Jews, Jewish institutions would rather instead police the boundaries of Holocaust memory. Jewish leaders like the JCRC, like Foxman, like Wolpe, and like many others, in giving the Republicans cover for such a putrid policy, have given their answer: just us.
Texas gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident last year The Texas Tribune.
"With Hispanics expected to become the largest population group in Texas as soon as 2022, new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the Hispanic population climbed to nearly 11.4 million — an annual gain of 214,736 through July 2018 and an increase of 1.9 million since 2010.
The white population, meanwhile, grew by just 24,075 last year. Texas still has a bigger white population — up to 11.9 million last year — but it has only grown by roughly 484,000 since 2010. The white population’s growth has been so sluggish this decade that it barely surpassed total growth among Asian Texans, who make up a tiny share of the total population, in the same time period."
posted by Harry Caul at 7:33 AM on June 20, 2019 [19 favorites]
"With Hispanics expected to become the largest population group in Texas as soon as 2022, new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the Hispanic population climbed to nearly 11.4 million — an annual gain of 214,736 through July 2018 and an increase of 1.9 million since 2010.
The white population, meanwhile, grew by just 24,075 last year. Texas still has a bigger white population — up to 11.9 million last year — but it has only grown by roughly 484,000 since 2010. The white population’s growth has been so sluggish this decade that it barely surpassed total growth among Asian Texans, who make up a tiny share of the total population, in the same time period."
posted by Harry Caul at 7:33 AM on June 20, 2019 [19 favorites]
Adam Serwer: The Illiberal Right Throws a Tantrum: A faction of the religious right has concluded that if liberal democracy does not guarantee victory, then it must be abandoned.
The tide of illiberalism sweeping over Western countries and the election of Donald Trump have since renewed hope among some on the religious right that it might revive its cultural control through the power of the state. Inspired by Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Vladimir Putin in Russia, a faction of the religious right now looks to sectarian ethno-nationalism to restore its beliefs to their rightful primacy, and to rescue a degraded and degenerate culture. All that stands in their way is democracy, and the fact that most Americans reject what they have to offer.posted by homunculus at 7:39 AM on June 20, 2019 [64 favorites]
...
Indeed, the illiberal faction in this debate retains Trump as its champion precisely because the president is willing to use the power of the state for sectarian ends, despite being an exemplar of the libertinism to which it is supposedly implacably opposed, a man whose major legislative accomplishment is slashing taxes on the wealthy, and whose most significant contribution to the institution of the family is destroying thousands of them on purpose. It is power that is the motivator here, and the best that could be said for these American Orbánists is that they believe that asserting an iron grip on American politics and culture would offer the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Every authoritarian movement has felt the same way.
...
Trump is the symptom of the Republican Party’s turn toward illiberalism, not its cause; even before Trump ran for president, some Republican elites were plotting to diminish the political power of minorities and enhance those of white voters. Whatever their disagreements, the leaders of both the populist and establishment wings of the Republican Party have concluded that they cannot be allowed to lose power simply because a majority of American voters do not wish them to wield it. The president speaks of imprisoning his political rivals, and his voters cheer. He valorizes political violence, and his followers take note. His attorneys argue both that Congress cannot investigate criminality in the executive branch and that the president has the authority to end criminal investigations into himself or his allies, while ordering them against his opponents. Trump’s supporters exult in the head of state attacking private citizens who demand equal rights, then wave the banner of free speech exclusively in defense of expressions of bigotry. In the end, Trump will dictate the course of his party on these matters, and his base will do whatever he gives it license to do. Writers such as French and Ahmari cannot shape this course; they can only argue about it after the fact.
What is notable is that crisis of faith in liberalism for this faction of the religious right comes only now. It is true, as The New York Times’ Ross Douthat writes, that “liberalism has never done as well as it thinks at resolving its own crises.” Yet this faction did not abandon its faith in liberalism’s capacity to solve problems during the decades of Jim Crow. It did not cry, “To hell with the liberal order!” over mass incarceration. It did not erupt in fury over the shattering of Latino families at the border, or the Trump-made aftermath of the catastrophe in Puerto Rico. It did not question whether liberalism had failed after the first, third, fourth or 15th mass shooting at a school, or because it is typical for Americans to beg strangers on the internet for money to cover their health-care costs or after an untimely death. The state of emergency occurred when, and only when, liberal democracy ceased to guarantee victory in the culture war. The indignity of fighting for one’s rights within a democratic framework is fine for others, but it is beneath them.
...
Black Americans did not abandon liberal democracy because of slavery, Jim Crow, and the systematic destruction of whatever wealth they managed to accumulate; instead they took up arms in two world wars to defend it. Japanese Americans did not reject liberal democracy because of internment or the racist humiliation of Asian exclusion; they risked life and limb to preserve it. Latinos did not abandon liberal democracy because of “Operation Wetback,” or Proposition 187, or because of a man who won a presidential election on the strength of his hostility toward Latino immigrants. Gay, lesbian, and trans Americans did not abandon liberal democracy over decades of discrimination and abandonment in the face of an epidemic. This is, in part, because doing so would be tantamount to giving the state permission to destroy them, a thought so foreign to these defenders of the supposedly endangered religious right that the possibility has not even occurred to them. But it is also because of a peculiar irony of American history: The American creed has no more devoted adherents than those who have been historically denied its promises, and no more fair-weather friends than those who have taken them for granted.
Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents: Whose Concentration Camps?
What the right wing excels at, as demonstrated by this link, is turning the conversation away from the actual evil they are doing to a discussion of whether the critics are properly framing the evil in acceptable language. And they depend on our good faith to do so.
It's amazing how good they are at this. We argue about relative trivialities while the world burns and the oligarchs loot the rubble.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:53 AM on June 20, 2019 [52 favorites]
What the right wing excels at, as demonstrated by this link, is turning the conversation away from the actual evil they are doing to a discussion of whether the critics are properly framing the evil in acceptable language. And they depend on our good faith to do so.
It's amazing how good they are at this. We argue about relative trivialities while the world burns and the oligarchs loot the rubble.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:53 AM on June 20, 2019 [52 favorites]
What the right wing excels at, as demonstrated by this link, is turning the conversation away from the actual evil they are doing to a discussion of whether the critics are properly framing the evil in acceptable language. And they depend on our good faith to do so.
Note that they already succeeded in turning the discussion away from the fact that the George W. Bush administration was torturing people to whether it was proper for The New York Times and NPR to refer to it as torture.
The tactic served at least until the Republicans managed to make rejection of torture, which used to be more or less bipartisan, into a partisan issue.
posted by Gelatin at 7:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
Note that they already succeeded in turning the discussion away from the fact that the George W. Bush administration was torturing people to whether it was proper for The New York Times and NPR to refer to it as torture.
The tactic served at least until the Republicans managed to make rejection of torture, which used to be more or less bipartisan, into a partisan issue.
posted by Gelatin at 7:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
Good news dept: Maine has enacted automatic voter registration.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19 [36 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Now do the other 34...
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:16 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19 [36 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Now do the other 34...
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:16 AM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
You'd think Biden would be toast given how his campaign has gone but if there's one thing the last couple years have taught me it's that basically nothing matters.
I grew up in Delaware. Our Amtrak station got very, very fancy during the Obama presidency, right before it was renamed for Biden. When we were driving on I-95 down to Baltimore last weekend, I noticed that the big rest stop in Delaware had gotten very, very fancy, and saw the shiny new plaque saying that it had been renamed for Biden.
If we promise to rename the big highway to the Delaware beaches after him, which is the third big infrastructure thing in our teensy state, do you think he will shut the fuck up and go home to Hockessin? He was way less embarrassing for the state when everybody's mom was just, like, running into his wife at the local Acme.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:24 AM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
I grew up in Delaware. Our Amtrak station got very, very fancy during the Obama presidency, right before it was renamed for Biden. When we were driving on I-95 down to Baltimore last weekend, I noticed that the big rest stop in Delaware had gotten very, very fancy, and saw the shiny new plaque saying that it had been renamed for Biden.
If we promise to rename the big highway to the Delaware beaches after him, which is the third big infrastructure thing in our teensy state, do you think he will shut the fuck up and go home to Hockessin? He was way less embarrassing for the state when everybody's mom was just, like, running into his wife at the local Acme.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:24 AM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
Mod note: Folks, the concentration camp argument is clearly taking up enough space that it needs its own thread.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 8:31 AM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 8:31 AM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
Good news dept: Maine has enacted automatic voter registration.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19 [36 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Now do the other 34...
Ok, ill bite: The new york senate passed an AVR bill yesterday but needs an Assembly vote on the same today if its going to happen this session. If you are a NYS voter call your assembly members office.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:34 AM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on June 19 [36 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Now do the other 34...
Ok, ill bite: The new york senate passed an AVR bill yesterday but needs an Assembly vote on the same today if its going to happen this session. If you are a NYS voter call your assembly members office.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:34 AM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
I see Steve King's on a little "what, me racist?" PR kick lately, I just got a press release about him honoring recently-deceased Native American activist Frank LeMere on the House floor. The words are good and the policy he talks about working on with LeMere is good, but it's transparently an image thing and he basically shits the bed at the end of it with the self-martyring bit "One of the things that he was quoted as saying, and this was at the services for him, ‘If you haven’t been marginalized at least once a week, then you probably haven’t done very much’-Frank LaMere. I can identify with that, Madame Speaker, and I can identify with a life of selfless work of Frank LaMere." Oof. Get down off the burning cross, buddy.
King really obviously got rattled by the much belated pushback against his awful behavior and his run against Scholten getting closer than expected, because he's been sending out a lot of "look, I can tolerate minorities! And do the bare minimum of my job representing a district!" PR lately and trying to replicate Scholten's county-by-county outreach in the district. Funny how a rebuke from fellow congressional Republicans actually works to some extent, like if they could actually police their own party when they're morally out of line and not just when there's press attention things could actually change.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:44 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
King really obviously got rattled by the much belated pushback against his awful behavior and his run against Scholten getting closer than expected, because he's been sending out a lot of "look, I can tolerate minorities! And do the bare minimum of my job representing a district!" PR lately and trying to replicate Scholten's county-by-county outreach in the district. Funny how a rebuke from fellow congressional Republicans actually works to some extent, like if they could actually police their own party when they're morally out of line and not just when there's press attention things could actually change.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:44 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Politico: Republicans Fear Campaign Arm Is Stumbling In Fight For the House—The NRCC chief tried to do damage control at a closed-door caucus meeting.
The Vanity Fair article makes it clear that the Mercers aren't planning on this ("the Mercers have drastically curtailed their political donations in recent months and will likely not play a significant role in 2020."):
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:52 AM on June 20, 2019 [11 favorites]
Republicans still don’t have an answer to Democrats’ online fundraising behemoth ActBlue. GOP leaders are bickering behind closed doors. The head of recruitment has decided to retire. And some rank-and-file lawmakers are starting to express alarm about the party’s strategy as the campaign ramps up.Doesn't matter, they'll back GOP down ballot candidates and any voters they bring out for those candidates will most likely pull the lever for Trump as well.
So National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Emmer tried to do damage control at a private caucus meeting Wednesday, arguing to GOP lawmakers that the campaign arm was on firm ground and any suggestions of turmoil were being fabricated by Democrats and the press.[…]
“It’s a disaster what is going on across the street at NRCC,” said one GOP lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak more freely. “Their communication is bad. Some of the stuff is bizarrely overly aggressive. They’re not raising the money. They don’t have buy-in from members. And it’s getting worse.”[…]
At a private meeting earlier this month, Emmer questioned whether some leaders were pulling their weight in party dues and fundraising numbers, according to multiple sources. At one point, Emmer asked Cheney (R-Wyo.) if he could count on her to keep contributing cash to the campaign arm as she contemplates a Senate bid.
Cheney fired back that she has been meeting her fundraising benchmarks and paying her dues. Cheney also told Emmer that she's heard from members who are concerned with the general direction of the NRCC, while some lawmakers are worried Emmer is artificially inflating his own fundraising numbers, according to multiple sources.
The Vanity Fair article makes it clear that the Mercers aren't planning on this ("the Mercers have drastically curtailed their political donations in recent months and will likely not play a significant role in 2020."):
Their total political spending dropped to $2.9 million last year. Sources said the Mercers cut back their spending because they felt scarred by the press scrutiny that followed their association with Trump. Two sources said Rebekah’s divorce from her husband is also motivating her to keep a low profile. “This whole thing did not end up well for them,” former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg told me. “They’ve been destroyed,” a former West Wing official said. A former Renaissance executive said: “Bob views all his political spending as a bad investment.”The article goes into detail about how they felt let down by Trump and burned by Steve Bannon, how they disliked their new attention from the press and, thanks to Cambridge Analytica, from the FBI and the courts, and how they want to return to their private existence. Of course this could change in the next year and a half, but for the time being, they're yet another cautionary tale for people involving themselves with Trump. At the moment, they seem to be content with their old interests in funding psuedo-science at the climate change-denying Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:52 AM on June 20, 2019 [11 favorites]
I don’t really mean “what do we do about Trump in general.” I mean that the “Pocahontas” thing, which is at an almost unprecedented level of stupidity in American politics, is also almost certainly fatal for Warren.
Honestly, it’s almost a reason for voting for her. She’s maybe the first candidate who’s taken a major attack from Trump and survived. He bragged about killing her candidacy months ago and she persevered and now is rising and probably in second place. His campaign is leaking how they’re worried again about her. She took his best shot and lived to talk about it. Or more accurately talk about her plans.
posted by chris24 at 8:57 AM on June 20, 2019 [63 favorites]
Honestly, it’s almost a reason for voting for her. She’s maybe the first candidate who’s taken a major attack from Trump and survived. He bragged about killing her candidacy months ago and she persevered and now is rising and probably in second place. His campaign is leaking how they’re worried again about her. She took his best shot and lived to talk about it. Or more accurately talk about her plans.
posted by chris24 at 8:57 AM on June 20, 2019 [63 favorites]
Alex Pareene, New Republic: Give War a Chance: In search of the Democratic Party's fighting spirit
posted by tonycpsu at 9:00 AM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
It is not remarkable to hear a Democratic candidate go into populist mode while on the campaign trail, to rail against corporate fat cats and blame their greed for the problems facing blue-collar workers. It, however, is a bit unexpected—much more so than it should be—to hear one of them say the fat cat’s name.The piece goes on to weave together a lot of different examples of how Democratic aversion to conflict and obsession with consensus is playing into the hands of the enemies they dare not name.
Indeed, Democrats discussing society’s ills are almost pathologically averse to putting a name to the face. I remember hearing once about a young Democratic congressional staffer who was carefully admonished by a veteran aide never to call out drug companies by name when talking drug prices. The Democratic Party will acknowledge problems, but not villains. [...]
posted by tonycpsu at 9:00 AM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
Time magazine has an interview with Trump. No full transcript, but there are some details about campaign operations that are interesting:
Parscale has hired about 60 staff and worked with the RNC to create an online fundraising platform, known as WinRed, to compete with ActBlue, the Democratic digital juggernaut. Drawing on his tech-startup background, Parscale is also developing a smartphone app that attempts to “gamify” Trump supporters’ engagement with the campaign by offering prizes. In exchange for getting friends to share their contacts, hosting Trump events in their home or knocking on doors, voters get perks like better rally seats, photos with the President, signed hats and other incentives.(Another WinRed story (HuffPo), in which WinRed hasn't gone live yet partially because Republican consulting firms are afraid of the Trump campaign stealing their data.) Time also talks about how the campaign monetizes shit said at campaign rallies:
A rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., in late March offers a case in point. Trump issued an off-the-cuff threat to “close the damn border” if Mexico didn’t stop two large caravans heading toward the southwest border. The crowd erupted in cheers. Electrified by the response, Trump told aides he wanted to move ahead with a plan to close ports of entry. A series of three tweets were drafted to be released on Trump’s Twitter feed the next morning, announcing that large sections of the border would be closed the following week.posted by box at 9:24 AM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
As news stories and web searches spiked, the campaign bought digital ads about immigration. Though the President later backed off the threat, his campaign kept the momentum going by spending $250,000 over the next nine weeks pushing out ads on Facebook and paying for clicks on Google Search. “The content we produce, the advertising we platform, there’s never been anything like it in politics,” Parscale says. “We have our own television show in a way.”
Nancy Pelosi responds to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex's 'concentration camps' remark, warns Democrats about 'politically charged' atmosphere
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 AM on June 20, 2019 [32 favorites]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Democrats to watch what they say in today's "politically charged" climate after freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came under fire for classifying immigrant detention centers as concentration camps. "They come to represent their districts and their point of view," Pelosi said of freshman Democrats during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday morning. "They take responsibility for the statements they make." Pelosi went on to warn the Democratic caucus as a whole about "how politically charged the atmosphere is" and that their rivals may exploit the comments they make. She told reporters that she had not talked to Ocasio-Cortez about her recent comments slamming immigrant detention centers.Nancy Pelosi Defended Joe Biden’s Comments About Working With Segregationists, Calling The Former Vice President “Authentic”
“Authenticity is the most important characteristic that candidates have to convey,” Pelosi said in response to a question from a reporter about the remarks and the calls from several other 2020 candidates for an apology. “Joe Biden is authentic… He considers certain things a resource, that he has worked across the aisle. That's what he was saying. That's not what this election is about.” [...] “This election is about how we connect with the American people, addressing their kitchen-table needs. For us to spend time on an issue like this — which is important, but it's not central," she said, adding, “Biden seems to have tremendous support in the African-American community, but it’s for them to decide. That’s what elections are about.”primary primary primary primary primary
When a reporter then asked the Pelosi about Iran, she responded, “Thank you for talking about an issue, God forbid.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 AM on June 20, 2019 [32 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex
This may just be the most MetaFilter thing I've ever seen :)
posted by AwkwardPause at 9:46 AM on June 20, 2019 [96 favorites]
This may just be the most MetaFilter thing I've ever seen :)
posted by AwkwardPause at 9:46 AM on June 20, 2019 [96 favorites]
“Authenticity is the most important characteristic that candidates have to convey,” Pelosi said
Just as a reminder, Pelosi was hand-picked for her House seat by the previous Representative (herself the widow of the previous holder of the seat, who has been credited with creating the modern lobbyist industry), and has never faced a viable challenger (primary or general) since. Taking lessons from her on winning elections is like taking basketball lessons from Wilt Chamberlain: there's some insights to be gleaned, but you're starting from "Be 7'1", preferably with a 7'8" wingspan."
posted by Etrigan at 9:46 AM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
Just as a reminder, Pelosi was hand-picked for her House seat by the previous Representative (herself the widow of the previous holder of the seat, who has been credited with creating the modern lobbyist industry), and has never faced a viable challenger (primary or general) since. Taking lessons from her on winning elections is like taking basketball lessons from Wilt Chamberlain: there's some insights to be gleaned, but you're starting from "Be 7'1", preferably with a 7'8" wingspan."
posted by Etrigan at 9:46 AM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
Nancy Pelosi's political success isn't about winning her own safe seat, it's about helping take back the House for the Democrats and keeping her caucus organized and moving (somewhat) in sync.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:53 AM on June 20, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:53 AM on June 20, 2019 [16 favorites]
Joe Biden is authentic… He considers certain things a resource, that he has worked across the aisle. That's what he was saying. That's not what this election is about.
That's word salad. We point it out when Trump does it. We should point it out when Democrats do it.
posted by diogenes at 9:57 AM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
That's word salad. We point it out when Trump does it. We should point it out when Democrats do it.
posted by diogenes at 9:57 AM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
> Nancy Pelosi's political success isn't about winning her own safe seat, it's about helping take back the House for the Democrats and keeping her caucus organized and moving (somewhat) in sync.
Right, but the latter doesn't happen without the former. Etrigan's comment acknowledges that she's accomplished a lot, but when she's leaning on platitudes like "authenticity" in defense of Biden palling around with segregationists, it's not out of bounds to acknowledge that she hasn't really had to fight that much to win elections of her own, and therefore might not be as in touch with what voters really want from a Presidential candidate as she is with, say, the strategy of getting the Affordable Care Act passed.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Right, but the latter doesn't happen without the former. Etrigan's comment acknowledges that she's accomplished a lot, but when she's leaning on platitudes like "authenticity" in defense of Biden palling around with segregationists, it's not out of bounds to acknowledge that she hasn't really had to fight that much to win elections of her own, and therefore might not be as in touch with what voters really want from a Presidential candidate as she is with, say, the strategy of getting the Affordable Care Act passed.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:18 AM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
I just am not seeing Pelosi as a sell-out, nor do I read her comments as squelching other voices. The interpretation that she's "warning" Democrats, as if to silence them, seems more like a manufactured Dems in disarray narrative than an actual policy of hers.
Things I have heard from Nancy Pelosi in the past two months (via her email newsletter):
I don't think Pelosi is perfect, but I think she's doing an impossible job as well as anyone possibly could. The fact of the matter is that she is not all-powerful. If she could single-handedly write an executive order removing Trump from office for obstruction, I honestly believe she would. When I look at her words and actions, I conclude she's doing everything she can to push the recalcitrant behemoth of a government in the right direction.
I think villifying her does more harm than good.
posted by kristi at 10:19 AM on June 20, 2019 [36 favorites]
Things I have heard from Nancy Pelosi in the past two months (via her email newsletter):
- "... the Mueller Report ... does not exonerate the President. Instead, it concludes that the Trump team was aware of and openly supportive of Russian attempts to interfere in the election ... Further, it lays out ten instances of the President trying to obstruct the investigation — and explicitly states that the decision not to charge the President was guided by a Trump Administration DOJ policy, not a lack of evidence. ... The Congress will continue to uphold our constitutional duty to hold the President accountable for his deceit, lies and improper behavior. No one is above the law." (April 19)
- "Attorney General Barr has sold out the rule of law, violated the public trust and compromised the integrity of the Department of Justice – all to protect this increasingly lawless President. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to release the full, unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence. Now, the President has taken the extreme step to assert executive privilege over the entire document. The Constitution enshrines Congress’s authority to conduct oversight of the Executive branch to ensure that government works for the people – yet this Administration continues to trample over the Constitution and conceal the truth from the public. Congressional Democrats are prepared to conduct our constitutional oversight responsibility and find the truth that the American people deserve to know." (May 10)
- "No Exoneration - ... Mueller set the record straight and reiterated the contents of his findings: Russia meddled in our elections, the President’s team welcomed Russian interference and the President tried to obstruct the investigation in eleven different instances. ... Despite Department of Justice policy to the contrary, no one is above the law – not even the President. The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the President accountable for his abuse of power. We will continue to investigate and legislate to protect our elections and secure our democracy." (May 31)
- "The Special Counsel’s report:
- Revealed that the President’s campaign welcomed Russian interference in the election, with more than 175 contacts between campaign officials and the Russians;
- Exposed at least ten instances when Trump asked his staff to lie or create false documents to mislead the Mueller investigation and cover up the truth of his actions, and;
- Outlined at least eleven instances when Trump tried to obstruct justice by improperly interfering with the investigation himself, in addition to instances of witness tampering.
I don't think Pelosi is perfect, but I think she's doing an impossible job as well as anyone possibly could. The fact of the matter is that she is not all-powerful. If she could single-handedly write an executive order removing Trump from office for obstruction, I honestly believe she would. When I look at her words and actions, I conclude she's doing everything she can to push the recalcitrant behemoth of a government in the right direction.
I think villifying her does more harm than good.
posted by kristi at 10:19 AM on June 20, 2019 [36 favorites]
Convenient that there happened to be another drone within visible range of the drone that was shot down to get video of the incident
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
Drawing on his tech-startup background, Parscale is also developing a smartphone app that attempts to “gamify” Trump supporters’ engagement with the campaign by offering prizes. In exchange for getting friends to share their contacts, hosting Trump events in their home or knocking on doors, voters get perks like better rally seats, photos with the President, signed hats and other incentives.
Trendy gamification aside, Parscale's plan to harvest telephone numbers for Trump's re-election campaign is the smartest move he's made so far. WSJ: Never Mind Those Tweets, Trump’s 2020 Re-Election Team Wants Order and Discipline—Four years after the president flouted electioneering tradition, his re-election team is taking a more conventional approach
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
Trendy gamification aside, Parscale's plan to harvest telephone numbers for Trump's re-election campaign is the smartest move he's made so far. WSJ: Never Mind Those Tweets, Trump’s 2020 Re-Election Team Wants Order and Discipline—Four years after the president flouted electioneering tradition, his re-election team is taking a more conventional approach
The way his top campaign advisers see it, the key for his re-election is to push supporters to the polls, not to boost his approval rating or persuade skeptics. […]Incidentally, at the moment,Trump appears to be fixated on winning Minnesota, which he lost by 1.5% in 2016, but his campaign advisers want to focus more on the states where he had the narrowest margin of victory in 2016: Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The campaign aims to build a political infrastructure that can operate regardless of what Mr. Trump says on stage or on social media. Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed is spoken of as his own brand, separate from the campaign.[…]
Now, Mr. Parscale is overseeing spending of roughly $2 million a month for what he calls “prospecting.” In the business world, that refers to identifying prospective customers, the first step in the sales process. Mr. Parscale uses the word to refer to accumulating the phones numbers of Trump supporters.
To drive voters to the polls, the campaign has been focusing to a greater degree than in 2016 on expanding its list of voter contacts, collecting that information in part through the president’s campaign rallies.
At the end of the 2016 campaign, the campaign had about 10 million voters on its list. Today it has more than 33 million, or about half of the number of Americans who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016. Mr. Parscale expects to have 50 million, or possibly more, by Election Day. Those phone numbers enable the campaign to reach supporters immediately, without having to buy TV ads or rely on the news media.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:26 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
Trump is giving up on regime change in Venezuela because it's complicated and he got bored, report says.
Looks like he's also getting bored about Iran owning our drone:
Trump says he believes strike by Iran was not intentional
Looks like he's also getting bored about Iran owning our drone:
Trump says he believes strike by Iran was not intentional
"Iran made a very big mistake!" President Trump tweeted on Thursday morning, likely referring to Iran's downing of the U.S. drone. Senior officials also met at the White House Wednesday night after reports of a missile strike in Saudi Arabia.posted by Rust Moranis at 10:27 AM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
When asked by reporters what his response to Iran will be, Mr. Trump said: "You'll find out."
However, Mr. Trump told reporters later that he believed the strike on the American drone was likely unintentional.
"I find it hard to believe it was intentional," Mr. Trump said, adding that it was perhaps a general or someone "under command" of the Iranian government who mistakenly authorized the strike. "It could've been somebody who was loose and stupid," he continued.
> I think villifying her does more harm than good.
Agreed, but I also think casting any disagreement with her words and actions as "vilifying" also does more harm than good.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
Agreed, but I also think casting any disagreement with her words and actions as "vilifying" also does more harm than good.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
Nancy Pelosi's political success isn't about winning her own safe seat, it's about helping take back the House for the Democrats and keeping her caucus organized and moving (somewhat) in sync.
To which the response is that's she's batting more like .500, not 1.000. If you're going to laud her for electoral success (such as 2008) then you have to hold her responsible for failures (i.e 2014).
posted by zombieflanders at 10:37 AM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
To which the response is that's she's batting more like .500, not 1.000. If you're going to laud her for electoral success (such as 2008) then you have to hold her responsible for failures (i.e 2014).
posted by zombieflanders at 10:37 AM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Batting .500 would make you the greatest hitter in the history of baseball.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:47 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:47 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Pelosi and Biden (especially) absolutely need AOC out there being her own self, even if they dislike it. Sanders they, the Dem Establishment, can paint into a corner and isolate for a bunch of reasons, AOC they cannot ignore. She makes them, the whole party be better.
posted by bonehead at 10:48 AM on June 20, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by bonehead at 10:48 AM on June 20, 2019 [40 favorites]
Batting .500 would make you the greatest hitter in the history of baseball.
Which doesn't help you one goddamn bit when the Commissioner decides to take all the power for themselves. It's not meant to be a perfect metaphor, it's meant to point out that talking about her electoral success doesn't mean that she's actually doing her job as well as she can.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:58 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
Which doesn't help you one goddamn bit when the Commissioner decides to take all the power for themselves. It's not meant to be a perfect metaphor, it's meant to point out that talking about her electoral success doesn't mean that she's actually doing her job as well as she can.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:58 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
As one of his constituents, I am absolutely delighted to hear that Tom Emmer is misfiring on all thrusters as chairman of the NRCC. This is the man who ran for and won Michele Bachmann's seat as the Republican successor. His political record shows him pandering to the worst impulses of the Republican Party, which makes him an outlier even among Minnesota Republicans, at least historically.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 10:59 AM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
She's batting .500 in the House, at which point the Senate Dems come to the plate and are formally prohibited from swinging the bat.
For some reason, the Dems lead the league in Left On Base.
posted by delfin at 11:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
For some reason, the Dems lead the league in Left On Base.
posted by delfin at 11:03 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
The interpretation that she's "warning" Democrats
She literally warned them. No need to interpret or put it in quotes.
Things I have heard from Nancy Pelosi in the past two months
None of that is on the subject in question which is the use of the the term "concentration camp."
posted by diogenes at 11:07 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
She literally warned them. No need to interpret or put it in quotes.
Things I have heard from Nancy Pelosi in the past two months
None of that is on the subject in question which is the use of the the term "concentration camp."
posted by diogenes at 11:07 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
The last cycle had so many complaints about Bernie and his supporters not coalescing around Hillary fast enough, or about how he hurt Hillary by attacking her supposed corporate connections and weakening her for the general elections. Am not looking forward to what this cycle is going to bring. Hopefully there won't be any needs for finger pointing or soul searching.
posted by asra at 11:10 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by asra at 11:10 AM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
I would assume that once a candidate wistfully pines for segregation or specifically assures wealthy donors at a Wall Street fundraiser that "nothing will change" for them under their leadership, people would understand a lack of enthusiasm.
posted by FakeFreyja at 11:19 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by FakeFreyja at 11:19 AM on June 20, 2019 [20 favorites]
As news stories and web searches spiked, the campaign bought digital ads about immigration. Though the President later backed off the threat, his campaign kept the momentum going by spending $250,000 over the next nine weeks pushing out ads on Facebook and paying for clicks on Google Search. “The content we produce, the advertising we platform, there’s never been anything like it in politics,” Parscale says. “We have our own television show in a way.”
Any way to have some bots click all those ads repeatedly and deplete Parscale's budget?
posted by M-x shell at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Any way to have some bots click all those ads repeatedly and deplete Parscale's budget?
posted by M-x shell at 11:22 AM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Health care round-up:
There's been a surprisingly effective push on a bipartisan deal to end surprise billing for out of network charges. That's not, you know, a major nationalization of the health care system, but it is a meaningful effort to do something, and also one that shows how hard and slow it is to change even just one small part of the system.
BuzzFeed, A New Bill To End Surprise Hospital Billing Could Be Congress's Only Shot At Fixing Something In The Health Care System, in which leverage works:
----
New England Journal of Medicine, Medicaid Work Requirements — Results from the First Year in Arkansas [direct unpaywalled PDF link]. The quick version:
The administration is so desperate to take health care away from the "undeserving" that it wants even more states to do this despite it having no actual effect on employment. As always, the cruelty is the point.
----
WSJ, Trump to Issue Executive Order on Health-Care Price Transparency
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But the biggest impediment to that strategy: the administration's usual nonsense. Politico, ‘They’re all fighting him’: Trump aides spar with health secretary
There's been a surprisingly effective push on a bipartisan deal to end surprise billing for out of network charges. That's not, you know, a major nationalization of the health care system, but it is a meaningful effort to do something, and also one that shows how hard and slow it is to change even just one small part of the system.
BuzzFeed, A New Bill To End Surprise Hospital Billing Could Be Congress's Only Shot At Fixing Something In The Health Care System, in which leverage works:
But many senators aren't having it. Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun told BuzzFeed News Wednesday the system is so broken that if improvements aren't made the industry will be facing a switch to single payer.You can get all the wonky details in this brief: An examination of surprise medical bills and proposals to protect consumers from them. Note the stats on the extent of the problem: 18% of ER visits by people with plans from large employers result in at least one out-of-network bill, and it's 38% in Texas. Two thirds of poll respondents are very or somewhat worried about not being able to afford an unexpected medical bill, though it's 37% for food, which rather suggests the broader problem with wealth and inequality in this country that goes well beyond medical bills.
“I’ve warned industry that time is running out," said Braun. "They know what the other option is — Bernie Sanders and Medicare For All, if they don’t get their act together.”
----
New England Journal of Medicine, Medicaid Work Requirements — Results from the First Year in Arkansas [direct unpaywalled PDF link]. The quick version:
In its first 6 months, work requirements in Arkansas were associated with a significant loss of #Medicaid coverage and rise in the percentage of uninsured persons.Drew Altman makes a good point about this: Why Medicaid work requirements aren't the same as welfare reform. As bad as the 1996 welfare reform bill was, it at least came with new federal funding for job training and child care. A lot of that didn't really happen, but the premise at least was a deal that the government would redirect welfare money into non-cash services that could help people work. With the Medicaid work requirements, we're not even pretending anymore; it's just punishing poor people.
We found no significant changes in employment associated with the policy, and more than 95% of persons who were targeted by the policy already met the requirement or should have been exempt.
the implementation of this policy was plagued by confusion among many enrollees... One third of persons who were subject to the policy had not heard anything about it, and 44% of the target population was unsure whether the requirements applied to them."
The administration is so desperate to take health care away from the "undeserving" that it wants even more states to do this despite it having no actual effect on employment. As always, the cruelty is the point.
----
WSJ, Trump to Issue Executive Order on Health-Care Price Transparency
President Trump plans to issue an executive order on Monday to compel the disclosure of prices in health care, according to people familiar with the matter. The order will direct federal agencies to initiate regulations and guidance that could require insurers, doctors, hospitals and others in the industry to provide information about the negotiated and often discounted cost of care, sources said.I read this as part of Trump's strategy to undermine the Democratic primary debates next week (Trump’s plan for the Dem debates: Make it about him). We all know Trump has no health care plan, but he doesn't have to have one. He just needs to have enough stuff that looks like it's vaguely useful while spreading FUD about what Democrats want.
Consumers and employers will benefit because pulling back the secrecy around the prices will allow them to shop for lower cost care and benefits, advocates say. But industry groups including hospitals and insurers have balked at the idea, saying it could cause costs to climb if some businesses learn competitors are getting bigger discounts. They also say consumers really want to know their own out-of-pocket costs and won’t benefit from full disclosure of negotiated prices.
----
But the biggest impediment to that strategy: the administration's usual nonsense. Politico, ‘They’re all fighting him’: Trump aides spar with health secretary
Azar has spent months battling White House domestic policy chief Joe Grogan, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and other officials over proposals targeting high drug prices, Medicaid and Obamacare, individuals inside and outside the administration said. But Azar has been repeatedly overruled, including on Trump’s decision to reverse a Justice Department stance in a high-profile Texas lawsuit and urge courts to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act.posted by zachlipton at 11:26 AM on June 20, 2019 [13 favorites]
Azar “hasn’t exactly been in line here recently,” said one administration official.
A former drug company executive-turned-Cabinet secretary, Azar also resisted letting Florida import drugs from Canada, a plan sought by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally. The simmering clash has pitted the ideological bent of officials like Grogan and Mulvaney — who see themselves as upholding Trump’s hard-line agenda — against Azar, a conservative but pragmatic former George W. Bush administration official.
Trump also overruled Azar on a recent decision to limit researchers’ access to fetal tissue obtained from abortion. Azar objected to the administration’s plan to ban government scientists at the NIH from doing such research. Pence strongly disagreed, as stopping fetal tissue projects is a top priority for him.
> Any way to have some bots click all those ads repeatedly and deplete Parscale's budget?
Doubtful. For all of the tech industry's complaints that developing algorithms to stop the spread of fake news and online hate speech is so difficult, they're really good at detecting ad fraud.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:30 AM on June 20, 2019 [15 favorites]
Doubtful. For all of the tech industry's complaints that developing algorithms to stop the spread of fake news and online hate speech is so difficult, they're really good at detecting ad fraud.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:30 AM on June 20, 2019 [15 favorites]
“I’ve warned industry that time is running out," said Braun. "They know what the other option is — Bernie Sanders and Medicare For All, if they don’t get their act together.”
This is the most useful, accurate, and compelling thing anyone has said on the internet in a very long time.
posted by Melismata at 12:01 PM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
This is the most useful, accurate, and compelling thing anyone has said on the internet in a very long time.
posted by Melismata at 12:01 PM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
I want to believe in Pelosi's expertise, I really do, and I'm sure there are aspects of her job that are difficult for me to imagine let alone fully grasp and many things she is doing right that I couldn't, but then there are things that make absolutely no sense to me like:
"They take responsibility for the statements they make." Pelosi went on to warn the Democratic caucus as a whole about "how politically charged the atmosphere is" and that their rivals may exploit the comments they make.
I don't understand this at all. Has she not noticed that you can be a centrist technocrat and Republicans will make you out to be 2nd coming of Stalin? Didn't she notice this last week when a Biden bi-partisan call (more or less "if you can't work with the other side, the alternative is a revolution") was turned into an accusation of *calling* for a revolution by Cornyn? Has she seen the AOC memes that are based off of things Republicans like to imagine she said rather than things she's actually said?
The atmosphere *is* politically charged. It is charged because the Republican party has totalized politics. You can say something, you can say nothing (literally, I say a video recently that was a supercut of Pelosi inhaling), you can give the godammed Gettysburg address, it doesn't matter, they will find a way to demonize you.
So can somebody help me understand why Pelosi cares about this?
Is it performing control/restraint for the benefit of a centrist audience? Even that I'm not sure I get, but maybe that's because I'm a centrist whose centrism has been obliterated by the last two years.
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [26 favorites]
"They take responsibility for the statements they make." Pelosi went on to warn the Democratic caucus as a whole about "how politically charged the atmosphere is" and that their rivals may exploit the comments they make.
I don't understand this at all. Has she not noticed that you can be a centrist technocrat and Republicans will make you out to be 2nd coming of Stalin? Didn't she notice this last week when a Biden bi-partisan call (more or less "if you can't work with the other side, the alternative is a revolution") was turned into an accusation of *calling* for a revolution by Cornyn? Has she seen the AOC memes that are based off of things Republicans like to imagine she said rather than things she's actually said?
The atmosphere *is* politically charged. It is charged because the Republican party has totalized politics. You can say something, you can say nothing (literally, I say a video recently that was a supercut of Pelosi inhaling), you can give the godammed Gettysburg address, it doesn't matter, they will find a way to demonize you.
So can somebody help me understand why Pelosi cares about this?
Is it performing control/restraint for the benefit of a centrist audience? Even that I'm not sure I get, but maybe that's because I'm a centrist whose centrism has been obliterated by the last two years.
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [26 favorites]
Vox, The recent Republican blowback to Trump judicial nominees, explained
HuffPost, Senate Confirms Judge Who Attacked Roe v. Wade, Called Being Transgender ‘A Delusion’: Susan Collins was the only Republican who voted against making Matthew Kacsmaryk a lifetime federal judge.
I assume there's some sort of crap exchange rate where Trump gets to give lifetime appointments to a certain number of homophobes in exchange for a tweet acknowledging pride month.
posted by zachlipton at 12:14 PM on June 20, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Senate’s agenda is basically judges, judges, and more judgesBut don't get too excited about the handful of blocked nominations.
As evidence of just how scant the upper chamber’s legislative agenda is, both Democratic congressional leaders and Senate leader McConnell have been keen to describe the Senate as a “legislative graveyard.”
For Democrats, the term is intended as an insult, a jab at how little legislation lawmakers are passing with the upper chamber’s Republican majority. For Republicans, the term is a point of pride, and something McConnell has used to brag about when he puts the kibosh on what he deems “socialist” policies.
Rather than passing legislation, the Senate has been laser-focused on confirming judges — efforts that McConnell sees as having an impact that could last for decades. Thus far in Trump’s presidency, lawmakers have approved circuit court judges at a rate that far surpasses those of recent predecessors. McConnell has said he’s advocated this approach because judges have lifetime appointments, which can’t really be reversed like legislation can.
HuffPost, Senate Confirms Judge Who Attacked Roe v. Wade, Called Being Transgender ‘A Delusion’: Susan Collins was the only Republican who voted against making Matthew Kacsmaryk a lifetime federal judge.
I assume there's some sort of crap exchange rate where Trump gets to give lifetime appointments to a certain number of homophobes in exchange for a tweet acknowledging pride month.
posted by zachlipton at 12:14 PM on June 20, 2019 [10 favorites]
African Migrants Are Becoming A New Face Of The U.S. Border Crisis (Robbie Feinberg and Bonnie Petrie for NPR, June 20, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:19 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
The crisis on the southern border has been driven by a surge of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Now there's a new face of the crisis: Hundreds of African migrants have crossed the border in recent weeks, many to seek asylum.Apparently, the broad publicity of the "crisis at the border" makes the US seem more welcoming than EU countries.
...
Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio sector of South Texas recently took into custody more than 500 migrants in just one week, mostly families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Angola.
...
"That journey through Central America and Mexico has been facilitated by these large migrant caravans, by more sophisticated and faster smuggling routes, and it's an easier journey from Guatemala onward than it has been in the past," [says Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank].
Capps says the U.S. can expect more migrants from all over the world to seek asylum in the United States unless Mexico does more to stop them. After threatening to impose tariffs, President Trump recently gave Mexico 45 days to act. Mexico pledged to beef up security on its southern border.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:19 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
A witness for the prosecution of Navy SEAL accused of war crime, after being granted immunity, claimed on the stand that he murdered the POW and not Gallagher.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:38 PM on June 20, 2019 [16 favorites]
“You never said that you covered the tube, did you?” asked Lt. Brian John, the prosecutor.What a farce. The miserable failure stretches from the murderous and self-protecting rank-and-file culture to the prosecutorial incompetence to the gleeful cruelty and promise of impunity at the top.
“You said he maintained vital signs until he stopped breathing,” he continued, reading off an interview transcript, accusing Scott of changing his story “only now, after you’ve been granted testimonial immunity.”
“You can lie about the fact that you killed the ISIS prisoner because you don’t want Chief Gallagher to go to jail,” Lt. John continued.
“I don’t want him to go to jail,” Scott shot back.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:38 PM on June 20, 2019 [16 favorites]
I'm no attorney, let alone a military one, but wouldnt most immunity-for-testimony deals also require the testimony be consistent with prior statements?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
So that drone Iran shot down is not just any old run-of-the-mill drone. It's a fancy new $200 million prototype & we only have 4, now 3, of them.
The U.S. Drone Shot Down by Iran Is a $200 Million Prototype Spy Plane
The Navy now possesses as few as three of the high-flying, 737-size BAMS-D drones, which can theoretically watch over the Persian Gulf around the clock.
The U.S. Drone Shot Down by Iran Is a $200 Million Prototype Spy Plane
The Navy now possesses as few as three of the high-flying, 737-size BAMS-D drones, which can theoretically watch over the Persian Gulf around the clock.
The U.S. military drone Iran shot down over the Persian Gulf on Thursday was a high-flying prototype model belonging to the Navy.
The Navy for years has deployed the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator, or BAMS-D, drones on an emergency basis, stationing the 737-size unmanned aerial vehicles to watch over Syria and Iran.
The unarmed BAMS-D drone “was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, told The Daily Beast via email.posted by scalefree at 12:49 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Update from the Not Putting Up With Republican Nonsense Department: Oregon governor sends police to find missing Republicans, bring them to Capitol
Minority Republicans are in literal hiding from the Oregon state senate to prevent a quorum - notably, to prevent a vote on a cap and trade carbon bill. (I'm so old I remember when cap and trade was a Republican idea...)
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 1:10 PM on June 20, 2019 [60 favorites]
Minority Republicans are in literal hiding from the Oregon state senate to prevent a quorum - notably, to prevent a vote on a cap and trade carbon bill. (I'm so old I remember when cap and trade was a Republican idea...)
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 1:10 PM on June 20, 2019 [60 favorites]
Trump’s Sinister Assault on Truth.
The president appears committed to destroying the very idea of facts.
posted by adamvasco at 1:15 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
The president appears committed to destroying the very idea of facts.
posted by adamvasco at 1:15 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
wildblueyonder: The atmosphere *is* politically charged. It is charged because the Republican party has totalized politics. You can say something, you can say nothing (literally, I say a video recently that was a supercut of Pelosi inhaling), you can give the godammed Gettysburg address, it doesn't matter, they will find a way to demonize you.
So can somebody help me understand why Pelosi cares about this?
Is it performing control/restraint for the benefit of a centrist audience? Even that I'm not sure I get, but maybe that's because I'm a centrist whose centrism has been obliterated by the last two years.
The not-acknowledging-villains thing described in the New Republic article linked by tonycpsu above captures a lot in our discourse, I think. Democrats, the media, and individual voters all feel a sense of freedom to acknowledge the problems but not to explicitly connect them to individuals. Even as we humans have a deep capacity for scapegoating, we also have lots of wiring for blame-avoidance, perhaps as a simple consequence of seeing the people we might blame as members of the in-group, or at least as friends-of-friends. (And also maybe as a kind of counterbalance to our scapegoating tendencies.)
So the result is generalized complaints about "Washington gridlock" and concerns over racism and intolerance and corruption, with no mention of particular intolerant corrupt racists. "One party over here is the bad party and the other is the good party" just feels icky to say, think, or hear, unless you're either paying pretty serious attention to the parties, or (namely in the case of Trumpists) have an authoritarian mindset that's primed for such a narrative.
I don't know whether and how a critical mass might be reached that flips this switch, morphing the 15% to 40% of Americans who just want the comfort of going "back to normal" into the only actually-sensible-and-effective kind of anti-Trumpist, namely a progressive or leftist or similar. I don't even know if there's a good historical non-violent precedent for it in world history. It's one reason social conservatives (in their "against David French" convo) and Joe Biden (in his "We'll just have to work together, there's no other choice") are hinting at the same larger threats against liberal democracy, albeit from opposite sides of that coin.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:16 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
So can somebody help me understand why Pelosi cares about this?
Is it performing control/restraint for the benefit of a centrist audience? Even that I'm not sure I get, but maybe that's because I'm a centrist whose centrism has been obliterated by the last two years.
The not-acknowledging-villains thing described in the New Republic article linked by tonycpsu above captures a lot in our discourse, I think. Democrats, the media, and individual voters all feel a sense of freedom to acknowledge the problems but not to explicitly connect them to individuals. Even as we humans have a deep capacity for scapegoating, we also have lots of wiring for blame-avoidance, perhaps as a simple consequence of seeing the people we might blame as members of the in-group, or at least as friends-of-friends. (And also maybe as a kind of counterbalance to our scapegoating tendencies.)
So the result is generalized complaints about "Washington gridlock" and concerns over racism and intolerance and corruption, with no mention of particular intolerant corrupt racists. "One party over here is the bad party and the other is the good party" just feels icky to say, think, or hear, unless you're either paying pretty serious attention to the parties, or (namely in the case of Trumpists) have an authoritarian mindset that's primed for such a narrative.
I don't know whether and how a critical mass might be reached that flips this switch, morphing the 15% to 40% of Americans who just want the comfort of going "back to normal" into the only actually-sensible-and-effective kind of anti-Trumpist, namely a progressive or leftist or similar. I don't even know if there's a good historical non-violent precedent for it in world history. It's one reason social conservatives (in their "against David French" convo) and Joe Biden (in his "We'll just have to work together, there's no other choice") are hinting at the same larger threats against liberal democracy, albeit from opposite sides of that coin.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:16 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
A federal judge in Boston today issued a preliminary injunction that bars ICE from going into Massachusetts courthouses and detaining people not already in custody - such as witnesses in criminal cases, people seeking restraining orders against abusive domestic partners and people who just have some reason to be in court.
US District Court Judge Indira Talwani said two county DAs (Middlesex's Marian Ryan and Suffolk's Rachael Rollins) and the state public-defender program "have demonstrated a likelihood of success" in their suit seeking a permanent ban on the practice. Their motion for a preliminary injunction cited 200 years of precedent barring the use of courthouses as a place to go detain people.
posted by adamg at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2019 [28 favorites]
US District Court Judge Indira Talwani said two county DAs (Middlesex's Marian Ryan and Suffolk's Rachael Rollins) and the state public-defender program "have demonstrated a likelihood of success" in their suit seeking a permanent ban on the practice. Their motion for a preliminary injunction cited 200 years of precedent barring the use of courthouses as a place to go detain people.
posted by adamg at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2019 [28 favorites]
"I fought for our country in Vietnam. I fought for our country and its laws as Chief Justice. I fought for morality and to preserve our moral institutions, and I'm ready to do it again. And yes I will run for the United States Senate in 2020."
Roy Moore is baaaack, y'all.
posted by delfin at 1:22 PM on June 20, 2019 [10 favorites]
Roy Moore is baaaack, y'all.
posted by delfin at 1:22 PM on June 20, 2019 [10 favorites]
Addendum to my point: One key exception to the social consensus of "We who are decent, broad-minded people must never collectively blame or target individuals as The Bad Guys" is found in much of the discussion about Donald Trump himself, precisely because of how much he violates the rule, thus creating a carve-out for tit-for-tat. By contrast, Mitch McConnell doesn't spend all day devising moronic nicknames for Nancy Pelosi, so if (unlike with Trump) she takes a hard line against him and calls him the problem with this country, she looks (to anyone underinformed) like the bully.
AOC violated the rule because even if she doesn't name villains, calling these places "concentration camps" carries an incredibly obvious implication about villainy. The conversation we're having now wasn't quite the same as with child separation, because that was so blatantly indefensible that most conservatives were shifting to "Obama did it too!", and as a result anyone could freely label the practice as horrific without being partisan.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
AOC violated the rule because even if she doesn't name villains, calling these places "concentration camps" carries an incredibly obvious implication about villainy. The conversation we're having now wasn't quite the same as with child separation, because that was so blatantly indefensible that most conservatives were shifting to "Obama did it too!", and as a result anyone could freely label the practice as horrific without being partisan.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
AP: Lawyers claim dangerous situation at border detention site
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:31 PM on June 20, 2019 [81 favorites]
A legal team that recently interviewed over 60 children at a Border Patrol station in Texas says a traumatic and dangerous situation is unfolding for some 250 infants, children and teens locked up for up to 27 days without adequate food, water and sanitation.You can ask God to forgive us, but the future won't.
A team of attorneys who recently visited the facility near El Paso told The Associated Press that three girls, ages 10 to 15, said they had been taking turns keeping watch over a sick 2-year-old boy because there was no one else to look after him.
When the lawyers saw the 2-year-old boy, he wasn’t wearing a diaper and had wet his pants, and his shirt was smeared in mucus. They said at least 15 children at the facility had the flu, and some were kept in medical quarantine. Children told lawyers that they were fed uncooked frozen food or rice and had gone weeks without bathing or a clean change of clothes at the facility in Clint, in the desert scrubland some 25 miles southeast of El Paso.
“In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity,” said Holly Cooper, an attorney who represents detained youth.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:31 PM on June 20, 2019 [81 favorites]
The unarmed BAMS-D drone “was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz,”
You have to know exactly where these things are to fly them, right? The Pentagon as released "a map, with no GPS coordinates, that showed the drone was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz."
You have to know exactly where these things are to fly them, right? The Pentagon as released "a map, with no GPS coordinates, that showed the drone was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted on Twitter Thursday what he said were the coordinates for where the American drone was targeted. “(25°59’43”N 57°02’25”E)” he tweeted, near Kouh-e Mobarak.posted by kirkaracha at 1:38 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
The religious right is getting played by the Supreme Court (Ian Millheiser, Think Progress)
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:40 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
If you want to win big in the Supreme Court, it helps to be rich.Though the current lineup of the Supreme Court favors religious conservatives, they're moving incrementally on cases involving religion in order to keep out of the spotlight and avoid becoming an issue in the 2020 elections.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:40 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah rehash Trump's Orlando rally: Exact same lines and crowd-size lies
"Usually, a re-election campaign offers new ideas, new policies to move the country forward," Trevor Noah said on Wednesday's Daily Show, but President Trump's Tuesday night speech "felt like an exact replica of him running in 2016 — and when I say an exact replica, I mean exact." Here's what he means.posted by kirkaracha at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2019 [29 favorites]
...
"In the runup to this thing, Trump and his folks kept saying that this thing was oversold, something like 100,000 tickets — or 120,000, something like that — for only 25,000 seats in the arena," Colbert said. "That's why they said they had to have that '45 Fest' out in the parking lot, for the overflow crowd of 75,000 people who couldn't get in. That is impressive! That is also a lie."
Colbert showed Late Show footage of the "overflow crowd" outside the arena. And "it's no one — just garbage and abandoned yard furniture," he said. "But maybe that crowd went home, without any of their chairs, because they couldn't get into that sold-out arena? Again, no, because our team got their press credentials denied at the last minute — and this is true — so they just went online and got tickets and walked in ... to take any one of the many, many empty seats in the arena."
So we're formulating a theory that the US deliberately sent a drone into Iranian airspace in order to provoke a response (i.e., shooting it down) which can then be used as justification for war, because the US is falsely claiming that the drone was in international airspace? Is that where we're at?
I mean, I don't find this the least bit implausible. I just want to make sure I understand what's going on here.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
I mean, I don't find this the least bit implausible. I just want to make sure I understand what's going on here.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Nadler: Hope Hicks broke with Trump on accepting foreign dirt (Politico)
posted by Little Dawn at 1:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [12 favorites]
Hope Hicks broke with President Donald Trump during her interview with the House Judiciary Committee this week, telling lawmakers that offers of foreign assistance in U.S. elections should be “rejected and reported to the FBI,” Chairman Jerry Nadler said on Thursday. [...]Emphasis added to what is front of our noses.
Nadler indicated during a Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday that Hicks was also asked about Trump’s recent comments to ABC News in which he suggested that he would accept a foreign adversary’s offer of damaging information about a political opponent. According to Nadler, Hicks “knew that the president’s statement was troubling” and “understood the president to be serious.”
“She also made clear that even she knew that such foreign assistance should be rejected and reported to the FBI,” added Nadler. Nadler did not quote Hicks directly, but the transcript of her testimony is set to be released later this week.
posted by Little Dawn at 1:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [12 favorites]
There's precedent for territorial 'incursion'.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:52 PM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by j_curiouser at 1:52 PM on June 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Roy Moore is baaaack, y'all.
YMMV, but I find it hard to be outraged at the return of a serial child abuser when the Republican party baseline is to support and defend putting children in concentration camps. All the evil Roy Moore has personally done is a drop in the bucket compared to what literally any Republican member of Congress has done and will do in the future if they have power.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:00 PM on June 20, 2019 [15 favorites]
YMMV, but I find it hard to be outraged at the return of a serial child abuser when the Republican party baseline is to support and defend putting children in concentration camps. All the evil Roy Moore has personally done is a drop in the bucket compared to what literally any Republican member of Congress has done and will do in the future if they have power.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:00 PM on June 20, 2019 [15 favorites]
Is it possible that the claims of both Iran and the US regarding the drone are true? Like, was the drone in Iran's airspace when it was targeted but had returned to international waters by the time the missile hit?
posted by SpaceBass at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by SpaceBass at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
From Trump’s Sinister Assault on Truth, linked above:
posted by scalefree at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
Trump is not simply a serial liar; he is attempting to murder the very idea of truth, which is even worse. “The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda,” according to the Russian dissident and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. “It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”His narcissism, eugenics, positive thinking Gospel from Norman Vincent Peale & probable solipsism combine in Trump's brain to create a situation where things are true only as long as he wants them to be. In effect he wills them to be true; they become true because that's what he needs in the moment. Because of his unique position of power that puts enormous pressure on the rest of the world to conform to his truth. And when his will changes as it so frequently does, so must the truth. Things that are true today may not be true tomorrow.
posted by scalefree at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
CNN: Roger Stone violated gag order with social media posts, prosecutors say
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
"In the past several days, Stone posted statements on social media about this case and the special counsel's investigation and appears to have specifically targeted those posts at major media outlets," prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.Politico: Prosecutors rebut Roger Stone: U.S. caught Russian election hackers on its own—Trump ally has alleged the government relied solely on ‘an inconclusive and unsubstantiated report’ written by a cyber research firm.
"On or about June 18 and 19, 2019, the defendant posted to Instagram and Facebook, commenting about this case and inviting news organizations to cover the issue," prosecutors wrote. "This is a violation of the current conditions of release."
Government investigators independently verified that Russian operatives hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and did not rely on a private cyber firm’s findings, federal prosecutors in the Roger Stone case in a court filing on Thursday.[…]Sounds like the old rat-fucker didn’t have a good day in court.
“Stone’s statement that the government has no other evidence is not only irrelevant to this proceeding but is also mistaken,” they wrote. “The government accordingly wishes to correct any misimpression.”
Thursday’s filing is the second time in less than a month that prosecutors have directly refuted Stone’s out-of-the-mainstream argument that Russia may not have been responsible for the DNC hack, a theory that Trump has floated publicly in the past.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:07 PM on June 20, 2019 [18 favorites]
I just sent this comment verbatim to Sen. Mike Bennett (D-CO). Asked him to get down there and put a stop to it. (My congress-thing is a giant fascist douche, so I saved my energy🤮.)
posted by j_curiouser at 2:17 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 2:17 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
Roy Moore is baaaack, y'all.
Asked what he'd like to do differently this time around, Moore told reporters on Thursday: "I would like to make more personal contact with people." (CBSNews, not The Onion)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:43 PM on June 20, 2019 [24 favorites]
Asked what he'd like to do differently this time around, Moore told reporters on Thursday: "I would like to make more personal contact with people." (CBSNews, not The Onion)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:43 PM on June 20, 2019 [24 favorites]
Thursday’s filing is the second time in less than a month that prosecutors have directly refuted Stone’s out-of-the-mainstream argument that Russia may not have been responsible for the DNC hack, a theory that Trump has floated publicly in the past.
Either Stone is so used to getting away with things that he really can't imagine he won't this time too, or.... he's knows that whatever sticks in court, he knows he can appeal (and try the court itself) in the friendly field of the propaganda media environment that's a reflection of his soul, which is why he / his defense might float theories that conservatives and Trump himself deploy, out of which will come the near automatic pardon. And bonus: propaganda arm gets the advantage of being able to erode the credibility of the courts. Both of which gets them a little further down the road towards the world there's no such thing as accountability for their they and their team.
I hope it's just the former.
posted by wildblueyonder at 2:46 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
Either Stone is so used to getting away with things that he really can't imagine he won't this time too, or.... he's knows that whatever sticks in court, he knows he can appeal (and try the court itself) in the friendly field of the propaganda media environment that's a reflection of his soul, which is why he / his defense might float theories that conservatives and Trump himself deploy, out of which will come the near automatic pardon. And bonus: propaganda arm gets the advantage of being able to erode the credibility of the courts. Both of which gets them a little further down the road towards the world there's no such thing as accountability for their they and their team.
I hope it's just the former.
posted by wildblueyonder at 2:46 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Are Ready to Take a Wrecking Ball to the Entire Federal Bureaucracy
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:24 PM on June 20, 2019 [51 favorites]
Justice Samuel Alito provided the fifth vote to uphold the law, but did so begrudgingly. “If a majority of this Court were willing to reconsider the approach we have taken for the past 84 years,” Alito explained, “I would support that effort. But because a majority is not willing to do that, it would be freakish to single out the provision at issue here for special treatment.” In other words, Alito isn’t going to break 84 years of precedent to the benefit of a half-million sex offenders.They're going to destroy the administrative state, which is the only halfway functioning part of the federal government. Imagine if this irreparably broken Congress has to pass legislation for every action currently delegated to every agency. That's how they will finally kill federal oversight of everything from the markets to the environment to food safety. This is why they stole the Court. To let corporations and the religious right do as they please and completely defang the executive's ability to set or enforce any standards.
Why wasn’t a majority willing to revisit the nondelegation doctrine? Simple: Justice Brett Kavanaugh wasn’t yet seated when SCOTUS heard Gundy in early October and thus didn’t participate in the opinion. The conservative bloc wasn’t at full capacity. That left Justice Neil Gorsuch to pen a righteous dissent scorning “a plurality of an eight-member Court” for ignoring “the Constitution’s demands.”
...
Gorsuch’s fuzzy new rule would work a revolution in federal law. Hundreds of statutes task the executive branch with some broad goal, then let agencies fill in the details. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, has wide latitude to identify and restrict pollutants, because Congress doesn’t want to legislate every new regulation. Instead, it gives the EPA certain guidelines, then leaves it to the agency’s scientists to determine what rules would best serve the public. The same goes for the Department of Labor, whose experts are empowered to identify and remedy workplace abuses. Americans may complain about bureaucracy, but with Congress perpetually deadlocked, these agencies keep the government running—and, crucially, adapting to new challenges, exactly as lawmakers intended.
Now Gorsuch wants to stop all that. His vague standard would allow judges to strike down statutes that don’t give agencies sufficient direction. What laws does he have in mind? On Thursday, he limited his critique to SORNA. But soon Kavanaugh, a critic of the administrative state, will likely join his crusade, shoring up a conservative majority. At that point, it won’t just be sex offender laws that fall, but any statute that delegates too much power to agencies in the court’s subjective view. The result could permanently hobble the executive agencies that do the everyday work of carrying out the law.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:24 PM on June 20, 2019 [51 favorites]
Another concentration camp.
A facility to house over 1,000 undocumented children is set to open Monday in Carrizo Springs, Texas—just days after almost 250 groups called on Congress to decriminalize migration and chart a new course for the
posted by adamvasco at 3:36 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
A facility to house over 1,000 undocumented children is set to open Monday in Carrizo Springs, Texas—just days after almost 250 groups called on Congress to decriminalize migration and chart a new course for the
posted by adamvasco at 3:36 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
The Hope Hicks transcript is out. Some highlights from Nadler's office: "Lawyers for the Trump Administration blocked Ms. Hicks from answering questions 155 times."
Which leads to the obvious question of why they didn't do this in public so we can have a mashup of all 155 times they stopped her from answering.
@KlasfeldReports:
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Which leads to the obvious question of why they didn't do this in public so we can have a mashup of all 155 times they stopped her from answering.
@KlasfeldReports:
Two White House counsel and reps from @TheJusticeDept's OLC were there. Acknowledging this is unusual, Nadler said in the transcript: "I note that the committee does not typically permit agency counsel to be present in a transcribed interview involving nonagency employees."Though this might be one reason not to do this in public. @abbydphillip: Nadler repeatedly calls Hope Hicks "Ms. Lewandowski" until she finally corrects him. "My name is Ms. Hicks":
They weren't just passive observers either. Michael Purpora, a deputy counsel to the president, objected after Nadler simply asked whether Lewandowski became an executive branch official. "It's a matter of public record," Nadler noted. "Why would you object?" Hicks refused to answer *that* question.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Meanwhile, sitting N.Y. state Senator Julia Salazar says “I’m not bothered by the accusation that I am a socialist or a communist. It’s accurate in the sense that I don’t believe that housing should be for-profit, because of the harm that I’ve seen as a result of it... I’m a Marxist, and I’m not ashamed of that."
Winds, changing, etc.
posted by The Whelk at 3:58 PM on June 20, 2019 [26 favorites]
Winds, changing, etc.
posted by The Whelk at 3:58 PM on June 20, 2019 [26 favorites]
WaPo, When Trump visits his clubs, government agencies and Republicans pay to be where he is
Trump has bigger designs for the Doral club: He has suggested holding next year’s Group of Seven meeting — a gathering of world leaders — at Doral or another of his luxury resorts, current and former White House staffers said.posted by zachlipton at 4:23 PM on June 20, 2019 [7 favorites]
Since taking office, Trump has faced pushback about his official visits to his properties from some of his aides, including inside the White House Counsel’s Office. They worried about the appearance that he was using the power of the presidency to direct taxpayer money into his own pockets, according to current and former White House officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Trump has rebuffed such warnings, overruling a recommendation that he not visit his Turnberry golf club in Scotland last summer, according to aides. And in recent months, he has scheduled even more detours from official trips to visit his businesses — golf courses in Ireland, Los Angeles and Doral.
...
In all, his scores of trips have brought his private businesses at least $1.6 million in revenue, from federal officials and GOP campaigns who pay to go where Trump goes, according to a Washington Post analysis.
...
About one-third of all the political fundraisers or donor meetings that Trump has attended — 23 out of 63 — have taken place at his own properties, according to the Post analysis of federal campaign finance records and the president’s public schedule. Campaign finance records show several Republican groups paying to hold events where Trump spoke. GOP fundraisers say they do that, in part, to increase the chances Trump will attend.
...
The actual amount of money Trump has received as a result of his visits and campaign events is probably much higher than the $1.6 million The Post identified. That’s because most of the records available about government spending date to the first half of 2017 — covering just the first few months of Trump’s presidency so far. And the records of campaign spending don’t account for other revenue that Trump may have made off campaign events, including overnight stays by donors attending the event.
The Hope Hicks transcript is out.
I hope that interview dotted lots of i's for theoretical future actions, because it was a complete waste of time in every other respect.
posted by diogenes at 4:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
I hope that interview dotted lots of i's for theoretical future actions, because it was a complete waste of time in every other respect.
posted by diogenes at 4:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Nadler repeatedly calls Hope Hicks "Ms. Lewandowski" until she finally corrects him. "My name is Ms. Hicks":
What the fuuuuuuuuuuck?
I mean, I don't like the chick, but that's just wrong.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:34 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
What the fuuuuuuuuuuck?
I mean, I don't like the chick, but that's just wrong.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:34 PM on June 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's kind of amazing how powerless Congress is in the face of legal gibberish.
Nadler: Ms. Hicks, have you been inside the White House?
White House Counsel: Objection. Ms. Hicks can't answer that because farble garble.
Nadler: Curses! Foiled again! See you in court at some point in the future maybe!
posted by diogenes at 4:35 PM on June 20, 2019 [27 favorites]
Nadler: Ms. Hicks, have you been inside the White House?
White House Counsel: Objection. Ms. Hicks can't answer that because farble garble.
Nadler: Curses! Foiled again! See you in court at some point in the future maybe!
posted by diogenes at 4:35 PM on June 20, 2019 [27 favorites]
I mean, I don't like the chick, but that's just wrong.
Yeah, the speculation is that he was doing it on purpose because of her rumored relationship with the married Lewandowski. That might actually reflect on him even worse than if he just couldn't remember who he was interviewing.
posted by diogenes at 4:37 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
Yeah, the speculation is that he was doing it on purpose because of her rumored relationship with the married Lewandowski. That might actually reflect on him even worse than if he just couldn't remember who he was interviewing.
posted by diogenes at 4:37 PM on June 20, 2019 [9 favorites]
There is intense debate on Twitter about the disagreement between the three reported sources for the drone (from Pentagon and two Iranian sources). It'd be nice if the Pentagon had more credibility, for example if they had held a real press conference in the past year, or if there was a functional SecDef.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:05 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:05 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
I don't expect Trump will nomination another Secretary of Defense, whether he's in office 2 more years, 6 or longer. He may not nominate another cabinet official period. They're deliberately operating with "acting" heads to weaken the authority of the security services and allow unconfirmed apparatchiks like Bolton or Mulvaney with his ever expanding portfolio of jobs to run vast swaths of the government. It's a deliberate strategy to consolidate power outside of congressional oversight and under Trump's direct influence.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:14 PM on June 20, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:14 PM on June 20, 2019 [40 favorites]
WaPo, ‘I will answer every question’: Onetime Trump business partner Felix Sater is set to tell a House panel new details about Moscow project
posted by zachlipton at 6:52 PM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
“I will answer every question without exception,” said Sater, who worked on two separate efforts to develop a Trump tower in Russia. “I always have and always will cooperate with anything the U.S. government asks of me.”I am so, so tired of all of these people.
...
Among his close associates is a retired Soviet army general named Evgeny Shmykov who Sater said aided his anti-terrorism inquiries in the 1990s and later helped him with the Trump Tower Moscow project. Shmykov, reached by telephone in Moscow, confirmed Sater’s account.
Among FBI agents, Sater’s ability to leverage information and operational plans earned him the nickname “Quarterback.”
Sater jokingly embraces a different moniker, a nod to his Jewish heritage: “Moishe Bond.”
posted by zachlipton at 6:52 PM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
NYT, Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Abruptly Pulls Back
posted by zachlipton at 8:08 PM on June 20, 2019 [32 favorites]
President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.At this point, I think he’s just making decisions based on whatever is the least personally inconvenient for him.
As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.
Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.
But the action was then abruptly called off for the evening, putting a halt to what would have been the president’s third military action against targets in the Middle East. Mr. Trump had struck twice at targets in Syria, in 2017 and 2018.
posted by zachlipton at 8:08 PM on June 20, 2019 [32 favorites]
That's a full yikes from me.
And the thing is: it really is impossible to guess why he called it off, or what might motivate him tomorrow. Like maybe he realizes this won't poll well? Maybe on some level he can sense that Bolton really is stupid? Or... I hate to say this because attacking Iran is stupid as fuck and I don't see leaving them alone as weakness or cowardice--but maybe he got cold feet?
All along I have had the sense that Trump really, desperately wants to look tough, but beneath that he's actually afraid of all the military stuff because he knows he'll probably fuck it up. Trump is the guy who makes like he's going to lunge at someone while he shouts "Hold me back!" to his friends... only now he doesn't have friends who will hold him back.
And I can type all that and we could still wake up to reports of air strikes tomorrow because someone else pissed in his ear, or because someone said this makes him look weak.
We're all stuck with this.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:16 PM on June 20, 2019 [21 favorites]
And the thing is: it really is impossible to guess why he called it off, or what might motivate him tomorrow. Like maybe he realizes this won't poll well? Maybe on some level he can sense that Bolton really is stupid? Or... I hate to say this because attacking Iran is stupid as fuck and I don't see leaving them alone as weakness or cowardice--but maybe he got cold feet?
All along I have had the sense that Trump really, desperately wants to look tough, but beneath that he's actually afraid of all the military stuff because he knows he'll probably fuck it up. Trump is the guy who makes like he's going to lunge at someone while he shouts "Hold me back!" to his friends... only now he doesn't have friends who will hold him back.
And I can type all that and we could still wake up to reports of air strikes tomorrow because someone else pissed in his ear, or because someone said this makes him look weak.
We're all stuck with this.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:16 PM on June 20, 2019 [21 favorites]
Good thing grampa's sundowning got in the way of starting WW3 today
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:21 PM on June 20, 2019 [46 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:21 PM on June 20, 2019 [46 favorites]
I'm flying in to Dubai a week from tomorrow so I would consider it a personal favor if Trump would not start a major war in the immediate vicinity for another month or so.
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
They are reporting on MSNBC right now that planes were already in the air and ships were already in position, but no missiles had yet been fired, when the stand down was ordered by Trump tonight.
I have no words.
posted by gudrun at 8:33 PM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
I have no words.
posted by gudrun at 8:33 PM on June 20, 2019 [17 favorites]
so trump did something … good?
i’m sure we’ll learn tomorrow it was for the wrong reason and on accident and he regrets it
posted by murphy slaw at 8:45 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
i’m sure we’ll learn tomorrow it was for the wrong reason and on accident and he regrets it
posted by murphy slaw at 8:45 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
so trump did something … good?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
It was not clear whether Mr. Trump simply changed his mind on the strikes or whether the administration altered course because of logistics or strategy. It was also not clear whether the attacks might still go forward.He doesn't do good things. Stay tuned.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:48 PM on June 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
Trump may be an idiot but he knows ratings. He wants to get both the credit for being anti middle East war and the boost from the war hungry media. Easiest way to do that is to do very flamboyant denunciations of the war hawks before some final "provocation" is nicely timed 6 months before the election. He'll get the war bump but not have electoral consequences for the fuckup afterwards.
posted by benzenedream at 8:51 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 8:51 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
So, we were minutes away from an illegal first strike on Iran over 2 non-US ships being set on fire and an unmanned drone, with no lives lost. And the only thing that stopped it was Trump's insecurities and fundamental unfitness for command.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:57 PM on June 20, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:57 PM on June 20, 2019 [30 favorites]
I know it’s tempting, but this dumbass does NOT get credit for deciding not to carry through on a war he’s done his best to initiate. Not when it’s a nuclear exchange with North Korea, not when it’s a trade war with Mexico, and not when it’s a land war in the Middle East.
I’ve heard of lowering the bar, but come on. The guy is an existential threat and a menace to global stability.
posted by darkstar at 8:58 PM on June 20, 2019 [35 favorites]
I’ve heard of lowering the bar, but come on. The guy is an existential threat and a menace to global stability.
posted by darkstar at 8:58 PM on June 20, 2019 [35 favorites]
Who leaked all this? Cripes whoever it is is now taunting the President and betting that will get it done.
Fucking intolerable all of it.
posted by notyou at 8:59 PM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
Fucking intolerable all of it.
posted by notyou at 8:59 PM on June 20, 2019 [8 favorites]
so trump did something … good?
Well, he sure as hell didn't change his mind out of mercy or decency, so no. For the best, but not "good."
They are reporting on MSNBC right now that planes were already in the air and ships were already in position, but no missiles had yet been fired, when the stand down was ordered by Trump tonight.
If that's true, Republicans at the top are going to know it's true, and that's a big fucking deal. And for once I wonder if something might actually matter to them.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:00 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
Well, he sure as hell didn't change his mind out of mercy or decency, so no. For the best, but not "good."
They are reporting on MSNBC right now that planes were already in the air and ships were already in position, but no missiles had yet been fired, when the stand down was ordered by Trump tonight.
If that's true, Republicans at the top are going to know it's true, and that's a big fucking deal. And for once I wonder if something might actually matter to them.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:00 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
Iran’s ability to target and destroy the high-altitude American drone, which was developed to evade the very surface-to-air missiles used to bring it down, surprised some Defense Department officials, who interpreted it as a show of how difficult Tehran can make things for the United States as it deploys more troops and steps up surveillance in the regionStrongly indicative that the "whoops jeez looks like they sank our entire fleet in three hours" Millennium Challenge 2002 scenario would still hold true.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:03 PM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
FAA just issued a no fly order for all US flights over the Persian Gulf. But if this attack was in progress earlier tonight, they were moving forward with US civilians in the air over Iran and the entire Middle East.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:04 PM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:04 PM on June 20, 2019 [22 favorites]
It's possible Trump is being given too much credit and the attack-but-then-not thing (and the sieve-like leaks to the press) is intentional and part of strategy. The Iranians aren't the only ones who can do the toeing-the-line-and-backing-off game. And Trump is no chessmaster but there are people in the Pentagon who do get paid to do that sort of thinking.
It has a bit of a Dread Pirate Roberts thing going for it. "Good night, Iranian SAM crews. Sleep well. We'll most likely kill you in the morning." Or maybe not. Or maybe tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or maybe never. But they have to sit there, waiting for the TLAMs to come over the horizon at 500kts, and that's an effect in its own right
Or maybe someone just noticed there were still a bunch of commercial airliners within range of Iranian SAMs, and in the last two minutes of their time on Earth there's not much reason for someone not to pick any random target and see if they can get a shot off in time.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:19 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
It has a bit of a Dread Pirate Roberts thing going for it. "Good night, Iranian SAM crews. Sleep well. We'll most likely kill you in the morning." Or maybe not. Or maybe tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or maybe never. But they have to sit there, waiting for the TLAMs to come over the horizon at 500kts, and that's an effect in its own right
Or maybe someone just noticed there were still a bunch of commercial airliners within range of Iranian SAMs, and in the last two minutes of their time on Earth there's not much reason for someone not to pick any random target and see if they can get a shot off in time.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:19 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Iran’s ability to target and destroy the high-altitude American drone, which was developed to evade the very surface-to-air missiles used to bring it down, surprised some Defense Department officials
That's a pretty weird statement and I'd take it with a grain of salt. The RQ-4 Global Hawk (on which the MQ-4C Triton is based) isn't stealthy. It's not especially fast. The only way in which it was "developed to evade surface-to-air missiles" is that it can fly at reasonably high altitudes. But that hasn't been exactly a barrier to strategic SAMs since, uh, May 1960.
In fact, I'd bet (just going on probabilities) that the missile used to shoot down the Triton was probably a derivative of the same missile used to shoot down the U-2 in 1960. Iran allegedly still has 300+ launchers sitting around somewhere.
The Global Hawk / Triton is meant to be hard for someone to shoot down with a MANPADS or other tactical SAM, which makes sense when you recall that it was designed in the early 2000s for the GWOT, and that's the sort of thing the Taliban might have fielded.
But nothing about it gives the appearance of something designed to survive in contested airspace. Maybe the surprise was being expressed over the decision to shoot one down, rather than the ability?
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:39 PM on June 20, 2019 [21 favorites]
That's a pretty weird statement and I'd take it with a grain of salt. The RQ-4 Global Hawk (on which the MQ-4C Triton is based) isn't stealthy. It's not especially fast. The only way in which it was "developed to evade surface-to-air missiles" is that it can fly at reasonably high altitudes. But that hasn't been exactly a barrier to strategic SAMs since, uh, May 1960.
In fact, I'd bet (just going on probabilities) that the missile used to shoot down the Triton was probably a derivative of the same missile used to shoot down the U-2 in 1960. Iran allegedly still has 300+ launchers sitting around somewhere.
The Global Hawk / Triton is meant to be hard for someone to shoot down with a MANPADS or other tactical SAM, which makes sense when you recall that it was designed in the early 2000s for the GWOT, and that's the sort of thing the Taliban might have fielded.
But nothing about it gives the appearance of something designed to survive in contested airspace. Maybe the surprise was being expressed over the decision to shoot one down, rather than the ability?
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:39 PM on June 20, 2019 [21 favorites]
Trump has probably decided retroactively that this was a great brain genius move to put pressure on Iran, but apparently everyone in the room also thought these strikes were going forward and weren't a feint. I do not believe Trump personally is capable of executing such a feint at all, much less without bragging about it 8 hours later.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:41 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 9:41 PM on June 20, 2019 [3 favorites]
We must go to war to avenge our... er, drone.
posted by um at 11:01 PM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by um at 11:01 PM on June 20, 2019 [14 favorites]
Rust Moranis: "Strongly indicative that the "whoops jeez looks like they sank our entire fleet in three hours" Millennium Challenge 2002 scenario would still hold true."
I've no love lost for the military-industrial complex under Bush or its arrogant delusions of infallibility, but FWIW I've seen compelling arguments that this incident was less damning than it sounds. This 2011 Reddit comment sums up some of the stronger bullet points against overinterpreting it.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:21 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I've no love lost for the military-industrial complex under Bush or its arrogant delusions of infallibility, but FWIW I've seen compelling arguments that this incident was less damning than it sounds. This 2011 Reddit comment sums up some of the stronger bullet points against overinterpreting it.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:21 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I have a completely unsubstantiated hunch that some large moving piece of this planned strike decided to stand down of their own accord in defiance of whatever their orders were at the last second. It wasn't worth it and they knew it. The White House is trying to save face.
posted by Krazor at 11:30 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Krazor at 11:30 PM on June 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I have a completely unsubstantiated hunch that some large moving piece of this planned strike decided to stand down of their own accord in defiance of whatever their orders were at the last second. It wasn't worth it and they knew it. The White House is trying to save face.
Or they figured out that the drone was actually in Iranian airspace after all, and there's proof.
posted by carmicha at 11:53 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Or they figured out that the drone was actually in Iranian airspace after all, and there's proof.
posted by carmicha at 11:53 PM on June 20, 2019 [5 favorites]
Bolton and the MEK.
Bolton seems to be behind this, right? I mean the guy‘s been vocally stumping for war with Iran for at last ... 20 years? And finally he’s got a puppet President whose even less in control the W - Cheney, in fact there’s no one at the rudder - so Bolton works his magic and pushes the pieces around... that’s gotta be a crazy notion, right? Pure loco? But - Occam’s razor and all...
posted by From Bklyn at 12:15 AM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Bolton seems to be behind this, right? I mean the guy‘s been vocally stumping for war with Iran for at last ... 20 years? And finally he’s got a puppet President whose even less in control the W - Cheney, in fact there’s no one at the rudder - so Bolton works his magic and pushes the pieces around... that’s gotta be a crazy notion, right? Pure loco? But - Occam’s razor and all...
posted by From Bklyn at 12:15 AM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
I think Trump just decided he didn't want to spend the evening in the situation room, but wanted to go back to the residency for Fox and Big Macs, so that's what he did. Raid canceled.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:39 AM on June 21, 2019 [41 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:39 AM on June 21, 2019 [41 favorites]
TEAM BRAIN WORMS
posted by angrycat at 4:02 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 4:02 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Daily Beast: Trump Super PAC Illegally Hid Donor’s Identity, Watchdog Says—Records released this week indicate the contribution came from an entirely different company, which may have knowingly violated federal campaign-finance laws. (Paywalled)
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:14 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
“Taken together,” CLC writes in its complaint, “the available evidence suggests an elaborate series of deliberate transfers whose precise starting point is still unknown: An unidentified client established an attorney trust account with Mr. Jacobs, who then made a $1.26 million transfer from that account to the apparently asset-poor Aaron Investments I LLC, which two days later contributed $325,000 to America First Action, which in turn ultimately—and falsely—attributed that contribution to ‘Global Energy Producers LLC.”Lachlan Markay, the article's author, writes on Twitter, "Wire transfer records show a $325k corporate contrib to Trump's official super PAC came from a totally different, unnamed company. Two days earlier, that company got a $1.2M cash infusion from a real estate lawyer specializing in money laundering laws[.] All of this info is coming out now because an exec for these two companies failed to pay a $500k debt years ago and is still being sued for it. Which makes you think about all the similar examples of these sorts of shady financial transfers that might never see the light of day."
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:14 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
the only thing that stopped it was Trump's insecurities and fundamental unfitness for command.
That and the fact that Putin warned us against attacking Iran. Can’t piss off the boss.
posted by chris24 at 4:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [24 favorites]
That and the fact that Putin warned us against attacking Iran. Can’t piss off the boss.
posted by chris24 at 4:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [24 favorites]
Ding ding ding. Russia doesn't like it, Trump didn't realize, he got a message, called it off.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 5:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
The line over here is that the allies got on the blower and talked 45 down. Which is what friends are for, of course, and given the spectacular lack of secrecy around this lot I'd expect to see full trnscripts on Buzzfeed in about three... two... one...
posted by Devonian at 5:23 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 5:23 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
That's a pretty weird statement and I'd take it with a grain of salt. The RQ-4 Global Hawk (on which the MQ-4C Triton is based) isn't stealthy. It's not especially fast. The only way in which it was "developed to evade surface-to-air missiles" is that it can fly at reasonably high altitudes.
The MQ-4C Triton is also capable of dropping down low to the ground and operating at a much closer range than the Global Hawk it's based on, it carries an electronic sensor package based on the one carried by much smaller close support Reaper drones. It can drop down and look at a target from up close. We don't know what altitude this one was flying at when hit, it could've been operating pretty damn close to Iranian targets. And this is a brand new platform, this is the first time we've ever deployed it, so from the Iranian vantage, they see a Global Hawk they're used to flying around many miles away suddenly drop in and get real close, that's a pretty scary/tempting target.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:18 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
The MQ-4C Triton is also capable of dropping down low to the ground and operating at a much closer range than the Global Hawk it's based on, it carries an electronic sensor package based on the one carried by much smaller close support Reaper drones. It can drop down and look at a target from up close. We don't know what altitude this one was flying at when hit, it could've been operating pretty damn close to Iranian targets. And this is a brand new platform, this is the first time we've ever deployed it, so from the Iranian vantage, they see a Global Hawk they're used to flying around many miles away suddenly drop in and get real close, that's a pretty scary/tempting target.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:18 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Psychiatrist John Gartner: "Two years ago I compared Trump to Hitler. People didn't believe me" (Chauncey DeVega, Salon)
'Trump's presidency is a "coup in process," says Gartner. There may not be "another free and fair election"'posted by ZeusHumms at 6:25 AM on June 21, 2019 [45 favorites]
What will happen next if Donald Trump continues with his behavior and the United States stays this course?
I think what the American people and the world need to understand is that Donald Trump's coup is almost complete. Congress is the last line of defense. Instead of fighting back the Democrats are going to let him proceed. The Democrats are saying, "We're not going to fight Donald Trump. We're going to wait until the next game. The next election is almost here. We'll win that one."
The reality is that the United States may be getting to a point where there will not be another free and fair election because of Russian hacking and Donald Trump and the Republican Party's unwillingness to protect the country. Not only did Donald Trump collude with Russia and its agents for the first attack on the American electoral system in 2016, he is now using his power as president to open the door even wider for the next attack in 2020.
The line over here is that the allies got on the blower and talked 45 down.
That tracks with CBS News: "Two sources told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan on Friday that concerns expressed to the Trump administration by allies were at least one factor in the decision to call off the strike."
Team Trump now has to spin the abortive missile strike, especially since it makes him appear weak and indecisive. Just now @realDonaldTrump went on an extended rant about Iran, Obama, the nuclear deal, etc., claiming that he called off the strike out of mercy: "We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General." Of course, an unnamed source calling "sir", as Daniel Dale has pointed out, is a telltale sign Trump is making everything up.
MoJo: Trump Confronts Iran—Without Allies, a Defense Secretary, or a Coherent Policy
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:39 AM on June 21, 2019 [17 favorites]
That tracks with CBS News: "Two sources told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan on Friday that concerns expressed to the Trump administration by allies were at least one factor in the decision to call off the strike."
Team Trump now has to spin the abortive missile strike, especially since it makes him appear weak and indecisive. Just now @realDonaldTrump went on an extended rant about Iran, Obama, the nuclear deal, etc., claiming that he called off the strike out of mercy: "We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General." Of course, an unnamed source calling "sir", as Daniel Dale has pointed out, is a telltale sign Trump is making everything up.
MoJo: Trump Confronts Iran—Without Allies, a Defense Secretary, or a Coherent Policy
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:39 AM on June 21, 2019 [17 favorites]
I think he really doesn't want to do it (not because it's wrong, obviously, but because of how it would affect him), but if he feels cornered, he will. Apparently, Fox & Friends this morning were basically complaining that he wasn't taking action. That might do it, too. And he's got Bolton and Pompeo whispering in his ear, and no SecDef.
posted by holborne at 6:46 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by holborne at 6:46 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
I think he really doesn't want to do it (not because it's wrong, obviously, but because of how it would affect him), but if he feels cornered, he will.
This. Trump is a simple man (to say the least) and he really didn't like the way the Iraq war worked out. He likes the idea of bombing someone completely helpless, preferably with an A-bomb, very much. He does not like the idea of a prolonged war with thousands of US casualties. And even as most of his so-called advisors tell him it will be easy, some of those generals must have had a chance to tell him it won't before they gave up/were kicked out.
And maybe there is someone cynical in that staff who can tell him that if he starts a war with Iran, there is no way he will win reelection. An unprovoked war, no allies, no end in sight? I don't even think that'll work out if he starts it 6 months before Election Day.
posted by mumimor at 7:06 AM on June 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
This. Trump is a simple man (to say the least) and he really didn't like the way the Iraq war worked out. He likes the idea of bombing someone completely helpless, preferably with an A-bomb, very much. He does not like the idea of a prolonged war with thousands of US casualties. And even as most of his so-called advisors tell him it will be easy, some of those generals must have had a chance to tell him it won't before they gave up/were kicked out.
And maybe there is someone cynical in that staff who can tell him that if he starts a war with Iran, there is no way he will win reelection. An unprovoked war, no allies, no end in sight? I don't even think that'll work out if he starts it 6 months before Election Day.
posted by mumimor at 7:06 AM on June 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
Wisconsin's Supreme Court just upheld the restrictions on the powers of the (currently Democratic) Governor and Atty. General, passed at the last minute, in a lame-duck session, by the Republican legislature.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:17 AM on June 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 7:17 AM on June 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
Politico’s Natasha Bertrand: “BREAKING: Felix Sater didn't show up to his hearing today, per House Intel. "The Committee had scheduled a voluntary staff-level interview with Mr. Sater, but he did not show up this morning as agreed. As a result, the Committee is issuing a subpoena to compel his testimony."”
CNN’s Christina Alesci: “Felix Sater's lawyer Robert Wolf just told me Sater unable to testify because of health reasons.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 AM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
CNN’s Christina Alesci: “Felix Sater's lawyer Robert Wolf just told me Sater unable to testify because of health reasons.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 AM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
Trump’s advisors won’t promote an actual war. They will promote a no-fly zone over the Gulf and standoff attacks on IRCG units, with the IRCG recently deemed a “terrorist” organization.
The more likely danger comes from Iran responding by engaging in proxy conflicts in a more open and militarized way, such that the whole region is destabilized by a patchwork of border conflicts that bleeds its way into a theater war.
A lot of the middle-east and Persian Gulf-centric reporting forgets to remind readers that Iran also shares a long land border with Afghanistan.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
The more likely danger comes from Iran responding by engaging in proxy conflicts in a more open and militarized way, such that the whole region is destabilized by a patchwork of border conflicts that bleeds its way into a theater war.
A lot of the middle-east and Persian Gulf-centric reporting forgets to remind readers that Iran also shares a long land border with Afghanistan.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
T.D. Strange: The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Are Ready to Take a Wrecking Ball to the Entire Federal Bureaucracy
I feel that this is something that could also come back to hurt conservatives, as it harms the nation.
If I'm reading this right, this could potentially require Congress to be really clear and explicit in all it's law-making. Seems obvious, but in practice, Congressional acts often fail to cover many day-to-day decisions necessary to operate federal agencies, and in turn, support state and local agencies.
Congress makes the laws. Those go in the The United States Code (USC).
Regulatory bodies (like the IRS or EPA) fill in the details with regulations. Those go in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Public agencies generally look to the CFRs for direction, because they're more explicit. If agencies have to rely solely on USC, that means a lot more ambiguity, uneven application of laws, and in general, bureaucratic gridlock (and potentially a lot more lawsuits).
I don't think the Republicans in Congress and the Senate really want to have to write all the rules, or want the U.S. to be a libertarian experiment with limited laws.
Elected representatives are asked to be Jacks and Jills of of all trades, but because that's a lot of ground to cover, they're masters of one or two areas, at best. Which is where the "deep state" administrators come in -- they're masters of their own domain, more or less, and they work with state, regional and local partners, and (hopefully) understand the range of on-the-ground realities when it comes to writing and implementing the CFRs. In fact, there are lengthy discussion periods when new CFRs are proposed, allowing everyone to comment. State and local agencies (and public interest groups, and lobbyists) take this seriously.
But of course, the current administration is pretty fond of ignoring public comments (Forbes review of FCC's decision to overturn net neutrality in Dec. 2017), though that's mostly a new thing, and hopefully will not continue into the post-Trump administration.
This current SCOTUS is fucking frightening. It's the GOP's wet dream, and everyone else's nightmares come true.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:38 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
I feel that this is something that could also come back to hurt conservatives, as it harms the nation.
If I'm reading this right, this could potentially require Congress to be really clear and explicit in all it's law-making. Seems obvious, but in practice, Congressional acts often fail to cover many day-to-day decisions necessary to operate federal agencies, and in turn, support state and local agencies.
Congress makes the laws. Those go in the The United States Code (USC).
Regulatory bodies (like the IRS or EPA) fill in the details with regulations. Those go in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Public agencies generally look to the CFRs for direction, because they're more explicit. If agencies have to rely solely on USC, that means a lot more ambiguity, uneven application of laws, and in general, bureaucratic gridlock (and potentially a lot more lawsuits).
I don't think the Republicans in Congress and the Senate really want to have to write all the rules, or want the U.S. to be a libertarian experiment with limited laws.
Elected representatives are asked to be Jacks and Jills of of all trades, but because that's a lot of ground to cover, they're masters of one or two areas, at best. Which is where the "deep state" administrators come in -- they're masters of their own domain, more or less, and they work with state, regional and local partners, and (hopefully) understand the range of on-the-ground realities when it comes to writing and implementing the CFRs. In fact, there are lengthy discussion periods when new CFRs are proposed, allowing everyone to comment. State and local agencies (and public interest groups, and lobbyists) take this seriously.
But of course, the current administration is pretty fond of ignoring public comments (Forbes review of FCC's decision to overturn net neutrality in Dec. 2017), though that's mostly a new thing, and hopefully will not continue into the post-Trump administration.
This current SCOTUS is fucking frightening. It's the GOP's wet dream, and everyone else's nightmares come true.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:38 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
And maybe there is someone cynical in that staff who can tell him that if he starts a war with Iran, there is no way he will win reelection. An unprovoked war, no allies, no end in sight? I don't even think that'll work out if he starts it 6 months before Election Day.
Counterpoint: Iraq.
See also:
@realDonaldTrump
In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.
11:48 AM - 29 Nov 2011
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:38 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Counterpoint: Iraq.
See also:
@realDonaldTrump
In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.
11:48 AM - 29 Nov 2011
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:38 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
I feel that this is something that could also come back to hurt conservatives, as it harms the nation.
It probably will. My question is in what time frame. Months? Decades?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:39 AM on June 21, 2019
It probably will. My question is in what time frame. Months? Decades?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:39 AM on June 21, 2019
I don't know why one would think that those kinds of laws would be struck down in a fair and logically consistent manner. The ones they like will stay the ones they don't like will go
posted by Green With You at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Green With You at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
2020 Democrats Offer Up Affordable Housing Plans Amid Surging Prices (Pam Fessler for NPR, June 21, 2019)
If that's the time it takes for people at the median income, that means you have to go pretty far up the pay scale to be able to afford the down payment sooner.
Which is to say, this is an issue that impacts more than half of the U.S. population, and is particularly pressing for young people, and more so young families.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2019 [14 favorites]
Several of the candidates have offered extensive plans that they say would address the housing shortage that is affecting millions of low and middle income voters. They've proposed everything from refundable tax credits for overburdened renters, to spending billions of dollars on new affordable housing. They've also raised the issue as a prime example of racial and income inequality, another focus of the Democratic campaigns.Emphasis mine, because NPR is underselling the scope of this issue. In the prior MegaThread, The Whelk linked to an article that noted that "in Los Angeles, it takes 43 years to save up a 20% down payment by setting aside 5% a year on the city’s median income. In San Francisco, it takes 40 years. In New York City, 36 years. In 1975, it took just 9 years." (The Atlantic)
If that's the time it takes for people at the median income, that means you have to go pretty far up the pay scale to be able to afford the down payment sooner.
Which is to say, this is an issue that impacts more than half of the U.S. population, and is particularly pressing for young people, and more so young families.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2019 [14 favorites]
Rust Moranis: See also: @realDonaldTrump ... tweet from 2011
And there are more on this topic. Daily Dot has a good recap. I particularly like "Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate."
Trump's mirror is magical, it reflects into the future. If we had only known ....
posted by filthy light thief at 7:51 AM on June 21, 2019 [17 favorites]
And there are more on this topic. Daily Dot has a good recap. I particularly like "Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate."
Trump's mirror is magical, it reflects into the future. If we had only known ....
posted by filthy light thief at 7:51 AM on June 21, 2019 [17 favorites]
Counterpoint: Iraq.
Iraq was the very highly regarded Colin Powell lying in front of the UN
It was a Coalition of the willing
It had support of the congress, across the aisle.
It was after 9/11 and people all over the world were scared and vulnerable.
There has never been a good reason to invade Iran, except maybe during the hostage crisis in 1979. 40 years ago.
Obviously, American hawks have wanted to invade Iran ever since, but they have never had international backing for it. Actually, I'm surprised the Saudis want it, because they will be obvious and easy targets if there is a war. No one likes the Saudis. But I guess that goes to show that the KSA is now also ruled by an idiot, elevated to power by his family rather than by competence.
posted by mumimor at 7:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Iraq was the very highly regarded Colin Powell lying in front of the UN
It was a Coalition of the willing
It had support of the congress, across the aisle.
It was after 9/11 and people all over the world were scared and vulnerable.
There has never been a good reason to invade Iran, except maybe during the hostage crisis in 1979. 40 years ago.
Obviously, American hawks have wanted to invade Iran ever since, but they have never had international backing for it. Actually, I'm surprised the Saudis want it, because they will be obvious and easy targets if there is a war. No one likes the Saudis. But I guess that goes to show that the KSA is now also ruled by an idiot, elevated to power by his family rather than by competence.
posted by mumimor at 7:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
In Guantánamo case, US government says it can indefinitely detain anyone - even US citizens
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [56 favorites]
In a filing with the Supreme Court this April, lawyers for the Justice Department argued that the United States can continue to hold al-Alwi without charging him, an argument that they haven’t made since the era of President George W. Bush. The lawyers also went out of their way to stress that even if he were a U.S. citizen, they would have the power to detain him indefinitely.This will be applied to US citizens involved in left political movements and human rights activism within the next few years.
“There is no bar to this Nation’s holding one of its own citizens as an enemy combatant,” the filing read. Were al-Alwi a citizen, they argued, he “would pose the same threat of returning to the front during the ongoing conflict.” There were no “constitutional questions” raised by this hypothetical, they maintained.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [56 favorites]
I don't think the Republicans in Congress and the Senate really … want the U.S. to be a libertarian experiment with limited laws.
Really? Seems to fit right in with their plans. Why fight "creeping regulation" piecemeal when you can undermine the entire idea of regulation? Republicans know that in a country with weak government oversight, whoever has the most money effectively writes the laws. And their donors are the people with the most money.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:33 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Really? Seems to fit right in with their plans. Why fight "creeping regulation" piecemeal when you can undermine the entire idea of regulation? Republicans know that in a country with weak government oversight, whoever has the most money effectively writes the laws. And their donors are the people with the most money.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:33 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
So, remember that Time magazine interview I posted yesterday? Time posted a transcript. The whole thing's worth reading, but here's how it ends.
Just to set the scene, earlier in the interview, while talking about potential Democratic presidential candidates, Trump shows the reporters a letter he'd received from Kim Jong-un, and Time's photographer attempts to take a picture of it:
Just to set the scene, earlier in the interview, while talking about potential Democratic presidential candidates, Trump shows the reporters a letter he'd received from Kim Jong-un, and Time's photographer attempts to take a picture of it:
TIME: But why would you try to limit the [Russia] investigation only —posted by box at 8:51 AM on June 21, 2019 [40 favorites]
TRUMP: I didn’t limit the investigation.
TIME: You dictated a letter —
TRUMP: Excuse me —
TIME: — to Corey Lewandowski telling him to tell [former Attorney General Jeff] Sessions to limit the investigation [to future Russia meddling] —
TRUMP: I could have told Sessions myself if I wanted to. Under Section II —
TIME: He testified under oath —
TRUMP: Excuse me —
TIME: — under threat of prison time, that that was the case Mr. President.
TRUMP: Excuse me — Under Section II — Well, you can go to prison instead, because, if you use, if you use the photograph you took of the letter that I gave you —
TIME: Do you believe that people should be —
TRUMP: confidentially, I didn’t give it to you to take photographs of it — So don’t play that game with me. Let me just tell you something. You take a look —
TIME: I’m sorry, Mr. President. Were you threatening me with prison time?
TRUMP: Well, I told you the following. I told you you can look at this off-the-record. That doesn’t mean you take out your camera and start taking pictures of it. O.K.? So I hope you don’t have a picture of it. I know you were very quick to pull it out — even you were surprised to see that. You can’t do that stuff. So go have fun with your story. Because I’m sure it will be the 28th horrible story I have in TIME Magazine because I never — I mean — ha. It’s incredible. With all I’ve done and the success I’ve had, the way that TIME Magazine writes is absolutely incredible.
Tell them five seconds.
WSJ: Prosecutors Intensify Scrutiny of Trump Fundraiser [and Former RNC Chair] Elliott Broidy—Federal probe examines foreigners who attended inauguration at invitation of top Trump fundraiser
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:02 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Investigators are examining whether Mr. Broidy, a top fundraiser for Mr. Trump in 2016 who was later tapped as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, was paid by his intelligence-contracting firm’s foreign and prospective clients to give them special access to attend the 2017 inauguration, some of the people said. Such activity could violate campaign-finance, lobbying or money-laundering laws.Megathread regulars will recall the Feds raided Broidy's office back in March as part of a money laundering probe.
In early April, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asked President Trump’s inaugural committee for documents related to Mr. Broidy and his company’s actual or prospective clients, including foreign politicians who attended inaugural events at Mr. Broidy’s invitation, according to people familiar with the requests. The company, called Circinus LLC, provides intelligence research and analysis for foreign governments and other clients.[…]
Prosecutors have asked witnesses over the past few months to provide information about Mr. Broidy’s business dealings and activities involving inaugural events, said the people familiar with the requests. One of Mr. Broidy’s associates, former Trump campaign official Richard Gates, has been cooperating in multiple investigations since he pleaded guilty last year as part of the Mueller investigation.
In recent weeks, Justice Department prosecutors in Washington who focus on fraud and public corruption have asked to speak to another associate of Mr. Broidy’s, Lisa Korbatov, who helped broker the deal between Mr. Broidy’s firm, another businessman and the Angolan government, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. The Daily Beast earlier reported investigators’ interest in speaking to Ms. Korbatov.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:02 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Iranian officials told Reuters on Friday that Tehran had received a message from U.S. President Donald Trump through Oman overnight warning that a U.S. attack on Iran was imminent.
Iran: "Nah."
Trump: "I am not going to blow you up"
The next Republican president will not be this bad at world empire.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:10 AM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
They spoke shortly after the New York Times reported that Trump had approved military strikes against Iran on Friday in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, but called off the attacks at the last minute.Trump: "I'm gonna blow you up if you don't do what I want right now"
“In his message, Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues...He gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran’s immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei to decide about this issue,” one of the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. A second Iranian official said: “We made it clear that the leader is against any talks, but the message will be conveyed to him to make a decision...However, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences.”
Iran: "Nah."
Trump: "I am not going to blow you up"
The next Republican president will not be this bad at world empire.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:10 AM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
The next Republican president will not be this bad at world empire.
That's actually the part I worry least about. It seems the Republican Party is getting dumber by the minute, and their electorate is even dumber. There are good reasons for why this is, and we can discuss them, but maybe it needs a separate thread...
posted by mumimor at 9:14 AM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
That's actually the part I worry least about. It seems the Republican Party is getting dumber by the minute, and their electorate is even dumber. There are good reasons for why this is, and we can discuss them, but maybe it needs a separate thread...
posted by mumimor at 9:14 AM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
Far-right militias are protecting Oregon state senators from extradition
However close you think we are to incipient civil war, we're closer than that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:20 AM on June 21, 2019 [62 favorites]
However close you think we are to incipient civil war, we're closer than that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:20 AM on June 21, 2019 [62 favorites]
I can't speak to strategy or the long term. I loathe trump and the repub party - they are the instantiation of everything wrong with the world. I will say this:
Calling off an airstrike requested by the military - in response to a successful hostile missile destruction of a military asset - citing civilian casualties and disproportionate response is a reasonable act. We should encourage this kind of response by any leader.
posted by lalochezia at 9:26 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Calling off an airstrike requested by the military - in response to a successful hostile missile destruction of a military asset - citing civilian casualties and disproportionate response is a reasonable act. We should encourage this kind of response by any leader.
posted by lalochezia at 9:26 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Right wing Polish MP invites AOC to visit "real concentration camps"
I assume he's also offering her free transportation by train.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:42 AM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
I assume he's also offering her free transportation by train.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:42 AM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
The whole thing with MEK is giving me flashbacks to Junior's brilliant plan for post-war Iraq which boiled down to: hand everything over to Ahmad Chalabi and the "Iraqi National Congress".
Looks like Bolton/Trump is planning on basically the same lack of plan only with MEK taking place of the INC.
posted by sotonohito at 9:46 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Looks like Bolton/Trump is planning on basically the same lack of plan only with MEK taking place of the INC.
posted by sotonohito at 9:46 AM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
The Pentagon Revealed Its Nuclear War Strategy and It's Terrifying (Vice)
“There is plenty of goofy shit in there, but I should note that it’s the same goofy shit that has underpinned nuclear strategy for decades, just without the good sense to gloss over certain things,” Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in an email. “This Administration insists on saying the quiet part out loud.”posted by box at 9:46 AM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Calling off an airstrike requested by the military - in response to a successful hostile missile destruction of a military asset - citing civilian casualties and disproportionate response is a reasonable act. We should encourage this kind of response by any leader.
That's the story we've been given by the White House—Trump called it off because of potential casualties and the idea that it would be a disproportionate response. The fuller picture is that Trump didn't come to this epiphany on his own, but after 11th-hour calls from however many allies. Yes, we should encourage our leaders to listen to reason, but AFAIK the White House has not acknowledged that Trump listened to reason. The official line is that Trump approved the strike(s) and then called it off at the last minute. By his own tweets, he's an indecisive leader, not someone who listens to advice.
posted by emelenjr at 9:48 AM on June 21, 2019 [15 favorites]
That's the story we've been given by the White House—Trump called it off because of potential casualties and the idea that it would be a disproportionate response. The fuller picture is that Trump didn't come to this epiphany on his own, but after 11th-hour calls from however many allies. Yes, we should encourage our leaders to listen to reason, but AFAIK the White House has not acknowledged that Trump listened to reason. The official line is that Trump approved the strike(s) and then called it off at the last minute. By his own tweets, he's an indecisive leader, not someone who listens to advice.
posted by emelenjr at 9:48 AM on June 21, 2019 [15 favorites]
I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is to be backing MEK, quite possibly the only group who could get every Iranian united behind defeating, which has long ceased to be a political organization and is now much closer to a cult.
I mean, it’s so bad that the idea that like Cheney was a secret Iranian asset starts to make sense.
They’re either dangerously lying or dangerously stupid or, more likely, both.
posted by The Whelk at 9:52 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
I mean, it’s so bad that the idea that like Cheney was a secret Iranian asset starts to make sense.
They’re either dangerously lying or dangerously stupid or, more likely, both.
posted by The Whelk at 9:52 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
NY Magazine, E. Jean Carroll: “Trump attacked me in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.” (cw: rape) and the full book excerpt in Hideous Men: Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he’s not alone on the list of awful men in my life. (cw: rape)
Carroll is now at least the 16th woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconductposted by zachlipton at 9:54 AM on June 21, 2019 [41 favorites]
NYT, Trump to Officially Nominate Esper as Next Defense Secretary. Let's see if this one actually happens.
Fun fact: @steve_vladeck: Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, once Esper is formally nominated to the post, he is no longer legally eligible to serve as Acting Secretary of Defense (which means we'll need _another_ Acting Secretary pending Esper's confirmation). And just to drive the point home, today is Day 172 without a Senate-confirmed Secretary of Defense, almost three times as long as the previous record vacancy for that office (60 days at the beginning of the Bush 41 administration in 1989, and only because of a failed nomination).
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Fun fact: @steve_vladeck: Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, once Esper is formally nominated to the post, he is no longer legally eligible to serve as Acting Secretary of Defense (which means we'll need _another_ Acting Secretary pending Esper's confirmation). And just to drive the point home, today is Day 172 without a Senate-confirmed Secretary of Defense, almost three times as long as the previous record vacancy for that office (60 days at the beginning of the Bush 41 administration in 1989, and only because of a failed nomination).
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Calling off an airstrike requested by the military - in response to a successful hostile missile destruction of a military asset - citing civilian casualties and disproportionate response is a reasonable act. We should encourage this kind of response by any leader.
I will warmly encourage any clock stopped at noon during the minute that it is in fact noon.
posted by chortly at 10:03 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
I will warmly encourage any clock stopped at noon during the minute that it is in fact noon.
posted by chortly at 10:03 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
So part of me is wondering if he called the airstrike off because he didn't authorize it beforehand. Given Bolton's tendency to bypass Shanahahahan, it seems possible.
Yeah idle conspiracy thinking, but I'm curious about the whole thing.
posted by Lord_Pall at 10:07 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Yeah idle conspiracy thinking, but I'm curious about the whole thing.
posted by Lord_Pall at 10:07 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
@MeetThePress [video]: In an exclusive interview with Chuck Todd, President Donald Trump says he hadn’t given final approval to Iran strikes, no planes were in the air.
He repeats the story he told on Twitter this morning, where he claims he asked at the last minute how many people would be killed in a strike and decides that killing 150 people over an unmanned drone wouldn't be "proportionate." This contradicts the reporting that planes were already in the air and raises the obvious questions of why he waited until the last minute to ask this questions or why he's now claiming that a general had to get back to him on the casualty count.
posted by zachlipton at 10:07 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
He repeats the story he told on Twitter this morning, where he claims he asked at the last minute how many people would be killed in a strike and decides that killing 150 people over an unmanned drone wouldn't be "proportionate." This contradicts the reporting that planes were already in the air and raises the obvious questions of why he waited until the last minute to ask this questions or why he's now claiming that a general had to get back to him on the casualty count.
posted by zachlipton at 10:07 AM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Oregon Republican state senator threatens state troopers, warns them to ‘come heavily armed’
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:30 AM on June 21, 2019 [24 favorites]
The governor’s hint that she would consider sending troopers in the event of a second walkout triggered an aggressive response from Boquist, which was captured by a KGW news team at the Capitol.Seems fine
“This is what I told the superintendent,” Boquist said, referring to OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton. “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:30 AM on June 21, 2019 [24 favorites]
AOC’s Generation Doesn’t Presume America’s Innocence (Peter Beinart, The Atlantic)
Ocasio-Cortez’s “concentration camps” comment questions an old orthodoxy: that only other countries—and not the U.S.—are capable of evil.[...]posted by ZeusHumms at 10:35 AM on June 21, 2019 [45 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez and others on the Millennial-led left are challenging [the separation of America's misdeeds from those of their foes]. They are challenging not only the physical and legal barriers that Trump is erecting against immigrants entering the United States, but also the conceptual barriers that American exceptionalism erects against seeing the United States as a nation capable of evil. And for Ocasio-Cortez’s critics, removing those ideological barriers is every bit as frightening as allowing migrant caravans to pass unimpeded across the Rio Grande.
re: America's Innocence;
O'REILLY: He is a killer though. Putin is a killer.
TRUMP: There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent? Do you think our country is so innocent?
O'REILLY: I don't know of any government leaders that are killers in America.
-From the 2/6/2017 Fox Interview
posted by pseudophile at 10:40 AM on June 21, 2019 [19 favorites]
O'REILLY: He is a killer though. Putin is a killer.
TRUMP: There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent? Do you think our country is so innocent?
O'REILLY: I don't know of any government leaders that are killers in America.
-From the 2/6/2017 Fox Interview
posted by pseudophile at 10:40 AM on June 21, 2019 [19 favorites]
WaPo, ICE raids targeting migrant families slated to start Sunday in major U.S. cities
If ICE is outside your door, don’t panic, and remember: YOU HAVE RIGHTS. [video, though I’m not sure how that don’t panic bit works]
posted by zachlipton at 11:03 AM on June 21, 2019 [25 favorites]
President Trump has directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders, an operation that is likely to begin with predawn raids in major U.S. cities on Sunday, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans.The “family op?” What the ever loving fuck is wrong with us?
The “family op,” as it is referred to at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, is slated to target up to 2,000 families facing deportation orders in as many as 10 U.S. cities, including Houston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and other major immigration destinations, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the law enforcement operation. Acting DHS Secretary Kevin
McAleenan has been urging ICE to conduct a narrower, more-targeted operation that would seek to detain a group of about 150 families that were provided with attorneys but dropped out of the legal process and absconded. McAleenan has warned that an indiscriminate operation to arrest migrants in their homes and at work sites risks separating children from their parents in cases where the children are at day care, summer camp or friend’s houses and not present for the raids. He also has maintained that ICE should not devote major resources to carrying out a mass interior sweep while telling lawmakers it needs emergency funding to address the crisis at the U.S. border.
If ICE is outside your door, don’t panic, and remember: YOU HAVE RIGHTS. [video, though I’m not sure how that don’t panic bit works]
posted by zachlipton at 11:03 AM on June 21, 2019 [25 favorites]
The ACLU also has a page with information about what to do if you're stopped by ICE.
(I know this because I'm on Rep. Ilhan Omar's email list.)
posted by box at 11:09 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
(I know this because I'm on Rep. Ilhan Omar's email list.)
posted by box at 11:09 AM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
DJT somehow speedrunning the Mytilenian Debate, but entirely inside his extremely normal brain.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:18 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by BungaDunga at 11:18 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
What do you do if ICE is outside other people's doors? I live in an neighborhood where I'd be surprised if everyone were documented. I mean, I guess you film it and put the call out for help on social media, but what else?
This is just so shitty and horrible. I feel like we should all be down at the border protesting the camps. The only way to stop them is to stop them by any means that are at hand.
posted by Frowner at 11:19 AM on June 21, 2019 [30 favorites]
This is just so shitty and horrible. I feel like we should all be down at the border protesting the camps. The only way to stop them is to stop them by any means that are at hand.
posted by Frowner at 11:19 AM on June 21, 2019 [30 favorites]
... an old orthodoxy: that only other countries—and not the U.S.—are capable of evil.[...]
Isn't it funny (and by funny I mean sad) that it's usually the "I don't trust the gub'mint" people who most strongly identify with this orthodoxy?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
Isn't it funny (and by funny I mean sad) that it's usually the "I don't trust the gub'mint" people who most strongly identify with this orthodoxy?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:22 AM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
Of course the Sunday Raids were announced on World Refugee Day.
posted by hijinx at 11:48 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by hijinx at 11:48 AM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
... an old orthodoxy: that only other countries—and not the U.S.—are capable of evil.[...]
I don't pretend to speak for all Gen-Xers, but my generation grew up with the Vietnam War and the revelations that the government was lying about our progress in order to save face while thousands died, not to mention Watergate, not to mention the Cold War and the knowledge that the US is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons. We saw the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich and knew of McCarthyism and the House Un-American Affairs Committee.
My generation embraced punk rock, which was intensely critical of US society. We have been acutely aware that the Baby Boomers are hogging national resources and leaving the rest of us scraps at best.
Knowledge that the US is capable of evil is not a new thing, and it's intensely weird that the media is treating it like a new phenomenon, not something 40-odd years old.
posted by Gelatin at 11:50 AM on June 21, 2019 [56 favorites]
I don't pretend to speak for all Gen-Xers, but my generation grew up with the Vietnam War and the revelations that the government was lying about our progress in order to save face while thousands died, not to mention Watergate, not to mention the Cold War and the knowledge that the US is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons. We saw the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich and knew of McCarthyism and the House Un-American Affairs Committee.
My generation embraced punk rock, which was intensely critical of US society. We have been acutely aware that the Baby Boomers are hogging national resources and leaving the rest of us scraps at best.
Knowledge that the US is capable of evil is not a new thing, and it's intensely weird that the media is treating it like a new phenomenon, not something 40-odd years old.
posted by Gelatin at 11:50 AM on June 21, 2019 [56 favorites]
"150" is almost certainly Trump exaggerating numbers like he always does, so he can be the magnaminous person who "spared" 150 lives. In fact, my understanding was that the strike would have been against unmanned vessels -- while any retaliation would be excessive, the Pentagon didn't want to retaliate too excessively.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oregon Republican state senator threatens state troopers... “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
Cool cool, there is a super easy way that your presence in the Oregon Senate would not be required, Mr. Boquist.
Or... I guess you can go with your plan to break out the guns the minute someone suggests that *responsibility* comes with privileges like holding a state office. Because that's pretty much the most Republican thing there is these days.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Cool cool, there is a super easy way that your presence in the Oregon Senate would not be required, Mr. Boquist.
Or... I guess you can go with your plan to break out the guns the minute someone suggests that *responsibility* comes with privileges like holding a state office. Because that's pretty much the most Republican thing there is these days.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Knowledge that the US is capable of evil is not a new thing, and it's intensely weird that the media is treating it like a new phenomenon, not something 40-odd years old.
No, no, I disagree. The difference that now it's, like, Teen Vogue and New York Magazine publishing things that would hitherto have appeared in Z Magazine (remember Z?).
There really has been a change in the accessibility of ideas, and I think that's part of why we have AOC. When I was young and in my prime, you had to work to encounter left-wing ideas unless you lived in one of a handful of cities - you had to seek out small press books and magazines and newsletters, fanzines, comics, etc, and it was taken for granted that anything widely available would have actively terrible, repressive politics, just like any form of mass culture would be incredibly stupid and retrograde.
There's a world of cultural difference between "there are ten punks in my town and we hate the government" and "Teen Vogue ran an article approving of communists".
posted by Frowner at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [57 favorites]
No, no, I disagree. The difference that now it's, like, Teen Vogue and New York Magazine publishing things that would hitherto have appeared in Z Magazine (remember Z?).
There really has been a change in the accessibility of ideas, and I think that's part of why we have AOC. When I was young and in my prime, you had to work to encounter left-wing ideas unless you lived in one of a handful of cities - you had to seek out small press books and magazines and newsletters, fanzines, comics, etc, and it was taken for granted that anything widely available would have actively terrible, repressive politics, just like any form of mass culture would be incredibly stupid and retrograde.
There's a world of cultural difference between "there are ten punks in my town and we hate the government" and "Teen Vogue ran an article approving of communists".
posted by Frowner at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2019 [57 favorites]
Reuters's Jeff Mason:
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:57 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
Senior Trump administration official says the Pentagon was indeed on board with military strikes against Iran: “There was complete unanimity amongst the president’s advisors and DOD leadership on an appropriate response to Iran’s activities. The president made the final decision.”"darth™:
always important to remember who exactly is a senior trump administration official i mean isn’t it people like jared and ivankaOn the subject of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the HuffPo reports: Some White House Reporters Are Throwing Sarah Huckabee Sanders A Goodbye Party—White House correspondents and some Trump staffers plan to send Sanders off with “farewell drinks” next week.
is there one fuckin 'senior trump administration official' u would believe at this point
his official press secretary admitted to the FBI that she was a fuckin liar is all i am saying
On Wednesday, two White House correspondents, Politico’s Anita Kumar and DailyMail.com’s Francesca Chambers, invited fellow reporters and some Trump staffers to “farewell drinks” for Sanders at an upscale D.C. restaurant on June 24, according to a copy of the email invitation obtained by HuffPost.[…]This "casual gathering of reporters" obviously wants to cultivate SHS as a source of leaks from her tenure in the Trump administration, and maybe charge a night's drinking to their expense accounts, but the idea that they'd want to spend personal time in the company of someone who held them and their professions in such open contempt does not bear scrutiny.
Kumar is a member of the WHCA’s board, and Chambers is the organization’s treasurer. But Knox told HuffPost the WHCA had “nothing to do” with the upcoming event.
Kumar, who sent the email, described the drinks to HuffPost as a “casual gathering for reporters who have engaged with Sarah, many of whom have done so for years.” She noted that such events are “quite common, regardless of administration ― as many Huffington Post reporters know and have frequented.” (It’s not clear which events Kumar was referring to, but HuffPost has never thrown a party for an administration official.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:57 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
But I guess that goes to show that the KSA is now also ruled by an idiot, elevated to power by his family rather than by competence.
posted by mumimor at 7:58 AM on June 21 [11 favorites +] [!]
Don't know if MBS is an idiot or not, but he definitely has no respect for the lives of other people.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:00 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 7:58 AM on June 21 [11 favorites +] [!]
Don't know if MBS is an idiot or not, but he definitely has no respect for the lives of other people.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:00 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oregon Republican state senator threatens state troopers... “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
Maybe he's forming a government-in-exile in Idaho.
Anti-government militias say they will protect Republican lawmaker who threatened police
Several GOP senators have fled the capital over legislative disagreements and are refusing to return.
Maybe he's forming a government-in-exile in Idaho.
Anti-government militias say they will protect Republican lawmaker who threatened police
Several GOP senators have fled the capital over legislative disagreements and are refusing to return.
Boquist’s comments grabbed the attention of a number of militia groups in the Pacific Northwest. A member of the Oregon 3 Percenters — a militia group whose members have vowed to combat what they perceive as constitutional infringement — said they would act as the senators’ de-facto bodyguards against the state police.
“We have vowed to provide security, transportation and refuge for those Senators in need,” they wrote in a Facebook post. “We will stand together with unwavering resolve, doing whatever it takes to keep these Senators safe.”
In Idaho, where some of the lawmakers have supposedly fled, the state’s 3 Percenters group was similarly willing to defend the Republicans as well, posting threatening memes on its Facebook page. “This is what the start of a civil war looks like,” the group wrote in one post. “Elected officials seeking asylum in a friendly jurisdiction.”
Speaking to ThinkProgress, Eric Parker, president of the Idaho 3 Percenters, said the group was currently networking to figure out if Brown had asked for any “out of state resources” — such as help from the FBI or Idaho State Patrol — and were willing to assist the the Republican senators in any way necessary.
“We are willing to help them with whatever they need, if they need an escort or a place to say we will do that,” Parker said. “The narrative coming out is [the senators] are abandoning their constituents. We don’t believe that’s true. These people are representing their constituents well.”posted by scalefree at 1:14 PM on June 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
Does Saudi Arabia imagine that Iran's retaliation would end at the Persian Gulf? I'd tend to think more than a few missiles would sail right over the water and land on the south side of the gulf.
posted by M-x shell at 1:15 PM on June 21, 2019
posted by M-x shell at 1:15 PM on June 21, 2019
@byamberphillips: IMPEACHMENT Update: Within the past day, we went from low 70s House Dems supporting impeachment to nearly 80. It seems lawmakers are out of Washington and talking more freely about how they feel.
The Washington Post has a full list, complete with a chart sorted by district lean.
That includes Rep. Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) today, the fourth swing state Democrat to come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
But what about the public? Ariel Edwards-Levy explains Here’s Why Impeachment Polling Is All Over The Place. She's got her own giant chart, breaking down all the polls with the specific wording of the question asked. The way you ask makes a huge difference, and the public seems generally unclear on what impeachment means and what the process entails.
posted by zachlipton at 1:18 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Washington Post has a full list, complete with a chart sorted by district lean.
That includes Rep. Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) today, the fourth swing state Democrat to come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
But what about the public? Ariel Edwards-Levy explains Here’s Why Impeachment Polling Is All Over The Place. She's got her own giant chart, breaking down all the polls with the specific wording of the question asked. The way you ask makes a huge difference, and the public seems generally unclear on what impeachment means and what the process entails.
But a few clear findings do emerge: First, public opposition to impeachment generally outweighs support, to at least a modest degree. Second, support for impeachment shows no signs of ebbing. And third, it has the backing of most Democrats ― although many would still rather that presidential hopefuls spend their time talking about issues like health care.Looking through the polls, it seems like there's a bit of an odd split where more respondants think Trump deserves to be impeached than those who think Congress should start the process of impeachment.
posted by zachlipton at 1:18 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
> Trump is not simply a serial liar; he is attempting to murder the very idea of truth,
It's a serial murder.
posted by CheapB at 1:20 PM on June 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's a serial murder.
posted by CheapB at 1:20 PM on June 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
From the AP article posted upthread by Rust Moranis and written by Cedar Attanasio, Garance Burke, and Martha Medoza:
Fuck this fucking administration.
posted by joyceanmachine at 1:39 PM on June 21, 2019 [43 favorites]
She said an 8-year-old taking care of a very small 4-year-old with matted hair couldn’t convince the little one to take a shower.I was going to make a completely frivolous purchase this afternoon, but I just donated that money to RAICES instead. If you're reading this comment and have the ability to do something similar, I encourage you to do that.
...
A teenage mother with a premature baby was found last week in a Texas Border Patrol processing center after being held for nine days by the government.
...
A migrant father, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his immigration status, told AP Thursday that authorities separated his daughter from her aunt when they entered the country. The girl would be a second grader in a U.S. school.
He had no idea where she was until Monday, when one of the attorney team members visiting Clint found his phone number written in permanent marker on a bracelet she was wearing. It said “U.S. parent.”
Fuck this fucking administration.
posted by joyceanmachine at 1:39 PM on June 21, 2019 [43 favorites]
Need some light reading on a Friday afternoon? How about 56 pages of Paul Manafort's text messages with Sean Hannity?
@emptywheel: Sean Hannity, October 25, 2017: Republicans suck.
@emptywheel: Days before his arrest Manafort says Mueller is having a hard time building a case against him.
These just dropped, so too early for many highlights, but they include Manafort feeding Hannity stories about Fusion GPS.
posted by zachlipton at 1:51 PM on June 21, 2019 [25 favorites]
@emptywheel: Sean Hannity, October 25, 2017: Republicans suck.
@emptywheel: Days before his arrest Manafort says Mueller is having a hard time building a case against him.
These just dropped, so too early for many highlights, but they include Manafort feeding Hannity stories about Fusion GPS.
posted by zachlipton at 1:51 PM on June 21, 2019 [25 favorites]
Senior Trump administration official says the Pentagon was indeed on board with military strikes against Iran: “There was complete unanimity amongst the president’s advisors and DOD leadership on an appropriate response to Iran’s activities. The president made the final decision.”"
Not so according to WaPo's sources, Trump’s account of Iran attack plan facing scrutiny:
posted by peeedro at 1:59 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Not so according to WaPo's sources, Trump’s account of Iran attack plan facing scrutiny:
The decision has divided his top advisers with senior Pentagon officials opposing the decision to strike and national security adviser John Bolton strongly supporting it.The story goes on to point out all the inconsistencies between various statements Trump has made to the press and on twitter in the past 24 hours.
posted by peeedro at 1:59 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
In Idaho, where some of the lawmakers have supposedly fled, the state’s 3 Percenters group was similarly willing to defend the Republicans as well, posting threatening memes on its Facebook page. “This is what the start of a civil war looks like,” the group wrote in one post. “Elected officials seeking asylum in a friendly jurisdiction.”
The Obama adminstration's complete failure to hold the Bundy ranchers to any kind of accountability has emboldened all of these militia freaks. We're seeing a homegrown insurgency right out in the open, and they're going to be a real problem for any hypothetical future Democratic administration.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2019 [52 favorites]
The Obama adminstration's complete failure to hold the Bundy ranchers to any kind of accountability has emboldened all of these militia freaks. We're seeing a homegrown insurgency right out in the open, and they're going to be a real problem for any hypothetical future Democratic administration.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2019 [52 favorites]
If you care about what Trump is doing at the border you need to read this thread.
#DontLookAway.
The administration is violating every basic human right, and is moving toward military "solutions."
posted by adamvasco at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2019 [32 favorites]
#DontLookAway.
The administration is violating every basic human right, and is moving toward military "solutions."
posted by adamvasco at 2:02 PM on June 21, 2019 [32 favorites]
NYT, ‘There is a Stench’: Migrant Children Are Being Held in Filthy Conditions
posted by zachlipton at 2:28 PM on June 21, 2019 [50 favorites]
A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.I'll ask the same question I've asked my reps: why are Members of Congress not in Clint right now demanding access to this facility?
Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.
Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said. They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.
“There is a stench,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, one of the lawyers who visited the facility. “The overwhelming majority of children have not bathed since they crossed the border.”
...
Ms. Mukerherjee said children were being overseen by guards for Customs and Border Protection, which declined to comment for this story. She and her colleagues observed the guards wearing full uniforms — including weapons — as well as face masks to protect themselves from the unsanitary conditions.
...
When the lawyers arrived, federal officials said that more than 350 children were detained at the facility. The officials did not disclose the facility’s capacity but said the population had exceeded it. By the time the lawyers left on Wednesday night, border officials told them that about 200 of the children had been transferred elsewhere but did not say where they had been sent.
“That’s what’s keeping me up at night,” Ms. Mukerherjee said
posted by zachlipton at 2:28 PM on June 21, 2019 [50 favorites]
I'll ask the same question I've asked my reps: why are Members of Congress not in Clint right now demanding access to this facility?
Don't you think the atmosphere is a little too politically charged to be investigating the child concentration camps?
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Don't you think the atmosphere is a little too politically charged to be investigating the child concentration camps?
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
@AOC
This President needs to be impeached.
Louder for the leadership in the back.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:45 PM on June 21, 2019 [50 favorites]
This President needs to be impeached.
Louder for the leadership in the back.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:45 PM on June 21, 2019 [50 favorites]
NY Magazine, E. Jean Carroll: “Trump attacked me in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.”
Like a very bad liar, Trump has issued a statement categorically denying Carroll's account, claiming that she has "zero evidence" and "No pictures" and that "She is trying to sell a new book". He then invites "anyone with information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine" to contact Team Trump, which is probably envying Sarah Huckabee Sanders's exit timing.
Daniel Dale: "Trump says in his statement on Carroll's allegations, "I've never met this person in my life." Her article features a photo of them beside each other." (pic)
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:03 PM on June 21, 2019 [29 favorites]
Like a very bad liar, Trump has issued a statement categorically denying Carroll's account, claiming that she has "zero evidence" and "No pictures" and that "She is trying to sell a new book". He then invites "anyone with information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine" to contact Team Trump, which is probably envying Sarah Huckabee Sanders's exit timing.
Daniel Dale: "Trump says in his statement on Carroll's allegations, "I've never met this person in my life." Her article features a photo of them beside each other." (pic)
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:03 PM on June 21, 2019 [29 favorites]
NY Magazine, E. Jean Carroll: “Trump attacked me in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.”
FPP: My Last Hideous Man
E. Jean Carroll, advice columnist extraordinaire and former Miss Cheerleader USA, reckons with a life full of hideous men, from being attacked by her Girl Scout camp counselor to being raped at Bergdorf’s by the current President of the United States. (tw: rape and sexual assault)
posted by Little Dawn at 3:09 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
FPP: My Last Hideous Man
E. Jean Carroll, advice columnist extraordinaire and former Miss Cheerleader USA, reckons with a life full of hideous men, from being attacked by her Girl Scout camp counselor to being raped at Bergdorf’s by the current President of the United States. (tw: rape and sexual assault)
posted by Little Dawn at 3:09 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Mod note: Non-US-politics-related events should have their own threads!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:19 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:19 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Post title
Detroit police chief faces backlash over neo-Nazi protest at Pride event
James Craig was criticized after officers escorted National Socialist Movement members who carried weapons at Motor City Pride
posted by hugbucket at 3:20 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Detroit police chief faces backlash over neo-Nazi protest at Pride event
James Craig was criticized after officers escorted National Socialist Movement members who carried weapons at Motor City Pride
posted by hugbucket at 3:20 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
The WaPo is leading the mainstream news pack in how it covers Trump's BS: White House Did Not Impose New Iran Sanctions Thursday, Despite Trump’s Claim
The White House did not impose new sanctions against Iran on Thursday in response to its downing of a U.S. military drone, contrary to President Trump’s assertion in a Twitter post Friday morning.[…]posted by Doktor Zed at 3:40 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
“Sanctions are biting & more added last night,” he wrote. “Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!”
But no such sanctions were imposed.
Instead, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a speech in Orlando that new counter-measures against Iran would be considered if the country didn’t do more to deal with money laundering and terrorist-financing. Those issues are completely unrelated to the escalating tensions between both countries, particularly the dispute about the downed drone.
“This is what the start of a civil war looks like,” the group wrote in one post. “Elected officials seeking asylum in a friendly jurisdiction.”
Seriously.
This mouthbreather just used the word "asylum" not to describe someone who is fleeing an unrelenting environment of threats to their life or property, or even to their political participation.
It's used to describe someone who has the privilege of participating in representative office, and who is using refusal to do so as a technical means of denying the legislature its capacity to represent. A state senator will happily wield the law as a tool to shut down legislative action, but in the same breath will defy the law's reach to bring him to account.
And "this is what the start of a civil war looks like" is apparently said with relish rather than rue.
This is it, guys. The cards are on the table. The rights being fought for here aren't democratic or liberty. They are having their perspective privileged, privileged above democracy and rule of law itself.
But of course, they think of themselves as patriots. Which tells you something about what their true country is.
And if they aren't dealt with effectively by the institutions we have, our only choice will be either to live in their country, or to organize as they have as an answer.
posted by wildblueyonder at 3:42 PM on June 21, 2019 [41 favorites]
Seriously.
This mouthbreather just used the word "asylum" not to describe someone who is fleeing an unrelenting environment of threats to their life or property, or even to their political participation.
It's used to describe someone who has the privilege of participating in representative office, and who is using refusal to do so as a technical means of denying the legislature its capacity to represent. A state senator will happily wield the law as a tool to shut down legislative action, but in the same breath will defy the law's reach to bring him to account.
And "this is what the start of a civil war looks like" is apparently said with relish rather than rue.
This is it, guys. The cards are on the table. The rights being fought for here aren't democratic or liberty. They are having their perspective privileged, privileged above democracy and rule of law itself.
But of course, they think of themselves as patriots. Which tells you something about what their true country is.
And if they aren't dealt with effectively by the institutions we have, our only choice will be either to live in their country, or to organize as they have as an answer.
posted by wildblueyonder at 3:42 PM on June 21, 2019 [41 favorites]
Not so according to WaPo's sources, Trump’s account of Iran attack plan facing scrutiny:
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Reuters news agency reported Friday that Iranian officials said they received a message from Trump through Oman overnight warning that a U.S. attack was imminent.So did Iran make that up, or is someone at the White House freelancing?
When asked about the report, a senior U.S. administration official said the United States never sent a message to Iran via the Omanis. The country at the eastern corner of the Arabian peninsula has long been an interlocutor between the West and Iran, but not on this occasion, the official said.
“It is a complete lie and propaganda from Iran,” the official said.
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
a senior U.S. administration official said
And why can’t we know the name of this sr. official? Are they speaking without authorization? Is it a sensitive national security issue? Or is Trump’s comms team stretched too thin?
Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs: “Today is the longest day of the year and @JuddPDeere45 is the lead press secretary on duty today while Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Hogan Gidley are away. He's getting some Oval time.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:58 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
And why can’t we know the name of this sr. official? Are they speaking without authorization? Is it a sensitive national security issue? Or is Trump’s comms team stretched too thin?
Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs: “Today is the longest day of the year and @JuddPDeere45 is the lead press secretary on duty today while Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Hogan Gidley are away. He's getting some Oval time.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:58 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yahoo News, Pentagon secretly struck back against Iranian cyber spies targeting U.S. ships
posted by zachlipton at 5:05 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
On Thursday evening, U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week’s limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials.Oh good; a cyberwar. What could go wrong?
The group, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has over the last several years digitally tracked and targeted military and civilian ships passing through the economically important Strait of Hormuz, through which pass 17.4 million barrels of oil per day. Those capabilities, which have advanced over time, enabled attacks on vessels in the region for several years.
Though sources declined to provide any further details of the retaliatory cyber operation, the response highlights how the Gulf has become a staging ground for escalating digital--as well as conventional--conflict, with both the United States and Iran trying to get the upper hand with cyber capabilities.
...
The Iranians would pretend to be attractive young women looking to connect with a “lonely seaman” to gather intelligence about ship movements, according to three former U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operations. The attempts weren’t limited to Facebook; some of the efforts extended to Pinterest and other niche social networking sites.
There were “many” successful examples of these Iranian cyber-honeypot operations, said one former intelligence official. “They were doing it at scale.” Naval personnel would divulge information of various levels of sensitivity—such as when and where they were traveling—while ignorant of the true identity of their interlocutors, said the former official. In addition to helping the Iranians track the movement of U.S. ships and personnel, these operations also helped them build out organizational charts of U.S. military units, the former official said.
posted by zachlipton at 5:05 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
CNN, Inside Trump's Iran decision: 'I really watched him agonize over this'
On the bright side, positive reinforcement works.
@kaitlancollins: POTUS has been pleased with the coverage of his decision not to strike Iran, multiple people say. He’s been paying close attention to the reaction — and noticing that his usual critics have praised the move.
posted by zachlipton at 5:27 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Trump's explanation did not explain why he had only learned how many casualties would result from the strikes minutes before they were to take place.In other words, an administration official, apparently seeking to make Trump look good, explains that the president lied when he claimed he only learned the projected death toll shortly before the strikes were to take place, and that the president was ok with the number until he realized what it meant at the last minute.
Casualty estimates are typically provided by military officials when presenting options to the President, and a White House official said Trump was given an estimated death toll long before he asked military officials for the count with just a half-hour to spare before the strikes. It's not clear whether Trump did not hear, internalize or understand the death toll when it was first relayed to him earlier in the day.
Another administration official said that while Trump had received the casualty assessment earlier in the day, "he made the call when he internalized the severity of casualties."
On the bright side, positive reinforcement works.
@kaitlancollins: POTUS has been pleased with the coverage of his decision not to strike Iran, multiple people say. He’s been paying close attention to the reaction — and noticing that his usual critics have praised the move.
posted by zachlipton at 5:27 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
Shit somebody tell him how many of his usual critics would praise him if he went back to the Iran nuclear agreement, tackled climate change and universal healthcare, pushed for election security and voter enfranchisement, took a humane approach to immigration... or a humane approach to anything...
posted by jason_steakums at 5:35 PM on June 21, 2019 [38 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 5:35 PM on June 21, 2019 [38 favorites]
If you wanted to use the carrot rather then the stick tell him Greydon Carter would get so mad, really mad, if he padded universal healthcare
posted by The Whelk at 5:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
State legislators making a run for the border to deny quorum is hardly new, of course; I, among others, cheered on the Killer Ds and the Texas Eleven back in the day for quorum-busting a rather foul redistricting plan.
Of course, the difference is that THOSE legislators didn't threaten to murder law enforcement officials or gladly seek shelter with assault-rifle-toting thugs.
posted by delfin at 5:43 PM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Of course, the difference is that THOSE legislators didn't threaten to murder law enforcement officials or gladly seek shelter with assault-rifle-toting thugs.
posted by delfin at 5:43 PM on June 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
All the Iran crap is designed to distract from the rape allegations, IMO.
The magazine undoubtedly asked for comments before publishing, it would be highly interesting to know exactly when.
posted by jamjam at 5:47 PM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
The magazine undoubtedly asked for comments before publishing, it would be highly interesting to know exactly when.
posted by jamjam at 5:47 PM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
Of course, the difference is that THOSE legislators didn't threaten to murder law enforcement officials or gladly seek shelter with assault-rifle-toting thugs.
The party of tacky Blue Lives Matter sloganeering and merchandise threatening to murder cops is so on-brand for the GOP that there are probably rules about it in their style guide.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:57 PM on June 21, 2019 [18 favorites]
The party of tacky Blue Lives Matter sloganeering and merchandise threatening to murder cops is so on-brand for the GOP that there are probably rules about it in their style guide.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:57 PM on June 21, 2019 [18 favorites]
NYT, Urged to Launch an Attack, Trump Listened to the Skeptics Who Said It Would Be a Costly Mistake
posted by zachlipton at 6:32 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
He heard from his generals and his diplomats. Lawmakers weighed in and so did his advisers. But among the voices ringing in President Trump’s head was that of one of his favorite Fox News hosts: Tucker Carlson.Did we really just avoid a catastrophic war because of Tucker Carlson? Or is that what Tucker wants us to think?
While the president’s national security advisers were urging him to order a military strike against Iran in retaliation for shooting down an unmanned drone, Mr. Carlson in recent days had told Mr. Trump that responding to Tehran’s provocations with force was crazy. The hawks did not have Mr. Trump’s best interests at heart, he said. And if he got into a war with Iran, he could kiss goodbye to getting re-elected.
posted by zachlipton at 6:32 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Reminder that Fox News is in constant contact with the cans and reddit boards and then Chans have been boiling over in the last few months with the idea that Tucker might get into politics directly
posted by The Whelk at 6:45 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 6:45 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
This was in the Daily Beast two days ago, Tucker Carlson Tells Trump in Private: No War With Iran.
posted by peeedro at 6:53 PM on June 21, 2019
posted by peeedro at 6:53 PM on June 21, 2019
@kaitlancollins: POTUS has been pleased with the coverage of his decision not to strike Iran, multiple people say. He’s been paying close attention to the reaction — and noticing that his usual critics have praised the move.
So that's where we are at now: Giving the President credit for not crazily murdering a bunch of people for no good reason.
Sure, if that keeps us from going to war. But come on. I don't ask for people to praise me for not doing a terrible thing.
posted by Justinian at 7:35 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
So that's where we are at now: Giving the President credit for not crazily murdering a bunch of people for no good reason.
Sure, if that keeps us from going to war. But come on. I don't ask for people to praise me for not doing a terrible thing.
posted by Justinian at 7:35 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
If anyone is in one of the targeted cities and would like some ideas for what to do, this evening I have:
(If you think your national politicos and state politicos might be of use, contact them here, I'm in NOLA so it's mostly Republicans)
Contacted the mayor and city council and asked them to protect our people
Contacted the local press to ask them to cover the story and ask the politicos what they're doing about it
Also hit up the local news stations/sites that hadn't picked up the story yet and asked them to cover it
Hit up the local leftist/DSA/antifa/immigrant support groups on FB/Email/etc. and made sure they knew (word is obviously out now more than it was this afternoon when I started so this may not take as long).
Provided links to resources on local stories and comment sections. I'm using this resource pack. Obviously you're going to be throwing virtual elbows into MAGA Chuds but that's fun anyway.
Find what local Twitter(s) and such to follow. RAICES is the best I've found for my area.
I also dropped news links to local orgs that work with refugees in case they haven't heard yet.
To me, ICE raids on a weekend, I'm thinking they're going to wait til Sunday and then snag people trying to go to church. I mean, it's an easy mark and lots of people go there. So I contacted places of worship that seemed likely. I avoided megachurches, obviously, but hit up the local synagogues and mosques (since even if they are not themselves migrants, many Jews and Muslims fight for social justice), any church I could find that does LGBTQIA work (figuring if they do outreach to those populations they're probably into social justice and/or working with migrants), anything with a service in an immigrant tongue (I mean, the people going to a Catholic Church with a Spanish-language mass seem like a good target audience), the other major religions in my area, and any of the "SuchandSuch church of Countryname." Like we have a Catholic Church focused on Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants so, again, seemed like a good bet.
I'm running off a bunch of the "know your rights" fliers with an added warning that ICE Raids are this weekend and will be posting them near places I know local migrants would go. A good way to reach women is to drop some in the changing table in the ladies' room IF they're private so they don't have to be seen taking them. (I mean it's also good to do it in men's rooms but they may or may not have them).
I'm not looking for plaudits, just the stuff I could think of that may be of use to y'all if you need to or want to do something.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 7:37 PM on June 21, 2019 [34 favorites]
(If you think your national politicos and state politicos might be of use, contact them here, I'm in NOLA so it's mostly Republicans)
Contacted the mayor and city council and asked them to protect our people
Contacted the local press to ask them to cover the story and ask the politicos what they're doing about it
Also hit up the local news stations/sites that hadn't picked up the story yet and asked them to cover it
Hit up the local leftist/DSA/antifa/immigrant support groups on FB/Email/etc. and made sure they knew (word is obviously out now more than it was this afternoon when I started so this may not take as long).
Provided links to resources on local stories and comment sections. I'm using this resource pack. Obviously you're going to be throwing virtual elbows into MAGA Chuds but that's fun anyway.
Find what local Twitter(s) and such to follow. RAICES is the best I've found for my area.
I also dropped news links to local orgs that work with refugees in case they haven't heard yet.
To me, ICE raids on a weekend, I'm thinking they're going to wait til Sunday and then snag people trying to go to church. I mean, it's an easy mark and lots of people go there. So I contacted places of worship that seemed likely. I avoided megachurches, obviously, but hit up the local synagogues and mosques (since even if they are not themselves migrants, many Jews and Muslims fight for social justice), any church I could find that does LGBTQIA work (figuring if they do outreach to those populations they're probably into social justice and/or working with migrants), anything with a service in an immigrant tongue (I mean, the people going to a Catholic Church with a Spanish-language mass seem like a good target audience), the other major religions in my area, and any of the "SuchandSuch church of Countryname." Like we have a Catholic Church focused on Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants so, again, seemed like a good bet.
I'm running off a bunch of the "know your rights" fliers with an added warning that ICE Raids are this weekend and will be posting them near places I know local migrants would go. A good way to reach women is to drop some in the changing table in the ladies' room IF they're private so they don't have to be seen taking them. (I mean it's also good to do it in men's rooms but they may or may not have them).
I'm not looking for plaudits, just the stuff I could think of that may be of use to y'all if you need to or want to do something.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 7:37 PM on June 21, 2019 [34 favorites]
I get really wary (or maybe just weary) of "this is all a distraction" arguments. Trump is a narcissistic coward who doesn't actually seem to want to get into a war, true. He's also overly impressed by military and surrounded by people who are agitating for war with Iran, including some (like the Saudis) who are showering his crappy hotels with business. We're allowed to be nervous about this.
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:38 PM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
Still convinced he just hates Bolton’s mustache so much he just doesn’t to a thing he says
Like the bush years where about distraction and media narrative and deployment of counterattacks. This is a toddler playing with a busy box that happens to have nuclear launch codes on it.
posted by The Whelk at 7:43 PM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
Like the bush years where about distraction and media narrative and deployment of counterattacks. This is a toddler playing with a busy box that happens to have nuclear launch codes on it.
posted by The Whelk at 7:43 PM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
If you're in California, there's a system of rapid response networks. You can find the hotline for your area and notify them if you see an ICE raid so they can work to dispatch lawyers and collect information.
posted by zachlipton at 7:49 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:49 PM on June 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
wtf O’Rouke
Sigh. Let me preface this by saying that Beto is not my first choice. But does anyone honestly think, knowing the first goddamned thing about Beto, that he meant that the current situation on the border is what makes America great? The hat takes for granted that you have some idea of what Beto stands for, which makes it an error-prone vehicle for communication (both in terms of honest misunderstandings and motivated misinterpretations). So it was clumsy and, again, poor communication (which is relevant for the job of President). But let's be clear that this isn't some hidden signal that actually he's super happy with kiddie concentration camps.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:05 PM on June 21, 2019 [14 favorites]
Sigh. Let me preface this by saying that Beto is not my first choice. But does anyone honestly think, knowing the first goddamned thing about Beto, that he meant that the current situation on the border is what makes America great? The hat takes for granted that you have some idea of what Beto stands for, which makes it an error-prone vehicle for communication (both in terms of honest misunderstandings and motivated misinterpretations). So it was clumsy and, again, poor communication (which is relevant for the job of President). But let's be clear that this isn't some hidden signal that actually he's super happy with kiddie concentration camps.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:05 PM on June 21, 2019 [14 favorites]
I didn’t think it was a secret symbol I thought it was tone deaf and dumb as hell.
posted by The Whelk at 8:13 PM on June 21, 2019 [22 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:13 PM on June 21, 2019 [22 favorites]
So was Hannity having his near nightly phone chats with Trump at the same time he was texting nightly with Manafort? What's the timeline here?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:13 PM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:13 PM on June 21, 2019 [11 favorites]
zachlipton: Looking through the polls, it seems like there's a bit of an odd split where more respondants think Trump deserves to be impeached than those who think Congress should start the process of impeachment.
That's not too odd, because (whether or not it's true and I don't intend to open this can here) it's rational to suppose that impeachment would be bad politically while being good on the merits. The other possible findings would have been: exactly everyone who thinks it's deserved also supports it happening and vice versa (which is unlikely on raw odds) or that, somehow, more people support impeachment than think he deserves it, which would be extremely weird (Democrats aren't a population rich with Machiavellian types, despite cries of "witch hunt").
Jfped: But does anyone honestly think, knowing the first goddamned thing about Beto, that he meant that the current situation on the border is what makes America great? The hat takes for granted that you have some idea of what Beto stands for, which makes it an error-prone vehicle for communication (both in terms of honest misunderstandings and motivated misinterpretations).
The problem with "The Border Makes America Great" (those being the words on his hat) is distinct from (but connected to) the particular atrocities happening there, and it's more the simple fact that "Border = Good" is now and has long been a wholly associated with right-wing identitarians, with obvious implications of "Borders are so great that it is necessary to commit violence for their sake". His point, I assume, was something about the people and culture around that border, but that was almost the worst possible way to phrase that point. Framing nationalism as a "fear of borders" instead of a fear of the other side of borders is a mistake I would expect of someone completely unfamiliar with the culture or something.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:48 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
That's not too odd, because (whether or not it's true and I don't intend to open this can here) it's rational to suppose that impeachment would be bad politically while being good on the merits. The other possible findings would have been: exactly everyone who thinks it's deserved also supports it happening and vice versa (which is unlikely on raw odds) or that, somehow, more people support impeachment than think he deserves it, which would be extremely weird (Democrats aren't a population rich with Machiavellian types, despite cries of "witch hunt").
Jfped: But does anyone honestly think, knowing the first goddamned thing about Beto, that he meant that the current situation on the border is what makes America great? The hat takes for granted that you have some idea of what Beto stands for, which makes it an error-prone vehicle for communication (both in terms of honest misunderstandings and motivated misinterpretations).
The problem with "The Border Makes America Great" (those being the words on his hat) is distinct from (but connected to) the particular atrocities happening there, and it's more the simple fact that "Border = Good" is now and has long been a wholly associated with right-wing identitarians, with obvious implications of "Borders are so great that it is necessary to commit violence for their sake". His point, I assume, was something about the people and culture around that border, but that was almost the worst possible way to phrase that point. Framing nationalism as a "fear of borders" instead of a fear of the other side of borders is a mistake I would expect of someone completely unfamiliar with the culture or something.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:48 PM on June 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Oh, undoubtably. I used to catch some of Hannity on my way home for work sometimes, partly as my own personal Two Minutes Hate, partly because his Grand Unification Conspiracy Theories about all things Trump and Hillary were way too funny not to laugh at.
(Short version of such: All evidence against Trump is faked, unsourced, unreliable and/or invalid on face value. Hillary's got at least six different felonies with which she should be charged. Mueller, Strzok, Page, the Ohrs, Comey, McCabe, and pretty much everyone else that's ever been unfavorably drawn in a Ben Garrison cartoon are guilty of election fraud, obstruction of justice, perjury, collusion with Russia via Christopher Steele's bought-and-paid-for-by-Hillary 100%-salacious-lies-and-slander fake dossier. There was never any reason to get a FISA on Carter Page and everyone involved in the process is jailable, including Rosenstein. The sky is green. The year is one.)
But, in short, Hannity's show broadcast out the latest from Trump Conspiracy Central _every single day_, with a tiny new spin or factoid added (like any good soap opera) to provide New Evidence that will Shock the Conscience of the Nation right after the 5 o'clock break. Everything Hannity got that tied into that alternate hellscape America theory went on the air, and if that came from Manafort, that absolutely lined up with Hannity being Trump's personal Lord Haw-Haw.
posted by delfin at 8:53 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
(Short version of such: All evidence against Trump is faked, unsourced, unreliable and/or invalid on face value. Hillary's got at least six different felonies with which she should be charged. Mueller, Strzok, Page, the Ohrs, Comey, McCabe, and pretty much everyone else that's ever been unfavorably drawn in a Ben Garrison cartoon are guilty of election fraud, obstruction of justice, perjury, collusion with Russia via Christopher Steele's bought-and-paid-for-by-Hillary 100%-salacious-lies-and-slander fake dossier. There was never any reason to get a FISA on Carter Page and everyone involved in the process is jailable, including Rosenstein. The sky is green. The year is one.)
But, in short, Hannity's show broadcast out the latest from Trump Conspiracy Central _every single day_, with a tiny new spin or factoid added (like any good soap opera) to provide New Evidence that will Shock the Conscience of the Nation right after the 5 o'clock break. Everything Hannity got that tied into that alternate hellscape America theory went on the air, and if that came from Manafort, that absolutely lined up with Hannity being Trump's personal Lord Haw-Haw.
posted by delfin at 8:53 PM on June 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
Frowner asked: What do you do if ICE is outside other people's doors? I live in an neighborhood where I'd be surprised if everyone were documented. I mean, I guess you film it and put the call out for help on social media, but what else?
Print out a bunch of THESE and put them in places where your neighbors will see and be able to take them. Before Sunday.
posted by threeturtles at 9:41 PM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
Print out a bunch of THESE and put them in places where your neighbors will see and be able to take them. Before Sunday.
posted by threeturtles at 9:41 PM on June 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
I'm convinced he cancelled the strike as another petty jibe against John "Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:54 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:54 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
put them in places where your neighbors will see and be able to take them
Laundromats are good for this.
posted by contraption at 10:29 PM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
Laundromats are good for this.
posted by contraption at 10:29 PM on June 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
I didn’t think it was a secret symbol I thought it was tone deaf and dumb as hell.
I understand what he was trying to say with it, being from a border town, El Paso, that's gotten a lot of grief from Trump & wanting to show some hometown pride in its diversity. But it's a very clumsy way of saying it & definitely not the right time for a lighthearted slogan.
posted by scalefree at 12:29 AM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
I understand what he was trying to say with it, being from a border town, El Paso, that's gotten a lot of grief from Trump & wanting to show some hometown pride in its diversity. But it's a very clumsy way of saying it & definitely not the right time for a lighthearted slogan.
posted by scalefree at 12:29 AM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
E Jean Carroll was amazing in her interview on msnbc
posted by growabrain at 1:46 AM on June 22, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 1:46 AM on June 22, 2019 [9 favorites]
Have you ever gotten into a conversation with a stranger only to realize they are a little off, and you need to get away from them as quickly as possible without escalating their crazy? That's my takeaway from Trump's Iran story.
posted by xammerboy at 3:03 AM on June 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 3:03 AM on June 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
Media Matters: Here's what Trump’s Fox News cabinet wants him to do about Iran—Most of Trump's Fox advisers support some sort of military strike
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:03 AM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
With one key exception [i.e. Tucker Carlson], pro-Trump commentators at the network have mostly been recklessly arguing that the president should strike Iran and can do so without risking an escalation. […] While these Fox hosts and sometime Trump advisers were divided over how the president responded, they largely downplayed the possibility that a military strike could lead to a dangerous escalation. […] [B]y its nature, the Fox-Trump feedback loop creates instability as the president is famously impulsive and can quickly change his mind based on input from the television. It’s unclear what the next few days will bring.As for Trump’s official government briefings, we find out from the NYT’s article Urged to Launch an Attack, Trump Listened to the Skeptics Who Said It Would Be a Costly Mistake that Trump was definitely lying about the source of the “150” casualty figure. It didn’t originate with a general but with Pentagon lawyers, and it didn’t arise during an Oval Office briefing but from their uncleared draft of a worst-case scenario. It’s just such a goddam waste of time, effort, and resources trying to determine how Trump is lying to us in each and every situation.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:03 AM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
The @nytimes published E. Jean Carroll's accusation of rape against the president IN THE BOOKS SECTION.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:10 AM on June 22, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:10 AM on June 22, 2019 [27 favorites]
Video of Border Patrol lawyer Sarah Fabian trying to argue that detained children don't need soap or blankets
Definitional banality of evil.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 AM on June 22, 2019 [39 favorites]
Definitional banality of evil.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 AM on June 22, 2019 [39 favorites]
WH reporters confronted Trump this morning about Carroll's accusations against him and his lie that he'd never met her, even though NY Mag published a photo of them together (video via Vox's Aaron Rupar). Unfortunately, they let him get away with two solid minutes of obfuscation and blathering.
Trump blustered, "I have no idea who this woman is. This is a woman who has also accused other men of things, as you know." A reporter pressed the issue of the photo, and Trump brushed it off, "Standing with my coat on in a line, gimme a break, with my back to the camera. I have no idea who she is. What she did, it's is terrible, what's going on. So it's a total false accusation. I don't know anything about her. And she's made this charge against others. And you know, people have to be careful because they're playing with very dangerous territory, and when they do that, it is happening more and more. Look at what happened to Justice Kavanaugh, and you look at what's happening to others, you can't do that for the sake of publicity." (He then digressed into how NYMag is "a failing magazine", in his usual projecting tactic of blaming business failure as the source of his enemies' attacks against him.) Then he picked up the same refrain, "It's a totally false accusation, I have no idea who she is." He concluded by bringing up Fox News supposedly broadcasting stories about women who were paid to malign him, though without providing any details that could be fact-checked.
The chief problem with mainstream news's coverage of Trump is that they only provide a soundbite or two when they quote him instead of transcribing his word salad (which, frankly, is a repugnant task). His blanket denial wouldn't convince anyone but his MAGA base, of course, although that's obviously sufficient for his purposes. Repeating "I have no idea who she is" isn't a counter-explanation to Carroll's charges, but it's (barely) enough for a he-said-she-said version of story for the reporters to file before moving on to Trump's next scandal or fiasco. As it is, I scanned the front pages of the newspapers in various major cities without finding a single one carrying Carroll's story (hat-tip, the Newseum)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:35 AM on June 22, 2019 [11 favorites]
Trump blustered, "I have no idea who this woman is. This is a woman who has also accused other men of things, as you know." A reporter pressed the issue of the photo, and Trump brushed it off, "Standing with my coat on in a line, gimme a break, with my back to the camera. I have no idea who she is. What she did, it's is terrible, what's going on. So it's a total false accusation. I don't know anything about her. And she's made this charge against others. And you know, people have to be careful because they're playing with very dangerous territory, and when they do that, it is happening more and more. Look at what happened to Justice Kavanaugh, and you look at what's happening to others, you can't do that for the sake of publicity." (He then digressed into how NYMag is "a failing magazine", in his usual projecting tactic of blaming business failure as the source of his enemies' attacks against him.) Then he picked up the same refrain, "It's a totally false accusation, I have no idea who she is." He concluded by bringing up Fox News supposedly broadcasting stories about women who were paid to malign him, though without providing any details that could be fact-checked.
The chief problem with mainstream news's coverage of Trump is that they only provide a soundbite or two when they quote him instead of transcribing his word salad (which, frankly, is a repugnant task). His blanket denial wouldn't convince anyone but his MAGA base, of course, although that's obviously sufficient for his purposes. Repeating "I have no idea who she is" isn't a counter-explanation to Carroll's charges, but it's (barely) enough for a he-said-she-said version of story for the reporters to file before moving on to Trump's next scandal or fiasco. As it is, I scanned the front pages of the newspapers in various major cities without finding a single one carrying Carroll's story (hat-tip, the Newseum)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:35 AM on June 22, 2019 [11 favorites]
Incidentally Sarah Fabian is the same person who tried to put off reuniting hundreds of separated families last year because she was dogsitting
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:36 AM on June 22, 2019 [25 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:36 AM on June 22, 2019 [25 favorites]
Mitch McConnell is the second worst human being on the planet / Salon:
What is it about these racist southern goofs in the Senate, huh? McConnell is just like his racist twin from Alabama, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and the Prince of Race-Baiting, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and the King of Inadvertent Racist Idiocy Trent Lott of Mississippi, and the High Priest of Racist Hypocrisy Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. All of them somehow managed to get themselves elected to the powerful position of senator, and yet not one of them found it within himself to climb out the gutter of racism that put them there.
posted by growabrain at 9:53 AM on June 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
What is it about these racist southern goofs in the Senate, huh? McConnell is just like his racist twin from Alabama, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and the Prince of Race-Baiting, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and the King of Inadvertent Racist Idiocy Trent Lott of Mississippi, and the High Priest of Racist Hypocrisy Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. All of them somehow managed to get themselves elected to the powerful position of senator, and yet not one of them found it within himself to climb out the gutter of racism that put them there.
posted by growabrain at 9:53 AM on June 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
That paragraph makes no sense to me. Why would you climb out of a gutter that made you a U.S. Senator? In my experience, people don’t improve their moral outlook in the absence of a strong pragmatic incentive or a major epiphany that causes them to question their assumptions - and once you’ve become an incumbent senator by indulging your worst self, you have zero incentive and are systematically protected from any experiences that might cause an epiphany.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:49 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 10:49 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
Guardian: Ivanka Trump’s 2020 Tweet Violated Hatch Act, Watchdog Says—Washington-based Crew says tweet about her father’s re-election bid breaks rule that limits political activity by federal workers
It turns out I missed the Washington Post, which put it below the fold. That's more than can be said for the entire New York City market, though.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:07 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
The influential Washington-based watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) has filed a complaint against Donald Trump’s daughter, a senior presidential aide who works in the White House as an adviser, albeit unsalaried.I scanned the front pages of the newspapers in various major cities without finding a single one carrying Carroll's story
In a letter to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), part of the Department of Justice, Crew said her tweet, posted on Father’s Day last weekend, just a few days before Trump’s re-election campaign launch in Florida, included his 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and claimed “the best is yet to come”.[…]
Crew also claimed she had used her government Twitter account, which has more than 6.5 million followers and on which she describes herself as “adviser to Potus” to share “multiple partisan political posts” since March last year.
It turns out I missed the Washington Post, which put it below the fold. That's more than can be said for the entire New York City market, though.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:07 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
Senator John Cornyn on twitter: Texas has too many hispanic people and not enough white people
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:08 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:08 AM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
u.S journalist detained, journals and electronic devices searched, for having the gall to return home from a trip to Mexico
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 AM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 AM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
u.S journalist detained, journals and electronic devices searched, for having the gall to return home from a trip to Mexico
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 AM on June 22 [4 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
I'm just a few lines into this and it is already wrong on so many levels. Sometimes I think you Americans are hyperbolizing about the Trump presidency, but this is not how a democracy works.
The concentration camps should already have the UN and everyone else on red alert, but I guess other countries are scared of what Trump will do if they speak out.
posted by mumimor at 11:43 AM on June 22, 2019 [17 favorites]
The chief problem with mainstream news's coverage of Trump is that they only provide a soundbite or two when they quote him instead of transcribing his word salad.
The media needs to report that the president simply doesn't answer questions with plausibly true answers. Trump may or may not be crazy, but he's not alright. The congressional subpoena needs to include the results from the test where Trump was asked to identify the giraffe from animal pictures.
I'd like to see Democratic candidates offer him sincere concern for his mental well being. I would like to see challenges to play a game of checkers all the way through. I want to know if he can identify Melania in a picture. I want every interview to end with the reporter asking if the president knows where the White House is and if he has an escort home.
We are living in a version of the story of the Emperor with No Clothes, but instead of clothing everyone is pretending like Trump's playing with a full deck. The world is trapped on a subway ride with someone that is unwell and just wants to get home safely.
posted by xammerboy at 11:47 AM on June 22, 2019 [20 favorites]
The media needs to report that the president simply doesn't answer questions with plausibly true answers. Trump may or may not be crazy, but he's not alright. The congressional subpoena needs to include the results from the test where Trump was asked to identify the giraffe from animal pictures.
I'd like to see Democratic candidates offer him sincere concern for his mental well being. I would like to see challenges to play a game of checkers all the way through. I want to know if he can identify Melania in a picture. I want every interview to end with the reporter asking if the president knows where the White House is and if he has an escort home.
We are living in a version of the story of the Emperor with No Clothes, but instead of clothing everyone is pretending like Trump's playing with a full deck. The world is trapped on a subway ride with someone that is unwell and just wants to get home safely.
posted by xammerboy at 11:47 AM on June 22, 2019 [20 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump, just now: “At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!”
Like the Iran strike, Trump knows he’s bungled this move, but he still wants praise for backing off. And he still keeps his threat to do it again.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:07 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
Like the Iran strike, Trump knows he’s bungled this move, but he still wants praise for backing off. And he still keeps his threat to do it again.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:07 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
The next fascist won't have such a problem with his follow-through.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:15 PM on June 22, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:15 PM on June 22, 2019 [9 favorites]
Another day, another closed door hearing, this time for Mueller witness Annie Donaldson, Don McGahn's chief of staff. This is what Democrats "holding Trump accountable" looks like in practice. No live TV, no public testimony, no subpoenas, polite questions behind closed doors and a transcript not one voter will ever read.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:25 PM on June 22, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:25 PM on June 22, 2019 [27 favorites]
Like the Iran strike, Trump knows he’s bungled this move, but he still wants praise for backing off. And he still keeps his threat to do it again.
I don't think he thinks he's bungled anything, and to his base he hasn't. He'll take what he can get from the deal and then do the raids anyway. These people mean nothing to him except as a bargaining chip to get money for his wall, then praise from Hannity when he shows footage of agents busting down doors, then cheers at his rallies.
posted by bluecore at 12:32 PM on June 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
I don't think he thinks he's bungled anything, and to his base he hasn't. He'll take what he can get from the deal and then do the raids anyway. These people mean nothing to him except as a bargaining chip to get money for his wall, then praise from Hannity when he shows footage of agents busting down doors, then cheers at his rallies.
posted by bluecore at 12:32 PM on June 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump, just now: “At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!”
Like the Iran strike, Trump knows he’s bungled this move, but he still wants praise for backing off. And he still keeps his threat to do it again.
PSA: Additional resources are being added to the Immigration section of the MeFi Wiki Get a Lawyer page. If you are aware of more legal resources, please add them or MeMail them to me so I can add them. Thank you!
posted by Little Dawn at 12:45 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
Like the Iran strike, Trump knows he’s bungled this move, but he still wants praise for backing off. And he still keeps his threat to do it again.
PSA: Additional resources are being added to the Immigration section of the MeFi Wiki Get a Lawyer page. If you are aware of more legal resources, please add them or MeMail them to me so I can add them. Thank you!
posted by Little Dawn at 12:45 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
Yeah this isn't bungling, it's terror. He's learned a pattern: create a problem; make people afraid of it; "solve" it; take credit.
Remember the reporting after Trump called off the Iran strikes? "He’s been paying close attention to the reaction — and noticing that his usual critics have praised the move." He's learned that the TV says nice things about him when he averts a crisis he started, so he does it more and more. Trump has learned that he gets two scoops of ice cream as a reward for stopping a tantrum, so now he throws tantrums all the time now.
Because the only purpose of announcing ICE raids in advance is terror, terror he can now prolong for the next two weeks and beyond. It certainly doesn't serve a law enforcement purpose to tell families with final orders of removal to find someplace to hide this weekend. It certainly doesn't serve a foreign policy purpose to tell Iran that we were minutes away from attacking them but decided not to.
Anyway, it goes on:
@Haleaziz: ICE has been conducting ongoing operations netting more than a 100 arrests at once -- not specifically targeting families -- for several weeks now.
posted by zachlipton at 1:01 PM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
Remember the reporting after Trump called off the Iran strikes? "He’s been paying close attention to the reaction — and noticing that his usual critics have praised the move." He's learned that the TV says nice things about him when he averts a crisis he started, so he does it more and more. Trump has learned that he gets two scoops of ice cream as a reward for stopping a tantrum, so now he throws tantrums all the time now.
Because the only purpose of announcing ICE raids in advance is terror, terror he can now prolong for the next two weeks and beyond. It certainly doesn't serve a law enforcement purpose to tell families with final orders of removal to find someplace to hide this weekend. It certainly doesn't serve a foreign policy purpose to tell Iran that we were minutes away from attacking them but decided not to.
Anyway, it goes on:
@Haleaziz: ICE has been conducting ongoing operations netting more than a 100 arrests at once -- not specifically targeting families -- for several weeks now.
posted by zachlipton at 1:01 PM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner, Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children, an interview with law Professor Warren Binford:
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on June 22, 2019 [61 favorites]
There was one child-mother who took her baby in there, because the baby got the flu. And then the mother, because she was in there caring for the child, got the flu as well. And so then she was there for a week, and they took the baby out and gave the baby to an unrelated child to try to take care of the child-mother’s baby. Sorry, I was trying to remember where I was going with that.Where are Democratic members of Congress?
It’s fine.
Oh, I know what I wanted to tell you. This is important. So, on Wednesday, we received reports from children of a lice outbreak in one of the cells where there were about twenty-five children, and what they told us is that six of the children were found to have lice. And so they were given a lice shampoo, and the other children were given two combs and told to share those two combs, two lice combs, and brush their hair with the same combs, which is something you never do with a lice outbreak. And then what happened was one of the combs was lost, and Border Patrol agents got so mad that they took away the children’s blankets and mats. They weren’t allowed to sleep on the beds, and they had to sleep on the floor on Wednesday night as punishment for losing the comb. So you had a whole cell full of kids who had beds and mats at one point, not for everybody but for most of them, who were forced to sleep on the cement.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on June 22, 2019 [61 favorites]
Melissa Byrne:
So Donnie’s new strategy is to amp folks up on fear and then act like a benelovent dictator by making a “humane” decision. This is gonna be a long 18 months.
posted by chris24 at 1:06 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
So Donnie’s new strategy is to amp folks up on fear and then act like a benelovent dictator by making a “humane” decision. This is gonna be a long 18 months.
posted by chris24 at 1:06 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
Senator John Cornyn on twitter: Texas has too many hispanic people and not enough white people
I had assumed this was going to be a quiet dogwhistle that just alluded to this idea from an angle. But if you didn't click on it: nope. He just flat out says that there are now 9 new Hispanic residents of Texas for every new white resident. He doesn't editorialize it but... that's about as close as you get. Why else tweet it?
So, yeah.
posted by Justinian at 1:13 PM on June 22, 2019 [17 favorites]
I had assumed this was going to be a quiet dogwhistle that just alluded to this idea from an angle. But if you didn't click on it: nope. He just flat out says that there are now 9 new Hispanic residents of Texas for every new white resident. He doesn't editorialize it but... that's about as close as you get. Why else tweet it?
So, yeah.
posted by Justinian at 1:13 PM on June 22, 2019 [17 favorites]
the other children were given two combs and told to share those two combs, two lice combs, and brush their hair with the same combs, which is something you never do with a lice outbreak. And then what happened was one of the combs was lost, and Border Patrol agents got so mad that they took away the children’s blankets and mats. They weren’t allowed to sleep on the beds, and they had to sleep on the floor on Wednesday night as punishment for losing the comb.
