Building a Cabinet
January 23, 2017 4:20 PM Subscribe

If President Trump’s Cabinet nominees are confirmed, women and nonwhites will hold five of 22 cabinet or cabinet-level positions, a smaller percentage than the first cabinets of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George Bush. Politico sat down with Press Secretary Sean Spicer after his second press briefing today; the newly announced Skype seats in the press room seem to have been suggested... last week, by NBC's Chuck Todd. Former CIA director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said today that President Trump somehow "forgot that he was president of the United States" when he gave a speech at the CIA on Saturday. The former Executive Director of Anti-Immigrant Hate Group FAIR joined the Trump Administration today as chief of staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In Germany, Angela Merkel advisors say Germany has 'given up' on Donald Trump acting like a President. Today is the fourth day of the Trump Administration.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (3042 comments total) 99 users marked this as a favorite

There are 27 year old dictators who rose by coup d'etat who show more competence.
Pompeo was just confirmed.c:(
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 4:25 PM on January 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

WaPo Spicer earns Four Pinocchios for false claims on inauguration crowd size

“This was the first time in our nation’s history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual.”

False. Floor coverings were first used in 2013. It’s actually astonishing a White House press secretary would get such a basic fact wrong in a prepared statement from the podium. A simple Google search would have helped.

It goes downhill from there. They give Spicer a drubbing and end with

This is an appalling performance by the new press secretary. He managed to make a series of false and misleading claims in service of a relatively minor issue. Presumably he was ordered to do this by Trump, who conjured up fantastic numbers in his own mind, but part of a flack’s job is to tell the boss when lies are necessary — and when they are not.

Spicer earns Four Pinocchios, but seriously, we wish we could give five.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:29 PM on January 23, 2017 [68 favorites]

Given their hateful agenda, I think incompetence may be the best we can hope for.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:29 PM on January 23, 2017 [158 favorites]

So when the cabinet is complete, what percent of the global population will they have more money than? I'm betting 70%. Oligarchs gonna garch.
posted by jetsetsc at 4:30 PM on January 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Don't you mean the first real day with the first real press conference¹?

_____
1. Not counting the practice one on Sunday.
posted by autopilot at 4:31 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

So when the cabinet is complete, what percent of the global population will they have more money than?
Well, Trumpy brings down the average somewhat.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:33 PM on January 23, 2017 [36 favorites]

I was really down on the realization that no matter how hard we worked against him, at the very least Trump's portrait would always be in the history books between President Obama and President Monáe.

Then I remembered not necessarily. We did completely erase the actual 24th president from the historical record (and cover it up with some BS about counting Grover Cleveland twice), after all. We can do it again.
posted by ckape at 4:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

autopilot: "Don't you mean the first real day with the first real press conference¹?

_____
1. Not counting the practice one on Sunday."

I get we're trying to be jovial, but that motherfucker was behind the podium with the seal on it both days. They all count. Every one.
posted by boo_radley at 4:35 PM on January 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

Given their hateful agenda, I think incompetence may be the best we can hope for.

It was about Bush, but...

I think he combines incompetence and malice into a new construct that I like to call malcompetence.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:56 PM on March 15, 2006

posted by Pope Guilty at 4:36 PM on January 23, 2017 [86 favorites]

HuffPo Of Course The CIA Gave Trump Standing Ovations. He Never Let Them Sit.

While President Donald Trump brags about how hundreds of CIA employees gave him standing ovations during his Saturday visit, it should not have come as a surprise.

He never told them to sit.

The 400 agency staffers were standing when Trump entered the room, were still standing when he came to the lectern, and then remained standing through his 15 minutes of remarks.

“You know that the CIA will not sit down until the president tells them to,” said Yael Eisenstat, who spent more than half of her 13-year career in counterterrorism and intelligence work at the agency.

Experience. What's that worth? He probably thought they were standing because they were in awe.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:36 PM on January 23, 2017 [159 favorites]

*etches a fourth vertical tick mark on the wall using the sharpened end of a toothbrush handle, sighs*
posted by mudpuppie at 4:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [133 favorites]

Dianne Feinstien voted to confirm Pompeo. California deserves better.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [93 favorites]

President Obama and President Monáe

No Lisa Simpson is next.

(I'd be happy with President Monáe, I'm just still shocked that thisthrowaway joke came true)
posted by zutalors! at 4:39 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Spicer's performance on Saturday reinforces what we already knew about Dear Leader. When someone claims he did a bad job, he blames someone else. When someone makes him looks small, he claims reality is invalid.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:39 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

They're all going to be confirmed. Every last one of them. I think pushing to block DeVos and Sessions might get some traction, but even then probably not. Not saying stop calling your senators about them, absolutely do that. Better to go down swinging. But the current radical right-wing in charge have been showing us for the last 8 years that they absolutely will not bend even a little or concede anything and so I think we can expect more of the same.

They don't care whether they represent their constituents.
They don't care if they do things that are illegal.
They don't care if they are antidemocratic.
They don't care if they have to blatantly lie.
They don't care if they do things that are unpopular.
They. don't. care.

All they care about is winning, and they will do whatever it takes. Literally our only recourse is to drive them out of positions of power. There is no compromise to be had with these people anywhere on anything, and we can make all the noise we want and they will ignore us. I don't want to be discouraging or fatalistic. I'm neither. I just think that the only possible thing to do with the current crop is strip them of power. They are political lunatics and reasoning with them while they try to punch us is just going to get us knocked out.

We need to field candidates for every possible elected position anywhere, and then we need to dedicate ourselves to overwhelming the opposition at the ballot-box to counteract the voter suppression and gerrymandering bullshit. That is all that will save us.
posted by supercrayon at 4:40 PM on January 23, 2017 [247 favorites]

Dianne Feinstien voted to confirm Pompeo

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by entropicamericana at 4:40 PM on January 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

All they care about is winning, and they will do whatever it takes. Literally our only recourse is to drive them out of positions of power. There is no compromise to be had with these people anywhere on anything, and we can make all the noise we want and they will ignore us.

Exactly. There's no avenue for reason or compromise or opposition within this Republican party. Anything that's not working to defeat Republican candidates, is helping them stay in power. There's no such thing as a moderate or reasonable Republican, they. do. not. care.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [17 favorites]

Feinstein? OFFS.
posted by suelac at 4:45 PM on January 23, 2017

Fucking Dianne Feinstein. She never misses a chance to be disappointing.
posted by contraption at 4:47 PM on January 23, 2017 [41 favorites]

Dianne Feinstien voted to confirm Pompeo

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Good thing I'm going to her office tomorrow. Said it in the last thread, but if you are from California and would like me to hand deliver a letter to Senator Feinstein, memail me.

Also just saw this - the roll call vote on Gillibrand's amendment to protect the ACA's provisions for women's health care. It went down 49-49...with Feinstein not voting. (It appears she didn't vote on any of the amendments that day, so maybe she was still out after getting her pacemaker? But holy geez.)
posted by sunset in snow country at 4:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [31 favorites]

And since Angela Merkel is the leader of the free world now, we should listen.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [74 favorites]

President Trump somehow "forgot that he was president of the United States"

For the first time, I envy Donald Trump.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [85 favorites]

Just got the "our offices are closed or are experiencing a high volume of calls" message when trying to call Feinstein's SF office before 5 to express my displeasure at her vote.
posted by zachlipton at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

chief of staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Kinda surprised it wasn't USCIS or ICE. Although I'm sure USCIS will end up being run by a similarly anti-immigrant person.

(USCBP doesn't actually have much to do with immigration compared to USCIS or ICE)
posted by thefoxgod at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2017

He never told them to sit.

Next he'll pull the bit where Homer got the stone cutters to bow over and over by running in and out of the room.
posted by Space Coyote at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump seems to be stuck in campaign mode. When will it finally hit that he won, or will he go on defending himself for the entire term? What happens when there's a crisis?
posted by Kevin Street at 4:55 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

WaPo Spicer earns Four Pinocchios for false claims on inauguration crowd size

Goddamnit cut the cutesy shit and just write Spicer LIED. My former employer created Politifact so they could dance around writing that a politician or pundit was lying and everyone in journalism thought it was just fantastic and look where we are now.

Just fucking write Spicer LIED and tried to redirect the question and obfuscate the truth. In short SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER YOU ASSHOLES.
posted by photoslob at 4:55 PM on January 23, 2017 [151 favorites]

Just called Feinstein's LA office. Same "high volume of calls" message. God damn it, I am fucking pissed.
posted by otenba at 4:55 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Just to inject a moment of levity, Michael Ian Black created a White House Go. Petition: To explain to the American people why President Donald J. Trump is such a needy little bitch.

It only needs another 99,999 signatures.

Also, while we are being goofy, here is a copy of Spicer's tweet to Target "Just realized the two gallons of milk you sold me expire tomorrow." Target customer service told him to return the milk with his receipt. I have literally never contacted my grocery store to complain about expiration dates.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

When will it finally hit that he won

Trump repeats debunked voter fraud claim at meeting with Hill leaders
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Does someone have a list of the Pompeo "no" votes?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Spicer hates Dippin Dots ice cream too.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Alternative facts, law and order, deportation force... shit is going to get worse before we make it better.
posted by vrakatar at 4:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

She's 83 and just had a pacemaker put in, those seem like great reasons for her to step down.
posted by contraption at 4:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

Dianne Feinstien voted to confirm Pompeo. California deserves better.

She needs to be primaried at the very least. Every democratic politician that sides with Trump needs to go.
posted by photoslob at 4:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [90 favorites]

Fucking Dianne Feinstein. She never misses a chance to be disappointing.

You guys need to primary her. Please. We need True Blue Democrats with spines, not "moderates."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [59 favorites]

Looks like the Pompeo vote was on whether to proceed, not whether to confirm. [LINK]

Confirmations on the 20th were James Mattis for S of Defense [LINK] and John F. Kelly to be S of Homeland [LINK].
posted by Deoridhe at 5:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

What happens when there's a crisis?

"This crisis is directly tied to Secretary Clinton's disastrous reign as Secretary of State. I've directed Attorney General Sessions to launch a comprehensive investigation immediately. Now pray with me as I read from Two Corinations."
posted by Candleman at 5:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

To be clear, Feinstein was a Yea on both confirmations so far - still a disappointment - but not a disappointment on Pompeo YET.
posted by Deoridhe at 5:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I can't watch right now, but Joy-Ann Reid is currently moderating the Democracy in Color DNC chair candidates forum, if you're interested.
posted by zachlipton at 5:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

An interesting thread about the board/meme culture behind the alt-right: I spent most of 2016 monitoring various /pol/ and /k/ boards on a daily basis. What Spencer says in public is just the tip of the iceberg.

Chilling to think that tomorrow's mass executions of liberals may be soundtracked with vaporwave MP3s from blogs.
posted by acb at 5:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [29 favorites]

Trump seems to be stuck in campaign mode. When will it finally hit that he won, or will he go on defending himself for the entire term? What happens when there's a crisis?

The campaign Trump is Trump. That's all there is.
posted by thelonius at 5:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [42 favorites]

Oregon congressman calls Donald Trump 'Liar in Chief' on Twitter

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is known more for his bow tie than for a fiery Twitter presence. But on Monday, the Portland representative took to Twitter to share his thoughts about President Donald Trump's first few days in office.

"In first 24 hrs @POTUS makes clear ego, not #facts or #honesty, will be guiding principle for him & his administration," wrote Blumenauer, using the hashtag "LiarInChief."
posted by futz at 5:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [44 favorites]

By the way, the White House petition site is somehow still up and running (if you thought the petitions were pointless in the previous administration, well...)
posted by dilaudid at 5:05 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

The vote was for consideration. The next step would be cloture. Nominees cannot be filibustered. Pompeo was just confirmed 89-9.

The Democrats are not exercising their right to deny unanimous consent, like they should be.

Total abdication.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:06 PM on January 23, 2017 [39 favorites]

Just got the "our offices are closed or are experiencing a high volume of calls" message when trying to call Feinstein's SF office before 5 to express my displeasure at her vote.

Same here. Dropped her an email ("Do better, Senator. Millions of Californians are counting on you.") and will follow up with a call manana. Grr.
posted by notyou at 5:08 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Two people familiar with the meeting said Trump spent about 10 minutes at the top of the gathering with Republican and Democratic lawmakers rehashing the campaign. Trump also told them that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:08 PM on January 23, 2017 [26 favorites]

What was Harris' vote? Did she go along with Feinstein?
posted by suelac at 5:08 PM on January 23, 2017

The Democrats are not exercising their right to deny unanimous consent, like they should be.

I fail to see what difference it makes. Trump and the GOP don't care how many votes they get as long as they confirm people, which they can do with 0 Dem votes.

I'll save my outrage for things that actually have an impact on something.
posted by thefoxgod at 5:09 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Chant and or motto: 100 days, 10,000 lies.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:09 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm so confused. Reuters is still reporting the vote was to confirm him.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:10 PM on January 23, 2017

I haven't been more terrified of a cabinet since Dr. Caligari.
posted by sexyrobot at 5:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [49 favorites]

I fail to see what difference it makes

More time spent with nominees pending on the Senate floor means less time that Republicans can destroy America. The Senate works VERY slowly without consent, Democrats could make each of these nominations take almost 3 full days, each. They're not.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:11 PM on January 23, 2017 [62 favorites]

thefoxgod: "I fail to see what difference it makes. Trump and the GOP don't care how many votes they get as long as they confirm people, which they can do with 0 Dem votes."

Even if doesn't make a difference in the outcome, it's extremely disheartening to see so little resistance in the people we elected to fucking resist.
posted by erratic meatsack at 5:12 PM on January 23, 2017 [80 favorites]

Trump pulls U.S. out of Pacific trade deal, loosening Asia ties

U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies, as China's influence in the region rises.

Fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States out of the 12-nation TPP.

Trump, who wants to boost U.S. manufacturing, said he would seek one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days "if somebody misbehaves."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrggggggg
posted by futz at 5:13 PM on January 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

This got buried under Sean Spicer drama, but it's kind of a big deal. U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare

Aetna claimed it was losing money and so it had to pull out of the exchanges, but in reality, they were making good on a threat to try to bully the government into approving their massive merger with Humana.
posted by zachlipton at 5:13 PM on January 23, 2017 [149 favorites]

Thank you guys for confirming that the vote was for consideration. I was ready with my pitchfork, but I will chill a little (though I would still have appreciated a No vote, and I'm still not opposed to primarying her). Looks like Harris also voted yes.

Gathering info and making a plan tonight for my office visit. My wish is that every person in California who has said "What's the point of calling my elected officials if I live in a deep blue state and they all agree with me?" focuses their attention on Dianne Feinstein. There is always something you can do.
posted by sunset in snow country at 5:14 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

I fail to see what difference it makes.

It's yet another indicator that Senate Dems are treating the administration as essentially legitimate
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:15 PM on January 23, 2017 [58 favorites]

one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days

I hear that our stock markets and financial system *love* that kind of dynamic uncertainty. Just the kind of thing Republicans have been going on about for the last 30 years.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:15 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Good thing I'm going to her office tomorrow. Said it in the last thread, but if you are from California and would like me to hand deliver a letter to Senator Feinstein, memail me.

would you be willing to hand deliver a flaming sack of dog poo instead? it says far more about how i feel about her voting record than mere words can express
posted by entropicamericana at 5:17 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I hear that they like to be called "misbehaving" like children.
posted by futz at 5:17 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

No, no, get yer pitchfork back out and start sharpening its tines. The NYT confirms Pompeo confirmation.
posted by notyou at 5:17 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just the kind of thing Republicans have been going on about for the last 30 years.
Evidently I truly is OKIYAR.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump’s latest hire alarms allies of Ryan — and bolsters Bannon, on Julia Hahn:

“She’ll be Bannon’s Bannon and make Bannon look moderate,” said William Kristol, the editor at large of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine. “Her tendency is to fight and fight, often to the extreme.”

Costa reported that this was getting a lot of attention on the Hill, given Hahn's past attacks on Ryan in Breitbart (stay for Jake Tapper getting into a fight on Twitter over whether he's too old for memes, just cuz).
posted by zachlipton at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

NYPost: Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as CIA director
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Living in New York will, for the first time in a while, give me a voice in politics. I'm planning on calling Shumer weekly. For those who do visit congressional offices, how long does it take/whats the procedure? I'm crap at mailing stuff, but I do like the idea of showing up with a letter.
posted by Hactar at 5:19 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's yet another indicator that Senate Dems are treating the administration as essentially legitimate

Sure, although like you said "another indicator" --- this was already obvious. The Democratic Party is not challenging the fundamental legitimacy of Trump, and clearly never will.

I guess if anyone actually thought they would, this is hopefully evidence they won't. I never believed for a second that they would.
posted by thefoxgod at 5:19 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies, as China's influence in the region rises.

Holy shit, he's actually starting a trade war. It's economic suicide.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:19 PM on January 23, 2017 [48 favorites]

(er, "hopefully evidence they won't" doesnt mean I don't want them to, I just mean that people should stop hoping they will, since that's not going to happen)
posted by thefoxgod at 5:20 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I literally put Schumer (and Gillibrand) on my speed dial. I call Schumer pretty close to daily. It's my therapy. No idea if it is effective, but I share my thoughts and feelings pretty openly. Kind of want the staffers to start recognizing my voice.
posted by prefpara at 5:21 PM on January 23, 2017 [34 favorites]

.
posted by flatluigi at 5:21 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo Spicer earns Four Pinocchios for false claims on inauguration crowd size

Goddamnit cut the cutesy shit and just write Spicer LIED.

If it makes you feel any better, I somehow read this as "Four Pinochets" until your comment.
posted by bibliowench at 5:21 PM on January 23, 2017 [50 favorites]

Dept of Defense on twitter [real]

Social media postings sometimes provide an important window into a person’s #mentalhealth.

Heh
posted by Tarumba at 5:22 PM on January 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

TPP was dead already.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:22 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

You'll be glad to know that "alternative facts" has already made it to Marv Albert on today's Pacers broadcast. Did not expect that.
posted by selfnoise at 5:23 PM on January 23, 2017

Apologies if this was posted already (I don't remember seeing it and it didn't turn up in search), but it looks like the clip of the Donald apparently saying something awful to Melania at the inauguration was real.
posted by Mchelly at 5:25 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

(I don't mean to usurp the mods, but please use the search box before posting links to avoid cluttering the shiny new thread with twitter snark that's already been snarked extensively in the last one)
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:26 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

sunset in snow country: Said it in the last thread, but if you are from California and would like me to hand deliver a letter to Senator Feinstein, memail me.

Check your memail, I sent a note for Feinstein. Thanks for doing this!
posted by Room 641-A at 5:26 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Chilling to think that tomorrow's mass executions of liberals may be soundtracked with vaporwave MP3s from blogs.

And I thought shit like /baphomet/ was bad enough (warning: link is full of terrible things). It's as if a rat-king of disgusting teenage boy subconsciousness somehow uploaded itself onto the internet and become sentient.
posted by otenba at 5:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

An interesting thread about the board/meme culture behind the alt-right: I spent most of 2016 monitoring various /pol/ and /k/ boards on a daily basis. What Spencer says in public is just the tip of the iceberg.

Chilling to think that tomorrow's mass executions of liberals may be soundtracked with vaporwave MP3s from blogs.

Damn it, now these fuckers are ruining Mac Tonite?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sorry if I missed this, but is this video real?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Damn it, now these fuckers are ruining Mac Tonite?

Mac Tonite has inspired "ironic racist" memes since the mid-2000s on YTMND.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 5:36 PM on January 23, 2017

There was a bunch of bullshit in the TPP. I'm not sorry to see it go, though I don't harbor any illusions that Trump is torpedoing it out of any motivations I'd recognize as particularly sane or healthy.
posted by brennen at 5:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

Could the links maybe come with some description? I can't get videos to play of either Trumps supposed icy treatment of Melania or the video roomthreeseventeen posted of what appears to be trump about to shake hands with an orthodox priest (also, that one appears to have been tweeted by a right wing nut job). What do they show?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:42 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Mac Tonight was a mascot singing a tune about a serial killer, designed to sell baby boomers on late-night fast-food runs. They pulled the ads after being sued by Bobby Darin's estate. It was always pretty ugly.
posted by box at 5:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Here are the 15 Senate Democrats voted for Rep Mike Pompeo R-KS as CIA Director: Donnelly, Feinstein, Hassan, Heitkamp, Kane, King, Kloubuchar, Manchin, McCaskill, Reed, Schatz, Schumer, Shaheen, Warner, Whitehouse

Rand Paul R-KY was the only GOP "No" vote
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:44 PM on January 23, 2017 [34 favorites]

From rainydayfund's link: Raymond from West Virginia shrugged his shoulders and said, “I thought it would be like one of his rallies. Instead, it’s this.” (Raymond then asked if I was Jewish. I said yes and he said “Just checking.” I said, “C’mon Raymond! Even your anti-Semitism sounds demoralized.” He looked down, sadly.)

I have to laugh because that is exactly the attitude I saw from those fucklords in DC this past weekend. Exactly. They were so wilted and upset.

Last night, just seeing a black lady perched in the front seat of an airport shuttle bus caused one dude to try to hide his MAGA hat in his goddamn lap. After a ten-minute ride to his car, while five women (three in pussy hats) cheerily chatted about their experiences and their plans for the future and their love for each other, he got up and--I can't describe it any better than he scuttled off the bus as fast as his legs could carry him without actually running. He was hunched in shame.

The driver--also a black lady--heard from the one lady up front that he had a hat when she laughed about it after he'd fled, and snapped that if she'd seen him she wouldn't have let him on his damn bus. And then we laughed a moment about his shame and fear, and shifted right back to planning our resistance and sharing our love for each other.
posted by sciatrix at 5:44 PM on January 23, 2017 [170 favorites]

Sorry if I missed this, but is this video real?

Yeah I posted that this afternoon at the end of the last FPP* and made the mistake of calling the guy who threw shade a Bishop. I was told he is a verger.

*With a bad link. Sorry guise!

That Trump/Melania exchange is something. She looks genuinely hurt. I know we are not supposed to feel sorry for her but Damn, that's her husband. Moral: Do Not Marry For Money.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:44 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

In the video showing the Trumps on the dais at the Inauguration, she's standing slightly behind and to the left of him. He turns and says something (can't see his lips) to her before turning back dismissively. Her face just crumples into a rictus of pain before she pulls it together.
posted by carmicha at 5:46 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

What the fuck is wrong with Dems? What do they get out of this shit?
posted by Artw at 5:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

1458 days until Jan 20, 2021, or as the song goes.

1458 days of Trump and his wall.
1458 days of Trump and his wall.
Take one down, pass it around...
1457 days of....

Remember the more you drink the less of the Trump Presidency you'll remember .
posted by humanfont at 5:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

That Trump/Melania exchange is something. She looks genuinely hurt. I know we are not supposed to feel sorry for her but Damn, that's her husband. Moral: Do Not Marry For Money.

There was a sign in the Seattle march that read "Free Melania," that got a surprising amount of surprised laughter. Like - not hostility, even. More like, "Wow - right?!"
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

I can't get videos to play of either Trumps supposed icy treatment of Melania

He is standing directly in front of her but turns his head to talk to her. She has a big smile while he is talking but then he turns back away from her with a sour look on his face. The minute he isn't looking at her, she drops the smile and looks hurt- like a kid who has been reprimanded. He has definitely said something nasty to her, you can see it in his expression.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

What the fuck is wrong with Dems? What do they get out of this shit?

Schatz is from our bluest of blue states. He gains nothing by voting for any Republican thing ever. He's in no danger out here. Generously, I'd imagine this has something to do with "oh we don't want to appear to be opposing everything" bullshit so they can save up for the DeVos and Sessions fights, but I think its more business as fucking usual. Schatz can expect the riot act from a lot of us.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

Schatz is from our bluest of blue states. He gains nothing by voting for any Republican thing ever. He's in no danger out here. Generously, I'd imagine this has something to do with "oh we don't want to appear to be opposing everything" bullshit so they can save up for the DeVos and Sessions fights, but I think its more business as fucking usual. Schatz can expect the riot act from a lot of us.

Primary the fucker from the left.
posted by Talez at 5:52 PM on January 23, 2017 [39 favorites]

Holy shit, he's actually starting a trade war. It's economic suicide.

Worse than that, the TPP would have put the US at an advantage in the Asian economic sphere and he threw it away for this idiot trade war play that makes everyone a loser.

There was a bunch of bullshit in the TPP. I'm not sorry to see it go, though I don't harbor any illusions that Trump is torpedoing it out of any motivations I'd recognize as particularly sane or healthy.

There was some bullshit, but it wasn't exceptional for its bullshit as trade deals go. I'm not saying I agreed with it, but it's definitely a more nuanced issue than the opposition to it has made it out to be. For instance, the ISDS provisions that would "allow companies to sue governments for lost profits" was a big issue people had with it, but the reality of the ISDS is that it's not a new thing with the TPP and is part of other treaties, the tobacco companies were the ones abusing it, and TPP explicitly cut them out of doing it. I still have a lot of problems with the ISDS system but none of them were started with the TPP.

Interestingly, it's really noticeable how Reddit was consistently and loudly anti-TPP for the past year and now all of a sudden on Reddit you see a lot of well-reasoned upvoted comments saying things like "The TPP wasn't that bad, idk why people bought into this idea of it, it wasn't perfect but a lot of the stuff people were freaking out about was already in place with a ton of different trade agreements, its negotiation wasn't some shady smoke-filled-room deal but comparable to any trade deal where parties work behind closed doors before going public with their demands" etc - gee, almost like there can be real conversations debating these things in good faith when someone turns off the money spigot for the astroturf accounts that are poisoning discourse. There's a lot of growing recognition of the enormity of the coordinated social media propaganda problem, it's like night and day when they aren't around, and their presence can fuck up an entire platform for months and months and really effectively spread a lot of misinformation and kill reasoned discourse.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:52 PM on January 23, 2017 [72 favorites]

I tried to call and yell at Schumer, and got punted after 20 minutes on hold. Tried to call to thank Gillibrand, and all of their voicemail boxes are full.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:53 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have been having conflicted feelings about all the Free Melania business because I do not hold with apportioning sympathy for vocal Trump supporters in accordance with how pretty they are, and in Melania's case, when it's not a joke it seems like half because she's a woman and therefore too dumb to be responsible and half because she's a foreigner with an accent in her non-native language and therefore too dumb to be responsible. it's like the treatment of Ivanka but a bit worse.

and I figured that since all her husband could do to her if she left him is enforce whatever horrible prenup he made her sign, I had no particular sympathy, any more than I do for Eric and whatshisface and whatshisface. god forbid any of them should ever get a job. you don't betray a country and support a monster just because he gives you money.

but I feel like I have to temper my judgment now because it's not just that one clip, it's all the ones that have been shared around from the inauguration, where he just fuckin ditches her in the car and turns his back on her and walks away leaving her standing again and again, the littlest humiliations, all designed to make her look foolish. he actually is an abusive husband and he actually would do his best to destroy her life if he felt like it. I don't like to assume adult women are victims unless they say so or unless I see it with my own eyes but I guess i just did.
posted by queenofbithynia at 5:55 PM on January 23, 2017 [122 favorites]

I feel for Melania as the mother of a small child who cannot have any comprehension of what's going on right now.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

I'll save my outrage for things that actually have an impact on something.

Good advice. Too bad it will be ignored.

The biggest thing Trump has done so far is bail on TPP, which his supporters wanted, and a good chunk of Democrats also wanted. Nothing yet has gotten him into hot water with his base. That's going to change quickly if his goons go after net neutrality, which I just heard is in the works. I doubt Trump wants that, since White working class voters (his core support) can't afford to see their phone bills drastically go up, but it's a given that Trump has no choice but to play along and appease the GOP establishment and their corporate overlords.

The truth is that the left doesn't need to do a damn thing to ensure Trump is gone in four years. Republicans are going to do their work for them by forcing all sorts of anti working class legislation through the WH, and each appeasement to wall street will further diminish his popularity.

The only thing Trump can do to help his base that won't be blocked by the establishment is renegotiating trade deals, but that will only carry him so far. Everything else is going to weaken his support, and the weaker his support the more Republicans will demand, which will hurt him even further. It's a vicious downward cycle that he's going to find impossible to break out of.
posted by Beholder at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

The first step in beating Trump: stop giving any money to the Democratic Party

It's like a 1000 Jill Steins all cried out at once
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [57 favorites]

everything will work out fine as long as we refuse to fund the only political party that isn't aligned with our insane fascist dictator
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:00 PM on January 23, 2017 [106 favorites]

Full video of Obama's first visit to CIA after election to give speech, April '09. Enters room to extended applause and cheering.

ganked from reddit.
posted by futz at 6:00 PM on January 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

Melania can be a shitty person and still be an abused person. The abuse doesn't excuse the shittiness and the shittiness doesn't justify the abuse. So I think its ok to simultaneously say "wow, she's said some really shitty things" and still think "wow, I hope she's not being abused because it sure looks like she's being abused."

I am not in favor of shitty people (or any people) being abused. I hope she can get out of that abusive relationship safely, but (barring some extraordinary revelation) I'm probably not going to be holding her up as an example of a noble person anytime soon.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:00 PM on January 23, 2017 [94 favorites]

Instead of withdrawing from the Democratic party, join your local party. They desperately need want you, there's tons to do locally and in your state, that's where the back bench starts and that's how you influence the people in the party who seem to have the ears of the nationally elected Democrats. They need your money and your time and that's in fact how a lot of those Democrats you don't like got elected in the first place -- because they made friends and allies with lots of folks in the party already. So to change who and what gets support you have to be the ones the future candidates to be allied with.
posted by R343L at 6:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [125 favorites]

Well said, queenofbithynia. We actually found ourselves very surprised by our own response to the sign.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Could the links maybe come with some description? I can't get videos to play of either Trumps supposed icy treatment of Melania or the video roomthreeseventeen posted of what appears to be trump about to shake hands with an orthodox priest

As for the second video, at the end of the interfaith service in the National Cathedral all of the presiding bigwigs from different religions pass by DJT standing in his pew. They each stop to shake his hand except one guy-- a Black Verger-- who shifts his staff from his left hand to his right so he doesn't have to shake DJT's hand. He doesn't make eye contact, just completely ignores the President.

As far as Melania, it seems to confirm what many of us were thinking, DJT is an asshole and serial cheater who disrespects women therefore he must be a terrible husband. I can only imagine that Melania is his (mental) punching bag, that it makes him feel big to belittle her.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:03 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

(Full disclosure: I say this as I'm about to go off to my first executive board meeting of my state legislative democrats group to which I got elected to one position because no one else was nominated. I feel like I barely did more than show up, have enthusiasm and meet the folks who have been in the local party forever.)
posted by R343L at 6:03 PM on January 23, 2017 [43 favorites]

Feinstein has indicated that she wants to seek another term. She's 83. California has a lot of high-ranking, high-grade Dems, because it's California, but only two senators, because the Senate is a stupid thing. One of those Dems has to be willing to say "thanks for your service, Dianne, but it's time for someone new", even if it's only as a stalking horse. Her hawkishness and her deference to the snoopers and keepers of secrets is going to be a liability in the years to come, and it's going to put her in direct conflict with those parts of the tech sector that are prepared to face off the administration on things like encryption backdoors.

What the fuck is wrong with Dems? What do they get out of this shit?

Perhaps the political calculation is that the CIA and the IC in general is a domain where they need to remain inside the tent pissing out, and Pompeo is the best they're going to get. Warner's the vice-chair of the Intel Committee, Whitehouse is ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism, etc. One wants to hope that people trusted with secrets will make judgements based on that knowledge, even while knowing that "being trusted with secrets" has its own distorting effect.
posted by holgate at 6:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

The first step in beating Trump: stop giving any money to the Democratic Party until it gets dismantled to the joists, stops triangulating on votes for these racist, power hungry lunatics, and actually campaigns like it believes in something. They are not going to be leading any resistance in their current state.

I don't agree with cutting them off entirely BUT the DCCC itself is a good target for this because you can still donate to specific candidates directly instead of going through the organization. I set up a recurring donation to the DCCC after the election and between this and all of their tactless hyperbolic (yes, hyperbolic even in this horrendous climate) fundraising emails, I'm really thinking I need to put my DCCC donation on pause until they get their coordinated response shit straightened out and email them to tell them so. In the meantime that money can go directly to those Dem candidates who do live up to Democratic ideals. Win-win.

And if you don't already donate to the DCCC, maybe it's worth contacting them and telling them that you are pledging an $X recurring monthly donation IF AND ONLY IF they get their house in order. And then send them an update when that money instead goes to sitting members who are already doing a good job.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

as for me, i'm starting to feel like the democrat/republican thing is something like a good cop/bad cop routine

the dems won't fight and i'm getting suspicious as to why
posted by pyramid termite at 6:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [37 favorites]

I think Melania is probably a shitty person and not the world's foremost deep thinker and I also think she's in an abusive relationship that she can't get out of because you know any attempt on her part to leave him (rather than him ditching her) would be met with retribution in the form of demanding full custody of Barron. And you know that prenup is rock solid. If she left she'd have nothing, not even her kid. Shitty person or not, that's not right.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:05 PM on January 23, 2017 [39 favorites]

US health officials cancel climate conference; don’t say why

...But a co-sponsor said he was told by the CDC that it was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration.

...“They had no idea or not whether the new administration would be supportive,” said Benjamin. His group was a co-sponsor of the CDC event and has its own climate-themed conference planned for November.

Rather, the decision was “a strategic retreat,” intended to head off a possible last minute cancellation or other repercussions from Trump officials who may prove hostile to spending money on climate change science, Benjamin said Monday.

“They decided the better part of valor was to stop and regroup” until it could be discussed with Trump’s new health leadership, Benjamin said. A new CDC director has not been named.
posted by futz at 6:06 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

pyramid termite: your first mistake is thinking of a political party as if everyone in it is the same or has the same motivations. While I'm sure some Democrats are just interested in maintaining their positions, don't mind making nice with the Republicans, not all do and even the excessively compromising ones can be convinced otherwise if Democrats in their district make noise.
posted by R343L at 6:07 PM on January 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

And you know that prenup is rock solid. If she left she'd have nothing, not even her kid. Shitty person or not, that's not right.

That prenup just became eminently negotiable. It's just that the one thing she can't do is leave while he's in office.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:07 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

That's going to change quickly if his goons go after net neutrality, which I just heard is in the works.

The Ars Technica boards, which at least used to have a strong gamer-tech-bro contingent, have soured on Trump, and they are particularly pissed about the possibility of net neutrality going away.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:09 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Do you know it just occurred to me that Donald could have threatened her with deportation if she tried to leave him. However, now that he is POTUS while it might seem as though he has more power, she will have more protection. All it takes to start the ball rolling is for her to go to a journalist and tell her story. If she paints him as a monster-- imagine the publicity.

Ugh, sorry MetaFilter, this is becoming very gossipy.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Mac Tonite has inspired "ironic racist" memes since the mid-2000s on YTMND.

It's so hard to keep track of all this internet shit

Mac Tonight was a mascot singing a tune about a serial killer, designed to sell baby boomers on late-night fast-food runs. They pulled the ads after being sued by Bobby Darin's estate. It was always pretty ugly.

Yeah, well I liked him. I mean, I was five, but
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Dude, what Dems do you have? Mine are fighting tooth and nail, but they're in the House and the State Lege. It's your Senators, blue-state folks, who seem to be rolling over most aggressively to me.

I say this as someone who loves my rep, but I'm harrying him to do more too while I'm at it. We're asking him to make more noise about rural communities in Texas. We're asking him to do more and do more, even when he's tired, even when he has very little support, and it makes me feel bad because he is so clearly trying but we need him so much right now. We need him to help make a base here in Texas and to help breathe enthusiasm to support him here, too. And we need him to keep standing tall.

So we're calling him, too. My spouse asked him today to take a stance on water rights, even if he can't do anything about it. I'm going to ask him to make a stand on Flint. We're asking him to push harder, go harder, even if it's not "politically feasible." I don't think there's any such thing any more, and in any case.... well. We don't have any choice. We have to try.
posted by sciatrix at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Well if this book is actually as bonkers prescient as the description says (and I really hope we hear from Mefites reading it soon!) Melania is about to be the agent of his downfall in the final act.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

everything will work out fine as long as we refuse to fund the only political party that isn't aligned with our insane fascist dictator

What I mean is this incarnation of the Dems. The establishment Democrats like Feinstein, Schumer and DWS (who was on the podium at the March) take wayyyy too much for granted and are institutionally protected from accountability in too many ways.

The only way to really stop Trump is to flip the House and Senate in 2018 and start impeachment proceedings. Hands up everyone who has faith in the current leadership of the DNC and DCCC to win that battle?

Obviously there's value in fundraising for genuine progressives who want to run as Democrats. I'm merely suggesting starving this batch of oxygen until the leadership is handed over to people who aren't afraid to stand up for something.
posted by dry white toast at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

And in case you haven't noticed, it's not enough to be merely "not aligned" with Trump anymore.
posted by dry white toast at 6:13 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Laurie Penny: The Triumph of the Won’t

If you’re about to toss off some leftier-than-thou whingebaggery about how this day of marches won’t really achieve anything in the long run, how it’s all a bit bourgeois, a bit knit-your-own-hummus, how nothing but total and immediate proletariat revolution will ever be pure enough to get you out of your pontification chair and into the street, let me get in there ahead of you: No, this is not a perfect protest. If such a thing is possible, this march isn’t it. There are a fair number of white women thanking the police for their service. There are no attempts to burn the actual White House to the ground and replace it with a statue of Angela Davis made from the fossilized tears of fascists. Angela Davis is there, though.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:14 PM on January 23, 2017 [55 favorites]

The ONLY Senate Democrat to vote no on Kelly, Mattis & Pompeo was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. So, we have that going for us in New York, while having to figure out what the hell Schumer is doing.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:14 PM on January 23, 2017 [56 favorites]

Perhaps the political calculation is that the CIA and the IC in general is a domain where they need to remain inside the tent pissing out, and Pompeo is the best they're going to get.

This is probably the real reason, Pompeo is on the extreme end of "normal" Republican nominees, but he has sat on the Intelligence Committee, and does at least know what the CIA does, without having shown specific intent to destroy it from the inside (whether he's open to return to the Bush era black sites and torture shit though...). If his nomination goes down the next might be Guiliani. But there's no reason for only 9 dissenting votes. He was going to get confirmed anyway, some symbolic resistance would've been nice, particularly from Dem Leadership. Feinstien herself has been a lost cause for decades now, she's never seen a totalitarian surveillance measure she didn't love, and is a complete dinosaur relevant to the state California has become. It's been long overdue to primary her from the left.

But in general, the Democrats have shown zero proclivity towards actual resistance. They're not taking advantage of procedures that Republicans would without question. The age of friendly "senate comity" needs to be over. Republicans killed it along with Merrick Garland's nomination. There should never be unanimous consent again, all legislation should be filibustered until Republicans kill it, and all of these nominations should be 58-42 or some such, allowing for some small number of 2018 vulerables to cross over on hopeless ones, but not 89-9. And the worst ones like Tillerson, Sessions, Devos, and Carson, no Democratic defections are acceptable.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:16 PM on January 23, 2017 [46 favorites]

The only way to really stop Trump is to flip the House and Senate in 2018 and start impeachment proceedings. Hands up everyone who has faith in the current leadership of the DNC and DCCC to win that battle?

Well my Rep, Nancy Pelosi, was standing there laughing and joking with Trump shortly after he took the oath of office, so no, not really. I fully get that she needed to be there and participate in the process as a Congressional leader, and that's something she ought to do with dignity and class, but the image is burned into my brain of her smiling and joking at the start of a process that could lead to many of her constituents being deported, losing their health care, etc..., and it's not a pretty one.

I will acknowledge that she did then fly out here to participate in the women's march in the rain.
posted by zachlipton at 6:17 PM on January 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

One outcome of the Trump Administration will be a constitutional amendment requiring the office of president to be filled only by an AI being run on a quantum computer with a 666 yodabyte or above capacity.
posted by y2karl at 6:20 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Back to that claim he made at his meeting with the House and Senate Leaders, that he would have won the popular vote if it wasn't for those 3 to 5 million illegal ballots cast. Nancy Pelosi was at that meeting. I wonder how she reacted. What about Paul Ryan? Are any of them trying to disbuse him of that notion? And why did his estimate of illegal votes cast suddenly rise from 3 million to 5? Something on Infowars?

I fully expect him to start saying things like there would have been more people at his inauguration but "they got kidnapped by illegal gangs" and the Woman's March looks like it had a lot of people "but the crowds were photoshopped in and it was really only 2 Muslims and a Dreamer."[Fake]

Kellyann and Ivanka must be doing some incredible emotional labor right now, listening to him rant, trying to soothe his ruffled feathers, telling him he is the greatest President who ever lived.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:21 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Schumer is worthless and I'm afraid I may have voted for him.
posted by valkane at 6:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump Administration Imposes Freeze On EPA Grants and Contracts

The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could affect a significant part of the agency’s budget allocations and even threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews. ... One EPA employee aware of the freeze said he had never seen anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency. Hiring freezes happened, he said, but freezes on grants and contracts seemed extraordinary. The employee said the freeze appeared to be nationwide, and as of Monday night it was not clear for how long it would be in place. ...

Monday night, Myron Ebell, who ran the EPA transition for the incoming administration, confirmed the basics of the freeze, but said the actions were not unprecedented. “They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first,” said Ebell, who returned over the weekend to his position directing energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market, industry-aligned group that has long fought the EPA’s growth and influence.

posted by maudlin at 6:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

The entire world is doing some emotional labor right now.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [35 favorites]

JFC. Here's CNN’s lead Trumpkin, Jeffrey Lord, using immigrant women’s menstruation to rail against global trade and migration. (video inside)

Yeah, it makes zero sense.
posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

He really isn't going to get over losing the popular vote is he?

He's going to be on his deathbed and still going on about 'I won. I really won! 15 million illegal votes!!!' I
posted by Jalliah at 6:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Democratic establishment and Republican establishment aren't going to rock the boat. Don't expect 70 and 80 year old lifetime politicians to spend the last years of their well fed life breaking a sweat. Trump was (gasp) right when he said in his speech that we suffer, but the political class always takes care of themselves.

Painful, but true. Ride out his first (and only term) and make damn sure that a firebrand progressive, someone young, combative, and uncompromising wins the nomination. The primary season is only 36 months away, but actually begins much sooner, and I can think of no better use of energy and time than to make damn sure the next Democratic primary offers a robust number of legitimate choices instead of one outsider, one establishment candidate, and someone who had no reason to be on that stage other than to attack the outsider. That scenario must not be allowed to repeat itself.
posted by Beholder at 6:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

I will acknowledge that she did then fly out here to participate in the women's march in the rain.

That's one for Pelosi in the plus column, distinguishing her from the likes of Keith Ellison and Thomas Perez, who joined other Dem big wigs at a Miami luxury resort for David Brock's donor retreat.

Top Democrats Missed Women’s Marches to Attend Luxury Donor Retreat Thrown by Clinton Henchman
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:29 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

The problem with Dianne Feinstein is she has so much institutional support you'd have to be crazy to run against her, as demonstrated by the last time anyone ran against Dianne Feinstein.
posted by ckape at 6:30 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

More on the EPA freeze: EPA staff has been instructed to freeze all its grants ― an extensive program that includes funding for research, redevelopment of former industrial sites, air quality monitoring and education, among other things ― and told not to discuss this order with anyone outside the agency, according to a Hill source with knowledge of the situation.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:30 PM on January 23, 2017 [35 favorites]

The problem with Dianne Feinstein is she has so much institutional support you'd have to be crazy to run against her, as demonstrated by the last time anyone ran against Dianne Feinstein.

Don't give up before you start. California is becoming more liberal with each passing year and under Trump's rule I can only see them becoming more radical. Harness the outrage!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:33 PM on January 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

Dina Leygerman: You Are Not Equal. I’m Sorry.

A post is making rounds on social media, in response to the Women’s March on Saturday, January 21, 2017. It starts with “I am not a “disgrace to women” because I don’t support the women’s march. I do not feel I am a “second class citizen” because I am a woman….”

This is my response to that post.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [57 favorites]

I hope he is never happy, ever again, about anything, because of losing the popular vote.

It won't help anything else or make him any less awful, but I want him robbed of all enjoyment out of spite.
posted by Artw at 6:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [29 favorites]

The primary season is only 36 months away, but actually begins much sooner, and I can think of no better use of energy and time

I fucking well can. The next Congressional election is in two years, not three, not four, and speaking for myself I am much more interested in flipping the fucking House and Senate as hard as I can than playing Presidential primary contests so that we can wage Bernie Vs Hillary Round Eleventy Bajillion three goddamn fucking years before it can do any goddamn good!
posted by sciatrix at 6:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [139 favorites]

MIDTERMS, MOTHERFUCKERS.

And don't vote anything other than Dem for any dumb reason.
posted by Artw at 6:35 PM on January 23, 2017 [75 favorites]

How directly is the EPA continuing to work with Flint, Mi?
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:36 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

(No, not to "teach them a lesson". Primaries are for that.)
posted by Artw at 6:36 PM on January 23, 2017 [22 favorites]

Just to inject a moment of levity, Michael Ian Black created a White House Go. Petition: To explain to the American people why President Donald J. Trump is such a needy little bitch.

Why am I only the 2nd person to sign this?
posted by natteringnabob at 6:37 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Seriously I swear that one of these days some idiot is going to start pontificating about a Presidential race before we've even had our damn midterms and I am finally going to lose my temper and haul off and smack them one good instead of bestowing upon them my charming good mood
posted by sciatrix at 6:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'm merely suggesting starving this batch of oxygen until the leadership is handed over to people who aren't afraid to stand up for something.

That is a terrible plan that has not even a one in a million chance of working and would help Trump and Republicans immensely.

Did the person you heard this plan from have a Russian accent?
posted by bongo_x at 6:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [28 favorites]

Honestly, it's hard enough living in Florida as a liberal but then friggin Bell Nelson is being praised as the last line of defense. This guy never responds to emails aside from the instant auto response. His voice mail at all offices is full and I've never once been able to leave him a message. He updates FB and Twitter about once a month. So what does our defender Nelson have to lose?

"But looking too much like an obstructionist on other key issues could pose a risk for Nelson, one of 10 Democrats running for election in a state Trump won in November.

Nelson, who has is seeking a fourth term in the Senate, is a generally popular figure in the state with a strong foundation of support in the Republican-leaning Panhandle, said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida."

I will be at his local office in person tomorrow and I am going to work SO HARD to primary this guy. So. Hard.
posted by hollygoheavy at 6:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

I think Melania is an asshole AND I think it's plain as day that she's in an abusive marriage. His public (public, my god! Imagine what goes on in fucking private) treatment of her is honestly triggering. I had a narcissistic father and it's echoes of my mother all the way down. It's also why I suspect that Ivanka is the favorite until she disappoints him and then there is hell to pay.

None of this excuses their behavior, nor does it look to do so, it just highlights how fucked up HE is and how his tactics in politics are those of a fucking abuser.
posted by lydhre at 6:39 PM on January 23, 2017 [54 favorites]

via West Wing Reports

President's Tuesday:
9:00-meets w/auto industry leaders;
10:00-Chief of Staff;
11:00-signs Executive Order;
1:00-call w/Indian PM Modi;
1:30-CIA Dir. Pompeo;
3:00-Senate Leadership;
3:45-Senate Maj. Ldr. McConnell.
Briefing 1:30
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:42 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

For further reading the proposed FY 2017 EPA budget in brief (PDF) posted prior to inauguration .
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:42 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

No press releases will be going out to external audiences.

No social media will be going out. A Digital Strategist will be coming on board to oversee social media.
Existing, individually controlled, social media accounts may become more centrally controlled.

No blog messages.

The Beach Team will review the list of upcoming webinars and decide which ones will go forward.

Please send me a list of any external speaking engagements that are currently scheduled among any of your staff from today through February.

Incoming media requests will be carefully screened.

No new content can be placed on any website. Only do clean up where essential.

List servers will be reviewed. Only send out critical messages, as messages can be shared broadly and end up in the press.

I don't believe for a second that it's just the EPA getting orders like these. God, Trump "Digital Strategists" pushing propaganda out directly from the agencies and trading on their decades of credibility.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:42 PM on January 23, 2017 [108 favorites]

Why am I only the 2nd person to sign this?

I was also the 2nd person to sign. Seems suspicious.
posted by bongo_x at 6:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

I hope he is never happy, ever again, about anything, because of losing the popular vote.

Unfortunately, I very much doubt he now experiences, or ever has, any emotion that you or I would know as "happiness". I'm only judging on what he appears to be in public, and it looks like there's a version of something he thinks means happiness, but it bears no resemblance to the kind of joy or contentment others do. He feels domination and success, and made an emotional taxonomic mistake somewhere.
posted by mrgoat at 6:46 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

Seriously I swear that one of these days some idiot is going to start pontificating about a Presidential race before we've even had our damn midterms and I am finally going to lose my temper and haul off and smack them one good instead of bestowing upon them my charming good mood

You better avoid anything that mentions Zuckerburg then. I am/will be right along side you to do some walloping.
posted by futz at 6:47 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

And why did his estimate of illegal votes cast suddenly rise from 3 million to 5? Something on Infowars?

I think that's the number the RNC calculates they need to suppress the vote by, in order to ensure they win the next election. Mark my words, the polls will be purged by at least five million "illegal voters" by 2018.
posted by happyroach at 6:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

That whole thing... it was the most baffling lie, because it's so easily debunked. There were thousands of cameras there. Is he obsessed with size? First the things with the hands, which wouldn't have been anything at all until he made it into something by petulantly replying to it in exactly the way you bloody well don't.

He's a like bratty teenager : Everybody came to my party it was the most bigly party ever! You're lying liars! It's was bigly!

And that was his first contact with the press as POTUS. An obvious lie. Who was that meant for? The true believers? And that was something truly inconsequential. What about when it's really fucking serious? WE CAN'T TRUST THE WHITE HOUSE.
posted by adept256 at 6:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

That is a terrible plan that has not even a one in a million chance of working and would help Trump and Republicans immensely.

As opposed to all the problems the Dems are causing them now?
posted by dry white toast at 6:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

That whole thing... it was the most baffling lie, because it's so easily debunked.

They're not lying because they think people will believe them. They're lying because they need to justify what they're going to do to their enemies.
posted by Etrigan at 6:53 PM on January 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

From 538: How Unconscious Sexism Could Help Explain Trump’s Win

Not much in there we haven't discussed about a million times on here already, but I thought this part was especially interesting (emphasis mine):

“I don’t think you can understand [Clinton’s] candidacy without understanding gender bias is baked into it,” Caroline Heldman, a political scientist at Occidental College who has written about internalized sexism, said in a telephone interview. “We don’t like women to be ambitious. It rubs men and women the wrong way.”

Measuring implicit bias is tricky — because the bias is unconscious, you can’t just ask people how they feel about women in a professional context, or about sexist attitudes. So researchers instead run online experiments that test how quickly subjects associate typically male or female words such as “boy” and “lady” with “career” or “family.” (You can take a version of the test at the website of Project Implicit, a nonprofit research organization.)

Project Implicit ran this experiment with more than 700,000 online test takers from 2006 to 2015. The results show that conservative women had higher implicit gender bias than women with other political ideologies and than men of any political ideology, according to data provided by Colin T. Smith, the project’s director of education, at my request. At every level of self-reported political ideology, women had a higher level of implicit gender bias than men.

posted by triggerfinger at 6:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

Museums Across the World Are Collecting Women’s March Signs
posted by futz at 6:56 PM on January 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

Many critics thought Spicer went too far and compromised his integrity. But in Trump’s mind, Spicer’s attack on the news media was not forceful enough.

It's going to get so, so much worse.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

Oh, the lies have a variety of purposes. They're what he needs to be true to justify what he plans to do next. He's remarkably delusional, and literally cannot psychologically handle not being #1 at all times, in everything, forever. It's a message to the press that reporting these lies as truth is to be their new reality, on pain of whatever punishment the White House can dish out. A warning shot that they fully intend to wage a war on facts.

Take your pick. They're all true.
posted by mrgoat at 6:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Not just EPA: "Effective now, USDA-ARS scientists can't release any public-facing docs,incl photos, fact sheets, social media #ThanksTrump #muzzling"
posted by unknowncommand at 7:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [65 favorites]

Is he obsessed with size?

Yes. And making things gold.