On the one hand, if this were about another country we might be seeing it as part of a convincing humanitarian-grounds case for diplomatic isolation, severe sanctions, coup/revolution support, or for military invasion and the destruction of its government. On the other hand, the atmosphere is very politically charged right now
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
On the one hand, if this were about another country we might be seeing it as part of a convincing humanitarian-grounds case for diplomatic isolation, severe sanctions, coup/revolution support, or for military invasion and the destruction of its government. On the other hand, the atmosphere is very politically charged right now
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:26 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
PBS: A firsthand report of ‘inhumane conditions’ at a migrant children’s detention facility
Basically, what we saw are dirty children who are malnourished, who are being severely neglected. They are being kept in inhumane conditions. They are essentially being warehoused, as many as 300 children in a cell, with almost no adult supervision. We have children caring for other young children. For example, we saw a little boy in diapers — or he had no diapers on. He should have had a diaper on. He was 2 years old. And when I was asked why he didn't have diapers on, I was told he didn't need it. He immediately urinated. And he was in the care of another child. Children cannot take care of children, and yet that's how they are trying to run this facility. The children are hardly being fed anything nutritious, and they are being medically neglected.posted by Rust Moranis at 1:46 PM on June 22, 2019 [20 favorites]
We're seeing a flu outbreak, and we're also seeing a lice infestation. It is — we have children sleeping on the floor. It's the worst conditions I have ever witnessed in several years of doing these inspections.
What you're describing is really hard to sort of put our heads around, that this is inside a U.S. government facility. I wonder, what do we know about, where are these children's parents? Were they coming across the border alone? Did they come with their families and separated? How did they get there?
Almost none of the children that we interviewed had come across the border themselves alone. Essentially, they came across the border with family. And they are trying to be reunited with family who are living in the United States. Almost every child that I interviewed had family, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, siblings here in the United States who are waiting for them and are ready to care for them.
The media and all of us really need to think about all of this as just another Trump reality show. He has no fixed beliefs other than his desperate need for attention. How many times do we have to hear him explicitly use phrases like "we'll see" and "stay tuned" to assess everything he does through this lens? He makes ridiculous threats, says outrageous things, and creates other crises - and then "solves" them - explicitly to keep us hooked on watching him. Sadly this is "The Truman Show" made real, but with a truly deeply damaged man-child as its subject, who is perfectly happy to continue inhabiting it.
posted by PhineasGage at 1:49 PM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 1:49 PM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
I'd like to see Democratic candidates offer him sincere concern for his mental well being. I would like to see challenges to play a game of checkers all the way through. I want to know if he can identify Melania in a picture. I want every interview to end with the reporter asking if the president knows where the White House is and if he has an escort home.
God yes. Just one time, I'd like an interviewer to give him a simple math problem, like "add these 2 digit numbers together." And just keep after him about it through excuse after excuse until its obvious to everyone that he's working at Charlie Kelly levels of mental functioning. That would be Pulitzer level journalism right there.
posted by Balna Watya at 1:51 PM on June 22, 2019 [14 favorites]
God yes. Just one time, I'd like an interviewer to give him a simple math problem, like "add these 2 digit numbers together." And just keep after him about it through excuse after excuse until its obvious to everyone that he's working at Charlie Kelly levels of mental functioning. That would be Pulitzer level journalism right there.
posted by Balna Watya at 1:51 PM on June 22, 2019 [14 favorites]
Yeah this isn't bungling, it's terror.
Trump bungled the initial rollout by prematurely announcing the immigration raids on Twitter, which blind-sided ICE. (I'm following Occam's Razor that this was Trump's tweets getting ahead of his administration's planning once again rather than him, or Stephen Miller, playing n-dimensional chess.) Having caused chaos internally, Trump appears to be following his natural instincts to spread it around ("I like conflict."). In this case, while terror was always part of the plan, he also gets to throw the opposition off balance, having sent them scrambling to organize for tomorrow's abortive raids and now forcing everyone to stand down.
He's learned that the TV says nice things about him when he averts a crisis he started, so he does it more and more.
He learned this lesson from the government shutdown, in which he received (faint) praise from some quarters for finally bringing it to an end by making concessions with the Dems. He's now given the Dems an arbitrary length of time to find a compromise solution to an intractable problem in order to claim justification for when the negotiations go nowhere.
It's infuriating that his script is so obvious yet somehow impenetrable to the Dems and the media. I try to resist the urge to reflexively bag on Pelosi, but her anodyne response on Twitter to this situation makes her seem a step behind him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:05 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
Trump bungled the initial rollout by prematurely announcing the immigration raids on Twitter, which blind-sided ICE. (I'm following Occam's Razor that this was Trump's tweets getting ahead of his administration's planning once again rather than him, or Stephen Miller, playing n-dimensional chess.) Having caused chaos internally, Trump appears to be following his natural instincts to spread it around ("I like conflict."). In this case, while terror was always part of the plan, he also gets to throw the opposition off balance, having sent them scrambling to organize for tomorrow's abortive raids and now forcing everyone to stand down.
He's learned that the TV says nice things about him when he averts a crisis he started, so he does it more and more.
He learned this lesson from the government shutdown, in which he received (faint) praise from some quarters for finally bringing it to an end by making concessions with the Dems. He's now given the Dems an arbitrary length of time to find a compromise solution to an intractable problem in order to claim justification for when the negotiations go nowhere.
It's infuriating that his script is so obvious yet somehow impenetrable to the Dems and the media. I try to resist the urge to reflexively bag on Pelosi, but her anodyne response on Twitter to this situation makes her seem a step behind him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:05 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
WaPo’s Seung Min Kim: “Pelosi had phoned Trump last night to ask him to call off the planned raids, per person familiar with the convo”
So maybe I hit “post” too soon on the above comment’s conclusion. Maybe.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:10 PM on June 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
So maybe I hit “post” too soon on the above comment’s conclusion. Maybe.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:10 PM on June 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
The media and all of us really need to think about all of this as just another Trump reality show. He has no fixed beliefs other than his desperate need for attention. How many times do we have to hear him explicitly use phrases like "we'll see" and "stay tuned" to assess everything he does through this lens?
“The media” are not your friend and or allies. Their incentives are not aligned with Democrats, activists, or everyday citizens. They haven’t and won’t learn any lessons from 2016 or ever change how they cover Trump. Pretending they can, or will, or want to change is futile. They win when he wins. He’s the best thing that ever happened to them. He’s made them all rich. They will help him win again, they’re already airing his empty podium again, and repeating the false claims for war with Iran.
The media helped Trump get elected, and will do everything they can to help him get re-elected, no matter how much they protest that’s not what they’re doing or how many times Trump attacks them. They need him as much as he needs them, and much more than they need or give one fuck about any of us.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on June 22, 2019 [23 favorites]
“The media” are not your friend and or allies. Their incentives are not aligned with Democrats, activists, or everyday citizens. They haven’t and won’t learn any lessons from 2016 or ever change how they cover Trump. Pretending they can, or will, or want to change is futile. They win when he wins. He’s the best thing that ever happened to them. He’s made them all rich. They will help him win again, they’re already airing his empty podium again, and repeating the false claims for war with Iran.
The media helped Trump get elected, and will do everything they can to help him get re-elected, no matter how much they protest that’s not what they’re doing or how many times Trump attacks them. They need him as much as he needs them, and much more than they need or give one fuck about any of us.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on June 22, 2019 [23 favorites]
Part of the reason Donald Trump is President is because Rupert Murdoch wanted him to be president and the executives at CNN saw their ratings go up
posted by The Whelk at 2:45 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 2:45 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
They win when he wins. He’s the best thing that ever happened to them. He’s made them all rich.
posted by hugbucket at 2:47 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by hugbucket at 2:47 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
Where is the Democratic Leadership on the babies in cages indeed. Beto's fucking hat?
Back when I was a grad student grubbing after grant money with a pool of people who had other ideas for projects, I remember one kind of asshole but right person assessing the proposals and saying, "The one about babies with AIDS will win. No question." And she was right. Why? Because we're supposed to fucking care about sick babies, god fucking damn it.
Taking away beds because of a lost comb? One of two combs shared during a lice outbreak?
Get the faces of these babies out there. I want the cutest biggest eyed baby with tears in her eyes, photographed in clearly unsanitary conditions, and I want that baby's face everywhere. Jesus fucking christ people.
I mean, it makes sense that in an evil chaotic maelstrom, the most vulnerable would suffer the most. But I swear to God, I was more emotionally prepared for Trump starting a shooting war with Iran than to hear about the abuse of young children.
I've been a leftist and critical of my country all of my almost fifty years, have been horrified by this country's actions on numerous occasions, but somehow nothing has left me as ashamed to be an American as this goddamned motherfucking comb lice abuse of babies story.
posted by IwishIwasFordMaddoxFord at 2:58 PM on June 22, 2019 [65 favorites]
Back when I was a grad student grubbing after grant money with a pool of people who had other ideas for projects, I remember one kind of asshole but right person assessing the proposals and saying, "The one about babies with AIDS will win. No question." And she was right. Why? Because we're supposed to fucking care about sick babies, god fucking damn it.
Taking away beds because of a lost comb? One of two combs shared during a lice outbreak?
Get the faces of these babies out there. I want the cutest biggest eyed baby with tears in her eyes, photographed in clearly unsanitary conditions, and I want that baby's face everywhere. Jesus fucking christ people.
I mean, it makes sense that in an evil chaotic maelstrom, the most vulnerable would suffer the most. But I swear to God, I was more emotionally prepared for Trump starting a shooting war with Iran than to hear about the abuse of young children.
I've been a leftist and critical of my country all of my almost fifty years, have been horrified by this country's actions on numerous occasions, but somehow nothing has left me as ashamed to be an American as this goddamned motherfucking comb lice abuse of babies story.
posted by IwishIwasFordMaddoxFord at 2:58 PM on June 22, 2019 [65 favorites]
The Whelk: u.S journalist detained, journals and electronic devices searched, for having the gall to return home from a trip to Mexico
Any journalists reading this, please protect yourself. Arm yourself with information. Here's a free e-book that will teach you how: https://www.freetechbooks.com/information-security-for-journalists-t1205.html
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:04 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
Any journalists reading this, please protect yourself. Arm yourself with information. Here's a free e-book that will teach you how: https://www.freetechbooks.com/information-security-for-journalists-t1205.html
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:04 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
Oregon Statehouse Shut Down After Lawmakers Team Up With Right-Wing Militias
"Eleven of Oregon’s Senate Republicans fled the state this week to avoid a vote on a bill that would cap greenhouse emissions. The group, believed to be hiding in Idaho, left the state senate with too few lawmakers to hold a vote. But the move is more than a legislative maneuver. The missing senators have partnered with right-wing paramilitary groups to threaten violence, should they be brought back to Oregon.
The state senate had scheduled sessions on Saturday, but cancelled them after reports of several militias’ two-day “Rally to Take the Capitol” this weekend.
“Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat,” a spokesperson for the senate president told the Associated Press on Friday night.
posted by Harry Caul at 3:27 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
"Eleven of Oregon’s Senate Republicans fled the state this week to avoid a vote on a bill that would cap greenhouse emissions. The group, believed to be hiding in Idaho, left the state senate with too few lawmakers to hold a vote. But the move is more than a legislative maneuver. The missing senators have partnered with right-wing paramilitary groups to threaten violence, should they be brought back to Oregon.
The state senate had scheduled sessions on Saturday, but cancelled them after reports of several militias’ two-day “Rally to Take the Capitol” this weekend.
“Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat,” a spokesperson for the senate president told the Associated Press on Friday night.
posted by Harry Caul at 3:27 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
Houston Chronicle, Lomi Kriel (who, I'll just pause to say here, is an excellent immigration reporter) and Dug Begley , Trump administration still separating hundreds of migrant children at the border through often questionable claims of danger
It wasn’t until weeks later that Castillo discovered his daughter was with foster parents in Michigan — a state he had never heard of — and could arrange to speak to her by phone. By then, the young father had been imprisoned for about 25 days in a Border Patrol facility without any formal charges, according to testimony in federal court. The facts of the case enraged the McAllen district judge overseeing Castillo’s punishment for crossing illegally into Texas after having been deported five years ago, when he was 18.posted by zachlipton at 3:27 PM on June 22, 2019 [16 favorites]
“Have we forgotten something about parents’ rights?” Judge Ricardo Hinojosa asked the court. “If this was an American in some other country, we would be quite shocked.”
...
A year has passed since President Donald Trump signed an executive order ostensibly ending his controversial policy of broadly separating immigrant families at the southern border and a federal judge ordered the government to reunify more than 2,800 children it had removed from their parents. The judge allowed the government to continue separating families if the parent posed a danger to the child or had a serious criminal record or gang affiliation. But no guidelines were imposed.
As a result, hundreds continue to be removed from their parents — often, advocates say, for unclear reasons or with little apparent justification.
More than 700 children were taken from their parents or, in a few cases, from other relatives between June 2018 and May 2019, according to the most recent data the government provided to the American Civil Liberties Union in the ongoing federal court case overseeing family separations. They are placed in federal shelters or with foster parents until they can be reunified or resettled with relatives or sponsors. Sometimes they languish for months in federal care.
...
Attorneys and advocates handling such cases said the government often uses claims that would not be permitted to remove American children from their parents — relying on minor crimes, questionable accusations of gang membership, and unverified safety concerns. They say the process needs far more oversight, and that there is no systematic way to inform advocates and attorneys that a separation has taken place.
“Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat,” a spokesperson for the senate president told the Associated Press on Friday night.
But not a single militia member will see a day behind bars.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 3:30 PM on June 22, 2019 [21 favorites]
But not a single militia member will see a day behind bars.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 3:30 PM on June 22, 2019 [21 favorites]
Live Blog of the interminably long Planned Parenthood town hall for Democratic candidates
posted by The Whelk at 3:36 PM on June 22, 2019
posted by The Whelk at 3:36 PM on June 22, 2019
How you know the media has learned zero lessons: they're still vehemently defending their coverage of BUTTEREMAILS on a daily basis.
Brian Buetler: Not singling out any one top political desk reporter, but the people who have completely ignored a credible and haunting rape accusation against the president, have remained, long after the election, proud and defensive of their fixation on Hillary Clinton's email practices.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [38 favorites]
Brian Buetler: Not singling out any one top political desk reporter, but the people who have completely ignored a credible and haunting rape accusation against the president, have remained, long after the election, proud and defensive of their fixation on Hillary Clinton's email practices.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [38 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump, just now: “At the request of Democrats[...]
No. This is not a thing Trump has ever done, taking the wishes of Democrats into account when deciding whether to do something. Unless it's to do the opposite; if he said he was delaying the attack because Dems asked him not to, I just might believe him.
posted by scalefree at 4:01 PM on June 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
No. This is not a thing Trump has ever done, taking the wishes of Democrats into account when deciding whether to do something. Unless it's to do the opposite; if he said he was delaying the attack because Dems asked him not to, I just might believe him.
posted by scalefree at 4:01 PM on June 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
From what I gather on twitter, folks at events for the 2020 Dems are beginning to get restless and impatient with the vanity candidates. Nobody wants to sit through 20 variations on the same speech, more than half of which are from folks running to get their faces on the TV.
posted by Justinian at 4:28 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:28 PM on June 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
From what I gather on twitter, folks at events for the 2020 Dems are beginning to get restless and impatient with the vanity candidates.
Good. There's absolutely no rationale for at least 15 of the 24 candidates being in the race. They should be mocked and shunned with extreme prejudice until they drop out. And failing to qualify for the second round of debates should be a hard disqualifier for ever being taking seriously again this cycle, at minimum. Do something useful. Run for Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:49 PM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
Good. There's absolutely no rationale for at least 15 of the 24 candidates being in the race. They should be mocked and shunned with extreme prejudice until they drop out. And failing to qualify for the second round of debates should be a hard disqualifier for ever being taking seriously again this cycle, at minimum. Do something useful. Run for Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:49 PM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
This guy needs to go to jail:
Republican Sen. Brian Boquist implied that police officers who pursued them should be ready to die. “Send bachelors and come heavily armed,” Boquist warned police in a televised interview shortly before his walkout. “I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
All of this is to stop a bill on capping carbon emissions for the state. If you're wondering why this militia is threatening civil war, my ongoing theory is that many right wingers believe global warming is a hoax Democrats are using to force the United States to become socialist. Only big government can solve global warming, and they'd rather die. This is what we're up against if we are to save the planet. Just think about this: a republican Senator is threatening to kill the state's policemen for enforcing the law, and suggesting he'll die rather than do his job of simply being present for a vote on a bill.
posted by xammerboy at 5:15 PM on June 22, 2019 [61 favorites]
Republican Sen. Brian Boquist implied that police officers who pursued them should be ready to die. “Send bachelors and come heavily armed,” Boquist warned police in a televised interview shortly before his walkout. “I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
All of this is to stop a bill on capping carbon emissions for the state. If you're wondering why this militia is threatening civil war, my ongoing theory is that many right wingers believe global warming is a hoax Democrats are using to force the United States to become socialist. Only big government can solve global warming, and they'd rather die. This is what we're up against if we are to save the planet. Just think about this: a republican Senator is threatening to kill the state's policemen for enforcing the law, and suggesting he'll die rather than do his job of simply being present for a vote on a bill.
posted by xammerboy at 5:15 PM on June 22, 2019 [61 favorites]
CNN confirms the WaPo*: Nancy Pelosi called Trump Friday night asking him to call off ICE raids
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Donald Trump Friday night and asked him to call off the Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation raids scheduled for Sunday, a source familiar with the call told CNN.[…]* Or at least spoke with the same source.
Trump and Pelosi spoke at 7:20 p.m. ET Friday night for about 12 minutes, according to the source. White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere confirmed a phone call took place Friday night between Trump and Pelosi.
A senior Democratic aide said Trump is "trying to create leverage in a situation where he has none," adding that "it won't work."
"Democrats aren't going to compromise their values," the aide said. "He's walked away from several deals on immigration. We have no illusions here."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
I haven't seen this linked here or elsewhere on the site, but it shouldn't pass without a mention:
From The Economist: The Supreme Court refuses to hear a Guantánamo detainee’s appeal
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:02 PM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
From The Economist: The Supreme Court refuses to hear a Guantánamo detainee’s appeal
Moath al-Alwi has been held without trial for 17 yearsStill. Don't know. Whether these people. Even have due process rights.
[...]
Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, suspects Justice Breyer voted against hearing al-Alwi v Trump because Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s recusal could have foretold a 4-4 tie, leaving the DC Circuit court’s ruling in place. But while the court awaits “an appropriate case” to take up, uncertainty reigns. It is “remarkable”, Mr Vladeck says, “just how little has been settled” since 2002. “Nearly 18 years in, we still don't know if the Guantánamo detainees even have due process rights”.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:02 PM on June 22, 2019 [28 favorites]
Sean Hannity, on Twitter: **BERNIE'S ADMISSION: "When I talk about health care being a human right, the last time I heard, undocumented people are human beings."**
Now, I don't post every time Sean Hannity says or does or tweets something stupid, because the thread would be nothing _but_ that until I got banned an hour later. But this one is... special.
In conservative world, this is the quiet part not just spoken out loud, but shouted at full volume because Sean thinks this is the gotcha to DESTROY Bernie. This isn't just a statement, this is an _admission_ by Bernie that he believes that undocumented people are human beings, just like conservatives are. That he would like to spend your tax dollars on healthcare for... well... those things.
And in conservative world, that's ridiculous enough to push his version of John Oliver's WE GOT HIM! button, which releases a small fart noise and a puff of coal smoke.
I would like to stop living in conservative world.
posted by delfin at 6:03 PM on June 22, 2019 [50 favorites]
Now, I don't post every time Sean Hannity says or does or tweets something stupid, because the thread would be nothing _but_ that until I got banned an hour later. But this one is... special.
In conservative world, this is the quiet part not just spoken out loud, but shouted at full volume because Sean thinks this is the gotcha to DESTROY Bernie. This isn't just a statement, this is an _admission_ by Bernie that he believes that undocumented people are human beings, just like conservatives are. That he would like to spend your tax dollars on healthcare for... well... those things.
And in conservative world, that's ridiculous enough to push his version of John Oliver's WE GOT HIM! button, which releases a small fart noise and a puff of coal smoke.
I would like to stop living in conservative world.
posted by delfin at 6:03 PM on June 22, 2019 [50 favorites]
So I'm doing my usual stress-reliever after reading that fucked up tweet from Sen John Cornyn: reading up on his opponents and trying to figure out which one to donate $20 to.
First name that comes up is MJ Hegar. "Great! Let's go to her website and see what her positions are!" Nothing. Not a word about anything that she believes in is on that web site.
Okay, let's do some googling to see what she's said in interviews about her positions.... not much it turns out. Vague noises about gun control, some firmer statements about "taking care of veterans" (which I'd expect from a decorated vet that was a Major in the Air Force, and any decent human really), nothing about healthcare, nothing about immigration/asylum.
Texas MeFites: got any pointers for me? I'm ready to hate-donate (donhate?) to *any* plausible opponent to John Cornyn.
posted by ButteryMales at 6:06 PM on June 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
First name that comes up is MJ Hegar. "Great! Let's go to her website and see what her positions are!" Nothing. Not a word about anything that she believes in is on that web site.
Okay, let's do some googling to see what she's said in interviews about her positions.... not much it turns out. Vague noises about gun control, some firmer statements about "taking care of veterans" (which I'd expect from a decorated vet that was a Major in the Air Force, and any decent human really), nothing about healthcare, nothing about immigration/asylum.
Texas MeFites: got any pointers for me? I'm ready to hate-donate (donhate?) to *any* plausible opponent to John Cornyn.
posted by ButteryMales at 6:06 PM on June 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
Will A Trump Trade Move Create An Election Mess For Overseas U.S. Voters? (Tierney Sneed, Talking Points Memo)
The Trump administration has supported plenty of moves to make it harder to vote. But an under-the-radar action President Trump took last year, as part of his trade war with China, may be a case of him just stumbling into that outcome, election experts fear.posted by ZeusHumms at 6:28 PM on June 22, 2019 [6 favorites]
Trump is threatening to withdraw from the international body that oversees global mail delivery, putting at risk the stability and reliability of the current system of sending and receiving mail internationally.
Any disruption to the international postal service, voter advocates say, could make an already difficult process of casting ballots for Americans abroad even more complicated. Among those who stand to be affected are members of the military overseas, whose ability to vote while serving their country has always been a politically sensitive issue.
It's simply not true that only big government can mitigate climate change. There were many market-based plans that right wingers of various stripes were pushing before it was decided that the party line was to be that climate change is a hoax.
Now that they have chosen to flip the table like a rage emoji brought to life, however, there is nobody left to advance solutions they would find ideologically acceptable. Except the Democrats, anyway, who seem to still believe they work for everyone and not just those that voted for them and constantly talk about carbon pricing schemes of various sorts, which are as far from socialism as something can possibly be.
Let's not buy in to the fantasy that Republicans have decided they prefer to live within, please. Denial of factual reality is actively unhelpful to our current predicament.
posted by wierdo at 6:52 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
Now that they have chosen to flip the table like a rage emoji brought to life, however, there is nobody left to advance solutions they would find ideologically acceptable. Except the Democrats, anyway, who seem to still believe they work for everyone and not just those that voted for them and constantly talk about carbon pricing schemes of various sorts, which are as far from socialism as something can possibly be.
Let's not buy in to the fantasy that Republicans have decided they prefer to live within, please. Denial of factual reality is actively unhelpful to our current predicament.
posted by wierdo at 6:52 PM on June 22, 2019 [12 favorites]
trying to figure out which one to donate $20 to.
The ActBlue 2020 Texas Senate Nominee Fund will go to whichever Democrat wins the primary. If your goal is unseating Cornyn, I think that's your best bet. Right now all my donations are going to "nominee funds" - for various Senate seats and for whatever Democrat is nominated to run against Trump.
It kinda kills me to see Democrats spending so much money running against each other, TBH. I don't care who wins as long as they vote against concentration camps and against selling out to Russia and Saudi Arabia. So far that's pretty much every aspiring Democrat.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:19 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
The ActBlue 2020 Texas Senate Nominee Fund will go to whichever Democrat wins the primary. If your goal is unseating Cornyn, I think that's your best bet. Right now all my donations are going to "nominee funds" - for various Senate seats and for whatever Democrat is nominated to run against Trump.
It kinda kills me to see Democrats spending so much money running against each other, TBH. I don't care who wins as long as they vote against concentration camps and against selling out to Russia and Saudi Arabia. So far that's pretty much every aspiring Democrat.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:19 PM on June 22, 2019 [15 favorites]
Activists step up trainings amid Trump deportation threats (AP)
From Los Angeles to Atlanta, advocates and attorneys have brought “know-your-rights” workshops to schools, churches, storefronts and consulates, tailoring their efforts on what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows up at home or on the road. They’ve role-played interactions, handed out pocket guides, provided hotlines, hosted webinars and offered scripts. The result, advocates argue, is more savvy immigrants who are increasingly refusing to open their doors or provide information, something they hope will blunt any impact of any operation.posted by Little Dawn at 7:58 PM on June 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
“It’s more about making sure that people feel like they have some power over what is happening in their lives,” said Katarina Ramos, a National Immigrant Justice Center staff attorney. “And that they have some control over what is inherently a very scary situation.”
Whether it’s the American Civil Liberties Union or a neighborhood nonprofit, the trainings focus on the same ideas: the right to remain silent; refusing officers entry into a home; not signing anything without legal representation; and asking for paperwork from agents. They are rights attorneys say apply to everyone regardless of citizenship status.
Opening the door to an agent is an invitation that could lead to collateral arrests, so activists suggest talking through a door or a window, something the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles depicts in an animated know-your-rights video. A booklet by political organization Mijente advises immigrants not to carry identification with country of origin to avoid having evidence that could end up in immigration court. The Chicago-based Resurrection Project tells immigrants to film interactions. If the agent asks to drop the phone, activists tell trainees to comply but not turn off the recorder.
“We don’t want things to escalate,” said immigration organizer Laura Mendoza. “That’s why we constantly, constantly talk about know your rights.”
[...] Julieta Bolivar, 50, wished she had the training when she was taken into ICE custody in 2002 during a traffic stop and signed papers agreeing to voluntary departure. [...] She uses her story while conducting trainings in Chicago for The Resurrection Project. Among her top lessons: Talk to children and make sure they know the plan.
“Don’t open the door,” she said. “And don’t let the kids open the door.”
ButteryMales: "Texas MeFites: got any pointers for me? I'm ready to hate-donate (donhate?) to *any* plausible opponent to John Cornyn."
The only other current candidate is Sema Hernandez, who also ran in 2018, and came in a distant second to Beto. Everyone assumed that Joaquin Castro would run, but he ended up passing.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:07 PM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
The only other current candidate is Sema Hernandez, who also ran in 2018, and came in a distant second to Beto. Everyone assumed that Joaquin Castro would run, but he ended up passing.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:07 PM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was gonna yell about Joaquin running for President instead of Senate but that's his brother. In my defense; they are identical.
I'm confused as to why the DNC didn't ratchet the requirements for the third debate a bit more. Even going to 3% instead of 2% would maybe kick out a couple of bottom feeders without looking like they are putting their thumb on the scales.
The really sad and yet completely unsurprising thing is that this is happening because the DNC was absolutely desperate to avoid looking like they were putting their thumb on the scales this time around, so they were like "everybody can run and the voters can figure it out"... and now some folks are accusing them of deliberately orchestrating a clown car primary to split the anti-corporatist-neoliberal-third-way-centrist-moderate yadda yadda vote. It's clear they can't win no matter what they do so they should just figure out how to run a decent primary which is inclusive but without allowing the Bill de Blasio's of the world to hitch their tricycles to the wagon.
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 22, 2019 [11 favorites]
I'm confused as to why the DNC didn't ratchet the requirements for the third debate a bit more. Even going to 3% instead of 2% would maybe kick out a couple of bottom feeders without looking like they are putting their thumb on the scales.
The really sad and yet completely unsurprising thing is that this is happening because the DNC was absolutely desperate to avoid looking like they were putting their thumb on the scales this time around, so they were like "everybody can run and the voters can figure it out"... and now some folks are accusing them of deliberately orchestrating a clown car primary to split the anti-corporatist-neoliberal-third-way-centrist-moderate yadda yadda vote. It's clear they can't win no matter what they do so they should just figure out how to run a decent primary which is inclusive but without allowing the Bill de Blasio's of the world to hitch their tricycles to the wagon.
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 22, 2019 [11 favorites]
NBC News, Trump administration unveils $50 billion Palestinian economic plan in approach Abbas calls 'unacceptable'
@JoshNBCNews: An unusual choice for the White House, after working for more than 2 years to build up anticipation for its plan, to release the first part on a Saturday, a weekend in US and Sabbath in Israel
posted by zachlipton at 10:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Trump administration today released the economic portion of its long-delayed Mideast peace plan, calling for an investment of about $50 billion to lift up Palestinians economically.So a big fat nothing, with neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians showing up at this even in Bahrain. Some have noted that the glossy website the White House setup for the plan features USAID photos and videos created to promote the exact development programs the administration has cancelled, which is pretty damn insulting. Joel Braunold has a more detailed critique. For example:
About $28 billion would go to the West Bank and Gaza and billions more to Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, which have absorbed Palestinian refugees and dealt with other ramifications of the conflict for decades.
But the rollout Saturday does not include the political portion of the plan, and so doesn’t address the most critical questions in the conflict, such as whether the Palestinians will get an independent state and the status of Palestinian refugees, the city of Jerusalem, and Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday reaffirmed his opposition to an economic peace workshop that the U.S. is organizing next week in Bahrain. Focusing on economic issues between Israel and the Palestinians "is unacceptable before the political situation is discussed," Abbas told top officials of his Fatah party.
Second CONTEXT: The Admin has been telling everyone that they are going for a fresh approach on others failures. What this plan is, is what the Kerry Economic Initiative was on steroids. Kerry failed at a $4 billion investment pitch despite everyone turning up. This Admin can’t even get the business leadership to turn up and to assume when Kerry failed at $4 billion because of the politics that somehow we are going to go up to $50 billion is madness. This does not represent a new approach but a gathering together of all the ideas generated over the past decade or so that have not moved forward because of political reasons.But it's clear that the White House is super proud of this plan. After all, this is how you roll out something you're really proud of and want maximum attention and praise for, right?
@JoshNBCNews: An unusual choice for the White House, after working for more than 2 years to build up anticipation for its plan, to release the first part on a Saturday, a weekend in US and Sabbath in Israel
posted by zachlipton at 10:43 PM on June 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
The $50 billion will come not from the U.S. but from unspecified donor nations and from "investors."
Always be grifting.
posted by JackFlash at 11:24 PM on June 22, 2019 [22 favorites]
Always be grifting.
posted by JackFlash at 11:24 PM on June 22, 2019 [22 favorites]
This point may have already been made here, but a key observation from S.I. Rosenbaum on Twitter:
By contrast, the system makes sure that any outsiders providing aid to migrants are literally charged with crimes. And if any border agents chipped in together to get resources from Costco outside the budget, you know it would be broadcast, at least on the right, as a kind of feel-good take-that-liberals story (well, among the parts of the right who haven't fully succumbed to cruelty-is-the-point thinking about migrants, who would instead regard it as a source of more anger: "Don't these leopards know what faces are for?").
If they had any serious intention to help the kids they would make itemized requests to Congress rather than just asking for money and pinky-promising they won't simply build more camps to house more humans.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:55 AM on June 23, 2019 [46 favorites]
I keep seeing comments on threads about the children in camps. "Let's airdrop them soap and blankets." "Is there a charity for these children?" "Can I bring them toothbrushes?"It occurs to me that this country also has thousands of (depressing) counterexamples to refute the "Any deprivation is the fault of Congress for not funding them" notion: Public schools. They are very often underfunded, but because teachers actually care about the children, they will often make up some of the difference and buy supplies (andeven things not within the school's mandate like breakfast) out of their own not-great pay, or organize the common-enough-to-be-cliche events like bake sales.
Do people not realize that this isn't a matter of a LACK of RESOURCES. It's a PUNITIVE POLICY.
Most of these kids arrived with toothbrushes. That were taken away. They arrived with medications. That was taken away. They arrived with clothes. Those were taken away. If we airdropped supplies they would be confiscated.
By contrast, the system makes sure that any outsiders providing aid to migrants are literally charged with crimes. And if any border agents chipped in together to get resources from Costco outside the budget, you know it would be broadcast, at least on the right, as a kind of feel-good take-that-liberals story (well, among the parts of the right who haven't fully succumbed to cruelty-is-the-point thinking about migrants, who would instead regard it as a source of more anger: "Don't these leopards know what faces are for?").
If they had any serious intention to help the kids they would make itemized requests to Congress rather than just asking for money and pinky-promising they won't simply build more camps to house more humans.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:55 AM on June 23, 2019 [46 favorites]
Can whoever set up that escrow account to oppose Susan Collins if she voted for Kavanaugh do the same thing with Beto on the condition that he drop out of the primaries and run for Senate instead?
At this point he and probably a number of others are probably just angling for a VP slot.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:18 AM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
At this point he and probably a number of others are probably just angling for a VP slot.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:18 AM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
Trump is threatening to withdraw from the international body that oversees global mail delivery, putting at risk the stability and reliability of the current system of sending and receiving mail internationally.
Wow. He really is jealous of North Korea's political and cultural isolation!
posted by srboisvert at 6:31 AM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
Wow. He really is jealous of North Korea's political and cultural isolation!
posted by srboisvert at 6:31 AM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
This probably belongs in the fucking-fuck thread but I'm putting it here anyhow: can there be any doubt - any whatsoever - that these camps will be exposed as sinks of sexual abuse? I know stories are already out there, but eventually it will go from "these few bad apples did terrible things" to "it was systemic and known to leadership and they looked the other way."
posted by Caxton1476 at 6:44 AM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Caxton1476 at 6:44 AM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
I know stories are already out there, but eventually it will go from "these few bad apples did terrible things" to "it was systemic and known to leadership and they looked the other way."
That's already happening in FEMA, so yea, probably in other parts of DHS currently as well.
WaPo: "The personnel chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — who resigned just weeks ago — is under investigation after being accused of creating an atmosphere of widespread sexual harassment over years in which women were hired as possible sexual partners for male employees, the agency’s leader said Monday.
The alleged harassment and other misconduct, revealed through a preliminary seven-month internal investigation, was a “systemic problem going on for years,” said FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long. Some of the behavior could rise to the level of criminal activity, he said."
posted by Harry Caul at 6:52 AM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
That's already happening in FEMA, so yea, probably in other parts of DHS currently as well.
WaPo: "The personnel chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — who resigned just weeks ago — is under investigation after being accused of creating an atmosphere of widespread sexual harassment over years in which women were hired as possible sexual partners for male employees, the agency’s leader said Monday.
The alleged harassment and other misconduct, revealed through a preliminary seven-month internal investigation, was a “systemic problem going on for years,” said FEMA Administrator William “Brock” Long. Some of the behavior could rise to the level of criminal activity, he said."
posted by Harry Caul at 6:52 AM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
70+ Arrests at protest over New York Times' 'unacceptable' climate coverage < Guardian
posted by Harry Caul at 7:06 AM on June 23, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 7:06 AM on June 23, 2019 [19 favorites]
Trump is threatening to withdraw from the international body that oversees global mail delivery, putting at risk the stability and reliability of the current system of sending and receiving mail internationally.
This is absolutely brilliant news for cross border trade and electronic commerce - the talks of which are underway right now. It will open up the whole world market for smaller players from around the world. thank you!
posted by hugbucket at 7:14 AM on June 23, 2019
This is absolutely brilliant news for cross border trade and electronic commerce - the talks of which are underway right now. It will open up the whole world market for smaller players from around the world. thank you!
posted by hugbucket at 7:14 AM on June 23, 2019
Donald Trump has dismissed a United Nations request for the FBI to investigate the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, suggesting it would jeopardise American weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
posted by adamvasco at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2019 [31 favorites]
I think the International Postal Union thing is because the IPU has set rates that are highly favorable to Chinese businesses, and punitive for US businesses. The IPU rates are why you can buy junk from AliExpress and have it shipped via "ChinaPost" for free. The shipping cost to the Chinese company is negligible, because the actual delivery within the USA is handled by the USPS—at a significant loss. (Just try sending a package back to China and see how much it costs...) The USPS has no choice but to grin and eat shit, because of the IPU treaties. It's a pretty crazy system, one that probably made sense in the early air-mail days when there was mostly bi-directional mail flows. Like Internet peering, the system falls apart when you have too much traffic flowing in one direction for too long.
As someone who likes the USPS and wants to see it stick around and be financially sustainable (and is not really interested in having the US govt subsidize cheap Chinese imports at the expense of US businesses), this system needs to change, and if the IPU won't work to make things more fair, they deserve to be dumped.
However, Team Trump will, I'm sure, approach this real and legitimate need for negotiation with their usual tact and subtlety.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:18 AM on June 23, 2019 [41 favorites]
As someone who likes the USPS and wants to see it stick around and be financially sustainable (and is not really interested in having the US govt subsidize cheap Chinese imports at the expense of US businesses), this system needs to change, and if the IPU won't work to make things more fair, they deserve to be dumped.
However, Team Trump will, I'm sure, approach this real and legitimate need for negotiation with their usual tact and subtlety.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:18 AM on June 23, 2019 [41 favorites]
@mattyglesias: It’s interesting that in the United States you can get your armed terrorist group politely termed a “militia” by both law enforcement and the media if you adopt a right-wing ideology.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:48 AM on June 23, 2019 [53 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:48 AM on June 23, 2019 [53 favorites]
From Ravelry: New Policy: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 AM on June 23, 2019 [42 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 AM on June 23, 2019 [42 favorites]
I have been working on a project that involves very slowly sharing all of the "Mueller Memes" (sharable image macros featuring damning quotes from the Mueller report) created by Tami Burages on various social media platforms, a handful at a time. Since she's recently finished with Volume II, the whole report is now summarized in meme form. They are easily digestible little nuggets of carefully sourced information.
Anyway, links to her threads, plus a couple of other helpful resources, plus a few images I created in imitation of her style, can now be found on my page.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:58 AM on June 23, 2019 [42 favorites]
Anyway, links to her threads, plus a couple of other helpful resources, plus a few images I created in imitation of her style, can now be found on my page.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:58 AM on June 23, 2019 [42 favorites]
Thanks for all your work on that. Your page is invaluable.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:29 AM on June 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:29 AM on June 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
Oregon Statehouse Shut Down After Lawmakers Team Up With Right-Wing Militias
Don’t worry, I’m sure elections in 2020 will be fair and all will go back to normal once Trump’s gone.
@Oregon_GOP
Heavily armed militia lays siege to Oregon's Capitol as Senate Democrats cower in fear. #orpol #orleg #capkillsjobs #hb2020 #Oregon11 #orcot
—
But of course they can’t even get their fascism right.
Jennifer Bendery (HuffPo)
Omg the Oregon GOP is using a fake image -- these are actually *timber industry workers* protesting logging restrictions at the Capitol, not militia protesting a climate bill.
Here's video footage from the event.
posted by chris24 at 10:44 AM on June 23, 2019 [16 favorites]
Don’t worry, I’m sure elections in 2020 will be fair and all will go back to normal once Trump’s gone.
@Oregon_GOP
Heavily armed militia lays siege to Oregon's Capitol as Senate Democrats cower in fear. #orpol #orleg #capkillsjobs #hb2020 #Oregon11 #orcot
—
But of course they can’t even get their fascism right.
Jennifer Bendery (HuffPo)
Omg the Oregon GOP is using a fake image -- these are actually *timber industry workers* protesting logging restrictions at the Capitol, not militia protesting a climate bill.
Here's video footage from the event.
posted by chris24 at 10:44 AM on June 23, 2019 [16 favorites]
That tweet is pretty obviously an attempt at satire, and the way it’s being retweeted by and to people that don’t understand the context of this particular piece of local politics really isn’t helpful. Honestly, the progressive reactions (mostly from out of state) are just as disingenuous as the original tweet. We need to deal with what’s actually happening, not what’s most convenient to rage against.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 10:59 AM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 10:59 AM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yeah, then pretty much every non-Trumpette in politics Twitter read it the wrong way. When your party is literally encouraging armed rebellion against the state and attacking the opposing party, maybe don’t “joke” about armed rebellion that most people will read as a threat and/or celebration of it.
So not so obvious.
posted by chris24 at 11:02 AM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
So not so obvious.
posted by chris24 at 11:02 AM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
Another heartbreaking story from the New Yorker article linked to above: There are some other stories that we’ve heard from the children, such as that one of the guards has an older child, who’s seventeen, serve as the unofficial guard inside the room. So he tells the kids what to do, and he tries to keep the room neat and straighten up the mattresses and everything. Now, the guards reward him with extra food, and when a seven-year-old saw that this older boy was getting extra food by being helpful, he asked if he could help clean up the room and keep it neat so that he, too, could get extra food. And the seventeen-year-old chastised him for this, and then when an older sibling tried to stand up for his little brother, the guard intervened and reprimanded both the little boy and his older brother.
In related news, some anonymous folks are organising a week of action between July 8th and 12th to protest or shut down branch locations of Bank of America, SunTrust and PNC Bank.
We are all too aware of the cruelties of the American border regime: locking children in cages or ruining families by kidnapping and deporting parents. While this is a nightmare scenario for millions, it is big business for deportation and migrant-detention profiteers.
Like other mechanisms of oppression, the border system utilizes infrastructures that can be disrupted. This infrastructure is composed of state agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But it is also thoroughly integrated with the private sector. Contracts with construction, technology and security corporations are integral to the function of a militarized border. The majority of immigrant detainees are imprisoned in detention centers operated by private prison companies contracting with ICE. The largest of these are Geo Group and CoreCivic.
Further, the private sector actors fundamental to ICE and CBP operations rely on debt-financing from large financial institutions. Geo Group and CoreCivic which are structured as Real Estate Investment Trusts, are particularly vulnerable to credit loss. This has enabled recent campaigns to yield key victories. In March 2019, JPMorgan Chase committed to halt further financing to the private prison industry following long-term organizing efforts. In the immediate aftermath, Geo Group and CoreCivic stocks plummeted and Geo Group warned its investors that mounting pressure “could have a material adverse effect on our business.” After Chase’s announcement Wells Fargo began partially divesting, while U.S. Bank reduced credit to an “immaterial amount.” Bank of America, SunTrust and PNC Bank continue to bankroll the migrant detention industry and are some of its largest funders. Divestment from these remaining large banks could jeopardize the economic viability of corporations like Geo Group or CoreCivic.
See the link for more background on the targets. @studentactivism is also compiling a list of individual protests/actions/resources regarding the concentration camps.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:08 AM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
In related news, some anonymous folks are organising a week of action between July 8th and 12th to protest or shut down branch locations of Bank of America, SunTrust and PNC Bank.
We are all too aware of the cruelties of the American border regime: locking children in cages or ruining families by kidnapping and deporting parents. While this is a nightmare scenario for millions, it is big business for deportation and migrant-detention profiteers.
Like other mechanisms of oppression, the border system utilizes infrastructures that can be disrupted. This infrastructure is composed of state agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But it is also thoroughly integrated with the private sector. Contracts with construction, technology and security corporations are integral to the function of a militarized border. The majority of immigrant detainees are imprisoned in detention centers operated by private prison companies contracting with ICE. The largest of these are Geo Group and CoreCivic.
Further, the private sector actors fundamental to ICE and CBP operations rely on debt-financing from large financial institutions. Geo Group and CoreCivic which are structured as Real Estate Investment Trusts, are particularly vulnerable to credit loss. This has enabled recent campaigns to yield key victories. In March 2019, JPMorgan Chase committed to halt further financing to the private prison industry following long-term organizing efforts. In the immediate aftermath, Geo Group and CoreCivic stocks plummeted and Geo Group warned its investors that mounting pressure “could have a material adverse effect on our business.” After Chase’s announcement Wells Fargo began partially divesting, while U.S. Bank reduced credit to an “immaterial amount.” Bank of America, SunTrust and PNC Bank continue to bankroll the migrant detention industry and are some of its largest funders. Divestment from these remaining large banks could jeopardize the economic viability of corporations like Geo Group or CoreCivic.
See the link for more background on the targets. @studentactivism is also compiling a list of individual protests/actions/resources regarding the concentration camps.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:08 AM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
Sure, it was obviously a stupid tweet by some terrible people, but all you need to do is look at the photo. It’s a bunch of people with no weapons in sight holding signs about how they don’t want their jobs to disappear. No one in the photo is laying siege to anything. Part of basic media literacy is looking at context and identifying what we’re dealing with, rather than what we hope/fear we’re dealing with. None of this is a defense of the morons with the OR GOP, I just don’t see the value of taking the tweet at face-value, much less retweeting it as such.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 11:12 AM on June 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 11:12 AM on June 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
Do people not realize that this isn't a matter of a LACK of RESOURCES. It's a PUNITIVE POLICY.
Most of these kids arrived with toothbrushes. That were taken away. They arrived with medications. That was taken away. They arrived with clothes. Those were taken away. If we airdropped supplies they would be confiscated.
Do it anyway (says I from MA). Bring soap, toothbrushes, blankets, clothes to the gate of the facility near El Paso. Bring pediatricians.
Record the guard turning them all away. Do your best to get names and badge numbers of the BP guards as they do it on camera. Then call out Pence for the lying sack of shit that he is when he claims it's a lack of resources.
posted by ocschwar at 11:44 AM on June 23, 2019 [14 favorites]
And you thought that there wasn't an old white guy left who wasn't already running for president:
JUST IN: Former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak declares run for president in surprise announcementposted by octothorpe at 11:53 AM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
JUST IN: Former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak declares run for president in surprise announcement
the girl's face says it all
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:01 PM on June 23, 2019 [22 favorites]
the girl's face says it all
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:01 PM on June 23, 2019 [22 favorites]
Best outcome: these boutique candidates end up at least registering more people to vote in primary season, and when their sub-1% candidate drops out after the Primary election, most of the newly engaged voters will then vote in the General, too.
Sure, they’re doing it out of “selfish ambition or vain conceit”, but perhaps they end up providing society a service, after all.
posted by darkstar at 12:12 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
Sure, they’re doing it out of “selfish ambition or vain conceit”, but perhaps they end up providing society a service, after all.
posted by darkstar at 12:12 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
If anyone has a breakdown of nationalities being held in the concentration camps please hit me up on Memail especially if those held are Brazilian. Local non english speaking journalists are asking.
posted by adamvasco at 12:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 12:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
From Ravelry: New Policy: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his AdministrationI'm feeling a little guilty about how much fun I'm having watching dingbat MAGA-dudes lose their shit about this on Twitter. All of these dudes going "I have never heard of Ravelry, but I will never, ever post or buy anything there!" Because before this, these MAGA-dudes were clearly going to buy a lot of knitting patterns.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 12:30 PM on June 23, 2019 [41 favorites]
Politico: White House to Assert ‘Immunity’ Claims Over Ex-McGahn Aide
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:41 PM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
The White House is expected to move to block former top aide Annie Donaldson from answering the House Judiciary Committee’s written questions about her tenure as White House deputy counsel, according to sources familiar with the matter.Former DoD Special Counsel Ryan Goodman: "Reporters, Hill staffers, public should understand: White House will cross a whole new line [if] it is asserts "absolute immunity" for Donaldson. Even Justice Dept's own self-serving precedents don't clearly apply to someone in Donaldson's position. Including OLC opinion on McGahn."
Donaldson, who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, struck a deal with the committee that would allow her to submit written responses instead of showing up for her scheduled public testimony on Monday. Donaldson is pregnant and lives in Alabama, her attorney Sandra Moser said, adding that it’s difficult for her to travel to Washington at this time.
Donaldson negotiated a deal with the committee that would require her to submit written answers within a week of receiving the questions. The committee is able to schedule in-person testimony after Nov. 1. CNN first reported the terms of the agreement.
But the White House, which has been involved in the negotiations, is expected to assert its claims that former aides have “absolute immunity” from testifying to Congress about their service in the White House, sources said. Democrats have said that claim is legally baseless and are vowing to defeat it in federal court.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:41 PM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
Seth Meyers is actually really good on recent events.
posted by mumimor at 2:11 PM on June 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 2:11 PM on June 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
Amy Siskind on Twitter:
Week 1: 9 not normal items
Week 2: 18 items
.
.
Week 52: 120 items
.
.
Week 136: 202 items
(no, you are not imagining it)
(Link is to her tweet, which includes a graph of “Not normal items” on her (excellent) Weekly List.
posted by young_simba at 3:33 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
Week 1: 9 not normal items
Week 2: 18 items
.
.
Week 52: 120 items
.
.
Week 136: 202 items
(no, you are not imagining it)
(Link is to her tweet, which includes a graph of “Not normal items” on her (excellent) Weekly List.
posted by young_simba at 3:33 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department’s acclaimed in-house scientists.
posted by adamvasco at 3:40 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 3:40 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
Axios: Exclusive: Leaked Trump vetting docs
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:44 PM on June 23, 2019 [30 favorites]
Nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents leaked to "Axios on HBO" identify a host of "red flags" about officials who went on to get some of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government.[…]Nothing about this is surprising, the skeletons in Trump administration’s closets having been revealed in the past two and a half years. The point is that we now have on record that Trump—who “reviewed many of these documents at Trump Tower and Bedminster before his interviews, according to a source who saw him eyeball them“—and the RNC knew about it all from the start.
Some highlights:
—Scott Pruitt, who ultimately lost his job as EPA Administrator because of serial ethical abuses and clubbiness with lobbyists, had a section in his vetting form titled "allegations of coziness with big energy companies."
—Tom Price, who ultimately resigned as Health and Human Services Secretary after Trump lost confidence in him in part for stories about his use of chartered flights, had sections in his dossier flagging "criticisms of management ability" and "Dysfunction And Division Has Haunted Price's Leadership Of The House Budget Committee."
—Mick Mulvaney, who became Trump's Budget Director and is now his acting chief of staff, has a striking assortment of "red flags," including his assessment that Trump "is not a very good person."
—The Trump transition team was so worried about Rudy Giuliani, in line for Secretary of State, that they created a separate 25-page document titled "Rudy Giuliani Business Ties Research Dossier" with copious accounting of his "foreign entanglements."[…]
—Seema Verma, who Trump appointed as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, had this paragraph near the top of her vetting form: "Verma was simultaneously advising Indiana ($3.5 million in contracts) on issues impacting how it would spend Medicaid funds while she was also being paid by a client that received Medicaid funds. Ethics experts have called the arrangement a conflict of interest that potentially put Indiana taxpayers at risk."
—Sonny Perdue, Trump's pick for Agriculture Secretary, had a vetting form with sections labeled "Business conflicts of interest" and "Family conflicts of interest." It noted that "Perdue is the owner of Houston Fertilizer and Grain, a company that has received contracts from the Department of Agriculture."
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:44 PM on June 23, 2019 [30 favorites]
Amy Siskind on Twitter:
What is this, the number of times she included the words "not normal" in her own newsletter? The tweet itself adds little context.
posted by rhizome at 4:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
What is this, the number of times she included the words "not normal" in her own newsletter? The tweet itself adds little context.
posted by rhizome at 4:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
Axios: Exclusive: Leaked Trump vetting docs
posted by zachlipton at 4:25 PM on June 23, 2019 [36 favorites]
One heading in the document about Kris Kobach, in the running for Homeland Security Secretary, listed "white supremacy" as a vulnerability. It cited accusations from past political opponents that he had ties to white supremacist groups.Knowing this, they made the choice to put him in charge of a "voter fraud" commission, presumably because they considered this aspect of his background to be a feature for that assignment and not a bug.
posted by zachlipton at 4:25 PM on June 23, 2019 [36 favorites]
@hansilowang: NEW: @uscensusbureau research finds adding a #CitizenshipQuestion will likely reduce #2020Census responses at a rate higher than previously estimated for U.S. households with noncitizens. "Best estimate" by researchers is now at least 8% -- up from 5.8%
Here's the working paper from the census researchers. This comes as we're still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the case, one that was rushed there before the facts were in.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
Here's the working paper from the census researchers. This comes as we're still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the case, one that was rushed there before the facts were in.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on June 23, 2019 [13 favorites]
@MichaelSctMoore
Somali pirates gave me toothpaste & soap.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:05 PM on June 23, 2019 [53 favorites]
Somali pirates gave me toothpaste & soap.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:05 PM on June 23, 2019 [53 favorites]
The #Houston flea market is usually crowded on Sundays, but workers here tell me that threats of #ICEraids have slowed business today
Another example: the Boulder Latino Festival was supposed to be today, but it was cancelled in part due to concerns about ICE
Dara Lind: This is crucial and I'm so glad people are reporting on it. Chilling effects are real, and they persist regardless of whether raids "actually" happen or not. See also: Trump's immigration agenda is alive and well in Austin. So is the fear it's struck in immigrants' hearts.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:17 PM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
Another example: the Boulder Latino Festival was supposed to be today, but it was cancelled in part due to concerns about ICE
Dara Lind: This is crucial and I'm so glad people are reporting on it. Chilling effects are real, and they persist regardless of whether raids "actually" happen or not. See also: Trump's immigration agenda is alive and well in Austin. So is the fear it's struck in immigrants' hearts.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:17 PM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
Amy Siskind on Twitter:
Week 1: 9 not normal items
Week 136: 202 items
(no, you are not imagining it)
I was stupidly confused by that graph at first. I was like, okay, if this is a cumulative list of 202 not normal things in the Trump era, why does it look like the number is going down some weeks? And what's the scale depicted? 202 into 136, that's only one or two things a week, not actually especially egregious it would seem. Then I clicked on the link to her list and realized that 202 wasn't the cumulative total, but just the total for last week alone. What the hell, 202 fucked up things in one week? I mean, it certainly feels like we're drowning in a tsunami of toxicity, but seeing a week's worth of essentially catch-all thread items individually numbered just reinforces to me how numb many of us, including me, have become in the face of the sheer overwhelming horror of the times we live in. I mean, the U.S.A. is in 2019 running concentration camps riddled with filth and disease. And by and large people don't give a shit. Of course, we've had 50+ years of being programmed by the media's attitude toward our prison system, by which we've been trained to find rape, violence and abuse laughable and well-deserved. But anyway yeah in 2019 our nation is proudly a beacon to the world...of despair and terror.
posted by xigxag at 5:49 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
Week 1: 9 not normal items
Week 136: 202 items
(no, you are not imagining it)
I was stupidly confused by that graph at first. I was like, okay, if this is a cumulative list of 202 not normal things in the Trump era, why does it look like the number is going down some weeks? And what's the scale depicted? 202 into 136, that's only one or two things a week, not actually especially egregious it would seem. Then I clicked on the link to her list and realized that 202 wasn't the cumulative total, but just the total for last week alone. What the hell, 202 fucked up things in one week? I mean, it certainly feels like we're drowning in a tsunami of toxicity, but seeing a week's worth of essentially catch-all thread items individually numbered just reinforces to me how numb many of us, including me, have become in the face of the sheer overwhelming horror of the times we live in. I mean, the U.S.A. is in 2019 running concentration camps riddled with filth and disease. And by and large people don't give a shit. Of course, we've had 50+ years of being programmed by the media's attitude toward our prison system, by which we've been trained to find rape, violence and abuse laughable and well-deserved. But anyway yeah in 2019 our nation is proudly a beacon to the world...of despair and terror.
posted by xigxag at 5:49 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
the U.S.A. is in 2019 running concentration camps riddled with filth and disease. And by and large people don't give a shit. Of course, we've had 50+ years of being programmed
Yes, 50+ years, and in more recent decades a pretty direct continuation of the Guantanamo ambivalence. Obama vowed to close Guantanamo his first week in office, but when it got difficult, people mostly just stopped caring. Now Guantanamo-style indefinite "detention" has moved within our borders, and expanded to refugees. I guess the next logical step will be mass detention for US citizens.
posted by p3t3 at 6:10 PM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
Yes, 50+ years, and in more recent decades a pretty direct continuation of the Guantanamo ambivalence. Obama vowed to close Guantanamo his first week in office, but when it got difficult, people mostly just stopped caring. Now Guantanamo-style indefinite "detention" has moved within our borders, and expanded to refugees. I guess the next logical step will be mass detention for US citizens.
posted by p3t3 at 6:10 PM on June 23, 2019 [18 favorites]
the next logical step will be mass detention for US citizens.
Fairly certain we already do that and it's totally legal. In fact it's the legal system that does it.
The bright line is when it starts happening to white people, of course. Which, to be honest, it probably won't, because the political leadership knows how to work the crowd. You can detain lots of people but only if you can figure out a way to 'other' them sufficiently for the rest of the population to be secure in the belief that it'll never actually be them getting locked up. Which is, broadly speaking, true. A white person is never going to be brown or black, so they don't have to worry about brown or black people being detained. (Or, in a past generation, Japanese.)
The FNC crowd would absolutely lose its shit if a white kid ended up in a detention camp, though. And the agencies responsible know that.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [15 favorites]
Fairly certain we already do that and it's totally legal. In fact it's the legal system that does it.
The bright line is when it starts happening to white people, of course. Which, to be honest, it probably won't, because the political leadership knows how to work the crowd. You can detain lots of people but only if you can figure out a way to 'other' them sufficiently for the rest of the population to be secure in the belief that it'll never actually be them getting locked up. Which is, broadly speaking, true. A white person is never going to be brown or black, so they don't have to worry about brown or black people being detained. (Or, in a past generation, Japanese.)
The FNC crowd would absolutely lose its shit if a white kid ended up in a detention camp, though. And the agencies responsible know that.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:16 PM on June 23, 2019 [15 favorites]
Shouldn’t there be more of an international response to the human rights violations going on in the concentration camps? Like, if we didn’t live in upside-down universe and some other country was doing this shit, at the very least we’d be slapping sanctions on them and there’d be UN observers, right? Where is that response?
posted by Weeping_angel at 6:37 PM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Weeping_angel at 6:37 PM on June 23, 2019 [8 favorites]
Shouldn’t there be more of an international response to the human rights violations going on in the concentration camps? Like, if we didn’t live in upside-down universe and some other country was doing this shit, at the very least we’d be slapping sanctions on them and there’d be UN observers, right? Where is that response?
We have a little under half of the world's nukes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:39 PM on June 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
We have a little under half of the world's nukes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:39 PM on June 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
I'm hoping the UN at least steps in to oversee our 2020 election.
posted by bink at 7:12 PM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by bink at 7:12 PM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
Word. Can we get a paper-ballot/inked-thumb system like a legit democracy, please.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:31 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 7:31 PM on June 23, 2019 [11 favorites]
Kadin2048: The FNC crowd would absolutely lose its shit if a white kid ended up in a detention camp, though.
"White" is fuzzy enough (and moreover officially can overlap with Hispanic) that it's definitely already happened that at least some of these kids "are" white. Indeed, it's being detained itself helps mark them as something other than the in-group, regardless of official or self-understood racial category.
I don't know what would happen if internment happened to some unauthorized resident from one of the "good" white countries like the president's beloved Norway, though. Plenty would lose their shit, true, but more than a few would just play it into a"See, liberals! No racism here!" talking point.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:40 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
"White" is fuzzy enough (and moreover officially can overlap with Hispanic) that it's definitely already happened that at least some of these kids "are" white. Indeed, it's being detained itself helps mark them as something other than the in-group, regardless of official or self-understood racial category.
I don't know what would happen if internment happened to some unauthorized resident from one of the "good" white countries like the president's beloved Norway, though. Plenty would lose their shit, true, but more than a few would just play it into a"See, liberals! No racism here!" talking point.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:40 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
The Unites States does not, as a matter of principle, slap sanctions on countries for human rights violations in concentration camps or refugee detention centers.
posted by perspicio at 8:17 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by perspicio at 8:17 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
The FNC crowd would absolutely lose its shit if a white kid ended up in a detention camp, though. And the agencies responsible know that.
This is why I'm starting to promote the idea of storming the camps. DHS/CBP use of force policies require a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person, so I think if a bunch of white people went down and cut their way through the fences and brought a bunch of pizzas and Clif bars and and tents and just took up residence with all of the prisoners.
I think it could be done.
posted by rhizome at 8:19 PM on June 23, 2019 [14 favorites]
This is why I'm starting to promote the idea of storming the camps. DHS/CBP use of force policies require a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person, so I think if a bunch of white people went down and cut their way through the fences and brought a bunch of pizzas and Clif bars and and tents and just took up residence with all of the prisoners.
I think it could be done.
posted by rhizome at 8:19 PM on June 23, 2019 [14 favorites]
WaPo, Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loan debt, escalating Democratic policy battle
posted by zachlipton at 8:38 PM on June 23, 2019 [25 favorites]
Sanders is proposing the federal government pay to wipe clean the student debt held by 45 million Americans — including all private and graduate school debt — as part of a package that also would make public universities, community colleges and trade schools tuition-free.I'm reminded of Tom Scocca's argument from April: Forgiving Student Debt Means Admitting Student Debt Was Wrong
Sanders is proposing to pay for these plans with a tax on Wall Street his campaign says will raise more than $2 trillion over 10 years, though some tax experts give lower revenue estimates.
Sanders will be joined Monday by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who will introduce legislation in the House to eliminate all student debt in the United States, as well as Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has championed legislation to make public universities tuition-free.
Sanders helped popularize demands for tuition-free college during his 2016 presidential campaign run but did less to emphasize solutions for those who had already left school saddled with debt. Since then, liberal Democratic lawmakers have called for increasingly aggressive government solutions for erasing existing student debt, with 2020 candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposing $640 billion in student debt forgiveness and former housing secretary Julián Castro introducing a more modest debt forgiveness plan.
These proposals have faced fierce objections, including from some moderate Democrats, for giving taxpayer subsidies to educated Americans who, on average, have higher earnings than those with only a high school degree.
posted by zachlipton at 8:38 PM on June 23, 2019 [25 favorites]
From the Ravelry site: "We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy."
I'm kind of floored by this statement. It's so simple.
posted by xammerboy at 8:51 PM on June 23, 2019 [80 favorites]
I'm kind of floored by this statement. It's so simple.
posted by xammerboy at 8:51 PM on June 23, 2019 [80 favorites]
ooo Debt Collective will be at the announcement tomorrow. They've been on the ground organizing around debt for a while now.
posted by The Whelk at 9:43 PM on June 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:43 PM on June 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
Some useful history on the treatment of immigrants at detention facilities:
posted by xammerboy at 11:45 PM on June 23, 2019 [47 favorites]
Before Sarah Fabian defended concrete floors and bright lights for President Donald Trump, she defended putting kids in solitary confinement for President Barack Obama. The fault lies not with any one administration or politician, but with the culture: the ICE and CBP culture that encourages the abuse, the culture of the legal apologists who defend it, and our culture—a largely indifferent America that hasn’t done a damn thing about it.These places have always been a kind of hell, but Trump has made the situation worse. If nothing else, Democrats should note that the public outrage over this abuse came out of a televised court hearing. This is why the impeachment inquiries need to be televised.
posted by xammerboy at 11:45 PM on June 23, 2019 [47 favorites]
JOE BIDEN SAYS HE CAN WORK WITH THE SENATE. THE LAST TIME HE TRIED, MITCH MCCONNELL PICKED HIS POCKETS BADLY.
It was now Sunday, December 30, and Democrats only had to hold out until Tuesday to find themselves in a dramatically improved political position, as the dawning of the new year would mean the tax cuts expired and automatically reverted to pre-Bush levels. At that point, it would be Republicans left pleading for rate cuts.posted by T.D. Strange at 5:28 AM on June 24, 2019 [31 favorites]
In desperation, McConnell reached out directly to Biden, calling him on the phone and explaining that Reid was refusing to be reasonable. Over the course of the day, McConnell and Biden struck a deal. “Biden gave Republicans everything they wanted in exchange for fixing the fiscal cliff problem,” the GOP operative recalled.
@realpresssecbot creator Russel Neiss discovered that the Trump administration is playing the same budget games with child concentration camps that it did with border wall funding:
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:41 AM on June 24, 2019 [42 favorites]
So I've been trying to build a new twitterbot that tweets out contracts between gov't entities responsible for family separation & the camps on border and the companies who are facilitating it, and in the process discovered something that seems weird to me...If any MeFites have Reps on the House Committee on Appropriations - Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, they need to be alerted immediately to this potentially illegal diversion of funds (tel. 202-225-3508).
Is it normal for the @nih to spend $8.6 Million from its construction fund to buy/lease modular buildings for housing undocumented children?
https://fpds.gov/ezsearch/jsp/viewLinkController.jsp?agencyID=7529&PIID=75N99019L00008&modNumber=P00001&transactionNumber=0&idvAgencyID=&idvPIID=&actionSource=searchScreen&actionCode=&documentVersion=1.5&contractType=AWARD&docType=D
Found the solicitation for the bid: "The U.S. Government is seeking a Sources Sought for a Lessor to provide Housing/Buildings for 1,600 persons including dining facility for 400 persons." "Carrizo Springs, Texas"
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cbf623381875f5d483ea94a2fd92e81f&tab=core&_cview=1
"NIH support of ORR to support UAC" ORR = Office of Refugee Resettlement UAC = Unaccompanied Children
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:41 AM on June 24, 2019 [42 favorites]
Sarah Gideon, a Democrat from the Portland area and currently Speaker of the House in Maine, today announced that she's challenging Susan Collins for the Senate seat. More about Gideon on her website and via Project Vote Smart. She won her last election with 74 percent of the vote over a Republican opponent and I know some Maine friends have been waiting for this one to drop.
posted by martin q blank at 7:35 AM on June 24, 2019 [79 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 7:35 AM on June 24, 2019 [79 favorites]
Finally, Susan Collins has concerns that I'm happy about :)
posted by diogenes at 8:15 AM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 8:15 AM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
Non-military households would pay a "war tax" to help cover the health care of veterans of newly-authorized wars under a plan Beto O'Rourke's campaign unveiled on Monday
Service GuaranteesCitizenship War Tax Exemption! Would you like to know more O'Rourke?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on June 24, 2019 [28 favorites]
Service Guarantees
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on June 24, 2019 [28 favorites]
NYMag: Democratic Presidential Candidates Respond to New Rape Allegation Against Trump
Biden, Booker, Castro, de Blasio, Harris, O'Rourke, Swalwell, and Warren all condemn it and are all ready to hold Trump accountable one way or another, of course. Delaney and Ryan fumble initially, confessing they either haven't read the article or read it entirely, but they nonetheless favor congressional investigations. Sanders is missing from the list (I can't find anything online either).
Andrew Yang's response, however, doesn't pass muster as something from a serious candidate: “Wow, that’s a very interesting question. I hadn’t thought about that. You know, I’d have to investigate what the precedent is for like a sitting president to get accused of a crime. In this case, it’s years and years after the fact. Yeah, no, I’d have to investigate that. I’d have to investigate what the legal guidelines are for a congressional inquiry. Yeah, sorry, I’d just have to think about it a little bit more.” (Yang was asked if he would think about it and get back to New York. He said he would, but didn’t respond to follow-ups.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:20 AM on June 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
Biden, Booker, Castro, de Blasio, Harris, O'Rourke, Swalwell, and Warren all condemn it and are all ready to hold Trump accountable one way or another, of course. Delaney and Ryan fumble initially, confessing they either haven't read the article or read it entirely, but they nonetheless favor congressional investigations. Sanders is missing from the list (I can't find anything online either).
Andrew Yang's response, however, doesn't pass muster as something from a serious candidate: “Wow, that’s a very interesting question. I hadn’t thought about that. You know, I’d have to investigate what the precedent is for like a sitting president to get accused of a crime. In this case, it’s years and years after the fact. Yeah, no, I’d have to investigate that. I’d have to investigate what the legal guidelines are for a congressional inquiry. Yeah, sorry, I’d just have to think about it a little bit more.” (Yang was asked if he would think about it and get back to New York. He said he would, but didn’t respond to follow-ups.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:20 AM on June 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
Representative Omar’s plan would automatically grant cancellation for everyone with federal loans, no form required. An application would still be needed for the estimated $119 million in private student loans, since unlike with federal loans, the government doesn’t have centralized information about all private loans and where they’re held.
posted by The Whelk at 8:29 AM on June 24, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:29 AM on June 24, 2019 [21 favorites]
Doktor Zed, many thanks for the info above about Russel Neiss and his discovery that the National Institutes of Health are using 8.6 million clams on behalf of another concentration camp. Like, WTF. When I called the number you listed for the House committee, I asked if I could talk to someone about NIH construction funds going to a new concentration camp. The person who answered the phone had not heard about this and gave me an email address for a staffer who works on NIH stuff.
Now I am going to call Representative Barbara Lee's office, because she is on the subcommittee in question. I am wondering how we can make sure, in general, that the right staffers know about developments of this nature. I understand that with elected officials we need to nearly drown them in calls, emails, faxes, etc. to convey the importance of a variety of outrages to voters. We should not do that to staffers but I have to believe that they are super busy people who do want to know about these things but cannot know everything. It all seems so random to me. In any case, Russel Neiss is doing good work, it appears, because somebody has to help keep track of all the dirty work afoot. Lord knows that's a challenge when there is so damn much.
posted by Bella Donna at 8:34 AM on June 24, 2019 [18 favorites]
Now I am going to call Representative Barbara Lee's office, because she is on the subcommittee in question. I am wondering how we can make sure, in general, that the right staffers know about developments of this nature. I understand that with elected officials we need to nearly drown them in calls, emails, faxes, etc. to convey the importance of a variety of outrages to voters. We should not do that to staffers but I have to believe that they are super busy people who do want to know about these things but cannot know everything. It all seems so random to me. In any case, Russel Neiss is doing good work, it appears, because somebody has to help keep track of all the dirty work afoot. Lord knows that's a challenge when there is so damn much.
posted by Bella Donna at 8:34 AM on June 24, 2019 [18 favorites]
Trump Says “Probably Not” Prepared to Lose in 2020, Doesn’t Believe He Lost Popular Vote [in 2016] (Daniel Politi, Slate)
It's from his Meet the Press interview on 6/23. Hard to be both a poor winner and a gracious loser.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:44 AM on June 24, 2019 [12 favorites]
It's from his Meet the Press interview on 6/23. Hard to be both a poor winner and a gracious loser.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:44 AM on June 24, 2019 [12 favorites]
Discover: Study Shows That Trump’s New “Affordable Clean Energy” Rule Will Lead To More Co2 Emissions, Not Fewer
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [14 favorites]
The Trump administration has rolled back Obama-era climate change rules in an effort to save coal-fired electric power plants in the United States. The action comes in the form of the “Affordable Clean Energy rule,” which Environmental Protection Administration head Andrew Wheeler signed today. Unfortunately, research shows that “clean energy” is the opposite of what this rule will produce.[…]WaPo: White House Tells Agencies They No Longer Have To Weigh A Project’s Long-Term Climate Impacts—The reversal may not be enough to satisfy the courts, which have repeatedly faulted agencies for not calculating their actions’ carbon footprint.
The Trump Administration claims the plan is intended to cut emissions 35 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the next decade. But research published last April in the journal Environmental Research Letters shows that over the long run, it is likely to lead to increased emissions.
According to the study’s authors, that’s the result of a “rebound phenomenon”: Thanks to the efficiency improvements anticipated by the ACE plan, coal plants will operate more frequently, and for longer periods of time. That, in turn, will lead to increased CO2 emissions by 2050 compared to what would happen if there were no rule in place at all.
Moreover, the researchers found that, compared to no policy, by 2030 the new rule will increase sulfur dioxide pollution from coal-fired power in 19 states, and nitrogen oxide pollution in 20 states plus the District of Columbia. This will have negative impacts on human health.
The draft guidance, issued by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, would change the way the U.S. government evaluates activities ranging from coal mining to gas pipelines and oil drilling by limiting the extent to which agencies can calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. In April 2016, CEQ finalized a directive that agencies quantify to what extent they will contribute to climate change, a move that threw approval of those projects into doubt.[…]Meanwhile, Pence is staying on message by parroting Trump's latest lies about climate change, CNN's Chris Cillizza (?!) writes: Mike Pence's unbelievable answer on whether climate change is a threat
The question of to what extent federal decisions are fueling climate change has emerged as a major legal and political issue under the Trump administration. Federal judges have halted oil and gas leasing on multiple occasions on the grounds that the federal government failed to properly calculate a project’s carbon output, including in March when a judge blocked leasing on 300,000 acres in Wyoming.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [14 favorites]
From Ravelry: New Policy: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 AM on June 23 [32 favorites +] [!]
When you've lost the knitters, you've lost the American people.
At least I wish that were true.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 AM on June 23 [32 favorites +] [!]
When you've lost the knitters, you've lost the American people.
At least I wish that were true.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
I guess Trump is signing new sanctions on Iran, and for whatever reason CBS saw fit to cut into daytime tv programming to show the signing ceremony live.
Key takeaway: he's willing to talk to "anyone" but in the meantime "who knows what will happen". Said not in a threatening tone as much as a tone that he doesn't really understand what's going on or what he may or may not do in the future.
Strong leadership, etc.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:13 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Key takeaway: he's willing to talk to "anyone" but in the meantime "who knows what will happen". Said not in a threatening tone as much as a tone that he doesn't really understand what's going on or what he may or may not do in the future.
Strong leadership, etc.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:13 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Here's an unedited transcript of that Meet the Press interview (the edited-for-tv version is a lot less rambling and more coherent, omits people calling him 'sir,' etc.). Chuck Todd asked him if he talks to any former presidents, which produces this exchange:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:posted by box at 9:13 AM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
I speak to Jimmy Carter.
CHUCK TODD:
You do? What about President Obama?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I have not spoken to him --
CHUCK TODD:
But George W. Bush, you do?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
-- pretty much from the beginning.
CHUCK TODD:
And Jimmy Carter?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I have spoken to Bush, I have spoken to Jimmy Carter, yes.
CHUCK TODD:
Do you get --
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I like Jimmy Carter. You know, Jimmy Carter's oftentimes come to my defense. I don't necessarily agree with the way he ran things and that's okay. And he understands that and so do I. But he came to my defense on numerous occasions. And he thinks that I was treated the worst of anybody he's ever seen by the press.
Vox has a somewhat detailed discussion of Jay Inslee's climate proposals. To quote the article "Someone's going to be mad."
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 9:32 AM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 9:32 AM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
Non-military households would pay a "war tax" to help cover the health care of veterans of newly-authorized wars under a plan Beto O'Rourke's campaign unveiled on Monday
This makes no sense. Less than 1% of households have members in the military so you are just talking about raising taxes on 99% of people. Why not just have Congress properly fund the VA from the general fund instead of issuing tax cuts to the rich? This is just a stupid gimmick.
Now if you talk about deducting $2 million from, say, Jeff Bezos checking account every time Trump lobs a Tomahawk in the Middle East, I might get behind that.
posted by JackFlash at 9:58 AM on June 24, 2019 [34 favorites]
This makes no sense. Less than 1% of households have members in the military so you are just talking about raising taxes on 99% of people. Why not just have Congress properly fund the VA from the general fund instead of issuing tax cuts to the rich? This is just a stupid gimmick.
Now if you talk about deducting $2 million from, say, Jeff Bezos checking account every time Trump lobs a Tomahawk in the Middle East, I might get behind that.
posted by JackFlash at 9:58 AM on June 24, 2019 [34 favorites]
I don't know. An automatic tax hike on the upper tax brackets the moment a US service member fires his weapon in anger has a certain elegance to it.
posted by ocschwar at 10:06 AM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 10:06 AM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
If he had said "War Profits Tax," there might have been something there besides a sinking candidate flailing to get in the news cycle.
posted by absalom at 10:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by absalom at 10:07 AM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
there might have been something there besides a sinking candidate flailing to get in the news cycle.
yep, the next 48 hours are going to be some epic headline flailing by Democratic candidates.
posted by Harry Caul at 10:15 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
yep, the next 48 hours are going to be some epic headline flailing by Democratic candidates.
posted by Harry Caul at 10:15 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Be sure to follow and retweet @SaraGideonME. She's gone from 205 followers this morning to 30.7k as of now.
Edit: Actually she started at zero this morning because it's a new account.
posted by diogenes at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Edit: Actually she started at zero this morning because it's a new account.
posted by diogenes at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
> An automatic tax hike on the upper tax brackets the moment a US service member fires his weapon in anger has a certain elegance to it.
We all agree that this is going nowhere, but I bet it was conceived as a "centrist" flat tax (i.e., a hideously regressive tax).
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:50 AM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
We all agree that this is going nowhere, but I bet it was conceived as a "centrist" flat tax (i.e., a hideously regressive tax).
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:50 AM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
AP: Government moves migrant kids after poor conditions exposed
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:04 AM on June 24, 2019 [59 favorites]
The U.S. government has removed most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports that more than 300 kids were detained there and caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation. Rep. Veronica Escobar said 30 children were at the facility near El Paso as of Monday. Her office was briefed on the situation by an official with Customs and Border Protection.Until all the moved children can be located, identified and cared for, this is another forced disappearance of the already-disappeared. It's a coverup of continuing abuses that will be presented by mainstream media as a humane decision from a concerned administration that listened to its critics.
Attorneys who visited the station in Clint, Texas last week said older children were trying to take care of infants and toddlers, The Associated Press first reported Thursday. Some had been detained for three weeks, and 15 children were sick with the flu. It's unclear where all the children have been moved. But Escobar said some were sent to another facility in El Paso.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:04 AM on June 24, 2019 [59 favorites]
We all agree that this is going nowhere, but I bet it was conceived as a "centrist" flat tax (i.e., a hideously regressive tax).
Specifically, the brackets are as follows:
On the other hand, $25 for a couple who are each making minimum wage potentially means you don't eat several meals; if you're lucky, it means your kids don't miss those meals too.
This is what a dumb person thinks a smart person would propose, and I say that as someone who wouldn't be paying the tax because it sets me up as a member of the new Junker class.
posted by Etrigan at 11:11 AM on June 24, 2019 [36 favorites]
Specifically, the brackets are as follows:
Households making less than $30,000 per year would pay $25; those making less than $40,000 would pay $57; those making less than $50,000 would pay $98; those making less than $75,000 would pay $164; those making less than $100,000 would pay $270; those making less than $200,000 would pay $485; and those making more than $200,000 would pay $1,000.The proportionality simply isn't there. If you make more than $200K as a household, you don't perceive $1K as "half a percent of my income!", you barely perceive it at all. It's as much of a bump in the road as a thickly painted crosswalk that you drive over in your $999/mo leased Jaguar XJL.
On the other hand, $25 for a couple who are each making minimum wage potentially means you don't eat several meals; if you're lucky, it means your kids don't miss those meals too.
This is what a dumb person thinks a smart person would propose, and I say that as someone who wouldn't be paying the tax because it sets me up as a member of the new Junker class.
posted by Etrigan at 11:11 AM on June 24, 2019 [36 favorites]
those making more than $200,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $250,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $500,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $750,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $1,000,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $10,000,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $100,000,000 would pay $1,000
...and so on
posted by kirkaracha at 11:38 AM on June 24, 2019 [51 favorites]
those making more than $250,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $500,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $750,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $1,000,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $10,000,000 would pay $1,000
those making more than $100,000,000 would pay $1,000
...and so on
posted by kirkaracha at 11:38 AM on June 24, 2019 [51 favorites]
Pelosi Reveals What She Told Trump on Mass Deportation Phone Call [on Friday 6/21]: ‘You’re Scaring the Children!’ (Tommy Christopher, Mediaite.com)
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:47 AM on June 24, 2019
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:47 AM on June 24, 2019
Be sure to follow and retweet @SaraGideonME. She's gone from 205 followers this morning to 30.7k as of now.
So..... I want to mention something about this. Sara Gideon is the THIRD Dem woman to enter the race, and the fifth woman overall to declare (sixth if you include Collins herself). Portland-area attorney Bre Kidman is running as a Dem. Long time Maine activist and co-founder of Equality Maine, Betsy Sweet, is running as a Dem. Progressive Independent Tiffany Bond is running. There are at least one other Dem and one other Independent candidate running.
Not all of these candidates are viable, but they're all candidates and Sweet, Kidman, and Bond are all fairly well known. The difference with Gideon, of course, is that she currently holds elected office, which the others do not. But please don't fall into the trap of thinking that it will be Gideon v. Collins with no other challengers.
posted by anastasiav at 11:51 AM on June 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
So..... I want to mention something about this. Sara Gideon is the THIRD Dem woman to enter the race, and the fifth woman overall to declare (sixth if you include Collins herself). Portland-area attorney Bre Kidman is running as a Dem. Long time Maine activist and co-founder of Equality Maine, Betsy Sweet, is running as a Dem. Progressive Independent Tiffany Bond is running. There are at least one other Dem and one other Independent candidate running.
Not all of these candidates are viable, but they're all candidates and Sweet, Kidman, and Bond are all fairly well known. The difference with Gideon, of course, is that she currently holds elected office, which the others do not. But please don't fall into the trap of thinking that it will be Gideon v. Collins with no other challengers.
posted by anastasiav at 11:51 AM on June 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
Sara Gideon is the THIRD Dem woman to enter the race
Fair enough, but despite Twitter not meaning much in the real world, 33K followers in 8 hours versus less than 2K in months for the other two candidates would seem to indicate that she's a new level of threat to Collins.
Why is a Democratic progressive running as an Independent?
posted by diogenes at 1:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Fair enough, but despite Twitter not meaning much in the real world, 33K followers in 8 hours versus less than 2K in months for the other two candidates would seem to indicate that she's a new level of threat to Collins.
Why is a Democratic progressive running as an Independent?
posted by diogenes at 1:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
One of the baffling things to me about the EPA rollback mentioned above is when or if there will be pushback from our allies. It’s not as though the effects of increased pollution will be magically limited to the United States. I am talking about political fallout; I would like to see some (on the concentration camps as well of course, but that doesn’t affect the entire world as directly).
posted by Bella Donna at 1:11 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:11 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Democrats mimic 2018 House takeover strategy in bid to capture Senate (James Arkin & Burgess Everett, Politico)
After being spurned by more prominent names, Democrats are counting on lesser-known figures to topple GOP senators.posted by ZeusHumms at 1:15 PM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
Jeez, just did some research on Tiffany Bond. She ran as an Independent for the House and got 5% of the vote in 2018. And you want me to talk about her for Senate?
posted by diogenes at 1:17 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by diogenes at 1:17 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
One of the baffling things to me about the EPA rollback mentioned above is when or if there will be pushback from our allies. It’s not as though the effects of increased pollution will be magically limited to the United States. I am talking about political fallout; I would like to see some (on the concentration camps as well of course, but that doesn’t affect the entire world as directly).
Right now, the EU is on a hiatus, after the election. I'd think that if Merkel because the new president of the commission, things will get rolling. (Right now it looks like she will).
posted by mumimor at 1:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Right now, the EU is on a hiatus, after the election. I'd think that if Merkel because the new president of the commission, things will get rolling. (Right now it looks like she will).
posted by mumimor at 1:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
diogenes: "Why is a Democratic progressive running as an Independent?"
Because people didn't learn from the Paul LePage fiasco.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:22 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Because people didn't learn from the Paul LePage fiasco.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:22 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Because people didn't learn from the Paul LePage fiasco.
The entire state learned from the Paul LePage fiasco and introduced ranked-choice voting.
posted by Etrigan at 1:26 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
The entire state learned from the Paul LePage fiasco and introduced ranked-choice voting.
posted by Etrigan at 1:26 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
The entire state learned from the Paul LePage fiasco and introduced ranked-choice voting.
Show me a person-on-the-street video with typical voters explaining how IRV works and ill feel completely confident that the issue is fixed.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:28 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Show me a person-on-the-street video with typical voters explaining how IRV works and ill feel completely confident that the issue is fixed.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:28 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Betsy Sweet ran for governor of Maine in 2018--one of seven Democratic primary candidates, she polled at 5%, but got 16% of the votes in the first round of ranked-choice voting (and made it all the way up to 24% out of three candidates before being mathematically eliminated).
Something may have changed in the last year or so, and someone closer to Maine may have a more insightful analysis of the election results (and I imagine there are a lot of fascinating stories around that primary), but I don't know if Betsy Sweet looks like she can win a Maine Senate primary election.
posted by box at 1:38 PM on June 24, 2019
Something may have changed in the last year or so, and someone closer to Maine may have a more insightful analysis of the election results (and I imagine there are a lot of fascinating stories around that primary), but I don't know if Betsy Sweet looks like she can win a Maine Senate primary election.
posted by box at 1:38 PM on June 24, 2019
Box, as those election results show, Sweet is very well known in Maine politics and has been around for a very long time. She outperformed her polling and was wonderful in the debates.
I'm not saying that she (or Bond) will win, I'm saying that Gideon isn't The Anointed One, and maybe she shouldn't be treated like the only candidate in the field. She has some problems on a statewide level. She's done a nice job as speaker, but candidates from the Greater Portland area are automatically suspect in more rural parts of the state, and that will be an uphill battle for her. To find another Senator from Greater Portland, I had to go all the way back to Anti Klan Republican Frederick Hale (served 1916-1932). (King is From Away, but began his Maine residency in Skowhegan.)
Show me a person-on-the-street video with typical voters explaining how IRV works and ill feel completely confident that the issue is fixed.
Weirdly enough, when Poloquin lost the CD2 seat, he made exactly this argument in Court - that nobody understood how the voting system worked. The (Trump appointed, LePage approved) Justice disagreed, and that's how the R's lost CD2.
This will be the third time through for ranked choice. Really, at this point, the only confusing part is getting people to understand why we use it for some elections (including Senate) but not others (Maine Constitution changes pending). We've been educating people about RCV for ten years. It isn't a hard way to vote, and it won't be a surprise to anyone.
posted by anastasiav at 2:04 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
I'm not saying that she (or Bond) will win, I'm saying that Gideon isn't The Anointed One, and maybe she shouldn't be treated like the only candidate in the field. She has some problems on a statewide level. She's done a nice job as speaker, but candidates from the Greater Portland area are automatically suspect in more rural parts of the state, and that will be an uphill battle for her. To find another Senator from Greater Portland, I had to go all the way back to Anti Klan Republican Frederick Hale (served 1916-1932). (King is From Away, but began his Maine residency in Skowhegan.)
Show me a person-on-the-street video with typical voters explaining how IRV works and ill feel completely confident that the issue is fixed.
Weirdly enough, when Poloquin lost the CD2 seat, he made exactly this argument in Court - that nobody understood how the voting system worked. The (Trump appointed, LePage approved) Justice disagreed, and that's how the R's lost CD2.
This will be the third time through for ranked choice. Really, at this point, the only confusing part is getting people to understand why we use it for some elections (including Senate) but not others (Maine Constitution changes pending). We've been educating people about RCV for ten years. It isn't a hard way to vote, and it won't be a surprise to anyone.
posted by anastasiav at 2:04 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
One of the baffling things to me about the EPA rollback mentioned above is when or if there will be pushback from our allies. It’s not as though the effects of increased pollution will be magically limited to the United States. I am talking about political fallout; I would like to see some (on the concentration camps as well of course, but that doesn’t affect the entire world as directly).
This is completely not baffling to me as a Canadian. You have an impulsive, mean and capricious republican president who loves trade wars and posturing. Owning the libs is a top republican priority and there is nothing more "lib" than all those foreigners. Every American ally is just trying to avoid painting bullseyes on themselves and inflicting needless damage on their own economies and stock markets. They are hoping the American people can deliver a less crazy president in just over a year.
Other countries simply cannot damage the United States in the same way the US can, has and probably would damage them in return (or even just randomly as the whim strikes the toddler in chief).
posted by srboisvert at 2:06 PM on June 24, 2019 [22 favorites]
This is completely not baffling to me as a Canadian. You have an impulsive, mean and capricious republican president who loves trade wars and posturing. Owning the libs is a top republican priority and there is nothing more "lib" than all those foreigners. Every American ally is just trying to avoid painting bullseyes on themselves and inflicting needless damage on their own economies and stock markets. They are hoping the American people can deliver a less crazy president in just over a year.
Other countries simply cannot damage the United States in the same way the US can, has and probably would damage them in return (or even just randomly as the whim strikes the toddler in chief).
posted by srboisvert at 2:06 PM on June 24, 2019 [22 favorites]
Non-military households would pay a "war tax" to help cover the health care of veterans of newly-authorized wars under a plan Beto O'Rourke's campaign unveiled on Monday
This wouldn't be an issue if universal public health care existed in the United States.
(It'd also be a tremendous help to state finances if their pension plans were not getting crushed by medical costs. It'd also free up entrepreneurs to entrepren, workers to have job mobility increasing efficiency of talent allocation, employers to reduce administrative costs....and on and fucking on).
But do go on with this Starship Troopers veterans as true citizens level shit....
posted by srboisvert at 2:16 PM on June 24, 2019 [25 favorites]
This wouldn't be an issue if universal public health care existed in the United States.
(It'd also be a tremendous help to state finances if their pension plans were not getting crushed by medical costs. It'd also free up entrepreneurs to entrepren, workers to have job mobility increasing efficiency of talent allocation, employers to reduce administrative costs....and on and fucking on).
But do go on with this Starship Troopers veterans as true citizens level shit....
posted by srboisvert at 2:16 PM on June 24, 2019 [25 favorites]
That's fair, RCV does at least minimize the issue of splitting the electorate.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:40 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 2:40 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
Non-military households would pay a "war tax" to help cover the health care of veterans of newly-authorized wars under a plan Beto O'Rourke's campaign unveiled on Monday
What in the ever-loving fuck??? I mean, I kind of get the reverse-psychology Beto’s trying here. At least, I hope it’s reverse psychology, thinking people hate taxes enough that they’d (hopefully) agitate their representatives against going to war. If that’s his thinking, he’s drastically underestimating Americans’ willingness to thank-you-for-your-service themselves to death over the military.
OTOH, if Beto’s staight-up serious about this idea, he’s definitley out of contention for me.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:08 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
What in the ever-loving fuck??? I mean, I kind of get the reverse-psychology Beto’s trying here. At least, I hope it’s reverse psychology, thinking people hate taxes enough that they’d (hopefully) agitate their representatives against going to war. If that’s his thinking, he’s drastically underestimating Americans’ willingness to thank-you-for-your-service themselves to death over the military.
OTOH, if Beto’s staight-up serious about this idea, he’s definitley out of contention for me.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:08 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
How did Beto go from getting more votes than Hillary in Texas to... this. I didn't think he would flop so bad as a presidential candidate.
posted by BeginAgain at 3:15 PM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by BeginAgain at 3:15 PM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
CNN, Murdoch lieutenant ordered removal of New York Post story on Trump sexual assault allegation, sources say
posted by zachlipton at 3:20 PM on June 24, 2019 [20 favorites]
The New York Post's former top editor, a supporter of President Trump and an old lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch who returned to the conservative tabloid as an adviser in early 2019, ordered the removal of a story about writer Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations against President Trump, two people familiar with the matter told CNN Business.Meanwhile, NYT executive editor Dean Baquet now says the paper was "overly cautious" in downplaying Carroll's allegations (weird how that caution didn't apply to Clinton's emails or the deal they struck with Peter Schweizer for "Clinton Cash") and, at the end, displays a bunch of sour grapes that boil down to whining that it wasn't their exclusive story. Again, bring back the public editor already.
The Post's story about Carroll's sexual assault allegations was mysteriously scrubbed from the tabloid's website on Friday afternoon. The link to the story, which had been written by reporter Joe Tacopino, directed readers to a dead or 404 page.
...
Asked why Allan would order the removal of the Post story about Carroll's accusation, one of the people told CNN Business, "Nobody needs to explain why. We already know."
posted by zachlipton at 3:20 PM on June 24, 2019 [20 favorites]
How did Beto go from getting more votes than Hillary in Texas to... this. I didn't think he would flop so bad as a presidential candidate.
Turns out you really need more than "I'm not Ted Cruz" to run any other race than one against Ted Cruz.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2019 [42 favorites]
Turns out you really need more than "I'm not Ted Cruz" to run any other race than one against Ted Cruz.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2019 [42 favorites]
Yeah, honestly Cruz seems like an even "easier" opponent than Trump. Lots of people hate them both, but some people really love Trump. Does anyone really love Cruz?
posted by thefoxgod at 4:07 PM on June 24, 2019
posted by thefoxgod at 4:07 PM on June 24, 2019
This wouldn't be an issue if universal public health care existed in the United States.
And, boy howdy, the anti-single-payer commercials are running hot and heavy on local tv here. Sad-looking people holding signs announcing how long they supposedly would have to wait for operations, etc. Lots of dire warnings about government deciding your healthcare, veering very close to death-panel kind of stuff. I’m guessing we’re getting them because we have a local guy running for president (mayor Pete.)
posted by Thorzdad at 4:12 PM on June 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
And, boy howdy, the anti-single-payer commercials are running hot and heavy on local tv here. Sad-looking people holding signs announcing how long they supposedly would have to wait for operations, etc. Lots of dire warnings about government deciding your healthcare, veering very close to death-panel kind of stuff. I’m guessing we’re getting them because we have a local guy running for president (mayor Pete.)
posted by Thorzdad at 4:12 PM on June 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
How did Beto go from getting more votes than Hillary in Texas to... this. I didn't think he would flop so bad as a presidential candidate.
Good-looking, white, wealthy = can fail upwards for a loooong time. Just look at the caliber of (most of) the white male Presidential candidates, contrast them with the women (not Gabbard or Williamson - but good god, Warren, Harris, and Gillibrand are stellar) or even the not-white guys. Booker, for instance, may not be catching fire in the primaries, but one can't deny that he's accomplished.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
Good-looking, white, wealthy = can fail upwards for a loooong time. Just look at the caliber of (most of) the white male Presidential candidates, contrast them with the women (not Gabbard or Williamson - but good god, Warren, Harris, and Gillibrand are stellar) or even the not-white guys. Booker, for instance, may not be catching fire in the primaries, but one can't deny that he's accomplished.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
This administration makes my head spin. When the Park Service designated Stonewall National Monument, the local office installed a Pride flag on the flagpole across from Stonewall Inn. Turns out the political appointees in Washington didn't like this, and thus began a crack-brained effort to ditch the flag without looking too much like bigots.
They ended up figuring out that the flagpole in question wasn't actually on federal property and thus NPS had no right to put any flags on it at all. They gave the Pride flag in question to the city of New York, who put it back on the flagpole...
posted by suelac at 4:45 PM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
They ended up figuring out that the flagpole in question wasn't actually on federal property and thus NPS had no right to put any flags on it at all. They gave the Pride flag in question to the city of New York, who put it back on the flagpole...
posted by suelac at 4:45 PM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
The Hill: EXCLUSIVE: Trump vehemently denies E. Jean Carroll allegation, says 'she's not my type'
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [23 favorites]
President Trump said Monday that writer E. Jean Carroll was “totally lying” when she recently accused him of raping her during an encounter in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.Earlier this morning, Carroll told CNN: "He denies it, he turns it around, he attacks, and he threatens and everybody forgets it and the next woman comes along and I am sick of it. Alisyn, I am sick of it. Think how many women have come forward, nothing happens."
In an exclusive interview with The Hill, the president vehemently denied the allegations just hours after Carroll detailed the alleged incident during a cable news interview.
“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” the president said while seated behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:18 PM on June 24, 2019 [23 favorites]
Jay Inslee has a radical plan to phase out fossil fuel production in the US
I am enormously thankful Jay Inslee is doing this work, but I really wish journalists would stop calling it radical. It's a big plan, but it's also all commonsense. It includes stopping the government from giving oil companies billions in free money subsidies, outlawing fracking, instituting a pollution fee, and making business practices more transparent. Radical maybe in the sense that we're talking about changing up a large part of the current economy, but this plan is also extremely practical. I just don't get leaning into the label radical to describe a plan that proposes we stop propping up a dying industry that's killing us.
posted by xammerboy at 5:19 PM on June 24, 2019 [31 favorites]
I am enormously thankful Jay Inslee is doing this work, but I really wish journalists would stop calling it radical. It's a big plan, but it's also all commonsense. It includes stopping the government from giving oil companies billions in free money subsidies, outlawing fracking, instituting a pollution fee, and making business practices more transparent. Radical maybe in the sense that we're talking about changing up a large part of the current economy, but this plan is also extremely practical. I just don't get leaning into the label radical to describe a plan that proposes we stop propping up a dying industry that's killing us.
posted by xammerboy at 5:19 PM on June 24, 2019 [31 favorites]
Number one, she’s not my type.
... so, if she was his type, he'd have done it? I don't think this is as sound a defense as he thinks.
posted by suelac at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
... so, if she was his type, he'd have done it? I don't think this is as sound a defense as he thinks.
posted by suelac at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2019 [37 favorites]
CNN interview with Warren’s Campaign Manager, via dKos:
Why Elizabeth Warren refuses to do rope lines at campaign events
posted by darkstar at 5:46 PM on June 24, 2019 [103 favorites]
Why Elizabeth Warren refuses to do rope lines at campaign events
According to Lau, Warren asked him why they had to do rope lines and Lau explained that having photos taken and meeting people at rallies was good organizing and publicity for any campaign, and the press liked having the line to separate them. Warren replied, “Okay, Roger, so if those are your three goals let me ask you this: when I look to the left [of the rope] I see big donors, elected officials, people I saw backstage. I look to the right and I see wheelchairs, and people with walkers, and I can’t get to them because of the bike rack. I look in the middle and it’s all the most aggressive people who got to the front. I don’t see little girls, I’m not able to shake hands with older people. What if, we invited every single person who wanted to to come to stage to take a photo, you know, on stage?”You know, I am finding myself in that phase of the primary season where my initially somewhat cerebral analysis and ranking of candidates is beginning to metamorphose into a rather more emotionally resonant preference for one of them.
Lau tells CNN he shook his head and said no way were they going to do that. He explained that that would take forever, and it would be exhausting for her. The two went back and forth over the next few weeks leading up to Warren’s first event. The night before the event Warren told Lau that she trusted him implicitly and would agree with whatever his decision on the matter would be but warned him that “If there is even a single person in that room who wants to say hello, or wants to take a photo, who didn’t get a photo, I’ll consider this event a failure.”
Long story short, Warren has taken those photos after every event and just watching her do it is exhausting, but as Lau says “She was right.”
posted by darkstar at 5:46 PM on June 24, 2019 [103 favorites]
I'm not saying that she (or Bond) will win, I'm saying that Gideon isn't The Anointed One, and maybe she shouldn't be treated like the only candidate in the field.
I don't think it's unreasonable to look at past experience and election results to come to the conclusion that Gideon is the only viable candidate to enter the race so far. Getting 5% in a House race or 16% in a Governor race doesn't qualify as viable to beat Susan Collins.
posted by diogenes at 5:51 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I don't think it's unreasonable to look at past experience and election results to come to the conclusion that Gideon is the only viable candidate to enter the race so far. Getting 5% in a House race or 16% in a Governor race doesn't qualify as viable to beat Susan Collins.
posted by diogenes at 5:51 PM on June 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Number one, she’s not my type.
He paid the last woman who wasn’t his type $130K to stay quiet.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:54 PM on June 24, 2019 [50 favorites]
He paid the last woman who wasn’t his type $130K to stay quiet.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:54 PM on June 24, 2019 [50 favorites]
@RohdeD
The Taliban gave me toothpaste & soap
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:58 PM on June 24, 2019 [24 favorites]
The Taliban gave me toothpaste & soap
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:58 PM on June 24, 2019 [24 favorites]
AP, Blurred lines: Trump’s UN choice and her coal magnate spouse. In which EPA officials email the U.S. ambassador to Canada (and Trump's choice for UN ambassador), but her coal magnate husband writes back.
The blurring of roles — and email accounts — by the Crafts this time and others since she began representing the U.S. is raising questions as senators consider her nomination by President Donald Trump to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. That post would give her a prime seat at international talks to fight climate change, in part by encouraging limits on the burning of coal, with its heat-trapping emissions.posted by zachlipton at 6:13 PM on June 24, 2019 [14 favorites]
“Thanks!!” the coal baron replied to the December 2017 email from EPA officials, which had been addressed to “Ambassador Craft.” The agency was following up on a briefing she had gotten from then-EPA head Scott Pruitt on federal funding for cleaning up the Great Lakes, an issue of great interest to Canada.
Joseph Craft sent the acknowledgment on his work email for his Tulsa, Oklahoma-based coal company, Alliance Resource Partners LP.
His response ended with the breezy auto-tag from his cellphone: “Sent from my iPhone powered by coal!”
New Yorker, Jonathan Blitzer, ICE Agents Are Losing Patience with Trump’s Chaotic Immigration Policy
Over the weekend, the President agreed to halt the operation. But it’s far from certain whether McAleenan actually got the upper hand. Officials in the White House authorized ICE to issue a press release insinuating that someone had leaked important details about the operation and therefore compromised it. “Any leak telegraphing sensitive law-enforcement operations is egregious and puts our officers’ safety in danger,” an ICE spokesperson said late Saturday afternoon. This was a puzzling statement given that it was Trump who first publicized the information about the operation. But the White House’s line followed a different script: some members of the Administration, as well as the former head of ICE, Thomas Homan, were publicly accusing McAleenan of sharing information with reporters in an attempt to undermine the operation.posted by zachlipton at 6:22 PM on June 24, 2019 [46 favorites]
...
President Obama was never popular among ICE’s rank and file, but the detailed list of enforcement priorities he instituted, in 2014, which many in the agency initially resented as micromanagement, now seemed more sensible—and even preferable to the current state of affairs. The ICE officer said, “One person told me, ‘I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the Obama rules. We removed more people with the rules we had in place than with all this. It was much easier when we had the priorities. It was cleaner.’ ” Since the creation of ICE, in 2003, enforcement was premised on the idea that officers would primarily go after criminals for deportation; Trump, who views ICE as a political tool to showcase his toughness, has abandoned that framework entirely. “I don’t even know what we’re doing now,” the officer said. “A lot of us see the photos of the kids at the border, and we’re wondering, ‘What the hell is going on?’ ” The influx of Central American migrants, the officer noted, has been an issue for more than a decade now, spanning three Presidential administrations. “No one built up the infrastructure to handle this, and now people are suffering at the border for it. They keep saying they were caught flat footed. That’s a bald-faced fucking lie.”
CNN: Judge releases court details that show speed, scope of Mueller investigation following CNN request
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:14 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
At the request of CNN, a federal judge in Washington on Monday released about 230 pages of data from the court showing new details about the scope and speed of Robert Mueller's investigation.[…]Politico: These 3 lawmakers know the secrets in Mueller's report—They've got special access because they sit on both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees. “Democratic Reps. Val Demings of Florida, Eric Swalwell of California and John Ratcliffe of Texas are the only members of the 435-member House that sit on both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, and so they have access to evidence that underpins both volumes of Mueller’s report — the one on contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign that the Intelligence panel is reviewing, and the one on Trump’s efforts to interfere with the investigation that Judiciary panel is exploring.”
Other cases revealed in the lists on Monday raise new questions about the investigation.
For instance, at one point in August 2017, Mueller obtained a warrant to look at emails maintained by the FBI, according to the documents.
Some of Mueller's searches from early 2017 pertain to a case or cases that weren't closed April 1, 2019 -- after Mueller finished his report.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:14 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
If even Trump's _supporters_ believe Trump is incapable of thinking "I don't really want or need to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway just to show them that I can do it and they can't stop me" about ANY action, they are bald-faced fucking liars. That is his M.O., full stop.
Sexual assault is not primarily about "types" or lust in most cases, but about power and its exercise thereof. It is about a need to feel dominant. It is a pattern that should sound awfully familiar.
And, Donnie? You're not anybody's type. The number of digits you claim are in your bank accounts are your only potential point of attraction.
posted by delfin at 7:29 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Sexual assault is not primarily about "types" or lust in most cases, but about power and its exercise thereof. It is about a need to feel dominant. It is a pattern that should sound awfully familiar.
And, Donnie? You're not anybody's type. The number of digits you claim are in your bank accounts are your only potential point of attraction.
posted by delfin at 7:29 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Bloomberg: JUST IN: President Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a postwar defense treaty with Japan, sources say
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:40 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:40 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
Remember when touching a woman on her shoulder without her consent was a big deal?
Brian Klaas (WaPo):
Sunday shows: 3/31/19: ABC asked 3 guests about the Biden allegations; NBC asked 6 guests about it; CBS asked 2 guests. All three hosts suggested the allegations might be "disqualifying."
This Sunday: the new Trump rape allegations weren't mentioned on any of the 3 Sunday shows.
posted by chris24 at 7:43 PM on June 24, 2019 [55 favorites]
Brian Klaas (WaPo):
Sunday shows: 3/31/19: ABC asked 3 guests about the Biden allegations; NBC asked 6 guests about it; CBS asked 2 guests. All three hosts suggested the allegations might be "disqualifying."
This Sunday: the new Trump rape allegations weren't mentioned on any of the 3 Sunday shows.
posted by chris24 at 7:43 PM on June 24, 2019 [55 favorites]
American presidentialism is bad, part [n]: the treatment of the sitting president as the fount of truth, whose statements take primacy over the statements of others. This is borne out in the grammar of headlines: "I-1 denies X" rather than "Y accuses I-1 of X".
The WH press corps literally cannot cope with a president who is a pathological liar (and a cheat and a rapist) because they are delegates to the royal court of an 18th-century monarchy and the word of the king is not to be questioned.
("I wouldn't even rape you" is an especially grotesque kind of toxic, though it's more Junior's domain. See: Sargon of Dickhead towards Jess Phillips.)
posted by holgate at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [14 favorites]
The WH press corps literally cannot cope with a president who is a pathological liar (and a cheat and a rapist) because they are delegates to the royal court of an 18th-century monarchy and the word of the king is not to be questioned.
("I wouldn't even rape you" is an especially grotesque kind of toxic, though it's more Junior's domain. See: Sargon of Dickhead towards Jess Phillips.)
posted by holgate at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [14 favorites]
WaPo, Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loan debt, escalating Democratic policy battle
Matt Yglesias has a decent twitter tl;dr on why reasonable people, including progressives, might be rather dubious about this approach.
If even clicking on twitter is too much for you it's basically that it's not universal and it targets relatively well-off already people. You can't go back in time, as he says, and enroll in order to get that benefit. Better to give money to everyone and let people who wish to use it on college debt do so... others maybe need it for food and housing and, like, not dying.
posted by Justinian at 8:34 PM on June 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
Matt Yglesias has a decent twitter tl;dr on why reasonable people, including progressives, might be rather dubious about this approach.
If even clicking on twitter is too much for you it's basically that it's not universal and it targets relatively well-off already people. You can't go back in time, as he says, and enroll in order to get that benefit. Better to give money to everyone and let people who wish to use it on college debt do so... others maybe need it for food and housing and, like, not dying.
posted by Justinian at 8:34 PM on June 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
Bloomberg: JUST IN: President Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a postwar defense treaty with Japan, sources say
Hmm, why would he do that?
posted by zachlipton at 8:46 PM on June 24, 2019 [18 favorites]
Hmm, why would he do that?
Abe reached a deal in 2013 with Obama to move the base out of Okinawa as early as 2022 if a replacement could be constructed. But Trump believes the land underneath the base is valuable for development, and has told confidants the real estate could be worth about $10 billion, the people said.Ah, always be grifting.
He considers the situation another example of a wealthy country taking advantage of the U.S., the people said.
posted by zachlipton at 8:46 PM on June 24, 2019 [18 favorites]
Trump transition team 'red flagged' senior US general because he was opposed to torture
Set aside the fact that they ignored security clearance recommendations for their own family. Patraeus is famous for other transgressions that would disqualify him, but the real deal-breaker is that he was opposed to torture?
posted by adept256 at 8:47 PM on June 24, 2019 [20 favorites]
Set aside the fact that they ignored security clearance recommendations for their own family. Patraeus is famous for other transgressions that would disqualify him, but the real deal-breaker is that he was opposed to torture?
posted by adept256 at 8:47 PM on June 24, 2019 [20 favorites]
We went to a border detention center for children. What we saw was awful
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 PM on June 24, 2019 [61 favorites]
We spoke with an 11-year-old caring for his toddler brother. Both were fending for themselves in a cell with dozens of other children. The little one was quiet with matted hair, a hacking cough, muddy pants and eyes that fluttered closed with fatigue. As we interviewed the two brothers, he fell asleep on two office chairs drawn together, probably the most comfortable bed he had used in weeks. They had been separated from an 18-year-old uncle and sent to the Clint Border Patrol Station. When we met them, they had been there three weeks and counting. [...]Where is our party leadership?
A second-grader we interviewed entered the room silently but burst into tears when we asked who she traveled with to the US. "My aunt," she said, with a keening cry. A bracelet on her wrist had the words "US parent" and a phone number written in permanent marker. We called the number on the spot and found out that no one had informed her desperate parents where she was being held.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 PM on June 24, 2019 [61 favorites]
You can't go back in time, as he says, and enroll in order to get that benefit.
The perfect is the enemy of the good. If you see student debt forgiveness as a reset to the Boomer norm where tuition was $500 and you could work it off with 20 hrs in a bookstore, then why the fuck not? The university system is as bloated and shite as the healthcare system, and frankly, the federal government should settle student debt for 10¢ on the dollar and tell educational institutions to grow the fuck up and stop acting like feudal lordships.
Jubilee the fuck out of everything. Jubilee the fuck out of redlining, jubilee the fuck out of medical debt, jubilee the fuck out of educational debt, just fucking do it.
posted by holgate at 8:56 PM on June 24, 2019 [44 favorites]
The perfect is the enemy of the good. If you see student debt forgiveness as a reset to the Boomer norm where tuition was $500 and you could work it off with 20 hrs in a bookstore, then why the fuck not? The university system is as bloated and shite as the healthcare system, and frankly, the federal government should settle student debt for 10¢ on the dollar and tell educational institutions to grow the fuck up and stop acting like feudal lordships.
Jubilee the fuck out of everything. Jubilee the fuck out of redlining, jubilee the fuck out of medical debt, jubilee the fuck out of educational debt, just fucking do it.
posted by holgate at 8:56 PM on June 24, 2019 [44 favorites]
I mean, seriously, forgive all debt, cover it at the actual market rate for delinquent or defaulted debt below, I dunno, a million dollars, so as not to include the brokeass deadbeat president, and sing hallelujah. Why the fuck not? If people complain, slap them on the face with the parable of the prodigal son.
posted by holgate at 8:59 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by holgate at 8:59 PM on June 24, 2019 [16 favorites]
If you see student debt forgiveness as a reset to the Boomer norm where tuition was $500 and you could work it off with 20 hrs in a bookstore, then why the fuck not?
If you read the critique you see that he is drawing a big distinction between retroactive debt forgiveness and "free college" going forward (however you want to define/pay for it). Nearly-free college going forward would be universal and a reset to the Boomer norm and would benefit everyone. Forgiving student debt, and only student debt, retroactively isn't that. It's a subsidy of people who went college and took on a lot of debt by people who didn't do that. Some of those folks will be wealthy and thus didn't need student loans but many of them will be poor and working class and didn't go to college.
Jubilee the fuck out of everything. [...] forgive all debt
Ok but that's a different plan entirely. Forgive all debt isn't what Sanders is proposing. You can't necessarily say "if we did X it would be good, therefore if we only do a subset of X it is also good." Sometimes doing only part of a good thing is worse than doing nothing.
posted by Justinian at 9:00 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
If you read the critique you see that he is drawing a big distinction between retroactive debt forgiveness and "free college" going forward (however you want to define/pay for it). Nearly-free college going forward would be universal and a reset to the Boomer norm and would benefit everyone. Forgiving student debt, and only student debt, retroactively isn't that. It's a subsidy of people who went college and took on a lot of debt by people who didn't do that. Some of those folks will be wealthy and thus didn't need student loans but many of them will be poor and working class and didn't go to college.
Jubilee the fuck out of everything. [...] forgive all debt
Ok but that's a different plan entirely. Forgive all debt isn't what Sanders is proposing. You can't necessarily say "if we did X it would be good, therefore if we only do a subset of X it is also good." Sometimes doing only part of a good thing is worse than doing nothing.
posted by Justinian at 9:00 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
I think we’re well into the realm where the problems are so stupid that apparently stupid solutions become reasonable. I’m not an economist, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a lot of qualified experts agreeing that a plan to give everyone $100,000 makes basic macroeconomic sense. I think you’d find a lot that would think it’s smarter than any kind of targeted loan forgiveness, like student loans or whatever. Which is on the one hand an indication of how far down the rabbit hole we are, and on the other, how radical the range of policy options is.
On preview:
1) jubilee isn’t much help to someone who just heroically completed their indenture.
2) none of this matters because kids in cages.
posted by dirge at 9:03 PM on June 24, 2019 [10 favorites]
On preview:
1) jubilee isn’t much help to someone who just heroically completed their indenture.
2) none of this matters because kids in cages.
posted by dirge at 9:03 PM on June 24, 2019 [10 favorites]
I’m not an economist, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a lot of qualified experts agreeing that a plan to give everyone $100,000 makes basic macroeconomic sense.
Those economists definitely do exist! Across the political spectrum. This is basically what a guaranteed universal basic income is (see also: Andrew Yang.) Well, it would be a per annum obviously not one lump.
posted by Justinian at 9:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Those economists definitely do exist! Across the political spectrum. This is basically what a guaranteed universal basic income is (see also: Andrew Yang.) Well, it would be a per annum obviously not one lump.
posted by Justinian at 9:05 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
This dovetails with the reparations question. We can't retroactively give black families a Levittown house in 1949 and 70 years of compounded real estate gains. (Fuck you, Bill O'Reilly, you shit-encrusted shamrock shake.) I am okay with giving people a fuckload of money and saying "do what you want with it" because that's the American Way, but I am more fine with taking that money and giving everyone the kind of collective health / employment / later life coverage that Scando systems provide, other than I don't think Americans can be convinced that it's not okay for Those Other People to suffer.
posted by holgate at 9:07 PM on June 24, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by holgate at 9:07 PM on June 24, 2019 [8 favorites]
Yep. And i’d Advocate UBI too. Just pointing out that if we’re going to talk “jubilee” it makes more sense to economically level by saying “just give everybody a ton of money” than it does to forgive debts. Maybe a decent way to approach reparations too, though I’m not well positioned to expound on that issue.
posted by dirge at 9:15 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by dirge at 9:15 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
A friend of mine who is not rich (first person in his family to go to college) and was told if he got the big expensive law degree he’d be able to pay it off with high powered business lawyer money found that no one was hiring high powered lawyers and it was a competition to see who could work for the most amoral assholes so he ended up a public defender which also does not pay the high powered lawyer money - he ran the numbers and figured if the debt jubilee goes forward he would actually save money putting in as many volunteer hours campaigning as he could. Like 3k an hour from now til the primary.
posted by The Whelk at 9:16 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:16 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
"One of the best benefits of debt cancellation and tuition free public college is obliterating the ROTC military recruitment pipeline that exploits poverty and ambitions to conscript poor –often black and brown– folks to fight in our endless wars just to afford an education." @wideofthepost
posted by The Whelk at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2019 [30 favorites]
A friend of mine who is not rich (first person in his family to go to college) and was told if he got the big expensive law degree he’d be able to pay it off with high powered business lawyer money found that no one was hiring high powered lawyers and it was a competition to see who could work for the most amoral assholes so he ended up a public defender which also does not pay the high powered lawyer money - he ran the numbers and figured if the debt jubilee goes forward he would actually save money putting in as many volunteer hours campaigning as he could. Like 3k an hour from now til the primary.
Hi. This is me and all of my friends.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2019 [19 favorites]
Hi. This is me and all of my friends.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2019 [19 favorites]
Intuitively, it seems like the great legal education bait & switch (well documented by L,G&M over the years), resulting in an army of angry underemployed attorneys, ought to turn out to be a huge error on the part of the establishment. It remains a little unclear how to get that skill and anger organized and pointed in the right direction, but I remain hopeful.
posted by dirge at 9:26 PM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by dirge at 9:26 PM on June 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
This dovetails with the reparations question.
We have a welfare program in Australia called ABSTUDY. It's designed to cover the basic necessities of student life, plus the additional cost of travel and living away from home for indigenous Australians. It's more than the standard student welfare payment, acknowledging the financial challenges that some Aboriginal people face in higher education.
In short, if you're a government supported student at a university, you get a little bit more money if you're an Aboriginal. After everything that's happened here, I think that's fair.
Having said all that, America is a billion years from our system and heading in the wrong direction.
posted by adept256 at 9:33 PM on June 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
We have a welfare program in Australia called ABSTUDY. It's designed to cover the basic necessities of student life, plus the additional cost of travel and living away from home for indigenous Australians. It's more than the standard student welfare payment, acknowledging the financial challenges that some Aboriginal people face in higher education.
In short, if you're a government supported student at a university, you get a little bit more money if you're an Aboriginal. After everything that's happened here, I think that's fair.
Having said all that, America is a billion years from our system and heading in the wrong direction.
posted by adept256 at 9:33 PM on June 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
It remains a little unclear how to get that skill and anger organized and pointed in the right direction, but I remain hopeful.
http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/Get_a_lawyer#Immigration
::coughs::
posted by Little Dawn at 9:35 PM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/Get_a_lawyer#Immigration
::coughs::
posted by Little Dawn at 9:35 PM on June 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
I can't recommend highly enough checking out The Investigation, currently streaming for free here. Kevin Kline as Mueller, John Lithgow as Trump, Kyra Sedgwick as Sarah Sanders, Jason Alexander as Chris Christie, and Joel Grey as Jeff Sessions--they're reading Volume 2 of the Mueller report. Kind of amazing.
posted by suelac at 9:50 PM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by suelac at 9:50 PM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
This Video of Kamala Harris Dancing Down an Escalator to a Drum Line Will Revive You
You must watch the videos of Harris's grand entrance to the S.C. Democratic Convention for your health, your wellness, you spirit, your t-zone, your cholesterol level, and as a required question on the citizenship exam.posted by kirkaracha at 9:52 PM on June 24, 2019 [28 favorites]
...
Harris, a proud Howard graduate, certainly knows about the power of drum lines to lift your soul, set a mood, and start you living right. The glee on her face is contagious. In this shot from the escalator itself she looks like she's riding a roller coaster. Like, the good kind. Not like the experience of logging online every day to read the news.
With Sanders and Warren now out with student debt plans, BuzzFeed takes a moment to look at How Student Debt Forgiveness Reveals The Difference Between Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren
And I feel like we're stuck in the same trap here. It is pretty self-evidently wrong that some presidential candidates right now want to do more for an indebted doctor or lawyer making $150,000/year than they want to do for the homeless man lying on the street on my block. That's not to say that there can't and shouldn't be separate plans to help both, or that there aren't sound political reasons why candidates are talking about student debt more than homeless people, just that the priorities say something about who we are and who we want to be.
But to be totally cynical for a moment, politically, Democratic policies can't ignore the upper middle class forever, especially as differences in cost of living increasingly means that national income comparisons are more and more meaningless. There's a group of people, comparatively well off but far from truly wealthy, especially in high cost areas, who are right to be aggrieved that the ACA hasn't particularly helped them. And to be fair, that's something Democrats have had proposals to fix for years—they're always blocked by Republicans who want the whole thing to fail and especially don't want the ACA to help Republican voters. But there is a corrosive effect from Democrats spending decades tailoring programs to specific income levels: other voters come to the conclusion that you don't have anything to offer them. And since we're stuck with the American Dream myth that everyone is just a temporally embarrassed millionaire, even people who could be helped refuse to acknowledge it. As people keep pointing out, if someone proposed public libraries today, they'd be laughed out of the room. So there's a strong argument in favor of Sanders-style universality: enough with the means testing.
But with some of these, I can't help but shake the feeling that universal programs without further action to achieve equality serves to reinforce existing power structures. One thing I appreciate about some of Warren's plans is that they have a "yes and" component to them. For example, her higher education plan is committed to free public college and broad debt cancellation, but recognizing who that privileges, it says "yes, we need to do that, and" we need to specifically add additional elements to the plan that address racial and socioeconomic disparities to ensure it's successful for more people. Similarly, Warren's child care plan doesn't have an income cliff; it just says we'll cap your costs at no more than 7% of family income, and naturally that rolls off at the high end of the income scale. These strike me as good ways to provide near-universality in a more conscious way.
It is possible, a moral imperative even, to house the homeless and pay for higher education at the same time in this country. But these plans still don't sit quite so easily with me, because there's a man sleeping on cold hard bricks outside tonight, and everyone is a lot less interested in him than deciding exactly how much student loan debt should be wiped out.
Anyway, @david_j_roth: Materially Improving Things For People Is Unfair To People Who Already Have It Pretty Good is the perfect shitty 2019 argument. It sits perfectly in that middle ground of Liberal Who Cannot Argue For Universal Things and Conservative Who Doesn't Want To Say They Like Bad Things.
posted by zachlipton at 10:01 PM on June 24, 2019 [36 favorites]
Sanders’ vision, announced Monday, is relatively straightforward: wipe out every dollar of student loan debt owned by every American. All $1.6 trillion of it, gone.With this, I think back a lot to some of the early conversations the Obama Administration had over the ACA, where they were planning on mainly addressing middle class problems with health insurance until they fully comprehended how many millions of people were struggling who were never going to be able to afford more than a small fraction of a health insurance premium. That's what led to the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies cutting off at 400% FPL; there were a lot of people who were really desperate for health care, and, within the bounds of what the program could cost, it was unethical to put them behind the upper middle class families who were also struggling with high premiums. And the ramifications of that are something we're still dealing with today, both in the health care system and politically.
The $640 billion Warren plan, by contrast, would cap student loan forgiveness at $50,000 for those making less than $100,000 annually, and at smaller amounts for those making less than $250,000. Unlike Sanders’ plan, those making more than $250,000 a year wouldn’t see a penny of forgiveness. Both plans would be paid for by asking more of the wealthiest Americans — Warren’s with a tax on individual wealth, and Sanders’ with a tax on Wall Street transactions.
Sanders and Warren have often been seen as ideologically linked, standing far to the left of many other Democrats in favor of policies that target the wealthy and corporations and dramatically increase the social safety net. But as they vie for the Democratic nomination, they have distinguished themselves from one another.
And I feel like we're stuck in the same trap here. It is pretty self-evidently wrong that some presidential candidates right now want to do more for an indebted doctor or lawyer making $150,000/year than they want to do for the homeless man lying on the street on my block. That's not to say that there can't and shouldn't be separate plans to help both, or that there aren't sound political reasons why candidates are talking about student debt more than homeless people, just that the priorities say something about who we are and who we want to be.
But to be totally cynical for a moment, politically, Democratic policies can't ignore the upper middle class forever, especially as differences in cost of living increasingly means that national income comparisons are more and more meaningless. There's a group of people, comparatively well off but far from truly wealthy, especially in high cost areas, who are right to be aggrieved that the ACA hasn't particularly helped them. And to be fair, that's something Democrats have had proposals to fix for years—they're always blocked by Republicans who want the whole thing to fail and especially don't want the ACA to help Republican voters. But there is a corrosive effect from Democrats spending decades tailoring programs to specific income levels: other voters come to the conclusion that you don't have anything to offer them. And since we're stuck with the American Dream myth that everyone is just a temporally embarrassed millionaire, even people who could be helped refuse to acknowledge it. As people keep pointing out, if someone proposed public libraries today, they'd be laughed out of the room. So there's a strong argument in favor of Sanders-style universality: enough with the means testing.
But with some of these, I can't help but shake the feeling that universal programs without further action to achieve equality serves to reinforce existing power structures. One thing I appreciate about some of Warren's plans is that they have a "yes and" component to them. For example, her higher education plan is committed to free public college and broad debt cancellation, but recognizing who that privileges, it says "yes, we need to do that, and" we need to specifically add additional elements to the plan that address racial and socioeconomic disparities to ensure it's successful for more people. Similarly, Warren's child care plan doesn't have an income cliff; it just says we'll cap your costs at no more than 7% of family income, and naturally that rolls off at the high end of the income scale. These strike me as good ways to provide near-universality in a more conscious way.
It is possible, a moral imperative even, to house the homeless and pay for higher education at the same time in this country. But these plans still don't sit quite so easily with me, because there's a man sleeping on cold hard bricks outside tonight, and everyone is a lot less interested in him than deciding exactly how much student loan debt should be wiped out.
Anyway, @david_j_roth: Materially Improving Things For People Is Unfair To People Who Already Have It Pretty Good is the perfect shitty 2019 argument. It sits perfectly in that middle ground of Liberal Who Cannot Argue For Universal Things and Conservative Who Doesn't Want To Say They Like Bad Things.
posted by zachlipton at 10:01 PM on June 24, 2019 [36 favorites]
I mean I want total jubilee for both the optics and cause it;s just easier and even if someone making a lot of money I want to stop giving money to those sucking black voids that are lenders and have them spend that money in the community - there's your liberal argument - also then maybe people could start saving since basically no one has savings.
So smash em together, No more student debt AND the creation of free college system via various taxes and enforcement.
I mean I want to absorb Harvard and such into state systems but you know, baby steps.
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
So smash em together, No more student debt AND the creation of free college system via various taxes and enforcement.
I mean I want to absorb Harvard and such into state systems but you know, baby steps.
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 PM on June 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
“It’s a universal program” is a reasonable answer to the question “why is a second-year associate at a fancy law firm who doesn’t really need help getting some money?” But an actual universal program wouldn’t leave out the person who cleans that guy’s apartment. Free college on a forward looking basis is universal because anyone *can* enroll. But people who didn’t go to college can’t go back in time to get debt relief. “Give everyone money” would be universal and the money could be used for debt relief or whatever else people need.There are definitely important debates to have about what degree to apply means testing to polices. But Yglesias's notion of "universal" seems profoundly misguided and to set the conversation off on a very wrong foot. First of all, by this logic, almost no actual policy in existence or under consideration would seem to count as truly "universal." Second, the only policy that might count under this definition is "give people money," but even then, what kind of money? Is a flat amount actually universal if the lowest rungs would actually need more to benefit equally to the middle rungs? Third, the notion of "universal" inherent in the claim that "anyone can enroll" if college is free is, if anything, even more misguided than the idea that universal debt relief is universal; it is very much not the case that "anyone can enroll" if only college is made free, and believing so betrays the same sort of libertarian/conservative bias as is inherent in the idea the flat cash is the only "universal" solution and anything that benefits any better-off group should be eliminated in the name of (some ill-defined) perfect fairness.
The solution to these problems is not "universality," especially not universality that devolves to UBI and nothing else. The solution to policies that are just and needed but may on average favor the better-off is adding more policies that favor the less-well-off. Down one path lies the libertarian fantasy of UBI and an endless war of attacking the benefits to some in the supposed name of fairness to others. Down the other path is ... well, standard liberalism, really. You put out policies to help folks who need it, including things that benefit the upper portions (college, mortgage protection, air safety regulations, etc), along with even more things that benefit the neediest. That's how you build cooperative coalitions in the real world. Whatever their disagreements about the roll-off at the top, both Warren and Sanders are basically proposing standard policies, albeit on a larger scale than usual. Both offer a mix of policies that target different groups, hopefully allowing us to piece together a society that is overall more fair and better-off. We may argue about the specifics, but in any case, Yglesias's logic of attacking any policy that offers benefits for the upper groups without consideration for the larger context of other policies, all in the name of some ill-defined libertarianish "universalism," seems distinctly unhelpful. Much more direct, if these are proxy attacks on behalf of Warren's mean-tested program, is to just admit that yeah, all college debt-forgiveness and tuition subsidies tend to favor groups other than the worst-off, and then make the argument directly that Sanders's policy of forgiving debt even for the rich is nevertheless a bridge too far.
posted by chortly at 10:19 PM on June 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
I sort of don't get Sanders debt reimbursement plan like I don't get why Yang insists on giving UBI money to millionaires. Okay, it might get them to buy in, but... really?
posted by xammerboy at 10:23 PM on June 24, 2019
posted by xammerboy at 10:23 PM on June 24, 2019
Universal programs have the advantage that they actually get used, tons of people qualify for loan forgiveness from bad privately run schools but they never use them cause the process is just paperwork and documents and a whole-ass prying into your personal life burden. Univeralism has the benefit of streamlining that and getting to the point, making people more free by not being beholden to the stupid debt we allowed to happen.
If you took out a loan you needed that loan. It's not our place to figure out if you REALLY needed it. The number of people who didn't is vanishing small compared to the people who did, and you don;t need to build this crazy bureaucracy of figuring out who REALLY needs it which will be the backdoor Austerity uses to creep in. You cant allow two-tiered systems to exist, either by letting the rich opt-out or testing the poor and middling classes more. Everyone gets everything is the simple solution to a very dumb problem, otherwise you go down rabbit holes like checking to see if you don't make enough money to enjoy a public park. Or you need to prove you don't make enough money so you can use a public school and not a private one. This is seriously 19th century thinking.
Plus, Universal programs are much more stable cause everyone is bought into them The right wing in the UK has been trying everything they can think of to Privatize the NHS and it;s still the most popular government agency cause everyone has a stake in it and uses it. Universal systems are also harder to game cause there's no point, everyone gets the same treatment and they're less likely to create resentment. You undo the idea of Deserving Poor and Undeserving Poor, and if it happens to help a few rich people who would already be FINE their ENTIRE lives otherwise while helping the many, many, many more under them who won;t be without it, who cares?
Rich people don;t have student debt anyway, but a lot of first time in their family going to college so. I view this as a first step in eliminating all debt, medical, housing, personal, to create, if not a utopia, then a word where don;t people are making negative money.
If the rich get giddy about the idea of having free PH.Ds we can just tax them more. Or like, at all.
posted by The Whelk at 10:35 PM on June 24, 2019 [48 favorites]
If you took out a loan you needed that loan. It's not our place to figure out if you REALLY needed it. The number of people who didn't is vanishing small compared to the people who did, and you don;t need to build this crazy bureaucracy of figuring out who REALLY needs it which will be the backdoor Austerity uses to creep in. You cant allow two-tiered systems to exist, either by letting the rich opt-out or testing the poor and middling classes more. Everyone gets everything is the simple solution to a very dumb problem, otherwise you go down rabbit holes like checking to see if you don't make enough money to enjoy a public park. Or you need to prove you don't make enough money so you can use a public school and not a private one. This is seriously 19th century thinking.
Plus, Universal programs are much more stable cause everyone is bought into them The right wing in the UK has been trying everything they can think of to Privatize the NHS and it;s still the most popular government agency cause everyone has a stake in it and uses it. Universal systems are also harder to game cause there's no point, everyone gets the same treatment and they're less likely to create resentment. You undo the idea of Deserving Poor and Undeserving Poor, and if it happens to help a few rich people who would already be FINE their ENTIRE lives otherwise while helping the many, many, many more under them who won;t be without it, who cares?
Rich people don;t have student debt anyway, but a lot of first time in their family going to college so. I view this as a first step in eliminating all debt, medical, housing, personal, to create, if not a utopia, then a word where don;t people are making negative money.
If the rich get giddy about the idea of having free PH.Ds we can just tax them more. Or like, at all.
posted by The Whelk at 10:35 PM on June 24, 2019 [48 favorites]
I sort of don't get Sanders debt reimbursement plan like I don't get why Yang insists on giving UBI money to millionaires. Okay, it might get them to buy in, but... really?
The "really?" logic kind of goes both directions though: the rich are such a tiny percentage of society that giving them social security, UBI, or debt relief doesn't materially affect the total cost of most policy packages. So the fight seems to be mainly on the idea of fairness: some are fiercely bothered by the idea of giving anything to the rich, while others consider the issue largely symbolic and prefer simpler policies that might also enlist the powerful on their side. Of course, the real fight over means-testing benefits is not at the top 1%, but for folks in the middle percentiles. One side tends to prefer aggressively means-tested programs to make sure no well-off groups get an unfair share (or "welfare queens," in the extreme case), while the other often argues that even in those cases where such groups do unfairly benefit, the costs of means-testing (fracturing coalitions and erroneously barring many people in genuine need) outweigh the largely immaterial costs of occasionally giving benefits to the relatively better off. This is the real battle between the free-college/free-healthcare/free-childcare/free-debt folks, and the centrists who want to make sure these programs are assiduously means-tested to prevent unfair benefits. Warren often tries to bridge this divide, with fairly broad policies that will surely benefit many well-off folks, yet still some means-testing caps at the top. But for my money, it's all a fight over a largely symbolic and small portion of the costs, and thus best ignored either way, at least when it's between candidates who largely agree on the vast bulk of their policies.
posted by chortly at 10:42 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
The "really?" logic kind of goes both directions though: the rich are such a tiny percentage of society that giving them social security, UBI, or debt relief doesn't materially affect the total cost of most policy packages. So the fight seems to be mainly on the idea of fairness: some are fiercely bothered by the idea of giving anything to the rich, while others consider the issue largely symbolic and prefer simpler policies that might also enlist the powerful on their side. Of course, the real fight over means-testing benefits is not at the top 1%, but for folks in the middle percentiles. One side tends to prefer aggressively means-tested programs to make sure no well-off groups get an unfair share (or "welfare queens," in the extreme case), while the other often argues that even in those cases where such groups do unfairly benefit, the costs of means-testing (fracturing coalitions and erroneously barring many people in genuine need) outweigh the largely immaterial costs of occasionally giving benefits to the relatively better off. This is the real battle between the free-college/free-healthcare/free-childcare/free-debt folks, and the centrists who want to make sure these programs are assiduously means-tested to prevent unfair benefits. Warren often tries to bridge this divide, with fairly broad policies that will surely benefit many well-off folks, yet still some means-testing caps at the top. But for my money, it's all a fight over a largely symbolic and small portion of the costs, and thus best ignored either way, at least when it's between candidates who largely agree on the vast bulk of their policies.
posted by chortly at 10:42 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
I'm not going to get into a fist fight over it but I think you should always lead with your biggest demand cause your not dealing with :reasonable" actors.
SO when I say "Cancel All Debt: there should be an assumed "And Great A Free College System" next to it
and as part of a larger system, to enact pot legalization that that strike people;s records' for related crimes and ...maybe give a five year head start an opening marijuana based companies? Nationalize the insurance industry via Medicare FOr ALl so people never see another medical bill? Remove housing from the speculation market with more ppublic buy outs and COmmunity Land Trusts?
there are some of the major issues keeping people in poverty traps and these solutions are all very nice normal liberalism. I haven't even gotten into seizing the means of production, creating co-ops, and preparing the public square for a guillotine. Not even once. After the pivot of Reagan/Thatcher politicians basically stopped knowing ho to make liberal cases for good programs like these and that;s pretty sad and I say this as someone for whom Liberal can be a mild pejorative in certain situations.
posted by The Whelk at 10:55 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
SO when I say "Cancel All Debt: there should be an assumed "And Great A Free College System" next to it
and as part of a larger system, to enact pot legalization that that strike people;s records' for related crimes and ...maybe give a five year head start an opening marijuana based companies? Nationalize the insurance industry via Medicare FOr ALl so people never see another medical bill? Remove housing from the speculation market with more ppublic buy outs and COmmunity Land Trusts?
there are some of the major issues keeping people in poverty traps and these solutions are all very nice normal liberalism. I haven't even gotten into seizing the means of production, creating co-ops, and preparing the public square for a guillotine. Not even once. After the pivot of Reagan/Thatcher politicians basically stopped knowing ho to make liberal cases for good programs like these and that;s pretty sad and I say this as someone for whom Liberal can be a mild pejorative in certain situations.
posted by The Whelk at 10:55 PM on June 24, 2019 [11 favorites]
Right, but with student debt, it's inherently means tested at the bottom, to a reasonable extent, by virtue of who has student debt. It's not about whether the program is means tested at the top; it's what happens at the bottom. Wiping out existing student debt only applies to people with student debt; the biglaw associate's cleaner has none to wipe out That's different from public schools and libraries and UBI and other actual universal programs, where sure, the rich can benefit too, but they pay for more of it too.
We spend a lot of time, rightly, asking who benefits from the mortgage interest deduction and who doesn't. We spend a lot of time, rightly, asking why Warren Buffet's secretary pays a higher percentage of her income in taxes than Buffet does. I'm not sure why it's wrong to ask why the associate should pay, say, negative $150,000 in taxes when their cleaner is paying a few thousand bucks a year. That is the question that's more than symbolic.
The simple answer is because it was wrong that we had a system that can result in people two hundred thousand dollars of student debt in the first place, and that's not an unpersuasive answer, but is "there will be free college the cleaner might be able to use" enough of a response to make it fair?
posted by zachlipton at 11:04 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
We spend a lot of time, rightly, asking who benefits from the mortgage interest deduction and who doesn't. We spend a lot of time, rightly, asking why Warren Buffet's secretary pays a higher percentage of her income in taxes than Buffet does. I'm not sure why it's wrong to ask why the associate should pay, say, negative $150,000 in taxes when their cleaner is paying a few thousand bucks a year. That is the question that's more than symbolic.
The simple answer is because it was wrong that we had a system that can result in people two hundred thousand dollars of student debt in the first place, and that's not an unpersuasive answer, but is "there will be free college the cleaner might be able to use" enough of a response to make it fair?
posted by zachlipton at 11:04 PM on June 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
but is "there will be free college the cleaner might be able to use" enough of a response to make it fair?
It;s a good start and this should not be seen as the end of the demands "well we got rid of student debt!, everything is fine!" We get rid of the debt to give some people a little security and breathing room so we can work on the next thing (and the next). Universalism allows us to get though this step quicker.
posted by The Whelk at 11:10 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
It;s a good start and this should not be seen as the end of the demands "well we got rid of student debt!, everything is fine!" We get rid of the debt to give some people a little security and breathing room so we can work on the next thing (and the next). Universalism allows us to get though this step quicker.
posted by The Whelk at 11:10 PM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
comparatively well off but far from truly wealthy, especially in high cost areas, who are right to be aggrieved that the ACA hasn't particularly helped them
I am not sure whether I am the type of person you're talking about (though I probably am) and for one data point; I live in Los Angeles (high cost area) and right now my health insurance premiums are something like 13% of my gross income. Premiums, not total cost. And gross, not net.
But I'm still strongly in favor of the ACA because I'm not a selfish person or a Republican.
posted by Justinian at 11:37 PM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
I am not sure whether I am the type of person you're talking about (though I probably am) and for one data point; I live in Los Angeles (high cost area) and right now my health insurance premiums are something like 13% of my gross income. Premiums, not total cost. And gross, not net.
But I'm still strongly in favor of the ACA because I'm not a selfish person or a Republican.
posted by Justinian at 11:37 PM on June 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
Kevin Drum, AOC Is Right: Democrats Can’t Cave In on the Border Bill
On this one, I’m with AOC. Her politics aren’t entirely mine, but her instinctive understanding of how to deal with people like Trump is unrivaled. “I will not fund another dime to allow ICE to continue its manipulative tactics,” she said earlier this evening, and I agree. Democrats should put reasonable restrictions into the legislative language and then dare Trump to veto it. The hostage-taking approach to politics won’t stop until it’s crystal clear that it will never, ever work.posted by zachlipton at 12:31 AM on June 25, 2019 [44 favorites]
The appalling part of this, of course, is that it requires us to grit our teeth and allow Republicans to continue their usual callous treatment of the weak unless they agree to spend the money the way it’s supposed to be spent. But there’s no choice. McConnell and Trump are counting on bleeding-heart liberals to be patsies. They have to learn that we won’t be.
Here's your grotesque ICE discovery of the day. Well, the first anyway. Let's hope it's the last.
ICE Orders Dozens of Straitjacket-Like Restraints
posted by scalefree at 4:30 AM on June 25, 2019 [37 favorites]
ICE Orders Dozens of Straitjacket-Like Restraints
Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Air Operations has ordered 60 “Wrap” restraint devices — full-body restraints that resemble straitjackets — for the purpose of restraining detainees during removal operations, according to federal procurement documents reviewed by TYT.
The Wrap is intended for detainees “who may be non-compliant, overly aggressive, combative or in a highly agitated state,” the documents say. The manufacturer says the device can be “downsized to fit very small children.”Safe Restraints
[...]
The Wrap reportedly has been implicated in multiple fatalities, but no liability has been established in court and its maker, Safe Restraints, Inc., of California, maintains that no deaths or injuries have resulted from its use. An Arkansas juvenile facility reportedly was told to stop using The Wrap after officials found it was deployed as punishment rather than solely for safety purposes.
posted by scalefree at 4:30 AM on June 25, 2019 [37 favorites]
2) none of this matters because kids in cages.
Speaking of which ... Is anyone organizing a march/rally on the National Mall to protest this? I would expect turnout to be massive.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:44 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Speaking of which ... Is anyone organizing a march/rally on the National Mall to protest this? I would expect turnout to be massive.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:44 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
People want to donate diapers and toys to children at Border Patrol facilities in Texas. They're being turned away.
We have photo and video proof that the mistreatment of children is a purely punitive matter. Congress doesn't have to allocate a single additional cent for the kids to demand this stop.
posted by ocschwar at 5:30 AM on June 25, 2019 [31 favorites]
We have photo and video proof that the mistreatment of children is a purely punitive matter
Cut the fences.
posted by rhizome at 5:58 AM on June 25, 2019 [24 favorites]
Cut the fences.
posted by rhizome at 5:58 AM on June 25, 2019 [24 favorites]
But I'm still strongly in favor of the ACA because I'm not a selfish person or a Republican.
You can both be in favor of the ACA and be aggravated that it doesn't do much to benefit you. I'm also somewhat well off but far from wealthy. I also support the ACA. I think it was a good first step, I'm hopeful that a future 2nd step will benefit me more directly and I'm pissed off that that step hasn't been taken. Assuming we can get the GOP out of the way I would really like Democrats to stop screwing around with small targeted solutions that their strategy experts tell them will thread the needle to gain the most support on both sides of the isle and just do big shit that actually works like Medicare for all (still a good 2nd step but there will need to be at least one more).
posted by VTX at 6:03 AM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
You can both be in favor of the ACA and be aggravated that it doesn't do much to benefit you. I'm also somewhat well off but far from wealthy. I also support the ACA. I think it was a good first step, I'm hopeful that a future 2nd step will benefit me more directly and I'm pissed off that that step hasn't been taken. Assuming we can get the GOP out of the way I would really like Democrats to stop screwing around with small targeted solutions that their strategy experts tell them will thread the needle to gain the most support on both sides of the isle and just do big shit that actually works like Medicare for all (still a good 2nd step but there will need to be at least one more).
posted by VTX at 6:03 AM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
Universal programs have the advantage that they actually get used, tons of people qualify for loan forgiveness from bad privately run schools but they never use them cause the process is just paperwork and documents and a whole-ass prying into your personal life burden.
Minnesota struggled with "universal" early childhood education, because everyone wanted it, but the "fiscal conservatives" (who always mean by their self-label "don't give money to people unless they prove they need it, even if it decreases the value of the program") wanted people with the need to apply for it, while everyone else pays. Truly universal, free preschool education was seen as a give-away to people who could otherwise afford it, but my argument was exactly yours: then those most in need (i.e., those whose parents were disconnected or distracted by overwhelming poverty or out and out neglectful) wouldn't get the education. Of course, "fiscal conservatives'" main argument is to blame the parents for this failure, which, painfully obviously, punishes the child and the rest of society rather. "Personal responsibility," like so much of "fiscal conservative" rhetoric, is really just another way to punish people who are not approved of and to keep them out of the mainstream. And we wonder why antipoverty programs don't have a better track record.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:31 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
Minnesota struggled with "universal" early childhood education, because everyone wanted it, but the "fiscal conservatives" (who always mean by their self-label "don't give money to people unless they prove they need it, even if it decreases the value of the program") wanted people with the need to apply for it, while everyone else pays. Truly universal, free preschool education was seen as a give-away to people who could otherwise afford it, but my argument was exactly yours: then those most in need (i.e., those whose parents were disconnected or distracted by overwhelming poverty or out and out neglectful) wouldn't get the education. Of course, "fiscal conservatives'" main argument is to blame the parents for this failure, which, painfully obviously, punishes the child and the rest of society rather. "Personal responsibility," like so much of "fiscal conservative" rhetoric, is really just another way to punish people who are not approved of and to keep them out of the mainstream. And we wonder why antipoverty programs don't have a better track record.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:31 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
Both plans would be paid for by asking more of the wealthiest Americans — Warren’s with a tax on individual wealth, and Sanders’ with a tax on Wall Street transactions.
I'd appreciate the econometricizationalizing Mefites expounding briefly on the potential impact of these two strategies on financial market activities, especially the efficient allocation of resources. In my totally amateur understanding of how markets work, it seems like the transaction tax could more severely distort investment decisions than a universal wealth tax would. Short term trades would be discouraged under the former, whereas under the latter everyone would still be trying to maximize their utilities in the same way.
But, as usual when I step outside my wheelhouse, I'm probably oversimplifying and missing some aspects altogether. Little help?
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2019
I'd appreciate the econometricizationalizing Mefites expounding briefly on the potential impact of these two strategies on financial market activities, especially the efficient allocation of resources. In my totally amateur understanding of how markets work, it seems like the transaction tax could more severely distort investment decisions than a universal wealth tax would. Short term trades would be discouraged under the former, whereas under the latter everyone would still be trying to maximize their utilities in the same way.
But, as usual when I step outside my wheelhouse, I'm probably oversimplifying and missing some aspects altogether. Little help?
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2019
He really does have the reverse Midas.
Tim Aeppel (Reuters):
76% of Americans say immigration is a good thing--the highest number since Gallup started asking the question. CHART
posted by chris24 at 6:47 AM on June 25, 2019 [30 favorites]
Tim Aeppel (Reuters):
76% of Americans say immigration is a good thing--the highest number since Gallup started asking the question. CHART
posted by chris24 at 6:47 AM on June 25, 2019 [30 favorites]
The best argument for “just give it to everyone” is that administering needs tests is a hassle for everyone. People in need often have a lot of cognitive load, may be under-informed about what is available, may be insufficiently educated to do a bunch of bullshit paperwork, etc. People who don’t need it will just pay slightly more in tax money to fund the whole program so I guess if you’re an efficiency pendant you don’t like them paying out just to get services back rather than paying directly, though we do that for building roads so why not with education? And when a program has gatekeepers it’s a certainty there will be people inappropriately kept out. What’s the right number of poor kids to keep out of pre-K to insure it doesn’t go unnecessarily to a rich person’s kid?
The second best reason is to short-circuit this fucking nonsense from conservative racists who will deprive themselves to make sure the “wrong” people don’t get something. It’s for everyone, including you, so shut up.
The third best reason is that it sends a message about what’s important to our society. Education matters so we’re going to educate everyone, period. We’re not going to fuck around with boundaries and what-ifs, we’re just gonna do it. You need medical care you get medical care. Don’t show me your tax return first. Don’t show me your driver’s license to make sure you’re over 65 or under 18. Just get the care. Because everyone needs it and everyone should have it.
If you’re worried that it means top earners are using these services and not paying enough for them I have a radical solution for fixing that issue. They’re called taxes.
posted by phearlez at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2019 [56 favorites]
The second best reason is to short-circuit this fucking nonsense from conservative racists who will deprive themselves to make sure the “wrong” people don’t get something. It’s for everyone, including you, so shut up.
The third best reason is that it sends a message about what’s important to our society. Education matters so we’re going to educate everyone, period. We’re not going to fuck around with boundaries and what-ifs, we’re just gonna do it. You need medical care you get medical care. Don’t show me your tax return first. Don’t show me your driver’s license to make sure you’re over 65 or under 18. Just get the care. Because everyone needs it and everyone should have it.
If you’re worried that it means top earners are using these services and not paying enough for them I have a radical solution for fixing that issue. They’re called taxes.
posted by phearlez at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2019 [56 favorites]
If we could create an education system that is fully funded by taxes, costs absolutely nothing at point-of-service, and is so good that rich people want to send their children there instead of paying for private schools, I'd call that a win, wouldn't you?
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2019 [28 favorites]
The author of the article linked in this thread, or at least very indirectly by way of being in Matt Yglesias's twitter thread) put it well: the student debt discussion is undertheorized, which is leading to confusion and muddling. I don't think it's obvious, in this specific context, what should even be meant by universal "as opposed to" means-tested or whatever.
There's also, I think, a nontrivial difference between the sense of entitlement in "I paid off my student loans decades ago! Where's my refund?" and "I paid them off last month", because a main impetus for these proposals is the recent huge inflation in costs and corresponding debt. (Like, if you worked your way completely through college, well, congratulations on your 1970 degree, that probably got you an actual job, which in turn could actually buy you a house.) The "paid off in 2018" situation is of course trickier to tackle in terms of paperwork and such. Simpler may be better.
One really striking thing whose cause I don't yet totally understand: when you divide up debt-holders by wealth, you get a vastly different picture than when you divide them up by income. One of them makes the idea of total forgiveness look extremely progressive, while the other looks like a handout to the "rich" with poorer people benefiting as a side effect -- not that such a system should be dispensed out of hand either!
Another distinction from notions like universal healthcare is that I'm not aware of a good parallel for student loan forgiveness in any other country. That's partly to the further shame of this country, because this is in part due to other countries having already covered so much, or even all, of their citizens' educational costs over the past decades. But regardless, that adds more ambiguity to a conversation in which we're already talking past one another.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:07 AM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
There's also, I think, a nontrivial difference between the sense of entitlement in "I paid off my student loans decades ago! Where's my refund?" and "I paid them off last month", because a main impetus for these proposals is the recent huge inflation in costs and corresponding debt. (Like, if you worked your way completely through college, well, congratulations on your 1970 degree, that probably got you an actual job, which in turn could actually buy you a house.) The "paid off in 2018" situation is of course trickier to tackle in terms of paperwork and such. Simpler may be better.
One really striking thing whose cause I don't yet totally understand: when you divide up debt-holders by wealth, you get a vastly different picture than when you divide them up by income. One of them makes the idea of total forgiveness look extremely progressive, while the other looks like a handout to the "rich" with poorer people benefiting as a side effect -- not that such a system should be dispensed out of hand either!
Another distinction from notions like universal healthcare is that I'm not aware of a good parallel for student loan forgiveness in any other country. That's partly to the further shame of this country, because this is in part due to other countries having already covered so much, or even all, of their citizens' educational costs over the past decades. But regardless, that adds more ambiguity to a conversation in which we're already talking past one another.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:07 AM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
The House Oversight Committee released some documents last night: their contempt report and recommendation for a full House vote on contempt against Barr and Ross over the census question, as well as a transcript and summary of interviews with James Uthmeier, who served as senior adviser and counsel to Secretary Wilbur Ross (all PDFs).
Coverage: Commerce Dept. ordered ex-official not to answer House panel questions (Politico), Former top Commerce aide says he was directed by Ross to add Census citizenship question (WaPo).
posted by peeedro at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Coverage: Commerce Dept. ordered ex-official not to answer House panel questions (Politico), Former top Commerce aide says he was directed by Ross to add Census citizenship question (WaPo).
posted by peeedro at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
If my luck holds, I am going to have my student loans paid off in a few years, just before I turn 50. I one of the people that the student loan industry counts on. I spent a decade or so just making interest-only payments, but keeping my loan out of default. Then I spent another decade making minimal payments, which shrank my loan a little bit but wasn't going to end it any time soon. Now I am diverting a significant portion of my income to finally get out from under it.
Even if forgiveness gets passes first thing in a new administration, it will be too late for my loan. However, I can definitely see how it helps me indirectly. If I hadn't had to pay all of those extra interest payments, if I had the money now that I am spending on student loans, where would it go?
It wouldn't be to some useless financial institution like Navient, that's for sure. It would be for goods and services, things like getting some annoying plumbing problems fixed or a car that I am not worried is going to break down. It would be money that gets put back into the economy, not sucked out into whatever Navient is going to do with it, probably invested in some financial instrument that only benefits people who would never have had to take out a student loan.
So even though I won't personally see the benefits on my student loan, it is hard for me not to see the pluses to having all of that money put back into the economy rather than siphoned off for the benefit of the rich.
posted by Quonab at 7:16 AM on June 25, 2019 [30 favorites]
Even if forgiveness gets passes first thing in a new administration, it will be too late for my loan. However, I can definitely see how it helps me indirectly. If I hadn't had to pay all of those extra interest payments, if I had the money now that I am spending on student loans, where would it go?
It wouldn't be to some useless financial institution like Navient, that's for sure. It would be for goods and services, things like getting some annoying plumbing problems fixed or a car that I am not worried is going to break down. It would be money that gets put back into the economy, not sucked out into whatever Navient is going to do with it, probably invested in some financial instrument that only benefits people who would never have had to take out a student loan.
So even though I won't personally see the benefits on my student loan, it is hard for me not to see the pluses to having all of that money put back into the economy rather than siphoned off for the benefit of the rich.
posted by Quonab at 7:16 AM on June 25, 2019 [30 favorites]
There's also, I think, a nontrivial difference between the sense of entitlement in "I paid off my student loans decades ago! Where's my refund?"
The under-the-radar resentment is being ignored as well. Those parents who sacrificed mightily to pay for their kids' college may be saying, pfft, "Why did I do that? No way I'm letting those other parents off the hook." I'm somewhere in between. My ex-wife and I paid for four years between us for each of the kids , but one took a little longer (*cough*eight years*cough*) and piled up some debt. I'm perfectly delighted if the debt were erased and don't regret at all the money I borrowed, long since paid back, to put them through. But I think a viable argument is that we can't go back and relive our lives as each new development that would have changed its outcome occurs.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:28 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
The under-the-radar resentment is being ignored as well. Those parents who sacrificed mightily to pay for their kids' college may be saying, pfft, "Why did I do that? No way I'm letting those other parents off the hook." I'm somewhere in between. My ex-wife and I paid for four years between us for each of the kids , but one took a little longer (*cough*eight years*cough*) and piled up some debt. I'm perfectly delighted if the debt were erased and don't regret at all the money I borrowed, long since paid back, to put them through. But I think a viable argument is that we can't go back and relive our lives as each new development that would have changed its outcome occurs.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:28 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Another good point in Universal forgiveness’ favor is that high earners with high debt won’t have to go into the best paying fields in order to cover their high debt load - Brianna Joy Grey said she specifically went into corporate law and defended some of the worst companies on earth because that’s who had the big salaries to cover her debt, scientists who don’t have to go into big Pharma patent rolling or work for huge oil companies trying to figure out new ways to suck the planet dry - without a debt burden many people wouldn’t have to compete for a job at Facebook so they can figure out how to more efficiently monetize spying on you.
It’s a gigantic freedom dividend that directly gives people more power over their personal lives and screws over some of the most powerful, malevolent industries by making them not the only game in town.
posted by The Whelk at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [36 favorites]
It’s a gigantic freedom dividend that directly gives people more power over their personal lives and screws over some of the most powerful, malevolent industries by making them not the only game in town.
posted by The Whelk at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [36 favorites]
Cut the fences.
The Border Patrol facility here, tents and all, is on a military base. Cutting fences would not go well for anyone. (They’re expanding their footprint on the base as well to go beyond the BP area.)
posted by azpenguin at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
The Border Patrol facility here, tents and all, is on a military base. Cutting fences would not go well for anyone. (They’re expanding their footprint on the base as well to go beyond the BP area.)
posted by azpenguin at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
RE: the whole nobody should be able to get something better than I got argument...
@pommylee
Strange how it never works the other way
Like
Boomers got to buy their first house at approx 2.5 times median income so it should be illegal for them to sell them at 8 times median income to millennials
posted by chris24 at 7:40 AM on June 25, 2019 [62 favorites]
@pommylee
Strange how it never works the other way
Like
Boomers got to buy their first house at approx 2.5 times median income so it should be illegal for them to sell them at 8 times median income to millennials
posted by chris24 at 7:40 AM on June 25, 2019 [62 favorites]
To the resentful olds: If you don’t approve of cancelling all student debt and Medicare For All then you won’t be able to sell that house to us as part of your retirement plan ..
posted by The Whelk at 7:50 AM on June 25, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:50 AM on June 25, 2019 [31 favorites]
Cutting fences would not go well for anyone.
Consider the same argument applied to similar circumstances in other times and places.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 AM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
Consider the same argument applied to similar circumstances in other times and places.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 AM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
So, what is the plan for loans moving forward?
Does the US Govt just pay for college now? Because I'm gonna guess some institutions would .... maximize prices even more than they do now, and minimize scholarships in that case, bleed it all dry. Will the govt regulate education cost? That seems ... tricky. Or do you get loans, and then the govt pays Navient? That seems like just another way to transfer taxpayer money straight to the rich. This doesn't stop until govt takes over higher ed.
What's the plan here?
Or is this just another Sanders pie-in-the-sky, make it rain money?
posted by Dashy at 8:10 AM on June 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
Does the US Govt just pay for college now? Because I'm gonna guess some institutions would .... maximize prices even more than they do now, and minimize scholarships in that case, bleed it all dry. Will the govt regulate education cost? That seems ... tricky. Or do you get loans, and then the govt pays Navient? That seems like just another way to transfer taxpayer money straight to the rich. This doesn't stop until govt takes over higher ed.
What's the plan here?
Or is this just another Sanders pie-in-the-sky, make it rain money?
posted by Dashy at 8:10 AM on June 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
Here is more from the NYT on the complex implications of the Sanders and Warren student debt forgiveness plans.
posted by PhineasGage at 8:14 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by PhineasGage at 8:14 AM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
The TruthOut article linked above goes into detail about the Omar plan but it’s essentially the same as when the banks had thier debt erased in 08
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Maryland judge rules sufficient evidence to reopen 2020 census case citing racial motives (CBS/AP)
Last week, U.S. District Judge George Hazel of Maryland ruled there's enough evidence to warrant reopening a case focused on whether a proposed 2020 census question violates minorities' rights. In his court filing Monday, Hazel reasoned that new evidence "potentially connects the dots between a discriminatory purpose" and a decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to add the citizenship question.posted by ZeusHumms at 8:23 AM on June 25, 2019 [25 favorites]
"It is becoming difficult to avoid seeing that which is increasingly clear. As more puzzle pieces are placed on the mat, a disturbing picture of the decisionmakers' motives takes shape," Hazel wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court could soon render Hazel's decision moot. The country's highest court is expected to decide this week whether the Trump administration can add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
But the federal judge's opinion appears to strongly buttress arguments from voting rights activists who assert that newly discovered emails from a deceased Republican architect of political maps show the proposed citizenship question was intended to discriminate in an effort to restrict the political power of Democrats and Latino communities.
Mod note: Heya, at this point, please make a separate thread if folks want to dig deeper on the college funding plans comparison/discussion.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
Politico reports on the Trump White House tensions behind “Coughgate”: Trump Is Tiring Of Mulvaney—But the president is unlikely to replace his acting chief of staff for the foreseeable future, because finding a fourth chief of staff would be a heavy lift.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:32 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
In recent weeks, Trump has been snapping at his acting chief of staff with some frequency, and expressing greater frustration with him than usual, according to four current and former senior administration officials.Another sign that the knives are coming out for Mulvaney is his overstepping his authority: Mulvaney Pushed Judicial Nominee Over Objections of White House Lawyers (Politico)
Trump has long said that he prefers the flexibility offered by temporary titles, but Mulvaney’s ongoing “acting” status underscores the uphill battle he faces as Trump’s third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years. While Mulvaney is not in danger of losing his job any time soon, officials stressed, Trump’s treatment of him still signals to aides the slow deterioration of their relationship has begun.
One White House official called it “inevitable since any chief of staff has to deliver both the good and bad news,” and this president does not like hearing the latter. Other senior administration officials said Trump gets annoyed with almost everyone apart from family members, so measuring someone’s internal standing by how often Trump speaks sharply to him or her is futile.[…]
“The president doesn’t have any good reason to dislike Mulvaney in terms of him being disloyal,” said one Republican close to the White House. Still, the Republican added that the president has asked people in recent months what kind of leadership they think Mulvaney is offering in the West Wing and the value he is adding, often a sign the president is souring on a staffer.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:32 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
ocschwar: call out Pence for the lying sack of shit that he is when he claims it's a lack of resources [for humane treatment of children being detained].
Tapper presses Pence on children's border facilities (CNN video), where Pence says it's Congress, particularly Dems, are at fault for lack of beds for kids. And watch for him avoid saying HE PERSONALLY doesn't approve of the horrific detention conditions of these kids.
Tapper, after reading the NYT report on living conditions: "I know you, you're a father, a man of faith, you can't approve of that."
Pence, not answering the question: "N-no American, no American should approve of this mass influx of people coming across our border. It is overwhelming our system."
Then Pence says he was at the detention center in Nogales a few months ago, and it was a "heart-breaking scene," where "these people are being exploited by human traffickers," not abused by prison guards, not being treated as less than human for seeking asylum.
Trump could donate soap and toothbrushes, blankets and pillows from his hotels. Write a fucking executive order that says people, especially children, in U.S. custody will be treated with care and compassion.
Nope, Pence gets to close that clip by stressing "Congress has to act." Fucking ghoul.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [34 favorites]
Tapper presses Pence on children's border facilities (CNN video), where Pence says it's Congress, particularly Dems, are at fault for lack of beds for kids. And watch for him avoid saying HE PERSONALLY doesn't approve of the horrific detention conditions of these kids.
Tapper, after reading the NYT report on living conditions: "I know you, you're a father, a man of faith, you can't approve of that."
Pence, not answering the question: "N-no American, no American should approve of this mass influx of people coming across our border. It is overwhelming our system."
Then Pence says he was at the detention center in Nogales a few months ago, and it was a "heart-breaking scene," where "these people are being exploited by human traffickers," not abused by prison guards, not being treated as less than human for seeking asylum.
Trump could donate soap and toothbrushes, blankets and pillows from his hotels. Write a fucking executive order that says people, especially children, in U.S. custody will be treated with care and compassion.
Nope, Pence gets to close that clip by stressing "Congress has to act." Fucking ghoul.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:39 AM on June 25, 2019 [34 favorites]
Warren introduces new election security plan
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 AM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 AM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
Anyone know how to watch the debates in Canada? (no cable)
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2019
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2019
CBS: John Kelly Joins Board of Company Operating Largest Shelter For Unaccompanied Migrant Children
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:54 AM on June 25, 2019 [23 favorites]
Friday, Caliburn International confirmed to CBS News that Kelly had joined its board of directors. Caliburn is the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, which operates Homestead and three other shelters for unaccompanied migrant children in Texas.[…]Here's what the conditions are like at a "temporary shelter for unaccompanied children" (i.e. child concentration camp) that Caliburn runs: Children at the Homestead Migrant Shelter Share Stories of Grief, Trauma, and Fear (Miami New Times).
While Comprehensive and DC Capital appear to have reaped financial benefits through government contracts during and after Kelly's tenure as White House chief of staff, Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor, said Kelly may not have broken any rules.[…]
Delaney Marsco, ethics counsel at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said her first question would be to ask whether Kelly ever consulted ethics officials about any involvement in formulating any policies surrounding unaccompanied minors.
"The fact is that when he was in the White House, the government took action that swelled the population of people that were in these facilities, and that benefited his former employer. That's the exact kind of situation that is why we have the ethics clause," Marsco said.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:54 AM on June 25, 2019 [23 favorites]
Recall that John Kelly is the one who stated on the record, on national TV, that the purpose of separating children from parents was specifically as a deterrence to migration. That is, threatening people with losing their children forever was the stated White House policy.
Kelly belongs in the Hague as a international criminal. Instead he will be receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for implementing his torture policies by for-profit companies.
posted by JackFlash at 9:06 AM on June 25, 2019 [63 favorites]
Kelly belongs in the Hague as a international criminal. Instead he will be receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for implementing his torture policies by for-profit companies.
posted by JackFlash at 9:06 AM on June 25, 2019 [63 favorites]
The CBS segment notes he was on the board of the venture fund DC Capital Partners before he was Secretary of Homeland Security and Chief of Staff, and that DCCP financially backs Caliburn International.
Except DCCP didn't start out in the Child Detention business when Kelly was on the board. It started acquisitions last year, and has ramped up to the point that they're detaining one in four kids in this system, depending on the ebb and flow of child detention.
So Kelly said the purpose of child separation is deterrence, and supports the effort. The effort ramps up, DCCP buys up unaccompanied child detention centers, making money from this U.S. government policy, and then Kelly lands on the new company's board. On paper, you can make it bypass ethics, just like on paper, saying that people who work at the largest unaccompanied child detention center in Florida are appropriately vetted because they have FBI clearances. Except there's a foster care employee screening system in Florida that is more extensive, which this facility did not use, in part in an effort to ramp up staffing faster. And Kelly supported policies which facilitated this company's expansion, so his departure into their board is beyond suspicious.
Also. CBS's video clips are of kids playing soccer outside, which doesn't quite tell the same story as if they had any images of what it's like to be inside these facilities.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:23 AM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
Except DCCP didn't start out in the Child Detention business when Kelly was on the board. It started acquisitions last year, and has ramped up to the point that they're detaining one in four kids in this system, depending on the ebb and flow of child detention.
So Kelly said the purpose of child separation is deterrence, and supports the effort. The effort ramps up, DCCP buys up unaccompanied child detention centers, making money from this U.S. government policy, and then Kelly lands on the new company's board. On paper, you can make it bypass ethics, just like on paper, saying that people who work at the largest unaccompanied child detention center in Florida are appropriately vetted because they have FBI clearances. Except there's a foster care employee screening system in Florida that is more extensive, which this facility did not use, in part in an effort to ramp up staffing faster. And Kelly supported policies which facilitated this company's expansion, so his departure into their board is beyond suspicious.
Also. CBS's video clips are of kids playing soccer outside, which doesn't quite tell the same story as if they had any images of what it's like to be inside these facilities.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:23 AM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
I don't think it's unreasonable to look at past experience and election results to come to the conclusion that Gideon is the only viable candidate to enter the race so far. Getting 5% in a House race or 16% in a Governor race doesn't qualify as viable to beat Susan Collins.
So, here's the point I'm trying to make - Yesterday, just after Gideon's announcement, Adam Parkhomenko, who lives in VA and is a Dem strategist and consultant, tweeted out Gideon's announcement, along with a request to get her Twitter followers.
He didn't do this for any of the other Dems running, just for her. I assume she paid him to do this, because of what he does. And that's fine, that's how running for office works. I'd have preferred she hired a Maine-based strategist, because Buy Local, but whatever.
But here's the thing: Here in Maine, we eviscerate Collins for her reliance on out-of-state supporters for money. Its a huge thing. And I feel like if the overall perception of Gideon becomes "this is the candidate being pushed by folks from out of state" - particularly if there is an intense fundraising and promotion effort from people from out of state - that's going to be a problem in the primary, because a savvy operator like Betsy Sweet can point to her and say "Here's the candidate that the Dem establishment is pushing on us, is that who we really want?"
I want a strong Dem candidate to win. Gideon is certainly the strongest right now, in terms of name recognition, and she's clearly put a lot of thought into strategy. But 20K Twitter followers aren't going to help her get elected in Maine, if only 1% of them are from Maine, and honestly it might hurt her to be seen as "the downstate candidate with out of state support."
posted by anastasiav at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
So, here's the point I'm trying to make - Yesterday, just after Gideon's announcement, Adam Parkhomenko, who lives in VA and is a Dem strategist and consultant, tweeted out Gideon's announcement, along with a request to get her Twitter followers.
He didn't do this for any of the other Dems running, just for her. I assume she paid him to do this, because of what he does. And that's fine, that's how running for office works. I'd have preferred she hired a Maine-based strategist, because Buy Local, but whatever.
But here's the thing: Here in Maine, we eviscerate Collins for her reliance on out-of-state supporters for money. Its a huge thing. And I feel like if the overall perception of Gideon becomes "this is the candidate being pushed by folks from out of state" - particularly if there is an intense fundraising and promotion effort from people from out of state - that's going to be a problem in the primary, because a savvy operator like Betsy Sweet can point to her and say "Here's the candidate that the Dem establishment is pushing on us, is that who we really want?"
I want a strong Dem candidate to win. Gideon is certainly the strongest right now, in terms of name recognition, and she's clearly put a lot of thought into strategy. But 20K Twitter followers aren't going to help her get elected in Maine, if only 1% of them are from Maine, and honestly it might hurt her to be seen as "the downstate candidate with out of state support."
posted by anastasiav at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Acting Border Chief Expected to Resign as Migrant Children Are Returned to Texas Facility (NYT)
The news of the resignation came shortly after agency officials disclosed that more than 100 children have been returned to a troubled Border Patrol station in Clint, Tex., a location where a group of lawyers who visited recently said hundreds of minor detainees had been housed for weeks without access to showers, clean clothing, or sufficient food. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 9:52 AM on June 25, 2019 [29 favorites]
The spokesman said that no additional resources had been provided to the children who were returned to Clint.
filthy light thief: Trump could donate soap and toothbrushes, blankets and pillows from his hotels.
It would not surprise me at all to see him do literally this in the next few weeks, in a very reduced photo-op form, a la throwing the paper towels at hurricane victims. "He's doing exactly what the Dems refuse to! Hail the beneficient leader, who gives these non-Americans so much more than is deserved." As a result, "they lack blankets" becomes "fake news" because "I saw Trump give blankets with my own eyes".
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:57 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
It would not surprise me at all to see him do literally this in the next few weeks, in a very reduced photo-op form, a la throwing the paper towels at hurricane victims. "He's doing exactly what the Dems refuse to! Hail the beneficient leader, who gives these non-Americans so much more than is deserved." As a result, "they lack blankets" becomes "fake news" because "I saw Trump give blankets with my own eyes".
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:57 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
@ThirdWayTweet
Free college for all IS regressive. Blanket debt forgiveness could actually increase inequality
@AOC
It’s wild to think that Third Way has gotten along with its “sensible Dem” charade as long as it has.
I’ve met Trump voters, Ind. voters, but I can’t recall a single voter I’ve met in the US that IDs as a “Third Way Voter.”