He's not even a child, he's a child's idea of a child.
posted by Artw at 7:03 PM on January 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

This is what it looks like when you run a government like a business.
posted by valkane at 7:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [17 favorites]

Canada's been through this sort of shit before, but this is looking even worse. I'm so sorry, and so angry.
posted by maudlin at 7:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

YES, TRUMP FUCKING WITH THE FOOD SUPPLY WILL WIN YOU GODAMN MILLIONS OF VOTES.

sorry, not sorry
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:05 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

How about donating lots of money to the Republicans as a way to show Democrats how dissatisfied we are. That will show them, then they will have no choice but to embrace The Truth.
posted by bongo_x at 7:06 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Wow that Independent article on Merkel et al.'s reactions to Trump. Our most important European ally, the largest economy in the richest economic union besides us, and they can't even establish basic lines of communication. WE ARE SO FUCKED.
posted by dis_integration at 7:06 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

The USDA? Seriously?

As for dems who aren't resisting, yes, primary them. Especially in blue states and districts. It worked for the tea party, it can work for us.
posted by nat at 7:08 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Bear in mind that Trump's economic shenanigans will either be stopped or they'll split the party, because his nonsense is going to start hurting the wealthy and they're going to complain.
posted by Frowner at 7:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

My theory is Melania is actually Trump's Russian handler.
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 7:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [70 favorites]

Foreign leaders have to know that this madness will not last forever. I wonder if they're speaking quietly to the grownups in the room, or the closest facsimile.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:12 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

As opposed to all the problems the Dems are causing them now?

Even a waffling establishment Dem is causing them a big problem by not being a Republican, and the Republicans are working to change that. It's a choice between someone who we can negotiate with 75% of the time, who will magically get on board 100% of the time the moment they feel they have the political capital to do it, and someone who will never, ever negotiate with us. We need to approach this tactically, and I can't express that strongly enough. That means building a bench, primarying where it won't seal the deal for a Republican, and using activist pressure, targeted donations and all the carrots and sticks we can lay hands on to create an atmosphere in the Democratic party where the establishment Dems see which way the wind is blowing and get their shit together. This can all be done without major infighting, the thing about establishment Dems is that they're always biding their time and hedging their bets until the way forward is clear, and we can make it clear. Support the fighters in the party and reward them and the followers (who are somehow also the leaders in this weird ass party) will want in on that action, especially if their base is pushing them with positive and negative reinforcement. It's something Obama told us again and again and again and again and the overall Democratic base just didn't listen, the bulk of us got complacent thinking we were on cruise control to a bright future and we didn't push our reps and senators to do better. If we pushed like this back in '09 we would have a drastically different party right now, even with a lot of the same names involved, because they will go where we lead them.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:12 PM on January 23, 2017 [60 favorites]

Bear in mind that Trump's economic shenanigans will either be stopped or they'll split the party, because his nonsense is going to start hurting the wealthy and they're going to complain.

Yeah this USDA thing in particular... there's rumblings of a farm crisis a-brewin' already, and climate change will only continue to have effects on crops, perfect time to gut USDA research! It's not like research based agricultural extension pilot programs fucking built our modern agriculture industry* or anything.

*start with the paragraph "At the start of the twentieth century, another indispensable but unmanageably costly sector was strangling the country: agriculture."
posted by jason_steakums at 7:20 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

I'm in the USDA and..... I guess I can't say anything.
posted by acrasis at 7:22 PM on January 23, 2017 [45 favorites]

Trump didn't go after China on Day One

He promised to label China a currency manipulator on day one. He has not done so.

And I mean, most of his day one plans were extremely awful, so I'm glad he hasn't followed through, but the number of promises he's dropped on the floor already is pathetic.
posted by zachlipton at 7:22 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

The USDA? Seriously?

Someone's gotta pay for the failure of Trump steaks, I guess.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Trying to 'cut the head off the snake' is not going to get long term change. And, if you have vopral axe of +5 snake slaying, what makes you think you'll be let near the snake? The Courts won't let you as they are the legal way to slay the snake.

Why not start small - read the state laws. And once you find out how you can be guilty of a crime for not reporting a crime (does not apply in some States) or how in Texas or California a Grand Jury can examine into any crime that comes to the attention of the Grand Jury start filing criminal complaints about the people who provide cover and food to the snake? If filing your own criminal complaint is too scary, why not start being a Court Watcher and then file bar grievances or judicial conduct complaints when you see something that shows the rule of law is bunk.

Go read 42 U.S. Code § 1983 and ask yourself if this new snake, by malice or incompetence, is violating your right(s).
posted by rough ashlar at 7:24 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Yeah, but were trump steaks even meat? I was under the impression that if anyone would pay for that failure, it would be the sawdust and plastics industries.
posted by mrgoat at 7:25 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

So with the latest round of backstabbing anonymous quotes in the press, which is becoming a daily routine now, I've got to ask why the story hasn't shifted to the fact that this is not normal. This administration has people tearing into each other every single day, using the same media they supposedly hate. Why is the story not, "senior administration officials keep calling reporters to attack each other on the daily?"

I know, I know, because of access and because reporters can't burn their sources, but at some point, and I think we're well past it, the ridiculousness of the infighting and the very fact of the leaking has to be a bigger story than the tidbits of information being leaked.
posted by zachlipton at 7:32 PM on January 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

It's economic suicide.

America was gonna go bankrupt one day - why not have someone at the head who knows a thing or 2 about 'em?
posted by rough ashlar at 7:32 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump should NOT have watched Suicide Squad before picking his cabinet.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:34 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

The great American delusion is about "winning the lottery". It's ironically appropriate that this economic model should be destroyed by someone who couldn't keep a casino in business...

or as I wanted to put on caps: "MAKE AMERICA LIKE ATLANTIC CITY"
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:36 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

America was gonna go bankrupt one day - why not have someone at the head who knows a thing or 2 about 'em?

Just wait till the tax cuts, increased defense spending, and resulting budget shortfalls overheat and tank the economy.
posted by vrakatar at 7:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Foreign leaders have to know that this madness will not last forever. I wonder if they're speaking quietly to the grownups in the room, or the closest facsimile.

well see there's your problem
posted by um at 7:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

The article about FAIR (linked in the FPP) cites a NYT story from 2011. I found this bit interesting and it made me a tiny bit hopeful that phone calls do make a difference:

...One group that Dr. Tanton nurtured, Numbers USA, doomed President George W. Bush’s legalization plan four years ago by overwhelming Congress with protest calls. Another, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, helped draft the Arizona law last year to give the police new power to identify and detain illegal immigrants.

...Numbers USA showed its force in 2002 when Republican leaders of the House backed a bill that would have allowed some illegal immigrants to remain in the United States while seeking legal status. Numbers USA set the phones on fire, and a majority of Republicans opposed it.

...The big war broke out in 2007, after Mr. Bush proposed a systemic overhaul including a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants. Supporters said it would free millions of people from fear and exploitation; opponents argued that it would reward lawbreakers and encourage more illegal immigration.

FAIR rallied talk show hosts. The Center for Immigration Studies churned out studies of the bill’s perceived flaws. Numbers USA jammed the Capitol’s phones.

Their success became the stuff of lore. They “lit up the switchboard for weeks,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, explaining his decision to oppose the bill. “And to every one of them, I say today: ‘Your voice was heard.’ ”
posted by futz at 7:38 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

1458 days until Jan 20, 2021, or as the song goes.

THAT'S SO MANY DAYS.
posted by dis_integration at 7:39 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I can't draw a straight line between donating $100 or even $1,000 to Democrats and better outcomes for America, but I can say that imploring others to withhold money from them as a strategy to bring about change is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in the last week outside of the administration's own actions.

If you really think the Democrats are worthless and irredeemable, why not check in on those third parties? Remember them? The ones that more than 7 million Americans showed up to the polls for, despite the fact that they almost certainly knew the vote would not affect the outcome? Why not go find out if they're still around? If you're outraged at the Democrats, maybe dozens or hundreds of other people in your arae are, and then you can pool your outrage to make some Democrats fear for their goddamned lives in their next election.

Hell, I think third parties as presently constituted in the US are a perverse fucking joke, but that strategy seems orders of magnitude more likely to do something to stop our descent into fascism than telling people not to support the one political entity that is in a position to meaningfully inconvenience the Trump/Ryan/McConnell agenda.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:40 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Why is Feinstein being singled out for the hate-on when people like Klobuchar voted the same way?
posted by Justinian at 7:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

um: sadly, you're right. If life were a novelist, there would be some steely kingmaker or Gentlemen of Last Resort that other governments would know to speak to about what was really likely to happen, and who could honestly be dealt with. But sadly, life is not good enough for truly comforting conspiracies. It's just one load of human beings after another.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

1458 days until Jan 20, 2021, or as the song goes.

Can you imagine what kind of a state they'll leave the offices in? They'll upper-decker the toilets and piss in the coffeemakers. Still, I'd just be happy if they left voluntarily. Sometimes I wonder if they ever mean to.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:46 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Klobuchar represents what's now a vulnerable purple if not leans red seat. Feinstein is open in 2018, and represents the most unapologetically liberal state in America, and is in Dem Leadership. We shouldn't have to beg her to cast minimally liberal votes.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [57 favorites]

Why is Feinstein being singled out for the hate-on

A past leadership position. That and her husband.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Still, I'd just be happy if they left voluntarily. Sometimes I wonder if they ever mean to.

I know it's been tossed out there for every administration for a while, but no, I don't think they plan on ever leaving. Because they live in a complete fantasy land.
posted by bongo_x at 7:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

They'll upper-decker the toilets and piss in the coffeemakers.

And that's just the first week.
posted by mrgoat at 7:51 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I keep seeing articles that stress how apolitical the CIA is. If true, I wonder it that is about to change. I wonder if they are more pro-american and will work behind the scenes to 'save us' instead of blindly following Dear Leader's orders. Sounds nutters I know but we live in unpresidented times ;)
posted by futz at 7:52 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Gotcha. I'm happy to vote for Feinstein's opponent in primary I just don't think she's hugely problematic when compared to someone like Manchin.
posted by Justinian at 7:52 PM on January 23, 2017

There was this link in the last thread, where Robert Reich was relaying a conversation he had with a former Republican member of Congress and they said they think the plan is to pass all the unpopular red meat Republican shit with Trump as a figurehead and then chuck him out and blame him for it all - which is a stupid plan, if it's the plan, but if that is the idea it's going to backfire hilariously when Trump's 100% committed to his agenda of trade war and tanking himself in the polls with tantrums and they have to pull the ripcord early before they even get to pass all their shit under his name. If that is their idiot plan, I can't wait for the image of an exposed Paul Ryan having to waffle on passing his own bill proposals.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:53 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh hey, Josh Marshall is reading my mind: No White House Leaks Like This ... Until Now
posted by zachlipton at 7:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [30 favorites]

They're planning on leaving... when they shut it all down. (And take all the office supplies home.)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

As opposed to all the problems the Dems are causing them now?

dry white toast; I want to be clear I'm really not attacking you personally.
posted by bongo_x at 7:54 PM on January 23, 2017

Trump seems to be stuck in campaign mode. When will it finally hit that he won, or will he go on defending himself for the entire term?

I get this gut feeling that Trump expected the entire nation to pivot into adulation and/or at least complicit respect the moment he took office.

Since that hasn't materialized, it's going to be a huge psychological block for him until it happens. Thus the crap about crowd numbers over the weekend, then the grumpy post about "where were the marchers during the election?", and when that didn't pan out now it's back to the alleged 3-4 million stolen votes.

TLDR: Daddy didn't love me.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:55 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

America was gonna go bankrupt one day

I'm thinking, what, this Thursday? Friday at the outside.
posted by emjaybee at 7:58 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump will start jealously fixating on North Korea before long. He won't be able to stand how the entire NK society is set up to require everyone to adore the leader while he has to suffer the indignity of losing the popular vote. He'll nuke them first.
posted by gatorae at 7:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm surprised the North Koreans havent started trolling Trump on twitter yet.
posted by Justinian at 8:00 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

they think the plan is to pass all the unpopular red meat Republican shit with Trump as a figurehead and then chuck him out and blame him for it all - which is a stupid plan,

I completely believe that is the plan, and it is a stupid plan because just as no one is loyal to Trump, Trump is loyal to no one. He's not a Republican. If he starts fighting with them he will start working against them out of spite. That's why they've kissed his ass so far, and why they will dump him as soon as he becomes a problem.

I also think Republicans expected him to be slightly more popular at first though, because, you know, that's what winning the election should imply.
posted by bongo_x at 8:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

In looking up Feinstein's track record to point out that while she is not a full-on card-carrying Lizard Person she's been two-steps-forward-one-and-a-half-steps-back for much of her career, I stumbled upon the fact that 154,781 Californians voted for Orly Taitz in a primary for the United States Senate.

Even in a country where Trump ended up as President, that's terrifying on a very primal level.
posted by delfin at 8:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

I feel very superstitious about saying "Trump will do Horrible Thing I Just Now Thought Of and here's how!" Like we should not float that shit into the ether where someone might hear it and go "Huh, good idea!"

I know: superstition. I find myself more superstitious in general these days. I comfort myself by throwing spilled salt over my shoulder and hanging a mirror to reflect bad luck out of my front door. It's like I have to do something so what the hell.
posted by emjaybee at 8:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm surprised the North Koreans havent started trolling Trump on twitter yet.

Well, the DPRK parody account has been.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:02 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

He won't be able to stand how the entire NK society is set up to require everyone to adore the leader while he has to suffer the indignity of losing the popular vote

Isn't that why he set up the "National Day of Patriotic Devotion" for 1/20, his inaguration day? Not 9/11. Not Veterans' Day. Not Memorial Day. Not July fourth.

Oh, and let's not forget he tried to book a parade of tanks and missles for last friday. I can't wait to see what kind of of shindig he's dreaming up for 1/20/18.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

I am really trying to keep the political noise down on my social media so that people will listen to more of what I say, but National Day of Patriotic Devotion, I mean Christ, it's too late at night to yell as hard as I want to. What kind of juche shit is that. Not just Inauguration Days to come but his specifically. Our grandkids, if they make it, are going to laugh.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

they think the plan is to pass all the unpopular red meat Republican shit with Trump as a figurehead and then chuck him out and blame him for it all - which is a stupid plan

This is probably a brilliant plan. Trump voters are too stupid to recognize it's the Republicans who will be taking away their healthcare and Social Security when that's the only thing Republicans campaigned on, there's no reason to expect them to attribute blame to Paul Ryan when it happens. Really, as long as 'the illegals' and 'those people' don't get anything for free either, White Rust Belt voters don't even care about their own prosperity or that of their grandchildern.

Betting on white resentment and vindictiveness hasn't failed them yet, all they have to do is run the same play again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

let's not forget he tried to book a parade of tanks and missles for last friday.

The parade of missies was on Saturday instead, and I hear it was very successful.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

January 20th 2018? Oh, you mean Down with Tyrants Day? I suggest we celebrate by reading some Thomas Paine, some Orwell, some Sojourner Truth, some Frederick Douglass. Sing the full version of This Land is My Land. I'm sure we can think up a few more things incorporating resistance to tyranny.
posted by emjaybee at 8:11 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

re: "National Day of Patriotic Devotion" apparently it's not unusual for a new president to give their inauguration day a title. Obama's was "National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation" and Bush 43's was "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance".

But still.. National Day of Patriotic Devotion is very Kim Il-Sung.
posted by birdheist at 8:12 PM on January 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

I completely believe that is the plan, and it is a stupid plan because just as no one is loyal to Trump, Trump is loyal to no one. He's not a Republican. If he starts fighting with them he will start working against them out of spite. That's why they've kissed his ass so far, and why they will dump him as soon as he becomes a problem.

Maybe the USDA is just not allowed to share the news of all these new, high security corn fields being developed. You know, the kind that are good for wishing people into.
posted by maudlin at 8:12 PM on January 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

Feinstein is open in 2018, and represents the most unapologetically liberal state in America

She's Hawaii's Senator now?
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:19 PM on January 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

The Republicans cant actually push through most of their agenda, can they? Cuts to entitlements or massive tax cuts would have to pass a filibuster and cant be done with reconciliation?
posted by Justinian at 8:21 PM on January 23, 2017

This is total New York Daily News gossipmill stuff, but it's based on an account by a named source, Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino, and I posted a story here earlier today about Sean Spicer's gum habit, so it's not like my editorial standards can be that high, right? So here it is: Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway allegedly punched a man in the face at inaugural ball

"Inside the ball we see a fight between two guys in tuxes and then suddenly out of nowhere came Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway who began throwing some mean punches at one of the guys," Gasparino wrote. "Whole thing lasted a few mins no one was hurt except maybe the dude she smacked."

posted by zachlipton at 8:21 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump also reiterated the unsubstantiated claim that 3-5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote, according to two sources familiar with the meeting

So, to be clear, Trump believes literally millions of votes were illegally cast, but is apparently satisfied with the current number of people being prosecuted for voter fraud, which I believe is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10. Not ten thousand, just... ten.

What about all the downballot races that were compromised by these millions of illegal votes? He's just fine with less than 0.01% of people committing voter fraud being caught for it?
posted by 0xFCAF at 8:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

I'm very angry and disappointed with both my Senators (Warner and Kaine(!!!)) right now. I'll be calling their offices tomorrow to relay this to the poor intern who answers the phone (don't worry, I won't yell) and to remind them that they're in the opposition party now and that their ONE job for the next four years is to oppose everything, anything, and anyone this administration proposes. If either of them think they won't be primaried from the left if they keep this up, they are sorely, sorely mistaken.
posted by longdaysjourney at 8:24 PM on January 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway allegedly punched a man in the face at inaugural ball

Was it Richard Spencer or another Nazi? Because that would be awesome.
posted by ryoshu at 8:25 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I assume Conway is eaten up with a simmering stew of repressed rage and self-hatred at all times, so add some alcohol and sure, punching might happen. She is the handmaiden of an evil idiot king. Who knows what that could do to a person.
posted by emjaybee at 8:25 PM on January 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

On the topic of Kellyanne:

"Because of what the press is doing now to me, I have Secret Service protection”

Gotta get used to this most victimized and defenseless poor lil' fascist regime
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:26 PM on January 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

shit, I was just about to say what if Kellyanne Conway punched a Nazi in the face?[1] would I have to rethink any of my positions or just none of them?

[1] I mean it was a random man at the Trump inaugural ball so she probably already has
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:27 PM on January 23, 2017 [17 favorites]

Sorry to spam but don't want y'all going out into the world with bad info on my account.

George W proclaimed his inauguration the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving, not National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.
posted by birdheist at 8:28 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I assume Conway is eaten up with a simmering stew of repressed rage and self-hatred at all times, so add some alcohol and sure, punching might happen. She is the handmaiden of an evil idiot king. Who knows what that could do to a person.

And, I mean, a Ted Cruz PAC before that. I can't even imagine the level of self-hatred.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 8:28 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Conway has much more power to do evil than any single Nazi, so... I guess you just place your bets and root for career-ending injuries.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:29 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Republicans cant actually push through most of their agenda, can they? Cuts to entitlements or massive tax cuts would have to pass a filibuster and cant be done with reconciliation?

I thought it was the opposite; money bills can be passed through reconciliation, while policy changes are potentially subject to the filibuster.

Regardless, Republicans can simply add all the poison pills they like to a must-pass bill like the defense or Ag budget, and force the Dems to cave or see the government shut down.

Would Democrats hold strong in that scenario? I suppose it depends on how much backbone we put into them now.
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:29 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Republicans cant actually push through most of their agenda, can they?

I still don't think the filibuster is worth the flaming embers of Riddick's Senate Procedure it's clinging to life on. The first time Republicans want something and it's blocked by Democrats, the filibuster is dead.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:30 PM on January 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

New article about Conway: You Would Do The Same Thing If An Old Witch Had Your Father’s Soul Trapped In A Lantern (Onion)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:31 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

Betting on white resentment and vindictiveness hasn't failed them yet, all they have to do is run the same play again.

Yeah I don't really believe it because I won't trust that it's not just wishful thinking until I see it happen, but the thing that makes me wonder is that despite the common wisdom saying that they'd be turning their base against themselves, they don't tend to lose when they bet on their base turning out for them no matter what shit they pull. And, every day it starts to look more and more like this mythical hardcore Trumpist base is actually pretty small and buffered by a lot of people pulling the lever while holding their nose, and the buyer's remorse started setting in real quick with a lot of people. He certainly excited a lot of people, but I'm finding it harder to believe every day he instilled a lot of loyalty. On top of that, you don't get reelected over and over while congressional approval on the whole is in the toilet without starting to think you're untouchable, and tbh they've got a good case to make for it. I think the Ryans and McConnells of the world do think of themselves as being untouchable in the same way Trump does, which is why Ryan stupidly keeps going after programs like Social Security oblivious to the fact that the same dumb move turned the base against the much more popular Bush.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:32 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm sure the number of people who illegally voted is swamped out by the people illegally prevented from voting.
posted by ckape at 8:32 PM on January 23, 2017 [34 favorites]

I still don't think the filibuster is worth the flaming embers of Riddick's Senate Procedure it's clinging to life on. The first time Republicans want something and it's blocked by Democrats, the filibuster is dead.

They'd have had to remove it already, the Senate rules all went through...

I guess they could do it next year?
posted by Justinian at 8:33 PM on January 23, 2017

The Democrats triggered the nuclear option in November 2013.

Republicans would be doing exactly the same procedure, no?
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:41 PM on January 23, 2017

They'd have had to remove it already, the Senate rules all went through...

They can do it at any time. Harry Reid's invoking of the nuclear option in 2013 was in November, in the middle of the 113th Congress.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:41 PM on January 23, 2017

A step forward for the NY Times as they replace "falsehood" with the correct term in a home page headline: Trump Repeats Lie About Popular Vote in Meeting With Lawmakers (Body text stills says "falsely claimed" and "untrue", but hey, it's a start.)
posted by maudlin at 8:42 PM on January 23, 2017 [50 favorites]

I did not know that, TD Strange!

Republicans would be doing exactly the same procedure, no?

There's a difference between removing the filibuster for some appointments and removing it for legislation. The latter would make the former look like a big nothing. It would be a firestorm.
posted by Justinian at 8:47 PM on January 23, 2017

Gotta get used to this most victimized and defenseless poor lil' fascist regime

This is what fascism does. This is how it works.
posted by theodolite at 8:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

Like the firestorm over stealing a Supreme Court seat?
posted by zachlipton at 8:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

I am really trying to keep the political noise down on my social media so that people will listen to more of what I say, but National Day of Patriotic Devotion, I mean Christ, it's too late at night to yell as hard as I want to.

I have no problems with him doing this. It's the least harmful thing he could possibly do.

I feel very superstitious about saying "Trump will do Horrible Thing I Just Now Thought Of and here's how!" Like we should not float that shit into the ether where someone might hear it and go "Huh, good idea!"

See, I believe in the Power of Opposite Thinking. Because it seems like whatever I genuinely believe is gonna happen (say, Hillary winning), the opposite happens. So if I think shit like, (redacted so it won't get deleted), it won't happen!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

After they marched, 500 women learned how to run – for office
posted by triggerfinger at 8:49 PM on January 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

Like the firestorm over stealing a Supreme Court seat?

Right, that was the thing for me. Good governance is dead. Obstruction is rewarded, not punished. There's no norms left, only power. Republicans have the power to pass whatever they want, and the filibuster is a piddling norm that won't stop them when nothing else has, it will be gone too as soon as they need it to be.

We need to a) stop relying on norms to save us. They're dead. and b) play the same game. Only power matters. We need to claw it back, and we need to primary the Democrats that won't. That's how they won total control, it works. Every time we go high, they win more.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [46 favorites]

A step forward for the NY Times as they replace "falsehood" with the correct term in a home page headline:
I hope that headline stands. Too often they change it.
posted by futz at 9:08 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't care who they are or what they've done.

there is no "we" if we don't have values.
posted by zutalors! at 9:17 PM on January 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

I managed to block out reality from November through now. I stopped listening to NPR in my car, I logged out of Facebook and Twitter, and I got immersed in a couple of really good sci-fi series. I've been really having a hard time over the past couple of days when the news has reached an unavoidable crescendo.

Obviously I'm going to support the opposition in any way I can, but I'm no use to anyone if I'm stressed out and can't sleep. It's going to be really hard to figure out how to survive 4 years of this.

Right now my goal is just to switch to non-panicky news sources. The Economist is great because it's both totally factual and also very dry and unemotional. I'm looking for others though.
posted by miyabo at 9:18 PM on January 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

Women's March Organizer Linda Sarsour Is Under Attack on Social Media

One of the organizers of the Women's March is under attack this morning, following reports from conservative news sites like The Daily Caller that accused her of having ties to terrorists. Linda Sarsour, a Muslim-American woman, has been an activist for decades and is widely respected for her dedication to progressive causes.

I certainly don't agree with Sarsour when it comes to everything in the Middle East, but the Islamophobic attacks on her over the past few days are horrific and transcend political disagreement into some pretty deep personal attacks.
posted by zachlipton at 9:23 PM on January 23, 2017 [29 favorites]

Via Twitter, someone who doesn't need to pay for an applause section:

John Lewis just walked through Terminal 2 at DCA followed by what can only be called a rolling tidal wave of standing ovations.

Video here.

More video.

I am verklempt.
posted by longdaysjourney at 9:30 PM on January 23, 2017 [112 favorites]

> Yes, why don't we check in on those third parties? The one that earned the most votes had a vice presidential candidate who all but endorsed Hillary Clinton (kudos to him), while the other one featured a Russian-aligned and Russian-funded anti-vaxxer purist who didn't.

I think the rest of my comment makes it clear that I agree with you on the merits of third parties as presently constituted. My only point was that someone who feels that attacking Democrats is the way to stop Trump should at least consider trying to make them something other than a punch line. I dispute their premise that both parties are equally hopeless and destructive, but to someone who believes that, I say go support a third party instead of trying to tear down the one that's in a position to prevent people from being harmed right now.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:37 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Now showing:

Lego President Batshitinsaneman
posted by y2karl at 9:42 PM on January 23, 2017

Couple comments deleted; if there's some greater interest in repeating jerky tweets, that needs to be clearer, otherwise let's just skip the "hey look this random person said a jerk thing"
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:46 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

sorry. if it makes a difference I regretted it immediately.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:48 PM on January 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

President Trump on Monday reignited the war over abortion by signing an executive order blocking foreign aid or federal funding for international nongovernmental organizations that provide or "promote" abortions.

Yeah this is really happening :(

Follow along with Track Trump a site dedicated to tracking all the shit that goes down for the first 100 days.
posted by fragmede at 9:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

The worst part is Trump doesn't give one wet shit about abortion one way or another -- he's probably just doing it as part of a "deal" where he gives the fundiecrats something they want in exchange for something else they want.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:56 PM on January 23, 2017 [35 favorites]

> I'm surprised the North Koreans havent started trolling Trump on twitter yet.

Yeah, their leader's not stupid and crazy enough to get trolled on Twitt... wait now I'm really sad.
posted by fragmede at 9:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

he's probably just doing it as part of a "deal" where he gives the fundiecrats something they want in exchange for something else they want.

Or because women marched against him and he knows it will infuriate them.
posted by Candleman at 10:31 PM on January 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

We're all familiar with Hanlon's razor but with Trump it may, indeed, be reversed.
posted by Candleman at 10:33 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Just to inject a moment of levity, Michael Ian Black created a White House Go. Petition: To explain to the American people why President Donald J. Trump is such a needy little bitch.

Why am I only the 2nd person to sign this?

Maybe because the day before yesterday about 500,000 people, mostly women, marched in Washington D.C. and it looks like more than 3 million turned out worldwide to support women and women's rights and out of all the things you can say about Trump maybe calling him a bitch isn't reading the mood accurately?

Also, the link still says that just one person has signed the petition but who cares?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:50 PM on January 23, 2017 [52 favorites]

I dispute their premise that both parties are equally hopeless and destructive

Right - the Republicans are destructive whereas the Democrats are hopeless!
posted by atoxyl at 10:54 PM on January 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

(Actually I am on team "push the Democrats to stand strong, or else replace them with better Democrats" more or less, but I don't know how anyone left of center can have lived through the last couple months and not think there is something wrong with this party as it stands.)
posted by atoxyl at 10:57 PM on January 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Do not do a Labour Party you fucks.
posted by Artw at 10:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

Was it Richard Spencer or another Nazi? Because that would be awesome.

Oh, it probably wasn't even a man. She probably just saw her reflection and freaked out that the lady in the glass wouldn't back down.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:59 PM on January 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

So as long as we're talking about replacing people who are cooperating with the Trump regime, are there any plans to primary Bernie Sanders? After all, he did vote in favor of two Trump nominees. Which is pretty damn infuriating after his talk of revolution.
posted by happyroach at 11:00 PM on January 23, 2017 [51 favorites]

I've been a bit- well, not okay since November. Though I've lurked in these threads (I love everyone in this bar, thank you so much MeFi) I really haven't had a voice since the election.
I couldn't attend a march this weekend, but seeing the pictures and hearing the stories gave me the first bit of hope since the election.

So today, I spent my lunch break calling my senators. Ted Cruz's staffers were all on other calls, and his voice mail was full. I tried his other offices and then tried again at 2, 3, 4 and 5- no dice. Really, really frustrated- but at least John Cornyn's voice mail wasn't full, yet.

So then I called my Congressman, and spoke to a lovely intern. I'm going to make an appointment with his local office to discuss his stupid tax plan, too. And another appointment with Cruz's staff and Cornyn's too- they're over an hour away, but I'll make it work.

Fuck it, you assholes want to ignore us? I'm done making it easy for you. I'm a queer immigrant jew who lives in your district. Let's chat- I think I'm done being silent.
posted by Torosaurus at 11:04 PM on January 23, 2017 [103 favorites]

If the current state of administrative dysfunction means muzzling all the little people while leaking like the post-iceberg Titanic at the top, I hope someone with a halfway respectable publishing operation sets up a decent how-to-cum-publishing mechanism to encourage safe leaking from within federal agencies. I can think of a couple of ways someone like the Times or WaPo or - who would you trust of the online-only news sites? - someone else creating a pathway to send docs or messages that doesn't leave a browser history trail or show up on ISP/organisational network monitoring as anything suspicious. You'd have to deal with what you get responsibly for the usual reasons (which is why an ab-initio domestic Wikileaksalike probably wouldn't work) but it could be done.
posted by Devonian at 11:10 PM on January 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Someone fixed the new Whitehouse.gov site.

The WHITE HOUSE President Fuckface Von Clownstick

I am enjoying the hell out of this.
posted by futz at 11:19 PM on January 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

pretty obvious, but nice to see it laid out...
A Tale of Two Moralities, Part One: Regional Inequality and Moral Polarization (via)

Republican-leaning counties account for a dwindling share of the national product. According to Muro and Lui, in the 2000 election, which also featured a split in the popular and electoral votes, Bush won 2397 counties, accounting for 46% of GDP, while Gore won 659 counties accounting for 54% of GDP. In the 2016 election, the general pattern repeats: the Republican candidate wins many many more counties responsible for a smaller share of American economic output, but the asymmetry has become even crazier. Clinton took just 472 counties, which account for 64% of GDP, while Trump took 2584, which account for just 36% of GDP. That’s amazing.

[caveats]

A shrinking number of counties is accounting for a rising proportion of America’s wealth... Given the specific counter-majoritarian mechanisms in the U.S. constitution, this is a recipe for political dominance of the less economically productive conservative white minority, who control most of the country’s territory, over the liberal multicultural majority who live in increasingly concentrated urban centers of wealth. To the extent that increasing economic security is liberalizing and stagnation and decline tend toward an illiberal, zero-sum survival mindset, this amounts to a recipe for the political imposition of relatively illiberal policy on an increasingly liberal and increasingly economically powerful cities. This is not a stable situation, and bodes ill for the future of American freedom.

also btw...
-The Long March Ahead For Democrats [1,2,3]
-On the tactical uses of (obvious) lying
-Trump Sold America a Miracle Cure[*]
posted by kliuless at 11:26 PM on January 23, 2017 [55 favorites]

More comedy classics from deep in Sean Spicer's twitter.

Paid communicator gets who/whom wrong, doesn't understand how Twitter works, gets nation's top political communication job.

Spoiler: it was Dippin Dots that unfollowed him. /fake
posted by tonycpsu at 12:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

why not start being a Court Watcher and then file bar grievances or judicial conduct complaints when you see something that shows the rule of law is bunk.

Just a note that filing lots of bar grievances against jurists or prosecutors in cases you're a stranger to will generally just get you added to the state bar's man-yells-at-cloud crackpot file. Similarly trying to influence grand jury proceedings.

What you CAN do, if you have the time, is try to get ON a grand jury. Look into how your jurisdiction does it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

So as long as we're talking about replacing people who are cooperating with the Trump regime, are there any plans to primary Bernie Sanders? After all, he did vote in favor of two Trump nominees. Which is pretty damn infuriating after his talk of revolution.

Well Al Giordano wanted to - not sure that's working out all that well for him...
posted by atoxyl at 12:36 AM on January 24, 2017

I was going to note that Kirsten Gillibrand deserves credit as the only person to vote against Mattis and thus also the only person to vote against all the nominees thus far but I see she's already been commended for that.
posted by atoxyl at 12:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

One deleted. Please don't directly quote an article or a person and change their actual words. Don't change it to "Drumpf" when they've said "Trump." If you are using a replacement script that automatically changes your view, you need to revert to the correct text before posting. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 12:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Futz, that Fuckface Von Clownstick link launched a vibrating pop-up that tried to get me to install malware. Pity, it sounded delightful.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 12:54 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I see here and elsewhere that people are having a very hard time calling their representatives and getting through-I've had the same problem myself lately. I asked my new Congresswoman to do something about it at her open house last tuesday. Specifically, I asked her to work to ensure that people can always leave a voicemail, no matter the call volume. Being able to contact your representatives is a basic tenet of representative government and updating technology in Congress to reflect these times of increased activism is something that bipartisan congresspeople of integrity should endorse.

I am also now an appointed PCO in my legislative district for the democratic party. The party is now reorganizing in your area for the new congressional term and it is a good time to get involved. If you don't like the Dems, I'm sure that third parties are organizing now as well. Local politics makes a huge difference and the Republicans are running everything now because they've been kicking our asses at it for 30 years.

I know that there are lots of activists on Metafilter and I am proud to still be part of such a vibrant community. I'm strapping in and I wanted to let you know, I like it when people talk about what they are doing here.
posted by Kwine at 1:06 AM on January 24, 2017 [31 favorites]

Original SPLC story: White Nationalists To Gather This March for VDARE’s First National Conference

& now -- White supremacist gathering to be held outside of Yosemite loses its booking [FB]:

Tenaya Lodge today became aware of the nature of VDare Foundation, an organization that several weeks ago booked meeting space and rooms from March 31 to April 2.

Unfortunately, at the time of booking we did not realize this group has values that are in conflict with our embracement of diversity among our employees and guests, including people of different cultures, lifestyles, creeds, nationalities, races and ages. We are also concerned that providing meeting space and rooms to this group could be disruptive to our other guests’ enjoyment of Tenaya Lodge and the services we provide to those guests.

In response, we’ve taken steps to immediately cancel this booking. We regret the mistake and want to assure you that in no way does Tenaya Lodge endorse this group.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

It's a great time to be an investigative/political journalist.

This first step could be showing concrete solidarity. The next time Donald Trump tries to single out a reporter, or doesn’t answer a question, the next reporter who’s allowed to speak should repeat the question of the journalist Trump has snubbed.

And if Trump stops this reporter, too, then the next one should repeat the original question, and so on. This would be a new, unusual approach. But if the media doesn’t want to see more press conferences like the disastrous one we saw recently, they will need to be bold.

The next level of solidarity and cooperation is even more challenging. Let us assume a source approaches a reporter of the Washington Post with important information which is hard for them to corroborate. Why not reach out to a colleague who already did work on this topic, even if at a rival publication – the New York Times, CNN, ProPublica, Fox News or where ever – for help? They might have the missing piece of the puzzle, they might have the vital second source and they might have what it takes to publish the story. So why not collaborate?

The highest level of collaboration – which is what these times require – would be special joint projects. A possible first project could be to look into his international business ties, and those of his billionaire cabinet, to find all of their conflicts of interest.

Donald Trump alone has his hands in hundreds of companies, so it is impossible for one news outlet alone to investigate this properly. But it is not impossible if there’s a collaborative investigation.

posted by Thella at 1:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [45 favorites]

This first step could be showing concrete solidarity. The next time Donald Trump tries to single out a reporter, or doesn’t answer a question, the next reporter who’s allowed to speak should repeat the question of the journalist Trump has snubbed.

That seems like a really great tactic if the goal of the press corps is to only ask one question and not get an answer. What could that possibly achieve?

How about this: Ask a different question -- a real question about a real thing that really matters, not just whatever inanity he's beefing on Twitter about today. If he doesn't answer that either, or answers in the form of a lie, then Hey! you've got something else to write about. If he gets asked a bunch of different questions and dodges or bullshits all of them, that's a heck of a lot more valuable than just driving all the cars into the same brick wall.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I sort of startled myself by musing out loud that I would be a more competent president than DJT. When it comes to the administration of things, that's a pretty damning statement.
posted by angrycat at 2:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Those of y'all with Democratic MOCs, please DO read them the riot act. Cause those of us with Republicans are basically trying to get them to stop calling us fat sluts.

Sorry, feeling kinda discouraged. Calling Republican fuckwads is getting old, even when I let myself call after hours and REALLY lay into them.
posted by threeturtles at 2:20 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

The worst part about rebuilding is that we not only have to wrest the levers of power from every republican in the gerrymandered states, but we have to kick out half the complicit democrats too.
posted by benzenedream at 2:30 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The troll army is on the move...

Inside The Private Chat Rooms Trump Supporters Are Using To Manipulate French Voters
posted by Buntix at 3:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

HELP
posted by chillmost at 3:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

HELP
posted by PenDevil at 3:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

One from earlier deleted. Please, if you absolutely must continue to endlessly fight each other about the dems, at least don't ramp up with ragebait stuff about voting for Hitler, spitting on people, and telling them to move to another country. If your point is valid, you can make it without spoiling for a flamewar and misdirecting the discussion to arguing about if it's okay to vote for Hitler if he caucuses with your party. Just make an effort, please, if you'd like to keep this place somewhere to have these discussions.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

telling them to move to another country
In the Netherlands election season has been underway for a while but has really started this week, when our Prime Minister said in an interview that if people don't like it here, they should leave. "You don't have to be here. If you don't like how we treat each other in this country, you have a choice, go away!" he said. And then, of course, he went on to describe all the things he did not like about how we treat each other in this country.

I wish politicians had Metafilter mods who told them to quit the ragebait stuff and make an effort.
posted by blub at 3:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Just a note that filing lots of bar grievances against jurists or prosecutors in cases you're a stranger to will generally just get you added to the state bar's man-yells-at-cloud crackpot file.

Your point? The bar grievance process is just for show to the public. Like so many of the the 'rules of law' in a society under the 'rule of law' there is one set of rules for the 'leadership' and another for the proles.

You know you are in the "crackpot" file if your turn around time is in a week. When your responses take months (while others you know have the week turn around time) you are on-target. (BTW if being in "The Crackpot File" is such a concern, why hasn't that been brought up with being Anti-Trump when calling a Republican Rep? Do Congress-kritters not keep such 'files'?)

Go read the model ABA rules. Then go to your State rules. Read the annotated State rules. Note how in the annotated rules some rules have cases and others do not. Note how for things like trust fund misuse and having sex with a clients girlfriend while selling the clients drugs are listed. Other things like simple "Candor to the Court" which should prevent a lawyer from talking about bankrupting the business in emails with the client while submitting to the Court the client doesn't know who the owners are AND that the client is not the owner will just not be found in violation of the "Candor to the Court" rule.

Given the size of recording devices and the ubiquity of the surveillance state one of the only places you can't record a public official doing their job is a Courtroom. Now the claim is electronic recording is not needed because of Court Reporters. But if you can't have an electronic record that is independent, how do you verify the Court Reporter is accurately reporting?

If the Court system isn't honest - how in the hell do you expect a rule-breaking Trump and the people/businesses tied to or benefiting from Trump to be held accountable?

Want to get 'em worried? After you read the rules for the State Bar figure out what records they ARE to keep and open record request 'em. You get VERY nice letters from the chief judge. Every two weeks. And later - thick envelopes with the records. (Don't have time to go visit/call Congresspeople? Work with Muckrock and others on FOIA requests.)

And folks, take heart. Tricky Dick Nixon brought us FOIA and other laws. LET TRUMP BE AS TRUMPY as he can. Use the laws you now have like FOIA and think of the NEW laws which will spring as a backlash to this generation's Harding.
posted by rough ashlar at 4:20 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

You realise that Trump being as Trumpy as he can will hurt people, and hurt people in some groups disproportionally more... yeah?
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Nah man accelerationism is totally a cool plan.

I guess a progressive future for white America is totes worth a the shit PoC and LGBT and religious minorities are going to endure over the next 4 years.

Primary from the left if you must but keep in mind that a Republican Senator is a guaranteed vote to dismantle civil rights, social security and medicare.
posted by vuron at 4:30 AM on January 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

What you CAN do, if you have the time, is try to get ON a grand jury. Look into how your jurisdiction does it.

Keep in mind some States are just not empaneling Grand Juries anymore. Because the best way to [prevent a run away Grand Jury is to not HAVE a Grand Jury. Want to know if you are in such a State? Open record request the Clerk of the Courts for the payments made to the Court Reporter (or stenographer) for the Grand Jury.
posted by rough ashlar at 4:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Inside The Private Chat Rooms Trump Supporters Are Using To Manipulate French Voters

This is fine. Everything is fine.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:38 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

@MerriamWebster: If you're part of a group that's paid to applaud, you're a 'claqueur'.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:40 AM on January 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

CIA Starts Recruiting Its Newest Asset: Donald Trump: Langley is ready to woo the new president like a foreign leader. The key? Flattering his ego. ‘He is extremely insecure like an adolescent boy,’ one analyst told The Daily Beast.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:44 AM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

So far the EPA and the ARS at the USDA are known to have been Steven Harpered.

Any other agencies yet?
posted by ocschwar at 4:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

CIA Starts Recruiting Its Newest Asset: Donald Trump

Won't that make him a double agent?
posted by ocschwar at 4:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

CIA Starts Recruiting Its Newest Asset

Christ, they're a bunch of jokers. I wonder if it's in their manual: "Step one in manipulating a target: get a journalist to report your intention in a national platform."
posted by Coventry at 4:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

...and in today's Trump lookalike news,

* A wheelie bin
* A frogfish

“We’ve named the fish Donald and transferred it into a bigger tank, so that more people can see it. “Strangely, the other fish tend to keep it at a distance.” He added: “We even staged our own underwater inauguration ceremony, complete with a miniature stars and stripes flag. “We invited everyone who was at SEA LIFE to watch, but the crowd turn-out wasn’t as big as expected!”

posted by Buntix at 4:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

You guys, I had this dream that President Obama had died in office and that's how we got Trump. I literally actually woke up crying, which has never happened to me before even with dreams where I'm crying in the dream. Unfortunately, although reminding myself that Obama is not actually dead helped a tiny bit, it didn't do that much.

This is not the kind of dream I usually have.
posted by Frowner at 4:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

In other news...

The gag rule also prevents health workers in foreign countries from advocating for abortion rights, which includes testifying about the impacts of illegal abortion.

Global gag rule' reinstated by Trump, curbing NGO abortion services abroad (Grauniad)
posted by Mister Bijou at 4:53 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

WaPo: Sean Spicer’s Stalinist apparition: Trump is a human dust devil, spinning off analogies and references. He is Orwellian, Kafkaesque and always chillingly demagogic. He vilifies the press as Hitler and others once vilified Jews — mysterious, powerful, deceitful, unpatriotic. He looks to his schoolboy past for an American future — a tall country in a world otherwise flattened by World War II — and he blames the relative decline not on automation or the inevitable rise of China, but on the indifference and selfishness of the establishment. Like a sleepy child in a creaking house, he imagines boogeymen everywhere.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Funny it's called a gag rule, because it does make me physically gag.

Just so I'm getting this right, if a charity that receives US aid money were to even talk about abortion, their funding would be cut?
posted by derbs at 5:04 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

You realise that Trump being as Trumpy as he can will hurt people, and hurt people in some groups disproportionally more... yeah?

And that ship sailed a long time ago. The shipping done then has been covered so there is no need to point out who was begging for Trump to be the Republican pick.

Figure out where the next fight WILL be and start prepping for that fight. Instead of claiming there is 11'th dimensional chess and open government is around the corner, use the actions of Trump to GET open government in the future.
posted by rough ashlar at 5:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Can anyone provide documentation of the USDA thing? The tweet linked earlier in this thread has been deleted. I know a lot of people in food science and I want to pass this along. (Seriously, though, it's weird to have moved to an agricultural area 10 years ago and now I "know a lot of people in food science.")
posted by threeturtles at 5:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Buzzfeed USDA Scientists Have Been Put On Lockdown Under Trump: According to an email sent Monday morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the department told staff — including some 2,000 scientists — at the agency’s main in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), to stop communicating with the public about taxpayer-funded work.

“Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents,” Sharon Drumm, chief of staff for ARS, wrote in a department-wide email shared with BuzzFeed News.

“This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content,” she added.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Okay, on this "public-facing documents" thing...
Why can't we set up, for instance, a dedicated liaison who asks for a personal response on a variety of subjects our USDA and other locked-down entities are working on, who then upon getting that personal, individualized, non-public response, shares it with social media followers?
posted by scrowdid at 5:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), to stop communicating with the public about taxpayer-funded work.

Even FOIA requests?

In a past Trump thread someone mentioned out of work/under employed lawyers. If the "no communication" rule is to be internally enforced that sure sounds like a conflict can exist with FOIA law.

And seeking information about, say, using electricity to encourage plant growth sounds like the kind of FOIA work that could use some pro-bono help. (1940's work on Avacodo trees - it seems that yes, sending a current in a plant helps 'em grow)
posted by rough ashlar at 5:34 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Christ, they're a bunch of jokers. I wonder if it's in their manual: "Step one in manipulating a target: get a journalist to report your intention in a national platform."

Yes. It's part of the manipulation.
posted by Jalliah at 5:38 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Kwine: "Specifically, I asked her to work to ensure that people can always leave a voicemail, no matter the call volume."

I asked about this on the Twitterz, because now I'm curious. A friend responded:

Send them an email when that happens. Tell them their VM box is full. Also, call between 10 and 4-- give their staff time to clear out the overnight VM in the morning and time in the afternoon when they are dealing with last minute things before going home. They know they're full.

So, that, for what it's worth.
posted by XtinaS at 5:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

In RE: the EPA freezing grants.

Many (almost all) state environmental programs are run at least in part on EPA grants. Many (almost all) state programs are part of the EPA's "authorized state" program, that link is just for RCRA which is the only program I am familiar with, but I can only assume the same grants exist for things like Drinking Water and Air Quality (with some searching, they do). This freeze is going to affect A LOT of people's livelihoods and lives.

I wondered why there was a slightly panicked meeting in my office yesterday. My office uses our EPA grants to pay staff to do things like inspect facilities to make sure they are disposing of waste properly (instead of for example dumping it in an arroyo) and paying staff to regulate environmental cleanups around the state. My state also just voted to cut the state environment department's budget again (everything got cut though, my state is poor and in a lot of debt). And the state environment program has been hamstrung already by our governor and her lackeys over the last 6+ years. I'm sure other state programs have felt the same pressures.

This is bad.

Also, apparently under other administrations the EPA website used to be really helpful and fell into purposeful disrepair under other administrations and was only just recovering enough to be helpful again. Goodbye helpful EPA website!
posted by BooneTheCowboyToy at 6:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

I'm surprised my rep doesn't have a full VM box - I always get an answer in DC and the local office I call always just goes to VM, but never full.... My rep is Greg Walden, OR Dist. 2, and he chairs the House Energy & Commerce committee, which according to this article, is "the panel where federal health care legislation originates". The House E&C committee site has a new health care portal - they say it is " a one stop shop for all things related to health care reform." So far all I've seen on it is anti-ACA propaganda. Here is the announcement. And here is their "portal".

So - I think if you have a rep on the list here, the health subcommittee of House E&C, you should call them. I think if you happen to have Greg Walden as a rep, you may not realize the power he currently has - his mailboxes should be full, in my opinion.

I call him every day during the week - I keep asking what his stance is on the defunding of Planned Parenthood & cannot get an answer. But he is going to be central to the ACA "reform" and since we all know Speaker Paul Ryan doesn't allow phone calls any longer - his VM is apparently always full, I've seen people encouraging sending postcards instead - I think Walden would be a good next choice.

The DC office never asks for location / zip / anything like that.
posted by hilaryjade at 6:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I am expecting the sort of hushed, scared lab meetings led by my boss that we got during sequestration. I am grimly considering the real possibility that I may not be able to complete my PhD before funding runs out, too. I've been supported on TA for nigh on five years now, and two years ago my university's college of natural sciences decided to balance the budget by trying to get us all out in five years and applying financial incentives to make it happen - - and explicitly throwing us out after seven. My pay starts getting cut this fall.

In my department, most of us only get paid by TAing every single semester. There isn't the grant money to do otherwise. And so the average time to graduate in my department is 6.5 years.

It's a grim time.
posted by sciatrix at 6:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

CIA Starts Recruiting Its Newest Asset: Donald Trump
Christ, they're a bunch of jokers. I wonder if it's in their manual: "Step one in manipulating a target: get a journalist to report your intention in a national platform."

Oh, their PR people are not completely inept. From upthread:

> I keep seeing articles that stress how apolitical the CIA is. If true, I wonder it that is about to change. I wonder if they are more pro-american and will work behind the scenes to 'save us' instead of blindly following Dear Leader's orders.

Looks to me like someone's been busy.
posted by indubitable at 6:09 AM on January 24, 2017

Even FOIA requests?

I can't seem to find the source of the question, but relatedly, someone noticed that one of Trump's tweets was deleted on day one, and how/if the Federal Records Act applies to his tweets.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:16 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Forget Trump. Nothing will fill the void within him. And quite honestly, his void isn't our problem anyway. I have no sympathy or patience for people who cannot face their own demons and do their own personal work. They drag everyone around them through their shitpool. It's HIS responsibility to fix himself. Starting with figuring out WTF is wrong with him. And all of us know it will never, ever happen. Let him twist in the wind.

See all those white guys standing behind him & hurriedly shoving papers in front of him to sign? THAT's who we should focus on at the federal level. Along with everyone at the state levels.
posted by yoga at 6:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

> You realise that Trump being as Trumpy as he can will hurt people, and hurt people in some groups disproportionally more... yeah?

And that ship sailed a long time ago. The shipping done then has been covered so there is no need to point out who was begging for Trump to be the Republican pick.

Right. I haven't. I was just pointing out that it seems pretty dickish to tell folks to 'take heart' and let Trump fuck them over because it'll result in some great new laws in the end.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:26 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

There is no perfect potential candidate. And frankly, the Pompeo confirmation is very low on my list of concerns today.

This is what normalization looks like.
posted by indubitable at 6:28 AM on January 24, 2017 [29 favorites]

Important Announcement:
January 23, 2017: Water and Climate Information System data were interrupted at 2:00 pm PDT on January 22, 2017. We are currently working to resolve the problem.

Not sure what to make of this. I've been digging around different government sites looking for changes. No real goal just trying to get a sense of how things are unfolding behind the scenes.

The thing is this seems like an automated system that collects data to produce longer term weather predictions (3 months) and really tracks rain and snowfall, soil humidity, drought, flooding, forest fires and that type of stuff.

It doesn't seem like it would be an equipment failure because the data comes from many different sources. It seems like the data was simply restricted for some reason.
posted by phoque at 6:28 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

And frankly, the Pompeo confirmation is very low on my list of concerns today.

You can do more than one thing at once. It is perfectly okay to mention to your senator that they screwed up the Pompeo vote while yelling at them about something else.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Just a note that filing lots of bar grievances against jurists or prosecutors in cases you're a stranger to will generally just get you added to the state bar's man-yells-at-cloud crackpot file.

Your point? The bar grievance process is just for show to the public. Like so many of the the 'rules of law' in a society under the 'rule of law' there is one set of rules for the 'leadership' and another for the proles.

Then why are you telling people to spend their time doing this, if that's what you think?