Just admit you’re a Wall St advocacy group & move on.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:20 AM on June 25, 2019 [72 favorites]
Free college for all IS regressive. Blanket debt forgiveness could actually increase inequality
@AOC
It’s wild to think that Third Way has gotten along with its “sensible Dem” charade as long as it has.
I’ve met Trump voters, Ind. voters, but I can’t recall a single voter I’ve met in the US that IDs as a “Third Way Voter.”
Just admit you’re a Wall St advocacy group & move on.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:20 AM on June 25, 2019 [72 favorites]
The effort ramps up, DCCP buys up unaccompanied child detention centers, making money from this U.S. government policy, and then Kelly lands on the new company's board.
When a country's government exists in order to get people on the boards on companies that we pay $750 per child per day to keep them in cages, malnourished, covered in lice and filth, sleeping on concrete, does that country deserve to exist?
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:24 AM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
When a country's government exists in order to get people on the boards on companies that we pay $750 per child per day to keep them in cages, malnourished, covered in lice and filth, sleeping on concrete, does that country deserve to exist?
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:24 AM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
lol AOC is awesome - I've met people who would identify with third way, and it's such a small segment of any voting bloc that we should do nothing but laugh at them.
posted by windbox at 10:25 AM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by windbox at 10:25 AM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
FARGO — Socialists play softball, though that may seem out of left field.
They also help organize annual fundraisers to pay off student lunch debt. And they serve locally in the North Dakota Legislature and on Moorhead's city council and school board.
posted by The Whelk at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
They also help organize annual fundraisers to pay off student lunch debt. And they serve locally in the North Dakota Legislature and on Moorhead's city council and school board.
posted by The Whelk at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
I've met people who would identify with third way, and it's such a small segment of any voting bloc that we should do nothing but laugh at them.
Unfortunately, that small segment is very rich and very vocal, and includes many of the TV, NYT and WaPo pundits, otherwise known as Very Serious People. They aren't a laughing matter.
posted by JackFlash at 10:36 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Unfortunately, that small segment is very rich and very vocal, and includes many of the TV, NYT and WaPo pundits, otherwise known as Very Serious People. They aren't a laughing matter.
posted by JackFlash at 10:36 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'd appreciate the econometricizationalizing Mefites expounding briefly on the potential impact of these two strategies on financial market activities
I would think a transaction tax on Wall Street might discourage all the flash trading and arbitrage going on, which is something that contributes to volatility and crashes. I like it. It would reward value investors and be a disincentive to speculation, while not eliminating it entirely. (You need to allow speculation, just not let it dominate the market.)
posted by M-x shell at 10:37 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
I would think a transaction tax on Wall Street might discourage all the flash trading and arbitrage going on, which is something that contributes to volatility and crashes. I like it. It would reward value investors and be a disincentive to speculation, while not eliminating it entirely. (You need to allow speculation, just not let it dominate the market.)
posted by M-x shell at 10:37 AM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
There was some figure about how a proposed .01% transaction tax could pay for all the wages for the NYC public transit system a few times over.
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
WaPo: Democrats’ Emoluments Lawsuit Against President Trump Can Proceed, Federal Judge Rules
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:17 AM on June 25, 2019 [36 favorites]
Rejecting a request from President Trump, a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday cleared the way for nearly 200 Democrats in Congress to continue their lawsuit against him alleging that his private business violates an anti-corruption provision of the Constitution.Previously, the Justice Department had asked judge to pause emoluments case, arguing Trump was too busy to deal with the Dems' requests for his business records (CNN).
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan declined to put the case on hold and said lawmakers could begin this week seeking financial information, interviews and other records from the Trump Organization.[…]
Justice Department lawyers had asked Sullivan to take the unusual step of signing off on an immediate appeal of his earlier rulings because of the “exceptional circumstances” of the case. “Plaintiffs are now poised to seek civil discovery against the President, including into his personal finances and official actions, which will distract the President from his official duties.”
Sullivan ordered the two parties to begin the process of requesting records and other information as part of a three-month discovery period from Friday to Sept. 27.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:17 AM on June 25, 2019 [36 favorites]
Man, this Duncan Hunter case is heating the f up.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:25 AM on June 25, 2019 [22 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:25 AM on June 25, 2019 [22 favorites]
I have an existential question for each of the dem candidates
What makes you so certain that, if you win the presidency, you can make a difference?
Where do you find inspiration? What gives you confidence? What examples do you see of your strategy succeeding that you plan to scale to the whole country?
All these plans and proposals sound nice, but I still don't see anything that makes me believe they can actually make it happen. I want to.
posted by rebent at 11:31 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
What makes you so certain that, if you win the presidency, you can make a difference?
Where do you find inspiration? What gives you confidence? What examples do you see of your strategy succeeding that you plan to scale to the whole country?
All these plans and proposals sound nice, but I still don't see anything that makes me believe they can actually make it happen. I want to.
posted by rebent at 11:31 AM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Is anyone organizing a march/rally on the National Mall to protest this? I would expect turnout to be massive.
Friday, July 12th. Nationwide protests planned, including in DC.
Spread the word.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
Friday, July 12th. Nationwide protests planned, including in DC.
Spread the word.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
CNN: "Trump taps new White House press secretary"
Really, CNN? Seriously, could that possibly be an accident?.
posted by Bovine Love at 11:52 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Really, CNN? Seriously, could that possibly be an accident?.
posted by Bovine Love at 11:52 AM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
ZeusHumms: "The U.S. Supreme Court could soon render Hazel's decision moot. The country's highest court is expected to decide this week whether the Trump administration can add a citizenship question to the 2020 census."
It's not moot, because this involves equal protection claims not argued before the SC. This could very well end up back before the SC on an emergency basis.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:54 AM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
It's not moot, because this involves equal protection claims not argued before the SC. This could very well end up back before the SC on an emergency basis.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:54 AM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
Man, this Duncan Hunter case is heating the f up.
Well, we now know why his wife turned state's evidence on him.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:59 AM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Well, we now know why his wife turned state's evidence on him.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:59 AM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Speaking of which ... Is anyone organizing a march/rally on the National Mall to protest this? I would expect turnout to be massive.
The NYT has an editorial There’s No Excuse for Mistreating Children at the Border. Here’s What To Do About It. which is about as direct actiony as I think I've ever seen the NYT get (I'm not sure I've ever seen the Times editorial board just straight-up say to go to a protest).
It encourages everyone to call their federal and local elected officials, report and document raids and arrests, donate to humanitarian and legal groups (links are provided), read and share Know Your Rights information, vote accordingly, and to attend protests: they specifically identify Lights for Liberty, a nationwide vigil scheduled for July 12.
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
The NYT has an editorial There’s No Excuse for Mistreating Children at the Border. Here’s What To Do About It. which is about as direct actiony as I think I've ever seen the NYT get (I'm not sure I've ever seen the Times editorial board just straight-up say to go to a protest).
It encourages everyone to call their federal and local elected officials, report and document raids and arrests, donate to humanitarian and legal groups (links are provided), read and share Know Your Rights information, vote accordingly, and to attend protests: they specifically identify Lights for Liberty, a nationwide vigil scheduled for July 12.
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
@wayfairwalkout
tl;dr - Wayfair sold beds to furnish border camps; 547 employees signed a petition to ask that we cease all business with border camps; CEO said no —>employees are walking out tmrw at 1:30pm. We ask that Wayfair donate all profits made from the sale to RAICES #WayfairWalkout
I mean sure, get the kids beds and furniture and stuff, but donating the profits should be the easiest decision to make.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [61 favorites]
tl;dr - Wayfair sold beds to furnish border camps; 547 employees signed a petition to ask that we cease all business with border camps; CEO said no —>employees are walking out tmrw at 1:30pm. We ask that Wayfair donate all profits made from the sale to RAICES #WayfairWalkout
I mean sure, get the kids beds and furniture and stuff, but donating the profits should be the easiest decision to make.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [61 favorites]
@justinbaragona [video]: When asked if he would have an exit strategy if he were to get into a war with Iran, Trump says: "You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies."
He doesn't seem to know what an exit strategy is, so that's alarming.
posted by zachlipton at 12:08 PM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
He doesn't seem to know what an exit strategy is, so that's alarming.
posted by zachlipton at 12:08 PM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
Man, this Duncan Hunter case is heating the f up.
If only bragging about murdering hundreds of women and children would get one in as much trouble as misspending campaign funds.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:11 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
If only bragging about murdering hundreds of women and children would get one in as much trouble as misspending campaign funds.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:11 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
Grisham isn't just the new press secretary, she'll also be White House director of communications (Bill Shine's old job, unfilled since he departed in March). She was deputy press secretary when Sean Spicer was giving the daily briefings. And Grisham will remain Melania Trump's spokeswoman.
Stephanie Grisham = living, breathing, communications throttling device.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:27 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Stephanie Grisham = living, breathing, communications throttling device.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:27 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Meghan McCain doesn’t want detention centers compared to "torture facilities"—because of her father: "My father couldn’t lift me above his head as a child because of his torture wounds so I do think that hyperbole is important"
The kindest, most moderate, most humane of Republicans believe that as long as the children's wounds aren't too severe to raise their malnourished arms over their matted, lice-covered heads then they can't possibly be tortured. I for one am ready for some bipartisanship.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:34 PM on June 25, 2019 [54 favorites]
The kindest, most moderate, most humane of Republicans believe that as long as the children's wounds aren't too severe to raise their malnourished arms over their matted, lice-covered heads then they can't possibly be tortured. I for one am ready for some bipartisanship.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:34 PM on June 25, 2019 [54 favorites]
And Grisham will remain Melania Trump's spokeswoman.
And Grisham also has previous experience flacking for Melania during earlier Trump administration migrant family separation scandals and Melania’s “I really don’t care do u?” fashion statement: “Today’s visit w the children in Texas impacted @flotus greatly. If media would spend their time & energy on her actions & efforts to help kids - rather than speculate & focus on her wardrobe - we could get so much accomplished on behalf of children. #SheCares #ItsJustAJacket”
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
And Grisham also has previous experience flacking for Melania during earlier Trump administration migrant family separation scandals and Melania’s “I really don’t care do u?” fashion statement: “Today’s visit w the children in Texas impacted @flotus greatly. If media would spend their time & energy on her actions & efforts to help kids - rather than speculate & focus on her wardrobe - we could get so much accomplished on behalf of children. #SheCares #ItsJustAJacket”
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
What makes you so certain that, if you win the presidency, you can make a difference?
Where do you find inspiration? What gives you confidence? What examples do you see of your strategy succeeding that you plan to scale to the whole country?
The main thing that gives me hope is that the last hundred and fifty years has shown a net direction of improvement in human rights and social justice in many areas of US society.
Slavery was abolished.
Women got the vote.
Monopolies were outlawed.
The integration of the US military.
Social Security.
Medicare/Medicaid.
The ADA.
The VRA.
Brown v. Board of Education.
Miranda v. Arizona.
Loving v. Virginia.
Roe v. Wade.
Title IX.
DADT, followed by LGBT openly serving.
Same-sex marriage legalized.
The ACA.
Marijuana decriminalization.
These are only some of the major advances we’ve made. Yes, each of these advances is taking hits today from those who want to undo them and drag us back to the days before the Feminist movement, the Civil Rights movement, the LGBT movement had any power. And when we look at these outrages of today, and how much effort has to go into fighting to maintain forward momentum, we tend to lose sight of how far we have come in 150 years, only about five or six generations.
We’ve made amazing progress during that time. It may not be all-at-once social democracy, but every decade takes another step closer.
I often dream about what might be the next incremental step we’ll take. Will it gun control reforms? Financial reforms? Justice system reforms? Immigration reforms? I don’t know what it’ll be, but whatever it is, I’m convinced that when we have the reins of power again, we’ll keep moving forward, because that’s what we’ve done over the last century and a half.
It’s that sentiment espoused by MLK Jr., about the moral arc of the universe bending toward justice. Despite the setbacks, we can see it’s true, as long as people of good faith work hard towards that goal. That’s what gives me hope.
posted by darkstar at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [31 favorites]
Where do you find inspiration? What gives you confidence? What examples do you see of your strategy succeeding that you plan to scale to the whole country?
The main thing that gives me hope is that the last hundred and fifty years has shown a net direction of improvement in human rights and social justice in many areas of US society.
Slavery was abolished.
Women got the vote.
Monopolies were outlawed.
The integration of the US military.
Social Security.
Medicare/Medicaid.
The ADA.
The VRA.
Brown v. Board of Education.
Miranda v. Arizona.
Loving v. Virginia.
Roe v. Wade.
Title IX.
DADT, followed by LGBT openly serving.
Same-sex marriage legalized.
The ACA.
Marijuana decriminalization.
These are only some of the major advances we’ve made. Yes, each of these advances is taking hits today from those who want to undo them and drag us back to the days before the Feminist movement, the Civil Rights movement, the LGBT movement had any power. And when we look at these outrages of today, and how much effort has to go into fighting to maintain forward momentum, we tend to lose sight of how far we have come in 150 years, only about five or six generations.
We’ve made amazing progress during that time. It may not be all-at-once social democracy, but every decade takes another step closer.
I often dream about what might be the next incremental step we’ll take. Will it gun control reforms? Financial reforms? Justice system reforms? Immigration reforms? I don’t know what it’ll be, but whatever it is, I’m convinced that when we have the reins of power again, we’ll keep moving forward, because that’s what we’ve done over the last century and a half.
It’s that sentiment espoused by MLK Jr., about the moral arc of the universe bending toward justice. Despite the setbacks, we can see it’s true, as long as people of good faith work hard towards that goal. That’s what gives me hope.
posted by darkstar at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [31 favorites]
People want to donate diapers and toys to children at Border Patrol facilities in Texas. They're being turned away.
I'm old enough to remember Venezuela's turning away of humanitarian aid being used to defend its military invasion and the destruction of its government.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
I'm old enough to remember Venezuela's turning away of humanitarian aid being used to defend its military invasion and the destruction of its government.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
CTRL-F "Caban" Phrase Not Found
Any Queens people out there? If you're registered as a Dem, go vote for Tiffany Cabán today if you haven't already!
She won't be able to abolish ICE but #ProsecuteICE sounds pretty good too.
Protect Immigrants from Fraud and Abuse. Immigration is not a crime; it is the foundation of our country. Too many abuse our immigrant communities and use fear of deportation against them. ICE is an abusive, renegade agency. Families have a right to be together, and District Attorney Cabán will fight for that right.
Prosecute ICE. DA Cabán will prosecute ICE agents who exceed their authority and endanger our communities under all of New York's relevant statutes and ordinances. Abusive conduct by ICE illegal under New York law will be prosecuted.
posted by GalaxieFiveHundred at 12:58 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
Any Queens people out there? If you're registered as a Dem, go vote for Tiffany Cabán today if you haven't already!
She won't be able to abolish ICE but #ProsecuteICE sounds pretty good too.
Protect Immigrants from Fraud and Abuse. Immigration is not a crime; it is the foundation of our country. Too many abuse our immigrant communities and use fear of deportation against them. ICE is an abusive, renegade agency. Families have a right to be together, and District Attorney Cabán will fight for that right.
Prosecute ICE. DA Cabán will prosecute ICE agents who exceed their authority and endanger our communities under all of New York's relevant statutes and ordinances. Abusive conduct by ICE illegal under New York law will be prosecuted.
posted by GalaxieFiveHundred at 12:58 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
HuffPost, Elizabeth Warren: Repeal The Law That Criminalizes Migrants (Castro started this, so I'm not sure why the headline is giving Warren credit, but here we are)
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called Tuesday for repealing the decades-old law criminalizing unauthorized border crossing ― the same law the Trump administration used to systematically split up families at the border last year.posted by zachlipton at 1:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [23 favorites]
Warren joins fellow 2020 contender Julián Castro and several other prominent Democrats in backing a reform that, if enacted, would give civil immigration courts exclusive legal control over immigration enforcement at the border. Under the current system, tens of thousands of migrants who cross without authorization, including some asylum-seekers, face federal prosecution in criminal courts and jail time before they get in front of an administrative judge, who decides their immigration cases.
rebent I have an existential question for each of the dem candidates
I think the reason you likely won't see that asked is because it's demoralizing to the Democratic voters.
Because, ultimately, if the Republicans keep the Senate none of the Democratic candidates for President will be able to accomplish very much. With the Senate in Republican hands a Democratic House and President will be hard pressed just to hold the status quo. The R's will block every bill, use every must pass bill as an opportunity to extort any advantage they possibly can, and prevent the Democratic President from even appointing Cabinet members who'd have a chance of rebuilding the bureaucracy that Trump has been smashing.
I think what we saw happen to Obama post 2010 is going to look polite, civilized, and cooperative compared to how a Republican held Senate will treat any future Democratic Presidents. McConnell has shown them that they will pay no electoral price for extreme obstruction, so they'll obstruct more. I'd be surprised if a 2020 Democratic President dealing with a Republican Senate will even be allowed to appoint a single Federal judge much less a Supreme Court Justice. I'd bet on Mitch even blocking Cabinet appointments and department appointments.
The truthful, depressing, answer to the question of how they can get stuff done will be that they can't without provoking a Constitutional crisis that, conveniently, will be resolved by a Republican majority on the Supreme Court.
Which is why taking the Senate is so important, even if it is unlikely. If we can get the trifecta just once, and if the Democrats have the spine to end the filibuster and push things through, we can make DC and Puerto Rico states and then have a fighting chance moving forward. Because that seems to be the only possible ray of hope here.
posted by sotonohito at 1:06 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
I think the reason you likely won't see that asked is because it's demoralizing to the Democratic voters.
Because, ultimately, if the Republicans keep the Senate none of the Democratic candidates for President will be able to accomplish very much. With the Senate in Republican hands a Democratic House and President will be hard pressed just to hold the status quo. The R's will block every bill, use every must pass bill as an opportunity to extort any advantage they possibly can, and prevent the Democratic President from even appointing Cabinet members who'd have a chance of rebuilding the bureaucracy that Trump has been smashing.
I think what we saw happen to Obama post 2010 is going to look polite, civilized, and cooperative compared to how a Republican held Senate will treat any future Democratic Presidents. McConnell has shown them that they will pay no electoral price for extreme obstruction, so they'll obstruct more. I'd be surprised if a 2020 Democratic President dealing with a Republican Senate will even be allowed to appoint a single Federal judge much less a Supreme Court Justice. I'd bet on Mitch even blocking Cabinet appointments and department appointments.
The truthful, depressing, answer to the question of how they can get stuff done will be that they can't without provoking a Constitutional crisis that, conveniently, will be resolved by a Republican majority on the Supreme Court.
Which is why taking the Senate is so important, even if it is unlikely. If we can get the trifecta just once, and if the Democrats have the spine to end the filibuster and push things through, we can make DC and Puerto Rico states and then have a fighting chance moving forward. Because that seems to be the only possible ray of hope here.
posted by sotonohito at 1:06 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
Mod note: Folks understandable to want to go there but, as usual, let's lay off the very general future "is there hope?"/"there's no hope" stuff and instead stick to concrete updates on actual things happening now.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:09 PM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:09 PM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
In case anybody else is curious about a transaction tax, I found this article from the CBO really informative:
Impose a Tax on Financial Transactions
I'm not an economist and there's a lot in it I don't quite understand but my takeaways were:
posted by BeginAgain at 1:10 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Impose a Tax on Financial Transactions
I'm not an economist and there's a lot in it I don't quite understand but my takeaways were:
- They expect a 0.1% tax on stock trades to raise $777 billion over the next 10 years (Sanders' plan is 0.5%).
- However, there are several potential side effects that could reduce the potential revenue from this tax. There would be a corresponding drop in income and capital gains tax revenue since you are making less money when you sell a stock. The presence of a tax itself could lower the rate of trading below what they expect.
- Because it's dependent on how frequent trades occur, the tax rate is not necessarily correlated with the revenue it could capture. They think that after a certain point, raising it too high could cause trading to slow down so much that the tax is on a larger piece of a smaller pie.
- It's unclear whether the tax would increase or decrease the volatility in the market.
posted by BeginAgain at 1:10 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Basically... there are a lot of unknowns about how it would go. It seems kinda risky to me, though I think in general trying to squeeze more tax money out of high frequency traders is a Good Idea.
This idea came up as a response to the 2008 meltdown, which if I may remind you all, had nothing to do with high frequency trading and everything to do with derivatives that were traded over the counter, i.e. the slowest frequency short of actual real estate transactions.
HFT is already taxed by the capital gains tax, that is to say, people making a profit have to pay. Add a transactions tax, and you also collect money from traders who are losing. This is a bad thing. If you want HFT to also become a playground for the financial oligopoly, this is how you go about it.
posted by ocschwar at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
This idea came up as a response to the 2008 meltdown, which if I may remind you all, had nothing to do with high frequency trading and everything to do with derivatives that were traded over the counter, i.e. the slowest frequency short of actual real estate transactions.
HFT is already taxed by the capital gains tax, that is to say, people making a profit have to pay. Add a transactions tax, and you also collect money from traders who are losing. This is a bad thing. If you want HFT to also become a playground for the financial oligopoly, this is how you go about it.
posted by ocschwar at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Oregon's democratic supermajority is caving to the militia. We will all continue to be held hostage as long as our representatives remain cowards.
Oregon’s top Senate Democrat suggests climate bill is dead
“This has been a dark week for the integrity of the Legislature,” Kotek wrote. “Senate Rs have been threatening our democratic institution and subverting the will of Oregon voters who know we need to act now. Their walkout has come at immense cost to our institution and potentially the planet.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
Oregon’s top Senate Democrat suggests climate bill is dead
“This has been a dark week for the integrity of the Legislature,” Kotek wrote. “Senate Rs have been threatening our democratic institution and subverting the will of Oregon voters who know we need to act now. Their walkout has come at immense cost to our institution and potentially the planet.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
The Texas Tribune has updated its list of organizations working to help immigrants during this crisis. It includes RAICES (way toward the bottom; the list is ostensibly alphabetic) but also a bunch of groups that may be new to you.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:37 PM on June 25, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:37 PM on June 25, 2019 [15 favorites]
TPM: Appeals Court Shakes Up Census Citizenship Case Days Before SCOTUS Decision
An appeals court agreed Tuesday to let a federal judge in Maryland reconsider his previous ruling on whether there was a discriminatory intent behind the Trump administration’s move to add the citizenship question.posted by Doktor Zed at 1:40 PM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
The development throws another wrench into what was already going to be dramatic and high-stakes decision from the Supreme Court in the days to come about whether the citizenship question can stay on the census. The high court is currently considering a separate case that raised different legal issues about Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ decision to add the question and it is not clear what will happen procedurally if a federal judge were decide it was discriminatory after the justices hand down their ruling.
The judge in Maryland U.S. District Judge George Hazel initially did not find that the question had violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection clause in a ruling that struck it down for other reasons.
After the challengers put forward new evidence from the files of a deceased GOP consultant apparently involved in the administration’s move, Hazel sought to have the case sent back to him from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case had been appealed.
The appeals court granted that request in an order Tuesday.
Father-daughter border drowning highlights migrants’ perils (AP) (cw: images of corpses)
posted by Little Dawn at 1:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [23 favorites]
From the scorching Sonora desert to the fast-moving Rio Grande, the U.S.-Mexico border has long been an at times deadly journey for those who cross it illegally between ports of entry. In recent weeks alone, two babies, a toddler and a woman were found dead on Sunday, overcome by the sweltering heat. Elsewhere three children and an adult from Honduras died in April after their raft capsized on the Rio Grande, and a 6-year-old from India was found dead earlier this month in Arizona, where temperatures routinely soar well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.#DontLookAway
“Very regrettable that this would happen,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday in response to a question about the photograph. “We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing” the river.
According to Le Duc’s reporting for La Jornada, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, frustrated because the family from El Salvador were unable to present themselves to U.S. authorities and request asylum, swam across the river with his daughter, Valeria. He set her on the U.S. bank of the river and started back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, but seeing him move away the girl threw herself into the waters. Martínez returned and was able to grab Valeria, but the current swept them both away. The account was based on remarks by Ávalos to police at the scene. Their bodies were discovered Monday morning on the bank of the river near Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownsville, Texas, and several hundred yards (meters) from where they had tried to cross, just a half-mile (1 kilometer) from an international bridge.
The photo recalls the 2015 image of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean near Turkey, though it remains to be seen whether it may have the same impact in focusing international attention on migration to the U.S. [...]
“With greater crackdowns and restrictions,” said Cris Ramón, senior immigration policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in Washington, “we could see more desperate measures by people trying to enter Mexico or the U.S.”
posted by Little Dawn at 1:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [23 favorites]
NYT, Toasting Sarah Huckabee Sanders. By the Press. Really.
And here's a new federal lawsuit, United States v. Omarosa Manigault Newman, in which you're suppose to file a financial disclosure report after leaving your job—it was due in January 2018, and she, uh, just never did that.
posted by zachlipton at 1:58 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
There’s an old maxim about the press, sometimes attributed to H.L. Mencken: “Journalism is to politician as dog is to lamp post.” That’s why eyebrows were raised last night when the dogs hosted a party for a lamp post, with some of journalism’s loudest barkers gathering for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the outgoing White House press secretary.WaPo, Sarah Sanders: Farewell happy hour not the ‘appropriate venue’ to discuss honesty
...
“You’d better not say I was here,” one reporter said. “Me either,” said another. When asked why it was appropriate for journalists to attend a party for Ms. Sanders, John Roberts, the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, said, “I need to clear any comments with my media relations team.”
And here's a new federal lawsuit, United States v. Omarosa Manigault Newman, in which you're suppose to file a financial disclosure report after leaving your job—it was due in January 2018, and she, uh, just never did that.
posted by zachlipton at 1:58 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
If you want HFT to also become a playground for the financial oligopoly
HFT almost by definition is a financial oligopoly and exists for the rich to skim money out of the market while providing no value. Promoting a more stable market that's geared towards making companies that are stable in the long term rather than pushing it briefly upwards so an algorithm can sell stocks after holding them for a second is in our best interest.
posted by Candleman at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2019 [28 favorites]
HFT almost by definition is a financial oligopoly and exists for the rich to skim money out of the market while providing no value. Promoting a more stable market that's geared towards making companies that are stable in the long term rather than pushing it briefly upwards so an algorithm can sell stocks after holding them for a second is in our best interest.
posted by Candleman at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2019 [28 favorites]
Oregon's democratic supermajority is caving to the militia. We will all continue to be held hostage as long as our representatives remain cowards.
I’d like to remind people all this heat and noise and gun posturing and threats was over a gas tax to be implemented over 10-15 years raising the costs ...about a dollar.
That’s what they’re willing to do.
posted by The Whelk at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [55 favorites]
I’d like to remind people all this heat and noise and gun posturing and threats was over a gas tax to be implemented over 10-15 years raising the costs ...about a dollar.
That’s what they’re willing to do.
posted by The Whelk at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [55 favorites]
Here's your reminder that Anne Frank died of typhus. Typhus is spread by lice.
posted by angrycat at 2:31 PM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 2:31 PM on June 25, 2019 [32 favorites]
From Vox: ABC News obtained testimony from a doctor who visited another facility for children in Texas — the Ursula facility — and witnessed “extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food.” She said the conditions were so bad that they were “tantamount to intentionally causing the spread of disease.”
The children are now being sent from Clint to a facility that is just as bad, according to Clara Long of Human Rights Watch, who was the only member of last week’s investigative team who visited it. Long told Vox that when she was there, the facility in El Paso known as “Border Patrol Station 1” was mostly being used as a transit center where migrants were staying only a few hours before going elsewhere. But she spoke to one family who had been held in a cell there for six days, and who voiced the same concerns that children in the Clint facility did.
The mother of the family, Long said, was so ashamed of not having clean teeth — the El Paso facility, like Clint, wasn’t providing enough toothbrushes — that “when she was talking to you she would put her hand up in front of her mouth and wouldn’t take it down.” The teenage son said he was afraid of the guards because when he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, a guard had shoved him back into his cell and slammed the door on him. For two nights, the family had had to sleep on the cold floor without blankets.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
The children are now being sent from Clint to a facility that is just as bad, according to Clara Long of Human Rights Watch, who was the only member of last week’s investigative team who visited it. Long told Vox that when she was there, the facility in El Paso known as “Border Patrol Station 1” was mostly being used as a transit center where migrants were staying only a few hours before going elsewhere. But she spoke to one family who had been held in a cell there for six days, and who voiced the same concerns that children in the Clint facility did.
The mother of the family, Long said, was so ashamed of not having clean teeth — the El Paso facility, like Clint, wasn’t providing enough toothbrushes — that “when she was talking to you she would put her hand up in front of her mouth and wouldn’t take it down.” The teenage son said he was afraid of the guards because when he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, a guard had shoved him back into his cell and slammed the door on him. For two nights, the family had had to sleep on the cold floor without blankets.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
I’d like to remind people all this heat and noise and gun posturing and threats was over a gas tax to be implemented over 10-15 years raising the costs ...about a dollar.
That’s what they’re willing to do.
Meanwhile, The Speaker, in DC is whipping the House Dems with a list and only allowing them to add some 'stricter language' to a bill that will eventually fund whatever the WH wants it to over the next 8 months.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
That’s what they’re willing to do.
Meanwhile, The Speaker, in DC is whipping the House Dems with a list and only allowing them to add some 'stricter language' to a bill that will eventually fund whatever the WH wants it to over the next 8 months.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
Trump lawyers: “Plaintiffs are now poised to seek civil discovery against the President, including into his personal finances and official actions, which will distract the President from his official duties.”
Wait, Trump said that his business would be put into a trust and managed by his son Donny, Jr. as trustee. Why would Trump have to be involved in handling inquiries about a business that he says he isn't handling? The trustee should be handling all inquiries.
Who knew that that Trump would lie about separating himself from his business activities?
posted by JackFlash at 2:53 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
Wait, Trump said that his business would be put into a trust and managed by his son Donny, Jr. as trustee. Why would Trump have to be involved in handling inquiries about a business that he says he isn't handling? The trustee should be handling all inquiries.
Who knew that that Trump would lie about separating himself from his business activities?
posted by JackFlash at 2:53 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
When asked if he would have an exit strategy if he were to get into a war with Iran, Trump says: "You're not going to need an exit strategy. I don't need exit strategies."
Bush didn't need an exit strategy for Afghanistan either and the US is still there 18 years later.
posted by JackFlash at 2:59 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
Bush didn't need an exit strategy for Afghanistan either and the US is still there 18 years later.
posted by JackFlash at 2:59 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
I don't know if the megathread is the place to put this, but my husband just came home and said he has a server who works for him whose husband is in detention and has been for 5 days. He's been in the US since 1980, legally, is married to a US citizen with a child, has legal permanent residency and all his paperwork. He travels to Mexico regularly to see family and never has a problem. This time he's been detained despite all his documentation of his legal immigrant status.
I just...even knowing how bad the situation is, this is still shocking. He's been moved all over Texas in the last 5 days, from facility to facility and gets 3 min a day to make phone calls. Right now she thinks he's in Austin. I've copied the information from the Mefi Get a Lawyer doc to share with her. She's working as a waitress and running his landscaping business herself at the same time, plus caring for their child, so she's a bit overwhelmed. (If people have specific help or recs, you can memail me rather than clutter the thread. But I felt like...y'all should know how bad things are.)
posted by threeturtles at 3:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [90 favorites]
I just...even knowing how bad the situation is, this is still shocking. He's been moved all over Texas in the last 5 days, from facility to facility and gets 3 min a day to make phone calls. Right now she thinks he's in Austin. I've copied the information from the Mefi Get a Lawyer doc to share with her. She's working as a waitress and running his landscaping business herself at the same time, plus caring for their child, so she's a bit overwhelmed. (If people have specific help or recs, you can memail me rather than clutter the thread. But I felt like...y'all should know how bad things are.)
posted by threeturtles at 3:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [90 favorites]
The lesson the right will continue to learn is that threats of violence are incredibly effective.
Listen to Ezra Kein's interview with Joanne Freeman on her book, Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to the Civil War; it's is essentially this, on the floor of congress, during the political cycles leading up to the Civil War. Here's a bit: "Between 1830 and 1860, there are more than 70 incidents of violent conflict in the house and senate chambers, or on nearby streets and dueling grounds." Contributing factors were the rise of organized party politics from Jackson on, and the simultaneous rise of national party-aligned press.
Spoiler: it really doesn't end well.
posted by eclectist at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Listen to Ezra Kein's interview with Joanne Freeman on her book, Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to the Civil War; it's is essentially this, on the floor of congress, during the political cycles leading up to the Civil War. Here's a bit: "Between 1830 and 1860, there are more than 70 incidents of violent conflict in the house and senate chambers, or on nearby streets and dueling grounds." Contributing factors were the rise of organized party politics from Jackson on, and the simultaneous rise of national party-aligned press.
Spoiler: it really doesn't end well.
posted by eclectist at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Why did the media downplay the latest sexual assault allegation against Trump?
posted by adamvasco at 3:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 3:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Mod note: Reminder that there's a whole Joe Biden thread; let's aim to keep random Biden updates in there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:36 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:36 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
NBC, Trump's chief of protocol pulled off the job ahead of G-20
posted by zachlipton at 3:59 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
The Trump administration’s chief of protocol in the State Department has been pulled off the job just ahead of the G-20 summit amid an investigation into allegations of discrimination and harassment, U.S. officials said. He is not expected to return to his job.Just the best people.
...
The U.S. officials who told NBC News about Lawler’s situation declined to elaborate on the specifics of the allegations, other than to say that numerous employees in his office had resigned in protest of his management and behavior.
posted by zachlipton at 3:59 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
Ah sorry, Bloomberg updated with an additional detail there: "is departing amid a possible inspector general’s probe into accusations of intimidating staff and carrying a whip in the office, according to one of the people."
posted by zachlipton at 4:09 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 4:09 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
Imma let you finish, and as a metaphor for this administration, “the Chief of Protocol was carrying a whip” is pretty good, but it’s still no match for “refugee children in cages”, or even for the image of that captive eagle that tried to rip Trump’s eyes out at his desk, but just couldn’t get at him.
posted by darkstar at 4:16 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 4:16 PM on June 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
“You’d better not say I was here,” one reporter said. “Me either,” said another. When asked why it was appropriate for journalists to attend a party for Ms. Sanders, John Roberts, the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, said, “I need to clear any comments with my media relations team.”
John Roberts, White House correspondent for Fox News and IMMIGRANT (who went to my high school and was one of the first ever video DJs in the eighties on the New Music, Toronto Rocks and Much Music).
He seems to have sold his soul.
posted by srboisvert at 4:17 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
John Roberts, White House correspondent for Fox News and IMMIGRANT (who went to my high school and was one of the first ever video DJs in the eighties on the New Music, Toronto Rocks and Much Music).
He seems to have sold his soul.
posted by srboisvert at 4:17 PM on June 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
If my company's any indication, pretty much everyone's 'random' slack channel is discussing the situation in Wayfair.
On the one hand, Wayfair is a Dotcom, and it's hard to form a picket line around a Dotcom when it's so easy to VPN through it.
On the other hand, anything that makes hiring more difficult for a dotcom is bound to have an effect on upper management. When software engineers threaten to quit, it can and does get results. Since we're the only workers left who might still be able to flex muscle, we're all watching.
posted by ocschwar at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
On the one hand, Wayfair is a Dotcom, and it's hard to form a picket line around a Dotcom when it's so easy to VPN through it.
On the other hand, anything that makes hiring more difficult for a dotcom is bound to have an effect on upper management. When software engineers threaten to quit, it can and does get results. Since we're the only workers left who might still be able to flex muscle, we're all watching.
posted by ocschwar at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2019 [11 favorites]
Christie’s Scathing Indictment of Trump (The Atlantic)
I've bought stuff from Wayfair so I sent them an email, for all the good that'll do.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:46 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wants to be clear: He supports Donald J. Trump. But don’t you dare presume that he supports what Trump says or does."Trump surrounded himself with awful people" is his scorching take.
Sure, he voted for Trump in 2016, but only reluctantly. And okay, he plans to vote for Trump again in 2020. But he’s adamantly opposed to many of the most consequential actions Trump has taken as president. He’ll even say so in public. Doesn’t that make him a good guy?
Christie did his damnedest Monday to convince a crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival and his interviewer, the Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, that his support for the president of the United States is morally and logically defensible.
It was tough in part because of his scathing, multi-count indictment of Trump.
I've bought stuff from Wayfair so I sent them an email, for all the good that'll do.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:46 PM on June 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
TPM, DOJ Asks SCOTUS To Make A Drastic Move In Census Citizenship Case
posted by zachlipton at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
The Department of Justice boldly and explicitly asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to resolve an issue the court hasn’t formally reviewed in the census citizenship case when the justices hand down their decision in the case expected this week.This is just nuts. @steve_vladeck: On Tuesday afternoon, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that the recent developments in the Maryland litigation underscore “the need for this Court to address the equal protection claim and the immateriality of the Hofeller files in its disposition of the above-captioned case so that the lawfulness of the Secretary’s decision can be fully and finally resolved.”
The request, which the Justice Department has made in a more subtle fashion in previous court filings, is extraordinary and reflects the highly unusual legal battle the Trump administration has engaged in to change the 2020 census. The Justice Department request came in the form of a letter to the court submitted just a few hours after an appeals court said new evidence warranted the reexamination of a case challenging the citizenship question brought in Maryland.
...
On Tuesday afternoon, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that the recent developments in the Maryland litigation underscore “the need for this Court to address the equal protection claim and the immateriality of the Hofeller files in its disposition of the above-captioned case so that the lawfulness of the Secretary’s decision can be fully and finally resolved.”
posted by zachlipton at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
@atrupar:
posted by zachlipton at 4:48 PM on June 25, 2019 [34 favorites]
.@SenatorDurbin: "I wouldn’t dismiss it, but let’s be honest, he's going to deny it & little is going to come of it"@AJentleson: What the hell, guys. This is what happens when you lose sight of right and wrong and starting conducting yourselves like the pundits and consultants you take your cues from. You are United States senators, for crying out loud.
@SenFeinstein: “It’s not particular new news, so I don’t know...I don’t think we need to take action”
posted by zachlipton at 4:48 PM on June 25, 2019 [34 favorites]
Previously, the Justice Department had asked judge to pause emoluments case, arguing Trump was too busy to deal with the Dems' requests for his business records (CNN).
Two words: Executive time. Trump spends a good amount of his time live-tweeting Fox News. Busy doing the people's business, he ain't. (Busy gifting, maybe).
posted by Gelatin at 5:06 PM on June 25, 2019
Two words: Executive time. Trump spends a good amount of his time live-tweeting Fox News. Busy doing the people's business, he ain't. (Busy gifting, maybe).
posted by Gelatin at 5:06 PM on June 25, 2019
Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. GOP chairman Val DiGiorgio resigns after report about interactions with Philly Council candidate
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio resigned Tuesday after The Inquirer reported that he had traded sexually explicit messages with a onetime GOP candidate for Philadelphia City Council.The contest for the party chair will likely be intense and, hopefully, punishing.
In a statement, DiGiorgio, 51, said his communications with candidate Irina Goldstein were “entirely consensual,” and that any accusations that he engaged in harassment or abuse of power are “fundamentally untrue.”[…]
Pennsylvania stands to be a critical swing state in the 2020 presidential election. The head of the state party, chosen by fellow Republicans, is the face of the GOP, which counts roughly 3.2 million registered voters, and plays a key role in fundraising and mapping political strategy.
With DiGiorgio’s departure, vice chair Bernadette Comfort becomes the acting head of the state GOP. Under party rules, she has 10 days to schedule a party meeting to select a new chair — a gathering that then must occur within 45 days.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
Wayfair workers to walk off job over partnership with detention centers (Guardian)
Employees organizing the walkout at the firm’s Boston headquarters say they demanded the company stop its partnership with a government contractor to provide beds for detained immigrants. [...] Through a contract with BCFS Health and Human Services, a Texas not-for-profit organization, Wayfair sold $200,000 worth of bedroom furniture to furnish a camp in Carrizo Springs, Texas, where up to 3,000 migrant children will be detained, employees said. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 6:07 PM on June 25, 2019 [25 favorites]
Under the hashtag #WayfairWalkout, customers have planned a boycott of the company in solidarity with workers walking out of the job. “I won’t buy another thing from your site if you are going to support these concentration camps,” one user wrote.
The action received support on Tuesday from Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as prominent progressive lawmakers including the House representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Illinois becomes 11th state to legalize recreational pot.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:11 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 6:11 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
Politico’s Natasha Bertrand: MUELLER will testify on July 17 in open session (announcement from Nadler and Schiff)
As expected, the House committees had to subpoena Mueller.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [46 favorites]
As expected, the House committees had to subpoena Mueller.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [46 favorites]
‘Kids are really suffering’ as migrant surge overwhelms health department (Politico)
posted by Little Dawn at 6:18 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
Hundreds of migrant children being transferred from squalid, overcrowded Border Patrol detention centers are heading into the custody of a federal refugee agency that’s already struggling to feed and care for tens of thousands of minors. [...] The result: Already-traumatized children are being thrust from one agency in crisis to another, while Congress has been wrangling over a $4.5 billion emergency border funding measure. Two-thirds of that money would go to the refugee office, which has warned that it will run out of funds as soon as this month.#DontLookAway
The refugee office’s shelters have taken in more than 52,000 children since October — a 60 percent jump from the previous year, driven by a record influx of migrants and complicated by the Trump administration’s aggressive border policies. Its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, is pursuing strategies to cope with the surge, which include freezing money for anti-trafficking efforts and services for survivors of torture, and possibly furloughing employees.
The crunch is also slowing HHS's oversight of shelters, efforts to expand the number of beds and attempts to unite migrant children with sponsors in the United States. And it is adding to a growing crisis surrounding the federal government’s detention of migrant children. The Border Patrol is under fire following disclosures that some of its detention centers lack soap, toothbrushes, clean bedding or other necessities for the children, some of them infants, in conditions that doctors, lawyers and public health experts call a potential breeding ground for disease.
At least seven children have died in U.S. custody since September.
posted by Little Dawn at 6:18 PM on June 25, 2019 [14 favorites]
.@SenatorDurbin: "I wouldn’t dismiss it, but let’s be honest, he's going to deny it & little is going to come of it"
@SenFeinstein: “It’s not particular new news, so I don’t know...I don’t think we need to take action”
We shouldn't ever forget that one of the reasons Trump has been so successful is because the people who were supposed to protect us from him decided they were too comfortable to bother.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2019 [49 favorites]
@SenFeinstein: “It’s not particular new news, so I don’t know...I don’t think we need to take action”
We shouldn't ever forget that one of the reasons Trump has been so successful is because the people who were supposed to protect us from him decided they were too comfortable to bother.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2019 [49 favorites]
CNBC: Robert Mueller agrees to publicly testify before House committees on Trump Russia probe on July 17
Axios: "Mueller will testify separately to the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, but "back to back," according to Chairman Adam Schiff."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced the July 17 testimony on Tuesday night. They said they issued subpoenas to bring Mueller, the special counsel who oversaw the Justice Department’s investigation, before the House.CNN's Jeremy Herb: "Schiff says that the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees will question Mueller separately that day, and his panel will also question Mueller's staff behind closed doors afterward "
“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement. “We look forward to hearing his testimony, as do all Americans.”
Axios: "Mueller will testify separately to the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, but "back to back," according to Chairman Adam Schiff."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [19 favorites]
GalaxieFiveHundred: "Any Queens people out there? If you're registered as a Dem, go vote for Tiffany Cabán today if you haven't already! "
This one is insanely close. Cabán is currently up by less than 700 votes with 87% reporting.
Cabán is a very exciting reform candidate, and Queens has more people than 15 US states. This would be a big deal.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:57 PM on June 25, 2019 [27 favorites]
This one is insanely close. Cabán is currently up by less than 700 votes with 87% reporting.
Cabán is a very exciting reform candidate, and Queens has more people than 15 US states. This would be a big deal.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:57 PM on June 25, 2019 [27 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren steps up, the WaPo’s David Weigel reports:
A surprise at this town hall: An audience member asks Warren to bring attention to immigrant detention centers.posted by Doktor Zed at 7:10 PM on June 25, 2019 [63 favorites]
"I'm going to Homestead tomorrow," Warren says. "Come with me."
(Was not previously on her public sked.)
Homestead facility is about 45 minutes from the debate site. Campaign says Warren had wanted to see it, and talked to immigrant advocates before her town hall tonight -- made her mind up to go.
"We have to shut down that facility and shut it down now," Warren says. Cheers of "shut it down!" break out.
NYT: N.R.A. Shuts Down Production of NRATV
posted by Chrysostom at 7:32 PM on June 25, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:32 PM on June 25, 2019 [35 favorites]
WaPo, House passes $4.5 billion emergency border aid bill with provisions for the treatment of migrant children in U.S. custody
----
San Diego Union Tribune, Thousands more [Mexican] National Guard troops to arrive in Tijuana
@DLind: Something extremely important is going on in Mexico right now. The northern border is being militarized, and people — including families — are being physically prevented from leaving the country to try to enter the US.
posted by zachlipton at 7:32 PM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) unveiled changes to the bill Tuesday morning that would require CBP to establish new health and safety standards for migrants in its custody, as well as protocols for dealing with migrant surges, within 30 days. The changes would also limit children’s stays at “influx shelters” used by the Department of Health and Human Services to no more than 90 days and require the department to report to Congress on their use.The White House has already threatened to veto the bill, even as they're also not so crazy about the Senate's version, which lacks the new protections for children. HHS and ORR run out of funds at the end of the month. The final House vote was 230-195, with four Democrats (Tlaib, Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, and Omar) voting against, and three Republicans (Fitzpatrick, Hurd, and Christopher Smith) voting in favor. Many more Democrats had reservations until the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus secured the amendments today.
Additional changes Lowey unveiled Tuesday afternoon would bar HHS shelter contractors who do not provide adequate accommodations, food and personal items, such as toothbrushes, as well as routine medical care, schooling, leisure activities, and other basic services.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who pushed for the final revisions as a co-chair of Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she had “tremendous apprehensions” about voting to fund the Trump administration’s border response but said she was prepared do so to improve conditions for migrant children. “I don’t even know how to describe the idea that we have to tell them: You’ve got to provide food and water to these kids,” she said. “But that’s what we’re doing.”
----
San Diego Union Tribune, Thousands more [Mexican] National Guard troops to arrive in Tijuana
@DLind: Something extremely important is going on in Mexico right now. The northern border is being militarized, and people — including families — are being physically prevented from leaving the country to try to enter the US.
posted by zachlipton at 7:32 PM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
Man, this Duncan Hunter case is heating the f up.
The thing I don't understand is that he was expensing his trysts with lobbyists. My understanding is that lobbyists are supposed to be the ones expensing that stuff. So not only was he corrupt, he wasn't even very good at it! Also who were the lobbyists and who were they repping?
posted by srboisvert at 7:37 PM on June 25, 2019 [16 favorites]
The thing I don't understand is that he was expensing his trysts with lobbyists. My understanding is that lobbyists are supposed to be the ones expensing that stuff. So not only was he corrupt, he wasn't even very good at it! Also who were the lobbyists and who were they repping?
posted by srboisvert at 7:37 PM on June 25, 2019 [16 favorites]
Jonathan Ryan, President and CEO of RAICES, spoke to Isaac Chotiner on the bill I just posted about and what's going on:
O.K., but step away from specific parties or specific bills. There is a debate about whether Congress should give more aid to facilities at the border, with some people saying it is really needed, and other people saying that the Administration will use it to carry out its agenda and won’t follow any conditions placed on this aid. I am curious how you think about that dilemma. It seems like a complicated one.posted by zachlipton at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2019 [17 favorites]
It is only complicated if you accept the premise that the only choice should be abdicating our responsibility to provide essential life-saving services, and creating a penal system that punishes vulnerable refugees for asking for asylum. We are being presented with a false choice.
What is the choice?
It is either you withhold funds from children who desperately need them, or you provide funds that will be used to create more cages, more concentration camps, more deaths of children at the border. The fact that you have to accept both in order to get the care to the people who need it is simply a false choice.
You are the person who just said that we have the President we have and the Senate we have. It is a false choice, but that doesn’t make it any easier if you are a representative in Congress who cares about kids and is faced with the President we have.
Well, this is where the responsibility falls back on we the people. We have seen the American people up in arms and demonstrating and filling parks and streets and sidewalks demonstrating against family separation. What we have now are children dying in these cages. We need to have that mobilization of people against this that pushes lawmakers of both parties to provide the funding to the children without creating more systems of oppression and torture and death. It absolutely needs to be demanded full-throatedly and clearly by the people.
So expect “Iran to attack US interests in the gulf” around July 16...
posted by growabrain at 7:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 7:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
So expect “Iran to attack US interests in the gulf” around July 16...
Yeah, the GOP has 3 weeks to discredit Mueller to the best of their ability, and I'm guessing they'll pull out all the stops.
posted by Dr. Send at 7:54 PM on June 25, 2019
Yeah, the GOP has 3 weeks to discredit Mueller to the best of their ability, and I'm guessing they'll pull out all the stops.
posted by Dr. Send at 7:54 PM on June 25, 2019
The changes would also limit children’s stays at “influx shelters” used by the Department of Health and Human Services to no more than 90 days and require the department to report to Congress on their use.I appreciate that House Democrats' leverage is extremely limited and there is enormous pressure to be seen to be doing something but not much that they actually can do.. but this is not an acceptable compromise and the family separation policy should not be allowed to be normalized by sanding off a few of the more monstrous edges. 90 days of separation (which is not even the limit under the proposed "reforms", it's just the limit for the stay at an intake facility) from their parents is more than enough to cause permanent psychological damage to an unacceptable number of already traumatized children.
Many of these kids are going to be fucked up for life for no better reason than (pick one or more):
- Stephen Miller is a racist piece of shit
- Trump wants to rally his base or distract from failures elsewhere
- Private prison companies have earnings target to hit
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:54 PM on June 25, 2019 [42 favorites]
“Among the many takeaways here: A pathetic result for new Queens Dem chair Greg Meeks, who attacked Warren and Sanders for endorsing Cabán over Katz“ @daveweigel
Tiffany is good to win on less then a thousand votes.
posted by The Whelk at 8:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
Tiffany is good to win on less then a thousand votes.
posted by The Whelk at 8:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
“CABAN. FOR. QUEENS.
The way to save our country is to overhaul the Democratic Party one election at a time.
Bring in bold, unapologetic progressives who are willing to take the fight to GOP extremists.”
Literally Peter Actually Daou
What a fucking world we live in eh?
posted by The Whelk at 8:04 PM on June 25, 2019 [18 favorites]
The way to save our country is to overhaul the Democratic Party one election at a time.
Bring in bold, unapologetic progressives who are willing to take the fight to GOP extremists.”
Literally Peter Actually Daou
What a fucking world we live in eh?
posted by The Whelk at 8:04 PM on June 25, 2019 [18 favorites]
This sudden wave of wins by reformist DAs is one of the few bright spots in bleak landscape.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:13 PM on June 25, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:13 PM on June 25, 2019 [21 favorites]
Chants of DSA DSA DSA before Caban’s speech
This is very far from meeting in a guild office new member orientation two years ago,
posted by The Whelk at 8:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
This is very far from meeting in a guild office new member orientation two years ago,
posted by The Whelk at 8:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
Dumb question - can extra auditing / enforcement / criminal penalties be loaded into a funding bill?
posted by benzenedream at 8:15 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 8:15 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Short answer: yes, with some futzing and work
Longer answer: there are rules that say appropriations bills should just appropriate and not legislate. But the line between specifying what you're appropriating for and legislating can be legitimately blurry and made blurrier by design. And in any case it's reasonably common for the House to waive those points of order against the bill in the special rule for its consideration. Like any rule that's not specified by constitution or statute, it can be laid aside when inconvenient, and there are meta-rules and norms about how and when that happens.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:30 PM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Longer answer: there are rules that say appropriations bills should just appropriate and not legislate. But the line between specifying what you're appropriating for and legislating can be legitimately blurry and made blurrier by design. And in any case it's reasonably common for the House to waive those points of order against the bill in the special rule for its consideration. Like any rule that's not specified by constitution or statute, it can be laid aside when inconvenient, and there are meta-rules and norms about how and when that happens.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:30 PM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
The Socialist Origins of Public Defense Since Caban did win
posted by The Whelk at 9:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:02 PM on June 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
One-third of the United States population would support a preemptive attack on North Korea, even in a nuclear scenario, knowing it would kill one million innocent people, according to a recent survey.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
Little changed when the U.S. first-strike was switched from conventional to nuclear as "33 percent preferred." In fact, "there is no significant change in the percentage who would prefer or approve of a U.S. nuclear strike when the number of estimated North Korean fatalities increases from 15,000 to 1.1 million, including 1 million civilians."When the estimated North Korean fatalities were increased from 15,000 to 1.1 million, support for using nuclear weapons among respondents who favor the death penalty increased from 38 percent to 49 percent. The primal enemy isn't Trump, or Russia, or even the GOP, it's us.
The researchers said these results actually demonstrated a previously-established pattern among the U.S. public, which "exhibits only limited aversion to nuclear weapons use and a shocking willingness to support the killing of enemy civilians."
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2019 [26 favorites]
@JoeCrowleyNY
It’s Election Day in New York! I’m urging a vote for @MelindaKatz for #QueensDA today. Polls are open until 9PM. No one cares more about #Queens then Melinda and I know she’ll be a strong advocate for us all
Nelson Muntz haha.gif
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 PM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
It’s Election Day in New York! I’m urging a vote for @MelindaKatz for #QueensDA today. Polls are open until 9PM. No one cares more about #Queens then Melinda and I know she’ll be a strong advocate for us all
Nelson Muntz haha.gif
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 PM on June 25, 2019 [13 favorites]
Video, via Twitter: Japanese-Americans interned during WW II demonstrate at Fort Sill are confronted by angry Army officer. Video is one minute and twenty seconds. Come for the meaningful demonstration, stay for the raging white man in a uniform and toxic power trip, and watch the demonstrators shut him down because everyone needs this in their lives today.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:40 PM on June 25, 2019 [41 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:40 PM on June 25, 2019 [41 favorites]
Just so people reading are aware, Cabán hasn't officially won yet as there are still outstanding absentee ballots. Technically it's too close to call.
posted by reductiondesign at 9:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by reductiondesign at 9:44 PM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
I heard this quote on the BBC, in the context of an over-reliance on the judiciary to decide on contentious political issues.
“... This much I think I do know--that a society so riven that the spirit of moderation is gone, no court can save; that a society where that spirit flourishes, no court need save; that in a society which evades its responsibility by thrusting upon the courts the nature of that spirit, that spirit in the end will perish.posted by adept256 at 10:06 PM on June 25, 2019 [20 favorites]
What is the spirit of moderation? It is the temper which does not press a partisan advantage to its bitter end, which can understand and will respect the other side, which feels a unity between all citizens --real and not the factitious product of propaganda --which recognizes their common fate and their common aspirations --in a word, which has faith in the sacredness of the individual.
If you ask me how such a temper and such a faith are bred and fostered, I cannot answer. They are the last flowers of civilization, delicate and easily overrun by the weeds of our sinful human nature ... But I am satisfied that they must have vigor within themselves to withstand the winds and weather of an indifferent and ruthless world; and that it is idle to seek shelter for them in a courtroom.
Men must take that temper and that faith with them into the field, into the marketplace, into the factory, into the council-room, into their homes; they cannot be imposed; they must be lived.”
-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Learned Hand, 1944
Elizabeth Warren's website has an invitation for people in Miami to join her at the Homestead concentration camp tomorrow. Buses will be provided, or you can meet her there.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [38 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:14 PM on June 25, 2019 [38 favorites]
Below the Surface of ICE: The Corporations Profiting From Immigrant Detention
Activists are targeting the companies that make ICE run.
It's a long article & there's no easy pull quotes but it traces & identifies the companies making money from selling goods & services to make the concentration camps run, the financial institutions behind them that keep the evil machine running & the groups working to bring sunlight & pressure to bear on them.
posted by scalefree at 10:21 PM on June 25, 2019 [25 favorites]
Activists are targeting the companies that make ICE run.
It's a long article & there's no easy pull quotes but it traces & identifies the companies making money from selling goods & services to make the concentration camps run, the financial institutions behind them that keep the evil machine running & the groups working to bring sunlight & pressure to bear on them.
posted by scalefree at 10:21 PM on June 25, 2019 [25 favorites]
This is how you lose your soul, by making fun of crying children.
@ABC
@ABC
Audio recording emerges of so-called 'orchestra' of crying children inside a migrant detention center.
"What's missing is a conductor," says a male voice on the recording, someone believed to be a U.S. Border Patrol agent. https://abcn.ws/2M358Qjposted by scalefree at 10:23 PM on June 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren's website has an invitation for people in Miami to join her at the Homestead concentration camp tomorrow. Buses will be provided, or you can meet her there.
p
Cool! the Sanders campaign has been using the mailing lists to direct people to strikes or protests and most recently ICE raids so it;s nice to see this become a standard things for campaigns.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
p
Cool! the Sanders campaign has been using the mailing lists to direct people to strikes or protests and most recently ICE raids so it;s nice to see this become a standard things for campaigns.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 PM on June 25, 2019 [12 favorites]
This is how you lose your soul, by making fun of crying children. @ABCThe current situation is not any less horrible but it should be noted that that article is from a year ago (not that you could tell based on the treatment of the refugee children but Kirstjen Nielsen is no longer Secretary of Homeland Security and Jeff Sessions is no longer US Attorney General.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:46 PM on June 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Here in 45's favourite country (no, I mean Norway) the concentration camps are making the news now. I've translated the headings, but you could probably get Google Translate to do a decent job of translating the articles for you if you're so inclined:
- NRK.no (state broadcaster): Migrant children detained under terrible conditions in facility in Texas
- Aftenposten.no (largest conservative newspaper): Hundreds of children detained in US border facilities. Justice Department lawyer won't give them soap, toothbrushes or a place to shower
- DN.no (largest business news provider): Children tell about gross abuse at US border facilites
- VG.no (largest tabloid): US migrant crisis: Babies taken from their parents and sent across the country
TIL that Australia had a concentration camp full of Jews during WW2. That's what we called it, that's what the sign at the front said. Here's a coupon for the concentration camp canteen.
It would be surprising to learn, though it happens to be a year to the day I heard the history of concentration camps in the podcast Behind the Bastards - Concentration Camps Are Back, So Let's Talk About Their History. I recommend it.
While I respect the community of victims taking ownership of the term, it's ahistorical to conflate the nazi death camps with concentrations camps. Yet since one is the precondition for the other, I'd suggest calling them what they are.
posted by adept256 at 11:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
It would be surprising to learn, though it happens to be a year to the day I heard the history of concentration camps in the podcast Behind the Bastards - Concentration Camps Are Back, So Let's Talk About Their History. I recommend it.
While I respect the community of victims taking ownership of the term, it's ahistorical to conflate the nazi death camps with concentrations camps. Yet since one is the precondition for the other, I'd suggest calling them what they are.
posted by adept256 at 11:45 PM on June 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
AP, TSA plans to send more airport screeners to Mexico border
The Transportation Security Administration plans to send more than 650 airport screeners and federal air marshals to help handle an increase in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.posted by zachlipton at 1:13 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said Tuesday that TSA told his committee it has dispatched nearly 200 screeners and supervisors and 172 air marshals to the border already and plans to send another 294.
TIL that Australia had a concentration camp full of Jews during WW2.
Yes, the Dunera boys. I had one as a teacher in high school. The past is not dead, etc.
While I respect the community of victims taking ownership of the term [...] I'd suggest calling them what they are.
Jews have good reason to be concerned about the abuse of Holocaust terminology. Look at the way the word "ghetto" has come to mean almost anything other than "a walled-off part of a city in which Jews are confined". In fact, I find that the people who most often make Holocaust analogies are antisemites, using it as a way to hurt Jews. IMO that's not what's happening here, but Republican voices are exploiting this concern to blunt Jews' reaction to the ... you know, Trump's concentration camps. It's particularly astute, because according to political commentator and author Elad Nehorai,
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:17 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Yes, the Dunera boys. I had one as a teacher in high school. The past is not dead, etc.
While I respect the community of victims taking ownership of the term [...] I'd suggest calling them what they are.
Jews have good reason to be concerned about the abuse of Holocaust terminology. Look at the way the word "ghetto" has come to mean almost anything other than "a walled-off part of a city in which Jews are confined". In fact, I find that the people who most often make Holocaust analogies are antisemites, using it as a way to hurt Jews. IMO that's not what's happening here, but Republican voices are exploiting this concern to blunt Jews' reaction to the ... you know, Trump's concentration camps. It's particularly astute, because according to political commentator and author Elad Nehorai,
There is one political issue that Jews are most united on: the treatment of migrants on the border. According to a recent poll, 78% of American Jews disapprove of family separations. No other current political policy has united so many Jews.His article is worth reading; he makes a good case that Republicans are seizing on the use of Holocaust-related terminology to distract from the substantive issue. As Carly Pildis says,
Stop Wasting Time Arguing About Concentration Camps (and focus on ending our humanitarian disaster at the border).And as Deborah Lipstadt says,
Talk about the horrific conditions & not historical analogies. Don’t give those who are behind this policy a chance to piously claim they are being wrongly accused. Use of Holocaust analogies to condemn US immigration policy is a distractionI confess that I don't think there's a better term to describe the "facilities" the US regime is erecting, but there's no reason to make things easier for the Republicans by using content-free slogans like "Never Again!" Things are bad, and students of the Holocaust have every reason to be specially concerned, but Holocaust analogies are likely counterproductive. If the resistance has to use analogies, maybe reach into American history for some? Goodness knows there are enough.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:17 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Once upon a time, the U.S. government called it "reception and care of refugees" when they used military bases as places where newly arrived people could live temporarily. From 1981 (and an old FPP from me): The Role of the U.S. Army Forces Command in Project New Arrivals. Reception and Care of Refugees from Vietnam (.pdf). I"d ask you to read the table of contents for items like "Infant feeding," "Chaplain support," "Laundry support," fixing winterization problems, addressing cold weather clothing needs, and an illustration on page 77, "A Vietnamese boy examines his newly acquired playthings. Toys for refugee youngsters were distributed by volunteer agencies"...This document reminds me that there are plans on the shelf for handling an influx of people from other nations, and that those plans have traditionally included humanitarian concerns. O brave new world, that has such cruel policy in it...
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:29 AM on June 26, 2019 [47 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:29 AM on June 26, 2019 [47 favorites]
On the student debt forgiveness programs being proposed: spouse and I have 6 degrees and $400k in debt between us. It wasn't always that high. I just turned 50 and we spend 2x our mortgage on student loans. The 10 year public service loan forgiveness program screwed us (and many, many others) and spouse with a PhD was only ever able to find non-tenure and adjunct positions, so her career was effectively stillborn. I keep trying to level up in the tech field, but I made more in 1999 than I do now, adjusting for inflation, even after picking up another degree. We have a child going to college in 2 years to pay for and 3 parents that we are helping because their retirement is broken (G.M. bankruptcy, laid off 2 years before retirement, etc.). Anything... anything anyone can do to get the country of this mess, or even just stop it from happening to another generation, would be a blessing. The real, actual plan for us is to relocate to a different country and stop paying so we can start saving for retirement, because that hasn't happened either.
posted by Manic Pixie Hollow at 5:35 AM on June 26, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by Manic Pixie Hollow at 5:35 AM on June 26, 2019 [40 favorites]
When the estimated North Korean fatalities were increased from 15,000 to 1.1 million, support for using nuclear weapons among respondents who favor the death penalty increased from 38 percent to 49 percent. The primal enemy isn't Trump, or Russia, or even the GOP, it's us.
Yet that 11% increase was somehow not statistically significant suggesting there was something massively wrong with that study. I don't doubt the overall conclusion (because 27% of the population is consistently crazy) but that sounds like some really crappy polling work.
posted by srboisvert at 5:46 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yet that 11% increase was somehow not statistically significant suggesting there was something massively wrong with that study. I don't doubt the overall conclusion (because 27% of the population is consistently crazy) but that sounds like some really crappy polling work.
posted by srboisvert at 5:46 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
The paper itself has a really shoddy description of the methdology, I don't think reporting qualitative data is their day job?
posted by chiquitita at 6:02 AM on June 26, 2019
posted by chiquitita at 6:02 AM on June 26, 2019
I confess that I don't think there's a better term to describe the "facilities" the US regime is erecting, but there's no reason to make things easier for the Republicans by using content-free slogans like "Never Again!" Things are bad, and students of the Holocaust have every reason to be specially concerned, but Holocaust analogies are likely counterproductive. If the resistance has to use analogies, maybe reach into American history for some? Goodness knows there are enough.
Americans are horrifically ignorant and uneducated about of the historical atrocities of their own country and/or have been conditioned to believe that we never did any atrocities. Pretty much all conservatives already think that we never really did anything wrong to Native Americans, that slavery and segregation were the fault of the Democratic party, that the Japanese deserved internment and nukes, etc etc etc.
Besides the conservatives, the apolitical/politically-unconscious/politically-disengaged majority of the country has been woefully and intentionally undereducated and miseducated about US history for their entire lives. We know nothing about our own past besides tricorn-hatted white men and Saving Private Ryan. The only thing that all but the alt-right will agree on is that Nazis were bad because they did the Holocaust. We're working with an impoverished history and we don't have time to try to convince most of the country that America has actually done some pretty bad stuff that this is sorta like and here's why. Genocide is coming and we have no choice but to appeal to the only genocide that we mostly recognize as such. We're past beanplating about whether the fact that we currently resemble the early stages of the Holocaust and not (yet, for another couple years maybe) the later stages of the Holocaust should make us cool it on the rhetoric. We don't have that luxury.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:51 AM on June 26, 2019 [42 favorites]
Americans are horrifically ignorant and uneducated about of the historical atrocities of their own country and/or have been conditioned to believe that we never did any atrocities. Pretty much all conservatives already think that we never really did anything wrong to Native Americans, that slavery and segregation were the fault of the Democratic party, that the Japanese deserved internment and nukes, etc etc etc.
Besides the conservatives, the apolitical/politically-unconscious/politically-disengaged majority of the country has been woefully and intentionally undereducated and miseducated about US history for their entire lives. We know nothing about our own past besides tricorn-hatted white men and Saving Private Ryan. The only thing that all but the alt-right will agree on is that Nazis were bad because they did the Holocaust. We're working with an impoverished history and we don't have time to try to convince most of the country that America has actually done some pretty bad stuff that this is sorta like and here's why. Genocide is coming and we have no choice but to appeal to the only genocide that we mostly recognize as such. We're past beanplating about whether the fact that we currently resemble the early stages of the Holocaust and not (yet, for another couple years maybe) the later stages of the Holocaust should make us cool it on the rhetoric. We don't have that luxury.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:51 AM on June 26, 2019 [42 favorites]
Yet that 11% increase was somehow not statistically significant suggesting there was something massively wrong with that study.
I don’t follow this at all—statistical power is a function of the number of independent observations and the model used. Failing to find statistical significance in no way invalidates a study.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:56 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
I don’t follow this at all—statistical power is a function of the number of independent observations and the model used. Failing to find statistical significance in no way invalidates a study.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:56 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
My attitude about the term "concentration camps" is that the meaning has pretty much fully grafted onto Naziism and eliminationism in the public mind. As such, people saying "AOC never said Nazis, that was you making the leap!" reminds me a little too much of right-wing word games ("I never said black, I said urban"). The Boer War camps may have been called "concentration camps" at the time, but I wouldn't refer to a modern equivalent to them in that way now, same as I wouldn't use "gay" for "happy".
However, today's camps at our border clearly are concentration camps because I see no ideological guardrails to prevent them from becoming outright death camps. We can still stop them! But that doesn't change my definition any more than the definition of cancer requires it to be inoperable.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:16 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
However, today's camps at our border clearly are concentration camps because I see no ideological guardrails to prevent them from becoming outright death camps. We can still stop them! But that doesn't change my definition any more than the definition of cancer requires it to be inoperable.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:16 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Genocide is coming and we have no choice but to appeal to the only genocide that we mostly recognize as such.
Genocide is HERE. Check out the legal definition of genocide according to the United Nations, and scroll down to item 6, "Genocidal Acts". Included in that section:
Less obvious methods of destruction, such as the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival and which are available to the rest of the population, such as clean water, food and medical services;
Creation of circumstances that could lead to a slow death, such as lack of proper housing, clothing and hygiene or excessive work or physical exertion;
and
Forcible transfer of children, imposed by direct force or through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [42 favorites]
Genocide is HERE. Check out the legal definition of genocide according to the United Nations, and scroll down to item 6, "Genocidal Acts". Included in that section:
Less obvious methods of destruction, such as the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival and which are available to the rest of the population, such as clean water, food and medical services;
Creation of circumstances that could lead to a slow death, such as lack of proper housing, clothing and hygiene or excessive work or physical exertion;
and
Forcible transfer of children, imposed by direct force or through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [42 favorites]
Mod note: Let's take the concentration camp discussion over to the open concentration camp/internment camp thread. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
Trump’s war on refugees is tearing down US's life-changing resettlement program (Guardian)
Donald Trump has for two consecutive years overseen the lowest refugee admission rates since the modern resettlement system was created in 1980
Donald Trump has for two consecutive years overseen the lowest refugee admission rates since the modern resettlement system was created in 1980
Trump’s war on refugees is no secret. He paused the refugee resettlement program a week after taking office and repeatedly tells lies that refugees have been tied to terrorist attacks, even though none of the more than 3 million refugees resettled since 1980 have committed a lethal terrorist attack.posted by Little Dawn at 7:26 AM on June 26, 2019 [15 favorites]
The White House adviser Stephen Miller reportedly said he wanted to end all refugee resettlement in the US and has suppressed government studies that show the economic benefits of refugee resettlement. [...]
In a presidential debate, Trump said Syrian refugees were actually a “great Trojan horse”, echoing language used by President Franklin Roosevelt and other politicians in the 1930s to justify keeping Jewish admissions low during the Holocaust.
For all this hysteria, however, refugees and advocates said the political messaging contradicted their own experiences of American public attitudes to refugees. After the travel ban, the International Rescue Committee said it saw a 100% increase in volunteers in Democratic-leaning states and a 90% increase in volunteers in Republican-leaning states. Those numbers have remained steady ever since.
Politico runs through what various Special Counsel attorneys have been up to since Mueller closed his investigation and how their testimony could help House Dems looking to pick up where Mueller left off: Mueller’s Team May Think It Is Done. Democrats Have Other Ideas.—Democrats struggling to find witnesses to guide their Trump probes say they’ve noticed the recent uptick in activity from ex-Mueller staffers — and they want in.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:35 AM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
[T]he special counsel’s attorneys who spent nearly two years working on one of the most scrutinized investigations in American history […] now are resurfacing at major law firms touting their work on the Russia probe. Some are even giving interviews to journalists, a big change from the “no comment” mantra they practiced to almost comical extremes, while another has a reported book deal.[…]See also Just Security: What Congress Should Ask Robert Mueller When He Testifies
These are, after all, the same attorneys who personally interviewed the president’s aides and a wide cast of characters connected to Moscow’s election interference campaign. They worked closest with the special counsel in deciding who merited prosecution or even a mention in his final report. As a result, they could offer new investigative leads, suggest ways to stymie the foreign assistance Trump seems open to accepting and further the congressional probes fueling impeachment calls.[…]
Under the joint House Judiciary and Intelligence Committee plan unveiled Tuesday night, an unspecified number of the special counsel’s senior deputies are expected to accompany their former boss and testify in closed session when Mueller appears next month. Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff declined Tuesday night to identify the deputies, and it was also unclear if they would be appearing under subpoena.
Democrats also haven’t precluded bringing the former Mueller lawyers back for additional rounds.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:35 AM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
The Whelk: Warren introduces new election security plan
CNN article summary of her Medium post on her plan to strengthen our democracy, and CNN chose this quote, among others: "Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox," ... "But instead, they're less secure than your Amazon account."
Is it petty of me to enjoy subtle digs at Trump's hatred of (actual) billionaire Jeff Bezos by saying that Amazon is more secure than U.S. election systems? Probably, but I'll take my amusement where I can find it.
The Debates Will Be About Climate—Disguised as Other Issues (Adam Rogers for Wired, June 26, 2019)
Anyone working on a debate or post-debate thread? If so, good luck, and thank you! (And could/ should there be a FanFare special event, for more real-time type comments? Or should those go in MetaChat?)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:49 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
CNN article summary of her Medium post on her plan to strengthen our democracy, and CNN chose this quote, among others: "Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox," ... "But instead, they're less secure than your Amazon account."
Is it petty of me to enjoy subtle digs at Trump's hatred of (actual) billionaire Jeff Bezos by saying that Amazon is more secure than U.S. election systems? Probably, but I'll take my amusement where I can find it.
The Debates Will Be About Climate—Disguised as Other Issues (Adam Rogers for Wired, June 26, 2019)
Anyone working on a debate or post-debate thread? If so, good luck, and thank you! (And could/ should there be a FanFare special event, for more real-time type comments? Or should those go in MetaChat?)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:49 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
NPR on the upcoming Democratic candidate debates:
- What You Need To Know About The Democratic Debate, And Candidates Who Made The Cut
- Series: 2020 Candidates Give Us Their Opening Arguments
- The First Democratic Presidential Debates: What You Should Watch For
- NPR Politics Podcasts: On The Trail With The Candidates
Washington Post has a big spread on Howard Schulz: Is Centrism Doomed?
Nate Silver: Socially Liberal, Fiscally Conservative Voters Preferred Trump In 2016
my own thinking on this issue is similar but not the same
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [24 favorites]
But there was another, arguably more serious, problem with Schultz’s version of centrism: It does the opposite of what it claims to do. A politics intended to appeal to a wide middle of the country has, in the hands of someone like Schultz, come to mean an incredibly narrow thing: fiscally conservative, socially liberal, open borders on trade and immigration, restrictive on gun rights, hawkish on foreign policy, and not crazy about raising taxes. “Centrism,” in other words, has become a byword for the politics of the business elite. Defined left to right, on an x-axis, it may approximate the center of the political spectrum. But on a y-axis that represents socioeconomic status, it sits at the very top.Paul Krugman calls these the Empty Quarters Of US Politics
One is the absence of socially liberal, economically conservative voters. These were the people Schultz thought he could appeal to; but basically they don’t exist, accounting for only around, yes, 4 percent of the electorate.Krugman had previously referred to The Empty Box, and he references Corey Robin: "Well, the best story I have is Corey Robin’s: It’s fundamentally about challenging or sustaining traditional hierarchy. The actual lineup of positions on social and economic issues doesn’t make sense if you assume that conservatives are, as they claim, defenders of personal liberty on all fronts. But it makes perfect sense if you suppose that conservatism is instead about preserving traditional forms of authority: employers over workers, patriarchs over families."
The other is the absence of economically liberal, socially conservative politicians — let’s be blunt and just say “racist populists.” There are plenty of voters who would like that mix, and Trump pretended to be their man; but he wasn’t, and neither is anyone else.
Understanding these empty quarters is, I’d argue, the key to understanding U.S. politics.
Nate Silver: Socially Liberal, Fiscally Conservative Voters Preferred Trump In 2016
my own thinking on this issue is similar but not the same
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [24 favorites]
One is the absence of socially liberal, economically conservative voters. These were the people Schultz thought he could appeal to; but basically they don’t exist, accounting for only around, yes, 4 percent of the electorate.
I would add that maybe the SL/EC bloc looks larger than it is because they comprise a large part of the pundit and donor class. Their numbers are tiny but their voices are loud. Which means that the Threat Of Howard Schultz is largely hot air - he won't syphon off a bunch of people who would otherwise vote Democratic if Warren is nominated. (The threat to Democrats is more about stay-homes, I think.)
The SC/EL, or racist populists, were a splinter bloc in the days of George Wallace and, later, Ross Perot, but they're solidly in Trump's camp for now. If they can give up their social conservatism, well, welcome to the Democrats.
But it seems that social and economic liberalism (or conservatism) largely go in lockstep. People who are socially liberal are also economically liberal. Four loud percent is still only four percent.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:09 AM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
I would add that maybe the SL/EC bloc looks larger than it is because they comprise a large part of the pundit and donor class. Their numbers are tiny but their voices are loud. Which means that the Threat Of Howard Schultz is largely hot air - he won't syphon off a bunch of people who would otherwise vote Democratic if Warren is nominated. (The threat to Democrats is more about stay-homes, I think.)
The SC/EL, or racist populists, were a splinter bloc in the days of George Wallace and, later, Ross Perot, but they're solidly in Trump's camp for now. If they can give up their social conservatism, well, welcome to the Democrats.
But it seems that social and economic liberalism (or conservatism) largely go in lockstep. People who are socially liberal are also economically liberal. Four loud percent is still only four percent.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:09 AM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
I would add that maybe the SL/EC bloc looks larger than it is because they comprise a large part of the pundit and donor class. Their numbers are tiny but their voices are loud.
The whole point of presenting it like one corner of a grid is "Look, we're 25 percent of the population! We're valid! Listen to us! And ignore the fact that our philosophy breaks down when you poke it at even the slightest bit, and we're really just greedy fucks (EC) who don't actually care about anyone else (SL)."
posted by Etrigan at 8:33 AM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
The whole point of presenting it like one corner of a grid is "Look, we're 25 percent of the population! We're valid! Listen to us! And ignore the fact that our philosophy breaks down when you poke it at even the slightest bit, and we're really just greedy fucks (EC) who don't actually care about anyone else (SL)."
posted by Etrigan at 8:33 AM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
Social liberal/economic conservative is an oxymoron. How do you call yourself socially liberal when your economic policy is fuck poor people?
Typically among that crowd all that "socially liberal" means is okay with smoking dope.
posted by JackFlash at 8:49 AM on June 26, 2019 [33 favorites]
Typically among that crowd all that "socially liberal" means is okay with smoking dope.
posted by JackFlash at 8:49 AM on June 26, 2019 [33 favorites]
Yesterday, Eight by Eight magazine interviewed Reign FC women's soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe about her team's championship prospects, and she told them, bluntly, “I’m not going to the fucking White House. […] We're not gonna be invited. ” (w/video)
Subsequently, @realDonaldTrump threw a multi-tweet fit this morning about this. Claiming to be a "big fan" of the team, he belatedly issued an invitation, while simultaneously calling into question Rapinoe's patriotism (and somehow disrespecting the flag) and suggesting she was jumping the gun. While Trump is of course always on the watch for a new target as a foil in the media and among his supporters, her casual, open disdain for him really hit a nerve.
And naturally, Trump is reacting to the coverage of Rapinoe on Fox, Media Matters's Matthew Gertz points out. (And Fox Business of course conducted a Two Minutes Hate for her, calling her "opportunistic" without the slightest shred of self-awareness.)
Trump's also still smarting from Toronto Raptors’ Danny Green says the NBA champs won’t pay Trump a visit—"To put it politely, I think it’s a hard no." (He's also bothered that NBA teams are shifting from the term "owners" to "governors"‚ something he probably saw on Breitbart). The bottom line is that Trump is being starved for attention with each team boycott as long as he's in the White House.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:51 AM on June 26, 2019 [25 favorites]
Subsequently, @realDonaldTrump threw a multi-tweet fit this morning about this. Claiming to be a "big fan" of the team, he belatedly issued an invitation, while simultaneously calling into question Rapinoe's patriotism (and somehow disrespecting the flag) and suggesting she was jumping the gun. While Trump is of course always on the watch for a new target as a foil in the media and among his supporters, her casual, open disdain for him really hit a nerve.
And naturally, Trump is reacting to the coverage of Rapinoe on Fox, Media Matters's Matthew Gertz points out. (And Fox Business of course conducted a Two Minutes Hate for her, calling her "opportunistic" without the slightest shred of self-awareness.)
Trump's also still smarting from Toronto Raptors’ Danny Green says the NBA champs won’t pay Trump a visit—"To put it politely, I think it’s a hard no." (He's also bothered that NBA teams are shifting from the term "owners" to "governors"‚ something he probably saw on Breitbart). The bottom line is that Trump is being starved for attention with each team boycott as long as he's in the White House.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:51 AM on June 26, 2019 [25 favorites]
Trump Lashes Out After Mueller Agrees to Testify to Congress (NYT)
“It never ends,” Mr. Trump said about Democratic efforts to investigate his conduct. He repeated that Mr. Mueller’s report, released in April, found no collusion with the Russians, and he again offered a false assertion that he was cleared of obstruction of justice.posted by Little Dawn at 8:55 AM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
Mr. Mueller emphasized that Mr. Trump has not been cleared of obstruction crimes. “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mr. Mueller said in May in his only public remarks on the investigation.
Social liberal/economic conservative is an oxymoron.
I know plenty of people like this. They honestly do not give a shit what people do in their lives (gay, abortion), but are inclined to be cheap when it comes to money. I know plenty of socially liberal/economically liberal people who say, "whaddya mean, people can't afford to shop at Whole Foods??" It's better when people take the time to look at the nuances of certain issues, rather than just declare that all people are one way or another.
posted by Melismata at 8:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
I know plenty of people like this. They honestly do not give a shit what people do in their lives (gay, abortion), but are inclined to be cheap when it comes to money. I know plenty of socially liberal/economically liberal people who say, "whaddya mean, people can't afford to shop at Whole Foods??" It's better when people take the time to look at the nuances of certain issues, rather than just declare that all people are one way or another.
posted by Melismata at 8:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
Hello I am a season ticket holder for the Reign and I can tell you this is exactly who Megan Rapinoe is. She was the first white pro athlete to kneel in support of Colin Kaepernick's protests. She has always been outspoken. She also sees at least seven seconds in the future (perhaps farther, I don't know). Did she foresee this reaction? Probably. Almost certainly.
She said it anyway, because it was the right thing to say. She knows that because she is Megan Rapinoe and she gives no fucks.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:59 AM on June 26, 2019 [68 favorites]
She said it anyway, because it was the right thing to say. She knows that because she is Megan Rapinoe and she gives no fucks.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:59 AM on June 26, 2019 [68 favorites]
I know plenty of people like this.
Oh, I don't doubt it. But their existence doesn't negate the fact that their personal philosophy is one giant contradiction, whether they are self-aware or not.
posted by JackFlash at 9:03 AM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Oh, I don't doubt it. But their existence doesn't negate the fact that their personal philosophy is one giant contradiction, whether they are self-aware or not.
posted by JackFlash at 9:03 AM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Here’s a list of organizations that are mobilizing to help the influx of immigrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border
posted by The Whelk at 9:15 AM on June 26, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:15 AM on June 26, 2019 [16 favorites]
He repeated that Mr. Mueller’s report, released in April, found no collusion with the Russians, and he again offered a false assertion that he was cleared of obstruction of justice.
A lot hinges on how clearly Mueller is willing to speak. His answer to "Is Trump correct when he says that you cleared him of obstruction" should be something like "No, the opposite is true. I explicitly didn't clear him of obstruction, and because I couldn't charge him with a crime, I presented the evidence and referred the decision to Congress." I'm worried that he'll intentionally say something much muddier and harder to parse.
posted by diogenes at 9:29 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
A lot hinges on how clearly Mueller is willing to speak. His answer to "Is Trump correct when he says that you cleared him of obstruction" should be something like "No, the opposite is true. I explicitly didn't clear him of obstruction, and because I couldn't charge him with a crime, I presented the evidence and referred the decision to Congress." I'm worried that he'll intentionally say something much muddier and harder to parse.
posted by diogenes at 9:29 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
Luke Darby has pointed out that $675 a day will get you a luxurious suite with a king-size bed at the Trump Hotel in DC. The Department of Health and Human Services is paying private companies $775 a day for a child without a bed or even a bar of soap. HHS could save money by moving the kids to the Trump Hotel.
posted by JackFlash at 9:33 AM on June 26, 2019 [48 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 9:33 AM on June 26, 2019 [48 favorites]
First poll of AL Senate GOP primary:
posted by Chrysostom at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2019
Tuberville 29%A split field probably plays to Moore's chances of at least advancing to the runoff.
Byrne 21%
Moore 13%
Merrill 12%
posted by Chrysostom at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2019
Another interesting facet of the Mueller hearing is that leadership can't control the narrative. I suspect they aren't dying for Mueller to make it clear the extent to which his report was an impeachment referral. But they won't be able to prevent individual members from pressing Mueller on that subject.
posted by diogenes at 9:39 AM on June 26, 2019
posted by diogenes at 9:39 AM on June 26, 2019
I'll predict here that things will be even murkier and more frustrating after Mueller testifies. He is and will remain temperamentally unable to make a declarative statement that Trump did something wrong, and he will present agonizingly slow, thoughtful, carefully crafted responses that won't be clear and direct enough to change anyone's mind.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2019 [28 favorites]
Eyup. Mueller is a man who delights in convoluted octuple negative sentences that you need a transcript and a whiteboard to chart out the meaning of. I don't know if he's just deliberately obfuscating because he's a Republican and can't bring himself to directly say Trump is a criminal, or if he's just so immersed in lawyer BS that he can no longer speak in anything but circumlocutions, but either way he's never, ever, going to give a straight yes or no answer to any question the Democrats ask.
posted by sotonohito at 9:53 AM on June 26, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 9:53 AM on June 26, 2019 [13 favorites]
I think that it's a theoretical possibility that the Dems foresee this and formulate precise questions that avoid giving Mueller room to give lawyerly responses. But it won't happen without consciously recognizing that obfuscation (however unintentional) is the likeliest outcome and carefully considering the kinds of questions that will work.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:59 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:59 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
AOC fan stuff:
Today is exactly one year since she won the primary over Joe Biden...
... Ooops I mean Crowley
posted by growabrain at 10:07 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Today is exactly one year since she won the primary over Joe Biden...
... Ooops I mean Crowley
posted by growabrain at 10:07 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Not sure how to read the tea leaves wine corks on this one for its broader implications on future court cases: Supreme Court Hands Total Wine, Other Out-Of-State Liquor Retailers A Big Win (Nina Totenberg and Domenico Montanaro for NPR, June 26, 2019)
It went 7-2 to strike down Tennessee's two year residency requirement for liquor sales as erecting barriers to interstate commerce, with Neil Gorsuch writing the dissent in favor of state's rights, citing that Tennessee's requirement has been in place for 80 years.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
It went 7-2 to strike down Tennessee's two year residency requirement for liquor sales as erecting barriers to interstate commerce, with Neil Gorsuch writing the dissent in favor of state's rights, citing that Tennessee's requirement has been in place for 80 years.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
If I see one more "Trump lashes out at X" headline, I swear to god...
posted by gwint at 10:15 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by gwint at 10:15 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
I've been looking around on the 'net for any pundit or journalist willing to predict what Mueller will say at his testimony, and nobody is willing to place any bets. The best that can be said is what Mueller himself stated: "Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. And the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before congress." I suspect, though, that he's likely to be more forthcoming in his opening statement than he was at his press conference or in his report, if only because he seems to react (slowly) when the media and politicians misrepresent or misconstrue his findings.
What's more fruitful is looking at how Dems can strategize their questioning, even if Mueller won't go outside the lines of the report, e.g. Did Trump and His Team Successfully Obstruct Mueller’s Investigation? (Just Security)
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:17 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
What's more fruitful is looking at how Dems can strategize their questioning, even if Mueller won't go outside the lines of the report, e.g. Did Trump and His Team Successfully Obstruct Mueller’s Investigation? (Just Security)
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:17 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
It's probably just a defense mechanism kicking in, but I'm oddly optimistic that the Mueller hearing is going to be a turning point. He doesn't need to say anything beyond what he said in the report. What he said in the report just needs to enter the public consciousness and become part of the media narrative.
posted by diogenes at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2019 [19 favorites]
He is and will remain temperamentally unable to make a declarative statement that Trump did something wrong, and he will present agonizingly slow, thoughtful, carefully crafted responses that won't be clear and direct enough to change anyone's mind.
If I were to question him, I would fashion my inquiry to allow him to characterize the evidence he found to support the accusation that Trump did this or that egregious thing that Trump denies doing. The point isn't to get rock solid evidence of violations of specific language in a section of federal laws. It is to illuminate the absolutely criminal and bad faith behavior of a greedy, racist pawn of a foreign government who welcomed their help and is destroying our governmental institutions. The evidence is in the report. The value is in having someone trustworthy say on the teevee that he did those things, so the vast numbers of folks who only believe what they see on the teevee will come to know who currently occupies the White House.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
If I were to question him, I would fashion my inquiry to allow him to characterize the evidence he found to support the accusation that Trump did this or that egregious thing that Trump denies doing. The point isn't to get rock solid evidence of violations of specific language in a section of federal laws. It is to illuminate the absolutely criminal and bad faith behavior of a greedy, racist pawn of a foreign government who welcomed their help and is destroying our governmental institutions. The evidence is in the report. The value is in having someone trustworthy say on the teevee that he did those things, so the vast numbers of folks who only believe what they see on the teevee will come to know who currently occupies the White House.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
A Father And Daughter, Drowned At The Border, Put Attention On Immigration (Bill Chappell for NPR, June 26, 2019)
Editor's Note: This story contains images that some readers may find disturbing.
Pence, not answering the question: "N-no American, no American should approve of this mass influx of people coming across our border. It is overwhelming our system."
For Pence, it's the fault of Congress for not giving Border Patrol more funding for humane conditions, and the Dems for blocking reasonable discussions. And the fault of the asylum seekers themselves for trying to get into the United States of America.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
Editor's Note: This story contains images that some readers may find disturbing.
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died as he tried to bring his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, to safety and a new life in the U.S. Ramírez's wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, says she watched from the shore as her husband and daughter were pulled away by a strong river current near the border crossing between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.No comment included in that article from any US conterparts, representatives or agencies. To fill that void, I'll play back Mike Pence's reply (CNN) to the statement begging an answer: "I know you, you're a father, a man of faith, you can't approve of that."
The small family was fleeing poverty in El Salvador and had secured a humanitarian visa in Mexico — but after spending two months in a migrant camp waiting to apply for asylum in the U.S., Martínez decided that they should try to cross the border on Sunday. Those details all come from the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, whose journalist, Julia Le Duc, was at the riverbank as Ávalos spoke to police and emergency workers.
...
On the same day Óscar Alberto and Valeria died, U.S. Border Patrol agents found four bodies along the Rio Grande in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, about 55 miles west of Brownsville. In that case (NPR), three children — one toddler and two infants — died along with a 20-year-old woman.
...
"We are united to pain by this irreparable loss," the Salvadoran president's office said of the tragedy, after Ramírez's cousin asked for the government's help in bringing the bodies back home.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele granted the request, telling Foreign Affairs Minister Alexandra Hill to make arrangements and give the family financial support. Both the president and Hill also urged Salvadorans not to try to cross the U.S. border without going through legal channels.
"Someday we will finish building a country where these things do not happen," Bukele said. "Someday we will finish building a country where migration is an option and not an obligation. In the meantime, we will do as much as we can. God help us."
Pence, not answering the question: "N-no American, no American should approve of this mass influx of people coming across our border. It is overwhelming our system."
For Pence, it's the fault of Congress for not giving Border Patrol more funding for humane conditions, and the Dems for blocking reasonable discussions. And the fault of the asylum seekers themselves for trying to get into the United States of America.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheSomeone really should get Lady Liberty on the same page as Pence, because there's some serious dissonance in the messaging.
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
posted by filthy light thief at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2019 [10 favorites]
It's probably just a defense mechanism kicking in, but I'm oddly optimistic that the Mueller hearing is going to be a turning point. He doesn't need to say anything beyond what he said in the report. What he said in the report just needs to enter the public consciousness and become part of the media narrative.
I wish I was more confident that the media wouldn't give more credulous coverage to William Barr holding a press conference declaring that Mueller's testimony exonerated Trump.
posted by Gelatin at 10:28 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
I wish I was more confident that the media wouldn't give more credulous coverage to William Barr holding a press conference declaring that Mueller's testimony exonerated Trump.
posted by Gelatin at 10:28 AM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Hey, NeverTrumpers: Please quit lecturing actual Democrats about how to win (Heather Digby Parton, Salon)
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2019 [25 favorites]
Of all the annoying advice inundating us in recent days, the most irritating has to be that coming from the NeverTrumpers, meaning those conservatives and Republicans who never supported the president and are eager to drive him from office.And who did such a great job preventing him from winning the nomination in the first place.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2019 [25 favorites]
An Oral History of Trump's Bigotry. From The Atlantic.
posted by Paul Slade at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
What's more fruitful is looking at how Dems can strategize their questioning, even if Mueller won't go outside the lines of the report, e.g. Did Trump and His Team Successfully Obstruct Mueller’s Investigation? (Just Security)
"Was evidence destroyed deliberately that you were seeking?"
"If this was a regular criminal investigation, would that have resulted in charges?"
"Did William Barr interfere in your investigation or conclude it prematurely?"
posted by benzenedream at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Was evidence destroyed deliberately that you were seeking?"
"If this was a regular criminal investigation, would that have resulted in charges?"
"Did William Barr interfere in your investigation or conclude it prematurely?"
posted by benzenedream at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
And who did such a great job preventing him from winning the nomination in the first place.
Shit, we all made some kind of judgment error in '16, but none of these never trump armchair QB's has gone as far as to file paperwork in Iowa yet. Y'all can save us from this three months sooner or at least make him run through some campaign funds so there's less to line his own pockets.
posted by cmfletcher at 10:53 AM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Shit, we all made some kind of judgment error in '16, but none of these never trump armchair QB's has gone as far as to file paperwork in Iowa yet. Y'all can save us from this three months sooner or at least make him run through some campaign funds so there's less to line his own pockets.
posted by cmfletcher at 10:53 AM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Well, Bill Weld *is* running for the GOP nomination.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
Benzenedream, those questions all call for speculation (would it have? What do you think was in that file you could not access?) or personal judgment (was it premature?)
Mueller will not speculate and he will not express his own personal judgment.
The only things Democrats can effectively question him on are matters of fact.
If it were me, I would use Mueller's testimony to illuminate Trump's lies.
"During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said he had no deals in Russia. Did he have deals in Russia? Was he negotiatiating to build a Trump Tower Moscow when he said that?"
"During the 2016 campaign, Hope Hicks said no one involved in the campaign had any contact with Russia. Did anyone in the campaign have contact with Russia? How many people? How many times? What did they discuss?"
"Donald Trump said he never ordered McGahn to fire you. Did he?"
And so on. Just throw some of these Trump quotes at Mueller and ask him "true or false."
Mueller will testify to the facts and Trump will look like the lying liar he is.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [50 favorites]
Mueller will not speculate and he will not express his own personal judgment.
The only things Democrats can effectively question him on are matters of fact.
If it were me, I would use Mueller's testimony to illuminate Trump's lies.
"During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said he had no deals in Russia. Did he have deals in Russia? Was he negotiatiating to build a Trump Tower Moscow when he said that?"
"During the 2016 campaign, Hope Hicks said no one involved in the campaign had any contact with Russia. Did anyone in the campaign have contact with Russia? How many people? How many times? What did they discuss?"
"Donald Trump said he never ordered McGahn to fire you. Did he?"
And so on. Just throw some of these Trump quotes at Mueller and ask him "true or false."
Mueller will testify to the facts and Trump will look like the lying liar he is.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [50 favorites]
i'd like to see some questions about bannon & prince's inexplicable lack of copies of communications around the seychelles meetings notwithstanding their FBI interviews/GJ testimony that they did not destroy any coms, that they do not have document destruction policies, and the special counsel's acquisition of records demonstrating that communications occurred. See "iii. Eric Prince's Meeting with Steve Bannon after the Seychelles Trip," at Mueller Report p. 155-6. did they lie or the FBI or destroy evidence?
...but i think it is unlikely mueller will chose to speak more clearly than in his report or later statement, or be tricked into revealing that which he has determined is not his to say.
posted by 20 year lurk at 10:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
...but i think it is unlikely mueller will chose to speak more clearly than in his report or later statement, or be tricked into revealing that which he has determined is not his to say.
posted by 20 year lurk at 10:58 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Trump, to the Faith and Freedom Coalition:
"We needed 60 votes. And we had 51 votes. And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right? Fortunately, they're gone now. They've gone on to greener pastures. Or perhaps far less green pastures... They're gone. I'm very happy they're gone."
He won't be satisfied until he can flip to the John McCain Burning in Hell Channel on the TV
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2019 [19 favorites]
"We needed 60 votes. And we had 51 votes. And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right? Fortunately, they're gone now. They've gone on to greener pastures. Or perhaps far less green pastures... They're gone. I'm very happy they're gone."
He won't be satisfied until he can flip to the John McCain Burning in Hell Channel on the TV
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2019 [19 favorites]
Daily Beast, Reddit ‘Quarantines’ Pro-Trump Subreddit Over Anti-Police Threats
@AJentleson: From the Oregon Senate to the House of Representatives, Democrats fundamentally misunderstand the threat we’re facing.
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2019 [33 favorites]
Reddit quarantined the “The_Donald” subreddit on Wednesday, citing threats made on the popular forum for Trump supporters against law enforcement officers.This tweet is entirely unrelated and was posted well before the "quarantine" happened, but I think it sums up where we are.
“Recent behaviors including threats against the police and public figures is content that is prohibited by our violence policy,” a Reddit spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, we have actioned individual users and quarantined the subreddit."
The new quarantine was brought on by anti-police threats posted on The_Donald. Some users had apparently encouraged violence against law enforcement, angry that officials in Oregon were trying to bring back GOP state senators who fled the state to avoid voting on a climate-change bill. In a note to The_Donald moderators, Reddit administrators said they had “observed this behavior in the form of encouragement of violence towards police officers and public officials in Oregon.”
@AJentleson: From the Oregon Senate to the House of Representatives, Democrats fundamentally misunderstand the threat we’re facing.
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2019 [33 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren protested outside an immigrant child detention facility in Homestead, FL, this morning.
posted by Sublimity at 11:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [44 favorites]
posted by Sublimity at 11:24 AM on June 26, 2019 [44 favorites]
Reddit ‘Quarantines’ Pro-Trump Subreddit Over Anti-Police Threats
After years of direct involvement with multiple murders and acts of domestic terrorism, they made the one fatal error: scaring cops.
The_Donald's still there, by the way. 750,000 are still subscribed and 40,000 are posting there right this minute. Quarantine isn't anywhere near banning, it's a cosmetic public-relations bandaid.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:26 AM on June 26, 2019 [20 favorites]
After years of direct involvement with multiple murders and acts of domestic terrorism, they made the one fatal error: scaring cops.
The_Donald's still there, by the way. 750,000 are still subscribed and 40,000 are posting there right this minute. Quarantine isn't anywhere near banning, it's a cosmetic public-relations bandaid.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:26 AM on June 26, 2019 [20 favorites]
Some photos from this afternoon's walkout by Wayfair workers in Boston to protest the company's contract with a detention-camp contractor. A couple hundred workers walked from the company headquarters in the Copley Place complex over to the plaza in front of Trinity Church in Copley Square, where they were met by applause from supporters.
posted by adamg at 11:28 AM on June 26, 2019 [32 favorites]
posted by adamg at 11:28 AM on June 26, 2019 [32 favorites]
Let’s check in on that insane district court ruling overturning the entire Affordable Care Act:
Nicholas Bagley (Michigan Law):The panel in the Fifth Circuit that's about to hear Texas v. United States has just asked for further briefing on standing -- and in particular on whether the intervenor states and the House of Representatives can properly appeal the case. This is an ominous sign. If neither the blue states nor the House has standing, it would mean that no one has standing to appeal the decision. That would effectively leave the lower court decision unappealable. What happens then is a bit uncertain to me -- but I don't think it's good. I doubt this is a case in which you'd get a Munsingwear vacatur: normally, if the parties don't appeal, the lower court decision stands. And that's what we'd effectively have. See Bancorp. If so, O'Connor's declaration that the ACA is invalid -- lock, stock, and barrel -- would remain on the books and would bind the Trump administration. That's not necessarily a death-knell for the ACA, because the declaration might or might not extend nationwide. And O'Connor hasn't entered injunctive relief anyhow, so I don't think the Trump administration would immediately throw its hands up and decline to enforce the ACA. More to the point, the House and the blue states would immediately seek a stay pending appeal while they pursued their standing arguments in front of the Supreme Court. But arguing about whether they have standing is not the footing on which they want to go to the Court. More generally, this order suggests that the Fifth Circuit panel may be hostile to the ACA and inclined to support the red states. The odds that the Fifth Circuit does something nasty to the health-reform law have gone up. I'm still thinking this through, and lord knows the panel may ultimately decide that someone does have standing to take the appeal. The Supreme Court too will have the final say. But my word, this seems bad to me. /finposted by T.D. Strange at 11:43 AM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Imagine how evil you have to be to radicalize Highlights magazine:
we denounce the practice of separating immigrant children from their families and urge our government to cease this activity, which is unconscionable and causes irreparable damage to young lives.posted by Etrigan at 11:47 AM on June 26, 2019 [90 favorites]
The war for the soul of our nation will be fought in the streets, in the schools, and in the dentist's offices.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:54 AM on June 26, 2019 [37 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:54 AM on June 26, 2019 [37 favorites]
Trump accused Robert Mueller of committing a crime by "terminating" emails.
posted by diogenes at 11:56 AM on June 26, 2019
posted by diogenes at 11:56 AM on June 26, 2019
Imagine how evil you have to be to radicalize Highlights magazine:
I know you're half-joking, but I'll take this seriously and say it's a dark fucking day when it's "radical" to speak against concentration camps and child separation and treating asylum seekers as sub-human.
The GOP have done wonders for the White Power movement without having to call it White Power.
How much (and how little) images change the discussion: Photo of drowned migrant child recalls an image that shocked the world in 2015 (Washington Post)
WARNING: the article including both tragic photos of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died as he tried to bring his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, and Alan Kurdi, a 3 year old Syrian boy who lay lifeless on a beach in a doomed attempt to reach Europe in 2015.
The Washington Post article goes on to state:
posted by filthy light thief at 11:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
I know you're half-joking, but I'll take this seriously and say it's a dark fucking day when it's "radical" to speak against concentration camps and child separation and treating asylum seekers as sub-human.
The GOP have done wonders for the White Power movement without having to call it White Power.
How much (and how little) images change the discussion: Photo of drowned migrant child recalls an image that shocked the world in 2015 (Washington Post)
WARNING: the article including both tragic photos of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died as he tried to bring his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, and Alan Kurdi, a 3 year old Syrian boy who lay lifeless on a beach in a doomed attempt to reach Europe in 2015.
The Washington Post article goes on to state:
As the photo of Martínez and his daughter circulated Wednesday, it was too early to tell what impact it could have on U.S. policies or the rhetoric surrounding the immigration debate.That's not exactly the impact I would hope for. Good for the family of that dead child, but did it change immigration policies in Europe? I don't know enough to say, but the article doesn't address anything at that scale.
But researchers and volunteers working with migrants and refugees in Europe said the photo of Alan marked a significant turning point in the international debate over what to do with an influx of migrants and refugees seeking safe haven in Europe. The photo also had an impact in Canada. Alan’s aunt lived in British Columbia and had hoped to bring the family there. Some of his relatives reached Canada months later (Reuters).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:57 AM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
Another Impeachment Rant - Brian Beutler, Crooked Media.
The future of the country—whether we enjoy a semblance of democracy, whether we strive to be an ethical society—depends almost entirely on whether Democratic leaders can be bothered to flip the switch that will make the whole Congress vote, while the whole world watches, on whether an unapologetic rapist thief should get to lead the U.S. government. For now, they can’t be, and unless that changes, we’ll be stuck with their decision forever, no matter what Mueller says under oath.
posted by diogenes at 12:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
The future of the country—whether we enjoy a semblance of democracy, whether we strive to be an ethical society—depends almost entirely on whether Democratic leaders can be bothered to flip the switch that will make the whole Congress vote, while the whole world watches, on whether an unapologetic rapist thief should get to lead the U.S. government. For now, they can’t be, and unless that changes, we’ll be stuck with their decision forever, no matter what Mueller says under oath.
posted by diogenes at 12:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
> "If this was a regular criminal investigation, would that have resulted in charges?"
Benzenedream, those questions all call for speculation (would it have? What do you think was in that file you could not access?) or personal judgment (was it premature?)
Mueller will not speculate and he will not express his own personal judgment.
This refusal to answer anything in the conditional ("would") always seems philosophical untenable to me. Basically all of causation and most kinds of "why" questions are only really answerable in the "would" form. "Why didn't you indict for obstruction?" "Because DOJ policy said we can't." "If that policy didn't exist, would you have indicted?" "I can't answer 'would's." "Did the DOJ policy cause you to not indict?" "Yes." "So that means that you would have indicted in the absence of that policy." "I can't speak to 'would'." "But the very notion of causation, from Aristotle to Judea Pearl, presumes an implicit counterfactual of what would have happened had the causal event not occurred." "That's all just philosophizin', I'm just a straight-shooting FBI agent." "Why did you open the door before going through it?" "To enter the room?" "But why open it? What would have happened if you hadn't opened it before going through it?" "I can't answer 'would' questions." ...
posted by chortly at 12:09 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
Benzenedream, those questions all call for speculation (would it have? What do you think was in that file you could not access?) or personal judgment (was it premature?)
Mueller will not speculate and he will not express his own personal judgment.
This refusal to answer anything in the conditional ("would") always seems philosophical untenable to me. Basically all of causation and most kinds of "why" questions are only really answerable in the "would" form. "Why didn't you indict for obstruction?" "Because DOJ policy said we can't." "If that policy didn't exist, would you have indicted?" "I can't answer 'would's." "Did the DOJ policy cause you to not indict?" "Yes." "So that means that you would have indicted in the absence of that policy." "I can't speak to 'would'." "But the very notion of causation, from Aristotle to Judea Pearl, presumes an implicit counterfactual of what would have happened had the causal event not occurred." "That's all just philosophizin', I'm just a straight-shooting FBI agent." "Why did you open the door before going through it?" "To enter the room?" "But why open it? What would have happened if you hadn't opened it before going through it?" "I can't answer 'would' questions." ...
posted by chortly at 12:09 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
Something that surprised me in the article above:
House Democrats "have entered zero appearances in court in pursuit of testimony and documents from current and former administration officials."
I knew they were going slow, but I didn't realize it was that bad.
posted by diogenes at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
House Democrats "have entered zero appearances in court in pursuit of testimony and documents from current and former administration officials."
I knew they were going slow, but I didn't realize it was that bad.
posted by diogenes at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
depends almost entirely on whether Democratic leaders...
I mean, doesn't it also kind of depend on Republican leaders? And on you, and me, and our fellow citizens?
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
I mean, doesn't it also kind of depend on Republican leaders? And on you, and me, and our fellow citizens?
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
I mean, doesn't it also kind of depend on Republican leaders? And on you, and me, and our fellow citizens?
Sure, and if the multiple universe theories are correct, it also depends on quantum mechanics and which of infinite possible futures we end up in. I'm gonna focus on Democratic Leadership though.
posted by diogenes at 12:19 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Sure, and if the multiple universe theories are correct, it also depends on quantum mechanics and which of infinite possible futures we end up in. I'm gonna focus on Democratic Leadership though.
posted by diogenes at 12:19 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'm gonna focus on my fellow citizens and my own senators and congressional representative.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:20 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:20 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
3 Reasons To Sell Wayfair On Today's Employee Walkout (Peter Cohan, Forbes)
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:23 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:23 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
The GOP have done wonders for the White Power movement without having to call it White Power.
I'll go further than that. The Republicans have done a remarkable job of appealing to white resentment while tacitly recognizing that doing so overtly was becoming more and more of a political loser, as Lee Atwater, author of the odious Southern Strategy, admitted back in the '80s. Hence the constant complaining about "political correctness" and the reliance on ever-more-subtly-coded dog whistles.
Republicans have spent a tremendous amount of time, resources, and effort pretending that they are not the party of white supremacy while trying to be just that, and among the many things Trump has ruined in his fail parade of a political career is that pretense. Republicans are all in on racism; it remains to be seen how far their entrenchment of minority rule will take them.
posted by Gelatin at 12:23 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
I'll go further than that. The Republicans have done a remarkable job of appealing to white resentment while tacitly recognizing that doing so overtly was becoming more and more of a political loser, as Lee Atwater, author of the odious Southern Strategy, admitted back in the '80s. Hence the constant complaining about "political correctness" and the reliance on ever-more-subtly-coded dog whistles.
Republicans have spent a tremendous amount of time, resources, and effort pretending that they are not the party of white supremacy while trying to be just that, and among the many things Trump has ruined in his fail parade of a political career is that pretense. Republicans are all in on racism; it remains to be seen how far their entrenchment of minority rule will take them.
posted by Gelatin at 12:23 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
As the photo of Martínez and his daughter circulated Wednesday, it was too early to tell what impact it could have on U.S. policies or the rhetoric surrounding the immigration debate.
Anecdata from my Facebook feed is that the level of vitriol and contempt spewed by the Trump apologists toward those two poor people indicates that they know, or sense, how damaging that image is for their hardline anti-immigrant preferences.
posted by Gelatin at 12:25 PM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
Anecdata from my Facebook feed is that the level of vitriol and contempt spewed by the Trump apologists toward those two poor people indicates that they know, or sense, how damaging that image is for their hardline anti-immigrant preferences.
posted by Gelatin at 12:25 PM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
It went 7-2 to strike down Tennessee's two year residency requirement for liquor sales as erecting barriers to interstate commerce, with Neil Gorsuch writing the dissent in favor of state's rights, citing that Tennessee's requirement has been in place for 80 years.
Funny the way these so-called "originalists" pick and choose their sides on legal precedent. Liquor monopolists: 80-year precedence must hold. Union representation: 41-year precedence goes up in smoke.
posted by JackFlash at 12:30 PM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
Funny the way these so-called "originalists" pick and choose their sides on legal precedent. Liquor monopolists: 80-year precedence must hold. Union representation: 41-year precedence goes up in smoke.
posted by JackFlash at 12:30 PM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
It doesn't exactly surprise me that Highlights made a statement. Little Purr gets the "Early Childhood" version of the magazine, and the characters and people represented are a diverse mix of ethnicities and family situations. It shows dads taking care of children, interracial parents, now some same-sex couples , and always has a bilingual spanish/english story.
Plus, when you're entire ethos is helping the WELLBEING OF CHILDREN, being against child separation is a no brainer.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 12:32 PM on June 26, 2019 [39 favorites]
Plus, when you're entire ethos is helping the WELLBEING OF CHILDREN, being against child separation is a no brainer.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 12:32 PM on June 26, 2019 [39 favorites]
Goofus separates kids from their parents and puts them in prison camps.
Gallant welcomes immigrant families and treats them humanely.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2019 [62 favorites]
Gallant welcomes immigrant families and treats them humanely.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2019 [62 favorites]
Let’s check in on that insane district court ruling overturning the entire Affordable Care Act:
Conservatives on the Fifth Circuit have had a bee in their collective bonnet about standing for some time, particularly Judge Edith Jones. She loves bringing up objectively nonsensical standing issues as a reason to rule against liberal plaintiffs, and based on this development I’d bet a small but nonzero amount of money that she’s on this panel.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:43 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Conservatives on the Fifth Circuit have had a bee in their collective bonnet about standing for some time, particularly Judge Edith Jones. She loves bringing up objectively nonsensical standing issues as a reason to rule against liberal plaintiffs, and based on this development I’d bet a small but nonzero amount of money that she’s on this panel.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:43 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
In re Highlights, Wayfair, etc: It seems like what's happening now is a coalescing of a broader "civil society" which opposes major chunks of the present administration's policy - a sort of society against the state. This isn't the same as "oh, radical social change is around the corner"; it's just that people who did not have political things in common now do, and people are becoming aware of themselves as a polity. It's not a radical polity or one where we're like, "ok, cut to the national strike", but I think it's an ocean in which more radical fish can swim. It's weird. You start to wonder if this is where truly mass, mass movements like in South Korea recently or the nation-wide Tiananmen-related protests come from.
Again, I'm not trying to oversell in some kind of a radical-left way; it's just, I think, a kind of big change.
posted by Frowner at 12:49 PM on June 26, 2019 [51 favorites]
Again, I'm not trying to oversell in some kind of a radical-left way; it's just, I think, a kind of big change.
posted by Frowner at 12:49 PM on June 26, 2019 [51 favorites]
Here’s a list of organizations that are mobilizing to help the influx of immigrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border
This was SO helpful for my husband's employee's situation. Thank you, The Whelk! Can we add a link to this article to the immigrant help section of the Mefi Get a Lawyer Wiki?
posted by threeturtles at 12:52 PM on June 26, 2019 [14 favorites]
This was SO helpful for my husband's employee's situation. Thank you, The Whelk! Can we add a link to this article to the immigrant help section of the Mefi Get a Lawyer Wiki?
posted by threeturtles at 12:52 PM on June 26, 2019 [14 favorites]
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died as he tried to bring his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria...
no one leaves home unlessposted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:19 PM on June 26, 2019 [44 favorites]
home is the mouth of a shark.
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city
running as well.
your neighbours running faster
than you, the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind
the old tin factory is
holding a gun bigger than his body,
you only leave home
when home won't let you stay.
...
So, okay, Elizabeth Warren was protesting in front of a detention center. But she's a US Senator. Can't she just DEMAND they let her in and take some news cameras in with her? Because I feel like that's what we NEED to happen.
posted by threeturtles at 1:22 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by threeturtles at 1:22 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
SCOTUS Move Raises More Questions About Where Census Case Is Headed
Good news, right?
Good news, right?
The court, on its docket for the census citizenship question case, indicated that it would consider Thursday a request by those who challenged the citizenship question in New York that the Supreme Court’s decision be delayed so that the case be sent back to the trial judge there.posted by Mental Wimp at 1:43 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Can we add a link to this article to the immigrant help section of the Mefi Get a Lawyer Wiki?
I reviewed the article when it was previously posted on the megathread, as well as most of the organizations - my plan is to check the comprehensive legal services directory links (i.e. ImmigrationLawHelp.org and the National Immigration Legal Services Directory) that are already on the MeFi Wiki to ensure that the resources listed in the Texas Tribune article are in the comprehensive directories before adding them to the wiki. I would like to make sure that the wiki doesn't become overwhelming to navigate, and I was thinking that directing people to the already-organized resources makes the most sense.
Each individual seeking legal services has specific circumstances that the directories have search tools for - placing a list of legal providers on the wiki without search tools available puts the burden back on the potential client to make calls and search around for help and that could get overwhelming and potentially risk not finding opportunities for legal help. I am very glad to hear that the article was helpful, though.
What I've been doing is collecting resources listed in articles and posted on the megathread, reviewing them and then usually directly posting the legal services and information parts, and trying to ensure completeness while avoiding redundancy.
posted by Little Dawn at 1:52 PM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
I reviewed the article when it was previously posted on the megathread, as well as most of the organizations - my plan is to check the comprehensive legal services directory links (i.e. ImmigrationLawHelp.org and the National Immigration Legal Services Directory) that are already on the MeFi Wiki to ensure that the resources listed in the Texas Tribune article are in the comprehensive directories before adding them to the wiki. I would like to make sure that the wiki doesn't become overwhelming to navigate, and I was thinking that directing people to the already-organized resources makes the most sense.
Each individual seeking legal services has specific circumstances that the directories have search tools for - placing a list of legal providers on the wiki without search tools available puts the burden back on the potential client to make calls and search around for help and that could get overwhelming and potentially risk not finding opportunities for legal help. I am very glad to hear that the article was helpful, though.
What I've been doing is collecting resources listed in articles and posted on the megathread, reviewing them and then usually directly posting the legal services and information parts, and trying to ensure completeness while avoiding redundancy.
posted by Little Dawn at 1:52 PM on June 26, 2019 [5 favorites]
In re Highlights, Wayfair, etc: It seems like what's happening now is a coalescing of a broader "civil society" which opposes major chunks of the present administration's policy - a sort of society against the state. This isn't the same as "oh, radical social change is around the corner"; it's just that people who did not have political things in common now do, and people are becoming aware of themselves as a polity. It's not a radical polity or one where we're like, "ok, cut to the national strike", but I think it's an ocean in which more radical fish can swim. It's weird. You start to wonder if this is where truly mass, mass movements like in South Korea recently or the nation-wide Tiananmen-related protests come from.
Delfin's First Law of Politics is a simple one: the average American only cares about politics when they are affected directly. This could be themselves, or their families, or their close friends, or people they know and like, in decreasing order of motivation; this could be their jobs, or their taxes, or their civil rights, or their health. Or, if you are particularly religious or conservative, it could be the ability to force others to act according to your own beliefs/compass. Or it could be something of such overwhelming import that they feel compelled to notice it.
But people are only moved to act when (a) they cannot ignore what they see and (b) they understand that a price will be paid / a gain will be lost if they do not so act. If they are capable of ignoring it, or they feel that nothing can or will be done, they might as well paint it pink and erect a Somebody Else's Problem field around it.
Trump and his Trumpoids' driving force is also their saving grace of sorts; they are genetically incapable of saying the quiet part quietly. They do not feel that they need to treat their opposition as functional any more, let alone valid, let alone even remotely equal; and in many cases and places, they are right about that. But politics-by-bulldozer and the incline of heinousness never flattening out means that, ever so slowly, more and more people are forced to notice. It's a very slow drip... but it is dripping.
posted by delfin at 1:53 PM on June 26, 2019 [17 favorites]
Delfin's First Law of Politics is a simple one: the average American only cares about politics when they are affected directly. This could be themselves, or their families, or their close friends, or people they know and like, in decreasing order of motivation; this could be their jobs, or their taxes, or their civil rights, or their health. Or, if you are particularly religious or conservative, it could be the ability to force others to act according to your own beliefs/compass. Or it could be something of such overwhelming import that they feel compelled to notice it.
But people are only moved to act when (a) they cannot ignore what they see and (b) they understand that a price will be paid / a gain will be lost if they do not so act. If they are capable of ignoring it, or they feel that nothing can or will be done, they might as well paint it pink and erect a Somebody Else's Problem field around it.
Trump and his Trumpoids' driving force is also their saving grace of sorts; they are genetically incapable of saying the quiet part quietly. They do not feel that they need to treat their opposition as functional any more, let alone valid, let alone even remotely equal; and in many cases and places, they are right about that. But politics-by-bulldozer and the incline of heinousness never flattening out means that, ever so slowly, more and more people are forced to notice. It's a very slow drip... but it is dripping.
posted by delfin at 1:53 PM on June 26, 2019 [17 favorites]
Conservatives on the Fifth Circuit have had a bee in their collective bonnet about standing for some time
It seems like the states/congress made a tactical error by not finding an individual to join the suit. If Congress and the blue states suit gets tossed can they still dig up an individual to sue?
posted by Justinian at 2:17 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
It seems like the states/congress made a tactical error by not finding an individual to join the suit. If Congress and the blue states suit gets tossed can they still dig up an individual to sue?
posted by Justinian at 2:17 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Problem is, it’s not their suit; this started with red states suing the federal government to overturn the ACA, and the House/blue states intervened to defend the law – essentially, telling the court “even though we’re not the ones being sued, if the plaintiffs win it’ll hurt us too, so we should be allowed to defend ourselves in court.” The 5th Circuit could be gearing up to question whether the pro-ACA states/legislators actually have standing to intervene, or whether they have standing to be a co-defendant with the federal government but not to appeal the case on their own.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:38 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:38 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
CNN: House Panel Votes to Subpoena Kellyanne Conway Over Hatch Act Violations
Former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub: "Special Counsel Henry Kerner just testified before the Oversight committee that Kellyanne Conway never once responded to his office. Not once. Not only does she seem to hold herself above the law, she also seems to think it's illegitimate to even *ask* if she violated the law."
Breakfast Media's Andrew Feinberg: "I asked @realDonaldTrump why @KellyannePolls still has a job and whether ethics laws apply to members of his administration. He declined to answer either question."
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:54 PM on June 26, 2019 [21 favorites]
The House Oversight Committee voted on Wednesday to subpoena testimony from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after a federal agency recommended that she should be fired for repeatedly violating a law that limits the political activities of federal employees.Newsweek: Republicans Appear to Not Understand the Hatch Act in Defending Kellyanne Conway It's not quite gold-fringe-on-the-flag, but their arguments are pretty bizarre about how, when, and where the law applies.
Chairman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, has warned that his panel would vote to hold Conway in contempt if she ignores the subpoena. Conway did not appear on Wednesday on the advice of White House counsel for the committee's scheduled hearing.
The vote -- 25 to 16, with Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash, Republican of Michigan, voting in favor -- could set up another challenge in court between Congress and the Trump administration, which has consistently stymied Democrats' oversight efforts since they took control of the House earlier this year.
Former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub: "Special Counsel Henry Kerner just testified before the Oversight committee that Kellyanne Conway never once responded to his office. Not once. Not only does she seem to hold herself above the law, she also seems to think it's illegitimate to even *ask* if she violated the law."
Breakfast Media's Andrew Feinberg: "I asked @realDonaldTrump why @KellyannePolls still has a job and whether ethics laws apply to members of his administration. He declined to answer either question."
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:54 PM on June 26, 2019 [21 favorites]
I don’t follow this at all—statistical power is a function of the number of independent observations and the model used. Failing to find statistical significance in no way invalidates a study.
Yes and if an 11% difference is not significant that would mean your polling sample is either incredibly small or it is spread across too many conditions because an 11% swing in properly powered social science studies is usually an amazing finding. Most of the things you see reported that are statistically significant are based on much smaller differences than that. So this study was so small as to be pretty much worthless. They both designed an underpowered study and failed to find statistical significant differences and then they compounded that by reporting the differences as if they were significant and pushed them out into the press.
posted by srboisvert at 2:59 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yes and if an 11% difference is not significant that would mean your polling sample is either incredibly small or it is spread across too many conditions because an 11% swing in properly powered social science studies is usually an amazing finding. Most of the things you see reported that are statistically significant are based on much smaller differences than that. So this study was so small as to be pretty much worthless. They both designed an underpowered study and failed to find statistical significant differences and then they compounded that by reporting the differences as if they were significant and pushed them out into the press.
posted by srboisvert at 2:59 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
"Let me know when the jail sentence starts," Conway mocked of the 2018 report last month when speaking with reporters.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Problem is, it’s not their suit; this started with red states suing the federal government to overturn the ACA, and the House/blue states intervened to defend the law
Worth noting that the Blue states were forced to intervene after the Trump DOJ refused to defend the case or any part of the ACA, a 180 reversal from its position under Obama and even under the early part of the Sessions regime. If the 5th Cir blesses this manipulation by the DOJ, it's giving a complete pass to the Trump administration to essentially on its own find laws it doesnt like unconstitutional, forum shop for a Trumpublican hack judge like O'Connor, from which they can have their pick of hundreds now to bless their decision, and render that completely unable to be appealed.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:37 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Worth noting that the Blue states were forced to intervene after the Trump DOJ refused to defend the case or any part of the ACA, a 180 reversal from its position under Obama and even under the early part of the Sessions regime. If the 5th Cir blesses this manipulation by the DOJ, it's giving a complete pass to the Trump administration to essentially on its own find laws it doesnt like unconstitutional, forum shop for a Trumpublican hack judge like O'Connor, from which they can have their pick of hundreds now to bless their decision, and render that completely unable to be appealed.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:37 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
My totally biased feeling is that Trump's "tough guy" deterrent strategy to keep away refugees and immigrants is not only reprehensible, but also having the opposite of intended effect.
The numbers are going up, not down. I know correlation/causation, but looks like Trump is creating a constant buzz around US immigration when he could be helping Central America strategize and stabilize at home.
Border crossing is on the minds of many more people all the time now, and even if people hear it's much harder to get in, they may naively inflate their own chances. Trump is like a child taunting neighbor kids with US passports saying, "Look what I got, you can't have it," just making them want something they'd have been more ambivalent about otherwise.
I know it's hard to test the real numbers against a hypothetical, but wondering if anyone is attempting to test the efficacy of the current approach so there's at least data for those who don't give a shit about the cruelty. Not that they'd be willing to accept the data, but every bit helps in winning over the broader public debate.
posted by p3t3 at 4:15 PM on June 26, 2019
The numbers are going up, not down. I know correlation/causation, but looks like Trump is creating a constant buzz around US immigration when he could be helping Central America strategize and stabilize at home.
Border crossing is on the minds of many more people all the time now, and even if people hear it's much harder to get in, they may naively inflate their own chances. Trump is like a child taunting neighbor kids with US passports saying, "Look what I got, you can't have it," just making them want something they'd have been more ambivalent about otherwise.
I know it's hard to test the real numbers against a hypothetical, but wondering if anyone is attempting to test the efficacy of the current approach so there's at least data for those who don't give a shit about the cruelty. Not that they'd be willing to accept the data, but every bit helps in winning over the broader public debate.
posted by p3t3 at 4:15 PM on June 26, 2019
It cannot be the case that the federal government can refuse to defend a properly enacted law and no-one else can have standing to do so. Either Congress/the states must have standing or they must be allowed to step in a present a case in the federal government's name. Why should be obvious, but to expand: If that were to hold any administration could overturn legislation passed by the opposing party by forum shopping to get the ruling they want and then declaring they won't appeal/defend.
Republicans would likely get the slightly better tend of that stick since their judges tend to be so shameless but a Democratic administration could absolutely do something similar with relatively progressive judges. Imagine the howling from Republicans if the 9th circuit declared one of their pet laws null and, say, the Warren administration said "well I guess that's that we're not gonna appeal lol".
That can't be right?
posted by Justinian at 4:41 PM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
Republicans would likely get the slightly better tend of that stick since their judges tend to be so shameless but a Democratic administration could absolutely do something similar with relatively progressive judges. Imagine the howling from Republicans if the 9th circuit declared one of their pet laws null and, say, the Warren administration said "well I guess that's that we're not gonna appeal lol".
That can't be right?
posted by Justinian at 4:41 PM on June 26, 2019 [12 favorites]
I don't know the legal argument but surely "this would render our entire system of government non-functional" can be turned into such? With more law words?
posted by Justinian at 4:45 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:45 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
So was anybody working on a new thread for the debates (NOT IT), or is this thread short enough to handle both nights (assuming riffing is restricted to chat)?
posted by Rhaomi at 4:47 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhaomi at 4:47 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Given that there hasn't been any major legislation passed since the ARRA and ACA happened ten years ago* there arguably is already a state of non-functional government. We're just running on fumes and have been for the last decade. (And the decade previous to that was fairly non-functional as well.)
*half-credit for the Trump tax credits, since while deplorable they are indeed an actual major policy passed by Congress and signed into law
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:51 PM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
*half-credit for the Trump tax credits, since while deplorable they are indeed an actual major policy passed by Congress and signed into law
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:51 PM on June 26, 2019 [8 favorites]
That can't be right?
We're in the between place where people still remember what the actual rule of law looked like, and where Republicans and their appointed judges are taking us, which is "all laws Republicans don't like are invalid because Republicans don't like them and their judges say so". They're testing out how fast they can take us to rule by judicial fiat instead of democratically elected representatives, and where the Gorsuch* Court will stop them. They haven't been stopped yet. They fully intend to rule the next 50+ years by controlling SCOTUS and the federal bench, and implement every hateful terrible policy they never could've passed through Congress through the courts. This was always the end goal of the conservative project since Earl Warren died, they wanted their own Warren Court to fundamentally remake America in their likeness, and now they have it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:53 PM on June 26, 2019 [18 favorites]
We're in the between place where people still remember what the actual rule of law looked like, and where Republicans and their appointed judges are taking us, which is "all laws Republicans don't like are invalid because Republicans don't like them and their judges say so". They're testing out how fast they can take us to rule by judicial fiat instead of democratically elected representatives, and where the Gorsuch* Court will stop them. They haven't been stopped yet. They fully intend to rule the next 50+ years by controlling SCOTUS and the federal bench, and implement every hateful terrible policy they never could've passed through Congress through the courts. This was always the end goal of the conservative project since Earl Warren died, they wanted their own Warren Court to fundamentally remake America in their likeness, and now they have it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:53 PM on June 26, 2019 [18 favorites]
So was anybody working on a new thread for the debates (NOT IT), or is this thread short enough to handle both nights (assuming riffing is restricted to chat)?
There's a draft of a (mod-approved, I've been told) debate thread on the wiki that can serve for both nights. I'm not sure who will be posting it, but I will trust the process. Riffing can happen in chat and slack and the Hyucking Hyuck thread and the boundless voids we retreat to in order to scream.
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
There's a draft of a (mod-approved, I've been told) debate thread on the wiki that can serve for both nights. I'm not sure who will be posting it, but I will trust the process. Riffing can happen in chat and slack and the Hyucking Hyuck thread and the boundless voids we retreat to in order to scream.
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on June 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Texas Tribune, “It’s like they’re frightened to talk to me”: Texas campaign workers of color face harassment, discrimination in the field: Many campaign workers of color in the state can recount harrowing experiences of block walking in predominantly white neighborhoods — a situation that could become increasingly common as some of those communities draw more competition in 2020.
The 33-year-old — who has been working on political campaigns in Texas for more than half a dozen years — told the couple he came in peace. But the situation took a turn for the worse after the man brandished a firearm, an incident Farasat briefly caught on his cellphone before deciding to call the police. Farasat said that wasn’t the first time he’s faced a firearm while going door to door. He has also had the police called on him several times in the past year while working to get out the vote.posted by zachlipton at 5:01 PM on June 26, 2019 [17 favorites]
Sometimes when Farasat approaches people while canvassing, “it’s like they’re frightened to talk to me or they look at me in a real skeptical way,” he said. “It doesn’t feel good. I’m a peaceful guy, and it doesn’t feel good to have people be afraid of me.
“And I wonder, maybe if I was white, they wouldn’t be,” Farasat said.
Mod note: Yup, mods are on board with separate dedicated thread for the actual debate stuff.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Imagine the howling from Republicans if the 9th circuit declared one of their pet laws null and, say, the Warren administration said "well I guess that's that we're not gonna appeal lol".
Also, this is what they accuse the Obama administration of doing with the Defense against Marriage Act leading to the Windsor and Obergenfell decisions. As far as Republicans are concerned, their refusal to defend the ACA is exactly like the Obama DOJ dropping defense of anti gay marriage laws, so that norm is already dead, this stuff doesn’t go back in the bottle, and DOJ going forward WILL selectively defend duly passed laws based entirely on political directives.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also, this is what they accuse the Obama administration of doing with the Defense against Marriage Act leading to the Windsor and Obergenfell decisions. As far as Republicans are concerned, their refusal to defend the ACA is exactly like the Obama DOJ dropping defense of anti gay marriage laws, so that norm is already dead, this stuff doesn’t go back in the bottle, and DOJ going forward WILL selectively defend duly passed laws based entirely on political directives.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:04 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
It cannot be the case that the federal government can refuse to defend a properly enacted law and no-one else can have standing to do so.
This is right up there with the apparent reality that Congress can't actually enforce subpoenas. Turns out there are some pretty big loopholes in our system. We were just lucky that nobody decided to go full lawless until now.
posted by diogenes at 5:15 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
This is right up there with the apparent reality that Congress can't actually enforce subpoenas. Turns out there are some pretty big loopholes in our system. We were just lucky that nobody decided to go full lawless until now.
posted by diogenes at 5:15 PM on June 26, 2019 [7 favorites]
WaPo, U.S. asylum officers say Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy is threatening migrants’ lives, ask federal court to end it
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on June 26, 2019 [21 favorites]
The officers, who have been directed to implement the program, say it is “fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation and our international and domestic legal obligations.”I also just want to highlight this recent report from TRAC (some of the only people who actually compile statistics on US immigration): ICE Focus Shifts Away from Detaining Serious Criminals
As of December 31, 2018, ICE had 47,486 individuals in its custody. The number of ICE detainees was up 22 percent from the 38,810 persons ICE held at the end of September 2016. A free web app accompanying this report allows readers a detailed look at ICE detention practices.The article has helpful graphs to visualize this, but the short version is iCE is detaining more people, yet the number detained who have committed what ICE themselves considers to be serious crimes has gone down, while the number who have no history of criminal violations has gone up.
The most striking change over this 27-month period was a dramatic drop in the number of individuals who had committed serious crimes. See Figure 1 and Table 1. Despite the increasing number of individuals ICE detained, fewer and fewer immigrants who had committed serious crimes were arrested and held in custody by the agency. Their numbers had dropped by over twelve hundred (-1,253), while total ICE detainees ballooned by over eighty-six hundred (8,676) during the same period. Immigrants who had never been convicted of even a minor violation shot up 39 percent.
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on June 26, 2019 [21 favorites]
NOT IT notwithstanding, I didn't see anybody else going for it with seconds to go, so...NEW DEBATE THREAD
posted by Rhaomi at 6:03 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 6:03 PM on June 26, 2019 [9 favorites]
Good Economist on the Collins Senate race and Sara Gideon.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:35 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 6:35 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Ms Gideon will be supported by the national Democratic machine: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already endorsed her.
Previously in Megathread we learned that DCCC and DSCC exist to reelect incumbents, even that guy in Chicago, and primary challengers and their consultants are persona non grata. Now in Maine, they're endorsing a non-incumbent in a primary. So they can't just exist for incumbents, there must be something else?
posted by M-x shell at 8:18 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Previously in Megathread we learned that DCCC and DSCC exist to reelect incumbents, even that guy in Chicago, and primary challengers and their consultants are persona non grata. Now in Maine, they're endorsing a non-incumbent in a primary. So they can't just exist for incumbents, there must be something else?
posted by M-x shell at 8:18 PM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Well the incumbent is Susan Collins (R) so re-electing her would not be in their remit.
posted by Justinian at 8:37 PM on June 26, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 8:37 PM on June 26, 2019 [13 favorites]
Wow, pro-Trump ad on MSNBC just now. Does Fox news allow Democratic ads? Just...very jarring.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:48 PM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:48 PM on June 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
Immigration round-up:
BuzzFeed, Hamed Aleaziz, Investigators Found Immigrant Kids And Families Locked In Disgusting Conditions In Border Camps
posted by zachlipton at 9:24 PM on June 26, 2019 [29 favorites]
BuzzFeed, Hamed Aleaziz, Investigators Found Immigrant Kids And Families Locked In Disgusting Conditions In Border Camps
When Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month, they found adults and minors with no access to showers, many adults only fed bologna sandwiches, and detainees banging on cell windows — desperately pressing notes to the windows of their cells that detailed their time in custody.More on the filing from US asylum officers on the Remain in Mexico policy:
The inspectors compiled a draft report, obtained by BuzzFeed News, that described the conditions as dangerous and prolonged. Some adults were held in standing room–only conditions for a week. There was little access to hot showers or hot food for families and children in some facilities. Some kids were being held in closed cells. There was severe overcrowding.
...
The inspectors reviewed Border Patrol data that revealed children were being held for long periods of time. The data showed that 826 of the 2,669 children held at the border facilities were in custody longer than the 72 hours mandated by court orders.
Under the new process, asylum applicants entering the United States through the Southern Border,with certain exceptions, are forced to return to Mexico where they are required to remain pending adjudication of their asylum applications. In the course of waitingfor a determination of their asylum applications, many will face persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. By forcing a vulnerable population to return to a hostile territory where they are likely to face persecution, the MPP abandons our tradition of providing a safe haven to the persecuted and violates our international and domestic legal obligations.Speaking of which: Texas Tribune, Migrants' deaths on the Rio Grande bring attention back to government asylum policy
Known as “metering,” the policy is meant to address a record surge of migrants, mainly families from Central America, making the trek through Mexico to the U.S.Daily Beast, Border Patrol Gives Sanitized Tour of Notorious Detention Center Where Migrant Kids Held
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been stopping migrants at international bridges and other ports of entry before they enter U.S. territory and telling them they must wait in Mexico for their turn to make an asylum claim. The practice has led to long wait times and overcrowded conditions on the Mexican side of the border, and critics say the policy pushes many asylum seekers to illegally cross the border between ports of entry.
The long wait led to Ramírez’s decision to attempt to swim across the river with his daughter Angie Valeria on Sunday, according to photographer Julia Le Duc, who first reported the story in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada. Their bodies were later found at the riverbank near Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownsville, several hundred yards from where they had tried to cross. Ramirez's wife, Tania Vanessa Avalos, said the family had spent two months in a migrant camp waiting to apply for asylum. NPR reported that she watched from the shore as her husband and daughter were swept away by the strong river currents.
One officer told reporters "we have to defend ourselves" from the reports of unsanitary conditions and unwashed children. "It's about transparency," he said before laughing off a question he wasn't sure he should answer by saying he wouldn't get ahead of the briefing because, as he said, "I like my job!"Vox, Dara Lind, Why Julian Castro started a Democratic debate fight over repealing “section 1325”, which is not really about the debate so much as what the deal is with repealing the crime of "illegal entry"
Proposing that illegal entry no longer be a federal crime is the policy equivalent of the “no human is illegal” slogan — a way to combat hawkish attitudes toward the “rule of law” by challenging the idea that migration ought to be a matter of crime and punishment to begin with. But it’s also a key justification for reversing the past few decades of border crackdown, by unpinning immigration enforcement — at least when it comes to unauthorized immigrants themselves — from crime.HuffPost, For 3 Years, This Husband Has Fought For His Wife. Trump’s Muslim Ban Keeps Them Apart.
Both of those draw strong contrasts not only with Trump, but with the trends in enforcement that preceded Trump (many of which peaked under Obama).
Researchers found over 140 cases of children who were separated from their parents due to the current ban. An additional 37% of those cases were partners like Alghazzouli and Al Arbaiin who were divided. And 14% of cases were students who were split up from their families.The Georgetown researchers have put together a site detailing 549 publicly known cases of families harmed by the ban since it took effect.
posted by zachlipton at 9:24 PM on June 26, 2019 [29 favorites]
At one facility, officials ended their visit early because they were agitating the situation.I wish I didn't have more faith in the inmates staging a successful uprising than in Democratic leadership showing any conviction in their opposition.
“Specifically, when detainees observed us, they banged on the cell windows, shouted, pressed notes to the window with their time in custody, and gestured to evidence of their time in custody (e.g. beards),” the report read. [...]
“Senior managers at several facilities raised security concerns for their agents and the detainees,” the inspectors wrote. “For example, one called the situation a ‘ticking time bomb,’ and another said there was ‘fear of a revolt.’”
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 PM on June 26, 2019 [26 favorites]
Sanders Claims 2016 Primary Was Rigged, Won’t Commit to Supporting Winner
posted by kirkaracha at 10:06 PM on June 26, 2019 [27 favorites]
NBC’s Kasie Hunt asked Bernie Sanders if he would commit to supporting the Democratic nominee before the convention if it’s clear it won’t be him. Sanders would not make any such commitment. Instead, he said, “some people say that maybe if the system was not rigged against me, I would have won the nomination.”So glad this is still going on.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:06 PM on June 26, 2019 [27 favorites]
"some people say..." this is exactly Trump's phrasing, this sort of vague "many people are saying" or "many people believe" annoys the hell out of me. It covers a multitude of deceits in Trump's case, I have come to not trust it in anyone else's mouth either.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:31 PM on June 26, 2019 [59 favorites]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:31 PM on June 26, 2019 [59 favorites]
AP FACT CHECK: Trump falsely accuses Mueller of a crime (AP)
President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely accused special counsel Robert Mueller of deleting messages that would support the president’s contention that the Russia investigation was out to get him.posted by Little Dawn at 10:52 PM on June 26, 2019 [19 favorites]
The provocative allegation of a “crime” by Mueller was one in a series of distorted claims made by the president in an interview on Fox Business Network and on Twitter on Wednesday.
TRUMP, on communications between two FBI employees: “Mueller terminated them illegally. He terminated the emails, he terminated all of the stuff between Strzok and Page, you know they sung like you’ve never seen. Robert Mueller terminated their text messages together. He would - he terminated them. They’re gone. And that’s illegal, he — that’s a crime.”
THE FACTS: Not true. Mueller had no role in deleting anti-Trump text messages traded by former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and there’s no basis for saying he was involved in anything illegal.
In fact, once Mueller learned of the existence of the texts, which were sent before his appointment as special counsel, he removed Strzok from his team investigating potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Trump appears to be referring to the fact that the FBI, for technical reasons, was initially unable to retrieve months of text messages between the two officials. But the FBI was ultimately able to recover them and there’s never been any allegation that Mueller had anything to do with that process.
Maybe Trump needs to ask Russia to recover those hacked texts? This could be the next BUTTER TEXTS.
posted by benzenedream at 11:13 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 11:13 PM on June 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Instead, he said, “some people say that maybe if the system was not rigged against me, I would have won the nomination.”
Shocking twist: Bernie Bros not a mysterious phenomenon, turns out they're just following their idol's lead.
Bernie is the kind of guy who would (will? has?) work to undermine people who fundamentally agree with him because his ego won't allow him to believe someone else could also implement his ideas just as well. He's toxic as fuck and needs to be shown the door ASAP.
posted by tocts at 4:54 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
Shocking twist: Bernie Bros not a mysterious phenomenon, turns out they're just following their idol's lead.
Bernie is the kind of guy who would (will? has?) work to undermine people who fundamentally agree with him because his ego won't allow him to believe someone else could also implement his ideas just as well. He's toxic as fuck and needs to be shown the door ASAP.
posted by tocts at 4:54 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
Bernie is the kind of guy who would (will? has?) work to undermine people who fundamentally agree with him because his ego won't allow him to believe someone else could also implement his ideas just as well.
Bernie has a plan and there will never be a fallback plan. If his plan fails, he will say it is because America did not embrace socialism enough and the capitalists undermined him. Bernie cannot fail you, you can only fail Bernie.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 5:09 AM on June 27, 2019 [14 favorites]
Bernie has a plan and there will never be a fallback plan. If his plan fails, he will say it is because America did not embrace socialism enough and the capitalists undermined him. Bernie cannot fail you, you can only fail Bernie.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 5:09 AM on June 27, 2019 [14 favorites]
He's toxic as fuck and needs to be shown the door ASAP.
And this is why a unity ticket of Warren and Sanders won't work. Bernie would never allow it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:14 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
And this is why a unity ticket of Warren and Sanders won't work. Bernie would never allow it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:14 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
Well the incumbent is Susan Collins (R) so re-electing her would not be in their remit.
I don't know what kind of point you think you're making, but it's rather beside the point. This is a case of DSCC picking favorites among Democrats in a primary where none of them is an incumbent. So what is their excuse here?
posted by M-x shell at 6:04 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
I don't know what kind of point you think you're making, but it's rather beside the point. This is a case of DSCC picking favorites among Democrats in a primary where none of them is an incumbent. So what is their excuse here?
posted by M-x shell at 6:04 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
Elaborating, it looks to me like DSCC is conflating incumbent with insider, which seems more than a little bit insidious. Are Gideon's opponents' consultants going to be blackballed now?
I, for one, am tired of the liberal Democrats being treated, by the conservative Democrats within the Democratic Party, the same way that Republicans treat Democrats, in the nation as a whole.
Elizabeth Warren is the only major candidate consistently and unashamedly expressing my values. I'm committed to whoever is not Trump through 2020, but if the Democrats run Biden or his ilk, and they lose again, I will be done with the Democratic Party. And if Trump walks away without consequences, I will lose my faith in democracy altogether.
posted by M-x shell at 6:28 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
I, for one, am tired of the liberal Democrats being treated, by the conservative Democrats within the Democratic Party, the same way that Republicans treat Democrats, in the nation as a whole.
Elizabeth Warren is the only major candidate consistently and unashamedly expressing my values. I'm committed to whoever is not Trump through 2020, but if the Democrats run Biden or his ilk, and they lose again, I will be done with the Democratic Party. And if Trump walks away without consequences, I will lose my faith in democracy altogether.
posted by M-x shell at 6:28 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
How a Forgotten White House Team Gained Power in the Trump Era (Elaina Plott & Peter Nicholas, The Atlantic)
The Domestic Policy Council was established in the mid-80s to "[oversee] development and implementation of the President’s domestic policy agenda and ensures coordination and communication among the heads of relevant Federal offices and agencies." In the Trump administration, the current director is Joe Grogan, a Mick Mulvaney loyalist. He figured out that Trumps tweets and domination of news coverage provided a smoke screen for enacting conservative policies.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:52 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
The Domestic Policy Council was established in the mid-80s to "[oversee] development and implementation of the President’s domestic policy agenda and ensures coordination and communication among the heads of relevant Federal offices and agencies." In the Trump administration, the current director is Joe Grogan, a Mick Mulvaney loyalist. He figured out that Trumps tweets and domination of news coverage provided a smoke screen for enacting conservative policies.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:52 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
Sanders Claims 2016 Primary Was Rigged, Won’t Commit to Supporting Winner
Y'know...fuck Bernie. The more I hear the guy, the more I'm of the opinion that he's pretty much the progressive/socialist Trump. In it for his ego's sake, and willing to torpedo everyone else if he doesn't get his way.
I like many of his ideas, but I have zero faith that he would prove to be any more stable than the current resident of the Oval Office. Hell, he often sounds about as crazy-uncle-at-thanksgiving as Trump does. And, given that it's pretty doubtful that Bernie could ever have the kind of chokehold on the Dems that Trump seems to have on the Reps, I think he'd end up being a pretty ineffectual president.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [31 favorites]
Y'know...fuck Bernie. The more I hear the guy, the more I'm of the opinion that he's pretty much the progressive/socialist Trump. In it for his ego's sake, and willing to torpedo everyone else if he doesn't get his way.
I like many of his ideas, but I have zero faith that he would prove to be any more stable than the current resident of the Oval Office. Hell, he often sounds about as crazy-uncle-at-thanksgiving as Trump does. And, given that it's pretty doubtful that Bernie could ever have the kind of chokehold on the Dems that Trump seems to have on the Reps, I think he'd end up being a pretty ineffectual president.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [31 favorites]
Both Warren and Brazile walked back those comments.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a new interview appeared to walk back her claim that last year's Democratic primary was rigged, suggesting instead that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) showed "some bias" but that the selection process had been "fair."posted by OnceUponATime at 7:19 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
"I agree with what Donna Brazile has said over the last few days; that while there was some bias at the DNC, the overall 2016 primary process was fair and Hillary made history," Warren said in a Wednesday interview with MassLive.
...
Following the publication of the excerpt, Brazile dismissed suggestions that the nominating process was "rigged."
“I found no evidence, none, whatsoever,” Brazile told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, adding that she did not believe Warren "meant the the word 'rigged.'"
“The only thing I found — which I said, I found the cancer, but I’m not killing the patient — was this memorandum that prevented the DNC from running its own operation," she continued.
In case you want to see the Joint Fundraising Agreement that prompted Brazile's original comment and the question to Warren, Kevin Drum linked to it. Drum's description:
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:25 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
So the bottom line is this: The DNC was broke, and Clinton agreed to raise enough money to fund its data, technology, analytics, research, and communications functions. In return, the Clinton campaign got a veto power over hires in these areas, as well as the power of review over “strategic” and “general election related” decisions and communications in these areas. Both sides agreed that “all activities” performed under the agreement would be focused solely on the general election, not the primaries. I’m still dithering over whether this was appropriate. Partly it depends on whether the DNC offered Bernie Sanders a similar deal, but apparently things never progressed enough for us to find out. ABC News has the Sanders JFA here, but it’s obviously just boilerplate. Sanders didn’t guarantee any funding to the DNC and the DNC therefore didn’t offer him any particular say in its hiring and decisionmaking. There’s no telling what kind of JFA they would have had if Sanders had decided to take it seriously.I think "rigged" is a pretty darn hyperbolic description for that, since it implies that the outcome of the primaries was fixed from the beginning, which is not at ALL the same thing as the Clinton campaign getting maybe a little too much influence on personnel decisions for the DNC general election analytics and communications teams in return for fundraising. Warren and Brazile seem to have eventually realized they went a little far.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:25 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
Ari Berman:
Breaking: SCOTUS just ruled that extreme partisan gerrymandering is beyond reach of federal courts. 5-4 decision by Roberts. This is very bad for democracy.posted by zombieflanders at 7:25 AM on June 27, 2019 [44 favorites]
This is an absolutely insane opinion by Roberts, saying that no matter how extreme partisan gerrymandering is, courts can't strike them down. Will give a green light to even more extreme gerrymandering in next round of redistricting after 2020
Trump's fans think he's a macho he-man — he's really a moral weakling who preys on women and kids (Amanda Marcotte, Salon)
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:33 AM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
Trump and his supporters want you to think of him as strong and manly, but he won't pick on someone his own sizeClassic definition of a bully?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:33 AM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
Supreme Court Rules Partisan Gerrymandering Is Beyond The Reach Of Federal Courts (Nina Totenberg and Domenico Montanaro for NPR, June 27, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:34 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
In a 5-4 decision along traditional conservative-liberal ideological lines, the Supreme Court rules that partisan redistricting is a political question, not reviewable by federal courts and can't judge if extreme gerrymandering violates the constitution.How much damage can the GOP do with this decision? And does this negate any cases currently in other courts? There's not much more in the NPR story at this time.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:34 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
If Democrats don’t gerrymander California and New York to eliminate every possible Republican seat it’s political malpractice.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:35 AM on June 27, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:35 AM on June 27, 2019 [35 favorites]
How much damage can the GOP do with this decision?
As much as they want.
posted by waitingtoderail at 7:36 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
As much as they want.
posted by waitingtoderail at 7:36 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
The court's opinion on this new gerryamndering case is here in PDF form (I think that's what it is).
Reading just the first paragraphs, I'm amazed by the brazenness of both Republicans and Democrats in describing their own activities (though it's obvious on a national scale who'se worse). Steny Hoyer helped with the Maryland map which just about everyone agress is skewed Democratic, and in that context he called himself a "serial gerryamnderer". Meanwhile in North Carolina:
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
Reading just the first paragraphs, I'm amazed by the brazenness of both Republicans and Democrats in describing their own activities (though it's obvious on a national scale who'se worse). Steny Hoyer helped with the Maryland map which just about everyone agress is skewed Democratic, and in that context he called himself a "serial gerryamnderer". Meanwhile in North Carolina:
one of the two Republicans chairing the redistricting committee stated, “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.” Id., at 809. He further explained that the map was drawn with the aim of electing ten Republicans and three Democrats because he did “not believe it [would be] possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats.”Roberts explicitly affirms that these maps are both partisan gerrymanders. It's entirely an assertion that the case isn't justiciable.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
Your service will not keep your family safe in the US: Trump Wants To Withdraw Deportation Protections For Families Of Active Troops (Franco Ordoñez for NPR, June 27, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:39 AM on June 27, 2019 [31 favorites]
The Trump administration wants to scale back a program that protects undocumented family members of active-duty troops from being deported, according to attorneys familiar with those plans.In a very grim way, it'll be interesting to see how the various branches of the military, and people in active duty, respond to this.
The attorneys are racing to submit applications for what is known as parole in place after hearing from the wives and loved ones of deployed soldiers who have been told that option is "being terminated."
The protections will only be available under rare circumstances, the lawyers said they've been told.
"It's going to create chaos in the military," said Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney who represents recruits and veterans in deportation proceedings. "The troops can't concentrate on their military jobs when they're worried about their family members being deported."
posted by filthy light thief at 7:39 AM on June 27, 2019 [31 favorites]
I remember Last Week Tonight addressing gerrymandering and noting that sometimes it's used to redress long standing issues of representation in favor of underrepresented minorities.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:39 AM on June 27, 2019
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:39 AM on June 27, 2019
In a very grim way, it'll be interesting to see how the various branches of the military, and people in active duty, respond to this.
Chaos for chaos sake?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:40 AM on June 27, 2019
Chaos for chaos sake?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:40 AM on June 27, 2019
They also allowed the citizenship question. Democracy over.
No, they struck it.
posted by waitingtoderail at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
No, they struck it.
posted by waitingtoderail at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
Today’s decisions brought to you by:
• 4 Justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, one with help from a partisan SC decision, the other with welcomed help from Russia.
• 2 Justices who were credibly accused of sexual harassment/assault and lied during their confirmations.
• 1 Justice from a stolen seat.
After Bush v Gore, Holder, and now these, this is an illegitimate partisan court working to enshrine a racist fascist minority in power. Every Dem should be saying so and taking about expanding the court.
posted by chris24 at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
• 4 Justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, one with help from a partisan SC decision, the other with welcomed help from Russia.
• 2 Justices who were credibly accused of sexual harassment/assault and lied during their confirmations.
• 1 Justice from a stolen seat.
After Bush v Gore, Holder, and now these, this is an illegitimate partisan court working to enshrine a racist fascist minority in power. Every Dem should be saying so and taking about expanding the court.
posted by chris24 at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
So, does the SCOTUS gerrymandering decision essentially punt adjudicating districting to the state courts? Or, are they saying no courts can adjudicate districting?
posted by Thorzdad at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
36 Hours With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Bridget Read, Vogue)
America's freshman class president. […]posted by ZeusHumms at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2019 [32 favorites]
She understands why her methods are frowned upon by certain establishment members. “In the historic rules of Congress, no one ever cares about freshmen. It’s like high school. . .The prevailing wisdom has always been, ‘Keep your head low, make inroads in leadership. Wait your turn. There are 230-odd members in this caucus. You’re last in line,’” she says. “But the world doesn’t have two decades to wait for climate change to be a palatable, first-priority, urgent issue.”
So, does the SCOTUS gerrymandering decision essentially punt adjudicating districting to the state courts? Or, are they saying no courts can adjudicate districting?
State suits to the effect of "This gerrymandered map violates the state constitution or state law" are still kosher.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:47 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
State suits to the effect of "This gerrymandered map violates the state constitution or state law" are still kosher.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:47 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
I remember Last Week Tonight addressing gerrymandering and noting that sometimes it's used to redress long standing issues of representation in favor of underrepresented minorities.
Sometimes controlled burns are used for forestry management. We don't lump them in with arson.
posted by Etrigan at 7:52 AM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
Sometimes controlled burns are used for forestry management. We don't lump them in with arson.
posted by Etrigan at 7:52 AM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
The SCOTUS ruling on the Census question teaches us a valuable lesson: If you are trying to skew future elections toward your party, do not explain it in a file named EVILPLAN.xls
posted by chris24 at 7:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
The SCOTUS ruling on the Census question teaches us a valuable lesson: If you are trying to skew future elections toward your party, do not explain it in a file named EVILPLAN.xls
posted by chris24 at 7:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
Questions for Mueller (emptywheel):
I generally loathe the questions that people are drafting for Robert Mueller’s July 17 testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, largely because those questions are designed for a circus and not to learn information that’s useful for understanding the Mueller investigation. Here are the questions I’d ask instead (I’ll update these before Mueller testifies).posted by kingless at 7:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
They also allowed the citizenship question. Democracy over.
No, they struck it.
No, they struck it for now. They just didn't give cover to the current Keystone Kops effort. It can be added to any future Census, and there's apparently worries that it can be reworked in time for this one.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:59 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
No, they struck it.
No, they struck it for now. They just didn't give cover to the current Keystone Kops effort. It can be added to any future Census, and there's apparently worries that it can be reworked in time for this one.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:59 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
Roberts basically said ”C’mon guys, lie better next time.”
posted by chris24 at 8:01 AM on June 27, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 8:01 AM on June 27, 2019 [18 favorites]
It can be added to any future Census
Only if there is an adequate, non-obviously evil justification. And in ten years hopefully we won't be having this discussion again.
and there's apparently worries that it can be reworked in time for this one.
Really unlikely, given the timing. They would have to come up with the new, non-evil justification, and then get it through whatever new suits would be filed.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
Only if there is an adequate, non-obviously evil justification. And in ten years hopefully we won't be having this discussion again.
and there's apparently worries that it can be reworked in time for this one.
Really unlikely, given the timing. They would have to come up with the new, non-evil justification, and then get it through whatever new suits would be filed.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
@delrayser
CJ Roberts: you see, the solution to partisan gerrymandering is to elect people who will fix partisan gerrymandering
voters: how are we supposed to do that if we've been gerrymandered out of our vote
CJR: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
—
In Wisconsin in 2018, Ds got 205,000 more votes than Rs. Rs won 27 more seats than Ds.
posted by chris24 at 8:07 AM on June 27, 2019 [67 favorites]
CJ Roberts: you see, the solution to partisan gerrymandering is to elect people who will fix partisan gerrymandering
voters: how are we supposed to do that if we've been gerrymandered out of our vote
CJR: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
—
In Wisconsin in 2018, Ds got 205,000 more votes than Rs. Rs won 27 more seats than Ds.
posted by chris24 at 8:07 AM on June 27, 2019 [67 favorites]
"some people say..." this is exactly Trump's phrasing, this sort of vague "many people are saying" or "many people believe" annoys the hell out of me. It covers a multitude of deceits in Trump's case, I have come to not trust it in anyone else's mouth either.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:31 PM on June 26 [40 favorites +] [!]
"Some people say" was in the question posted to Sanders and he was echoing it in his reply. That isn't included in the NY Intelligencer article.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 8:15 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:31 PM on June 26 [40 favorites +] [!]
"Some people say" was in the question posted to Sanders and he was echoing it in his reply. That isn't included in the NY Intelligencer article.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 8:15 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
AP FACT CHECK: Trump falsely accuses Mueller of a crime (AP)
President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely accused special counsel Robert Mueller of deleting messages that would support the president’s contention that the Russia investigation was out to get him.
This is just a way for Trump to manufacture "evidence" for his base. The beauty is that it has a circular explanation for him not being able to produce it. And I guarantee that he will be asking Russia, if they're listening, to "find them."
And his base? They are enthralled enough to believe it, because of course.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely accused special counsel Robert Mueller of deleting messages that would support the president’s contention that the Russia investigation was out to get him.
This is just a way for Trump to manufacture "evidence" for his base. The beauty is that it has a circular explanation for him not being able to produce it. And I guarantee that he will be asking Russia, if they're listening, to "find them."
And his base? They are enthralled enough to believe it, because of course.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Supreme Court Backs White Minority Rule for Generations to Come (Rafi Schwartz, Splinter)
Tweeted reactions to todays ruling on gerrymandering.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:29 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
Tweeted reactions to todays ruling on gerrymandering.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:29 AM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
The gerrymandering decision is HUGE and beyond just the issue of partisan gerrymandering. This is the Court willingly ceding part of its power to other branches, which is something we almost never see (although Congress’ weakness on its war powers is another modern example, and another one seemingly driven by political partisanship). And sure, Roberts is right that political gerrymandering has been with us since the beginning, and he (and Warren last night!) are right that we should be working the state legislatures to fix the problems we see them create rather than waiting for courts to save us. But this decision willingly gives away review power and strengthens the political question doctrine. Never thought I would see it.
posted by sallybrown at 8:30 AM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 8:30 AM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
To add to that—there are lots of ways that the Supreme Court could have reached the result of not striking down the gerrymandered districts without making a sweeping pronouncement about partisan gerrymandering and the political question doctrine. Those ways would have been somewhat dishonest and reverse-engineered but lots of court decisions are like that (Bush v. Gore, anyone?). Those ways would have left us pissed also and been much less consequential. I disagree with both the outcome of the case and the reasoning Roberts used to get there—but you can’t say he didn’t put the Court’s skin in the game. He gave away significant power for the Court on this issue when he could have not done that and still reached his desired result. It is really something.
posted by sallybrown at 8:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 8:38 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
and he (and Warren last night!) are right that we should be working the state legislatures to fix the problems we see them create rather than waiting for courts to save us
How's that work exactly?
"Dear GOP dominated Texas legislature: you no longer have a popular vote majority in Texas. Please change the districts to yield your undemocratic hold on power."
posted by ocschwar at 8:39 AM on June 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
How's that work exactly?
"Dear GOP dominated Texas legislature: you no longer have a popular vote majority in Texas. Please change the districts to yield your undemocratic hold on power."
posted by ocschwar at 8:39 AM on June 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
It would not be easy, but the way to do it would be to take state-level positions, which are more resistant to gerrymandering, then use those seats to undo what Republicans have done. The state Attorney General and Secretary of State in particular have a huge influence on voting law.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:43 AM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:43 AM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
It would not be easy, but the way to do it would be to take state-level positions, which are more resistant to gerrymandering, then use those seats to undo what Republicans have done.
Perhaps you didn't notice but that is exactly what Democrats did in Wisconsin and North Carolina by electing Democratic governors. And what did the gerrymandered Republican legislature do? The used their gerrymandered monopoly to strip the Democratic governors of their powers. You can't win that way.
posted by JackFlash at 8:50 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
Perhaps you didn't notice but that is exactly what Democrats did in Wisconsin and North Carolina by electing Democratic governors. And what did the gerrymandered Republican legislature do? The used their gerrymandered monopoly to strip the Democratic governors of their powers. You can't win that way.
posted by JackFlash at 8:50 AM on June 27, 2019 [45 favorites]
I am mildly amused that prominent Twitter conservatives are responding to today's SCOTUS rulings by... calling John Roberts an activist judge and a filthy liberal traitor.
Apparently "brown people ARE human beings, because you have to give me something more than 'no, they aren't' as a pretext for declaring them otherwise, but you are now explicitly allowed to surgically remove their ability to cast any kind of meaningful votes" isn't quite good enough.
posted by delfin at 8:53 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
Apparently "brown people ARE human beings, because you have to give me something more than 'no, they aren't' as a pretext for declaring them otherwise, but you are now explicitly allowed to surgically remove their ability to cast any kind of meaningful votes" isn't quite good enough.
posted by delfin at 8:53 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
But this decision willingly gives away review power and strengthens the political question doctrine. Never thought I would see it.
Roberts has always been more of a Republican than a conservative. He's a party hack rather than a partisan hack.
posted by Etrigan at 8:53 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
Roberts has always been more of a Republican than a conservative. He's a party hack rather than a partisan hack.
posted by Etrigan at 8:53 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
ocschwar: ""Dear GOP dominated Texas legislature: you no longer have a popular vote majority in Texas. Please change the districts to yield your undemocratic hold on power.""
FWIW, Dems are considered to have a decent shot at flipping the TX House next year. Beto won a majority of seats, including 9 GOP-held and lost 8 more GOP-held narrowly.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
FWIW, Dems are considered to have a decent shot at flipping the TX House next year. Beto won a majority of seats, including 9 GOP-held and lost 8 more GOP-held narrowly.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:56 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
WSJ: Lawsuit Alleges Government Mistreatment of Migrant Children—Complaint accuses Trump administration of holding minors without clean water or adequate medical care, violating legal settlement
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:57 AM on June 27, 2019 [23 favorites]
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, asked for an emergency injunction allowing immediate inspections by a public health expert of all Customs and Border Protection facilities in Texas’ El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors. The suit also sought access for medical professionals to these facilities.Incidentally, elsewhere in the courts today, Paul Manafort will be arraigned in NYC at 2:15 (CNN). He’s facing 16 state charges, including counts of mortgage fraud and falsifying business records. For a bit of schadenfreude, here's a photo of what he looks like these days with no suit and no hair dye.
A team of attorneys who conducted interviews with unaccompanied children at a Border Patrol facility in El Paso went public with their findings last week. According to the lawsuit, attorneys and physicians who recently visited that facility and another in South Texas found that children have been held for weeks without access to clean water, soap or toothbrushes and that children, including infants, and expectant mothers were hungry and sleep-deprived.
Moreover, the suit alleged, the flu is spreading among detainees who are not receiving prompt medical treatment, and young children are responsible for watching toddlers with no adult supervision.[…]
The complaint also asked that the government deploy an “intensive case management team” to clear a backlog of migrants in custody. The suit was brought under a 1997 settlement known as the Flores agreement, which dictates the terms of how unaccompanied migrant children can be detained. The suit alleges the Trump administration is in violation of the settlement.
“The declarations of class members we have gathered over the past two weeks also disclose that they are detained in what they call ‘hieleras,’ or ‘iceboxes,’ or in cages, under appalling, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions,” Peter A. Schey, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said in a declaration accompanying the suit that his group filed.
The suit, which asks the court to hold the government in contempt, was based on what the plaintiffs said were 65 declarations from physicians, attorneys, detained children and their parents.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:57 AM on June 27, 2019 [23 favorites]
Twitter adds labels for tweets that break its rules, putting President Trump in the company’s crosshairs (WaPo)
Countdown to a tweet on this topic starts now.
posted by box at 9:06 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
Countdown to a tweet on this topic starts now.
posted by box at 9:06 AM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
What is the process by which the UN can get involved in something like the American concentration camps? As in, who has standing to ask them to investigate, and what are the treaties that govern how that works in superpower states like the US? I don’t even know where to start researching the topic, it’s so far out of my lane. But seriously, we need international intervention to stop this slow rolling genocide.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:18 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:18 AM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]
Prison has not been kind to Paul Manafort
posted by growabrain at 9:32 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 9:32 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
This New York State case is important because Trump can't pardon Manafort from state crimes.
posted by JackFlash at 9:37 AM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 9:37 AM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
What is the process by which the UN can get involved in something like the American concentration camps?
US has veto power on the UN Security Council, so it never will happen.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:51 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
US has veto power on the UN Security Council, so it never will happen.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:51 AM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
New Air Force One Jets To Have 1,200 Nautical Miles Less Range Than Originally Required (Joseph Trevithick, The War Zone/The Drive)
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:03 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
Details about this reduced requirement, among others, have emerged along with news that the White House wants the planes delivered sooner.'Sooner' meaning 'in time for Trump to ride the new shiny'.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:03 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
Developing (Politico): Democratic moderates threaten to oppose amended border package
A group of House Democratic centrists is threatening to vote against their caucus’ latest border aid package on the floor, a tactic aimed at pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi to swiftly take up a clean version of the Senate’s bipartisan bill.posted by ZeusHumms at 11:02 AM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
The House plans to vote Thursday on its amended version of the border package, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear that his chamber won't consider the measure, teeing up a game of chicken just before the holiday break.
At least 12 House Democrats have said they’re willing to oppose the bill on the floor, according to multiple sources familiar with the whip count, and that number is growing by the hour.
tofu_crouton: It would not be easy, but the way to do it would be to take state-level positions, which are more resistant to gerrymandering, then use those seats to undo what Republicans have done.
To be honest, Dems are doing this, too. There was similar evidence of partisanship in the drawing of Maryland's lines, where former Governor Martin O'Malley testified that the district in question was drawn to "create a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican, yes, this was clearly my intent." (NPR's expanded coverage of the topic).
And a glimmer of hope (my optimism): when a gerrymandered district breaks, it's really hard to take back. In other words, if a district was drawn to break GOP by a narrow margin, but the GOP becomes unfavorable, they'll lose that district. Expand that to a full state, where the GOP is losing its popular support, this indicates that there's potential to shift representation.
Then those in power should make it so the districts represent actual neighborhoods and communities, so your representatives actually represent their constituents. A guy can dream, can't he? Because I'm tired of living in this nightmare.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:08 AM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
To be honest, Dems are doing this, too. There was similar evidence of partisanship in the drawing of Maryland's lines, where former Governor Martin O'Malley testified that the district in question was drawn to "create a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican, yes, this was clearly my intent." (NPR's expanded coverage of the topic).
And a glimmer of hope (my optimism): when a gerrymandered district breaks, it's really hard to take back. In other words, if a district was drawn to break GOP by a narrow margin, but the GOP becomes unfavorable, they'll lose that district. Expand that to a full state, where the GOP is losing its popular support, this indicates that there's potential to shift representation.
Then those in power should make it so the districts represent actual neighborhoods and communities, so your representatives actually represent their constituents. A guy can dream, can't he? Because I'm tired of living in this nightmare.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:08 AM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
@SCOTUSblog: #SCOTUS rules that state law assuming driver’s consent to blood test for drugs/alcohol, even when driver is unconscious, provides exception to 4th Amendment’s warrant requirement, allowing law enforcement to draw blood from unconscious drivers w/o warrant
posted by ragtag at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by ragtag at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
"Democrats" who kill a bill because it contains provisions mandating a minimum standard of care for children in concentration camps are not worthy of being called Democrats.
Nancy Pelosi is vaunted for her ability to get votes but when it comes time to actually do that and get something critical passed she somehow, like magic, just suddenly can't do it anymore and we're being dictated to by Trump and McConnell with the aid of a few DINO traitors who want children to suffer.
If she can't bring the caucus together over kids in concentration camps then she's clearly worthless and needs to be replaced with someone competent ASAP.
posted by sotonohito at 12:07 PM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
Nancy Pelosi is vaunted for her ability to get votes but when it comes time to actually do that and get something critical passed she somehow, like magic, just suddenly can't do it anymore and we're being dictated to by Trump and McConnell with the aid of a few DINO traitors who want children to suffer.
If she can't bring the caucus together over kids in concentration camps then she's clearly worthless and needs to be replaced with someone competent ASAP.
posted by sotonohito at 12:07 PM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
$750/person A DAY
Is this the money that the Trump Administration is 'finding' in other agency budgets?
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:39 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Is this the money that the Trump Administration is 'finding' in other agency budgets?
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:39 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Fudge.
(update) Politico: Pelosi bows to McConnell on border aid bill
(update) Politico: Pelosi bows to McConnell on border aid bill
The speaker faced a revolt by a group of more than 18 Democratic centrists, who vowed to tank the bill on the floor. […]posted by ZeusHumms at 12:48 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
In a stunning reversal, Pelosi halted a planned vote on the House Democrats' version of the border aid bill as she and her deputies faced a revolt by a group of more than 18 Democratic centrists, who vowed to tank the bill on the floor.
In a high-profile surrender in a faceoff with McConnell, Pelosi sent a letter to her caucus explaining her rationale.