The bar grievance process is in fact not 'just a show' for the public, but it IS primarily intended for use by clients. It is sometimes proper for third parties to get involved in other instances of ethical breach, as whistleblowers or witnesses but not often. Is is definitely not for attacking public figures who happen to hold a bar card, or pursuit of other political agendas, even if the state bar rules contain expansive language about conduct reflecting negatively on the profession. 'Moral turpitude' doesn't mean 'I think this person is trash.'

The 'rule of law' doesn't imply that any judge who disagrees with you or rules differently than you'd like should be attacked as a corrupt servant of the right; it implies rather the opposite if you really want to insist on it.

Bar grievances are not a means to change the law, or the profession.

You know you are in the "crackpot" file if your turn around time is in a week.

In which state? Source? This is in fact wrong. At least in CA.

Go read the model ABA rules. Then go to your State rules. Read the annotated State rules.

The model rules are not the rules anywhere. Annotations are not the law, they're research help.

Note how in the annotated rules some rules have cases and others do not.

Annotated statutes are not the complete case-law.

Note how for things like trust fund misuse and having sex with a clients girlfriend while selling the clients drugs are listed. Other things like simple "Candor to the Court" which should prevent a lawyer from talking about bankrupting the business in emails with the client while submitting to the Court the client doesn't know who the owners are AND that the client is not the owner will just not be found in violation of the "Candor to the Court" rule.

Now you're back to your usual polemics against the system and the profession, period. And you're doing the usual sov-cit-ish thing where you take "Fancy Language" out of context and try to do way too much with it.

Given the size of recording devices and the ubiquity of the surveillance state one of the only places you can't record a public official doing their job is a Courtroom. Now the claim is electronic recording is not needed because of Court Reporters. But if you can't have an electronic record that is independent, how do you verify the Court Reporter is accurately reporting?

You tell em! Make sure you're in a courtroom with some fringe on the flag. Shit, they're only suing your alter-ego anway, so fuck em!

If the Court system isn't honest - how in the hell do you expect a rule-breaking Trump and the people/businesses tied to or benefiting from Trump to be held accountable?

By politics. Have the courts worked against Trump so far? A President isn't removed by the courts, anyway, even if successfully sued in office. The Congress has to do that.

I agree that FOIA requests are going to be important vs. Trump, but it sounds like you're accustomed to using them to harass lawyers and judges. I'm not surprised. I know from previous encouters with you on MeFi that you have a negative view of the legal system and.....creative ideas about how to respond. Unfortunately, they are misled (don't really care) and offered in a way that is likely to mislead others here (really do care).
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Looks to me like someone's been busy.

PR on how the CIA is a-political is partly in response to the CIA presser on Saturday but I do think they're using the opening that Donald gave to get the messaging out.

All the agents that are talking to the press are 'former' agents. What's a current agent going to do when they need some sort of info or PR or whatever put out there, get the 'former' ones to do it. This is a normal thing. Doesn't mean that all former agents aren't talking on their own individual accord only that it's not a certainty. And if a bunch of former agents are saying the same thing it gets even more suspect.

Even so, what all of those former agents have said is not something that's hard to figure out without having to be CIA or intelligence. We've commented on the very same stuff even here on Metafilter about Donald's insecurities making him an easy target, not just for his own intelligence but for everyone else. And Spicer did an awesome job yesterday officially informing the entire godamn world of the US President's weaknesses. It was quite astounding from that perspective. It must have made National Security people who know what they're doing cringe and bash their heads on their desks.

As for why the CIA might want to have the manipulation thing out in the public, think good cop, bad cop, think about the psychology of paranoia and how you can go about gaining the trust of someone who is paranoid by being the figure that protects the paranoid from whomever or whatever is making the person paranoid.

It's pretty basic psy-ops stuff.
posted by Jalliah at 6:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Unless you're driving a magical DeLorean, that won't do much.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:40 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

For fuck's sake.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:41 AM on January 24, 2017

BREAKING: President Trump to advance the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines with executive orders today, senior official tells

I'm not sure what to do about this. Get in the car and go sit in front of the White House?

Trying to think of something to say that is not horrible, but I can't.

The liklihood of people dying while standing up to this guy has just shot up to close to a sure thing because I don't see Donald as the type to holding back on using brute force.
posted by Jalliah at 6:42 AM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

I'm not sure what to do about this.

"Trump promised to put America first and now he's going to give a foreign oil producer special access to our markets to undercut hard-working American roughnecks?!"
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

GQ: Here’s an Idea: Stop Putting Kellyanne Conway on TV

KAFKA: So it's not the lying? It's the inconsistencies?
ROSEN: No, it's not just lying or spin or somebody who is skilled in the political arts of putting the best case on things or not answering a question, which is a pretty basic method of doing politics. It's that when you are done listening to Kellyanne Conway, you probably understand less. That's a problem.

posted by Room 641-A at 6:44 AM on January 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

"Trump promised to put America first and now he's going to give a foreign oil producer special access to our markets to undercut hard-working American roughnecks?!"

He also has an investment in the company that is doing it.

edited: Or possibly does. It hasn't been proven 100% Just checked the latest.
posted by Jalliah at 6:44 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

GQ: Here’s an Idea: Stop Putting Kellyanne Conway on TV

No, put her on TV every damn day and call her a liar.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

From a purely tactical and strategic perspective confirming Pompeo is probably the right political move. Yes Pompeo is a partisan hack but everyone that Trump is going to nominate is a partisan hack.

Unlike Republicans who have voters that are perfectly okay with shutting down the government the Democrats have to pick and choose their fights. If they block every nominee they erode their position when they try to block others.

Price already looks sketchy as a nominee due to insider trading allegations and he's way the fuck out in right politically plus a lot of voters are anxious about most likely losing their insurance so that's a core focal point for the Democrats.

I think DeVos is most likely the other one that Democrats will focus on because of substantial ethical concerns, a complete inability to actually do the job and her extreme partisanship.

Beyond that I think the Democratic leadership is looking for particular fights. Defending ACA, opposing block grants for Medicaid, etc are the ones that Republicans know are guaranteed losers as issues and ones that they will likely back down on once it becomes obvious how opposed voters are to their action and the fact that no Democrat is going to give them bipartisan cover.

Honestly though this is why elections matter and all the bullshit coming from the far left that Clinton was just as bad as Trump was such utter hogwash. Nobody can honestly come in and say that Clinton's cabinet would've been anywhere near as bad as Trump. Perhaps not as progressive as we would like but infinitely better.

This is also why I get really really leery of the circular firing squad that seems to be forming because internal divisions on the left are the absolute last thing we need to see right now.
posted by vuron at 6:47 AM on January 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

FBI clears Flynn
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:47 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wasn't it Grover Norquist who said he didn't give a damn about what Romney believed, just as long as he'd sign whatever a Republican congress would send to him? Looks like they've got their autopen in place.
posted by hangashore at 6:47 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Why can't we set up, for instance, a dedicated liaison who asks for a personal response on a variety of subjects our USDA and other locked-down entities are working on, who then upon getting that personal, individualized, non-public response, shares it with social media followers?

This appears to be a reprise of the Steven Harper era.
Here's how to respond to it:

The federal government's scientists will continue to be allowed to submit papers to refereed journals. What they will not be allowed is to brief journalists who will put their work into laymen's terms. That includes journalists working for Scientific American and the like.

So what we need is volunteers outside the government, in every field, to monitor pertinent journals, and speak with journalists to keep the knowledge pipeline running. The whole point of refereed journals is so that anyone in a field can take a paper, not just his or her own, grok it, and work with it.

It also means that government scientists who want their paper presented to laymen have plausible deniability if they meet "along" with a volunteer.
posted by ocschwar at 6:48 AM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

FBI credibility is going to take some time to restore.
posted by birdheist at 6:49 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Financial disclosure forms released earlier this year show that Trump has a stake in Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas-based firm behind the pipeline, and Phillips 66, which will hold a share of the project once completed.

Trump’s investment in Energy Transfer Partners dropped from between $500,000 and $1m in 2015 to between $1,500 and $50,000 this year. His stake in Phillips 66, however, rose from between $50,000 and $100,000 last year to between $250,000 and $500,000 this year, according to the forms.

The financial relationship has run both ways. Kelcy Warren, chief executive of Energy Transfer Partners, gave $103,000 to elect Trump and handed over a further $66,800 to the Republican National Committee after the property developer secured the GOP’s presidential nomination. (Guardian link)
posted by phoque at 6:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

I wish we had timelines to compare the investigation into Clinton versus the investigation into Flynn.
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

What's the etiquette for linking to MeFi comments in one's social media feed? Because I would like to link to supercrayon everywhere I possibly can with a capital THIS.
posted by whuppy at 6:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

The problem with Dianne Feinstein is she has so much institutional support you'd have to be crazy to run against her, as demonstrated by the last time anyone ran against Dianne Feinstein.

Crazy? All the intervening 40 years have proven is how right Jello Biafra was about her.

I have been having conflicted feelings about all the Free Melania business because I do not hold with apportioning sympathy for vocal Trump supporters

Melania Trump Supported Her Husband's Racist Birtherism Claims on TV [Teen Vogue]

The only question is to how to exert enough pressure on her that she publicly cracks and becomes another liability to his administration.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:55 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

FBI clears Flynn

There's no way to know right now what is on the up and up, if it's coming from and anonymous officials inside the FBI or any other IC.

This may be true, it could also be something else.
posted by Jalliah at 6:55 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Expecting Democratic US Senators to be dead-ender Trump opponents gets the job of a US Senator very wrong. No Senator can (or should) be a full-time opponent of the White House. The rules and traditions of the Senate empower Senators to have a significant, ongoing role in government, particularly with respect to their home state, regardless of whether they are in the majority and regardless of the party of the President. They critically influence judicial and other local appointments, government spending in their state, legislation and regulation affecting companies with significant operations or assets in their state, etc. When Senators are -- as the Democrats are for the next four years* -- both in the minority of the Senate and there's an opposite-party President, their exercise of their ongoing governance role requires cooperation and even some amity with the White House and the majority. For all of Mitch McConnell and the other Republican Senators' bluster when they were in the Senate minority from 2008 to 2014, when you look at what they actually DID, it was a very large amount of cooperation, voting for Obama's nominees, etc.
posted by MattD at 7:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

You know what just occurred to me? When people got shot at the Black Lives Matter protest here, the cops didn't help. Those people got no first aid from cops and had to be driven to the ER by other protesters. The Seattle police apparently helped rum-soaked space hobo's cousin and made sure he got medical care (which, thank god).

But I keep thinking that we have to remember that depending on who gets hurt, the cops might just leave a protester to bleed out and die - if that protester is Black or another POC.
posted by Frowner at 7:06 AM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

I guess a progressive future for white America is totes worth a the shit PoC and LGBT and religious minorities are going to endure over the next 4 years.

Lotta people about to find out that white skin doesn't protect you from having no healthcare or clean water to drink.
posted by emjaybee at 7:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

In other news...

The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement that according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Announcement of construction in occupied territory is second since Donald Trump became US president (Grauniad)
posted by Mister Bijou at 7:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

we need to dedicate ourselves to overwhelming the opposition at the ballot-box to counteract the voter suppression and gerrymandering bullshit

They're going to control the 2020 Census. I'm assuming no useful information of any kind to fight gerrymandering will be gathered.
posted by waitingtoderail at 7:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Also the guy who got shot was an IWW - no surprise there, since I've never known an I-dub who wasn't brave and militant, even when I have not always agreed with their approach. (I have a lot of differences with the local branch here.)
posted by Frowner at 7:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

if you're still holding out hope for help from the media or Democratic establishment now might be a good time to readjust your expectations
posted by entropicamericana at 7:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

FBI clears Flynn

That headline is a little misleading. One anonymous source said that there wasn't anything wrong with the phone calls on one day in December.
posted by diogenes at 7:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

"Because of what the press is doing now to me, I have Secret Service protection”

Jesus. Y'know, I expected fascism. I was more or less braced for the next four years of shittery, even if I was going to have to acquire post-apocalyptic-sized stockpiles of antidepressants and alcohol to cope.

What I wasn't prepared for was how petulantly, spinelessly whiny they're being about it. If you're going to try to turn the US into a strongarm banana-republic dictatorship, then for Christ's sake at least have the fortitude not to sound like a kindergartener whining about how mean the other kids are being. Fuck.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [77 favorites]

GQ: Here’s an Idea: Stop Putting Kellyanne Conway on TV

No, put her on TV every damn day and call her a liar.

Pig, mud, wrestling, etc.
posted by Etrigan at 7:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Goddamnit cut the cutesy shit and just write Spicer LIED

There are news agencies using the word “lie” in their headlines. Here is one from the NYT this morning, “Trump Repeats an Election Lie to Top Lawmakers”

Search Google News for “trump lie,” and you’ll see plenty.

Does it matter to the people who voted for Trump? Nope. Not from what I see on my social media feeds (I’m not unfollowing anyone. I believe in knowing thine enemy).
---

As for reports of the first briefing, I think what they mean is the first “Daily Briefing” as opposed to his first briefing, which was a “Special Briefing.” Splitting hairs, maybe, but there is enough to be upset about without resorting to hyperbole over mundane things.

[ducks]
---

“Don’t let him take the credit for the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s demise; it was already dead… TPP already lay without a pulse on the floor of Congress.” [The Guardian]

---

It's just one load of human beings after another.

I wonder if they are more pro-american and will work behind the scenes to 'save us' instead of blindly following … orders

There are heroes, both in uniform and out of uniform who do heroic deeds all the time that you will probably never hear about. They absolutely do go against orders if those orders are illegal or unethical. I think cynicism can be healthy, but so is hope. They are out there. I know some of them personally. Can they save us all? Maybe. Frankly, if they do, you’ll never know they did, because that’s how it is.
posted by slipthought at 7:14 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Guys guys guys. Guys. Hey. Guys, look, I get it's all pretty grim and stuff, kind of like a tsunami of shit is swamping our democracy but like hey, look at the upside! Actually if one of you could point out the upside, maybe even just a hint as to where the upside might be, I'd consider it a personal favor... cause wow is this turning out to be a morning for the ages...
posted by From Bklyn at 7:15 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

A handy one-pager: Who's Who In The Trump Administration (NPR, not really a chart, last updated on Jan. 20, 2017) -- it includes tags to state whether or not the Senate must confirm a person for the position. At the top: Stephen Bannon, and his bio is kind of brutal:

Bannon is a 62-year-old former executive chairman of Breitbart, the right-wing news website. Bannon has bragged that the site is the "platform for the alt-right," a movement associated with white nationalism, racism and misogyny. He served as Trump's campaign "CEO" for the final months of the campaign and is credited with getting Trump to attack Hillary Clinton with false conspiracy theories about her health and bringing forward women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. Bannon had a stint in the U.S. Navy, worked at Goldman Sachs in the 1980s, became a Hollywood investor who made a fortune off Seinfeld reruns, and ran the secretive experimental community Biosphere 2 outside Tucson, Ariz. Bannon faced a domestic abuse charge in 1996 and financial difficulty through the 1990s with multiple federal and state tax liens against him at the time.

There are some soft phrases (Breitbart and alt.right "associated with white nationalism, racism and misogyny" vs "built on" those deplorable -isms), but doesn't do him any favors, like state why the fuck he should be the _rump campaign "CEO" and current Chief Strategist And Senior Counselor.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

The only question is to how to exert enough pressure on her that she publicly cracks and becomes another liability to his administration.

yeah, I always hated the gentle tone people take towards her because it's so reminiscent of everyone being nice to poor gentle sweet Laura Bush who just wanted to be a nice librarian and a nice lady. although at least Melania never killed anybody personally that I know about.

but even though I thought it was despicable and sexist to treat L. Bush that way because a Bush supporter is a Bush supporter, no special rules for wives, wife isn't a job or a species, even so, I never thought there was a good chance GWB smacked her around in the evenings if she didn't smile big enough on television. so yeah I agree with you, and I don't think the public or the media will be responsible if we trick her into saying something unflattering about him and he locks her up in a broom closet with the MLK bust and sends her kid to boarding school for twenty years, I don't think we should be paralyzed by fear of his monstrosity since that is what he likes. I will just feel bad about it is all.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Global gag rule' reinstated by Trump, curbing NGO abortion services abroad (Grauniad)

Shitty as this is, and it is indeed shitty, it's what any Republican president would do the second they stepped into office, so I can't blame Trump more for this one than I did the Bushes or Reagan.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:20 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Search Google News for “trump lie,” and you’ll see plenty.

Does it matter to the people who voted for Trump? Nope. Not from what I see on my social media feeds (I’m not unfollowing anyone. I believe in knowing thine enemy).

If it's going to change anything with these folks it won't happen overnight. It's hasn't had time to become a narrative. Narratives are what ultimately have the most affect on what people think as well as they can get picked up indirectly from other sources then just directly reading or looking at media.
Case study: Hillary Clinton.
posted by Jalliah at 7:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I will just feel bad about it is all.

The left needs to get over its sympathy for monsters. One of the stumbling blocks we face is a "rational", Enlightenment-rooted belief in progress and the fundamental decency of humanity, when pretty much all of recorded history is a bloody spitting match between the haves and have-nots, with progress for the latter always coming only at knife point. It's time to resharpen our knives.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

Narratives are what ultimately have the most affect on what people think as well as they can get picked up indirectly from other sources then just directly reading or looking at media. Case study: Hillary Clinton.

Counterpoint: people may instead cling to their confirmation bias, looking further for sources that back up their views of the world, despite mountains of information and a broad variety of voices damning their chosen views as unreal, illegal, or immoral.
Case study: Donald Trump - how many "surely this" moments did we have leading up to the election?

Unless the Republican party fully splits over his actions and directions, he's still Their Guy, the change-bringer, #MAGA and all that shit. He'll claim past victories (low unemployment, tanking TPP) as his own, and side-step around every failure and lie as "media distortion."

Question: has he bundled all media together as against him, or is he still trying to label "liberal media" vs "conservative media"?
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think his supporters have to first get over their excitement of both getting rid of the black guy and keeping the woman out of the white house before they can even begin to see how they are getting hornswaggled. It will take most of them quite a while I think.
posted by ian1977 at 7:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Julian Assange says Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning 'to make life hard' for him

I think these months might feature the most sore-winnerdom and whining-atop-pile-of-enemies'-carcasses of any period in human history.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [75 favorites]

I think "Fuck Julian Assange" has become my personal refrain over the past year.
posted by lydhre at 7:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

I had to mix it up with some of the people in my local Dem party on FB today because they were applauding a rumor that Wikileaks is going to release Dump's tax returns. I told them I'd expect them from Russia Today sooner, but all they wanted to hear is that Assange is True Hero and the real enemies are the DNC for blocking Bernie.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:32 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Question: has he bundled all media together as against him, or is he still trying to label "liberal media" vs "conservative media"?

His followers know what it means. There's "the media" and then there's "the truth".
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

when pretty much all of recorded history is a bloody spitting match between the haves and have-nots,

no but a world where all the unearned and undeserved money and privilege you can have doesn't protect you from being ordered around by some awful old man every day and grotesquely abused by him when he's unhappy isn't a world where you can ever fully ascend to the haves. Say nobody should be able to: OK. but there is a sentiment in some quarters that I would characterize as: so what if privileged women are still kicked dogs in comparison to privileged men, they're above me and that's all that matters.

this has fuck all to do with her racism or Trump support, it doesn't get put in some cosmic balance to weigh against it or anything like that. Being bullied by DT doesn't have any bearing on that and shouldn't make anyone judge her less for it. I am just not happy to have special ways for the haves to be put in their place that only work on women. call it selfishness if that makes it more acceptable than sympathy. I want Melania to be working for minimum wage along with the rest of her family and step-family; I just want her to do it without getting humiliated by her husband when she goes home every night.

This is a class issue too.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:36 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

A glimmer of hope for the day: Lawsuit Claims Foreign Payments To Trump's Businesses Violate Constitution (NPR Morning Edition, Jan. 24, 2017 - transcript not up yet).

Two former White House ethics lawyers — Richard Painter and Norm Eisen — are part of a legal team filing suit against President Trump — alleging violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.

They want _rump to face Congress and publicly disclose all his business interests, because anywhere that foreign gifts and payments are possible mean a possible venue for bribery from foreign interests (and we have enough home-grown bribery, thankyouverymuch). The best part: it all goes back to the Founding Fathers, who wanted to prevent "corrupt practices of the Old World." The GOP loves them some Founding Fathers and Original Intent, right? So they're bound to jump on this, and finally we'll see inside _rump's finances to see how he's tied to Russian and other interests. Or they could just close their eyes and grant a blanket pardon on all of _rump's foreign investments (how is that in the #MAGA spirit again? Right, it's not, why do I keep hoping _rump and his supporters will be logical?)

For a sobering counterpoint: Why The Constitutional Lawsuit Against Trump Is Likely To Fail (Forbes, Jan. 22, 2017).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

I think these months might feature the most sore-winnerdom and whining-atop-pile-of-enemies'-carcasses of any period in human history.

Obama spent his entire term in office waging a war against whistleblowers, and destroyed the lives and careers of brave and honorable people. He prosecuted more whistleblowers than ALL PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED.

And this while looking the other way on powerful cynics like David Petraeus and Leon Panetta, who leaked classified information to get into someone's pants or to assist in the creation of Hollywood propaganda lionizing their agency.

TLDR - Obama was an enemy of transparency and abetted official criminality, and one pardon doesn't get him off that hook.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:38 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Question: has he bundled all media together as against him, or is he still trying to label "liberal media" vs "conservative media"?

His followers know what it means. There's "the media" and then there's "the truth".

And he knows that they're invested enough in him that anyone who comes after him, even to the point of saying, "Hmm, we're not 100 percent certain that Nancy Pelosi does eat babies...", will automatically be re-assigned by his followers.
posted by Etrigan at 7:39 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Counterpoint: people may instead cling to their confirmation bias, looking further for sources that back up their views of the world, despite mountains of information and a broad variety of voices damning their chosen views as unreal, illegal, or immoral.
Case study: Donald Trump - how many "surely this" moments did we have leading up to the election?

Unless the Republican party fully splits over his actions and directions, he's still Their Guy, the change-bringer, #MAGA and all that shit. He'll claim past victories (low unemployment, tanking TPP) as his own, and side-step around every failure and lie as "media distortion."

Question: has he bundled all media together as against him, or is he still trying to label "liberal media" vs "conservative media"?

Exactly. This is why my main point, "It won't happen overnight' was qualified with an 'If it's going to change anything..'

His core supporters are locked in. At this time they are doubling down and supporting Dear Leader no matter what he does. They think that Spicer did an awesome job and stuck it to everyone bigly. They were watching from a different reality. There are people who aren't so locked in, just like on the left there were locked in Hillary supporters and various levels of support fanning out from that. The farther out from locked the more narratives can affect what people think.
posted by Jalliah at 7:40 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Pig, mud, wrestling, etc.

What if you enjoy it? Asking for a friend.
posted by Coventry at 7:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

poor gentle sweet Laura Bush who just wanted to be a nice librarian and a nice lady. although at least Melania never killed anybody personally that I know about.

That's not cool. Laura Bush (née Welch) was 17, and there is no evidence that the car accident that killed her close friend was anything other than an accident.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [37 favorites]

I fear there will be no point at which Dump's followers turn away. He is just a symbol, but a useful one, and we have seen the Right be oh-so-willing to excuse the worst behaviors while pronouncing themselves the true moral arbiters of America. The man is just a vehicle for the policies of corruption and resentment. How fast did these Republicans whip out the most regressive, punitive legislation on things like abortion, birth control, protester's rights, environmental exploitation? It's not even a week yet and they're handing power over to the billionaires as fast as they can. If this was such a populist movement, why aren't his supporters noticing? I'd say they just don't care. They'll find ways to excuse it. Every one of his failures to them will be waved away, while people who voted for him die without health care, jobless, uneducated and locked in a stranglehold of propaganda about how great everything is.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Julian Assange says Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning 'to make life hard' for him

Julian “Christ” Assange

As in “Christ, what an...”
posted by acb at 7:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Lots of chatter that Trump's ban on Muslim immigration is coming today. (Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Harry Reid)

What a fucking day.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:54 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've been stuck on this "core Trump supporters" thing for a while now myself, thinking that his core supporters are the big obstacle, that they're the ones who will put the political pressure on Republicans to prevent anything from happening... but I've been slowly realizing that I've never seen the true size of his core bloc quantified and I may be believing in what he wants me to believe, unconsciously accepting his projection of false strength. Paid audience members, staffers and others dragged into the CIA meeting to cheerlead, obvious astroturf social media presence... he always lies about his popularity. We can't cede that rhetorically. If the narrative is that his base is unassailable it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy as lukewarm Trump supporters buy into it and feel like they'll be singled out by showing doubt in him, but if the narrative is that it's a small and weak core surrounded by a bunch of people who are already getting buyer's remorse, which personally I'd bet on being closer to the truth, that helps make others feel safe stepping away from the angry Trumpist mob.

The flip side of Republicans never admitting they were wrong is that they can always say "I didn't vote for Trump for this, he failed me." and shift the blame to him. And we have been seeing that exact line of thought happening among some Trump voters, we just need to fan it into a flame.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:55 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Price already looks sketchy as a nominee due to insider trading allegations

Also this...

Price has long been a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a fringe medical group that is deeply opposed to any government role in regulating doctors.

AAPS got its start in the 1940s, with the help of members of the John Birch Society, the extreme right-wing group known for peddling outlandish conspiracy theories. It has fought the government over health care ever since. Its statement of principles declares it "evil" and "immoral" for doctors to participate in Medicaid and Medicare.

AAPS has been a vocal player in the anti-vaccine movement. Its medical journal has attacked immigrants as the source of disease outbreaks, including leprosy, and suggested that HIV doesn't cause AIDS but that abortion causes breast cancer. The scientific consensus rejects all of these claims. AAPS was the primary source of rumors during the presidential campaign that Hillary Clinton was suffering from a major illness. It has opposed electronic medical records, calling them a form of "data control" like that used by the Stasi, the former East German secret police. Researchers estimate that medical errors kill more than 250,000 Americans a year, making them the third leading cause of death, but AAPS dismisses such reports as a bogus pretext for more government regulation of health care.

more (so much more) at the link.
posted by Buntix at 7:56 AM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

Lots of chatter that Trump's ban on Muslim immigration is coming today. (Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Harry Reid)

What a fucking day.

Wonder if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are going to keep yucking it up with the Trumpistas in photo ops

probably
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:57 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

"But... but... he hasn't done anything yet! Why not first give him a chance?"
[Fake, but not by much]
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:05 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Breitbart national security editor and Fox News contributor Sebastian Gorka is expected to join President Donald Trump's White House, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

What if you enjoy it? Asking for a friend.

Contact info is my profile.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:11 AM on January 24, 2017

First question concerning AIDS to HHS nominee Price from Sen. Bob Menendez: "Does HIV cause AIDS?" (So that's where we're at.)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:11 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

I'm really enjoying President Bannon's new administration.
posted by Jalliah at 8:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Alt-everything.
posted by Artw at 8:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is Our Democrats Learning?

No. Not at all.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Relevant today and everyday: The Handmaid's Tale is a Handbook for Surviving Oppressive Systems

I have long thought that if it were required reading in schools we might have fewer privileged women dismissing the threat of a dramatic slide backwards for women's rights. It is presented as a primary source in a future classroom for a fucking reason.
posted by lydhre at 8:14 AM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

I'm really enjoying President Bannon's new administration.

Sometimes I like to play a game in my head where I choose which person in the world I most want to receive their comeuppance. It's really hard right now, but Bannon is always in the running.
posted by diogenes at 8:16 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

First question concerning AIDS to HHS nominee Price from Sen. Bob Menendez: "Does HIV cause AIDS?" (So that's where we're at.)

I like the strategy of asking them basic questions. Like when the reporter asked Spicer to name the current unemployment rate. It's fun watching them twist as they try to remember whether they are supposed to be using alternative facts on every single subject. I imagine that once you abandon reality, it's really hard to keep your answers straight.
posted by diogenes at 8:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [54 favorites]

Julian “Christ” Assange

As in “Christ, what an...”

I wonder if Julian could be thusly Santorumed. As in, this coinage:

'Christ, what an Assange.'
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Proposed CIA Chief Seems Happy To Spy On Americans, Even If Using Info Hacked By Russians

Raising a Pompeo hearing comment that if a foreign partner gave the CIA information on US persons “independently,” “it may be appropriate of CIA to collect [that] information in bulk,” Wyden raised Trump’s encouragement of Russian hacking and asked what circumstances would make foreign collection so improper that CIA should not receive such information. Pompeo responded, “information obtained through such egregious conduct may be appropriate for the CIA to use or disseminate.”

Wyden then listed out a bunch of conditions, such as information coming from an adversary, to disrupt US democracy, information implicating First Amendment protected political activity, or information affecting thousands or millions of Americans. “The listed conditions could all be relevant,” Pompeo responded, remaining non-committal.

posted by Coventry at 8:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Assange to be head of new Department of Doxxing.
posted by Artw at 8:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile, in Canada....
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Why Trump’s Inauguration is Not the Beginning of an Era — but the End
posted by No Robots at 8:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Canada....

Oh thank goodness. Not that I don't have some issues with what's in CETA. In this new world, with our trading relationship with the US up in the air and more then likely to get fucked up we need as much as we can get from other countries.
Not that CETA isn't just drop in the bucket compared to the amount of trade with the US, at least it's something.
posted by Jalliah at 8:34 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Interesting (to me) more in its wonkiness than for scoring points, NYT has a feature on how crowds at the Capitol have been counted over time.

Alt-everything.

CTRL-ALT-DELETE! CTRL-ALT-DELETE!
posted by Room 641-A at 8:35 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

"Third parties aren't viable" and "Republicans are worse" are both absolutely terrible, defeatist reasons to vote Democrat. They aren't wrong, but they do nothing but antagonize the people Democrats have abandoned and take for granted because...a third party vote is wasted and Republicans increasingly explicitly want to just kill us.

Democrats do need to learn how to engage people outside their bubbles and how to resist the transparent bigotry and foolishness of Republicans, or they are done. I wouldn't exactly cry for the death of the party, except in practice it means it'll just be the bad cops, all the time. But I resent voting for people who won't fight for me, who express open contempt for me, simply to stave off literal fascists.
posted by byanyothername at 8:36 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

2020 prediction: Kirsten Gillibrand is going to be the best Republican president of the modern era.
posted by Talez at 8:37 AM on January 24, 2017

Why Trump’s Inauguration is Not the Beginning of an Era — but the End
Posted by a "Founder & CEO of Reinvent, a media company; Tech & Future Trends Speaker; Author 2 Books." In English, that means "no thanks."
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:38 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think the Santorum coinage worked because it was a word for something that had no single word to describe it before (and it didn't hurt that the definition played perfectly to Rick Santorum's apparent obsession with the physical details of gay anal sex.) I don't understand what an "Assange" is in your formulation, snuffleupagus; does it just mean "asshole" or are you going for further shades of meaning?
posted by contraption at 8:38 AM on January 24, 2017

CTRL-ALT-DELETE! CTRL-ALT-DELETE!

I was thinking the same thing. Not a bad name for a movement to destroy the alt right and alternative facts, and to reboot democracy through abolition of the electoral college.
posted by contraption at 8:40 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Assange is like espionage but with your ass.
posted by ian1977 at 8:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Assange is like espionage but with your ass.
Whatever it is, it's nonconsensual.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:44 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

We'd have to get Bill Gates to sign off, I guess.
posted by contraption at 8:44 AM on January 24, 2017

But I resent voting for people who won't fight for me, who express open contempt for me, simply to stave off literal fascists.

There's a lot to be said for simply not living under fascism, normal government isn't the worst thing in the world. But maybe we need a 100year Reich for people to realize the value in simply "not living under Nazis", I guess we're going to find out.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

The time when you sit a ponder how one would do espionage with one's ass.
posted by Jalliah at 8:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

BREAKING: Trump says he'll announce pick to fill Supreme Court vacancy next week. -- @AP

JFC I haven't even finished my damn coffee this morning.
posted by otenba at 8:47 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

The time when you sit a ponder how one would do espionage with one's ass.

There once was a man named "Bob Goatse"...
posted by pxe2000 at 8:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

BREAKING: Trump says he'll announce pick to fill Supreme Court vacancy next week. -- @AP

At least this isn't unexpected. Just a crap-fest.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:50 AM on January 24, 2017

The time when you sit a ponder how one would do espionage with one's ass.

Well, it's a start.
posted by Etrigan at 8:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Jim Acosta on Twitter: "POTUS while signing exec actions on Keystone and Dakota access: 'We will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days.'"
posted by slipthought at 8:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Jim Acosta on Twitter: "POTUS while signing exec actions on Keystone and Dakota access: 'We will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days.'"

This is like Bender with his theme park of blackjack and hookers, isn't it?
posted by Servo5678 at 8:53 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump says he'll announce pick to fill Supreme Court vacancy next week.

Maybe he'll surprise us and it will just be a conventionally terrible choice instead of a jaw-dropping, mind-boggling bad pick.
posted by diogenes at 8:54 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

We will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days.

And we'll make them with Rearden Steel dammit!
posted by diogenes at 8:56 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Jared Kushner does have a J.D.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:57 AM on January 24, 2017

I'm still hoping for Judge Judy.
posted by Mchelly at 8:58 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Re. Bender/Trump similarities, this is the sort of thing that comes to mind for me.

Also, the way the society in "Godfellas" ends.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:59 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

2020 prediction: Kirsten Gillibrand is going to be the best Republican president of the modern era.

Obama was, I'm sorry to say. It's all downhill from here.
posted by gerryblog at 9:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Does he know the oil in Keystone XL doesn't come from the US either?
posted by zachlipton at 9:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Jared Kushner does have a J.D.

Hey, the constitution doesn't specify any requirements for Justices, does it? Please welcome Justice Joe Arpaio, the hangingest Supreme Court Justice ever.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Anyone else feel like they are a 'conservative' now?

I want to conserve (in no particular order and not limited to):

* Women's suffrage
* Freedom of Speech and the Press
* Marriage Equality
* The scraps of protection for transgender people
* Laws prohibiting child labor
* Air quality regulations
* Food safety regulations
* Water quality safety regulations
* Women's reproductive choice
* Diplomatic relationships with long standing allies
* An apolitical bureaucracy
* The Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts
* The Johnson Amendment
* The ACA
* Secular public schooling
* Government study of climate change
* The Endangered Species Act

And the list goes on and on. What do you want to conserve?
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [96 favorites]

Asspionage
posted by kirkaracha at 9:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's more like Westworld, and we are the robots.
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

What do you want to conserve?

FEDERAL LANDS & NATIONAL PARKS
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

Hey, the constitution doesn't specify any requirements for Justices, does it? Please welcome Justice Joe Arpaio, the hangingest Supreme Court Justice ever.

don't worry i'm sure dianne feinstein would refuse to confirm that---- *coughing fit*
posted by entropicamericana at 9:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

How long is this pace going to keep up? What are they going to do six months from now, or a year from now, if they're crossing so much off their to-do list already?

Don't think that they've even really started in on their to-do list yet. The country will be unrecognizable before they get halfway through.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:05 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

So then: why is Trump doing all of this so fast?

Strike now while the iron is hot?
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:05 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

At least, executive orders are not a plan. These orders have to employ people... But three is a hiring freeze at the federal level to actually implement these things.
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:06 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Don't think that they've even really started in on their to-do list yet.

Nope. This is still housekeeping. Congress hasn't really even passed any legislation yet, and that's the core of their real platform. Wait till the 2017 budget process in March. We're going to learn what the US looks like with 50% less domestic spending.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

We're far beyond asking whether this is normal, but I don't recall Obama doing this same kind of "ruling" at a breakneck pace, right off the bat. He didn't, right? So then: why is Trump doing all of this so fast? Why isn't he doing like, one or two medium-sized things a day and then playing golf or whateverthefuck?

Trump likes to go big.

Likely a gish gallup type strategy. So, much so fast it's overwhelming and people can't respond or are split in what to respond too. One the other hand doing this much so fast and especially with a half assed admin in place makes it harder for them to follow through on their end. Harder to implement and hard to keep track and respond to the backlash. Looks like they're going to be blundering around and just throwing shit all over the place.
posted by Jalliah at 9:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Someone just mentioned this on twitter. @POTUS Twitter profile now says 45th @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. Working on behalf of the American people to make our country great again. Tweets by @DanScavino. Tweets by #POTUS signed -DJT.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

The problem with Dianne Feinstein is she has so much institutional support you'd have to be crazy to run against her, as demonstrated by the last time anyone ran against Dianne Feinstein.

You start now, by saying that California has only two senators and both of them need to represent the state as it is right now. You keep saying it. You don't need to raise funds or court donors. You just need to a) have already earned political capital in the state; b) be willing to use it. What's the worst that can happen? You don't become a US senator? Well, lots of high-ranking California politicians haven't had that chance.

(If you're a senior politician in, say, Montana, then you have a more obvious trail to the top of the political hill.)
posted by holgate at 9:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe he'll surprise us and it will just be a conventionally terrible choice instead of a jaw-dropping, mind-boggling bad pick.

It'll be Roy Moore.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

This is just the stuff that's public, everyone. Who the fuck knows what's actually happening in background/behind closed doors/on the red phones.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

The date on Donald Trump's inauguration picture is wrong.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

Re: the hiring freeze.

Why don't they hit him, and hit him hard, with "why do you want to deny good jobs to good people? I thought you wanted more jobs for good American citizens" Force him on the defensive, at least.
posted by lydhre at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

So then: why is Trump doing all of this so fast?

I was wondering the same thing.

The last shred of optimism I have left says Tinkles and company are aware they can/will get dumped before his first term is over, and are actively trying to fuck up as much shit as possible.

But alas, I'm probably kidding myself. These shitlords haven't even started yet.
posted by otenba at 9:11 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Feinstein's support comes from people like me who have voted for her their entire adult lives.

That's over if she keeps this shit up. Maybe SF won't abandon her, but LA will.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:11 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Also, most of the real work will get done this year. Before Summer. Or by holiday season at the latest. The First 100 days is a thing for a reason, because historically that's when most administrations have had the good will and political capital to pass their agendas. After that things generally bog down, then work trails off for a year or so during midterm season, with another burst after that before it's reelection time. They're going to hit hard and fast, because they know they need to, and they know they have to hit hard while Democrats are demoralized and disorganized (ha, actually that's always).
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:11 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Sean Spicer said the United States would prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea.

That was easily the most disturbing thing in that briefing.

Anyone else feel like they are a 'conservative' now?

Since the Summer of 2003, approximately. That's when I realized Republican politics is actually radical, not conservative at all.
posted by Coventry at 9:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Lots of chatter that Trump's ban on Muslim immigration is coming today. (Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Harry Reid)

Is there ANYTHING activists can do to stop this? As far as I can tell, the last few times we've banned certain groups from immigrating to the US it's been the lead up to a global scale war. Also it's fascism. We need to stop this. But I don't think we can. Marching won't stop this. I am so scared and sick right now. (But thank you, thank you for drawing this to MeFi's attention.)
posted by capricorn at 9:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Sherrod Brown asks Tom Price about Trump's claim he has his own ACA plan coming. Price: "It's true that he said that." Room laughs.

--@BenjySarlin

See, it's hilarious because the President claims he has a healthcare plan but nobody in the government, including the guy the President chose to be in charge of healthcare, thinks it even exists.
posted by zachlipton at 9:14 AM on January 24, 2017 [61 favorites]

The bar grievance process is in fact not 'just a show' for the public,

If you do not have a complaint that is in a class which has pages of annotations, you will most likely be told there is nothing wrong.

If you are a Judge and you file a complaint VS an attorney, now THAT is treated differently than a complaint by the public.

I can understand why attorneys don't want honest courtrooms - it allows them to pick the pockets of clients. But without honest courts - what is the plan to deal with the actions of the quislings of Trump? Hope for change?
posted by rough ashlar at 9:15 AM on January 24, 2017

See, it's hilarious because the President claims he has a healthcare plan but nobody in the government, including the guy the President chose to be in charge of healthcare, thinks it even exists.

Their plan is to intentionally limit healthcare access to the global elite, and they all know it. Every one of them.
posted by capricorn at 9:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

There's nothing anyone can do to stop the simple issuance of executive orders. They put a thing in front of Trump and he signs it.

It's like people are getting introductory lessons in how the basics of the US Government work. The time to prevent these things was before Trump was elected. Now we need to focus on how to respond to them, or, at best, discourage their actual implementation by making plain the huge political and social costs anyone who goes along to get along will have to pay.

Problem is, it's not yet clear they will have to. Not in the short term. Our most senior politicians are even now, largely spineless.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Observation: Trump is Voldemort.

I was in a large meeting today and everyone in the room palpably bristled when a speaker said the phrase "president Trump." The speaker read the room and quickly switched to just saying "the president" for the remainder of the meeting.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Does he know the oil in Keystone XL doesn't come from the US either?

The concept of the nation state is entirely obsolete for these people, beyond its use as a tool to angry up the marks. Keep your eye on the ball.

Observation: Trump is Voldemort.

God, I'm sick of this twee bullshit. He's a real-life tyrant and we better start acting like it.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

I can understand why attorneys don't want honest courtrooms - it allows them to pick the pockets of clients.

Christ, what an Assange.

But without honest courts - what is the plan to deal with the actions of the quislings of Trump? Hope for change?

Nice Palin invocation.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:18 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Feinstein's support comes from people like me who have voted for her their entire adult lives.

it's either her or the token republican chucklehead that is offered up as a blood sacrifice. if a liberal democrat primaries her, they've got my vote.

Since the Summer of 2003, approximately. That's when I realized Republican politics is actually radical, not conservative at all.

the word you're looking for is "reactionary"
posted by entropicamericana at 9:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

historically that's when most administrations have had the good will and political capital to pass their agendas.

Remember that the teahadists showed up to 2009 summer recess town hall meetings in cosplay, camo, and with semi-automatic rifles, and that momentum carried through to 2010. Most GOP congresscritters are shameless because they're in gerrymandered districts, but they need to feel intimidated by opposition starting right now.
posted by holgate at 9:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump Promise Tracker (Washington Post)
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:20 AM on January 24, 2017

I don't recall Obama doing this same kind of "ruling" at a breakneck pace,

There are a series of executive orders that seem to be signed by every new president. What is the difference between the past signings and this round? (27 of 'em or so if I remember....the web page I had bookmarked on tracking that is no longer around)

And didn't Trump say something about how he wasn't going to use executive orders at one point early on?
posted by rough ashlar at 9:20 AM on January 24, 2017

What is the difference between the past signings and this round?

I feel pretty confident that the last few presidents have actually read the ones they signed.
posted by Etrigan at 9:22 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

So then: why is Trump doing all of this so fast?

I was wondering the same thing.

They worship at the altar of the OODA loop.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:22 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Observation: Trump is Voldemort.

I'm reading the Harry Potter series to my boys right now. We just finished Goblet of Fire. During the chapter in which Voldemort returns I starting sprinkling some Trumpisms into the ends of his monologues. It's scary how well they fit.
posted by nubs at 9:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now that Pompeo has been confirmed, there will be a special election in a few months to fill his seat. KS-4 is not close to swinging left (heavily Trump country), but if local folks (particularly local Bernie folks) organized heavily in the next month, they could close the gap a little. Here's a local article on the process and some of the candidates.

I'm not pinning my hopes on this, but if the R/D gap narrowed, it could be a good indicator for the broader GOP and the media that things are swinging away from Trump. Conversely, the results could show his support remaining steady in the "heartland."
posted by melissasaurus at 9:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

the web page I had bookmarked on tracking that is no longer around

It may be in the Internet Archive unless they used the x-norobots header?
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 9:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Obama spent his entire term in office waging a war against whistleblowers, and destroyed the lives and careers of brave and honorable people. He prosecuted more whistleblowers than ALL PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED.

And a bunch of people who showed up to complain about Bush's use of power didn't bother when similar abuse happened under Obama will now complain about Trump's version of the abuse of power. And at the point where Trump is no longer the power abuser, they will go away again.

Rather than build something to 'take down Trump' - why not build something that goes after the abuse of power?

And spend some time looking in the mirror and ask "Would I be this outraged if it wasn't Trump and was instead (whomever you would have rather had in power)"
posted by rough ashlar at 9:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Shocker. Americans are surprisingly supportive of government regulations Trump wants to dismantle. People like regulations after all, especially environmental regulations.
posted by zachlipton at 9:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

Video: The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words
posted by Jalliah at 9:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Once again we get some interesting dispatches from the alternate universe where Democrats never complained about Obama's deportations, drones, spying, whistleblower treatment, press availability, etc., etc., etc.. How's the stock market doing on Earth2?
posted by 0xFCAF at 9:35 AM on January 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Observation: Trump is Voldemort.

I've seen these Republicans for Voldemort stickers around since the second Bush Administration. People have seen the logical conclusion of their extremism for years.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm watching the second Price hearing. A female senator I am struggling to find the name of is killing it and has been added to my short list of people who know how to ask a question. She just asked Price three times, "do you support turning Medicare into block grants" (slight paraphrase) and he refused to answer - very stark.
posted by prefpara at 9:38 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

They worship at the altar of the OODA loop.

Maybe that plus Trump's instincts as a showman and a salesman. He was able to bamboozle the media during the primary and election by playing the "coming soon" game. There's two comments in the last two hours of this thread, supreme court justice and muslim ban, both coming soon. When he wants to change what CNN is saying about him, he'll promise something big coming soon. And they eat it up because speculation and anticipation is so much easier than reporting.
posted by peeedro at 9:39 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Linda McMahon just introduced her son-in-law, professional wrestler HHH, at her confirmation hearing.

#TrumpsAmerica
posted by uncleozzy at 9:41 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump turns noncommittal on Jerusalem embassy move
Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and other Arab allies have warned the White House of severe repercussions should it proceed with the move.
a) Very relieved that Trump may possibly be listening to anyone at all thoughtful, even if I think they're wrong;
b) Further relieved that Trump and I may no longer agree on anything whatsoever;
c) To ZOA, nelson_muntz_ha_ha.gif
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:42 AM on January 24, 2017

The block grant questioner was Sen. Claire McCaskill
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:42 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) and Senator Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced legislation today to prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.

In case you want to call your representatives, it's called "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017."
posted by bluecore at 9:49 AM on January 24, 2017 [130 favorites]

Very relieved that Trump may possibly be listening to anyone at all thoughtful, even if I think they're wrong

Your position that there's nothing wrong with the USA moving its embassy to Jerusalem is what's wrong here. (No other country maintains an embassy there; see here.)
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 9:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think I like this Ted Lieu.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

(Not that any such law would stop the birds flying by so much as a second should Donald will't.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:52 AM on January 24, 2017

> Very relieved that Trump may possibly be listening to anyone at all thoughtful

Ha ha ha, good one.

> There's nothing anyone can do to stop the simple issuance of executive orders. They put a thing in front of Trump and he signs it.

See, this is going to be a fake presidency, image over substance all the time. The entire premise of the Trump presidency is trolling liberals "for the lulz". Here's the Washington Post, for example:

BREAKING NEWS: Trump signs executive orders seeking to revive controversial oil pipelines

Scratch the surface:

It remained unclear how Trump’s orders would restart the Dakota Access and Keystone XL projects or expedite environmental reviews. Many of those reviews are statutory, and the legislation that created them cannot be swept aside by an executive order. The White House did not immediately release texts of the orders.

These are the showy flourishes for his adoring base, just like the nonsense executive order that seeks to relieve the administrative burden of the ACA. Not that these won't do damage anyway - they will! That executive order might yet push the ACA exchanges into an uncertainty-driven death spiral.

But the real fuckery is coming from Congress. Watch those guys, and what they slide over Donnie's desk to sign. Those will have prettier names and a lot more bite.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:59 AM on January 24, 2017 [36 favorites]

GIZMODO --Trump's Attorney General Pick Wants to Give Cops Encryption Backdoors
The Electronic Frontier Foundation dug up Session’s written answers to questions sent by Senator Patrick Leahy. The responses are nauseating (emphasis ours):
Question: Do you agree with NSA Director Rogers, Secretary of Defense Carter, and other national security experts that strong encryption helps protect this country from cyberattack and is beneficial to the American people’s’ digital security?

Response: Encryption serves many valuable and important purposes. It is also critical, however, that national security and criminal investigators be able to overcome encryption, under lawful authority, when necessary to the furtherance of national-security and criminal investigations.

posted by snuffleupagus at 10:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

> It is also critical, however, that national security and criminal investigators be able to overcome encryption, under lawful authority, when necessary

I can't take it. I can't keep slamming my head into my desk over and over again.

It's math, guys. Either no one can break in, or every bad actor can. There's no magic, it's math. Good luck shopping at Amazon after putting back doors into every encryption scheme.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [45 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump

Signing orders to move forward with the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in the Oval Office.

Look at the accompanying photograph and remember those faces and names when people start dying because of this.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

We need to start calling this for what it is: a (so-far successful) attempt at "shock and awe."
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

Un-pickable locks serve many valuable and important purposes. It is also critical, however, that national security and criminal investigators be able to pick those locks, under lawful authority, when necessary to the furtherance of national-security and criminal investigations.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:04 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

(Not that any such law would stop the birds flying by so much as a second should Donald will't.)

For some reason a news helicopter got video of a missile-like thing leaving the water and there was reporting about 5 nukes leaving on an airplane back in the Bush the Lesser days that were never seemingly explained to the public. (or at least explained that I remember seeing. How DID the camera just happen to be rolling in that location in that direction over the ocean.....I guess the wonders will never stop eh?)

The best hope for birds getting their wings clipped would be people who took an oath who somehow manage to screw up their job just a little bit so things don't quite work. Screwing up your job just a little bit can be as simple as putting the wrong name on a warrant going to Hong Kong in case one wants a non-nuke example.

What's the plan on letting the monkey-wrenchers know that it's OK and they'll be supported beyond the support of their own conscience?
posted by rough ashlar at 10:09 AM on January 24, 2017

It is also critical, however, that national security and criminal investigators be able to overcome encryption, under lawful authority, when necessary to the furtherance

I can haz MeFi thread for thecrypting?
posted by petebest at 10:18 AM on January 24, 2017

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) and Senator Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced legislation today to prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.

I'm not sure how SCOTUS is going to enforce that since they'll all be vaporized. I think the better solution would be to install a sane Commander in Chief.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:18 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

"Trump is clearly into big military displays. The military marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. The military flying over New York City and Washington D.C. during parades. Here’s someone who really understands how great leaders think. (We can also recommend excellent tailors to make him his own exquisite military uniforms.) Thanks to the new president, we can now use the term 'American regime'; your country has fully earned the honor."
posted by Kitty Stardust at 10:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

RobotVoodooPower, right, that was my first thought, but presumably this gives the actual button-pushers legal authority to not push the button.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Press Briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:22 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a quote from Doctor Who that seems relevant. To paraphrase: "Don't you think he looks tired?". I suppose it would be bad form to apply it to other members of his administration indiscriminately.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Firstly, as a liberal trans woman living in Oklahoma, I wonder if they realize what it feels like when you’re told by your own ideology, "You’re on your own, at least until we can trickle down equality to you." What it reminds me of, is when the Human Rights Campaign was pushing for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act last decade and decided to drop transgender people from the legislation because they deemed it just too hard to pass. They told trans folks, "Don’t worry, we’ll come back for you someday when this is easier."

If you ever wondered why transgender people dislike the HRC so much, that’s your reason. We were told we just weren’t worth the fight and to simply wait for equal protections to trickle down to us. Now it feels like when the left says these things to not only transgender people, but all of the LGBT+ spectrum, plus reproductive rights advocates, people of color, the poor, and any other number of marginalized groups who live in red states, it sounds like they’re perfectly content to abandon us to our fate while they make their own states and areas more progressive. That’s not progressive; it’s regressive, defeatist, and quite frankly lazy.

Wish I could quote the whole thing, really. It has been so dispiriting for me to hear the kind of stuff the article is written in response to amplified after the election. The major takeaway on my social media currently seems to be that the article is asking leftists to compromise and listen to bigots, and it's just kind of soul crushing. It's patently obvious to me that the point here is that not all poor people, not all people in the South, not all people in red states are Trump-supporting bigots and that "progressive" areas have just as many problems with systemic bigotry whether anyone wants to acknowledge it or not. Pretending otherwise papers over deeper issues, and implicit support for policies that hurt poor white people in the sticks explicitly hurts people of color, LGBT people and women as an obvious consequence.