"The children come first. At the end of the day, we have to make sure that the resources needed to protect the children are available,” she wrote. “Therefore, we will not engage in the same disrespectful behavior that the Senate did in ignoring our priorities. In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill."
They are all complicit.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:52 PM on June 27, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:52 PM on June 27, 2019 [18 favorites]
What is the centrist position between neglect and care? What is the centrist number of toothbrushes per child?
Who exactly are these 18 "centrists"? I called my congressman's office and they couldn't tell me if he is one of them. Why don't these articles name names?
posted by M-x shell at 12:55 PM on June 27, 2019 [30 favorites]
Who exactly are these 18 "centrists"? I called my congressman's office and they couldn't tell me if he is one of them. Why don't these articles name names?
posted by M-x shell at 12:55 PM on June 27, 2019 [30 favorites]
@repmarkpocan: Since when did the Problem Solvers Caucus become the Child Abuse Caucus? Wouldn't they want to at least fight against contractors who run deplorable facilities? Kids are the only ones who could lose today.
Now's a good time to call your reps. You could also call the offices of so-called moderate Democrats like Rep. Stephanie Murphy—(202) 225-4035 and Rep. Josh Gottheimer—(202) 225-4465 to ask why torturing children is a "moderate" position.
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on June 27, 2019 [20 favorites]
Now's a good time to call your reps. You could also call the offices of so-called moderate Democrats like Rep. Stephanie Murphy—(202) 225-4035 and Rep. Josh Gottheimer—(202) 225-4465 to ask why torturing children is a "moderate" position.
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on June 27, 2019 [20 favorites]
This vote today is a preview of a Democratic President with a Democratic house and Mitch McConnell’s Senate. The Problem Solvers/Third Way caucus will dictate outcomes, and use their power to take hostages exactly like the Tea Party.
This is why electing more “Democrats” is not sufficient. Elect better Democrats.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:59 PM on June 27, 2019 [40 favorites]
This is why electing more “Democrats” is not sufficient. Elect better Democrats.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:59 PM on June 27, 2019 [40 favorites]
Has Stephanie Murphy or anyone in the Blue Dog Coalition she leads actually explained their opposition to the bill? The differences between bills seem to come down to "standard of care".
I'm having difficulty imagining, like, the Republican attack ads against those particular Dems on that subject. I mean it's not like "higher taxes!!" or "open borders!!" in that Republican opposition to the humanity of these children is (for now) obfuscated through layers of rhetoric. This legislation seems to cut through those layers: Here's money, here are the rules for how well to take care of kids, none of this could be interpreted as excessive in helping them. What, from the perspective of a supposed Middle American, is the issue?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:01 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm having difficulty imagining, like, the Republican attack ads against those particular Dems on that subject. I mean it's not like "higher taxes!!" or "open borders!!" in that Republican opposition to the humanity of these children is (for now) obfuscated through layers of rhetoric. This legislation seems to cut through those layers: Here's money, here are the rules for how well to take care of kids, none of this could be interpreted as excessive in helping them. What, from the perspective of a supposed Middle American, is the issue?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:01 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
What is the centrist position between neglect and care? What is the centrist number of toothbrushes per child?
This is what I mean when I say there is no compromising for bipartisanship with the right.how do you establish half of a white ethnostate? Centrism should mean what is supported by the majority of people.
posted by The Whelk at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
This is what I mean when I say there is no compromising for bipartisanship with the right.how do you establish half of a white ethnostate? Centrism should mean what is supported by the majority of people.
posted by The Whelk at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
They are all complicit.
The Senate bill passed 84 to 8. Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar and Gillibrand took the courageous stand of -
oh, not voting.
posted by JackFlash at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
The Senate bill passed 84 to 8. Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar and Gillibrand took the courageous stand of -
oh, not voting.
posted by JackFlash at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
And the hits keep coming. Pelosi on latest sexual assault allegation against Trump: “I don’t know what Congress’s role would be” < Vox
posted by Harry Caul at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
Trump says he asked lawyers if census could be delayed after Supreme Court decision on citizenship question (Nicholas Wu and Richard Wolf, USA TODAY)
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:09 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:09 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
@FoxReports: House progressives livid at Senate Democrats, saying they were thrown under the bus on border bill. When asked how they stop that from happening in future negotiations, Rep. Jayapal replied “I am looking for a new pharmaceutical drug that builds spine”[s]
@ryangrim: I'm told that @RepDebDingell is resigning from the Problem Solvers Caucus in the wake of its co-chair @RepJoshG organizing opposition to the House border bill that would have mandated improved conditions for children in detention
@jparkABC: 2 sources familiar w/ Pence-Pelosi convo tell me & @JordynPhelps VP agreed Congress would be notified within 24 hours after death of a child in custody + to a 90-day time limit on children spending time in an influx facility, where migrants await transfer to HHS facilities.
Ok, so let's make these absolutely minimal requirements law so they're at least potentially maybe enforceable instead of mere promises from Mike Pence.
posted by zachlipton at 1:14 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
@ryangrim: I'm told that @RepDebDingell is resigning from the Problem Solvers Caucus in the wake of its co-chair @RepJoshG organizing opposition to the House border bill that would have mandated improved conditions for children in detention
@jparkABC: 2 sources familiar w/ Pence-Pelosi convo tell me & @JordynPhelps VP agreed Congress would be notified within 24 hours after death of a child in custody + to a 90-day time limit on children spending time in an influx facility, where migrants await transfer to HHS facilities.
Ok, so let's make these absolutely minimal requirements law so they're at least potentially maybe enforceable instead of mere promises from Mike Pence.
posted by zachlipton at 1:14 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
Trump says he asked lawyers if census could be delayed after Supreme Court decision on citizenship question
The answer is obviously going to be "Technically no, but in practical terms yes because no one will stop you."
posted by mikepop at 1:15 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
The answer is obviously going to be "Technically no, but in practical terms yes because no one will stop you."
posted by mikepop at 1:15 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
The answer is obviously going to be "Technically no, but in practical terms yes because no one will stop you."
Coming to a tweet near you: "JohnMarshallRoberts has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"
posted by stopgap at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Coming to a tweet near you: "John
posted by stopgap at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Gerrymandering is deeply undemocratic. I live in Illinois. We are gerrymandered Democrat. Our state government is also synonymous with corruption. It's not a coincidence. Everywhere you look at gerrymandering it breeds corruption. The representatives no longer listen to their constituents and become enthralled to powerful interest groups. This generation the world is at stake and our democracy is at stake.
posted by xammerboy at 1:23 PM on June 27, 2019 [26 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 1:23 PM on June 27, 2019 [26 favorites]
4. While I would not be able to find out vested shareholders in the DCCP portfolio, we do not have to assume they’re making some nice returns on these CHS operations and government contracts that line their pockets instead of covering even basic human needs for children. That’s clear, because why would a private company keep their costs down so low that they completely disregard humanity, even though they say they’re experts in “healthcare?” PROFIT. FOR THEIR PRIVATE INVESTORS. [...]One of the fundamental definition of fascism is the merging of the corporation and the state. Another definition is the re-application of colonial methods of control on those within the imperial center.
7. Michael Hayden, last June, said on the record he sees “commonality” between Nazi Germany’s separation of children at concentration camps and the Trump administration policy that is forcing children to be separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. "I know we’re not Nazi Germany, alright. But there is a commonality there, and a fear on my part ... We have standards we have to live up to,” Hayden told CNN’s “New Day.”
2 sources familiar w/ Pence-Pelosi convo tell me & @JordynPhelps VP agreed Congress would be notified within 24 hours after death of a child in custody + to a 90-day time limit on children spending time in an influx facilityWhen Sanders refuses to pre-emptively swear unconditional support for whoever gets the Democratic nomination, I get why that pisses a lot of people off. But if "centrist" Democrat candidates shuffle a micrometer to the right they will be objectively, from a world politics perspective, far-right. If the Democratic party establishment position is that concentration camps are tolerable points of compromise and we're told to consider "they say they'll eventually tell us when children die in the camps" a victory, then, well. If the only two choices we're given in 2020 end up being NSDAP or Zentrum then, well.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:30 PM on June 27, 2019 [10 favorites]
> "... VP agreed Congress would be notified within 24 hours after death of a child in custody + to a 90-day time limit on children spending time in an influx facility, where migrants await transfer to HHS facilities."
Ok, so let's make these absolutely minimal requirements law so they're at least potentially maybe enforceable instead of mere promises from Mike Pence.
Yes, oral promises from Mike Pence are not even worth the weight of the paper they aren't written down on.
Meanwhile, I'm still gobsmacked that the conservatives on the Supreme court are openly willing to sign on to permanent radical minority rule in the states (once you're gerrymandered, how are you going to vote in new people to fix it?) and that they were one John Roberts hiccup away from endorsing rigging the census with the flimsiest excuse. “For the first time ever,” [Clarence Thomas] wrote, “the court invalidates an agency action solely because it questions the sincerity of the agency’s otherwise adequate rationale.” Which - what? WHAT?
“To put the point bluntly,” [Alito] wrote, “the federal judiciary has no authority to stick its nose into the question whether it is good policy to include a citizenship question on the census or whether the reasons given by Secretary Ross for that decision were his only reasons or his real reasons.”
No authority.
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Ok, so let's make these absolutely minimal requirements law so they're at least potentially maybe enforceable instead of mere promises from Mike Pence.
Yes, oral promises from Mike Pence are not even worth the weight of the paper they aren't written down on.
Meanwhile, I'm still gobsmacked that the conservatives on the Supreme court are openly willing to sign on to permanent radical minority rule in the states (once you're gerrymandered, how are you going to vote in new people to fix it?) and that they were one John Roberts hiccup away from endorsing rigging the census with the flimsiest excuse. “For the first time ever,” [Clarence Thomas] wrote, “the court invalidates an agency action solely because it questions the sincerity of the agency’s otherwise adequate rationale.” Which - what? WHAT?
“To put the point bluntly,” [Alito] wrote, “the federal judiciary has no authority to stick its nose into the question whether it is good policy to include a citizenship question on the census or whether the reasons given by Secretary Ross for that decision were his only reasons or his real reasons.”
No authority.
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Inhale that sigh of relief. Richard Hasen, Donald Trump Is Promising to Fight the Census Case. That Might Actually Work.
posted by zachlipton at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
Percent of people who believe businesses should be able to refuse to serve the following groups if doing so violates their religious beliefs:
gay or lesbian people: 30
transgender people: 29
atheists: 24
Muslims: 22
Jews: 19
African Americans: 15
This represents a huge increase from 2014 when, for example, only (only!) 16 percent of people thought it OK to discriminate against gay or lesbian people.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:44 PM on June 27, 2019 [21 favorites]
gay or lesbian people: 30
transgender people: 29
atheists: 24
Muslims: 22
Jews: 19
African Americans: 15
This represents a huge increase from 2014 when, for example, only (only!) 16 percent of people thought it OK to discriminate against gay or lesbian people.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:44 PM on June 27, 2019 [21 favorites]
As in, who has standing to ask them to investigate
The UN is never going to go after any of the 5 Permanent Members of the Security Council. So no one has standing.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2019
The UN is never going to go after any of the 5 Permanent Members of the Security Council. So no one has standing.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2019
NYT, late to the story, Why E. Jean Carroll, ‘the Anti-Victim,’ Spoke Up About Trump: The writer’s friends and confidantes talk publicly for the first time about her sexual assault allegation against the president
posted by zachlipton at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
She also thought of the women she had advised over the years to buck up, to speak up, to go to the police or “move everything out when he’s at work.” “I felt like a fraud,” she said, because she had taken no such action herself. By the time she submitted her book proposal, in May 2018, she’d rethought it as part memoir, with the Trump allegation included. St. Martin’s Press paid a modest sum.Carroll's friends are on today's episode of The Daily corroborating her account.
posted by zachlipton at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Currently entertaining myself with the brochure for Maptitude, the industry-standard redistricting software. Here's a cool feature from page 5:
- Identify communities of interest, geographically cohesive areas such as cities, neighborhoods, or racial or ethnic enclaves that tend to have similar interests and vote as a bloc. Keep them intact within the same district, and lock them so that you cannot accidentally reassign them to different districts. Alternatively, for communities that you do split into multiple districts, run the Communities of Interest reports to calculate the total and percent population of the community in each district.posted by theodolite at 2:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Inhale that sigh of relief. Richard Hasen, Donald Trump Is Promising to Fight the Census Case. That Might Actually Work.
Hasen doesn't address the issue that the census forms must be printed by July and so September/October rulings would indeed require delaying the Census, and there is no Constitutional authority to do that. Which, yeah, Trump. But it's certainly an issue that must addressed.
posted by Justinian at 2:11 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Hasen doesn't address the issue that the census forms must be printed by July and so September/October rulings would indeed require delaying the Census, and there is no Constitutional authority to do that. Which, yeah, Trump. But it's certainly an issue that must addressed.
posted by Justinian at 2:11 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Given the tendency of gerrymandered districts to be vulnerable to flipping in wave elections, it seems like the eventual result of this would be a group of states that seem like they are sewn up for the GOP but in reality might flip with little warning based on GOTV outcomes. Does this decision make room for some sort of super gerrymander that somehow isn't vulnerable to this?
posted by feloniousmonk at 2:12 PM on June 27, 2019
posted by feloniousmonk at 2:12 PM on June 27, 2019
Voter suppression is, I assume, the plan for that. The court's prior gutting of the VRA makes that much easier in the states that used to have preclearance enforced on them.
The other plan is the attempt at census-rigging, which would have the way for a redistricting based on citizenship.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
The other plan is the attempt at census-rigging, which would have the way for a redistricting based on citizenship.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:21 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
There’s also the equal-protection argument that the Supreme Court didn’t address, the prospect of future district and circuit-court proceedings adding still more details from EVIL_PLAN.DOC to the case record, and the fact that the history Roberts couldn’t quite stomach in this decision isn’t going to go away by September. It’s not a done deal by any means but I have a hard time seeing why, if Roberts is prepared to give the Trump administration a win under even worse circumstances three months down the line, he wouldn’t just pull the trigger now.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Politico: Senate's Russia Reports to Start Publishing in July
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:26 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Final versions of the Senate's five-part report on Russian interference in the 2016 election will be released in stages starting in July, the panel chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, told POLITICO on Thursday.Burr also said that he had no plans to invite Mueller to testify before the Senate SCI.
“It will start right after we come back from the Fourth,” the North Carolina Republican said.
Burr and his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Mark Warner, have been at work for more than two years on a probe examining the Moscow-led interference campaign in the last presidential election. The committee has reviewed more than 300,000 pages of documents and conducted interviews with more than 200 witnesses, including a recent closed door sit-down with Donald Trump Jr.
“It’s over,” Burr said of the witness interviews, adding that the committee’s work will come out in five installments.
The first report, Burr said, will cover election security. That will be followed by additional reports reviewing the Obama administration’s handling of the Russian interference effort; social media's role in the disruption campaign; the Senate panel’s assessment of the Obama-era intelligence committee’s conclusions about Russian interference; and a final assessment of the main questions surrounding the Trump campaign and whether it was engaged in a conspiracy with Russia.
“I’m guessing right now that it will be mid- to end of September,” Burr said of the fifth installment’s timing for public release. “I just don’t know how long it will take to declassify.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:26 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Roll Call, House passes election security measure requiring cybersecurity safeguards, paper ballots
The House passed an election security measure Thursday that would require voting systems to use backup paper ballots in federal contests, while also mandating improvements to the higher-tech side of the polls.posted by zachlipton at 2:34 PM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]
The full chamber voted 225-184 to send the bill to the Senate where it faces stiff opposition from Republicans. House Democrats fast-tracked the bill to the floor after it cleared the Administration Committee by a party-line vote. One Republican — Florida Rep. Brian Mast — voted for the measure Thursday. No Democrats voted against it.
...
The California Democrat announced Wednesday that Congress will receive an election security briefing from administration officials on July 10, and she put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take up election security measures in his chamber.
So far, McConnell has refused to allow votes on any election security proposals, citing concerns that the measures erode state authority over elections.
There is no one and nothing that stands above nuclear-armed nation states. There was, for a time, a pleasant fiction that international organizations had somehow evolved into something that could regulate and curtail them, but like much that happened in the second half of the 20th century, it was largely wishful thinking.
The only things that constrain state power are internal limitations based on their claims to legitimacy—democracies can't run roughshod over their own citizens' wishes for too long without undermining their own legitimacy; authoritarian governments, admittedly, tend not to have this problem, although they have others—and external limitations based on the actions of other states.
International organizations e.g. the UN should be viewed as vehicles by which state power is concentrated and expressed, and not as some separate level that exists above states. Nothing exists above nation states, unless you want to get into the realm of religion.
I used to believe otherwise, but I believed a lot of naive things in my youth.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
The only things that constrain state power are internal limitations based on their claims to legitimacy—democracies can't run roughshod over their own citizens' wishes for too long without undermining their own legitimacy; authoritarian governments, admittedly, tend not to have this problem, although they have others—and external limitations based on the actions of other states.
International organizations e.g. the UN should be viewed as vehicles by which state power is concentrated and expressed, and not as some separate level that exists above states. Nothing exists above nation states, unless you want to get into the realm of religion.
I used to believe otherwise, but I believed a lot of naive things in my youth.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
speaker pelosi buckles like a belt on differing house, senate border funding bills
posted by entropicamericana at 2:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 2:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
Given the tendency of gerrymandered districts to be vulnerable to flipping in wave elections, it seems like the eventual result of this would be a group of states that seem like they are sewn up for the GOP but in reality might flip with little warning based on GOTV outcomes.
This assumption hasn’t really been born out since 2010 and gerrymandering software has and will only get better. Wisconsin and Virginia’s GOP gerrymanders each survived Democratic +9 popular vote margins without going down, and it’s not realistic in this era to expect a much bigger margin than that. If Democrats have to win by 10% or more just to take a bare majority, you’re taking a gerrymander that can survive anything but a once in a century kind of wave. Sure, maybe it could happen, but Republicans win under all other circumstances.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:49 PM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
This assumption hasn’t really been born out since 2010 and gerrymandering software has and will only get better. Wisconsin and Virginia’s GOP gerrymanders each survived Democratic +9 popular vote margins without going down, and it’s not realistic in this era to expect a much bigger margin than that. If Democrats have to win by 10% or more just to take a bare majority, you’re taking a gerrymander that can survive anything but a once in a century kind of wave. Sure, maybe it could happen, but Republicans win under all other circumstances.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:49 PM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
Has anyone seen an analysis of the differences between the initial house bill and the senate bill that eventually got passed? I'm astounded at the sheer number of democrats, many of whom I consider progressive allies, that voted for it.
posted by galaxy rise at 3:10 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by galaxy rise at 3:10 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Does this decision make room for some sort of super gerrymander that somehow isn't vulnerable to this?
Its not that the decision isnt vulnerable, its that their sewing up these "vulnerabilities" [read, functions of democracy, if you will] other ways, like the recent efforts to criminalize voter registration orgs in both Tennessee and Texas.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 3:12 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Its not that the decision isnt vulnerable, its that their sewing up these "vulnerabilities" [read, functions of democracy, if you will] other ways, like the recent efforts to criminalize voter registration orgs in both Tennessee and Texas.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 3:12 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Identify communities of interest, geographically cohesive areas such as cities, neighborhoods, or racial or ethnic enclaves that tend to have similar interests and vote as a bloc. Keep them intact within the same district, and lock them so that you cannot accidentally reassign them to different districts.
Ah, I wondered how they came up with gerrymandered districts with borders that may literally diverge from a straight line to incorporate a single apartment complex, or extend in a narrow, unoccupied channel for great distances between other districts until it reaches another gerrymandered district. In Australia a party arguing with the (independent) Electoral Commission would start with the existing, rational boundaries, and try to have them altered in its favour; but that's clearly not what is happening here.
In case you're wondering too, this is how they do it: the software they use lets them mark areas that are majority-minority or vote Democratic or whatever. They start with those areas, which is why the software manufacturers advertise the ability to "lock" them. Then they attempt to join the locked areas together in some plausible way, but not at the expense of creating a competitive district.
The software manufacturers are clearly working to the racist expectations of their users. The techniques already produce farcical boundaries, but there's no reason that they can't get more absurd. If you're thinking of some ridiculous boundary, say one that goes up the center of a street and picks out individual houses, rest assured that politicians are too.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:29 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Ah, I wondered how they came up with gerrymandered districts with borders that may literally diverge from a straight line to incorporate a single apartment complex, or extend in a narrow, unoccupied channel for great distances between other districts until it reaches another gerrymandered district. In Australia a party arguing with the (independent) Electoral Commission would start with the existing, rational boundaries, and try to have them altered in its favour; but that's clearly not what is happening here.
In case you're wondering too, this is how they do it: the software they use lets them mark areas that are majority-minority or vote Democratic or whatever. They start with those areas, which is why the software manufacturers advertise the ability to "lock" them. Then they attempt to join the locked areas together in some plausible way, but not at the expense of creating a competitive district.
The software manufacturers are clearly working to the racist expectations of their users. The techniques already produce farcical boundaries, but there's no reason that they can't get more absurd. If you're thinking of some ridiculous boundary, say one that goes up the center of a street and picks out individual houses, rest assured that politicians are too.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:29 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm astounded at the sheer number of democrats, many of whom I consider progressive allies, that voted for it.
The Republicans were literally saying that these kids only get heat, and water, and medicine, if the Republican bill gets supported. I don't know if I'd have held out either.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:32 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
The Republicans were literally saying that these kids only get heat, and water, and medicine, if the Republican bill gets supported. I don't know if I'd have held out either.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:32 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
The Republicans were literally saying that these kids only get heat, and water, and medicine, if the Republican bill gets supported.
Then they're an evil terrorist empire that must be destroyed instead of worked with. "We will immediately and intentionally torture to death thousands of children if you don't do what we say" is the kind of behavior that would morally justify Democratic leadership calling for the entire rest of the world to invade us militarily.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:38 PM on June 27, 2019 [22 favorites]
Then they're an evil terrorist empire that must be destroyed instead of worked with. "We will immediately and intentionally torture to death thousands of children if you don't do what we say" is the kind of behavior that would morally justify Democratic leadership calling for the entire rest of the world to invade us militarily.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:38 PM on June 27, 2019 [22 favorites]
speaker pelosi buckles like a belt on differing house, senate border funding bills
Blame the Democrats in the Senate who passed a bad bill and put Pelosi in an impossible position. They could have filibustered the Republican Senate bill but did not. This includes Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar and Gillibrand who didn't even vote. Republicans were able to say they passed a bill in the Senate overwhelmingly, 84 to 8, but House Democrats are against children.
You may want to play chicken with a bus load of children headed for a cliff, but Republicans don't give a fuck. Caged children and shocking pictures is the deterrent they want.
posted by JackFlash at 3:39 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
Blame the Democrats in the Senate who passed a bad bill and put Pelosi in an impossible position. They could have filibustered the Republican Senate bill but did not. This includes Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar and Gillibrand who didn't even vote. Republicans were able to say they passed a bill in the Senate overwhelmingly, 84 to 8, but House Democrats are against children.
You may want to play chicken with a bus load of children headed for a cliff, but Republicans don't give a fuck. Caged children and shocking pictures is the deterrent they want.
posted by JackFlash at 3:39 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
Blame the Democrats in the Senate who passed a bad bill and put Pelosi in an impossible position. They could have filibustered the Republican Senate bill but did not.
So, why couldn't the House go ahead and vote on the House bill and send it to Senate to have McConnell refuse to vote for it and THEN vote on the Senate bill? Wouldn't that at least allow them to say, "We voted for a true humanitarian bill and not one that will shuffle your taxpayer money to corporations. That is why McConnell wouldn't even bring it to a vote."?
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
So, why couldn't the House go ahead and vote on the House bill and send it to Senate to have McConnell refuse to vote for it and THEN vote on the Senate bill? Wouldn't that at least allow them to say, "We voted for a true humanitarian bill and not one that will shuffle your taxpayer money to corporations. That is why McConnell wouldn't even bring it to a vote."?
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]
Because the House is leaving town for a recess right now and Office of Refugee Resettlement runs out of funding in a few days (the administration made it clear they'll stop paying employees and stop reimbursing facilities housing children, many of which are nonprofits). I'm all for forcing members of Congress to cancel their 4th of July plans to do something about children being held in cages, but asking them to stick around so McConnell can defeat them a second time seems like a tough sell.
posted by zachlipton at 4:03 PM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 4:03 PM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
WaPo, Rex Tillerson airs concern about Jared Kushner’s secret dealings with foreign leaders
posted by zachlipton at 4:17 PM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
In newly disclosed testimony, former secretary of state Rex Tillerson said President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, operated independently with powerful leaders around the world without coordination with the State Department, leaving Tillerson out of the loop and in the dark on emerging U.S. policies and simmering geopolitical crises.The full transcript (145 page PDF) is not available.
In a transcript of his testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tillerson also described the challenge of briefing a president who does not read briefing papers and often got distracted by peripheral topics, noting he had to keep his message short and focus on a single topic.
...
In one instance, Tillerson said he learned that Kushner was meeting with Mexico’s foreign secretary, Luis Videgaray, because he happened to be in the same Washington restaurant while the two men hashed out a “fairly comprehensive plan of action” that Tillerson didn’t know about.
“The owner of the restaurant . . . came around and said, “Oh, Mr. Secretary, you might be interested to know the foreign secretary of Mexico is seated at a table near the back in case you want to go by and say hello to him,” Tillerson said. “And so I did.” Tillerson said he saw the “color go out of the face” of the foreign secretary as he walked into the room. “I said: Welcome to Washington. . . . Give me a call next time you’re coming to town.”
...
He also said he was not aware of meetings that had been occurring between Arab leaders and Kushner, including a private huddle May 20, 2017, between Kushner, Trump’s former adviser Stephen K. Bannon and the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. During the meeting, Arab leaders discussed their intention to impose a blockade on Qatar, though the White House later denied prior knowledge of the June 5 closure.
posted by zachlipton at 4:17 PM on June 27, 2019 [17 favorites]
Her retreat came after Vice President Pence gave Ms. Pelosi private assurances that the administration would voluntarily abide by some of the restrictions she had sought, including notifying lawmakers within 24 hours after the death of a migrant child in government custody, and placing a 90-day time limit on on children spending time in temporary intake facilities, according to a person familiar with the discussions.Confirmation from NYT. Presenting to us as a consolation prize the private assurance that they'll be told when the children die is something beyond weakness in the face of fascism, or fecklessness or incompetence. This cannot continue.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:18 PM on June 27, 2019 [15 favorites]
Interesting take in WaPo on "Why the Supreme Court’s split decisions may not mean what you think."
posted by PhineasGage at 4:23 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 4:23 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Sanders won't support the Dem nominee ... that sounds odd. Clicks on link and reads.
The linked article question and answer was;
MSNBC: If it's clear you aren't going to be the nominee, will you concede before the convention?
SANDERS: I intend to be the Dem nominee
A completely useless horserace question before a single vote has been cast with an answer every candidate would give at this point.
But the article author, Jonathan Chait, said the question and answer was;
NBC’s Kasie Hunt asked Bernie Sanders if he would commit to supporting the Democratic nominee before the convention if it’s clear it won’t be him. Sanders would not make any such commitment.
I find the discrepancy between the actual question and answer and the characterization of the question and answer, to be rather glaring ... as if done not to inform but to clickbait and infuriate.
I also suggest that Chait's presentation of the exchange is a clear demonstration that he is not acting as an honest broker or reliable narrator.
I'm calling the entire article, a cooked up crock of political horserace bullshit.
posted by phoque at 4:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [20 favorites]
The linked article question and answer was;
MSNBC: If it's clear you aren't going to be the nominee, will you concede before the convention?
SANDERS: I intend to be the Dem nominee
A completely useless horserace question before a single vote has been cast with an answer every candidate would give at this point.
But the article author, Jonathan Chait, said the question and answer was;
NBC’s Kasie Hunt asked Bernie Sanders if he would commit to supporting the Democratic nominee before the convention if it’s clear it won’t be him. Sanders would not make any such commitment.
I find the discrepancy between the actual question and answer and the characterization of the question and answer, to be rather glaring ... as if done not to inform but to clickbait and infuriate.
I also suggest that Chait's presentation of the exchange is a clear demonstration that he is not acting as an honest broker or reliable narrator.
I'm calling the entire article, a cooked up crock of political horserace bullshit.
posted by phoque at 4:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [20 favorites]
@mollyhf [LA Times, ongoing thread]:
Today I visited @CBPRGV central processing center, one of the places Flores monitors visited earlier this month and saw kids caring for smaller kids, some so sick they had to be hospitalized. Thread’s what I saw.posted by zachlipton at 4:55 PM on June 27, 2019 [11 favorites]
...
Children are still separated from adult family members if they’re not parents. I talked to a Guatemalan mother in San Francisco whose children ages 10 and 2 were separated from their grandmother. Consulate said they were held at CPC. @CBP would not comment.
Carmen Qualia, acting executive officer with @CBP responsible for CPC, said 1,000 unaccompanied kids held there last week, hundreds for more than 72 hours, due to HHS delay in placement.
Qualia said @CBP has medical staff at a half dozen sites where migrants are held, including Ursula, and all children are medically screened when they arrive and leave. Lawyers who visited the facility earlier this month dispute that.
I'm calling the entire article, a cooked up crock of political horserace bullshit.
Maybe watch the actual video itself instead of relying on people to summarize it, since it's only about a minute long?
posted by zachlipton at 4:57 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
Maybe watch the actual video itself instead of relying on people to summarize it, since it's only about a minute long?
posted by zachlipton at 4:57 PM on June 27, 2019 [7 favorites]
A completely useless horserace question before a single vote has been cast with an answer every candidate would give at this point.
It's not a horserace question. It's asking if Sanders will support the nominee if it's not him. Given how he prolonged 2016 past the point of possible victory, it's not a crazy question.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say, "I intend to be the nominee. But if I am not, the nominee will have my full support. Any disagreements we might have would pale in comparison to the importance of defeating Trump."
But for some reason, Bernie can't say that.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:58 PM on June 27, 2019 [68 favorites]
It's not a horserace question. It's asking if Sanders will support the nominee if it's not him. Given how he prolonged 2016 past the point of possible victory, it's not a crazy question.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say, "I intend to be the nominee. But if I am not, the nominee will have my full support. Any disagreements we might have would pale in comparison to the importance of defeating Trump."
But for some reason, Bernie can't say that.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:58 PM on June 27, 2019 [68 favorites]
Does anyone have the names handy for which Senate Dems voted for/against the border bill today? Gotta know what to say in my daily call to my pal Tina Smith.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:07 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:07 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
It's asking if Sanders will support the nominee if it's not him. Given how he prolonged 2016 past the point of possible victory, it's not a crazy question.
I think it is, because of what use is his answer? There's gotta be a newsperson's corollary to the Politician's Syllogism, "We must ask questions; this is a question; therefore, it must be asked.'
posted by rhizome at 5:11 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
I think it is, because of what use is his answer? There's gotta be a newsperson's corollary to the Politician's Syllogism, "We must ask questions; this is a question; therefore, it must be asked.'
posted by rhizome at 5:11 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Senate vote detail from yesterday afternoon. The presidential candidates didn’t vote because they were in Miami for the debates.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:20 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:20 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
@JoshNBCNews: Trump walked in to family photo at G20 chatting with Putin, patted him on the back as leaders found their assigned places
posted by zachlipton at 8:17 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 8:17 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]
Bloomberg, White House Considers Capital Gains Tax Break That Would Benefit Wealthy
The White House is developing a plan to cut taxes by indexing capital gains to inflation, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would largely benefit the wealthy and may be done in a way that bypasses Congress.posted by zachlipton at 8:28 PM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
Consensus is growing among White House officials to advance the proposal soon, the people said, to ensure the benefit takes effect before President Donald Trump faces re-election in 2020.
...
Most of the benefits would go to high-income households, with the top 1% receiving 86% of the benefit, according to estimates in 2018 by the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The policy could reduce tax revenue by $102 billion over a decade, the model found.
...
The work is largely taking place at the White House because the Treasury Department has been slow-walking the process, over concerns that the change could be challenged on legal grounds and that it might require Congress to rewrite the law, the people said.
In case you're wondering too, this is how they do it: the software they use lets them mark areas that are majority-minority or vote Democratic or whatever. They start with those areas, which is why the software manufacturers advertise the ability to "lock" them. Then they attempt to join the locked areas together in some plausible way, but not at the expense of creating a competitive district.
The software manufacturers are clearly working to the racist expectations of their users.
The Voting Rights Act *requires* that communities of interest are kept cohesive in districting, partially as a way of guaranteeing that minorities get a representative. Maybe the ad copy is meant to catch the eye of mustache-twirlers but on its face, it's talking about making it easier to comply with the law.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:37 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
The software manufacturers are clearly working to the racist expectations of their users.
The Voting Rights Act *requires* that communities of interest are kept cohesive in districting, partially as a way of guaranteeing that minorities get a representative. Maybe the ad copy is meant to catch the eye of mustache-twirlers but on its face, it's talking about making it easier to comply with the law.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:37 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
White House Considers Capital Gains Tax Break That Would Benefit Wealthy
You missed the punchline. Trump wants to do it by executive order, simply ordering the IRS to calculate taxes in a way contrary to federal law passed by congress.
posted by JackFlash at 8:45 PM on June 27, 2019 [25 favorites]
You missed the punchline. Trump wants to do it by executive order, simply ordering the IRS to calculate taxes in a way contrary to federal law passed by congress.
posted by JackFlash at 8:45 PM on June 27, 2019 [25 favorites]
zachlipton Maybe watch the actual video itself instead of relying on people to summarize it, since it's only about a minute long?
Watched it. Zero questions about supporting other Dems and zero answers of refusal to support. So the controversy as brought here was an invention about a question that was never asked so could not be answered.
It isn't some great secret or controversy on which side Sanders will land if he isn't the nominee. He will side with the Democrats. This isn't a marginal or close call. It is blatantly obvious. Yet Chait's trolling take got traction. It was clearly farfetched and the difference between the transcript (or video if you prefer) and the characterization that lead to a proclamation that Sanders would not support the Dem nominee ... utter drivel.
Chrysostom It's not a horserace question. It's asking if Sanders will support the nominee if it's not him. Given how he prolonged 2016 past the point of possible victory, it's not a crazy question.
MSNBC: If it's clear you aren't going to be the nominee, will you concede before the convention?
The question makes no mention of support. And the idea Sanders wouldn't support the Dem nominee if not him has roughly 0% chance of occurring based on his history (sides with Dems and worked within their ranks (ie: sitting on and chairing committees) for decades, supported and campaigned for Clinton) and the reality of current choices (Trump) toward whom Bernie hasn't displayed any positivity.
So to get to Chaits's declarative take that Bernie won't support the Dem nominee based on what was really asked you need to discount reality. It is a dishonest fabrication.
posted by phoque at 9:54 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Watched it. Zero questions about supporting other Dems and zero answers of refusal to support. So the controversy as brought here was an invention about a question that was never asked so could not be answered.
It isn't some great secret or controversy on which side Sanders will land if he isn't the nominee. He will side with the Democrats. This isn't a marginal or close call. It is blatantly obvious. Yet Chait's trolling take got traction. It was clearly farfetched and the difference between the transcript (or video if you prefer) and the characterization that lead to a proclamation that Sanders would not support the Dem nominee ... utter drivel.
Chrysostom It's not a horserace question. It's asking if Sanders will support the nominee if it's not him. Given how he prolonged 2016 past the point of possible victory, it's not a crazy question.
MSNBC: If it's clear you aren't going to be the nominee, will you concede before the convention?
The question makes no mention of support. And the idea Sanders wouldn't support the Dem nominee if not him has roughly 0% chance of occurring based on his history (sides with Dems and worked within their ranks (ie: sitting on and chairing committees) for decades, supported and campaigned for Clinton) and the reality of current choices (Trump) toward whom Bernie hasn't displayed any positivity.
So to get to Chaits's declarative take that Bernie won't support the Dem nominee based on what was really asked you need to discount reality. It is a dishonest fabrication.
posted by phoque at 9:54 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
It was clearly farfetched ...
Not as farfetched as you think given his history. Sanders was pretty lukewarm in his support for Clinton, but worst of all, he, his campaign manager and his Bernie Bros actively pushed the resentful idea that Clinton stole the nomination from him. It wasn't just Trump that was pushing the "Crooked Hillary" narrative right up through election night. Sanders did nothing to quell that narrative.
posted by JackFlash at 10:03 PM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
Not as farfetched as you think given his history. Sanders was pretty lukewarm in his support for Clinton, but worst of all, he, his campaign manager and his Bernie Bros actively pushed the resentful idea that Clinton stole the nomination from him. It wasn't just Trump that was pushing the "Crooked Hillary" narrative right up through election night. Sanders did nothing to quell that narrative.
posted by JackFlash at 10:03 PM on June 27, 2019 [24 favorites]
@bpolitics [video, and that b is for Boomberg]: Prompted by a reporter's question, Trump tells Putin: "Don’t meddle in the election, please." Putin laughed after hearing the translation. And the U.S. president shook his head and smiled.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 PM on June 27, 2019 [16 favorites]
The question asked in the interview appears to be whether or not Sanders will concede before the convention, where the delegates nominate the Democratic presidential candidate, regardless of his chances. Bernie simply repeats that he will win and be the nominee.
I'm getting the strong feeling from this interview and tonight's debate that Bernie's implying that he's the only candidate that can bring about change. In other words, vote for me, or don't bother voting, because it won't matter.
What Bernie is selling is revolution, and that's not happening with an establishment candidate from either party. Implicit in his message is a rejection of government or policy or planning in lieu of a groundswell of people power that make climate change or healthcare happen in some non-specific way.
My problem with this vision is that if it doesn't look like the revolution is going to happen, voters that bought into it will naturally be disaffected from voting in general, because they're convinced change from within the system is not possible.
posted by xammerboy at 11:14 PM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
I'm getting the strong feeling from this interview and tonight's debate that Bernie's implying that he's the only candidate that can bring about change. In other words, vote for me, or don't bother voting, because it won't matter.
What Bernie is selling is revolution, and that's not happening with an establishment candidate from either party. Implicit in his message is a rejection of government or policy or planning in lieu of a groundswell of people power that make climate change or healthcare happen in some non-specific way.
My problem with this vision is that if it doesn't look like the revolution is going to happen, voters that bought into it will naturally be disaffected from voting in general, because they're convinced change from within the system is not possible.
posted by xammerboy at 11:14 PM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]
The question asked in the interview appears to be whether or not Sanders will concede before the convention, where the delegates nominate the Democratic presidential candidate, regardless of his chances. Bernie simply repeats that he will win and be the nominee.
That's the problem, he didn't answer the question. And considering who he is, and when he conceded last time, and how gracefully he did it, this is a question he should be answering with a massive amount of reassurance.
posted by mmoncur at 11:20 PM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
That's the problem, he didn't answer the question. And considering who he is, and when he conceded last time, and how gracefully he did it, this is a question he should be answering with a massive amount of reassurance.
posted by mmoncur at 11:20 PM on June 27, 2019 [13 favorites]
Perhaps this derail about will he or won't he has run its course?
posted by euphorb at 12:52 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by euphorb at 12:52 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
In contrast to donny yukking it up with Vlad:
'Despicable act': May berates Putin over Salisbury poisoning
" Putin gave an explosive interview to the Financial Times in which he attacked liberalism and made light of the poisoning of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury last year.
He said: “Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This [Skripal] spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopeks. Or even £5, for that matter.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Putin said “the so-called liberal idea” had “outlived its purpose”, and criticised open borders and multiculturalism.
He said Russia was taking action against unfettered migration, “whereas the liberal idea presupposes that nothing needs to be done. The migrants can kill, plunder and rape with impunity because their rights as migrants must be protected. What rights are these? Every crime must have its punishment.”'"
posted by lalochezia at 4:02 AM on June 28, 2019 [19 favorites]
'Despicable act': May berates Putin over Salisbury poisoning
" Putin gave an explosive interview to the Financial Times in which he attacked liberalism and made light of the poisoning of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury last year.
He said: “Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This [Skripal] spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopeks. Or even £5, for that matter.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Putin said “the so-called liberal idea” had “outlived its purpose”, and criticised open borders and multiculturalism.
He said Russia was taking action against unfettered migration, “whereas the liberal idea presupposes that nothing needs to be done. The migrants can kill, plunder and rape with impunity because their rights as migrants must be protected. What rights are these? Every crime must have its punishment.”'"
posted by lalochezia at 4:02 AM on June 28, 2019 [19 favorites]
Trump Tells Putin (With a Grin) Not to Meddle in Elections (NYT)
For more than two years, friends and foes alike have pushed President Trump to tell President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia not to interfere in American democracy. As the two leaders sat side by side on Friday for their first formal meeting in a year, Mr. Trump obliged — but in his own distinctive way.posted by Little Dawn at 5:03 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
The topic did not come up in either man’s opening remarks, which in Mr. Trump’s case were filled with flowery talk about their relationship. Only when a reporter shouted out a question, asking Mr. Trump if he would tell Russia not to meddle in American elections, did the president respond, and then by making light of the matter.
“Yes, of course I will,” Mr. Trump said.
Turning to Mr. Putin, he said, with a slight grin on his face and an almost joking tone in his voice, “Don’t meddle in the election, President.”
As Mr. Putin also smiled, Mr. Trump pointed at another Russian official in a playful way and repeated, “Don’t meddle in the election.”
Once again, Mr. Trump made clear that he did not take the issue as seriously as Democrats and many Republicans back home do. And once again, he refused to publicly cross Mr. Putin with so much as a word of disagreement, much less reproach. [...]
While Mr. Putin did not address the election issue with reporters on Friday, he scoffed at the idea of Russian involvement in an interview before flying to Osaka. He advanced the same line of argument that Mr. Trump does: that he won in 2016 because he was the candidate more in touch with Americans.
“Russia has been accused, and, strange as it may seem, it is still being accused, despite the Mueller report, of mythical interference in the U.S. election,” Mr. Putin told The Financial Times. “What happened in reality? Mr. Trump looked into his opponents’ attitude to him and saw changes in American society, and he took advantage of this.”
He complimented Mr. Trump’s political skill. “I do not accept many of his methods when it comes to addressing problems,” Mr. Putin said. “But do you know what I think? I think that he is a talented person. He knows very well what his voters expect from him.”
I will say this for Bernie: He is the only candidate openly stating the painfully obvious truth: We will only defeat the illiberal and anti-democratic forces arrayed against us if tens of millions of people stand up and demand changes. He's not just talking about voting, he's talking about persistent civil engagement.
Whatever his other strengths and flaws, he is right about this, and it is of paramount importance to be right about this. Power cedes nothing without a demand, and that demand has to have teeth.
posted by perspicio at 5:09 AM on June 28, 2019 [33 favorites]
Whatever his other strengths and flaws, he is right about this, and it is of paramount importance to be right about this. Power cedes nothing without a demand, and that demand has to have teeth.
posted by perspicio at 5:09 AM on June 28, 2019 [33 favorites]
If there's one country that needs unfettered migration, it's Russia. Their population growth was negative for most of 1990 - 2010 and is now barely scraping 0.1%.
posted by PenDevil at 5:10 AM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 5:10 AM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
A belief that voting changes nothing very much depresses turnout, change is a powerful narrative cause dear god, something has got to change, fast.
posted by The Whelk at 6:13 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 6:13 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
From the NYT, quoted by little dawn: “Russia has been accused, and, strange as it may seem, it is still being accused, despite the Mueller report, of mythical interference in the U.S. election,” Mr. Putin told The Financial Times.
He's picked up on the American right's mental leaps from "Mueller cleared Trump of conspiracy/collusion (and also 'cleared' him of obstruction)" to "No interference happened at all", when of course the interference is strongly detailed in the entire first half of the report. It's like, I dunno, someone in 1965 declaring that the Warren Report renders "all that JFK stuff" moot, and thus, JFK was never assassinated at all, and is alive and well today.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:19 AM on June 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
He's picked up on the American right's mental leaps from "Mueller cleared Trump of conspiracy/collusion (and also 'cleared' him of obstruction)" to "No interference happened at all", when of course the interference is strongly detailed in the entire first half of the report. It's like, I dunno, someone in 1965 declaring that the Warren Report renders "all that JFK stuff" moot, and thus, JFK was never assassinated at all, and is alive and well today.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:19 AM on June 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
Smirking with Putin, pushing the Census people to just defy the supreme court decision, telling all of his admin officials to defy congressional subpoenas -- these are the things that his followers love him for, because he is The Guy Who Always Gets Away With It. No matter what he says or does. Being the guy who always gets away with it is very close to the heart of his appeal to a lot of his supporters.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
I think we need to acknowledge what a great day Tulsi Gabbard had yesterday. She received endorsements from Infowars, Pizzagaters, 4chan, and the Republican Freedom Caucus. That's a real who's who of the worst elements of American society.
posted by diogenes at 6:36 AM on June 28, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 6:36 AM on June 28, 2019 [31 favorites]
these are the things that his followers love him for, because he is The Guy Who Always Gets Away With It
This very much aligns with people who will never benefit from, say, repealing the Estate Tax, supporting doing so because they believe they will so be The Guy Who Has So Much Money someday.
They want to believe in the Guy Who Always Gets Away With It, because they believe then they will also become one who Gets Away With It, whether "It" is sexually harassing people at work, using racial slurs freely without repercussion, discriminating against someone at their business or whatever it is they resent not being able to do.
posted by mikepop at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2019 [29 favorites]
This very much aligns with people who will never benefit from, say, repealing the Estate Tax, supporting doing so because they believe they will so be The Guy Who Has So Much Money someday.
They want to believe in the Guy Who Always Gets Away With It, because they believe then they will also become one who Gets Away With It, whether "It" is sexually harassing people at work, using racial slurs freely without repercussion, discriminating against someone at their business or whatever it is they resent not being able to do.
posted by mikepop at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2019 [29 favorites]
When the Guy Who Always Gets Away With It … doesn't get away with it.
John Roberts is trying to wreck democracy — but Trump's incompetence keeps getting in the way (Sophia Tesfaye, Salon)
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:14 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
John Roberts is trying to wreck democracy — but Trump's incompetence keeps getting in the way (Sophia Tesfaye, Salon)
Chief Justice Roberts wrote both of Thursday's opinions, which suggest the depth of his assault on democracyThe Trump Administration's goof-ups are breathtakingly dumb.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:14 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
From the above Salon article:
Nse Ufot, the executive director of New Georgia Project, the nonprofit voter engagement group founded by Stacey Abrams, notes: “Justice Roberts is hiding behind the concept of federalism. They’re using the separation of powers and branches of government as a pretext for attacking civil rights. They have a sacred duty to uphold the Constitution. [The 2013 decision to overturn parts of the Voting Rights Act] told us everything we needed to know about the Roberts Court and their hostility toward civil rights and voting rights.”posted by ZeusHumms at 7:15 AM on June 28, 2019 [14 favorites]
Roberts wrote both of Thursday’s majority opinions. This is his project, and it's not over.
diogenes: I think we need to acknowledge what a great day Tulsi Gabbard had yesterday. She received endorsements from Infowars, Pizzagaters, 4chan, and the Republican Freedom Caucus. That's a real who's who of the worst elements of American society.
Gabbard occupies this weird position among segments of the left. Too many people have this impression that she's the Ultimate Anti-War Candidate, even though her actual record and positions only jibe with this insofar as she has expressed opposition to interventionism (especially against Assad) and a war with Iran (which, obviously, would be a horrendous thing). It's pretty much the Donald the Dove argument all over again: US military adventures are typically sold to the public as humanitarian intervention, ergo, an avaowed non-interventionist who doesn't want American troops to suffer pointlessly is the same thing as a pacifist. Yet she has supported torture, called on Obama to say the magic words "radical Islam", and pushed for attacks on Al-Queda and/or ISIL in Syria, particularly admiring Russia's bombings there which were, of course, more focused on enemies of the Assad regime than on ISIL.
When it comes to Sanders, his acolytes tend to see everyone aside from him (or, in many cases, aisde from him and Gabbard) as the dreaded establishment to his radicalism. I think it's silly to see a major gulf from Warren -- if anything, she's often to his left, but the substancial differences are in degree of policy detail vs personality and self-labeling as socialist. But at least he does have genuine anti-capitalist chops. Gabbard, by contrast, is a much stranger choice of condensation nucleuous to build a lefty cult around.
Elevating someone in one's mind as the One True Candidate can, of course, happen to anyone. We see it with Biden -- he's the Only Person Who Can Beat Trump and therefore it's your job to hold your tongue about any of his flaws including vulnerabilities to Trump. Gabbard is The Only Anti-War Candidate, so you're a DNC shill if you bring up the umpteen hawkish things about her. There's a nontrivial concern out there that manufactured bitterness is going to emerge after Gabbard inevitably fails to win a single primary contest.
By any candidate I mean any -- my own favorite remains Warren but I hope to not dismiss criticism, e.g the problems of her past proclaimed hertiage, as solely ratfuckery to disable the One True Savior (though ratfuckery is also afoot, of course). There is no savior! There is just us.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:33 AM on June 28, 2019 [15 favorites]
Gabbard occupies this weird position among segments of the left. Too many people have this impression that she's the Ultimate Anti-War Candidate, even though her actual record and positions only jibe with this insofar as she has expressed opposition to interventionism (especially against Assad) and a war with Iran (which, obviously, would be a horrendous thing). It's pretty much the Donald the Dove argument all over again: US military adventures are typically sold to the public as humanitarian intervention, ergo, an avaowed non-interventionist who doesn't want American troops to suffer pointlessly is the same thing as a pacifist. Yet she has supported torture, called on Obama to say the magic words "radical Islam", and pushed for attacks on Al-Queda and/or ISIL in Syria, particularly admiring Russia's bombings there which were, of course, more focused on enemies of the Assad regime than on ISIL.
When it comes to Sanders, his acolytes tend to see everyone aside from him (or, in many cases, aisde from him and Gabbard) as the dreaded establishment to his radicalism. I think it's silly to see a major gulf from Warren -- if anything, she's often to his left, but the substancial differences are in degree of policy detail vs personality and self-labeling as socialist. But at least he does have genuine anti-capitalist chops. Gabbard, by contrast, is a much stranger choice of condensation nucleuous to build a lefty cult around.
Elevating someone in one's mind as the One True Candidate can, of course, happen to anyone. We see it with Biden -- he's the Only Person Who Can Beat Trump and therefore it's your job to hold your tongue about any of his flaws including vulnerabilities to Trump. Gabbard is The Only Anti-War Candidate, so you're a DNC shill if you bring up the umpteen hawkish things about her. There's a nontrivial concern out there that manufactured bitterness is going to emerge after Gabbard inevitably fails to win a single primary contest.
By any candidate I mean any -- my own favorite remains Warren but I hope to not dismiss criticism, e.g the problems of her past proclaimed hertiage, as solely ratfuckery to disable the One True Savior (though ratfuckery is also afoot, of course). There is no savior! There is just us.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:33 AM on June 28, 2019 [15 favorites]
How to make the debates more hard hitting and interesting
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 AM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 AM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
from The Whelk's link:
A debate hosted by famous people from various disciplines: Have a debate co-hosted by Gloria Steinem, LeBron James, science fiction author NK Jemisin, and Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness. Or have a debate hosted by, say, sports journalist Bill Simmons, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Ralph Nader, and The Toast co-founder Nicole Cliffe.
Oh fuck yes [emphasis mine].
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:05 AM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
A debate hosted by famous people from various disciplines: Have a debate co-hosted by Gloria Steinem, LeBron James, science fiction author NK Jemisin, and Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness. Or have a debate hosted by, say, sports journalist Bill Simmons, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Ralph Nader, and The Toast co-founder Nicole Cliffe.
Oh fuck yes [emphasis mine].
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:05 AM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Or, you know, go back to having the League of Women Voters moderate the debates like happened until 1984.
posted by absalom at 8:13 AM on June 28, 2019 [52 favorites]
posted by absalom at 8:13 AM on June 28, 2019 [52 favorites]
Smirking with Putin
The Guardian has video: Smirking Trump jokes to Putin: don't meddle in US election
The Guardian has video: Smirking Trump jokes to Putin: don't meddle in US election
Donald Trump has sardonically asked Vladimir Putin not to meddle in the 2020 US election, smirking and pointing his finger as he did so and appearing to make light of a scandal that led to an investigation of his campaign’s contact with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.posted by Little Dawn at 8:41 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I've never seen the need for debates. They can help a certain kind of stunt-friendly candidate (starting with Lincoln, who followed his opponent around, heckling him from the crowds until Douglas agreed to the unprecedented debate stage.) But otherwise my impression is that they simply encourage an illiterate attitude toward candidates. Part of the deliberate dumbing down of the populace by corporations (the owners of the media). And that dumbing down only ever favors populists and dictators.
posted by Harry Caul at 8:46 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 8:46 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
The nationwide battle over gerrymandering is far from over (Politico)
While the justices closed off filing legal challenges to [partisan] gerrymandering in federal courts, they explicitly said those lawsuits are still fair game in state courts. It was there that Democratic-aligned plaintiffs successfully demolished Pennsylvania’s GOP-drawn congressional map before the 2018 elections. [...] Because the U.S. Supreme Court has a limited role in overseeing how state supreme courts interpret state laws, those state judges could become the final authority determining which maps stand or fall after the next round of nationwide redistricting. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 8:55 AM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
The new importance of state courts will be on full display next month in North Carolina, where Democratic-linked plaintiffs allege GOP state legislators violated state law in drawing the congressional map. While the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday preserved North Carolina's GOP-drawn congressional map, Democrats can now take a similar case to the state Supreme Court. Six of the seven justices on that court ran as Democrats.
“We believe that this is a fruitful avenue,” said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director at Common Cause, the good-government group that brought the North Carolina litigation to overturn the map. [...]
While the Supreme Court says federal judges can’t police partisan gerrymandering, it doesn’t mean that all gerrymandering is constitutional. Roberts stressed that Thursday’s ruling does not make racial gerrymandering — using race or ethnicity to pack voters into districts — permissible, and federal courts will still police that issue.
"I would say yes."
Jimmy Carter came right out and agreed that Trump is an illegitimate president. Pretty remarkable I think.
posted by 6thsense at 9:39 AM on June 28, 2019 [68 favorites]
Jimmy Carter came right out and agreed that Trump is an illegitimate president. Pretty remarkable I think.
posted by 6thsense at 9:39 AM on June 28, 2019 [68 favorites]
I've never seen the need for debates.
They don't make much sense from a "What are your preferred policies?" point of view. They could almost make sense from a "Do I trust you to make decisions on my behalf? Are you my kind of person?" point of view if everything hadn't been gamed and planned and tested out nine ways from Sunday such that almost all of it looks like stilted amateur actors reading Lucas dialogue.
posted by Harry Caul
Not all of us have access to the information you do.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
They don't make much sense from a "What are your preferred policies?" point of view. They could almost make sense from a "Do I trust you to make decisions on my behalf? Are you my kind of person?" point of view if everything hadn't been gamed and planned and tested out nine ways from Sunday such that almost all of it looks like stilted amateur actors reading Lucas dialogue.
posted by Harry Caul
Not all of us have access to the information you do.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
they're an evil terrorist empire that must be destroyed instead of worked with. "We will immediately and intentionally torture to death thousands of children if you don't do what we say" pretty much
posted by theora55 at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
A debate hosted by famous people from various disciplines: Have a debate co-hosted by Gloria Steinem, LeBron James, science fiction author NK Jemisin, and Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness.
Surely turning our elections into more of a celebrity madhouse is what's needed to restore sanity and dignity to the election process.
posted by Candleman at 10:16 AM on June 28, 2019 [21 favorites]
Surely turning our elections into more of a celebrity madhouse is what's needed to restore sanity and dignity to the election process.
posted by Candleman at 10:16 AM on June 28, 2019 [21 favorites]
Jimmy Carter came right out and agreed that Trump is an illegitimate president. Pretty remarkable I think.
This is what everyone is continuing to dance around. Trump *did* win the election illegitimately. We have not had a legitimate Executive for years, and people seriously just cannot cope with that at all.
Exactly. And if you look at Trump's conduct from his ridiculous lies about the size of his inaugural crowd onward, it seems obvious that the fear of being exposed as an illegitimate president haunts him.
Of course Trump is not legitimate. And the Overton window seems to be moving from it being a verboten subject to a legitimate topic. One hopes that when Mueller testifies, and details the Russians' efforts to hack the 2016 election, the perception that Trump is not legitimate will further take root.
Trump's illegitimacy also raises a host of interesting questions about which the Constitution is silent -- for just one example, the presence on SCOTUS of two justices appointed by an illegitimate president.
posted by Gelatin at 10:18 AM on June 28, 2019 [39 favorites]
This is what everyone is continuing to dance around. Trump *did* win the election illegitimately. We have not had a legitimate Executive for years, and people seriously just cannot cope with that at all.
Exactly. And if you look at Trump's conduct from his ridiculous lies about the size of his inaugural crowd onward, it seems obvious that the fear of being exposed as an illegitimate president haunts him.
Of course Trump is not legitimate. And the Overton window seems to be moving from it being a verboten subject to a legitimate topic. One hopes that when Mueller testifies, and details the Russians' efforts to hack the 2016 election, the perception that Trump is not legitimate will further take root.
Trump's illegitimacy also raises a host of interesting questions about which the Constitution is silent -- for just one example, the presence on SCOTUS of two justices appointed by an illegitimate president.
posted by Gelatin at 10:18 AM on June 28, 2019 [39 favorites]
Jimmy Carter came right out and agreed that Trump is an illegitimate president. Pretty remarkable I think.
Also a stern rebuke to Trump's recent claim that Carter "oftentimes come to [Trump's] defense".
posted by jedicus at 10:26 AM on June 28, 2019 [30 favorites]
Also a stern rebuke to Trump's recent claim that Carter "oftentimes come to [Trump's] defense".
posted by jedicus at 10:26 AM on June 28, 2019 [30 favorites]
Chuck Todd kept asking Shoot Yourself in the Foot questions. He's kind of a dick, and by kind of I mean completely and utterly. I would have cheered if a candidate said I recognize that being President requires a lot more than hot takes and tweets, unlike the current occupant of the White House.
posted by theora55 at 10:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 10:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists (Guardian)
posted by Little Dawn at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2019 [37 favorites]
As they sat for photographs at the start of their first formal meeting in nearly a year, the US president lightheartedly sought common ground with Putin at the expense of the journalists around them in Osaka..
“Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia but we do,” Trump said.
To which Putin responded, in English: “We also have. It’s the same.”
Twenty-six journalists have been murdered in Russia since Putin first became president, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), many of them investigative reporters scrutinising governmental abuses.
Trump has frequently referred to the press as the “enemy of the people” and in February the CPJ expressed concern about the safety of journalists covering Trump rallies, where they have been the target of derision and abuse from the president and his supporters. It is a year to the day since five Capital Gazette employees were killed in their newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. The shooting led to the organisation Reporters Without Borders adding the US to its list of the five deadliest countries for journalism.
posted by Little Dawn at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2019 [37 favorites]
WaPo, Ken Cuccinelli, head of citizenship service, blames migrant father for drowning deaths captured in photo
Counterpoint: Trump’s latest migrant horrors demand a real Democratic response. Here’s one., in which Democrats have a bill that would, among other things, provide new ways to apply from refugee status, sets humanitarian standards by law, and funds programs that aim to address the root causes of migration from Central America.
posted by zachlipton at 11:07 AM on June 28, 2019 [14 favorites]
Counterpoint: Trump’s latest migrant horrors demand a real Democratic response. Here’s one., in which Democrats have a bill that would, among other things, provide new ways to apply from refugee status, sets humanitarian standards by law, and funds programs that aim to address the root causes of migration from Central America.
posted by zachlipton at 11:07 AM on June 28, 2019 [14 favorites]
Trump *did* win the election illegitimately.
Must we do this dance again? There is nothing in the constitution that makes people voting for someone because of foreign propaganda illegitimate. There has been no evidence shown of successful interference and Jimmy Carter has no special knowledge on the matter. Trump should be impeached for his activities related to Russia but that doesn't negate the will of the people and make it an illegitimate election and thinking that anything the administration has done can be unwound using that as a reason is wishful thinking.
posted by Candleman at 11:11 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
Must we do this dance again? There is nothing in the constitution that makes people voting for someone because of foreign propaganda illegitimate. There has been no evidence shown of successful interference and Jimmy Carter has no special knowledge on the matter. Trump should be impeached for his activities related to Russia but that doesn't negate the will of the people and make it an illegitimate election and thinking that anything the administration has done can be unwound using that as a reason is wishful thinking.
posted by Candleman at 11:11 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
Megan Rapinoe Is On to Him, and Trump Can’t Stand It (Jemele Hill, The Atlantic)
President Donald Trump doesn’t understand a basic principle that I learned from my mother in elementary school: If you treat people with respect, they’ll likely respect you in return. […]posted by ZeusHumms at 11:16 AM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Nobody wants to be around a president who thinks not everyone is deserving of basic humanity. Trump’s calling Rapinoe unpatriotic shows he doesn’t understand what patriotism really is. True patriots love a country even when that country doesn’t always love them back.
There is nothing in the constitution that makes people voting for someone because of foreign propaganda illegitimate.
Or voter suppression. Or violations of campaign finance law. Or violations of other federal laws that specifically apply to campaigns and elections. I mean, there's legitimate and there's legitimate.
posted by Etrigan at 11:19 AM on June 28, 2019 [47 favorites]
Or voter suppression. Or violations of campaign finance law. Or violations of other federal laws that specifically apply to campaigns and elections. I mean, there's legitimate and there's legitimate.
posted by Etrigan at 11:19 AM on June 28, 2019 [47 favorites]
There has been no evidence shown of successful interference
Maybe not direct evidence, but Paul Manafort sharing campaign data with the Russians is damning circumstantial evidence at the very least.
And we have campaign laws against accepting foreign contributions of any kind, including "dirt" on one's opponent, for a reason. Foreign interference in an election deligitimizes the result, as we well know, the US having done it to other countries in the past.
posted by Gelatin at 11:44 AM on June 28, 2019 [21 favorites]
Maybe not direct evidence, but Paul Manafort sharing campaign data with the Russians is damning circumstantial evidence at the very least.
And we have campaign laws against accepting foreign contributions of any kind, including "dirt" on one's opponent, for a reason. Foreign interference in an election deligitimizes the result, as we well know, the US having done it to other countries in the past.
posted by Gelatin at 11:44 AM on June 28, 2019 [21 favorites]
Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists (Guardian)
Trump and Kushner have likely already OKed the murder of an American journalist - WaPo's Khashoggi. Their lack of concern about Khashoggi's murder by Saudi agents implies much. I would not be surprised in ten years that Khashoggi was some sort of a fucked up quid for a hotel loan.
posted by benzenedream at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
Trump and Kushner have likely already OKed the murder of an American journalist - WaPo's Khashoggi. Their lack of concern about Khashoggi's murder by Saudi agents implies much. I would not be surprised in ten years that Khashoggi was some sort of a fucked up quid for a hotel loan.
posted by benzenedream at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
Or voter suppression. Or violations of campaign finance law. Or violations of other federal laws that specifically apply to campaigns and elections.
Again, the constitutionally defined way of dealing with that is impeachment. There is no provision for an undo function, no matter how nice it would be. And going on about illegitimacy is going to turn off low information voters, at least some of whom will be needed to get Trump out. Per a different thread, Metafilter is a left wing echo chamber and what's said here doesn't always play so well with the general public.
posted by Candleman at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
Again, the constitutionally defined way of dealing with that is impeachment. There is no provision for an undo function, no matter how nice it would be. And going on about illegitimacy is going to turn off low information voters, at least some of whom will be needed to get Trump out. Per a different thread, Metafilter is a left wing echo chamber and what's said here doesn't always play so well with the general public.
posted by Candleman at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
@JoshNBCNews: Trump walked in to family photo at G20 chatting with Putin, patted him on the back as leaders found their assigned places
Prompted by a reporter's question, Trump tells Putin: "Don’t meddle in the election, please." Putin laughed after hearing the translation. And the U.S. president shook his head and smiled.
Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists
Contrast this with how irate and anxious Trump was when he was asked by reporters on his way to the G20 about what he'd discuss with Putin (w/video via Aaron Rupar): "I'll have a very good conversation with him. What I say to him his none of your business!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
Prompted by a reporter's question, Trump tells Putin: "Don’t meddle in the election, please." Putin laughed after hearing the translation. And the U.S. president shook his head and smiled.
Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists
Contrast this with how irate and anxious Trump was when he was asked by reporters on his way to the G20 about what he'd discuss with Putin (w/video via Aaron Rupar): "I'll have a very good conversation with him. What I say to him his none of your business!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:59 AM on June 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
AP has an update on the "Unite the Right" killer: Avowed White Supremacist Gets Life Sentence In Car Attack
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2019 [30 favorites]
An avowed white supremacist who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white nationalist rally in Virginia was sentenced to life in prison Friday on hate crime charges.We'll see if Trump expresses any kind of sympathy toward Fields or even dares mention Heather Heyer's name.
James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in March to the 2017 attack that killed one person and injured more than two dozen others. In exchange, prosecutors dropped their request for the death penalty. His attorneys asked for a sentence less than life. He will be sentenced next month on separate state charges.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2019 [30 favorites]
From a political-science standpoint Trump is hella illegitimate, but that doesn't translate to "everything he did is going to evaporate on its own."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:08 PM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:08 PM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Military Times, New Trump policies could end in deportations for some active duty troops
Defense One, Top Diplomat Slams ‘Endless War’ Cries of Campaign Trail as ‘the Echo of the 1930s’
posted by zachlipton at 12:13 PM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
The federal government is rolling back protections that have held off deportations for non-citizen service members, their families and veterans, according to a top immigration lawyer.sUpPoRt tHe tRoOpS!
Memos are circulating among Homeland Security and Defense Department personnel, as well as lawyers who handle service member immigration issues, announcing the end of a handful of policies that have allowed thousands of people to stay in the U.S. while they sort out their resident status.
...
DoD has also since stopped expedited citizenship approvals for service members, she added, because “the solution was we used to have was to just naturalize the troops and we wouldn’t have to worry about them getting deported.”
..
If the policy changes result in deportations, it will likely be years before their are carried out, Stock said. “Deportations don’t happen immediately in America. They’re a lengthy process,” she said, involving multiple hearings in backlogged courts. “I don’t expect there will be very many instantaneous removals.”
Defense One, Top Diplomat Slams ‘Endless War’ Cries of Campaign Trail as ‘the Echo of the 1930s’
Pounding the table quite literally, the United States’ top envoy to the Middle East rejected Democratic candidates’ calls to withdraw from “endless wars.”I, uh, actually am concerned that threatening to fire missiles at other countries will lead to a worse version of Iraq, yes, and pounding your fist isn't really reassuring me at all.
“I get terribly worried. Because this shows total ignorance of what’s going on in the world today,” said Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, in an exclusive interview with Defense One.
...
“I could go on literally for 20 minutes with literally scores and scores of American military operations that have undergird this global security regime and thus undergird the American and Western and UN values system. You start pulling the threads on that by claiming that every single time we threaten to fire a Tomahawk missile we are getting another Vietnam or another Iraq — please indicate that I’m stamping my fist on the table as I’m doing this — we are asking to go back to the 1930s. That’s the echo of what I hear in these comments, the 1930s.”
posted by zachlipton at 12:13 PM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
Rep. Joe Kennedy III: "I believe it is time for the House to begin impeachment proceedings against the President."
I think this is a big deal. I don't think he says this without the blessing of leadership. This is the guy the Democrats chose to give the response to the State of the Union in 2018.
He's also my rep, so it was nice calling to thank him instead of pleading with him to do it.
posted by diogenes at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2019 [31 favorites]
I think this is a big deal. I don't think he says this without the blessing of leadership. This is the guy the Democrats chose to give the response to the State of the Union in 2018.
He's also my rep, so it was nice calling to thank him instead of pleading with him to do it.
posted by diogenes at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2019 [31 favorites]
There is nothing in the constitution that makes people voting for someone because of foreign propaganda illegitimate.
Even in-kind campaign contributions (foreign propaganda) from a foreign national (not just a foreign government) are illegal.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:42 PM on June 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
Even in-kind campaign contributions (foreign propaganda) from a foreign national (not just a foreign government) are illegal.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:42 PM on June 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
Jimmy Carter may have received intelligence briefings and know more about Russian interference than we do. Just a thought.
posted by 6thsense at 1:50 PM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by 6thsense at 1:50 PM on June 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
I just finished Elena Kagan's dissent on the gerrymandering decision (agreed to by the other three in the minority). It's the second half of this PDF I linked earler. It is very readable and very worth the read, shredding every single stupid point from the Roberts opinion. I'm not even sure quoting any one part would do justice to the thorough 33 pages, though I'll start with its opening: For the first time ever, this Court refuses to remedy a constitutional violation because it thinks the task beyond judicial capabilities.
A key point is that, for purposes of the Supreme Court's deliberation, there is no need to identify a particular standard of ideal representation and then determine a given map's constitutionality by comparison to that ideal; instead, a state's own criteria prior to the new map can be used. If the state liked to make competitive districts, look to whether the new map is now markedly less competitive, and so forth. Partisan gerrymandering will probably announce itself in the departure from anything that could be called "fair".
I actually somewhat disagree with that level of trust, in that a state could just establish an official criterion that rural voters should be disproportionately represented "on principle" or whatever. But at least it does resolve the inane (and of course insincere) Roberts notion that you can't neutrally reject a map if there are five good dreasons to reject it rather than just one.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:54 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
A key point is that, for purposes of the Supreme Court's deliberation, there is no need to identify a particular standard of ideal representation and then determine a given map's constitutionality by comparison to that ideal; instead, a state's own criteria prior to the new map can be used. If the state liked to make competitive districts, look to whether the new map is now markedly less competitive, and so forth. Partisan gerrymandering will probably announce itself in the departure from anything that could be called "fair".
I actually somewhat disagree with that level of trust, in that a state could just establish an official criterion that rural voters should be disproportionately represented "on principle" or whatever. But at least it does resolve the inane (and of course insincere) Roberts notion that you can't neutrally reject a map if there are five good dreasons to reject it rather than just one.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:54 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
The latest Trump poll is... really something.
Who would you rather see fix our Nation’s shattered immigration policies?
-President Trump
-A MS-13 Loving Democrat
Not a gag. This is a real survey from the Trump team.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:55 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Who would you rather see fix our Nation’s shattered immigration policies?
-President Trump
-A MS-13 Loving Democrat
Not a gag. This is a real survey from the Trump team.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:55 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Y'all that's fucking terrifying.
No, it's fucking pitiful. It shows how hard they're having to push in their internal polling to get numbers that don't send Dear Leader into a rage.
posted by The Tensor at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
No, it's fucking pitiful. It shows how hard they're having to push in their internal polling to get numbers that don't send Dear Leader into a rage.
posted by The Tensor at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
Pitiful and terrifying...at least if you live in the South in one of the states full of would-be attackers.
posted by HyperBlue at 2:25 PM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by HyperBlue at 2:25 PM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
>> Y'all that's fucking terrifying.
> No, it's fucking pitiful. It shows how hard they're having to push in their internal polling to get numbers that don't send Dear Leader into a rage.
Yeah, who the hell has been in charge of "our Nation’s shattered immigration policies"? Why hasn't it been fixed yet?
Oh, is it because you're incapable of dealing with those mean, obstructionist Democrats who just got control of the House this January? That's not Art of the Deal, that's just weak.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2019 [8 favorites]
> No, it's fucking pitiful. It shows how hard they're having to push in their internal polling to get numbers that don't send Dear Leader into a rage.
Yeah, who the hell has been in charge of "our Nation’s shattered immigration policies"? Why hasn't it been fixed yet?
Oh, is it because you're incapable of dealing with those mean, obstructionist Democrats who just got control of the House this January? That's not Art of the Deal, that's just weak.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2019 [8 favorites]
even presented with that choice, i'd opt for the one that isn't trump.
posted by 20 year lurk at 2:29 PM on June 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 2:29 PM on June 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
It could serve as part of a larger, orchestrated plan, for sure. I'm inclined to believe it's set up by his staff as ego-stroking for the First Imbecile.
Though admittedly, the thought of clumsily constructed echo chambers meant to placate a moron and keep him on a prescribed course is no less terrifying.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:37 PM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Though admittedly, the thought of clumsily constructed echo chambers meant to placate a moron and keep him on a prescribed course is no less terrifying.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:37 PM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
BuzzFeed, Aleaziz, The Trump Administration Is Readying Plans To Deny Asylum To Central Americans And Speed Up Deportations
posted by zachlipton at 3:17 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Specifically, administration officials have been working on a plan that would make anyone who transited through a third-country by land to the southern border ineligible for asylum if they did not first seek protection in the country they traveled through. Instead, immigrants could be placed into a process that would be more difficult for them to gain protection after claiming persecution.The implications of this are terrifying, because it basically leaves it up to ICE, based on who knows what criteria, to decide whether someone meets the criteria for expedited removal, rather than allowing them to appear before an immigration judge later.
“It would end asylum for Central Americans,” Jaddou said.
At the same time, Department of Homeland Security officials have been actively pushing a regulatory notice that would expand “expedited removal” orders — a process that allows immigration officers to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants without a hearing in front of an immigration judge. The current policy allows for officials to use expedited removal within 100 miles of the border and toward individuals who have been in the country up to two weeks.
Under a proposed policy, which has been circulated within the administration, any immigrant who crossed the border without authorization and has been in the country less than two years could be subject to expedited removal orders. Administration officials believe it will allow them to more quickly remove people from within the country.
posted by zachlipton at 3:17 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
Boy, I sure am glad the “centrist” democrats made sure we funded this nonsense. And by glad, I mean furious, and by centrists, I mean complicit dinos.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:27 PM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:27 PM on June 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
This is...weird. Even for Trump, it's odd. And by odd I mean deeply disturbing.
@realDonaldTrump
@realDonaldTrump
After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!posted by scalefree at 4:39 PM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
@DavidNakamura: Trump is meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman here at G-20 and called him "a friend of mine." Asked by reporters if he'll meet Kim Jong Un, Trump waxes on about his good relationship for three minutes. Then asked if he'll raise death of Jamal Kashoggi with MbS, Trump abruptly tries to end photo-op. "Thank you, everybody."
He tells us exactly who he is.
posted by zachlipton at 4:52 PM on June 28, 2019 [36 favorites]
He tells us exactly who he is.
posted by zachlipton at 4:52 PM on June 28, 2019 [36 favorites]
There has been no evidence shown of successful interference
The fascinating part of all this is that facebook, twitter and other online advertisers simultaneously claim their advertising model not only works but is the very best way to spend a marketing budget but in a weird twist in the very specific case of election interference it suddenly did not work. It's a miracle of exoneration!
posted by srboisvert at 5:14 PM on June 28, 2019 [48 favorites]
The fascinating part of all this is that facebook, twitter and other online advertisers simultaneously claim their advertising model not only works but is the very best way to spend a marketing budget but in a weird twist in the very specific case of election interference it suddenly did not work. It's a miracle of exoneration!
posted by srboisvert at 5:14 PM on June 28, 2019 [48 favorites]
It shows how hard they're having to push in their internal polling to get numbers that don't send Dear Leader into a rage.
It’s not a poll. No one will ever compile the numbers, much less look at them. It’s just the an email / phone number collector and the entry to a fundraising page.
posted by Etrigan at 5:15 PM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
It’s not a poll. No one will ever compile the numbers, much less look at them. It’s just the an email / phone number collector and the entry to a fundraising page.
posted by Etrigan at 5:15 PM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
NYT’s Maggie Haberman: Donald Trump Jr. Shares, Then Deletes, a Tweet Questioning Kamala Harris’s Race (Screenshot)
Newsweek has more on the source of the disinfo: Bots Suspected of Spreading Tweet Claiming Kamala Harris Isn't Black Enough
CNN’s Daniel Dale also has some debunking of disinfo about Harris being spread by Gateway Pundit: Fact check: School district confirms Kamala Harris was correct on integration in Berkeley
This is only a foretaste of 2020.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:46 PM on June 28, 2019 [34 favorites]
Newsweek has more on the source of the disinfo: Bots Suspected of Spreading Tweet Claiming Kamala Harris Isn't Black Enough
CNN’s Daniel Dale also has some debunking of disinfo about Harris being spread by Gateway Pundit: Fact check: School district confirms Kamala Harris was correct on integration in Berkeley
This is only a foretaste of 2020.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:46 PM on June 28, 2019 [34 favorites]
Huh. So Russia seems to be afraid of Harris. That might explain the escalation of attacks on her from all sides.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:52 PM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:52 PM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
The question of the Kremlin's involvement in these smears against Harris is a tricky one. Psych warfare researcher/online disinfo specialist Caroline Orr has posted a thread about this:
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:10 PM on June 28, 2019 [24 favorites]
This is an important reminder that disinformation and online manipulation come in a lot of forms and from a lot of different sources.By the way, Orr is an essential person to follow in this election cycle on the subject of online disinformation (especially since Hamilton 68's revamped Russian bot tracker still isn't online).
Attributing everything to “Russian bots” oversimplifies a complex problem and overlooks the very important human dynamics at work here. 1/
What a weird coincidence that a group of accounts, starting with Ali, decided to tweet the exact same thing (verbatim) about Kamala Harris within minutes of each other tonight. #DemDebate2
Twitter bots are simply accounts that are automated to perform certain functions on Twitter. They’re programmed by humans, often to amplify a narrative that was crafted by humans, in an effort to manipulate humans by skewing perceptions of public opinion/support/opposition. 2/
Bots didn’t create the narrative about the Kamala Harris — humans did. You can literally watch it taking shape over a span of many months.
Have bots amplified the narrative? Statistically speaking, it’s highly likely. But don’t let bots distract you from the human elements. 3/
I think it’s helpful to conceptualize these operations as part of a spectrum of inauthentic activity. The most effective disinformation campaigns involve a blend of automation and human users, and often other inauthentic activity coordinated in DM rooms, forums, etc. 4/
In terms of Russian involvement: If Russia sees an opportunity to jump on a divisive/inflammatory narrative, they usually will. Race is among the key issues Russia has seized on repeatedly. I would not surprised to see the Kamala Harris narrative popping up in RT/Sputnik soon. 5/
The manufactured narrative targeting Kamala Harris reminds me of the astroturfed #WalkAway movement, which I wrote about a year ago. This movement has sort of merged with the astroturfed #BLEXIT movement. The Kamala/race narrative aligns with both. 6/
Illustrating that point: The hashtag cloud associated with tweets using the keyword "Kamala Harris" includes (#)BLEXIT and (#)BlackHillary, which are pretty much perfectly aligned with the key talking points I identified when analyzing the (#)WalkAway campaign. 7/
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:10 PM on June 28, 2019 [24 favorites]
WaPo, ‘A betrayal’: Inside the bitter rift between Pelosi and Schumer over border bill
I also feel like Democratic leadership are the only people left in the country who actually care about such nuance as "we look dumb if the Democratic House doesn't vote for stuff Democrats in the Senate voted for." Donald Trump goes around claiming windmills cause cancer and nobody seems to care, but we'll look stupid if the Senate doesn't properly back up the House?
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on June 28, 2019 [26 favorites]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought she had a deal this week with her longtime ally, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer: She would ensure passage of a more liberal border funding bill in the House, and he would back her up by persuading Democratic senators to fight for it.While Schumer's side would like to point out the wins they negotiated into the bill in the first place, it's now sadly time to once again reset the "it has been 0 days since a Democrats in Disarray story" sign.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her colleagues in a private meeting Thursday, she was blindsided. Nearly all Senate Democrats voted for a Republican-backed bill that kneecapped the House and marked the most embarrassing defeat for Pelosi in the six months since Democrats took over the chamber.
“Schumer destroyed all our leverage on Wednesday by not being able to hold his people,” said a senior House Democratic aide.
Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, believed Pelosi failed to deliver on a deal of her own. After House moderates revolted Thursday, Democrats had to discard a plan to send the bill back to the Senate before an end-of-month deadline.
“They’re blaming everyone but themselves,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide.
...
Pelosi and those in her leadership circle were shocked. To them, Schumer had given McConnell a nuclear weapon — the ability to brag that his legislation had overwhelming bipartisan support and should therefore pass the House.
I also feel like Democratic leadership are the only people left in the country who actually care about such nuance as "we look dumb if the Democratic House doesn't vote for stuff Democrats in the Senate voted for." Donald Trump goes around claiming windmills cause cancer and nobody seems to care, but we'll look stupid if the Senate doesn't properly back up the House?
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on June 28, 2019 [26 favorites]
Pelosi is totally right that Schumer (as usual) botched this by letting it get by with "unanimous" support (and credit as usual to McConnell for scheduling it when the most likely opponents were away). But be that as it may, it still came to her as two possibilities, one supported by the right wing of her caucus, the other supported by the left, with a vast majority in the middle keeping their heads down and likely to go whichever way she pushed. Faced with the prospect of the more liberal bill being voted down by the defecting Democrats or it passing and McConnell executing the hostages in his usual bill-strangling way, she went with the Senate bill. Like all pragmatic actions, it is totally comprehensible. But it is also cowardly. I can't speak for others here, but like many I know, I've spent quite a lot of time over the last few years taking stands against things that are probably inevitable, because it's worth trying, it sends a message, and it is the right thing to do. I expect my leaders to similarly lose a few noble fights every now and then, even if it seems to make no pragmatic sense, because it too is the right thing to do. I can kind of understand the small-c conservatism on the impeachment business, but I had thought that concentration camps was our bright line, for which we must always go down swinging if we must go down. When the right-wing Democrats were first discussing a pragmatic retreat, everyone seemed to agree that was the coward's way, up until the moment Pelosi flipped. I don't think she is a terrible leader just because she caved on a concentration-camp-related issue, but it feels like a pretty significant moment to me.
posted by chortly at 6:30 PM on June 28, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by chortly at 6:30 PM on June 28, 2019 [14 favorites]
Trump plans ticketed-access area for VIPs, friends and family at July 4 celebration
Plans by President Trump to reshape Washington’s Independence Day celebration now include an area in front of the Lincoln Memorial reserved for dignitaries, family and friends that will be accessible only through tickets distributed by the White House.
The VIP section will stretch roughly from the steps of the memorial to the midpoint of the reflecting pool, according to the U.S. Secret Service. It is the area in front of where Trump plans to address the nation...
posted by bluecore at 6:37 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Plans by President Trump to reshape Washington’s Independence Day celebration now include an area in front of the Lincoln Memorial reserved for dignitaries, family and friends that will be accessible only through tickets distributed by the White House.
The VIP section will stretch roughly from the steps of the memorial to the midpoint of the reflecting pool, according to the U.S. Secret Service. It is the area in front of where Trump plans to address the nation...
posted by bluecore at 6:37 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Imagine cheering for a man who will rant and rave about elites to hand-picked rich sycophants in the restricted VIP section of the public park.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:51 PM on June 28, 2019 [38 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:51 PM on June 28, 2019 [38 favorites]
@AriBerman: FL gov Ron DeSantis signs bill requiring people with past felony convictions to pay all restitution, fines & fees before voting. This is modern day poll tax gutting historic ballot initiative approved by 64% voters & could block 1000s from polls. DeSantis won by 30k votes when 1.7 MILLION Floridians couldn’t vote because of racist felon disenfranchisement law. Now he’s signing measure to keep 1000s of Floridians from voting in 2020 & blatantly undermining will of the voters who overwhelmingly supported Amendment 4
@samswey: This may be the largest poll tax ever signed into law in America, in terms of the number of people disenfranchised by the act alone.
The ACLU's lawsuit has already been filed.
posted by zachlipton at 7:28 PM on June 28, 2019 [51 favorites]
@samswey: This may be the largest poll tax ever signed into law in America, in terms of the number of people disenfranchised by the act alone.
The ACLU's lawsuit has already been filed.
posted by zachlipton at 7:28 PM on June 28, 2019 [51 favorites]
JackFlash Not as farfetched as you think given his history.
A persons history does predict well their future behaviour.
Sanders also endorsed and campaigned for Clinton and has a decades long record of working on the Democratic side of Congress. That he will suddenly not support the Dems nominee, if not him, would be at odds with very recent history and his dogged consistency. Not impossible but vanishingly small chance or ... farfetched.
And if Sanders supported someone he was only "lukewarm" (as you suggested) about last time, the same rational choice not being taken this time becomes a bigger leap into farfetchedness.
Chait misrepresenting a question and answer exchange to create a controversy where none exists. This is still the very narrow and focused point I am making. That Sanders was insufficiently enthusiastic or didn't quit fast enough or work sufficiently hard for the taste of some, doesn't make Chait's fantastical pronouncements any more proven. I understand that questions can often come with subtext and I understand all the subtext invoked here. But when you have to add so much subtext that simply was not asked and is not there, as well as ascribe nefarious motives, to reach the Chait invention that Sanders now won't support the Dem nominee ... Chait's synthesis of event and conclusions weren't some vague misreading (or misviewing) but purposely and deliberately stretched to farfetched.
posted by phoque at 7:53 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
A persons history does predict well their future behaviour.
Sanders also endorsed and campaigned for Clinton and has a decades long record of working on the Democratic side of Congress. That he will suddenly not support the Dems nominee, if not him, would be at odds with very recent history and his dogged consistency. Not impossible but vanishingly small chance or ... farfetched.
And if Sanders supported someone he was only "lukewarm" (as you suggested) about last time, the same rational choice not being taken this time becomes a bigger leap into farfetchedness.
Chait misrepresenting a question and answer exchange to create a controversy where none exists. This is still the very narrow and focused point I am making. That Sanders was insufficiently enthusiastic or didn't quit fast enough or work sufficiently hard for the taste of some, doesn't make Chait's fantastical pronouncements any more proven. I understand that questions can often come with subtext and I understand all the subtext invoked here. But when you have to add so much subtext that simply was not asked and is not there, as well as ascribe nefarious motives, to reach the Chait invention that Sanders now won't support the Dem nominee ... Chait's synthesis of event and conclusions weren't some vague misreading (or misviewing) but purposely and deliberately stretched to farfetched.
posted by phoque at 7:53 PM on June 28, 2019 [11 favorites]
After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!
Thirsty as fuck
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:56 PM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
Thirsty as fuck
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:56 PM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]
@SoyoungSays: Breaking via KCNA: North Korea’s first foreign vice minister Choe Son Hui issues a statement in response to Trump’s offer to meet Kim Jong Un at DMZ. “We see it as a very interesting suggestion, but we have not received an official proposal in this regard.” “I am of the view that if the DPRK-U.S. summit meetings take place on the division line, as is intended by President Trump, it would serve as another meaningful occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders and advancing the bilateral relations.”
How do you say "the tweet speaks for itself" in Korean?
posted by zachlipton at 9:29 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
How do you say "the tweet speaks for itself" in Korean?
posted by zachlipton at 9:29 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Let's not do Clinton v. Sanders round 5 billion.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:40 PM on June 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:40 PM on June 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
But can we get a couple more digs in on Chait? Because he’s been a disaster since 2002 or so.
posted by notyou at 9:49 PM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by notyou at 9:49 PM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
Roll Call: Rep. Matt Gaetz to be investigated by House Ethics for tweet apparently threatening Cohen
posted by Chrysostom at 9:51 PM on June 28, 2019 [25 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:51 PM on June 28, 2019 [25 favorites]
He is just so unstable, such a liar & so un self-aware. At the best of times his tweet would be seen as a bizarre mash note. Given the geopolitical & diplomatic implications of recent history between Kim & Trump it comes across as weak & pathetic, certain to be rejected (which it was).
And now it comes out that this was his plan, something he's been plotting for days. No doubt in his hamster-wheel brain it's the strategy of a genius; get Kim to meet face to face & apply his obviously superior diplomatic skills & infinite personal charm to salvage the situation Bolton screwed up. Oh & he blabbed to reporters but made them pinky-swear not to tell anyone.
G20 Live Updates: Trump Invites North Korea’s Leader to Meet Him at DMZ
‘I just thought of it’: Trump makes an overture to Kim Jong-un.
And now it comes out that this was his plan, something he's been plotting for days. No doubt in his hamster-wheel brain it's the strategy of a genius; get Kim to meet face to face & apply his obviously superior diplomatic skills & infinite personal charm to salvage the situation Bolton screwed up. Oh & he blabbed to reporters but made them pinky-swear not to tell anyone.
G20 Live Updates: Trump Invites North Korea’s Leader to Meet Him at DMZ
‘I just thought of it’: Trump makes an overture to Kim Jong-un.
President Trump said on Saturday that he would visit the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea on Sunday and publicly invited Kim Jong-un, the North’s iron-fisted leader, to meet him there for what would be their third get-together.
In a post on Twitter as he started the second of two days of meetings in Osaka, Japan, Mr. Trump said that during his next stop, in South Korea, he would be happy to greet Mr. Kim across the line that has divided Korea for nearly 75 years.
The tweet caught the diplomatic corps in Asia and even the president’s own advisers off balance, since the last meeting between the two leaders, in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February, ended in dramatic failure, and no further substantive talks have taken place. No serious preparations have been made for an encounter on Sunday.
But Mr. Trump likes to be unpredictable and has made clear repeatedly in recent days that he is eager to restart negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. He told reporters that Saturday morning’s tweet was spontaneous. “I just thought of it this morning,” he said. “We’ll be there, and I just put out a feeler.”
And yet, in reality, he had been toying with the idea for days. The Hill, a Capitol Hill news organization, reported on Saturday after his tweet that Mr. Trump had actually signaled his interest in the idea during an interview on Monday, saying he “might” try to meet with Mr. Kim during an already planned but secret trip to the DMZ. The White House asked that his comment not be reported because of security concerns.posted by scalefree at 11:28 PM on June 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
1) Propaganda does not cast votes. I'm not saying it doesn't decide elections; I'm saying that every vote is presumably legally cast by an actual human with normal human reasons for their vote. Propaganda acts by shaping those reasons. Those votes are still legitimate.
2) If those votes weren't legally cast by normal human american citizens, then those would be illegitimate votes, but NOTHING of the sort has been alleged publicly. except by republicans.
Russian/Saudi/etc. propaganda is just not ... enough. The result of the election, as far as we know, was still the result of a whole lot of people voting.
3) Lots of illegal things like hacking info / accepting improper campaign donations / etc. are still illegal and still don't change the fact that people voted. There's been this issue in Britain, where there are statutory limits on campaign spending, that the Leave referendum campaign illegally spent past the limit. And of course spent that money on wild nonsense lie ads. And that's all illegal and whatnot, but if someone voted Leave, they don't necessarily care. And a lot of millions of people voted Trump / Leave.
and 4) If voter suppression and gerrymandering made an election illegitimate, then there has never been a legitimate election in the history of the USA. I'm open to that argument, but it's not an argument against Trump.
The only convincing argument (for me) is the possibility that voter rolls were hacked, and proper votes weren't counted. And that's still only in the realm of possible.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:54 PM on June 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
2) If those votes weren't legally cast by normal human american citizens, then those would be illegitimate votes, but NOTHING of the sort has been alleged publicly. except by republicans.
Russian/Saudi/etc. propaganda is just not ... enough. The result of the election, as far as we know, was still the result of a whole lot of people voting.
3) Lots of illegal things like hacking info / accepting improper campaign donations / etc. are still illegal and still don't change the fact that people voted. There's been this issue in Britain, where there are statutory limits on campaign spending, that the Leave referendum campaign illegally spent past the limit. And of course spent that money on wild nonsense lie ads. And that's all illegal and whatnot, but if someone voted Leave, they don't necessarily care. And a lot of millions of people voted Trump / Leave.
and 4) If voter suppression and gerrymandering made an election illegitimate, then there has never been a legitimate election in the history of the USA. I'm open to that argument, but it's not an argument against Trump.
The only convincing argument (for me) is the possibility that voter rolls were hacked, and proper votes weren't counted. And that's still only in the realm of possible.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:54 PM on June 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
[E]very vote is presumably legally cast by an actual human with normal human reasons ... Propaganda acts by shaping those reasons. Those votes are still legitimate.
Is, though, propaganda a normal motivator of human behavior/reasons? Is propaganda a normal type of speech? It's a thing humans do, certainly, but is it normal (I use "nornal" as it was the word chosen ... I'd prefer healthy, or moral, ethical, or good, and would settle for unharmful)? I do not believe that states/corporations/wealthy invest in and create propaganda so that the people upon whom they deploy it will in turn act normally, I understand that they create and use their propaganda to cause abnormal changes in the way people normally act, to manipulate and give people abnormal (but of course human) reasons for doing things, in this case voting. And, to my mind, setting out to make this kind of abnornal change to the manner in which a person makes any decision is unconscionable, and doing so to specifically implicate and distort abnormally how they think about their vote is actually a criminal and constitutional offense against their constitutional enfranchisement. Attacking a citizen's core ability to exercise her right to vote--her ability to naturally and freely exercise her enfranchisement--is either traitorous (if done from within the nation), an act of war (if done from without), or in the case of a blended conspiracy: both.
I (mostly) concede the point that (likely) 65.000 real people walked in and really voted for Mafia Don, giving him just the electoral college votes he needed to invalidate his overwhelming popular election loss ... I just don't think they were in anything like their right, unpropagandized, normal minds when they did. Hopin' for 20/20 vision for this nation in 2020, God we need it to see through the mirage of lies.
posted by riverlife at 1:06 AM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
Is, though, propaganda a normal motivator of human behavior/reasons? Is propaganda a normal type of speech? It's a thing humans do, certainly, but is it normal (I use "nornal" as it was the word chosen ... I'd prefer healthy, or moral, ethical, or good, and would settle for unharmful)? I do not believe that states/corporations/wealthy invest in and create propaganda so that the people upon whom they deploy it will in turn act normally, I understand that they create and use their propaganda to cause abnormal changes in the way people normally act, to manipulate and give people abnormal (but of course human) reasons for doing things, in this case voting. And, to my mind, setting out to make this kind of abnornal change to the manner in which a person makes any decision is unconscionable, and doing so to specifically implicate and distort abnormally how they think about their vote is actually a criminal and constitutional offense against their constitutional enfranchisement. Attacking a citizen's core ability to exercise her right to vote--her ability to naturally and freely exercise her enfranchisement--is either traitorous (if done from within the nation), an act of war (if done from without), or in the case of a blended conspiracy: both.
I (mostly) concede the point that (likely) 65.000 real people walked in and really voted for Mafia Don, giving him just the electoral college votes he needed to invalidate his overwhelming popular election loss ... I just don't think they were in anything like their right, unpropagandized, normal minds when they did. Hopin' for 20/20 vision for this nation in 2020, God we need it to see through the mirage of lies.
posted by riverlife at 1:06 AM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
I'm sure he thinks he's being clever.
US President Donald Trump has called the Japan-US Security Treaty unfair and says it has to be changed, but denies any intention to scrap the agreement.posted by sukeban at 3:04 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
Trump spoke to reporters in the city of Osaka on Saturday at the end of the Group of 20 summit.
Responding to a reporter's question, Trump said he is not thinking about scrapping the treaty at all. He said he is "just saying it is an unfair agreement."
Trump noted that if someone attacks Japan, the United States would be locked in a battle and committed to fight for Japan, but that if someone were to attack the US, Japan would not have to fight.
He said he told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the security pact has to be changed.
He's just really, really clueless:
After he tried to claim he'll have a policy announcement on busing in four weeks (that's his typical time frame for "I have no earthly idea what I'm talking about so I'll just claim it's coming later"), Busing is the "primary method" children get to schools
posted by zachlipton at 3:20 AM on June 29, 2019 [24 favorites]
After he tried to claim he'll have a policy announcement on busing in four weeks (that's his typical time frame for "I have no earthly idea what I'm talking about so I'll just claim it's coming later"), Busing is the "primary method" children get to schools
When asked to elaborate about his earlier statement about a new policy coming, Mr. Trump said busing has been "done for a long period of time. How else are you going to get people to schools?"And just dozens and dozens of bits of nonsense over the course of an endless press conference, but this bit at the end was something else:
Mr. Trump then called busing the "primary method of getting people to schools."
The federally mandated busing program has declined since the 1980s, although some areas are required by law to continue it.
As the news conference wore on, Trump seemed to confuse a broader discussion of the fight over global governance with his personal grievances against Democrats.He so desperately wants to suck up to Putin and agree with him, but doesn't even begin to understand the concept of liberalism enough to attack it.
When a reporter asked if the president agreed with Putin’s suggestion, in a recent newspaper interview, that “Western-style liberalism” was in decline, Trump had another thing in mind.
He criticized the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, which he said are “sad to look at” because they are “run by liberal people.”
With that, the president ended his session with the room full of journalists and headed to the airport.
posted by zachlipton at 3:20 AM on June 29, 2019 [24 favorites]
The AOC/ Rapinoe party is on
I'd like this to be a new political party.
posted by srboisvert at 4:33 AM on June 29, 2019 [21 favorites]
I'd like this to be a new political party.
posted by srboisvert at 4:33 AM on June 29, 2019 [21 favorites]
4) If voter suppression and gerrymandering made an election illegitimate, then there has never been a legitimate election in the history of the USA. I'm open to that argument, but it's not an argument against Trump.
As with most everything I'd say it is a question of degree. Shady practices have always existed but there is little historical evidence of presidential candidates election machines so openly and brazenly engaging with foreign powers to manipulate elections like Trump did like even openly calling for the criminal intervention of a foreign state in a campaign speech.
At this point it has become clear, to one political party at least, that there is no longer any such thing as election law for presidential races in the United States because there is no enforcement and there are no penalties for the president themselves as long as you win. The pawns, however, can end up fucked. As always.
These times are both unprecedented and consequently unpresidented.
America has found a way to elect a king.
posted by srboisvert at 4:46 AM on June 29, 2019 [12 favorites]
As with most everything I'd say it is a question of degree. Shady practices have always existed but there is little historical evidence of presidential candidates election machines so openly and brazenly engaging with foreign powers to manipulate elections like Trump did like even openly calling for the criminal intervention of a foreign state in a campaign speech.
At this point it has become clear, to one political party at least, that there is no longer any such thing as election law for presidential races in the United States because there is no enforcement and there are no penalties for the president themselves as long as you win. The pawns, however, can end up fucked. As always.
These times are both unprecedented and consequently unpresidented.
America has found a way to elect a king.
posted by srboisvert at 4:46 AM on June 29, 2019 [12 favorites]
the United States would be locked in a battle and committed to fight for Japan, but that if someone were to attack the US, Japan would not have to fight.
And the US gets to have a military and Japan doesn't which means Japan can't ever threaten the US. And we make some less extreme version of this deal with almost everybody, which is why we are the world's only superpower and also the "world police." But Trump doesn't see what we get out of the deal. God, what a moron.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:51 AM on June 29, 2019 [19 favorites]
And the US gets to have a military and Japan doesn't which means Japan can't ever threaten the US. And we make some less extreme version of this deal with almost everybody, which is why we are the world's only superpower and also the "world police." But Trump doesn't see what we get out of the deal. God, what a moron.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:51 AM on June 29, 2019 [19 favorites]
Hanlon's razor slices so exceedingly thin in these times.
posted by dbx at 4:59 AM on June 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by dbx at 4:59 AM on June 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
He just can't do anything right.
@DavidNakamura
@DavidNakamura
This G-20 family photo on front page of the Japan Times is kind of amazing. Wait for it.posted by scalefree at 5:09 AM on June 29, 2019 [17 favorites]
[video - unbelievable]
And the US gets to have a military and Japan doesn't which means Japan can't ever threaten the US. And we make some less extreme version of this deal with almost everybody, which is why we are the world's only superpower and also the "world police." But Trump doesn't see what we get out of the deal. God, what a moron.
The man has a child's understanding of everything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:28 AM on June 29, 2019 [8 favorites]
The man has a child's understanding of everything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:28 AM on June 29, 2019 [8 favorites]
He so desperately wants to suck up to Putin and agree with him, but doesn't even begin to understand the concept of liberalism enough to attack it.
Yeah but I’d also really like to hear his take on the history of Neoliberalism.
posted by notyou at 7:08 AM on June 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
Yeah but I’d also really like to hear his take on the history of Neoliberalism.
posted by notyou at 7:08 AM on June 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
Your "propaganda" is my "persuasive argument." And vice versa.
posted by PhineasGage at 7:54 AM on June 29, 2019
posted by PhineasGage at 7:54 AM on June 29, 2019
Duncan Hunter's lawyers respond to the federal indictment.
In their response, Hunter's lawyers wrote that any relevance the details of the affairs had on his alleged crimes was outweighed by their "prejudicial impact" on a jury, and argued that the congressman's relationships with the five women in fact "served an overtly political purpose."
"However unpopular the notion of a married man mixing business with pleasure, the Government cannot simply dismiss the reality that Mr. Hunter's relationships with Individual's 14-18 often served an overtly political purpose that would not have existed irrespective of his occupation," Hunter's attorneys wrote.
Hunter can't even do bribery right. The lobbyists are supposed to be paying him, not the other way around.
It seems his argument is that he's so ignorant about policies, he has to pay lobbyists to tell him how to vote. That is his overtly political purpose.
posted by JackFlash at 8:12 AM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
In their response, Hunter's lawyers wrote that any relevance the details of the affairs had on his alleged crimes was outweighed by their "prejudicial impact" on a jury, and argued that the congressman's relationships with the five women in fact "served an overtly political purpose."
"However unpopular the notion of a married man mixing business with pleasure, the Government cannot simply dismiss the reality that Mr. Hunter's relationships with Individual's 14-18 often served an overtly political purpose that would not have existed irrespective of his occupation," Hunter's attorneys wrote.
Hunter can't even do bribery right. The lobbyists are supposed to be paying him, not the other way around.
It seems his argument is that he's so ignorant about policies, he has to pay lobbyists to tell him how to vote. That is his overtly political purpose.
posted by JackFlash at 8:12 AM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
Aside from social media shenanigans, Russian operatives successfully intruded on the voter registration databases of multiple swing states. It's highly plausible that at least some voters arrived at the polling place, were told they were not in the system, and declined to file provisional ballots. I wouldn't trust states or counties to come clean if that's what happened; at least one Florida county has refused investigation. And that -- if it happened, which I grant we don't know -- is unquestionably interference and illegitimate.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:45 AM on June 29, 2019 [36 favorites]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:45 AM on June 29, 2019 [36 favorites]
Judge bars Trump from using $2.5B to build border wall (AP)
A federal judge on Friday prohibited President Donald Trump from tapping $2.5 billion in military funding to build high-priority segments of his prized border wall in California, Arizona and New Mexico. Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. in Oakland acted in two lawsuits filed by California and by activists who contended that the money transfer was unlawful and that building the wall would pose environmental threats. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 10:20 AM on June 29, 2019 [24 favorites]
But the fight is far from over. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to take up the same issue of using military money next week. At issue is President Donald Trump’s February declaration of a national emergency so that he could divert $6.7 billion from military and other sources to begin construction of the wall, which could have begun as early as Monday. [...]
The judge Friday didn’t rule on funding from the military construction and Treasury budgets. In the second suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, the judge determined that the use of the $2.5 billion for two sectors of the wall was unlawful, although he rejected environmental arguments that wall construction would threaten species such as bighorn sheep.
In addition to the July 12th action scaryblackdeath mentioned and direct action encouraged during July 8th to July 12th, there are also #CloseTheCamps protests scheduled for this Tuesday, July 2nd, that are sponsored in part by MoveOn.org.
It’s going to take all of us to close the camps.
This Tuesday, July 2, while members of Congress are home for the Fourth of July holiday, we will gather at 12 p.m. noon local time at their local offices in protest. Our demands:
* Close the Camps
* Not One Dollar for Family Detention and Deportation
* Bear Witness and Reunite Families
Will you join a local Close the Camps protest near you this Tuesday, July 2? Find an event or start your own, and bring everyone you know. Can't attend or host an event? Text CAMPS to 668366 to continue taking action to #CloseTheCamps.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:49 AM on June 29, 2019 [16 favorites]
It’s going to take all of us to close the camps.
This Tuesday, July 2, while members of Congress are home for the Fourth of July holiday, we will gather at 12 p.m. noon local time at their local offices in protest. Our demands:
* Close the Camps
* Not One Dollar for Family Detention and Deportation
* Bear Witness and Reunite Families
Will you join a local Close the Camps protest near you this Tuesday, July 2? Find an event or start your own, and bring everyone you know. Can't attend or host an event? Text CAMPS to 668366 to continue taking action to #CloseTheCamps.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:49 AM on June 29, 2019 [16 favorites]
Part I: Mussolini quote. Part II: "Brown people outnumber us 9 to 1." Part III:
@JohnCornyn
I may have to change banks: Bank of America will no longer do business with companies that run detention centers - CNN
When are we going to listen to them when they tells us what they are?
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:48 PM on June 29, 2019 [49 favorites]
@JohnCornyn
I may have to change banks: Bank of America will no longer do business with companies that run detention centers - CNN
When are we going to listen to them when they tells us what they are?
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:48 PM on June 29, 2019 [49 favorites]
NYT, Trump Consultant Is Trolling Democrats With Biden Site That Isn’t Biden’s
I don't think anyone is entirely prepared for the fact that the Trump 2020 campaign is going to be full of the worst people in the country and will have absolutely no sense of ethics or morals. It's going to be the chans, but with millions and millions of dollars to play with.
Other recent moves by the Trump campaign include a hat scam ("The campaign is telling supporters that it must enter by midnight to have a chance at winning the 1,000,000th MAGA hat signed by Trump. The next day, it runs the same ad.") and a giant online targeted ad campaign intended to make Trump look more popular with certain demographic groups than he possibly is, featuring stock photos intended to give the impression that stock young blond women, middle-aged latino men, and hipster coffee shop owners are into Trump. Meanwhile, their friends over at the Judicial Crisis Network spent a million bucks running ads demanding that Democratic candidates release their "secret list" of Supreme Court candidates (the ad even ran during the debates on MSNBC, because they'll take anyone's money), a list that doesn't exist. And then there are the pro-Trump social media trolls running a birtherism campaign against Harris.
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2019 [22 favorites]
For much of the last three months, the most popular Joseph R. Biden Jr. website has been a slick little piece of disinformation that is designed to look like the former vice president’s official campaign page, yet is most definitely not pro-Biden.The guy has also setup similar sites for Sanders, Warren, and Harris.
From top to bottom, the website, JoeBiden.info, breezily mocks the candidate in terms that would warm the heart of any Bernie Sanders supporter: There are GIFs of Mr. Biden touching women and girls, and blurbs about his less-than-liberal policy positions, including his opposition to court-ordered busing in the 1970s and his support for the Iraq war. Pull quotes highlight some of his more famous verbal gaffes, like his description of his future boss, Barack Obama, as “articulate and bright and clean.” The introductory text declares, “Uncle Joe is back and ready to take a hands-on approach to America’s problems!” All the site says about its creator is buried in the fine print at the bottom of the page. The site, it says, is a political parody built and paid for “BY AN American citizen FOR American citizens,” and not the work of any campaign or political action committee.
There is indeed an American behind the website — that much is unambiguously true. But he is very much a political player, and a Republican one at that. His name is Patrick Mauldin, and he makes videos and other digital content for President’s Trump’s re-election campaign. Together with his brother Ryan, Mr. Mauldin also runs Vici Media Group, a Republican political consulting firm in Austin whose website opens with the line “We Kick” followed by the image of a donkey — the Democratic Party symbol often known by another, three-letter, name.
...
Trolling, that is, as a political strategy.
I don't think anyone is entirely prepared for the fact that the Trump 2020 campaign is going to be full of the worst people in the country and will have absolutely no sense of ethics or morals. It's going to be the chans, but with millions and millions of dollars to play with.
Other recent moves by the Trump campaign include a hat scam ("The campaign is telling supporters that it must enter by midnight to have a chance at winning the 1,000,000th MAGA hat signed by Trump. The next day, it runs the same ad.") and a giant online targeted ad campaign intended to make Trump look more popular with certain demographic groups than he possibly is, featuring stock photos intended to give the impression that stock young blond women, middle-aged latino men, and hipster coffee shop owners are into Trump. Meanwhile, their friends over at the Judicial Crisis Network spent a million bucks running ads demanding that Democratic candidates release their "secret list" of Supreme Court candidates (the ad even ran during the debates on MSNBC, because they'll take anyone's money), a list that doesn't exist. And then there are the pro-Trump social media trolls running a birtherism campaign against Harris.
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2019 [22 favorites]
I don't think anyone is entirely prepared for the fact that the Trump 2020 campaign is going to be full of the worst people in the country and will have absolutely no sense of ethics or morals. It's going to be the chans, but with millions and millions of dollars to play with.
Elizabeth Warren is on it: “The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:06 PM on June 29, 2019 [67 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren is on it: “The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:06 PM on June 29, 2019 [67 favorites]
Elsewhere in the interview, Putin said “the so-called liberal idea” had “outlived its purpose”, and criticised open borders and multiculturalism.
Just in case anybody missed it, this is Putin's way of bragging. Don't think too much about what exactly it is he's bragging about or you might get a bit depressed about how effective a well organized clandestine operation can be at shaping not only public opinion but the basic world view of a large fraction of the world's population and how poorly equipped we are to deal with it in an effective manner.
posted by wierdo at 1:20 PM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
Just in case anybody missed it, this is Putin's way of bragging. Don't think too much about what exactly it is he's bragging about or you might get a bit depressed about how effective a well organized clandestine operation can be at shaping not only public opinion but the basic world view of a large fraction of the world's population and how poorly equipped we are to deal with it in an effective manner.
posted by wierdo at 1:20 PM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
Your "propaganda" is my "persuasive argument." And vice versa.
This illustrates the fundamental problem very well. We are using the term propaganda to refer to a host of active measures of which actual dictionary definition propaganda is only one, and most of which are unlawful. Using the word propaganda drastically understates the seriousness of the situation and the scope of the operation.
posted by wierdo at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
This illustrates the fundamental problem very well. We are using the term propaganda to refer to a host of active measures of which actual dictionary definition propaganda is only one, and most of which are unlawful. Using the word propaganda drastically understates the seriousness of the situation and the scope of the operation.
posted by wierdo at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Treatment of Migrants Likely ‘Meets the Definition of a Mass Atrocity’ (Kate Cronin-Furman, NYT Opinion)
Dr. Cronin-Furman is an assistant professor of human rights.
Dr. Cronin-Furman is an assistant professor of human rights.
A pediatrician who visited in June said the centers could be compared to “torture facilities.” Having studied mass atrocities for over a decade, I agree.Dems flock to migrant detention center in post-debate protest (Politico)
At least seven migrant children have died in United States custody since last year. The details reported by lawyers who visited a Customs and Border Protection facility in Clint, Tex., in June were shocking: children who had not bathed in weeks, toddlers without diapers, sick babies being cared for by other children. As a human rights lawyer and then as a political scientist, I have spoken to the victims of some of the worst things that human beings have ever done to each other, in places ranging from Cambodia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Sri Lanka.
What’s happening at the border doesn’t match the scale of these horrors, but if, as appears to be the case, these harsh conditions have been intentionally inflicted on children as part a broader plan to deter others from migrating, then it meets the definition of a mass atrocity: a deliberate, systematic attack on civilians. And like past atrocities, it is being committed by a complex organizational structure made up of people at all different levels of involvement.
Sens. Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Cabinet Secretary Julián Castro and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper all spoke to officials at the facility Friday, but they were denied entry to see 2,700 children who illegally crossed the southern border and are being held at the center, the candidates said after they returned to speak to activists and journalists. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 2:47 PM on June 29, 2019 [26 favorites]
Five of the six presidential candidates who visited Friday morning stood on ladders outside the camp, giving them a view of children being held on the other side of the wall. Castro, visibly emotional, described the orange caps the children wore as the “color of prison uniforms.”
Oh FFS. From Mother Jones: The war over America’s most productive wild salmon fishery, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, has been brewing for nearly 40 years. Now, the Trump administration appears to be intervening on behalf of the mining industry—which is bad news for the salmon and the people who depend on them.
On one side is Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian mining company eyeing a deposit of billions of tons of gold, copper, and molybdenum located near the headquarters of two rivers that drain into Bristol Bay, in southwest Alaska. In its way stand conservationists, Alaska Natives, and fishing operators, who say the company’s proposed Pebble Mine could contaminate the two river systems, endangering the ecosystem for the 40 million salmon that migrate into the pristine bay each summer.
The public has until July 1 to comment on the US Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact statement issued for Northern Dynasty’s mining project. The United Tribes of Bristol, a consortium of 15 tribes in the Bristol Bay Area, released a statement calling the assessment “completely inadequate,” and said that it “ignores the many valid concerns about the devastating impacts this project will bring.” The American Fisheries Society, a group of more than 8,000 scientists and academics, wrote in its public comment that the Army Corp’s evaluation “fails to meet basic standards of scientific rigor,” underestimating impacts and risks to fish and their habitats while drawing conclusions unsupported by data or other evidence.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:52 PM on June 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
On one side is Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian mining company eyeing a deposit of billions of tons of gold, copper, and molybdenum located near the headquarters of two rivers that drain into Bristol Bay, in southwest Alaska. In its way stand conservationists, Alaska Natives, and fishing operators, who say the company’s proposed Pebble Mine could contaminate the two river systems, endangering the ecosystem for the 40 million salmon that migrate into the pristine bay each summer.
The public has until July 1 to comment on the US Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact statement issued for Northern Dynasty’s mining project. The United Tribes of Bristol, a consortium of 15 tribes in the Bristol Bay Area, released a statement calling the assessment “completely inadequate,” and said that it “ignores the many valid concerns about the devastating impacts this project will bring.” The American Fisheries Society, a group of more than 8,000 scientists and academics, wrote in its public comment that the Army Corp’s evaluation “fails to meet basic standards of scientific rigor,” underestimating impacts and risks to fish and their habitats while drawing conclusions unsupported by data or other evidence.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:52 PM on June 29, 2019 [11 favorites]
... I'm noting that Cornyn's tweet above links to a CNN story from Wednesday saying that Bank of America has announced it
posted by XMLicious at 5:06 PM on June 29, 2019 [6 favorites]
will end its association with companies that provide prisoner and immigrant detention services at both the state and federal levelswhile the direct action week during July 8th to July 12th, mentioned above with a link to a posting from Monday, is about direct action against BoA, PNC Bank, and SunTrust... but possibly only the latter two still need attention? And possibly yay anarchists for getting BoA to move on that?
posted by XMLicious at 5:06 PM on June 29, 2019 [6 favorites]
NYT, Helene Cooper, Will Trump’s Plans to Counter Iran Bring a Return of the ‘Tanker War’?
posted by zachlipton at 5:08 PM on June 29, 2019 [6 favorites]
President Trump is pressing allies to join the United States in creating a fleet of warships to protect commercial oil tankers from attack by Iran in the Persian Gulf and nearby waters, despite alarm from some within the Pentagon that the mission could escalate into the kind of direct confrontation Mr. Trump is seeking to avoid.@RichardEngel: If you read one article on Iran and the risk of conflict this weekend it should be this one. Sources tell me the stage is increasingly set for a conflict with Iran, one well-placed source calling it likely.
Mark T. Esper, the acting defense secretary, is casting the effort, called Sentinel, as something far less than a military offensive against Iran, but one that could bring European and gulf Arab allies together to safeguard one of the world’s vital trade routes.
...
And even some officials at the Pentagon and within the Navy have expressed alarm that the mission could return the United States and Iran to the deadly “Tanker War” of three decades ago. While those in uniform would not discuss challenges of the proposed mission or be identified by name, their concerns were expressed by outside experts in regional military affairs.
“No one understand what the United States game plan or strategy here is,” said Vali Nasr, the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. “Are we expecting talks with Iran or war with Iran? We’re asking countries to sign up for a strategic initiative without clarity of what we are doing.”
...
But history has shown that guarding tankers in the gulf can bring the United States and Iran into the exact, direct confrontation that Mr. Trump is seeking to avoid.
posted by zachlipton at 5:08 PM on June 29, 2019 [6 favorites]
When are we going to listen to them when they tells us what they are?
Analysis: Trump’s diplomacy puts relationships over results (AP)
Analysis: Trump’s diplomacy puts relationships over results (AP)
Critics deride it as a “Trump First” policy, in which a few flattering words can buy an adversary Trump’s silence. Either way, the affirmations of friendship haven’t yet correlated with results. That reality was at the fore as Trump expressed hope for a meeting with Kim at the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 6:13 PM on June 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
The mere invitation from Trump marks a significant propaganda victory for Kim, who has long sought and been denied recognition on the international stage. Trump has made clear he considers Kim a friend, even as the North has resumed some ballistic missile testing in recent months that Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, contends violated U.N. sanctions.
Trump has often placed a priority on close ties over matters of principle, arguing it pays off in the long term. After his meeting with the Saudi crown prince, the president falsely claimed that “nobody so far has pointed directly a finger at the future king of Saudi Arabia” in the murder of journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi.
U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the prince must have at least been aware of the plot. Trump’s willingness to embrace the royal helped clear the transformation of the Saudi leader from international pariah to member of the club in Osaka.
In his meeting with Erdogan, Trump did raise the issue of Turkey’s purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air-missiles, which his administration has warned would imperil the sale of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to the NATO ally. But Trump broke with other U.S. officials to strike a sympathetic tone, blaming Obama for not approving the sale of U.S.-made missiles. “It’s a mess,” Trump said. “And honestly it’s not really Erdogan’s fault.”
Trump also said Turkey has a less-than-stellar human rights record but he made clear that, unlike previous U.S. presidents who would use the moment to set an example on American values, this blot would not deter their relationship. “He’s tough, but I get along with him,” Trump said. “Maybe it’s a bad thing, but I think it’s a good thing.”
The Trumps continue to embarrass themselves and to be source of embarrassment for the US at the G20.
Let’s go to the BBC’s Parham Ghobadi with the video: “Ivanka Trump appears to be trying to get involved in a talk among Macron, May, Trudeau and Lagarde (IMF head). The video is released by French Presidential palace.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:38 PM on June 29, 2019 [27 favorites]
Let’s go to the BBC’s Parham Ghobadi with the video: “Ivanka Trump appears to be trying to get involved in a talk among Macron, May, Trudeau and Lagarde (IMF head). The video is released by French Presidential palace.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:38 PM on June 29, 2019 [27 favorites]
Ooo that clip is like a Michael Scott-level mix of self-aggrandizing cringeworthiness.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:50 PM on June 29, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:50 PM on June 29, 2019 [7 favorites]
What's really cringeworthy is that the US has a [possibly] temporary family regime right now -- and that everybody else knows it -- but whaddaya gonna do? You can't dodge having to deal with the Kim family or the latest bloody-handed descendant of Ibn Saud, and you can't dodge the dimwitted grifter Crown Princess Ivanka butting into conversations at global summits either.
(And yeah, Justin Trudeau is a second-generation PM but he's put in the work.)
posted by holgate at 7:56 PM on June 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
(And yeah, Justin Trudeau is a second-generation PM but he's put in the work.)
posted by holgate at 7:56 PM on June 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
But history has shown that guarding tankers in the gulf can bring the United States and Iran into the exact, direct confrontation that Mr. Trump is seeking to avoid.
I wish the NYT wouldn't print the administration's propaganda for them. You don't hire John Bolton if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't hire Mike Pompeo if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't end the Iran Deal if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't tweet crazy threats if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. What the administration wants is the whole "Gosh, we had no choice but to respond with force. Our hands were tied!" so he can claim to be blameless later on.
posted by bluecore at 8:12 PM on June 29, 2019 [58 favorites]
I wish the NYT wouldn't print the administration's propaganda for them. You don't hire John Bolton if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't hire Mike Pompeo if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't end the Iran Deal if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. You don't tweet crazy threats if you're seeking to avoid confrontation. What the administration wants is the whole "Gosh, we had no choice but to respond with force. Our hands were tied!" so he can claim to be blameless later on.
posted by bluecore at 8:12 PM on June 29, 2019 [58 favorites]
Got a little bit of free time? Consider watching Elizabeth Warren's speech (a sermon really) to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition today (you can skip the first couple minutes easily). She discusses teaching a Sunday school lesson on what we owe each other. Her 5th grade student answered the question as "everybody gets a turn." And she proceeds to embrace that and take that to Matthew 25: The Sheep and the Goats, which she reads and then interprets as a call to political action:
posted by zachlipton at 8:43 PM on June 29, 2019 [76 favorites]
It says to me that we are not called simply to observe. We're not called just to have a good heart. We are called to act: to feed the hungry, to bring water to the the thirsty, to visit the imprisoned. And the third is that we are called to act without promise of reward. We are called to act because it is right.And then it's off to the races with her plans to do just that. It's a masterful speech designed to thwack every megachurch prosperity gospel asshole back where they belong and reclaim religion as a call to action to take care of each other.
As I travel this country and I hear from the American people, they share their struggles. They share their fears. They share their concerns. But the people know what is right and they are ready to act. They know they have been called for such a time as this and they are willing to step up. I am here today to say that none of us is alone in this fight. When I am President, we will answer this call together.
This is not a call for empty promises. This is not a call for another round of vague ideas. This is a call for real plans to make real changes in our lives and in our communities, and yes, I have a plan for that——too many for today, but let me mention just a few to remind everyone.
posted by zachlipton at 8:43 PM on June 29, 2019 [76 favorites]
@ddiamond [report attached]: Biden — speaking at fundraiser hosted by Seattle gay-rights leader — suggests that mocking “a gay waiter” was seen as OK just five years ago, leading to crowd objections, per pool report.
It's been 0 days since Joe Biden said something stupid...
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 PM on June 29, 2019 [24 favorites]
It's been 0 days since Joe Biden said something stupid...
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 PM on June 29, 2019 [24 favorites]
"Donald Trump has become the first incumbent US president to cross, even if it turns out to be only a few inches, into North Korea".
posted by mumimor at 11:50 PM on June 29, 2019
posted by mumimor at 11:50 PM on June 29, 2019
Kim Jong Un looks like he doesn't exactly know what to expect. He looks like Clark Griswold when Cousin Eddie shows up.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:58 PM on June 29, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:58 PM on June 29, 2019 [7 favorites]
He also just invited KJU to the White House.
posted by zachlipton at 12:00 AM on June 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 12:00 AM on June 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
So, this wonderful cartoonist was fired by Canada's version of the Koch family, the Irvings, for doing this lacerating cartoon.
He'll be fine in the long run, as he explains in the link, but it does give a person pause, thinking about everyone who thinks cartoons have no value, and thinking about the people that continue to poke at abuse of power, through their art, where ever they might find it.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:01 AM on June 30, 2019 [34 favorites]
He'll be fine in the long run, as he explains in the link, but it does give a person pause, thinking about everyone who thinks cartoons have no value, and thinking about the people that continue to poke at abuse of power, through their art, where ever they might find it.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:01 AM on June 30, 2019 [34 favorites]
@willripleyCNN: #breaking A source on the scene with Trump and Kim tells @Acosta the new WH press Secretary Stephanie Grisham got into “an all out brawl” with North Korean officials hustling WH press pool members into the room with Trump and Kim for their meeting, and was bruised up. Tough job.
This is less important than, you know, nuclear weapons, but watching on the raw feed, this meeting looked like an absolute shitshow, clearly not planned out at all, with North Korean and US security and press all shoving each other and just no organization as to who was going to be where when. It seems like the US and the North Korean sides had no agreement on whether cameras would be allowed in the room for the start of the meeting?
Anyway, Jared and Ivanka were there, as was Tucker Carlson, because who the hell even knows anymore?
posted by zachlipton at 12:20 AM on June 30, 2019 [18 favorites]
This is less important than, you know, nuclear weapons, but watching on the raw feed, this meeting looked like an absolute shitshow, clearly not planned out at all, with North Korean and US security and press all shoving each other and just no organization as to who was going to be where when. It seems like the US and the North Korean sides had no agreement on whether cameras would be allowed in the room for the start of the meeting?
Anyway, Jared and Ivanka were there, as was Tucker Carlson, because who the hell even knows anymore?
posted by zachlipton at 12:20 AM on June 30, 2019 [18 favorites]
"Donald Trump has become the first incumbent US president to cross, even if it turns out to be only a few inches, into North Korea".
I think Trump wants to become the real estate developer for North Korea once he magically denuclearizes it. Always on the grift. Trump First!
posted by scalefree at 12:25 AM on June 30, 2019 [6 favorites]
I think Trump wants to become the real estate developer for North Korea once he magically denuclearizes it. Always on the grift. Trump First!
posted by scalefree at 12:25 AM on June 30, 2019 [6 favorites]
So, this wonderful cartoonist was fired by Canada's version of the Koch family, the Irvings, for doing this lacerating cartoon.
I had to check to make sure it wasn't this guy, but no, that was last year:
Award-winning Cartoonist Fired For Making Fun Of Trump
It's scary how anxious these media barons are to avoid upsetting Trump.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:38 AM on June 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
I had to check to make sure it wasn't this guy, but no, that was last year:
Award-winning Cartoonist Fired For Making Fun Of Trump
It's scary how anxious these media barons are to avoid upsetting Trump.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:38 AM on June 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
Sometimes, you see thing happen in the news and you think, "Wow, that just came out of nowhere and happened!" When the truth is that people probably worked of a good couple months, maybe years, to bring some thing about, and then the news reports it, making it look like a spontaneous event.
Athlete trains their whole life and wins a last-minute upset, Congress passes a law with wide-reaching and positive impact, Foreign country X makes a truce with longstanding adversary country Y.
In all scenarios the sequence of events is always, lots of hard work is done, a goal is achieved, press comments.
This meeting in North Korea could, in the hands of maybe any other administration/ any competent person, been one of these occasions: after the last dud, State Dep. muscles up, gets NK to agree to a pro-forma meeting that will be made to look spontaneous, they'll get a tiny relief on some cantons, Pres will get to look dynamic and powerful.
But none of the ground-work is done, no one prepares anything - because their model is just the reporting on TV. Not the work that goes into making it happen, just the report at the end of it.
The only question is if anyone in this administration even knows.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:01 AM on June 30, 2019 [15 favorites]
Athlete trains their whole life and wins a last-minute upset, Congress passes a law with wide-reaching and positive impact, Foreign country X makes a truce with longstanding adversary country Y.
In all scenarios the sequence of events is always, lots of hard work is done, a goal is achieved, press comments.
This meeting in North Korea could, in the hands of maybe any other administration/ any competent person, been one of these occasions: after the last dud, State Dep. muscles up, gets NK to agree to a pro-forma meeting that will be made to look spontaneous, they'll get a tiny relief on some cantons, Pres will get to look dynamic and powerful.
But none of the ground-work is done, no one prepares anything - because their model is just the reporting on TV. Not the work that goes into making it happen, just the report at the end of it.
The only question is if anyone in this administration even knows.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:01 AM on June 30, 2019 [15 favorites]
The only question is if anyone in this administration even knows.
Just a guess but I think incoming Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham might have at least an inkling. Because of course.
New White House press secretary left with bruises after scuffles between North Korean security guards and journalists
Chaotic scenes see officials shoving and attempting to block press
Just a guess but I think incoming Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham might have at least an inkling. Because of course.
New White House press secretary left with bruises after scuffles between North Korean security guards and journalists
Chaotic scenes see officials shoving and attempting to block press
The incoming White House press secretary became embroiled in a scuffle with North Korean officials during a brawl between reporters and the country’s security guards.
Stephanie Grisham was left with bruises after chaotic scenes saw officials shoving and attempting to block the press.
The jostling came as Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to enter North Korean soil – stepping over from the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to shake hands with the North Korean leader.
The fracas intensified as reporters tried to enter a room inside the Freedom House on the southern side of Panmunjom where Mr Trump and Kim Jong-un were meeting after exchanging initial handshakes on the border.
North Korean guards tried to physically prevent members of the US press pool from entering the room, pushing and shoving, and the Secret Service stepped in to intervene.
A source on the scene said Ms Grisham got in “an all out brawl” with the North Koreans, according to CNN.
Ms Grisham, Melania Trump’s spokesperson who had been with the president’s campaign team since 2015, could be seen later directing reporters outside the building in which the two world leaders met.posted by scalefree at 4:59 AM on June 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
CHC is really, really not pleased with the leadership of the House this week:
"This bill – opposed by the Hispanic Caucus and nearly 100 Democratic members of the House -- will not stop the Trump Administration’s chaos and cruelty. It will not stop the abuse and detention of children. It will not stop the rampant human rights abuses in government custody. It will not stop the Trump Administration from tearing families apart and turning away asylum-seekers. As a result, migrants will continue to die.
“When the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members see suffering at the border, we see our children and our grandchildren. What happened today is unacceptable, and we will not forget this betrayal." from The Congressional Hispanic Caucus
posted by Harry Caul at 5:25 AM on June 30, 2019 [24 favorites]
"This bill – opposed by the Hispanic Caucus and nearly 100 Democratic members of the House -- will not stop the Trump Administration’s chaos and cruelty. It will not stop the abuse and detention of children. It will not stop the rampant human rights abuses in government custody. It will not stop the Trump Administration from tearing families apart and turning away asylum-seekers. As a result, migrants will continue to die.
“When the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members see suffering at the border, we see our children and our grandchildren. What happened today is unacceptable, and we will not forget this betrayal." from The Congressional Hispanic Caucus
posted by Harry Caul at 5:25 AM on June 30, 2019 [24 favorites]
Politico: Most House impeachment inquiry backers are Pelosi's investigators—Nearly half of the Democrats on the six investigative committees are publicly ready to pull the trigger.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:45 AM on June 30, 2019 [16 favorites]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a ready-made reply when pressed on impeaching President Donald Trump: Democrats have tasked six powerful committees with investigating Trump’s conduct, and they’ll “follow the facts” to chart a course for the House.Of these committees, only Judiciary and Oversight have majorities of Democrats favoring impeachment, and only one committee chair, Maxine Waters of Financial Services, favors impeachment.
But a POLITICO review of those six committees reveals that the members of their members are significantly more inclined to back impeachment than the rest of the House.
The panels in Pelosi’s talking points are the Intelligence, Judiciary, Oversight, Foreign Affairs, Financial Services and Ways and Means committees. Each has been charged with investigating an aspect of Trump’s finances, personal conduct, foreign relationships and business ties. As impeachment fervor has raged among progressives across the country, Pelosi has consistently referenced the six committees and urged patience.[…]
Yet of the 114 Democrats who sit on the committees, almost half — 50 — publicly support launching a formal impeachment inquiry, with several others privately considering joining them in the coming days or weeks.
These members make up the bulk of the more than 80 House Democrats who have endorsed impeachment proceedings. And as those numbers grow, so too might the pressure on Pelosi to change course.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:45 AM on June 30, 2019 [16 favorites]
It’s been just over two years since North Korea released Otto Warmbier, the American college student they arrested and then most likely fatally wounded (murdered in cold blood). Hope Donald, Jared, Ivanka, and Tucker are having fun with their diplomacy role playing.
posted by sallybrown at 6:54 AM on June 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 6:54 AM on June 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
Meanwhile, “Tucker Carlson justifies KJU's murderous regime: "You've got to be honest about what it means to lead a country, it means killing people. A lot of countries commit atrocities, including our allies."
Carlson adds, 'it's silly and stupid to point out KJU is 'so mean'' (via Twitter)
posted by schoolgirl report at 7:46 AM on June 30, 2019 [25 favorites]
Carlson adds, 'it's silly and stupid to point out KJU is 'so mean'' (via Twitter)
posted by schoolgirl report at 7:46 AM on June 30, 2019 [25 favorites]
The House Judiciary Committee should start impeachment proceedings with just one charge: usurping the Congess's authority by declaring a national emergency and redirecting funds. Then they should garland the charge with the phoniness of the emergency and the cruelty of the concentration camps, etc.
Having garnered public opinion regarding this through hearings, they should attach obstruction of justice charges.
Keep it clean, emotional and undeniable when they send it to the Senate.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2019 [15 favorites]
Having garnered public opinion regarding this through hearings, they should attach obstruction of justice charges.
Keep it clean, emotional and undeniable when they send it to the Senate.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2019 [15 favorites]
I don't understand the accolades for Trump simply meeting with Kim. So what? It's simply political with no purpose, and most of the political power that results goes to Kim. Kim's people thinking he is best friends, or something, with the president is a serious argument for them for supporting him. Trump really should be lambasted for this.
posted by xammerboy at 8:46 AM on June 30, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 8:46 AM on June 30, 2019 [8 favorites]
The reason for the accolades is that the media coverage is wildly biased. Remember when they were talking about a Novel Prize after his first embarrassing.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:04 AM on June 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:04 AM on June 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Democrats have tasked six powerful committees with investigating Trump’s conduct, and they’ll “follow the facts” to chart a course for the House.
But a POLITICO review of those six committees reveals that the members of their members are significantly more inclined to back impeachment than the rest of the House.
Hmm...it's almost like knowing the facts leads to a conclusion that he's unfit for office and should be removed.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:13 AM on June 30, 2019 [17 favorites]
But a POLITICO review of those six committees reveals that the members of their members are significantly more inclined to back impeachment than the rest of the House.
Hmm...it's almost like knowing the facts leads to a conclusion that he's unfit for office and should be removed.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:13 AM on June 30, 2019 [17 favorites]
Remember when they were talking about a Novel Prize after his first embarrassing.
To be fair, the noise about giving Trump a Nobel was entirely a pre-planned campaign by Trump's people. No one in the MSM (with the exception of Fox, of course) thought it was a serious thing. The campaign lost traction and died pretty quickly once it became obvious the summit resulted in nothing more than a PR coup for Kim..
posted by Thorzdad at 9:19 AM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
To be fair, the noise about giving Trump a Nobel was entirely a pre-planned campaign by Trump's people. No one in the MSM (with the exception of Fox, of course) thought it was a serious thing. The campaign lost traction and died pretty quickly once it became obvious the summit resulted in nothing more than a PR coup for Kim..
posted by Thorzdad at 9:19 AM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
Normalizing Kim as a wacky guy who just happens to run concentration camps helps normalize fascism. We're getting rid of the hypocrisy in supporting dictators by adopting their values.
posted by benzenedream at 9:29 AM on June 30, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 9:29 AM on June 30, 2019 [35 favorites]
Normalizing relations with a regime that openly operates concentration camps also normalizes the open concentration camps in this country. It's a two prong strategy, Trump gets his photo ops and Tucker gets to go back on FOX and say how the border torture camps can't be wrong, our good friend Kim does it too.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:34 AM on June 30, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:34 AM on June 30, 2019 [30 favorites]
Any day now David Brooks and Bret Stephens are going to write columns about how disturbing it is to see Republicans falling in love with the Stalinists in North Korea.
#lolsob
posted by johnny jenga at 9:49 AM on June 30, 2019 [11 favorites]
#lolsob
posted by johnny jenga at 9:49 AM on June 30, 2019 [11 favorites]
This is also what happens when your delegation is led by two senior caregivers and a Photoshop meme producer instead of actual experts.
posted by holgate at 10:20 AM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by holgate at 10:20 AM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
I don't understand the accolades for Trump simply meeting with Kim. So what? It's simply political with no purpose, and most of the political power that results goes to Kim.
It's smoke & mirrors by Trump & magical thinking by his followers. They start with a conclusion & work backwards to figure out how to justify that conclusion.
posted by scalefree at 12:01 PM on June 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's smoke & mirrors by Trump & magical thinking by his followers. They start with a conclusion & work backwards to figure out how to justify that conclusion.
posted by scalefree at 12:01 PM on June 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Carlson adds, 'it's silly and stupid to point out KJU is 'so mean'' (via Twitter)
Pointing out how the Warmbier family must be feeling right now would only be politicizing things & that would be wrong. We must come together in a spirit of bipartisanship to worship the Beast. Just in time for his celebration of himself!
posted by scalefree at 12:08 PM on June 30, 2019 [5 favorites]
Pointing out how the Warmbier family must be feeling right now would only be politicizing things & that would be wrong. We must come together in a spirit of bipartisanship to worship the Beast. Just in time for his celebration of himself!
posted by scalefree at 12:08 PM on June 30, 2019 [5 favorites]
Facing no consequences for the murders they’ve committed so far, it sounds like the Trump administration wants to scale up.
A state leader given credit for killing people, seems like something I've heard before.
It does no good to call it some form of politics rather than another, until you get to the ballot box. Right now there has to be parts of the government who are using their Constitutional powers to slow or stop this behavior. Oh, but look how much power to act alone Presidents have now! That was given to them by Congress! Maybe the Executive branch can investigate themselves like a police department does.
posted by rhizome at 12:17 PM on June 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
A state leader given credit for killing people, seems like something I've heard before.
It does no good to call it some form of politics rather than another, until you get to the ballot box. Right now there has to be parts of the government who are using their Constitutional powers to slow or stop this behavior. Oh, but look how much power to act alone Presidents have now! That was given to them by Congress! Maybe the Executive branch can investigate themselves like a police department does.
posted by rhizome at 12:17 PM on June 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sadly, "concentration camp" isn't a strong enough term for what they do in North Korea. They run slave labor death camps with a 40% mortality rate and government sanctioned torture.
posted by diogenes at 12:23 PM on June 30, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 12:23 PM on June 30, 2019 [18 favorites]
Axios: Economic Trouble in Trump Country Ahead of 2020
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:39 PM on June 30, 2019 [6 favorites]
Swing counties that backed President Obama, then flipped to President Trump in 2016, are struggling economically — a potential problem for his re-election bid, which depends heavily on the president celebrating national economic gains.All this assumes that Trump won't have driven the country into a recession next year, something on which I'm not willing to wage.
What's happening: The Economic Innovation Group, in a report provided first to Axios, found that these "flipped" counties "experienced slower growth in employment, a slower rise in the number of [businesses], and a more pervasive decline in prime-age workers than consistently Democratic or Republican counties."[…]
"Struggling areas played an outsized role in deciding the 2016 election," said John Lettieri, president and CEO of the Economic Innovation Group, a nonprofit "ideas laboratory" based in D.C.
"[S]wing counties ... continue to experience weaker economic conditions that are out of step with the robust national economy."
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:39 PM on June 30, 2019 [6 favorites]
Start with your conclusion then work your way backwards to reverse engineer a justification for it.
@goldengateblond
@goldengateblond
From 2018 but newly relevant. Watch Fox News’ “evolution” on North Korea.posted by scalefree at 1:44 PM on June 30, 2019 [10 favorites]
[video]
Hundreds of American Jews are marching to the ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, NJ. Because #NeverAgainMeans never again for anyone, not just us.
posted by The Whelk at 2:23 PM on June 30, 2019 [99 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 2:23 PM on June 30, 2019 [99 favorites]
@jorge_guajardo [former Mexican politician and diplomat]: At VP Pence’s request, Mexico expelled the North Korean Ambassador during the past administration. As a result, President Trump has visited N Korea before visiting Mexico, and extended an invitation to KJU to visit the WH before receiving a Mexican President. #Friendship
posted by zachlipton at 3:12 PM on June 30, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 3:12 PM on June 30, 2019 [24 favorites]
Arrests of people partaking in civil disobedience infront of an ICE detention center in Elizabeth, NJ
posted by The Whelk at 4:12 PM on June 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:12 PM on June 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
Children at the border: the crisis that America wasn't prepared for (Guardian)
posted by Little Dawn at 5:14 PM on June 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
In the early 2000s, the majority of those apprehended at the border were single male workers, predominantly from Mexico. Most are now children and families seeking asylum. According to CBP data, about 72% of those apprehended at the border in May were families or children. In 2012, only 10% were families or children. [...]Previously: definition of a mass atrocity: "harsh conditions ... intentionally inflicted on children as part a broader plan to deter others from migrating"
The shift toward children and families “didn’t happen overnight”, said Michelle Brané of the Women’s Refugee Commission. Though activists have broadcasted the need to prepare for such a more vulnerable population for years, she added, processes and infrastructure at the border still “have not adapted for the new demographic”. [...]
A group of volunteer lawyers and doctors granted access to border patrol facilities as part of ongoing litigation against the US government found children were being held at processing facilities beyond 72 hours. Some had been there for more than two weeks. On 27 June the group filed a lawsuit against the federal government for violating the Flores agreement – a legal protection that guarantees migrant children be kept in safe and sanitary conditions – and demanded immediate inspection of processing centers by public health officials, to “prevent more illnesses and deaths at the border”. [...]
The Trump administration has also shut down avenues out of detention, cancelling a refugee program for children traveling from Central America and no longer allowing migrants to stay with family or community members until their asylum court hearing. Previously, CBP would only detain those “who they have a reason to believe would be a risk to public safety or a flight risk”, said Brané, of the Women’s Refugee Commission.
The Trump administration, she added, does “the reverse: they detain everybody they possibly can until they have no beds left.” [...] This backlog and paralysis is “intentional”, Brané said, adding that the administration’s strategy has “been very clear from the moment [they] came in to power: make the conditions untenable so that people will not come. Punish, and deter people from requesting asylum”.
posted by Little Dawn at 5:14 PM on June 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
Jared's Big Day Out, an atrocity in 32 tweets.
@JFXM
@JFXM
After two weird days as one of the few journalists inside the Four Seasons in Bahrain, I was left speechless by the Davos-esque Conflab on Palestinian Prosperousness, or “economic workshop,” hosted by Jared Kushner & co. Where do I begin? A thread.
1/ The tone was set before the event. Someone close to Jared sent me a strongly-worded email about this article, because I led with Pal reaction. A 1-on-1 was dependent on a fair hearing, I was told, ie ‘less Pal views please’. I work for an Arab paper. thenational.ae/world/mena/pal…
2/ In the lobby, I bumped into Richard Attias, the PR mogul named in the Panama Papers who tried to sue me 6 years ago over a story about his summits in West Africa. So that was a good start. He swanned around introducing VIP guests to each other as the organiser of the event.
3/ His thing is bringing together the rich and the powerful for these conflabs of prosperousness. He sat for a long time with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Here’s my face when I realised he was stood two feet behind me. Thanks @MehulAtLarge for the snapshot.
4/ There was an odd mix of people, many with no link to the conflict: billionaires, real estate developers, a 15-yo who had 40k Instagram followers & a banker who was confused as to why he was even there. Greenblatt's team couldn't say how guestlist was chosen (answer is Attias).
5/ One guy tried to pitch to me his vertical farming business. My obvious reaction was “Great! Please continue! I will write about this instead of Palestinian prosperity & the conflab that awaits!” This was a running theme. This was a networking opp. & not about the Palestinians.
6/ As the “conflab of prosperousness” as it shall now be known began, it instantly got weirder when Kushner opened with a speech that promised no politics, and then blamed the Palestinian leadership for all of the Palestinian people’s ills, which…err…made it political.posted by scalefree at 6:00 PM on June 30, 2019 [29 favorites]
How anti-immigration policies are leading prisons to lease convicts as field laborers
Cool.
Everyone who told me I was overreacting can eat me,
posted by The Whelk at 6:19 PM on June 30, 2019 [58 favorites]
Cool.
Everyone who told me I was overreacting can eat me,
posted by The Whelk at 6:19 PM on June 30, 2019 [58 favorites]
How anti-immigration policies are leading prisons to lease convicts as field laborers
Forced labour of this sort is forbidden by a treaty the US signed - but never ratified - back in the 1930s. According to Wikipedia this places it in the company of only nine other states: Afghanistan, Brunei, China, Marshall Islands, Palau, South Korea, Tonga, and Tuvalu. There are also some countries that haven't joined the ILO and therefore have not signed this convention, the largest of which is North Korea.
I don't think it will take long before detained migrants themselves are used for this, at which point the US will unarguably have re-instituted labour camps.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:40 PM on June 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
Forced labour of this sort is forbidden by a treaty the US signed - but never ratified - back in the 1930s. According to Wikipedia this places it in the company of only nine other states: Afghanistan, Brunei, China, Marshall Islands, Palau, South Korea, Tonga, and Tuvalu. There are also some countries that haven't joined the ILO and therefore have not signed this convention, the largest of which is North Korea.
I don't think it will take long before detained migrants themselves are used for this, at which point the US will unarguably have re-instituted labour camps.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:40 PM on June 30, 2019 [21 favorites]
How could you leave out:
21/ Mnuchin also said Gaza could become like “a hot IPO”posted by chortly at 7:12 PM on June 30, 2019 [11 favorites]
Re, labor camps: Arbeit macht frei. The more things change, the more nazis keep springing up like Jason’s field of skeleton teeth.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:14 PM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:14 PM on June 30, 2019 [7 favorites]
Your "propaganda" is my "persuasive argument." And vice versa.
I suppose there's a descriptivist case that "propaganda" is often used to describe opposing speech and that "persuasive argument" is often used to describe speech they're sympathetic to.
But this treads close to saying the only difference between the two is opposition vs sympathy, and that does real disservice to the concept of "argument" or discourse itself.
Anybody who's walked through a geometry proof knows there is such a thing as an argument that is value-independent. Much of human progress post-enlightenment is about applying that kind of thinking. It's harder in the realm of human societies to exact the kind of rigor that you can with geometry, partly because of how comparitively complex people and societies are, and partly because some of the axioms are the values people bring to any social question and those can vary widely.
Still, you can still see differences between the kind of reasoned argument that you can practice with geometry (and partially translate into the domain of social issues) and propaganda. It takes humility, work, and acuity, so nobody probably does it effectively all the time, but it can be done and we shouldn't give up on making the distinction.
It's may also be worth recognizing that some access that more readily than others, and maybe rhetoric treading on the same territory as propaganda is necessary to learn how to do well in order to persuade.
posted by wildblueyonder at 7:29 PM on June 30, 2019 [12 favorites]
I suppose there's a descriptivist case that "propaganda" is often used to describe opposing speech and that "persuasive argument" is often used to describe speech they're sympathetic to.
But this treads close to saying the only difference between the two is opposition vs sympathy, and that does real disservice to the concept of "argument" or discourse itself.
Anybody who's walked through a geometry proof knows there is such a thing as an argument that is value-independent. Much of human progress post-enlightenment is about applying that kind of thinking. It's harder in the realm of human societies to exact the kind of rigor that you can with geometry, partly because of how comparitively complex people and societies are, and partly because some of the axioms are the values people bring to any social question and those can vary widely.
Still, you can still see differences between the kind of reasoned argument that you can practice with geometry (and partially translate into the domain of social issues) and propaganda. It takes humility, work, and acuity, so nobody probably does it effectively all the time, but it can be done and we shouldn't give up on making the distinction.
It's may also be worth recognizing that some access that more readily than others, and maybe rhetoric treading on the same territory as propaganda is necessary to learn how to do well in order to persuade.
posted by wildblueyonder at 7:29 PM on June 30, 2019 [12 favorites]
"This is what happens when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—whose chair, Cheri Bustos, voted for the bill along with other senior members of the leadership including Steny Hoyer—only recruits the most right-wing candidates to run in swing districts. They get elected, they vote like right-wingers, and then they’re swept out of office in favor of actual right-wingers as soon as there’s an opportunity. These people are not just useless; they are active obstacles to social progress. They might as well be on Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy’s payroll."
posted by The Whelk at 12:14 AM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 12:14 AM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
For me the key element of propaganda is that it does not deliver an argument. It attempts to persuade without making an argument. Propaganda isn't a form of argument, or an argument framework, or an argumentative method. The operational payload of propaganda is not intended for critical analysis. It's a bypass mechanism, a shortcut to avoid reason. Propaganda is inherently manipulative.
posted by um at 12:56 AM on July 1, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by um at 12:56 AM on July 1, 2019 [27 favorites]
Propaganda is a cognitive exploit, persuasion by means other than reason & logic. It's changing peoples' minds through ethically illegitimate means. Just as a computer exploit bypasses security protocols to force a change to the system state, propaganda bypasses reason & critical thinking to change a person's mind without their informed consent.
posted by scalefree at 1:58 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 1:58 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
Russia beating U.S. in race for global influence, Pentagon study says
A divided America is failing to counter Moscow's efforts to undermine democracy and cast doubt on U.S. alliances, says the report, which warns of a surge in 'political warfare.'
A Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) White Paper
May 2019
posted by scalefree at 2:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
A divided America is failing to counter Moscow's efforts to undermine democracy and cast doubt on U.S. alliances, says the report, which warns of a surge in 'political warfare.'
The U.S. is ill-equipped to counter the increasingly brazen political warfare Russia is waging to undermine democracies, the Pentagon and independent strategists warn in a detailed assessment that happens to echo much bipartisan criticism of President Donald Trump's approach to Moscow.
The more than 150-page white paper, prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and shared with POLITICO, says the U.S. is still underestimating the scope of Russia's aggression, which includes the use of propaganda and disinformation to sway public opinion across Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. The study also points to the dangers of a growing alignment between Russia and China, which share a fear of the United States' international alliances and an affinity for "authoritarian stability."
Its authors contend that disarray at home is hampering U.S. efforts to respond — saying America lacks the kind of compelling “story” it used to win the Cold War.
The study doesn't offer any criticisms of Trump, but it comes amid continued chaffing by security hawks in both parties who have objected to the president's repeated slights at U.S. alliances in Europe and Asia, public affection for authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, and his habit of scoffing at the evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. A grinning Trump added to that pattern Friday in Osaka, Japan, where he got a chuckle out of Putin by admonishing him, "Don't meddle in the election, president."
In interviews with POLITICO, other Russia watchers supported the report's warnings that the U.S. needs to up its game.
"Russia is attacking Western institutions in ways more shrewd and strategically discreet than many realize,” said Natalia Arno, president of the Free Russia Foundation, an anti-Putin Washington think tank that recently completed its own study of Russian efforts to undermine the West. “The attacks may seem more subtle and craftier, but they are every bit as destructive as governments are influenced, laws are changed, legal decisions are undermined, law enforcement is thwarted and military intervention is disguised."
"In this environment, economic competition, influence campaigns, paramilitary actions, cyber intrusions, and political warfare will likely become more prevalent," writes Navy Rear Adm. Jeffrey Czerewko, the Joint Chiefs' deputy director for global operations, in the preface to the report. "Such confrontations increase the risk of misperception and miscalculation, between powers with significant military strength, which may then increase the risk of armed conflict."
The Pentagon paper, which has not been widely disseminated, assesses Russia's intentions in an attempt to understand what drives its strategy, outlines a range of malign activities attributed to Russia in regions as diverse as Africa and the Arctic and lays out ways the United States could strengthen its response. Among other steps, it recommends that the State Department spearhead more aggressive "influence operations," including sowing divisions between Russia and China.Here's the report itself: Russian Strategic Intentions
A Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) White Paper
May 2019
posted by scalefree at 2:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
Putin talks Trump ahead of first official meeting since Helsinki
posted by scalefree at 2:20 AM on July 1, 2019
In a matter of hours, President Trump will sit down with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Osaka, Japan at the G-20 summit.
Between the lines: Trump, who has said he hopes to improve relations with Russia now that the Mueller investigation is over, told reporters before setting off that what he says to Putin is "none of your business." The ghost of their disastrous press conference last year in Helsinki still lingers.
Putin recently lamented that there are institutional "restraints" keeping Trump from normalizing ties.
Asked about Trump in a lengthy interview, published on Thursday, with the FT's Lionel Barber and Henry Foy, Putin expressed both approval and bewilderment.It's Putin so everything has to be interpreted through a skeptical lens. He discusses Trump, global immigration, Western liberalism, Syria, China, Venezuela & the end of his own rule over Russia in 2024. Full interview transcript is unfortunately behind a FT paywall.
posted by scalefree at 2:20 AM on July 1, 2019
@RichardEngel
posted by scalefree at 2:29 AM on July 1, 2019 [41 favorites]
The highest-ranking North Korean defector in decades told me Kim Jong UN likes President Trump because he’s not “moral,” and doesn't judge."All previous US presidents so far have been very moral and they paid great attention on the America’s moral image," he said of Trump.Most sensible thing I've read on the whole situation.
posted by scalefree at 2:29 AM on July 1, 2019 [41 favorites]
An interesting & I think useful way to frame the Trump Doctrine, such as it is.
@rolandscahill
@rolandscahill
If Osama bin Laden was still alive, Trump would invite him to brunchposted by scalefree at 2:32 AM on July 1, 2019 [36 favorites]
How anti-immigration policies are leading prisons to lease convicts as field laborers
Cool.
Everyone who told me I was overreacting can eat me,
posted by The Whelk at 6:19 PM on June 30 [26 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Wow. I knew it was bad. This is worse.
posted by mumimor at 2:48 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
The higher demand for labor may be new, but it's not as if this came out of nowhere. The Atlantic's documentary on Angola came out in 2015: "In a sense, slavery never ended at Angola; it was reinvented."
posted by zachlipton at 2:58 AM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:58 AM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
The WaPo has an extensive profile of George Papadopoulos’ Russian intelligence contact: ‘The enigma of the entire Mueller probe’: Focus on origins of Russian investigation puts spotlight on Maltese professor
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
With Attorney General William P. Barr’s review of the counterintelligence investigation underway, the origins of the inquiry itself are now in the spotlight — and with them, the role of Mifsud, a little-known figure.Since his release from prison, Papadopoulos has been trying to portray Mifsud as a “counterintelligence trap”, and both Fox News and William Barr have bought into this conspiracy theory.
In Mifsud’s absence, a number of President Trump’s allies and advisers have been floating a provocative theory: that the Maltese professor was a Western intelligence plant.
Seizing on the vacuum of information about him, they have promoted the idea that he was working for the FBI, CIA or possibly British or Italian intelligence, citing exaggerated and at times distorted details about his life.[…]
Such a notion runs counter to the description of Mifsud in the Mueller report, which states Mifsud “had connections to Russia” and “maintained various Russian contacts,” including a former employee of the Internet Research Agency, the Russian organization that carried out a social media disinformation campaign in 2016.[…]
Officials familiar with U.S. intelligence reports told The Post that Mifsud had been identified by intelligence agencies as a potential Russian agent before he met Papadopoulos, an assessment drawn from reporting collected over several years.
An examination of Mifsud’s activities also shows that he began forging ties in Russia years earlier — and that he was working to expand his network in that country around the same time he met Papadopoulos in 2016, including by trying to broker new academic deals with a powerful Russian state university.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
The guy who wasn't invited along has opinions about North Korea.
@AmbJohnBolton
@AmbJohnBolton
I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to “settle for a nuclear freeze by NK.” This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President. There should be consequences.
In New Talks, U.S. May Settle for a Nuclear Freeze by North Koreaposted by scalefree at 4:59 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
The guy who wasn't invited along has opinions about North Korea.
@AmbJohnBolton
Truly, the twitter presidency.
posted by mumimor at 5:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
@AmbJohnBolton
Truly, the twitter presidency.
posted by mumimor at 5:07 AM on July 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
DHS warned in May of border station conditions so bad agents feared riots
The findings counter the statement by a top Trump admin official that reports of poor conditions for migrants at border stations were “unsubstantiated.”
For comparison here's the CBP standards guide for detainee treatment, from 2015: US Customs & Border Protection: National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention & Search. Basically it's a list of all the things they're not doing.
posted by scalefree at 6:04 AM on July 1, 2019 [27 favorites]
The findings counter the statement by a top Trump admin official that reports of poor conditions for migrants at border stations were “unsubstantiated.”
WASHINGTON — The government’s own internal watchdog warned as far back as May that conditions at an El Paso, Texas, border station were so bad that border agents were arming themselves against possible riots, countering Friday’s assertion by a top Trump administration official that reports of poor conditions for migrants were “unsubstantiated.”
In an internal report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General and obtained by NBC News, inspectors noted during a May 7 tour of a border station in the El Paso sector that only four showers were available for 756 immigrants, over half of the immigrants were being held outside, and immigrants inside were being kept in cells maxed at over five times their capacity.
Border agents remained armed in holding areas because they were worried about the potential for unrest, the report said.
A cell meant for a maximum of 35 held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep. Temperatures in the cells reached over 80 degrees, the report said.
"With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks," the report said.
Medical concerns were also rising during early May, the report found. Agents reported taking sick migrants to the hospital five times a day, treating 75 immigrants for lice in a single day and trying to quarantine outbreaks of flu, chickenpox and scabies.Here's the actual report. DHS OIG: Concerns about ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Four Detention Facilities. It's really quite horrifying.
For comparison here's the CBP standards guide for detainee treatment, from 2015: US Customs & Border Protection: National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention & Search. Basically it's a list of all the things they're not doing.
posted by scalefree at 6:04 AM on July 1, 2019 [27 favorites]
This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President. There should be consequences.
In New Talks, U.S. May Settle for a Nuclear Freeze by North Korea
In publicly castigating the NYT for this story about the leaked idea of a "nuclear freeze", Bolton conveniently omits that his side was leaking to them as well:
And before he started tweeting, @realDonaldTrump was congratulating himself on "a wonderful meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un. Stood on the soil of North Korea, an important statement for all, and a great honor!" That must have infuriated the exiled Bolton (and it's weird that the Washington Times appears to have yanked an exclusive interview with his ally Pompeo—"Trump's 'unconventional' diplomacy opens doors, Pompeo says").
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:14 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
In New Talks, U.S. May Settle for a Nuclear Freeze by North Korea
In publicly castigating the NYT for this story about the leaked idea of a "nuclear freeze", Bolton conveniently omits that his side was leaking to them as well:
But a senior United States official involved in North Korean policy said there was no way to know if North Korea would agree to this. In the past, he said, its negotiators have insisted that only Mr. Kim himself could define what dismantling Yongbyon meant.It would be just like Bolton to leak to the NYC anonymously and then complain publicly.
To make any deal work, the North would have to agree to include many facilities around the country, among them a covert site called Kangson, which is outside Yongbyon and is where American and South Korean intelligence agencies believe the country is still producing uranium fuel.
And before he started tweeting, @realDonaldTrump was congratulating himself on "a wonderful meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un. Stood on the soil of North Korea, an important statement for all, and a great honor!" That must have infuriated the exiled Bolton (and it's weird that the Washington Times appears to have yanked an exclusive interview with his ally Pompeo—"Trump's 'unconventional' diplomacy opens doors, Pompeo says").
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:14 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Three more companies ripe for shaming, lobbying against, protesting, etc. From Judd Legum, founder and former editor of ThinkProgress, now a one-person news operation called Popular Information:
A review by Popular Information of federal contracting databases reveals that Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have inked over $175 million in contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since Trump took office.
These companies have continued to profit from Trump's anti-immigrant crackdown over the protests of many of their employees. The companies have gotten more business after McKinsey, one of the largest consulting firms, announced last year it would no longer do business with ICE.
Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen promotes himself and his company as a champion of refugees. ... The details of Deloitte's work with ICE is mostly opaque. But Deloitte signed over $4 million in contracts which directly involved "detention compliance and removals." The rest of the contracts relate to "mission support" in Washington, Orlando, and Dallas.
Cannot help but notice that exploiting/creating/cashing in on human suffering has become vital to the bottom line for way too many fucking companies.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:18 AM on July 1, 2019 [18 favorites]
A review by Popular Information of federal contracting databases reveals that Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have inked over $175 million in contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since Trump took office.
These companies have continued to profit from Trump's anti-immigrant crackdown over the protests of many of their employees. The companies have gotten more business after McKinsey, one of the largest consulting firms, announced last year it would no longer do business with ICE.
Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen promotes himself and his company as a champion of refugees. ... The details of Deloitte's work with ICE is mostly opaque. But Deloitte signed over $4 million in contracts which directly involved "detention compliance and removals." The rest of the contracts relate to "mission support" in Washington, Orlando, and Dallas.
Cannot help but notice that exploiting/creating/cashing in on human suffering has become vital to the bottom line for way too many fucking companies.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:18 AM on July 1, 2019 [18 favorites]
Trump asks for military tanks on the Mall as part of grandiose July Fourth event
posted by scalefree at 6:21 AM on July 1, 2019 [32 favorites]
National Park Service acting director P. Daniel Smith faces plenty of looming priorities this summer, from an $11 billion backlog in maintenance needs to natural disasters like the recent wildfire damage to Big Bend Park.
But in recent days, another issue has competed for Smith’s attention: how to satisfy President Trump’s request to station tanks or other armored military vehicles on the Mall for his planned Fourth of July address to the nation.
The ongoing negotiations over whether to use massive military hardware, such as Abrams tanks or Bradley Fighting Vehicles , as a prop for Trump’s “Salute to America” is just one of many unfinished details when it comes to the celebration planned for Thursday, according to several people briefed on the plan, who requested anonymity to speak frankly.
White House officials intend to give out tickets for attendees to sit in a VIP section and watch Trump’s speech, but did not develop a distribution system before much of the staff left for Asia last week, according to two administration officials. Officials are also still working on other key crowd management details, such as how to get attendees through magnetometers in an orderly fashion.
Traditionally, major gatherings on the Mall, including inauguration festivities and a jubilee commemorating the start of a new millennium, have featured a designated event producer. But in this case, the producer is the president himself.
Trump has demonstrated an unusual level of interest in this year’s Independence Day observance, according to three senior administration officials. He has received regular briefings about it from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, according to the people briefed on the plan, and has weighed in on everything from how the pyrotechnics should be launched to how the military should be honored.This is pure Trump. He's a child with wandering attention, dithering over details & leaving everything half finished. And now he wants to tear up Pennsylvania Ave with tank treads. All to honor himself. All glory to the Beast! When does he build the temple with his graven image on the altar? All this time evangelicals were expecting a sinister genius with a master plan. Should've been looking for an attention-starved idiot.
posted by scalefree at 6:21 AM on July 1, 2019 [32 favorites]
They say a picture's worth a thousand words. Here's 18 of them, taken a couple weeks ago, presumably from a drone hovering just offsite. Words that come to mind: "squalid", "overcrowded" & "I may just vomit." U.S. Border Patrol migrant camp from above
posted by scalefree at 6:32 AM on July 1, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 6:32 AM on July 1, 2019 [30 favorites]
A riot in one of these camps would serve as yet more evidence of the atrocious conditions... and will be exploited, as much as possible, by the regime and its fascist parrots. "Now we're asked to sympathize who didn't just illegally enter, but acted with violence toward our border agents".
It's similar to the point Alexandra Erin made a while back that if part of "the wall" is built and then cirumvented, the photos of the ladders and holes cut will be used not as evidence of a wall's failure, but the impossibility of meeting the "threat" of migration halfway. "We made a wall and they breached it; we gave them a place to stay and they rioted."
This is the natural endpoint of concepts like "illegal" as a noun to set aside a class of lawbreakers as seperate from bank robbers, drunk drivers, murderers, money launderers. Reasonable people can discuss just how open or closed American immigration policy should be... but the creeping rhetoric has managed to establish, on the right wing, a sense that 100% closed borders is the only "reasonble" point and everything short of that is a concession which, in turn, is regarded as failure every time yet another one of the "wrong" sort of people joins the American Dream.
Today's immigration hawks defending the concentration camps are like a cannibal who reacts to all those snowflakes' logic-devoid, over-emotional anti-cannibal arguments with "What am I supposed to do, starve?"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:45 AM on July 1, 2019 [30 favorites]
It's similar to the point Alexandra Erin made a while back that if part of "the wall" is built and then cirumvented, the photos of the ladders and holes cut will be used not as evidence of a wall's failure, but the impossibility of meeting the "threat" of migration halfway. "We made a wall and they breached it; we gave them a place to stay and they rioted."
This is the natural endpoint of concepts like "illegal" as a noun to set aside a class of lawbreakers as seperate from bank robbers, drunk drivers, murderers, money launderers. Reasonable people can discuss just how open or closed American immigration policy should be... but the creeping rhetoric has managed to establish, on the right wing, a sense that 100% closed borders is the only "reasonble" point and everything short of that is a concession which, in turn, is regarded as failure every time yet another one of the "wrong" sort of people joins the American Dream.
Today's immigration hawks defending the concentration camps are like a cannibal who reacts to all those snowflakes' logic-devoid, over-emotional anti-cannibal arguments with "What am I supposed to do, starve?"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:45 AM on July 1, 2019 [30 favorites]
"The Long Southern Strategy": How Southern white women drove the GOP to Donald Trump (Paul Rosenberg, Salon)
Political scientist Angie Maxwell [author of "The Long Southern Strategy"] on how the anti-feminist movement and the Baptist church drove the GOP right […]posted by ZeusHumms at 8:05 AM on July 1, 2019 [27 favorites]
So what's the message people should take away from your book going forward?
I think we have some myths that have made us assess the landscape incorrectly. That myth of the gender gap is huge. There are different coalitions that if you’re a progressive need to be built, but if you think you're going to win white women voters over, it's a mistake. Our belief that evangelicals would not vote for someone like Trump who has been divorced twice. False! Our myth that we’re in this post-racial America. That's pretty obviously false, right now, but there was some belief in that, and that still motivated people in really deep places.
And just the fact that Trump is not an anomaly. He is the culmination of the backlash against the fight for rights and liberties for women, for Latinos and African Americans, for religious freedom and expression and diversity of the '60s and '70s. He's the culmination of that, or he’s the product of a really long counterrevolution.
Cop with far-right slogan tattoos and shaved head arresting Jewish protestors holding a "NEVER AGAIN IS NOW" sign
It's just going to get more on-the-nose from here on out, folks
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:09 AM on July 1, 2019 [53 favorites]
It's just going to get more on-the-nose from here on out, folks
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:09 AM on July 1, 2019 [53 favorites]
I can’t make out that tattoo, what’s it say?
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:15 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:15 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's a MOLON LABE tattoo with a spartan helmet (in theory a "pro-2nd amendment" combo, in practice entirely cryptofascist)
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
The Courts Won’t End Gerrymandering. Eric Holder Has a Plan to Fix It Without Them. (Ari Berman, Mother Jones)
While Democrats are fixated on 2020, Holder is fighting for fairer maps in 2021 and beyond. […]posted by ZeusHumms at 8:34 AM on July 1, 2019 [18 favorites]
“There is a direct connection between gerrymandering and voter suppression, not only here in Wisconsin but in places around the country,” Holder said. […]
Democratic strategists working on down-ballot races say the presidential campaign is siphoning away resources.
Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes:
The three-year-old group, which has roughly 9,500 members, shared derogatory comments about Latina lawmakers who plan to visit a controversial Texas detention facility on Monday, calling them “scum buckets” and “hoes.” (Propublica)
posted by The Whelk at 9:49 AM on July 1, 2019 [25 favorites]
The three-year-old group, which has roughly 9,500 members, shared derogatory comments about Latina lawmakers who plan to visit a controversial Texas detention facility on Monday, calling them “scum buckets” and “hoes.” (Propublica)
posted by The Whelk at 9:49 AM on July 1, 2019 [25 favorites]
For anyone who hasn't watched "Years and Years" yet (BBC, HBO), it's amazing how quickly some of the show's dystopian predictions for five or ten years or longer from now are already coming true.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:51 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:51 AM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
Let’s go to the BBC’s Parham Ghobadi with the video: “Ivanka Trump appears to be trying to get involved in a talk among Macron, May, Trudeau and Lagarde (IMF head). The video is released by French Presidential palace.”
But that's not all…
WaPo: ‘Surreal’: Ivanka Trump Plays A Prominent Role In Her Father’s Historic Korea Trip
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on July 1, 2019 [29 favorites]
But that's not all…
WaPo: ‘Surreal’: Ivanka Trump Plays A Prominent Role In Her Father’s Historic Korea Trip
Previously, at the Group of 20 economic summit in Japan, Ivanka Trump was everywhere — at her father’s side at times when other leaders’ spouses were present (first lady Melania Trump skipped the trip), in meetings where her presence puzzled other participants, and even giving an awkward video “readout” of Trump’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[…]Although Ivanka's been travelling with her cognitively impaired father mainly in a caregiver's role, she's trying to burnish her reputation in preparation for her own political ambitions. Fortunately, she's not much brighter than her siblings.
The gray area she occupies — family, employee, envoy, advocate — frequently overlaps with the work of career diplomats. But her unfamiliarity with some elements of diplomacy were on display on this trip, including when she pronounced India a “critical ally.” It is a partner in many areas, but U.S. diplomats avoid the higher terminology of ally.
Mostly, her prominence on a major foreign trip sends a message about who other countries should listen to or court, said Christopher R. Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and other nations.
“It looks to the rest of the world like we have a kind of a constitutional monarchy,” said Hill, who oversaw nuclear talks with North Korea at the close of the George W. Bush administration.
“It’s increasingly problematic in terms of our credibility,” Hill said. “It says to our allies, to everyone we do business with, that the only people who matter are Trump and his family members.”[…]
Ivanka Trump worked the room at a meeting of South Korean business leaders on Saturday, with cameras catching the smiling interactions. Pompeo did not attend. She remained in the front row at Trump’s news conference in Seoul, nodding in agreement as the president spoke, after Pompeo ducked out minutes into the event.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on July 1, 2019 [29 favorites]
I'm going out to stock up on popcorn already. Team Trump’s Game Plan to Destroy Mueller: Hound Him About ‘FBI Lovers’ < Daily Beast.
Not that I'm a big Mueller fan, but from what I've seen this doesn't seem very smart on the GOPs part.
"In the Trump era, Strzok has become a conservative bête noire among right-wing talk radio, Trump’s favorite cable-news channels, and the Republican elite, with many Trump boosters believing he and the “insurance policy” hold the key to unlocking a “deep state” plot to undermine, if not undo, the 2016 presidential election.