If I have any hope right now, it's that some people are realizing this and that offers those of us who have been told for years to "just move" some opportunities to actually do so and be heard. Alas, I have no hope that my region will get better within my lifetime. The best I can do is flee. It's too late for a lot of these regions.
posted by byanyothername at 10:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [54 favorites]

@mcgregor_ewan
Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise @piersmorgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch
posted by chris24 at 10:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [67 favorites]

Piers Morgan said in response that Ewan was "Just an actor" so his opinion isn't ~~valid~~ a big deal.
posted by INFJ at 10:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Good on him.

Piers had a meltdown about entertainers not having political opinions after that, which is odd, Piers being an entertainer with a lot of them.
posted by Artw at 10:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Primary Concerns Episode 41: Will Donald Trump Kill Us All? with nuclear arms control expert Michael Krepon
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Piers being an entertainer

Assumes facts not in evidence.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

And that is why Ewan McGregor is the best. Just that. THE BEST.

call me, ewan...
posted by cooker girl at 10:30 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

roomthreeseventeen: Press Briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer

On time as usual

[sarcasm filter]
posted by slipthought at 10:30 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

C-SPAN link to the White House briefing. The briefing hasn't started but the stream is live, unlike the official feed.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

It is also critical, however, that national security and criminal investigators be able to overcome encryption, under lawful authority, when necessary to the furtherance
I can haz MeFi thread for thecrypting?

If you want reasonably private digital conversations, use WhatsApp. If you want to be a little more cutting edge and you and your contacts are willing to put up with a more difficult user experience, use Signal. All of this emits metadata, none of it is anonymous, if you want that you'll need to start doing serious research for your exact needs rather than relying on glib lists of software tools.
posted by indubitable at 10:32 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Cspan link live now for briefing
posted by slipthought at 10:32 AM on January 24, 2017

> @mcgregor_ewan Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise @piersmorgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch

Ewan McGregor is a white guy who waves his dick around in the right way: in lots of movies. I will never not commend his full frontal tendencies. Thank you for your service.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:34 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Is CSPAN viewership up? Or am I the only one streaming their videos on my lunch breaks (besides y'all)?
posted by prefpara at 10:34 AM on January 24, 2017

@realDonaldTrump

Signing orders to move forward with the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in the Oval Office.

So the pipelines are going to be built in the Oval Office now? /pedant
posted by zakur at 10:36 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

CSPAN's stream is the way to go if you don't want to become a propaganda viewership tool for the regime and if you want the chance to hear someone whistling "springtime for hitler"
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

rather than relying on glib lists of software tools

Especially given how easy it is to engineer exploitable vulnerabilities when doing manual memory allocation and pointer arithm—oh wait I thought you said glibc
posted by cortex at 10:39 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

I can haz MeFi thread for thecrypting?

If anyone interested is in Boston this Thursday evening, I'll be teaching a class on the basics of securing your devices and communications. Bring your laptops and phones.
posted by Coventry at 10:41 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

And off we go with the presser.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:43 AM on January 24, 2017

Was that Kellyanne Conway sitting to the right of the stage?
posted by Coventry at 10:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

coventry, yes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:44 AM on January 24, 2017

Ewan McGregor is a white guy who waves his dick around in the right way

Obi-Wang.
posted by Artw at 10:45 AM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Here's the part of the presser where Spicer takes up as much time as humanly possible by reading off lists of names.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:45 AM on January 24, 2017

Wait. The energy revolution is gas and oil? Sigh.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:47 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Joint Session of Congress - 2/28.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:50 AM on January 24, 2017

First question goes to Lifezette.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

We are so fucked, part X of a series of X. They have a serious hate on for any kind of reality.

Didn't Canada do the scientist gag thing at some point? How did that work out?
posted by Artw at 10:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Q2 is about the EPA gag. "I don't know that story." Great start, Spicy.
posted by prefpara at 10:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Mealy-Mouth Of Sauron
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:53 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Spicer says they are "looking into" the communications ban from USDA/EPA, because the news was "just breaking" now.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:53 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Q2 is about the EPA gag. "I don't know that story." Great start, Spicy.

"That doesn't look like anything to me."
posted by Artw at 10:53 AM on January 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

Reposting from the deleted post by StrawberryPie:

Reports are coming in that the White House has issued orders banning employees at multiple agencies, including the EPA, USDA, and Health and Human Services (at least) from external communications with the press, public, and (in DHHS's case) even Congress.

I'm not a regular visitor to ProPublica, but they currently have a very appropriate banner link: How To Leak To ProPublica
posted by filthy light thief at 10:54 AM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Kellyanne is going to attend the March for Life on Friday.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:54 AM on January 24, 2017

Spicer says they are "looking into" the communications ban from USDA/EPA, because the news was "just breaking" now.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
posted by INFJ at 10:55 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Spincer says Trump maintains his belief about illegal voters because of evidence presented to him.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:55 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Spicer doubling down on millions of illegal votes based on "studies" and "evidence".

Follow-up: What evidence?

Spicer: He has studies and information

OK that settles it
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:56 AM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Kellyanne is going to attend the March for Live on Friday.

Which will, of course, be open to all living people who want to participate and speak, because that's what they were complaining about yesterday.
posted by Etrigan at 10:56 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Holy shit, when asked if Trump believes 'millions of illegal votes' were cast, he affirmed it due to 'studies and facts that he'd been presented with'.
posted by DynamiteToast at 10:56 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Spicer cites some nonspecific "studies and information" backing up Trump's belief in widespread voter fraud, and repeats "studies and information" when the reporter asks for specifics. Practically jumps to the next question.
posted by Leslie Knope at 10:57 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sean "Sacrificial Lamb" Spicer bleating furiously as the knife of public scrutiny comes bearing down on his throat.
posted by Tevin at 10:57 AM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Spicer says there's a Pew 2008 study that claims 14% of people who vote aren't citizens.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:58 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Spincer says Trump maintains his belief about illegal voters because of evidence presented to him.

"Spincer" may be a typo but it's real close to an appropriate nickname
posted by jason_steakums at 10:58 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Call on Goyal! Save yourself!
posted by slipthought at 10:59 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Kellyanne is going to attend the March for Life on Friday.

Of course she is and she's hoping beyond hope that someone, anyone!, will give her the slightest of hard times about it so she can turn this into a Cause For The Real Oppressed Majority; The Pro-Lifers And Virtuous Women Showing Patriotic Devotion.

Fuck you, Kellyanne!
posted by lydhre at 10:59 AM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

that would be "alternative information", surely.
posted by piyushnz at 10:59 AM on January 24, 2017

Guardian: Sales of George Orwell's 1984 surge after Kellyanne Conway's 'alternative facts'

Comments made by Donald Trump’s adviser have been compared to the classic dystopian novel, pushing it to become the sixth best-selling book on Amazon

posted by ZeusHumms at 11:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

Millions of fraudulent votes, but NBD, it's okay, we won, so next question. [fakeish]
posted by klarck at 11:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

@ananavarro
Trump says 3-5 MM illegals cost him the popular vote. DOJ works for him. Why doesn't he order investigation? Oh, I know. B/c It. Is. A. Lie.
posted by chris24 at 11:00 AM on January 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

Julian Assange says Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning 'to make life hard' for him

img src="grumpycatgood.gif"
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Press going after Spicer HARD on the illegal voters.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

More on that bogus Pew claim.

The likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0.
posted by mochapickle at 11:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Why not investigate [the millions of illegal voters]?

uh, maybe we will. ... Right now the president's focus is on putting Americans to work.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Spicer complains that Senate Democrats are "holding up" the Cabinet nominations, and so they can't do things like start banning Muslims.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Mara Liason: If 3-5M people voted illegally, this is the biggest electoral scandal in American history, why aren't you investigating it?
Spicer: We might; the President has a long-standing belief in this but is focusing on making jobs.

He just only has so much energy to do stuff, guys. Low-energy. Sad.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:03 AM on January 24, 2017 [78 favorites]

Why not investigate [the millions of illegal voters]?

uh, maybe we will. ... Right now the president's focus is on putting Americans to work.

Why are you ignoring the large number of out-of-work hard-boiled gumshoes, Mr. President? We could clear this thing up in a week! Two, if there's sultry dames involved!
posted by Etrigan at 11:04 AM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

This seems appropriate right now: Anonymous Pro-Trump “Fact Checking” Website Is Actually Run By An American In Russia
posted by StrawberryPie at 11:04 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Oh god this Christian News reporter asking about Trump and "Israel leaders"
posted by OverlappingElvis at 11:04 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Journalist asks if DJT will support a "mainstream candidate" for SCOTUS and Spicer actually laughs.
posted by mochapickle at 11:05 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

So if you want the tiniest beacon of hope, I'm getting a lot of 'it feels like 09 again' chatter in the activist circles, lots of people who never protested or joined up are pitching in, and the DSA continues to grow at a rapid rate.

Heartening to know that people do realize the shit has extremely hit the fucking fan and are acting accordingly.
posted by The Whelk at 11:05 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

The White House did not immediately release texts of the orders.

Secret Executive Orders! Oh, boy!

In related news, I think I've decided to just become a functioning alcoholic.
posted by corb at 11:06 AM on January 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

Looking for anything on Fox News about the gag orders, I found nothing, but I did find an opinion piece (only labeled as such in the URL - WTF) in response to my earlier posted link about the Lawsuit Claims Foreign Payments To Trump's Businesses Violate Constitution (NPR Morning Edition, Jan. 24, 2017 - transcript still not up yet)

Gregg Jarrett: The first (and frivolous) lawsuit against President Trump If you’re in the mood for a good chuckle, try reading the first lawsuit filed against the new president since he was sworn in.

Predictably, the plaintiffs are a clique of law professors serving as “arm candy” for a liberal group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (an oxymoron, to be sure). Their pleadings read like a dime novel. Or a comic book.

On the first page, we are warned of a “secret” and “grave threat”. The next sentence escalates it to a “creeping, insidious threat”. Get it? There’s a threat out there. Stephen King may write a book.

But if you can wade through the melodramatic style and tortured syntax, you’ll find the legal arguments oozing with the conceit of pseudo-intellectuals. In other words, they make little sense.

The plaintiffs claim President Donald Trump began violating the “emoluments clause” of the U.S. Constitution the moment he took office because the businesses that bear his name are surely receiving some money from foreign governments, even though he has relinquished management control and elected to donate foreign profits at Trump-owned hotels to the U.S. Treasury. Forget that the revenue derives directly from his businesses, not his high office.

The lawsuit is pure legal folly because the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that these kinds of circumstances do not violate the Constitutional emoluments prohibition. The plaintiffs, for all their academic prowess, manage to define emoluments incorrectly.

What The Hell Is An “Emolument”?

And that is precisely the question: what constitutes an “emolument”? Never heard of it?

Et cetera, etc., etc. "Hoity-toity fake smarties use big words you don't use and claim some nonsense ... except he then spells out what the issue is:

The Framers were concerned that U.S. officials might be seduced by greed to use their office for personal profit, conferring benefits to foreign governments in a quid pro quo scheme for money. So they crafted the “emoluments clause” to prevent other countries from essentially bribing American officials, including the president. But our Founders did not define what is or is not an emolument.

Except you don't need to have it spelled out with _rump's issues - he has his name over properties in other countries, and is continuing to expand his business empire overseas, which makes all that a liability. Oh, but he goes on.

Only when a president uses his office to confer a benefit in exchange for foreign money is he in violation of the Constitution. President Trump has done no such thing. The plaintiffs accuse him of no such conduct.

WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE OWNS AND WHERE, AND WHO HAS PAID HIM. NO IDEA. The best we have is what, tax returns from 1995? Oh, but our President would always be honest and open if we needed to know, right.

Ffffuuuuu.... no more delving into Fox News during my lunch break, or before work. Or after, really.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:07 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I wonder if the press could get Kellyanne Conway to drop quotes from other books to boost sales.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:07 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

"[Jeff Sessions]' record on civil rights is exemplary."

2. serving as a warning
posted by uncleozzy at 11:07 AM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

OK, it was more of a scoff/chortle re: SCOTUS.

SCOFF/CHORTLE 2020
posted by mochapickle at 11:07 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

The other day, Trump sat down with Martin Luther King, Jr. [real, he said this]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

at least he's not running a private email server amirite
posted by entropicamericana at 11:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Spicer: "Just the other day he sat down with Martin Luther King, Jr."

Trump governing by seance, apparently.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Did he just say DJT sat down with MLK, Jr yesterday?
posted by slipthought at 11:08 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

guys the dakota access pipeline will fix the inner cities [real]
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:09 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Spicer keeps saying we're on Day 2. This is an alternative fact because we're on day 5. Five long days.
posted by Brainy at 11:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Spicer: We might; the President has a long-standing belief in this but is focusing on making jobs.

Was this followed up with 'if he is focused on creating jobs, why is there a hiring freeze?'
posted by dinty_moore at 11:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Did he just say DJT sat down with MLK, Jr yesterday?

Yeah. Clearly he meant MLK the 3rd. But the gaffe was shocking.
posted by dis_integration at 11:10 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

But the gaffe was shocking.

Also the complete non-acknowledgement of corrections from the pool.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:11 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

adamgreenfield: We need to start calling this for what it is: a (so-far successful) attempt at "shock and awe."

Related, from Faux News -- Sean Hannity: Trump mounts shock and awe campaign on DC (Opinion)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on January 24, 2017

In the last thread there was a question about if people could or would show up at senator's offices on Tuesdays at noon. I just got back from Senator Toomey's Philadelphia office where there were at least 300 people protesting the nomination of Betsy DeVos. This was the Tuesdays with Toomey group. We've been there every Tuesday for the past two months and this week was by far the largest number of people. The press was there (including the local TV channels). A city councilwoman spoke. People driving by were honking and yelling in support.

So, yes. People do show up.
posted by mcduff at 11:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [57 favorites]

Spicer keeps saying we're on Day 2. This is an alternative fact because we're on day 5. Five long days.

Isn't that because _rump took a vacation this past weekend? And that first day was really a half-day, so let's round down. Ta-da! Two days!
posted by filthy light thief at 11:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

They're going for "shock and awe" but for me it's just "renewing my previously-thought-to-be-depleted reservoir of fucks."
posted by Tevin at 11:13 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Who's the reporter with the Russian accent?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:15 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

"What does that mean for democracy?"

"It means that I've answered your question."

"Have you?"
posted by uncleozzy at 11:16 AM on January 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered in every political thread, but after having a hard time googling the info, I'll ask here again- where can I find out how my representative and senator have voted on everything that they vote on, as they do so? I'd like to be able to articulate what I agree or disagree with on the phone a little bit better than "No! No Trump! Bad!"
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 11:16 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wait.

Trump has said he is going to deport 3 million criminal immigrants.

He's now saying there are 3 million fraudulent immigrant voters.

Is that going to be the mechanism by which he tries to enact the mass deportations?
posted by Tevin at 11:16 AM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Spicer asked if HE believes there was voter fraud. Dismisses the question as irrelevant and quickly moves on.
posted by mochapickle at 11:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

On allegations of voter fraud: "what does that mean for our democracy?"

Spicer: "I've answered your question."

edit: Uncleozzy done it better
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Balltopedia is a pretty exhaustive record of your congresspersons' votes.
posted by Tevin at 11:17 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

also regarding the alleged illegal voters - "Did he really win?" Answer: Yes, because electoral college
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:18 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

BuddhaInABucket: I'm sure this has been asked and answered in every political thread, but after having a hard time googling the info, I'll ask here again- where can I find out how my representative and senator have voted on everything that they vote on, as they do so? I'd like to be able to articulate what I agree or disagree with on the phone a little bit better than "No! No Trump! Bad!"

https://www.govtrack.us
posted by slipthought at 11:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Just now, Molly McKew tweeted something that hits home: "Capturing a nation happens a lot faster than you will ever think possible."
posted by StrawberryPie at 11:19 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

It's like the word "shitweasel" was specifically invented for Spicer.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

"By law, he can't have conflicts."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:23 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Asked about potential business conflicts with the pipeline:

"By law, he can't have conflicts."
posted by mochapickle at 11:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The cognitive dissonance of "3-5 million people voted illegally" and "We're very comfortable with our win" is mind-blowing. Less than 10% of those illegal votes could have turned the Electoral College - by his own premises his win is illegitimate.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

Anything's possible! Nothing means anything! I am the walrus!

Next question.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

He doesn't have conflicts because he can't have conflicts. Nope. No sir-y bob. No conflicts here. Illegal! Can't do it. By law.

next question?
posted by INFJ at 11:25 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yesterday the press was praising Spicer for lying with a little more professional tone than he did Saturday, they must be really impressed with how far he's come on "Day 2".
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:26 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Please, people. Tell me there is something that can be done to stop this administration.
posted by StrawberryPie at 11:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

LOL at the question of if Trump is going to re-fill Guantanamo with bad dudes.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

For folks who were wondering about the "show up at a Senator's office in the middle of the day on a weekday" strategy, just heard there were 125-150 people at Pittsburgh Tuesdays With Toomey today. That's up from 40 last week.
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Spicer is easily rattled. Shame no one in the room is exploiting that yet.
posted by klarck at 11:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

by his own premises his win is illegitimate

He's only capable of one premise at a time. Considering two of them simultaneously is beyond him.
posted by diogenes at 11:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is going poorly, bye.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:28 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

What's the over/under on Spicer making it February?
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:28 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Unless @PressSec provides actual "sources & evidence" that 3 million people voted illegally, you should assume he's talking about InfoWars.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:28 AM on January 24, 2017 [36 favorites]

0XfCAF, they were all in California. Some people say.
posted by waitingtoderail at 11:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Spicer is easily rattled. Shame no one in the room is exploiting that yet.

It'll take a few weeks of this to get him to snap. It is only his ~~fourth~~ second day.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:30 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Unless @PressSec provides actual "sources & evidence" that 3 million people voted illegally, you should assume he's talking ~~about InfoWars.~~ out of his ass.

FTFY.
posted by INFJ at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

My local Congressperson's office didn't appreciate when I asked them what day of the Trump admin we are on. But the intern said day 4. They punted me to the Dept. of Elections for clarification on how many non-citizens voted.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

He's setting up for mass deportation to protect the purity of the nation.

I'm terrified.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think our Democratic Representatives, in a show of cooperation and good faith, should initiate a bipartisan investigation into this massive voter fraud that is so troubling to Trump.
posted by klarck at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [52 favorites]

For folks who were wondering about the "show up at a Senator's office in the middle of the day on a weekday" strategy, just heard there were 125-150 people at Pittsburgh Tuesdays With Toomey today.

Over 100 in my local Rep (Dave Trott, R-White Detroit Suburbs)'s office today.
posted by Etrigan at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

"What's the over/under on Spicer making it February?"

Kellyanne will be up on that podium before Valentine's Day.
posted by Tevin at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

That prenup just became eminently negotiable. It's just that the one thing she can't do is leave while he's in office.

Who among Trump's supporters would change their minds about him if she left him? The evangelicals already supported him despite his being a serial adulterer and sexual offender.
posted by Gelatin at 11:31 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

John Judis: If Trump guts Obamacare, History may Repeat itself -- the Australian Lesson

Charles Pierce: Republicans Offer an Early Glimpse of Our Post-Obamacare World: You're gonna be so free, you're gonna get sick of it.
posted by homunculus at 11:32 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

The next spokesman will be within a month and it will be Stephen Miller. I would bet money on it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:33 AM on January 24, 2017

Oh it's a Steve - OBVIOUSLY he will be next.
posted by Tevin at 11:34 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

> Signing orders to move forward with the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in the Oval Office.

How Trump's White House Is Driving a Wedge in the Pipeline Debate: They're pitting labor against environmentalists.
posted by homunculus at 11:35 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Please, people. Tell me there is something that can be done to stop this administration

Not to be all 'direct mass action' but direct mass action
posted by The Whelk at 11:37 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

CNN getting better.

CNN Breaking News Alert: President Trump believes millions of votes for president were cast illegally, press secretary says without providing evidence for the debunked claim.
posted by chris24 at 11:39 AM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

Environmental protection is labor. It can be hard work sometimes with plenty of blue collar jobs.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:40 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

CNN getting better

Not nearly enough to atone. It never will be.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:41 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Huge red headlines on CNN: Trump believes millions voted illegally, won't provide any proof
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:42 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

All that we've seen since Trump won the Republican primary seals the deal for me: I am now 100% convinced that there's other intelligent life in the universe, but we can't see them because our species has been placed in an opaque quarantine zone lest we infect other races of beings with our madness.

Other species used to check up on us every few years to see if we were ready to be released, but they saw that we kept rewarding the most sociopathic, amoral, and aggressive humans with power, prestige, and treasure, so they've locked the door and left for good.
posted by lord_wolf at 11:42 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Not only did 3 to 5 million illegal aliens vote, every one of them voting for Hillary Clinton: not one was caught! They got away with it. The most brilliant crime in history.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [66 favorites]

And they all voted in states that were already bright blue. Sad.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:45 AM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

BuddhaInABucket: I'm sure this has been asked and answered in every political thread, but after having a hard time googling the info, I'll ask here again- where can I find out how my representative and senator have voted on everything that they vote on, as they do so? I'd like to be able to articulate what I agree or disagree with on the phone a little bit better than "No! No Trump! Bad!"

If you would like to get alerts on your phone about votes cast and/or in progress, two apps I use are Countable and VoteSpotter.
posted by Superplin at 11:46 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Not only did 3 to 5 million illegal aliens vote, every one of them voting for Hillary Clinton: not one was caught!

That's how sneaky she is, like how she murders dozens of people and replaces some of them with replicants.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:48 AM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Environmental protection is labor. It can be hard work sometimes with plenty of blue collar jobs.

Moving to a non carbon infrastructure will employ many millions of people at all levels of skill and ability as well as all the other benefits from a cleaner, greener country. It should be the number one project of a new administration
posted by The Whelk at 11:49 AM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Of all of her terrible campaign tactics, surely the worst was Hilary allocating her millions of fraudulent votes to California and New York, instead of Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:49 AM on January 24, 2017 [79 favorites]

CNN getting better

Not nearly enough to atone. It never will be.

Yeah, but it's like when a shittily done search and rescue mission turns into a recovery mission. At least they're trying to reclaim the body. At least they're trying to fix it going forward, now that the actual real-life consequences are actually happening in real life. Doesn't atone, but if it helps, I'll take it.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:50 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Xom is highly amused!
posted by theodolite at 11:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Donald Trump's stock in Dakota Access oil pipeline raises concerns
posted by cooker girl at 11:51 AM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

@AriMelber Spicer caught between defending POTUS's lie - 3m people "voted illegally" - & defending why Trump admin not investigating those 3m "crimes."

@brianstelter This is an impossible position.

@Lawrence .@brianstelter @AriMelber Only for people who are afraid to quit.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

This is Trump's mental disorder driving the nation. The people that are surrounding him and supporting this are allowing this to happen. This isn't some evil masterminded strategy from Trump. The only strategy may be from the people beside him that are willing to use his disordered motivations for their own ends.

He cannot let it go and is full in narcissistic injury mode right now. Friday did not turn out the way he wanted, the adoring millions did not show up to his party and adore like they should have. The next day millions of WOMEN showed up and the largest protest in US history occurred against him.
This is a narcissists nightmare not some distraction strategy coming from his brain. And now he is doing anything he can to 'prove' to the world that he is as popular as he thinks he should be and using the power of the President to do so.

Utterly and completely pathetic.
posted by Jalliah at 11:52 AM on January 24, 2017 [69 favorites]

Dutch news: minister Ploumen (foreign trade and development cooperation) wants to establish an international fund that undoes the effects of Trump's executive order about abortion and other reproductive health care in developing countries (link in Dutch). According to the article she is talking with a broad coalition of countries, organizations and companies and has already received "signals" of support.
posted by blub at 11:57 AM on January 24, 2017 [101 favorites]

CNN getting better.

CNN Breaking News Alert: President Trump believes millions of votes for president were cast illegally, press secretary says without providing evidence for the debunked claim.

Welp, that's one more respect-kernel for ya there, bringing the total up to... hmm, carry the eight...

Three. *polite clap*
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:57 AM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

The evangelicals already supported him despite his being a serial adulterer and sexual offender.

Neighborhood evangelical here: That's key to understand. Most (and I'm frustrated that I can't say all) people have no grand impressions about the moral stature of the president. The big discussion, both before the election and in response to the women's marches, has been abortion. "Everyone is terrible, but at least one won't kill babies"

This, of course, presents an interesting situation where the Republican party isn't about morals or traditional family values, but is instead simply pro-life. Evan McMullin was a bit of a response to that, but further exploits and/or head-desking are left as an exercise to the reader. I personally took this as a ticket out of traditional conservative politics, because if they don't have morals, what's the draw? "Everyone is terrible, but at least...." works both ways.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:58 AM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

"... minister Ploumen (foreign trade and development cooperation) wants to establish an international fund that undoes the effects of Trump's executive order" – that is so freaking awesome. I hope it happens.
posted by StrawberryPie at 12:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Unless @PressSec provides actual "sources & evidence" that 3 million people voted illegally, you should assume he's talking about InfoWars.

And Alex says that he always has facts/truth to back up his claims.

So lets see the facts of Mr. Jones to back up the 3 mil claim. And the machine elves. Lets see the machine elf facts too!
posted by rough ashlar at 12:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is a narcissists nightmare not some distraction strategy coming from his brain.

Dare I say that from a certain angle I actually feel sorry for him? NO I AM NOT DISPUTING THAT HE DESERVES IT.

From a certain angle I feel sorry for anyone whose worst nightmare is coming true. No matter how much they deserve it.

Of course, millions if not billions of people around the world either have or are about to experience their worst nightmares coming true at his tiny hands, so, I've already spent more than a picosecond on him and I should move on from that.
posted by tel3path at 12:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Everyone is terrible, but at least only one won't kill babies"

Except the new gag rule far exceeds the old one, and will result in lots of people dying because their public health funds are cut off.

Rather than applying the Global Gag Rule exclusively to US assistance for family planning in the developing world, which amounts to about $575 million per year, the Trump memo applies it to “global health assistance furnished by all department or agencies.” In other words, NGOs that distribute bed nets for malaria, provide childhood vaccines, support early childhood nutrition and brain development, run HIV programs, fight ebola or Zika, and much more, must now certify their compliance with the Global Gag Rule or risk losing US funds. According to analysis from PAI, a global health NGO, this impacts over $9 billion of US funds, or about 15 times more than the previous iteration of the Global Gag Rule which only impacted reproductive health assistance.