“If I could question him, it would be respectfully hostile…[and] aggressive,” said Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and another Trump lawyer who rarely shys from trashing Mueller. “How did the Strzok-Page texts and emails get erased? Trump didn’t do that—no deleted texts or emails—and you [Mueller] question whether he committed obstruction…Did anyone review that material before it was destroyed? Who and did they give you a written report on what they decided about the texts?”
posted by Harry Caul at 11:03 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Not that I'm a big Mueller fan, but from what I've seen this doesn't seem very smart on the GOPs part.
"In the Trump era, Strzok has become a conservative bête noire among right-wing talk radio, Trump’s favorite cable-news channels, and the Republican elite, with many Trump boosters believing he and the “insurance policy” hold the key to unlocking a “deep state” plot to undermine, if not undo, the 2016 presidential election.
“If I could question him, it would be respectfully hostile…[and] aggressive,” said Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and another Trump lawyer who rarely shys from trashing Mueller. “How did the Strzok-Page texts and emails get erased? Trump didn’t do that—no deleted texts or emails—and you [Mueller] question whether he committed obstruction…Did anyone review that material before it was destroyed? Who and did they give you a written report on what they decided about the texts?”
posted by Harry Caul at 11:03 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Doktor Zed: All this assumes that Trump won't have driven the country into a recession next year, something on which I'm not willing to wage.
Some signs are already strongly indicating that's where we're heading -- What Just Happened Also Occurred Before The Last 7 U.S. Recessions. Reason To Worry? (Bobby Allyn and Michel Martin for NPR, June 30, 2019)
Reason to worry? Probably yes, plus a potential warning signal from Germany: A German Politician's Assassination Prompts New Fears About Far-Right Violence (Deborah Amos for NPR, July 1, 2019)
Plus Smirking Trump jokes to Putin: don't meddle in US election (in-thread comment link)
Plus Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists (in-thread comment link)
Equals a lot of fear, dread and panic from me. Economic downturn, increased violence from the radical right with sanctioning or verbal supports from Trump mean we could be headed to darker days, with the GOP, under "direction" from Trump, leaning hard into dictator territory to maintain control despite decreasing support.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:05 AM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
Some signs are already strongly indicating that's where we're heading -- What Just Happened Also Occurred Before The Last 7 U.S. Recessions. Reason To Worry? (Bobby Allyn and Michel Martin for NPR, June 30, 2019)
Signs are pointing to a coming U.S. recession, according to an economic indicator that has preceded every recession over the past five decades.
It is known among economists and Wall Street traders as a "yield curve inversion," and it refers to when long-term interest rates are paying out less than short-term rates.
That curve has been flattening out and sloping down for more than a year (NPR), raising worries among some analysts that investors' long-term view of the market is not positive and that an economic downturn is looming.
But on Sunday, an inauspicious milestone was achieved: The yield curve remained inverted for three months, or an entire quarter, which has for half a century been a clear signal that the economy is heading for recession in the next nine to 18 months, according to Campbell Harvey, a Duke University finance professor who spoke to NPR on Sunday. His research in the mid-1980s first linked yield curve inversions to recessions.
"That has been associated with predicting a recession for the last seven recessions," Harvey said. "From the 1960s, this indicator has been reliable in terms of foretelling a recession, and also importantly, it has not given any false signals yet."
Reason to worry? Probably yes, plus a potential warning signal from Germany: A German Politician's Assassination Prompts New Fears About Far-Right Violence (Deborah Amos for NPR, July 1, 2019)
The assassination last month in Germany of a popular, pro-migrant politician has raised alarm about a growing threat of right-wing terrorism. It was the first political assassination in more than half a century, and has shaken the country.Plus frightening/ desperate attempts to stir the base by polling Republicans on if they want Trump or "A MS-13 Loving Democrat" to "fix our Nation’s shattered immigration policies" (in-thread comment link)
Walter Lübcke, a 65-year-old member of the Christian Democratic Union and a staunch defender of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy, was shot in the head late at night on June 2 as he sat smoking on his terrace, according to German investigators. The confessed killer is an avowed neo-Nazi with a 20-plus-year history of violence against immigrants. But experts on extremism and some mainstream political leaders suggest the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party shares at least some of the blame.
In recent German history, right-wing attacks have mostly targeted immigrants. The assassination of a prominent German politician is unprecedented, says Hajo Funke, a professor at the Free University of Berlin who studies right-wing extremism.
"So cold-blooded, so prepared, so decisive," he says. "That kind of killing is a new step and that is what, for me, is right-wing terror."
Plus Smirking Trump jokes to Putin: don't meddle in US election (in-thread comment link)
Plus Trump jokes to Putin they should 'get rid' of journalists (in-thread comment link)
Equals a lot of fear, dread and panic from me. Economic downturn, increased violence from the radical right with sanctioning or verbal supports from Trump mean we could be headed to darker days, with the GOP, under "direction" from Trump, leaning hard into dictator territory to maintain control despite decreasing support.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:05 AM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
The author, Donald Ayer, was U.S. Deputy Attorney General under George H. W. Bush. That's the seat Barr now holds. He's not known to be an alarmist or liberal in any sense.
Why Bill Barr Is So Dangerous
He is using the office he holds to advance his extraordinary lifetime project of assigning unchecked power to the president.
Why Bill Barr Is So Dangerous
He is using the office he holds to advance his extraordinary lifetime project of assigning unchecked power to the president.
Buried behind our president’s endless stream of lies and malicious self-serving remarks are actions that far transcend any reasonable understanding of his legal authority. Donald Trump disdains, more than anything else, the limitations of checks and balances on his power. Witness his assertion of a right to flout all congressional subpoenas; his continuing refusal to disclose his tax returns, notwithstanding Congress’s statutory right to secure them; his specific actions to bar congressional testimony by government officials; and his personal attacks on judges who dare to subject the acts of his administration to judicial review. More blatant yet are his recent assertion of a right to accept dirt on political opponents from foreign governments, and his declaration of a national emergency, when he himself said he “did not need to do this,” he just preferred to “do it much faster.”
Attorney General William Barr has not had the lead public role in advancing the president’s claims to these unprecedented powers, which have come to us, like most everything about this president, as spontaneous assertions of Trump’s own will. To the contrary, in securing his confirmation as attorney general, Barr successfully used his prior service as attorney general in the by-the-book, norm-following administration of George H. W. Bush to present himself as a mature adult dedicated to the rule of law who could be expected to hold the Trump administration to established legal rules. Having known Barr for four decades, including preceding him as deputy attorney general in the Bush administration, I knew him to be a fierce advocate of unchecked presidential power, so my own hopes were outweighed by skepticism that this would come true. But the first few months of his current tenure, and in particular his handling of the Mueller report, suggest something very different—that he is using the office he holds to advance his extraordinary lifetime project of assigning unchecked power to the president.
On March 24, just two days after he received the Mueller report, Barr issued a terse four-page letter purporting to summarize the report’s major conclusions—and drawing one more that was critical—while offering virtually no facts. It was not until 25 days later, on April 18, that the redacted report itself appeared, after a stage-setting press conference by Barr the same morning. Its 448 pages raised severe doubts about the accuracy of some of Barr’s characterizations, and his ensuing testimony on Capitol Hill was an exercise in curmudgeonly obfuscation, as he held his ground while explaining almost nothing.posted by scalefree at 11:19 AM on July 1, 2019 [20 favorites]
Yeah, it's a loud dogwhistle and usage blends into the red, white, and blue Punisher logo spectrum. Basically nazi footsoldier badges.
I'm used to seeing it with the greyscale version of the Flag/Punisher logo, usually on a blacked out tacticool Silverado.
That cop looks like he might have a tattoo with Hebrew lettering right beneath it, which would be some irony, but it's tough to make out.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:32 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm used to seeing it with the greyscale version of the Flag/Punisher logo, usually on a blacked out tacticool Silverado.
That cop looks like he might have a tattoo with Hebrew lettering right beneath it, which would be some irony, but it's tough to make out.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:32 AM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, the Elizabeth NJ Police's internal affairs have been taken over by the county after a racist corruption scandal implicated the former chief.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:36 AM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:36 AM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
Team Trump’s Game Plan to Destroy Mueller: Hound Him About ‘FBI Lovers’ < Daily Beast.
Politico also reports on the House GOP's anti-Mueller squad: Trump's House Allies Lie In Wait For Mueller—Democrats aren’t the only ones in Congress dying to hear from the former special counsel.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:42 AM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
Politico also reports on the House GOP's anti-Mueller squad: Trump's House Allies Lie In Wait For Mueller—Democrats aren’t the only ones in Congress dying to hear from the former special counsel.
Mueller’s intensely anticipated July 17 testimony will bring him face to face with the Republican lawmakers who have savaged his reputation and called him the ringleader of a “coup” against Trump. While Democrats attempt to squeeze morsels of new information out of the notoriously tight-lipped investigator, these Trump defenders are signaling that they’ll use the historic moment to try to undercut his credibility and paint him as a political pawn in Democrats’ efforts to undermine the president.It's not that Trump's Capitol Hill allies are looking to formulate an intellectually cohesive and persuasive argument. They just want to hurl shit at Mueller in order to rouse their base and supply soundbites of the party line on Fox.
“He’s done some irreparable damage to some things and he’s got to answer for them,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert, one of 25 Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees who get to grill Mueller during the back-to-back hearings. The Texas congressman added that his reading of the special counsel’s report did little to temper his long history of animosity for the former FBI director: “It reinforced the anal opening that I believe Mueller to be.”
Many House Republicans on the committees set to interview him have actually supported Mueller in the past, even if they've criticized his Russia investigation; they've sought to separate the man — a senior Justice Department appointee dating to the George H.W. Bush administration and Marine Corps veteran — from the probe.
But Mueller will also face a grilling from Trump's top Republican allies in Congress, including Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Devin Nunes (Calif.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.). They intend to press him on long-held articles of Trumpian faith: that Mueller's team was biased against the president from the start and that the Russia investigation was tainted by inappropriate surveillance.[…]
“The obvious question is the one that everyone in the country wants to know: when did you first know there was no conspiracy, coordination or collusion?” said Jordan, one of the Republicans’ fiercest investigators. “How much longer did it take Bob Mueller to figure that out? Did he intentionally wait until after 2018 midterms, or what?[…] What did he ask Mr. Strzok?” Jordan said he intends to ask. “Did he really check into how biased he was and how it impacted his work? I think that’s a pretty good line of questioning.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:42 AM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "Just left the 1st CBP facility.
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:47 AM on July 1, 2019 [90 favorites]
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:47 AM on July 1, 2019 [90 favorites]
The author, Donald Ayer, was U.S. Deputy Attorney General under George H. W. Bush. That's the seat Barr now holds. He's not known to be an alarmist or liberal in any sense.
Isn't Barr the Attorney General? (i.e., the Deputy AG's boss? Not that that makes it any better...)
posted by AwkwardPause at 11:57 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Isn't Barr the Attorney General? (i.e., the Deputy AG's boss? Not that that makes it any better...)
posted by AwkwardPause at 11:57 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ray Walston, Luck Dragon: "This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
Or like their ur-boss, flaunting norms because they can get away with it. For now.
In more positive news, Renewable electricity beat out coal for the first time in April -- Seasonal shifts helped, but long-term changes underlie the record. (Megan Geuss for Ars Technica, June 28, 2019)
* UK goes a whole week without using coal-fired electricity (April 8, 2019)
* Renewables, led by wind, provided more power than coal in Germany in 2018 -- This comes after the country shuttered its last coal mine (January 3, 2019)
* And farther back, Scotland generated more than half its electricity from renewables last year -- Country beats its 50 percent green energy target for 2015. (Andrii Degeler for Ars Technica, April 5, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on July 1, 2019 [20 favorites]
Or like their ur-boss, flaunting norms because they can get away with it. For now.
In more positive news, Renewable electricity beat out coal for the first time in April -- Seasonal shifts helped, but long-term changes underlie the record. (Megan Geuss for Ars Technica, June 28, 2019)
A remarkable thing happened in the US in April. For the first time ever, renewable electricity generation beat out coal-fired electricity generation on a national level, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA). While renewable energy—including hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass—constituted 23 percent of the nation's power supply, coal-fired electricity only contributed 20 percent of our power supply.This record is big for the U.S., but other countries are farther away from coal, and have better percentages for sustainable energy, as reported by Megan Geuss for Ars Technica:
There are seasonal reasons for this happening in April. Wind power generation tends to be higher in spring and fall, hydroelectric generation usually peaks as winter snow melts, and lengthening days mean more solar power can be fed to the grid.
In addition, people use less electricity in spring, as it's not cold enough to need a lot of heating and not warm enough to require lots of air conditioner use. Coal-fired power plant owners, expecting this low demand, often use spring and fall to take their power plants offline for regularly scheduled maintenance.
Still, there's a reason that renewables surpassed coal this spring, and not in previous springs, as the graph below shows. Coal-fired power plants are being retired at record rates (Ars Technica), and renewable energy, while slower to rise than coal is to fall, is picking up the slack.
* UK goes a whole week without using coal-fired electricity (April 8, 2019)
* Renewables, led by wind, provided more power than coal in Germany in 2018 -- This comes after the country shuttered its last coal mine (January 3, 2019)
* And farther back, Scotland generated more than half its electricity from renewables last year -- Country beats its 50 percent green energy target for 2015. (Andrii Degeler for Ars Technica, April 5, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on July 1, 2019 [20 favorites]
NBC: New study shows Russian propaganda may really have helped Trump
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:08 PM on July 1, 2019 [24 favorites]
President Donald Trump and his allies have long insisted that Russian's 2016 propaganda campaign on social media had no impact on the presidential election.We’re already seeing increased online troll and bot activity after the first Dem primary debates, and that’s just the warmup for their pro-Trump campaigns.
A new statistical analysis says it may well have.
The study, by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, does not prove that Russian interference swung the election to Trump. But it demonstrates that Trump's gains in popularity during the 2016 campaign correlated closely with high levels of social media activity by the Russian trolls and bots of the Internet Research Agency, a key weapon in the Russian attack.
"Our results show that the weeks when Russian trolls were accumulating likes and retweets on Twitter, that activity reliably foreshadowed gains for Trump in the opinion polls," wrote Damian Ruck, the study's lead researcher, in an article explaining his findings.
The study found that every 25,000 re-tweets by accounts connected to the IRA predicted a one percent increase in opinion polls for Trump.[…]
Ruck said the correlation between troll activity and Trump's popularity remained true even when controlling for Trump's own Twitter activity and other variables.
"It turns out that the activity of Russian Twitter trolls was a better predictor of Donald Trump's polling numbers than his own Twitter activity," he wrote.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:08 PM on July 1, 2019 [24 favorites]
AOC forced her way into a cell in a CBP station.
posted by ocschwar at 12:13 PM on July 1, 2019 [39 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 12:13 PM on July 1, 2019 [39 favorites]
Texas Tribune, At a crowded Mexican shelter, migrants wait months to claim asylum. Some opt to cross the river instead. on how metering and the Remain in Mexico policy is pushing asylum seekers toward dangerous crossing attempts.
Despite the risk of drowning or being taken against their will in Reynosa — the kidnapping capital of Mexico — some at Senda de Vida have given up waiting and have already left the relative safety of the shelter to press their luck at the bridges or crossing the river, migrants here said. Some said they have been waiting as long as three months.posted by zachlipton at 12:16 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
Over the weekend The Texas Tribune interviewed migrants from around the world — they had come from Central America, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Cameroon and even Bangladesh. Seven Bangladeshis at Senda de Vida, speaking in halting English, said that they were kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint of everything they had — at least $700 and all their belongings — in Nuevo Laredo.
They pointed to cell phone pictures showing Mexican news reports of their capture and are now penniless, unsure of their next move.
“I want to go USA for save my life,” said Fokhrul Islam, one of the Bangladeshi migrants. “Help us, please. I request to immigration to help us.”
He's a child with wandering attention, dithering over details & leaving everything half finished.
Fabric swatches.
Autocracies are terrifying and yet also boring: the same old gaudy shit, parades, the leader's name and mug splashed everywhere, family members elevated to power. (See also: Jonathan Meades' Jerry-Building.) The typical line in the elite US press that I-1 is imitating Dear Leader shit, but it's not an imitation.
One other characteristic of non-command autocracies is that they don't so much delegate power as scatter it to be harvested from what others do with it -- Ian Kershaw's "working towards the Führer" concept -- and the flipside is that when power is directly wielded, it's often towards superficial shit, the shit they can see in front of them... like micromanaging AF1's paint job or where the tanks go for the parade. (He's going to lose his shit when he finds out the F-35 isn't invisible.)
posted by holgate at 12:29 PM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
Fabric swatches.
Autocracies are terrifying and yet also boring: the same old gaudy shit, parades, the leader's name and mug splashed everywhere, family members elevated to power. (See also: Jonathan Meades' Jerry-Building.) The typical line in the elite US press that I-1 is imitating Dear Leader shit, but it's not an imitation.
One other characteristic of non-command autocracies is that they don't so much delegate power as scatter it to be harvested from what others do with it -- Ian Kershaw's "working towards the Führer" concept -- and the flipside is that when power is directly wielded, it's often towards superficial shit, the shit they can see in front of them... like micromanaging AF1's paint job or where the tanks go for the parade. (He's going to lose his shit when he finds out the F-35 isn't invisible.)
posted by holgate at 12:29 PM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
For comparison here's the CBP standards guide for detainee treatment, from 2015: US Customs & Border Protection: National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention & Search. Basically it's a list of all the things they're not doing.
posted by scalefree at 6:04 AM on July 1 [20 favorites +] [!]
We treat violent criminals and terrorists better than we treat these ordinary folks.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:41 PM on July 1, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 6:04 AM on July 1 [20 favorites +] [!]
We treat violent criminals and terrorists better than we treat these ordinary folks.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:41 PM on July 1, 2019 [13 favorites]
We treat violent criminals and terrorists better than we treat these ordinary folks.
I mean, i think if you wanted to get technical, we torture them too.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
I mean, i think if you wanted to get technical, we torture them too.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes
Propublica adds:
Propublica adds:
An update: Customs and Border Patrol has announced it is launching an investigation.posted by Doktor Zed at 12:55 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
"Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable." — US Border Patrol Chief
We treat violent criminals and terrorists better than we treat these ordinary folks.
So much better that we put them in charge of our government.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:58 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
So much better that we put them in charge of our government.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:58 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
Trump lashes out at New York governor, attorney general (AP News)
Usual twitter storm, accusing the mentioned officials of conducting a witch hunt, etc...
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:58 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Usual twitter storm, accusing the mentioned officials of conducting a witch hunt, etc...
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:58 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable." — US Border Patrol Chief
FWIW here's the full statements by CBP OPR & Border Patrol Chief.
CBP Statement on Private Facebook Group Activity
FWIW here's the full statements by CBP OPR & Border Patrol Chief.
CBP Statement on Private Facebook Group Activity
Statement attributed to Matthew Klein, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Professional Responsibility:
“Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was made aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees. CBP immediately informed DHS Office of the Inspector General and initiated an investigation. CBP employees are expected to adhere to CBP's Standards of Conduct, Directive No. 51735-013A both on and off duty, which states, “Employees will not make abusive, derisive, profane, or harassing statements or gestures, or engage in any other conduct evidencing hatred or invidious prejudice to or about one person or group on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability. This includes comments and posts made on private social media sites.”
Statement attributed to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost:
“These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see—and expect—from our agents day in and day out. Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”posted by scalefree at 1:03 PM on July 1, 2019 [6 favorites]
Also, the Elizabeth NJ Police's internal affairs have been taken over by the county after a racist corruption scandal implicated the former chief.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:36 AM on July 1 [5 favorites +] [!]
Repetitive stories like this confirm my deep conviction that US police forces are irreparably broken to the extent that disbanding them and rebuilding them from the ground up is the only way to fix them. If you keep the same personnel, no matter how many educational workshops and sensitivity training seminars you offer or require, the culture will continue to exist and it's the culture that is the problem. Everything from open racism to graft to trigger happiness to lying and planting evidence to omerta in the face of fellow officers' criminality is embedded and cannot be erased simply. The forces must be dismantled.
We need to look for mayors and city council members who will undertake this daunting task as soon as possible. We are moving toward a dystopian urban scene where police no longer work for the citizens, but rather are their own lawless vigilante force.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:06 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:36 AM on July 1 [5 favorites +] [!]
Repetitive stories like this confirm my deep conviction that US police forces are irreparably broken to the extent that disbanding them and rebuilding them from the ground up is the only way to fix them. If you keep the same personnel, no matter how many educational workshops and sensitivity training seminars you offer or require, the culture will continue to exist and it's the culture that is the problem. Everything from open racism to graft to trigger happiness to lying and planting evidence to omerta in the face of fellow officers' criminality is embedded and cannot be erased simply. The forces must be dismantled.
We need to look for mayors and city council members who will undertake this daunting task as soon as possible. We are moving toward a dystopian urban scene where police no longer work for the citizens, but rather are their own lawless vigilante force.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:06 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
Trump Is Counting on the Media to Help Re-Elect Him—Will They Oblige?
In scrutinizing the Democratic candidates for president, the debate moderators largely restrained themselves from Trumpian fictional frames and themes, whether they are “walls,” “caravans,” “spying,” or even his fantasy about challenging the constitutional law of impeachment. The result was Drudge’s first post-debate headline: THEY IGNORE TRUMP!
Instead, the candidates expounded on reality—American economic immobility, the continued health care crisis, and the climate emergency. If journalists ask questions based on the truth, it will also expose the president’s exploitation of bigotry instead of helping to spread his lies.
This doesn’t come naturally to the media. Instead, they renormalize a habitually deceitful president in return for the perception of access. We saw this again Sunday, as some gloated about a groundbreaking presidential North Korea landing without appropriate context. A historic betrayal of American values and acquiescence to authoritarianism would be more accurate.posted by scalefree at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
From the CBP statement on the ProPublica article (emph. added): "Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was made aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees"
No, CBP wasn't made aware today. They were made aware when ProPublica contacted them for comment during the writing of the article: "ProPublica contacted three spokespeople for CBP in regard to the Facebook group and provided the names of three agents who appear to have participated in the online chats. CBP hasn’t yet responded."
posted by mhum at 1:09 PM on July 1, 2019 [48 favorites]
No, CBP wasn't made aware today. They were made aware when ProPublica contacted them for comment during the writing of the article: "ProPublica contacted three spokespeople for CBP in regard to the Facebook group and provided the names of three agents who appear to have participated in the online chats. CBP hasn’t yet responded."
posted by mhum at 1:09 PM on July 1, 2019 [48 favorites]
Trump defenders are signaling that they’ll use the historic moment to try to undercut Mueller's credibility
I think it's funny that these jokers are planning to use the same playbook that they used on Michael Cohen. That guy might as well be holding a "Not Credible" sign, and Jordan and company mostly whiffed on making him look bad.
posted by diogenes at 1:11 PM on July 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I think it's funny that these jokers are planning to use the same playbook that they used on Michael Cohen. That guy might as well be holding a "Not Credible" sign, and Jordan and company mostly whiffed on making him look bad.
posted by diogenes at 1:11 PM on July 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
What the Trump Brigade have may done with all the bluster is boost viewership.
posted by notyou at 1:19 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by notyou at 1:19 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Secret Border Patrol group under fire for targeting migrants, Ocasio-Cortez (Politico)
Senior Democrats on Monday called for the immediate firing of Customs and Border Protection agents who joked about migrant deaths and posted vulgar images of freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a secret Facebook group.posted by Little Dawn at 1:31 PM on July 1, 2019 [28 favorites]
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), condemned the "derogatory and sexist comments regarding immigrants and members of Congress" and called for a full investigation by the Department of Homeland Security as well as the officers' removal.
"This Facebook group is beyond sexist and racist – it is truly abhorrent and shameful, and there is no excuse for this depraved behavior," added House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in a statement. "The agents found to be responsible for these vile comments should no longer have the privilege of representing the United States of America in uniform." [...]
"It is clear these federal law enforcement officials seem empowered by President Trump and seem all too willing to take his anti-immigrant rhetoric to the next level when they think no one is watching," Thompson said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and the Border Patrol have systemic problems.
Let's go to North Korea & just wing it. What could possibly go wrong?
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s New Press Secretary, Literally Pushes for Press Access
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s New Press Secretary, Literally Pushes for Press Access
WASHINGTON — Stephanie Grisham, the new White House press secretary, returned from the Demilitarized Zone with a bruise on her arm after physically pushing North Korean officials to clear a way for American journalists to cover President Trump’s meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
In a video of the clash, Ms. Grisham can be seen — iPhone in one hand — wedging her body between a railing and a throng of men crowding a hallway. “Go,” she commanded a group of journalists as she held back the North Koreans, opening a path for the journalists.posted by scalefree at 1:40 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
Mental Wimp: Repetitive stories like this confirm my deep conviction that US police forces are irreparably broken to the extent that disbanding them and rebuilding them from the ground up is the only way to fix them.
(Counter)point: recast police as village public safety officer (VPSO), Alaska's unarmed law enforcement (NPR, 2014)
In a video of the clash, Ms. Grisham can be seen — iPhone in one hand — wedging her body between a railing and a throng of men crowding a hallway. “Go,” she commanded a group of journalists as she held back the North Koreans, opening a path for the journalists.
What, how is she with the Trump administration, physically pushing for journalist access?
Some good (?) news (for now?): Courts Order Delay Of Trump Administration's Health Care 'Conscience Rights' Rule (Selena Simmons-Duffin for NPR, July 1, 2019)
(Counter)point: recast police as village public safety officer (VPSO), Alaska's unarmed law enforcement (NPR, 2014)
If things get rough, Myers has pepper spray and a Taser, but no gun./derail
...
This remoteness affects how Myers does his job. He works alone. If he wants backup, he has to wait for armed state troopers to fly in, weather permitting. Given this isolation, he has come to realize that his most important law enforcement tool is his mouth.
In a video of the clash, Ms. Grisham can be seen — iPhone in one hand — wedging her body between a railing and a throng of men crowding a hallway. “Go,” she commanded a group of journalists as she held back the North Koreans, opening a path for the journalists.
What, how is she with the Trump administration, physically pushing for journalist access?
Some good (?) news (for now?): Courts Order Delay Of Trump Administration's Health Care 'Conscience Rights' Rule (Selena Simmons-Duffin for NPR, July 1, 2019)
The federal government's rule designed to support health workers who opt out of providing care that violates their moral or religious beliefs will not go into effect in July as scheduled. The effective date has been delayed by four months, according to court orders.posted by filthy light thief at 1:54 PM on July 1, 2019 [6 favorites]
The "Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care" rule was originally issued in May by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. It aligns with that office's religious freedom priorities and would put new emphasis on existing laws that give health care workers the ability to file a complaint with that office if they are forced to participate in medical care that violates their conscience — such as abortion, gender confirmation surgery, and assisted suicide.
As NPR has reported, the rule also expands the type of workers who are able to file this kind of complaint to billing staff and receptionists and anyone else who in any way "assist[s] in the performance" of a procedure.
Complaints of "conscience rights" violations are relatively rare — for a decade, the office would receive an average of one complaint like this each year. Last year, that number jumped to 343 (NPR). That number is dwarfed by the number of complaints the Office for Civil Rights receives over issues like health privacy or race, sex and age discrimination, which typically number in the thousands.
Several groups sued the federal government over the rule immediately after it was issued. New York state (NY AG) led a coalition of 23 cities and states in one suit, and three jurisdictions in California also sued, including California state (CA OAG) and San Francisco (SF City Attorney). Yet another plaintiff, Santa Clara County in California's Bay Area, made the case that the rule put patient safety at risk, since it gave health workers the right to opt out of providing care without prior notice — potentially even in an emergency.
"If the rule goes through as it's written, patients will die," Santa Clara's county executive, Dr. Jeff Smith, told NPR last month. "We will have a guaranteed situation where a woman has had a complication of an abortion, where she's bleeding out and needs to have the services of some employee who has moral objections. That patient will die because the employee is not providing the services that are needed."
...
That new effective date is Nov. 22 — the federal judge in the California cases made that official over the weekend (SF City Attorney), and in the New York case, the federal judge certified the change on Monday.
HHS made clear in its court filing that by agreeing to this delay, it is not suggesting that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in ultimately blocking the rule. Instead, the agency says, it's a logistical move.
"In light of significant litigation over the rule, HHS agreed to a stipulated request to delay the effective date of the rule until November 22, 2019," an HHS spokesperson wrote in a statement to NPR, adding that the delay will "allow the parties more time to respond to the litigation and to grant entities affected by the rule more time to prepare for compliance."
Trump lashes out at New York governor, attorney general (AP News)
FTFA:
"James is also investigating whether Trump exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans."
That's how you trigger him. Discuss how he isn't really wealthy.
posted by mikelieman at 1:56 PM on July 1, 2019 [47 favorites]
FTFA:
"James is also investigating whether Trump exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans."
That's how you trigger him. Discuss how he isn't really wealthy.
posted by mikelieman at 1:56 PM on July 1, 2019 [47 favorites]
CNN: Exclusive: Democrats investigating whistleblower claims Pompeo's security picked up Chinese food and his dog
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:59 PM on July 1, 2019 [12 favorites]
Democrats on a key House congressional committee are investigating allegations from a whistleblower within the State Department about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his family's use of taxpayer-funded Diplomatic Security -- prompting agents to lament they are at times viewed as "UberEats with guns".This of course perfectly fits the established pattern of Trump admin officials abusing government resources, although Scott Pruitt still holds the record for bizarre wastes of official resources.
Congressional investigators, who asked for the committee not to be named as they carry out their inquiries, tell CNN that a State Department whistleblower has raised multiple issues over a period of months, about special agents being asked to carry out some questionable tasks for the Pompeo family.
In April, for example, an agent was asked to pick up Chinese food—without Pompeo in the car. The whistleblower said this led agents to complain that they are now serving as "UberEats with guns," which has created a buzz within the department, according to multiple Democratic congressional aides who cited the whistleblower.
On another occasion, the whistleblower told aides, a Diplomatic Security special agent was given the job of picking up the Pompeo family dog from a groomer.[…]
Those personal-seeming tasks might be eye-catching, but congressional investigators say the State Department whistleblower told them the bigger issue causing concern among some agents is the question of why Pompeo's wife, Susan, has her own security detail, assigned to her in 2018, even while she is at home in the United States.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:59 PM on July 1, 2019 [12 favorites]
Oh that wacky Trump! He's been joyriding in the Area 51 time machine again, this time to 2014.
@realDonaldTrump
@realDonaldTrump
Crazy Dennis Rodman is saying I wanted to go to North Korea with him. Never discussed, no interest, last place on Earth I want to go to.posted by scalefree at 2:21 PM on July 1, 2019 [16 favorites]
8:34 PM - 7 May 2014
The new GOP attacks on Mueller will backfire on Trump — bigly (Greg Sargent, WaPo)
[…] Republicans are also set to target Mueller with an attack that appears relatively new. I’ll let Jordan explain:posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:28 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
“The obvious question is the one that everyone in the country wants to know: when did you first know there was no conspiracy, coordination or collusion?” said Jordan, one of the Republicans’ fiercest investigators. “How much longer did it take Bob Mueller to figure that out? Did he intentionally wait until after 2018 midterms, or what?”
This is extraordinary. Mueller did not conclude that there was “no collusion.” His report clarified that “collusion” is a legally meaningless term, while also documenting extensive ways in which Trump and his campaign advisers encouraged, sought to profit from, and attempted to conspire with Russia’s “sweeping and systematic” attack on our political system, and then extensively lied about it.
Mueller did not find enough evidence to charge anyone in Trumpworld with a deliberate criminal conspiracy. That is nothing like what Jordan claims. But the monumental distortion that Mueller found no “collusion,” which is meant to imply that he found no wrongdoing or misconduct of any kind, will serve as the foundation for the line of questioning designed to undermine Mueller.
In other words, the Republican line of attack is basically: So when, exactly, did you reach this conclusion that you never actually reached — that no wrongdoing or misconduct of any kind took place — and how long did you conceal this nonexistent conclusion from the American people?
Mueller doesn't seem like a person would would take misrepresenting his conclusions very well.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:36 PM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:36 PM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
Mueller doesn't seem like a person would would take misrepresenting his conclusions very well.
Don't piss him off, or he'll write another secret letter about it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [61 favorites]
Don't piss him off, or he'll write another secret letter about it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [61 favorites]
(Counter)point: recast police as village public safety officer (VPSO), Alaska's unarmed law enforcement (NPR, 2014)
Don't know if you are serious or not, but I'm mostly concerned with urban police forces. Small-town forces and sheriff's departments have their own problems, and may be fixable without destruction/reconstruction, I don't know. But I don't believe this story is a valid counterpoint to my assertion that police forces (in urban areas at least) need to be dismantled.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:59 PM on July 1, 2019
Don't know if you are serious or not, but I'm mostly concerned with urban police forces. Small-town forces and sheriff's departments have their own problems, and may be fixable without destruction/reconstruction, I don't know. But I don't believe this story is a valid counterpoint to my assertion that police forces (in urban areas at least) need to be dismantled.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:59 PM on July 1, 2019
Some good (?) news (for now?): Courts Order Delay Of Trump Administration's Health Care 'Conscience Rights' Rule (Selena Simmons-Duffin for NPR, July 1, 2019)
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:06 PM on July 1, 2019 [24 favorites]
The federal government's rule designed to support health workers who opt out of providing care that violates their moral or religious beliefs will not go into effect in July as scheduled. The effective date has been delayed by four months, according to court orders.I wrote a while back about my OB/GYN sister-in-law's pulling this conscience shit on a patient, putting her patient's life at risk for nothing other than her own emotional comfort. For which she lost her practice (but not her license, which blows my mind). This entitled state of mind that is being encouraged by the right-winger GOP is strictly a cynical ploy to keep the evangelical vote tied closely to their party. That it will lead to deaths is certain. That it enhances anyone's religious freedom is balderdash.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:06 PM on July 1, 2019 [24 favorites]
Trump plans ticketed-access area for VIPs, friends and family at July 4 celebration
HuffPo updates this developing story: RNC Giving Out Tickets To Trump’s Hijacked Fourth Of July Celebration—What had been a nonpolitical, nonpartisan celebration on the National Mall will now likely be a multimillion-dollar, taxpayer-financed political rally, critics worry.
HuffPo updates this developing story: RNC Giving Out Tickets To Trump’s Hijacked Fourth Of July Celebration—What had been a nonpolitical, nonpartisan celebration on the National Mall will now likely be a multimillion-dollar, taxpayer-financed political rally, critics worry.
The Republican National Committee has been offering major donors tickets to Trump’s speech, as have political appointees at the White House and executive branch agencies.posted by Doktor Zed at 4:16 PM on July 1, 2019 [20 favorites]
“He’s going to have tanks out there. It’s going to be cool,” joked one RNC fundraiser on condition of anonymity. He said he received an offer for the free tickets on Friday but did not request any. “He wants to have a parade like they have in Moscow or China or North Korea.”[…]
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and expert on fascism, said Trump’s need to display military hardware is a feature of authoritarians throughout history. “He needs to colonize our lives. He needs to colonize our public spaces,” she said, adding that it was “dismaying” that the Pentagon this year failed to thwart Trump’s impulses. “The military has been domesticated. I think the will to resist him has evaporated.”[…]
Jordan Libowitz, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said that the event could create legal problems if the federal government is involved in staging what, in essence, becomes a political event benefiting Trump.
“This sounds less and less like a government event and more and more like a campaign rally. Since it doesn’t look like the RNC is picking up the bill, this could lead to some serious legal issues,” Libowitz said.[…]
Another White House aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there is not much his staff can do if Trump chooses to ignore a prepared speech and inject campaign-style remarks. “We can only do what we can do,” the aide said.
More on the tanks, this time from the Times:
Mr. Trump said that “brand-new Abrams tanks” and “brand-new Sherman tanks” would be on display on Thursday. The M1 Abrams tank was used during the gulf war and is still currently in use by the military. The M4 Sherman was used by the United States during World War II and the Korean War, and is no longer in active service.posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on July 1, 2019 [28 favorites]
...
Moving and guarding the tanks would require staffing at a time that many troops are at home for the holiday. Also a problem: The Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River and connects the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, might not be able to hold the weight.
One group not happy about the idea? The City Council for the District of Columbia, which posted on Twitter: “We have said it before, and we’ll say it again: Tanks, but no tanks.”
Maybe the crisis with the camps could be reduced if some presidential candidates promised to investigate and prosecute criminal actions as they are found.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:47 PM on July 1, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:47 PM on July 1, 2019 [7 favorites]
The tanks are a distraction.
posted by piglord at 4:52 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by piglord at 4:52 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Maybe the crisis with the camps could be reduced if some presidential candidates promised to investigate and prosecute criminal actions as they are found.
Until the currently in-office Democratic leadership starts promising anything of the sort, the appeal for justice for the victims and perpetrators of crimes against humanity will stay outside the bounds of acceptable mainstream discourse.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
Until the currently in-office Democratic leadership starts promising anything of the sort, the appeal for justice for the victims and perpetrators of crimes against humanity will stay outside the bounds of acceptable mainstream discourse.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:53 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
No, the tanks are the message..
posted by bird internet at 5:01 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by bird internet at 5:01 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
BuzzFeed, Aleaziz, A 30-Year-Old Father Died After Being Detained For Weeks By ICE: The Honduran man had previously been sent back to Mexico under a Trump administration program requiring Central American migrants to wait outside the US.
The death of Yimi Alexis Balderramos-Torres, first reported by BuzzFeed News on Monday morning, is the sixth in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since October. Hours after the report, congressional staffers were informed by ICE officials of the man’s death. Six hours after the initial BuzzFeed News report, ICE officials confirmed the death in a press release.posted by zachlipton at 5:02 PM on July 1, 2019 [4 favorites]
The Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River and connects the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, might not be able to hold the weight.
The Memorial Bridge is torn to shit right now, it's undergoing emergency rehabilitation because it was about to fall in the Potomac before driving a 100ton tank across it. They've torn out whole sections of the road decking and it's down to 1 lane in each direction at times. So good luck with that.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:05 PM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
The Memorial Bridge is torn to shit right now, it's undergoing emergency rehabilitation because it was about to fall in the Potomac before driving a 100ton tank across it. They've torn out whole sections of the road decking and it's down to 1 lane in each direction at times. So good luck with that.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:05 PM on July 1, 2019 [8 favorites]
The Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River and connects the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, might not be able to hold the weight.
Plenty of other crossings. Head on up to Maryland, I'm sure they'd love to see a few tanks driving around.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:09 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Plenty of other crossings. Head on up to Maryland, I'm sure they'd love to see a few tanks driving around.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:09 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Mod note: One deleted; if people want to dig in on the police abuses/disband the police discussion, please just make a separate thread for it.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:21 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:21 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
This is my surprised face.
A devastating analysis of the tax cut shows it’s done virtually no economic good
A devastating analysis of the tax cut shows it’s done virtually no economic good
You may remember all the glowing predictions made for the December 2017 tax cuts by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration: Wages would soar for the rank-and-file, corporate investments would surge, and the cuts would pay for themselves.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has just published a deep dive into the economic impact of the cuts in their first year, and emerges from the water with a different picture. The CRS finds that the cuts have had virtually no effect on wages, haven’t contributed to a surge in investment, and haven’t come close to paying for themselves. Nor have they delivered a cut to the average taxpayer.
The negligible (at best) economic impact of the cuts shouldn’t surprise anyone, the CRS says. “Much of the tax cut was directed at businesses and higher-income individuals who are less likely to spend,” its analysts write. “Fiscal stimulus is limited in an economy that is at or near full employment.”
There is no indication of a surge in wages in 2018 either compared to history or relative to GDP growth. Ordinary workers had very little growth.
The CRS findings aren’t all that novel. The service, which is an arm of the Library of Congress, reports that the tax cuts contributed to a record-breaking surge in corporate stock buybacks, which has been documented by many other analyses. The continued stagnation of rank-and-file wages is visible in monthly data computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Furthermore, the GOP’s claims that the tax cuts would create an economic nirvana were discounted by most qualified economic observers from the start. (“These statements,” the CRS says innocently, “were not supported by most of the published analysis.”)posted by scalefree at 5:25 PM on July 1, 2019 [28 favorites]
Someone should make one of those website of every persons image and name that have died in custody.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:35 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:35 PM on July 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is my surprised face.
A devastating analysis of the tax cut shows it’s done virtually no economic good
Republican tax cuts cost more than forgiving all student debt
posted by The Whelk at 5:39 PM on July 1, 2019 [55 favorites]
A devastating analysis of the tax cut shows it’s done virtually no economic good
Republican tax cuts cost more than forgiving all student debt
posted by The Whelk at 5:39 PM on July 1, 2019 [55 favorites]
Do people still believe the tax cuts were intended to do any economic good, at this late hour?
posted by Glinn at 5:43 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Glinn at 5:43 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
Also a problem: The Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River and connects the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, might not be able to hold the weight.
Nobody does logistics like the US Army, two Abrams tanks arrived in DC today via railroad.
posted by peeedro at 6:06 PM on July 1, 2019
Nobody does logistics like the US Army, two Abrams tanks arrived in DC today via railroad.
posted by peeedro at 6:06 PM on July 1, 2019
8.3m children of immigrant families risk losing health insurance under new rule (Guardian)
The “public charge rule”, proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in September, would require immigration officers to assess whether an applicant had received benefit from programs like Medicaid, food aid and public housing. The changes are expected to prompt a wave of immigrant parents to remove their children from healthcare provisions for fear of affecting their visa status.posted by Little Dawn at 6:35 PM on July 1, 2019 [23 favorites]
The damning study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), on the implications of the rule found it could prove catastrophic to children who currently rely on the benefits for healthcare and claimed it “violates human rights”. The study’s authors said it would put 8.3 million children currently enrolled in Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) or receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits at risk – including 5.5 million children with specific medical needs. [...]
It is currently not known when the new measure will come into effect, but the report states that over 260,000 public comments have been submitted to DHS about the proposed rule. By law, they are required to review and respond to all of them before the final rule can be published.
The authors concluded that children who lose coverage as a result of the rule, and become uninsured as a result, “are likely to forego or delay needed care”. [...] “Our main concerns are not economic but ethical. We believe that denial of needed health care and nutrition to anyone, but particularly to children, violates human rights. We call on the medical community to speak out against this unjust and unethical proposal to change the public charge rule,” stated the report.
I thought we'd all agreed that tanks in public where a bad thing.
And military parades aren't always safe for the man in charge.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:54 PM on July 1, 2019 [6 favorites]
And military parades aren't always safe for the man in charge.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:54 PM on July 1, 2019 [6 favorites]
Do people still believe the tax cuts were intended to do any economic good, at this late hour?
It's the Official Line of Bullshit, which journalists always take at face value
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:27 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
It's the Official Line of Bullshit, which journalists always take at face value
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:27 PM on July 1, 2019 [10 favorites]
Let's check in on Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson (transcript)...
@ddale8: Trump told Tucker Carlson that his instinct is to withdraw the US from Afghanistan, but it’s tough when a “great-looking, Central Casting” general comes to him and says, “Sir, I’d rather attack ‘em over there than attack ‘em in our land.”
He claims that New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have a problem with "filth" on the streets and that this started two years ago (he wants to take credit?) and claims he cleaned up DC so foreign leaders wouldn't have to look at homeless people and he may "intercede" in other cities.
He also made up some nonsense that Twitter is stopping people from following him.
posted by zachlipton at 8:47 PM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
@ddale8: Trump told Tucker Carlson that his instinct is to withdraw the US from Afghanistan, but it’s tough when a “great-looking, Central Casting” general comes to him and says, “Sir, I’d rather attack ‘em over there than attack ‘em in our land.”
He claims that New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have a problem with "filth" on the streets and that this started two years ago (he wants to take credit?) and claims he cleaned up DC so foreign leaders wouldn't have to look at homeless people and he may "intercede" in other cities.
He also made up some nonsense that Twitter is stopping people from following him.
posted by zachlipton at 8:47 PM on July 1, 2019 [11 favorites]
Alternatively, how about a statement from the press secretary?
posted by zachlipton at 8:50 PM on July 1, 2019 [26 favorites]
The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level. There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms. We must restore the longstanding nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran. The United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.We're now officially mad that Iran was violating the terms of a deal that didn't exist?
Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime will continue until its leaders alter their course of action. The regime must end its nuclear ambitions and its malign behavior.
posted by zachlipton at 8:50 PM on July 1, 2019 [26 favorites]
Sir, I’d rather attack ‘em over there than attack ‘em in our land
I'd like to know who specifically “’em” is in Afghanistan that has the desire and the means to reach the United States and bring any kind of significant attack in any form.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:52 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'd like to know who specifically “’em” is in Afghanistan that has the desire and the means to reach the United States and bring any kind of significant attack in any form.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:52 PM on July 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
He claims that New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have a problem with "filth" on the streets and that this started two years ago (he wants to take credit?) and claims he cleaned up DC so foreign leaders wouldn't have to look at homeless people and he may "intercede" in other cities.
California's the prototypical anti-Trump state so its fortunes mystically wane as his waxes. And even he can't help but notice that NYC hates him every time he visits, same thing.
posted by scalefree at 9:00 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
California's the prototypical anti-Trump state so its fortunes mystically wane as his waxes. And even he can't help but notice that NYC hates him every time he visits, same thing.
posted by scalefree at 9:00 PM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
We're now officially mad that Iran was violating the terms of a deal that didn't exist?
Just because we quit the deal doesn't mean they get out of it too. It's still binding on them; we only quit our side not theirs.
posted by scalefree at 9:05 PM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
Just because we quit the deal doesn't mean they get out of it too. It's still binding on them; we only quit our side not theirs.
posted by scalefree at 9:05 PM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
Democrats In No Hurry To Get Trump’s Tax Returns
New York Offers Up Trump's State Tax Returns—But One Lawmaker Stands in the Way
It's been 6 weeks since Treasury defied the unambiguous letter of the law and refused to turn over Trump's taxes, and Democrats have not sued.
This is what they meant when they ran on "holding Trump accountable".
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:23 PM on July 1, 2019 [41 favorites]
New York Offers Up Trump's State Tax Returns—But One Lawmaker Stands in the Way
It's been 6 weeks since Treasury defied the unambiguous letter of the law and refused to turn over Trump's taxes, and Democrats have not sued.
This is what they meant when they ran on "holding Trump accountable".
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:23 PM on July 1, 2019 [41 favorites]
Democrats In No Hurry To Get Trump’s Tax Returns
any attempt at resistance, albeit weak and feckless < funding child concentration camps
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:53 PM on July 1, 2019
any attempt at resistance, albeit weak and feckless < funding child concentration camps
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:53 PM on July 1, 2019
From Democrats In No Hurry To Get Trump’s Tax Returns:
1. It would force Democrats into a losing impeachment battle?
2. It may push Trump over the edge, resulting in him declaring martial law or something similar?
3. It will take attention away from Democrat talking points?
4. What if no one cares? :-(
5. Don't upset Trump's base. Let's stick to calm, reasoned arguments only.
6. We don't want to end Trump. We want to run against him.
One would normally consider Trump's tax information a potential career ender, yet Democrats are walking away from the opportunity. I can't help but think that whatever the strategy, it's profoundly misguided.
posted by xammerboy at 10:19 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
If he’d wanted to, Neal could have made the request on Jan. 3, issued a subpoena as soon as the Trump administration said no, and then filed suit in federal court a week later, according to Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project, an anti-corruption initiative of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research.What is really going on here? We don't want this tax information, because...?
“If there were any sense of urgency we would have been where we are now by the middle of January,” Hauser said.
Hauser said he suspected that Neal and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are in no rush for a legal victory because it would result in a court order forcing the administration to hand over the tax returns, which Trump might not want to do. Several Democrats have said the Trump administration defying a court order would present a true constitutional crisis.
“My view is Pelosi and Neal are trying to avoid a constitutional crisis,” Hauser said, “because they don’t want to impeach him.”
1. It would force Democrats into a losing impeachment battle?
2. It may push Trump over the edge, resulting in him declaring martial law or something similar?
3. It will take attention away from Democrat talking points?
4. What if no one cares? :-(
5. Don't upset Trump's base. Let's stick to calm, reasoned arguments only.
6. We don't want to end Trump. We want to run against him.
One would normally consider Trump's tax information a potential career ender, yet Democrats are walking away from the opportunity. I can't help but think that whatever the strategy, it's profoundly misguided.
posted by xammerboy at 10:19 PM on July 1, 2019 [21 favorites]
I think Pelosi may be slow-walking all this so things come to a head in the election year. If impeachment proceedings happened now-ish, the possible outcomes are 1) Trump forced from office in 2019, meaning Pence will have a year to consolidate things and run as an incumbent, or 2) everything hits the fan now but is old news (like so many Trump outrages already) 16 months later when the election finally arrives.
posted by PhineasGage at 11:14 PM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 11:14 PM on July 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
That is the minimum excusable explanation for the sloth.
posted by rhizome at 11:27 PM on July 1, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 11:27 PM on July 1, 2019 [15 favorites]
While Pelosi slow-walks this for timing, PEOPLE ARE FUCKING DYING.
So understand my impatience.
posted by mikelieman at 12:29 AM on July 2, 2019 [57 favorites]
So understand my impatience.
posted by mikelieman at 12:29 AM on July 2, 2019 [57 favorites]
House Oversight chairman demands private emails from Trump officials (Politico)
A top House Democrat demanded Monday that the White House turn over all communications sent by senior officials using private email and messaging services — including encrypted apps — by next week, citing a blanket refusal by the Trump administration to comply with earlier requests.posted by Little Dawn at 1:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said his request, with a July 10 deadline, marks the start of a new review of the private email practices of Trump administration officials that appear to violate federal record-keeping laws. The Maryland Democrat noted that he had made narrower requests for information months ago, such as details about Jared Kushner's contacts with foreign officials via text and "apparent violations" by "Ivanka Trump, Steve Bannon and K.T. McFarland." [...]
“The White House's complete obstruction of the committee's investigation for the past six months is an affront to our Constitutional system of government,” Cummings wrote. [...] Cummings suggested Monday that his December request, as well as a March 2019 follow-up, went ignored. As a result, he said he decided to expand the request to seek all messages sent by senior White House personnel via private email or messaging apps.
[...] Cummings' decision to reissue and broaden his request for information appears likely to be met with a similar fate. But he has previously hinted he might issue a subpoena for the records — and his committee is already working to enforce other subpoenas for Trump-related records in court.
The House, on behalf of Cummings' committee, filed its latest brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday arguing that it should have access to years of Trump's personal financial information from the accounting firm Mazars USA.
I suppose there is a bit of a trolley problem thing here. Slow walking now means people dying. Trump getting a second term means (I think with near absolute certainty at this point) many more people dying. At least I hope that's more the calculation than just, winning elections for winning's sake.
On the third hand: fiat justitia ruat cælum.
posted by bcd at 1:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
On the third hand: fiat justitia ruat cælum.
posted by bcd at 1:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
You can't impeach Trump so hard that people stop dying, except in the sense of winning 2020 as a result of impeachment. The actually possible number of Trump terms are: 1 and no fewer, or 2+.
The funding of the camps with so little in strings attached is hard to excuse, aside from the fact that reason the deal was bad is unthinkable: namely that the border agents have zero interest in helping any of their wards in any way, including to stay alive. It's the audacity of fascism.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 4:25 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
The funding of the camps with so little in strings attached is hard to excuse, aside from the fact that reason the deal was bad is unthinkable: namely that the border agents have zero interest in helping any of their wards in any way, including to stay alive. It's the audacity of fascism.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 4:25 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Again, assuming that they will never convict and saying why impeach then is handing Rs a veto on holding Trump accountable. They wouldn’t be fighting so hard to stop any and all investigations and impeachment if they weren't afraid of what it will reveal and holding that vote. There’s a shit-ton of stuff not covered in the Mueller report that could change public opinion and make that vote much less certain. Laundering money for Russian mob and oligarchs for example. Plus a prolonged and televised airing of the Mueller Report is certainly going to be damaging even if maybe not fatal.
And if you think him not being convicted is a plus for him and his campaign, how about not even opening impeachment hearings. “If I did something wrong they would’ve impeached me” is going to echo through 2020.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on July 2, 2019 [19 favorites]
And if you think him not being convicted is a plus for him and his campaign, how about not even opening impeachment hearings. “If I did something wrong they would’ve impeached me” is going to echo through 2020.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on July 2, 2019 [19 favorites]
Impeach one count at a time.
THere's enough to last all the way to 2020.
Confront the Senate with this.
posted by ocschwar at 5:40 AM on July 2, 2019 [26 favorites]
THere's enough to last all the way to 2020.
Confront the Senate with this.
posted by ocschwar at 5:40 AM on July 2, 2019 [26 favorites]
At this point, I'm beginning to worry wether some Democrats will be exposed along with the majority of Republicans if real investigations are opened. Since for me, there are no good reasons to not open the impeachment process. But I'm a foreigner, so what would I know?
posted by mumimor at 5:43 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 5:43 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
Impeach one count at a time.
Exactly! He's literally the most impeachable President ever. Holding him accountable should reflect that. This WH wants to destroy and dismantle everything in gov't? Then everything in gov't should be containing and preventing that. Unapologetically.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [12 favorites]
Exactly! He's literally the most impeachable President ever. Holding him accountable should reflect that. This WH wants to destroy and dismantle everything in gov't? Then everything in gov't should be containing and preventing that. Unapologetically.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [12 favorites]
“The obvious question is the one that everyone in the country wants to know: when did you first know there was no conspiracy, coordination or collusion?” said Jordan, one of the Republicans’ fiercest investigators. “How much longer did it take Bob Mueller to figure that out? Did he intentionally wait until after 2018 midterms, or what?”
Marcy Wheeler, writing on emptywheel.net: Jim Jordan’s Bubble Has Allowed Him to Remain Painfully Stupid about the Mueller Investigation
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:51 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler, writing on emptywheel.net: Jim Jordan’s Bubble Has Allowed Him to Remain Painfully Stupid about the Mueller Investigation
If Jim Jordan, who has been spending most of his time as a legislator in the last year investigating this investigation, were not so painfully stupid, he would know not only that not “everyone in the country” feels the need to know when Mueller finalized a decision about conspiracy, but that attentive people already do know that Bob Mueller wasn’t the one who decided to wait out the mid-terms.[…]The imperviousness to facts is of course a feature, not a bug, of the right-wing news bubble, but Wheeler is going uncharacteristic all easy on the mainstream press that hasn’t done sufficient informed reporting about the Mueller investigation to counter right-wing conspiracy theories or to educate the general public.
In short, the public record makes it clear that the answer to Jordan’s question — when Mueller made a determination about any conspiracy charges — could not have happened until after the election. But the person who dictated that timing, more than anyone else, was Trump himself, who was refusing to tell the truth to Mueller as recently as February 6.
This is all in the public record (indeed, Trump’s role in the delay is described in the Mueller Report, which Jordan might have known had he read it). The fact that Jordan doesn’t know the answer — much less believes that his already-answered question is a zinger — is a testament to what a locked bubble he exists in, where even the most basic details about the investigation itself, rather than the fevered dreams Jordan has about it, don’t seep in.
Jordan should branch out beyond the spoon-fed journalists from whom he got this question, because even in its original incarnation, the question was utterly inconsistent with the public record.[…]
Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure Jordan is going to pose unanswerable questions that will feed conspiracists (which is one of the reasons I was somewhat sympathetic for Mueller’s preference for a closed hearing). But it’s only within the closed bubble that can’t be pierced by obvious facts that such questions are legitimate questions.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:51 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
I think Pelosi may be slow-walking all this so things come to a head in the election year.
I don't buy this theory. If it was correct, Pelosi wouldn't say things like "I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison." That's an argument for never starting impeachment proceedings, and it's a line of reasoning that would make her job harder if she wanted to start impeachment proceedings at a later date. (It's also a faulty argument, but that's a separate issue.)
posted by diogenes at 6:25 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
I don't buy this theory. If it was correct, Pelosi wouldn't say things like "I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison." That's an argument for never starting impeachment proceedings, and it's a line of reasoning that would make her job harder if she wanted to start impeachment proceedings at a later date. (It's also a faulty argument, but that's a separate issue.)
posted by diogenes at 6:25 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
Pelosi is not, has never been a believer in impeachment as a useful process, ever. Period. She has been quite clear about this through the decades. <AP News recap.
posted by Harry Caul at 6:37 AM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 6:37 AM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
6 Takeaways From A Consequential Supreme Court Term (Nina Totenberg, NPR)
1. Chief Justice John Roberts is now the swing vote.posted by ZeusHumms at 6:42 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
2. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh take different paths.
3. Thomas remained the court's most conservative justice.
4. Ginsburg continued to be a workhorse.
5. [Is Ginsburg] Handing off the liberal torch to Kagan?
6. Watch out next term.This term was tame compared with what's on the horizon next term. Already on the docket are cases testing gun rights, aid to parochial schools, employment discrimination against gay and transgender workers and the Trump administration's attempt to end deportation protection for DREAMers, as well as a case involving the Affordable Care Act and likely an abortion case.
I’ve been patient with Pelosi, but this week’s humiliating defeat over DHS funding and the lack of progress in bringing the executive to heel is making me antsy.
I think other patient Pelosi watchers may be feeling the same.
posted by notyou at 6:50 AM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
I think other patient Pelosi watchers may be feeling the same.
posted by notyou at 6:50 AM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
Trump and R.N.C. Raised $105 Million in 2nd Quarter, Outdoing Obama (Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman, NYTimes)
$54 million raised by the Trump campaign and his committees, $51 million raised by the R.N.C.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
$54 million raised by the Trump campaign and his committees, $51 million raised by the R.N.C.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
I’m really ambivalent. On one hand, I’m incredibly frustrated that nobody is laying a clear path for how they plan pursue justice, be it impeachment or otherwise. On the other, I feel like some of the current firebrands like AOC would be making far more noise if they felt house leadership were abdicating responsibility.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:00 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:00 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
I’ve been sending regular Resistbot messages to Nadler. Here's today’s if it motivates anyone to contact their Rep.
“I cannot believe how House Democrats have abdicated their constitutional responsibility for oversight and defense of the constitution and Republic. I voted for accountability and yet you continue to let Trump get away with it. I have been a constituent since 2001 and supportive of your work but I will no longer continue to support and vote for people and party that won’t stand up to Trump. If impeachment hearings are not started, I will be voting for and donating to any primary candidates who will actually use their constitutional power to defend it. The cravenness is disgusting. Do your fucking job!”
posted by chris24 at 7:09 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
“I cannot believe how House Democrats have abdicated their constitutional responsibility for oversight and defense of the constitution and Republic. I voted for accountability and yet you continue to let Trump get away with it. I have been a constituent since 2001 and supportive of your work but I will no longer continue to support and vote for people and party that won’t stand up to Trump. If impeachment hearings are not started, I will be voting for and donating to any primary candidates who will actually use their constitutional power to defend it. The cravenness is disgusting. Do your fucking job!”
posted by chris24 at 7:09 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
I will no longer continue to support and vote for people and party that won’t stand up to Trump
How this sounds to me: "I am so eager to see Trump impeached (and then acquitted by the Senate) that I will help Trump stay in office in 2020 if you don't do it."
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
How this sounds to me: "I am so eager to see Trump impeached (and then acquitted by the Senate) that I will help Trump stay in office in 2020 if you don't do it."
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
Well of course Trump is going to break fundraising records, that's what happens when you accept illegal donations.
posted by rhizome at 7:20 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 7:20 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
The very next sentence I talk about supporting primary candidates. And honestly, he should be concerned about turning off voters from voting D. Because being weak politicians too afraid to exercise their power and fulfill their promises is how you turn off your base and depress turnout.
He should be more scared of not impeaching than of impeaching. He should fear our base not the Rs.
And again, fuck the assumption we can’t get a conviction.
posted by chris24 at 7:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
He should be more scared of not impeaching than of impeaching. He should fear our base not the Rs.
And again, fuck the assumption we can’t get a conviction.
posted by chris24 at 7:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
The owner of Home Depot says he is giving away his tens of billions to charity and to ensuring Trump will win a second term. How do you compete with that? No, money isn't everything, but I do believe you can firehose the people with slogans to the point where you can fix an election.
posted by xammerboy at 7:27 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 7:27 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Trump lashes out at New York governor, attorney general (AP News)
@realDonaldTrump was at it again this morning, which suggests that there could be behind-the-scenes developments with Letitia James's case against him. (Media Matters's Matthew Gertz notes that Fox did not run any news item that could have triggered him, although MSNBC covered his anti-NY rant yesterday.)
This time, Trump ranted about how "People are fleeing New York like never before." before complaining that the NYS AG was harassing the NRA, which "which I think will move quickly to Texas, where they are loved." He then ranted some more about "political harassment" by the state and claimed, "So many people are leaving New York for Texas and Florida that it is totally under siege. First New York taxes you too high, then they sue you, just to complete the job". n.b. Politifact notes that although NY has experienced a net loss of residents to other states in the past few years, "by proportion, and when including international migration, several other states have bigger outmigration rates."
Incidentally, Morning Joe hosted prominent #NeverTrumper Tom Nichols, who observed that Trump lost all three debates to Clinton. Naturally, this prompted Trump to tweet the transparent lie, "I won EVERY debate."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
@realDonaldTrump was at it again this morning, which suggests that there could be behind-the-scenes developments with Letitia James's case against him. (Media Matters's Matthew Gertz notes that Fox did not run any news item that could have triggered him, although MSNBC covered his anti-NY rant yesterday.)
This time, Trump ranted about how "People are fleeing New York like never before." before complaining that the NYS AG was harassing the NRA, which "which I think will move quickly to Texas, where they are loved." He then ranted some more about "political harassment" by the state and claimed, "So many people are leaving New York for Texas and Florida that it is totally under siege. First New York taxes you too high, then they sue you, just to complete the job". n.b. Politifact notes that although NY has experienced a net loss of residents to other states in the past few years, "by proportion, and when including international migration, several other states have bigger outmigration rates."
Incidentally, Morning Joe hosted prominent #NeverTrumper Tom Nichols, who observed that Trump lost all three debates to Clinton. Naturally, this prompted Trump to tweet the transparent lie, "I won EVERY debate."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
What percentage of the money raised will go to the campaign and how much funneled to Trump?
posted by armacy at 7:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by armacy at 7:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
What Nixon’s Independence Day celebration teaches us about Trump’s
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
This week's "Salute to America" isn't the first time a flailing president has tried to transmute our apolitical zeal for July Fourth festivities into enthusiasm for himself.Keep those Nixon parallels coming!
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
He claims that New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have a problem with "filth" on the streets and that this started two years ago (he wants to take credit?) and claims he cleaned up DC so foreign leaders wouldn't have to look at homeless people and he may "intercede" in other cities.
This portion of the transcript is really worth reading. I feel like this is one of the most concerning things Trump has ever said, and it sure looks like he's signaling some sort of federal intervention (or at a minimum riling up his base) against sanctuary cities or against "liberal people" in general. When he's on Tucker Carlson, his audience isn't people who live in these cities, who know that homelessness (or undocumented workers) didn't start two years ago and isn't a new or even worsening problem. His audience is the same as it ever was, people who are being trained to be fearful and hateful toward cities and "very liberal people." Trump is arguing that he needs to "intercede" in cities to "get that whole thing cleaned up." Note that he also says "I don't know if they're afraid of votes" and consider that he could also be signaling a future argument against the legitimacy of voting results from cities.
posted by stopgap at 7:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
This portion of the transcript is really worth reading. I feel like this is one of the most concerning things Trump has ever said, and it sure looks like he's signaling some sort of federal intervention (or at a minimum riling up his base) against sanctuary cities or against "liberal people" in general. When he's on Tucker Carlson, his audience isn't people who live in these cities, who know that homelessness (or undocumented workers) didn't start two years ago and isn't a new or even worsening problem. His audience is the same as it ever was, people who are being trained to be fearful and hateful toward cities and "very liberal people." Trump is arguing that he needs to "intercede" in cities to "get that whole thing cleaned up." Note that he also says "I don't know if they're afraid of votes" and consider that he could also be signaling a future argument against the legitimacy of voting results from cities.
posted by stopgap at 7:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
What Democrats Don't Get About the Republican Party
Quote 1:
"In 2018, Florida voters did something revolutionary, passing an amendment to the state constitution to restore voting rights to people with felony records who had served their time. By an overwhelming 65-35 margin, the electorate decided to get rid of this vestige of Jim Crow, one of many laws passed to keep African Americans from the ballot box.
One might have thought that was the end of the story, but it most certainly was not. And that’s the story I want to focus on: One in which every advance Democrats make is met by unceasing attempts to undermine it, undo it, reverse it, destroy it. Those attempts are a key strategy employed by today’s Republican Party, something their opponents may not fully understand.
When that Florida initiative passed, Republicans did not say, “Oh well, looks like our ongoing attempt to restrict voting rights suffered a setback. We’ll just have to persuade the voters that our vision is the best one.” Instead, they immediately began working on ways to undercut the amendment.
And last week, they succeeded. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislature saying that in order to have their voting rights restored, an ex-felon must have fully paid all court-ordered fines and fees—which can often be exorbitant and difficult for people with low incomes to pay. In other words, a poll tax. "
Quote 2:
"Now let me get you really depressed. There is a strong chance, likely better than even, that if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2020 she will take office with a Senate still controlled by Mitch McConnell and the Republicans. Apart from the occasional bill to keep the government open or to address some issue about which there is no particular controversy, McConnell will allow no significant legislation to pass. No ambitious health care reform, no universal child care, no climate change initiative, nothing.
Not only that, he will go even farther than he did under Barack Obama to stifle the rest of the president’s agenda. Republicans will refuse to confirm any cabinet member who has any kind of liberal bona fides. They will slow the filling of judicial vacancies to a crawl, or they may simply refuse to confirm any judges at all. That, of course, goes for the Supreme Court too. Should any vacancies occur, McConnell will announce that he has discovered some new “rule” embedded in a remark some Democrat made decades ago which demands that as long as the presidency and the Senate are held by different parties, no Supreme Court seat shall be filled. After all, they got along with eight members while McConnell waited for Trump to be elected, and they’ll do just fine with eight again. Or seven. Or six.
Meanwhile, that same Supreme Court—having already repealed Roe v. Wade and made it impossible for unions to organize—will be steadily striking down one action after another taken by that Democratic president, as it goes about dismantling the administrative state and whittling the president’s power down to a shadow of what it is, on the longstanding Republican judicial principle that the rules change completely when there’s a Democrat in the White House.
If your response to this picture is to say, “C’mon, they wouldn’t go that far,” I’d be curious to know what life is like in the alternate universe you’ve been inhabiting for the last 20 years.
The reality for Democrats is that Republicans are never defeated. You can’t beat them in an election or a legislative battle and think your work is done. You have to beat them, beat them again, and keep beating them, because they will never stop fighting."
The worst thing any Democrat can do is to fail to realize that this is the nature of their opponent. Anyone who does will very quickly live to regret it."
posted by wittgenstein at 7:52 AM on July 2, 2019 [66 favorites]
Quote 1:
"In 2018, Florida voters did something revolutionary, passing an amendment to the state constitution to restore voting rights to people with felony records who had served their time. By an overwhelming 65-35 margin, the electorate decided to get rid of this vestige of Jim Crow, one of many laws passed to keep African Americans from the ballot box.
One might have thought that was the end of the story, but it most certainly was not. And that’s the story I want to focus on: One in which every advance Democrats make is met by unceasing attempts to undermine it, undo it, reverse it, destroy it. Those attempts are a key strategy employed by today’s Republican Party, something their opponents may not fully understand.
When that Florida initiative passed, Republicans did not say, “Oh well, looks like our ongoing attempt to restrict voting rights suffered a setback. We’ll just have to persuade the voters that our vision is the best one.” Instead, they immediately began working on ways to undercut the amendment.
And last week, they succeeded. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislature saying that in order to have their voting rights restored, an ex-felon must have fully paid all court-ordered fines and fees—which can often be exorbitant and difficult for people with low incomes to pay. In other words, a poll tax. "
Quote 2:
"Now let me get you really depressed. There is a strong chance, likely better than even, that if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2020 she will take office with a Senate still controlled by Mitch McConnell and the Republicans. Apart from the occasional bill to keep the government open or to address some issue about which there is no particular controversy, McConnell will allow no significant legislation to pass. No ambitious health care reform, no universal child care, no climate change initiative, nothing.
Not only that, he will go even farther than he did under Barack Obama to stifle the rest of the president’s agenda. Republicans will refuse to confirm any cabinet member who has any kind of liberal bona fides. They will slow the filling of judicial vacancies to a crawl, or they may simply refuse to confirm any judges at all. That, of course, goes for the Supreme Court too. Should any vacancies occur, McConnell will announce that he has discovered some new “rule” embedded in a remark some Democrat made decades ago which demands that as long as the presidency and the Senate are held by different parties, no Supreme Court seat shall be filled. After all, they got along with eight members while McConnell waited for Trump to be elected, and they’ll do just fine with eight again. Or seven. Or six.
Meanwhile, that same Supreme Court—having already repealed Roe v. Wade and made it impossible for unions to organize—will be steadily striking down one action after another taken by that Democratic president, as it goes about dismantling the administrative state and whittling the president’s power down to a shadow of what it is, on the longstanding Republican judicial principle that the rules change completely when there’s a Democrat in the White House.
If your response to this picture is to say, “C’mon, they wouldn’t go that far,” I’d be curious to know what life is like in the alternate universe you’ve been inhabiting for the last 20 years.
The reality for Democrats is that Republicans are never defeated. You can’t beat them in an election or a legislative battle and think your work is done. You have to beat them, beat them again, and keep beating them, because they will never stop fighting."
The worst thing any Democrat can do is to fail to realize that this is the nature of their opponent. Anyone who does will very quickly live to regret it."
posted by wittgenstein at 7:52 AM on July 2, 2019 [66 favorites]
And again, fuck the assumption we can’t get a conviction
Conviction is important.
Clearly establishing the facts for the record the short-term goal.
Putting the GOP on the defensive, RESPONDING to the never-ending series of hearings, will easily take from now to the election, and guarantee the front-page is owned by the Dems from now to the election.
And then impeachment on one charge at a time.
Also Chuck Schumer challenging McConnell to a duel on the Field of Honor ( as the Framers intended ) wouldn't hurt in restoring norms to the Senate.
posted by mikelieman at 7:56 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Conviction is important.
Clearly establishing the facts for the record the short-term goal.
Putting the GOP on the defensive, RESPONDING to the never-ending series of hearings, will easily take from now to the election, and guarantee the front-page is owned by the Dems from now to the election.
And then impeachment on one charge at a time.
Also Chuck Schumer challenging McConnell to a duel on the Field of Honor ( as the Framers intended ) wouldn't hurt in restoring norms to the Senate.
posted by mikelieman at 7:56 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Republicans will refuse to confirm any cabinet member who has any kind of liberal bona fides.
What if the hypothetical president appointed a bunch of Republican senators from states where their replacement would be appointed by a Democratic governor (are there many of those?), and then fired them from the cabinet after the balance in the Senate had shifted?
posted by stopgap at 7:57 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
What if the hypothetical president appointed a bunch of Republican senators from states where their replacement would be appointed by a Democratic governor (are there many of those?), and then fired them from the cabinet after the balance in the Senate had shifted?
posted by stopgap at 7:57 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
The owner of Home Depot says he is giving away his tens of billions to charity and to ensuring Trump will win a second term.
This comes from a Fox Business interview with Bernie Marcus, who spent more of his time bragging about his charities and how he didn't know how much money he had. While he said he would donate 80 to 90 percent of his wealth to his Marcus Foundation, he did not specify the extent to which he was financially supporting Trump 2020. Frankly, for someone who was a top Trump donor in 2016, he spent more time railing against Bernie Sanders than talking about Trump.
Fox's emphasis on Marcus supporting Trump in 2020 is pure red meat for its base (and I feel dumb for having watched the interview, which was basically the Fox host sucking up to Marcus and his business partner as though they were grandparents he wanted to make sure had remembered him in their will).
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
This comes from a Fox Business interview with Bernie Marcus, who spent more of his time bragging about his charities and how he didn't know how much money he had. While he said he would donate 80 to 90 percent of his wealth to his Marcus Foundation, he did not specify the extent to which he was financially supporting Trump 2020. Frankly, for someone who was a top Trump donor in 2016, he spent more time railing against Bernie Sanders than talking about Trump.
Fox's emphasis on Marcus supporting Trump in 2020 is pure red meat for its base (and I feel dumb for having watched the interview, which was basically the Fox host sucking up to Marcus and his business partner as though they were grandparents he wanted to make sure had remembered him in their will).
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
This Vox piece from Matt Yglesias is frustrating. A handful of cherry-picked "moderate" positions that were barely emphasized during Trump's campaign do not transform an openly racist authoritarian into a "moderate" simply because some poll respondents associated the label "conservative" with country club conservatism rather than Southern Strategy conservatism.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:02 AM on July 2, 2019
posted by tonycpsu at 8:02 AM on July 2, 2019
Mod note: Couple deleted, let's reel it back to actual currently happening events rather than running off into repeating generalities or future hypotheticals.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Keep those Nixon parallels coming!
The Nazis showed up to support the president and fight protestors in 1970, so there's another parallel for you.
posted by peeedro at 8:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
The Nazis showed up to support the president and fight protestors in 1970, so there's another parallel for you.
posted by peeedro at 8:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
The owner of Home Depot says...
Co-founder. Home Depot is a public company.
But that doesn't alter your broader point.
posted by zakur at 8:14 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Co-founder. Home Depot is a public company.
But that doesn't alter your broader point.
posted by zakur at 8:14 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Grandpa Ken @KenHirsh: At last, @RepRichardNeal has filed suit to compel Treasury to furnish President's tax returns. Not clear yet whether a mandamus action. D.C. Dist. Ct. 1:19-cv-01974
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:15 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:15 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
A very good poll for Harris, good for Warren, not so good for Biden and bad for Bernie.
Jennifer Epstein (Bloomberg)
New Suffolk University/USA Today of likely Democratic Iowa caucus goers:
Biden 24%
Harris 16%
Warren 13%
Sanders 9%
And/but: six in 10 say they may change their minds before the caucus.
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
IMO the most important poll of the cycle was still that December 2018 DMR poll that had more than 1/3 of Iowa Dems saying Biden and Sanders were too old. You keep seeing their votes slip away as newer Dems get better known.
posted by chris24 at 8:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
Jennifer Epstein (Bloomberg)
New Suffolk University/USA Today of likely Democratic Iowa caucus goers:
Biden 24%
Harris 16%
Warren 13%
Sanders 9%
And/but: six in 10 say they may change their minds before the caucus.
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
IMO the most important poll of the cycle was still that December 2018 DMR poll that had more than 1/3 of Iowa Dems saying Biden and Sanders were too old. You keep seeing their votes slip away as newer Dems get better known.
posted by chris24 at 8:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
Yikes, the poll is even worse for Bernie than I thought.
@Taniel
New Iowa poll by Suffolk:
—Biden 24%, Harris 16%, Warren 13%, Sanders 9%, Buttigieg 6%.
AND: 1st & 2nd choice (obviously matters a lot in Iowa):
—Biden 35%, Harris 33%, Warren 29% Buttigieg 20%, Sanders 15%
posted by chris24 at 8:30 AM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
@Taniel
New Iowa poll by Suffolk:
—Biden 24%, Harris 16%, Warren 13%, Sanders 9%, Buttigieg 6%.
AND: 1st & 2nd choice (obviously matters a lot in Iowa):
—Biden 35%, Harris 33%, Warren 29% Buttigieg 20%, Sanders 15%
posted by chris24 at 8:30 AM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
Reminder, in Iowa you have to get 15% to move on to the next round of caucusing. If a candidate doesn’t, their voters have to move to someone who did.
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Even on death’s doorstep, Trevor was not angry. In fact, he staunchly supported the stance promoted by his elected officials. “Ain’t no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it,” he told me. “I would rather die.” When I asked him why he felt this way even as he faced severe illness, he explained: “We don’t need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.”The GOP base will die in agony in order to prevent any alleviation of suffering below them on the hierarchy. And we're still being told by our supposed representatives that we absolutely must reach out to them, and that everything will be normal again once we win this election, we swear.
At the most basic level, Trevor died of the toxic effects of liver damage caused by hepatitis C. Yet Trevor’s deteriorating condition resulted also from the toxic effects of dogma. Dogma that told him that governmental assistance in any form was evil and not to be trusted, even when the assistance came in the form of federal contracts with private health insurance or pharmaceutical companies, or from expanded communal safety nets. Dogma that, as he made abundantly clear, aligned with beliefs about a racial hierarchy that overtly and implicitly aimed to keep white Americans hovering above Mexicans, welfare queens, and nonwhite others. Dogma suggesting to Trevor that minority groups received lavish benefits from the state, even though he himself lived and died on a low-income budget with state assistance. Trevor voiced a literal willingness to die for his place in this hierarchy, rather than participate in a system that might put him on the same plane as immigrants or racial minorities.
The white body that refuses treatment rather than supporting a system that might benefit everyone is a metaphor for the decline of the nation as a whole.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [52 favorites]
'Baby Trump' balloon receives permit for 'Salute to America'.
Slightly older stories saying there are permit problems, so.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [18 favorites]
Slightly older stories saying there are permit problems, so.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [18 favorites]
WaPo has breaking news: House Democrats Are Filing a Lawsuit For Trump’s Tax Returns, Seeking Access to Financial Records
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal is filing a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday seeking to compel the Internal Revenue Service to turn over President Trump’s tax returns, according to a person familiar with the matter. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied multiple requests for the financial records, which the president refused to release in the 2016 presidential campaign in a break with decades of precedent.posted by Doktor Zed at 8:48 AM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
Fox News Alert: Vice President Pence’s plane called back to Washington for unspecified emergency, as planned event in New Hampshire canceled
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:56 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:56 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Regarding the plumbing at the concentration camps, the right-wing Washington Examiner, which I won't link, has this to say:
An additional tidbit with historical parallels: On the same visit, congresswoman Ayanna Pressley tried one of the faucets and no water came out. One of the Nazi camps, Terezin, was wholly designed for public inspection, managing even to fool the Red Cross, and its amenities included rows of sinks that (secretly) didn't even connect to any plumbing. It's not hard to put the pieces together with respect to the visited camp -- no water goes to the sink at all, meaning only the toilet part has any available.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
The agent on scene said the congresswoman misrepresented why a person in custody had drunk from a toilet.That, combined with common sense rather than racist blather, is essentially a confession of exactly what AOC asserted. It is obviously impluasible and disgustingly insulting to say that this woman just "didn't know" which part of that unit was the sink. In terms of PR, that agent would probably do better with the Roy Cohn "Deny, deny, deny" playbook than "explaining" this thing -- until now (and presumably over the coming few days) most of the red-hat trolls were just asserting that AOC invented it out of whole cloth, wasn't even there, etc.
“So this is what happened with the migrant and drinking water from toilet: she wanted water, didn’t know how to use the faucet in the cell, and drank from the toilet. She never told AOC that we made her drink from the toilet. AOC, of course, changed it … This was when she [the migrant] was apprehended and brought into the facility,” according to the agent.
An additional tidbit with historical parallels: On the same visit, congresswoman Ayanna Pressley tried one of the faucets and no water came out. One of the Nazi camps, Terezin, was wholly designed for public inspection, managing even to fool the Red Cross, and its amenities included rows of sinks that (secretly) didn't even connect to any plumbing. It's not hard to put the pieces together with respect to the visited camp -- no water goes to the sink at all, meaning only the toilet part has any available.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:58 AM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
no water goes to the sink at all, meaning only the toilet part has any available.
Which is part of why you build an absurd toilet sink combo in the first place. Cruelty is primary.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:01 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Which is part of why you build an absurd toilet sink combo in the first place. Cruelty is primary.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:01 AM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
WaPo has breaking news: House Democrats Are Filing a Lawsuit For Trump’s Tax Returns, Seeking Access to Financial Records
Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman has more: House Democrats Are Suing To Get Trump's Tax Returns—The House Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department, which has refused to turn over the president's returns.
Here’s the complaint: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6179890/7-2-19-House-Ways-and-Means-v-Treasury-Complaint.pdf
Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:05 AM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman has more: House Democrats Are Suing To Get Trump's Tax Returns—The House Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department, which has refused to turn over the president's returns.
Here’s the complaint: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6179890/7-2-19-House-Ways-and-Means-v-Treasury-Complaint.pdf
Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:05 AM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
Also Chuck Schumer challenging McConnell to a duel on the Field of Honor ( as the Framers intended ) wouldn't hurt in restoring norms to the Senate.
What good is a duel when both men would be unarmed?
Yikes, the poll is even worse for Bernie than I thought.
Not surprising at all, really. Four years ago, he WAS the Loyal Opposition for leftists. This time around, it's not so straightforward.
posted by delfin at 9:11 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
What good is a duel when both men would be unarmed?
Yikes, the poll is even worse for Bernie than I thought.
Not surprising at all, really. Four years ago, he WAS the Loyal Opposition for leftists. This time around, it's not so straightforward.
posted by delfin at 9:11 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Huh, I didn't realize you have to actually pray to the court. From page 48 of the complaint:
PRAYER FOR RELIEF: WHEREFORE, the Committee respectfully prays that this Court...
posted by diogenes at 9:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
PRAYER FOR RELIEF: WHEREFORE, the Committee respectfully prays that this Court...
posted by diogenes at 9:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
Twitter is noting that Putin also unexpectedly canceled an event today.
posted by anastasiav at 9:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
Twitter is noting that Putin also unexpectedly canceled an event today.
posted by anastasiav at 9:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
Fox News Alert: Vice President Pence’s plane called back to Washington for unspecified emergency, as planned event in New Hampshire canceled
VOA’s Steve Herman:
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:20 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
VOA’s Steve Herman:
“There’s no cause for concern” about @VP being summoned back to Washington from New Hampshire, says @hogangidley45.“Remain calm! Nothing to see here!”
We can confirm @VP is in the @WhiteHouse now but unclear if he's meeting with @POTUS. Officials here trying to downplay any sense of crisis and insisting nothing wrong with @POTUS.
From @VP spokesperson: “Something came up that required the @VP to remain in Washington, DC. It’s no cause for alarm. He looks forward to rescheduling the trip to New Hampshire very soon.”
"This has absolutely nothing to do with the health" of @POTUS or @VP, a senior administration official tells @VOANews.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:20 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Four years ago, he WAS the Loyal Opposition for leftists. This time around, it's not so straightforward.
That and also he was basically in a two person race, so he also pretty much accumulated all the anti-Clintonites, sexists, underdog fans, etc. People underestimate how much of his support in 2016 was simply not being Clinton in a two person race. But still, going from 49.6% to very possibly not making the 15% cutoff...
posted by chris24 at 9:24 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
That and also he was basically in a two person race, so he also pretty much accumulated all the anti-Clintonites, sexists, underdog fans, etc. People underestimate how much of his support in 2016 was simply not being Clinton in a two person race. But still, going from 49.6% to very possibly not making the 15% cutoff...
posted by chris24 at 9:24 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
The Independent: Deep sea fire on Russian submarine kills 14 sailors
It's probably this
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:30 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
It's probably this
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:30 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
People underestimate how much of his support in 2016 was simply not being Clinton in a two person race.
Sanders also downplayed how much support he received from Russian online trolls and bots during the IRA's election interference campaign. It remains to be seen how much trolls and bots will be throwing their weight behind him for this campaign.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:36 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
Sanders also downplayed how much support he received from Russian online trolls and bots during the IRA's election interference campaign. It remains to be seen how much trolls and bots will be throwing their weight behind him for this campaign.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:36 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
wittgenstein On the topic of Republicans obstructing all advances, there's this article from 2014. The basic thesis is simple: conservatism rejects the premise that social progress is legitimate even if that progress is supported by the majority.
So it is not even slightly surprising that the Republicans are undermining popular laws to protect their power. To their minds that is entirely moral and correct.
posted by sotonohito at 9:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
So it is not even slightly surprising that the Republicans are undermining popular laws to protect their power. To their minds that is entirely moral and correct.
posted by sotonohito at 9:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
WaPo has breaking news: House Democrats Are Filing a Lawsuit For Trump’s Tax Returns, Seeking Access to Financial Records
Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
I can't imagine a lawsuit that everyone knew was coming and that will take years to resolve in the court system is an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:01 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
I can't imagine a lawsuit that everyone knew was coming and that will take years to resolve in the court system is an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:01 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
This Vox piece from Matt Yglesias is frustrating.
Wow, that's all wrong. First, Trump didn't run as a moderate, he ran as a lunatic with positions all over the map*. Second, he hasn't governed as a moderate, he's governed pretty much as a by-the-book conservative on policy.
Trump ran as an Iraq War proponent who vowed to avoid new Middle Eastern military adventures...
And he's escalated tensions with Iran until the brink of war. And we're still in Afghanistan and Iraq.
...and as the first-ever Republican candidate to try to position himself as an ally to the LGBTQ community — going so far as to actually speak the words “LGBTQ.”
He stumbled through “LGBTQ” during his acceptance speech and held up a rainbow flag that one time.
Vox: Trump promised to be LGBTQ-friendly. His first year in office proved it was a giant con.
Trump’s recognition of LGBT Pride Month conflicts with his administration’s policies
posted by kirkaracha at 10:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
Wow, that's all wrong. First, Trump didn't run as a moderate, he ran as a lunatic with positions all over the map*. Second, he hasn't governed as a moderate, he's governed pretty much as a by-the-book conservative on policy.
Trump ran as an Iraq War proponent who vowed to avoid new Middle Eastern military adventures...
And he's escalated tensions with Iran until the brink of war. And we're still in Afghanistan and Iraq.
...and as the first-ever Republican candidate to try to position himself as an ally to the LGBTQ community — going so far as to actually speak the words “LGBTQ.”
He stumbled through “LGBTQ” during his acceptance speech and held up a rainbow flag that one time.
Vox: Trump promised to be LGBTQ-friendly. His first year in office proved it was a giant con.
Trump’s recognition of LGBT Pride Month conflicts with his administration’s policies
President Trump has been criticized during the past two years for not recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month. As a candidate, Trump made pledges to the LGBT community that no other Republican nominee had made — giving some people hope that he’d be more progressive on gay rights issues than most conservative leaders.* I even agreed with a few of his positions, like reducing our military presence overseas, even though I knew he was bullshitting.
...
But since entering the White House, Trump has rolled back multiple protections for the gay community that some say bring into question the sincerity of his tweet [about LGBT Pride Month] on Friday [May 31].
posted by kirkaracha at 10:03 AM on July 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
Always suspect Epoch Times laying down some strange coincidental blather with VP cancellation.
posted by Harry Caul at 10:08 AM on July 2, 2019
posted by Harry Caul at 10:08 AM on July 2, 2019
And AP News confirms some of this. Whoa. Officials say lockdown lifted at Air National Guard base
posted by Harry Caul at 10:14 AM on July 2, 2019
posted by Harry Caul at 10:14 AM on July 2, 2019
National press secretary for Kamala Harris, Ian Sams, just tweeted this: National Univision poll of Latinos finds @KamalaHarris in **FIRST** at 22% -- a rise of 16 points from their previous poll.
KAMALA 22%
Castro 18%
Biden 16%
Sanders 16%
Warren 9%
Buttigieg 1%
Kamala favorability is 53-19 overall & 66-14 among Spanish-language respondents.
That's good and all, but I wish she were breaking into cages with or without AOC because that was deeply satisfying to read about. Not as satisfying as liberating all the people in the concentration camps, of course. That would be ideal.
posted by Bella Donna at 10:16 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
KAMALA 22%
Castro 18%
Biden 16%
Sanders 16%
Warren 9%
Buttigieg 1%
Kamala favorability is 53-19 overall & 66-14 among Spanish-language respondents.
That's good and all, but I wish she were breaking into cages with or without AOC because that was deeply satisfying to read about. Not as satisfying as liberating all the people in the concentration camps, of course. That would be ideal.
posted by Bella Donna at 10:16 AM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Basically everyone who isn’t a billionaire or politician supports a wealth tax
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 AM on July 2, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 AM on July 2, 2019 [23 favorites]
> Boy, I wonder why Pence is suddenly hurrying back to D.C. today.
I can't imagine a lawsuit that everyone knew was coming and that will take years to resolve in the court system is an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.
Except, of course, that a large part of Pence's brief is to run political interference for his volatile boss—and leaking the news that he'd been unexpectedly summoned back to D.C. helps jam the news cycle.
Say what you will about how overdue Neal's lawsuit is, timing its filing just before Trump's big fat 4th of July celebration of himself is 😘👌
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
I can't imagine a lawsuit that everyone knew was coming and that will take years to resolve in the court system is an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.
Except, of course, that a large part of Pence's brief is to run political interference for his volatile boss—and leaking the news that he'd been unexpectedly summoned back to D.C. helps jam the news cycle.
Say what you will about how overdue Neal's lawsuit is, timing its filing just before Trump's big fat 4th of July celebration of himself is 😘👌
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:19 AM on July 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
The always insightful @AlexandraErin on the VP recall stuff (longer thread in link): Odds are high this is all something very minor. But interesting that Fox News is primed for a huge emergency that would require recalling Pence to DC. ...So my guess is that a lot of the Fox News personalities and higher-ups have sort of braced themselves for the idea that the Trump Train is heading for a crash, so when they heard Pence canceled a trip, they jumped ahead several steps.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
So Neal is finally going to court, great, but presumably Pelosi's logic for supporting his reluctance still remains? The logic, as I understood it, is that impeachment proceedings should be avoided for pragmatic reasons, and therefore anything that might force the Democrats' hand on impeachment should be avoided. That would seem to be a general logic against any investigation into any probable Trump crime, from Russian collusion, to emoluments violations, to concentration camp child abuse, to tax fraud and money laundering. No one is investigating Trump for minor stuff -- the reason people are so up in arms is that almost all of these crimes are self-evidently impeachment-worthy. If they weren't, Pelosi wouldn't be worried about her hand being forced. So this seems like a general extension of anti-impeachment to anti-investigation of all sorts. And yes, Neal did finally go to court, but he's still refusing to get the state returns (as are the other two committee chairs who now have that right), and it's a bit of a coincidence that the filing was finally made shortly after the drumbeat of "it's now July!" started up. So it still seems like we're going to have to drag the leadership kicking and screaming into investigation because they've generally concluded, investigation -> impeachment -> failure, and thus are slow-walking the entire process.
posted by chortly at 10:24 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by chortly at 10:24 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
That is NOT Pelosi's logic. That is someone else putting words into Pelosi's mouth.
Do people actually want Democrats to get Trump's tax returns, or do they just want them to sound angry?
Because the way they have gone about this is AIR TIGHT. The law says:
But you know what would create such a fig leaf? Going after Trump's state tax returns (which are irrelevant to oversight of the IRS.) Or making "the request on Jan. 3, issu[ing] a subpoena as soon as the Trump administration said no, and then fil[ing] suit in federal court a week later." That's not how you do IRS oversight.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:39 AM on July 2, 2019 [21 favorites]
Do people actually want Democrats to get Trump's tax returns, or do they just want them to sound angry?
Because the way they have gone about this is AIR TIGHT. The law says:
Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary [of the Treasury] shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such requestThe Trump administration says they need a "legitimate legislative purpose" but Neal's paperwork is solid on that too. He has spelled out that the purpose is oversight of the way the IRS conducts audits on the president, which is a real thing that Congress really does need to look at.
The president sits at the top of the executive branch, and federal agencies, including the IRS, ultimately answer to him. The president’s power over the IRS creates the risk that the agency will give him preferential treatment. [...] In fact, Nixon’s famous quote, “[P]eople have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook,” came in response to scrutiny over how little tax he paid. The subsequent report from the JCT found that the IRS had, in fact, failed to ensure Nixon paid what he owed. He agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars in back taxes.Given the language of the law and the unquestionably solid legislative purpose, even the Roberts Supreme Court will have to grant the case to the Democrats, or lose legitimacy. There is not even a fig leaf of a legal defense against this one.
...
Congress must still ensure that the IRS is not treating the president differently or leniently, for any reason. The public disclosure of past presidents’ tax returns allowed for Congress and the public to review them in connection with other information about the president’s finances. Trump’s refusal to disclose his returns makes that kind of verification impossible.
Ensuring that the IRS adequately audits the president is always important—but especially so when there is abundant evidence that a particular president has been less than honest in paying taxes.
But you know what would create such a fig leaf? Going after Trump's state tax returns (which are irrelevant to oversight of the IRS.) Or making "the request on Jan. 3, issu[ing] a subpoena as soon as the Trump administration said no, and then fil[ing] suit in federal court a week later." That's not how you do IRS oversight.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:39 AM on July 2, 2019 [21 favorites]
... he's governed pretty much as a by-the-book conservative on policy.
Have you read National Review lately? They would beg to differ.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:40 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
Have you read National Review lately? They would beg to differ.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:40 AM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
We're talking about voters, not people who actually think about what "conservative" means.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:44 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump recalled Pence just to yell at him about something.
posted by sallybrown at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
Chubb, the largest commercial insurance company in the United States, announced a new policy on coal to address the climate crisis. According to the policy, Chubb will stop insuring new coal-fired power plants and phase out coverage of coal mining companies by 2022. Chubb will also restrict coverage to power companies that produce more than 30% of their energy from coal and immediately cease new investments in coal companies.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:04 AM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:04 AM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
Meet the people who profit from our concentration camp system
posted by The Whelk at 11:09 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:09 AM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
OnceUponATime: Do people actually want Democrats to get Trump's tax returns, or do they just want them to sound angry?
Sounding angry might hinder getting the returns. Or it might help; maybe bluster can work for our side like it does for theirs. (Probably not.) It's similarly unclear how much doing everything exactly by the book (unimpeachably, so to speak) will contribute, in any positive way, to the outcome. Like, on some days, I would put more faith in an actual break-in and heist successfully obtaining the documents than I would in the supposedly fig-leaf-free Roberts court.
But... that's the core problem here. I certainly don't blame Democrats for not organizing a heist any more than for not storming the camps with literal guns blazing. I am discourged about the assent to funding them; there's no moral imperative to do so unless you think a nontrivial number of those dollars would actually help the tenants, which of course it wouldn't, which brings us back to the main problem... In all these, the shamelessness is the point just like the cruelty, so I just don't know what the right approach is at all.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:10 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Sounding angry might hinder getting the returns. Or it might help; maybe bluster can work for our side like it does for theirs. (Probably not.) It's similarly unclear how much doing everything exactly by the book (unimpeachably, so to speak) will contribute, in any positive way, to the outcome. Like, on some days, I would put more faith in an actual break-in and heist successfully obtaining the documents than I would in the supposedly fig-leaf-free Roberts court.
But... that's the core problem here. I certainly don't blame Democrats for not organizing a heist any more than for not storming the camps with literal guns blazing. I am discourged about the assent to funding them; there's no moral imperative to do so unless you think a nontrivial number of those dollars would actually help the tenants, which of course it wouldn't, which brings us back to the main problem... In all these, the shamelessness is the point just like the cruelty, so I just don't know what the right approach is at all.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:10 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Or Pelosi/Neal were reluctant to file suit (they took 6 weeks since they were last refused by Trump & Co) because they don’t want to win a court decision because Trump defying that would pretty much require impeachment. There is a difference between dotting Is and crossing Ts and trying to run out the clock. The difference in being aggressive yet still fair and what Ds have done could literally be the difference between getting the returns before the election and not.
posted by chris24 at 11:15 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 11:15 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
they don’t want to win a court decision
Then why file suit at all?
I dunno. I love MeFi and it's my most valuable source of information. And I agree with most of the opinions I read here -- which I usually indicate by adding favorites. I just hate to see all the circular firing squad stuff. When we start blaming Democrats instead of Trump for Trump's corruption, just because Democrats (who control 1/2 of 1 branch of government, and not the half that can remove the president from office) haven't been able to stop it yet, we make it less likely that they will ever be able to stop it. This impulse to attack Pelosi for stuff she didn't even say seems like circular firing squad shit. The enemy is that way ->
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [25 favorites]
Then why file suit at all?
I dunno. I love MeFi and it's my most valuable source of information. And I agree with most of the opinions I read here -- which I usually indicate by adding favorites. I just hate to see all the circular firing squad stuff. When we start blaming Democrats instead of Trump for Trump's corruption, just because Democrats (who control 1/2 of 1 branch of government, and not the half that can remove the president from office) haven't been able to stop it yet, we make it less likely that they will ever be able to stop it. This impulse to attack Pelosi for stuff she didn't even say seems like circular firing squad shit. The enemy is that way ->
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:18 AM on July 2, 2019 [25 favorites]
Politico: Hickenlooper campaign in shambles -- Senior staffers asked the former Colorado governor to drop out of the presidential race and run for Senate.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
I want the leaders of my party to start firing the weapons they have before we no longer have them.
posted by chris24 at 11:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 11:22 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
This impulse to attack Pelosi for stuff she didn't even say seems like circular firing squad shit.
She hasn't clearly articulated her logic, so we're forced to deduce it. Her words and actions lead some of us to deduce that her logic is "impeachment proceedings should be avoided for pragmatic reasons, and therefore anything that might force the Democrats' hand on impeachment should be avoided." I don't think that's an unreasonable deduction. And it isn't unreasonable to be unhappy with that logic.
posted by diogenes at 11:27 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
She hasn't clearly articulated her logic, so we're forced to deduce it. Her words and actions lead some of us to deduce that her logic is "impeachment proceedings should be avoided for pragmatic reasons, and therefore anything that might force the Democrats' hand on impeachment should be avoided." I don't think that's an unreasonable deduction. And it isn't unreasonable to be unhappy with that logic.
posted by diogenes at 11:27 AM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
I sure hope Hickenlooper takes a few weeks to get over the ego blow and then announces he's running for the Colorado Senate seat. It's a purple state and Cory Gardner is definitely beatable. Heck, I might even move there for 2020 and work on Hickenlooper's campaign, what with the fate of the humanity basically dependent on winning back the U.S. Senate.
posted by PhineasGage at 11:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 11:28 AM on July 2, 2019 [31 favorites]
I'd volunteer for hick in order to take down christo-facist Gardner. Even though I detest the upper class know-it-all phenomena.
posted by j_curiouser at 11:33 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 11:33 AM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm beginning to worry wether some Democrats will be exposed along with the majority of Republicans if real investigations are opened.
BINGO
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
BINGO
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:49 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Johnny Verhovek (ABC)
NEW Quinnipiac Poll of the Dem primary, another big jump for @KamalaHarris ***(I added change from last month)***
Biden 22% (-8 since last month)
Harris 20% (+13)
Warren 14% (-1)
Sanders 13% (-6)
Buttigieg 4% (-4)
Booker 3% (+2)
O’Rourke 1% (-2)
Klobucahr 1% (-)
Castro 1% (+1)
Gabbard 1% (+1)
Yang 1% (-)
Regardless of how you intend to vote in the Democratic primary for president, which candidate do you think - has the best chance of winning against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election?
Biden: 42%
Harris: 14%
Sanders: 13%
Warren: 9%
Booker: 1%
Gabbard: 1%
Buttigieg: 1%
posted by chris24 at 11:53 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
NEW Quinnipiac Poll of the Dem primary, another big jump for @KamalaHarris ***(I added change from last month)***
Biden 22% (-8 since last month)
Harris 20% (+13)
Warren 14% (-1)
Sanders 13% (-6)
Buttigieg 4% (-4)
Booker 3% (+2)
O’Rourke 1% (-2)
Klobucahr 1% (-)
Castro 1% (+1)
Gabbard 1% (+1)
Yang 1% (-)
Regardless of how you intend to vote in the Democratic primary for president, which candidate do you think - has the best chance of winning against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election?
Biden: 42%
Harris: 14%
Sanders: 13%
Warren: 9%
Booker: 1%
Gabbard: 1%
Buttigieg: 1%
posted by chris24 at 11:53 AM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Boris Johnson, UK's Answer To Trump, Offers A Masterclass In How To Use The Dead Cat Strategy Combined With A Google Bomb
posted by M-x shell at 12:00 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 12:00 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Chubb will stop insuring new coal-fired power plants and phase out coverage of coal mining companies by 2022. Chubb will also restrict coverage to power companies that produce more than 30% of their energy from coal and immediately cease new investments in coal companies.
This may be a very big deal. Insurance companies are probably the only non-governmental entities with both the power and the self-interested incentive to significantly curtail climate change.
posted by jedicus at 12:04 PM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
This may be a very big deal. Insurance companies are probably the only non-governmental entities with both the power and the self-interested incentive to significantly curtail climate change.
posted by jedicus at 12:04 PM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
Well, the official twitter account of the NRCC already decided to weigh in on the World Cup, and because the Republican party is entirely a trolling operation now, they did it by attacking Kaepernick .
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on July 2, 2019
posted by zachlipton at 12:05 PM on July 2, 2019
I sure hope Hickenlooper takes a few weeks to get over the ego blow and then announces he's running for the Colorado Senate seat. It's a purple state and Cory Gardner is definitely beatable.
Would be on board with this, fully. Gardner is totally vulnerable.
posted by hijinx at 12:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Would be on board with this, fully. Gardner is totally vulnerable.
posted by hijinx at 12:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs reports the Trump White House is continuing to string along the press corps:
Press: Can you tell us what what happened? Why cancel New Hampshire trip?posted by Doktor Zed at 12:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Marc Short, who was with Pence when VP was called back to WH: “There will be more later.”
Press: When later?
Marc Short: "Weeks from now.”
In my view, Hick is not a better candidate than several of the others who are already running for the chance to beat Corey Gardner, but he's probably got more money and name recognition than they do. I have really, really mixed feels about him becoming the candidate for Senate, partly because he's a centrist and partly because of how terrible his run for president has been, but he'd still be better than Gardner and I would go knock doors and organize my precinct for him.
posted by danielleh at 12:10 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by danielleh at 12:10 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
Biden’s huge lead with black voters - a big part of why he was so far ahead - is gone in the latest poll.
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
Key number in that Q-poll: Black voters.
Biden - 31%
Harris - 27%
Sanders - 16%
Booker - 5%
Warren - 4%
A 50-point lead with black voters, like Hillary had in 2016, is a “firewall.” A 4-point lead is not
posted by chris24 at 12:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
Key number in that Q-poll: Black voters.
Biden - 31%
Harris - 27%
Sanders - 16%
Booker - 5%
Warren - 4%
A 50-point lead with black voters, like Hillary had in 2016, is a “firewall.” A 4-point lead is not
posted by chris24 at 12:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
I'm beginning to worry wether some Democrats will be exposed along with the majority of Republicans if real investigations are opened.
BINGO
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:49 AM on July 2 [+] [!]
The first rule of organized crime is to make sure everyone is dirty so no one can be peeled off. I'm worried that the real reason the adults in the room aren't doing anything is because the corruption is so extensive that they fear the entire system will collapse into rubble if it's ever made public. Please don't let this be so.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:16 PM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
BINGO
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:49 AM on July 2 [+] [!]
The first rule of organized crime is to make sure everyone is dirty so no one can be peeled off. I'm worried that the real reason the adults in the room aren't doing anything is because the corruption is so extensive that they fear the entire system will collapse into rubble if it's ever made public. Please don't let this be so.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:16 PM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
BuzzFeed, Aleaziz, These Pictures Reveal How Migrants Are Crammed Into Small Spaces At Border Patrol Facilities: The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General published a report Tuesday on overcrowding at border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley.
posted by zachlipton at 12:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
Inspectors detailed how, when they visited several the facilities earlier this month, they found adults and minors with no access to showers. Many adults were only fed bologna sandwiches, and detainees were seen banging on cell windows — pressing notes to the windows that detailed their time in custody.The photos are horrifying.
Inspectors described the conditions as "dangerous" and "prolonged." Some adults were held in standing-room only conditions for a week. There was little access to hot showers or hot food for families and children in some facilities.
posted by zachlipton at 12:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
Please don't let this be so.
But if it is so, let it come down.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:19 PM on July 2, 2019 [27 favorites]
But if it is so, let it come down.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:19 PM on July 2, 2019 [27 favorites]
I'm beginning to worry wether some Democrats will be exposed along with the majority of Republicans if real investigations are opened.
In the extensive probes that have been conducted into Trump's conduct has there been any evidence at all that has been uncovered to suggest that this is true?
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 12:26 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
In the extensive probes that have been conducted into Trump's conduct has there been any evidence at all that has been uncovered to suggest that this is true?
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 12:26 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
The right wing talking point on Twitter about the camps is that the captives can just leave and return to their countries of origin if they want to. I'm sure this is false, but I don't know how it's false. Can anyone point me to a debunking?
posted by chrchr at 12:27 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 12:27 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
I have long suspected it is so, because the people behind it are not stupid and they would have planned it this way.
posted by M-x shell at 12:39 PM on July 2, 2019
posted by M-x shell at 12:39 PM on July 2, 2019
In the extensive probes that have been conducted into Trump's conduct has there been any evidence at all that has been uncovered to suggest that this is true?
In the words of Lionel Hutz, hearsay and conjecture are kinds of evidence:
When Trump was a real-estate developer, he donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates--depending on how long you think his money has been dirty, there might be something there. There are also a (very small) number of Democrats that have accepted NRA money, which, again, depending on how dirty you think their money is...
posted by box at 12:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
In the words of Lionel Hutz, hearsay and conjecture are kinds of evidence:
When Trump was a real-estate developer, he donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates--depending on how long you think his money has been dirty, there might be something there. There are also a (very small) number of Democrats that have accepted NRA money, which, again, depending on how dirty you think their money is...
posted by box at 12:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
The right wing talking point on Twitter about the camps is that the captives can just leave and return to their countries of origin if they want to. I'm sure this is false, but I don't know how it's false. Can anyone point me to a debunking?
"Most of the current wave of migrants come from three small Central American countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – where migration is driven by a a toxic mix of violence, poverty, food insecurity, climate change, political instability and corruption." (Guardian)
Refugee crisis grows in Central America as women 'run for their lives' (Reuters/Guardian)
Women and children are increasingly fleeing gang violence in Mexico and Central America in hopes of reaching the US, says new UNHCR report
Organised violence is ravaging Central America and displacing thousands (Guardian)
Central America’s Violent Northern Triangle (CFR)
Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and Danielle Renwick
via
posted by Little Dawn at 12:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
"Most of the current wave of migrants come from three small Central American countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – where migration is driven by a a toxic mix of violence, poverty, food insecurity, climate change, political instability and corruption." (Guardian)
Refugee crisis grows in Central America as women 'run for their lives' (Reuters/Guardian)
Women and children are increasingly fleeing gang violence in Mexico and Central America in hopes of reaching the US, says new UNHCR report
Organised violence is ravaging Central America and displacing thousands (Guardian)
Central America’s Violent Northern Triangle (CFR)
Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and Danielle Renwick
via
posted by Little Dawn at 12:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
That's not a full debunking, though. "The captives can just leave and return to their countries of origin if they want to, where they are very likely to be murdered" remains valid in the eyes of conservachuds, because just as with babies once they've left the womb, what happens to migrants once they've left the United States isn't their problem any more.
posted by delfin at 12:51 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by delfin at 12:51 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
They’re fucking kids and toddlers separated from their parents. How the fuck are they just supposed to walk out and head back to Central America.
Also, they have guards and fences for a fucking reason.
posted by chris24 at 12:53 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
Also, they have guards and fences for a fucking reason.
posted by chris24 at 12:53 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
They can't literally leave, like "oh I would like to leave this camp and fly home [to potentially be killed], now I will take a cab to the airport". There is a whole very slow, backed-up legal process of hearings even for saying, "I agree that I am here illegally and I would like to plead out and go home". Even if every single person in those camps choose to be deported, they would still need care and food for the months it would take to process them.
If the court observation I've done is characteristic, first you have to get a hearing (which takes a while even at full speed). Then you have the hearing, then you're given a deadline to make arrangements to leave. But you're not just turned loose to wait until the deadline. And again, this would assume that none of these people could make a credible fear case or any of the other reasons you can give to get a stay of deportation. Even under a very conservative, hostile regime that was still operating normally, many of these people would be able to obtain lawyers and would at the very least have a many month court process; somewhere above 45% of the immigrants who got lawyers would win their cases and stay.
Saying "why don't they just go home" is basically saying "fuck the rule of law".
There's no arguing with those people, because they aren't interested in process, either because they're stupid or because they're terrible. They have some dumb emotional fantasy about just driving buses up to the camps and packing people up and forcing them over the border and dumping them, and no amount of "but how would that even work, that's not only terrible but literally stupid" is going to get in the way or make them think.
posted by Frowner at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
If the court observation I've done is characteristic, first you have to get a hearing (which takes a while even at full speed). Then you have the hearing, then you're given a deadline to make arrangements to leave. But you're not just turned loose to wait until the deadline. And again, this would assume that none of these people could make a credible fear case or any of the other reasons you can give to get a stay of deportation. Even under a very conservative, hostile regime that was still operating normally, many of these people would be able to obtain lawyers and would at the very least have a many month court process; somewhere above 45% of the immigrants who got lawyers would win their cases and stay.
Saying "why don't they just go home" is basically saying "fuck the rule of law".
There's no arguing with those people, because they aren't interested in process, either because they're stupid or because they're terrible. They have some dumb emotional fantasy about just driving buses up to the camps and packing people up and forcing them over the border and dumping them, and no amount of "but how would that even work, that's not only terrible but literally stupid" is going to get in the way or make them think.
posted by Frowner at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
The official process for going from one of the camps back to your country of origin would be a request for one's own deportation. I read something about that, and haven't been able to dig it up again. However, I suspect there's little reason to assume guards would grant you the paperwork if you just said "I want to go back". If they did, the subseqeunt process involves plenty of beurocratic foot-dragging.
People assuming otherwise, that someone who really wants to leave the concentration camp can raise their hands and the authorities will happily give you a drive over the border, are pretty much in the simplistic mindset of "Walls would keep people out" and "There's a line you can get in, to do it the proper way."
Many seperated parents have been given the option to go, if they leave their kids. Full reunification, even with the family agreeing to drop the asylum claim, is rarer.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
People assuming otherwise, that someone who really wants to leave the concentration camp can raise their hands and the authorities will happily give you a drive over the border, are pretty much in the simplistic mindset of "Walls would keep people out" and "There's a line you can get in, to do it the proper way."
Many seperated parents have been given the option to go, if they leave their kids. Full reunification, even with the family agreeing to drop the asylum claim, is rarer.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
I don’t think people who look at stories of babies and children suffering due to official government policy and react by saying “they could just leave” care very much about the truth of their argument. It’s another way of saying “I don’t care” or “I like it.” I wouldn’t waste your time trying to reason with them.
posted by sallybrown at 1:14 PM on July 2, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 1:14 PM on July 2, 2019 [27 favorites]
Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act did an episode in May, "The NRA’s Global Impact," highlighting how much of this gang violence relies on guns supplied by the U.S.: "As it stands, the NRA’s push for looser gun laws is helping weapons flow to Central America, which is contributing to violence, which is causing people to flee that violence and seek asylum in the U.S., which the NRA is using to sell looser gun laws. And this cycle shows no signs of stopping."
Episode also shows that NRA meeting with One Nation, offering up talking points if the Australian organization's pro-gun efforts are successful but result in a mass shooting (“How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forth your own political agenda?”), as recorded by an al-Jazeera journalist who'd gone undercover for three years as a gun advocate.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
Episode also shows that NRA meeting with One Nation, offering up talking points if the Australian organization's pro-gun efforts are successful but result in a mass shooting (“How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forth your own political agenda?”), as recorded by an al-Jazeera journalist who'd gone undercover for three years as a gun advocate.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [20 favorites]
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
Two more good points in Weigel’s tweets:
posted by sallybrown at 1:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
Two more good points in Weigel’s tweets:
Warren and Harris have something in common today: Only two Dems with their highest polling yet in the RCP average. Sanders is down 8.8 points from his peak, Biden is down 14.2 points (!) from his own peak.It will be really interesting to see how many of Biden’s supporters stick with him because they like him/his policy, and how many venture away now that other candidates seem safe/popular. I think there’s a bigger than usual block of voters this go-around who are like “I just want to pick a winner, please God!”
Another quinnipiac # to watch: who has “the best chance of beating President Trump?” Biden’s 44-point lead on that Q has fallen to a 29-point lead, with Harris and Warren ticking up
posted by sallybrown at 1:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
In the extensive probes that have been conducted into Trump's conduct has there been any evidence at all that has been uncovered to suggest that this is true?
There was plenty of discussion of Trump's donations to Democrats and the mysterious dropping of charges and investigations earlier in Trump's real estate career.
posted by srboisvert at 1:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
There was plenty of discussion of Trump's donations to Democrats and the mysterious dropping of charges and investigations earlier in Trump's real estate career.
posted by srboisvert at 1:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
There's a new report from the Office of the Inspector General, "DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding and Prolonged Detention of Children and Adults in the Rio Grande Valley," with really horrifying pictures.
posted by Emera Gratia at 1:25 PM on July 2, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by Emera Gratia at 1:25 PM on July 2, 2019 [19 favorites]
There was plenty of discussion of Trump's donations to Democrats and the mysterious dropping of charges and investigations earlier in Trump's real estate career.
Those aren't being talked about as possibly impeachable offenses, though. It doesn't make sense that Democrats might not want to investigate Trump because it might turn up evidence of Democrats colluding on real estate deals that were made decades ago.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 1:31 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Those aren't being talked about as possibly impeachable offenses, though. It doesn't make sense that Democrats might not want to investigate Trump because it might turn up evidence of Democrats colluding on real estate deals that were made decades ago.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 1:31 PM on July 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
What I meant is, I think Democrats have taken PAC money that came from Russians. What ever happened with that PAC in Annapolis that was raided two years ago?
posted by M-x shell at 1:32 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 1:32 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
The Moochers of Middle America
The Democrats aren’t radical, but Republicans are.
By Paul Krugman
The Democrats aren’t radical, but Republicans are.
By Paul Krugman
Last week’s debates clearly weakened Joe Biden and increased the odds that a more definitively progressive candidate — probably Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren — will win the nomination. And you can hear the wailing from much of the Beltway, the claims that Democrats are moving too far left.posted by mumimor at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2019 [15 favorites]
So it’s worth parsing those claims. In what sense are the Dems moving too far left? What I’m seeing are three fairly distinct claims. First, that the party is endangering its electoral prospects. Second, that the party is being fiscally or economically irresponsible. Third, that Democrats are unfairly proposing to redistribute income from those who create wealth to those who don’t.
So you should know that the first claim is probably wrong, the second is definitely wrong, and the third ignores the extent to which we already do a lot of redistribution in this country — with Republican voters some of the biggest beneficiaries.
On the politics: Politicians and pundits alike tend to have a lot more contact with the wealthy than with ordinary voters, and often seem to imagine that the priorities of the 1 percent — keeping top tax rates low, cutting “entitlements” — actually resonate with the general public. But polling overwhelmingly shows the opposite: Voters want to raise taxes on the rich and expand government social programs.
Multiple attorneys involved with the census litigation are saying they've been told by DOJ that the administration is dropping any plans to delay printing the forms and will go forward with no citizenship question.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2019 [23 favorites]
@Dan_F_Jacobson: HUGE CENSUS NEWS — the Government just advised that the decision has been made to print the the census questionnaire WITHOUT the citizenship question. We won.
@swin24: imagine doing racism in a way that was too obvious to get past the *Roberts court**
posted by zachlipton at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
@swin24: imagine doing racism in a way that was too obvious to get past the *Roberts court**
posted by zachlipton at 1:36 PM on July 2, 2019 [45 favorites]
Cy Vance took a big donation from Trump’s attorney Kasowitz and then Vance ended an investigation of Jr and Ivanka. But I’d love for Vance to be forced out by scandal. Given Cabán’s win, he’s probably dead man walking anyway.
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
Could the census news be connected in any way to Pence cancelling his NH trip? Or does that not make sense?
posted by scarylarry at 1:40 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by scarylarry at 1:40 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
House panel to hold hearing on treatment of migrant children (Reuters)
Representative Elijah Cummings, the [House Oversight Committee]’s Democratic chairman, said the panel had invited Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan from the Department of Homeland Security and Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to testify on July 12.posted by Little Dawn at 1:49 PM on July 2, 2019 [13 favorites]
“The Trump administration’s actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing,” Cummings said. “There seems to be open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency.”
Well, the official twitter account of the NRCC already decided to weigh in on the World Cup, and because the Republican party is entirely a trolling operation now, they did it by attacking Kaepernick .
This is alludes to a kerfuffle over Nike's Betsy Ross sneakers—the WSJ reports that, supposedly, Colin Kaepernick complained about the original flag being linked to the era of slavery ("according to people familiar with the matter"). This caused AZ Gov. Doug Ducey to order the Arizona Commerce Authority "to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate". In all his chest-thumping patriotic bluster, he also advises people to Google her, which will, of course, turn up how the story of her contributions to the early flag design are based on hearsay and legend.
The Kaepernick story is all over the right-wing press and conservative Twitter as we head into the 4th of July, but there hasn't been any independent confirmation of it yet. This is all so goddam stupid.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:49 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is alludes to a kerfuffle over Nike's Betsy Ross sneakers—the WSJ reports that, supposedly, Colin Kaepernick complained about the original flag being linked to the era of slavery ("according to people familiar with the matter"). This caused AZ Gov. Doug Ducey to order the Arizona Commerce Authority "to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate". In all his chest-thumping patriotic bluster, he also advises people to Google her, which will, of course, turn up how the story of her contributions to the early flag design are based on hearsay and legend.
The Kaepernick story is all over the right-wing press and conservative Twitter as we head into the 4th of July, but there hasn't been any independent confirmation of it yet. This is all so goddam stupid.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:49 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
The Moochers of Middle America
The Democrats aren’t radical, but Republicans are.
By Paul Krugman
Great Krugman as usual, but I wonder, shouldn't the BOPs in this chart sum to zero?
posted by M-x shell at 1:51 PM on July 2, 2019
The Democrats aren’t radical, but Republicans are.
By Paul Krugman
Great Krugman as usual, but I wonder, shouldn't the BOPs in this chart sum to zero?
posted by M-x shell at 1:51 PM on July 2, 2019
The system is working as it was designed to
posted by The Whelk at 1:54 PM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:54 PM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Hundreds of Jews Against Ice And allies are marching from Boston’s Holocaust Memorial to the South Bay ICE center in order to shut it down
posted by The Whelk at 1:56 PM on July 2, 2019 [50 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:56 PM on July 2, 2019 [50 favorites]
Confirmed by the NYT: Trump Administration Drops Effort to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census
posted by reductiondesign at 1:59 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by reductiondesign at 1:59 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
The right wing talking point on Twitter about the camps is that the captives can just leave and return to their countries of origin if they want to. I'm sure this is false, but I don't know how it's false. Can anyone point me to a debunking?
Everyone else is of course correct in saying that there is no point in engaging with these people, but FWIW I did find this:
In most cases, children and adults alike cannot leave immigration detention centers or Border Patrol holding facilities unless they are eligible for—and can pay—bond while their removal proceedings wind through immigration court.
posted by joethefob at 2:10 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Everyone else is of course correct in saying that there is no point in engaging with these people, but FWIW I did find this:
In most cases, children and adults alike cannot leave immigration detention centers or Border Patrol holding facilities unless they are eligible for—and can pay—bond while their removal proceedings wind through immigration court.
posted by joethefob at 2:10 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
Trump took a public defeat on the census so you can see the narcissistic lashing out response coming sure as an approaching weather front. Be safe out there.
posted by jason_steakums at 2:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 2:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [15 favorites]
shouldn't the BOPs in this chart sum to zero?
Two reasons I can think of off the cuff why that would not be the case. The main reason is that the Federal government is running a huge deficit, which means that its expenditures are greater than its receipts in any case. So you wouldn't expect the numbers to match up when allocated among the states. Second, the Fed has expenditures that don't translate into state spending, such as interest on the Federal debt, and the expenses of empire, e.g. bases, embassies, foreign aid, etc.
posted by xigxag at 2:14 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Two reasons I can think of off the cuff why that would not be the case. The main reason is that the Federal government is running a huge deficit, which means that its expenditures are greater than its receipts in any case. So you wouldn't expect the numbers to match up when allocated among the states. Second, the Fed has expenditures that don't translate into state spending, such as interest on the Federal debt, and the expenses of empire, e.g. bases, embassies, foreign aid, etc.
posted by xigxag at 2:14 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
“Let's not lose sight of the fact that multiple Trump officials lied under oath about that census question, and should face justice for it.” @emptywheel
posted by The Whelk at 2:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [47 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 2:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [47 favorites]
Emily Badger (NYT)
Perhaps it doomed the government's alternative rationales for the question that the president's public argument yesterday was "I think it's very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal." (That's not even a thing the question would tell you.)
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
Perhaps it doomed the government's alternative rationales for the question that the president's public argument yesterday was "I think it's very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal." (That's not even a thing the question would tell you.)
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
Also, they have guards and fences for a fucking reason.
To keep out journalists and observers.
posted by Bovine Love at 2:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
To keep out journalists and observers.
posted by Bovine Love at 2:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Trump took a public defeat on the census so you can see the narcissistic lashing out response coming sure as an approaching weather front. Be safe out there.
Also, should you be in a position to protest anything in the near future, do keep an eye out then as well. A scan through conservative talk radio today ticked the "What I _fear_ is that these Antifa pipsqueaks, who can't do anything without a mob and their faces covered, will push the _wrong guy_ and be met with lethal force, which would be _so tragic_" boxes repeatedly.
I mean, not that I know that any of you out there are Antifa warriors on the weekend. (And if you are, ask Soros for me where the hell this month's check is.) Nor am I predicting that violence _will_ break out. But I am noting that "violent responses to Antifa _are_ appropriate" is being peppered into the stew, so should you be somewhere where milkshakes start flying... a little heightened awareness might be called for.
posted by delfin at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
Also, should you be in a position to protest anything in the near future, do keep an eye out then as well. A scan through conservative talk radio today ticked the "What I _fear_ is that these Antifa pipsqueaks, who can't do anything without a mob and their faces covered, will push the _wrong guy_ and be met with lethal force, which would be _so tragic_" boxes repeatedly.
I mean, not that I know that any of you out there are Antifa warriors on the weekend. (And if you are, ask Soros for me where the hell this month's check is.) Nor am I predicting that violence _will_ break out. But I am noting that "violent responses to Antifa _are_ appropriate" is being peppered into the stew, so should you be somewhere where milkshakes start flying... a little heightened awareness might be called for.
posted by delfin at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
Yeah, I may be giving the GOP too much credit, but it seems they dropped the attempt to get the citizenship question on the census because it was about to blow up in their faces. The SCOTUS case that just struck it down didn’t definitively say such a question wasn’t possible, but just that they hadn’t made the case well for it.
But that was based on a lower court case appeal in which the damning admissions (found on the dead GOP operative’s hard drive) had not been found yet. So they weren’t part of the findings of fact that the SCOTUS had in their review.
Any subsequent case pressed by the Administration would have included those damning admissions, which would have made winning the case much less likely. Though with this SCOTUS all bets are off, it would have nevertheless placed those bad-faith admissions on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Not a good look when you’re heading into election season. Even if their 40% base wouldn’t have batted an eye (or would have applauded the bad faith effort), persuadable independents could have been turned off.
Edit: many typos, sorry
posted by darkstar at 2:29 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
But that was based on a lower court case appeal in which the damning admissions (found on the dead GOP operative’s hard drive) had not been found yet. So they weren’t part of the findings of fact that the SCOTUS had in their review.
Any subsequent case pressed by the Administration would have included those damning admissions, which would have made winning the case much less likely. Though with this SCOTUS all bets are off, it would have nevertheless placed those bad-faith admissions on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Not a good look when you’re heading into election season. Even if their 40% base wouldn’t have batted an eye (or would have applauded the bad faith effort), persuadable independents could have been turned off.
Edit: many typos, sorry
posted by darkstar at 2:29 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
@delfin we just had a fairly big rally in Portland where vegan coconut milkshakes were made (and thrown). Portland police, who have been known to fraternize and cooperate with the right wing group that had the rally, claimed from “anonymous sources” that the milkshakes were actually filled with quick drying cement. This then got fed into the mainstream media.
I guess all the people drinking the milkshakes are in a hospital now?
🙄
posted by gucci mane at 2:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
I guess all the people drinking the milkshakes are in a hospital now?
🙄
posted by gucci mane at 2:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
these Antifa pipsqueaks, who can't do anything without a mob and their faces covered, will push the _wrong guy_ and be met with lethal force
I think at this point Fox News et al. have moved on to the position that Antifa are themselves the functional equivalent of Brownshirts who have committed illegal violence and therefore "defensive" violence against them is already merited, maybe even required. Google Andy Ngo of Quillette and his recent experience in Portland.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
I think at this point Fox News et al. have moved on to the position that Antifa are themselves the functional equivalent of Brownshirts who have committed illegal violence and therefore "defensive" violence against them is already merited, maybe even required. Google Andy Ngo of Quillette and his recent experience in Portland.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
Oregon governor prepared to use executive powers to pass climate legislation after GOP walkout
pounds table
DO IT DO IT DO IT
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:42 PM on July 2, 2019 [79 favorites]
pounds table
DO IT DO IT DO IT
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:42 PM on July 2, 2019 [79 favorites]
Oh, l'affaire Ngo is precisely what spawned this talk. Though, as gucci mane noted, people _drank_ many of those milkshakes.
And the usual blackwhiting of "Antifa are DEADLY THUGS" and "Antifa are TINY INEFFECTUAL SOYBOYS" being true simultaneously applies.
And "a guy under a black mask did it" is CERTAINLY proof that these were card-carrying Antifa and not, say, people working with Ngo.
And "there was a rumor that there might have been quick-drying cement in some of those, so if you have info on this, please let us know" exploded VERY quickly on the glue-sniffing hard right into "They tried to murder him" and "chemical burns on his face" and "it was a huge, violent mob" and "they're planning to throw acid next" and "Andy Ngo was left brain-damaged by this vicious, premeditated attack."
Is this an accusation that Ngo collaborated in staging it? It is not. But there are far more questions about the attack and its aftereffects than there are answers, currently. Which is something of the nature of the beast with masked attackers.
posted by delfin at 2:57 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
And the usual blackwhiting of "Antifa are DEADLY THUGS" and "Antifa are TINY INEFFECTUAL SOYBOYS" being true simultaneously applies.
And "a guy under a black mask did it" is CERTAINLY proof that these were card-carrying Antifa and not, say, people working with Ngo.
And "there was a rumor that there might have been quick-drying cement in some of those, so if you have info on this, please let us know" exploded VERY quickly on the glue-sniffing hard right into "They tried to murder him" and "chemical burns on his face" and "it was a huge, violent mob" and "they're planning to throw acid next" and "Andy Ngo was left brain-damaged by this vicious, premeditated attack."
Is this an accusation that Ngo collaborated in staging it? It is not. But there are far more questions about the attack and its aftereffects than there are answers, currently. Which is something of the nature of the beast with masked attackers.
posted by delfin at 2:57 PM on July 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
Regardless of what was in the 'milkshakes' or what color shirts were or should be considered as involved, what the antifa folks did in Portland this weekend is reprehensible, and just gives ammunition excuses to Fox News and the rest of right wing.
posted by PhineasGage at 3:00 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by PhineasGage at 3:00 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
what the antifa folks did in Portland this weekend is reprehensible
Fascists are reprehensible. Don't carry their water.
And while we're busy entertaining the bad faith arguments and concocted outrages of the far-right in order to scold antifascists, the tide of blood creeps up a little closer:
Edward Gallagher, Navy SEAL Chief Accused of War Crimes, Is Found Not Guilty of Murder
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:05 PM on July 2, 2019 [38 favorites]
Fascists are reprehensible. Don't carry their water.
And while we're busy entertaining the bad faith arguments and concocted outrages of the far-right in order to scold antifascists, the tide of blood creeps up a little closer:
Edward Gallagher, Navy SEAL Chief Accused of War Crimes, Is Found Not Guilty of Murder
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:05 PM on July 2, 2019 [38 favorites]
NY Mag, Eric Levitz, The Democrats Aren’t a Left-Wing Party — They Just Play One on TV
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
By all appearances, the arc of Democratic history was bending back toward George McGovern. Progressive activists walked away feeling triumphant; Never Trump columnists, aggrieved and concerned. But all could agree that this wasn’t your father’s Democratic Party anymore (assuming your father is a neoliberal shill).@chrislhayes: Also, liberal/left wing campaigning and moderate governance is probably the best combination to make everyone mad and alienated.
And yet: If you turn your gaze from the Democrats on the debate stage to the ones actually governing in Congress, you’ll see a party fit for David Brooks. Hours before Team Blue’s 2020 hopefuls endorsed decriminalizing illegal entry, its House caucus approved $4.5 billion in new funding for the border crisis — without imposing strict standards on how that money can be spent. In doing so, House Democrats didn’t merely embrace a position to the right of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, but one to the right of Nancy Pelosi’s. The House’s proudly moderate “Blue Dog” and “Problem Solvers” caucuses called the tune. They wanted bipartisan compromise without delay, and they had the votes to get it, their Speaker’s wishes be damned.
...
Considering the malleability of public opinion, the tenuous connection between policy positions and election outcomes, and the significant evidence that presidential primary rhetoric can change the terms of America’s political debates (a.k.a., “move the Overton window”), there’s nothing inherently irrational about pressuring Democratic candidates to endorse policy goals they cannot hope to get through Congress. There are no small number of moderate House Democrats’ whose current position on health care lies to the left of Hillary Clinton’s initial one in 2016. Ostensibly, Sanders’s advocacy for single-payer helped make a strong public option appear more centrist. It’s plausible that Harris’s endorsement of “busing” could have a similarly beneficent effect on the debate over equality in education, or that Warren’s support for repealing section 1325 could have such an effect on the debate over immigration. It is also possible that these policy positions could turn off the low-information white swing voters who largely control our republic’s fate.
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on July 2, 2019 [7 favorites]
You can’t give ammunition to people who manufacture their own bullets
posted by The Whelk at 3:16 PM on July 2, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 3:16 PM on July 2, 2019 [24 favorites]
Regardless of what was in the 'milkshakes' or what color shirts were or should be considered as involved, what the antifa folks did in Portland this weekend is reprehensible
Ooh ooh, let me guess, next you were planning on showing us the pictures of that poor dear of a little old man who was beaten up by those dreadful brutes, right? Except, as it turns out, that little old man is a member of a fascist militia group who had been charging protestors with a baton, whom he may or may not have been shouting homophobic and/or transphobic abuse at.
Oh, and by the way, the woman who wrote that last tweet spent the rest of the day getting bombarded threats from Nazis on social media, and at least one journalist who Andy Ngo's publication sicced the Twitter Nazis on got a visit from the Proud Boys. In fact, several journalists have spoken out about being targeted by Quillette's coverage of the "research" of a white supremacist in the last couple weeks. That Ngo has turned a milkshaking into a viral hoax with a generous assist from the PD that is cool with Nazi snipers just hanging around the city during protests puts him far into the negatives on the benefit of the doubt here.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [42 favorites]
Ooh ooh, let me guess, next you were planning on showing us the pictures of that poor dear of a little old man who was beaten up by those dreadful brutes, right? Except, as it turns out, that little old man is a member of a fascist militia group who had been charging protestors with a baton, whom he may or may not have been shouting homophobic and/or transphobic abuse at.
Oh, and by the way, the woman who wrote that last tweet spent the rest of the day getting bombarded threats from Nazis on social media, and at least one journalist who Andy Ngo's publication sicced the Twitter Nazis on got a visit from the Proud Boys. In fact, several journalists have spoken out about being targeted by Quillette's coverage of the "research" of a white supremacist in the last couple weeks. That Ngo has turned a milkshaking into a viral hoax with a generous assist from the PD that is cool with Nazi snipers just hanging around the city during protests puts him far into the negatives on the benefit of the doubt here.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [42 favorites]
Ngo defended racial skull phrenology two weeks ago.
One interesting fact about skulls is that apparently "brainbleeds" heal enough for your lawyer to stop mentioning them the minute your gofundme hits $100K .
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:28 PM on July 2, 2019 [15 favorites]
One interesting fact about skulls is that apparently "brainbleeds" heal enough for your lawyer to stop mentioning them the minute your gofundme hits $100K .
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:28 PM on July 2, 2019 [15 favorites]
Hundreds of Jews Against Ice And allies are marching from Boston’s Holocaust Memorial to the South Bay ICE center in order to shut it down.
For what it's worth, the South Bay detention center is in space rented from the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department, which has more space than it needs at its jail there. In 2016, when he was running for re-election, Sheriff Steve Tompkins said he would reconsider the ICE contract while running against somebody who said he would definitely end the contract. But then Tompkins won re-election pretty handily and that was that (for non-Mass. readers, Mass. sheriffs are not like sheriffs elsewhere - they basically just run their county jails).
posted by adamg at 4:05 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth, the South Bay detention center is in space rented from the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department, which has more space than it needs at its jail there. In 2016, when he was running for re-election, Sheriff Steve Tompkins said he would reconsider the ICE contract while running against somebody who said he would definitely end the contract. But then Tompkins won re-election pretty handily and that was that (for non-Mass. readers, Mass. sheriffs are not like sheriffs elsewhere - they basically just run their county jails).
posted by adamg at 4:05 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Speaking of sympathizers, FBI claims to have lost most of its files on Stormfront.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [40 favorites]
hope some nonfascist at the printing office runs an eye across the galley proofs of the census questionnaire before printing the whole job.
posted by 20 year lurk at 5:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 5:17 PM on July 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
@MikevWUSA: NEW — @USArmy says armored vehicles WILL move through WASHINGTON TONIGHT.Specifically:
Two M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers. Army spokesperson says, “you’ll see them moving through your neighborhood, but DON’T PANIC.”
WaPo, Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees for Trump’s July Fourth extravaganza
posted by zachlipton at 6:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
Two M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers. Army spokesperson says, “you’ll see them moving through your neighborhood, but DON’T PANIC.”
WaPo, Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees for Trump’s July Fourth extravaganza
The National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with President Trump’s Independence Day celebration Thursday on the Mall, according to two individuals familiar with the arrangement.So now they're using park fees, which are supposed to be used for park maintenance, to host what has turned into a political event where donors get VIP tickets for access to a public park.
...
The diverted park fees represent just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result of the event, which will include displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall and an extended pyrotechnics show. By comparison, according to former Park Service deputy director Denis P. Galvin, the entire Fourth of July celebration on the Mall typically costs the agency about $2 million.
For Trump’s planned speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the White House is distributing VIP tickets to Republican donors and political appointees, prompting objections from Democratic lawmakers who argue that the president has turned the annual celebration into a campaign-like event.
The Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign confirmed Tuesday that they had received passes they were handing out for the event.
...
Separately, according to two individuals familiar with the matter, the White House was negotiating with Park Service officials over whether to project an image from the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission onto the Washington Monument for the event. Typically the agency does not allow projected images on monuments or historic structures, on the grounds that they should be preserved in their original form.
posted by zachlipton at 6:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [43 favorites]
Besides surely quick-drying cement is quickly, well, a rock, and as a result obviously different from a milkshake, with or without quotes
posted by mbo at 6:10 PM on July 2, 2019
posted by mbo at 6:10 PM on July 2, 2019
Of the many absurd ironies of the “concrete milkshake” far right disinformation rut is ....sugar ruins concrete and French anarchists used sugar to ruin concrete mixtures for new prison construction.
posted by The Whelk at 6:18 PM on July 2, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 6:18 PM on July 2, 2019 [40 favorites]
Bomb threat at Portland City Hall today:
posted by chrchr at 6:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Portland City Hall evacuated on police orders in an "abundance of caution" after bomb threat phoned in. PerIt is speculated that this is in response to the protests on Saturday.
@GordonRFriedman, an officer on scene said there is no package and folks will be left back in. #OrPol
posted by chrchr at 6:20 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
MSNBC not planning to air Trump's July Fourth celebration live (Politico)
MSNBC, for one, doesn’t plan to carry his “Salute to America” live, though the network will assess in real time whether to air clips of the event, a spokesperson told POLITICO.posted by Little Dawn at 6:27 PM on July 2, 2019 [37 favorites]
Fox News is planning to cover “Salute to America” during a two-hour edition of “Special Report,” which airs from 6 to 8 p.m. And C-SPAN is planning to carry the event live, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
CNN [...] is currently slated to air [...] a special report on the rise of white nationalism at 7 p.m., according to TV listings.
A thread about the questioning at the Democratic debates:
Andrew Perez (Maplight): I don't watch cable news so tuning into the Democratic debates last week was alarming. All the questions sounded like they had been written by industries whose profits are threatened by Democratic proposals. Easy to understand why, when you dig. Big name journalists regularly speak at industry lobbying group events, often privately. Some outlets bar employees from accepting money, not all. Either way, a lot of DC journalists see lobbyists and corporate execs as their peers and their audience. And then you have the pundits who are often contracted by networks to share their analysis and opinion. Many of those people work for corporate interests during their day-jobs, and they go buckraking at lobbying group events too. Another thing that's interesting to me: if you're a prominent journalist considering hitting the speaking circuit, your competition for those gigs will be revolving door politicians like Paul Ryan and Jeff Flake. That can't be a good thing.Journalists, Pundits And Retired Politicians Put On A Show For Lobbyistsposted by T.D. Strange at 6:48 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
EXCLUSIVE: Unicorn Riot has received evidence that neo-nazis with Identity Evropa (aka the American Identity Movement) are gathering in DC for the 4th of July.
More info coming soon in our new report, incl. 1000s of private chat records from inside the white supremacist group.
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
More info coming soon in our new report, incl. 1000s of private chat records from inside the white supremacist group.
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 PM on July 2, 2019 [14 favorites]
CNN [...] is currently slated to air [...] a special report on the rise of white nationalism at 7 p.m., according to TV listings.
Could be they're covering the celebration after all, just with a more accurate listing.
posted by skippyhacker at 7:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [28 favorites]
Could be they're covering the celebration after all, just with a more accurate listing.
posted by skippyhacker at 7:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [28 favorites]
I believe that we are now, seriously, the closest we have ever been to having a democratically elected Mussolini-esque fascist dictatorship in this country.
Trump has ensconced unelected and unappointed cronies and family members in positions of key governmental power. He has fomented overt hatred and violence against immigrants and the press. He is backed up by a complicit Senate majority that has overtly engaged in extra-Constitutional usurpation of Supreme Court nominations. He has explicitly given cover to blatant exhibitions of white nationalists.
He has spoken repeatedly about jailing his political opponents, extending his presidency beyond his constitutionally permitted term, and accepting help from foreign adversaries to secure electoral success. And he has actively worked to undermine treaties and relationships with allies while explicitly cozying up to dictators.
And now, he is subverting our most fundamental holiday celebrating our national identity, to turn it into an egocentric political rally. In a public national park, in which his financial and political backers will be given priority access. In which military materiel will be showcased to burnish his image and power. In which millions of dollars of US taxpayer funds will be autocratically shifted to subsidize his display. And to which the nation’s white supremacists are planning to flock as a pilgrimage.
We have never, EVER, had a President engaging in such overt autocracy. I’m not sure how to describe the sense of dread I’m feeling about this. It feels like we are separated from becoming an actual fascist dictatorship by only the thinnest membrane of national will.
posted by darkstar at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2019 [83 favorites]
Trump has ensconced unelected and unappointed cronies and family members in positions of key governmental power. He has fomented overt hatred and violence against immigrants and the press. He is backed up by a complicit Senate majority that has overtly engaged in extra-Constitutional usurpation of Supreme Court nominations. He has explicitly given cover to blatant exhibitions of white nationalists.
He has spoken repeatedly about jailing his political opponents, extending his presidency beyond his constitutionally permitted term, and accepting help from foreign adversaries to secure electoral success. And he has actively worked to undermine treaties and relationships with allies while explicitly cozying up to dictators.
And now, he is subverting our most fundamental holiday celebrating our national identity, to turn it into an egocentric political rally. In a public national park, in which his financial and political backers will be given priority access. In which military materiel will be showcased to burnish his image and power. In which millions of dollars of US taxpayer funds will be autocratically shifted to subsidize his display. And to which the nation’s white supremacists are planning to flock as a pilgrimage.
We have never, EVER, had a President engaging in such overt autocracy. I’m not sure how to describe the sense of dread I’m feeling about this. It feels like we are separated from becoming an actual fascist dictatorship by only the thinnest membrane of national will.
posted by darkstar at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2019 [83 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: A very sad time for America when the Supreme Court of the United States won’t allow a question of “Is this person a Citizen of the United States?” to be asked on the #2020 Census! Going on for a long time. I have asked the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice........to do whatever is necessary to bring this most vital of questions, and this very important case, to a successful conclusion. USA! USA! USA!
So I'm not really sure why the president is cheering, but since they announced hours ago that they were going ahead with printing the forms without the citizenship question, these tweets just make him look like even more of a moron than usual.
posted by zachlipton at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
So I'm not really sure why the president is cheering, but since they announced hours ago that they were going ahead with printing the forms without the citizenship question, these tweets just make him look like even more of a moron than usual.
posted by zachlipton at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
John Kasich: ‘I think members of the Republican Party are in a coma right now’
NeverTrump is reduced to employing the "99% of Republicans are just very very sleepy" gambit
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [12 favorites]
NeverTrump is reduced to employing the "99% of Republicans are just very very sleepy" gambit
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:08 PM on July 2, 2019 [12 favorites]
So I'm not really sure why the president is cheering, but since they announced hours ago that they were going ahead with printing the forms without the citizenship question, these tweets just make him look like even more of a moron than usual.
They're printing the forms with the citizenship question intact and will throw up their hands that it's too late to change anything when it comes to light in a few days/weeks. I'll be quite pleasantly surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
They're printing the forms with the citizenship question intact and will throw up their hands that it's too late to change anything when it comes to light in a few days/weeks. I'll be quite pleasantly surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:11 PM on July 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
A US border activist will be retried after a jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges related to aiding migrants near Arizona's border with Mexico, US prosecutors said on Tuesday.
One jury nullification isn't enough for them to let you get away with leaving water for people dying of dehydration. Imagine how they'll prosecute people attempting to aid the desperate once we're a few steps farther down this road and the climate refugee crisis begins in earnest.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:25 PM on July 2, 2019 [22 favorites]
One jury nullification isn't enough for them to let you get away with leaving water for people dying of dehydration. Imagine how they'll prosecute people attempting to aid the desperate once we're a few steps farther down this road and the climate refugee crisis begins in earnest.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:25 PM on July 2, 2019 [22 favorites]
Here's a fairly comprehensive list of domestic American concentration camps, compiled by 2600 Magazine. 135 in all.
concentrationcamps.us
posted by scalefree at 8:28 PM on July 2, 2019 [36 favorites]
concentrationcamps.us
posted by scalefree at 8:28 PM on July 2, 2019 [36 favorites]
It feels like we are separated from becoming an actual fascist dictatorship by only the thinnest membrane of national will.
Our national holiday is being turned into a fascist rally, we are learning how bad the camps really are and all I hear is "Milkshake Outrage!"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:50 PM on July 2, 2019 [25 favorites]
Our national holiday is being turned into a fascist rally, we are learning how bad the camps really are and all I hear is "Milkshake Outrage!"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:50 PM on July 2, 2019 [25 favorites]
Pelosi Sends Letter to President Trump on Treatment of Migrant Children and Families
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:53 PM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
July 1, 2019Genuinely nauseating. Our leadership is rotted out.
The Honorable Donald J. Trump [...]
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you following the vote on humanitarian assistance at the border. As you know, I am deeply concerned that the legislation does not go far enough to prioritize the safety, health and well-being of migrant children and families.
In response to your willingness to improve conditions of these children and families, I respectfully suggest you take several important, immediate actions as proposed in the House legislation:
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:53 PM on July 2, 2019 [16 favorites]
I'm getting a time-out on concentrationcamps.us. Maybe they're under attack?
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:01 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:01 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Refused connection. Was working a half hour ago, I pulled the full list down so I could count them.
posted by scalefree at 9:06 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by scalefree at 9:06 PM on July 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Here's a list of every ICE detention facility in the country. (THREAD)
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 PM on July 2, 2019 [11 favorites]
I don't watch cable news so tuning into the Democratic debates last week was alarming. All the questions sounded like they had been written by industries whose profits are threatened by Democratic proposals.
Thank you. The questions were awful:
Will you take away private insurance from the people that love their plans?
Are you for giving free health insurance to illegal immigrants?
Has anyone asked the people that love their private plans if they want cheaper, better insurance? Do people understand that giving health insurance to immigrants is cheaper than not?
posted by xammerboy at 9:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Thank you. The questions were awful:
Will you take away private insurance from the people that love their plans?
Are you for giving free health insurance to illegal immigrants?
Has anyone asked the people that love their private plans if they want cheaper, better insurance? Do people understand that giving health insurance to immigrants is cheaper than not?
posted by xammerboy at 9:41 PM on July 2, 2019 [9 favorites]
Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if left-leaning white people decided not to participate in a politically compromised census if they live in areas which are prone to electing conservative politicians?
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:50 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:50 PM on July 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
FWIW, Chicago-based RR Donnelley will be handling the actual print job (they also did the 2010 census), and will be pressed for time as the pending court rulings have crunched their schedule. According to that article, they should have received the census files on June 1st and were prepared to wait until the last day of the Supreme Court's term on June 29th, but that obviously depends on cooperation with the Census Bureau. Good thing is, the current director is career civil servant Steven Dillingham who got praise all around when appointed earlier this year, and I assume any last-minute fuckery would have to get through him.
Nerd of the North: "Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if left-leaning white people decided not to participate in a politically compromised census if they live in areas which are prone to electing conservative politicians?"
I doubt it would be worth it. Non-participation of this kind would be less than a rounding error in terms of congressional representation, have greater impact on local funding, and would come with fines of up to $5,000 if you refused to engage with the census taker who would inevitably come knocking.
If you really want to help and have flexibility in your schedule, I'd consider signing up to be one of those census takers, especially if you have any canvassing experience. You'd be a point of contact for anybody in your community who refused to return the census form or answered it incompletely, and could help assuage any lingering doubts among people who are refusing to participate out of fear from the citizenship controversy. Plus you get paid, and even reimbursed for miles traveled!
posted by Rhaomi at 10:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
Nerd of the North: "Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if left-leaning white people decided not to participate in a politically compromised census if they live in areas which are prone to electing conservative politicians?"
I doubt it would be worth it. Non-participation of this kind would be less than a rounding error in terms of congressional representation, have greater impact on local funding, and would come with fines of up to $5,000 if you refused to engage with the census taker who would inevitably come knocking.
If you really want to help and have flexibility in your schedule, I'd consider signing up to be one of those census takers, especially if you have any canvassing experience. You'd be a point of contact for anybody in your community who refused to return the census form or answered it incompletely, and could help assuage any lingering doubts among people who are refusing to participate out of fear from the citizenship controversy. Plus you get paid, and even reimbursed for miles traveled!
posted by Rhaomi at 10:02 PM on July 2, 2019 [17 favorites]
I’m listening to Lawrence O’Donnell s podcast, and he has Rep Wilson on, and she is asking the question I have been asking for two years. Where are the girls. She went to homestead, and they tried to hide the girls. Of the 700 girls theoretically stashed at this unlicensed facility, she was allowed to see 30.
Rep Wilson said no women who speak Spanish are working at the facility, and she suggested that she was afraid these girls might be trafficked to Super Bowl tourists.
Seriously. Where are the girls?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 11:43 PM on July 2, 2019 [38 favorites]
Rep Wilson said no women who speak Spanish are working at the facility, and she suggested that she was afraid these girls might be trafficked to Super Bowl tourists.
Seriously. Where are the girls?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 11:43 PM on July 2, 2019 [38 favorites]
SO .., Concentration camps, so let's call the temporary influx emergency camps
posted by The Whelk at 12:02 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 12:02 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Judge blocks Trump policy keeping asylum-seekers locked up (AP)
A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum-seekers locked up while they pursue their cases, saying the Constitution demands that such migrants have a chance to be released from custody.posted by Little Dawn at 12:08 AM on July 3, 2019 [27 favorites]
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that people who are detained after entering the country illegally to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings. Attorney General William Barr announced in April that the government would no longer offer such hearings, but instead keep them in custody. It was part of the administration’s efforts to deter a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Pechman said that as people who have entered the U.S., they are entitled to the Fifth Amendment’s due-process protections, including “a longstanding prohibition against indefinite civil detention with no opportunity to test its necessity.”
Immigrant rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project sued to block the policy, which was due to take effect July 15. [...]
Pechman, who heard arguments last Friday, said the government must provide a bond hearing within seven days of a request by any immigrant who has demonstrated that they have a credible fear of persecution or torture if returned to their home country. The asylum-seekers must be released if not granted a hearing within that time frame, she said.
We put some open data up about ICE facilities and funding here. "Detention" and "black sites" are the key csvs for locations. It's about 8 months out of date, but DHS had already organised almost all the current sites then already. We wondered at the time what that meant for their plans to scale up.
It's the data we used to generate this site. (Click through to volume 1 from the menu for the location maps and facilities visualisations. Volume 2 is all about ICE finances).
Data overview here.
posted by lollusc at 1:23 AM on July 3, 2019 [12 favorites]
concentrationcamps.us
Hmm.. my verizon fios dns doesn't find that, but the whois record is there, and if I query google DNS it shows up.
posted by mikelieman at 3:10 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hmm.. my verizon fios dns doesn't find that, but the whois record is there, and if I query google DNS it shows up.
posted by mikelieman at 3:10 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Border agents confiscated lawmakers’ phones. Joaquin Castro captured photo and video anyway. (WaPo)
Everything in this article is completely shocking, I don't know what to quote. Most of the basics have already been reported, but this details how CBP workers harassed and menaced members of Congress. I simply can't remember anything like this happening in a democracy ever in my lifetime.
It's Trumpism, obviously, but he is standing on the shoulders of a Republican Party that has undermined democracy in the US for years before Trump rode down that escalator.
posted by mumimor at 3:22 AM on July 3, 2019 [31 favorites]
Everything in this article is completely shocking, I don't know what to quote. Most of the basics have already been reported, but this details how CBP workers harassed and menaced members of Congress. I simply can't remember anything like this happening in a democracy ever in my lifetime.
It's Trumpism, obviously, but he is standing on the shoulders of a Republican Party that has undermined democracy in the US for years before Trump rode down that escalator.
posted by mumimor at 3:22 AM on July 3, 2019 [31 favorites]
Word is going around on social media that there are teams of ICE agents at red line stations on the DC Metro. In addition to rail service, the stations are often bus transfer points. There is a large Hispanic population along parts of the red line in Maryland. This finally got me onto Resistbot.
posted by wintermind at 4:09 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by wintermind at 4:09 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
Looks like there will be a 2020 census sans citizenship question.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:47 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 4:47 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
WaPo: Justice Department Watchdog To Investigate Decision to Cancel FBI Headquarters Plan
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:26 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
The Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate the FBI’s role in dropping plans a decade in the making to move its headquarters to the Washington suburbs, he told Congress in a letter Tuesday.From one year ago: Trump Intervenes in FBI Headquarters Project (WaPo)
The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, told House committee leaders that he is initiating a review of actions at the DOJ and FBI that led to the canceling of the plans in favor of building a smaller replacement for the J. Edgar Hoover Building downtown and dispersing other FBI staff elsewhere.
The review could produce new revelations about the Trump administration’s stunning reversal of bipartisan plans for the development of a new, highly secure campus that would have gotten the bureau out of the fast-deteriorating Hoover building.[…]
[T]he inspector general found that [GSA chief Emily] Murphy misled Congress about the White House’s involvement, including an Oval Office meeting with Trump about the project that she omitted. Murphy denied misleading Congress, maintaining that the decision about where to put the FBI was made before that meeting.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:26 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
zachlipton: So now they're using park fees, which are supposed to be used for park maintenance, to host what has turned into a political event where donors get VIP tickets for access to a public park.
Reminder: this is after National parks face years of damage from government shutdown -- When the government eventually reopens, park experts warn reversing damage won't be as easy as throwing out the trash. (National Geographic, January 7, 2019) The government shutdown may be over, but the damage to national parks such as Joshua Tree and Yellowstone could be permanent (Business Insider, Jan. 28, 2019)
Decent news: Joshua Tree’s shutdown scars are largely hidden, but its spring glory is not (L.A. Times, April 14, 2019) Rangers found and tidied the sites of about 100 illegal campfires, Land said, and did their best to repair an estimated 22 to 25 miles of tracks in forbidden areas.
And more good news/bad news: I Don't Feel Safe': Puerto Rico Preps For Next Storm Without Enough Government Help (Greg Allen and Marisa Peñaloza for NPR, July 3, 2019)
In short: federal funds for rebuilding infrastructure are still slow to roll out, but Puerto Rico's government is more prepared, with an emergency plan that they didn't have for Maria, increased energy from solar, and
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 AM on July 3, 2019 [18 favorites]
Reminder: this is after National parks face years of damage from government shutdown -- When the government eventually reopens, park experts warn reversing damage won't be as easy as throwing out the trash. (National Geographic, January 7, 2019) The government shutdown may be over, but the damage to national parks such as Joshua Tree and Yellowstone could be permanent (Business Insider, Jan. 28, 2019)
Decent news: Joshua Tree’s shutdown scars are largely hidden, but its spring glory is not (L.A. Times, April 14, 2019) Rangers found and tidied the sites of about 100 illegal campfires, Land said, and did their best to repair an estimated 22 to 25 miles of tracks in forbidden areas.
And more good news/bad news: I Don't Feel Safe': Puerto Rico Preps For Next Storm Without Enough Government Help (Greg Allen and Marisa Peñaloza for NPR, July 3, 2019)
In short: federal funds for rebuilding infrastructure are still slow to roll out, but Puerto Rico's government is more prepared, with an emergency plan that they didn't have for Maria, increased energy from solar, and
[Puerto Rico's Bureau of Emergency Management, Carlos] Acevedo says his agency has placed warehouses around the island stocked with emergency provisions. There's a plan for delivering fuel. Also, agreements with utility companies on the mainland to respond quickly to restore power after a disaster. Another major improvement is communication. All of the island's 78 municipalities now have satellite phones and radios to ensure they won't lose contact with the outside world as they did during Hurricane Maria.But we'll have our racist rally to celebrate white pride in the capitol! U.S.A! U.S.A!
But for many, the main concern is the state of people's homes. A FEMA assessment found nearly every building in Puerto Rico was damaged by the storm and may say their houses are not safe to shelter in.
"Now we have more than a half million people affected and we have to build at a minimum 75,000 homes," says Astrid Díaz, an architect who was part of a FEMA team that assessed the island's infrastructure. "That challenge is very big," she says.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 AM on July 3, 2019 [18 favorites]
Well now...
Jonathan Martin (NYT)
NEW IOWA poll from @davidbinder, via @linkiowa pro-ethanol group, shows a wiiiide open caucus after the first debate:
WARREN: 20
HARRIS: 18
BIDEN: 17
SANDERS: 12
PETE: 10
note: N = 600, which is as big as some of the Dem samples in public polling *national* samples.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on July 3, 2019 [31 favorites]
Jonathan Martin (NYT)
NEW IOWA poll from @davidbinder, via @linkiowa pro-ethanol group, shows a wiiiide open caucus after the first debate:
WARREN: 20
HARRIS: 18
BIDEN: 17
SANDERS: 12
PETE: 10
note: N = 600, which is as big as some of the Dem samples in public polling *national* samples.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on July 3, 2019 [31 favorites]
'A narcissistic travesty': critics savage Trump's Independence Day jamboree (Guardian)
The Rev William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, tweeted: “Trump is creating a spectacle of tanks & missiles on the National Mall where the great protests for civil & human rights have been held at a time when 140 million Americans are poor & low income. He thinks this is the sign of strength, but it’s a damn narcissistic travesty.” [...]posted by Little Dawn at 7:53 AM on July 3, 2019 [22 favorites]
The Democratic congressman Don Beyer, who represents nearby suburbs in Virginia, wrote on Twitter: “The authoritarian-style trappings he demands, including tanks, will come at a great cost to taxpayers, and threaten significant harm to local roads and bridges. I am deeply concerned by the suggestion that the president’s insistence on displaying tanks could subject Arlington Memorial Bridge to strains grossly exceeding its weight restrictions.”
Beyer added: “If Trump is going to turn this event into another partisan rally to boost his own frail ego, he must reimburse US taxpayers for any damage he causes.”
Meghan McCain, Feeling Like an ‘Exhausted, Defeated... Caged Animal,’ May Exit ‘The View’
Cages crammed with malnourished, filthy children: can we not call them concentration camps because my father
Facing mild criticism for the first time in your life: I am an exhausted defeated caged animal
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [61 favorites]
Cages crammed with malnourished, filthy children: can we not call them concentration camps because my father
Facing mild criticism for the first time in your life: I am an exhausted defeated caged animal
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [61 favorites]
The trend line. First is today, second number is March’s poll, third number is December’s.
WARREN: 20, 8, 9
HARRIS: 18, 9, 7
BIDEN: 17, 25, 30
SANDERS: 12, 17, 13
PETE: 10, 6, NA
posted by chris24 at 7:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
WARREN: 20, 8, 9
HARRIS: 18, 9, 7
BIDEN: 17, 25, 30
SANDERS: 12, 17, 13
PETE: 10, 6, NA
posted by chris24 at 7:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Meghan certainly inherited her father's shamelessness.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 7:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [15 favorites]
Never forget that McCain, a legacy hire WASP, also claimed to be the victim of anti-Semitism when Jews on the left (and especially a popular Jewish cartoonist) lampooned her for parroting far-right talking points about Ilhan Omar's 100% accurate comments about being visibly Muslim after 9/11.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:19 AM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 8:19 AM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
I like The View despite Meghan McCain. I wish they'd replace her with someone who's not a legacy hire with more substance and less enraged entitlement.
The more liberal women on the show—Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sunny Hostin—are all accomplished women of a certain age who are there on their merits. McCain and Abby Huntsman are lightweights whose success is due to who their daddies are.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:30 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
The more liberal women on the show—Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sunny Hostin—are all accomplished women of a certain age who are there on their merits. McCain and Abby Huntsman are lightweights whose success is due to who their daddies are.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:30 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
I am an exhausted defeated caged animal
Unclear whether Meghan herself or one of her friends actually said this but either way this is incredibly tone-deaf & exactly the wrong moment to say it. There are actual children locked in cages; to compare your treatment as a pampered celebrity TV host to theirs just boggles me.
posted by scalefree at 8:37 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Unclear whether Meghan herself or one of her friends actually said this but either way this is incredibly tone-deaf & exactly the wrong moment to say it. There are actual children locked in cages; to compare your treatment as a pampered celebrity TV host to theirs just boggles me.
posted by scalefree at 8:37 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Looks like there will be a 2020 census sans citizenship question.
Uh... what does he mean by "absolutely moving forward"?
realdonaldtrump: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question."
posted by bluecore at 8:43 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Uh... what does he mean by "absolutely moving forward"?
realdonaldtrump: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question."
posted by bluecore at 8:43 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Sounds like they either made the decision behind him or snuck it past him during some parade euphoria, and either way he just noticed. Given that DOJ has confirmed yesterday’s reports through multiple channels (press spokespeople and the litigation office) it’s entirely unclear what happens now that Rage Grampa has logged on.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:46 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:46 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
Uh... what does he mean by "absolutely moving forward"?
He means he's mad that his evil plan has been thwarted. It doesn't mean he has any actual plan to de-thwart or that he's actually ordered anybody to do anything about it. Maybe he has, maybe he hasn't. Really all we know for sure is Mr Cranky is cranky.
posted by scalefree at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
He means he's mad that his evil plan has been thwarted. It doesn't mean he has any actual plan to de-thwart or that he's actually ordered anybody to do anything about it. Maybe he has, maybe he hasn't. Really all we know for sure is Mr Cranky is cranky.
posted by scalefree at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
@marwilliamson
This is more than a human rights crisis; it is criminal. When I am president, those responsible will be held accountable to the full extent of the law.
Imagine if establishment Democrats were as willing to prosecute crimes against humanity as our fringe joke candidates.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [64 favorites]
This is more than a human rights crisis; it is criminal. When I am president, those responsible will be held accountable to the full extent of the law.
Imagine if establishment Democrats were as willing to prosecute crimes against humanity as our fringe joke candidates.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [64 favorites]
It's kind of funny* because the President clearly does think that this is a way to, like, get a list of all the undocumented people in the country so they can be deported. As opposed to the actual reason of lowering response rates in immigrant communities to help with gerrymandering.
So he keeps saying the wrong thing, and saying it loudly, while his minions/puppetmasters frantically try to walk him back.
*for depressing values of 'funny'
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
So he keeps saying the wrong thing, and saying it loudly, while his minions/puppetmasters frantically try to walk him back.
*for depressing values of 'funny'
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
After all he's very busy right now. He's got a parade to mismanage. That's very important since it celebrates himself & nobody can celebrate Trump like he does.
posted by scalefree at 8:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 8:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
While @realDonaldTrump's been on a Twitter rampage all morning, it doesn't seem like he's reacting to simply to whatever topics Fox has been broadcasting, per Media Matters's Matthew Gertz:
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:00 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Four tweets in half an hour, all on different topics. Seems like live-tweeting, but Fox Business covered the S&P and Fox News didn't, neither mentioned curreny manipulation, & Fox News has been covering Gallagher and July 4 all morning but FoxB coverage sparing/doesn't match.Trump's already congratulated both war criminal Edward Gallagher ("Glad I could help!") and the S&P index, proposed US currency manipulation against China and the EU, and downplayed the costs of his 4th of July stealth-campaigning event. As he has nothing on his calendar today apart from an intelligence briefing at noon and then lunch with Pompeo, he could very well be live-tweeting his channel surfing.
And neither Fox News nor Fox Business was talking about the census. CNN has been, but didn't mention S&P, and the timeline for its Salute, Galagher, and Census segments is... strained.
It seems like he's flipping channels, but I don't think I've got quite enough to put out a theory on this.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:00 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Really all we know for sure is Mr Cranky is cranky.
We don't know for sure that he only learned about a Cabinet-level decision, on one of his key issues, announced yesterday by his appointee and direct report, when he heard about it today on the teevee news, but I have some suspicions.
posted by box at 9:01 AM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
We don't know for sure that he only learned about a Cabinet-level decision, on one of his key issues, announced yesterday by his appointee and direct report, when he heard about it today on the teevee news, but I have some suspicions.
posted by box at 9:01 AM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Update on the Jewish-led "Never Again" ICE protest in Boston yesterday: 18 people were arrested at the ICE detention center (in space rented at the South Bay county jail, and yes, organizers selected 18 people for arrest specifically for its "long life" significance in Hebrew). The Suffolk County District Attorney's office agreed to drop the charges this morning before the 18 were even arraigned.
posted by adamg at 9:03 AM on July 3, 2019 [34 favorites]
posted by adamg at 9:03 AM on July 3, 2019 [34 favorites]
We put some open data up about ICE facilities and funding here. "Detention" and "black sites" are the key csvs for locations. It's about 8 months out of date, but DHS had already organised almost all the current sites then already. We wondered at the time what that meant for their plans to scale up.
It's the data we used to generate this site. (Click through to volume 1 from the menu for the location maps and facilities visualisations. Volume 2 is all about ICE finances).
Data overview here.
posted by lollusc at 1:23 AM on July 3 [11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
As a professional statistician and public health researcher, bless you for this.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:10 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
It's the data we used to generate this site. (Click through to volume 1 from the menu for the location maps and facilities visualisations. Volume 2 is all about ICE finances).
Data overview here.
posted by lollusc at 1:23 AM on July 3 [11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
As a professional statistician and public health researcher, bless you for this.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:10 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
Dreading the inevitable pics/video of him fondling or hugging military hardware with DC monuments in the background.
Personally, I am eagerly looking forward to photos of Trump "vroom vroom"ing in a tank juxtaposed with Dukakis in a tank.
posted by srboisvert at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Personally, I am eagerly looking forward to photos of Trump "vroom vroom"ing in a tank juxtaposed with Dukakis in a tank.
posted by srboisvert at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Really all we know for sure is Mr Cranky is cranky.
There was a front page story in the WaPo today that was basically a barometer of Trump's emotional state, the first sentence is this: President Trump was apoplectic about drug prices once again.
Ostensibly, the story was the administration's response to recent stories about rising drug prices, so the WaPo's Trump whispers are hard at work trying to show that Trump is doing something about it... by being angry. There's no plan, no policy, just shouting at his HHS Secretary and craving results.
posted by peeedro at 9:29 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
There was a front page story in the WaPo today that was basically a barometer of Trump's emotional state, the first sentence is this: President Trump was apoplectic about drug prices once again.
Ostensibly, the story was the administration's response to recent stories about rising drug prices, so the WaPo's Trump whispers are hard at work trying to show that Trump is doing something about it... by being angry. There's no plan, no policy, just shouting at his HHS Secretary and craving results.
posted by peeedro at 9:29 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
President Trump was apoplectic about drug prices once again.
The man who was upset
posted by The Whelk at 9:37 AM on July 3, 2019
The man who was upset
posted by The Whelk at 9:37 AM on July 3, 2019
Why has not 'the World' (who loves to use this baton when its a third world country's strongman) spoken up about threatening sanctions against the United States for gross violations of human rights and atrocities committed under the glare of the mainstream media press, all of whom have covered the babies in cages to varying degrees? Or rather, the question should be "When" instead of "Why" because the answer to Why is white supremacy and its privileges.
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:45 AM on July 3, 2019
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:45 AM on July 3, 2019
Because America is the 800 pound economic & military gorilla that nobody wants mad at them when it's Mr Cranky in charge.
posted by scalefree at 9:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 9:57 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
Personally, I am eagerly looking forward to photos of Trump "vroom vroom"ing in a tank juxtaposed with Dukakis in a tank.
Because all of his cultural references are so timely, in March President "Sherman Tanks" Trump took a shot at the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee. Dukakis "tanked when he got into the tank.’"
Because all of his cultural references are so timely, in March President "Sherman Tanks" Trump took a shot at the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee. Dukakis "tanked when he got into the tank.’"
“I call Trump these days the draft-dodger-in-chief. While thousands of young Americans were fighting and dying in Vietnam, he was doing everything he could not to serve. Like thousands of young Americans, I served in the military, 16 months of which were 7 miles from the DMZ in Korea.”posted by kirkaracha at 10:05 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
“Trump claimed he had bone spurs in his heels, and he can’t even remember where they were — just another rich kid who used his father’s influence to avoid military service,” Dukakis said.
800 lbs doesn't even cover it. Compare defence spending
I think few in America, left or right, actually fully understand most of the worlds feelings about them, particularly modern US (and that didn't start with Trump, he is just being more open and extreme about it). Consider how the rest of the world reads American exceptionalism.
America is a bully, and by far the most powerful one in the world, militarily and economically. Sometimes it bullies for good, but increasingly that is questionable. The world doesn't hate america for its freedoms, it hates america because america is an asshole.
posted by Bovine Love at 10:09 AM on July 3, 2019 [52 favorites]
I think few in America, left or right, actually fully understand most of the worlds feelings about them, particularly modern US (and that didn't start with Trump, he is just being more open and extreme about it). Consider how the rest of the world reads American exceptionalism.
America is a bully, and by far the most powerful one in the world, militarily and economically. Sometimes it bullies for good, but increasingly that is questionable. The world doesn't hate america for its freedoms, it hates america because america is an asshole.
posted by Bovine Love at 10:09 AM on July 3, 2019 [52 favorites]
tivalasvegas: It's kind of funny* because the President clearly does think that this is a way to, like, get a list of all the undocumented people in the country so they can be deported. As opposed to the actual reason of lowering response rates in immigrant communities to help with gerrymandering.
And neither of those reasons is even the official rationale for the courts! Namely to calculate the same number of people as usual, but with better information about the general geography of undocumented people, supposedly to better serve their needs.
One place I can imagine this going: MAGAheads print up a "supplemental" to declare they are citizens, and insist to the census takers on including it. More awful possibility, of course, is that some pro-regime census takers add such a thing themselves.
adamg: Update on the Jewish-led "Never Again" ICE protest in Boston yesterday: 18 people were arrested at the ICE detention center (in space rented at the South Bay county jail, and yes, organizers selected 18 people for arrest specifically for its "long life" significance in Hebrew).
How can protestors have any say in which among themselves is arrested? Huh?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:17 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
And neither of those reasons is even the official rationale for the courts! Namely to calculate the same number of people as usual, but with better information about the general geography of undocumented people, supposedly to better serve their needs.
One place I can imagine this going: MAGAheads print up a "supplemental" to declare they are citizens, and insist to the census takers on including it. More awful possibility, of course, is that some pro-regime census takers add such a thing themselves.
adamg: Update on the Jewish-led "Never Again" ICE protest in Boston yesterday: 18 people were arrested at the ICE detention center (in space rented at the South Bay county jail, and yes, organizers selected 18 people for arrest specifically for its "long life" significance in Hebrew).
How can protestors have any say in which among themselves is arrested? Huh?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:17 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Fourth of July forecast for D.C.: Humid heat could fuel storms that interfere with fireworks
Please please please let the whole thing be washed out. If anybody wants to complain, they can direct them to me, it's my birthday tomorrow. Nazis that complain will, as always, only be welcome to face-punching.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2019 [53 favorites]
Please please please let the whole thing be washed out. If anybody wants to complain, they can direct them to me, it's my birthday tomorrow. Nazis that complain will, as always, only be welcome to face-punching.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2019 [53 favorites]
At a lot of protests, protestors will divide into two groups—those who stay back in a safe area like a public sidewalk, and those who move into an area where they’re not allowed. They might block a street, the entrance to a building, or (as in this case) a vehicle entrance to an enclosed lot. They’re making a choice to get arrested in order to send a message.
posted by EarBucket at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by EarBucket at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2019 [28 favorites]
bluecore: Uh... what does he mean by "absolutely moving forward"?
realdonaldtrump: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question."
If nothing else, this is stirring up a bunch of FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt, a disinformation strategy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, cults, and propaganda (Wikipedia summary).
When census workers are asked "Are you with ICE?" you know that the broad effort to make the census undercount U.S. residents, which "will undermine democracy for decades to come" (Mother Jones, May/June 2018 Issue). The article notes that it was hard to account for some communities before Trump's work to make America white, but now it's all that much harder for census workers to get an accurate representation of the country for funding and schools, in addition to political representation (AZEDNews, April 4, 2019).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
realdonaldtrump: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question."
If nothing else, this is stirring up a bunch of FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt, a disinformation strategy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, cults, and propaganda (Wikipedia summary).
When census workers are asked "Are you with ICE?" you know that the broad effort to make the census undercount U.S. residents, which "will undermine democracy for decades to come" (Mother Jones, May/June 2018 Issue). The article notes that it was hard to account for some communities before Trump's work to make America white, but now it's all that much harder for census workers to get an accurate representation of the country for funding and schools, in addition to political representation (AZEDNews, April 4, 2019).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
And neither of those reasons is even the official rationale for the courts! Namely to calculate the same number of people as usual, but with better information about the general geography of undocumented people, supposedly to better serve their needs.
It's not even that! It's supposed to be about Voting Rights Act enforcement, and which areas might need more attention because they have larger proportions of nonwhite voters (since noncitizens can't vote, "are you a citizen" makes a good proxy for "are you eligible to vote"). Despite what all the right-wingers seem to think, the question isn't even asking about documented vs. undocumented -- it's citizen/noncitizen, and there are millions upon millions of people who live in the United States in compliance with all immigration laws but aren't citizens.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's not even that! It's supposed to be about Voting Rights Act enforcement, and which areas might need more attention because they have larger proportions of nonwhite voters (since noncitizens can't vote, "are you a citizen" makes a good proxy for "are you eligible to vote"). Despite what all the right-wingers seem to think, the question isn't even asking about documented vs. undocumented -- it's citizen/noncitizen, and there are millions upon millions of people who live in the United States in compliance with all immigration laws but aren't citizens.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Uh... what does he mean by "absolutely moving forward"?
Are we moving forward? Yes, absolutely.
That's all there is to it.
posted by VTX at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Are we moving forward? Yes, absolutely.
That's all there is to it.
posted by VTX at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
I've said repeatedly he's got an account on Reddit or at least browses it constantly.
Scavino surely does, and he's the uncanny-valley imitator or amanuensis at least some of the time.
posted by holgate at 10:39 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Scavino surely does, and he's the uncanny-valley imitator or amanuensis at least some of the time.
posted by holgate at 10:39 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Trump’s rapidly declining health.
We've talked before about Trump exhibiting signs of dementia, but Greg Olear goes further; he doesn't think Trump will be able to run in 2020. In which case who? Pence? Melania?
posted by happyroach at 10:39 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
We've talked before about Trump exhibiting signs of dementia, but Greg Olear goes further; he doesn't think Trump will be able to run in 2020. In which case who? Pence? Melania?
posted by happyroach at 10:39 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Oh, yeah, I absolutely didn't mean to imply the VRA rationale is anything but a transparent lie. More that it shows how completely, hilariously off-message Trump and his crazies are when they talk about the need for a citizenship question to identify undocumented immigrants.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:41 AM on July 3, 2019
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:41 AM on July 3, 2019
and there are millions upon millions of people who live in the United States in compliance with all immigration laws but aren't citizens.
13 million people are resident aliens (I am a +1 in that group).
If we were a state we'd be the fifth largest.
posted by srboisvert at 10:48 AM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
13 million people are resident aliens (I am a +1 in that group).
If we were a state we'd be the fifth largest.
posted by srboisvert at 10:48 AM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Trump’s rapidly declining health.
We've talked before about Trump exhibiting signs of dementia, but Greg Olear goes further; he doesn't think Trump will be able to run in 2020.
There's no reason to entertain this sort of speculation other than providing yet another comforting deus-ex narrative. Even if he does in fact have advancing neurodegenerative illness, his father lived with Alzheimers well into his 90s. The GOP would happily weekend-at-bernies him through 2020 and he'd still have an excellent chance of winning.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:49 AM on July 3, 2019 [46 favorites]
We've talked before about Trump exhibiting signs of dementia, but Greg Olear goes further; he doesn't think Trump will be able to run in 2020.
There's no reason to entertain this sort of speculation other than providing yet another comforting deus-ex narrative. Even if he does in fact have advancing neurodegenerative illness, his father lived with Alzheimers well into his 90s. The GOP would happily weekend-at-bernies him through 2020 and he'd still have an excellent chance of winning.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:49 AM on July 3, 2019 [46 favorites]
Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Trump’s rapidly declining health.
Let's talk about fact-based cases built on evidence more solid than old West Wing episodes.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:51 AM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
Let's talk about fact-based cases built on evidence more solid than old West Wing episodes.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:51 AM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
Fourth of July forecast for D.C.: Humid heat could fuel storms that interfere with fireworks
Please please please let the whole thing be washed out. If anybody wants to complain, they can direct them to me, it's my birthday tomorrow. Nazis that complain will, as always, only be welcome to face-punching.
So if we don't get a Dukakis moment can we then get an umbrella-gate? (perhaps a 4 or 5 star general can hold it for him or he could hold it himself and then just throw it on the ground again).
There are so many wonderfully awful ways this can go wrong it's like having episodes of The Office (UK) queued up in my DVR.
posted by srboisvert at 10:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Please please please let the whole thing be washed out. If anybody wants to complain, they can direct them to me, it's my birthday tomorrow. Nazis that complain will, as always, only be welcome to face-punching.
So if we don't get a Dukakis moment can we then get an umbrella-gate? (perhaps a 4 or 5 star general can hold it for him or he could hold it himself and then just throw it on the ground again).
There are so many wonderfully awful ways this can go wrong it's like having episodes of The Office (UK) queued up in my DVR.
posted by srboisvert at 10:55 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Politico: NRA Meltdown Has Trump Campaign Sweating—Republicans worry that the NRA and two other groups that have long formed the core of their electoral infrastructure will be effectively on the sidelines.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
In recent weeks, the NRA has seen everything from a failed coup attempt to the departure of its longtime political architect to embarrassing tales of self-dealing by top leaders. The turmoil is fueling fears that the organization will be profoundly diminished heading into the election, leaving the Republican Party with a gaping hole in its political machinery.This dismal scenario likely plays into Trump's tweets yesterday about relocating the NRA to Texas to avoid further scrutiny by the NYS AG.
With the Chamber of Commerce and Koch political network withdrawing from their once-dominant roles in electing conservatives, Republicans worry that three organizations that have long formed the core of their electoral infrastructure will be effectively on the sidelines.
The predicament has so troubled some Republicans that they are calling on the famously secretive NRA to address its 2020 plans. Within the past week, senators have privately expressed concerns about the group to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Todd Young.[…]
What makes the NRA such a potent force for Republicans, party officials said, are its reach into battlegrounds — such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Ohio — and the sway it holds with its members. The NRA’s appeals play a critical role in turning out sportsmen, many of whom have paid dues to the organization for years and regard it as an important part of their lives.[…]
Issues surrounding the Republican Party's outside infrastructure go beyond the NRA. The Chamber of Commerce, a key player in Republican politics over the past decade, spent just $10 million during the 2018 cycle, about a third of what it spent during the previous election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The scale back has led many to believe the organization, a staple of the business community, is preparing to play a diminished role in 2020.[…]
Meanwhile, the Koch network is gradually shifting away from partisanship and toward policy issues like addressing poverty and drug addiction. The network, which like the Chamber has at times found itself at odds with the president, plans to sit out the 2020 presidential race and is recasting itself in a nonpartisan fashion.
Emily Seidel, chief executive of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, penned a memo last month in which she announced the outfit is open to backing candidates from either party.
The new approach has rankled some longtime Koch donors, who complain the powerful network — which played a pivotal role in helping Republicans capture the Senate majority — is abandoning the GOP.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:58 AM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
"This is what happens when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—whose chair, Cheri Bustos, voted for the bill along with other senior members of the leadership including Steny Hoyer—only recruits the most right-wing candidates to run in swing districts. They get elected, they vote like right-wingers, and then they’re swept out of office in favor of actual right-wingers as soon as there’s an opportunity. These people are not just useless; they are active obstacles to social progress. They might as well be on Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy’s payroll."
posted by The Whelk
Steny Hoyer is an erstwhile Iraq War hawk and Israeli settlement apologist who opposes impeachment, will not support the Green New Deal, and reinstated pay-go rules immediately after becoming House Majority Leader earlier this year. But there's more! He's been in Congress for nearly 40 years and is far to the right of his suburban DC district. Old-guard folks like Hoyer are the reason senior Democrats have threatened to blacklist campaign workers who support Democratic primary challenges; in fact, Hoyer has a left-wing primary challenger of his own in Mckayla Wilkes. Since she probably won't get much help from seasoned campaign professionals (due to said blacklist), she could use a few bucks!
posted by duffell at 11:03 AM on July 3, 2019 [21 favorites]
posted by The Whelk
Steny Hoyer is an erstwhile Iraq War hawk and Israeli settlement apologist who opposes impeachment, will not support the Green New Deal, and reinstated pay-go rules immediately after becoming House Majority Leader earlier this year. But there's more! He's been in Congress for nearly 40 years and is far to the right of his suburban DC district. Old-guard folks like Hoyer are the reason senior Democrats have threatened to blacklist campaign workers who support Democratic primary challenges; in fact, Hoyer has a left-wing primary challenger of his own in Mckayla Wilkes. Since she probably won't get much help from seasoned campaign professionals (due to said blacklist), she could use a few bucks!
posted by duffell at 11:03 AM on July 3, 2019 [21 favorites]
How can protestors have any say in which among themselves is arrested? Huh?
This is very common in organized, non-violent protests. It is a tacit agreement between police and protestors. The police will declare a certain point as off-limits and announce that anyone who does not back off from that point will be arrested. Certain protestors will intentionally decide to be arrested as a statement of civil disobedience and cross the line. The police then calmly arrest them, all according to script.
It all goes back at least to Henry David Thoreau in the 1800's.
posted by JackFlash at 11:04 AM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
This is very common in organized, non-violent protests. It is a tacit agreement between police and protestors. The police will declare a certain point as off-limits and announce that anyone who does not back off from that point will be arrested. Certain protestors will intentionally decide to be arrested as a statement of civil disobedience and cross the line. The police then calmly arrest them, all according to script.
It all goes back at least to Henry David Thoreau in the 1800's.
posted by JackFlash at 11:04 AM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
President of National Border Patrol Council: 'Ocasio-Cortez is trying to dehumanize us'
"First they came for the nazis, and I said cool, because they were nazis"
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:14 AM on July 3, 2019 [74 favorites]
"First they came for the nazis, and I said cool, because they were nazis"
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:14 AM on July 3, 2019 [74 favorites]
Trump will run in 2020. Any change in VP should attract close scrutiny however.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:20 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:20 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
CBS: Trump Fed nominee wants to go back on the gold standard.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:21 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:21 AM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Has a VP change been rumored? Mike Pence is Trump's liaison to the evangelical base -- particularly if conservative money is running away, Trump absolutely needs to keep conservative Protestant white people on side.
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:52 AM on July 3, 2019
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:52 AM on July 3, 2019
Trump will run in 2020. Any change in VP should attract close scrutiny however.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:20 AM on July 3 [+] [!]
C'mon. You know it'll be Ivanka, right?
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:53 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:20 AM on July 3 [+] [!]
C'mon. You know it'll be Ivanka, right?
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:53 AM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Trump’s rapidly declining health.
Putting on my cardigan: Olear is the author of Dirty Rubles, which is an enjoyable read, but quite short, and, maybe because of that brevity, there were times he drew a solid line where I might've made a dotted one. If you're going to read one Trump/Russia book, I would recommend Craig Unger's House of Trump, House of Putin and Michael Isikoff and David Corn's Russian Roulette (and, although I wouldn't rate it as highly as the other two, Seth Abramson's Proof of Collusion) rather than Olear's book for most adult nonfiction readers.
posted by box at 11:54 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Putting on my cardigan: Olear is the author of Dirty Rubles, which is an enjoyable read, but quite short, and, maybe because of that brevity, there were times he drew a solid line where I might've made a dotted one. If you're going to read one Trump/Russia book, I would recommend Craig Unger's House of Trump, House of Putin and Michael Isikoff and David Corn's Russian Roulette (and, although I wouldn't rate it as highly as the other two, Seth Abramson's Proof of Collusion) rather than Olear's book for most adult nonfiction readers.
posted by box at 11:54 AM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
C'mon. You know it'll be Ivanka, right?
Why not? She meets all the qualifications. She's a citizen, she's over 35, and she's lived in the US for 14 years.
TrumpTrump2020!
posted by kirkaracha at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Why not? She meets all the qualifications. She's a citizen, she's over 35, and she's lived in the US for 14 years.
TrumpTrump2020!
posted by kirkaracha at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
How can protestors have any say in which among themselves is arrested? Huh?
My nonprofit did two civil disobedience actions last year in which people were deliberately arrested, and it was all planned in advance. We even briefed them before so they'd know what to expect. How it went down was, the soon-to-be arrestees stepped into the street and blocked traffic while the rest of the people at the protests stepped back. The people in the street were then given warnings by the police to move, they didn't comply, and they were arrested.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
My nonprofit did two civil disobedience actions last year in which people were deliberately arrested, and it was all planned in advance. We even briefed them before so they'd know what to expect. How it went down was, the soon-to-be arrestees stepped into the street and blocked traffic while the rest of the people at the protests stepped back. The people in the street were then given warnings by the police to move, they didn't comply, and they were arrested.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy
In one of the most remarkable partnerships in modern American political history, Soros and Charles Koch, the more active of the two brothers, are joining to finance a new foreign-policy think tank in Washington. It will promote an approach to the world based on diplomacy and restraint rather than threats, sanctions, and bombing. This is a radical notion in Washington, where every major think tank promotes some variant of neocon militarism or liberal interventionism. Soros and Koch are uniting to revive the fading vision of a peaceable United States. The street cred they bring from both ends of the political spectrum — along with the money they are providing — will make this new think tank an off-pitch voice for statesmanship amid a Washington chorus that promotes brinksmanship.
Quincy Foundation will challenge America’s military-industrial complex, co-founders say
The Quincy Institute is named for President John Quincy Adams, who famously warned Americans against going abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” They plan to set up offices in D.C. and begin hiring fellows in the coming months as well as release several reports before the end of this year. In addition to Wertheim, the group’s founders include Trita Parsi, the former president of the National Iranian American Council and a leading proponent of the Iran nuclear deal; Suzanne DiMaggio, an expert on negotiations with Iran and North Korea currently with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; journalist Eli Clifton of the Nation; and the historian and retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich.
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:07 PM on July 3, 2019 [23 favorites]
In one of the most remarkable partnerships in modern American political history, Soros and Charles Koch, the more active of the two brothers, are joining to finance a new foreign-policy think tank in Washington. It will promote an approach to the world based on diplomacy and restraint rather than threats, sanctions, and bombing. This is a radical notion in Washington, where every major think tank promotes some variant of neocon militarism or liberal interventionism. Soros and Koch are uniting to revive the fading vision of a peaceable United States. The street cred they bring from both ends of the political spectrum — along with the money they are providing — will make this new think tank an off-pitch voice for statesmanship amid a Washington chorus that promotes brinksmanship.
Quincy Foundation will challenge America’s military-industrial complex, co-founders say
The Quincy Institute is named for President John Quincy Adams, who famously warned Americans against going abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” They plan to set up offices in D.C. and begin hiring fellows in the coming months as well as release several reports before the end of this year. In addition to Wertheim, the group’s founders include Trita Parsi, the former president of the National Iranian American Council and a leading proponent of the Iran nuclear deal; Suzanne DiMaggio, an expert on negotiations with Iran and North Korea currently with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; journalist Eli Clifton of the Nation; and the historian and retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich.
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:07 PM on July 3, 2019 [23 favorites]
A Photographer Sees a Prophecy of Trump’s America in Atlantic City. "Atlantic City is a powerful testament to the destructiveness of unchecked crony capitalism."
posted by bq at 12:13 PM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by bq at 12:13 PM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
BREAKING: We’re releasing 1000s of docs & summary report detailing how ICE planned for the largest raid in their history. "Operation Mega" planned to arrest at least 8,400 people in 2017 & involved all of ICE’s 24 field offices.
Blueprint for Terror: How ICE Planned its Largest Immigration Raid in History
1. Operation Mega was real and was designed to be the biggest raid of all time.
2. ICE used arrest quotas and anyone suspected of being a noncitizen was a target for deportation.
3. Although Operation Mega was the largest raid ICE HQ planned, they conducted multiple national operations in 2017. ICE recycles the same operations again and again for raids.
4. Palantir’s programs and databases were integrated into all Operation Mega planned raids. They are now part of all enforcement actions by ICE.
5. Local Field Offices developed local operations plans to execute Operation Mega/Epic/Cross Check or Safe Cities.
6. ICE often arrested more “collaterals” than “targets” during Cross Check raids.
7. ICE worked with US Attorney’s offices to criminally prosecute as many people as possible.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
Blueprint for Terror: How ICE Planned its Largest Immigration Raid in History
1. Operation Mega was real and was designed to be the biggest raid of all time.
2. ICE used arrest quotas and anyone suspected of being a noncitizen was a target for deportation.
3. Although Operation Mega was the largest raid ICE HQ planned, they conducted multiple national operations in 2017. ICE recycles the same operations again and again for raids.
4. Palantir’s programs and databases were integrated into all Operation Mega planned raids. They are now part of all enforcement actions by ICE.
5. Local Field Offices developed local operations plans to execute Operation Mega/Epic/Cross Check or Safe Cities.
6. ICE often arrested more “collaterals” than “targets” during Cross Check raids.
7. ICE worked with US Attorney’s offices to criminally prosecute as many people as possible.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
Because America is the 800 pound economic & military gorilla that nobody wants mad at them when it's Mr Cranky in charge.
Xi, Modi, Putin seek to strengthen multilateral world order
The meeting between Indian PM Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit reinforces the multilateral nature of the world today, say experts.
I suspect they'll just sneak out the back door behind Ivanka's back.
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:29 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Xi, Modi, Putin seek to strengthen multilateral world order
The meeting between Indian PM Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit reinforces the multilateral nature of the world today, say experts.
I suspect they'll just sneak out the back door behind Ivanka's back.
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:29 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
800 lbs doesn't even cover it. Compare defence spending
This is something I've been thinking about for a while. The US could cut it's defence spending by 30-50%, and still be by far the largest power in the world. And then those ressources could go towards healthcare and social security. Why not? Why is this so rarely discussed?
George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy
Oh, wow. Cool.
Another thing about that defense spending graph: why the f*** is Saudi spending that big? It's way out of proportion. Has it always been that way? Are they just paying for US protection and "friendship" by buying more arms than they will ever need? This is insane.
posted by mumimor at 12:30 PM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is something I've been thinking about for a while. The US could cut it's defence spending by 30-50%, and still be by far the largest power in the world. And then those ressources could go towards healthcare and social security. Why not? Why is this so rarely discussed?
George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy
Oh, wow. Cool.
Another thing about that defense spending graph: why the f*** is Saudi spending that big? It's way out of proportion. Has it always been that way? Are they just paying for US protection and "friendship" by buying more arms than they will ever need? This is insane.
posted by mumimor at 12:30 PM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Another thing about that defense spending graph: why the f*** is Saudi spending that big? It's way out of proportion. Has it always been that way? Are they just paying for US protection and "friendship" by buying more arms than they will ever need? This is insane.
What we’ve learned from fifty years of Saudi arms deals
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [12 favorites]
The Saudi-U.S. relationship is peerless when it comes to arms sales. The kingdom buys more American weapons than any other nation. Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly one-fifth of American of all weapons exports over the past five years, according to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The Pentagon has a team of U.S. service members based out of the capital Riyadh wholly dedicated the “management and administration of Saudi Arabian Foreign Military Sales.” It serves as a direct pipeline to move weapons from U.S. arms manufacturers into the arms of the Saudi military.
The U.S. military’s Joint Advisory Division works alongside commanders in each branch of the Saudi military to help fill their weapons needs. Once the Saudis commit to what they want — tanks, attack helicopters, missiles, ships, laser-guided bombs — the arms packages must be OK’d by the U.S. Defense and State Departments, and approved by Congress.
The arrangement falls under the U.S. Military Training Mission to Saudi Arabia, which is led by a two-star American general. The mission is primarily designed to bolster Saudi Arabia against arch-rival Iran in order to assert power and influence in the Middle East.
What we’ve learned from fifty years of Saudi arms deals
posted by Mrs Potato at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [12 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:"The cruelty is the goal. It’s called “deterrence” - a policy stance that if our country inflicts enough pain on refugees, they will think twice before believing America is worth their dreams & aspirations.
Only policy change can end cruelty, not blank checks to the status quo."
Is AOC the only Democratic politician who has realized this?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:53 PM on July 3, 2019 [59 favorites]
Only policy change can end cruelty, not blank checks to the status quo."
Is AOC the only Democratic politician who has realized this?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:53 PM on July 3, 2019 [59 favorites]
realdonaldtrump: "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question."
Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman has more:
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:58 PM on July 3, 2019 [36 favorites]
Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman has more:
Update: Plaintiffs in the NY census citizenship Q case have asked the judge to immediately schedule a status conference to find out what the heck is going on re: Trump's tweet todayTrump’s Twitter account continues to be his administration’s biggest liability in the courts.
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6182145/7-3-19-Request-for-Hearing-NY-Census.pdf
ACLU and NY AG's office say Trump's tweet "is not consistent with the representations Defendants’ counsel made to Plaintiffs and a federal court yesterday" (in Maryland) and that any effort to print the form *with* the question would violate the court's injunction
Things are moving quickly now: The judge in the NY census citizenship Q case has ordered the govt to file a response by 6pm ET explaining what happened on the call in the Maryland case (set for 3:30pm) and a statement on the government's "position and intentions"
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:58 PM on July 3, 2019 [36 favorites]
I love it. He just doesn't get, even after being president for *checks notes* eighteen-hundred fifty-three years, that the speech of the chief executive of the government of the United States is categorically different to the twitterings of a washed-up failson.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:02 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:02 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Is AOC the only Democratic politician who has realized this?
Also Omar and Tlaib, the rest of the House Not-Worthless Caucus.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:03 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Also Omar and Tlaib, the rest of the House Not-Worthless Caucus.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:03 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Gosh, you'd think it would maybe dawn on people that he doesn't know what he's doing, or something.
posted by Melismata at 1:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 1:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
why the f*** is Saudi spending that big?
Because they want to be the 800-lb gorilla of the Middle East, and they think they need it to offset Iran.
Which raises the question, "okay, but why isn't Iran's spending that high?" Which is legitimate; the short answer is that the Saudis and the Iranians take different approaches to defense. The Iranians are basically followers of Soviet doctrine, complete with fifth column elements located in adjacent states (principally and perhaps most importantly to the US, Iraq) to destabilize them if given the order. In a pitched fight they would take significant casualties, probably have to start mass conscription, and generally wrap an iron fist around their civil society and squeeze, but the running economic costs are low.
The Saudis are followers of American doctrine, which emphasizes technological superiority through outspending the enemy, and high-tech weapons systems that allow casualties to be inflicted on the enemy with very minimal risk to friendly personnel. This favors a highly-trained, professionalized military, relatively small in size, but with very expensive equipment (and training—the training is often more expensive than the equipment in the case of some systems, like jet aircraft). It also favors WMD development, and it's probably safe to assume SA has the full spectrum, if they were ever facing something that looked like a really existential threat to the regime. (There are long-running rumors that they traded missile tech to the Pakistanis in return for nukes, which may live in SA itself but more likely live in Pakistan ready to get loaded onto transports, because the Pakistanis have the facilities to maintain them. I tend to give this credence.)
Iran is a much more populous country and could presumably withstand casualty rates that would cripple SA, and they have a history of casualty-producing wars (principally the Iran/Iraq war) that didn't lead to the collapse of the Iranian government. In contrast, the Saudis haven't, which leaves open a question of at what point their civil society decides that enough is too much and starts pushing back on the regime. Neither government is particularly democratic, which means they can ignore popular opinion in theory, but in practice not indefinitely.
Anyway, lots of spending on high-tech weapons are pretty much what you expect when you think you're going to have to, or want to be able to plausibly, fight a war and not take a lot of friendly casualties while still inflicting lots of them on an enemy.
That it also furthers their relationship with the US, which effectively gives them the ability to dial up the US military from time to time, is icing on the cake (and it lets them interoperate with US forces, though they could probably get that by buying from another NATO country)—but even absent the US relationship you'd probably see them buying equivalently top-end kit from other exporting states.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:20 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Because they want to be the 800-lb gorilla of the Middle East, and they think they need it to offset Iran.
Which raises the question, "okay, but why isn't Iran's spending that high?" Which is legitimate; the short answer is that the Saudis and the Iranians take different approaches to defense. The Iranians are basically followers of Soviet doctrine, complete with fifth column elements located in adjacent states (principally and perhaps most importantly to the US, Iraq) to destabilize them if given the order. In a pitched fight they would take significant casualties, probably have to start mass conscription, and generally wrap an iron fist around their civil society and squeeze, but the running economic costs are low.
The Saudis are followers of American doctrine, which emphasizes technological superiority through outspending the enemy, and high-tech weapons systems that allow casualties to be inflicted on the enemy with very minimal risk to friendly personnel. This favors a highly-trained, professionalized military, relatively small in size, but with very expensive equipment (and training—the training is often more expensive than the equipment in the case of some systems, like jet aircraft). It also favors WMD development, and it's probably safe to assume SA has the full spectrum, if they were ever facing something that looked like a really existential threat to the regime. (There are long-running rumors that they traded missile tech to the Pakistanis in return for nukes, which may live in SA itself but more likely live in Pakistan ready to get loaded onto transports, because the Pakistanis have the facilities to maintain them. I tend to give this credence.)
Iran is a much more populous country and could presumably withstand casualty rates that would cripple SA, and they have a history of casualty-producing wars (principally the Iran/Iraq war) that didn't lead to the collapse of the Iranian government. In contrast, the Saudis haven't, which leaves open a question of at what point their civil society decides that enough is too much and starts pushing back on the regime. Neither government is particularly democratic, which means they can ignore popular opinion in theory, but in practice not indefinitely.
Anyway, lots of spending on high-tech weapons are pretty much what you expect when you think you're going to have to, or want to be able to plausibly, fight a war and not take a lot of friendly casualties while still inflicting lots of them on an enemy.
That it also furthers their relationship with the US, which effectively gives them the ability to dial up the US military from time to time, is icing on the cake (and it lets them interoperate with US forces, though they could probably get that by buying from another NATO country)—but even absent the US relationship you'd probably see them buying equivalently top-end kit from other exporting states.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:20 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
More good news: Court Orders Release of Sealed Documents About Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Sex Ring
posted by carmicha at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
In March, two mystery parties filed court papers supporting [Epstein’s alleged madam, British socialite Ghislaine] Maxwell’s efforts to keep the records sealed. Those individuals were identified only as “J. Doe” and “John Doe.” An attorney for John Doe wrote that “wholesale unsealing of the Summary Judgment Materials will almost certainly disclose unadjudicated allegations against third persons—allegations that may be the product of false statements or, perhaps, simply mistake, confusion, or failing memories of events alleged to have occurred over a decade and half ago.”Individual One, is that you?
posted by carmicha at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
why the f*** is Saudi spending that big?
Because the chain of command in the Saudi army is beyond shitty, and their only hope for good battlefield performance is very , very fancy toys.
posted by ocschwar at 1:24 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Because the chain of command in the Saudi army is beyond shitty, and their only hope for good battlefield performance is very , very fancy toys.
posted by ocschwar at 1:24 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Because they want to be the 800-lb gorilla of the Middle East, and they think they need it to offset Iran.
Not to further a derail much, though I think this is very relevant to US politics. I know the Saudis want to be the strongest in the ME, but still: they are spending more than Russia, more than India. It is literally insane. Their population is 33 million people. They can't even use all that hardware.
posted by mumimor at 1:29 PM on July 3, 2019
Not to further a derail much, though I think this is very relevant to US politics. I know the Saudis want to be the strongest in the ME, but still: they are spending more than Russia, more than India. It is literally insane. Their population is 33 million people. They can't even use all that hardware.
posted by mumimor at 1:29 PM on July 3, 2019
Also Omar and Tlaib, the rest of the House Not-Worthless Caucus.
Ayanna Pressley requests a word.
posted by box at 1:34 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Ayanna Pressley requests a word.
posted by box at 1:34 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Just want to point out that the Operation Mega details site linked above has a link to a zip file of all the relevant documents. What they don't tell you is that the zip file is 3 GB.
posted by emelenjr at 1:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by emelenjr at 1:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Another thing about that defense spending graph: why the f*** is Saudi spending that big? It's way out of proportion. Has it always been that way? Are they just paying for US protection and "friendship" by buying more arms than they will ever need? This is insane.
Saudi Arabia probably needs that level of military for domestic reasons. 37% of their population are non-native migrants and they are significantly poorer and treated much worse than Saudi Arabian citizens. This makes them very susceptible to internal dissension that could be fomented with input from regional adversaries. So they need to big guns to say "Don't stir up our exploited migrant workers or else".
I also wouldn't be surprised if they make major (or I guess more major) military moves as their money starts to dry up. They one-two combination of global warming fossil fuel restrictions and cheaper natural gas competition is really hurting their economy already and that will only get worse. And people with lots of money and power don't typically just quietly bow out.
posted by srboisvert at 1:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Saudi Arabia probably needs that level of military for domestic reasons. 37% of their population are non-native migrants and they are significantly poorer and treated much worse than Saudi Arabian citizens. This makes them very susceptible to internal dissension that could be fomented with input from regional adversaries. So they need to big guns to say "Don't stir up our exploited migrant workers or else".
I also wouldn't be surprised if they make major (or I guess more major) military moves as their money starts to dry up. They one-two combination of global warming fossil fuel restrictions and cheaper natural gas competition is really hurting their economy already and that will only get worse. And people with lots of money and power don't typically just quietly bow out.
posted by srboisvert at 1:40 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Mod note: If folks want to continue on Saudi Arabia military stuff, better to make a separate thread for that.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:43 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:43 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.— Erma Bombeck
posted by kirkaracha at 1:49 PM on July 3, 2019 [61 favorites]
Rust Moranis: President of National Border Patrol Council: 'Ocasio-Cortez is trying to dehumanize us'
"Don't call my actions inhumane," said association whose sole job is to enable atrocities in the name of "border security."
Mrs Potato: The Quincy Institute is named for President John Quincy Adams, who famously warned Americans against going abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.”
Yeah, we have plenty of monsters at home. Let's start calling white supremacists and the violent, extreme right what they are - domestic terrorists -- Most Of America’s Terrorists Are White, And Not Muslim (HuffPo, Aug. 23, 2017) -- When it comes to domestic terrorism in America, the numbers don’t lie: Far-right extremists are behind far more plots and attacks than Islamist extremists.
And that's before the rise of activities from Atomwaffen Division (Wikipedia) and others who were emboldened in the Trump era, as seen by the timeline of members that faced criminal charges.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:54 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
"Don't call my actions inhumane," said association whose sole job is to enable atrocities in the name of "border security."
Mrs Potato: The Quincy Institute is named for President John Quincy Adams, who famously warned Americans against going abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.”
Yeah, we have plenty of monsters at home. Let's start calling white supremacists and the violent, extreme right what they are - domestic terrorists -- Most Of America’s Terrorists Are White, And Not Muslim (HuffPo, Aug. 23, 2017) -- When it comes to domestic terrorism in America, the numbers don’t lie: Far-right extremists are behind far more plots and attacks than Islamist extremists.
And that's before the rise of activities from Atomwaffen Division (Wikipedia) and others who were emboldened in the Trump era, as seen by the timeline of members that faced criminal charges.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:54 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman:
NOW: A federal judge on Ohio has blocked the state's six-week abortion ban — plaintiffs likely to succeed in arguing that the law is "unconstitutional on its face," the judge wroteposted by Doktor Zed at 2:05 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6182242/7-3-19-Pre-Term-Cleveland-Opinion.pdf
A clarification: The judge said the plaintiffs were "certain to succeed" - you rarely see that kind of langauge in a preliminary injunction order, since it's not supposed to be final (usually the judge will say something like "likely to succeed")
@MikeSacksEsq: SOURCE: The DOJ reversed course to Judge Hazel, told them that they've been "ordered" to try to get the citizenship question back on the census, and that no final decision has been made yet, but their "current plan" is to go directly to SCOTUS to bless whatever they decide.
What the everloving fuck?
posted by zachlipton at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
What the everloving fuck?
posted by zachlipton at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
I do not understand anything anymore. SCOTUS has ruled. A new legal effort will be a months long undertaking. Meanwhile a big logistics effort has to begin soon, much sooner than SCOTUS can review.
Happy Independence Day!
posted by notyou at 2:15 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Happy Independence Day!
posted by notyou at 2:15 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Politico: 'They started this too late': Trump officials and allies anxious about July 4 fest—Trump and RNC aides are scrambling to ensure turnout at the event and avoid another controversy about crowd size.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2019 [30 favorites]
The White House and Republican National Committee have spent the last week scrambling to distribute VIP tickets to President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July speech at the Lincoln Memorial.The Trump White House has been reduced to giving away tickets in blocks of ten to staffers, and the National Weather Service is predicting “Scattered Showers then Thunderstorms Likely” for tomorrow. This sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Now, White House officials and allies are wringing their hands over the risk of the hastily arranged event morphing into Trump’s Inauguration 2.0, in which the size of the crowd and the ensuing media coverage do not meet the president’s own outsized expectations for the event.
“They started this too late and everyone has plans already,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and chief executive officer of the drilling services company Canary, LLC. “Everyone will be there in spirit, but in reality, people planned their July 4th activities weeks ago.”
Less than 36 hours before the event, White House aides were crafting Trump’s speech while administration and Republican National Committee officials finalized the guest lists.[…]
“They are creating this thing from scratch, and I do not know if anyone knows how it will go off,” said another White House aide. “There are questions about the ticket distribution and who will show up. The weather might be bad. Heads are spinning.”
An informal survey of more than a half dozen Trump donors and allies showed that none plan to attend. Several Republicans close to the White House returned POLITICO’s calls from beaches at least one plane ride away from Washington.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2019 [30 favorites]
I do not understand anything anymore. SCOTUS has ruled.
Then Trump tweeted, and he's the King of America, and it's almost America's Birthday, so this is no time to question the king.
Doktor Zed: Trump’s Twitter account continues to be his administration’s biggest liability in the courts.
FTFY. Har har.
Except when King Trump can over-rule the normal order of things, then who the fuck knows anything.
I hate everything about this toxic mess.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
Then Trump tweeted, and he's the King of America, and it's almost America's Birthday, so this is no time to question the king.
Doktor Zed: Trump
FTFY. Har har.
Except when King Trump can over-rule the normal order of things, then who the fuck knows anything.
I hate everything about this toxic mess.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
The Supreme Court has gone home for the summer. Next term doesn’t start until October. They do emergency orders occasionally, but they’re not re-hearing anything anytime soon.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:21 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:21 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Here's the transcript of that census hearing
But here's the quick summary: @nycsouthpaw: The DOJ lawyer had to dial in from his vacation to explain the President’s bad tweet to the judge
The heart of it is here:
But here's the quick summary: @nycsouthpaw: The DOJ lawyer had to dial in from his vacation to explain the President’s bad tweet to the judge
The heart of it is here:
We at the Department of Justice have been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court's decision, that would allow us to include the citizenship question on the census. We think here may be a legally available path under the Supreme Court's decision. We're examining that, looking at near-term options to see whether that's viable and possible.The judge wants, by Friday (a request from DOJ to wait until Monday because of the holiday was flatly met with a "no"), either a clear statement that the citizenship question is dead or a proposed schedule for how to go forward in the district court. And the judge seems pretty obviously pissed at the President:
And so to the extent we can identify an option for that to work, if we continue to examine the decision and believe that we have a viable path forward to that work, our current plan would be to file a motion in the Supreme Court to request instructions on remand to govern further proceedings in order to simplify and expedite the remaining litigation and provide clarity to the process going forward.
So as Mr. Gardner said, it's very fluid at present because we are still examining the Supreme Court's decision to see if that option is still available to us.
And this isn't anything against anybody on this call. I've been told different things, and it's becoming increasingly frustrating. If you were Facebook and an attorney for Facebook told me one thing, and then I read a press release from Mark Zuckerberg telling me something else, I would be demanding that Mark Zuckerberg appear in court with you the next time because I would be saying I don't think you speak for your client anymore.posted by zachlipton at 2:27 PM on July 3, 2019 [49 favorites]
How can protestors have any say in which among themselves is arrested?
I'm late on this, but there was a good example of it in the Jordan Klepper show recently, about 2:45 into this video: Jordan Gets Arrested
posted by seiryuu at 2:27 PM on July 3, 2019
I'm late on this, but there was a good example of it in the Jordan Klepper show recently, about 2:45 into this video: Jordan Gets Arrested
posted by seiryuu at 2:27 PM on July 3, 2019
Atlantic, What a Pediatrician Saw Inside a Border Patrol Warehouse
At 5:53, the guard with the surgical mask brought in the 3-year-old Sevier had requested to see, holding her by the armpits, like a puppy. Thin and subdued, the girl was crying but didn’t turn away. “Underweight, fearful child in no acute distress,” Sevier wrote. “Only concern is severe trauma being suffered from being removed from primary caregiver.”posted by zachlipton at 2:32 PM on July 3, 2019 [38 favorites]
After the exam, the child lingered, and Sevier offered to hold her. She climbed into the doctor’s lap and fell asleep in less than a minute. The squalor, the lighting, the agents, and the event that evening fell away from Sevier’s consciousness. As if in rebellion against her careful training, her mind shut down, she told me. And for what seemed like an eternity, she sat in vacant silence with the child.
Huh. It didn't occur to me, until I read the plaintiff's attorney's comments on the transcript, how much damage Trump might do to the census just by fucking lying about it through Twitter. You're worried about your immigration status or somebody in your household and POTUS is saying we will get this info through the census, I mean, I'd think twice about filling it out, regardless of whether the question is actually on there.
There's not an ocean deep enough for all the piss I plan to shower on that man's grave
posted by angrycat at 2:35 PM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
There's not an ocean deep enough for all the piss I plan to shower on that man's grave
posted by angrycat at 2:35 PM on July 3, 2019 [26 favorites]
Just throw interfering with the government’s constitutionally mandated duty to conduct the census on the bonfire of impeachable offenses with all the others.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 2:38 PM on July 3, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 2:38 PM on July 3, 2019 [23 favorites]
'We have a predator living in the White House': Harris sharpens attacks on Trump (Politico)
Kamala Harris on Wednesday debuted a new line of attack against President Donald Trump, saying that her background as a prosecutor made her uniquely suited to take on “a predator” like the president.posted by Little Dawn at 2:48 PM on July 3, 2019 [24 favorites]
At an Iowa event, during a riff on Trump’s trade and health care policies and his handling of the surge of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful ripped the president for betraying the American people.
“I’m prepared to prosecute the case. And I’m going to tell you in terms of my background,” the California senator said, rattling off a list of groups she prosecuted in her more than two decades in law enforcement in California.
“I know predators, and we have a predator living in the White House,” she continued, earning raucous applause from the crowd. “And let me tell you, there’s a little secret about predators. Donald Trump has predatory nature and predatory instincts.”
carmicha: Individual One, is that you?
The thing with Epstein is that exposing data around him is potentially damning to almost anybody male and upper-class. Other likely candidates are Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:56 PM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
The thing with Epstein is that exposing data around him is potentially damning to almost anybody male and upper-class. Other likely candidates are Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:56 PM on July 3, 2019 [9 favorites]
Sites in 3 states eyed for permanent child detention centers
20-year leases for child concentration camps are a good sign for a civilization/empire, right?
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:58 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
20-year leases for child concentration camps are a good sign for a civilization/empire, right?
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:58 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Did we ever get an official story about why Pence was recalled to the White House yesterday?
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 2:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 2:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Here's the transcript of that census hearing
The DoJ attorney is just as confused as everyone else:
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
The DoJ attorney is just as confused as everyone else:
The tweet this morning was the first I had heard of the President's position on this issue, just like the plaintiffs and Your Honor. I do not have a deeper understanding of what that means at this juncture other than what the President has tweeted. But, obviously, as you can imagine, I am doing my absolute best to figure out what's going on.As Trump tweeted last year, "There is no Chaos, only great Energy!"
I can tell you that I have confirmed that the Census Bureau is continuing with the process of printing the questionnaire without a citizenship question, and that process has not stopped.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
ABC News, July 4th fireworks donor lobbied President Trump on tariffs and won a reprieve
posted by zachlipton at 3:11 PM on July 3, 2019 [25 favorites]
President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.@mattmfm: Donald Trump corrupted the 4th of July.
And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company -- Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio -- got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks.
...
Company executives said the donation had been in the works for months and that the gift was not politically motivated.
posted by zachlipton at 3:11 PM on July 3, 2019 [25 favorites]
WaPo, Joshua Partlow, Trump’s undocumented former employees want to be spared deportation. So they’ve asked the president for a meeting.
More than 20 undocumented workers previously employed by President Trump’s company have requested a meeting with their former boss to discuss how to reform the country’s immigration system and to ask for protection from deportation.posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on July 3, 2019 [12 favorites]
The Wednesday letter to the White House — from former groundskeepers, maids and kitchen staff at the Trump Organization’s golf courses — also asks the president to recall their years of service and “do the right thing” for them and others in the country unlawfully.
“We are modest people who represent the dreams of the 11 million undocumented men, women and children who live and work in this country,” the group wrote in the letter, signed by 21 people and obtained by The Washington Post. “We love America and want to talk to you about helping to give us a chance to become legal.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
And this isn't anything against anybody on this call. I've been told different things, and it's becoming increasingly frustrating. If you were Facebook and an attorney for Facebook told me one thing, and then I read a press release from Mark Zuckerberg telling me something else, I would be demanding that Mark Zuckerberg appear in court with you the next time because I would be saying I don't think you speak for your client anymore.
Oh god I am one million percent in favor of Trump appearing in court with his lawyers to decide whatever arguments they're supposed to make. Seriously. Concentration camps? Let him direct the argument on that. Make sure the lawyers tell us his real intent and his real plans. Same with the census, with gerrymandering, everything. It's the only way to be sure he's faithfully represented.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:16 PM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
Oh god I am one million percent in favor of Trump appearing in court with his lawyers to decide whatever arguments they're supposed to make. Seriously. Concentration camps? Let him direct the argument on that. Make sure the lawyers tell us his real intent and his real plans. Same with the census, with gerrymandering, everything. It's the only way to be sure he's faithfully represented.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:16 PM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
their "current plan" is to go directly to SCOTUS to bless whatever they decide
Preview for when they dispute the 2020 election results.
posted by banshee at 3:37 PM on July 3, 2019 [20 favorites]
Preview for when they dispute the 2020 election results.
posted by banshee at 3:37 PM on July 3, 2019 [20 favorites]
Goddamn, I can just feel Judge Hazel's annoyance in that transcript. Everyone seemed to be on the same page ("Trump gonna Trump, we're still doing what we were told") until Gardner told them that the DoJ wanted to relitigate the matter. Friday's meeting is gonna be lit.
posted by jackbishop at 3:38 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by jackbishop at 3:38 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
The NYT’s Maggie Haberman reports from the Trump White House: Justice Department Reverses Course on Citizenship Question on Census, Citing Trump’s Orders
President Trump had been frustrated with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for mishandling the White House’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to an administration official, and said on Wednesday that he was “absolutely moving forward” with plans to add it despite a Supreme Court decision last week that added barriers to the move.[…]posted by Doktor Zed at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
On Wednesday afternoon, White House officials were actively working on a way to satisfy Mr. Trump’s demand but had not yet settled on a solution.[…]
By Wednesday afternoon, whatever frustration that Mr. Trump had with the commerce secretary had largely dissipated, a second administration official said, and the president was focused on finding a way to add a question to the census. Mr. Trump told aides that might mean tacking on a question after census questionnaires had been printed.
The suggestion that Mr. Trump was prepared to defy the court’s decision stirred fears among opponents of the plan who hoped the debate over the citizenship question had been put to rest.[…]
Administration officials said that the president was not planning to fire Mr. Ross, but that the situation had renewed concerns about his performance.
MoJo: Pentagon Guidance to Troops in Trump’s July 4th Event: Say I Love My Tank—Mother Jones obtained a guide for how the Defense Department wants military personnel to speak to the media.
Realizing this is will be a controversial event, the Pentagon has distributed instructions to service members participating in the shindig on what to do if approached by a reporter, and the advice is essentially this: Say you love your tank.[…]posted by Doktor Zed at 3:42 PM on July 3, 2019 [10 favorites]
Mother Jones obtained a photo of a card that is being distributed to participating service members with instructions from the Pentagon about what to say—and not to say—when speaking with members of the media. The Department of Defense would like service members to be clear that they are “proud” on several levels. Under the overall messages, the guide suggests: “I am proud of my job and my vehicle/tank. I am glad to share my experience with American People.” It also proposes that they say: “I am proud to honor the Nation and the Armed Forces during this Independence Day Celebration.”
That’s followed by “Dos” and “Don’ts,”—do “smile and have fun,” don’t “guess, lie, or speculate.” And the card closes with general tips for talking to a reporter. “Relax and speak to America,” it recommends.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:"The cruelty is the goal. It’s called “deterrence” - a policy stance that if our country inflicts enough pain on refugees, they will think twice before believing America is worth their dreams & aspirations.
Only policy change can end cruelty, not blank checks to the status quo."
Is AOC the only Democratic politician who has realized this?
Can we all chip in for a history professor to hold classes for Congressional Democrats called Fascism: How It Works and How to Fight It?
posted by duffell at 3:50 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
Only policy change can end cruelty, not blank checks to the status quo."
Is AOC the only Democratic politician who has realized this?
Can we all chip in for a history professor to hold classes for Congressional Democrats called Fascism: How It Works and How to Fight It?
posted by duffell at 3:50 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
I do not understand anything anymore. SCOTUS has ruled.
They did not rule that Trump cannot have his racist question. John Roberts explicitly asked to come up with a less obviously racist lie about why it’s necessary, so that he can bless it with a straighter face next time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:55 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
They did not rule that Trump cannot have his racist question. John Roberts explicitly asked to come up with a less obviously racist lie about why it’s necessary, so that he can bless it with a straighter face next time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:55 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
I think Trump's Fourth of July Extravaganza is going to be a flop. He was inspired by the Bastille Day parade, but that has lots of tanks as part. He's got two tanks and two armored personnel carriers, all parked. They half-assed the preparation and publicity and the weather forecast doesn't sound inviting. I would love it to be a debacle with a bunch of no-shows.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:08 PM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:08 PM on July 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
With the disclaimer that there's no guarantee Roberts won't reverse himself when the spotlight is off, that's not quite the ruling -- he said they need to come back with an explanation that fits the history of Wilbur Ross's quest to add a citizenship question. Roberts wrote quite explicitly that if it weren't so obviously a fig leaf the VRA-enforcement rationale would be okay by him, so the challenge is not merely to come up with a better baldfaced lie; rather, assuming Roberts holds to the terms he himself put out there, they need to actually get closer to the truth.
This puts the Trump administration in a bind because the history is pretty goddamn clear that they want the citizenship question in order to create an undercount of non-citizens, which would not count as a valid rationale even for this SCOTUS. There's a reason even Ross wanted to drop it rather than try to thread the needle Roberts handed him.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:12 PM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
This puts the Trump administration in a bind because the history is pretty goddamn clear that they want the citizenship question in order to create an undercount of non-citizens, which would not count as a valid rationale even for this SCOTUS. There's a reason even Ross wanted to drop it rather than try to thread the needle Roberts handed him.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:12 PM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
That's what was happening before the President opened his big mouth. The lawyers were going to come up with a better justification, but then a reporter asked Trump why the citizenship question was so important, and Trump made it worse:
They were on their way to finding a Justice Roberts-approved justification until Trump couldn't help but screw it up.
posted by zachlipton at 4:13 PM on July 3, 2019 [28 favorites]
I think it’s very important to find out if somebody’s a citizen as opposed to an illegal. I think that there’s a big difference to me between being a citizen of the United States and being an illegal. And you know, the Democrats want to treat the illegals with health care and with other things better than they treat the citizens of our country. If you look at a coal miner that has black lung disease, you’re talking about people that get treated better than the coal miner.The citizenship question doesn't even do that, because it just asks if someone is a citizen, not whether they have a valid immigration status at the moment. But what Trump absolutely didn't say was "we need the citizenship question to help DOJ enforce the voting rights act" or anything else remotely consistent with the positions government lawyers have taken in this case. And it was after he said that stuff that they announced they were just going to move on and print the census forms without the question. Which is why we have a federal judge telling DOJ lawyers "I don't think you speak for your client anymore."
They were on their way to finding a Justice Roberts-approved justification until Trump couldn't help but screw it up.
posted by zachlipton at 4:13 PM on July 3, 2019 [28 favorites]
Elections matter: Returning to yesterday's Boston ICE protest, Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins, elected last fall with a platform that included not prosecuting certain non-violent crimes, such as trespassing, said this afternoon:
posted by adamg at 4:33 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
The protestors' peaceful challenge of the inhumane detention policies of the Trump administration is protected by the First Amendment.Rollins also said she sees the courts as the most effective way to challenge ICE, something she knows about firsthand.
posted by adamg at 4:33 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
Justice Department Reverses Course on Citizenship Question on Census, Citing Trump’s Orders (NYT)
By Michael Wines, Maggie Haberman and Alan Rappeport
By Michael Wines, Maggie Haberman and Alan Rappeport
The Supreme Court last week rejected the administration’s stated reason for adding a question on citizenship to the census. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said the explanation offered by officials for adding the question “appears to have been contrived.” But he left open the chance the administration could offer an adequate rationale.It’s Not Nice to Lie to the Supreme Court (Linda Greenhouse, NYT Opinion)
The administration gave up its fight because although many misread the opinion as offering some wiggle room, in fact the chief justice gave the president and his lawyers no choice. Or to put it another way, once the behavior of Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce, was called out by the Supreme Court of the United States, the president was trapped by the choices he and his own underlings had made.posted by Little Dawn at 4:41 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Here’s why: Once the court rejected the administration’s stated rationale as phony — or “contrived,” as Chief Justice Roberts put it more politely in agreeing with Federal District Judge Jesse Furman that improved enforcement of the Voting Rights Act was not Secretary Ross’s real motive — the administration might have tried to come up with some other politically palatable explanation. That would almost certainly have failed, because courts generally will not accept what they call “post hoc rationalizations,” explanations cooked up under pressure and after the fact. But even if such a ploy had succeeded, its very success would have proved Secretary Ross to have been a liar all along.
Thunderstorms Predicted During Trump's Rally
An Act of God right about now would not be too late.
posted by M-x shell at 4:41 PM on July 3, 2019 [22 favorites]
An Act of God right about now would not be too late.
posted by M-x shell at 4:41 PM on July 3, 2019 [22 favorites]
By Wednesday afternoon, whatever frustration that Mr. Trump had with the commerce secretary had largely dissipated, a second administration official said, and the president was focused on finding a way to add a question to the census. Mr. Trump told aides that might mean tacking on a question after census questionnaires had been printed.
We are going to have official Census forms with Post-It notes attached to them. Stephen Miller is feverishly writing out millions of them as I speak.
posted by delfin at 4:42 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
We are going to have official Census forms with Post-It notes attached to them. Stephen Miller is feverishly writing out millions of them as I speak.
posted by delfin at 4:42 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Okay, now they're just fucking daring Pelosi.
Slate: Trump’s Lawyers Say Congress Can’t Subpoena His Finances Because Nancy Pelosi Refuses to Impeach
As House Democrats remain divided over the wisdom of impeachment, Donald Trump’s lawyers have seized on their inaction to fight a subpoena seeking the president’s financial records. Their latest brief argues that, until the House officially puts impeachment on the table, the House Oversight Committee has no authority to subpoena this information. Trump’s lawyers are, in effect, daring the House to launch an impeachment inquiry—and betting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will refuse to do it.
posted by delfin at 4:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Slate: Trump’s Lawyers Say Congress Can’t Subpoena His Finances Because Nancy Pelosi Refuses to Impeach
As House Democrats remain divided over the wisdom of impeachment, Donald Trump’s lawyers have seized on their inaction to fight a subpoena seeking the president’s financial records. Their latest brief argues that, until the House officially puts impeachment on the table, the House Oversight Committee has no authority to subpoena this information. Trump’s lawyers are, in effect, daring the House to launch an impeachment inquiry—and betting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will refuse to do it.
posted by delfin at 4:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
Trump’s lawyers are, in effect, daring the House to launch an impeachment inquiry—and betting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will refuse to do it.
Who wouldn't make that bet? Speaking of Pelosi refusing to do things about things:
Drawings by migrant children in detention show them in cages
Happy 4th everybody
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [24 favorites]
Who wouldn't make that bet? Speaking of Pelosi refusing to do things about things:
Drawings by migrant children in detention show them in cages
Happy 4th everybody
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:04 PM on July 3, 2019 [24 favorites]
If you look at a coal miner that has black lung disease, you’re talking about people that get treated better than the coal miner.
Trump wants to weaken coal miner protections as black lung disease makes a comeback (ThinkProgress, July 18, 2018)
Why 25,000 Coal Miners Diagnosed With Black Lung Could Lose Federal Help Paying for Treatment (Fortune, March 19, 2019)
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:06 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Trump wants to weaken coal miner protections as black lung disease makes a comeback (ThinkProgress, July 18, 2018)
The dramatic increase in cases of black lung disease is occurring at the same time that the Trump administration is seeking ways weaken coal dust rules that protect coal miners from the disease — a move that would reduce costs for coal companies, which have been strong financial backers of Trump. [...]Funding for Black Lung Benefits Halved (The Appalachian Voice, Feb. 19, 2019) On the first of the year, an excise tax on coal companies to fund federal black lung benefits was cut in half.
It appears lawmakers, however, have not been spurred to take action to help protect coal miners in response to the rise in black lung cases. Kentucky lawmakers, for example, passed a bill earlier this year that will make it harder for miners to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. Kentucky is one of the states that has witnessed the resurgence in the most advanced form of black lung disease.
The new law, which went into effect on July 14, drastically reduces the number of physicians in Kentucky permitted to read the chest X-rays when coal miners file a black lung claim. Six doctors in Kentucky will now be eligible to conduct the exams, according to an NPR review of federal black lung cases.
Why 25,000 Coal Miners Diagnosed With Black Lung Could Lose Federal Help Paying for Treatment (Fortune, March 19, 2019)
The roughly 25,000 retired coal miners that rely on federal support for their black lung treatments have enough to worry about without fretting that government leaders won’t maintain an excise tax that finances their treatment fund. And yet, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which was established in 1978 and finances workers’ black lung disease claims through a tax on per-ton sales by coal mine operators, is in danger of drying up by 2020, according to the Associated Press.Sen. Manchin introduced the American Miners Act of 2019 to address this gap [seeking to "amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to transfer certain funds to the 1974 United Mine Workers of America Pension Plan"]; right now the bill has 12 co-sponsors -- all Democrats, save for the independent Sanders.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:06 PM on July 3, 2019 [16 favorites]
Most top military chiefs skipping Trump's July Fourth fest
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Where do the Dem candidates stand on food and rural issues?
posted by The Whelk at 5:36 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:36 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.
Wow. A fireworks dealer has $750,000 laying around just for political donations. Forget Lockheed Martin and F-35s. Who knew that the big money is in 1000-year-old Chinese rocketry?
posted by JackFlash at 5:53 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Wow. A fireworks dealer has $750,000 laying around just for political donations. Forget Lockheed Martin and F-35s. Who knew that the big money is in 1000-year-old Chinese rocketry?
posted by JackFlash at 5:53 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Mr Cranky's definitely getting cranky. He's just one tweet away from admitting crimes against humanity. I guess the Party Planning Committee's not going so well.
@realDonaldTrump
@realDonaldTrump
If Illegal Immigrants are unhappy with the conditions in the quickly built or refitted detentions centers, just tell them not to come. All problems solved!posted by scalefree at 6:03 PM on July 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Funding for Black Lung Benefits Halved (The Appalachian Voice, Feb. 19, 2019) On the first of the year, an excise tax on coal companies to fund federal black lung benefits was cut in half.
Trump really does love miners. He just loves their money more.
posted by scalefree at 6:05 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Trump really does love miners. He just loves their money more.
posted by scalefree at 6:05 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday the city, police and community need "a better way'' to address protest groups bent on brawling on Portland streets and called for laws that would bar masks worn by demonstrators, allow police to fully videotape protests and give authorities greater control of protests by groups with a history of violence.Setting up sniper rifles on rooftops is permitted, however, as long as you're a Nazi.
"We have to do something differently,'' Outlaw said, addressing reporters directly for the first time since violence in Saturday’s converging protests downtown drew national attention.
"There were entities that planned a brawl in the city of Portland and no one seems to be upset about that. … Entities came here for a fight. … I don’t even know what they were protesting against.’’
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:09 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
That court transcript tells you the problems that come from a system that is institutionally obliged to treat the presidency with respect -- and what the president says as inherently meaningful and considered -- when the president is a corrupt fuckwitted gobshite. (Strong presidencies are terrible, part n.)
The most basic political reason for an impeachment inquiry is that it cleanly demarcates the office and the occupant: it is built upon the premise that the presidency is not simply the projected will or whim of the president. An impeachment inquiry is a safety check on the office.
posted by holgate at 6:21 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
The most basic political reason for an impeachment inquiry is that it cleanly demarcates the office and the occupant: it is built upon the premise that the presidency is not simply the projected will or whim of the president. An impeachment inquiry is a safety check on the office.
posted by holgate at 6:21 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
“Don Jr. and Jared Really Dislike Each Other”: In the Trump Campaign, It’s Son Versus Son-in-Law
What is a problem for the campaign, though, is the escalating cold war between Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. for control of the reelection, five sources close to the White House told me in recent days. Brad Parscale is the nominal campaign manager—but Jared and Don Jr., who both have good relationships with Parscale, are jockeying to be the ultimate decision makers. “Jared wants to take control of the campaign,” a person close to Don Jr. told me. “It’s about power,” the former West Wing official said.posted by T.D. Strange at 6:26 PM on July 3, 2019 [7 favorites]
...
The tensions between Don Jr. and Kushner amplified beneath the glare of the Mueller investigation. “Don Jr. and Jared really dislike each other,” a Republican close to the White House told me. According to the source, Don Jr. has told people he suspected Kushner was behind the initial leak of Don Jr.’s infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. “Don was telling people Jared leaked it to hurt him. No one could figure out how it leaked. It was a closely guarded secret.” The source said Kushner has also told foreign dignitaries to steer clear of Don Jr. “Jared has told foreign people not to work through Don Jr. And Jared has said it’s on orders from the president,” the source said.
Paranoia about Kushner has set in among Don Jr.’s allies. According to one person close to Don Jr., his advisers were alarmed by Don Jr.’s now-deleted tweet questioning Senator Kamala Harris’s race. They worried Kushner would push the scandal to damage Don Jr. “We need to clean this up,” one adviser emailed another shortly after Don Jr. sent the tweet, according to the person, who was briefed on the exchange. “Don doesn’t want to give Jared any excuses to delegitimize him,” the person told me.
I guess the Party Planning Committee's not going so well.
‘Leave Tanks for Red Square’: Trump’s July 4 Celebration Unsettles Military (NYT)
‘Leave Tanks for Red Square’: Trump’s July 4 Celebration Unsettles Military (NYT)
Pentagon officials said Mr. Trump insisted on including the tanks and armored vehicles in the celebration, prompting a scramble among officials at Fort Stewart in Georgia to move the vehicles to Washington and position them around the Lincoln Memorial instead of parading them down streets and over bridges that would be damaged under the heavy load.posted by Little Dawn at 6:41 PM on July 3, 2019 [15 favorites]
But the two 70-ton Abrams tanks trucked from Fort Stewart were still deemed too heavy to roll onto the delicate apron of the Lincoln Memorial and will remain confined to the asphalt road behind it. Mr. Trump will salute America in sight of the two more diminutive, 30-ton Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, painted in woodland camo, their treads festooned in navy blue drapes.
But all the preparations could be upended if the weather in Washington refuses to cooperate. Forecasts for July 4 predicted the usual hot and steamy start to the day, followed by a more than 50 percent chance of thunderstorms, possibly including lightning. Such storms could cause the Pentagon to call off the flyovers that Mr. Trump wants so badly.
Perhaps anticipating such an outcome, administration officials began pointing fingers at one another and assigning blame in case of disappointing attendance or any other unforeseen complications. Among the major items that wasn’t taken care of over a week ago was the printing of thousands of tickets, people familiar with the planning said.
The White House and the Interior Department each believed the other fell down on the job of the planning. The Department of Defense, where several officials consider the military display to be unseemly, was prepared to blame all other departments, an administration official said.
“We need to clean this up,” one adviser emailed another shortly after Don Jr. sent the tweet
Objection! Whatever Don Jr. has, they are not advisors. He is entirely ill-advised.
posted by zachlipton at 6:42 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Objection! Whatever Don Jr. has, they are not advisors. He is entirely ill-advised.
posted by zachlipton at 6:42 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Somebody warn little Donny not to go fishing on Lake Tahoe with Jared.
posted by JackFlash at 6:43 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 6:43 PM on July 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
SF Chronicle, Tal Kopan, Trump administration ending in-person interpreters at immigrants’ first hearings
The Trump administration is preparing to replace in-court interpreters at initial immigration court hearings with videos informing asylum seekers and other immigrants facing deportation of their rights, The Chronicle has learned.posted by zachlipton at 6:44 PM on July 3, 2019 [19 favorites]
...
Under the new plan, which the Justice Department told judges could be rolled out by mid-July, a video recorded in multiple languages would play, informing immigrants of their rights and the course of the proceedings. But after that, if immigrants have questions, want to say something to the judge or if the judge wants to confirm they understand, no interpreter would be provided.
...
Instead of turning to an in-court interpreter, judges would have to rely on any who happen to be in the building for other purposes, or call a telephone service for on-demand translation that judges say can be woefully inadequate or substantially delayed.
“It’s a disaster in the making,” one judge said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person did not have Justice Department approval to talk publicly. “What if you have an individual that speaks an indigenous language and has no education and is completely illiterate? You think showing them a video is going to completely inform them of their rights? How are they supposed to ask questions of the judge?”
Mr. Trump will salute America in sight of the two more diminutive, 30-ton Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, painted in woodland camo, their treads festooned in navy blue drapes.
Womp womp.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:47 PM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Womp womp.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:47 PM on July 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Just so people reading are aware, Cabán hasn't officially won yet as there are still outstanding absentee ballots. Technically it's too close to call.
Update: Katz has now declared victory and the margin is now 20 votes, with the campaigns fighting over ballots and manual recount expected if the margin remains close.
posted by zachlipton at 6:48 PM on July 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
Update: Katz has now declared victory and the margin is now 20 votes, with the campaigns fighting over ballots and manual recount expected if the margin remains close.
posted by zachlipton at 6:48 PM on July 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
Appeals court declines to green-light Trump border wall projects (Politico)
A divided federal appeals court panel has declined to remove a major roadblock to President Donald Trump’s plan to spend more than $8 billion for border wall construction despite Congress agreeing to give him only a fraction of that sum.posted by Little Dawn at 7:00 PM on July 3, 2019 [12 favorites]
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted, 2-1, to deny the Justice Department’s request for an emergency stay of a lower court judge’s injunction that blocked a budgetary maneuver the Trump administration sought to use to fund border projects in Arizona, New Mexico and California.
Two of the judges, Richard Clifton and Michelle Friedland, said in a 75-page order released Wednesday that the attempt to move Defense Department construction funds to the Department of Homeland Security appeared to be a violation of federal law and the Constitution’s delegation to Congress of the power to appropriate funds.
“The Constitution assigns to Congress the power of the purse. Under the Appropriations Clause, it is Congress that is to make decisions regarding how to spend taxpayer dollars,” Clifton and Friedland wrote. “Congress did not appropriate money to build the border barriers Defendants seek to build here. Congress presumably decided such construction at this time was not in the public interest. It is not for us to reach a different conclusion.”
The White House and the Interior Department each believed the other fell down on the job of the planning. The Defense Department, where several officials consider the military display to be unseemly, was prepared to blame all other departments, an administration official said.
This is every college group project ever, except it's the federal government.
I'm not sure how to deal with that, other than IMPEACHMENT!
posted by dogrose at 7:00 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
This is every college group project ever, except it's the federal government.
I'm not sure how to deal with that, other than IMPEACHMENT!
posted by dogrose at 7:00 PM on July 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
The BoE, whose Queens commissioner was appointed by Joe Crowley, is refusing to count 2,500 ballots cast by affidavits, the Cabán campaign says. The judges who may end up hearing this are also machine-appointed. But a count of all the ballots would likely be in Cabán’s favorposted by Rust Moranis at 7:11 PM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
The only way erasing that lead becomes statistically plausible is if you accept all the absentees and wipe out all the affidavits (which are day-of votes). And that’s what the machine is trying. Ironic to try to use the cover of the 4th of July to do it.
The WaPo's Trump whispered are working hard to manage expectations: Inside the effort to build suspense — and crowds — for Trump’s Fourth of July.
posted by peeedro at 7:45 PM on July 3, 2019
posted by peeedro at 7:45 PM on July 3, 2019
The WaPo's Trump whispered are working hard to manage expectations: Inside the effort to build suspense — and crowds — for Trump’s Fourth of July.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
And while the Park Service has dipped into a pot of entrance and recreation fees to transfer nearly $2.5 million for the White House portion of the event, it is unclear which parks will end up losing funds as a result. At one point, Interior officials raised the idea of taking money from sites located in liberal communities such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area, according to a person familiar with the discussion, but that has yet to take place.Let's hope the next Democratic administration remembers this specific targeting and returns the favor tenfold.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:59 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
I assume, although maybe I'm wrong about this, that theIt really is some great reading.
parties aren't suggesting I can enjoin the President of the
United States from tweeting things. Maybe you are suggesting
that. But I will say my initial reaction to that is to have
some concern.
8-20 -- Court Transcript
posted by Bovine Love at 8:19 PM on July 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
raised the idea of taking money from sites located in liberal communities such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area
I'm old enough to remember when the idea that the IRS was targeting Republicans was enough to cause years of hearings and impeachments and freakouts. Since we're talking about Nancy Pelosi's district here, maybe we could have at least one hearing to ask whether the Interior Department targeted Democratic areas for less park maintenance?
Yes, I know:
posted by zachlipton at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
I'm old enough to remember when the idea that the IRS was targeting Republicans was enough to cause years of hearings and impeachments and freakouts. Since we're talking about Nancy Pelosi's district here, maybe we could have at least one hearing to ask whether the Interior Department targeted Democratic areas for less park maintenance?
Yes, I know:
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on environment appropriations, said Wednesday that she plans to “schedule a hearing to get a full accounting from Interior Secretary Bernhardt on the use of National Park fees to pay for this event.”But maybe some outrage? Treat this as at least 10% of how Republicans would act?
posted by zachlipton at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2019 [17 favorites]
@AdamParkhomenko
Happening NOW in Washington, DC:
@HawknDove_DC
329 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Pick up your free USS John S. McCain shirt for the Fourth of July. Spread the word. Hundreds are now available at this location!posted by scalefree at 9:03 PM on July 3, 2019 [20 favorites]
[image: shirts!]
2019: A deceased Republican Senator with a 83% Trump score is the face of The Resistance.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:08 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:08 PM on July 3, 2019 [37 favorites]
Pick up your free USS John S. McCain shirt for the Fourth of July. Spread the word. Hundreds are now available at this location
Liberal cargo cultism. Imagine that energy and those resources going toward fighting fascism instead of self-satisfying spectacle.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:12 PM on July 3, 2019 [22 favorites]
Liberal cargo cultism. Imagine that energy and those resources going toward fighting fascism instead of self-satisfying spectacle.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:12 PM on July 3, 2019 [22 favorites]
Trump baby blimp may not fly over president’s Fourth of July extravaganza (Guardian)
The US National Park Service granted Codepink a permit on 1 July to fly the balloon, but only if it is filled with ordinary air and not helium, which is required for it to become airborne. The Codepink co-founder Medea Benjamin said the group has applied for a waiver from aviation authorities to fly the balloon 60cm (2ft) off the ground and said in a brief interview that they remain hopeful the request will be granted. “We plan to fly the blimp, hopefully with helium, but if not, with air,” she said. [...]Court holds viewpoint discrimination as egregious free speech violation (First Amendment Encyclopedia)
Codepink had initially requested space near the base of the Washington Monument, opposite the Lincoln Memorial, where Trump would have been forced to view the effigy during the event. But they were only granted permission to set up in locations that will be out of Trump’s line of sight.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, infuriated Trump supporters by twice giving permission for the blimp to fly over the British capital during Trump’s business trip to the UK last year and his state visit last month. [...]
Codepink’s logistics manager, Tighe Barry, added, of the Washington arrangements: [...] “There is nothing dangerous about helium – there are lots of helium floats in the July 4 parade. And you certainly can’t say that a 20ft-tall balloon is going to interfere with Trump’s Air Force One.”
In Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), the Supreme Court declared: “When the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.”posted by Little Dawn at 9:36 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Ah, they should just do it anyway and if there's a fuss, let Trump tweet about it. Every minute he's wasting twitter-ranting about some nonissue like that is a minute he's not doing some other stupid and dangerous thing.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:57 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:57 PM on July 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Armed Proud Boys are traveling across the country to threaten and intimidate activists and journalists at their homes
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:26 PM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:26 PM on July 3, 2019 [13 favorites]
The White House and the Interior Department each believed the other fell down on the job of the planning. The Defense Department, where several officials consider the military display to be unseemly, was prepared to blame all other departments, an administration official said.
Perhaps it's unseemly to say, but after growing up bathed in American Exceptionalism and this propaganda that everything these Great White Achievers and Job Creators do is inherently superior and perfect . . . I just can't seem to get enough joy from seeing how much they're so deliciously fucking up left and right.
They got the power they wanted so damn bad. They're in full control now — no one else to blame. And it's all going to be a gigantic clusterfuck in the end.
posted by CommonSense at 11:27 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
Perhaps it's unseemly to say, but after growing up bathed in American Exceptionalism and this propaganda that everything these Great White Achievers and Job Creators do is inherently superior and perfect . . . I just can't seem to get enough joy from seeing how much they're so deliciously fucking up left and right.
They got the power they wanted so damn bad. They're in full control now — no one else to blame. And it's all going to be a gigantic clusterfuck in the end.
posted by CommonSense at 11:27 PM on July 3, 2019 [14 favorites]
The Bradleys only have teensy little 25mm chain guns instead of a big long 120mm smoothbore of the M1A1. No way that's a dig on Donny.
(Despite that the 25mm chain gun, using appropriate ammunition, can achieve some missions traditionally requiring heavy artillery while still retaining huge flexibility in roles)
posted by porpoise at 12:23 AM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
(Despite that the 25mm chain gun, using appropriate ammunition, can achieve some missions traditionally requiring heavy artillery while still retaining huge flexibility in roles)
posted by porpoise at 12:23 AM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
This NYT Editorial such utter bullcrap masquerading as what CommonSense just said.
Meanwhile,
Celebrating America's First Independence Day Under A President Who Wishes He Were King
In a major interview with British tabloid The Sun, owned by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, Trump told interviewers of his hope that his own children could hold a "next generation" meeting with Princes William and Harry. The idea of a "next generation" meeting had also been widely briefed by American officials beforehand. "Next generation" of what, exactly? Does Trump dream that in 30 years, President Ivanka of the United States will be meeting with King William of the United Kingdom? It's one thing for a US president to take his kids along for an exciting foreign trip; it's quite another for him to present them as an alternative royal family.
posted by Mrs Potato at 1:21 AM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
Meanwhile,
Celebrating America's First Independence Day Under A President Who Wishes He Were King
In a major interview with British tabloid The Sun, owned by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, Trump told interviewers of his hope that his own children could hold a "next generation" meeting with Princes William and Harry. The idea of a "next generation" meeting had also been widely briefed by American officials beforehand. "Next generation" of what, exactly? Does Trump dream that in 30 years, President Ivanka of the United States will be meeting with King William of the United Kingdom? It's one thing for a US president to take his kids along for an exciting foreign trip; it's quite another for him to present them as an alternative royal family.
posted by Mrs Potato at 1:21 AM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
WaPo op-ed, Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving the GOP., in which Amash declares partisanship to be an "existential threat," rather than noticing that one party supports separating children from their parents while the other one doesn't. He also decries the "pointless messaging wars" of political parties in a carefully orchestrated 4th of July messaging rollout involving an op-ed and an embargoed story with CNN, with a teaser tweet at midnight when he tweeted a picture of the Declaration of Independence.
CNN, Haley Byrd, Trump critic Justin Amash quits Republican Party
CNN, Haley Byrd, Trump critic Justin Amash quits Republican Party
Over the past several months, Amash has repeatedly refused to rule out a potential presidential bid. Such a campaign would reshape the presidential election: Amash has a national following among Libertarians, and he could draw support from younger, conservative voters who are uncomfortable with Trump.posted by zachlipton at 3:25 AM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
He told CNN in March that he never stops thinking about such possibilities "because there is a big problem with the current two-party system we have, and someone has to shake it up." "Now, is it possible for anyone to shake it up and make a difference?" he asked at the time. "I don't know."
...
As an independent, Amash wouldn't have to compete in the primary to run in the general election, although during a recent town hall in Grand Rapids, he told constituents it is "very difficult" to run as an independent in Michigan, due to straight-ticket voting and existing requirements for third-party candidates to get on the ballot.
Did you see that they are trying to steal the election from Tiffany Cabán with a crooked recount? What the Democratic machine did, apparently, was invalidate 2500 affidavit ballots. Katz is ahead by 20. You don't need to do a lot of math to see where this is going.
As far as I can tell, the Caban campaign is going to court to make them deal with the thrown-out ballots so all may not be lost - but what I want to say is that this isn't Russians or the GOP, this is Democrats fucking with the vote because they are against a popular candidate who will make critically needed reforms to help ordinary people. They don't want ordinary people to be treated fairly; they just want to keep screwing people and making money, and they don't care about having honest elections if it gets in the way.
I find this very bad because it's going to be a lot easier to make change by mobilizing people to vote than by the years and years needed to mobilize people for mass strikes and the other things you have to do when you're utterly shut out.
These people are shit. When we're ruled by the rich, it doesn't matter what party they're from.
posted by Frowner at 4:01 AM on July 4, 2019 [61 favorites]
As far as I can tell, the Caban campaign is going to court to make them deal with the thrown-out ballots so all may not be lost - but what I want to say is that this isn't Russians or the GOP, this is Democrats fucking with the vote because they are against a popular candidate who will make critically needed reforms to help ordinary people. They don't want ordinary people to be treated fairly; they just want to keep screwing people and making money, and they don't care about having honest elections if it gets in the way.
I find this very bad because it's going to be a lot easier to make change by mobilizing people to vote than by the years and years needed to mobilize people for mass strikes and the other things you have to do when you're utterly shut out.
These people are shit. When we're ruled by the rich, it doesn't matter what party they're from.
posted by Frowner at 4:01 AM on July 4, 2019 [61 favorites]
Does Trump dream that in 30 years, President Ivanka of the United States will be meeting with King William of the United Kingdom?
Why not? I mean, yes, the notion of President Ivanka gives me the night shits, but the last time that a Bush or a Clinton was not a) POTUS, b) VP, c) running for POTUS or d) Sec of State, Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Trump himself assumed the Presidency as an untrained, arrogant boob; why should he not view his offspring as just as qualified and capable of bamboozling American voters?
posted by delfin at 5:06 AM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
Why not? I mean, yes, the notion of President Ivanka gives me the night shits, but the last time that a Bush or a Clinton was not a) POTUS, b) VP, c) running for POTUS or d) Sec of State, Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Trump himself assumed the Presidency as an untrained, arrogant boob; why should he not view his offspring as just as qualified and capable of bamboozling American voters?
posted by delfin at 5:06 AM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
“Extremely funny that socialism has a better approval rating than trump and all of his specific policies are horrifically unpopular and these dipshit republicans keep complaining that Democrats are going to lose the election by not being Republicans” @markpopham
posted by The Whelk at 5:12 AM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:12 AM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
Re: Queens DA race.
The only way erasing that lead becomes statistically plausible is if you accept all the absentees and wipe out all the affidavits (which are day-of votes). And that’s what the machine is trying. Ironic to try to use the cover of the 4th of July to do it.
As I understand it, each of the 2000 discarded provisional ballots contained an sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that the voter did in fact have the right to cast a ballot in the election.
So if we're going to discard 2000 provisional ballots, there's 2000 charges of perjury. This MUST be investigated fully, including a hand audit of each and every ballot cast.
posted by mikelieman at 5:28 AM on July 4, 2019 [19 favorites]
The only way erasing that lead becomes statistically plausible is if you accept all the absentees and wipe out all the affidavits (which are day-of votes). And that’s what the machine is trying. Ironic to try to use the cover of the 4th of July to do it.
As I understand it, each of the 2000 discarded provisional ballots contained an sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that the voter did in fact have the right to cast a ballot in the election.
So if we're going to discard 2000 provisional ballots, there's 2000 charges of perjury. This MUST be investigated fully, including a hand audit of each and every ballot cast.
posted by mikelieman at 5:28 AM on July 4, 2019 [19 favorites]
From PEN America on June 28: ICE’s arrest of student and activist Jose Bello—less than 36 hours after Bello publicly recited a poem criticizing the immigration system—is cause for serious concern for all those who support freedom of expression and First Amendment rights, PEN America said today.
On May 15, Bello, 22, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at his home in Bakersfield, CA, and placed in detention at the Mesa Verde Detention Center. Two days earlier, Bello read his poem “Dear America,” which critiques U.S. immigration practices, before the Kern County Board of Supervisors. Bello was previously arrested by ICE in May 2018 but was released on bond in August 2018. Since then, he has spoken at several high-profile anti-ICE advocacy events. The ACLU of Southern California has brought a First Amendment claim on Bello’s behalf, noting that Bello’s arrest mere hours after his poetry reading “strongly indicates” that ICE acted in retaliation against him for his speech expressing views against the agency’s actions.” Within their filing, the ACLU notes that ICE officers allegedly said to Bello upon his arrest: “We know who you are and what you’re all about.”
Happy Fourth!
posted by Bella Donna at 5:54 AM on July 4, 2019 [17 favorites]
On May 15, Bello, 22, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at his home in Bakersfield, CA, and placed in detention at the Mesa Verde Detention Center. Two days earlier, Bello read his poem “Dear America,” which critiques U.S. immigration practices, before the Kern County Board of Supervisors. Bello was previously arrested by ICE in May 2018 but was released on bond in August 2018. Since then, he has spoken at several high-profile anti-ICE advocacy events. The ACLU of Southern California has brought a First Amendment claim on Bello’s behalf, noting that Bello’s arrest mere hours after his poetry reading “strongly indicates” that ICE acted in retaliation against him for his speech expressing views against the agency’s actions.” Within their filing, the ACLU notes that ICE officers allegedly said to Bello upon his arrest: “We know who you are and what you’re all about.”
Happy Fourth!
posted by Bella Donna at 5:54 AM on July 4, 2019 [17 favorites]
Blue states/cities should introduce the Proud Boys to the business end of the anti-gang laws one imagines their members are in the habit of bloviating in support of.
Arrest them on gun charges and put them in lockup with the Mexican Mafia featured in their rhetoric to discuss immigration while they await arraignment until after the holiday and weekend.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:02 AM on July 4, 2019 [18 favorites]
Arrest them on gun charges and put them in lockup with the Mexican Mafia featured in their rhetoric to discuss immigration while they await arraignment until after the holiday and weekend.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:02 AM on July 4, 2019 [18 favorites]
Slate: Trump’s Lawyers Say Congress Can’t Subpoena His Finances Because Nancy Pelosi Refuses to Impeach
I support impeachment for many reasons, but "It will make Trump's lawyers more compliant" isn't one of them. If impeachment were being pursued, they wouldn't say "dagnabbit, you got us!", they would simply argue that it makes an otherwise legitimate request part of a fishing expedition (or that it's simply irrelevant). That would hold as much weight as their current argument does now; Democrats already have maximum legitimate purpose here.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:17 AM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
I support impeachment for many reasons, but "It will make Trump's lawyers more compliant" isn't one of them. If impeachment were being pursued, they wouldn't say "dagnabbit, you got us!", they would simply argue that it makes an otherwise legitimate request part of a fishing expedition (or that it's simply irrelevant). That would hold as much weight as their current argument does now; Democrats already have maximum legitimate purpose here.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:17 AM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
Speaking of election security, the Democratic machine in New York could learn a lot from the Republican machine of Georgia:
Nearly two years ago, state lawyers in a closely watched election integrity lawsuit told the judge they intended to subpoena the FBI for the forensic image, or digital snapshot, the agency made of a crucial server before state election officials quietly wiped it clean. Election watchdogs want to examine the data to see if there might have been tampering, given that the server was left exposed by a gaping security hole for more than half a year.posted by hydropsyche at 6:18 AM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
A new email obtained by The Associated Press says state officials never did issue the subpoena, even though the judge had ordered that evidence be preserved, including from the FBI.
Speaking of election security, the Democratic machine in New York could learn a lot from the Republican machine of Georgia:
FWIW, and full disclosure, I am an Albany County NY "Inspector of Elections" ( aka Poll Worker ) with a background in banking, insurance, and finance IT, including audit responsibilities.
IF, and that's an important qualifier, IF everyone does everything "mostly right", the system we have in NYS is pretty solid.
(Not that it's relevant to a primary election, but my major complaint is that in other polling locations in the state, there aren't enough machines to ensure timely voting if any go down. N+1 redundancy would go a long way to getting people in and out in my goal -- under 15 minutes, but that costs $. We should spend the $.)
But that said, Voter comes to their District/Ward's table. Gives us their name, we look in poll book. If they're in the book, they countersign their official signature, we compare 'em, and give them a ballot and they use the standard procedure.
And if they're not in the poll book, we use the street index to send them to the correct polling location.
If that polling location is, in fact, our ward, they get a "provisional" affidavit ballot. Which I'm mentioned involves swearing under penalty of perjury that you are in fact entitled to cast the ballot.
They fill it out, it goes in an envelope, and is accounted for and processed "out of band". ( The BoE people deal with it later... )
Everyone else gets a ballot, fills in the circles with the pen ( scantron ) and feeds it into the dual-sided scanner, where if the computer doesn't find fault and return it, it goes into a secured bin where it's available for recounts at a later time.
Everything is sealed with numeric seals, recorded in multiple ledgers. Any tampering can be found IF ( and again, that's a big if ) you seriously go looking for it.
posted by mikelieman at 6:36 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
FWIW, and full disclosure, I am an Albany County NY "Inspector of Elections" ( aka Poll Worker ) with a background in banking, insurance, and finance IT, including audit responsibilities.
IF, and that's an important qualifier, IF everyone does everything "mostly right", the system we have in NYS is pretty solid.
(Not that it's relevant to a primary election, but my major complaint is that in other polling locations in the state, there aren't enough machines to ensure timely voting if any go down. N+1 redundancy would go a long way to getting people in and out in my goal -- under 15 minutes, but that costs $. We should spend the $.)
But that said, Voter comes to their District/Ward's table. Gives us their name, we look in poll book. If they're in the book, they countersign their official signature, we compare 'em, and give them a ballot and they use the standard procedure.
And if they're not in the poll book, we use the street index to send them to the correct polling location.
If that polling location is, in fact, our ward, they get a "provisional" affidavit ballot. Which I'm mentioned involves swearing under penalty of perjury that you are in fact entitled to cast the ballot.
They fill it out, it goes in an envelope, and is accounted for and processed "out of band". ( The BoE people deal with it later... )
Everyone else gets a ballot, fills in the circles with the pen ( scantron ) and feeds it into the dual-sided scanner, where if the computer doesn't find fault and return it, it goes into a secured bin where it's available for recounts at a later time.
Everything is sealed with numeric seals, recorded in multiple ledgers. Any tampering can be found IF ( and again, that's a big if ) you seriously go looking for it.
posted by mikelieman at 6:36 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
Rejoining the megathread
Is there a list of off year elections ie November 2019 or other pre November 2020 elections that could use a motivated volunteer? I want to knock some doors.
posted by jointhedance at 7:01 AM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Is there a list of off year elections ie November 2019 or other pre November 2020 elections that could use a motivated volunteer? I want to knock some doors.
posted by jointhedance at 7:01 AM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Blue states/cities should introduce the Proud Boys to the business end of the anti-gang laws one imagines their members are in the habit of bloviating in support of.
Arrest them on gun charges and put them in lockup with the Mexican Mafia featured in their rhetoric to discuss immigration while they await arraignment until after the holiday and weekend.
Blue city in a red state(STL). The cops ARE the Proud Boys here.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:06 AM on July 4, 2019 [31 favorites]
Governor races in Mississippi, Kentucky and Louisiana.
State legislature races in Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi and Louisiana.
posted by chris24 at 7:06 AM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
State legislature races in Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi and Louisiana.
posted by chris24 at 7:06 AM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
MI-3 is a PVI R+6, Trump +10 district. Amash won 54-43 in 2018. It's not inconceivable that him running as an independent could split the Republican vote enough to throw the seat to the Democrat.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:31 AM on July 4, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:31 AM on July 4, 2019 [11 favorites]
59 of America's 100 largest cities have municipal elections this year too, along with a metric fuckton of smaller cities.
posted by duffell at 7:32 AM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by duffell at 7:32 AM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
Assuming a shitshow and the ensuing narcissistic injury tonight, there's going to be a lot of narcissistic rage on Friday, aimed at... who knows. The networks for not covering it live? The departments for not giving him Bastille Day? Immigrants? Probably immigrants.
posted by holgate at 7:35 AM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by holgate at 7:35 AM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
‘Leave Tanks for Red Square’: Trump’s July 4 Celebration Unsettles Military (NYT)
That was the old headline. The Gray Lady’s new one reads: “Washington Prepares for a July 4 Spectacle, Starring and Produced by President Trump”
Also, @nyt_diff tracked the following changes in the abstract:
Oh, and today marks Trump's 200th day at one of his golf clubs.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:13 AM on July 4, 2019 [22 favorites]
That was the old headline. The Gray Lady’s new one reads: “Washington Prepares for a July 4 Spectacle, Starring and Produced by President Trump”
Also, @nyt_diff tracked the following changes in the abstract:
Some editor or another clearly has an agenda to tone down their reporting on Trump and normalize his presidency.President Trump's plan to deploy battle tanks in Washington for the July 4 celebrationThe president hasprompted worries about politicizationordered the last-minute transformation of themilitary.traditional July 4 activities into what he calls "a celebration of American" and that critics call a celebration of Donald J. Trump.
Oh, and today marks Trump's 200th day at one of his golf clubs.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:13 AM on July 4, 2019 [22 favorites]
> Blue city in a red state(STL). The cops ARE the Proud Boys here.
the cops are the proud boys everywhere. from portland maine to portland oregon, from berkeley california to berkley michigan, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters, cops join and support right-wing paramilitaries.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:14 AM on July 4, 2019 [58 favorites]
the cops are the proud boys everywhere. from portland maine to portland oregon, from berkeley california to berkley michigan, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters, cops join and support right-wing paramilitaries.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:14 AM on July 4, 2019 [58 favorites]
‘Leave Tanks for Red Square’
I don't think this sent the message to Trump that the military intended.
posted by M-x shell at 9:53 AM on July 4, 2019 [6 favorites]
I don't think this sent the message to Trump that the military intended.
posted by M-x shell at 9:53 AM on July 4, 2019 [6 favorites]
Some context for Queens Dem Party's investment in this District Attorney primary:
District Attorneys ignore political corruption just as much as police corruption (ProgressQueens.com, Dec. 13, 2014)
Three lawyers control Queens Democratic Party while one rakes millions from Surrogate’s Court wills (Daily News, Apr. 2, 2017)
Federal and Municipal prosecutors tight-lipped after exposé of Queens law firm (ProgressQueens.com, Apr. 9, 2017)
The Queens Machine That Turns Foreclosures Into Cash (The men who run the Democratic Party in New York’s largest borough have a tasty side hustle) (Village Voice, May 18, 2017)
How People Close to Joe Crowley Have Gotten Rich while the Queens Boss has Risen in Congress (The Intercept, June 14, 2018)
TLDR; Queens is a filthy, corrupt quagmire, and Cabán comes bearing sunlight, bleach, & consequences.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2019 [22 favorites]
District Attorneys ignore political corruption just as much as police corruption (ProgressQueens.com, Dec. 13, 2014)
Three lawyers control Queens Democratic Party while one rakes millions from Surrogate’s Court wills (Daily News, Apr. 2, 2017)
Federal and Municipal prosecutors tight-lipped after exposé of Queens law firm (ProgressQueens.com, Apr. 9, 2017)
The Queens Machine That Turns Foreclosures Into Cash (The men who run the Democratic Party in New York’s largest borough have a tasty side hustle) (Village Voice, May 18, 2017)
How People Close to Joe Crowley Have Gotten Rich while the Queens Boss has Risen in Congress (The Intercept, June 14, 2018)
TLDR; Queens is a filthy, corrupt quagmire, and Cabán comes bearing sunlight, bleach, & consequences.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2019 [22 favorites]
Toys for Trump and his $$$ friends.
Osita Nwanevu (New Yorker)
A National Park Service volunteer just told me that the tanks & military equipment are all in the closed off perimeter for the president's VIPs and that the general public on the Mall will not be able to see them.
posted by chris24 at 10:37 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
Osita Nwanevu (New Yorker)
A National Park Service volunteer just told me that the tanks & military equipment are all in the closed off perimeter for the president's VIPs and that the general public on the Mall will not be able to see them.
posted by chris24 at 10:37 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
I wonder who has standing to sue the president and the rnc to recover the cost of this military masturbation exercise. Traditionally, office holders repay the government if tax dollars are spent on campaign events. I do not know if that’s codified law, however. That said, I pay a bigger percentage of my income in income tax than anyone in the vip section, ergo, if a law firm needs a citizen for standing, I’m your girl.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:50 AM on July 4, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:50 AM on July 4, 2019 [12 favorites]
Trump Still Owes DC 7 Million in Inauguration Costs (WaPo, June 2019)
posted by box at 11:15 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by box at 11:15 AM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
the general public on the Mall will not be able to see them.
That's probably for the best. It'll help with the "drain the swamp was a lie" narrative that will peel off a small but important portion of Republican voters and disappoint the rubes that try to show up to see it.
posted by Candleman at 11:26 AM on July 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
That's probably for the best. It'll help with the "drain the swamp was a lie" narrative that will peel off a small but important portion of Republican voters and disappoint the rubes that try to show up to see it.
posted by Candleman at 11:26 AM on July 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
The NY Times also published an article today openly questioning whether or not a woman can be elected president, (despite Clinton winning 3 million more votes than Trump, a fact not mentioned in the article), so they're obviously part of the problem.
posted by Automocar at 11:29 AM on July 4, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by Automocar at 11:29 AM on July 4, 2019 [16 favorites]
TLDR; Queens is a filthy, corrupt quagmire, and Cabán comes bearing sunlight, bleach, & consequences.
Nearly every, if not quite literally every single prosecutor's office is corrupt. They have chosen to limit their authority to the little people and violent felonies they can't sweep under the rug. Corporations and their employees get away with literal larceny every single day, yet it goes unprosecuted because apparently crime is only something the little people can commit.
posted by wierdo at 11:34 AM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Nearly every, if not quite literally every single prosecutor's office is corrupt. They have chosen to limit their authority to the little people and violent felonies they can't sweep under the rug. Corporations and their employees get away with literal larceny every single day, yet it goes unprosecuted because apparently crime is only something the little people can commit.
posted by wierdo at 11:34 AM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
The NY Times also published an article today openly questioning whether or not a woman can be elected president, (despite Clinton winning 3 million more votes than Trump, a fact not mentioned in the article), so they're obviously part of the problem.
I had to look up the article and boy is it something. I'm going to chose to view it as wall street suddenly being afraid of Warren and Harris chances so they're trying to throw a spanner into the works but geeze that's an infuriating article.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:44 AM on July 4, 2019 [6 favorites]
I had to look up the article and boy is it something. I'm going to chose to view it as wall street suddenly being afraid of Warren and Harris chances so they're trying to throw a spanner into the works but geeze that's an infuriating article.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:44 AM on July 4, 2019 [6 favorites]
Nearly every, if not quite literally every single prosecutor's office is corrupt.
Agreed. It's just that the sheer density of the place (2.5 million residents; gdp $74 billion) offers a wealth of opportunity.
I had to look up the article and boy is it something.
From that article, "It’s a Question No One Says They Want to Ask. But the Women Running for President Keep Hearing It": The female candidates spoke, on average, more than their male rivals
That seems kinda wei -- Across Wednesday and Thursday, male candidates on average spoke for 7.9 minutes each, while female candidates spoke for 8.1 minutes each (Vox) Also: Specific candidates who spoke the most were a mix of some of the other higher-ranking figures in recent polling and others who’ve been trying to break through: The top four across the two nights, according to the Post tracker, were former Vice President Joe Biden, leading with 13.6 minutes of speaking time; Harris, with 11.9 minutes; Sen. Bernie Sanders, with 11.0 minutes; and Sen. Cory Booker, with 10.9 minutes.
Given how many more male candidates there were than female ones in both debates, men spoke for much more time than women in total: 110.6 minutes, compared with 48.8 minutes for the women candidates.
Lisa Lerer's last NYT piece, two days before "It's a Question" is the On Politics newsletter, "The 2020 Smear Campaign Is Underway."
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:15 PM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
Agreed. It's just that the sheer density of the place (2.5 million residents; gdp $74 billion) offers a wealth of opportunity.
I had to look up the article and boy is it something.
From that article, "It’s a Question No One Says They Want to Ask. But the Women Running for President Keep Hearing It": The female candidates spoke, on average, more than their male rivals
That seems kinda wei -- Across Wednesday and Thursday, male candidates on average spoke for 7.9 minutes each, while female candidates spoke for 8.1 minutes each (Vox) Also: Specific candidates who spoke the most were a mix of some of the other higher-ranking figures in recent polling and others who’ve been trying to break through: The top four across the two nights, according to the Post tracker, were former Vice President Joe Biden, leading with 13.6 minutes of speaking time; Harris, with 11.9 minutes; Sen. Bernie Sanders, with 11.0 minutes; and Sen. Cory Booker, with 10.9 minutes.
Given how many more male candidates there were than female ones in both debates, men spoke for much more time than women in total: 110.6 minutes, compared with 48.8 minutes for the women candidates.
Lisa Lerer's last NYT piece, two days before "It's a Question" is the On Politics newsletter, "The 2020 Smear Campaign Is Underway."
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:15 PM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
Adding to that: this is a case where a straight average by itself is misleading, since it was assumed that the debates would spend more time with candidates who were up in the polls. That means that the higher number of men among the also-rans will drag down the average. If you scale the number of minutes spoken by pre-debate polling average (pulled from here) to create a "minute-per-polling-point" metric, then you get 3.64 for the men and 3.30 for the women. That is, on average individual men spoke for 3.65 minutes per pre-debate polling point, and women for 3.30 minutes. And this is despite the fact that Biden and Sanders take a big hit under this metric. I'm not saying that this is the right way to measure this thing, but it tells more of the story.
In case you were wondering, the biggest winners under my made up minute-per-polling-point metric are Michael Bennet (8.1 m/pp) and John Delaney (6.6 m/pp).
posted by jomato at 1:08 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
In case you were wondering, the biggest winners under my made up minute-per-polling-point metric are Michael Bennet (8.1 m/pp) and John Delaney (6.6 m/pp).
posted by jomato at 1:08 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
The news orgs covering this onanistic shitshow ought to set up their camera positions outside the fences, not on the designated press risers.
posted by holgate at 1:12 PM on July 4, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by holgate at 1:12 PM on July 4, 2019 [9 favorites]
The webcam at the National Mall was abruptly shut down without notice and has been removed from the http://whitehouse.gov site. Presumably to stop viewers from seeing the lack of attendees at the #TrumpParade. We are about to relive Trump’s inauguration all over again.
All we need is Sean Spicer back to tell us this is the biggest 4th of July crowd ever.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2019 [39 favorites]
All we need is Sean Spicer back to tell us this is the biggest 4th of July crowd ever.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2019 [39 favorites]
T.D. Strange: "MI-3 is a PVI R+6, Trump +10 district. Amash won 54-43 in 2018. It's not inconceivable that him running as an independent could split the Republican vote enough to throw the seat to the Democrat."
Sabato's rating is Toss-up if Amash runs in the general as independent or Libertarian; Leans R if it's just Dem and GOP running.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:43 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
Sabato's rating is Toss-up if Amash runs in the general as independent or Libertarian; Leans R if it's just Dem and GOP running.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:43 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
The Daily Beast is covering Trump’s event so far today: This July 4th Has Everything: Tanks, Trump - and Scandal—Qanon, MAGA, Baby Trump balloons have all descended on the nation’s capital.
Sizable crowds turned out Thursday morning for the annual parade on Constitution Ave. Trump supporters made up a large part of the crowd, with MAGA hats, pro-Trump t-shirts and Trump campaign flags prominently displayed. On the parade route, one person held up a large sign that “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP.” Vendors sold a wide array of pro-Trump merchandise, from Trump 2020 shirts to buttons declaring that “Hillary Clinton sucks.”posted by Doktor Zed at 2:49 PM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Fences surrounding the Lincoln Memorial and across the Reflecting Pool kept non-ticket holders away from the memorial. The much-discussed tanks were also behind the fences, meaning the vast majority of attendees couldn’t see them.[…]
QAnon fans also showed up at the [Trump International Hotel] sporting t-shirts of John F. Kennedy Jr., who they believe faked his death 20 years ago and will reemerge today as part of a wide-ranging deep-state conspiracy to prosecute Democrats for child-sex slavery.[…]
With a flood warning scheduled for 6 p.m., a half-hour before Trump is scheduled to speak at the Lincoln Memorial, it’s not clear how many people will stay.
Just back from our suburban Fourth of July parade, in a suburb that was reliably Republican until about 20 years ago and has shifted with college-educated whites to be reliably Democratic, but historically people are "polite" about politics because it's been pretty purple. It's a large parade, so a lot of local and regional politicians march to campaign.
Republican candidates and officials marching in the parade got basically no applause, they marched through near-silence and a lot of parents weren't letting their kids take stickers or fliers or even candy from GOP candidates. Democratic candidates got polite applause and a warmer reception.
But the fascinating part was a newly-organized community group that marched with banners and signs that said "close the camps" and "stop separating families" and so on, in English and Spanish and Hebrew. They got the loudest applause of the parade other than the local VFW and the local high school marching band, and lots of cheering, and lots of adults stood up and applauded fiercely for the entire time they were in sight.
It feels important that a whole group of people was willing to march with an overtly political message in an aggressively non-political parade (other than the politicians, who carefully don't communicate any actual message, just their name), and that they got such vigorous support from community members in a town where people don't do yard signs and are cagey about who they vote for and have strenuously fought all attempts to make town elections have any element of partisanship. That felt different and new to me.
(And Christ on a cracker I was so fucking glad they did it and overjoyed that so many of my neighbors were applauding and cheering that message, I felt way less alone, and I immediately went and signed up with their group.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:54 PM on July 4, 2019 [107 favorites]
Republican candidates and officials marching in the parade got basically no applause, they marched through near-silence and a lot of parents weren't letting their kids take stickers or fliers or even candy from GOP candidates. Democratic candidates got polite applause and a warmer reception.
But the fascinating part was a newly-organized community group that marched with banners and signs that said "close the camps" and "stop separating families" and so on, in English and Spanish and Hebrew. They got the loudest applause of the parade other than the local VFW and the local high school marching band, and lots of cheering, and lots of adults stood up and applauded fiercely for the entire time they were in sight.
It feels important that a whole group of people was willing to march with an overtly political message in an aggressively non-political parade (other than the politicians, who carefully don't communicate any actual message, just their name), and that they got such vigorous support from community members in a town where people don't do yard signs and are cagey about who they vote for and have strenuously fought all attempts to make town elections have any element of partisanship. That felt different and new to me.
(And Christ on a cracker I was so fucking glad they did it and overjoyed that so many of my neighbors were applauding and cheering that message, I felt way less alone, and I immediately went and signed up with their group.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:54 PM on July 4, 2019 [107 favorites]
Ok, I had to know and now you can too. QAnon believes that John F. Kennedy Jr is a huge Trump supporter because of some statements that he (actually didn’t) make in George magazine shortly before his (not faked) death. So he’s going to appear today and declare that he’s Trumps new running mate for 2020. This will be amazing because it will be the first Idiot/Zombie candidacy team in history.
As crazy as you’d imagine it to be.
posted by misterpatrick at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [9 favorites]
As crazy as you’d imagine it to be.
posted by misterpatrick at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [9 favorites]
Concentration-camp-loving congressman and probable future president Dan Crenshaw put in a special american flag eyeball today because the falcon cannot hear the falconer etc
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
Goodbye, America! Tanks for everything! (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Well, America, it has been great.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:36 PM on July 4, 2019 [28 favorites]
On the Fourth of July, President Trump and his followers are taking over the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial, as tanks roll down the streets and jets fly overhead. The Park Service has diverted $2.5 million to pay for this extravagance. This, apparently, is a Salute to America, some sort of combination birthday-retirement-funeral? It is unclear where America is going, but you certainly seem to be on your way out. […]
You were very protective of your flag, but you also were chill about it when people wanted to burn it as a protest. You sort of let people do their own thing, but you had values. It was a good balance, eventually.
Oh man, remember when you gave up drinking for a hot second, though? You were a mess. I’m glad that’s not happening still.
Remember that time you built the Hoover Dam? Remember the Gold Rush? Man, remember that speech from William Jennings Bryan, about being crucified on a cross of gold? I remember we looked at each other like, is this guy for real? We can agree now that that was a little dramatic, can’t we? Woof! Remember populism? Oh man, remember “The Wizard of Oz”? Did we ever figure out what that was a metaphor for? […]
I don’t know why I’m crying. It’s fine. I am sure whoever comes to fill this position next will do a good job, even if they are not represented by a confusing goateed uncle in a loud outfit drawn by Thomas Nast, as you were. It was a weird choice, but one that I gradually became fond of. And I’m sure wherever you go next, you’re going to be very happy. Even if I don’t like it, personally.
You know what, no. I’m going to say it. You spend all this time hanging out with creepy autocrats, and I think something is starting to rub off. What is this whole event? Why are there tanks? This isn’t like you at all. You weren’t perfect as you were, but — I don’t like this new you.
I just — I wish we weren’t saluting you like this.
Apparently nobody at the White House has a squeegee, because the TV camera shot is through a wet and dirty bulletproof panel and Trump looks terrible.
Also Gene Kranz is there because Trump is so stuck in the past he's on a total nostalgia trip with this speech (going back to stuff like the Wright Brothers and Edison and suspension bridges).
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also Gene Kranz is there because Trump is so stuck in the past he's on a total nostalgia trip with this speech (going back to stuff like the Wright Brothers and Edison and suspension bridges).
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
DC 4th of July attendees climb into dog crate, pretend to be migrant children for laughs
Ready to reach across the aisle?
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
Ready to reach across the aisle?
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:26 PM on July 4, 2019 [10 favorites]
NBD just on duty DC police officer pounding fists with the Proud Boys
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:58 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:58 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
"Douglass - you know, Frederick Douglass - the great Frederick Douglass."
CNN's Daniel Dale's live-tweet/fact-check of Trump's speech is a lot shorter than the ones he's done for Trump's rallies, but even when he's in "presidential" mode, Trump wavers between buffoonery and idiocy.
And Vox's Aaron Rupar has video highlights, including: "As @kendallybrown points out, Trump, while struggling to read in this clip, claims that the American military "took over the airports" during a battle that took place well before airplanes were even invented" (Trump's really floundering to make his way through a teleprompter speech.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:02 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
CNN's Daniel Dale's live-tweet/fact-check of Trump's speech is a lot shorter than the ones he's done for Trump's rallies, but even when he's in "presidential" mode, Trump wavers between buffoonery and idiocy.
And Vox's Aaron Rupar has video highlights, including: "As @kendallybrown points out, Trump, while struggling to read in this clip, claims that the American military "took over the airports" during a battle that took place well before airplanes were even invented" (Trump's really floundering to make his way through a teleprompter speech.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:02 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
According to Trump George Washington's Continental Army took over airports and had nothing but victory under the rockets' red glare at Fort McHenry.
College Park Airport, the world's oldest continuously operated airport, opened in 1909.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:52 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
Most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the [American Revolution]. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne. This became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796.The US Army successfully defended Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.
College Park Airport, the world's oldest continuously operated airport, opened in 1909.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:52 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
According to Trump George Washington's Continental Army took over airports and had nothing but victory under the rockets' red glare at Fort McHenry.
As usual, the actual quote is so much worse:
“In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a uniform army out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware, and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned? the air, it ran? the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory."
Cognitively. Impaired.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:08 PM on July 4, 2019 [42 favorites]
As usual, the actual quote is so much worse:
“In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a uniform army out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware, and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned? the air, it ran? the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory."
Cognitively. Impaired.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:08 PM on July 4, 2019 [42 favorites]
"mr president, what about kitty hawk?"
"who's she?"
posted by pyramid termite at 6:13 PM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
"who's she?"
posted by pyramid termite at 6:13 PM on July 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Of the Yorktown Cornwallis family
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:24 PM on July 4, 2019
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:24 PM on July 4, 2019
As horrible and hilari-tragic as Trump's asinine speech was, even worse is that his insane history gaffes will be what gets all the attention for the next few days, and not the way-worse things that he'll say and do. Things that will get (more) people abused or killed, or further degrade democracy, or at least be impeachable or prosecutable in a functioning republic.
posted by Rykey at 6:33 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Rykey at 6:33 PM on July 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
Rust Moranis: DC 4th of July attendees climb into dog crate, pretend to be migrant children for laughs
Huh? That tweet pretty clearly labels it a protest of detentions, specifically by a Communist organization called RevCom. If some people were laughing at him (I had the sound down), that's on them.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
Huh? That tweet pretty clearly labels it a protest of detentions, specifically by a Communist organization called RevCom. If some people were laughing at him (I had the sound down), that's on them.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
So, uh, Steve King fell for Ken Klippenstein's joke and has apparently never seen the movie A Few Good Men.
posted by zachlipton at 7:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [13 favorites]
We just got back from the Trumperworks a few minutes ago, they lasted forever. 36 minutes of solid fireworks. Half the people there at the beginning left before it ended.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:23 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:23 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
But the fascinating part was a newly-organized community group that marched with banners and signs that said "close the camps" and "stop separating families" and so on, in English and Spanish and Hebrew.
...
It feels important that a whole group of people was willing to march with an overtly political message in an aggressively non-political parade
-- Eyebrows McGee
"Close the camps" is not political. It is being a decent human being. It isn't left, right or center.
posted by Bovine Love at 7:29 PM on July 4, 2019 [16 favorites]
...
It feels important that a whole group of people was willing to march with an overtly political message in an aggressively non-political parade
-- Eyebrows McGee
"Close the camps" is not political. It is being a decent human being. It isn't left, right or center.
posted by Bovine Love at 7:29 PM on July 4, 2019 [16 favorites]
The airports thing is the perfect example of something which, if there's ever a press conference again, a reporter will spoil by just giving away the fact that airports didn't exist then, instead of placing bait. "Mr President, you claimed in your speech that Washington's army took over the airports. How did they do that when the only American airports at the time were on the West Coast? Were you talking about the British airports that Canada took over in England?"
Bovine Love: "Close the camps" is not political. It is being a decent human being. It isn't left, right or center.
It, like almost all forms of decency, is anti-right, and thus more or less left. The core of what right-wing means is a belief in the maintenance of hierarchies for their own sake, which amounts, ultimately, to a commitment to injustice as a kind of principle.
I guess one could argue that left-wing views "aren't politics" while right-wing ones are, but nah. (And I admit this gets tricky when discussing, say, climate science as "non-political"... I would actually argue that it is political to prioritize and assert truth in any environment with lots of anti-truth floating around.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:37 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
Bovine Love: "Close the camps" is not political. It is being a decent human being. It isn't left, right or center.
It, like almost all forms of decency, is anti-right, and thus more or less left. The core of what right-wing means is a belief in the maintenance of hierarchies for their own sake, which amounts, ultimately, to a commitment to injustice as a kind of principle.
I guess one could argue that left-wing views "aren't politics" while right-wing ones are, but nah. (And I admit this gets tricky when discussing, say, climate science as "non-political"... I would actually argue that it is political to prioritize and assert truth in any environment with lots of anti-truth floating around.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:37 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
“Close the Camps” *shouldn’t* be political. Being a decent human being shouldn’t require an act of public courage and dissent. But that’s the country we live in at the moment.
posted by Kelrichen at 7:38 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by Kelrichen at 7:38 PM on July 4, 2019 [14 favorites]
"Close the camps" is not political.
Regardless of where it stands on the left-right spectrum, it's still political in the sense that it involves the people, the polis, making a demand of their government. Politics isn't limited to partisan disagreements. I'd contend that the commonplace idea that "politics = partisan squabbling" is deliberate propaganda by our corporate media state complex designed to discourage Americans from having strong united political beliefs and taking unified action that will jeopardize the status quo.
posted by xigxag at 7:42 PM on July 4, 2019 [32 favorites]
Regardless of where it stands on the left-right spectrum, it's still political in the sense that it involves the people, the polis, making a demand of their government. Politics isn't limited to partisan disagreements. I'd contend that the commonplace idea that "politics = partisan squabbling" is deliberate propaganda by our corporate media state complex designed to discourage Americans from having strong united political beliefs and taking unified action that will jeopardize the status quo.
posted by xigxag at 7:42 PM on July 4, 2019 [32 favorites]
Since I saw another poster report from their neighborhood this July 4, I'll chime in and do the same. I'm in southeast Baltimore City (Canton, for those of you who are local), a gentrified city neighborhood like so many others, except that in this case, it has the uncommon distinction of gentrifying from white to white—blue-collar steel workers to IT, health care, and services workers with college degrees, moving into gutted-and-rehabbed row houses that were bought for as low as $150K and resold for as high as $750K.
This is, hands down, the lamest goddamn 4th in the 13 years I've lived here. This is not a group of people that gets out in the street and engages in protests, and yes, I'm sitting here at 10:57 PM and still hearing the occasional random firework go off. But this year (and last year, and the year before) is a pathetic shell of what used to go on during the Obama years. Most of these rehabbed row houses have rooftop decks, and in years past, we'd all go up and not only see official fireworks displays in every direction (including the city's official Inner Harbor display, just two miles to our west), but countless guerrilla displays of illegally smuggled fireworks all over. Including my next-door neighbor, a gentle hippie who owns his own natural/organic grocery a few blocks away.
Not only has he not bothered with fireworks or a rooftop party in the last few years, but the whole damn neighborhood has quieted down quite a bit. Yes, there's still the occasional house party here and there, with jackasses who (let's be honest) graduated college a few years ago and moved up here from a life of suburban ignorance. But there's a lot less of that.
Yes, we share in Washington's mostly cloudy, off-and-on rainy weather. But it isn't that. We've had that in years past. There really is a pall over the whole neighborhood. Six or seven years ago, at this time on July 4, there would've been a goddamn cacophony of fireworks in every direction. It wouldn't have really died down until at least 12:30 or 1:00 AM (with random fireworks still going off until at least 3ish). It's 11:00 PM and damn near completely silent now.
As it should be.
posted by CommonSense at 8:02 PM on July 4, 2019 [23 favorites]
This is, hands down, the lamest goddamn 4th in the 13 years I've lived here. This is not a group of people that gets out in the street and engages in protests, and yes, I'm sitting here at 10:57 PM and still hearing the occasional random firework go off. But this year (and last year, and the year before) is a pathetic shell of what used to go on during the Obama years. Most of these rehabbed row houses have rooftop decks, and in years past, we'd all go up and not only see official fireworks displays in every direction (including the city's official Inner Harbor display, just two miles to our west), but countless guerrilla displays of illegally smuggled fireworks all over. Including my next-door neighbor, a gentle hippie who owns his own natural/organic grocery a few blocks away.
Not only has he not bothered with fireworks or a rooftop party in the last few years, but the whole damn neighborhood has quieted down quite a bit. Yes, there's still the occasional house party here and there, with jackasses who (let's be honest) graduated college a few years ago and moved up here from a life of suburban ignorance. But there's a lot less of that.
Yes, we share in Washington's mostly cloudy, off-and-on rainy weather. But it isn't that. We've had that in years past. There really is a pall over the whole neighborhood. Six or seven years ago, at this time on July 4, there would've been a goddamn cacophony of fireworks in every direction. It wouldn't have really died down until at least 12:30 or 1:00 AM (with random fireworks still going off until at least 3ish). It's 11:00 PM and damn near completely silent now.
As it should be.
posted by CommonSense at 8:02 PM on July 4, 2019 [23 favorites]
So, uh, Steve King fell for Ken Klippenstein's joke and has apparently never seen the movie A Few Good Men.
Steve King has many things to answer for. I don't think unfamiliarity with A Few Good Men should be one of them.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:31 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
Steve King has many things to answer for. I don't think unfamiliarity with A Few Good Men should be one of them.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:31 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
My guess is Trump saw “ramparts” on the prompter and because he doesn’t know more than the first four words of the national anthem he thought it must be a typo for “airports”.
posted by schoolgirl report at 10:07 PM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by schoolgirl report at 10:07 PM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
It was a shitshow. The cognitive impairment is obvious. Perhaps more importantly, let's look at the bubble created around the shitshow: the weary slow-walk compliance of the Pentagon; the accedence of the National Parks Service; whatever efforts were taken to limit the amount of visual embarrassment in terms of crowd size and enthusiasm; the continued contortions of elite media to extract Presidentialite from an exhausted mine.
There is a great deal of ruin in a nation, but it can happen faster when so many people chip in on the ruining.
posted by holgate at 10:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
There is a great deal of ruin in a nation, but it can happen faster when so many people chip in on the ruining.
posted by holgate at 10:16 PM on July 4, 2019 [15 favorites]
As much as I’m sure I would be sickened, I would love to be a fly on the wall in tomorrow’s Oval Office.
posted by blueberry at 10:24 PM on July 4, 2019
posted by blueberry at 10:24 PM on July 4, 2019
Our army manned? the air, it ran? the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.
Ouch. I don't know if Trump is crazy or has dementia, but it wouldn't surprise me. I do know I've lately found his stories even less plausible than usual, and more difficult to follow.
I'm half convinced his supporters would like a president with dementia, impervious to fact or rational argument. They liked that Sarah Palin couldn't name a newspaper she read.
posted by xammerboy at 10:45 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
Ouch. I don't know if Trump is crazy or has dementia, but it wouldn't surprise me. I do know I've lately found his stories even less plausible than usual, and more difficult to follow.
I'm half convinced his supporters would like a president with dementia, impervious to fact or rational argument. They liked that Sarah Palin couldn't name a newspaper she read.
posted by xammerboy at 10:45 PM on July 4, 2019 [7 favorites]
#25for45
posted by j_curiouser at 10:57 PM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 10:57 PM on July 4, 2019 [8 favorites]
I was in Green Bay Wisconsin for the 4th. Our first night we went to an idyllic street fair with craft beer, farm produce, and some great local bands. The second night we went to the city's 4th of July celebration, where a lot of people seemed down and out and angry. There was a heavy police presence. Heavy metal was played over the fireworks show like it was the national anthem.
posted by xammerboy at 11:20 PM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 11:20 PM on July 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
I was talking over the kaboom of our neighbors to a local doctor, and he said his off the cuff theory was that 45 has late stage syphilis. So, I looked it up, and given Donnie’s narcissism and dislike of doctors, and his very well publicized adventures in lovemaking, I think it’s possible that actual brain worms are in control of the largest nuclear stockpile on earth.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:03 AM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:03 AM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
Why Trump Likes Tanks
These hulking relics are part of the insidious nostalgia that undergirds his “Make America Great Again” ideology.
By Elliott D. Woods/NYTimes Opinion
I've been wondering about this, too.
posted by mumimor at 1:10 AM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
These hulking relics are part of the insidious nostalgia that undergirds his “Make America Great Again” ideology.
By Elliott D. Woods/NYTimes Opinion
I've been wondering about this, too.
posted by mumimor at 1:10 AM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
I doubt syphillis as an explanation - he is old enough and did enough speed in his youth he's paying for it in his old age.
I've read the transcripts from his most recent speech where he was clearly impaired, and that's all it is. I'm also here to tell you that his followers (including my parents, who I am staying with) argue that it's some sort of code, that he's fine, fake news, ect.
It's a special form of cognitive dissonance. There is no fact in the world that would persuade them that he's not fit for office. I'm here to tell you, there is no working with these people, we simply need to GOTV in large numbers to make sure that he (and his enablers) get voted out in 2020.
Speaking of that, I recently moved to Arizona and have some questions about how to get involved here in the greater Phoenix area. Can anyone memail me any good links?
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 1:52 AM on July 5, 2019 [19 favorites]
I've read the transcripts from his most recent speech where he was clearly impaired, and that's all it is. I'm also here to tell you that his followers (including my parents, who I am staying with) argue that it's some sort of code, that he's fine, fake news, ect.
It's a special form of cognitive dissonance. There is no fact in the world that would persuade them that he's not fit for office. I'm here to tell you, there is no working with these people, we simply need to GOTV in large numbers to make sure that he (and his enablers) get voted out in 2020.
Speaking of that, I recently moved to Arizona and have some questions about how to get involved here in the greater Phoenix area. Can anyone memail me any good links?
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 1:52 AM on July 5, 2019 [19 favorites]
@funder
“In Washington they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team. Nobody in my administration got indicted." President Obama #PatriotsResistposted by scalefree at 2:47 AM on July 5, 2019 [29 favorites]
[video]
These two last comments remind me of a thing: Trump is the anti-Obama: where Obama was an intelligent Black man, Trump is a stupid white man. Where Obama was an honest idealist, Trump is a corrupt hustler. Where Obama gives thoughtful, eloquent speeches, Trump just shouts out pure id. Where Obama reached out across the aisle, Trump insults the people he should be working with. This is by design.
It doesn't really make a difference wether Trump is impaired or not. He has always been a stupid, criminal racist. Maybe he could build coherent sentences 30 years ago, maybe not really. It doesn't matter: he was elected because of what he is, not in spite of it.
posted by mumimor at 4:21 AM on July 5, 2019 [52 favorites]
It doesn't really make a difference wether Trump is impaired or not. He has always been a stupid, criminal racist. Maybe he could build coherent sentences 30 years ago, maybe not really. It doesn't matter: he was elected because of what he is, not in spite of it.
posted by mumimor at 4:21 AM on July 5, 2019 [52 favorites]
It's the morning after July 4th, and the president showed us last night that displays of military force are the whole of American idealism. And that he enjoys showing off his control over that force. That's scary.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:43 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:43 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
It doesn't really make a difference wether Trump is impaired or not. He has always been a stupid, criminal racist. Maybe he could build coherent sentences 30 years ago, maybe not really. It doesn't matter: he was elected because of what he is, not in spite of it.
In fact the structural racism and knee jerk prejudice against additional levels of melanin is quite clear in this regard. Like the joke about the confidence of mediocre white men, this base or electorate (if genuine) demonstrates that you could paint a resurrected zombie in white paint and that would be preferable to the eloquent intelligence of Obama.
Here's another egregious example of this thinking:
An international blame game is now under way. American Congressman Sam Graves alongside other voices in the US have blamed "foreign pilots" for the crash, saying they believe American pilots would have handled the jet.
But both preliminary reports have stated the flight control system (MCAS) as being at fault.
After all, both crashes were only full of brown and black people out there in those foreign lands. There's no shame left in your openly fluttering dirty laundry.
posted by Mrs Potato at 5:01 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
In fact the structural racism and knee jerk prejudice against additional levels of melanin is quite clear in this regard. Like the joke about the confidence of mediocre white men, this base or electorate (if genuine) demonstrates that you could paint a resurrected zombie in white paint and that would be preferable to the eloquent intelligence of Obama.
Here's another egregious example of this thinking:
An international blame game is now under way. American Congressman Sam Graves alongside other voices in the US have blamed "foreign pilots" for the crash, saying they believe American pilots would have handled the jet.
But both preliminary reports have stated the flight control system (MCAS) as being at fault.
After all, both crashes were only full of brown and black people out there in those foreign lands. There's no shame left in your openly fluttering dirty laundry.
posted by Mrs Potato at 5:01 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Obama was an honest idealist
Citation needed. Obama was nothing if not a pragmatic centrist. (To be fair, Trump may still be the opposite of that; after all, pragmatism requires a kind of understanding of reality that it's not clear Trump has.)
posted by Slothrup at 5:01 AM on July 5, 2019 [11 favorites]
Citation needed. Obama was nothing if not a pragmatic centrist. (To be fair, Trump may still be the opposite of that; after all, pragmatism requires a kind of understanding of reality that it's not clear Trump has.)
posted by Slothrup at 5:01 AM on July 5, 2019 [11 favorites]
Rocket’s red glare is also a War of 1812 reference, not Revolutionary War. Britain didn’t steal Mysorean rockets until 1799 and develop the Congreve rocket until 1804.
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
Obama idealized the center, and the myth of working together across differences. I'm not saying he is a Socialist. And I wonder what he believes now.
posted by mumimor at 5:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 5:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [5 favorites]
My guess is Trump saw “ramparts” on the prompter and because he doesn’t know more than the first four words of the national anthem he thought it must be a typo for “airports”.
Which is embarrassing for the White Supremacists/Authoritarians who support him because he should be all in on "Ramparts" since that is the style of policing he and they rather openly advocate for.
posted by srboisvert at 6:17 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Which is embarrassing for the White Supremacists/Authoritarians who support him because he should be all in on "Ramparts" since that is the style of policing he and they rather openly advocate for.
posted by srboisvert at 6:17 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
#RevolutionaryWarAirportStories is a thing on twitter.
posted by peeedro at 6:23 AM on July 5, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 6:23 AM on July 5, 2019 [13 favorites]
From that op-ed:
posted by holgate at 6:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Though tanks over the past half century have been used only rarely in their strategic combat role, they have been used often to repress popular uprisings — a tool of practical and psychological warfare against unarmed civilians from the Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union to Tiananmen Square.This is the domain of the tangible metaphor for someone known to prefer pictures and maps over words in briefings. It also ties in with the gleeful acquisition of tank-like army surplus (tanklets?) by local cops.
posted by holgate at 6:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's the morning after July 4th, and the president showed us last night that displays of military force are the whole of American idealism.
Whatever you think of “American idealism” Trump’s boondoggle did more to demonstrate that even the military doesn’t agree with that and finds it tasteless and wasteful.
(This kind of display, that is.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:47 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Whatever you think of “American idealism” Trump’s boondoggle did more to demonstrate that even the military doesn’t agree with that and finds it tasteless and wasteful.
(This kind of display, that is.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:47 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Years ago I was lucky enough to be in DC during the 4th of July and even I was surprised by the lack of armed forces in the parade as compared to the amount marching on Bastille Day. I think there was a group of cadets from the Air Force Academy and some veterans on a float but they were vastly outnumbered by high school bands. Also a sponsored float from Falun Gong which was weird.
posted by PenDevil at 6:58 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by PenDevil at 6:58 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Taking over the airports
I spend a lot of time at airports in my business, and I have seen a lot of security infrastructure go up beyond what seems to be necessary to protect from terrorists but would help in defending against local populations. A small part of me thinks Trump was accidentally leaking contingency plans he has seen or been briefed on, because we know he cannot keep his mouth shut. I hope I'm wrong but that was the first thing that came to my mind and I have learned to trust, or at least not immediately dismiss, my instincts.
posted by M-x shell at 7:11 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
I spend a lot of time at airports in my business, and I have seen a lot of security infrastructure go up beyond what seems to be necessary to protect from terrorists but would help in defending against local populations. A small part of me thinks Trump was accidentally leaking contingency plans he has seen or been briefed on, because we know he cannot keep his mouth shut. I hope I'm wrong but that was the first thing that came to my mind and I have learned to trust, or at least not immediately dismiss, my instincts.
posted by M-x shell at 7:11 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
Court to unseal up to 2,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents
posted by srboisvert at 7:18 AM on July 5, 2019 [29 favorites]
The New York case, filed in 2015, was brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims that she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to wealthy and powerful politicians, lawyers, academics and government leaders when she was underage. Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation after Maxwell publicly denounced her as a liar.How's that for fireworks.
The case was settled in Giuffre’s favor in 2017, several sources have told the Herald. Nearly all the documents filed in connection with the case, however, were sealed. The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching Maxwell’s lawyer, Ty Gee, for comment Wednesday.
...
Giuffre has claimed that Epstein and Maxwell forced her to have sex with a number of powerful, politically connected men, among them Prince Andrew and Dershowitz. Both have vehemently denied the allegations. Dershowitz says that there are documents in the Maxwell file that will prove that Giuffre has wrongly accused him.
...
Acosta, who is now President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, has said the deal was a fair one because it ensured that Epstein, who agreed to plead guilty to state charges, would serve some time in a county jail and required that he register as a sex offender. Epstein served 13 months in the Palm Beach County stockade, receiving liberal work release privileges despite rules that barred work release for sex offenders.
posted by srboisvert at 7:18 AM on July 5, 2019 [29 favorites]
Biden: I Used to Smack Bullies Like Trump in the Mouth
can't wait for the productive I PUNCH U CHEETO BULLY / NO I PUNCH U BIGGER SLEEPY JOE debates of next summer
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:28 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
can't wait for the productive I PUNCH U CHEETO BULLY / NO I PUNCH U BIGGER SLEEPY JOE debates of next summer
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:28 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
CNN, Haley Byrd, Trump critic Justin Amash quits Republican Party
Marcy Wheeler has this analysis of her local congressman's prospects as an independent/Libertarian in Michigan:
Marcy Wheeler has this analysis of her local congressman's prospects as an independent/Libertarian in Michigan:
Lots of very hot takes on my Congressman Justin Amash today. A couple of points from someone who lives in MI-3.posted by Doktor Zed at 7:35 AM on July 5, 2019 [13 favorites]
1) Amash performed better than Trump in this district in a year when MI actually liked Trump; MI doesn't like Trump anymore
2) Love or hate his schtick (explaining every vote, being outspoken about his party's failures), the schtick is not a recent invention and it works well for a lot of independents here. Lots of people disagree with Amash but still respect the schtick (increasingly on the left too)
3) This district might have been winnable for the Dems in 2012 except Dems ran someone with the same basic profile as Mitt Romney who was to the right of Amash on choice. 😡 It's significantly more winnable for Dems now, particularly with someone MI likes on top of the ticket.
4) I don't know what would have happened in a GOP primary, particularly if it had remained a 5-way race. I do know a 3-way general election (@dustindwyer got him to confirm he plans to run) will be unpredictable, especially w/gerrymandering unsettled.
5) But as he also said to Dwyer, like his schtick, this criticism of GOP is not a new invention. He got shit for not supporting Trump during 2016, and immediately after Trump won, he said, "I did better than Trump in this District, I won't kowtow [my word, not Amash's] to him."
6) One other thing: Much to the GOP's dismay, Amash has never spent much on winning here. That means, like @AOC, he's not beholden to contributors and has time to research actual legislation.
I assume $$ will get spent this year, but maybe even still not by Amash.
Biden, last year: "If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him."
Who is the target audience for this septuagenarian tough-guy bullshit?
posted by box at 7:36 AM on July 5, 2019 [20 favorites]
Who is the target audience for this septuagenarian tough-guy bullshit?
posted by box at 7:36 AM on July 5, 2019 [20 favorites]
other septuagenarian tough guys (and the septuagenarian women who love them), duh
posted by entropicamericana at 7:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 7:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
Even if you think the speech wasn't terrible, the theme is a disturbing example of the continuing fetishization of the military. We already have two holidays honoring the military, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The Fourth of July is supposed to be for everyone.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 7:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [18 favorites]
I have a theory that Trump, or someone like him, in terms of reactionary, revanchist politics, was largely inevitable as a result of demographic shifts in the electorate. If you look at his supporters, he's being propelled by the retiree crowd—aging Boomers, basically. Remove the 65+ voters and he wouldn't have been able to beat Clinton. (That said, there are probably a hundred factors, all of which had to align perfectly for him to be able to beat Clinton, it was a political perfect storm, and removing any one of them could easily have changed the outcome.)
Trump's whole plank is geared to appeal to the fuzzy-yet-pleasant memories of people who think America's heyday has passed, because their own literally has.
This isn't because he's a brilliant politician or some sort of 11-dimensional chess argument; he's a moron. But he's a moron who appeals to the demographic who love to scream at their TV from their Barcaloungers, imagining a world where they're not totally irrelevant. (Biden seems to be the Democrats' answer to the same leper colony beauty contest, and it leads directly to his "septuagenarian tough-guy bullshit".)
The Boomers have defined politics over the lifespan of their entire generation: the country was progressive when they, as a generation, were progressive; it got more conservative as they settled down and moved to the suburbs; and it's become reactionary as they've gone into their dotage. They are now outnumbered by other generational groups, but none vote as reliably, and they're still a significant demographic 'lump' at the upper end of the age curve.
The only bright side out of this is that the problem is essentially self-correcting, because every year there are fewer Boomers left alive, and fewer still capable of getting to the polls. Their star is fading fast, and the next-biggest 'lump' in age distribution is down around 25-29, IIRC. My guess is that we'll see a rather seismic shift in politics as the parties realign around younger voters.
The question is how much damage can Trump and his aging supporters do to the country and the planet in the meantime? Jury is still out on that one.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:53 AM on July 5, 2019 [23 favorites]
Trump's whole plank is geared to appeal to the fuzzy-yet-pleasant memories of people who think America's heyday has passed, because their own literally has.
This isn't because he's a brilliant politician or some sort of 11-dimensional chess argument; he's a moron. But he's a moron who appeals to the demographic who love to scream at their TV from their Barcaloungers, imagining a world where they're not totally irrelevant. (Biden seems to be the Democrats' answer to the same leper colony beauty contest, and it leads directly to his "septuagenarian tough-guy bullshit".)
The Boomers have defined politics over the lifespan of their entire generation: the country was progressive when they, as a generation, were progressive; it got more conservative as they settled down and moved to the suburbs; and it's become reactionary as they've gone into their dotage. They are now outnumbered by other generational groups, but none vote as reliably, and they're still a significant demographic 'lump' at the upper end of the age curve.
The only bright side out of this is that the problem is essentially self-correcting, because every year there are fewer Boomers left alive, and fewer still capable of getting to the polls. Their star is fading fast, and the next-biggest 'lump' in age distribution is down around 25-29, IIRC. My guess is that we'll see a rather seismic shift in politics as the parties realign around younger voters.
The question is how much damage can Trump and his aging supporters do to the country and the planet in the meantime? Jury is still out on that one.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:53 AM on July 5, 2019 [23 favorites]
Armed Forces Day, too, shortly before Memorial Day. Creating a sort of default week for military celebration shading into memorial, which is at least more thoughtful.
And we have the unofficial but widely observed Flag Day and Flag Week for.....all the same kind of rhetoric Trump wanted to trot out on the Fourth.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:56 AM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
And we have the unofficial but widely observed Flag Day and Flag Week for.....all the same kind of rhetoric Trump wanted to trot out on the Fourth.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:56 AM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
I have a theory that Trump, or someone like him, in terms of reactionary, revanchist politics, was largely inevitable as a result of . . .
Gerrymandering in Republican controlled states, the undermining of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, interference by and open coordination with Putin's cut-out the Internet Research Agency, Guccifer and other hacker groups attack on our electoral process, the NRA and FOXNews propaganda machine, a horserace-obsessed misogynist media leadership trying to cash in, machinations by Bannon and the Mercers with their hired gun CA, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates election version of treason, the questionable ethics of one James Comey, and the slave state preserving mechanism called the Electoral College.
posted by Harry Caul at 8:06 AM on July 5, 2019 [20 favorites]
Gerrymandering in Republican controlled states, the undermining of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, interference by and open coordination with Putin's cut-out the Internet Research Agency, Guccifer and other hacker groups attack on our electoral process, the NRA and FOXNews propaganda machine, a horserace-obsessed misogynist media leadership trying to cash in, machinations by Bannon and the Mercers with their hired gun CA, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates election version of treason, the questionable ethics of one James Comey, and the slave state preserving mechanism called the Electoral College.
posted by Harry Caul at 8:06 AM on July 5, 2019 [20 favorites]
The Whelk: “Extremely funny that socialism has a better approval rating than trump and all of his specific policies are horrifically unpopular and these dipshit republicans keep complaining that Democrats are going to lose the election by not being Republicans” @markpopham
My dark read of this was that the Republicans will win, thanks to Russian disinformation and election tampering, and the GOP will say "yeah, we told you so."
misterpatrick: Ok, I had to know and now you can too. QAnon believes that John F. Kennedy Jr is a huge Trump supporter because of some statements that he (actually didn’t) make in George magazine shortly before his (not faked) death. So he’s going to appear today and declare that he’s Trumps new running mate for 2020. This will be amazing because it will be the first Idiot/Zombie candidacy team in history.
OK, so now this bathroom graffiti (Trump / JFK, JR 2020 // "Q" [something] "Trust the Team") makes more sense. I thought it was a joke.
Here's my joke reply: Giant Meteor 2020: Just End It Already (sticker from Redbubble, meteor art from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science)
A little more optimism: Eric Holder: If the Supreme Court won’t protect our democracy, voters will (WaPo opinion piece, July 4, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:09 AM on July 5, 2019 [9 favorites]
My dark read of this was that the Republicans will win, thanks to Russian disinformation and election tampering, and the GOP will say "yeah, we told you so."
misterpatrick: Ok, I had to know and now you can too. QAnon believes that John F. Kennedy Jr is a huge Trump supporter because of some statements that he (actually didn’t) make in George magazine shortly before his (not faked) death. So he’s going to appear today and declare that he’s Trumps new running mate for 2020. This will be amazing because it will be the first Idiot/Zombie candidacy team in history.
OK, so now this bathroom graffiti (Trump / JFK, JR 2020 // "Q" [something] "Trust the Team") makes more sense. I thought it was a joke.
Here's my joke reply: Giant Meteor 2020: Just End It Already (sticker from Redbubble, meteor art from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science)
A little more optimism: Eric Holder: If the Supreme Court won’t protect our democracy, voters will (WaPo opinion piece, July 4, 2019)
Over the past decade, the conservative Supreme Court has reshaped the American political system in ways that fundamentally undermine voting rights and equal representation in our nation. In a trio of cases, the court has unwisely removed protections needed for a well-functioning democracy. These deeply flawed rulings — intentionally or naively — shift power away from the people and toward entrenched special interests and the already powerful.Sadly, he doesn't elaborate on the other methods to counter partisan gerrymandering (as xammerboy noted upthread, Democratic gerrymandering can lead to similarly corrupt and unrepresentational governments of Dems that the GOP is pushing), but 1) calling out the impacts of the conservative majority SCOTUS, and 2) identifying (or just reiterating) options to undo their work is something to share as steps towards a (literally) healthier country, and world, with a more representative democracy (NPR, July 4, 2019) in the US, which supports democracies elsewhere.
Most recently, five conservative justices determined last week that federal courts have no role reining in partisan gerrymandering. In doing so, the court has torn at the fabric of our democracy and put the interests of politicians ahead of the voters. Map manipulation allows politicians to pick their voters so a party with minority views and support can illegitimately govern with majority power. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote (PDF) in her powerful and prescient dissent, the partisan gerrymanders in Maryland and North Carolina “debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people.”
...
Although the situation is dire, there are still tools — litigation, reform efforts, winning state and local elections, and citizen advocacy — that we must pursue to restore fairness to our democracy.
My organization, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, will continue to bring racial gerrymandering claims in the federal courts and partisan gerrymandering cases in the state courts. An affiliate of the NDRC is supporting a state-based partisan gerrymandering case (NY Times) in North Carolina that seeks to strike down the maps for both chambers of the General Assembly.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:09 AM on July 5, 2019 [9 favorites]
And we have the unofficial but widely observed Flag Day and Flag Week for.....all the same kind of rhetoric Trump wanted to trot out on the Fourth.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:56 AM on July 5 [2 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Wait, those are for Queer Pride flags though.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:18 AM on July 5, 2019
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:56 AM on July 5 [2 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Wait, those are for Queer Pride flags though.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:18 AM on July 5, 2019
He cannot Executive Order his way around the Supreme Court.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:28 AM on July 5, 2019
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:28 AM on July 5, 2019
> He cannot Executive Order his way around the Supreme Court.
Serious question: why not?
Who is going to stop him or hold him accountable?
posted by Tevin at 8:34 AM on July 5, 2019 [56 favorites]
Serious question: why not?
Who is going to stop him or hold him accountable?
posted by Tevin at 8:34 AM on July 5, 2019 [56 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler has this analysis of her local congressman's prospects as an independent/Libertarian in Michigan
I have some doubt that Amash will actually run for reelection, he's being bandied about as a 3rd party presidential contender on the Libertarian ticket. He could be gunning to be the next Gary Johnson.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
I have some doubt that Amash will actually run for reelection, he's being bandied about as a 3rd party presidential contender on the Libertarian ticket. He could be gunning to be the next Gary Johnson.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
@lawrencehurley: Trump on Friday said the "number one" reason for adding a citizenship question was for the drawing of electoral districts, which is what those challenging the move have said all along
Electoral districts are drawn based on the number of (since the Civil War, whole) people residing in a district, not the number of citizens. Trump, naturally, forgot to use his inside voice and gave away the entire plot, the real reason they're so determined to do this, which would serve to strip representation from millions of people and extend Republican rule.
posted by zachlipton at 9:40 AM on July 5, 2019 [27 favorites]
Electoral districts are drawn based on the number of (since the Civil War, whole) people residing in a district, not the number of citizens. Trump, naturally, forgot to use his inside voice and gave away the entire plot, the real reason they're so determined to do this, which would serve to strip representation from millions of people and extend Republican rule.
posted by zachlipton at 9:40 AM on July 5, 2019 [27 favorites]
He cannot Executive Order his way around the Supreme Court.
Serious question: why not?
Dems and the courts need to come to terms with the mindset of the people they are dealing with now. When figuring out what Trump's response will be to a court order, just ask, "What would Al Capone do?". This is a criminal organization and is instead being treated as white collar hijinks. Roger Stone is the soul of the Republican party now, thumbing his nose at everything and waiting for the alpha troll to pardon him.
posted by benzenedream at 9:56 AM on July 5, 2019 [22 favorites]
Serious question: why not?
Dems and the courts need to come to terms with the mindset of the people they are dealing with now. When figuring out what Trump's response will be to a court order, just ask, "What would Al Capone do?". This is a criminal organization and is instead being treated as white collar hijinks. Roger Stone is the soul of the Republican party now, thumbing his nose at everything and waiting for the alpha troll to pardon him.
posted by benzenedream at 9:56 AM on July 5, 2019 [22 favorites]
T.D. Strange: I have some doubt that Amash will actually run for reelection, he's being bandied about as a 3rd party presidential contender on the Libertarian ticket. He could be gunning to be the next Gary Johnson.
Amash would take votes from exactly the wrong set, I think. How many people would vote for him, that would otherwise have picked Trump? This isn't the same environment as 2012 or even 2016; anyone who claims "I don't like Trump but I have to vote for him because the Democrats are too extreme" is only making excuses for what amounts, in reality, to a pro-Trump commitment (coupled with plenty of genuine shame because people are complex). Having a libertarian (or similar) option would call that bluff and, I suspect, fail. Certainly some people might vote for him who would otherwise stay home, but that's a wash. The problem, and the only real effect Amash could have, is the people who would see him as an alternative to holding their nose and voting blue.
The only candidates this race needs are a Democratic nominee and one (but only one) Republican challenger on the tiny chance that works (Bill Weld will lose, but his presence won't worsen the cause against Trump). There is no avenue for spoiling against Republicans in the general.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:07 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Amash would take votes from exactly the wrong set, I think. How many people would vote for him, that would otherwise have picked Trump? This isn't the same environment as 2012 or even 2016; anyone who claims "I don't like Trump but I have to vote for him because the Democrats are too extreme" is only making excuses for what amounts, in reality, to a pro-Trump commitment (coupled with plenty of genuine shame because people are complex). Having a libertarian (or similar) option would call that bluff and, I suspect, fail. Certainly some people might vote for him who would otherwise stay home, but that's a wash. The problem, and the only real effect Amash could have, is the people who would see him as an alternative to holding their nose and voting blue.
The only candidates this race needs are a Democratic nominee and one (but only one) Republican challenger on the tiny chance that works (Bill Weld will lose, but his presence won't worsen the cause against Trump). There is no avenue for spoiling against Republicans in the general.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:07 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
He cannot Executive Order his way around the Supreme Court.
Serious question: why not?
Who is going to stop him or hold him accountable?
Most of the 2 million career staff who work for him would refuse to enforce an order that directly contradicted* the Supreme Court. I'd hope that at least some of his appointees would also do so.
*Interpretations of "directly contradicted" may vary.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:16 AM on July 5, 2019
Serious question: why not?
Who is going to stop him or hold him accountable?
Most of the 2 million career staff who work for him would refuse to enforce an order that directly contradicted* the Supreme Court. I'd hope that at least some of his appointees would also do so.
*Interpretations of "directly contradicted" may vary.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:16 AM on July 5, 2019
Most of the 2 million career staff who work for him would refuse to enforce an order that directly contradicted* the Supreme Court. I'd hope that at least some of his appointees would also do so.
[citation needed]
posted by delfin at 10:26 AM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
[citation needed]
posted by delfin at 10:26 AM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
They can refuse, but it’ll be the Saturday night massacre all over again, leaving us with even less real civil workers, and tons of vacancies in critical poli infrastructure.
I can’t remember which president said something akin to The judges have made their ruling, now let them enforce it, but we are, not kidding, not exaggerating, on the brink of a serious constitutional crisis, a fulcrum point that will determine not only the fate of American politics and its survival as a unified republic, but also the direction of the entire planet, as we are running out of time, and a cementing of profit uber alles, that allows for no path for progressive movement without civil unrest will destroy us all.
45 must be impeached and removed. It is the only way, I can see, that will let us right the ship in time. Now, how we go about making Pelosi see past her stock portfolio long enough to actually do something, that I do not know.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:30 AM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
I can’t remember which president said something akin to The judges have made their ruling, now let them enforce it, but we are, not kidding, not exaggerating, on the brink of a serious constitutional crisis, a fulcrum point that will determine not only the fate of American politics and its survival as a unified republic, but also the direction of the entire planet, as we are running out of time, and a cementing of profit uber alles, that allows for no path for progressive movement without civil unrest will destroy us all.
45 must be impeached and removed. It is the only way, I can see, that will let us right the ship in time. Now, how we go about making Pelosi see past her stock portfolio long enough to actually do something, that I do not know.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:30 AM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
President* said just a little while ago that he's thinking of doing an "addendum" to the census with the citizenship question.
This is not how the census works. He also can't use an executive order: the census is tasked to Congress under Article I, not the executive under Article II. That said, they're clearly gonna try to mash it in there, no matter how many lawsuits and no matter how expensive it gets.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
posted by suelac at 10:36 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
This is not how the census works. He also can't use an executive order: the census is tasked to Congress under Article I, not the executive under Article II. That said, they're clearly gonna try to mash it in there, no matter how many lawsuits and no matter how expensive it gets.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
posted by suelac at 10:36 AM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
I can’t remember which president said something akin to The judges have made their ruling, now let them enforce it
Jackson, who Trump openly emulates and who he makes a point of admiring every chance he gets.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
Jackson, who Trump openly emulates and who he makes a point of admiring every chance he gets.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:37 AM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
How many people would vote for him, that would otherwise have picked Trump?
People for whom voting for a Democrat is akin to pissing on the graves of their ancestors but who do not particularly like Trump. There's quite a lot of those people though I think a not-insignificant proportion would just not vote if there wasn't a high profile alternative like Amash on the ballot.
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
People for whom voting for a Democrat is akin to pissing on the graves of their ancestors but who do not particularly like Trump. There's quite a lot of those people though I think a not-insignificant proportion would just not vote if there wasn't a high profile alternative like Amash on the ballot.
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:39 AM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
The EO gambit flips the script on the logistics problem in which the Commerce Dept needs to go forward with printing and cannot wait for the legal issues to play out.
As it stands now, that work is being done (or is set to begin) without the question and the problem of the slow pace of the legal system is Trump's problem.
With an EO, the question goes on the form, the printing presses roll, and the problem of the slow pace of the legal system is our problem.
Such a bastard.
posted by notyou at 10:40 AM on July 5, 2019
As it stands now, that work is being done (or is set to begin) without the question and the problem of the slow pace of the legal system is Trump's problem.
With an EO, the question goes on the form, the printing presses roll, and the problem of the slow pace of the legal system is our problem.
Such a bastard.
posted by notyou at 10:40 AM on July 5, 2019
Now, I just want to point out that if a DEMOCRATIC POTUS went in front of reporters and said "We're doing this action primarily to rig elections in our favor, and I'm considering an Executive Order to make it happen no matter what SCOTUS says," the word "musket" would be trending nationwide about ten seconds later, Jim Jordan would be on TV carrying a lit torch and an assault rifle, and the biggest question about impeachment would be "do we start it today or wait 'til Monday?"
But, well, IOKIYAR.
posted by delfin at 10:40 AM on July 5, 2019 [33 favorites]
But, well, IOKIYAR.
posted by delfin at 10:40 AM on July 5, 2019 [33 favorites]
I can’t remember which president said something akin to The judges have made their ruling, now let them enforce it,
That would be his own hero, Andrew Jackson, who purportedly said "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" - and the case was Worcester v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court upheld that native tribes had sovereignty over who was allowed on their land, and Jackson proceeded to ignore the ruling.
posted by anastasiav at 10:42 AM on July 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
That would be his own hero, Andrew Jackson, who purportedly said "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" - and the case was Worcester v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court upheld that native tribes had sovereignty over who was allowed on their land, and Jackson proceeded to ignore the ruling.
posted by anastasiav at 10:42 AM on July 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
The only candidates this race needs are a Democratic nominee and one (but only one) Republican challenger on the tiny chance that works (Bill Weld will lose, but his presence won't worsen the cause against Trump). There is no avenue for spoiling against Republicans in the general.
I completely agree, but every presidential race of my lifetime has had 3rd party candidates to various extents, and it's probably unrealistic to think the 2020 won't have a Libertarian and Green party candidate at minimum in most states, even before we think about another spoiler like Schultz or Zuckerberg on top of the normal minor party candidates. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done to keep Jill Stein and the Green party from running their quadrennial grift operation again and off the ballot.
What can be done differently this time is to counteract the build up of the "both candidates are the same" environment of 2016. Because there was a pervasive sentiment across the entire nation that created a permission structure to throw away votes on Stien and Johnson unlike anything since Perot. That's what Democrats and people who want to defeat Trump can combat this time around.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:43 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
I completely agree, but every presidential race of my lifetime has had 3rd party candidates to various extents, and it's probably unrealistic to think the 2020 won't have a Libertarian and Green party candidate at minimum in most states, even before we think about another spoiler like Schultz or Zuckerberg on top of the normal minor party candidates. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done to keep Jill Stein and the Green party from running their quadrennial grift operation again and off the ballot.
What can be done differently this time is to counteract the build up of the "both candidates are the same" environment of 2016. Because there was a pervasive sentiment across the entire nation that created a permission structure to throw away votes on Stien and Johnson unlike anything since Perot. That's what Democrats and people who want to defeat Trump can combat this time around.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:43 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
Thing is, there's an infinite number of ways for Trump to fuck with the census even without the citizenship question. He can tweet that all census enumerators are secretly ICE agents. He can announce that responding to the census will automatically enroll you in a MAGA apparel subscription box. He can say that due to the great danger of census workers operating in sanctuary cities, all residents of New York, San Francisco, and Chicago will have to pay a $100 census fee. None of these things have to be true to depress response rates.
posted by theodolite at 10:45 AM on July 5, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 10:45 AM on July 5, 2019 [6 favorites]
Adam Serwer points out on Twitter that both the Justice Department and Clarence Thomas had said, during the SCOTUS proceedings, that the very notion that the citizenship question's actual purpose was to affect congressional apportionment is a "conspiracy theory", in those exact words. And now Trump has come out and said that was the idea, likely with zero sense that he's breaking any kind of secrecy in doing so.
This is not the worst thing the Supreme Court has ever done. But it is definitely the most embarrassing shit I’ve ever seen.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:52 AM on July 5, 2019 [29 favorites]
This is not the worst thing the Supreme Court has ever done. But it is definitely the most embarrassing shit I’ve ever seen.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:52 AM on July 5, 2019 [29 favorites]
@zoetillman [document attached]: NOW: DOJ filed a report on the census citizenship Q, and it's not definitive — they repeat they've been asked to "reevaluate all available options" and if the admin adopts a "new rationale" to try again, they'll alert the court. If the Commerce Sec. adopts a "new rationale" for adding the question, that would be a new final agency action, and DOJ says the groups that sued before would be entitled to challenge it
In other words, they spent their holiday trying to come up with something, failed, and would like the lawsuit to remain on hold while they come up with a new excuse that doesn’t make them look like liars for proposing the last excuse or make anyone ask why the stuff coming out of the president’s mouth doesn’t match any of this.
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
In other words, they spent their holiday trying to come up with something, failed, and would like the lawsuit to remain on hold while they come up with a new excuse that doesn’t make them look like liars for proposing the last excuse or make anyone ask why the stuff coming out of the president’s mouth doesn’t match any of this.
posted by zachlipton at 11:16 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
We were on the brink of a constitutional crisis for a while. The crisis is now here and it’s happening as we speak.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:16 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 11:16 AM on July 5, 2019 [15 favorites]
This is not how the census works.
But, well, IOKIYAR.
As mentioned above, right now everything works exactly the way Trump wants it to work so long as the Congress refuses to assert itself and hold the executive accountable for anything. Which it won't, of course, since the Republicans will never betray party loyalty so long as it gives them power and the democrats seem to think that asserting their prerogatives is too mean or something and won't play well on TV.
Trump has near-dictatorial power, if he wants it. The Republicans will never allow his authority to be reined in, and the cops are goons for the most part who like the idea of being enforcers for a powerful regime. Only his own laziness is preventing him from completely grabbing power and creating law by fiat.
posted by dis_integration at 11:18 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
But, well, IOKIYAR.
As mentioned above, right now everything works exactly the way Trump wants it to work so long as the Congress refuses to assert itself and hold the executive accountable for anything. Which it won't, of course, since the Republicans will never betray party loyalty so long as it gives them power and the democrats seem to think that asserting their prerogatives is too mean or something and won't play well on TV.
Trump has near-dictatorial power, if he wants it. The Republicans will never allow his authority to be reined in, and the cops are goons for the most part who like the idea of being enforcers for a powerful regime. Only his own laziness is preventing him from completely grabbing power and creating law by fiat.
posted by dis_integration at 11:18 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
This is exactly what I was just thinking
@mjs_dc: Most notably: DOJ cites two cases—travel ban and trans troops ban—to show that it may resolve the census citizenship question's legal infirmities on the second try.
@segalmr: DOJ: Trump's lawyers have laundered his illicit intent in other cases. Maybe it will happen in this one!
DOJ’s position is that they can keep coming up with rationales for agency actions until they finally land on one a court will accept. Their argument is basically “you keep letting us do it, so let us do it here too.”
posted by zachlipton at 11:21 AM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
@mjs_dc: Most notably: DOJ cites two cases—travel ban and trans troops ban—to show that it may resolve the census citizenship question's legal infirmities on the second try.
@segalmr: DOJ: Trump's lawyers have laundered his illicit intent in other cases. Maybe it will happen in this one!
DOJ’s position is that they can keep coming up with rationales for agency actions until they finally land on one a court will accept. Their argument is basically “you keep letting us do it, so let us do it here too.”
posted by zachlipton at 11:21 AM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
Most of the 2 million career staff who work for him would refuse to enforce an order that directly contradicted* the Supreme Court. I'd hope that at least some of his appointees would also do so.
[citation needed]
Not specifically on issues rejecting a Supreme Court decision, but a summary of the Meuller report from the WaPost, of Trump appointees (not career staff) ignoring Trump orders:
Trump says ‘nobody disobeys my orders.’ Here are 15 recorded instances of exactly that.
White House counsel Donald McGahn: Declined to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to fire Mueller.
Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: Declined to apply pressure on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of the Russia probe.
Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn: Declined to give Sessions a typed note Lewandowski gave him relaying the president’s message.
Staff secretary Rob Porter: Declined Trump’s request to ask the No. 3-ranking official at the Justice Department, Rachel Brand, whether she wanted to be attorney general and take oversight of the Russia probe.
Transition team leader Chris Christie: Declined to call FBI Director James B. Comey and tell him that Trump liked him.
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein: Declined to do a news conference after Comey’s firing saying it was his idea.
Deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland: Declined to write an internal email stating Trump hadn’t told national security adviser Michael Flynn to talk during the presidential transition to the Russian ambassador about sanctions.
Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats: Declined Trump’s request to say there was no link between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Acting Attorney General Dana Boente: According to McGahn, Boente declined Trump’s request to state publicly that Trump wasn’t under investigation. (Boente said he didn’t recall this conversation.)
Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: Declined to get Sessions to resign.
Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn: Along with Porter, prevented Trump from pulling out of trade deals by pulling papers off his desk.
Chief of Staff John F. Kelly: Along with Cohn, declined to lobby the Justice Department to prevent the AT&T-Time Warner merger.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: Declined Trump’s request to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mattis: Declined Trump’s request to provide military options for Iran.
Unnamed officials: Ignored Trump’s directive to not endorse an agreement reached at the G-7 Summit.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
[citation needed]
Not specifically on issues rejecting a Supreme Court decision, but a summary of the Meuller report from the WaPost, of Trump appointees (not career staff) ignoring Trump orders:
Trump says ‘nobody disobeys my orders.’ Here are 15 recorded instances of exactly that.
White House counsel Donald McGahn: Declined to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to fire Mueller.
Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: Declined to apply pressure on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of the Russia probe.
Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn: Declined to give Sessions a typed note Lewandowski gave him relaying the president’s message.
Staff secretary Rob Porter: Declined Trump’s request to ask the No. 3-ranking official at the Justice Department, Rachel Brand, whether she wanted to be attorney general and take oversight of the Russia probe.
Transition team leader Chris Christie: Declined to call FBI Director James B. Comey and tell him that Trump liked him.
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein: Declined to do a news conference after Comey’s firing saying it was his idea.
Deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland: Declined to write an internal email stating Trump hadn’t told national security adviser Michael Flynn to talk during the presidential transition to the Russian ambassador about sanctions.
Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats: Declined Trump’s request to say there was no link between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Acting Attorney General Dana Boente: According to McGahn, Boente declined Trump’s request to state publicly that Trump wasn’t under investigation. (Boente said he didn’t recall this conversation.)
Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: Declined to get Sessions to resign.
Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn: Along with Porter, prevented Trump from pulling out of trade deals by pulling papers off his desk.
Chief of Staff John F. Kelly: Along with Cohn, declined to lobby the Justice Department to prevent the AT&T-Time Warner merger.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: Declined Trump’s request to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mattis: Declined Trump’s request to provide military options for Iran.
Unnamed officials: Ignored Trump’s directive to not endorse an agreement reached at the G-7 Summit.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 11:23 AM on July 5, 2019 [12 favorites]
Good thing all those people are still around watching out for us!
posted by benzenedream at 11:29 AM on July 5, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 11:29 AM on July 5, 2019 [28 favorites]
45 must be impeached and removed
If he defies the SCOTUS on a ruling, he's somehow going to let Congress Impeach and Remove him?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 12:04 PM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
If he defies the SCOTUS on a ruling, he's somehow going to let Congress Impeach and Remove him?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 12:04 PM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Reporter: Why did the Vice President cancel his trip the other day?
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks. A very interesting problem that they had in New Hampshire. That I can’t tell you about. But it had nothing to do with White House. There was a problem up there. And I won’t go into what the problem was but you’ll see in about a week or two.
In other words it was a problem at the White House that they'll never publicly discuss.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:30 PM on July 5, 2019 [37 favorites]
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks. A very interesting problem that they had in New Hampshire. That I can’t tell you about. But it had nothing to do with White House. There was a problem up there. And I won’t go into what the problem was but you’ll see in about a week or two.
In other words it was a problem at the White House that they'll never publicly discuss.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:30 PM on July 5, 2019 [37 favorites]
A follow-up question with a 10% or better chance of working: Pretend to turn off recording devices, then say "Would you tell my friend Mr Franklin?" while waving a hundred-dollar bill. That would check so many of his boxes -- the greed, the love of playing mobster, the ability to leverage his presidential power without feeling like he lost anything because everyone knows the guy who ends up with the money is the winner of a deal by definition. But obviously it could backfire in terms of any "serious" journalist's reputation. Still.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
@zoetillman [document attached]: NOW: DOJ filed a report on the census citizenship Q, and it's not definitive — they repeat they've been asked to "reevaluate all available options" and if the admin adopts a "new rationale" to try again, they'll alert the court. If the Commerce Sec. adopts a "new rationale" for adding the question, that would be a new final agency action, and DOJ says the groups that sued before would be entitled to challenge it
Update: the judge isn't buying it. He's ordered discovery to proceed "given that time is of the essence" and says that "regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a 'new' decision, discovery related to the origins of the question will remain relevant." The plaintiffs will get five depositions of DOJ and Commerce witnesses, more with good cause.
posted by zachlipton at 12:49 PM on July 5, 2019 [22 favorites]
Update: the judge isn't buying it. He's ordered discovery to proceed "given that time is of the essence" and says that "regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a 'new' decision, discovery related to the origins of the question will remain relevant." The plaintiffs will get five depositions of DOJ and Commerce witnesses, more with good cause.
posted by zachlipton at 12:49 PM on July 5, 2019 [22 favorites]
Reporter: Why did the Vice President cancel his trip the other day?
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks.
Trump Says Everything's Coming in 'Two Weeks' (a supercut from June 2017—and the list of examples has only grown since then)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:14 PM on July 5, 2019 [13 favorites]
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks.
Trump Says Everything's Coming in 'Two Weeks' (a supercut from June 2017—and the list of examples has only grown since then)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:14 PM on July 5, 2019 [13 favorites]
Sorry to interrupt, but how are all not talking about @axios airing an interview with Trump where he’s quickly yanked from the room because he *starts to cry*? @shotgunZen
posted by The Whelk at 1:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [28 favorites]
The planes of the Revolutionary War (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
President Trump has come under fire for implying there were airports to take over during the Revolutionary War. Fools, trolls, those with a fifth-grade understanding of history — all of them joined to calumniate him and suggest his statement was wrong. Even he blamed it on the teleprompter. This just goes to show how ignorant most people are of history. They do not know how key the air force was to the Revolution, or how vital taking the airports was. Well, I know.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:45 PM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
Recently, I was leading an unauthorized tour of Fort Knox when I happened to bump against a button, opening a long, dark passageway. Cobwebs hung from its ceiling, and there was a skeleton in a tricorn hat leaning against the wall. Deep down the tunnel, I could see a faint light emanating from a pile of documents. I moved closer and saw parchment with writing in a neat slanting hand, bound by a leather cover that read: “BEING THE TRUE AND OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF THE CONTINENTAL AIR FORCE, 1776- SO FORTH.”
I blew some dust off the cover and began to read:
Dec. 25, 1776: There is much consternation among the troops, and General Washington and his aides are in bitter disagreement as to the question of how best to surprise the Hessian forces encamped in Trenton, New Jersey. I suggested we use the air force. After all, we have an air force. But General Washington does not want to. General Washington thinks that it would be more picturesque if we were to all get in a boat and row across the Delaware River, with him standing in the middle looking steely and illuminated by a light from above. He is very specific about it. I, however, think we should use the air force and just bomb the Hessians. I said, “Sir, you must pardon me, but what good does it do us to have this air force if we do not use it?” But General Washington seems unmoved. I think we are going to do the boat thing.
Biden says he might nominate Merrick Garland to SCOTUS again.
How many times can dim uncle Joe demonstrate he’s utterly unable to comprehend the nature of today’s Republican party? Garland was nominated to appease Republicans as a compromise candidate. He’s 66, he’d be 68 by the time Biden could appoint him. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were in their very early 50s. If Democrats don’t win the senate, there won’t be any nominees confirmed, and if they do, Biden isn’t willing to maximize the advantage. Inexcusable and unacceptable.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:46 PM on July 5, 2019 [42 favorites]
How many times can dim uncle Joe demonstrate he’s utterly unable to comprehend the nature of today’s Republican party? Garland was nominated to appease Republicans as a compromise candidate. He’s 66, he’d be 68 by the time Biden could appoint him. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were in their very early 50s. If Democrats don’t win the senate, there won’t be any nominees confirmed, and if they do, Biden isn’t willing to maximize the advantage. Inexcusable and unacceptable.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:46 PM on July 5, 2019 [42 favorites]
Sorry to interrupt, but how are all not talking about @axios airing an interview with Trump where he’s quickly yanked from the room because he *starts to cry*? @shotgunZen
The 'starts to cry' tweet's from June, but the interview was recorded last November (full interview) (Daniel Dale tweeted about it at the time).
Trump's voice quivers and rises in pitch (I wouldn't say he 'starts to cry') at the end (10:40 or so, in the Youtube video), as he's saying 'It's much easier for me to be nice than to be (quiver) the way I have to be.' His handlers are very quick to wrap things up, but that's kind of their s.o.p.
posted by box at 2:08 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
The 'starts to cry' tweet's from June, but the interview was recorded last November (full interview) (Daniel Dale tweeted about it at the time).
Trump's voice quivers and rises in pitch (I wouldn't say he 'starts to cry') at the end (10:40 or so, in the Youtube video), as he's saying 'It's much easier for me to be nice than to be (quiver) the way I have to be.' His handlers are very quick to wrap things up, but that's kind of their s.o.p.
posted by box at 2:08 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
Reporter: Why did the Vice President cancel his trip the other day?
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks.
It's pure speculation on my part, but this is the sort of thing that used to happen in the Kremlin when someone at the centre of power had a health scare: people rushing back to the seat of power, followed by public denials of anything being wrong. So it was a little concerning while it was happening. Especially given that there appeared to be no extraordinary international event or tension at the same time.
I doubt we'll really know until the tell-all books start to be written in a few years.
posted by bonehead at 2:20 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
President Trump: You’ll know in about two weeks.
It's pure speculation on my part, but this is the sort of thing that used to happen in the Kremlin when someone at the centre of power had a health scare: people rushing back to the seat of power, followed by public denials of anything being wrong. So it was a little concerning while it was happening. Especially given that there appeared to be no extraordinary international event or tension at the same time.
I doubt we'll really know until the tell-all books start to be written in a few years.
posted by bonehead at 2:20 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
From Our Next Salvo in the Economic War on the World dept:
Currency warrior: why Trump is weaponising the dollar (FT, but one of you will find a way to read it)
The president has thus far engaged in minimal military conflict, but he has proved an unusually pugnacious currency warrior, as he pairs a tendency to talk down the dollar’s value in his quest for a smaller trade deficit with an unusual willingness to use the currency’s global heft as a tool of foreign policy.
Critically, sanctions, which can block foreign officials or corporations from accessing vast swaths of dollar-dominated commerce and finance, are being deployed against Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and a host of other countries, alongside tariffs and other restrictions on key companies such as telecoms manufacturer Huawei. As a result, economies including China and Russia are examining mechanisms to curtail their reliance on the dollar, while European capitals are seeking ways to circumvent America’s new barriers on dealings with Iran.
To date the initiatives amount to less than a pinprick in the US currency’s hegemonic status, as underscored by the modest scale of Alrosa’s foreign exchange innovation. But Mr Trump’s unilateralist approach has unquestionably unleashed a phase of experimentation elsewhere, prompting some analysts to ask whether, in the longer term, the US dollar’s supreme position in the global financial system could be shaken as other nations revolt against what they see as Mr Trump’s arbitrary use of American power.
Adam M Smith, a former US Treasury and White House official who is now a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, says the manner in which Mr Trump is wielding America’s economic power is unprecedented, as he uses sanctions, tariffs, trade negotiations and export controls interchangeably.
“He is using the importance and attractiveness of the US market to the rest of the world as a coercive tool to get others to bend to his will,” says Mr Smith. “Does the very aggressive use of these economic tools make it more urgent for countries to find ways to avoid the US market? Probably. However, the urgency may not mean that most countries will be successful in finding effective workarounds.”
America has long enjoyed a singular economic arsenal thanks to the ubiquity of the dollar and the centrality of its economy and financial system to global commerce. Although America’s share of global gross domestic product may have declined, its currency still accounts for over 60 per cent of international debt, European Central Bank official Benoît Cœuré said in a speech in February, and leads the euro both as a global payment currency and in foreign exchange turnover. It dominates pricing of commodities such as oil and metals and accounts for about 40 per cent of cross-border financial transactions.
The dollar’s share of global foreign exchange reserves has slipped in the 10 years since the financial crisis, but at 62 per cent of the total it still dwarfs all rivals. The euro has lost greater ground over the same time, now standing at just over 20 per cent. The Chinese renminbi is just a few per cent of global reserves, and a mere 2 per cent of international payments, according to the global transfer network Swift.
This unique place at the heart of the global economic system gives the US government enormous power. Using the dollar almost invariably means touching a US financial institution, says Eswar Prasad, a professor of economics at Cornell University. This immediately puts you within the reach of US government and regulators.
The US toolkit is particularly potent thanks to the use of “secondary” sanctions. Normal US sanctions aim to prevent American citizens from dealing with a given country or party, but secondary measures allow the government to penalise third parties that do business with a sanctioned country.
The consequences for non-US institutions of failing to comply with US rules can be severe. In 2014, for example, BNP Paribas was hit by a penalty of nearly $9bn by the US authorities in connection with sanctions violations, as well as being forced to temporarily suspend part of its US dollar clearing work.
[.....long read.....]
“Anything Trump creates to foment uncertainty and instability will only end up strengthening the dollar,” says Mr Prasad. Over time, other countries will indeed get tired of this and shift away from the dollar as a unit of account and a medium of exchange, he adds, but “in the foreseeable and longer future the dollar’s role as the dominant store of value is unlikely to be challenged.”
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:43 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
Currency warrior: why Trump is weaponising the dollar (FT, but one of you will find a way to read it)
The president has thus far engaged in minimal military conflict, but he has proved an unusually pugnacious currency warrior, as he pairs a tendency to talk down the dollar’s value in his quest for a smaller trade deficit with an unusual willingness to use the currency’s global heft as a tool of foreign policy.
Critically, sanctions, which can block foreign officials or corporations from accessing vast swaths of dollar-dominated commerce and finance, are being deployed against Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and a host of other countries, alongside tariffs and other restrictions on key companies such as telecoms manufacturer Huawei. As a result, economies including China and Russia are examining mechanisms to curtail their reliance on the dollar, while European capitals are seeking ways to circumvent America’s new barriers on dealings with Iran.
To date the initiatives amount to less than a pinprick in the US currency’s hegemonic status, as underscored by the modest scale of Alrosa’s foreign exchange innovation. But Mr Trump’s unilateralist approach has unquestionably unleashed a phase of experimentation elsewhere, prompting some analysts to ask whether, in the longer term, the US dollar’s supreme position in the global financial system could be shaken as other nations revolt against what they see as Mr Trump’s arbitrary use of American power.
Adam M Smith, a former US Treasury and White House official who is now a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, says the manner in which Mr Trump is wielding America’s economic power is unprecedented, as he uses sanctions, tariffs, trade negotiations and export controls interchangeably.
“He is using the importance and attractiveness of the US market to the rest of the world as a coercive tool to get others to bend to his will,” says Mr Smith. “Does the very aggressive use of these economic tools make it more urgent for countries to find ways to avoid the US market? Probably. However, the urgency may not mean that most countries will be successful in finding effective workarounds.”
America has long enjoyed a singular economic arsenal thanks to the ubiquity of the dollar and the centrality of its economy and financial system to global commerce. Although America’s share of global gross domestic product may have declined, its currency still accounts for over 60 per cent of international debt, European Central Bank official Benoît Cœuré said in a speech in February, and leads the euro both as a global payment currency and in foreign exchange turnover. It dominates pricing of commodities such as oil and metals and accounts for about 40 per cent of cross-border financial transactions.
The dollar’s share of global foreign exchange reserves has slipped in the 10 years since the financial crisis, but at 62 per cent of the total it still dwarfs all rivals. The euro has lost greater ground over the same time, now standing at just over 20 per cent. The Chinese renminbi is just a few per cent of global reserves, and a mere 2 per cent of international payments, according to the global transfer network Swift.
This unique place at the heart of the global economic system gives the US government enormous power. Using the dollar almost invariably means touching a US financial institution, says Eswar Prasad, a professor of economics at Cornell University. This immediately puts you within the reach of US government and regulators.
The US toolkit is particularly potent thanks to the use of “secondary” sanctions. Normal US sanctions aim to prevent American citizens from dealing with a given country or party, but secondary measures allow the government to penalise third parties that do business with a sanctioned country.
The consequences for non-US institutions of failing to comply with US rules can be severe. In 2014, for example, BNP Paribas was hit by a penalty of nearly $9bn by the US authorities in connection with sanctions violations, as well as being forced to temporarily suspend part of its US dollar clearing work.
[.....long read.....]
“Anything Trump creates to foment uncertainty and instability will only end up strengthening the dollar,” says Mr Prasad. Over time, other countries will indeed get tired of this and shift away from the dollar as a unit of account and a medium of exchange, he adds, but “in the foreseeable and longer future the dollar’s role as the dominant store of value is unlikely to be challenged.”
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:43 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
The so-called 'economic Cold War' is extremely worrying, French business chief says
How Fake News Could Lead to Real War
Iran summons British envoy for "illegal seizure" of an Iranian oil tanker: TV
The heedless drift towards war with Iran shames Britain
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:51 PM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
How Fake News Could Lead to Real War
Iran summons British envoy for "illegal seizure" of an Iranian oil tanker: TV
The heedless drift towards war with Iran shames Britain
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:51 PM on July 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Marianne Williamson was left out of a photo shoot of the women running for president. So she edited herself in cnn.it/2NB9iVf
10:25 AM · Jul 5, 2019
Marianne on the debate memes:
Seeing the spontaneous explosion of memes that has taken place since the debate last week has been deeply informative. Something is rising up from the bottom of things, not only in this country but around the world. It is a global impulse, like a volcano of inherent wisdom making its way up to the surface of the conscious mind. Whatever the conscious mind might do to resist this knowing, it is so close to the surface now; and my comments at the debate - however awkwardly delivered at times:) - provided a valve for its emergence into the collective field. And laughter is a natural processing tool. After a day of mainly mockery, what began to emerge was something much more benevolent and enthusiastic and encouraging. I am saying publicly what millions and millions of people are saying privately, even if only in the closet of their own hearts. Know I am aware that this is a collective effort, not only on the material plane but also on a spiritual one. There is so much fear in the world, but with our love – and yes, our laughter - we can penetrate and disarm it.
Most legendary fringe candidate of all time? I’m gonna miss her when they raise the stakes for the debate stage.
posted by BeginAgain at 2:52 PM on July 5, 2019 [6 favorites]
10:25 AM · Jul 5, 2019
Marianne on the debate memes:
Seeing the spontaneous explosion of memes that has taken place since the debate last week has been deeply informative. Something is rising up from the bottom of things, not only in this country but around the world. It is a global impulse, like a volcano of inherent wisdom making its way up to the surface of the conscious mind. Whatever the conscious mind might do to resist this knowing, it is so close to the surface now; and my comments at the debate - however awkwardly delivered at times:) - provided a valve for its emergence into the collective field. And laughter is a natural processing tool. After a day of mainly mockery, what began to emerge was something much more benevolent and enthusiastic and encouraging. I am saying publicly what millions and millions of people are saying privately, even if only in the closet of their own hearts. Know I am aware that this is a collective effort, not only on the material plane but also on a spiritual one. There is so much fear in the world, but with our love – and yes, our laughter - we can penetrate and disarm it.
Most legendary fringe candidate of all time? I’m gonna miss her when they raise the stakes for the debate stage.
posted by BeginAgain at 2:52 PM on July 5, 2019 [6 favorites]
Iranian American Small Businesses Struggle Under Rising Tensions
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:54 PM on July 5, 2019
EU Says INSTEX Operational
France, Germany and the United Kingdom informed participants that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU member states and that the first transactions are being processed
[...]
It is said that the mechanism obviates the need for the international paying systems like SWIFT to carry out exchanges. Under mounting pressure from Washington, SWIFT decided to remove Iranian banks from its network last November.
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:58 PM on July 5, 2019 [5 favorites]
Marianne on the edited photo:
You might have noticed who’s not in this picture. And let’s be clear why it matters: the issue is ethical responsibility on the part of the media. The framers of the Constitution did not make Vogue magazine the gate keepers of America’s political process, here to determine who and who is not to be considered a serious political candidate. The framers themselves determined the qualifications for the presidency: that someone was born here, is over 35 years old, and has lived here for 14 years. If they had wanted to say more, than they would have. They didn’t say more for a reason: they were leaving it to every generation to determine for itself the skill set it feels is necessary to navigate the times in which they live. President Franklin Roosevelt said that the “administrative aspects of the presidency are secondary,” and “the primary role is moral leadership.” If we’re going to free this country to be all that it can be, then first we have to free ourselves from the thought forms dictated to us by a corporate/political/media establishment. It is the people and the people alone who should decide who will be their president, unburdened by the insidious influence of an elite on patrol. Period. Full stop. #bigtruth marianne2020.com
It's a bold move for Marianne Williamson to compare herself to Franklin goddamn Roosevelt--breaking that one out at a debate might produce a new 'You're No Jack Kennedy' moment.
posted by box at 2:59 PM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
You might have noticed who’s not in this picture. And let’s be clear why it matters: the issue is ethical responsibility on the part of the media. The framers of the Constitution did not make Vogue magazine the gate keepers of America’s political process, here to determine who and who is not to be considered a serious political candidate. The framers themselves determined the qualifications for the presidency: that someone was born here, is over 35 years old, and has lived here for 14 years. If they had wanted to say more, than they would have. They didn’t say more for a reason: they were leaving it to every generation to determine for itself the skill set it feels is necessary to navigate the times in which they live. President Franklin Roosevelt said that the “administrative aspects of the presidency are secondary,” and “the primary role is moral leadership.” If we’re going to free this country to be all that it can be, then first we have to free ourselves from the thought forms dictated to us by a corporate/political/media establishment. It is the people and the people alone who should decide who will be their president, unburdened by the insidious influence of an elite on patrol. Period. Full stop. #bigtruth marianne2020.com
It's a bold move for Marianne Williamson to compare herself to Franklin goddamn Roosevelt--breaking that one out at a debate might produce a new 'You're No Jack Kennedy' moment.
posted by box at 2:59 PM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
Robert Kaplan helpfully describes the Great Game ongoing right now.
The Chinese are now contemplating the construction of a naval base nearby, adjacent to the Iranian border. More crucially, the Gulf of Oman has become more than just a waterway for oil that America, with its shale gas revolution, requires less and less of. It is a hinge uniting the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and East Asia in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The main reason that the U.S. is targeting Iran at this time is to contain China's growing power in the Middle East
The U.S.-Iran conflict would destabilize the region, adversely affecting China's mega BRI plan. In May 2017, China declared the status of the over $60 billion China-Pakistan economic Corridor (CPEC) as the "flagship program" of its BRI initiative during the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) meeting in Beijing. The CPEC will connect Gwadar Port in Pakistan to China's northwestern Xinjiang province.
Iran borders Baluchistan, Pakistan's southwestern province, where China's growing strategic stakes raise eyebrows in Washington. China is the operator of Gwadar seaport located 70 km east of the Pakistan-Iran border. The port lies just 624 nautical kilometers from the Straits of Hormuz, a gateway for a third of the world's traded oil. Naturally, the U.S. attack on Iran would not only upset Pakistan but also China holding strategic assets in neighboring Baluchistan.
A confrontation between the U.S. and China could very likely take place in Baluchistan. China is presently the biggest foreign stakeholder in the development of Baluchistan, particularly Gwadar. The province is poised to serve as a strategic base for China to spread its influence to the Middle East and Central Asia through the strategic port of Gwadar. Beijing continues to tighten security along the sea route of the CPEC and Gwadar. For this purpose, China has already handed over four ships equipped with state-of-the-art guns to the Pakistan Navy.
Russia has already shown interest in joining the CPEC. With the inclusion of Russia, a trio of nuclear-armed states — Russia, China and Pakistan — could emerge, posing a threat to the superpower status of the U.S. Geopolitically, the CPEC could become a tool to challenge the U.S. unipolar world order in the global arena. The CPEC is bound to raise Pakistan's status as a major power in Asia. The nuclear trio perception strengthens after Pakistan's approval of a Russian request to use Gwadar Port for its exports. It will become a reality if Russia joins the CPEC, which is a part of the BRI.
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:08 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Chinese are now contemplating the construction of a naval base nearby, adjacent to the Iranian border. More crucially, the Gulf of Oman has become more than just a waterway for oil that America, with its shale gas revolution, requires less and less of. It is a hinge uniting the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and East Asia in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The main reason that the U.S. is targeting Iran at this time is to contain China's growing power in the Middle East
The U.S.-Iran conflict would destabilize the region, adversely affecting China's mega BRI plan. In May 2017, China declared the status of the over $60 billion China-Pakistan economic Corridor (CPEC) as the "flagship program" of its BRI initiative during the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) meeting in Beijing. The CPEC will connect Gwadar Port in Pakistan to China's northwestern Xinjiang province.
Iran borders Baluchistan, Pakistan's southwestern province, where China's growing strategic stakes raise eyebrows in Washington. China is the operator of Gwadar seaport located 70 km east of the Pakistan-Iran border. The port lies just 624 nautical kilometers from the Straits of Hormuz, a gateway for a third of the world's traded oil. Naturally, the U.S. attack on Iran would not only upset Pakistan but also China holding strategic assets in neighboring Baluchistan.
A confrontation between the U.S. and China could very likely take place in Baluchistan. China is presently the biggest foreign stakeholder in the development of Baluchistan, particularly Gwadar. The province is poised to serve as a strategic base for China to spread its influence to the Middle East and Central Asia through the strategic port of Gwadar. Beijing continues to tighten security along the sea route of the CPEC and Gwadar. For this purpose, China has already handed over four ships equipped with state-of-the-art guns to the Pakistan Navy.
Russia has already shown interest in joining the CPEC. With the inclusion of Russia, a trio of nuclear-armed states — Russia, China and Pakistan — could emerge, posing a threat to the superpower status of the U.S. Geopolitically, the CPEC could become a tool to challenge the U.S. unipolar world order in the global arena. The CPEC is bound to raise Pakistan's status as a major power in Asia. The nuclear trio perception strengthens after Pakistan's approval of a Russian request to use Gwadar Port for its exports. It will become a reality if Russia joins the CPEC, which is a part of the BRI.
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:08 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
I cannot even begin to imagine that a man incapable of assessing when airports were first built is capable of this level of subtlety and nuance. Nor does it seem to be within the capability of the single minded Bolton or the globe trotting Pompeo (unless its Armageddon and rapture).
So who is the dog and who is the wagging tail here? The British? They've long played their Great Game in this part of the world
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:10 PM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
So who is the dog and who is the wagging tail here? The British? They've long played their Great Game in this part of the world
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:10 PM on July 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
I’m gonna miss her when they raise the stakes for the debate stage.
Fuck her and her malignant ideas and statements. I can’t wait til she’s gone and won’t miss her at all. She’s not only a poison on the body politic but society as a whole.
David M. Perry
Marianne Williamson is an anti-vax, fat-shaming, mental-illness shaming grifter. She will be on the next debate stage. She is the leftwing equivalent of Donald Trump. A poison on our body politic. And a threat to our democracy. Supporting her betrays every disabled person you know, just for starters.
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on July 5, 2019 [38 favorites]
Fuck her and her malignant ideas and statements. I can’t wait til she’s gone and won’t miss her at all. She’s not only a poison on the body politic but society as a whole.
David M. Perry
Marianne Williamson is an anti-vax, fat-shaming, mental-illness shaming grifter. She will be on the next debate stage. She is the leftwing equivalent of Donald Trump. A poison on our body politic. And a threat to our democracy. Supporting her betrays every disabled person you know, just for starters.
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on July 5, 2019 [38 favorites]
Here Are the Democrats at Risk of Not Making the July Debates
So another round of debates with Williamson and Yang. Please make this stop.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
A New York Times analysis of donor and polling data shows that as of Wednesday, seven candidates seeking the Democratic nomination are actively fighting for six slots in the coming debate, which again will be split over two nights, July 30 and 31.That leaves Delaney, Hickenlooper, and Ryan in the "they've at least managed to poll at 2% once" bracket, Bennet, Bullock, de Blasio, and Swalwell in the "tied at 1%" bracket, and Messam, Moulton, and Sestak in the "who?" bracket. Mike Gravel has the dubious distinction of being in the "not even included in this article" bracket.
So far, 14 candidates have qualified both by getting campaign donations from 65,000 people and by garnering at least 1 percent support in at least three qualifying polls. These candidates, listed below, are guaranteed one of 20 spots on the stage.
...
The 14 candidates who have locked in a spot on the July debate stage by qualifying through both donors and polling, in alphabetical order, are: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.; the former housing secretary Julián Castro; Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Senator Kamala Harris of California; Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington; Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas; Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; the self-help author Marianne Williamson; and the former tech executive Andrew Yang.
So another round of debates with Williamson and Yang. Please make this stop.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on July 5, 2019 [7 favorites]
You guys know this is all leading to Marianne Williamson or Tulsi Gabbard on the Green Party ticket with Russian money backing them right
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:33 PM on July 5, 2019 [34 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:33 PM on July 5, 2019 [34 favorites]
You guys know this is all leading to Marianne Williamson or Tulsi Gabbard on the Green Party ticket with Russian money backing them right
The meme-ing activity (thus far) indicates that it will be Williamson.
posted by LooseFilter at 4:00 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
The meme-ing activity (thus far) indicates that it will be Williamson.
posted by LooseFilter at 4:00 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
This is California-specific, but if you'll indulge me for a moment, a new court ruling looks like it's finally breaking the Prop 13/218 logjam and introduces a new mechanism to pass new taxes by a simple majority initiative vote, instead of requiring a 2/3rds vote.
That's going to be appealed up the whazoo, but if that holds up, it has huge implications for financing government in California. We're likely to see lots of new tax initiatives on future ballots. And in San Francisco, this is the first step in actually unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars in voter-approved taxes for homeless services and teacher pay raises.
posted by zachlipton at 4:15 PM on July 5, 2019 [30 favorites]
That's going to be appealed up the whazoo, but if that holds up, it has huge implications for financing government in California. We're likely to see lots of new tax initiatives on future ballots. And in San Francisco, this is the first step in actually unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars in voter-approved taxes for homeless services and teacher pay raises.
posted by zachlipton at 4:15 PM on July 5, 2019 [30 favorites]
Vox reports on yet another front on the culture wars that's being opened by GOP state legislatures: Mississippi Is Forbidding Grocery Stores From Calling Veggie Burgers “Veggie Burgers”—Proponents of the law say it’s necessary to avoid confusing consumers. That...doesn’t sound right.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:20 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
This week, a new law went into effect in Mississippi. The state now bans plant-based meat providers from using labels like “veggie burger” or “vegan hot dog” on their products. Such labels are potentially punishable with jail time. Words like “burger” and “hot dog” would be permitted only for products from slaughtered livestock. Proponents claim the law is necessary to avoid confusing consumers — but given that the phrase “veggie burger” hasn’t been especially confusing for consumers this whole time, it certainly seems more like an effort to keep alternatives to meat away from shoppers.[…]Nothing like lobbying to convince a GOP politician to dump the First Amendment.
“The plant-based meat alternative category is on fire right now, with consumers demanding healthier and more sustainable options,” Michele Simon, the executive director of the Plant-Based Foods Association, said in a statement. “This law, along with similar laws in several other states, is the meat lobby’s response.”
The makers of meat alternatives are suing. In a lawsuit filed on July 2, they argue that since their products are already labeled “vegan,” no consumers are confused. If anything, the requirement that they avoid product descriptions like “veggie burger” makes things more confusing.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:20 PM on July 5, 2019 [10 favorites]
There was one potentially serious international event at the time of Pence's turnaround: a Russian sub had sunk. Not just any sub either. It was their most advanced submarine for espionage and other secretive work.
It didn't sink. The official report is that it caught fire and killed more than half the crew and then surfaced an hour later to be towed back to base. The crew were also apparently some of Russia's elite and decorated submariners. Oh and it had a nuclear reactor. So it may or may not have been just a simple fire. I wonder detectors in Northern Europe are picking up any unusual radioactivity?
The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority stated that they had been notified by the Russians of a gas explosion aboard the vessel, though Russian authorities denied this
posted by srboisvert at 5:28 PM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
It didn't sink. The official report is that it caught fire and killed more than half the crew and then surfaced an hour later to be towed back to base. The crew were also apparently some of Russia's elite and decorated submariners. Oh and it had a nuclear reactor. So it may or may not have been just a simple fire. I wonder detectors in Northern Europe are picking up any unusual radioactivity?
The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority stated that they had been notified by the Russians of a gas explosion aboard the vessel, though Russian authorities denied this
posted by srboisvert at 5:28 PM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
Mississippi also has some of the worst laws in the country regarding animal cruelty thanks to heavy lobbying by the Mississippi Farm Bureau—they say that protecting pets will lead to a “slippery slope” of stricter laws on animals in commercial agriculture and farming. Sometimes (often) I truly despair of my state.
posted by thebrokedown at 5:32 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by thebrokedown at 5:32 PM on July 5, 2019 [4 favorites]
The ACLU has a new filing in the census case. They point out the many, many times (10 bullet points, plus another 3 in a footnote) the government represented that it needed to finalize the census forms for printing by the end of June, which the government used to leapfrog straight to the Supreme Court in a very rare process. The ACLU says the government set that deadline themselves, and they'd like it enforced with an order stopping any further efforts to add the citizenship question now that it's passed.
The issue here is increasingly that that the government, by continuing to fight this, has very little alternative but to admit it essentially lied to the Supreme Court about the deadline. They begged the Supreme Court to take the extraordinary step of reviewing this ASAP, and now that they lost, the hurry seems to have disappeared.
posted by zachlipton at 5:41 PM on July 5, 2019 [42 favorites]
The issue here is increasingly that that the government, by continuing to fight this, has very little alternative but to admit it essentially lied to the Supreme Court about the deadline. They begged the Supreme Court to take the extraordinary step of reviewing this ASAP, and now that they lost, the hurry seems to have disappeared.
posted by zachlipton at 5:41 PM on July 5, 2019 [42 favorites]
The question is does Robert's give a fuck about being lied to, if it means stopping Republicans from entrenching power? Roberts' ruling remanding for less farcical rationale can be read as a punt, knowing that Commerce would have to commence printing. Now that that's been borne out as another lie, they're forcing Roberts' hand to either agree with including the racist question no matter what, or revisit whether the Court's authority means dick-all.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:53 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:53 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
Biden urges caution about policies of 'way left' Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:55 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
"By the way, I think Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant, bright woman, but she won a primary," Bidden said. "In the general election fights, who won? Mainstream Democrats who are very progressive on social issues and very strong on education and health care."It's not quite "clean and articulate," but it'll do until the clean and articulate gets here.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:55 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
Don Winslow [novelist]:
Dear @SpeakerPelosi, @AOC, @NeverAgainActn
A simple idea:
The next time you are denied access into one of Trump's illegal prisons, bring a **FIRE MARSHALL** with you.
Legally, they have to be given access and legally @DHSgov can't hold 150 people in a room approved for 50.
posted by bluecore at 5:57 PM on July 5, 2019 [60 favorites]
Dear @SpeakerPelosi, @AOC, @NeverAgainActn
A simple idea:
The next time you are denied access into one of Trump's illegal prisons, bring a **FIRE MARSHALL** with you.
Legally, they have to be given access and legally @DHSgov can't hold 150 people in a room approved for 50.
posted by bluecore at 5:57 PM on July 5, 2019 [60 favorites]
What exactly does Novelist Winslow think a “Fire Marshall,” an agent of state or local government, is going to do when the armed Federal paramilitary organization running the camp denies them entry to the Federal facility and also declines to vacate it upon being issued a red tag?
At best it creates one more level of legal headaches for the administration, which yay, but it is not some overlooked answer to the refusal to permit oversight.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:59 PM on July 5, 2019 [9 favorites]
At best it creates one more level of legal headaches for the administration, which yay, but it is not some overlooked answer to the refusal to permit oversight.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:59 PM on July 5, 2019 [9 favorites]
Nothing like lobbying to convince a GOP politician to dump the First Amendment. This ship has sailed. There are tons of things codified in law that must meet specific criteria to be called that thing.
The next time you are denied access into one of Trump's illegal prisons, bring a **FIRE MARSHALL** with you.
Gee, has no one thought of that before? The whole prison riots of the 70s could have been avoided if someone had told the fire marshal.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:17 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
The next time you are denied access into one of Trump's illegal prisons, bring a **FIRE MARSHALL** with you.
Gee, has no one thought of that before? The whole prison riots of the 70s could have been avoided if someone had told the fire marshal.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:17 PM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
snuffleupagus: What exactly does Novelist Winslow think a “Fire Marshall,” an agent of state or local government, is going to do when the armed Federal paramilitary organization running the camp denies them entry to the Federal facility and also declines to vacate it upon being issued a red tag?
922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a: Gee, has no one thought of that before? The whole prison riots of the 70s could have been avoided if someone had told the fire marshal.
Yeah, I guess we could just go with "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"
It's my understanding some of the facilities are run by private prison companies in "pop-up" locations, no? So wouldn't some of them be on leased private property, not technically Federal property? It would be harder to deny a Fire Marshall in that case. Maybe it just gets someone inside the facility where we can't get pediatricians or journalists or representatives of Congress.
Maybe, at the very least, we get a photo of a jackbooted thug with an AR-15 turning away a Fire Marshall. The American people really like firefighters. It's actually one of the last things we can agree on. Maybe it strikes a nerve or just keeps up the pressure.
I don't know. We're fighting a ground war here. We're going to have to fight for every single inch because they're not going to just give them to us.
posted by bluecore at 7:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [34 favorites]
922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a: Gee, has no one thought of that before? The whole prison riots of the 70s could have been avoided if someone had told the fire marshal.
Yeah, I guess we could just go with "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"
It's my understanding some of the facilities are run by private prison companies in "pop-up" locations, no? So wouldn't some of them be on leased private property, not technically Federal property? It would be harder to deny a Fire Marshall in that case. Maybe it just gets someone inside the facility where we can't get pediatricians or journalists or representatives of Congress.
Maybe, at the very least, we get a photo of a jackbooted thug with an AR-15 turning away a Fire Marshall. The American people really like firefighters. It's actually one of the last things we can agree on. Maybe it strikes a nerve or just keeps up the pressure.
I don't know. We're fighting a ground war here. We're going to have to fight for every single inch because they're not going to just give them to us.
posted by bluecore at 7:39 PM on July 5, 2019 [34 favorites]
You’re talking as if there can be no downside. Hey, we tried right? The worst that can happen is they won’t let the fire marshall in right?
Wrong. The worst that can happen is the fire service ends up being politicized, and the lunatics on the right decide that cutting fire department budgets are as good a way as any to demonstrate their wingnut bona fides to their credulous base.
It’s 2019. There’s always a way for things to go wrong.
posted by um at 8:49 PM on July 5, 2019 [5 favorites]
Wrong. The worst that can happen is the fire service ends up being politicized, and the lunatics on the right decide that cutting fire department budgets are as good a way as any to demonstrate their wingnut bona fides to their credulous base.
It’s 2019. There’s always a way for things to go wrong.
posted by um at 8:49 PM on July 5, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I guess we could just go with "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"
The fire marshal tweet was forwarded to Pelosi, which made me feel sorry for the tweeter. If Pelosi really cared about busting her way into the camps she'd have done something beyond "becoming visibly emotional" for the cameras before a few days later writing a fawning letter to Trump asking him to pretty please toss some toothbrushes into the cages. Something like, I dunno, defunding them or calling for criminal investigations or encouraging the eventual abolition of the agencies. It's not obscure legalistic mechanisms based on dead norms that we need, it's will from the top.
I don't know. We're fighting a ground war here. We're going to have to fight for every single inch because they're not going to just give them to us.
Start the war by primarying the Democratic leadership, all of it. Go into war with generals who give a shit.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 PM on July 5, 2019 [24 favorites]
The fire marshal tweet was forwarded to Pelosi, which made me feel sorry for the tweeter. If Pelosi really cared about busting her way into the camps she'd have done something beyond "becoming visibly emotional" for the cameras before a few days later writing a fawning letter to Trump asking him to pretty please toss some toothbrushes into the cages. Something like, I dunno, defunding them or calling for criminal investigations or encouraging the eventual abolition of the agencies. It's not obscure legalistic mechanisms based on dead norms that we need, it's will from the top.
I don't know. We're fighting a ground war here. We're going to have to fight for every single inch because they're not going to just give them to us.
Start the war by primarying the Democratic leadership, all of it. Go into war with generals who give a shit.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:51 PM on July 5, 2019 [24 favorites]
For those who may not know what’s going on in the AZ Senate race, via dKos:
In a snub to Arizonans, Gov. Ducey (of recent Nike shoe controversy) last year appointed Trump-endorsed Republican Martha McSally to fill John McCain’s empty seat even though she lost her 2018 Senate bid to Democrat Kirsten Synema. The remainder of McSally’s term ends next year, so she’s also up for “re”-election.
Mark Kelly — the husband of gunshot victim former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords — is the only Democrat running against McSally. Kelly is a former combat pilot and Captain in the US Navy, and former Commander of multiple Space Shuttle missions. He’s an extraordinary candidate, and honestly I could see him running for President some day.
Anyway, the latest news is that Kelly’s 2nd Quarter 2019 fundraising is double what McSally (the incumbent) brought in. The two candidates are polling within the MOE, and AZ is trending blue (Trump defeated Clinton by 3% here in 2016, and 2018 suggests further shifting). This race looks really good for a Dem pickup in the Senate, especially if our Presidential candidate has some coattails.
If you haven’t seen Kelly’s announcement video, it’s definitely worth a watch. It’s also linked in the dKos article.
posted by darkstar at 9:05 PM on July 5, 2019 [39 favorites]
In a snub to Arizonans, Gov. Ducey (of recent Nike shoe controversy) last year appointed Trump-endorsed Republican Martha McSally to fill John McCain’s empty seat even though she lost her 2018 Senate bid to Democrat Kirsten Synema. The remainder of McSally’s term ends next year, so she’s also up for “re”-election.
Mark Kelly — the husband of gunshot victim former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords — is the only Democrat running against McSally. Kelly is a former combat pilot and Captain in the US Navy, and former Commander of multiple Space Shuttle missions. He’s an extraordinary candidate, and honestly I could see him running for President some day.
Anyway, the latest news is that Kelly’s 2nd Quarter 2019 fundraising is double what McSally (the incumbent) brought in. The two candidates are polling within the MOE, and AZ is trending blue (Trump defeated Clinton by 3% here in 2016, and 2018 suggests further shifting). This race looks really good for a Dem pickup in the Senate, especially if our Presidential candidate has some coattails.
If you haven’t seen Kelly’s announcement video, it’s definitely worth a watch. It’s also linked in the dKos article.
posted by darkstar at 9:05 PM on July 5, 2019 [39 favorites]
Also via dKos: Trump explicitly admits citizenship question is for redistricting, making his Justice Department a liar and undercutting the key Administration argument for its necessity.
posted by darkstar at 9:12 PM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 9:12 PM on July 5, 2019 [14 favorites]
"By the way, I think Ocasio-Cortez is a brilliant, bright woman, but she won a primary," Bidden said. "In the general election fights, who won? Mainstream Democrats who are very progressive on social issues and very strong on education and health care."
The Democratic Party has done their research and decided that bread and butter issues like jobs and food on the table will win the day. They won't even bother to state their case on why we should save the planet or give healthcare to everyone. This is also why they are dragging their feet on impeachment.
posted by xammerboy at 9:41 PM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
The Democratic Party has done their research and decided that bread and butter issues like jobs and food on the table will win the day. They won't even bother to state their case on why we should save the planet or give healthcare to everyone. This is also why they are dragging their feet on impeachment.
posted by xammerboy at 9:41 PM on July 5, 2019 [8 favorites]
The Democratic Party has done their research and decided that bread and butter issues like jobs and food on the table will win the day.
While people are dying, that's not acceptable. The leadership of the Democratic Party has failed this Nation.
posted by mikelieman at 4:59 AM on July 6, 2019 [25 favorites]
While people are dying, that's not acceptable. The leadership of the Democratic Party has failed this Nation.
posted by mikelieman at 4:59 AM on July 6, 2019 [25 favorites]
It would be harder to deny a Fire Marshall in that case.
They’re already denying the legislators that have explicit oversight powers. I don’t think they’re going to have a lot of trouble turning away what is ultimately a building inspection.
You’re talking as if there can be no downside. Hey, we tried right? The worst that can happen is they won’t let the fire marshall in right?
We’re also talking like the fire marshalls in many of these areas aren’t nearly as likely to be Trump supporters as the cops.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:13 AM on July 6, 2019 [8 favorites]
They’re already denying the legislators that have explicit oversight powers. I don’t think they’re going to have a lot of trouble turning away what is ultimately a building inspection.
You’re talking as if there can be no downside. Hey, we tried right? The worst that can happen is they won’t let the fire marshall in right?
We’re also talking like the fire marshalls in many of these areas aren’t nearly as likely to be Trump supporters as the cops.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:13 AM on July 6, 2019 [8 favorites]
I don't know how to articulate it, but it troubles me how much airtime the airports during the revolutionary war has gotten. When I say airtime, I mean various journalists and purportedly witty lefty people on Twitter.
I mean, I get it. It's a two-fer. One, you wonder: how does one fuck up that badly, putting airports in the revolutionary war, even if your mind did a blip at ramparts one would think reality wouldn't become a time-scrambled Dr. Who Episode in your brain. Two: You wonder, how much is this evidence of severe dementia?
So we get a zillion jokes and yeah. But honestly, I'm beyond giving a fuck about the funny at this point. Maybe this is just a difference in dealing, but I'm starting to resent the cluttering up the intertubes with airplanes and George Washington jokes.
We know that a demented despot is in charge of the most powerful nation on earth and is intent on looting the country for all he can. We know we've created a humanitarian crisis at the border. We know we've created a climate crisis that may likely doom us to fucktitude in about ten years. Enough with the cutsey hashtags.
posted by angrycat at 6:34 AM on July 6, 2019 [43 favorites]
I mean, I get it. It's a two-fer. One, you wonder: how does one fuck up that badly, putting airports in the revolutionary war, even if your mind did a blip at ramparts one would think reality wouldn't become a time-scrambled Dr. Who Episode in your brain. Two: You wonder, how much is this evidence of severe dementia?
So we get a zillion jokes and yeah. But honestly, I'm beyond giving a fuck about the funny at this point. Maybe this is just a difference in dealing, but I'm starting to resent the cluttering up the intertubes with airplanes and George Washington jokes.
We know that a demented despot is in charge of the most powerful nation on earth and is intent on looting the country for all he can. We know we've created a humanitarian crisis at the border. We know we've created a climate crisis that may likely doom us to fucktitude in about ten years. Enough with the cutsey hashtags.
posted by angrycat at 6:34 AM on July 6, 2019 [43 favorites]
And I, for one, am beaten the hell down by the tornado of.pain that this country has continued turning into. I don't see solutions. I don't see paths out of this that are viable. I _need to try_ because there is nothing else to do... but I am Quixote, and I see an endless line of windmills.
And my one comfort in all of this is the sheer absurdity of my enemies: their bumbling natures, their inability to shoot straight or make sense, their reliance on bluster and symbols and fists of ham. In the way of Mel Brooks, I prefer to react to the unthinkable by mocking it, by reducing its aura of menace by revealing it as the small-minded idiocy that it is. Humor reveals the Emperor's dangling unmentionables and helps others see them, some for the first time.
I am in a graveyard called America. I am sure as hell going to whistle in it.
posted by delfin at 7:01 AM on July 6, 2019 [27 favorites]
And my one comfort in all of this is the sheer absurdity of my enemies: their bumbling natures, their inability to shoot straight or make sense, their reliance on bluster and symbols and fists of ham. In the way of Mel Brooks, I prefer to react to the unthinkable by mocking it, by reducing its aura of menace by revealing it as the small-minded idiocy that it is. Humor reveals the Emperor's dangling unmentionables and helps others see them, some for the first time.
I am in a graveyard called America. I am sure as hell going to whistle in it.
posted by delfin at 7:01 AM on July 6, 2019 [27 favorites]
So we get a zillion jokes and yeah. But honestly, I'm beyond giving a fuck about the funny at this point. Maybe this is just a difference in dealing, but I'm starting to resent the cluttering up the intertubes with airplanes and George Washington jokes.
We know that a demented despot is in charge of the most powerful nation on earth and is intent on looting the country for all he can. We know we've created a humanitarian crisis at the border. We know we've created a climate crisis that may likely doom us to fucktitude in about ten years. Enough with the cutsey hashtags.
When I see airport jokes and Trump baby balloons and a 16 foot tall mechanical Trump taking a shit and Boy Bye and Democratic PACS distributing Big Bad John USS McCain shirts and "Big Tank Little Penis" stickers, I see the results of people being told by all remaining institutional authorities that peaceful revolution through the democratic process and the Democratic Party is impossible and that their only recourse is a retreat into self-comforting spectacle. It's an admission of liberal defeat and helplessness, the end result of being sold pragmatic bipartisan incrementalism for decade upon decade at the expense of being steadily bled of ideology, until one day you're left shattering the IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS case to find a piece of paper that says "call him a big dumb doodoo man"
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:04 AM on July 6, 2019 [52 favorites]
We know that a demented despot is in charge of the most powerful nation on earth and is intent on looting the country for all he can. We know we've created a humanitarian crisis at the border. We know we've created a climate crisis that may likely doom us to fucktitude in about ten years. Enough with the cutsey hashtags.
When I see airport jokes and Trump baby balloons and a 16 foot tall mechanical Trump taking a shit and Boy Bye and Democratic PACS distributing Big Bad John USS McCain shirts and "Big Tank Little Penis" stickers, I see the results of people being told by all remaining institutional authorities that peaceful revolution through the democratic process and the Democratic Party is impossible and that their only recourse is a retreat into self-comforting spectacle. It's an admission of liberal defeat and helplessness, the end result of being sold pragmatic bipartisan incrementalism for decade upon decade at the expense of being steadily bled of ideology, until one day you're left shattering the IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS case to find a piece of paper that says "call him a big dumb doodoo man"
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:04 AM on July 6, 2019 [52 favorites]
We know that a demented despot is in charge of the most powerful nation on earth and is intent on looting the country for all he can. We know we've created a humanitarian crisis at the border. We know we've created a climate crisis that may likely doom us to fucktitude in about ten years. Enough with the cutsey hashtags.
I find myself sharing this feeling more strongly and more often. While I absolutely appreciate laughing to keep from crying—and do so often, myself, to stay sane about events I have no control over—all the conversational bandwidth, and mental cleverness, being expended to continue to entertain us by mocking those who are literally pulling the world we’ve collaboratively built down around us, maybe needs to press the pause button and acknowledge that at some point there’s very little to laugh about, actually.
(Please pardon the Godwinning analogy, and this is directed at no one here, but had mass media existed then, when would it have been unseemly for a politically liberal German late-night TV host to continue to make jokes about Hitler’s dumbness and buffoonish nature? At what point is it all no longer any funny at all, and just plain horrifying?)
posted by LooseFilter at 9:16 AM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
I find myself sharing this feeling more strongly and more often. While I absolutely appreciate laughing to keep from crying—and do so often, myself, to stay sane about events I have no control over—all the conversational bandwidth, and mental cleverness, being expended to continue to entertain us by mocking those who are literally pulling the world we’ve collaboratively built down around us, maybe needs to press the pause button and acknowledge that at some point there’s very little to laugh about, actually.
(Please pardon the Godwinning analogy, and this is directed at no one here, but had mass media existed then, when would it have been unseemly for a politically liberal German late-night TV host to continue to make jokes about Hitler’s dumbness and buffoonish nature? At what point is it all no longer any funny at all, and just plain horrifying?)
posted by LooseFilter at 9:16 AM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
Look, the Sudanese have pulled down their useless president, survived the aftermath, and reached an agreement on power sharing.
I bring it up to say that those of us outside the United States simply cannot understand why y'all can't feel the temperature of the water? (frog in water analogy). Is it that y'all are the minority in the country?
Canada pension fund quietly divests from US migrant detention firms
Why more and more black Americans are moving to Ghana
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:39 AM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
I bring it up to say that those of us outside the United States simply cannot understand why y'all can't feel the temperature of the water? (frog in water analogy). Is it that y'all are the minority in the country?
Canada pension fund quietly divests from US migrant detention firms
Why more and more black Americans are moving to Ghana
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:39 AM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
I bring it up to say that those of us outside the United States simply cannot understand why y'all can't feel the temperature of the water? (frog in water analogy). Is it that y'all are the minority in the country?
It's because our Democratic leaders are more scared of losing the 2020 white vote in Ohio than a future where their grandchildren can't grow food.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:43 AM on July 6, 2019 [31 favorites]
It's because our Democratic leaders are more scared of losing the 2020 white vote in Ohio than a future where their grandchildren can't grow food.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:43 AM on July 6, 2019 [31 favorites]
Sudan has a tradition of successfully ousting unpopular rulers via popular revolts; the US certainly doesn't. In fact the closest analogy in US politics to a "popular revolt" against the government is arguably the Civil War, and the side that revolted against the government and styled themselves revolutionaries is (generally) not regarded very highly by reasonable people.
There is simply no model for deposing a sitting US president except for the regularly-scheduled electoral process, or via impeachment by the Legislature. And apparently the latter option is right out, so we have to wait on the former.
Okay, actually there is another path, historically: assassination. Can't say it isn't a longstanding American tradition. But that also goes alongside armed revolt in the bucket labeled "History Will Not Remember You Fondly".
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:49 AM on July 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
There is simply no model for deposing a sitting US president except for the regularly-scheduled electoral process, or via impeachment by the Legislature. And apparently the latter option is right out, so we have to wait on the former.
Okay, actually there is another path, historically: assassination. Can't say it isn't a longstanding American tradition. But that also goes alongside armed revolt in the bucket labeled "History Will Not Remember You Fondly".
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:49 AM on July 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
You need Paul Revere to wake you up?
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:50 AM on July 6, 2019
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:50 AM on July 6, 2019
You need Paul Revere to wake you up?
Paul Revere is for when rich white slaveowning men feel threatened by taxation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:55 AM on July 6, 2019 [17 favorites]
Paul Revere is for when rich white slaveowning men feel threatened by taxation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:55 AM on July 6, 2019 [17 favorites]
I guess I'm asking if there have been protests and marches against everything y'all object to - babies in cages, the rolling back of environmental protections, the rolling back of caps on coal and emissions, the fracking in parks and reservations, the defunding of healthcare, education, infrastructure, and social safety nets?
There's no media coverage on any of this - and it struck me when I read the above few tweets on the memes surrounding the airports in the war for Independence.
From the outside, it looks like the country is lying back and allowing this administration - legally elected - to destroy both the reputation externally as well as the institutions internally. What ho? do you need to nitpick over Bashir?
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:56 AM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
There's no media coverage on any of this - and it struck me when I read the above few tweets on the memes surrounding the airports in the war for Independence.
From the outside, it looks like the country is lying back and allowing this administration - legally elected - to destroy both the reputation externally as well as the institutions internally. What ho? do you need to nitpick over Bashir?
posted by Mrs Potato at 9:56 AM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
From the outside, it looks like the country is lying back and allowing this administration - legally elected - to destroy both the reputation externally as well as the institutions internally.
Protests and marches are barely covered or negatively covered by media and barely recognized or negatively recognized by elected officials. Any street mobilization that the regime feels in any way threatened by will be met by massive militarized force, probably leading to massacres and societal destabilization the likes of which we haven't seen in living memory. There isn't yet the necessary outrage critical mass for people to take that step.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
Protests and marches are barely covered or negatively covered by media and barely recognized or negatively recognized by elected officials. Any street mobilization that the regime feels in any way threatened by will be met by massive militarized force, probably leading to massacres and societal destabilization the likes of which we haven't seen in living memory. There isn't yet the necessary outrage critical mass for people to take that step.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
Can you point me to American news press that might be worth following please to keep up wiht the other side, or on preview, is the news suppressed in case it triggers blowback from the admin?
And this from jacobin has me in shock
The Border Patrol Is the American SS
After decades of nurturing a culture of violent, racist abuse, Customs and Border Protection cannot be seen as just another working-class job. Like Hitler’s SS, we must see CBP not as a place where good people do bad things, but where bad people do bad things.
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2019 [7 favorites]
And this from jacobin has me in shock
The Border Patrol Is the American SS
After decades of nurturing a culture of violent, racist abuse, Customs and Border Protection cannot be seen as just another working-class job. Like Hitler’s SS, we must see CBP not as a place where good people do bad things, but where bad people do bad things.
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2019 [7 favorites]
Mod note: Mrs Potato, you're coming on pretty strong here, in a way that suggests maybe you haven't read much in the thread. There are a lot of links to coverage of resistance efforts, and U.S. people here on Mefi are - to put it mildly - very aware that things are bad.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:12 AM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:12 AM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
Metafilter: This from jacobin has me in shock
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 10:14 AM on July 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 10:14 AM on July 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
Protests and marches are far more energizing when it appears that those who have at least a limited amount of power are paying any attention to them.
America is a nation that is huge, unwieldy and set in its ways. It is not capable of sweeping reform unless a systemic catastrophe provokes it, because Americans (not just Americans, of course, but we are really good at it) are programmed not to think or act politically unless we are personally affected at non-ignorable levels of impact. We are taught to ignore the racial, ethnic and religion-based caste systems that 30-40% of Americans firmly believe in and support because they directly benefit from related privilege. And many of us are too busy trying to keep our heads above financial water to have time to think about much else.
Seeing and yelling that the bridge is out is small comfort when the bus drivers ignore us and keep stomping on the accelerator.
posted by delfin at 10:15 AM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
America is a nation that is huge, unwieldy and set in its ways. It is not capable of sweeping reform unless a systemic catastrophe provokes it, because Americans (not just Americans, of course, but we are really good at it) are programmed not to think or act politically unless we are personally affected at non-ignorable levels of impact. We are taught to ignore the racial, ethnic and religion-based caste systems that 30-40% of Americans firmly believe in and support because they directly benefit from related privilege. And many of us are too busy trying to keep our heads above financial water to have time to think about much else.
Seeing and yelling that the bridge is out is small comfort when the bus drivers ignore us and keep stomping on the accelerator.
posted by delfin at 10:15 AM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
For the “but she used to be a Republican” crowd, while Biden was fighting against busing and desegregation, Warren in 1975 wrote her first law review article at Rutgers Law absolutely blistering Milliken v Bradley. Warren wrote: "If the Court cannot or will not develop a judicial remedy for urban school segregation, then Congress must. Equal educational opportunity requires the combined efforts of the judiciary, the legislative branch, and the administrative departments of the executive.”
CNN: Elizabeth Warren's first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling
CNN: Elizabeth Warren's first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling
In the article, Warren predicted that de facto segregation -- segregation that occurs not because it was institutionalized by the government but because of social norms, prejudices and self-selection -- and de jure -- segregation that existed because of laws that mandated racial segregation -- had been silently "reaffirming" by the court and would take over American public schools.posted by chris24 at 10:17 AM on July 6, 2019 [56 favorites]
The isolation of minorities in urban centers, Warren wrote, and a shrinking tax base to finance public education would lead to facilities that are inferior in "student-teacher ratios, and other educational advantages" for minority students. For Brown v. Board of Education to have meaning in northern urban centers, Warren said that "effectively separate schools, even if equal, and certainly if unequal, are condemned by the Constitution, regardless of the reason for the separation." [...]
Warren also seemed to recognize the significance of Milliken in her law review article. She argued that without proper oversight from the federal court system, she wrote, the burden of desegregation has fallen on to black communities.
"It has been black parents, children, and organizations committed to desegregation who have shouldered the major part of the burden...Clearly, the burden for enforcing the Brown right has been misplaced," Warren wrote.
Warren wrote that the Milliken ruling, coupled with another ruling that upheld the state system of financing public schools by local taxes, "will lead to central-city schools which are inferior in facilities, student-teacher ratios, and other educational advantages because the funding is not commensurate with that available for suburban schools."
Erika K. Wilson, a professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina School of Law, said that Warren's predictions for what would occur in the American education system largely came true and that her view was closely aligned with Justice Thurgood Marshall, who wrote a dissenting opinion in Milliken. America's school systems would become "irreparably segregated," said Wilson.
Warren, noted Wilson, might have been out of step with her contemporaries at the time, and particularly "out of step" with white Americans who were "tired" of the decades-long battle to integrate public schools.
I'm sorry LobsterMitten, that was not my intent. I have appreciated people's thoughtful responses offering insights on whys and hows and whatnots of massive change. I will revert to my news link additions as and when there's anything worth sharing.
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:20 AM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:20 AM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
And here’s what Biden was doing in 1975.
In 1975, shortly after Boston residents protested and rioted over the city’s desegregation order, Biden came out in favor of an amendment introduced by North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, a staunch opponent of civil rights legislation and desegregation efforts. Helms’s amendment would bar the then-active Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from collecting data about the race of students or teachers, and also prevented the department from requiring schools “to classify teachers or students by race.” Helms proudly announced that the measure would effectively end any federal oversight or enforcement of busing.posted by chris24 at 10:33 AM on July 6, 2019 [20 favorites]
“I have become convinced that busing is a bankrupt concept,” Biden said as he stood to support Helms’s amendment. He added that the Senate should instead focus on “whether or not we are really going to provide a better educational opportunity for blacks and minority groups in this country.”
The Helms amendment was defeated, but Biden then introduced a similar amendment. Here’s how University of New Hampshire historian Jason Sokol described Biden’s proposal in a 2015 Politico Magazine article:Biden proposed his own amendment to the $36 billion education bill, stipulating that none of those federal funds could be used by school systems “to assign teachers or students to schools … for reasons of race.” His amendment would prevent “some faceless bureaucrat” from “deciding that any child, black or white, should fit in some predetermined ratio.” He explained, “All the amendment says is that some bureaucrat sitting down there in HEW cannot tell a school district whether it is properly segregated or desegregated, or whether it should or should not have funds.” Finally, Biden called busing “an asinine policy.”The measure passed, outraging Massachusetts Republican Edward Brooke, the only black person in the Senate. Brooke called the Biden amendment “the greatest symbolic defeat for civil rights since 1964.” Biden later introduced a second amendment that explicitly barred the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from ordering busing, but left other integration measures intact. The second amendment easily passed the Senate, but both of Biden’s proposals were stripped out of the bill later in the process. [...]
Mr. Biden introduced another proposal in 1976 that blocked the Justice Department from seeking busing as a desegregation tool, and co-sponsored an amendment in 1977 that limited federal funding of busing efforts. He continued his efforts that year with a bill curbing court-ordered busing.
In February 1982, he voted for an amendment to a Justice Department appropriations bill described as the “toughest anti-busing rider ever approved by either chamber of Congress.” A month later, he voted in favor of another amendment that allowed the Justice Department to participate in litigation “to remove or reduce the requirement of busing in existing court decrees or judgments.”
And on June 28, NPR reported on a recently unearthed 1975 interview where Biden said that if legislation failed, he would be open to using a constitutional amendment to end mandated busing.
From the outside, it looks like the country is lying back and allowing this administration - legally elected - to destroy both the reputation externally as well as the institutions internally.
That's basically what's happening, yeah. And it's just as weird to a lot of us here. The only thing I can figure out is that it's largely traumatic denial on the part of people who actually realize what's going on.
More than once I've seen somebody respond to this reality with a sort of "Well, what's the point of talking about that" kind of response. A lot of the respectable, centrist middle class types are just too comfortable to care.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:13 AM on July 6, 2019 [12 favorites]
That's basically what's happening, yeah. And it's just as weird to a lot of us here. The only thing I can figure out is that it's largely traumatic denial on the part of people who actually realize what's going on.
More than once I've seen somebody respond to this reality with a sort of "Well, what's the point of talking about that" kind of response. A lot of the respectable, centrist middle class types are just too comfortable to care.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:13 AM on July 6, 2019 [12 favorites]
[Biden's] amendment would prevent “some faceless bureaucrat” from “deciding that any child, black or white, should fit in some predetermined ratio.”
I'm getting the feeling that "predetermined ratio" is a placeholder for "more" or "less" of something. Is that a synecdoche in "ratio" being the small part of growth or decline? Has anybody pointed "predetermined ratio" at, say, CEO compensation, where the ratio is "always more?"
posted by rhizome at 11:46 AM on July 6, 2019
I'm getting the feeling that "predetermined ratio" is a placeholder for "more" or "less" of something. Is that a synecdoche in "ratio" being the small part of growth or decline? Has anybody pointed "predetermined ratio" at, say, CEO compensation, where the ratio is "always more?"
posted by rhizome at 11:46 AM on July 6, 2019
David Frum becomes concerned that Trump's America is too militaristic.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:50 AM on July 6, 2019
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:50 AM on July 6, 2019
NYT/El Paso Times, Hungry, Scared and Sick: Inside the Migrant Detention Center in Clint, Tex.
Clint is known for holding what agents call U.A.C.s, or unaccompanied alien children — children who cross the border alone or with relatives who are not their parents.posted by zachlipton at 11:54 AM on July 6, 2019 [7 favorites]
Three agents who work at Clint said they had seen unaccompanied children as young as 3 enter the facility, and lawyers who recently inspected the site as part of a lawsuit on migrant children’s rights said they saw children as young as 5 months old. An agent who has worked for Border Patrol for 13 years — and who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation — confirmed reports by immigration lawyers that agents have asked migrants who are teenagers to help care for the younger children.
“We have nine agents processing, two agents in charge of U.A.C. care and we have little ones that need their diapers changed, and we can’t do that,” the agent said. “We can’t carry them or change diapers. We do ask the older juveniles, the 16-year-olds or 17-year-olds, to help us out with that.”
As immigration flows change, the scene inside Clint has shifted as well. The number of children in the site is thought to have peaked at more than 700 around April and May, and stood at nearly 250 two weeks ago. In an attempt to relieve overcrowding, agents took all the children out of Clint but then moved more than 100 back into the station just days later.
Those articles chris24 just linked on Biden and Warren in the ‘70s are excellent at contrasting these two candidates on segregation.
Biden might not have been racist himself, but he was being an utter tool, and was trying to kill off busing as aggressively as some of the most racist legislators in the Senate. Which, given the time, is really saying something. And his position was far from “nuanced”. He just didn’t want busing to happen, period, and was happy to make common cause with Jesse Freaking Helms to do it.
In contrast, at the same time, Warren is echoing the sensibilities of Thurgood Marshall in her very first legal writing.
No wonder Harris chose this topic on which to nail Biden in the first round of debates. It’s a huge liability for him, and the more attention it gets, the worse Biden looks.
posted by darkstar at 12:03 PM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
Biden might not have been racist himself, but he was being an utter tool, and was trying to kill off busing as aggressively as some of the most racist legislators in the Senate. Which, given the time, is really saying something. And his position was far from “nuanced”. He just didn’t want busing to happen, period, and was happy to make common cause with Jesse Freaking Helms to do it.
In contrast, at the same time, Warren is echoing the sensibilities of Thurgood Marshall in her very first legal writing.
No wonder Harris chose this topic on which to nail Biden in the first round of debates. It’s a huge liability for him, and the more attention it gets, the worse Biden looks.
posted by darkstar at 12:03 PM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
David Frum becomes concerned that Trump's America is too militaristic.
Trump wanted pictures and video of his big day: Trump standing in the place where Martin Luther King Jr. once stood, the podium swathed in flags and bunting, bordered by tanks, adoring audience in front, screeching fighter jets overhead … Strong! Proud! The speech existed only to provide a reason why he needed to stand in one place long enough for five waves of warplanes to cross the sky.
It did have a purpose for Trump. The military remains one of the last holdouts of federal authority he hasn't been able to compeltely co-opt yet. He's been able to corrupt the DOJ entirely, appointing the corrupt Roy Cohn he's always wanted and turning even the career people to his total defense. He was easily able to overwhelm the rest of the exectuive agencies. He beat back the intel Deep State's weakass attempt to fight back when Republican lawyer Bob Mueller punted to Congress and hid all the details of the counterintel operations. The military and the joint chiefs are the only thing still standing up to him. So getting them to agree to a two bit display of tanks and planes so he could play Kim Jong Trump for a day and turn the Fourth of July into Trump Juche Day was the point. He's eroding the traditional walls between politics and civilian control of the US military like he's eroded and destroyed every other norm. The point is to get everyone use to seeing him surrounded by the military and them taking his orders without question or push back, which they did. The next time he'll demand something more over the old lines, and they'll push back less, and even less the time after that. Until he wants to attack Iran or deploy US troops at the DNC victory party.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2019 [13 favorites]
Trump wanted pictures and video of his big day: Trump standing in the place where Martin Luther King Jr. once stood, the podium swathed in flags and bunting, bordered by tanks, adoring audience in front, screeching fighter jets overhead … Strong! Proud! The speech existed only to provide a reason why he needed to stand in one place long enough for five waves of warplanes to cross the sky.
It did have a purpose for Trump. The military remains one of the last holdouts of federal authority he hasn't been able to compeltely co-opt yet. He's been able to corrupt the DOJ entirely, appointing the corrupt Roy Cohn he's always wanted and turning even the career people to his total defense. He was easily able to overwhelm the rest of the exectuive agencies. He beat back the intel Deep State's weakass attempt to fight back when Republican lawyer Bob Mueller punted to Congress and hid all the details of the counterintel operations. The military and the joint chiefs are the only thing still standing up to him. So getting them to agree to a two bit display of tanks and planes so he could play Kim Jong Trump for a day and turn the Fourth of July into Trump Juche Day was the point. He's eroding the traditional walls between politics and civilian control of the US military like he's eroded and destroyed every other norm. The point is to get everyone use to seeing him surrounded by the military and them taking his orders without question or push back, which they did. The next time he'll demand something more over the old lines, and they'll push back less, and even less the time after that. Until he wants to attack Iran or deploy US troops at the DNC victory party.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2019 [13 favorites]
And many of us are too busy trying to keep our heads above financial water to have time to think about much else.
Seeing and yelling that the bridge is out is small comfort when the bus drivers ignore us and keep stomping on the accelerator.
This is really the core of it, only it's not a bridge and bus. It's an incident pit that we've have been sinking into for decades (or longer), and now the sides have become vertical enough that the panic is starting.
That's usually too late. Especially with malevolent idiots at the controls. From there it's a short distance to resignation and personal harm reduction.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:09 PM on July 6, 2019 [9 favorites]
Seeing and yelling that the bridge is out is small comfort when the bus drivers ignore us and keep stomping on the accelerator.
This is really the core of it, only it's not a bridge and bus. It's an incident pit that we've have been sinking into for decades (or longer), and now the sides have become vertical enough that the panic is starting.
That's usually too late. Especially with malevolent idiots at the controls. From there it's a short distance to resignation and personal harm reduction.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:09 PM on July 6, 2019 [9 favorites]
David Frum becomes concerned that Trump's America is too militaristic.
Nowhere in that article does Frum say that Trump is too militaristic. He merely complains that Trump's militaristic speech was too unfocused, having no real purpose other than reiterating the distant past.
Recall that Frum was the speechwriter for GW Bush's infamous "Axis of Evil" speech. That was a speech that focused on future wars and Frum got the war that he wanted in Iraq and nearly in Iran as well.
posted by JackFlash at 12:26 PM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
Nowhere in that article does Frum say that Trump is too militaristic. He merely complains that Trump's militaristic speech was too unfocused, having no real purpose other than reiterating the distant past.
Recall that Frum was the speechwriter for GW Bush's infamous "Axis of Evil" speech. That was a speech that focused on future wars and Frum got the war that he wanted in Iraq and nearly in Iran as well.
posted by JackFlash at 12:26 PM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
If there was any question of whether the 4th of July spectacle was intended as anything but a grift, via Walter Shaub, via dKos: Trump turns July 4th spectacle into a slick campaign ad
posted by darkstar at 12:54 PM on July 6, 2019 [19 favorites]
There you have it. A taxpayer-funded campaign ad. Your tax dollars coopted for the benefit of a man whose idea of public service is the public serving him. Tens of millions effectively given to the Trump Campaign. This is what it was all about. This and revenue for his hotel.The ad, indeed, is very slick. With the symbolism of the Lincoln Memorial, the flyovers, the military veterans saluting him, and the large crowd on the Mall, anyone who hadn’t been paying much attention might even be excused for momentarily thinking this was a real statesman, and not just a corrupt narcissist. I expect to see this ad popping up a lot in the coming year.
posted by darkstar at 12:54 PM on July 6, 2019 [19 favorites]
Weird that the ad doesn't really show his face. I guess they had to work around the fact that he was barely visible through the rainspattered Plexiglass.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:18 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:18 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
Weird that the ad doesn't really show his face. I guess they had to work around the fact that he was barely visible through the rainspattered Plexiglass.
His face and gestures don't look presidential. They know it.
posted by mumimor at 1:23 PM on July 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
His face and gestures don't look presidential. They know it.
posted by mumimor at 1:23 PM on July 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
CNN: Elizabeth Warren's first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling
Really putting a dent in my resolution not to get attached to a particular candidate until the nomination fight ends. There are not always a lot of people in the majority who can cleanly cut through the cultural bullshit they were raised in and the wall-to-wall racism and fear-mongering against a marginalized group—not to just to instinctively know it’s morally wrong but to be able to explain why it’s wrong in terms of logic and law, at a time when the law was skewed and bent to privilege the majority even more than it is now. And then of those people, how many would pick this topic to put their names on as their first publication?
It also gives me a lot of confidence that she will not fall into Sanders’ habit of categorizing racism as a “identity” issue separate from economic inequality.
posted by sallybrown at 2:19 PM on July 6, 2019 [38 favorites]
Really putting a dent in my resolution not to get attached to a particular candidate until the nomination fight ends. There are not always a lot of people in the majority who can cleanly cut through the cultural bullshit they were raised in and the wall-to-wall racism and fear-mongering against a marginalized group—not to just to instinctively know it’s morally wrong but to be able to explain why it’s wrong in terms of logic and law, at a time when the law was skewed and bent to privilege the majority even more than it is now. And then of those people, how many would pick this topic to put their names on as their first publication?
It also gives me a lot of confidence that she will not fall into Sanders’ habit of categorizing racism as a “identity” issue separate from economic inequality.
posted by sallybrown at 2:19 PM on July 6, 2019 [38 favorites]
PSA: In addition to the protests and resources reported in this thread, there is a Concentration Camps, How Best to Help? MeTa that is focused on gathering current and upcoming opportunities to protest, as well as donation and volunteer opportunities. Many thanks to Glinn for creating this MeTa!
posted by Little Dawn at 2:25 PM on July 6, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by Little Dawn at 2:25 PM on July 6, 2019 [18 favorites]
Those can’t be real crowd shots though, what event did they borrow from?
Those were real crowds from this 4th of July event in the Trump campaign ad... but you can't make direct comparisons with crowd sizes at previous events at the same location. Because of the security cordon around the reflecting pool the crowd was limited to a smaller fenced in area between the trees on either side of the reflecting pool. These two areas are only about 80 feet wide each, but 2000 feet long. You can see this on snopes and at about 30 seconds into the campaign ad, in the shot with the cop looking through binoculars, there is a huge empty green field on the right side of the frame. That area is usually full of people like in the left side of this picture from the Glen Beck/Sarah Palin rally in 2010.
Trump-friendly media outlets are using old pictures from other events (NewsMax example, same photo from 2010) showing the spaces outside the treelines full of people. They were not, they were closed by a security cordon to squeeze the crowds up to the reflecting pool and the National Mall live cams were shut off so nobody could see all the green space outside of the two tree lines.
posted by peeedro at 2:40 PM on July 6, 2019 [8 favorites]
Those were real crowds from this 4th of July event in the Trump campaign ad... but you can't make direct comparisons with crowd sizes at previous events at the same location. Because of the security cordon around the reflecting pool the crowd was limited to a smaller fenced in area between the trees on either side of the reflecting pool. These two areas are only about 80 feet wide each, but 2000 feet long. You can see this on snopes and at about 30 seconds into the campaign ad, in the shot with the cop looking through binoculars, there is a huge empty green field on the right side of the frame. That area is usually full of people like in the left side of this picture from the Glen Beck/Sarah Palin rally in 2010.
Trump-friendly media outlets are using old pictures from other events (NewsMax example, same photo from 2010) showing the spaces outside the treelines full of people. They were not, they were closed by a security cordon to squeeze the crowds up to the reflecting pool and the National Mall live cams were shut off so nobody could see all the green space outside of the two tree lines.
posted by peeedro at 2:40 PM on July 6, 2019 [8 favorites]
A Washington Post opinion piece by Ryan Grim:
Haunted by the Reagan era
Past defeats still scare older Democratic leaders — but not the younger generation
posted by mumimor at 2:50 PM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
Haunted by the Reagan era
Past defeats still scare older Democratic leaders — but not the younger generation
It’s hard to overstate how traumatizing that 1980 landslide was for Democrats. It came just two years after the rise of the New Right, the Class of ’78 led by firebrands like Newt Gingrich, and it felt like the country was repudiating everything the Democrats stood for. The party that had saved the world from the Nazis, built the modern welfare state, gone to the moon and overseen the longest stretch of economic prosperity in human history was routed by a C-list actor. Reagan won 44 states.This was the same many places all over the Western world back then, just think of Thatcher in England, and how that led to Blair, so this is where I get to sneak in some good news I haven't found a thread for earlier (and not clear enough yet for an FPP): in Denmark we just had a landslide election and as a result the youngest government ever, all Social Democrats. They pulled some ugly tricks v. immigration during the election, but that led to far left, Green and Social Liberals getting tons of votes, dragging the SDs back towards a more humanitarian position. I may make an FPP if this turns out well and I can find international reporting...
That November saw not just Jimmy Carter defeated but a generation of liberal lions poached from the Senate. A net loss of 12 Democrats flipped the chamber to the Republicans. The Democratic nominee for president in 1972, war hero George McGovern, was ousted. Frank Church, first elected in 1956, had been chairman of the forerunner to the Select Committee on Intelligence. In 1976, he was a credible presidential candidate; in 1980, he was out of a job. Same with Birch Bayh, another presidential hopeful who’d served nearly 20 years in the Senate. Warren Magnuson, first elected in 1944, was chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the senior-most member of the Senate. Even Mike Gravel, a hero of the Pentagon Papers battle and a voice of the antiwar left, was beaten that year in a primary, leading to a fall GOP pickup of his seat. Collectively, the defeated Democrats represented every plank of liberalism — whether it was support for workers or the environment or opposition to militarism or racism. They were the party.
Politicians like Pelosi, Schumer and Hoyer were just coming into their own. The lesson they took was that the party had gotten too liberal in the late ’60s and ’70s, and the Reagan Revolution was payback. They became convinced that the United States was a center-right country and that they had to accede to that unfortunate reality. For that reason, the wing of the party that had backed Ted Kennedy in the primaries against Carter in 1980 could be safely ignored. Reagan won a landslide reelection four years later. Maybe the country just wasn’t into Democrats. In 1988, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis let a nearly 20-point lead in the polls slip away as he lost to Reagan’s hapless vice president, the tongue-tied patrician George H.W. Bush, despite the Iran-contra scandal and eight years of GOP control. That only further persuaded the Democratic elite that liberalism was on the outs.
posted by mumimor at 2:50 PM on July 6, 2019 [28 favorites]
Haunted by the Reagan era: Past defeats still scare older Democratic leaders — but not the younger generation
“For the newcomers, this is completely foreign. To them, Republicans shouldn’t be feared, they should be beaten. Ocasio-Cortez told me that she treats Republicans like buffoons because that’s how they’ve behaved for as long as she can remember. “Even before I was of voting age, I saw Republicans accuse the Obamas of doing a ‘terrorist fist bump,’ so they’ve been clowns since I was a teen,” she said.“
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on July 6, 2019 [60 favorites]
“For the newcomers, this is completely foreign. To them, Republicans shouldn’t be feared, they should be beaten. Ocasio-Cortez told me that she treats Republicans like buffoons because that’s how they’ve behaved for as long as she can remember. “Even before I was of voting age, I saw Republicans accuse the Obamas of doing a ‘terrorist fist bump,’ so they’ve been clowns since I was a teen,” she said.“
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on July 6, 2019 [60 favorites]
Part of the reason the older folks are so traumatized is that they either refuse to recognize how much of Reagan's win was the result of unethical and dishonest tactics along with blatantly illegal interference in foreign affairs or they recognize it and remember how it never actually mattered.
The last thing they want is to confirm their fears and be forced to admit that the system is rigged, because down that road lies..instability. It's more comfortable to believe that they lost fair and square than to admit that half of our country no longer respects the rule of law and the power of democratic institutions and are perfectly happy to dismiss any bad behavior so long as it results in their side winning, whatever that means.
posted by wierdo at 3:50 PM on July 6, 2019 [22 favorites]
The last thing they want is to confirm their fears and be forced to admit that the system is rigged, because down that road lies..instability. It's more comfortable to believe that they lost fair and square than to admit that half of our country no longer respects the rule of law and the power of democratic institutions and are perfectly happy to dismiss any bad behavior so long as it results in their side winning, whatever that means.
posted by wierdo at 3:50 PM on July 6, 2019 [22 favorites]
Part of the reason the older folks are so traumatized is that they either refuse to recognize how much of Reagan's win was the result of unethical and dishonest tactics along with blatantly illegal interference in foreign affairs or they recognize it and remember how it never actually mattered.
The current situation would not be happening if the Reagan administration had been held to account for its treason in and associated with Iran-Contra, which itself would not have happened if Nixon's had been held to account for its treason in, for example, covertly negotiating to prolong the Vietnam war. The long path of negligence and appeasement is too shameful to confront directly, as is its gruesome destination.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:57 PM on July 6, 2019 [47 favorites]
The current situation would not be happening if the Reagan administration had been held to account for its treason in and associated with Iran-Contra, which itself would not have happened if Nixon's had been held to account for its treason in, for example, covertly negotiating to prolong the Vietnam war. The long path of negligence and appeasement is too shameful to confront directly, as is its gruesome destination.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:57 PM on July 6, 2019 [47 favorites]
Mod note: It's okay to talk about how younger Democrats are different from older Democrats based on their experiences with past won/lost elections etc., but if you guys start relitigating elections from the 1990s and earlier I'm going to lose my mind.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:04 PM on July 6, 2019 [54 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:04 PM on July 6, 2019 [54 favorites]
After the sixth time in ten POTUS elections where the American public had a choice between a thinking human being and a cartoon character and large chunks of it said "Ehhh, we'll take the cartoon," you'd think that they'd learn to adapt.
posted by delfin at 4:12 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by delfin at 4:12 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
This reality is so far from a Stevenson campaign that it's like we never even went to that school.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
I expect to see this ad popping up a lot in the coming year.
Not as an actual campaign ad they won't. There's several shots of soldiers in uniform which are forbidden in campaign ads. I'm pretty sure that's a standard we haven't discarded yet.
posted by scalefree at 4:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
Not as an actual campaign ad they won't. There's several shots of soldiers in uniform which are forbidden in campaign ads. I'm pretty sure that's a standard we haven't discarded yet.
posted by scalefree at 4:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
Daniel Dale's settling into his new job as Trump fact-checker at CNN: Trump Says He's A 'Very Honest Guy' While Making Multiple False Claims topics lies include Ivanka's job creation record, NATO spending, Mexican troops at the southern border, migrant separation policy under Obama, and undocumented employees at Trump properties. Trump lies all the time, of course, but this many falsehoods at a simple press gaggle suggest that he's feeling under pressure and responding to narcissistic injury.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:30 PM on July 6, 2019 [11 favorites]
In responding to a question about the veracity of his previous statements that President Barack Obama had "begged" for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump defended his claim and repeated it.[…]Other
Facts First: As CNN laid out in an extensive fact check earlier this week, there is no evidence Obama ever tried to secure a meeting with Kim Jong Un, let alone that he "called" North Korea on "numerous occasions."[…]
Trump again claimed that China is single-handedly paying for the US tariffs.
"(B)y the way, billions and billions of dollars of tariffs are coming in and China is paying for it, not our people."
Facts First: No matter how many times Trump makes this claim (and he's made it a lot recently), it's false to say that China is paying the tariffs. The majority of the costs of these tariffs fall on American consumers and businesses.[…]
Trump also addressed the controversy over his administration's efforts to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census
"We're spending $15 billion to $20 billion on a census. We're doing everything. We're finding out everything about everybody. Think of it, $15 billion to $20 billion. And you're not allowed to ask them, 'Are you a citizen?' And by the way, if you look at the history of our country, it's almost always been asked."
Facts First: Trump's cost estimate is accurate. However his claim that the citizenship question has "almost always" been asked is an exaggeration. Of the 23 cenuses that have been conducted in American history (every 10 years from 1790 to 2010) the citizenship question has been asked of all households a total of 10 times. The question was posed to a minority of households an additional four times. It has not been asked of all households, as Trump is currently pressing to do again, since 1950.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:30 PM on July 6, 2019 [11 favorites]
There's several shots of soldiers in uniform which are forbidden in campaign ads. I'm pretty sure that's a standard we haven't discarded yet.
This is from memory, but I don't think footage of an event like this comes under that rule. It bears upon using images of the candidate, their family, etc in uniform.
Relying heavily on footage from the event could support a Congressional inquiry into whether the whole thing was just a political rally like we all know it was, put on for promotional purposes, and as such a misuse of funds.
But, hey, add it to the tab of theoretically impeachable offenses.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:46 PM on July 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is from memory, but I don't think footage of an event like this comes under that rule. It bears upon using images of the candidate, their family, etc in uniform.
Relying heavily on footage from the event could support a Congressional inquiry into whether the whole thing was just a political rally like we all know it was, put on for promotional purposes, and as such a misuse of funds.
But, hey, add it to the tab of theoretically impeachable offenses.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:46 PM on July 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
In a previous decade this would probably have been quite a big deal. (CW: details of what Epstein did).
Jeffrey Epstein Arrested For Sex Trafficking of Minors: Sources - "The billionaire pedophile was reportedly arrested on Saturday night and will appear in New York court on Monday to be charged with sex trafficking, according to law enforcement."
Jeffrey Epstein Arrested For Sex Trafficking of Minors: Sources - "The billionaire pedophile was reportedly arrested on Saturday night and will appear in New York court on Monday to be charged with sex trafficking, according to law enforcement."
Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005, and will appear in court in New York on Monday, according to three law enforcement sources. The arrest comes about 12 years after the 66-year-old financier essentially got a slap on the wrist for allegedly molesting dozens of underage girls in Florida.posted by Buntix at 5:09 PM on July 6, 2019 [55 favorites]
For more than a decade, Epstein’s alleged abuse of minors has been the subject of lawsuits brought by victims, investigations by local and federal authorities, and exposés in the press. But despite the attention cast on his alleged sex crimes, the hedge-funder has managed to avoid any meaningful jail time, let alone federal charges.
Trump to NY Mag, way back when: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:11 PM on July 6, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:11 PM on July 6, 2019 [35 favorites]
Haunted by the Reagan era: Past defeats still scare older Democratic leaders — but not the younger generation
“For the newcomers, this is completely foreign. To them, Republicans shouldn’t be feared, they should be beaten. Ocasio-Cortez told me that she treats Republicans like buffoons because that’s how they’ve behaved for as long as she can remember. “Even before I was of voting age, I saw Republicans accuse the Obamas of doing a ‘terrorist fist bump,’ so they’ve been clowns since I was a teen,” she said.“
AOC just now responding to Pelosi: "Speaker Pelosi says @AOC, @IlhanMN, @AyannaPressley and @RashidaTlaib “have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
AOC: That public “whatever” is called public sentiment. And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country.
That's the proper amount of respect for this current leadership. None. Stand aside. You've failed.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [78 favorites]
“For the newcomers, this is completely foreign. To them, Republicans shouldn’t be feared, they should be beaten. Ocasio-Cortez told me that she treats Republicans like buffoons because that’s how they’ve behaved for as long as she can remember. “Even before I was of voting age, I saw Republicans accuse the Obamas of doing a ‘terrorist fist bump,’ so they’ve been clowns since I was a teen,” she said.“
AOC just now responding to Pelosi: "Speaker Pelosi says @AOC, @IlhanMN, @AyannaPressley and @RashidaTlaib “have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
AOC: That public “whatever” is called public sentiment. And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country.
That's the proper amount of respect for this current leadership. None. Stand aside. You've failed.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:20 PM on July 6, 2019 [78 favorites]
I have said many times, most of which have been deleted, that Pelosi is complicit. Maybe now the mods will believe me, and let the sentiment stand.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:31 PM on July 6, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:31 PM on July 6, 2019 [24 favorites]
They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
When Pressley was a Boston city councilor, Mayor Marty Walsh made a similar crack about opposition to Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics - which he strongly supported: He declared the opposition was just ten people on Twitter. The speaker might ask the mayor how that worked out.
posted by adamg at 6:32 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
When Pressley was a Boston city councilor, Mayor Marty Walsh made a similar crack about opposition to Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics - which he strongly supported: He declared the opposition was just ten people on Twitter. The speaker might ask the mayor how that worked out.
posted by adamg at 6:32 PM on July 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
Pelosi is complicit
Donations: Shahid Buttar 2020
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:33 PM on July 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
Donations: Shahid Buttar 2020
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:33 PM on July 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
Pelosi is complicit
And another: CA-12's newest challenger, Agatha Bacelar
Disclosure: Agatha is my friend. My brilliant, huge-hearted, passionate-yet-serene friend. I suggest any San Francisco/Bay Area folks get to know her - she's great!
posted by angelplasma at 6:49 PM on July 6, 2019 [12 favorites]
And another: CA-12's newest challenger, Agatha Bacelar
Disclosure: Agatha is my friend. My brilliant, huge-hearted, passionate-yet-serene friend. I suggest any San Francisco/Bay Area folks get to know her - she's great!
posted by angelplasma at 6:49 PM on July 6, 2019 [12 favorites]
We missed this news item from the middle of last month from the WaPo: Michael Dreeben, Longtime Supreme Court Lawyer Who Aided Mueller Probe, Leaving Justice Dept.
And Marcy Wheeler drily notes, "It strikes me that the 16 days since Michael Dreeben resigned have been a veritable shitshow at Solicitor General's office yet we don't yet know why he resigned."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:05 PM on July 6, 2019 [7 favorites]
Dreeben on Wednesday declined to comment on his next move.That's quite a kiss-off for a three-decade DoJ veteran, and it's odd that a high-powered attorney like him apparently left without a new job lined up.
Solicitor General [and Trump appointee] Noel J. Francisco issued a statement: “On behalf of the Office of the Solicitor General, I thank Michael for his many years of service to the Department. We wish him the best of luck in the next chapter of his career.”
And Marcy Wheeler drily notes, "It strikes me that the 16 days since Michael Dreeben resigned have been a veritable shitshow at Solicitor General's office yet we don't yet know why he resigned."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:05 PM on July 6, 2019 [7 favorites]
The SDNY's public corruption department is prosecuting the Epstein case, and though we won't know the details until Monday, that suggests it's focused on how Epstein has sustained near-impunity for so many years.
posted by holgate at 8:10 PM on July 6, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by holgate at 8:10 PM on July 6, 2019 [13 favorites]
Trump to NY Mag, way back when: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Trump is the whole reason Epstein has been charged now.
By adding Acosta to his administration he focused people's attention on the case that otherwise had been pretty successfully buried despite everyone knowing the allegations were true and far more serious than the punishment received. So not only does Trump turn everything he touches to shit he also surrounds himself with filth and unintentionally draws attention to it.
posted by srboisvert at 8:16 PM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
Trump is the whole reason Epstein has been charged now.
By adding Acosta to his administration he focused people's attention on the case that otherwise had been pretty successfully buried despite everyone knowing the allegations were true and far more serious than the punishment received. So not only does Trump turn everything he touches to shit he also surrounds himself with filth and unintentionally draws attention to it.
posted by srboisvert at 8:16 PM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
I don’t think the Trump/Acosta connection hurt the effort to bring attention to Epstein, but the Miami Herald revisited the case because some of Epstein’s victims are in the middle of a court battle to bust open his plea deal because they didn’t get adequate notice. So the victims and the Herald deserve a lot of the credit here.
posted by sallybrown at 8:43 PM on July 6, 2019 [45 favorites]
posted by sallybrown at 8:43 PM on July 6, 2019 [45 favorites]
Jake Tapper @jaketapper
Man who drew a cartoon the @ADL calls “blatantly anti-Semitic” says he was invited to the White House for a social media summit
Jake Tapper is underselling it: the cartoon shows puppets labelled "McMaster" and "Petraeus" dancing while being directed by a puppet master labelled "George Soros". Soros himself is being directed by a withered and diseased-looking hand labelled "Rothschilds". Oh, and the withered hand appears to be wearing a shirt with little pyramids for cufflinks. You couldn't get more antisemitic unless you added a picture of Netanyahu as an octopus in a shtreimel and payess drinking the blood of a Christian child while personally girdling the world in a spider's web.
The first response I see on that timeline is from someone reportedly working for Trump's campaign team saying "what about Cory Booker". This is Republican philosemitism in action.
Incidentally, here is a link to why they think bringing up Booker is some kind of "gotcha".
I KNOW THIS IS BS I AM JUST SAVING YOU SOME TIME DON'T ! ME
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:45 PM on July 6, 2019 [17 favorites]
Man who drew a cartoon the @ADL calls “blatantly anti-Semitic” says he was invited to the White House for a social media summit
Jake Tapper is underselling it: the cartoon shows puppets labelled "McMaster" and "Petraeus" dancing while being directed by a puppet master labelled "George Soros". Soros himself is being directed by a withered and diseased-looking hand labelled "Rothschilds". Oh, and the withered hand appears to be wearing a shirt with little pyramids for cufflinks. You couldn't get more antisemitic unless you added a picture of Netanyahu as an octopus in a shtreimel and payess drinking the blood of a Christian child while personally girdling the world in a spider's web.
The first response I see on that timeline is from someone reportedly working for Trump's campaign team saying "what about Cory Booker". This is Republican philosemitism in action.
Incidentally, here is a link to why they think bringing up Booker is some kind of "gotcha".
I KNOW THIS IS BS I AM JUST SAVING YOU SOME TIME DON'T ! ME
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:45 PM on July 6, 2019 [17 favorites]
I will never understand the gop mix of rabid-zionism plus anti-Semitism.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:46 PM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by j_curiouser at 9:46 PM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
I will never understand the gop mix of rabid-zionism plus anti-Semitism.
A sizeable chunk of them believe we're literally about to start the end days and that Israel will play a critical part in it. They're not so much pro-zion as they are pro-apocalyse.
Some simply dislike Muslims more than they do Jews.
posted by Candleman at 9:54 PM on July 6, 2019 [20 favorites]
A sizeable chunk of them believe we're literally about to start the end days and that Israel will play a critical part in it. They're not so much pro-zion as they are pro-apocalyse.
Some simply dislike Muslims more than they do Jews.
posted by Candleman at 9:54 PM on July 6, 2019 [20 favorites]
You might as well say that you can't understand the Republican mix of free-market economics plus corporate protectionism, or support for both States' rights and attempts to interfere with sanctuary cities. It isn't ideological, except insofar as pwning the libs is an ideology; it's just a bunch of ad-hoc positions meant to appeal to different donors and/or voter groups. And because it's being made on an ad-hoc basis, there's no concern for coherency or overall effectiveness. They seem to have lost sight of what governing is.
I read this article on a similar phenomenon in the UK and you know, the author is right, and not just regarding their own country: small-c conservatives aren't really interested in economics any more. Or actually government policy in general, but lots of that is in fact economics. When did that happen? Why? The answer may be very important!
The strange death of Tory economic thinking
I read this article on a similar phenomenon in the UK and you know, the author is right, and not just regarding their own country: small-c conservatives aren't really interested in economics any more. Or actually government policy in general, but lots of that is in fact economics. When did that happen? Why? The answer may be very important!
The strange death of Tory economic thinking
A weird and disturbing change has come over the Conservative Party.posted by Joe in Australia at 10:11 PM on July 6, 2019 [15 favorites]
I’m not talking about the raging divisions and defections over Brexit, or the fact it seems to be preparing to get rid of yet another leader — after all, civil war over Europe and regicide are longstanding Tory traditions.
I’m talking about a much more unusual and unprecedented phenomenon: the fact that the Tories, both in government and more generally, seem to have stopped talking and thinking about economics. [...]
Clearly, most Democratic candidates are afraid or incapable of making basic arguments in favor of progressive policy. It wasn't until Bernie and Cortez that we had politicians that simply had the basic nerve to suggest sensible healthcare and taxation policy.
Pod Save America talked recently about Obama's decision not to campaign on giving healthcare to illegal immigrants. In the end, it was simply too complicated and nuanced an argument to make. But how hard is it really to say that when anyone receives care without healthcare, the costs to taxpayers is high? Bluntly, would you rather be taxed $10 or $100?
How hard is it to say that universal healthcare will be cheaper, better, and let you go to whatever doctor you want according to all historical comparative evidence? Or that all the evidence suggests a higher minimum wage will not adversely affect the economy? Or that all the evidence suggests renewable energy will improve our economy, our defense, and quite possibly save the planet?
If Democrats will not make basic arguments for sensible policy supported by all available evidence, then they are inept. It really doesn't get any easier than trying to convince someone that all historical evidence and every expert agrees a policy will directly give them more money, better quality of life, and more freedom.
And, sure enough, what do we find when the new generation of Democrats simply mention ideas like these, as Cortez did when she suggested reasonably taxing rich Americans? We find there's a huge amount of public support for these ideas.
posted by xammerboy at 10:18 PM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
Pod Save America talked recently about Obama's decision not to campaign on giving healthcare to illegal immigrants. In the end, it was simply too complicated and nuanced an argument to make. But how hard is it really to say that when anyone receives care without healthcare, the costs to taxpayers is high? Bluntly, would you rather be taxed $10 or $100?
How hard is it to say that universal healthcare will be cheaper, better, and let you go to whatever doctor you want according to all historical comparative evidence? Or that all the evidence suggests a higher minimum wage will not adversely affect the economy? Or that all the evidence suggests renewable energy will improve our economy, our defense, and quite possibly save the planet?
If Democrats will not make basic arguments for sensible policy supported by all available evidence, then they are inept. It really doesn't get any easier than trying to convince someone that all historical evidence and every expert agrees a policy will directly give them more money, better quality of life, and more freedom.
And, sure enough, what do we find when the new generation of Democrats simply mention ideas like these, as Cortez did when she suggested reasonably taxing rich Americans? We find there's a huge amount of public support for these ideas.
posted by xammerboy at 10:18 PM on July 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
Her surname is Ocasio-Cortez, not Cortez.
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:47 PM on July 6, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:47 PM on July 6, 2019 [24 favorites]
I don’t think the Trump/Acosta connection hurt the effort to bring attention to Epstein, but the Miami Herald revisited the case because some of Epstein’s victims are in the middle of a court battle to bust open his plea deal because they didn’t get adequate notice. So the victims and the Herald deserve a lot of the credit here.
This boil's been festering since Trump's candidacy. The preponderance of evidence in Doe v. Trump and Epstein shows that in 1994, Donald J. Trump raped a 13 year old girl. When Trump's "Fixer", Michael Cohen was buying women's silence, including Ms. Clifford, Doe withdrew her lawsuit.
posted by mikelieman at 12:08 AM on July 7, 2019 [24 favorites]
This boil's been festering since Trump's candidacy. The preponderance of evidence in Doe v. Trump and Epstein shows that in 1994, Donald J. Trump raped a 13 year old girl. When Trump's "Fixer", Michael Cohen was buying women's silence, including Ms. Clifford, Doe withdrew her lawsuit.
posted by mikelieman at 12:08 AM on July 7, 2019 [24 favorites]
When did that happen? Why? The answer may be very important!
Joe in Australia, thanks for the link, it's an interesting article. As an answer to your question: I think it has happened gradually, in many countries, as it became more and more clear that the conservative economics are objectively bad. They can't campaign on being the economic "adults in the room" anymore, because they aren't and more and more people know it. So they turn to identity and immigration instead, which works with older workers and some groups of less educated younger men who are lost in this reality (and probably were lost before as well, but didn't have anywhere to go).
It kind of says so in the article, I know.
posted by mumimor at 12:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [4 favorites]
Joe in Australia, thanks for the link, it's an interesting article. As an answer to your question: I think it has happened gradually, in many countries, as it became more and more clear that the conservative economics are objectively bad. They can't campaign on being the economic "adults in the room" anymore, because they aren't and more and more people know it. So they turn to identity and immigration instead, which works with older workers and some groups of less educated younger men who are lost in this reality (and probably were lost before as well, but didn't have anywhere to go).
It kind of says so in the article, I know.
posted by mumimor at 12:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [4 favorites]
Clearly, most Democratic candidates are afraid or incapable of making basic arguments in favor of progressive policy.
There haven't been Liberals in national politics since at the latest 1992 as seen by the fact that they can't make liberal arguments for Good Things.
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 AM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
There haven't been Liberals in national politics since at the latest 1992 as seen by the fact that they can't make liberal arguments for Good Things.
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 AM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
Donald Trump 'inept' and 'dysfunctional', UK ambassador to US says
In ‘leaked’ diplomatic memos, Kim Darroch reportedly says presidency could ‘end in disgrace’
From today's Guardian. I love the scare-quotes around 'leaked'.
In ‘leaked’ diplomatic memos, Kim Darroch reportedly says presidency could ‘end in disgrace’
From today's Guardian. I love the scare-quotes around 'leaked'.
In one of the most recent reported dispatches, filed on June 22, Darroch criticised Trump’s fraught foreign policy on Iran, which has prompted fears in global capitals of a military conflict, as “incoherent” and “chaotic”.posted by mumimor at 1:00 AM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
Russian state TV hosts mocked Trump's July 4th event as 'low energy'
posted by scalefree at 3:33 AM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
- The Russian state TV host Olga Skabeyeva mocked the military vehicles in President Donald Trump's "A Salute to America" display, saying, "There are no cannons, and their optics have been glued on with adhesive tape."
- The hosts also called the display "weak" and "low energy."
- President Donald Trump's July Fourth festivities featured military flyovers, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and M1A2 tanks.
It wasn't until Bernie and Cortez that we had politicians that simply had the basic nerve to suggest sensible healthcare and taxation policy.
Bullshit. It is just that when you stick to boring practical plans based on knowledge and experience it doesn't make for charismatic rhetoric or a tidy soundbite. But pantheon forbid that anyone suggest that there is no magic bullet to fix these flawed and complex systems. Pure idealism is seductive, but that kind of idealism and magical thinking is a major part of what has landed us in this mess. And every one of the Democratic politicians who is campaigning knows that they are going to be ripped to shreds if they breathe a word about healthcare or taxes in a way that could be considered a promise about changing them if the politician does not deliver it the moment they are elected in exactly the way each individual wants it, regardless of any practical considerations. Nobody wants to think about the work and the time and the how, they just want it now.
Emotion beats reason, every time.
Speaking of emotion driven response and work and a seeming inability to focus anger and blame at anyone but That Woman... Could we not use the Speaker of the House, the woman holding the highest political office a woman has ever held in this country, who is not a cop or ninja or anyone's bitch,* as a verbal punching bag? I am sick of watching people here blame her for the Trump administration's crimes. Every damn day. It is hot misogynistic magical thinking garbage. It is one more reminder that no matter how accomplished or skilled or active or intelligent a woman is, it will never be good enough. Especially if she isn't witty on social media and is over 40.
Would you say those things if a man did what she did? (If you say yes, I won't believe you.)
I mean, Nancy Pelosi hasn't released all of the children and ordered Trump to be delivered to the House in shackles yet, so obviously she must be complicit in his crimes. It can't be that she does not have the power to do either of those things, and if she tried to just do either one she would not simply be committing crimes but essentially staging a coup. It isn't as if the Senate would actually reject any bills that she might get passed that would change the conditions at the camps. It's not as if she's busy with the regular Housekeeping. It can't be that she probably has information that the general public does not. It couldn't be that she is playing this GOP-style, fighting "dirty" by using misdirection and keeping her options open and not pissing away all of the political capitol she's got by making a futile stand to make everyone feel better that has a 99.9% chance of backfiring spectacularly. It is beyond reason to think that she might actually be smart and could have a plan that she isn't telling anyone about. (end of sarcasm)
You don't get to be the Speaker of the House by being nice or soft or everyone's mom or lacking in brains. You don't stay because you love a good toxic workplace and wearing heels and having to be twice as good as anyone else while still getting twice the shit for it. You sure at hell don't do it for the money, because not being Speaker is a whole lot easier and there's still plenty of money to be made if you just want to be in office. You do it because you are the best person to do the job and you know it. You do it because you are a public servant, even when the public hates you for doing your job, which is to keep the government running. Her job is not to tilt at windmills for our edification.
I mean, if it were me, and I have this one big scary weapon that looks menacing and is full of poison, but the poison might not be very strong and it can only be used once before the enemy figures out how to defend against it. Well, I would hold on to that for a while. I'd play with it a little, show it off some, and then maybe tuck it in my back pocket. Pretend that I might not even use it. Because there's a couple of good times to use this kind of weapon when it might work, given the framework we're stuck with, and it isn't right now. It is later. Next year. Under one set of circumstances, it would make for lovely Spring/Summer entertainment. Under others, September-ish.
It might work, it might not, but at least it would count.
The public has no memory and if the impeachment proceedings started tomorrow, they'd be done before Halloween. But worse, nothing would change. The Senate will not do anything, even if they might want to, the GOP would rather stack the Judiciary. They have a plan and they don't care about anything else. They know that they're losing ground in elected offices, so they're seizing their chance to grab what they can while they can. If you are not afraid of them, I'm afraid of you.
And while I'm at it, I'm going to be That Person and say that his willingness to use the Democratic party for his own advancement when it's convenient, while simultaneously shitting on it, really makes me despise Bernie Sanders even more. He's as offensive and irrelevant as Joe Biden, only less electable.
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
Also, did AOC consider the implications of not passing it? Pretty sure that the blame would fall on Nancy Pelosi for being so wrapped up in her own agends, trying to force a bloated liberal bill at the expense of the poor children, monster and opportunist that she is! She had to be stopped! She can't force us! Look what she made us do!
It would have been her fault, only in a much bigger way.
I want a fair public option as soon as possible, at least Medicare for all (but Medicare needs work too), and I don't want to have anyone have to choose between medication and food nor have their life ruined because of medical expenses. I want social programs and a functioning government. I want change. Tax overhaul. I want to know where all the damn military money is going, because it sure as hell isn't taking care of veterans. I want effective steps to be taken to mitigate climate change that aren't essentially useless gestures and virtue signalling. I want windmills and solar panels. I want some other stuff that I am far too tired to articulate without being offensive to someone.
Right now, I'm so tired of all of this that I am not afraid to speak. In fact, I feel as if I have a right to. Is that what it is like to be a man? Not really. I am still afraid.
*yes I used this word deliberately for effect.
posted by monopas at 4:48 AM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
Bullshit. It is just that when you stick to boring practical plans based on knowledge and experience it doesn't make for charismatic rhetoric or a tidy soundbite. But pantheon forbid that anyone suggest that there is no magic bullet to fix these flawed and complex systems. Pure idealism is seductive, but that kind of idealism and magical thinking is a major part of what has landed us in this mess. And every one of the Democratic politicians who is campaigning knows that they are going to be ripped to shreds if they breathe a word about healthcare or taxes in a way that could be considered a promise about changing them if the politician does not deliver it the moment they are elected in exactly the way each individual wants it, regardless of any practical considerations. Nobody wants to think about the work and the time and the how, they just want it now.
Emotion beats reason, every time.
Speaking of emotion driven response and work and a seeming inability to focus anger and blame at anyone but That Woman... Could we not use the Speaker of the House, the woman holding the highest political office a woman has ever held in this country, who is not a cop or ninja or anyone's bitch,* as a verbal punching bag? I am sick of watching people here blame her for the Trump administration's crimes. Every damn day. It is hot misogynistic magical thinking garbage. It is one more reminder that no matter how accomplished or skilled or active or intelligent a woman is, it will never be good enough. Especially if she isn't witty on social media and is over 40.
Would you say those things if a man did what she did? (If you say yes, I won't believe you.)
I mean, Nancy Pelosi hasn't released all of the children and ordered Trump to be delivered to the House in shackles yet, so obviously she must be complicit in his crimes. It can't be that she does not have the power to do either of those things, and if she tried to just do either one she would not simply be committing crimes but essentially staging a coup. It isn't as if the Senate would actually reject any bills that she might get passed that would change the conditions at the camps. It's not as if she's busy with the regular Housekeeping. It can't be that she probably has information that the general public does not. It couldn't be that she is playing this GOP-style, fighting "dirty" by using misdirection and keeping her options open and not pissing away all of the political capitol she's got by making a futile stand to make everyone feel better that has a 99.9% chance of backfiring spectacularly. It is beyond reason to think that she might actually be smart and could have a plan that she isn't telling anyone about. (end of sarcasm)
You don't get to be the Speaker of the House by being nice or soft or everyone's mom or lacking in brains. You don't stay because you love a good toxic workplace and wearing heels and having to be twice as good as anyone else while still getting twice the shit for it. You sure at hell don't do it for the money, because not being Speaker is a whole lot easier and there's still plenty of money to be made if you just want to be in office. You do it because you are the best person to do the job and you know it. You do it because you are a public servant, even when the public hates you for doing your job, which is to keep the government running. Her job is not to tilt at windmills for our edification.
I mean, if it were me, and I have this one big scary weapon that looks menacing and is full of poison, but the poison might not be very strong and it can only be used once before the enemy figures out how to defend against it. Well, I would hold on to that for a while. I'd play with it a little, show it off some, and then maybe tuck it in my back pocket. Pretend that I might not even use it. Because there's a couple of good times to use this kind of weapon when it might work, given the framework we're stuck with, and it isn't right now. It is later. Next year. Under one set of circumstances, it would make for lovely Spring/Summer entertainment. Under others, September-ish.
It might work, it might not, but at least it would count.
The public has no memory and if the impeachment proceedings started tomorrow, they'd be done before Halloween. But worse, nothing would change. The Senate will not do anything, even if they might want to, the GOP would rather stack the Judiciary. They have a plan and they don't care about anything else. They know that they're losing ground in elected offices, so they're seizing their chance to grab what they can while they can. If you are not afraid of them, I'm afraid of you.
And while I'm at it, I'm going to be That Person and say that his willingness to use the Democratic party for his own advancement when it's convenient, while simultaneously shitting on it, really makes me despise Bernie Sanders even more. He's as offensive and irrelevant as Joe Biden, only less electable.
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
Also, did AOC consider the implications of not passing it? Pretty sure that the blame would fall on Nancy Pelosi for being so wrapped up in her own agends, trying to force a bloated liberal bill at the expense of the poor children, monster and opportunist that she is! She had to be stopped! She can't force us! Look what she made us do!
It would have been her fault, only in a much bigger way.
I want a fair public option as soon as possible, at least Medicare for all (but Medicare needs work too), and I don't want to have anyone have to choose between medication and food nor have their life ruined because of medical expenses. I want social programs and a functioning government. I want change. Tax overhaul. I want to know where all the damn military money is going, because it sure as hell isn't taking care of veterans. I want effective steps to be taken to mitigate climate change that aren't essentially useless gestures and virtue signalling. I want windmills and solar panels. I want some other stuff that I am far too tired to articulate without being offensive to someone.
Right now, I'm so tired of all of this that I am not afraid to speak. In fact, I feel as if I have a right to. Is that what it is like to be a man? Not really. I am still afraid.
*yes I used this word deliberately for effect.
posted by monopas at 4:48 AM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
monopas The flaw in your reasoning here is that Pelosi started the shit talking.
Rather than letting AOC and the others build enthusiasm and convince people that the Democrats weren't just a bunch of servants of Wall Street who were content to let the planet roast for corporate profits, she viciously and needlessly attacked AOC and the other newcomers.
She's snide, dismissive, and much more engaged in her attacks on the left than she ever is in her attacks on the right. It's quite clear that Pelosi thinks of Republicans as reasonable people she can get along with, but sees anyone to the left of Joe Manchin as a dangerous element who must be eradicated, and she believes that by openly displaying her disdain, contempt, and hatred for AOC the voters will reward the Democrats with votes. The internet shorthand for that is "hippie punching".
Remember when Pelosi was in London and flatly said that she didn't criticize Trump while out of the country? She didn't extent that courtesy to any of the leftists though, she criticized the shit out of all the leftists she could think of.
So yes, AOC and the others on the left are fighting back rather than just letting Pelosi and the old guard, fearful of Republicans, Democrats attack them without response. I don't think that's really bad or horrible or even bad politics.
Pelosi is a relic of a Democratic Party terrified of being too liberal, and she's lost the mental flexibility to realize that the country will reward left wing populism with votes.
posted by sotonohito at 5:10 AM on July 7, 2019 [57 favorites]
Rather than letting AOC and the others build enthusiasm and convince people that the Democrats weren't just a bunch of servants of Wall Street who were content to let the planet roast for corporate profits, she viciously and needlessly attacked AOC and the other newcomers.
She's snide, dismissive, and much more engaged in her attacks on the left than she ever is in her attacks on the right. It's quite clear that Pelosi thinks of Republicans as reasonable people she can get along with, but sees anyone to the left of Joe Manchin as a dangerous element who must be eradicated, and she believes that by openly displaying her disdain, contempt, and hatred for AOC the voters will reward the Democrats with votes. The internet shorthand for that is "hippie punching".
Remember when Pelosi was in London and flatly said that she didn't criticize Trump while out of the country? She didn't extent that courtesy to any of the leftists though, she criticized the shit out of all the leftists she could think of.
So yes, AOC and the others on the left are fighting back rather than just letting Pelosi and the old guard, fearful of Republicans, Democrats attack them without response. I don't think that's really bad or horrible or even bad politics.
Pelosi is a relic of a Democratic Party terrified of being too liberal, and she's lost the mental flexibility to realize that the country will reward left wing populism with votes.
posted by sotonohito at 5:10 AM on July 7, 2019 [57 favorites]
I admire both Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and I think they know what they are doing when they act as foils for one another.
Ocasio-Cortez needs to be seen as anti-establishment -- it's her brand -- and a little public feuding with Pelosi is great advertising for that brand.
Pelosi needs to win districts currently held by Republicans, and to do that, she needs to appeal to moderates who have previously voted for Republicans. It's helpful for her to have a left flank making people like Conor Lamb look centrist and moderate by comparison.
Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez should go ahead and publicly dis each other when necessary to make it clear how big the Democratic party tent is, how broad an ideological spectrum it can span, and welcome in the largest possible coalition of voters. And nobody else should dis either of them, because c'mon, let 'em work.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2019 [55 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez needs to be seen as anti-establishment -- it's her brand -- and a little public feuding with Pelosi is great advertising for that brand.
Pelosi needs to win districts currently held by Republicans, and to do that, she needs to appeal to moderates who have previously voted for Republicans. It's helpful for her to have a left flank making people like Conor Lamb look centrist and moderate by comparison.
Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez should go ahead and publicly dis each other when necessary to make it clear how big the Democratic party tent is, how broad an ideological spectrum it can span, and welcome in the largest possible coalition of voters. And nobody else should dis either of them, because c'mon, let 'em work.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2019 [55 favorites]
Something that seems to weirdly unite the left, liberal, and not-very-liberal-at-all factions is an assumption that progressive ideas are so good they they practically sell themslves. The milder Democrats use this as an excuse to not do the selling, while the more intense ones use it to say "If only we just broadcast the message more, we just need to tell more people this stuff, they're just uninformed and it must be our failure to Get The Message Out".
But progressive ideas don't sell themselves; it's a signal-to-noise problem in a world of conservative hackery. What's needed is something to combat that. The president, right now, is a shock jock and compulsive liar; I don't want our folks to indulge in dishonesty or in horribleness for the sake of clicks, but we do need something, and I'm not sure what it is other than it's not as simple as "Just tell the people".
monopas: And every one of the Democratic politicians who is campaigning knows that they are going to be ripped to shreds if they breathe a word about healthcare or taxes in a way that could be considered a promise about changing them if the politician does not deliver it the moment they are elected in exactly the way each individual wants it, regardless of any practical considerations.
Excactly! Among other things, that's the hack gap in action. The things that Republicans have come to realize they're allowed to say, compared to Democrats (even when it comes to contradicting supposed Republican ideological views) is astonishing. I don't exactly blame Pelosi for not somehow breaking through that obstacle.
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
This is different. I think AOC has a clearer view of, to pick one example, the issue with border camps. There isn't any legislative means to make them better without Republicans turning their back on their own white-supremacist values. That means compromise, as just happened, can only worsen things unless it's in the form of some Republicans going rogue and backing a Democratic bill.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
But progressive ideas don't sell themselves; it's a signal-to-noise problem in a world of conservative hackery. What's needed is something to combat that. The president, right now, is a shock jock and compulsive liar; I don't want our folks to indulge in dishonesty or in horribleness for the sake of clicks, but we do need something, and I'm not sure what it is other than it's not as simple as "Just tell the people".
monopas: And every one of the Democratic politicians who is campaigning knows that they are going to be ripped to shreds if they breathe a word about healthcare or taxes in a way that could be considered a promise about changing them if the politician does not deliver it the moment they are elected in exactly the way each individual wants it, regardless of any practical considerations.
Excactly! Among other things, that's the hack gap in action. The things that Republicans have come to realize they're allowed to say, compared to Democrats (even when it comes to contradicting supposed Republican ideological views) is astonishing. I don't exactly blame Pelosi for not somehow breaking through that obstacle.
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
This is different. I think AOC has a clearer view of, to pick one example, the issue with border camps. There isn't any legislative means to make them better without Republicans turning their back on their own white-supremacist values. That means compromise, as just happened, can only worsen things unless it's in the form of some Republicans going rogue and backing a Democratic bill.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
realize that the country will reward left wing populism with votes.
^This is where my thinking is going more and more re:2020. But hanging over it all is the inevitable refusal of protocol by Trump and team if/when he loses. Dem leadership should be discussing and preparing for the new scary position of trying to get a tyrant out of power next fall. I fear a post-democracy period for the US, hopefully a brief one.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:22 AM on July 7, 2019 [4 favorites]
^This is where my thinking is going more and more re:2020. But hanging over it all is the inevitable refusal of protocol by Trump and team if/when he loses. Dem leadership should be discussing and preparing for the new scary position of trying to get a tyrant out of power next fall. I fear a post-democracy period for the US, hopefully a brief one.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:22 AM on July 7, 2019 [4 favorites]
While Pelosi talks about Trump “Self-impeaching”, he just hit the highest approval of his presidency. Refusing to make the argument has obvious consequences.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:38 AM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:38 AM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
Harry Caul We have to work on the assumption that it's possible to vote Trump out of office. I'll agree that some degree of planning for the possibility of violence from his cultists is reasonable, but I think that even with his threats of staying in office for decades I don't think the odds are really high at all that we'll see a refusal to leave.
I'll agree that for the first time in my life I think there actually is a possibility of a sitting President refusing to leave office after being voted out, but I also think the possibility is quite low.
T.D. Strange Meh, we've seen rises in his approval after he does something that will let the pundits and mushy middle pretend he's "Presidential", and he managed to get through his Salute To Trump event without any major gaffes, delivered a not blatantly election campaign style speech without any lapses into Nazi sloganeering, and so the pundit class and the people desperate for normalcy are seeing yet another moment where they can delude themselves into thinking that Trump is growing into the Presidency. It'll pass.
posted by sotonohito at 5:51 AM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
I'll agree that for the first time in my life I think there actually is a possibility of a sitting President refusing to leave office after being voted out, but I also think the possibility is quite low.
T.D. Strange Meh, we've seen rises in his approval after he does something that will let the pundits and mushy middle pretend he's "Presidential", and he managed to get through his Salute To Trump event without any major gaffes, delivered a not blatantly election campaign style speech without any lapses into Nazi sloganeering, and so the pundit class and the people desperate for normalcy are seeing yet another moment where they can delude themselves into thinking that Trump is growing into the Presidency. It'll pass.
posted by sotonohito at 5:51 AM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
Pelosi needs to win districts currently held by Republicans, and to do that, she needs to appeal to moderates who have previously voted for Republicans. It's helpful for her to have a left flank making people like Conor Lamb look centrist and moderate by comparison.
No. To do that she needs to broadcast far and wide that the entirety of the GOP has been taken over by racists, who cheer when children are stolen from their families and sent to concentration camps, where they are dying.
Because that's the truth. And mollycoddling people who won't accept the truth is not The Right Thing To Do.
And when we're talking about people dying, it's time to but bullshit political strategy to the side and go to war.
If we accept that we're at war for the soul of our nation, it's clear that Pelosi isn't the person to lead us to victory.
posted by mikelieman at 6:24 AM on July 7, 2019 [23 favorites]
No. To do that she needs to broadcast far and wide that the entirety of the GOP has been taken over by racists, who cheer when children are stolen from their families and sent to concentration camps, where they are dying.
Because that's the truth. And mollycoddling people who won't accept the truth is not The Right Thing To Do.
And when we're talking about people dying, it's time to but bullshit political strategy to the side and go to war.
If we accept that we're at war for the soul of our nation, it's clear that Pelosi isn't the person to lead us to victory.
posted by mikelieman at 6:24 AM on July 7, 2019 [23 favorites]
Mod note: Let's rein this back in to a little more discussion of Trump admin news, please, and a little less Argue Pelosi All The Time. Thanks
posted by taz (staff) at 6:47 AM on July 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 6:47 AM on July 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
Pelosi needs to win districts currently held by Republicans
Um, she doesn't. The Dems have a comfortable House majority. They need to hold the more marginal districts they won last year, but a lot of the new representatives in those districts are more vocal about using the power of the majority right now precisely because they ran and won on checking the president and congressional Republicans. It's the leadership and (some) committee chairs who've held their seats for decades displaying learned helplessness towards using their own power and having power illegitimately used against them.
In the broader political context, Dem leadership has to come up with a better answer to "what are the consequences for repeated defiance of congressional (and judicial) authority?" than "losing in 2020."
posted by holgate at 7:43 AM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
Um, she doesn't. The Dems have a comfortable House majority. They need to hold the more marginal districts they won last year, but a lot of the new representatives in those districts are more vocal about using the power of the majority right now precisely because they ran and won on checking the president and congressional Republicans. It's the leadership and (some) committee chairs who've held their seats for decades displaying learned helplessness towards using their own power and having power illegitimately used against them.
In the broader political context, Dem leadership has to come up with a better answer to "what are the consequences for repeated defiance of congressional (and judicial) authority?" than "losing in 2020."
posted by holgate at 7:43 AM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
I am posting this both here and in the Defining "Concentration Camp" thread for folks outside of the United States who want to join the Lights for Liberty vigils and protests (mentioned earlier) against the concentration camps this Friday, July 12th. Democrats Abroad is helping organise support for the July 12th action globally. In Stockholm, for example, there's a vigil scheduled for 16:30 on Friday at Raoul Wallenbergs torg. Folks are also encouraged to join the Virtual Virgil if they cannot attend an action in person and/or take other actions. Democrats Abroad have also compiled a list of Immigration Talking Points as well. It is not officially affiliated with Lights for Liberty but notes:
As American citizens, we are horrified at the atrocities being carried out at the US Southern Border in our name. Millions of Americans live overseas and have been welcomed in the countries where we live today. As Americans abroad, we understand what it’s like to live between cultures and countries. And a great many of us live in countries that continue to wrestle with immigration issues of their own. But nowhere in the world is it acceptable to be separating or incarcerating families - indefinitely, at that. Our members, like Americans across the U.S. and our friends around the world, will not stand for this treatment. We’re speaking out because it’s right. Because we must.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:55 AM on July 7, 2019 [13 favorites]
As American citizens, we are horrified at the atrocities being carried out at the US Southern Border in our name. Millions of Americans live overseas and have been welcomed in the countries where we live today. As Americans abroad, we understand what it’s like to live between cultures and countries. And a great many of us live in countries that continue to wrestle with immigration issues of their own. But nowhere in the world is it acceptable to be separating or incarcerating families - indefinitely, at that. Our members, like Americans across the U.S. and our friends around the world, will not stand for this treatment. We’re speaking out because it’s right. Because we must.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:55 AM on July 7, 2019 [13 favorites]
taz, I understand, but I am a slow writer, so I hope that this will be allowed to stand.
sotonohito, thank you for mansplaining this to me. How could I, a mere middle-aged woman whose hopes and dreams for a better future have been crushed repeatedly in the cold fist of political and societal reality, ever have believed that my interpretations and opinions were as valid as yours.
You seem to really want to hate Nancy Pelosi. Because she's not spouting enough idealist rhetoric? Because she acknowledges the relative political powerlessness of legiaslative Democrats in the current administration? Because she hasn't disemboweled Mitch McConnell?
Well, I have been here the whole damn time, and I have paid attention. Based on many observed interactions, I disagree with your assessment.
So yes, I remember what Pelosi said, or didn't say about Trump in London. Pretty much the same thing she has said in every interview outside of the US. (politifact) (WaPo too, though the author seems rather biased.)
I did not hear the dismissive tone towards the leftists that you seem to read into it. In fact, all she said was that a glass of water could win either of their districts running as a democrat, which is true. And that despite whatever she or AOC believe and say, there are a lot of places where professing a desire for that level of perceived socialism won't be the best strategy for keeping the House in the next election.
In the recent exchange, it was AOC who started it. She was angry about not changing the senate bill after McConnell chucked the original House bill, and took it to twitter. Too much abdication of power, they'll keep hurting kids if we do. Understandable, but irrelevant.
Because they're going to keep hurting kids anyway. Shitty but true. What Nancy Pelosi did was make sure that the House Democats did not end up as the villains by denying the GOP and Trumpists the opportunity to spin the narrative. She also reinforced the idea that the House is not like the Senate. That Democrats are not an unreasonable bunch of fascists and there is room for disagreement.
Twitter is a social media platform. And messages can reach far and wide quickly. But the reality is that each congressperson gets one vote. Even the Speaker of the House, who does not always vote. And they are elected by the constituents of their districts. And we need more districts, or at least to keep the ones we've got. We need Senate seats.
Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House, but she is not the Democratic Party. She is not the leader of it, she is not the spokesperson. She is not some kind of out of touch puppet of the corporations. She's a human being doing the best she can for everyone with what she's got.
I am not saying that you have to like Pelosi, or anyone else. But I would very much like it if we could keep the blind negativity and loathing shit posts out of this thread. The circular firing squad, doomsaying, and the like seem to be on the rise again. But that is why there's a fucking fuck thread.
Since I am a slow writer, I seldom participate in these threads beyond favoriting. The way I look at politics often makes it difficult as well, as PR analysis is ugly and vague. I would like to feel as if I could express a viewpoint without being mansplained to, shouted down for having a different opinion or interpretation, or fear of being harassed.
posted by monopas at 7:58 AM on July 7, 2019 [31 favorites]
sotonohito, thank you for mansplaining this to me. How could I, a mere middle-aged woman whose hopes and dreams for a better future have been crushed repeatedly in the cold fist of political and societal reality, ever have believed that my interpretations and opinions were as valid as yours.
You seem to really want to hate Nancy Pelosi. Because she's not spouting enough idealist rhetoric? Because she acknowledges the relative political powerlessness of legiaslative Democrats in the current administration? Because she hasn't disemboweled Mitch McConnell?
Well, I have been here the whole damn time, and I have paid attention. Based on many observed interactions, I disagree with your assessment.
So yes, I remember what Pelosi said, or didn't say about Trump in London. Pretty much the same thing she has said in every interview outside of the US. (politifact) (WaPo too, though the author seems rather biased.)
I did not hear the dismissive tone towards the leftists that you seem to read into it. In fact, all she said was that a glass of water could win either of their districts running as a democrat, which is true. And that despite whatever she or AOC believe and say, there are a lot of places where professing a desire for that level of perceived socialism won't be the best strategy for keeping the House in the next election.
In the recent exchange, it was AOC who started it. She was angry about not changing the senate bill after McConnell chucked the original House bill, and took it to twitter. Too much abdication of power, they'll keep hurting kids if we do. Understandable, but irrelevant.
Because they're going to keep hurting kids anyway. Shitty but true. What Nancy Pelosi did was make sure that the House Democats did not end up as the villains by denying the GOP and Trumpists the opportunity to spin the narrative. She also reinforced the idea that the House is not like the Senate. That Democrats are not an unreasonable bunch of fascists and there is room for disagreement.
Twitter is a social media platform. And messages can reach far and wide quickly. But the reality is that each congressperson gets one vote. Even the Speaker of the House, who does not always vote. And they are elected by the constituents of their districts. And we need more districts, or at least to keep the ones we've got. We need Senate seats.
Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House, but she is not the Democratic Party. She is not the leader of it, she is not the spokesperson. She is not some kind of out of touch puppet of the corporations. She's a human being doing the best she can for everyone with what she's got.
I am not saying that you have to like Pelosi, or anyone else. But I would very much like it if we could keep the blind negativity and loathing shit posts out of this thread. The circular firing squad, doomsaying, and the like seem to be on the rise again. But that is why there's a fucking fuck thread.
Since I am a slow writer, I seldom participate in these threads beyond favoriting. The way I look at politics often makes it difficult as well, as PR analysis is ugly and vague. I would like to feel as if I could express a viewpoint without being mansplained to, shouted down for having a different opinion or interpretation, or fear of being harassed.
posted by monopas at 7:58 AM on July 7, 2019 [31 favorites]
Was some harassment deleted that I’m not seeing?
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:25 AM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:25 AM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Deutsche Bank could cut up to 20,000 jobs
This is the only bank that would lend money to Trump.
I don't know if this is the case here, but a guy I knew when we were kids is now CEO of a huge multinational that was involved in another scandal, and because I know him, I've followed what he is doing. I can tell you, that when the cleaners come, they clean out all the closets and corners, with full support from their boards who hired them to do that job. My childhood playmate is not afraid to go out and admit crimes were committed and pay up. It seems to be what DB is doing, but I am not following it close up, and in this case I'm sure the German government is involved.
If this is what is happening, Trump will be on the table.
posted by mumimor at 8:36 AM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
This is the only bank that would lend money to Trump.
I don't know if this is the case here, but a guy I knew when we were kids is now CEO of a huge multinational that was involved in another scandal, and because I know him, I've followed what he is doing. I can tell you, that when the cleaners come, they clean out all the closets and corners, with full support from their boards who hired them to do that job. My childhood playmate is not afraid to go out and admit crimes were committed and pay up. It seems to be what DB is doing, but I am not following it close up, and in this case I'm sure the German government is involved.
If this is what is happening, Trump will be on the table.
posted by mumimor at 8:36 AM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
Being a jerk is her brand. Better put, being an activist is her brand. Activism means being loud and vocal when issues you care about aren't being talked about. Activism means pushing past the point of politeness. Activism means being a jerk sometimes.
A good activist needs to know how to turn than off too. Activism doesn't write good policy. It doesn't listen carefully, especially to those who don't, fully or in part, agree with it.
AOC needs to capture the imagination to move the conversation to where she wants it. She does that instinctively. She's good at that,. and that means sometimes being a jerk and not taking "sit down and be polite" seriously. What she needs to learn, as was apparent with the policy papers she's put forward, is a path to convert that activism to results. She's still figuring that out. That doesn't mean she needs to stop being an advocate.
posted by bonehead at 8:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [15 favorites]
Being a jerk is her brand. Better put, being an activist is her brand. Activism means being loud and vocal when issues you care about aren't being talked about. Activism means pushing past the point of politeness. Activism means being a jerk sometimes.
A good activist needs to know how to turn than off too. Activism doesn't write good policy. It doesn't listen carefully, especially to those who don't, fully or in part, agree with it.
AOC needs to capture the imagination to move the conversation to where she wants it. She does that instinctively. She's good at that,. and that means sometimes being a jerk and not taking "sit down and be polite" seriously. What she needs to learn, as was apparent with the policy papers she's put forward, is a path to convert that activism to results. She's still figuring that out. That doesn't mean she needs to stop being an advocate.
posted by bonehead at 8:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [15 favorites]
Donald Trump 'inept' and 'dysfunctional', UK ambassador to US says
I'd seen this scoop by the Daily Mail ("Britain's Man In the US says Trump Is 'Inept': Leaked Secret Cables From Ambassador Say The President Is 'Uniquely Dysfunctional And His Career Could End In Disgrace'"), and it looks like the Guardian and Daily Telegraph are carrying it, too (though without independent confirmation). Needless to say, the Mail published a lot more juicy details from their extensive leaks:
Was some harassment deleted that I’m not seeing?
I can't tell either. My rule of thumb is that whenever a mod leaves a note, it's time to reload the entire page and stop posting about whatever they've flagged.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:56 AM on July 7, 2019 [15 favorites]
I'd seen this scoop by the Daily Mail ("Britain's Man In the US says Trump Is 'Inept': Leaked Secret Cables From Ambassador Say The President Is 'Uniquely Dysfunctional And His Career Could End In Disgrace'"), and it looks like the Guardian and Daily Telegraph are carrying it, too (though without independent confirmation). Needless to say, the Mail published a lot more juicy details from their extensive leaks:
In the memos, seen by The Mail on Sunday following an unprecedented leak, Sir Kim [Darroch]:The whole article is worth reading for the details in these leaks (not for the Mail's constant editorializing, of course). I really wonder who decided to leak these and to what end—and why they went to the Mail instead of either a Murdoch paper or the Daily Telegraph.
• Describes bitter conflicts within Trump's White House – verified by his own sources – as 'knife fights';
• Warns that Trump could have been indebted to 'dodgy Russians';
• Claims the President's economic policies could wreck the world trade system;
• Says the scandal-hit Presidency could 'crash and burn' and that 'we could be at the beginning of a downward spiral... that leads to disgrace and downfall'[…]
He also says that he doesn't think Trump's White House will 'ever look competent'.
In reference to Trump's ability to shrug off controversies in a life which has been 'mired in scandal', he says that the President may nonetheless 'emerge from the flames, battered but intact, like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger in the final scenes of The Terminator'. [Sir Kim obviously doesn't know his sci-fi movies, or he'd remember that the Terminator is crushed at the end of the first film.]
He warns senior politicians in London: 'Do not write him off.'[…]
The most incendiary paper is a letter to National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill sent on June 22, 2017 – 150 days into the Trump administration – and copied to what Sir Kim describes as a 'strictly limited' number of senior figures in Downing Street and the Foreign Office. […] [R]eferring to allegations of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia – since largely disproved [*ahem*] – the memo says: 'The worst cannot be ruled out.'
Was some harassment deleted that I’m not seeing?
I can't tell either. My rule of thumb is that whenever a mod leaves a note, it's time to reload the entire page and stop posting about whatever they've flagged.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:56 AM on July 7, 2019 [15 favorites]
a lot of the new representatives in those districts are more vocal about using the power of the majority right now precisely because they ran and won on checking the president and congressional Republicans. It's the leadership and (some) committee chairs who've held their seats for decades displaying learned helplessness towards using their own power and having power illegitimately used against them.
This is not true at all. The more vocal reps are the ones coming from safe districts. The ones from marginal districts are the same Dems who are arguing against getting more aggressive and progressive. Dems did not win in those districts on democratic socialism or bashing Trump. They ran and won on bread-and-butter issues like healthcare (but not Medicare for All, sorry) and the Republican attacks on them focused on trying to tie them to the more progressive candidates like AOC and to Nancy Pelosi, the Evil Progressive Witch Out To Destroy America.
posted by Anonymous at 9:20 AM on July 7, 2019
This is not true at all. The more vocal reps are the ones coming from safe districts. The ones from marginal districts are the same Dems who are arguing against getting more aggressive and progressive. Dems did not win in those districts on democratic socialism or bashing Trump. They ran and won on bread-and-butter issues like healthcare (but not Medicare for All, sorry) and the Republican attacks on them focused on trying to tie them to the more progressive candidates like AOC and to Nancy Pelosi, the Evil Progressive Witch Out To Destroy America.
posted by Anonymous at 9:20 AM on July 7, 2019
AOC is being a jerk. If she knows the secret of getting House bills with funding for liberal and progressive social programs and the like through the current Senate intact, maybe she should be doing that instead of complaining about it not happening.
If she knows the secret of getting ANY House bills through the current Senate intact, she should share that as well.
She does understand that her role, as one of the young activist Congresswomen with progressive values, is to do whatever she can to drag the Overton Window as to what are considered appropriate and possible legislative goals as far and as hard to the left as possible, so that what ends up coming up for a vote is the most progressive bill possible. A Freedom Kook-us for the left, if you will, without their genetic inability to recognize when a 90% victory is sufficient.
Nothing progressive will emerge from the House, much less go any further, unless leftist reps are stating it clearly and often that progressive legislation is desirable, viable and needed. It may well _not_ be viable any time soon. But one thing to learn from the hard right is that by proposing the unthinkable early and often, they have brought much of it into the realm of being _thought about_ seriously. Sometimes when you want five, you ask for ten and compromise on six.
posted by delfin at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
If she knows the secret of getting ANY House bills through the current Senate intact, she should share that as well.
She does understand that her role, as one of the young activist Congresswomen with progressive values, is to do whatever she can to drag the Overton Window as to what are considered appropriate and possible legislative goals as far and as hard to the left as possible, so that what ends up coming up for a vote is the most progressive bill possible. A Freedom Kook-us for the left, if you will, without their genetic inability to recognize when a 90% victory is sufficient.
Nothing progressive will emerge from the House, much less go any further, unless leftist reps are stating it clearly and often that progressive legislation is desirable, viable and needed. It may well _not_ be viable any time soon. But one thing to learn from the hard right is that by proposing the unthinkable early and often, they have brought much of it into the realm of being _thought about_ seriously. Sometimes when you want five, you ask for ten and compromise on six.
posted by delfin at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
The strange death of Tory economic thinking
He starts out with this: "I should be absolutely clear right now that whether you agree with the economic ideas of previous Tory governments is totally irrelevant to the rest of what I am going to say."
What a bunch of horseshit. He is pining for the good old days of Thatcherism in which Conservatives would wrap justification for their toxic class warfare in Very Serious economic claptrap. Stuff like tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the poor was all for your own good, and they had the Serious Economic Arguments to prove it.
His complaint is not that their economic arguments were garbage, but that at least they had the trappings of eminent economic framing.
Nothing has really changed with the Tories except that they have found they don't even have to bother with the ridiculous facade of economic drek to justify their objectives. Full on racism and xenophobia works just as well.
posted by JackFlash at 9:56 AM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
He starts out with this: "I should be absolutely clear right now that whether you agree with the economic ideas of previous Tory governments is totally irrelevant to the rest of what I am going to say."
What a bunch of horseshit. He is pining for the good old days of Thatcherism in which Conservatives would wrap justification for their toxic class warfare in Very Serious economic claptrap. Stuff like tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the poor was all for your own good, and they had the Serious Economic Arguments to prove it.
His complaint is not that their economic arguments were garbage, but that at least they had the trappings of eminent economic framing.
Nothing has really changed with the Tories except that they have found they don't even have to bother with the ridiculous facade of economic drek to justify their objectives. Full on racism and xenophobia works just as well.
posted by JackFlash at 9:56 AM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
Better put, being an activist is her brand.
Activists and politicians are two different breeds. Sometimes politicians need to do things the activist will find distasteful like dialing for dollars so you're not just sponging off the work of your lessers who do their job of raising money. It may also mean running an office in your district because not everyone is as extremely online as you.
Pelosi and AOC could do a little less running to the media/twitter to talk shit and more of their actual jobs.
posted by asteria at 10:07 AM on July 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
Activists and politicians are two different breeds. Sometimes politicians need to do things the activist will find distasteful like dialing for dollars so you're not just sponging off the work of your lessers who do their job of raising money. It may also mean running an office in your district because not everyone is as extremely online as you.
Pelosi and AOC could do a little less running to the media/twitter to talk shit and more of their actual jobs.
posted by asteria at 10:07 AM on July 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
here’s where we get to talk about the fine distinctions between social democracy and democratic socialism. (i promise, it’s a useful thing to talk about).
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 10:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [36 favorites]
- social democrats believe it is possible to achieve a worthwhile society to live in through parliamentary means — i.e., they believe that if we elect the right people, those people will make good laws and enforce them well, and thereby make the country and the world better.
- for social democrats, electing social democrats is the goal and the purpose of participation in electoral systems.
- democratic socialists, on the other hand, believe that the various preëxisting forces of repression will thwart any attempt to establish a worthwhile society through parliamentary means.
- as such, for a democratic socialist, the purpose of elected democratic socialists isn’t just to elect more democratic socialists or pass democratic socialist laws (although it would be nice to elect more democratic socialists and pass democratic socialist laws). instead, the goal for elected democratic socialists is to strengthen the broader, extra-parliamentary movement that elected them — to publicize the movement, to attract more people to the movement, and to help focus the attention and anger of the people in the movement.
- as such, a democratic socialist elected who isn’t rabble-rousing on twitter or whatever is failing to do their job.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 10:39 AM on July 7, 2019 [36 favorites]
I really wonder who decided to leak these and to what end—and why they went to the Mail instead of either a Murdoch paper or the Daily Telegraph.
The byline is Isabel Oakeshott, who has close ties to Lord Ashcroft, and the people who've seized upon the leaks most quickly are the brexit bad boys such as the tax-averse A. Banks and the Belize-unaverse Andy Wigmore, who proposed replacing Darroch with Nigel Farage. (The UK does not send political appointees to top diplomatic posts; the last non-career ambassador to the US was Peter Jay in the 1970s.)
If this is Johnson laundering cables he kept from his time as Foreign Secretary, it's scandalous by itself.
posted by holgate at 11:05 AM on July 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
The byline is Isabel Oakeshott, who has close ties to Lord Ashcroft, and the people who've seized upon the leaks most quickly are the brexit bad boys such as the tax-averse A. Banks and the Belize-unaverse Andy Wigmore, who proposed replacing Darroch with Nigel Farage. (The UK does not send political appointees to top diplomatic posts; the last non-career ambassador to the US was Peter Jay in the 1970s.)
If this is Johnson laundering cables he kept from his time as Foreign Secretary, it's scandalous by itself.
posted by holgate at 11:05 AM on July 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
Mehdi Hasan: Nancy Pelosi Has Chosen Her War, and it’s With Her Own Party’s Future
To be clear: none of these freshmen Democrats have personally attacked Pelosi and all four of them backed her bid for the speakership. As CNN’s Nathan McDermott tweeted, “It is pretty notable that the most vocally anti-Pelosi Democrats (ala the moderates in swing districts who opposed her leadership) don’t get as much criticism from her as the left-wing of the party.”posted by Rust Moranis at 11:08 AM on July 7, 2019 [23 favorites]
How about Donald Trump? Pelosi is willing to criticize Trump — “I’ve never encountered, thought about, seen within the realm of my experiences as a child or an adult, anybody like this” — but only criticize. Nothing more. Not impeachment, that’s for sure. The top Democrat in the House told Dowd that the president has engaged in criminal behavior but — wait for it — “you can’t impeach everybody.”
The New York Times interview is yet another reminder for liberals and leftists that if they want to oppose Trump, they have to oppose Pelosi too.
Live Fox News Report about World Cup Win Interrupted by 'Fuck Trump' Chant (Deadspin)
posted by box at 12:45 PM on July 7, 2019 [46 favorites]
posted by box at 12:45 PM on July 7, 2019 [46 favorites]
If this is Johnson laundering cables he kept from his time as Foreign Secretary, it's scandalous by itself.
It isn't. The leaked documents include discussion of 45's state visit to the UK, which happened long after Boris had left the building.
The contents of the leak are exactly what you'd expect from someone reporting back on a king and court in disarray. Diplomatic reports are highly prized as sources of information for historians and spies alike, because they come from intelligent observers who are very motivated to communicate the truth.
The question of who leaked this and why is by far the most interesting point of the affair. Recently, there was another leak from one of the UK government's most secure committees regarding what we intended to do about Huawei - the defence minister got sacked over this, as he was collared as the source of the lieak, something he continues to deny. It looks as if someone very senior in the civil service, quite possibly more than just the one someone, is working to impose an agenda on events. I await developments with some antici..... pation.
posted by Devonian at 12:51 PM on July 7, 2019 [12 favorites]
It isn't. The leaked documents include discussion of 45's state visit to the UK, which happened long after Boris had left the building.
The contents of the leak are exactly what you'd expect from someone reporting back on a king and court in disarray. Diplomatic reports are highly prized as sources of information for historians and spies alike, because they come from intelligent observers who are very motivated to communicate the truth.
The question of who leaked this and why is by far the most interesting point of the affair. Recently, there was another leak from one of the UK government's most secure committees regarding what we intended to do about Huawei - the defence minister got sacked over this, as he was collared as the source of the lieak, something he continues to deny. It looks as if someone very senior in the civil service, quite possibly more than just the one someone, is working to impose an agenda on events. I await developments with some antici..... pation.
posted by Devonian at 12:51 PM on July 7, 2019 [12 favorites]
It looks as if someone very senior in the civil service, quite possibly more than just the one someone, is working to impose an agenda on events.
My hypothesis was that it was someone from the FO or with FO connections who wanted to shiv Johnson by pissing off Trump. Trump certainly seemed more receptive to Johnson as PM during his recent state visit. (My impression is that Ashcroft favors Hunt over Johnson, making the Mail a more receptive audience for the leaks, as opposed to the Johnson-associated Telegraph and Times.)
Trump hasn't yet said anything about the leaked cables, however, and probably won't until the news hits US TV. Instead, he's spent today attacking "Sleepy Joe Biden" for working with segregationists and, worse, raising taxes if elected, making vague promises about prescription drug prices, calling the NYT's Clint detention center reporting "phony and exaggerated", and, ugh, congratulating the US Women's Soccer Team.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:45 PM on July 7, 2019
My hypothesis was that it was someone from the FO or with FO connections who wanted to shiv Johnson by pissing off Trump. Trump certainly seemed more receptive to Johnson as PM during his recent state visit. (My impression is that Ashcroft favors Hunt over Johnson, making the Mail a more receptive audience for the leaks, as opposed to the Johnson-associated Telegraph and Times.)
Trump hasn't yet said anything about the leaked cables, however, and probably won't until the news hits US TV. Instead, he's spent today attacking "Sleepy Joe Biden" for working with segregationists and, worse, raising taxes if elected, making vague promises about prescription drug prices, calling the NYT's Clint detention center reporting "phony and exaggerated", and, ugh, congratulating the US Women's Soccer Team.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:45 PM on July 7, 2019
The New York Times interview is yet another reminder for liberals and leftists that if they want to oppose Trump, they have to oppose Pelosi too.
I disagree with this conclusion.
Trump I must oppose. As someone who is deeply flawed and inconsistent but determined to love my fellow humans as myself, I must oppose Trump on nearly every issue that defines his Presidency.
Pelosi I must convince. I believe that she and I mostly want the same things for our fellow humans, but I see that she perhaps doesn't feel the same sense of urgency and fear that I feel, and so I must convince her that we're facing a critical threat to the sensible and compassionate path we should be taking, not a run-of-the-mill "just let the process handle it in a slow and normal way, if at all" threat.
I'm angry as hell about the huge delta between the way Pelosi -- and many other Dems -- respond to wrongdoing and accusations of wrongdoing involving persons and organizations on the left (eg Acorn), but I still want to work with her and the rest ... even No Buck Chuck (Senator Schumer), who deserves just as much ire, if not more, as Pelosi for the way he continually gets played with and run over by McConnell and other Republicans.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:58 PM on July 7, 2019 [27 favorites]
I disagree with this conclusion.
Trump I must oppose. As someone who is deeply flawed and inconsistent but determined to love my fellow humans as myself, I must oppose Trump on nearly every issue that defines his Presidency.
Pelosi I must convince. I believe that she and I mostly want the same things for our fellow humans, but I see that she perhaps doesn't feel the same sense of urgency and fear that I feel, and so I must convince her that we're facing a critical threat to the sensible and compassionate path we should be taking, not a run-of-the-mill "just let the process handle it in a slow and normal way, if at all" threat.
I'm angry as hell about the huge delta between the way Pelosi -- and many other Dems -- respond to wrongdoing and accusations of wrongdoing involving persons and organizations on the left (eg Acorn), but I still want to work with her and the rest ... even No Buck Chuck (Senator Schumer), who deserves just as much ire, if not more, as Pelosi for the way he continually gets played with and run over by McConnell and other Republicans.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:58 PM on July 7, 2019 [27 favorites]
The thing is, we’ve spent this entire administration trying to convince old guard dems to work with us. We’ve marched, we’ve protested, we’ve written, we’ve called...and nothing. Exactly bupkis is what we’ve gotten in response.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:40 PM on July 7, 2019 [26 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:40 PM on July 7, 2019 [26 favorites]
So, has anyone read the NYT Opinion piece? Or just The Intercept hit piece from today?
Because I was terribly impressed how that guy in the Intercept starts by jumping on the opportunity to twist Pelosi's words. It is astonishing how blurring the context and order so quickly makes this sound like Pelosi is denigrating the far left and anyone who supports their ideas. Then the writer goes on to misrepresent or exaggerate any previous reference he can. Then goes on to stoke the outrage fire by quoting and linking to another reporter's tweets of outrage that Nancy Pelosi explains that she is rather occupied with the affairs of government and therefore does not at that time have an informed opinion regarding something that is not within her power to change or prosecute. And it continues on from there until it reaches the bizarre conclusion that somehow
She was simply stating that the four junior congresspeople did not have more support for this stance within the House, by the way. I could find no hippie-punching in any of her words. When did mild criticism and disagreement on methods turn into bashing, slamming, and insulting?
I think that the piece in Salon, AOC to Nancy Pelosi: "That public 'whatever' is called public sentiment." is far more honest than the one from The Intercept. They only use somewhat hyperbolic descriptors instead of outright misrepresentation.
Since no one has linked directly to it: It's Nancy Pelosi's Parade NYT, Maureen O'Dowd
Because I was terribly impressed how that guy in the Intercept starts by jumping on the opportunity to twist Pelosi's words. It is astonishing how blurring the context and order so quickly makes this sound like Pelosi is denigrating the far left and anyone who supports their ideas. Then the writer goes on to misrepresent or exaggerate any previous reference he can. Then goes on to stoke the outrage fire by quoting and linking to another reporter's tweets of outrage that Nancy Pelosi explains that she is rather occupied with the affairs of government and therefore does not at that time have an informed opinion regarding something that is not within her power to change or prosecute. And it continues on from there until it reaches the bizarre conclusion that somehow
She was simply stating that the four junior congresspeople did not have more support for this stance within the House, by the way. I could find no hippie-punching in any of her words. When did mild criticism and disagreement on methods turn into bashing, slamming, and insulting?
I think that the piece in Salon, AOC to Nancy Pelosi: "That public 'whatever' is called public sentiment." is far more honest than the one from The Intercept. They only use somewhat hyperbolic descriptors instead of outright misrepresentation.
Since no one has linked directly to it: It's Nancy Pelosi's Parade NYT, Maureen O'Dowd
“With all due respect, the press likes to make a story that is more about Democrats divided than the fact that Mitch McConnell doesn’t care about the children,’’ she said, referring to what she called “trash” stories about a supposed rift between her and Chuck Schumer. She also accused the press of “constantly enabling” Trump by allowing him to suck up all the oxygen and says journalists are “accomplices to their own denigration.”posted by monopas at 3:01 PM on July 7, 2019 [13 favorites]
“You would think that within a couple of days, 48 hours or so, of seeing that little child with her father, there would have been some challenge of conscience,’’ she said of Republicans. “But understand this: They don’t care.”
...
While the number of House Democrats who want an impeachment inquiry is growing — it’s up to 80 now — Pelosi knows that giving in to that primal pleasure could backfire.
...
“Oh, he’d rather not be impeached,’’ she said. “But he sees a silver lining. And he wants to then say, ‘The Democrats impeached me but the Senate’ — he won’t say Republicans — ‘exonerated me.’ The thing is that, he every day practically self-impeaches by obstructing justice and ignoring the subpoenas.”
...
“You can’t impeach everybody. People wanted Reagan impeached but that didn’t happen. O.K., they impeached Clinton for something so ridiculous — getting impeached for doing a dumb thing as a guy. Then they wanted to impeach Obama.” And now comes Trump, who she says, “has given real cause for impeachment.”
...
This is the pol whose name was synonymous for decades with extreme San Francisco liberalism. (A “Saturday Night Live” sketch in 2006 depicted Pelosi, played by Kristen Wiig, talking to a pair of chain-and-leather-clad aides, one with a ball-gag in his mouth.) Now, astonishingly, the woman formerly scorned as a pinko is the voice of moderation, urging the kids to turn down the music and slow their roll or risk having a second unbearable helping of Trump.
“If the left doesn’t think I’m left enough, so be it,” she said, breezily. “As I say to these people, come to my basement. I have these signs about single-payer from 30 years ago. I understand what they’re saying. But we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy. We have to have a solution, not just a Twitter fight.”
...
Trump called Pelosi from overseas to congratulate her on passing the border bill.
“I actually think if he were here, we might have had a better shot” at getting more of what the Democrats wanted in the bill, she said. “One thing he understands is the public view of things.” She said that when she urged Trump to speak to Xi Jinping about religious freedom for the Uighurs and democracy in Hong Kong, he typically was focused on the size of the crowd at the protests. “Did you see they had two million people in the streets?” he asked her, impressed.
For those asking, there was no harassment. I was expressing my anxiety about posting as clearly as I could. I apologize if it was misleading.
posted by monopas at 3:06 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by monopas at 3:06 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
I can’t even fathom something less relevant to this discussion that an NYT opinion piece by someone who has an entire section of their Wikipedia page entitled “Controversial portrayals of women in politics”.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:10 PM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:10 PM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
Another Trump tweet today:
Later on Sunday, President Donald Trump defended agencies’ handling of migrants, calling The Times’ report part of a “Big Media Con Job!”Which reminds me to mention the defilement of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the "Salute to America" speech:
“The Fake News Media, in particular the Failing @nytimes, is writing phony and exaggerated accounts of the Border Detention Centers,” the president wrote in a series of posts on Twitter. “First of all, people should not be entering our Country illegally, only for us to then have to care for them. We should be allowed to focus on ..... United States Citizens first. [...]
In 1963, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., stood here on these very steps and called on our nation to live out the “true meaning of its creed,” and “let freedom ring” for every citizen all across our land.This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. actually said while standing at the Lincoln Memorial, giving the "I Have a Dream" speech:
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"posted by Little Dawn at 3:17 PM on July 7, 2019 [20 favorites]
As I say to these people, come to my basement. I have these signs about single-payer from 30 years ago. I understand what they’re saying. But we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy.
yes, and what have you done for me lately, nancy?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:18 PM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
yes, and what have you done for me lately, nancy?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:18 PM on July 7, 2019 [11 favorites]
While the number of House Democrats who want an impeachment inquiry is growing — it’s up to 80 now — Pelosi knows that giving in to that primal pleasure could backfire.In 2019, doing your constitutional duty to try and stave off a terminal constitutional crisis is an indulgence in a low pleasure.
"The thing is that, he every day practically self-impeaches by obstructing justice and ignoring the subpoenas.”Self-impeaches, again. No words. The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel.
“You can’t impeach everybody. People wanted Reagan impeached but that didn’t happen. O.K., they impeached Clinton for something so ridiculous — getting impeached for doing a dumb thing as a guy. Then they wanted to impeach Obama.” And now comes Trump, who she says, “has given real cause for impeachment.”(1) Responding to "this case is the most urgent need for immediate impeachment in american history" with "you can't impeach everybody" is the kind of sociopathic non-rhetoric you expect from narcissist parents and conservatives.
(2) Reagan should have been impeached!! Don't use historical failures to justify your ongoing failure!!!
(3) Boy is that a gross thing to say about Clinton's behavior that would rightly receive heavy criticism if, say, Biden had said it.
(4) If Trump has given "real cause for impeachment," DO YOUR JOB AND IMPEACH HIM
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:21 PM on July 7, 2019 [44 favorites]
Inquiry launched into 'inept Trump administration' leaked emails - BBC
Foreign Office to investigate leaked diplomatic cables - FT
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:29 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Foreign Office to investigate leaked diplomatic cables - FT
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:29 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
‘Prospective Threat’ of Chinese Spying Justifies Huawei Ban, U.S. Says - NYT
The Trump administration says the mere potential for Beijing to influence the Chinese technology giant Huawei is enough to justify a law passed last year restricting federal agencies’ business with the company.
Huawei has challenged the law in federal court, arguing that Congress produced no proof that the company was a security threat before acting against it, and that it was being punished without due process.
The United States government’s latest argument in the case, outlined in a court filing this week, suggests that the Trump administration believes it may not have to produce conclusive evidence of past wrongdoing by Huawei to uphold at least some of its actions against the company.
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Trump administration says the mere potential for Beijing to influence the Chinese technology giant Huawei is enough to justify a law passed last year restricting federal agencies’ business with the company.
Huawei has challenged the law in federal court, arguing that Congress produced no proof that the company was a security threat before acting against it, and that it was being punished without due process.
The United States government’s latest argument in the case, outlined in a court filing this week, suggests that the Trump administration believes it may not have to produce conclusive evidence of past wrongdoing by Huawei to uphold at least some of its actions against the company.
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is not true at all. The more vocal reps are the ones coming from safe districts.
It was definitely true for California's 45th Congressional District. Maybe it's a different climate in your state, but in (formerly) deep red Orange County (California, south of Los Angeles), in the 2018 mid-term election, Katie Porter *definitely* ran on all the good stuff: Medicare for All, End Citizens United, Equal Rights, Gun Reform, etc. (Wayback machine link). Her opponent was Mimi Walters and that seat was R since 1990 at least. (In 2016 Mimi won by 18%).
This is just the O.C. district that I'm most familiar with. I'm under the impression that many other D candidates in other SoCal/O.C. districts were also running on progressive platforms (for instance the other Katie, Katie Hill) and most won. The exception that sticks out in my mind is Ammar Campa-Najjar (running against Duncan Hunter, Jr. in the 50th, an R seat since 2002), even there Ammar came within 3% and I'd bet Ammar wins next time around. (Duncan Hunter Jr. has got a few problems to deal with before concerning himself with the 2020 campaigning.) One of the things that worried me about Ammar's campaign is that it *wasn't* super-progressive. It was like... a hair left of center? Lots of campaign photos of him at various churches, and hanging out with veterans, and loads of U.S. flags everywhere... like he was trying to out-patriot and out-pray Duncan? He did well, but he didn't win, and I wonder if the few thousand votes he needed were people unexcited by centrism...?
Reminder: we flipped the House in 2018, *hard*!
posted by ButteryMales at 3:34 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
It was definitely true for California's 45th Congressional District. Maybe it's a different climate in your state, but in (formerly) deep red Orange County (California, south of Los Angeles), in the 2018 mid-term election, Katie Porter *definitely* ran on all the good stuff: Medicare for All, End Citizens United, Equal Rights, Gun Reform, etc. (Wayback machine link). Her opponent was Mimi Walters and that seat was R since 1990 at least. (In 2016 Mimi won by 18%).
This is just the O.C. district that I'm most familiar with. I'm under the impression that many other D candidates in other SoCal/O.C. districts were also running on progressive platforms (for instance the other Katie, Katie Hill) and most won. The exception that sticks out in my mind is Ammar Campa-Najjar (running against Duncan Hunter, Jr. in the 50th, an R seat since 2002), even there Ammar came within 3% and I'd bet Ammar wins next time around. (Duncan Hunter Jr. has got a few problems to deal with before concerning himself with the 2020 campaigning.) One of the things that worried me about Ammar's campaign is that it *wasn't* super-progressive. It was like... a hair left of center? Lots of campaign photos of him at various churches, and hanging out with veterans, and loads of U.S. flags everywhere... like he was trying to out-patriot and out-pray Duncan?
Reminder: we flipped the House in 2018, *hard*!
posted by ButteryMales at 3:34 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
A senior U.S. official told the Commerce Department’s enforcement staff this week that China’s Huawei should still be treated as blacklisted, days after U.S. President Donald Trump sowed confusion with a vow to ease a ban on sales to the firm.
US chipmakers are not likely to regain access to Huawei
US Commerce Department expects to deny most applications to export products to the Chinese telecommunications giant.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave a recent interview to the French publication Le Point, in which he said that notwithstanding any reversal of the actions that led to Google cutting off Huawei, Huawei is still going to press full steam ahead on the mobile operating system it’s been working on as an Android replacement.
The US helping us in great way by giving us difficulties, said Ren, Under external pressure, we have become more united than ever. If we aren't allowed to use US components, we are very confident in our ability to use components made in China &other countries
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:39 PM on July 7, 2019
US chipmakers are not likely to regain access to Huawei
US Commerce Department expects to deny most applications to export products to the Chinese telecommunications giant.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave a recent interview to the French publication Le Point, in which he said that notwithstanding any reversal of the actions that led to Google cutting off Huawei, Huawei is still going to press full steam ahead on the mobile operating system it’s been working on as an Android replacement.
The US helping us in great way by giving us difficulties, said Ren, Under external pressure, we have become more united than ever. If we aren't allowed to use US components, we are very confident in our ability to use components made in China &other countries
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:39 PM on July 7, 2019
a box and a stick and a string and a bear, if the NYT piece is irrelevant, so are all of the pieces that quote it.
I am done trying to drag the window open a bit wider today. Though I would like to point out that second and third hand deliberately misrepresentational opinion pieces that are intended to be bias-reinforcing are as dangerous and polarizing on the left as it is on the right. It is propaganda either way.
posted by monopas at 3:39 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
I am done trying to drag the window open a bit wider today. Though I would like to point out that second and third hand deliberately misrepresentational opinion pieces that are intended to be bias-reinforcing are as dangerous and polarizing on the left as it is on the right. It is propaganda either way.
posted by monopas at 3:39 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
SF Chronicle: Trump administration ending in-person interpreters at immigrants’ first hearings
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:48 PM on July 7, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Trump administration is preparing to replace in-court interpreters at initial immigration court hearings with videos informing asylum seekers and other immigrants facing deportation of their rights, The Chronicle has learned.William Barr’s DoJ in action.
The administration portrays the change as a cost-saving measure for an immigration court system bogged down under a growing backlog. But advocates for immigrants are concerned the new procedure could jeopardize their due-process rights, add confusion and potentially make the system less efficient by causing more of them to go underground or appeal cases.
The Justice Department informed the nation’s immigration judges of the change last month at a training session, multiple sources familiar with the situation told The Chronicle.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:48 PM on July 7, 2019 [10 favorites]
Sure, I’m 100% comfortable stating on the record that anything coming from the author of this little gem is irrelevant, including any reaction pieces. Dowd is pretty much the opposite of illuminating in regards to everything she touches, so far as I’ve seen.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:48 PM on July 7, 2019 [19 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:48 PM on July 7, 2019 [19 favorites]
“You can’t impeach everybody. People wanted Reagan impeached but that didn’t happen. O.K., they impeached Clinton for something so ridiculous — getting impeached for doing a dumb thing as a guy. Then they wanted to impeach Obama.” And now comes Trump, who she says, “has given real cause for impeachment.”
The person who said this is never going to impeach. If we get an impeachment, it will be in spite of her, not because of her.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2019 [27 favorites]
The person who said this is never going to impeach. If we get an impeachment, it will be in spite of her, not because of her.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2019 [27 favorites]
Trump hasn't yet said anything about the leaked cables, however, and probably won't until the news hits US TV.
It smells like what Devonian said, from glancing through the way the FT covers it versus the BBC et al - the FT has a quote expressing sentiments very similar i.e some political hanky panky going on inside the civil service or government in the UK but no one can figure out why as everyone the FT's quoted has a different opinion on why.
Otoh, with it blaring out like this in all the British papers, not just the tabloids, and none of them holding back on the use of 'inept', one wonders if the press too hopes that the US admin will take note.
Add to that this recent piece of news:
UK mobile operators ignore security fears over Huawei 5G
Firms pushing ahead with Chinese tech giant to set up new network
given that the Daily Mail extracts of the leaked cables that someone had extensively quoted upthread had Sir Kim concerned about Huawei and the US, there definitely seems to be a bit of an effort going on right now to stir the pot very vigorously, viz.,
Furthermore, there were difficult discussions looming over Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The President was annoyed by the UK's refusal to cut ties with the company. It could be awkward.
Mind you, even the Chinese have the temerity to speak up now about the flip flops.
China won’t buy US agricultural products if Americans ‘flip-flop’ in trade talks – state media
Is this another Russian plot do you think? To foment and divide longstanding allies?
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:53 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
It smells like what Devonian said, from glancing through the way the FT covers it versus the BBC et al - the FT has a quote expressing sentiments very similar i.e some political hanky panky going on inside the civil service or government in the UK but no one can figure out why as everyone the FT's quoted has a different opinion on why.
Otoh, with it blaring out like this in all the British papers, not just the tabloids, and none of them holding back on the use of 'inept', one wonders if the press too hopes that the US admin will take note.
Add to that this recent piece of news:
UK mobile operators ignore security fears over Huawei 5G
Firms pushing ahead with Chinese tech giant to set up new network
given that the Daily Mail extracts of the leaked cables that someone had extensively quoted upthread had Sir Kim concerned about Huawei and the US, there definitely seems to be a bit of an effort going on right now to stir the pot very vigorously, viz.,
Furthermore, there were difficult discussions looming over Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The President was annoyed by the UK's refusal to cut ties with the company. It could be awkward.
Mind you, even the Chinese have the temerity to speak up now about the flip flops.
China won’t buy US agricultural products if Americans ‘flip-flop’ in trade talks – state media
Is this another Russian plot do you think? To foment and divide longstanding allies?
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:53 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
For the record, I haven’t read anything from the intercept since they put Reality Winner in jail, and did nothing to help with her legal defense, or subsequent imprisonment. They can fuck right the hell off.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:28 PM on July 7, 2019 [39 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:28 PM on July 7, 2019 [39 favorites]
The person who said this is never going to impeach. If we get an impeachment, it will be in spite of her, not because of her.
There won't be an impeachment. Pelosi has already decided there will not. And if some new information did manage to change her mind, although it's literally impossible to imagine something new that's more egregious that what's already public knowledge, she's wasted enough time that the election process is now a barrier to running an impeachment inquiry. The Mueller report was in April. Impeachment needed to be starting up right now, at the latest, to hit maximum salience by the height of 2020. It would need months to get through the preliminaries and process before you could have real high impact hearings on TV, and that time is steadily ticking down.
Which seems to be both Pelosi's and Trump's plan A.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:38 PM on July 7, 2019 [19 favorites]
There won't be an impeachment. Pelosi has already decided there will not. And if some new information did manage to change her mind, although it's literally impossible to imagine something new that's more egregious that what's already public knowledge, she's wasted enough time that the election process is now a barrier to running an impeachment inquiry. The Mueller report was in April. Impeachment needed to be starting up right now, at the latest, to hit maximum salience by the height of 2020. It would need months to get through the preliminaries and process before you could have real high impact hearings on TV, and that time is steadily ticking down.
Which seems to be both Pelosi's and Trump's plan A.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:38 PM on July 7, 2019 [19 favorites]
I am done trying to drag the window open a bit wider today. Though I would like to point out that second and third hand deliberately misrepresentational opinion pieces that are intended to be bias-reinforcing are as dangerous and polarizing on the left as it is on the right. It is propaganda either way.
I, for one, would like thank monopas for doing the hard and very thoughtful, eloquent work for those of us so weary of this back-and-forth over Pelosi and the advisability of impeachment-at-exactly-this-moment-if-not-yesterday. I want to believe it's time every day I wake up to the prospect of another day under this obscene maladministration. But I don't know. As for Dowd, I haven't read her in years for all the right reasons, but none of those are good enough if you want a window into Pelosi's thinking. That said, I'll go read it.
posted by kemrocken at 4:42 PM on July 7, 2019 [17 favorites]
I'm under the impression that many other D candidates in other SoCal/O.C. districts were also running on progressive platforms (for instance the other Katie, Katie Hill) and most won.
. . . and are you making the same argument about the reps that ran in Pennsylvania? Georgia? Oklahoma? Because even if all California reps ran waving the banner of the DSA (which they did not), they are only six of the flipped seats. Yes, the Dems flipped the House hard. They did not flip because the country magically became pro-socialism. Let's not dive so deep into our bubble that we get things twisted.
posted by Anonymous at 5:21 PM on July 7, 2019
. . . and are you making the same argument about the reps that ran in Pennsylvania? Georgia? Oklahoma? Because even if all California reps ran waving the banner of the DSA (which they did not), they are only six of the flipped seats. Yes, the Dems flipped the House hard. They did not flip because the country magically became pro-socialism. Let's not dive so deep into our bubble that we get things twisted.
posted by Anonymous at 5:21 PM on July 7, 2019
I don't trust Dowd to give Pelosi a fair representation, and I sure as hell don't trust The Intercept's interpretation of a Dowd piece to give Pelosi a fair representation. They're both trash.
posted by Anonymous at 5:27 PM on July 7, 2019
posted by Anonymous at 5:27 PM on July 7, 2019
@ZoeTillman: NOW: Tonight in census citizenship question litigation news — DOJ announces that a new team of lawyers will be taking over the cases, doesn't give a reason or specify who exactly is stepping in (we'll find in new filings tomorrow)[...]Per a DOJ official (declined to be ID'd), the new team in the census litigation will include a mix of political appointees and career lawyers, drawing more from the Consumer Protection Branch, as opposed to Federal Programs. Official declined to get into the *why*
@johnson_carrie: @rickhasen says the move is “ominous” and suggests “it almost certainly means the career attorneys working for the Department of Justice refused to go along with what Trump wants to do now with the citizenship question on the census.”
Yeah that's not good.
posted by zachlipton at 5:32 PM on July 7, 2019 [32 favorites]
@johnson_carrie: @rickhasen says the move is “ominous” and suggests “it almost certainly means the career attorneys working for the Department of Justice refused to go along with what Trump wants to do now with the citizenship question on the census.”
Yeah that's not good.
posted by zachlipton at 5:32 PM on July 7, 2019 [32 favorites]
DOJ is replacing the legal team working on the census question case
Matthew Miller: Suspect this means they couldn’t find any career lawyers willing to sign the briefs going forward, something that has become a pattern at this DOJ
For a good overview of just how egregious and unethical DOJ’s conduct in this case has been, Renato Mariatti had one of the plaintiffs lawyers on the On Topic Podcast yesterday. Cliff notes version is any other litigant would be sanctioned for blatant lying to the Court.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:34 PM on July 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
Matthew Miller: Suspect this means they couldn’t find any career lawyers willing to sign the briefs going forward, something that has become a pattern at this DOJ
For a good overview of just how egregious and unethical DOJ’s conduct in this case has been, Renato Mariatti had one of the plaintiffs lawyers on the On Topic Podcast yesterday. Cliff notes version is any other litigant would be sanctioned for blatant lying to the Court.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:34 PM on July 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
> Deutsche Bank could cut up to 20,000 jobs
Trump is a huge headache for Deutsche, but the bank has plenty more (WaPo reprint)
Trump is a huge headache for Deutsche, but the bank has plenty more (WaPo reprint)
Investigations surrounding Deutsche Bank's more than decade-long relationship with President Donald Trump and his business have created a crisis for the German financial giant. [...] The various investigations into Deutsche and its relationship with Trump have made the bank's efforts to bounce back more complex, analysts say.posted by Little Dawn at 5:40 PM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
It is currently caught [in] a legal battle over a subpoena from House Democrats years of the president's financial records. A Manhattan federal judge has rejected a request by Trump and his family to block Deutsche and Capital One from complying with the congressional subpoenas. The case is currently on hold while Trump appeals the decision and the banks have agreed not to turn over any information until the case is resolved.
Seven Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have also [asked] the Federal Reserve to probe whistleblower allegations, first reported by the New York Times last month, that Deutsche Bank buried suspicious activity from accounts associated with Trump and his son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
New York Attorney General Leticia James has also subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank related to three large loans the bank extended to Trump's company in recent years.
The "Democrats' maneuvers will be a cloud over Deutsche for the foreseeable future," said said Ian Katz, a policy analyst at Capital Alpha Partners.
The bank has said it will cooperate with all of the investigations and has begun discussing the best way to turn over the documents covered by the subpoena with members of the House committee staff, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Bank executives have indicated they are wary of appearing to resist any of the U.S. investigations, said the person, who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
All of the investigations are a "negative," said Ibrahim of CFRA, adding that it "reaffirms what the market has been concerned about the bank's legal risk."
You can’t impeach everybody.
This comment is insane and unacceptable. If we're going to try and curtail criticism of Pelosi in the megathreads, we might as well shut them down. At this point, Pelosi's inexplicable malfeasance is central to the story.
posted by diogenes at 5:44 PM on July 7, 2019 [46 favorites]
This comment is insane and unacceptable. If we're going to try and curtail criticism of Pelosi in the megathreads, we might as well shut them down. At this point, Pelosi's inexplicable malfeasance is central to the story.
posted by diogenes at 5:44 PM on July 7, 2019 [46 favorites]
Suspect this means they couldn’t find any career lawyers willing to sign the briefs going forward, something that has become a pattern at this DOJ
Which may in turn mean that the arguments presented to court are sloppier, but if you're just trying to get five SCOTUS votes, who cares?
posted by holgate at 6:11 PM on July 7, 2019
Which may in turn mean that the arguments presented to court are sloppier, but if you're just trying to get five SCOTUS votes, who cares?
posted by holgate at 6:11 PM on July 7, 2019
At this point, Pelosi's inexplicable malfeasance is central to the story.
One person's "inexplicable malfeasance" is another person's "strategy". That thing requires impeaching, but the reasons for Pelosi's choices are hardly inexplicable and it doesn't mean she's in cahoots with it.
posted by Anonymous at 6:28 PM on July 7, 2019
One person's "inexplicable malfeasance" is another person's "strategy". That thing requires impeaching, but the reasons for Pelosi's choices are hardly inexplicable and it doesn't mean she's in cahoots with it.
posted by Anonymous at 6:28 PM on July 7, 2019
The Intercept didn't write that opinion in reaction to Dowd's piece about Pelosi's cowardice/complicity/pragmatism/strategic genius/whatever-you-call-it. Mehdi Hassan wrote it. Many here have pointed to him as a model for how the US news media should interact with power - critically, skeptically, with proper context, moral clarity, an armamentarium of facts at the ready, a refusal to accept talking points, and an insistence on calling out lies and whataboutisms. E.g., here's Hassan with Erik Prince (1 minute 20 seconds into the linked video). He's not Glenn Greenwald. It'd be great if we avoid painting him as such.
posted by Lyme Drop at 6:50 PM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 6:50 PM on July 7, 2019 [16 favorites]
Pelosi’s reasoning isn’t inexplicable (she’s expressed it plainly, if we’re going to take her statements at face value), but that doesn’t make it acceptable.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:51 PM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:51 PM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
Pelosi’s reasoning is she thinks it’s bad politics because she’s trapped in the 80s. But since she won’t come out and directly say that, though she’s come close, she sounds like a fucking craven idiot hemming and hawing and lying about shit. I especially like condemning Republicans for not standing up to Trump for partisan reasons when she won’t stand up to Trump for... partisan reasons.
But hey, don’t worry. The sure to be fair election will take care of it. Just like it took care of the Supreme Court and candidate Trump. Just ask Justice Garland and President Clinton.
posted by chris24 at 7:11 PM on July 7, 2019 [22 favorites]
But hey, don’t worry. The sure to be fair election will take care of it. Just like it took care of the Supreme Court and candidate Trump. Just ask Justice Garland and President Clinton.
posted by chris24 at 7:11 PM on July 7, 2019 [22 favorites]
At this point, Pelosi's inexplicable malfeasance is central to the story.
It is a non-deniable fact that if there is an impeachment, Trump will be acquitted by the Republicans in the Senate.
People can agree to disagree whether an impeachment with an assured acquittal will be good or bad.
An impeachment is not necessary for investigations to continue.
posted by JackFlash at 7:15 PM on July 7, 2019 [13 favorites]
It is a non-deniable fact that if there is an impeachment, Trump will be acquitted by the Republicans in the Senate.
People can agree to disagree whether an impeachment with an assured acquittal will be good or bad.
An impeachment is not necessary for investigations to continue.
posted by JackFlash at 7:15 PM on July 7, 2019 [13 favorites]
chris24: But hey, don’t worry. The sure to be fair election will take care of it. Just like it took care of the Supreme Court and candidate Trump. Just ask Justice Garland and President Clinton.
If the 2020 election is in fact entirely rigged to the point of being pre-determined, then impeachment is irrelevant. "We have to impeach now because holding him accountable can't wait until the election, and horrendous things are happening in the meantime" doesn't compute because it doesn't hold anyone accountable, it just wags a substantial finger in someone's direction.
You don't impeach your way to a non-rigged election... except in the very real sense that you energize the public to overwhelm the rigging by showing up in big enough numbers, which I think is eminently doable and exactly why it's a bottle in need of uncorking. But not because it's a real process that does actual things; it's just more words that could well inspire the republic to save itself.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:21 PM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
If the 2020 election is in fact entirely rigged to the point of being pre-determined, then impeachment is irrelevant. "We have to impeach now because holding him accountable can't wait until the election, and horrendous things are happening in the meantime" doesn't compute because it doesn't hold anyone accountable, it just wags a substantial finger in someone's direction.
You don't impeach your way to a non-rigged election... except in the very real sense that you energize the public to overwhelm the rigging by showing up in big enough numbers, which I think is eminently doable and exactly why it's a bottle in need of uncorking. But not because it's a real process that does actual things; it's just more words that could well inspire the republic to save itself.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:21 PM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
1: hey man this guy's really corrupt and crooked we need to impeach him
2: he's self impeaching
1: ...
2: ...
1: yeah but he was literally violating the emoluments clause of the constitution, the supreme law of the land, the moment he was sworn in
2: we don't need to impeach him for investigations to continue
1: yeah, but i mean, we don't need to investigate him, we already have too many reasons to count
2: we don't have the public's support
1: but the percentage of people in favor of impeachment is already higher than that of nixon's before the proceedings, and it will only go up as the proceedings are televised
2: we don't have the votes in the senate
1: but i mean, this is literally the house of representative's duty, even if it appears to be politically impossible
2: we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy.
1: ...
2: ...
1: [sigh]
posted by entropicamericana at 7:26 PM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
2: he's self impeaching
1: ...
2: ...
1: yeah but he was literally violating the emoluments clause of the constitution, the supreme law of the land, the moment he was sworn in
2: we don't need to impeach him for investigations to continue
1: yeah, but i mean, we don't need to investigate him, we already have too many reasons to count
2: we don't have the public's support
1: but the percentage of people in favor of impeachment is already higher than that of nixon's before the proceedings, and it will only go up as the proceedings are televised
2: we don't have the votes in the senate
1: but i mean, this is literally the house of representative's duty, even if it appears to be politically impossible
2: we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy.
1: ...
2: ...
1: [sigh]
posted by entropicamericana at 7:26 PM on July 7, 2019 [30 favorites]
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Vice’s Elizabeth Landers: "As he left New Jersey a short while ago, @realDonaldTrump was asked about his reaction to Epstein’s arrest: “I don’t know anything about it.”"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:30 PM on July 7, 2019 [12 favorites]
Vice’s Elizabeth Landers: "As he left New Jersey a short while ago, @realDonaldTrump was asked about his reaction to Epstein’s arrest: “I don’t know anything about it.”"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:30 PM on July 7, 2019 [12 favorites]
if you're just trying to get five SCOTUS votes,
best i can tell, they're trying to get one scotus vote, the chief justice.
thing is, it isn't clear the gov't is entitled to a hearing before scotus. recently scotus remanded the case to the agency to remedy that deficiency, among several found by the district court, that had survived scotus review. those grounds had been several. that the rationale put forth by the administration -- to wit: that the addition of the citizenship to the decennial census would provide better data for justice department voting rights act enforcement -- was pretextual was upheld by the 5-justice majority. a majority did not uphold the two census act and several administrative procedures act statutory faults. a minority opined that any permissible judicial review was satisfied by the administrative record, and one said even that was too much judicial scrutiny.
the chief justice found the administration's proffered rationale pretextual, affirming the lower court, which had issued an injunction against inclusion of the question, pending the administration's remedy of the defects in the administrative action. roberts essentially said any rationale would be okay but not this one we know from the record to be false.
so, procedurally, it ought to be up to the commerce department to _cure_ the false and pretextual administrative record supporting the decision to add the citizenship question by providing a true (and facially unobjectionable w.r.t. the constitution) rationale and complete administrative record to the district court attached to a motion dismissing the injunction &c.
i cannot conceive how one presents a new and non-pretextual rationale for an agency decision the administrative record of which already includes falsehoods, knowing submission of incomplete and misleading evidence in judicial proceedings and a supreme court decision noting same. (i'm not certain the secretary's lies to congress are properly a part of the administrative record, but do not see how the judicial proceedings could fail to be incorporated in same). any rationale that could be offered, now, is a pretext. with the possible exception of that one real reason behind it: demographic data for would-be racist gerrymandermongers (plus the long game of denying entire classes of persons personhood as contemplated under the constitution).
that same day scotus said gerrymandering is none of the supreme court's business, nudge nudge, wink wink. (i haven't read that one, so don't have my own read on the breadth of its significance, which certainly will differ from what i've picked up from the popular press.)
so gerrymandering. which per the new precedent maybe shouldn't be reviewable by federal courts, though it seems likely to me that scotus recent ruling is about _state_ gerrymandering, and whether the federal gov't ought to facilitate it may be an entirely different (set of) question(s). on the one hand a majority of scotus has opined that any (nonpretextual) rationale would be fine, but: that dead lobbyist's files making the racial aspect of specifically-census-question-related-gerrymandering explicit, which should, at an alert district court able to consider them, raise a new set of constitutional issues calling for more probing judicial scrutiny. is there time for more extensive discovery about the gerrymandering rationale?
i guess a wildly exceptional emergency petition to scotus might prevent such fact finding, notwithstanding that the last thing scotus said was, satisfy the district court that the (surviving) defect in your agency action has been remedied.
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:35 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
best i can tell, they're trying to get one scotus vote, the chief justice.
thing is, it isn't clear the gov't is entitled to a hearing before scotus. recently scotus remanded the case to the agency to remedy that deficiency, among several found by the district court, that had survived scotus review. those grounds had been several. that the rationale put forth by the administration -- to wit: that the addition of the citizenship to the decennial census would provide better data for justice department voting rights act enforcement -- was pretextual was upheld by the 5-justice majority. a majority did not uphold the two census act and several administrative procedures act statutory faults. a minority opined that any permissible judicial review was satisfied by the administrative record, and one said even that was too much judicial scrutiny.
the chief justice found the administration's proffered rationale pretextual, affirming the lower court, which had issued an injunction against inclusion of the question, pending the administration's remedy of the defects in the administrative action. roberts essentially said any rationale would be okay but not this one we know from the record to be false.
so, procedurally, it ought to be up to the commerce department to _cure_ the false and pretextual administrative record supporting the decision to add the citizenship question by providing a true (and facially unobjectionable w.r.t. the constitution) rationale and complete administrative record to the district court attached to a motion dismissing the injunction &c.
i cannot conceive how one presents a new and non-pretextual rationale for an agency decision the administrative record of which already includes falsehoods, knowing submission of incomplete and misleading evidence in judicial proceedings and a supreme court decision noting same. (i'm not certain the secretary's lies to congress are properly a part of the administrative record, but do not see how the judicial proceedings could fail to be incorporated in same). any rationale that could be offered, now, is a pretext. with the possible exception of that one real reason behind it: demographic data for would-be racist gerrymandermongers (plus the long game of denying entire classes of persons personhood as contemplated under the constitution).
that same day scotus said gerrymandering is none of the supreme court's business, nudge nudge, wink wink. (i haven't read that one, so don't have my own read on the breadth of its significance, which certainly will differ from what i've picked up from the popular press.)
so gerrymandering. which per the new precedent maybe shouldn't be reviewable by federal courts, though it seems likely to me that scotus recent ruling is about _state_ gerrymandering, and whether the federal gov't ought to facilitate it may be an entirely different (set of) question(s). on the one hand a majority of scotus has opined that any (nonpretextual) rationale would be fine, but: that dead lobbyist's files making the racial aspect of specifically-census-question-related-gerrymandering explicit, which should, at an alert district court able to consider them, raise a new set of constitutional issues calling for more probing judicial scrutiny. is there time for more extensive discovery about the gerrymandering rationale?
i guess a wildly exceptional emergency petition to scotus might prevent such fact finding, notwithstanding that the last thing scotus said was, satisfy the district court that the (surviving) defect in your agency action has been remedied.
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:35 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
Atlantic: Tom Steyer Is Telling Allies He’s Running for President—The billionaire Democratic donor who has led a movement to impeach Donald Trump could be the latest to join the crowded field of candidates.
Billionaire investor Tom Steyer, who in the last decade has been both the top Democratic donor in the country and the prime engine for pushing for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, appears ready to become Democratic candidate number 26. Last week in San Francisco, Steyer told staffers at two progressive organizations he funds, Need to Impeach and NextGen America, that he is launching a 2020 campaign, and that he plans to make the formal announcement this Tuesday.[…]posted by Doktor Zed at 7:47 PM on July 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
According to people who’ve spoken with him, Steyer has also been disappointed that House Democrats haven’t moved more quickly in holding impeachment hearings. He’s been leading and pumping millions of dollars into Need to Impeach and NextGen America, in addition to the Democratic campaign group For Our Future. (His campaign would be separate from those groups while he invests in his 2020 run.) And even after donating millions to those organizations, Steyer has more than enough in his own fortune to outspend the Democratic field so far.
Atlantic: Tom Steyer Is Telling Allies He’s Running for President—The billionaire Democratic donor who has led a movement to impeach Donald Trump could be the latest to join the crowded field of candidates.
Every last billionaire is a dangerous narcissist/sociopath
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 PM on July 7, 2019 [50 favorites]
Every last billionaire is a dangerous narcissist/sociopath
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 PM on July 7, 2019 [50 favorites]
i cannot conceive how one presents a new and non-pretextual rationale for an agency decision the administrative record of which already includes falsehoods
The APA claim is not the only issue still alive after SCOTUS remanded either, the Maryland judge on Friday reopened his decision and ordered new and expedited discovery on the equal protection claim, and now there's smoking gun evidence of racially discriminatory basis. Coming up with a "new" rationale in light of that is going to be doubly farcical. If the career attorneys refused to go along with this bullshit, I'd bet it's because of the equal protection claims.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:00 PM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
The APA claim is not the only issue still alive after SCOTUS remanded either, the Maryland judge on Friday reopened his decision and ordered new and expedited discovery on the equal protection claim, and now there's smoking gun evidence of racially discriminatory basis. Coming up with a "new" rationale in light of that is going to be doubly farcical. If the career attorneys refused to go along with this bullshit, I'd bet it's because of the equal protection claims.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:00 PM on July 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
Billionaire investor Tom Steyer, who in the last decade has been both the top Democratic donor in the country and the prime engine for pushing for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, appears ready to become Democratic candidate number 26.
What was that about the worst being full of passionate intensity
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:12 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
What was that about the worst being full of passionate intensity
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:12 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
As long as Steyer doesn't run as an independent, who cares how much of his own money he lights on fire? He's not even going to qualify for a debate. Are there better ways to help defeat Trump and elect Democrats? Well, obviously. But Steyer has never cared about actually advancing the party or policy goals, because billionaires gonna billionaire.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:31 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:31 PM on July 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Big copy paste removed. If there's no good partial quotation of an entire weird opinion piece, please just link to it instead of pasting the whole thing in.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:53 PM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:53 PM on July 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
It is a non-deniable fact that if there is an impeachment, Trump will be acquitted by the Republicans in the Senate.
I’d say stronger language about your “fact” but I’ll leave it at bullshit. We don’t know what will come out in a full investigation and we don’t know how constant televised hearings of the crimes we do know will change the political environment. What we do know is that we’re at 45% supporting impeachment - the same as it was for Nixon well into the Watergate hearings and just months before he was forced to resign - with Dems making no arguments for it and with no hearings or real investigations of any kind. What we also know is that Trump and Republicans are trying to prevent those investigations and hearings with everything they have so clearly they’re not so sure it poses no danger.
People can agree to disagree whether an impeachment with an assured acquittal will be good or bad.
I bet we can agree that Trump running around all 2020 saying “If I did something wrong they would’ve impeached me” is bad for Ds.
An impeachment is not necessary for investigations to continue.
Yes, because investigations have accomplished so much in the.. checks calendar... 5 months that jack shit has been done. And perhaps you missed the Trump administration actually arguing that they don’t need to comply with subpoenas and submit to congressional oversight since Congress doesn’t have a true reason for it since they haven't opened impeachment hearings.
If the 2020 election is in fact entirely rigged to the point of being pre-determined, then impeachment is irrelevant.
The point of my sentence wasn’t that 2020 is rigged beyond hope, but that elections are no fucking sure thing, especially in a situation when outside factors may intrude. And hell yes impeachment can help make it fairer. One, Trump and Republicans will be on the defensive and have less time to be causing trouble. If we don’t set the agenda, he will. Let’s hear it for partisan investigations, indictments and show trials! And two, a constant televised investigation into 2016 interference will raise the cost for Trump and Rs being welcoming of foreign help and resistant to preventing it in 2020.
posted by chris24 at 8:55 PM on July 7, 2019 [25 favorites]
I’d say stronger language about your “fact” but I’ll leave it at bullshit. We don’t know what will come out in a full investigation and we don’t know how constant televised hearings of the crimes we do know will change the political environment. What we do know is that we’re at 45% supporting impeachment - the same as it was for Nixon well into the Watergate hearings and just months before he was forced to resign - with Dems making no arguments for it and with no hearings or real investigations of any kind. What we also know is that Trump and Republicans are trying to prevent those investigations and hearings with everything they have so clearly they’re not so sure it poses no danger.
People can agree to disagree whether an impeachment with an assured acquittal will be good or bad.
I bet we can agree that Trump running around all 2020 saying “If I did something wrong they would’ve impeached me” is bad for Ds.
An impeachment is not necessary for investigations to continue.
Yes, because investigations have accomplished so much in the.. checks calendar... 5 months that jack shit has been done. And perhaps you missed the Trump administration actually arguing that they don’t need to comply with subpoenas and submit to congressional oversight since Congress doesn’t have a true reason for it since they haven't opened impeachment hearings.
If the 2020 election is in fact entirely rigged to the point of being pre-determined, then impeachment is irrelevant.
The point of my sentence wasn’t that 2020 is rigged beyond hope, but that elections are no fucking sure thing, especially in a situation when outside factors may intrude. And hell yes impeachment can help make it fairer. One, Trump and Republicans will be on the defensive and have less time to be causing trouble. If we don’t set the agenda, he will. Let’s hear it for partisan investigations, indictments and show trials! And two, a constant televised investigation into 2016 interference will raise the cost for Trump and Rs being welcoming of foreign help and resistant to preventing it in 2020.
posted by chris24 at 8:55 PM on July 7, 2019 [25 favorites]
oh, yay. thanks, T.D. Strange! that's encouraging.
found friday's letter order here, where judge hazel remarks "Regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a 'new' decision, discovery related to the origins of the question remain relevant" as to the question of discriminatory motive. and here's judge hazel's june 24 memorandum opinion explaining the order to reopen discovery on that question in light of newly-discovered evidence. sorry if i missed those already being posted in megathread; i'd thought i had been keeping up on this minute item at least. alas.
posted by 20 year lurk at 8:57 PM on July 7, 2019
found friday's letter order here, where judge hazel remarks "Regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a 'new' decision, discovery related to the origins of the question remain relevant" as to the question of discriminatory motive. and here's judge hazel's june 24 memorandum opinion explaining the order to reopen discovery on that question in light of newly-discovered evidence. sorry if i missed those already being posted in megathread; i'd thought i had been keeping up on this minute item at least. alas.
posted by 20 year lurk at 8:57 PM on July 7, 2019
Re: Nancy Pelosi, I agree with everyone and I don't know what to favorite.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:27 PM on July 7, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:27 PM on July 7, 2019 [8 favorites]
That Adelson op-ed is both completely bananas and most likely something we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of in the next year.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:29 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:29 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
It's so bizarre I couldn't figure out a piece to pull from it that'd remotely do it justice.
posted by scalefree at 9:45 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 9:45 PM on July 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
This part is a good teaser: Would it be too much to pray for a day when the Bible gets a “Book of Trump,” much like it has a “Book of Esther” celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from ancient Persia?
posted by xammerboy at 10:00 PM on July 7, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 10:00 PM on July 7, 2019 [10 favorites]
Justice Dept. to Replace Lawyers in Census Citizenship Question Case (NYT)
The Justice Department announced on Sunday that it was replacing the legal team defending the Trump administration’s effort to place a citizenship question on the next census, a change that is all but unprecedented in legal battles as consequential as the one over the 2020 head count. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 10:30 PM on July 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
And it strongly suggested that the department’s career lawyers had decided to quit a case that at the least seemed to lack a legal basis, and at most left them defending statements that could well turn out to be untrue. “There is no reason they would be taken off that case unless they saw what was coming down the road and said, ‘I won’t sign my name to that,’” Justin Levitt, a former senior official in the Justice Department under President Barack Obama, said on Sunday.
[...] according to a Justice Department lawyer who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, no lawyers from the department’s federal programs branch — which customarily defends the administration’s policies in court — would be working on the census issue. A senior official confirmed that federal programs was being taken off the case.
Lawyers who had been working on the case apparently concluded that they faced three problems. They had told the Supreme Court that they were up against a strict deadline of June 30 for printing the census forms, and there were difficulties in finding a new justification for the question that would not seem invented out of whole cloth. They may have also concluded that there was no way to move speedily enough to restore the question in any event, given that constitutional and statutory frameworks seem to require a lengthy administrative process before new questions may be added to the census.
The change in the legal team appeared to signal even deeper problems for the administration’s effort to put the question on the next census, a proposal that critics have assailed as an ill-disguised plot to manipulate the final head count in ways that would benefit the Republican Party.
Trump’s ‘natural law’ human rights panel readies for launch
The State Department initiative is seen as a potential counterweight to an expansive liberal view of human rights.
The State Department initiative is seen as a potential counterweight to an expansive liberal view of human rights.
The Trump administration plans to officially launch a new panel on human rights as early as Monday — one already under scrutiny from Democrats who fear its stated focus on “natural law and natural rights” could undercut protections for women and LGBTQ people around the world.
State Department officials are briefing officials in Washington this week on the unveiling of the “Commission on Unalienable Rights,” a body with as many as 15 appointees who will offer advice on human rights policy to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. At least 10 of the people have been chosen so far, and their names are expected to be revealed at the launch, according to people familiar with the issue, who noted that the launch plans could still change.
The panel was conceived with almost no input from the State Department’s human rights bureau, people familiar with the matter say, effectively sidelining career government experts who have focused on human rights policy and history across numerous administrations.posted by scalefree at 1:50 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Am I mistaken, but isn’t the phrase “natural law” something that has bubbled up from the gold fringe flag and mra swamp? Or are they really pretending to be Aquinas fans?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:25 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:25 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
AP: Federal grand jury probing GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy
A federal grand jury in New York is investigating top Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, examining whether he used his position as vice chair of President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee to drum up business deals with foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and people familiar with the matter.posted by Doktor Zed at 2:42 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
A wide-ranging subpoena the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn recently sent to Trump’s inaugural committee seeks records relating to 20 individuals and businesses. All have connections to Broidy, his investment and defense contracting firms, and foreign officials he pursued deals with — including the current president of Angola and two politicians in Romania.
Prosecutors appear to be investigating whether Broidy exploited his access to Trump for personal gain and violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to offer foreign officials “anything of value” to gain a business advantage. Things of value in this case could have been an invitation to the January 2017 inaugural events or access to Trump.[…]
The Brooklyn probe appears to be distinct from an inquiry by Manhattan federal prosecutors into the inaugural committee’s record $107 million fundraising and whether foreigners unlawfully contributed.[…]
Brooklyn federal prosecutors and the president’s inaugural committee declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings, which are secret. But two people familiar with the matter told the AP that the committee has already complied with the subpoena, issued in April, and a third said the FBI has interviewed at least one of Broidy’s business associates named in the subpoena.
We don’t know what will come out in a full investigation and we don’t know how constant televised hearings of the crimes we do know will change the political environment.
Look, I was absolutely riveted by Michael Cohen's testimony, personally. I listened to the whole thing on the radio. I read the whole Mueller report. I expect I will watch Mueller's testimony live, as I did Comey's. I feel like investigations and hearings HAVE accomplished a lot, for those of us who have been paying attention. It is astonishing, the scope of the malfeasance that is now publicly known and confirmed.
I was so upset, I hosted a protest right after the 2018 election, when Whitaker took over the Mueller investigation despite not being eligible to become attorney general. About 300 people showed, and 500 at another a larger one downtown. I hosted another in March when Barr delayed releasing the report. About 300 people showed even though I had combined my protest with the one downtown this time.
I knocked doors for the 2018 election hoping to get enough votes for impeachment. I talked to people I canvassed about the Russia investigation sometimes, when it seeemed wise to be honest about my own motives for knocking on their doors.
You can search my MeFi posting history if you need further evidence of how desperately I want Trump removed from office, how I have been publicay tallying a list of impeachable offenses since day one, how obsessively I have followed the investigations, how worried I am about the possibility that Russia will intervene again to prevent us having a free and fair election (Though 2018 gave me some hope). I mention the other anecdotes not only to illustrate the sincerity of my desire for Trump to be removed, but also to tell you that I have interacted with people about this in real life, not just MeFi and Twitter and Facebook. I have tried so hard to get traction, though I don't have Tom Steyer's billions. I have done my own advertising campaign by creating memes and sharing them on social media. You will not find many who have worked harder toward Trump's impeachment than I have.
Here is me in October of 2017, on MeFi, arguing that I thought some Republicans in the Senate MIGHT do the right thing once Mueller's report came out, and trying to count the votes.
So back in 2017 I was able to name 10 Republicans in the Senate of the necessary 18 who I thought might do the right thing. The 3 most likely are gone. 4 more proved they are not operating in good faith. That leaves Murkowski, Moore-Capito, and Rubio, none of whom have exactly been profiles in courage so far.
We need 16 more at this point. Who are they? Help me count 16 more Republicans I. The Senate who might care about public sentiment or the outcome of further investigations? I am sincere. I desperately want to believe this is possible, still. But I need names.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:36 AM on July 8, 2019 [36 favorites]
Look, I was absolutely riveted by Michael Cohen's testimony, personally. I listened to the whole thing on the radio. I read the whole Mueller report. I expect I will watch Mueller's testimony live, as I did Comey's. I feel like investigations and hearings HAVE accomplished a lot, for those of us who have been paying attention. It is astonishing, the scope of the malfeasance that is now publicly known and confirmed.
I was so upset, I hosted a protest right after the 2018 election, when Whitaker took over the Mueller investigation despite not being eligible to become attorney general. About 300 people showed, and 500 at another a larger one downtown. I hosted another in March when Barr delayed releasing the report. About 300 people showed even though I had combined my protest with the one downtown this time.
I knocked doors for the 2018 election hoping to get enough votes for impeachment. I talked to people I canvassed about the Russia investigation sometimes, when it seeemed wise to be honest about my own motives for knocking on their doors.
You can search my MeFi posting history if you need further evidence of how desperately I want Trump removed from office, how I have been publicay tallying a list of impeachable offenses since day one, how obsessively I have followed the investigations, how worried I am about the possibility that Russia will intervene again to prevent us having a free and fair election (Though 2018 gave me some hope). I mention the other anecdotes not only to illustrate the sincerity of my desire for Trump to be removed, but also to tell you that I have interacted with people about this in real life, not just MeFi and Twitter and Facebook. I have tried so hard to get traction, though I don't have Tom Steyer's billions. I have done my own advertising campaign by creating memes and sharing them on social media. You will not find many who have worked harder toward Trump's impeachment than I have.
Here is me in October of 2017, on MeFi, arguing that I thought some Republicans in the Senate MIGHT do the right thing once Mueller's report came out, and trying to count the votes.
In the Senate... Corker, McCain, Flake, I feel pretty confident about, if there's a damning Mueller report. Maybe Murkowski and Collins and Moore-Capito? I don't think Rubio likes Trump at all either, after that primary campaign, though he is staying quiet right now. Graham is sucking up to Trump right now, but I think he would take a bad Mueller report very seriously. He's a Russia hawk. Burr and Grassley both seem to be taking their Russia investigations reasonably seriously too? Kinda? Anyone else who is a "maybe" at this point? Anyone else Trump has humiliated on Twitter?McCain, Corner, and Flake are all gone. Graham has shown that he is all in on support of Trump and has completely renounced his former "Russia hawk" identity -- he has announced he wants to use the Judiciary committee to investigate Mueller. He and Grassley recommended charges against Christopher Steele. Collins voted for Kavanaugh even though it seemed so clear Trump had picked Kavanaugh specifically to rubber stamp his authority and help with the coverup. Burr turns out to have been leaking info about the FBI investigation to the White House.
So back in 2017 I was able to name 10 Republicans in the Senate of the necessary 18 who I thought might do the right thing. The 3 most likely are gone. 4 more proved they are not operating in good faith. That leaves Murkowski, Moore-Capito, and Rubio, none of whom have exactly been profiles in courage so far.
We need 16 more at this point. Who are they? Help me count 16 more Republicans I. The Senate who might care about public sentiment or the outcome of further investigations? I am sincere. I desperately want to believe this is possible, still. But I need names.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:36 AM on July 8, 2019 [36 favorites]
Live Fox News Report about World Cup Win Interrupted by 'Fuck Trump' Chant (Deadspin)
Totally coincidentally, @realDonaldTrump went on an extended anti-Fox rant last night: “Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin’ Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate..... ......Comcast (NBC/MSNBC) Trump haters, who do whatever Brian & Steve tell them to do. Like CNN, NBC is also way down in the ratings. But @FoxNews, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as.... ...a “source” of information (ask the Times what they paid for the Boston Globe, & what they sold it for (lost 1.5 Billion Dollars), or their old headquarters building disaster, or their unfunded liability? @FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!”
By the way, that first tweet rates a rare 100% chance of authentic authorship from the Trump Or Not Bot.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Totally coincidentally, @realDonaldTrump went on an extended anti-Fox rant last night: “Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin’ Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate..... ......Comcast (NBC/MSNBC) Trump haters, who do whatever Brian & Steve tell them to do. Like CNN, NBC is also way down in the ratings. But @FoxNews, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as.... ...a “source” of information (ask the Times what they paid for the Boston Globe, & what they sold it for (lost 1.5 Billion Dollars), or their old headquarters building disaster, or their unfunded liability? @FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!”
By the way, that first tweet rates a rare 100% chance of authentic authorship from the Trump Or Not Bot.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Building disasters, unfunded liabilities and billion dollar losses? Trump finally finds himself on familiar ground.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:10 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:10 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
Totally coincidentally, @realDonaldTrump went on an extended anti-Fox rant last night:
I really think that the Jeffrey Epstein news has pushed him over the edge, and we're solidly into 25th Amendment territory. Hence, "FIRE ALL THE LAWYERS AND GET ME NEW ONES" Citizenship Question freak-out.
The Executive Branch is stealing children from their families, and sending them to concentration camps, WHERE THEY ARE DYING, and is -- apparently -- getting ready to ignore the Judiciary on the Census Question. But let's not hold him accountable via the only remaining vestiges of Constitutional Authority. Because Chuck Schumer doesn't have the balls to beat the shit out of Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor.
It's true folks, this IS the Mirror Universe. Or Hell if that's your style.
posted by mikelieman at 4:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
I really think that the Jeffrey Epstein news has pushed him over the edge, and we're solidly into 25th Amendment territory. Hence, "FIRE ALL THE LAWYERS AND GET ME NEW ONES" Citizenship Question freak-out.
The Executive Branch is stealing children from their families, and sending them to concentration camps, WHERE THEY ARE DYING, and is -- apparently -- getting ready to ignore the Judiciary on the Census Question. But let's not hold him accountable via the only remaining vestiges of Constitutional Authority. Because Chuck Schumer doesn't have the balls to beat the shit out of Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor.
It's true folks, this IS the Mirror Universe. Or Hell if that's your style.
posted by mikelieman at 4:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
I have a growing sense of how wise Kamala Harris's prosecutorial sense is. Whatever the left's unease with prosecutors, the growing dismay that nobody seems to be holding these fuckers accountable plays neatly with her strategy.
posted by angrycat at 4:43 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 4:43 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
What can Chuck Schumer do to beat the shit out of McConnell on the Senate floor?
This is an honest question. I'm not an expert in Senate procedure, maybe he's skipping something. People here seem confident this is possible, so I would like to know specifics.
posted by Anonymous at 4:49 AM on July 8, 2019
This is an honest question. I'm not an expert in Senate procedure, maybe he's skipping something. People here seem confident this is possible, so I would like to know specifics.
posted by Anonymous at 4:49 AM on July 8, 2019
The whole ‘natural law’ thing should be seen as alarming. It’s coded language for shit like abortion restrictions, blood and soil citizenship, heterosexual marriage, binary gender, etc etc.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:49 AM on July 8, 2019 [33 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:49 AM on July 8, 2019 [33 favorites]
Am I mistaken, but isn’t the phrase “natural law” something that has bubbled up from the gold fringe flag and mra swamp? Or are they really pretending to be Aquinas fans?
In my experience, modernly, those are the same things. I've had multiple conversations in which my fellow human being thought it was perfectly rational, reasonable, and clear that Viagra fixes something that was broken (and is thus "natural") while contraceptive pills break something that was working correctly (and are thus "unnatural"). As someone who had to read a ton of Aquinas in college, taking Aquinas and applying his "logic" to the modern world leads to absurdities that only make sense if they already agree with your worldview.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:10 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
In my experience, modernly, those are the same things. I've had multiple conversations in which my fellow human being thought it was perfectly rational, reasonable, and clear that Viagra fixes something that was broken (and is thus "natural") while contraceptive pills break something that was working correctly (and are thus "unnatural"). As someone who had to read a ton of Aquinas in college, taking Aquinas and applying his "logic" to the modern world leads to absurdities that only make sense if they already agree with your worldview.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:10 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
"Am I mistaken, but isn’t the phrase “natural law” something that has bubbled up from the gold fringe flag and mra swamp? Or are they really pretending to be Aquinas fans?"
They're Aquinas fans. Aquinas was very trendy among Protestant scholarly theologians about 15-20 years ago, which trickled down to the pastorate and eventually trickled down to evangelicals about 10 years later, and basically like snuffleupagus said, evangelicals realized they could be anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-gender-diversity, etc., by citing to Aquinas and sounding scholarly instead of citing to the same four random Bible verses they've been banging on about for decades and that aren't persuasive to people who don't already agree with them.
They're both chumming the waters with lots of smart-sounding words to pretend they have a logical argument when appearing on Fox News, and using it to appeal to federalist-society judges who desperately want to forward these repressive and revanchist policies but need a legalese-ish justification to do it. (They were also pitching directly to Scalia and hoping for Aquinas-flavored dissents they could use in future court battles.)
I feel like it should go without saying that it's a shitty and reductionist reading of Aquinas, but the scholarly battles about how to read and interpret Aquinas don't matter a lot here, since they're not really trying to read Aquinas, they're just trying to use a scholarly-sounding name to make bigoted arguments sound legitimate.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:15 AM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
They're Aquinas fans. Aquinas was very trendy among Protestant scholarly theologians about 15-20 years ago, which trickled down to the pastorate and eventually trickled down to evangelicals about 10 years later, and basically like snuffleupagus said, evangelicals realized they could be anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-gender-diversity, etc., by citing to Aquinas and sounding scholarly instead of citing to the same four random Bible verses they've been banging on about for decades and that aren't persuasive to people who don't already agree with them.
They're both chumming the waters with lots of smart-sounding words to pretend they have a logical argument when appearing on Fox News, and using it to appeal to federalist-society judges who desperately want to forward these repressive and revanchist policies but need a legalese-ish justification to do it. (They were also pitching directly to Scalia and hoping for Aquinas-flavored dissents they could use in future court battles.)
I feel like it should go without saying that it's a shitty and reductionist reading of Aquinas, but the scholarly battles about how to read and interpret Aquinas don't matter a lot here, since they're not really trying to read Aquinas, they're just trying to use a scholarly-sounding name to make bigoted arguments sound legitimate.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:15 AM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
The whole thing is bonkers. The first thing they'll do is define "natural law," the standard they'll be using to decide everything else they do:
posted by scalefree at 5:30 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
The State Department has been relatively vague about the panel’s functions, insisting it will decide how to define terms like “natural law and natural rights.” Activists and lawmakers have been alarmed by that language, because both terms have been used in a variety of ways — from core foundations of modern philosophy to arguments used by some religious opponents of same-sex marriage.So it's an empty container for doing whatever the hell they want, including & excluding principles based on an arbitrary standard whose boundaries they get to draw. This is natural because it fits an arbitrary standard we just defined; that is not because it doesn't. Sounds very Trumpian to me.
posted by scalefree at 5:30 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
It seems to me that "natural law" puts them in pretty shaky ground. The are tons of biological examples of homosexual behavior in nature, multiple genders, natural abortifacients, drugs like marijuana and opium. Our understanding of the natural world is orders of magnitude different than in Aquinas's day.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
There’s a confluence of badness here, the “natural” has been widely abused in social science back to “natural philosophy.” And of course it’s no accident that the proponents of natural law seem to always discover it leads to revival of traditions critiqued by the “postmodernist” and “cultural marxists” and SJWs they despise, who prefer stupid things like “civil society” and “the rule of law.” (Like, actual legal laws, not Deep Thoughts on How Animals Fuck.*)
*but not zoology
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:19 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
*but not zoology
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:19 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
chris24: And hell yes impeachment can help make it fairer. One, Trump and Republicans will be on the defensive and have less time to be causing trouble.
I think this has a lot of merit. The thing about this question is that, wherever you sit, it's not really a matter of good outcome vs bad outcome. To say that impeaching will have bad fallout (e.g the way our horse-race media is going to run with non-conviction) does not clinch the argument against impeachment, and to say that not impeaching will have the very undesirable effect of letting people off the hook is also not an ironclad point.
The options are a matter of bad vs worse. Impeaching Trump is going to be bad politics thanks to the exoneration. (This could be wrong! The tides may turn dramatically. But one reason I'm saying harping on the inevtiability now is that if, O frabjous day, an impeachment does happen, we have to fight really hard against the inevitable "Centrist Democrats didn't even try the one trick that would have ensured conviction.")
Not impeaching will be worse. And one simple reason is that 2020 is going to be about the president's unfitness no matter what -- even the president himself will do everything in his power to ensure that because he is so averse to not being the center of attention.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:26 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
I think this has a lot of merit. The thing about this question is that, wherever you sit, it's not really a matter of good outcome vs bad outcome. To say that impeaching will have bad fallout (e.g the way our horse-race media is going to run with non-conviction) does not clinch the argument against impeachment, and to say that not impeaching will have the very undesirable effect of letting people off the hook is also not an ironclad point.
The options are a matter of bad vs worse. Impeaching Trump is going to be bad politics thanks to the exoneration. (This could be wrong! The tides may turn dramatically. But one reason I'm saying harping on the inevtiability now is that if, O frabjous day, an impeachment does happen, we have to fight really hard against the inevitable "Centrist Democrats didn't even try the one trick that would have ensured conviction.")
Not impeaching will be worse. And one simple reason is that 2020 is going to be about the president's unfitness no matter what -- even the president himself will do everything in his power to ensure that because he is so averse to not being the center of attention.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:26 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Surely the point is to hurt people, but its reliance upon a corrupted version of logic and scholarship seems significant. I mean apparently we’re going to get a new definition of human rights cooked up by an elevated equivalent of a pack of Rational Sealions.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:29 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:29 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
An impeachment is not necessary for investigations to continue.
@armandodkos
It’s July 8. The Trump Administration has produced not a single witness or document about the Trump Administration in response to House Dems request and subpoenas.
The House has filed zero cases to enforce subpoenas against the Trump Administration.
3rd Party subpoenas seeking Trump personal information is not a subpoena seeking information against the Trump Administration. Such subpoenas do not implicate Executive Privilege or Rule 6e, which prohibits release of grand jury material. Hope Hicks’ testimony was not public and was limited to pre Trump Administration matters. The key issues are not even before a court. Remember Nadler’s “imminent” lawsuit? Still not filed.
Those of you opposing a impeachment inquiry, is this what you want? Because this is a joke.
posted by chris24 at 6:32 AM on July 8, 2019 [53 favorites]
@armandodkos
It’s July 8. The Trump Administration has produced not a single witness or document about the Trump Administration in response to House Dems request and subpoenas.
The House has filed zero cases to enforce subpoenas against the Trump Administration.
3rd Party subpoenas seeking Trump personal information is not a subpoena seeking information against the Trump Administration. Such subpoenas do not implicate Executive Privilege or Rule 6e, which prohibits release of grand jury material. Hope Hicks’ testimony was not public and was limited to pre Trump Administration matters. The key issues are not even before a court. Remember Nadler’s “imminent” lawsuit? Still not filed.
Those of you opposing a impeachment inquiry, is this what you want? Because this is a joke.
posted by chris24 at 6:32 AM on July 8, 2019 [53 favorites]
since she won’t come out and directly say that, though she’s come close, she sounds like a fucking craven idiot hemming and hawing and lying about shit.
This. Talking about "self impeachment" and "you can't impeach everybody" is incoherent rambling. It's frustrating that I disagree with Pelosi's strategy, but it's infuriating that her arguments for her strategy are illogical nonsense.
posted by diogenes at 6:33 AM on July 8, 2019 [22 favorites]
This. Talking about "self impeachment" and "you can't impeach everybody" is incoherent rambling. It's frustrating that I disagree with Pelosi's strategy, but it's infuriating that her arguments for her strategy are illogical nonsense.
posted by diogenes at 6:33 AM on July 8, 2019 [22 favorites]
@PewReligion
% who say the U.S. has a responsibility to accept refugees:
Religiously unaffiliated 65%
Black Protestant 63%
Catholic 50%
White mainline Protestant 43%
White evangelicals 25%
Don't let anyone tell you that "evangelical christianity" is anything but a euphemism and figleaf for blood-and-soil ethnonationalism.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:54 AM on July 8, 2019 [87 favorites]
% who say the U.S. has a responsibility to accept refugees:
Religiously unaffiliated 65%
Black Protestant 63%
Catholic 50%
White mainline Protestant 43%
White evangelicals 25%
Don't let anyone tell you that "evangelical christianity" is anything but a euphemism and figleaf for blood-and-soil ethnonationalism.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:54 AM on July 8, 2019 [87 favorites]
it's infuriating that her arguments for her strategy are illogical nonsense.
She's trying to say that impeachment without a conviction is pointless. Trump will still be in office, maybe even with a better chance of winning in 2020 thanks to his Senate "exoneration." So what does it accomplish? It embarrasses him? He embarrasses himself every day -- that's what I take "self impeachment" to mean. He's drawing attention to his own unfitnesses just as well as Democrats ever could. What else? It marks him in the history books as a terrible president? It's the same mark Bill Clinton got. Partisan calls for impeachment have been routine ever since.
Unless Trump is actually removed from office, being impeached by the House carries with it no accountability. It is purely symbolic. And Pelosi is explaining why she does not see the value in that symbolism. Nothing will be revealed, she is saying, that is not already obvious to those who have eyes to see. Nobody who is paying any attention needs impeachment hearings to see that Trump has not lived up to his oath of office. He demonstrates that every day. Nor will it be seen as significant that the opposition party was willing to take this step. Yawn. Another day another impeachment attempt. Didn't we see this movie already in the 90s?
Until some Republicans get on board, she is saying, impeachment will be seen as Democrats grasping at power and not as a reflection on Trump at all. Therefore in addition to imposing to actual consequences on Trump, impeachment without removal will not have symbolic or political value either.
At least this is my interpretation of her logic. I find it sadly compelling.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [16 favorites]
She's trying to say that impeachment without a conviction is pointless. Trump will still be in office, maybe even with a better chance of winning in 2020 thanks to his Senate "exoneration." So what does it accomplish? It embarrasses him? He embarrasses himself every day -- that's what I take "self impeachment" to mean. He's drawing attention to his own unfitnesses just as well as Democrats ever could. What else? It marks him in the history books as a terrible president? It's the same mark Bill Clinton got. Partisan calls for impeachment have been routine ever since.
Unless Trump is actually removed from office, being impeached by the House carries with it no accountability. It is purely symbolic. And Pelosi is explaining why she does not see the value in that symbolism. Nothing will be revealed, she is saying, that is not already obvious to those who have eyes to see. Nobody who is paying any attention needs impeachment hearings to see that Trump has not lived up to his oath of office. He demonstrates that every day. Nor will it be seen as significant that the opposition party was willing to take this step. Yawn. Another day another impeachment attempt. Didn't we see this movie already in the 90s?
Until some Republicans get on board, she is saying, impeachment will be seen as Democrats grasping at power and not as a reflection on Trump at all. Therefore in addition to imposing to actual consequences on Trump, impeachment without removal will not have symbolic or political value either.
At least this is my interpretation of her logic. I find it sadly compelling.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [16 favorites]
I think the Kavanaugh hearings were a pretty good preview of what an impeachment fight would be like, personally. It's not clear that fight helped Democrats in 2018 though it does not seem to have hurt much either... it might have cost Heitkamp her seat. It did not stop Kavanaugh from being seated. That's how I imagine impeachment would play out. Trump would stay in power. The balance of public opinion would not change much one way or the other, but would become more polarized.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:04 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:04 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
I think the Kavanaugh hearings were a pretty good preview of what an impeachment fight would be like, personally. [...] it might have cost Heitkamp her seat. It did not stop Kavanaugh from being seated.
Yeah, if we didn't try to show how he's an evil, unhinged rapist, Kavanaugh might not be on the SC now. Good thing we weren't allowed to present even more evidence or he'd have two seats.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:07 AM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
Yeah, if we didn't try to show how he's an evil, unhinged rapist, Kavanaugh might not be on the SC now. Good thing we weren't allowed to present even more evidence or he'd have two seats.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:07 AM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
At least this is my interpretation of her logic.
That logic is fine, but if that's what she's trying to say, she needs to use better words to make the case to the public. If she says he's self impeaching and he's never impeached, does that mean he's innocent?
posted by Candleman at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
That logic is fine, but if that's what she's trying to say, she needs to use better words to make the case to the public. If she says he's self impeaching and he's never impeached, does that mean he's innocent?
posted by Candleman at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
Don't let anyone tell you that "evangelical christianity" is anything but a euphemism and figleaf for blood-and-soil ethnonationalism.
Michelle Goldberg's excellent reporting in Kingdom Coming breaks down the myriad mechanisms by which they have been implementing that ethnonationalism over the past three decades very well. Important to read to know exactly what we're up against.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
Michelle Goldberg's excellent reporting in Kingdom Coming breaks down the myriad mechanisms by which they have been implementing that ethnonationalism over the past three decades very well. Important to read to know exactly what we're up against.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
Surely the point is to hurt people, but its reliance upon a corrupted version of logic and scholarship seems significant. I mean apparently we’re going to get a new definition of human rights cooked up by an elevated equivalent of a pack of Rational Sealions.
It's reverse engineering justification for policies that were already decided upon. Always start with your answers then work backwards to find the right questions to ask. It'll be most interesting to see how they try to fake up the appearance of bipartisan buy-in.
posted by scalefree at 7:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's reverse engineering justification for policies that were already decided upon. Always start with your answers then work backwards to find the right questions to ask. It'll be most interesting to see how they try to fake up the appearance of bipartisan buy-in.
posted by scalefree at 7:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
maybe even with a better chance of winning in 2020 thanks to his Senate "exoneration."
Yes, cuz everybody knows that getting off with the equivalent of a mistrial after months of your crimes being investigated and aired on TV is better than never being indicted and tried at all.
Who wouldn’t choose indictment and trial over coasting free and clear.
posted by chris24 at 7:13 AM on July 8, 2019 [23 favorites]
Yes, cuz everybody knows that getting off with the equivalent of a mistrial after months of your crimes being investigated and aired on TV is better than never being indicted and tried at all.
Who wouldn’t choose indictment and trial over coasting free and clear.
posted by chris24 at 7:13 AM on July 8, 2019 [23 favorites]
Pews’s Twitter says it lacked sufficient sample sizes to report numbers on Jews or Muslims in the US.
According to the 2018 AJC/SSRS poll, 80% of American Jews think immigration levels should be maintained or increased and 89% support DACA.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:17 AM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
According to the 2018 AJC/SSRS poll, 80% of American Jews think immigration levels should be maintained or increased and 89% support DACA.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:17 AM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
Forget the Senate for now. In order to impeach you need 218 votes in the House. Pelosi is a pretty good vote counter. Best I've heard is that there are maybe 80 members supporting impeachment. That is a long way from 218.
What happens to public sentiment when Democrats lose an impeachment vote in the House? The saying is that if you go at the king, you best not miss. Look at the mileage Trump got from Bill Barr's bogus vindication of the Mueller investigation. The public sentiment was a big yawn. Think about the real vindication of an impeachment and a miss.
The only way Trump can be removed is by the election in 2020. People can disagree on the implications of an impeachment failure on that election without being called "complicit."
posted by JackFlash at 7:23 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
What happens to public sentiment when Democrats lose an impeachment vote in the House? The saying is that if you go at the king, you best not miss. Look at the mileage Trump got from Bill Barr's bogus vindication of the Mueller investigation. The public sentiment was a big yawn. Think about the real vindication of an impeachment and a miss.
The only way Trump can be removed is by the election in 2020. People can disagree on the implications of an impeachment failure on that election without being called "complicit."
posted by JackFlash at 7:23 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
That's how I imagine impeachment would play out.
I think we have a much better sense of how not-impeachment will play out -- zero oversight capacity, a demoralised Dem base, and voters who turned out in 2018 believing that their vote made no difference -- than the opposite. This is again the learned helplessness of an abusive situation.
posted by holgate at 7:25 AM on July 8, 2019 [36 favorites]
I think we have a much better sense of how not-impeachment will play out -- zero oversight capacity, a demoralised Dem base, and voters who turned out in 2018 believing that their vote made no difference -- than the opposite. This is again the learned helplessness of an abusive situation.
posted by holgate at 7:25 AM on July 8, 2019 [36 favorites]
This is again the learned helplessness of an abusive situation.
THIS.
It is fucking infuriating to see people say if we just act a certain way and don’t piss Trump/GOP Base off, they won’t hurt us as bad and the system will take care of it.
posted by chris24 at 7:27 AM on July 8, 2019 [69 favorites]
THIS.
It is fucking infuriating to see people say if we just act a certain way and don’t piss Trump/GOP Base off, they won’t hurt us as bad and the system will take care of it.
posted by chris24 at 7:27 AM on July 8, 2019 [69 favorites]
I suspect there wouldn't be so many people clamoring for an impeachment vote if it looked like the Democrats weren't just sitting around doing nothing when it comes to the investigations.
No subpoenas, no lawsuits, no documents, and not even an investigation started on some of the more outrageous things (Trump's tax evasion, Trump's near conviction of rape, Trump's long friendship with child sex traffickers, Trump's mob connections, Trump's shady real estate deals, etc etc etc). There's a whole raft of shit that they could be investigating, there could be a new investigation almost daily.
And yet... Nothing happens. We get a few nice sounding bills voted out of the House to die in the Senate without even getting a vote, and we're told that is not merely the best we can hope for but that trying anything else would somehow be bad.
We're back to the dry powder days of the Democrats with Junior. No one is doing anything, and they're very condescending to anyone who suggests they might want to, you know, do something. Gotta keep that powder dry!
I can, sort of, see the logic behind not impeaching Trump. But if they aren't going to do that then why aren't they getting all the campaign ads they can possibly produce out of investigating his long, long, list of crimes and why aren't they issuing lawsuits, and demanding documents that aren't produced? Why aren't they subpoenaing people? Instead we get this weird kayfabe thing where they threaten to subpoena someone, and that someone gets all high and mighty on FOX about how they'd be delighted to testify if the Democrats would just politely ask, and then either they testify in secret or they never show up but the subpoena is dropped.
I could live with no impeachment if it seemed as if Pelosi and the other establishment Democrats were at least doing **SOMETHING**. But they don't seem to be. All they do is scold us for asking that they do something.
posted by sotonohito at 7:30 AM on July 8, 2019 [47 favorites]
No subpoenas, no lawsuits, no documents, and not even an investigation started on some of the more outrageous things (Trump's tax evasion, Trump's near conviction of rape, Trump's long friendship with child sex traffickers, Trump's mob connections, Trump's shady real estate deals, etc etc etc). There's a whole raft of shit that they could be investigating, there could be a new investigation almost daily.
And yet... Nothing happens. We get a few nice sounding bills voted out of the House to die in the Senate without even getting a vote, and we're told that is not merely the best we can hope for but that trying anything else would somehow be bad.
We're back to the dry powder days of the Democrats with Junior. No one is doing anything, and they're very condescending to anyone who suggests they might want to, you know, do something. Gotta keep that powder dry!
I can, sort of, see the logic behind not impeaching Trump. But if they aren't going to do that then why aren't they getting all the campaign ads they can possibly produce out of investigating his long, long, list of crimes and why aren't they issuing lawsuits, and demanding documents that aren't produced? Why aren't they subpoenaing people? Instead we get this weird kayfabe thing where they threaten to subpoena someone, and that someone gets all high and mighty on FOX about how they'd be delighted to testify if the Democrats would just politely ask, and then either they testify in secret or they never show up but the subpoena is dropped.
I could live with no impeachment if it seemed as if Pelosi and the other establishment Democrats were at least doing **SOMETHING**. But they don't seem to be. All they do is scold us for asking that they do something.
posted by sotonohito at 7:30 AM on July 8, 2019 [47 favorites]
In order to impeach you need 218 votes in the House. Pelosi is a pretty good vote counter. Best I've heard is that there are maybe 80 members supporting impeachment. That is a long way from 218.
538: The House Probably Has A Pro-Impeachment Majority Right Now
And this is from 5 weeks ago. The number of reps publicly supporting impeachment has more than doubled since then.
posted by chris24 at 7:37 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
538: The House Probably Has A Pro-Impeachment Majority Right Now
And this is from 5 weeks ago. The number of reps publicly supporting impeachment has more than doubled since then.
posted by chris24 at 7:37 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
> What happens to public sentiment when Democrats lose an impeachment vote in the House?
It's insulting to Nancy Pelosi's intelligence (and contrary to her extensive track record) to imply that she would bring such an important vote to the floor that she didn't already know the outcome of. She's a brilliant legislative tactician, not a Democratic John Boehner. If the vote comes to the floor, then Trump will be impeached by the House. Period.
Meanwhile, these repeated attempts to conflate "beginning impeachment proceedings" and "holding an impeachment vote" are doing a great disservice to the discussion here. It's entirely possible that, despite her history of being the greatest leader her party has had in either chamber in decades, she's still dead wrong on the proper way to handle investigating the Trump administration.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:38 AM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
It's insulting to Nancy Pelosi's intelligence (and contrary to her extensive track record) to imply that she would bring such an important vote to the floor that she didn't already know the outcome of. She's a brilliant legislative tactician, not a Democratic John Boehner. If the vote comes to the floor, then Trump will be impeached by the House. Period.
Meanwhile, these repeated attempts to conflate "beginning impeachment proceedings" and "holding an impeachment vote" are doing a great disservice to the discussion here. It's entirely possible that, despite her history of being the greatest leader her party has had in either chamber in decades, she's still dead wrong on the proper way to handle investigating the Trump administration.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:38 AM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
Evangelical christianity, as a label, covers a lot more than the white nationalist fuckers. Please be careful. It covers many diverse movements, outside America as well as inside,. It includes many Black churches. It is not one thing, any more than Christianity itself is one thing.
posted by stonepharisee at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by stonepharisee at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
I look at the pattern of recent actions of top Democrats and wonder: if they were confident in their own individual chances of re-election, didn't truly feel threatened by a second Trump term, saw the left as more of a threat than the right, and didn't actually give a shit about their descendants being able to grow food, how would their behavior be any different?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
FFS, if nothing else all the energy being spent on fighting each other about impeachment could be spent fighting Trump if we do what morality and the constitution asks of us. The issue isn’t going away because he manifestly deserves it and keeps committing crimes that call for it. People are getting hurt and even dying every day. So anti-impeachers need to explain how we’re gonna change that dynamic, get people to forget the obvious crimes and even more obvious remedy and just move on to health care. But no, they pretend we somehow can do that against all logic and evidence so instead we’re gonna waste our energy and time against each other instead of him. Idiotic.
posted by chris24 at 7:43 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:43 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
It's insulting to Nancy Pelosi's intelligence (and contrary to her extensive track record) to imply that she would bring such an important vote to the floor that she didn't already know the outcome of. She's a brilliant legislative tactician, not a Democratic John Boehner. If the vote comes to the floor, then Trump will be impeached by the House. Period.
But is the obverse true? If she knew she had the votes is it a given that she'd bring it to the floor?
posted by scalefree at 7:45 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
But is the obverse true? If she knew she had the votes is it a given that she'd bring it to the floor?
posted by scalefree at 7:45 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
If she knew she had the votes is it a given that she'd bring it to the floor?
No, because she doesn't want it to pass. She doesn’t want to open a hearing. Just like McConnell could let pass lots of things that have the votes in the Senate but doesn’t because he doesn't want to.
posted by chris24 at 7:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
No, because she doesn't want it to pass. She doesn’t want to open a hearing. Just like McConnell could let pass lots of things that have the votes in the Senate but doesn’t because he doesn't want to.
posted by chris24 at 7:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
I suspect there wouldn't be so many people clamoring for an impeachment vote if it looked like the Democrats weren't just sitting around doing nothing when it comes to the investigations.
Absolutely. For me, "Start impeachment proceedings" is really just a shorthand. Saying "Start impeachment proceedings or just get serious about the investigations, public hearings, and subpoena enforcement that would come with impeachment proceedings without calling it that" is just too clunky.
posted by diogenes at 7:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
Absolutely. For me, "Start impeachment proceedings" is really just a shorthand. Saying "Start impeachment proceedings or just get serious about the investigations, public hearings, and subpoena enforcement that would come with impeachment proceedings without calling it that" is just too clunky.
posted by diogenes at 7:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
538: The House Probably Has A Pro-Impeachment Majority Right Now
Yeah, some dude on the internet claims that there is a "silent majority" of 150 members who might vote for impeachment based on .... his feelings?
Is this a joke?
posted by JackFlash at 7:52 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yeah, some dude on the internet claims that there is a "silent majority" of 150 members who might vote for impeachment based on .... his feelings?
Is this a joke?
posted by JackFlash at 7:52 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
To give credit where it's due, on the committee level the congressional Democrats are still grinding away, albeit slowly and to no great effect (yet). Nadler, Schiff, Cummings, Neal et al are at least trying to do their jobs, even if the pace seems glacial.
Unfortunately, the accompanying messaging has been ineffective. For starters, as many here have noted, Speaker Pelosi has not done a good job of articulating her current position, future strategy, or her reasons for same.
And the committee chairs, for the most part, are not great communicators - Nadler and Schiff both seem very circumspect, by nature; Neal seems to have no media profile at all; and Cummings, while he's better than the others, doesn't seem to get much TV time.
What they need at the very least is some sort of coordinated messaging strategy, with different spokespeople doing daily media hits using vivid language and hammering away on various different reasons to impeach - violations of election law, financial crimes, sexual assault, cozying up to dictators, failure to properly staff the government, and so on.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:01 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
Unfortunately, the accompanying messaging has been ineffective. For starters, as many here have noted, Speaker Pelosi has not done a good job of articulating her current position, future strategy, or her reasons for same.
And the committee chairs, for the most part, are not great communicators - Nadler and Schiff both seem very circumspect, by nature; Neal seems to have no media profile at all; and Cummings, while he's better than the others, doesn't seem to get much TV time.
What they need at the very least is some sort of coordinated messaging strategy, with different spokespeople doing daily media hits using vivid language and hammering away on various different reasons to impeach - violations of election law, financial crimes, sexual assault, cozying up to dictators, failure to properly staff the government, and so on.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:01 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
Such a coordinated messaging strategy could start with not kneecapping the party's closest thing to a rising star any time she speaks.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:05 AM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:05 AM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
based on his feelings
As he says in the article, based on their statements and being in safe D districts with the fact that 81% of Ds support impeachment.
And again, the 150 number is more like 110 now since over 40 Ds have come out for impeachment since. And a reminder that a majority of every committee investigating Trump publicly support impeachment.
Is this a joke?
Right up there with Trump wants to be impeached and a constant TV airing of his crimes will actually help him.
posted by chris24 at 8:09 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
As he says in the article, based on their statements and being in safe D districts with the fact that 81% of Ds support impeachment.
And again, the 150 number is more like 110 now since over 40 Ds have come out for impeachment since. And a reminder that a majority of every committee investigating Trump publicly support impeachment.
Is this a joke?
Right up there with Trump wants to be impeached and a constant TV airing of his crimes will actually help him.
posted by chris24 at 8:09 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
May I suggest that the back-and-forth on Pelosi and must-impeach/no-impeach has run its course? Unless there are actual new developments on this issue, maybe give it a rest for awhile?
posted by SPrintF at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [31 favorites]
The saying is that if you go at the king, you best not miss.
Please, please stop using this saying in contexts where it doesn't apply. It's about situations where the entity you oppose doesn't know you're out to get them and will take swift, devastating retaliatory action when they find out.
Elected officials are not kings, they already know who their opposition is, and attacks that don't knock them out of power usually still help by damaging their credibility and building oppositional support.
Impeachment will be talked about during the 2020 general. The question is whether Trump's line will be "if I'm such a crook, why didn't they even try to impeach me??? TOTAL EXONERATION!" or "they tried to impeach but my good friends in the Senate saw the truth and nipped it in the bud! TOTAL EXONERATION!"
posted by contraption at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [37 favorites]
Please, please stop using this saying in contexts where it doesn't apply. It's about situations where the entity you oppose doesn't know you're out to get them and will take swift, devastating retaliatory action when they find out.
Elected officials are not kings, they already know who their opposition is, and attacks that don't knock them out of power usually still help by damaging their credibility and building oppositional support.
Impeachment will be talked about during the 2020 general. The question is whether Trump's line will be "if I'm such a crook, why didn't they even try to impeach me??? TOTAL EXONERATION!" or "they tried to impeach but my good friends in the Senate saw the truth and nipped it in the bud! TOTAL EXONERATION!"
posted by contraption at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [37 favorites]
> May I suggest that the back-and-forth on Pelosi and must-impeach/no-impeach has run its course? Unless there are actual new developments on this issue, maybe give it a rest for awhile?
The Dowd Op-Ed (with Pelosi's comments that have led to the recent discussion) is two days old. What qualifies as a new development?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
The Dowd Op-Ed (with Pelosi's comments that have led to the recent discussion) is two days old. What qualifies as a new development?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
For me, "Start impeachment proceedings" is really just a shorthand. Saying "Start impeachment proceedings or just get serious about the investigations, public hearings, and subpoena enforcement that would come with impeachment proceedings without calling it that" is just too clunky.
I don't know if it's a completely equal statement, but every few days I've taken to tweeting at Pelosi, "You're letting him get away with it," the meaning of "him" being obvious and the meaning of "it" being up to the reader but clear as to the choices.
posted by rhizome at 8:21 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
I don't know if it's a completely equal statement, but every few days I've taken to tweeting at Pelosi, "You're letting him get away with it," the meaning of "him" being obvious and the meaning of "it" being up to the reader but clear as to the choices.
posted by rhizome at 8:21 AM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Oh, the Epstein Indictment has been unsealed...
posted by mikelieman at 8:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 8:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
Mod note: Seriously, folks, no one is saying anything new about Pelosi and we need to drop it now.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 8:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 8:46 AM on July 8, 2019 [31 favorites]
WaPo: Financier Jeffrey Epstein Charged With Federal Sex Trafficking Crimes Involving Minors
Since people are passionate about discussing this topic—Trump is the only political figure who gets mentioned more than Pelosi in this thread—if someone could post a dedicated FPP with current articles and news about it, that would be a tremendous help. One thing the megathreads can do better than other places on this site is identify which trending topics are of the most interest to USPolitics-following MeFites. While the community isn't in favor of daily Trump-related news on the main page, FPPs on particular topics of clear interest would boost participation beyond megathread readers and take some pressure off here.
On that note, as this megathread is over two Scaramuccis old and is reaching 1.7K comments, the new draft for the next US Politics FPP is available for comments and collaboration.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:58 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
Federal prosecutors on Monday unsealed new sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein, alleging the politically connected multimillionaire abused dozens of female minors at his Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., homes and enlisted his victims to expand a network of possible targets.[…]The Dowd Op-Ed (with Pelosi's comments that have led to the recent discussion of Pelosi) is two days old. What qualifies as a new development?
The new charges, described in a 14-page indictment brought by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, could lead to a much harsher penalty. Epstein is charged in a two-count indictment with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy, for crimes alleged to have occurred between 2002 and 2005. Each charge carries a penalty of no less than 10 years in prison, with the possibility of a life sentence. The Justice Department is also seeking to seize Epstein’s mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where some of the alleged crimes occurred.
Since people are passionate about discussing this topic—Trump is the only political figure who gets mentioned more than Pelosi in this thread—if someone could post a dedicated FPP with current articles and news about it, that would be a tremendous help. One thing the megathreads can do better than other places on this site is identify which trending topics are of the most interest to USPolitics-following MeFites. While the community isn't in favor of daily Trump-related news on the main page, FPPs on particular topics of clear interest would boost participation beyond megathread readers and take some pressure off here.
On that note, as this megathread is over two Scaramuccis old and is reaching 1.7K comments, the new draft for the next US Politics FPP is available for comments and collaboration.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:58 AM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
Trump’s ‘natural law’ human rights panel readies for launch
Mike Pompeo unveils panel to examine 'unalienable rights' (Politico)
Mike Pompeo unveils panel to examine 'unalienable rights' (Politico)
The panel will be headed up by Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor and former ambassador to the Vatican under George W. Bush. Glendon is also a social conservative who has been a prominent anti-abortion voice. [...]posted by Little Dawn at 8:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
In a statement cheering Pompeo's formation of the commission, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said that the panel would be useful in light of governments like Cuba, China and Iran who the group said "have wormed their way onto 'human rights commissions' in their search for international legitimacy." [...] In addition, Perkins added, the commission would further promote religious liberty abroad, which he hailed as the "foundation for all other human rights."
Amnesty International, meanwhile, accused Pompeo of using the panel to politicize human rights. "If this administration truly wanted to support people's rights, it would use the global framework that's already in place. Instead, it wants to undermine rights for individuals, as well as the responsibilities of governments," said Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and government affairs. "This approach only encourages other countries to adopt a disregard for basic human rights standards and risks weakening international, as well as regional frameworks, placing the rights of millions of people around the world in jeopardy."
The Epstein link from Dr Zed is horrifying. Acosta needs to be disbarred for selling out those little girls on the plea.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:02 AM on July 8, 2019 [25 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 9:02 AM on July 8, 2019 [25 favorites]
@DavidHeadViews
posted by scalefree at 9:15 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
Liam Fox tells @BBCr4today that he is off to Washington DC for #Brexit-related talks with (wait for it) Ivanka. And you thought things couldn't get any worse.Dr Liam Fox MP is the Member of Parliament for North Somerset and Secretary of State for International Trade & President of the Board of Trade.
posted by scalefree at 9:15 AM on July 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
Erica Orden (CNN) via Twitter: Agents recovered nude photographs of girls when they executed a search warrant on Jeffrey Epstein's residence on Saturday night, according to U.S. Attorney Geoff Berman.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
I was pondering the murder of Kim Jong-un's brother, Kim Jong-nam by North Korean agents.
Kim Jong-Nam had been in exile for 14 years. It was recently (June 2019) revealed to the public, that he had been a CIA asset.
Kim Jong-nam was murdered February 10, 2017, three weeks after Trump took office. The 14 years in which Kim was allowed to survive and then his sudden murder after Trump took office suggest to me a leak from the U.S. or from Trump himself. Could Trump have revealed the CIA status either through idiocy or in a desire to confer favor from Kim Jong-un?
Beyond Trump there was the uber-traitor Mattis in place at that time.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:18 AM on July 8, 2019 [22 favorites]
Kim Jong-Nam had been in exile for 14 years. It was recently (June 2019) revealed to the public, that he had been a CIA asset.
Kim Jong-nam was murdered February 10, 2017, three weeks after Trump took office. The 14 years in which Kim was allowed to survive and then his sudden murder after Trump took office suggest to me a leak from the U.S. or from Trump himself. Could Trump have revealed the CIA status either through idiocy or in a desire to confer favor from Kim Jong-un?
Beyond Trump there was the uber-traitor Mattis in place at that time.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:18 AM on July 8, 2019 [22 favorites]
Epstein/Acosta previously, for context. Any legal-ish mefites know if/how repercussions will land?
posted by j_curiouser at 9:24 AM on July 8, 2019
posted by j_curiouser at 9:24 AM on July 8, 2019
The Epstein link from Dr Zed is horrifying. Acosta needs to be disbarred for selling out those little girls on the plea.
Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of felony solicitation of underage girls in 2008 and served a 13-month jail sentence.posted by kirkaracha at 9:26 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
...
...Epstein’s unusually light punishment — he was facing up to a life sentence had he been convicted on federal charges — has raised questions about how Acosta handled the case.
The Guardian with the latest summary of the US state trend of outlawing protest: 'Protesters as terrorists': growing number of states turn anti-pipeline activism into a crime
"The laws appear designed not just to deter individuals from protesting, but also to cut off material support from organizations by levying steep fines on organizations alleged to conspire with activists. South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, admitted as much about the law in her state in March and said that the law was intended in part to “shut down” activist resources – she named George Soros as the top “national offender”.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:38 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
"The laws appear designed not just to deter individuals from protesting, but also to cut off material support from organizations by levying steep fines on organizations alleged to conspire with activists. South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, admitted as much about the law in her state in March and said that the law was intended in part to “shut down” activist resources – she named George Soros as the top “national offender”.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:38 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Are we still awaiting more documents, per the court order that certain material be unsealed, or was that indictment the entirety of it?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:39 AM on July 8, 2019
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:39 AM on July 8, 2019
@KlasfeldReports has been reporting on the Epstein indictment from the court. He's got more info on the pictures, including that there were also CDs locked in a safe, one of which was titled "Young [name] + [name]" which sounds like it could potentially be some of the blackmail material Epstein was reputed to have been gathering.
posted by Buntix at 9:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by Buntix at 9:39 AM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
The Pentagon's leadership vacuum grows, the incoming Chief of Naval Operations will decline the position and retire instead. This appears to be continuing fallout of the "Bad Santa" scandal; FOIA requests have uncovered emails, the contents of which are still undisclosed, between the incoming CNO and another officer who retired from the service after accusations of sexual harassment and predatory behavior.
posted by peeedro at 9:44 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 9:44 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
Mod note: Looks like Epstein-related stuff would make a good FPP on its own.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 9:45 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 9:45 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
Timothy O'Brien, Bloomberg Opinion (via Yahoo): Epstein Arrest Is a Worry for Donald Trump
** Inside Donald Trump’s One-Stop Parties: Attendees Recall Cocaine and Very Young Models (Daily Beast)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:52 AM on July 8, 2019 [19 favorites]
In an interesting twist, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan has put its public corruption unit in charge of the Epstein case – not, as might be expected, its human-trafficking team (although the latter unit is being consulted reportedly). It’s likely, at least in part, that the case is being handled by corruption prosecutors because of a controversial and lenient plea deal struck between Epstein and federal law enforcement officials in Florida back in 2008.[…]* “It is like modern-day slavery” [former Trump model Rachel] Blais said of working for Trump Model Management—and she is not alone in describing her time with Trump’s company in those terms. (MoJo) ; "We All Knew About the Trafficking"-The Untold Story of Trump Model Management (Daily Kos)
The financier was a member of Trump’s Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, and the men dined at one another’s homes. Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least once. According to Brown, Epstein is quoted in court papers as saying he wanted to set up his modeling agency – which prosecutors believe he used to get access to underage girls – “the same way Trump set up his modeling agency.”*
Although a court filing says Mar-a-Lago eventually dumped Epstein from its ranks after he approached an underage girl there, Trump has generally spoken about Epstein fondly – to me and to others. “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with.** It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”[…]
There’s a strong likelihood that Epstein will end up trying to flip for prosecutors as the reality of a lengthy prison sentence approaches, but it’s unclear how much he has that would be interesting to the feds. If he has anything sordid or compromising that he’s willing to trade about Trump, however, the president could be in for an uncomfortable summer. The public may be interested in that kind of stuff even if prosecutors aren’t.
** Inside Donald Trump’s One-Stop Parties: Attendees Recall Cocaine and Very Young Models (Daily Beast)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:52 AM on July 8, 2019 [19 favorites]
Kill Your Television: Johns Hopkins' Yascha Mounk on recent American Economic Review study showing tv makes ya stupid (duh), but that kind of stupid also makes you irrationally populist in your voting. Resulting in the election of people like Berlusconi, and uhh . . .others.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:54 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 9:54 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
Are we still awaiting more documents, per the court order that certain material be unsealed, or was that indictment the entirety of it?
The indictment in SDNY is a separate action from the unsealing ordered in the Southern District of Florida.
posted by holgate at 9:59 AM on July 8, 2019
The indictment in SDNY is a separate action from the unsealing ordered in the Southern District of Florida.
posted by holgate at 9:59 AM on July 8, 2019
Swalwell to announce this afternoon that he's dropping out of the presidential race, running for Congress again.
Next out (not counting Gravel): Moulton? Ryan?
posted by Chrysostom at 10:05 AM on July 8, 2019 [18 favorites]
Next out (not counting Gravel): Moulton? Ryan?
posted by Chrysostom at 10:05 AM on July 8, 2019 [18 favorites]
Kris Kobach is to announce that he's running for KS Senate this afternoon. He's off to a rough start - first he filed with the FEC with his name spelled wrong, and then the NRSC took pains to let him know he's not wanted.
A Kobach GOP nomination is probably the only shot for the Democrats to take this seat. He's a very divisive figure even inside the party, and you may recall he just lost the governer's race last year. Generic Republican probably wins by 10 or 15 points, Kobach could definitely lose.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 AM on July 8, 2019 [21 favorites]
A Kobach GOP nomination is probably the only shot for the Democrats to take this seat. He's a very divisive figure even inside the party, and you may recall he just lost the governer's race last year. Generic Republican probably wins by 10 or 15 points, Kobach could definitely lose.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 AM on July 8, 2019 [21 favorites]
Re: Liam Fox. American readers might not be aware
Please always refer to him by his full title - the disgraced former defence secretary, Dr Liam Fox.
Let’s remind ourselves what Fox did. He allowed his close friend and best man, Adam Werrity, to take up an unofficial and undeclared role in which he attended meetings at the Ministry of Defence without first obtaining security clearance. Werrity had access to Fox’s diary, printed business cards announcing himself as his advisor, and even joined him at meetings with foreign dignitaries.
An investigation by then cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell found that Fox had shown a lack of judgement by blurring the lines between his official role and his personal friendships. His report concluded: “The disclosure outside the MoD of details about future visits overseas posed a degree of security risk not only to Dr Fox, but also to the accompanying official party.”
posted by adamvasco at 10:11 AM on July 8, 2019 [17 favorites]
Please always refer to him by his full title - the disgraced former defence secretary, Dr Liam Fox.
Let’s remind ourselves what Fox did. He allowed his close friend and best man, Adam Werrity, to take up an unofficial and undeclared role in which he attended meetings at the Ministry of Defence without first obtaining security clearance. Werrity had access to Fox’s diary, printed business cards announcing himself as his advisor, and even joined him at meetings with foreign dignitaries.
An investigation by then cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell found that Fox had shown a lack of judgement by blurring the lines between his official role and his personal friendships. His report concluded: “The disclosure outside the MoD of details about future visits overseas posed a degree of security risk not only to Dr Fox, but also to the accompanying official party.”
posted by adamvasco at 10:11 AM on July 8, 2019 [17 favorites]
Liam Fox tells @BBCr4today that he is off to Washington DC for #Brexit-related talks with (wait for it) Ivanka. And you thought things couldn't get any worse.
Lindsay Cohn (prof Naval War College)
This whole administration is just that dude from Die Hard who thought he could handle the terrorists bc he had negotiated some business deals.
posted by chris24 at 10:14 AM on July 8, 2019 [46 favorites]
Lindsay Cohn (prof Naval War College)
This whole administration is just that dude from Die Hard who thought he could handle the terrorists bc he had negotiated some business deals.
posted by chris24 at 10:14 AM on July 8, 2019 [46 favorites]
Started an Epstein FPP for those interested.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:16 AM on July 8, 2019 [27 favorites]
Next out (not counting Gravel): Moulton?
Boston Globe this morning: Lisa Peterson, Salem councilor, to challenge Representative Seth Moulton.
She plans to focus on how Moulton has lost touch with his district - as shown by the fact he's running for president - which was the same basic platform Moulton used to unseat incumbent Jim Tierney.
posted by adamg at 10:28 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Boston Globe this morning: Lisa Peterson, Salem councilor, to challenge Representative Seth Moulton.
She plans to focus on how Moulton has lost touch with his district - as shown by the fact he's running for president - which was the same basic platform Moulton used to unseat incumbent Jim Tierney.
posted by adamg at 10:28 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
White House Touts Help For Poor Areas — But Questions Endure Over Who'll Benefit (Ayesha Rascoe for NPR, July 8, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:44 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Tucked into the 2017 law intended to cut Americans' taxes was a program aimed at helping communities struggling with high unemployment and run-down housing.Emphasis mine -- someone wants to hide something if they don't want reporting on benefits.
What's not clear is who's actually getting the most assistance from it.
The program allows investors to defer and potentially lower their capital gains taxes in exchange for investing in designated low-income neighborhoods.
But critics of the "opportunity zones" say residents in those communities could actually may be harmed, rather than helped, because wealthy investors getting tax breaks could enjoy more of a benefit than local residents.
...
Reporting requirements were included in the original measure, but were stripped out of the final tax bill.
Hawkins' trade group is planning to eventually release some data from members and the Trump administration is looking at what type of information it can gather on the zones.
Also, bipartisan bills have been introduced in Congress that would impose reporting requirements and force the government to track whether benefits are actually flowing to the communities that are in need.
The next question is when or whether they might pass — and how soon investors and officials might learn more about what this money is achieving.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:44 AM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
I don't see how "Questions Endure Over Who'll Benefit". Trump is a real estate developer. Real estate developers will benefit. No one else will.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 11:12 AM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
Indeed, in Baltimore it was Kevin Plank's deal. Propublica: One Trump Tax Cut Was Meant to Help the Poor. A Billionaire Ended Up Winning Big.
posted by Harry Caul at 11:23 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 11:23 AM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Speaking as a lifelong Baltimore native, fuck Kevin Plank right into the harbor and out to sea.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:28 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:28 AM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
Trump Will Speak Monday on ‘America’s Environmental Leadership.’ Critics Say It Will Be Surreal.
When asked whether Mr. Trump still believed that global warming was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese and whether windmills cause cancer, as the president has said, Mr. Wheeler said that there were “positives and negatives” to all energy sources, and that administration officials were paying attention to this.
posted by xammerboy at 11:41 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
When asked whether Mr. Trump still believed that global warming was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese and whether windmills cause cancer, as the president has said, Mr. Wheeler said that there were “positives and negatives” to all energy sources, and that administration officials were paying attention to this.
posted by xammerboy at 11:41 AM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
NYT: Iran has breached a crucial limit on the level of uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, the country’s atomic energy agency said on Monday, as China, another signatory to the deal, accused the United States of “bullying” Tehran with crippling economic sanctions.
This crisis is the obvious and completely foreseeable result of Trump's backing out of the nuclear deal and then implementing sanctions. It's hard to argue that Iran even had a choice but to increase their enrichment.
posted by xammerboy at 11:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
This crisis is the obvious and completely foreseeable result of Trump's backing out of the nuclear deal and then implementing sanctions. It's hard to argue that Iran even had a choice but to increase their enrichment.
posted by xammerboy at 11:59 AM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
Turns out the DHS is using secretive gang databases to deny asylum claims. One migrant falsely accused of being in MS-13 was thrown in jail for 6 mos & separated from his children.
Full story from ProPublica here.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:19 PM on July 8, 2019 [25 favorites]
Full story from ProPublica here.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:19 PM on July 8, 2019 [25 favorites]
Britain's Man In the US says Trump Is 'Inept': Leaked Secret Cables From Ambassador Say The President Is 'Uniquely Dysfunctional And His Career Could End In Disgrace'
@realDonaldTrump just declared the Sir Kim Darroch persona non grata via tweet:
ITV's Robert Moore: "What a way to humiliate a serving British Prime Minister @theresa_may and @KimDarroch, a fine diplomat. And just a month after the State Visit. A presidential tweet that makes a mockery of the British strategy to win influence through charm and flattery."
And, as usual, Trump has caused a new crisis while in the middle of a breaking one. It remains to be seen how much Cable-gate, or whatever we call the FO leak, will distract from the Epstein scandal.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:25 PM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump just declared the Sir Kim Darroch persona non grata via tweet:
I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way. I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well.... ....thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him. The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!The WaPo's Josh Dawsley notes, "Trump’s own team likes the ambassador and regularly dines and socializes at the embassy with him."
ITV's Robert Moore: "What a way to humiliate a serving British Prime Minister @theresa_may and @KimDarroch, a fine diplomat. And just a month after the State Visit. A presidential tweet that makes a mockery of the British strategy to win influence through charm and flattery."
And, as usual, Trump has caused a new crisis while in the middle of a breaking one. It remains to be seen how much Cable-gate, or whatever we call the FO leak, will distract from the Epstein scandal.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:25 PM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
Revolutionary era airports was 4 days ago.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:35 PM on July 8, 2019 [29 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:35 PM on July 8, 2019 [29 favorites]
I bet you forgot all about the Bowling Green massacre, too.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:40 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:40 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
AP: Barr: Mueller’s Hill testimony will be ‘public spectacle’
So at what point can we say that Barr and Trump are attempting to intimidate Mueller as a witness?
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
Attorney General William Barr says Democrats are trying to create a “public spectacle” by subpoenaing Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress about the Russia investigation.Earlier today, @realDonaldTrump tweeted a Fox News video clip with this commentary: “Brilliant Constitutional Lawyer, Dr. John Eastman, said the Special Prosecutor (Mueller) should have NEVER been appointed in the first place. The entire exercise was fundamentally illegal. The Witch Hunt should never happen to another President of the U.S. again. A TOTAL SCAM!”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr says the Justice Department would support Mueller if he decides he “doesn’t want to subject himself” to congressional testimony. Barr also says the Justice Department would seek to block any attempt by Congress to subpoena members of the special counsel’s team.[…]
“I’m not sure what purpose is served by dragging him up there and trying to grill him,” Barr said. “I don’t think Mueller should be treated that way or subject himself to that, if he doesn’t want to.”
So at what point can we say that Barr and Trump are attempting to intimidate Mueller as a witness?
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [15 favorites]
Aaron Blake, WAPO: Donald Trump’s origin story suffers another severe blow
The Washington Post’s Michael Kranish reported that Trump’s admission to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance — one of Trump’s go-to brags to play up his credentials — was hardly the feat he has claimed. In fact, Trump leaned on his older brother’s friendship with an admissions officer to get into the school. And even then, he was clearing a much lower bar than currently exists for acceptance to the prestigious school today.posted by Surely This at 12:52 PM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
Cuomo finalizes House access to Trump's NY state tax returns. Let's see if they are actually interested.
posted by Harry Caul at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
I work / go to school at Penn. When people talk about Wharton being fancy af they usually mean an MBA from Wharton, which Trump definitely did not do.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:57 PM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 12:57 PM on July 8, 2019 [14 favorites]
Trump clearly wants people to think he got an MBA at Wharton...
posted by suelac at 1:23 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by suelac at 1:23 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
Garrett Haake (MSNBC):
Big Money: @ewarren campaign announces they raised $19.1 million in the 2nd quarter. Good for third among Dems, and all without doing a single traditional fundraiser. Campaign counts 384,000 donors.
--
Harry Enten (CNN):
A HUGE number and to put it mildly very impressive.
--
Q2 numbers
1. Buttigieg $24.8M
2. Biden $21.5M
3. Warren $19.1M
4. Sanders $18M
5. Harris $12M
6. Bennet $2.8M
7. Bullock $2M
8. Hickenlooper $1M
Biden and Buttigieg beat her but with big donor fundraisers. Warren has a big list and her average donation was $28 so nobody has maxed out. So room to grow.
posted by chris24 at 1:57 PM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
Big Money: @ewarren campaign announces they raised $19.1 million in the 2nd quarter. Good for third among Dems, and all without doing a single traditional fundraiser. Campaign counts 384,000 donors.
--
Harry Enten (CNN):
A HUGE number and to put it mildly very impressive.
--
Q2 numbers
1. Buttigieg $24.8M
2. Biden $21.5M
3. Warren $19.1M
4. Sanders $18M
5. Harris $12M
6. Bennet $2.8M
7. Bullock $2M
8. Hickenlooper $1M
Biden and Buttigieg beat her but with big donor fundraisers. Warren has a big list and her average donation was $28 so nobody has maxed out. So room to grow.
posted by chris24 at 1:57 PM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
I would pay money to see Buttigieg debate Pence.
posted by xammerboy at 2:05 PM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 2:05 PM on July 8, 2019 [13 favorites]
Warren's total is more than three times what she raised in the first quarter. Good decision to not compromise and do fundraisers.
posted by chris24 at 2:05 PM on July 8, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 2:05 PM on July 8, 2019 [27 favorites]
WaPo: Congressional Democrats subpoena Trump’s financial, business records
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:07 PM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
Congressional Democrats began issuing dozens of subpoenas Monday for financial records and other documents from President Trump’s private entities as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging that his businesses violate the Constitution’s ban on gifts or payments from foreign governments.Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman reports: “NEW: The judge in Dems' emoluments clause case against Trump declined to certify an appeal of opinions denying Trump's motion to dismiss the case — so Trump is now petitioning the DC Circuit to step in, arguing "extraordinary circumstances"” https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6184685/7-8-19-Trump-Mandamus-Petition.pdf
The demands for detailed information about the president’s closely held finances came on the same day the Trump administration asked an appeals court in Washington to halt the lawsuit and block the subpoenas, saying the case is based on “novel and flawed constitutional premises.”[…]
The 37 subpoenas target information from a wide array of Trump’s businesses, including Trump Tower, his hotels in New York and Washington, and his Mar-a-Lago Club in South Florida, according to the Constitutional Accountability Center, the legal group representing the Democrats in the case.
The plaintiffs also are seeking information about trademarks granted to Trump’s companies by foreign governments since he entered office and any pending applications for foreign trademarks. Additional subpoenas seek information on tax returns from the president’s companies and the trust where he keeps his businesses while in office.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:07 PM on July 8, 2019 [26 favorites]
The Darroch thing really smacks of dirty tricks. Unlike "Woody" "Johnson", the US ambassador to London, the UK ambassador to the US is essentially the most senior career diplomat (KCMG / Kindly Call Me God) and the appointment typically comes at the end of a 30-40 year career. Have his credentials been revoked during mid-afternoon sundowning? (It's an pure Article II power.) Fuck knows. State is referring inquiries to the White House, and vice versa.
posted by holgate at 2:14 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by holgate at 2:14 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
The Darroch thing really smacks of dirty tricks.
Totally. Cui bonoing it, I have to agree with the theory that it's a senior Tory who wants Boris to have his man in there to better get Brexit goodies from 45. But boy, is it a crass move.
posted by Devonian at 2:24 PM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
Trump clearly wants people to think he got an MBA at Wharton...
He wants people to make that conclusion, without actually saying, "I got an MBA there".
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:27 PM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
He wants people to make that conclusion, without actually saying, "I got an MBA there".
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:27 PM on July 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
But he finished first in his class at Wharton according to the New York Times in 1973 and I'm sure that the Times would never fail to fact-check such an important detail.
posted by octothorpe at 2:27 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 2:27 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Can someone help me with the math here:
Warren campaign says 384k total donors (not this quarter) at an average of $28, but 28x384k = 11M which is 8m less than the Q2 number?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:29 PM on July 8, 2019
Warren campaign says 384k total donors (not this quarter) at an average of $28, but 28x384k = 11M which is 8m less than the Q2 number?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:29 PM on July 8, 2019
Warren campaign says 384k total donors (not this quarter) at an average of $28, but 28x384k = 11M which is 8m less than the Q2 number?
The linked article says "The campaign says they now have 384,000 donors, with an average gift of just $28", so my guess is that some of those donors have made multiple gifts (such as recurring donations).
posted by bassooner at 2:34 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
The linked article says "The campaign says they now have 384,000 donors, with an average gift of just $28", so my guess is that some of those donors have made multiple gifts (such as recurring donations).
posted by bassooner at 2:34 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Exactly. The 384,000 donors gave 683,000 times since people who haven't maxed out can give more than once.
I, for example, donated twice.
posted by chris24 at 2:39 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
I, for example, donated twice.
posted by chris24 at 2:39 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
Ditto, we donate monthly.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:43 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 2:43 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
> But he finished first in his class at Wharton according to the New York Times in 1973 and I'm sure that the Times would never fail to fact-check such an important detail.
I would like for this to be false, but is it? If you're going to fact-check the Times I'd like a source please!
posted by reductiondesign at 2:43 PM on July 8, 2019
I would like for this to be false, but is it? If you're going to fact-check the Times I'd like a source please!
posted by reductiondesign at 2:43 PM on July 8, 2019
I'm on the $10 a month Warren Plan.
posted by notyou at 2:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by notyou at 2:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
Two things...first:
NYT: Iran has breached a crucial limit on the level of uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, the country’s atomic energy agency said on Monday, as China, another signatory to the deal, accused the United States of “bullying” Tehran with crippling economic sanctions.
I’d just like to emphasize that THERE IS NO DEAL TO BE BREACHED ANYMORE. When Trump unilaterally backed the US out of the deal and reinstated sanctions, the deal was destroyed. I emphasize this because I’ve seen a lot of news outlets framing this as “Iran exceeding the terms” or “breaching the limits” or whatever. But that framing plays in to the rush to war. Iran is not violating any deal or treaty now, because President Numpty unilaterally broke the agreement.
Second, holy cow, the quadruple-negative in that Buzzfeed tweet:
NEW: The judge in Dems' emoluments clause case against Trump declined to certify an appeal of opinions denying Trump's motion to dismiss the case — so Trump is now petitioning the DC Circuit to step in, arguing "extraordinary circumstances"”
Anyway, it’s bad news for the Grifter-in-Chief. To parse it out:
Trump’s attorneys moved to dismiss the emoluments case.
The motion was denied.
Trump’s attorneys tried to appeal that denial.
The judge declined that appeal.
So Trump is trying to petition to a higher court to step in and make it good.
Good luck, chump.
posted by darkstar at 2:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
NYT: Iran has breached a crucial limit on the level of uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, the country’s atomic energy agency said on Monday, as China, another signatory to the deal, accused the United States of “bullying” Tehran with crippling economic sanctions.
I’d just like to emphasize that THERE IS NO DEAL TO BE BREACHED ANYMORE. When Trump unilaterally backed the US out of the deal and reinstated sanctions, the deal was destroyed. I emphasize this because I’ve seen a lot of news outlets framing this as “Iran exceeding the terms” or “breaching the limits” or whatever. But that framing plays in to the rush to war. Iran is not violating any deal or treaty now, because President Numpty unilaterally broke the agreement.
Second, holy cow, the quadruple-negative in that Buzzfeed tweet:
NEW: The judge in Dems' emoluments clause case against Trump declined to certify an appeal of opinions denying Trump's motion to dismiss the case — so Trump is now petitioning the DC Circuit to step in, arguing "extraordinary circumstances"”
Anyway, it’s bad news for the Grifter-in-Chief. To parse it out:
Trump’s attorneys moved to dismiss the emoluments case.
The motion was denied.
Trump’s attorneys tried to appeal that denial.
The judge declined that appeal.
So Trump is trying to petition to a higher court to step in and make it good.
Good luck, chump.
posted by darkstar at 2:46 PM on July 8, 2019 [44 favorites]
>"He finished first in his class at Wharton"
>I would like for this to be false, but is it? If you're going to fact-check the Times I'd like a source please!
Cripes, of course it's false. Have you learned nothing from years of listening to Trump's self-aggrandization?
Oh well, if you insist, from the school newspaper.
posted by JackFlash at 2:55 PM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
>I would like for this to be false, but is it? If you're going to fact-check the Times I'd like a source please!
Cripes, of course it's false. Have you learned nothing from years of listening to Trump's self-aggrandization?
Oh well, if you insist, from the school newspaper.
posted by JackFlash at 2:55 PM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
Cui bonoing it, I have to agree with the theory that it's a senior Tory who wants Boris to have his man in there to better get Brexit goodies from 45. But boy, is it a crass move.
But wait, if Johnson allows Trump to effectively fire the UK's own ambassador by tweet because of leaked documents, won't replacing him with someone more amenable make Johnson look servile and unprincipled? … Oh. Right.
Ian Dunt, writing for Politics.co.uk: Trump Ambassador Revelations: Brexiters Reveal The Trump-Love Game-Plan
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:58 PM on July 8, 2019 [53 favorites]
But wait, if Johnson allows Trump to effectively fire the UK's own ambassador by tweet because of leaked documents, won't replacing him with someone more amenable make Johnson look servile and unprincipled? … Oh. Right.
Ian Dunt, writing for Politics.co.uk: Trump Ambassador Revelations: Brexiters Reveal The Trump-Love Game-Plan
Someone - maybe a civil servant, maybe a minister - seems to be after the ambassador, Kim Darroch. The contents were leaked to Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who acts as the de-facto communications office of Aaron Banks, Nigel Farage's donor. The Brexit party leader quickly popped up to demand Darroch be sacked. And their Leave.EU outfit then stepped up to launch its campaign to make sure Farage replaced him. Incredible timing.[…]Carole Cadwalladr's reminder is as apt as ever: "Polite reminder. Trump & Brexit are not 2 different things. They are the same thing. Same companies. Same data. Same Facebook. Same Russians. Same Cambridge Analytica. Same Robert Mercer. Same Steve Bannon. Same Breitbart. Same Alexander Nix. Same Donald Trump. Same Nigel Farage."
The message you can take from this leak is simple. Loyalty to Trump, for parts of the Brexit movement, overrules loyalty to the British government.
We are told never to criticise the American president. We are told to let the American president effectively pick our ambassadors. We are told that the basic operating effectiveness of the Foreign Office must be dismantled so that those who question the president can be unmasked.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:58 PM on July 8, 2019 [53 favorites]
Trump has referred to his Wharton degree as ‘super genius stuff.’ An admissions officer recalls it differently.
Some time ago I took some continuing education classes at UC Berkeley Extension. You could get a discount if you joined the Berkeley Alumni Association, which you could either join by going to Berkeley or by paying a surprisingly small membership fee. So I was a member of the Berkeley Alumni Association and would say "As a Berkeley alum..." (to friends! as a joke!).
posted by kirkaracha at 3:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
At the time, Nolan said, more than half of applicants to Penn were accepted, and transfer students such as Donald Trump had an even higher acceptance based on their college experience. A Penn official said the acceptance rate for 1966 was not available but noted that the school says on its website that the 1980 rate was “slightly greater than 40%.” Today, by comparison, the admissions rate for the incoming Penn class is 7.4 percent, the school recently announced.I would like for this to be false, but is it? If you're going to fact-check the Times I'd like a source please!
“It was not very difficult,” Nolan said of the time Trump applied in 1966, adding: “I certainly was not struck by any sense that I’m sitting before a genius. Certainly not a super genius.”
In fact, Trump’s name was not among top honorees at his commencement. Nor was he on the dean’s list his senior year, meaning he was not among the top 56 students in his graduating class of 366. All that is known for certain is that Trump received at least a 2.0 average, or C, enabling him to graduate. A 4.0 is equivalent to an A.He wants people to make that conclusion, without actually saying, "I got an MBA there".
...
The idea that Trump was the top performer has persisted partly because the president has continued to let it stand, despite the many times it has been debunked. Trump acknowledged as much last year, saying that he “heard I was first in my class at the Wharton School of Finance. And sometimes when you hear it, you don’t say anything. You just let it go.”
Some time ago I took some continuing education classes at UC Berkeley Extension. You could get a discount if you joined the Berkeley Alumni Association, which you could either join by going to Berkeley or by paying a surprisingly small membership fee. So I was a member of the Berkeley Alumni Association and would say "As a Berkeley alum..." (to friends! as a joke!).
posted by kirkaracha at 3:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [11 favorites]
As pointed out on Reddit: irony is indeed dead when Kris Kobach, who argued that misspelled names on voter registration forms was evidence of voter fraud, misspells his own name on his Senate race registration form.
posted by darkstar at 3:08 PM on July 8, 2019 [51 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 3:08 PM on July 8, 2019 [51 favorites]
Kobach's campaign is really off to a great start. Not only was his name spelled wrong, the White House is now all "Kobach, who?"
[Kobach] added that he spoke with President Trump a few days before on the phone about illegal immigration. “It became very clear to me that the president needs someone who will lead the charge for him in the United States Senate,” he said.posted by zachlipton at 3:14 PM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
The White House isn’t aware of a call between the president and Mr. Kobach taking place in the last few days, a person familiar with the matter said.
Eric Swalwell is out just like he was in: without almost anybody noticing.
Democratic candidate count: still 24, because we picked up Tom Steyer. Bring on the third debate winnowing, please god.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:18 PM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
Democratic candidate count: still 24, because we picked up Tom Steyer. Bring on the third debate winnowing, please god.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:18 PM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
Epstein Arrest Is a Worry for Donald Trump
I had often assumed Trump's motives for shows of military strength and cozying up to terror-supporting regimes was a twisted bargaining chip for diplomacy, or a general compensation for personal insecurities, but now noticing part of the strongman image is probably a much more targeted message aimed directly at people like Epstein, Michael Cohen, etc. who have dirt on him that could actually threaten his power. Suppressing dissent, but on a very small, personal and narcissistic scale. He wants the option of torture to be part of the leverage that he uses to scare the shit out of anyone that can help take him down.
posted by p3t3 at 3:47 PM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
I had often assumed Trump's motives for shows of military strength and cozying up to terror-supporting regimes was a twisted bargaining chip for diplomacy, or a general compensation for personal insecurities, but now noticing part of the strongman image is probably a much more targeted message aimed directly at people like Epstein, Michael Cohen, etc. who have dirt on him that could actually threaten his power. Suppressing dissent, but on a very small, personal and narcissistic scale. He wants the option of torture to be part of the leverage that he uses to scare the shit out of anyone that can help take him down.
posted by p3t3 at 3:47 PM on July 8, 2019 [5 favorites]
Epstein Arrest Is a Worry for Donald Trump
I think if he can get away with having kids drink out of toilets, Epstein's arrest is not a big issue for him.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:04 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
I think if he can get away with having kids drink out of toilets, Epstein's arrest is not a big issue for him.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:04 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
In losing legal battles over census, Trump may win political war (Reuters)
The Trump administration has few realistic options to get a citizenship question onto next year’s census, but by keeping the issue in the public eye it could still trigger an undercount of residents in Democratic-leaning areas, legal and political experts told Reuters.posted by Little Dawn at 4:04 PM on July 8, 2019 [8 favorites]
Constant media coverage linking citizenship and census forms could scare undocumented immigrants away from responding and rally U.S. President Donald Trump’s base to participate, they said. That, in turn, would help redraw voting districts across the country in favor of his Republican party, encouraging the president to pursue a legal battle that he has little chance of winning.
The latest parlay came on Sunday evening, when the U.S. Department of Justice installed a new team of lawyers to handle the last iterations of litigation that has been going on for more than a year. “Even if the question is (taken) off, if people are tweeting as if it may be a real possibility, it continues to raise fears and depress the count,” said Thomas Wolf, a lawyer who focuses on census issues at the Brennan Center for Justice. [...]
On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a [motion] to prevent the citizenship question from being added. In the meantime, attention surrounding the legal debacle may already be hurting the census and helping Trump achieve his goals, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “The longer he has this conversation, the worse it is for an accurate census count,” she said.
And speaking of the Census:
AP: Attorney General William Barr told the @AP that he sees a legal pathway to adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, despite a Supreme Court ruling that blocked its inclusion, at least temporarily.
The Hill: "I think over the next day or two you'll see what approach we're taking and I think it does provide a pathway for getting the question on the census."
The pathway may or not be Barr's backside, as that is apparently from where he is pulling an alleged legal justification.
posted by delfin at 4:14 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
AP: Attorney General William Barr told the @AP that he sees a legal pathway to adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, despite a Supreme Court ruling that blocked its inclusion, at least temporarily.
The Hill: "I think over the next day or two you'll see what approach we're taking and I think it does provide a pathway for getting the question on the census."
The pathway may or not be Barr's backside, as that is apparently from where he is pulling an alleged legal justification.
posted by delfin at 4:14 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
Good luck, chump.
The Chief Judge of the DC Circuit is Merrick Garland. But of course politics only influence decisions by Republican judges, so I am not sure why I bothered to post this.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 4:20 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
The Chief Judge of the DC Circuit is Merrick Garland. But of course politics only influence decisions by Republican judges, so I am not sure why I bothered to post this.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 4:20 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
DOJ filed notice of its new team of scab lawyers today, it's a total hodgepodge of attorneys from random divisions that should otherwise have no real reason to ever work together on a case, overseen by political appointee Jody Hunt, former long time Federal Programs branch chief but most recently Jeff Sessions' chief of staff before Trump appointed him Civil Division AAG. It looks like whatever career people were Trumpy enough to say yes, overseen by someone who's career was stagnant for years and only recently climbed the ranks since Trump took over.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
hey cool here's some more subpoenas that he's gonna prolly ignore because why not:
First Judicial Subpoenas Served in Foreign #EmolumentsClause Lawsuit Brought by @SenBlumenthal, @RepJerryNadler & 213 Other Members of Congress
posted by entropicamericana at 5:51 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
First Judicial Subpoenas Served in Foreign #EmolumentsClause Lawsuit Brought by @SenBlumenthal, @RepJerryNadler & 213 Other Members of Congress
posted by entropicamericana at 5:51 PM on July 8, 2019 [10 favorites]
I had often assumed Trump's motives for shows of military strength and cozying up to terror-supporting regimes was a twisted bargaining chip for diplomacy, or a general compensation for personal insecurities, but now noticing part of the strongman image is probably a much more targeted message aimed directly at people like Epstein, Michael Cohen, etc. who have dirt on him that could actually threaten his power. Suppressing dissent, but on a very small, personal and narcissistic scale. He wants the option of torture to be part of the leverage that he uses to scare the shit out of anyone that can help take him down.
I thought you were going to say that he was setting up places he could flee to while avoiding extradition.
posted by srboisvert at 6:52 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
I thought you were going to say that he was setting up places he could flee to while avoiding extradition.
posted by srboisvert at 6:52 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
Buzzfeed: Democrats In Congress Say Voters Won’t Stop Asking Them About Impeachment, As Campaign Officials Argue It’s Too Divisive - More and more Democrats are calling for an impeachment inquiry in large part because they say their constituents want them to.
posted by chris24 at 7:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [52 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [52 favorites]
So Democrats are united in being divisive? I don't think that's how this works.
posted by scalefree at 7:20 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 7:20 PM on July 8, 2019 [6 favorites]
Politico: Democrats to pursue criminal contempt charges against William Barr and Wilbur Ross for defying congressional subpoenas related to the census
posted by darkstar at 7:35 PM on July 8, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 7:35 PM on July 8, 2019 [35 favorites]
I think if he can get away with having kids drink out of toilets, Epstein's arrest is not a big issue for him.
But these are pretty, white kids.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:36 PM on July 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
But these are pretty, white kids.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:36 PM on July 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
James Nolan was working in the University of Pennsylvania’s admissions office in 1966 when he got a phone call from one of his closest friends, Fred Trump Jr. It was a plea to help Fred’s younger brother, Donald Trump, get into Penn’s Wharton School.
“He called me and said, ‘You remember my brother Donald?’ Which I didn’t,” Nolan, 81, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “He said, ‘He’s at Fordham and he would like to transfer to Wharton. Will you interview him?’ I was happy to do that.”
Soon, Donald Trump arrived at Penn for the interview, accompanied by his father, Fred Trump Sr., who sought to “ingratiate” himself, Nolan said.
Everyone here who went to a college admission interview with your daddy, raise your hand.
posted by JackFlash at 7:40 PM on July 8, 2019 [29 favorites]
“He called me and said, ‘You remember my brother Donald?’ Which I didn’t,” Nolan, 81, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “He said, ‘He’s at Fordham and he would like to transfer to Wharton. Will you interview him?’ I was happy to do that.”
Soon, Donald Trump arrived at Penn for the interview, accompanied by his father, Fred Trump Sr., who sought to “ingratiate” himself, Nolan said.
Everyone here who went to a college admission interview with your daddy, raise your hand.
posted by JackFlash at 7:40 PM on July 8, 2019 [29 favorites]
The Census Case Could Provoke a Constitutional Crisis (Garrett Epps, Atlantic)
In his majority opinion, Roberts wrote that a citizenship question might be permissible, and might even be a good idea—if Ross had actually based the decision to include it on a valid reason. Instead, Roberts wrote politely, “The VRA enforcement rationale—the sole stated reason—seems to have been contrived.” A citizenship question might pass review if it was supported by truthful and relevant reasoning, Roberts wrote.Hence, the executive order nonsense, and Epps provides an overview of the "toxic pseudo-constitutional sludge" supporting the idea that could lead us to "where Trump’s truculent tone becomes most chilling. Because the next step would, logically, be a claim that the executive can ignore the Court." But not to worry! "That probably won’t happen, I say with hollow assurance."
Many have taken this as an invitation to Ross to hastily provide a different explanation and get the Court’s approval of the question on the 2020 questionnaire. I read it differently. I think Roberts wanted to signal that a future administration might be able to include such a question if it had a good reason—but that this administration blew its chance. If that’s the right reading, the case is effectively over.
Certainly that seems to be how the lower-court judges involved read the case. Administration lawyers had asked to freeze the cases until the department could come up with a new rationale; district courts in both New York (where the original case was filed) and Maryland (the site of a different suit charging that deliberate racial discrimination is behind the question) have politely declined.
But the idea is now in the room, and may be hard to banish as new defeats mount up. “Reason by degrees submits to absurdity,” Samuel Johnson once wrote, “as the eye is in time accommodated to darkness.”posted by Little Dawn at 8:09 PM on July 8, 2019 [23 favorites]
i was going to snarky comment about our feckless media along the lines of "tanks rolling down the streets could provoke a constitution crisis" but then i remembered that was literally last thursday, so
posted by entropicamericana at 8:29 PM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:29 PM on July 8, 2019 [12 favorites]
I thought you were going to say that he was setting up places he could flee to while avoiding extradition.
What a feather it would be in Kim Jong Un's cap to host the exiled Trump administration
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
What a feather it would be in Kim Jong Un's cap to host the exiled Trump administration
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:00 PM on July 8, 2019 [9 favorites]
CNN: Federal judge refuses to dismiss campaign finance violation case against Rep. Duncan Hunter
posted by darkstar at 9:12 PM on July 8, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 9:12 PM on July 8, 2019 [23 favorites]
The Buzzfeed article on impeachment is interesting, because it's a bunch of Democrat representatives saying they believed their constituents were against impeachment until they finally received enough calls and emails that they realized their research was wrong.
Does that sound right? That Illinois Democratic voters didn't want Trump impeached? When Trump campaigned in Chicago we ran him out of town. Who is doing this research?
Does it sound right when Democrat candidates say people love their private insurance? Do you know anyone with an emotional attachment to their insurance provider? Does it sound right that most Democrats don't want a debate on global warming? I call B.S.
posted by xammerboy at 12:06 AM on July 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
Does that sound right? That Illinois Democratic voters didn't want Trump impeached? When Trump campaigned in Chicago we ran him out of town. Who is doing this research?
Does it sound right when Democrat candidates say people love their private insurance? Do you know anyone with an emotional attachment to their insurance provider? Does it sound right that most Democrats don't want a debate on global warming? I call B.S.
posted by xammerboy at 12:06 AM on July 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
Please, can we not use "Democrat" as a modifier? It's "Democratic," as in "Democratic representatives" and "Democratic candidates."
At best, that usage is inaccurate, since the name of the party is "The Democratic Party," and at worst, it's considered an epithet.
I know it's a small point, but rather than normalizing it here, perhaps it should be left for the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 12:41 AM on July 9, 2019 [37 favorites]
At best, that usage is inaccurate, since the name of the party is "The Democratic Party," and at worst, it's considered an epithet.
I know it's a small point, but rather than normalizing it here, perhaps it should be left for the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 12:41 AM on July 9, 2019 [37 favorites]
xammerboy: Does that sound right? That Illinois Democratic voters didn't want Trump impeached? When Trump campaigned in Chicago we ran him out of town. Who is doing this research?
Does it sound right when Democrat[ic] candidates say people love their private insurance? Do you know anyone with an emotional attachment to their insurance provider? Does it sound right that most Democrats don't want a debate on global warming? I call B.S.
Until Harris faced Biden so strongly in the debate, the most typical Democratic voter in this country figured that Biden should win the nomination because the paramount thing is to beat Trump and he, as a moderate white man, should be perfect for that job. They just didn't know how weak he could be when confronted. Impeachment is similar; it absolutely is not a referendum on Trump's performance, it's a totally different tactical calculation. (And one that feeds more of itself, if people recognize that their neighbors also oppose impeachment but don't realize it's for the same tactical reasons.)
I don't know about "people love their private insurance", but change is often difficult and risky. It's not normal to respond to one's healthcare sucking with "This should be totally scrapped for something that actually works" if you aren't either at least somewhat wonky, or a radical at heart, or comfortable enough to afford risk.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 3:06 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
Does it sound right when Democrat[ic] candidates say people love their private insurance? Do you know anyone with an emotional attachment to their insurance provider? Does it sound right that most Democrats don't want a debate on global warming? I call B.S.
Until Harris faced Biden so strongly in the debate, the most typical Democratic voter in this country figured that Biden should win the nomination because the paramount thing is to beat Trump and he, as a moderate white man, should be perfect for that job. They just didn't know how weak he could be when confronted. Impeachment is similar; it absolutely is not a referendum on Trump's performance, it's a totally different tactical calculation. (And one that feeds more of itself, if people recognize that their neighbors also oppose impeachment but don't realize it's for the same tactical reasons.)
I don't know about "people love their private insurance", but change is often difficult and risky. It's not normal to respond to one's healthcare sucking with "This should be totally scrapped for something that actually works" if you aren't either at least somewhat wonky, or a radical at heart, or comfortable enough to afford risk.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 3:06 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
I support Medicare for All and I also love my health insurance company. I’m a leukemia survivor and Cigna (through my wife’s employer) has paid out over $500k and counting. Granted, there are some awful carriers out there selling shit insurance but there’s also amazing amazing insurance companies doing great work.
posted by photoslob at 4:08 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by photoslob at 4:08 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
I would love it if the primary race came down to a contest between Warren and Harris. And, the way things look now, we might be headed in that direction.
posted by nangar at 4:59 AM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by nangar at 4:59 AM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
Mod note: One deleted. Hey, sorry, but the mention of not knowing if people love their health insurance kind of cracks the door open for many, many comments on lots of stories of personal insurance, good or bad, that would be a pretty big derail in this thread, though possibly a perfectly fine topic for separate post.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:20 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 5:20 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Does that sound right? That Illinois Democratic voters didn't want Trump impeached? When Trump campaigned in Chicago we ran him out of town. Who is doing this research?
Chicago is very very different from much of the rest of Illinois.
posted by srboisvert at 5:28 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Chicago is very very different from much of the rest of Illinois.
posted by srboisvert at 5:28 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Politico: Felix Sater to Testify After Missing Previously Scheduled Appearance
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
Felix Sater, a former business associate of President Donald Trump who was the chief negotiator for the defunct Trump Tower Moscow project, will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter.Elsewhere in Capitol Hill testimony, Politico reports: White House Blocks Ex-McGahn Aide From Answering More Than 200 Questions
The closed-door interview will cap a protracted back-and-forth between Sater and the panel, which has rescheduled his appearance several times since he was first slated to appear in March.
Sater failed to appear for a voluntary appearance before the committee last month because he was sick and slept through his alarm, he told POLITICO at the time. Sater previously said his attorney, Robert Wolf, was already in Washington for the planned interview but the committee issued a subpoena anyway.
The White House has blocked a third witness who provided crucial testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller from describing the chaos she witnessed in the West Wing as President Donald Trump sought to assert control over the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.The stonewalling continues.
“The White House has directed that I not respond to this question because of the constitutionally-based executive branch confidentiality interests that are implicated,” former top White House aide Annie Donaldson repeated more than 200 times in written responses to the House Judiciary Committee, according to a transcript released Monday.
Donaldson, who served as then-White House counsel Don McGahn’s top deputy, provided Mueller with some of his most damaging evidence that Trump sought to interfere in the Russia probe, which the FBI launched in 2016 and Mueller and his team took over after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. But she declined to elaborate on that testimony, even as she repeatedly said in her responses that she had no reason to dispute Mueller’s characterization of her account.
Donaldson also told the committee that she couldn’t “independently” recall a slew of episodes that Mueller’s report described and noted she hadn’t reviewed her notes or prior testimony to Mueller before answering the committee’s questions.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
As Trump's approval rises, so has his chances against his potential opponents. Not sure if this has been posted--couldn't find it in the thread. Basically the only person solidly beating him is Biden, and they asked this question:
posted by Anonymous at 6:07 AM on July 9, 2019
"All else equal, if the election were between Trump and a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist, who would you support?"In that matchup Trump wins 49-43. Not great news for Bernie, as if he's the nominee the attacks will start and it's going to be easy to call somebody a socialist when they call themselves a socialist. There is a huge difference between that and the generic "Democrat = socialist" line that the Republicans trot out.
posted by Anonymous at 6:07 AM on July 9, 2019
Amy McGrath is making it official. As expected, she will be challenging McConnell next year.
posted by Surely This at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2019 [40 favorites]
posted by Surely This at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2019 [40 favorites]
Amy McGrath is making it official. As expected, she will be challenging McConnell next year.
So that made me make the happy-dance here in my room. I don't agree with her politics, but I do believe she is an honest person, and that's a huge step compared to the turtle.
posted by mumimor at 6:29 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
So that made me make the happy-dance here in my room. I don't agree with her politics, but I do believe she is an honest person, and that's a huge step compared to the turtle.
posted by mumimor at 6:29 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
perhaps it should be left for the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
On the other hand, if we just stop accepting the idea that “democrat” is a terrible slur we’ll just render the whole topic moot. There is nothing fundamentally offensive about “Democrat” politician/party/whatever rather than “Democratic”. We gain nothing by allowing Fox News to control the framing here.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:32 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
On the other hand, if we just stop accepting the idea that “democrat” is a terrible slur we’ll just render the whole topic moot. There is nothing fundamentally offensive about “Democrat” politician/party/whatever rather than “Democratic”. We gain nothing by allowing Fox News to control the framing here.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:32 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Three attorneys from the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Justice met in person in early June with dossier author Christopher Steele in Britain, said two sources with direct knowledge of the lawyers’ travels. < Reuters
posted by Harry Caul at 6:34 AM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 6:34 AM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
“The White House has directed that I not respond to this question because of the constitutionally-based executive branch confidentiality interests that are implicated,” former top White House aide Annie Donaldson repeated more than 200 times.
Donaldson is no longer a government employee. There is no law preventing her from testifying. There is absolutely nothing Trump can do to her if she chooses to testify. This is her own choice to defy Congress.
posted by JackFlash at 6:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
Donaldson is no longer a government employee. There is no law preventing her from testifying. There is absolutely nothing Trump can do to her if she chooses to testify. This is her own choice to defy Congress.
posted by JackFlash at 6:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
This paragraph in the Reuters Steele story seems almost too good to be true.
One of the two sources said Horowitz’s investigators appear to have found Steele’s information sufficiently credible to have to extend the investigation. Its completion date is now unclear.posted by Brainy at 6:37 AM on July 9, 2019 [14 favorites]
In that matchup Trump wins 49-43. Not great news for Bernie
Except that in that same poll, Sanders is up 49-48. The avowed socialist is scoring six points better than "a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist".
Also, note that every Democratic candidate does better against Trump among voting-age adults than among registered voters. GOTV is what's going to win this election, and part of energizing people to register and vote is going to be not running away from Trumpists screaming "YOUR A SOCIALIST" at whatever non-kakistocratic policy any Democrat puts forth.
posted by Etrigan at 6:43 AM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
Except that in that same poll, Sanders is up 49-48. The avowed socialist is scoring six points better than "a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist".
Also, note that every Democratic candidate does better against Trump among voting-age adults than among registered voters. GOTV is what's going to win this election, and part of energizing people to register and vote is going to be not running away from Trumpists screaming "YOUR A SOCIALIST" at whatever non-kakistocratic policy any Democrat puts forth.
posted by Etrigan at 6:43 AM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
Meanwhile 45 is continuing the unparalleled series of attacks on the UK and the ambassador, which is not going down well at all over here. It has the benefit of making life really hard for whoever becomes PM later this month (spoiler: Boris), unless they choose to abandon all dignity and pretence of independence because they're a shameless, scheming, shock-wigged buffoon working to the same agenda as 45 all along (spoiler: he is).
It really is much easier being an authoritarian undemocratic enemy of everything the US stands for, rather than a close ally and friend.
(Oh, and the 'Christopher Steele for next ambassador to the US' movement starts here, starts now.)
posted by Devonian at 6:50 AM on July 9, 2019 [21 favorites]
It really is much easier being an authoritarian undemocratic enemy of everything the US stands for, rather than a close ally and friend.
(Oh, and the 'Christopher Steele for next ambassador to the US' movement starts here, starts now.)
posted by Devonian at 6:50 AM on July 9, 2019 [21 favorites]
White House invites alt-right, anti-Semitic cartoonist Ben Garrison to social media summit.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:05 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:05 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
It has the benefit of making life really hard for whoever becomes PM later this month (spoiler: Boris)
I was thinking that this is practically a campaign donation for Boris. He gets to replace the ambassador with one of his personal cronies who knows that Rule One is "Don't speak openly of how easy it is to manipulate Trump", and then take "credit" for the renewing of the Special Relationship.
posted by Etrigan at 7:09 AM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
I was thinking that this is practically a campaign donation for Boris. He gets to replace the ambassador with one of his personal cronies who knows that Rule One is "Don't speak openly of how easy it is to manipulate Trump", and then take "credit" for the renewing of the Special Relationship.
posted by Etrigan at 7:09 AM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, if we just stop accepting the idea that “democrat” is a terrible slur we’ll just render the whole topic moot.
Sure, because that tactic has worked so well with all the other common slurs.
We gain nothing by allowing Fox News to control the framing here.
This seems exactly backward to me. If Democrats start using the language favored by Fox, Limbaugh, et al, that would be letting them "control the framing." This isn't a "we're taking it back" type of situation.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:27 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
Sure, because that tactic has worked so well with all the other common slurs.
We gain nothing by allowing Fox News to control the framing here.
This seems exactly backward to me. If Democrats start using the language favored by Fox, Limbaugh, et al, that would be letting them "control the framing." This isn't a "we're taking it back" type of situation.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:27 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
No, it’s more of a “don’t feed the trolls” situation. The only reason the right wing thinks it’s a clever dig at Democrats is because we accept the framing that dropping the -ic is an abominable slur that pwns the libs.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 7:33 AM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 7:33 AM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
So using the term preferred by trolls is actually a way of refuting them? Not seeing the logic there, sorry.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:38 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:38 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Ah, I see. So you're betting that by appeasing the right and accepting their terminology they'll simply stop there instead of moving on to re-frame the next thing.
Remember when "fake news" referred to actual fake news being generated by teenage trolls in Macedonia?
Give them an inch and they'll take a foot. Stop giving them inches, fight for every fucking one.
posted by VTX at 7:40 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
Remember when "fake news" referred to actual fake news being generated by teenage trolls in Macedonia?
Give them an inch and they'll take a foot. Stop giving them inches, fight for every fucking one.
posted by VTX at 7:40 AM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
Mod note: Maybe let's call it enough on how to react to that use of the word Democrat? Points have been made; we've been around this more than a few times before, let's not go around another few restatements.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:42 AM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:42 AM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
> Live Fox News Report about World Cup Win Interrupted by 'Fuck Trump' Chant (Deadspin)
Totally coincidentally, @realDonaldTrump went on an extended anti-Fox rant last night
AP reports Trump did indeed watch that chant on Fox: Trump Ramping Up Criticisms of Fox, Usually a Friendly Venue
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:55 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Totally coincidentally, @realDonaldTrump went on an extended anti-Fox rant last night
AP reports Trump did indeed watch that chant on Fox: Trump Ramping Up Criticisms of Fox, Usually a Friendly Venue
While it was not clear what Trump was specifically responding to [in Sunday's anti-Fox Twitter rant], he was particularly annoyed by Fox correspondent Greg Palkot’s live report from a sports bar in France, where patrons erupted in a “F--- Trump” chant, according to two advisers not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.Fox is back in Trump's good graces for the moment, with @realDonaldTrump happily tweeting multiple times about what Fox & Friends had to say about the census citizenship question, the pledge of allegiance protests in Minnesota, and, uh, a bait shop owner's views on his administration's environmental record.
Fox also aired two segments about immigration Sunday that used as a hook a Times story that said workers at a child detention center in Texas are “grappling with the stuff of nightmares,” according to Matthew Gertz of the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America.[…]
[T]he president’s frustration with the network has grown in recent months.
He has angrily told confidants he is confused about why Fox News sometimes “goes negative” in its coverage of his administration when it features an unflattering portrait of his White House, the advisers said.
Trump was particularly annoyed at Fox’s coverage when he saw his ties to billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein being played up on the other networks.[…]
Trump has gone on to complain that he feels that MSNBC and CNN rarely criticize Democrats and instead deliver pointed and, in his estimation, unfair attacks on the administration. To counter that, Trump has said, he feels it is important for Fox News to remain “loyal” to the White House and Republicans as a balance to the other networks’ alleged bias, according to the advisers.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:55 AM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Trump Will Speak Monday on ‘America’s Environmental Leadership.’ Critics Say It Will Be Surreal.
On the topic of that bait shop owner, he already stumped for Trump at yesterday's Oval Office environmental event, which was perhaps less surreal than expected mainly because Trump had to share podium time with a few administration officials who could cite soundbite-friendly stats without pathologically lying about them.
Daniel Dale's live-blog fact-check of it was comparatively quiet:
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:22 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
On the topic of that bait shop owner, he already stumped for Trump at yesterday's Oval Office environmental event, which was perhaps less surreal than expected mainly because Trump had to share podium time with a few administration officials who could cite soundbite-friendly stats without pathologically lying about them.
Daniel Dale's live-blog fact-check of it was comparatively quiet:
—Trump begins his speech on his "environmental leadership" by talking about the "incredible, big, beautiful crowds" that attended his July 4 event despite "heavy" rain.Also: "I missed this Sir Alert earlier: "I spoke to certain countries, and they said, 'Sir, we're a forest nation.' I never thought of a country - well-known countries; 'we're a forest nation.' I never heard of the term forest nation. They live in forests. And they don't have problems.""
—(The owner of a bait and tackle company has been up speaking, and he is speaking a lot, because "I got a big mouth," though he says "when you want me to shut up, I will," and then does, but then comes back and says "TRUMP 2020.")
—Shep Smith's Fox show left the speech after the "TRUMP 2020." [possibly because bait shop guy violated FEC rules?—ed.]
—Trump says that forest management is "a word that people didn't understand last year," until he started talking about it.
—Trump introduces Interior Secretary David Bernhardt as the man "very responsible for our tremendous success, Salute to America."
—In this environmental speech, Trump is leaving most of the statistics and policy talk to his senior officials, who he's inviting up to speak. Now Energy Secretary Rick Perry: "He knows more about energy than anybody."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:22 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
Trump Will Speak Monday on ‘America’s Environmental Leadership.’ Critics Say It Will Be Surreal.
This question after that shitshow of lying is how you do it with this administration.
This question after that shitshow of lying is how you do it with this administration.
Q: Hi. Okay, yeah, this is Shirish Date at HuffPost. I've got two questions. Number one, are you guys seriously taking credit for the work done by Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, George H. Bush, and Obama for the improvements in the environmental quality over the last decade? I mean, seriously? I mean, you're making metrics starting in the 1970s? What's happened in the last year and a half? If you could speak to that.posted by chris24 at 8:39 AM on July 9, 2019 [41 favorites]
And second, the President has said numerous times now that the United States has the best air quality and the best water quality in the world. Neither of those is true. And do you know why he said it? Is he being misinformed? Or is he just straight-up lying? Thank you.
House Dems set to subpoena Kushner, Sessions and 10 other Mueller witnesses <Politico
"House Judiciary Committee will vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for 12 of former special counsel Robert Mueller's witnesses — including President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his former deputy Rod Rosenstein, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former chief of staff John Kelly and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski."
posted by Harry Caul at 8:44 AM on July 9, 2019 [31 favorites]
"House Judiciary Committee will vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for 12 of former special counsel Robert Mueller's witnesses — including President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his former deputy Rod Rosenstein, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former chief of staff John Kelly and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski."
posted by Harry Caul at 8:44 AM on July 9, 2019 [31 favorites]
@NeverAgainActn
18 #JewsAgainstICE are sitting in, singing Oseh Shalom (prayer for peace) as they’re arrested.
We will not stay silent while Dem leaders continue to fund concentration camps. #NeverAgainMeans we #ShutDownICE!
Which side are you on, Democrats?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:54 AM on July 9, 2019 [47 favorites]
18 #JewsAgainstICE are sitting in, singing Oseh Shalom (prayer for peace) as they’re arrested.
We will not stay silent while Dem leaders continue to fund concentration camps. #NeverAgainMeans we #ShutDownICE!
Which side are you on, Democrats?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:54 AM on July 9, 2019 [47 favorites]
The Man Who Smarmed the US, putting Bill Clinton in office (arguably) has died. Au revoir, Monsieur Perot.
posted by Harry Caul at 8:54 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 8:54 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
CBS's Paula Reid: "JUST IN: Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from Epstein case in SDNY, after consulting with career ethics officials. But he remains recused from the review of the previous Epstein case in Florida “due to his prior association with Kirkland Ellis.”"
Elsewhere in Trump administration shameless moral bankruptcy, The Hill reports: Acosta Defends Epstein Deal, Says New Case Could 'More Fully Bring Him to Justice'
ABC: Conway deflects on Trump's confidence in Acosta, top Democrats call on him to resign over Epstein case
And the AP reports: "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says Trump hasn't spoken to or had any contact with billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in “years and years and years.”"
There's a lot more to this political scandal than Epstein's monstrous crimes. This is shaping up to suggest a major political cover-up.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on July 9, 2019 [21 favorites]
Elsewhere in Trump administration shameless moral bankruptcy, The Hill reports: Acosta Defends Epstein Deal, Says New Case Could 'More Fully Bring Him to Justice'
ABC: Conway deflects on Trump's confidence in Acosta, top Democrats call on him to resign over Epstein case
And the AP reports: "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says Trump hasn't spoken to or had any contact with billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in “years and years and years.”"
There's a lot more to this political scandal than Epstein's monstrous crimes. This is shaping up to suggest a major political cover-up.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on July 9, 2019 [21 favorites]
Mod note: Fine to post the occasional update here but let's keep discussion of Epstein-related stuff in the Epstein thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:15 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:15 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Amy McGrath is making it official. As expected, she will be challenging McConnell next year.
And, in spite of my hopes that she could represent a fresh new voice, she's already fucking it up and disillusioning progressives. I have no idea what she thinks she's doing. "Trump would've helped us if not for that nasty Mitch McConnell standing in his way" is a message that appeals to a near-zero number of people.
Sure, this is different than the establishment Democratic weaksauce we usually get, but it's not better. Or more likely to win.
posted by jackbishop at 9:45 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
And, in spite of my hopes that she could represent a fresh new voice, she's already fucking it up and disillusioning progressives. I have no idea what she thinks she's doing. "Trump would've helped us if not for that nasty Mitch McConnell standing in his way" is a message that appeals to a near-zero number of people.
Sure, this is different than the establishment Democratic weaksauce we usually get, but it's not better. Or more likely to win.
posted by jackbishop at 9:45 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
Except that in that same poll, Sanders is up 49-48. The avowed socialist is scoring six points better than "a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist".
Which is why I specified the problems will come after the attacks start. The Republican hate machine has not trained its sights on him, and he has not been attacked as a socialist. What does the general population know about him except that he's against the millionaires and billionaires?
It's folly to assume perceptions of him won't be affected by this. Hillary Clinton was tremendously popular before she became the nominee (though we can't ignore the effects of misogyny there).
posted by Anonymous at 9:48 AM on July 9, 2019
Which is why I specified the problems will come after the attacks start. The Republican hate machine has not trained its sights on him, and he has not been attacked as a socialist. What does the general population know about him except that he's against the millionaires and billionaires?
It's folly to assume perceptions of him won't be affected by this. Hillary Clinton was tremendously popular before she became the nominee (though we can't ignore the effects of misogyny there).
posted by Anonymous at 9:48 AM on July 9, 2019
Sure, this is different than the establishment Democratic weaksauce we usually get, but it's not better. Or more likely to win.
She isn't trying to convince progressives. She's trying to convince Kentucky. We're lucky if we get Joe Manchin 2.0 there.
posted by Anonymous at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2019
She isn't trying to convince progressives. She's trying to convince Kentucky. We're lucky if we get Joe Manchin 2.0 there.
posted by Anonymous at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2019
She need to follow the Beto O'Rourke mold and run to energize Democrats who usually wouldn't be energized because their votes appear futile in a red state -- basically a GOTV campaign for downballot candidates. She's not going to win outright barring a miracle and this strategy will give her negative coattails. Lovely.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:50 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
What does the general population know about him except that he's against the millionaires and billionaires?
This could be the perfect foundation to fire up a populist left. A real simple us v them, that nearly all can understand and meme-away on. Especially if a child-devouring-billionaires Epstein/CBP/ICE/Trump administration blob can be described effectively.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:52 AM on July 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
This could be the perfect foundation to fire up a populist left. A real simple us v them, that nearly all can understand and meme-away on. Especially if a child-devouring-billionaires Epstein/CBP/ICE/Trump administration blob can be described effectively.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:52 AM on July 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
Pledges of Allegiance always seem to trickle up from the individual to the state. They never seem to trickle down.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:11 AM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:11 AM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
Pledges of Allegiance always seem to trickle up from the individual to the state. They never seem to trickle down.
That could be a powerful campaign move or inauguration speech, in light of our Putinian president*. "I, candidate, am pledging allegiance to THIS country, to its people, and to our republic."
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:38 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
That could be a powerful campaign move or inauguration speech, in light of our Putinian president*. "I, candidate, am pledging allegiance to THIS country, to its people, and to our republic."
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:38 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
There's no patriotism like coerced mandatory patriotism.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:52 AM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:52 AM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
Yahoo News: Russian intelligence planted a fake report that DNC staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by assassins working for Hillary Clinton, to divert attention from the DNC email hacks.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:56 AM on July 9, 2019 [30 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:56 AM on July 9, 2019 [30 favorites]
> She isn't trying to convince progressives. She's trying to convince Kentucky.
Not to make this KY-filter, but there are some important things to clarify. Read what she is saying carefully, not just the headline... There's more nuance there. For those who want the quick sound bites:
> they wanted to drain the swamp, and Trump said that he was going to do that," [...] "Trump promised to bring back jobs. He promised to lower drug prices for so many Kentuckians."
It would be SO unlike the media to cherry-pick things from a candidate and put them out of context, especially one who is a woman, wouldn't it?
That's it, those are her "pro-Trump" views quoted. I haven't found more yet. So this framing is a bit concerning. She's certainly not a progressive firebrand by any means, but I haven't seen anything she has actually said to indicate that she's a rabid Trumpist either. The actual things she claims to want here aren't bad things - tying them to Trump is an interesting strategy.
McGrath isn't encouraging to ANYONE if she is identified as a "pro-Trump" Democratic candidate - so I'm hoping that isn't the platform that the statewide and national parties end up supporting. I wouldn't put it past them to fuck it up, but I'm hoping that this is stuff taken horribly out of context, as the "pro-Trump" views cited aren't so much "fuck immigrants" as they are Trump's empty lies about jobs and healthcare. I do think it's more than a bit misguided to run this way, but I don't think it's as horrible as it's being painted here.
So I'm wary, but I don't believe that she's entirely as "Pro-Trump" as she is being made out to be here yet, based on her voice and not headlines. But there's still plenty of time if she DOES turn out to be someone who would push for the worst of Trump - there hasn't been a primary, and Matt Jones hasn't given up the idea yet.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:13 AM on July 9, 2019 [14 favorites]
Not to make this KY-filter, but there are some important things to clarify. Read what she is saying carefully, not just the headline... There's more nuance there. For those who want the quick sound bites:
> they wanted to drain the swamp, and Trump said that he was going to do that," [...] "Trump promised to bring back jobs. He promised to lower drug prices for so many Kentuckians."
It would be SO unlike the media to cherry-pick things from a candidate and put them out of context, especially one who is a woman, wouldn't it?
That's it, those are her "pro-Trump" views quoted. I haven't found more yet. So this framing is a bit concerning. She's certainly not a progressive firebrand by any means, but I haven't seen anything she has actually said to indicate that she's a rabid Trumpist either. The actual things she claims to want here aren't bad things - tying them to Trump is an interesting strategy.
McGrath isn't encouraging to ANYONE if she is identified as a "pro-Trump" Democratic candidate - so I'm hoping that isn't the platform that the statewide and national parties end up supporting. I wouldn't put it past them to fuck it up, but I'm hoping that this is stuff taken horribly out of context, as the "pro-Trump" views cited aren't so much "fuck immigrants" as they are Trump's empty lies about jobs and healthcare. I do think it's more than a bit misguided to run this way, but I don't think it's as horrible as it's being painted here.
So I'm wary, but I don't believe that she's entirely as "Pro-Trump" as she is being made out to be here yet, based on her voice and not headlines. But there's still plenty of time if she DOES turn out to be someone who would push for the worst of Trump - there hasn't been a primary, and Matt Jones hasn't given up the idea yet.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:13 AM on July 9, 2019 [14 favorites]
Court rules Trump can't block Twitter followers (Axios)
Tuesday's decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upholds an earlier decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia that ruled government officials can't block constituents on social media accounts that they use for official business, based on its interpretation of the First Amendment.posted by Little Dawn at 11:17 AM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
In its ruling, the 2nd Circuit held that: "The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees."
She need to follow the Beto O'Rourke mold and run to energize Democrats who usually wouldn't be energized because their votes appear futile in a red state -- basically a GOTV campaign for downballot candidates. She's not going to win outright barring a miracle and this strategy will give her negative coattails. Lovely.
So, that's a bad opening line to go with "Mitch McConnell stopped Trump from draining the swamp"...but I know Kentucky. Like, a lot. And you're not going to win Kentucky by getting out the progressive vote, ever. There may be a large base of disinterested and disactivated progressive voters around the country, but those people that identify as progressives don't exist in any significant numbers in Kentucky. It's the definition of an "ancestral Democratic state", overwhelmingly white, and with a Democratic registration advantage only because it never finished turning red from the civil rights era party switch until around 2014. Everything comes to Kentucky 20-30 years late. But all those people, all watch FOX News and listen to hate radio if not 24/7 then at work, in the dentist and oil change office, and it's just around as the fabric of life. You can't win Kentucky by getting out progressives. You only win it by cleaning up in Louisville (more of the old money Democratic set than "progressive") and hanging on for dear life in the rest of the rural state.
You might be able to win by talking about progressive policy ideas, like bringing people healthcare and jobs and "draining the swamp". When you decouple policy outcomes from the label "progressive" or even from the Democratic party ID, there's a path to reaching people in Kentucky that remember the New Deal or need their teeth checked or a highway built and hate Mitch McConnell. And lots of them do in fact hate Mitch McConnell. He's one of the most unpopular Senators in history. People know he's blocking everything, even in Kentucky. And more than that they can sense he's a smarmy liar, and know he's been there too long.
So I can see a kernel of what she was trying to do, Trump ran on "better" healthcare, not touching your Social Security, and draining the swamp, and what he delivered was Mitch McConnell's wishlist for billionaires. That's all true, and could be an effective message. But, no, that's not what she said, exactly. Let's hope that was just a clumsy roll out of an attempt to tie Trumps failed promises around McConnell's neck...but the day 1 review is I'm pretty worried about who she has advising her if that's the line the same up with. Sounds a lot like the same old team of fuckups designed from day 1 to lose to Mitch, again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:20 AM on July 9, 2019 [29 favorites]
So, that's a bad opening line to go with "Mitch McConnell stopped Trump from draining the swamp"...but I know Kentucky. Like, a lot. And you're not going to win Kentucky by getting out the progressive vote, ever. There may be a large base of disinterested and disactivated progressive voters around the country, but those people that identify as progressives don't exist in any significant numbers in Kentucky. It's the definition of an "ancestral Democratic state", overwhelmingly white, and with a Democratic registration advantage only because it never finished turning red from the civil rights era party switch until around 2014. Everything comes to Kentucky 20-30 years late. But all those people, all watch FOX News and listen to hate radio if not 24/7 then at work, in the dentist and oil change office, and it's just around as the fabric of life. You can't win Kentucky by getting out progressives. You only win it by cleaning up in Louisville (more of the old money Democratic set than "progressive") and hanging on for dear life in the rest of the rural state.
You might be able to win by talking about progressive policy ideas, like bringing people healthcare and jobs and "draining the swamp". When you decouple policy outcomes from the label "progressive" or even from the Democratic party ID, there's a path to reaching people in Kentucky that remember the New Deal or need their teeth checked or a highway built and hate Mitch McConnell. And lots of them do in fact hate Mitch McConnell. He's one of the most unpopular Senators in history. People know he's blocking everything, even in Kentucky. And more than that they can sense he's a smarmy liar, and know he's been there too long.
So I can see a kernel of what she was trying to do, Trump ran on "better" healthcare, not touching your Social Security, and draining the swamp, and what he delivered was Mitch McConnell's wishlist for billionaires. That's all true, and could be an effective message. But, no, that's not what she said, exactly. Let's hope that was just a clumsy roll out of an attempt to tie Trumps failed promises around McConnell's neck...but the day 1 review is I'm pretty worried about who she has advising her if that's the line the same up with. Sounds a lot like the same old team of fuckups designed from day 1 to lose to Mitch, again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:20 AM on July 9, 2019 [29 favorites]
As is often the case in the blood-red states, Kentucky, not to mention the country and the world, would be vastly improved if they could replace McConnell with a Manchin 2.0.
Anytime a red state changes out an outright evil R and replaces it with a merely conservative D is major sociopolitical progress.
posted by darkstar at 11:21 AM on July 9, 2019 [30 favorites]
Anytime a red state changes out an outright evil R and replaces it with a merely conservative D is major sociopolitical progress.
posted by darkstar at 11:21 AM on July 9, 2019 [30 favorites]
Also worth noting that Schumer pushed hard for McGrath behind the scenes, and it sounds like the other longshot contender radio host Matt Jones will not run because of it. Take a stroll through Schumer's Handpicked Senate Candidates Lane 2016 for what a ringing endorsement that is.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:30 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:30 AM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
The avowed socialist is scoring six points better than "a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist".Which is why I specified the problems will come after the attacks start....Hillary Clinton was tremendously popular before she became the nominee (though we can't ignore the effects of misogyny there).
We also can't ignore the effects of over two decades of Republican anti-Clinton propaganda. I think she would have been a great President, but I don't think it's fair to call her tremendously popular. Even in the primaries (where she was clearly more popular than even another popular candidate by several million votes!) she had some strong negatives, and among independents (let alone conservatives) I think the basic outline of Republican attacks had taken hold well before she secured the nomination.
To the larger issue of whether "democratic socialist" attacks are going to come: yes. They are going to come. It doesn't matter who the nominee is, they will be presented as the second coming of Stalin. It could be zombie Reagan and that'd still happen.
A candidate can run scared from that, or a candidate can attempt to define themselves and their own policies and even appeal to the socialist already in most American voters.
If you're evaluating which tactic is best, consider how amorphous the term "socialism" really is in the mind of conservative or low information voters. There are entire swaths of the electorate in the minds of whom you simply can't effectively demarcate yourself as not-socialist because there is no line of demarcation. You're a socialist if you're called one often enough, or if someone doesn't trust you, or if someone thinks you're working for the outgroup instead of them. You can run, but you can't outrun this accusation.
The other option is: my values and policies work for you, voter. Even if you don't need them right now, someday you or someone you care about might need them. They support you and your people and more important, your values. You already believe in social policy in so many ways. Social policy will do these positive things. Call it socialism if you want but it gets the job done.
Also, if we're matching up Trump vs "a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist" ... I'd guess that cipher-standin descriptions usually poll worse against specific candidates. Consider this 2007 gallup poll wherein Americans display some reluctance to vote for a Mormon candidate, greater reluctance to vote for one married a third time, even greater reluctance to vote for someone over 72. But Mitt Romney polled better than an unnamed Mormon candidate, and the current POTUS is on his third wife and is over 72.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:32 AM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Heather Caygle:
@SpeakerPelosi essentially rules out the House impeaching/investigating @SecretaryAcosta.
"It’s up to the president, it’s his cabinet. We have a great deal of work to do here for the good of the American people and we have to focus on that.”
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:34 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
@SpeakerPelosi essentially rules out the House impeaching/investigating @SecretaryAcosta.
"It’s up to the president, it’s his cabinet. We have a great deal of work to do here for the good of the American people and we have to focus on that.”
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:34 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
Yeah, but Democrats didn't attack Romney for any of those things. The GOP would be running seven trillion ads per day with footage of Bernie calling himself a socialist.
Also, re: Kentucky, I completely agree that the most conservative Dem is still infinitely better than McConnell, but even Manchin wouldn't win WV if he didn't have the advantages of long-standing incumbency, going back to before the state was institutionally Republican. I feel like Doug Jones did about as well as that sort of Dem possibly can in the current climate, and he barely squeaked by a scandal-ridden opponent in an open-seat race.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, re: Kentucky, I completely agree that the most conservative Dem is still infinitely better than McConnell, but even Manchin wouldn't win WV if he didn't have the advantages of long-standing incumbency, going back to before the state was institutionally Republican. I feel like Doug Jones did about as well as that sort of Dem possibly can in the current climate, and he barely squeaked by a scandal-ridden opponent in an open-seat race.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:36 AM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm sure there are some interesting fights going on about how much to discuss Epstein given his connections with both parties.
posted by benzenedream at 11:40 AM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by benzenedream at 11:40 AM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
As New York created the man (well, his father did), it's heartening to see New York begin leading the way in cleaning up this mess by offering up the tax returns and with the Epstein charges.
Also, it's clear that all Fox News does and has ever done is to relentlessly broadcast waves and vibrations of fear. It's the Fear Of X channel. I can't imagine how nor why anyone can stay tuned to so much unadulterated fear--no wonder its viewers are so angry. Talk about fake "news".
(Edit: Changed misplacement of last sentence in second graf. Also edited to praise and not blame New York, as that was my inrent.)
posted by riverlife at 11:49 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
Also, it's clear that all Fox News does and has ever done is to relentlessly broadcast waves and vibrations of fear. It's the Fear Of X channel. I can't imagine how nor why anyone can stay tuned to so much unadulterated fear--no wonder its viewers are so angry. Talk about fake "news".
(Edit: Changed misplacement of last sentence in second graf. Also edited to praise and not blame New York, as that was my inrent.)
posted by riverlife at 11:49 AM on July 9, 2019 [7 favorites]
I'm sure there are some interesting fights going on about how much to discuss Epstein given his connections with both parties.
The key is to link Epstein to billionaire scofflaws of all parties, which doesn't seem like it would be too hard to do. That will help Warren and Harris the most.
posted by M-x shell at 11:55 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
The key is to link Epstein to billionaire scofflaws of all parties, which doesn't seem like it would be too hard to do. That will help Warren and Harris the most.
posted by M-x shell at 11:55 AM on July 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
Anyone have a URL for Amy McGrath for Senate? Because I'd like to donate but Google doesn't seem to know of one.
Never mind, duckduckgo found this: https://amymcgrath.com/.
posted by M-x shell at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Never mind, duckduckgo found this: https://amymcgrath.com/.
posted by M-x shell at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Mitt Romney [...] is over 72.
WHAT. Ok another selling point for socialism: depriving the rich of their ageless vampire powers.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:00 PM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
WHAT. Ok another selling point for socialism: depriving the rich of their ageless vampire powers.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:00 PM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
Yeah, but Democrats didn't attack Romney for any of those things.
The point is that a *category* will often poll worse than a *specific candidate*, and therefore polling that matches a concrete candidate with a fill-in-the-blank is a deeply unreliable guide
The GOP would be running seven trillion ads per day with footage of Bernie calling himself a socialist.
I think I addressed this pretty thoroughly above, but I'll try a shorter formulation:
Elections are already a battle to define yourself and your governing values. Sanders engages this not by running from the ways in which he (and really, many Americans) *is* a socialist, but by speaking boldly about specific places those values lead him. And in so doing begins to define what American socialism might look like, rather than ceding the territory to the scarecrow-socialism which from the right is a monster-blob that will attempt to conceptually assimilate any and every opposition candidate.
I'm sure there are some interesting fights going on about how much to discuss Epstein given his connections with both parties.
I'm already seeing one frame on twitter: Epstein's deep state sex-slaves. It's perfect for the kind of people who vote Republican or Trump. Simple conceptual association, no analysis required, slides things right into an existing frame.
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:14 PM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
The point is that a *category* will often poll worse than a *specific candidate*, and therefore polling that matches a concrete candidate with a fill-in-the-blank is a deeply unreliable guide
The GOP would be running seven trillion ads per day with footage of Bernie calling himself a socialist.
I think I addressed this pretty thoroughly above, but I'll try a shorter formulation:
Elections are already a battle to define yourself and your governing values. Sanders engages this not by running from the ways in which he (and really, many Americans) *is* a socialist, but by speaking boldly about specific places those values lead him. And in so doing begins to define what American socialism might look like, rather than ceding the territory to the scarecrow-socialism which from the right is a monster-blob that will attempt to conceptually assimilate any and every opposition candidate.
I'm sure there are some interesting fights going on about how much to discuss Epstein given his connections with both parties.
I'm already seeing one frame on twitter: Epstein's deep state sex-slaves. It's perfect for the kind of people who vote Republican or Trump. Simple conceptual association, no analysis required, slides things right into an existing frame.
posted by wildblueyonder at 12:14 PM on July 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
I think she would have been a great President, but I don't think it's fair to call her tremendously popular.
Before 2016 she was usually quite popular (~66% approval rating) as long as she wasn't running for office (~48–49% approval rating).
America loves women like Hillary Clinton–as long as they’re not asking for a promotion
Before 2016 she was usually quite popular (~66% approval rating) as long as she wasn't running for office (~48–49% approval rating).
America loves women like Hillary Clinton–as long as they’re not asking for a promotion
How can we reconcile the “unlikable” Democratic presidential candidate of today with the adored politician of recent history? It’s simple: Public opinion of Clinton has followed a fixed pattern throughout her career. Her public approval plummets whenever she applies for a new position. Then it soars when she gets the job. The wild difference between the way we talk about Clinton when she campaigns and the way we talk about her when she’s in office can’t be explained as ordinary political mud-slinging. Rather, the predictable swings of public opinion reveal Americans’ continued prejudice against women caught in the act of asking for power.posted by kirkaracha at 12:14 PM on July 9, 2019 [23 favorites]
I'm completely done with pelosi. Won't even investigate the *judicially pre-determined* illegal plea deal involving a child-rapist and current cabinet secretary? Done. Primary. Donate to Shahid Buttar on ActBlue.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:24 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 12:24 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
If you're evaluating which tactic is best, consider how amorphous the term "socialism" really is in the mind of conservative or low information voters. There are entire swaths of the electorate in the minds of whom you simply can't effectively demarcate yourself as not-socialist because there is no line of demarcation. You're a socialist if you're called one often enough, or if someone doesn't trust you, or if someone thinks you're working for the outgroup instead of them. You can run, but you can't outrun this accusation.
I consider this an excellent example of rhetorical blowback. Republicans have for decades been calling everything and anything to the left of them Socialism to the extent that internally large swaths of their supporters consider anything not republican socialist. Hell they even consider last year's Republicans socialist once they have moved on to this year's Republicans and shift further and further to the right. But one big huge consequence of this is that they have now opened the door to actual socialism for everyone who doesn't identify as a Republican. Now a large portion of young democratic party supporters who didn't grow up with McCarthyist terrors or Cold War Nuclear Apocalypse nightmares are constantly hearing that they and the things they want are "socialist" from the right and they are saying "OK. I am not with them so I am socialist. Let's go be socialist!" and those policies that were formerly off the table and outside the overton window because they were actually socialism are back in play in a big way. The threat of "socialist" labelling was hugely effective against guys like Biden and co who were terrified of the label. They cowered in fear of it. But today calling a democrat a socialist is practically a self-inflicted gunshot wound because socialism is now equated with policies that care about people and "capitalist" is now only really applied to world-destroying fossil fuel plutocrats rolling coal.
So rather than getting what the Democratic Party usually offers Americans on the economy - slightly regulated market capitalism with a meager safety net - you now have several Democratic party candidates for the presidential primaries leading the polls with full market busting proposals in a number of huge economic sectors like education and healthcare.
You call Democrats socialists often enough you eventually summon some.
posted by srboisvert at 12:27 PM on July 9, 2019 [17 favorites]
I consider this an excellent example of rhetorical blowback. Republicans have for decades been calling everything and anything to the left of them Socialism to the extent that internally large swaths of their supporters consider anything not republican socialist. Hell they even consider last year's Republicans socialist once they have moved on to this year's Republicans and shift further and further to the right. But one big huge consequence of this is that they have now opened the door to actual socialism for everyone who doesn't identify as a Republican. Now a large portion of young democratic party supporters who didn't grow up with McCarthyist terrors or Cold War Nuclear Apocalypse nightmares are constantly hearing that they and the things they want are "socialist" from the right and they are saying "OK. I am not with them so I am socialist. Let's go be socialist!" and those policies that were formerly off the table and outside the overton window because they were actually socialism are back in play in a big way. The threat of "socialist" labelling was hugely effective against guys like Biden and co who were terrified of the label. They cowered in fear of it. But today calling a democrat a socialist is practically a self-inflicted gunshot wound because socialism is now equated with policies that care about people and "capitalist" is now only really applied to world-destroying fossil fuel plutocrats rolling coal.
So rather than getting what the Democratic Party usually offers Americans on the economy - slightly regulated market capitalism with a meager safety net - you now have several Democratic party candidates for the presidential primaries leading the polls with full market busting proposals in a number of huge economic sectors like education and healthcare.
You call Democrats socialists often enough you eventually summon some.
posted by srboisvert at 12:27 PM on July 9, 2019 [17 favorites]
socialism is now equated with policies that care about people and "capitalist" is now only really applied to world-destroying fossil fuel plutocrats rolling coal
This is only true in big cities. In suburbs and rural areas, people still associate socialism with Stalin and capitalism with Andrew Carnegie. (Or maybe socialism with Venezuela and capitalism with Shark Tank, for slightly more up to date references.)
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:36 PM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
This is only true in big cities. In suburbs and rural areas, people still associate socialism with Stalin and capitalism with Andrew Carnegie. (Or maybe socialism with Venezuela and capitalism with Shark Tank, for slightly more up to date references.)
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:36 PM on July 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
I'm completely done with pelosi. Won't even investigate the *judicially pre-determined* illegal plea deal involving a child-rapist and current cabinet secretary? Done. Primary. Donate to Shahid Buttar on ActBlue.
Seconded. I defended Nancy Pelosi to the hilt for a long time.
I'm done.
posted by duffell at 12:41 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
Seconded. I defended Nancy Pelosi to the hilt for a long time.
I'm done.
posted by duffell at 12:41 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
constitutionally-based executive branch confidentiality interests
Not surprised, but this is a made-up thing. There is executive privilege, which is derived (i.e., not a textual thing) and must be asserted by the executive. Don't believe the Constitution mentions any "executive branch confidentiality interests," no matter how much they lie about it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:45 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
Not surprised, but this is a made-up thing. There is executive privilege, which is derived (i.e., not a textual thing) and must be asserted by the executive. Don't believe the Constitution mentions any "executive branch confidentiality interests," no matter how much they lie about it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:45 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
srboisvert: Now a large portion of young democratic party supporters who didn't grow up with McCarthyist terrors or Cold War Nuclear Apocalypse nightmares are constantly hearing that they and the things they want are "socialist" from the right and they are saying "OK. I am not with them so I am socialist. Let's go be socialist!" and those policies that were formerly off the table and outside the overton window because they were actually socialism are back in play in a big way.
I want to agree so badly, but it feels like the flipped version of "This is how you got Trump" or "This is how you got the alt-right". But maybe, if you set aside the actual moral valence of the concepts (i.e that racism is indeed bad while socialism is indeed delicious), that's not so inaccurate?
Basically, USA's liberal and progressive factions have been shifting the definition of concepts like racism further and further, all to the good -- e.g, going from a national consensus that "Racism means the KKK and hardly anything else" to something like "Racism is highly pervasive and you should take time to consider things like implicit bias, appropriation, and microaggressions as part of a larger morality."
But a nontrivial number of white people, still feeling bitter that even something "harmless" like segregation ("seperate and equal!") or Confederate-flag waving ("heritage!") got the "unfair" label of racist, decided that the Overton window was finally long and brittle enough to be snapped in two. That they could now get a sufficient number of fellow whites to go along with sentiments (e.g Trump's candidacy-introducing speech about Mexicans) that even 2000-era Republicans would at least pretend to be grossed by. All part of a reaction to the supposed overreach of "Since when is it racist just to ask this Asian-American fellow I met where he's from! Sure he obviously has an American accent but I'm just politely curious! Ugh I'm already expending all this energy to not say slurs, and now you've upped the bar, so screw it, I'm done pretending, let's have an ethnostate, and I'm also resuming smoking because those crackpot doctors say bacon causes cancer too."
But as applied to something good, like the unraveling of captialism and its attendant horrors, I very much welcome whatever attitudes bring us there.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:52 PM on July 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
I want to agree so badly, but it feels like the flipped version of "This is how you got Trump" or "This is how you got the alt-right". But maybe, if you set aside the actual moral valence of the concepts (i.e that racism is indeed bad while socialism is indeed delicious), that's not so inaccurate?
Basically, USA's liberal and progressive factions have been shifting the definition of concepts like racism further and further, all to the good -- e.g, going from a national consensus that "Racism means the KKK and hardly anything else" to something like "Racism is highly pervasive and you should take time to consider things like implicit bias, appropriation, and microaggressions as part of a larger morality."
But a nontrivial number of white people, still feeling bitter that even something "harmless" like segregation ("seperate and equal!") or Confederate-flag waving ("heritage!") got the "unfair" label of racist, decided that the Overton window was finally long and brittle enough to be snapped in two. That they could now get a sufficient number of fellow whites to go along with sentiments (e.g Trump's candidacy-introducing speech about Mexicans) that even 2000-era Republicans would at least pretend to be grossed by. All part of a reaction to the supposed overreach of "Since when is it racist just to ask this Asian-American fellow I met where he's from! Sure he obviously has an American accent but I'm just politely curious! Ugh I'm already expending all this energy to not say slurs, and now you've upped the bar, so screw it, I'm done pretending, let's have an ethnostate, and I'm also resuming smoking because those crackpot doctors say bacon causes cancer too."
But as applied to something good, like the unraveling of captialism and its attendant horrors, I very much welcome whatever attitudes bring us there.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:52 PM on July 9, 2019 [3 favorites]
All else equal, if the election were between Trump and a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist, who would you support?
"Who do you prefer, candidate A or candidate B?" is a poll. "Who do you prefer, candidate A, or [partisan adjective] B?" is a hack. At the very least, the fair comparison would be giving one adjective to each side, such as "Who do you prefer, alleged pedophile Donald Trump, or avowed socialist Bernie Sanders?" But that just illustrates how silly this type of question is. It is certainly the case that public perception of the Democratic candidate will change significantly in the general election, but it's pretty much impossible to estimate that with simple poll questions ahead of time. At the very least, priming the respondent by appending a politically-charged adjective to one candidate and not the other is not the way to do it.
posted by chortly at 12:58 PM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
"Who do you prefer, candidate A or candidate B?" is a poll. "Who do you prefer, candidate A, or [partisan adjective] B?" is a hack. At the very least, the fair comparison would be giving one adjective to each side, such as "Who do you prefer, alleged pedophile Donald Trump, or avowed socialist Bernie Sanders?" But that just illustrates how silly this type of question is. It is certainly the case that public perception of the Democratic candidate will change significantly in the general election, but it's pretty much impossible to estimate that with simple poll questions ahead of time. At the very least, priming the respondent by appending a politically-charged adjective to one candidate and not the other is not the way to do it.
posted by chortly at 12:58 PM on July 9, 2019 [10 favorites]
Some good Senate news via RollCall: Texas Likely R from Solid R, and Minnesota now Solid D. Cornyn could face a very strong challenge from, most likely, MJ Hegar, and that would force the Republicans to pour money into a race that should have been a gimme for them. Meanwhile, Tina Smith is sitting pretty: the Republican bench in Minnesota is weak, and they are having trouble finding a candidate to run opposite her. (Dick Painter is hereby invited to eat a heaping helping of crow.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:08 PM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:08 PM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
chris24: the President has said numerous times now that the United States has the best air quality and the best water quality in the world. Neither of those is true. And do you know why he said it? Is he being misinformed? Or is he just straight-up lying?
This needs to be asked more often, and in such blunt terms. No more "making incorrect statements" or "being factually incorrect." Ask "is the president lying?" Because we know he is, the news so often comes out with softened phrasing. He lies boldly. Let's have the media call him and his representatives on it with equal boldness.
T.D. Strange: Let’s check in on that insane district court ruling overturning the entire Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act Is Back In Court: 5 Facts You Need To Know (Julie Rovner for NPR, July 9, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:09 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
This needs to be asked more often, and in such blunt terms. No more "making incorrect statements" or "being factually incorrect." Ask "is the president lying?" Because we know he is, the news so often comes out with softened phrasing. He lies boldly. Let's have the media call him and his representatives on it with equal boldness.
T.D. Strange: Let’s check in on that insane district court ruling overturning the entire Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act Is Back In Court: 5 Facts You Need To Know (Julie Rovner for NPR, July 9, 2019)
The fate of the Affordable Care Act is again on the line Tuesday, as a federal appeals court in New Orleans takes up a case in which a lower court judge has already ruled the massive health law unconstitutional.The NPR article is a bit longer, but not too long, so if this piques your interest, read on.
If the lower court ruling is ultimately upheld, the case, Texas v. United States, has the potential to shake the nation's entire health care system to its core. First, such a decision would immediately affect the estimated 20 million people who get their health coverage through programs created under the law. But ending the ACA would also create chaos in other parts of the health care system that were directly or indirectly changed under the law's multitude of provisions — including calorie counts on menus, a pathway for approval of generic copies of expensive biologic drugs and, perhaps most important politically, protections for people who have preexisting conditions.
...
Here are five important facts to know about the case:
1. It was prompted by the tax bill Republicans passed in 2017.
The big tax cut bill passed by the GOP Congress in December 2017 eliminated the penalty included in the ACA for failure to maintain health insurance coverage.
...
2. State and federal Democrats are defending the Affordable Care Act.
A group of Democratic attorneys general, led by California's Xavier Becerra, is arguing that the rest of the ACA remains valid, despite the Republican tax cut legislation.
...
3. The Trump administration has taken several positions on the lawsuit.
The defendant in the case is technically the Trump administration. Traditionally, an administration — even one that did not work to pass the law in question — defends existing law in court.
...
4. Legal scholars — including those who oppose the ACA — consider the Texas case dubious.
In a brief filed with the appeals court, legal scholars from both sides of the fight over the ACA agreed that the Texas lawsuit's underlying claim makes no sense.
...
5. The ACA could end up in front of the Supreme Court right in the middle of the 2020 election.
Depending on what happens at the appeals court level, the health law could be back in front of the Supreme Court — which has upheld the health law on other grounds in 2012 and 2015 — and land there in the middle of next year's presidential campaign.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:09 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
Yahoo News: Russian intelligence planted a fake report that DNC staffer Seth Rich was gunned down by assassins working for Hillary Clinton, to divert attention from the DNC email hacks.
I just want to jump back to this for a second, because I think it's a larger story than it seems. As Isikoff's story points out, Steve Bannon spread Russian propaganda in 2017, when he was Trump's Chief Strategist and had a West Wing office:
Also, where was Mueller on this? This was an example of Russian disinformation impacting the election, and the Mueller report doesn't mention any of this. There's a brief mention of WikiLeaks and Assange spreading Seth Rich conspiracies, but the report says nothing about Russian intelligence planting the story just three days after Rich was killed. How many more of these stories are there, and what else is missing from the Mueller report?
And then there's what this has done to the Rich family:
I just want to jump back to this for a second, because I think it's a larger story than it seems. As Isikoff's story points out, Steve Bannon spread Russian propaganda in 2017, when he was Trump's Chief Strategist and had a West Wing office:
Within months, the Rich conspiracy story was also being quietly promoted inside Trump’s White House. Questions about whether the White House pushed the conspiracy theories about Rich have been raised periodically over the last two and a half years — and were consistently denied by White House officials. But the Yahoo News investigation uncovered new evidence that the false claim that Rich was the victim of a political assassination was advanced by one of the White House’s most senior officials at the time.Sean Hannity and Jay Sekulow spread it on Fox News in May 2017 too. And there might be other shoes to drop here. Rod Wheeler's lawsuit alleged that Trump was personally involved in pushing for the Rich/WikiLeaks story's publication. I don't believe anyone has been able to verify that.
“Huge story … he was a Bernie guy … it was a contract kill, obviously,” then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon texted to a CBS “60 Minutes” producer about Rich on March 17, 2017, according to some of Bannon’s text messages that were reviewed by Yahoo News. (Bannon did not respond to requests for comment.)
Also, where was Mueller on this? This was an example of Russian disinformation impacting the election, and the Mueller report doesn't mention any of this. There's a brief mention of WikiLeaks and Assange spreading Seth Rich conspiracies, but the report says nothing about Russian intelligence planting the story just three days after Rich was killed. How many more of these stories are there, and what else is missing from the Mueller report?
And then there's what this has done to the Rich family:
“You’re used, you’re lied to, you’re a pawn in your own son’s death,” said Mary Rich, Seth Rich’s mother, who, along with her husband, Joel, was interviewed for the podcast. “I wish they had the chance to experience the hell we have gone through. Because this is worse than losing my son the first time. This is like losing him all over again.”posted by zachlipton at 1:16 PM on July 9, 2019 [26 favorites]
CBS News, U.S. begins returning asylum seekers at Laredo crossing, expanding "Remain in Mexico"
The federal government has started returning non-Mexican migrants who claim asylum at the Texas border city of Laredo back to Mexico, the first expansion of the controversial "Remain in Mexico" policy since the U.S. and Mexico brokered a deal to avert President Trump's tariff threats.posted by zachlipton at 1:21 PM on July 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials were slated to make the first returns on Tuesday, a Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News. A Mexican official told CBS News 10 people had been returned so far. The move means the U.S. will now send asylum seekers, mostly from Central America, to the border city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, one of the Mexican states the State Department warns Americans not to travel to because of high crime rates and the risk of being kidnapped.
Also, where was Mueller on this? This was an example of Russian disinformation impacting the election, and the Mueller report doesn't mention any of this
The "Mueller Report" was only about influences on the Trump campaign, we still don't know anything about the concurrent counterintelligence investigation, which I believe is ongoing at the moment.
posted by rhizome at 1:26 PM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
The "Mueller Report" was only about influences on the Trump campaign, we still don't know anything about the concurrent counterintelligence investigation, which I believe is ongoing at the moment.
posted by rhizome at 1:26 PM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is only true in big cities. In suburbs and rural areas, people still associate socialism with Stalin and capitalism with Andrew Carnegie.
Which is of course why America's only socialist Senator was elected to represent that noted urban enclave, Vermont.
posted by anastasiav at 1:57 PM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Which is of course why America's only socialist Senator was elected to represent that noted urban enclave, Vermont.
posted by anastasiav at 1:57 PM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Virginia gonna Virginia (2019 version.) Gun debate ends abruptly in Virginia as GOP-controlled legislature adjourns after 90 minutes
posted by Harry Caul at 2:18 PM on July 9, 2019
posted by Harry Caul at 2:18 PM on July 9, 2019
This is only true in big cities. In suburbs and rural areas, people still associate socialism with Stalin and capitalism with Andrew Carnegie.
Everyone in my poor southern state would love free healthcare, no matter what it is called. Heck, they would like any healthcare now that the rural hospitals are all shutting down. They don't mind farm subsidies or free lunch for their kids, and honestly are at the end of the road, capitalism-wise. The local DollarTree set up shop just on the other side of their town line, depriving the town of sales taxes. The local grocery store went out of business. The number one growth industry in the county is a private prison or crystal meth production, depending on the county. They are all hustling from week to week, many beholden to a large international ag-conglomerate that is poisoning their land, air, and water. Only a handful actually own family farms, and those are slipping away under Trump, with floods and tariffs. The state cut higher education, again, and so there is little hope for their children to make it out. Honestly most of them are hoping to just stay any kind of employed long enough to make to social security. Its pretty bleak out there among the soybean, cotton, and rice fields.
posted by Manic Pixie Hollow at 2:29 PM on July 9, 2019 [25 favorites]
Everyone in my poor southern state would love free healthcare, no matter what it is called. Heck, they would like any healthcare now that the rural hospitals are all shutting down. They don't mind farm subsidies or free lunch for their kids, and honestly are at the end of the road, capitalism-wise. The local DollarTree set up shop just on the other side of their town line, depriving the town of sales taxes. The local grocery store went out of business. The number one growth industry in the county is a private prison or crystal meth production, depending on the county. They are all hustling from week to week, many beholden to a large international ag-conglomerate that is poisoning their land, air, and water. Only a handful actually own family farms, and those are slipping away under Trump, with floods and tariffs. The state cut higher education, again, and so there is little hope for their children to make it out. Honestly most of them are hoping to just stay any kind of employed long enough to make to social security. Its pretty bleak out there among the soybean, cotton, and rice fields.
posted by Manic Pixie Hollow at 2:29 PM on July 9, 2019 [25 favorites]
I know. But we were discussing whether the word had been reclaimed. It hasn't, not everywhere. You can sell socialist policies in rural areas, but you have to use a different word to describe them.
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
The judge in the Maryland census case denied the motion for some of the DOJ lawyers to withdraw. That's uhhh, highly unusual. Time to read the fine print in your malpractice policy.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [34 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [34 favorites]
Always be grifting: As reported by NBC based on her husband's May financial disclosures, Melania Trump has made somewhere between $100k and $1 million in royalties from photos of herself.
It's not unheard of for celebrities to earn royalties from photos of themselves, but it's very unusual for the wife of a currently serving elected official. More problematic for the many news organizations that have published or broadcast the images, however, is that Getty's licensing agreement stipulates the pictures can be used in "positive stories only."posted by carmicha at 2:43 PM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
Oops! That's a July, 2018 story, not one from this month. But it makes me wonder how this income stream is working out for Melania in more recent times.
posted by carmicha at 2:47 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 2:47 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
Politico, Michael Flynn's relationship with federal prosecutors appears to sour
I still maintain that the Flynn story, in which a foreign agent was appointed National Security Advisor and promptly used his job to do the bidding of his foreign employers, has not been explored nearly enough.
posted by zachlipton at 2:48 PM on July 9, 2019 [34 favorites]
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s relationship with federal prosecutors appears to have soured, prompting a decision by government lawyers to drop Flynn as a witness at a looming trial for his former business partner, newly unsealed court records show.@joshgerstein: ANOTHER shoe just dropped as judge handling Flynn case demands answers from government and Flynn's lawyers about feds' decision not to call him at Kian trial set for next week.
Flynn had been expected to be the prosecution’s star witness at the trial of businessman Bijan Rafiekian on charges related to lobbying and public relations work the two men did that prosecutors contend was an influence campaign secretly backed by the Turkish government.
However, prosecutors told a federal judge and Rafiekian’s lawyers last week that they don’t plan to call Flynn any longer.
Flynn’s attorneys say the decision followed “trial prep” sessions where prosecutors were dissatisfied by answers to questions critical to the case against Rafiekian, better known as Kian.
I still maintain that the Flynn story, in which a foreign agent was appointed National Security Advisor and promptly used his job to do the bidding of his foreign employers, has not been explored nearly enough.
posted by zachlipton at 2:48 PM on July 9, 2019 [34 favorites]
New rules for Dem 2nd debates, including:
* A candidate attacked by name by another candidate will be given 30 seconds to respond.
* There will be no show of hands or one-word, down-the-line questions.
* A candidate who consistently interrupts will have his or her time reduced.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:53 PM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
* A candidate attacked by name by another candidate will be given 30 seconds to respond.
* There will be no show of hands or one-word, down-the-line questions.
* A candidate who consistently interrupts will have his or her time reduced.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:53 PM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
I wonder if "interrupts" will have the same meaning for the male and female candidates.
posted by mmoncur at 2:54 PM on July 9, 2019 [60 favorites]
posted by mmoncur at 2:54 PM on July 9, 2019 [60 favorites]
* There will be no show of hands or one-word, down-the-line questions.
Thank you. This was really egregious. "How many of you want to take away the private healthcare that many Americans love?" "How many of you would give free healthcare to illegal aliens?"
But the real problem with these questions is that they require context in order to be answered sensibly. I don't know that a 30 second answer is going to be enough to explain to people that giving healthcare to immigrants is less expensive, for instance. The other problem is that the questions are themselves leading and pejorative. Those are hardly neutral questions. I've written polling questions, and if I wrote questions like those, I would be rightly fired. And they came from the "liberal" media.
posted by xammerboy at 3:11 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
Thank you. This was really egregious. "How many of you want to take away the private healthcare that many Americans love?" "How many of you would give free healthcare to illegal aliens?"
But the real problem with these questions is that they require context in order to be answered sensibly. I don't know that a 30 second answer is going to be enough to explain to people that giving healthcare to immigrants is less expensive, for instance. The other problem is that the questions are themselves leading and pejorative. Those are hardly neutral questions. I've written polling questions, and if I wrote questions like those, I would be rightly fired. And they came from the "liberal" media.
posted by xammerboy at 3:11 PM on July 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
Man who drew a cartoon the @ADL calls “blatantly anti-Semitic” says he was invited to the White House for a social media summit
More from the Post: Trump looks to rally controversial online allies at White House social media summit
posted by zachlipton at 3:14 PM on July 9, 2019 [24 favorites]
More from the Post: Trump looks to rally controversial online allies at White House social media summit
Among the expected attendees are James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, which has released secretly recorded videos of subjects, including a Google executive, in an attempt to paint them as politically biased. Another invitee, Ben Garrison, has published cartoons that have drawn sharp rebukes from the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center for including hateful text and imagery. O’Keefe confirmed his attendance and defended his tactics this week. Garrison, who tweeted a copy of his invite, did not respond to a request for comment.Just the absolute worst people.
...
Two meme creators who have been favored by Trump and his staff, who use the online handles @mad_liberals and @CarpeDonktum, had a 20-minute Oval Office meeting with the president on July 3. The user @CarpeDonktum previously won a $10,000 anti-mainstream media meme contest sponsored by the conspiracy theory website Infowars, which has been barred on major social media sites. He recently created a fake animated cover of Time magazine that suggested Trump would stay in office forever. Trump retweeted the video, getting more than 25 million views on Twitter.
“Where is the genius? I want to meet the genius," Trump said to @CarpeDonktum as the men entered the Oval Office, according to the recollection of @mad_liberals. Both men spoke to The Washington Post about their experience with the president on the condition their full names not be used, since they fear online or in-person harassment.
The two have complained of unfair treatment by social media companies. @CarpeDonktum’s account on Twitter was suspended for eight days, he said, after he posted an altered spaghetti western video that showed Trump slapping and shooting a gun at CNN reporter Jim Acosta. @Mad_Liberals said Instagram shut down his account for reasons that are not clear to him.
posted by zachlipton at 3:14 PM on July 9, 2019 [24 favorites]
The role of Scavino -- who I'm pretty sure is responsible for the "thank you mr president!" shit of late -- has been under-covered, especially in terms of broader ties to edgelords, memetrolls, shitposters and ex-cons. (I'm sure the idiot son has a part in it too.)
posted by holgate at 3:31 PM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by holgate at 3:31 PM on July 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Politico, ‘What’s the point?’ Lawmakers fess up to not fully reading the Mueller report, in which a number of members of Congress admit to not fulfilling basic requirements of their jobs.
posted by zachlipton at 3:44 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 3:44 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
Appeals court skeptical Obamacare can survive
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:17 PM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
Appellate Judge Jennifer Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, on Tuesday posited that lawmakers — who failed to agree on an Obamacare replacement plan two years ago — deliberately eliminated the mandate penalty because they knew the rest of the law would have to fall. She said perhaps lawmakers thought, “Aha, this is the silver bullet that’s going to undo Obamacare.”Welcome to rule by judicial junta.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:17 PM on July 9, 2019 [8 favorites]
deliberately eliminated the mandate penalty because they knew the rest of the law would have to fall. She said perhaps lawmakers thought, “Aha, this is the silver bullet that’s going to undo Obamacare.”
Uh, judge, no. A silver bullet would have been to get enough votes in congress to overturn the law. Republicans failed to get enough votes to overturn the law. They could only get enough votes to reduce the penalty.
If congress wanted to overturn they law, they could have voted to do so. They did not. End of story.
posted by JackFlash at 4:28 PM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
Uh, judge, no. A silver bullet would have been to get enough votes in congress to overturn the law. Republicans failed to get enough votes to overturn the law. They could only get enough votes to reduce the penalty.
If congress wanted to overturn they law, they could have voted to do so. They did not. End of story.
posted by JackFlash at 4:28 PM on July 9, 2019 [16 favorites]
Over on the twitters, David Fahrenthold (WaPo) is reporting that on Saturday, the Trump National Doral Resort in Miami is hosting a golf tournement that amounts to absolutely spectacular optics for "Epstein Week". Why, you ask? Because it's hosted by a strip club. They will be auctioning off "caddy girls".
It gets better, though. Here's the event poster with pricing. Take note of the "Jr. NBA" and "Jr. WNBA" logos being used in the poster. The Jr. NBA program is for children aged 6 to 14.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:44 PM on July 9, 2019 [27 favorites]
It gets better, though. Here's the event poster with pricing. Take note of the "Jr. NBA" and "Jr. WNBA" logos being used in the poster. The Jr. NBA program is for children aged 6 to 14.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:44 PM on July 9, 2019 [27 favorites]
Holy shit.
"Caddy girl of your choice".
"1/2 hour VIP room + bottle" is the last thing on that poster.
Arrest that man already, FFS.
posted by mrgoat at 4:50 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
"Caddy girl of your choice".
"1/2 hour VIP room + bottle" is the last thing on that poster.
Arrest that man already, FFS.
posted by mrgoat at 4:50 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
“They’re going to be clothed the whole time” at the golf course, Mancuso said. “At the venue is different.”Ew.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:09 PM on July 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
"Surel..." [claps hand over mouth]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:21 PM on July 9, 2019 [22 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:21 PM on July 9, 2019 [22 favorites]
I may be projecting a wee bit but it's easy to hear Mitch really enjoying that in two ways.
I just wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face after he said it. Infuriating.
posted by jgirl at 5:30 PM on July 9, 2019
I just wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face after he said it. Infuriating.
posted by jgirl at 5:30 PM on July 9, 2019
In a statement, the Trump Organization confirmed the event is happening and said it was for a “worthwhile cause” — a Miami children’s charity.
SCREAMING INTO VOID
posted by angrycat at 5:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
SCREAMING INTO VOID
posted by angrycat at 5:33 PM on July 9, 2019 [15 favorites]
[retreats to the fuckingfuckfuck thread]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:40 PM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:40 PM on July 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
I'm not sure which thread this belongs in, but Vanity Fair, Emily Jane Fox, “He Said Not to Tell Anyone”: How Trump Kept Tabs on Jeffrey Epstein
posted by zachlipton at 6:02 PM on July 9, 2019 [26 favorites]
Trump had been following the story closely. In the week or so leading up to his CPAC speech, David Pecker, who owned the Enquirer until it was sold in ruin earlier this year, visited Trump on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, bringing along an issue with a Prince Andrew and Epstein-related cover, according to people familiar with the meeting. Pecker, of course, was in the business of protecting Trump. An early supporter of his presidential campaign, Pecker has helped “catch and kill” at least two stories involving the real estate mogul and women who claimed to have had affairs with him. (Trump has denied the affairs.)First, this reinforces the narrative of Epstein's main line of work being blackmail. But central to our purposes in this thread, if the world's least reliable duo of Sam Numberg and Michael Cohen-calling-in-from-prison are to be believed, this connects Trump to the blackmail business, receiving allegations about his opponent's husband during the campaign.
Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, who would later go to prison in part for his role in these hush money schemes, was in the room when Pecker sat down. Pecker, he later told me, used to send him articles and issues before they were published so that he and Trump could read them. After the meeting Trump called in Sam Nunberg, then a Trump Organization employee, who saw Pecker leaving Trump’s office. “Michael was sitting in there when I came in, and the issue of the National Enquirer with the pictures of Prince Andrew was on his desk,” Nunberg recalled. “He said not to tell anyone, but that Pecker had just been there and had brought the issue with him. Trump said that Pecker had told him that the pictures of Clinton that Epstein had from his island were worse.” (Cohen, speaking by phone from the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, corroborated Nunberg’s version of the events, though he declined to add any additional information about the meeting.)
During the meeting with Pecker, Trump went on about how Epstein was known for this behavior, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Trump, after all, used to be friendly with Epstein, and had at least an inkling about his sexual predilections. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy” who was “a lot of fun to be with.” He added: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” (The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
...
Democrats may soon have an opportunity to question Pecker about his relationship with Trump. Later this week, the House Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize a subpoena for Pecker, among people involved in the Mueller report, as they investigate possible obstruction of justice.
posted by zachlipton at 6:02 PM on July 9, 2019 [26 favorites]
NBC News, Migrant kids in overcrowded Arizona border station allege sex assault, retaliation from U.S. agents
A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy held in Yuma, Arizona, said he and others in his cell complained about the taste of the water and food they were given. The Customs and Border Protection agents took the mats out of their cell in retaliation, forcing them to sleep on hard concrete.posted by zachlipton at 6:07 PM on July 9, 2019 [28 favorites]
A 15-year-old girl from Honduras described a large, bearded officer putting his hands inside her bra, pulling down her underwear and groping her as part of what was meant to be a routine pat down in front of other immigrants and officers.
The girl said "she felt embarrassed as the officer was speaking in English to other officers and laughing" during the entire process, according to a report of her account.
A 17-year-old boy from Honduras said officers would scold detained children when they would get close to a window, and would sometimes call them "puto," an offensive term in Spanish, while they were giving orders.
...
But in nearly 30 accounts obtained from "significant incident reports" prepared between April 10 and June 12 by case managers for the Department of Health and Human Services, the department responsible for migrant children after they leave CBP custody, kids who spent time in the Yuma border station repeatedly described poor conditions that are not pure byproducts of overcrowding. They reported being denied a phone call, not being offered a shower, sleeping on concrete or outside with only a Mylar blanket, and feeling hungry before their 9 p.m. dinnertime.
One child reported "sometimes going to bed hungry because dinner was usually served sometime after 9 p.m. and by that time she was already asleep," according to the documents. All children who gave accounts to case managers had been held at the border station longer than the 72 hours permitted by law.
Migrant kids in overcrowded Arizona border station allege sex assault, retaliation from U.S. agents
The longer this continues with our elected supposed representatives doing nothing, the greater the chance that someone or a group will act on their own. And when that happens, just watch the Democratic establishment snap to attention to turn against human rights activism and to throw their full support behind the GOP's brutal anti-left crackdowns.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:15 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
The longer this continues with our elected supposed representatives doing nothing, the greater the chance that someone or a group will act on their own. And when that happens, just watch the Democratic establishment snap to attention to turn against human rights activism and to throw their full support behind the GOP's brutal anti-left crackdowns.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:15 PM on July 9, 2019 [20 favorites]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NEW US POLITICS FPP:
"For nothing can seem foul to those that win"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
posted by Little Dawn at 6:21 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
NEW US POLITICS FPP:
"For nothing can seem foul to those that win"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
posted by Little Dawn at 6:21 PM on July 9, 2019 [12 favorites]
🥛, 🍪s, &😢 for, well, everything.
posted by bcd at 7:06 PM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by bcd at 7:06 PM on July 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
LOL I've been wondering why my Recent Activity hadn't had anything new this week.
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on July 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on July 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
« Older Saving the Most Interesting Fruit in the World | Let's see Michael Phelps do that! Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
So far it looks like she is mostly cannibalizing Sanders support as he loses almost as many points as she gains in the polls. If she can start making inroads into more moderate Democrats (which hasn't happened yet, that weird Politico piece to the contrary) she's got a real shot.
You'd think Biden would be toast given how his campaign has gone but if there's one thing the last couple years have taught me it's that basically nothing matters.
posted by Justinian at 7:34 PM on June 19, 2019 [84 favorites]