Yeah, so that's a thing. LOTS more people are going to die, including babies.
posted by suelac at 12:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [63 favorites]

from a certain angle I actually feel sorry for him – he does not deserve sympathy. Not by a long shot. Not by any shot.
posted by StrawberryPie at 12:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

They are weirdly blind to all other forms of baby death.
posted by Artw at 12:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [77 favorites]

I just don't get it about abortion.

Choice is Choice.

I mean, we do honor religious preferences in hospital settings like no blood transfusions for Jahovah's Witnesses. It's okay to hate people based on their choice and you can go about your life judging however you want. But give people options and choice.

No one is going around and advocating we stop all blood transfusions ever.
posted by AlexiaSky at 12:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

The only thing to get about abortion is that it's never about babies, it's about keeping women in their place.
posted by erratic meatsack at 12:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [118 favorites]

Because a blood transfusion ISN'T A BAAAAYYYYYYBBBBEEEEEEE.

Plus it's not about abortion, it's never been about abortion, it's about slut-shaming and controlling women's bodies.
posted by cooker girl at 12:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [33 favorites]

They are weirdly blind to all other forms of baby death. – and adult death too.
posted by StrawberryPie at 12:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

And, in fact, abortion rates go up under the gag rule, because other forms of contraception are taken away:
Earlier research also suggests abortion rates will rise. A 20-country study by the Stanford University School of Medicine, published by the WHO in 2011, found that abortion rates actually went up 40% the last time the gag rule was in place, under President George W. Bush. In countries most heavily affected by the policy, contraceptive use dropped, and a woman’s odds of having an unsafe abortion were more than two times higher after the policy went into effect.

Link.
posted by suelac at 12:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

it's about slut-shaming and controlling women's bodies.

That, really, is the absolute truth at the heart of it.
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

They are weirdly blind to all other forms of baby death.

Because God decided that baby should die. socioeconomic status of the baby's parents are irrelevant. When God decides it, it's ok.
posted by INFJ at 12:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

This just in: NIH has also received a similar gag order. (C.f. this post from upstream.)
posted by StrawberryPie at 12:10 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

When God decides it, it's ok.

And their God apparently wasn't responsible for the development of obstetrics or the invention of the curette or mifepristone or or or.

It's like these people have never heard the "I sent you a rowboat" parable.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:11 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Tennesee managed to convict a woman for trying to cause a miscarriage with a coat hanger.

Welcome to TOG's America.
posted by Talez at 12:11 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate

--@BadlandsNPS

One brave NPS employee!
posted by zachlipton at 12:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [69 favorites]

I have relatives that justify it by saying that by simply allowing others to do have abortions they are committing sin by standing by and not trying to stop it. They are also free-market health care, pro-death penalty and never met a war they didn't like.
posted by cmfletcher at 12:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Plus it's not about abortion, it's never been about abortion, it's about slut-shaming and controlling women's bodies.

If you want a glimpse into this mindset, read this article by Matt Walsh about the women's march.

Please do not read if you are holding a sharp object, and there are people nearby you do not like.
posted by slipthought at 12:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

it's about slut-shaming and controlling women's bodies.

That, really, is the absolute truth at the heart of it.

It's about taking the emotions that underline these actions and using them to rally, energize, and engage their base. Everything that they do leads to this. That's why transgender rights in schools became a hot button issue. It's very easy to mischaracterize and get people fired up over them, on all sides.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The problem with Dianne Feinstein is she has so much institutional support you'd have to be crazy to run against her, as demonstrated by the last time anyone ran against Dianne Feinstein.

Isn't this what a lot of establishment Republicans thought before the Tea Party made a career out of primarying anyone who wasn't a hard-right true believer? Why can't we do the same? We don't have to win every single one to be a credible threat and to make Democratic lawmakers a little more scared of pissing off their base. And we have a couple of years in Feinstein's case.
posted by en forme de poire at 12:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

(I also suspect the base is particularly angry right now in a way that it wasn't the last time Feinstein ran.)
posted by en forme de poire at 12:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I understand and respect the concept that some or all abortion is 'murder'. There's a line to be drawn somewhere between

(this is not human life) | (this is human life)

and if one genuinely believes that, say, a third-trimester, viable fetus should not be aborted except if the mother's life or health is at stake -- I think that is a reasonable position, one which many people in both parties take. In fact, I think that is basically Hillary Clinton's position....

But what gives the lie to supposedly single-issue pro-life Republican voters is:

--One can be pro-life and also be a Democrat. One can even be a Democratic elected official and be pro-life (cf. Harry Reid)

and

--for at least the last 20 years, the abortion rate has gone down faster under Democratic administrations than Republican ones.

"I'm a single-issue pro-life voter" is a bullshit red herring. It is the moral cover for a seething mass of resentment and hatred and racism and misogyny and xenophobia and whatever else is lurking in the id of these people.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [32 favorites]

and if one genuinely believes that, say, a third-trimester, viable fetus should not be aborted except if the mother's life or health is at stake -- I think that is a reasonable position,

Viable third trimester fetuses are not aborted, ever.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [74 favorites]

Anyone who's "pro-life" should be fighting hard against the defunding and shackling of the EPA and elimination of environmental regulations, considering the impact pollution has on infant mortality. I wonder how many times that's going to be brought up at the March for Life?
posted by skymt at 12:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

"I'm a single-issue pro-life voter" is a bullshit red herring. It is the moral cover for a seething mass of resentment and hatred and racism and misogyny and xenophobia and whatever else is lurking in the id of these people.

Ah, but you forget that outcomes are meaningless compared to What's Truly In Your Heart™.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 12:18 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Progressives launch Justice Democrats from the Washington Post.

Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks video network that has become virally popular among progressive voters, is launching a project called Justice Democrats to defeat members of the Democratic Party who have cast votes seen as unacceptable.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 12:18 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Seems like as good a time as any to break out that old chestnut about voter fraud, commenter CrunchyFrog on Lawyers, Guns & Money on GOP accusations of voter fraud:

Regarding the black voter busing scheme. Let’s think about this logically (not possible for the GOP, I know, but bear with me). If I were running such a scheme what would I have to do to make an effective dent in the results? As a starting point, a lot of Colorado wingnuts think that Obama won there in 2012 by cheating. He won by 138k votes, so let’s use 140k votes as a starting point. So let’s say I have a bus full of black voters – say 66 people (common capacity limit on school buses). So if every bus is filled to near capacity that’s about 2200 bus-visits to the polling stations. How many polling stations can a given bus hit in a day? Well, your typical precinct has 2-3 people checking voters in and each one processes about 2 per minute, so that’s over 30 minutes just to check in (of course there will be other voters, too), plus time to drive between precincts. Seriously, if you are counting on more than 10 precincts per bus per day you’re going to be disappointed. So that’s 220 buses chartered for the day, and a total of about 14k fraudulent voters.

Holy freaking crap. The logistical problems of arranging that many fraudulent voters, ALL of whom are risking felony sentences and NONE of whom have ever talked about it to anyone. Now plan to arrange for 140k fake registrations using the matching photos for each person and arrange it so that the manager of each bus makes sure that every voter gets the exact fake ID for each precinct. And NO MISTAKES – remember no one has ever been caught doing this because Democrats, who are inept in government, are utter geniuses when it comes to vote fraud. So that means there NEVER can be a situation where a fake voter encounters a registrar who says “Hey, I live on that street, I’ve never seen you” or similar.

By the way, the absolutely easiest logistical part of this scheme is arranging for photo ID. Assuming you have that many people willing to commit felonies for whatever you are paying them and have arranged everything else in detail, getting fake photo IDs for them is simple and routine. So photo ID laws do absolutely jack shit to stop massive vote fraud – but of course that wasn’t their real intention, was it?

posted by Mayor West at 12:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

As much as people like to brand her as Republican-lite, Sen. Gillibrand is the only Dem to vote against all of Trump's nominees thus far.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [46 favorites]

CNN Mattis goes where Trump won't: US-NATO bond 'unshakeable'

Newly confirmed Defense Secretary James Mattis sent a strong signal of support to NATO on Monday, reaching out to three critical alliance partners and saying the US had an "'unshakeable commitment to NATO."

Mattis -- whose embrace of NATO differs from comments made by President Donald Trump -- made his first official calls to Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg and to his counterparts from two key NATO allies, UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon and Canadian Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan.
According to the Pentagon's official readout, Mattis in his conversation with Fallon "emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about Mattis' comments at the press briefing Tuesday.
"The President is very clear that as it's structured now, in terms of the output of NATO, he doesn't feel as though it's doing what its mission was set up to do or that it's being particularly effective," Spicer said.
posted by Jalliah at 12:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump assembles a shadow Cabinet
posted by StrawberryPie at 12:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

They are weirdly blind to all other forms of baby death.

Babies that are still in the womb. As soon as they emerge they have sinned and are eligible for immediate death.

Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks video network that has become virally popular among progressive voters, is launching a project called Justice Democrats to defeat members of the Democratic Party who have cast votes seen as unacceptable.

Primaries might be the only places we progressives win victories for the next few years so might as well do that while we can. We can celebrate progressive primary victories and then wail as the Republicans trounce us again and again. At least we'll be able to keep ourselves warm at night with the thoughts of those primary victories though.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Not that centrists have a better chance of winning mind you.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:34 PM on January 24, 2017

Sen. Gillibrand is the only Dem to vote against all of Trump's nominees

Which, I know I should just go ahead and turn off my shock collar before I go into uncontrollable seizures and all, but this really is quite shocking.

I can't believe that of all the fairly liberal Senators in deeply blue states, just one of them was like,

"Hmm, probably it would be good for the country and potentially also my political brand for me to oppose every one of these incompetent, corrupt, extremist fucks that Trump is putting up to head crucial public services.

"Maybe I should go ahead and vote 'No' across the board, knowing that my vote will be irrelevant today but that it will enable me to hold my head up in public ten years from now, if we are not all obliterated by a nuclear catastrophe, or killed in a civil war.

But no.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

I understand and respect the concept that some or all abortion is 'murder'.

There is a difference between killing and murder. A pretty big one. Without regard to when in gestation a human life is in being.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Gillibrand isn't even that liberal. When she was representing upstate, she was fairly NRA-friendly.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump assembles a shadow Cabinet

Bannon and Kushner are the real cabinet, and the gag orders show they're planning to run the entire country out of Bannon's office. The actual appointees are patronage and window dressing, the real decisions are all coming from behind the alt-right curtain.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump to hang photo of inauguration crowd in front of White House reporters

A panoramic photo of Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd will hang in the West Wing, the president announced Tuesday afternoon on Twitter, where reporters skeptical of his “unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout” will see it every day.

...The photo, posted to Twitter by Trump, incorrectly lists the date of his inauguration as Jan. 21, 2017, instead of Jan. 20. The Women’s March on Washington, believed to have drawn a significantly larger crowd than Trump’s inauguration, was held on Jan. 21.

Petty petty insecure little man.
posted by futz at 12:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

The Dem infrastructure bill is probably an attempt to do at least one of the following:

1. If Congress says "no" but Trump wants it, it drives a wedge between Trump and Congressional GOP
2. if Trump says "no", demonstrate that Trump's talk about infrastructure was not serious.
3. if both Congress and Trump say "yes", maybe actually build some stuff

It is possible that they are not fighting appointments too hard because allowing the appointments gives them the appearance of being willing to work with Trump, which is a prereq for any of the goals listed above.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

There is a difference between killing and murder. A pretty big one. Without regard to when in gestation a human life is in being.

I am not arguing a pro-life position, just FYI. I am merely pointing out my frustration that even an immanent critique of the pro-life movement demonstrates that people who are single-issue pro-life voters can (probably, should) support Democratic Party policies, and that they're being blockheaded fuckwit hypocrites if they continue to insist that they can't.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:38 PM on January 24, 2017

Meanwhile, in California, Brown throws down the motherfucking gauntlet, DC asswipes.
posted by yoga at 12:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

It is possible that they are not fighting appointments too hard because allowing the appointments gives them the appearance of being willing to work with Trump, which is a prereq for any of the goals listed above.

The minute McCain and Rubio caved on Tillerson every democratic party vote was irrelevant. I'm not happy on the YEAs but I understand why you'd have to punt on this one.
posted by cmfletcher at 12:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

i, for one, welcome our suede/denim overlords
posted by entropicamericana at 12:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

One deleted. Probably we should either not link at all, or at least label, Breitbart links.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

> @AriMelber Spicer caught between defending POTUS's lie - 3m people "voted illegally" - & defending why Trump admin not investigating those 3m "crimes."

@brianstelter This is an impossible position.

@Lawrence .@brianstelter @AriMelber Only for people who are afraid to quit.

Some Things Used to Be Bigger Than Keeping Your Job. Now we'll see if Sean Spicer keeps his.
posted by homunculus at 12:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

We don't have to win every single one to be a credible threat and to make Democratic lawmakers a little more scared of pissing off their base.

As Jerry Brown made clear, California's politicians are going to stake out positions that require some degree of courage, and the backing of those representing the state in Congress. Kamala Harris seems up for that challenge. Somebody needs to ask Dianne Feinstein if she is.
posted by holgate at 12:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Well look. Civil war starts today. That didn't take long.

Ryan: ‘No evidence’ of mass voter fraud as Trump claimed

House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated Tuesday that he’s seen “no evidence” of rampant voter fraud during the 2016 election.

The Wisconsin Republican’s remarks came one day after President Donald Trump told Ryan and other congressional leaders during a private White House meeting that he lost the popular vote only because 3 million to 5 million “illegals” voted.

“I’ve seen no evidence to that effect. I’ve made that very, very clear,” Ryan told reporters at the Capitol, reiterating his position on Trump’s claim of mass voter fraud.
posted by Jalliah at 12:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [52 favorites]

Can we please, please reclaim "pro-life"? Because if you're overturning the ACA and defunding Planned Parenthood, women are going to die of totally preventable cases of cervical cancer. They are going to kill. women. The people who want to defund Planned Parenthood are not pro-life. The real pro-life people are the ones fighting to ensure access to life-saving preventative services.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 12:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [79 favorites]

Pro-Tip: Gillibrand will be the nominee in 2020.

She's basically Clinton without 30+ years of Republican mudslinging. Being center-left on a variety of issues certainly won't hurt her.
posted by vuron at 12:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Primaries might be the only places we progressives win victories for the next few years

Why?
posted by Coventry at 12:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump assembles a shadow Cabinet

I knew them as the kids in short pants.

I've said this privately to my friends inside the fence now, but it bears repeating here, publicly: this is about survival, and taking the small wins. And most importantly, remembering who you are, because there will be an afterwards too.
posted by bonehead at 12:56 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The minute McCain and Rubio caved on Tillerson every democratic party vote was irrelevant.

Apparently Greenpeace found Rubio's spine and spent most of yesterday trying to give it back to him.
posted by bonehead at 1:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

My boss gave me permission to leave early today to attend a "Stop Trump's Swamp Cabinet" rally at my representative's office. I've got a 16x20" blank sign to write on. Any suggestions for Mimi Walters, (R-CA) of the 45th district?
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 1:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Gillibrand is a perfect example of why the fight to get better Dems isn't just primary threats but working to change hearts and minds in towns and cities in their districts. We don't just have a candidate problem, we have a constituency problem, because we ceded the local and state level fights to the Republicans in too many places and haven't nurtured a Dem narrative there, which is how you get DINOs. From her Wikipedia page:

A member of the Democratic Party's relatively conservative Blue Dog faction while in the House, Gillibrand has been seen as a progressive since her appointment to the Senate. In both cases, her views were significantly defined by the respective constituency she served at the time[1]—a conservative congressional district versus the generally liberal state of New York. For example, while quiet on the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy when she was in the House, during her first 18 months in the Senate, Gillibrand was an important part of the successful campaign to repeal it.[2]

Disappointing politicians come around when they feel the heat from below, and while the threat of primarying is a legit tool to use where it's not likely to set us back further, there are a LOT of other tools in the box. I understand the drive behind things like Justice Democrats but getting tunnel vision for primary fights is reckless and gets you a hollow moral victory at the expense of an electoral victory. The effort needs even more focus on changing the local atmosphere which will change the representative's votes and not require a nasty primary, more than primarying this is what the Tea Party did that worked. Primarying is the stick but we've got to plant some carrots too.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

That seems really specific both in scope and for the target (NIH vs HHS).

It's also entirely possible that they actually don't know which agency is responsible for implementing the ACA
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is an important detail. Trump has been signing executive orders, but then the White House has refused to release their content until some time later. This puts all the initial press converage on the White House's terms, because all reporters know is what they're told until they can actually read the thing for themselves ("why not wait to report it until they get a copy?" one might ask).

As far as why this matters, look at the global gag rule. It was initially reported that it was a reinstatement of the Bush-era rule. In reality, it goes much farther. The rule used to apply only to NGOs that received US family planning funds. Now it applies to NGOs that receive any kind of health-related funding from any US agency, meaning that it could impact a much larger pool of organizations: an organization that takes US funds for Malaria prevention would be subject to the rule now too.

But this wasn't reported, because reporters didn't actually have a copy of the order to read until after they put the story out.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [62 favorites]

Can we please, please reclaim "pro-life"?

There's a longer conversation here (which I'm happy to have over MeFi Mail with anyone who's interested, instead of potentially derailing whatever election threads are about now), but that's not at all a bad approach to take with churches.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

INFJ: Piers Morgan said in response that Ewan was "Just an actor" so his opinion isn't ~~valid~~ a big deal.

Oh shit, Piers Morgan is a terrible person (more on the exchange from The Daily Beast). I mean, I had an inkling before, but I'm pretty solid boycotting this ass-hat.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I didn't like him before, but my only exposure to him was on America's Got Talent. I figured he was trying to invoke Simon Cowell (of American Idol) and considered it might be an act.

I even gave him a small "surely this is a joke" inclination over the tweet about the March.. but then I read more into it and decided I was right all along and he's just an ugly soul.
posted by INFJ at 1:15 PM on January 24, 2017

Woof. Pat Toomey's tone-deaf Facebook posting (yay sportsball let's talk about sportsballs instead of literally anything else!) is not getting him fans. People letting him absolutely have it in the comments (not like they will ever be read). Many references to his office phones being turned off, his voicemail being full and never emptied and people getting locked out when they show up in person to deliver letters. This is some Tea Party Tactics realness that is happening. Stay the course.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

Primaries might be the only places we progressives win victories for the next few years

Why?

jason_steakums succintly touches on one major reason.

Other reasons include gerrymandering, voter suppression, well funded disinformation campaigns, flight of the left from red states and Democratic in-fighting. This is why I don't think centrist democrats can really win either. It seems like we're moving into a cycle where the center and the left are both going to refuse to work together thus ceding the victories to the Trumps and LaPages of the world.

Honestly, I'd love to have a ton of true blue lefties in office, but I'll vote for whomever I think will support more good things than bad things. I'll vote for Gillibrand over Trump. I'll vote for Schumer over Trump. I'll even vote for Gabbard over Trump and she's a bit of a chaotic neutral shapeshifter.

As always, I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think progressives will be seeing many election victories because I don't think any Democrats will be seeing many election victories. Not until things get plague level bad and even then I think a revolution to install an even truer conservative is more likely.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:18 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Elixabeth Warren just backed Carson for HUD and I feel like I'm living in bizarro world
posted by windbox at 1:18 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

With the freezes they are putting in place, it seems like the departments are being held hostage until they get the confirmations.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Elixabeth Warren just backed Carson for HUD and I feel like I'm living in bizarro world

It is, of course, entirely possible that the 4chanski army has kompromat (or other leverage) on a lot more people than just (allegedly) Trump.

And I wish that sounded as paranoid as it should back in the old reality-making-sense days.
posted by Buntix at 1:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Now I understand why Trump is so afraid of illegal aliens: they have the power to turn invisible.

This is the only explanation for how they sneaked into those voting booths or how they managed to celebrate 9/11 on New Jersey rooftops without anyone other than those possessing Trump-vision from seeing them.

And then they tried to make amends by appearing at his inauguration but no one else had the special glasses to see.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

HHS covers every public health department in the United States.
For example an outbreak of measles could literally be suppressed from the news.
posted by AlexiaSky at 1:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

soren_lorensen: With the freezes they are putting in place, it seems like the departments are being held hostage until they get the confirmations.

Why resume after confirmations? It sounds like another ploy to "make government small enough you can drown it in the bathtub."
posted by filthy light thief at 1:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

CORRECTION: In a statement issued earlier, we claimed the President had a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. We meant "Martin Luther. The White House press office regrets the error and any insult to the author of the 95 Theses, which President Trump consider an inspiration." [real tweet, fake statement]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:26 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Let's be clear, when there aren't GOP "no" votes to block a nominee, the Democratic votes are purely symbolic. After eight years of Republicans voting against literally anything Obama was for, Democrats are going to need to be very careful to not have that turned around against them, even though it's unfair.

Remember that even symbolic votes can be used against you. When Obama was having his debt ceiling fight with Congress, Senator Obama's symbolic vote against the debt ceiling raise during the GWB administration was the front and center evidence of him being a hypocrite, even though that was unfair.

Democrats are going to need to approach the 2018 elections with "We tried to work together with Republicans and they still wouldn't adopt our cool ideas". Does it matter either way which way Warren votes on Carson? No. Would a symbolic "no" vote help accomplish anything concrete, even though it could harm her or other Democrats down the line? No, even though that's unfair.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Democrats are going to need to be very careful to not have that turned around against them, even though it's unfair.

This is normalizing.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:29 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Welp, that's one more respect-kernel for ya there, bringing the total up to... hmm, carry the eight...

Three. *polite clap*

Oh come on now you're just handing them out
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:30 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

You call it normalizing, I call it giving a fuck about winning some elections instead of continuing the purity purge.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:31 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump reportedly wants to fire Sean Spicer because he doesn’t like the way he dresses

Boy does this have a ring of truth to it
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

A guy who scotch tapes his improperly tied ties should not be critiquing how anyone else dresses.
posted by zachlipton at 1:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [29 favorites]

Democrats are going to need to be very careful to not have that turned around against them, even though it's unfair.

Which is why the Republicans faced great opposition in light of their obstructionism over the last eight years, seriously crippling them.

Oh. Wait.
posted by dinty_moore at 1:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

You call it normalizing, I call it giving a fuck about winning some elections

There's no evidence that playing nice will do that, and all the evidence in the world that it won't.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Democrats are going to need to approach the 2018 elections with "We tried to work together with Republicans and they still wouldn't adopt our cool ideas".

Given recent history, that seems like an optimistic take on the likely tenor of the 2018 elections.
posted by diogenes at 1:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Elizabeth Warren just backed Carson for HUD and I feel like I'm living in bizarro world

Things are crummy enough right now that I'm continually hoping for incompetence instead of malice. The fact that Rick Perry said he regretted calling for the elimination of the Energy Department was enough for me to cling to a scrap of hope that he wouldn't be the absolute worst possible person for the position, unlike some other nominees I can think of. Carson, for me, falls in the same boat. And I hate it.
posted by redsparkler at 1:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

guys im sure if we just work with the nazis they will be reasonable
posted by entropicamericana at 1:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [33 favorites]

Democrats are going to need to approach the 2018 elections with "We tried to work together with Republicans and they still wouldn't adopt our cool ideas".

Really? Past precedent suggests that "block everything, own nothing, and run on 'kick the bums out'" gets results. You fight elections with the electorate you have, not the one you wish was there.
posted by holgate at 1:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

History suggests appeasement isn't a great election strategy. Ask the Lib-dems in the UK, Labour in Scotland, and there was that Tory way back in WWII.

They may think they are playing n-dimensional chess, but the increasingly angry populace is going to look at those votes and see 'collaborator' not cunning.
posted by Buntix at 1:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

NOW ON C-SPAN 1
U.S. House Votes on Abortion Funding Ban

The House is voting on H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which would prohibit federal funding of abortions and ban abortion coverage from subsidized federal health care plans. [REAL]
posted by argonauta at 1:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump reportedly wants to fire Sean Spicer because he doesn’t like the way he dresses

Boy does this have a ring of truth to it

Well hey if he keeps going through press secretaries in 4 days that's over 270 new American jobs over 4 years.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Trump is pretty much guaranteed to be a 1 term President.

He's already facing ridiculous levels on unpopularity and at the grassroots people are fired up and engaged to a crazy level.

He's made promises to Rust Belt voters that he simply cannot keep. The 40 dollar an hour blue collar manufacturing jobs won't come back regardless of how much he sabre rattles on trade protectionism.

ACA repeal and trying to block grant Medicaid is already facing massive levels of backlash and that's before all the down stream effects start rolling in.

30 Million people losing insurance
Individual Insurance Marketplace becoming nonviable
Rural hospitals facing a sea of red ink as previously insured patients go without
Silly levels of job losses in the medical industry

Yes the electoral college functions as a form of gerrymander on the election of the President but even then it can't undo massive levels of unpopularity. Keep in mind that Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania all were turned red by the slightest margins.

Factor in the inevitable demographic changes where old white people are dying off at a much higher that replacement rate and an increasing number of young tolerant PoC are coming into voting age and are extremely engaged.

I think that's why the Republicans are just going over the top with the stupid unpopular shit. They figured that the shock and demoralization of November 8th would last longer and they could push through their agenda in the first 100 days and then try to weather the storm. But Trump's amazing level of narcissism and the rapid recovery of people in the grassroots left are forcing them to step up their timeline. They have a ACA repeal strategy but nothing resembling a ACA replacement strategy and taking away people's stuff is a guaranteed election loser.
posted by vuron at 1:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [36 favorites]

AlexiaSky: For example an outbreak of measles could literally be suppressed from the news.

I think the things that could be more reasonably blocked are useful research. News of major illnesses will come from many fronts, because lots of people will be sick. Instead, I think this will prevent any research that could hinder businesses from being published and strongly support the right's anti-science agenda and "alternative facts." Science and reality is inconvenient to the right, because fear and hatred don't come from an understanding of facts and figures.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I do kind of feel like when Trump nominates an oblivious doof instead of a shrieking avatar of pure malice a vote in favor of confirmation is excusable
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

I'm actually down with pragmatism that's actually pragmatic. Dems seem to be enamored with some kind of pretend pragmatism that is something else though.
posted by Artw at 1:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

guys im sure if we just work with the nazis they will be reasonable

History suggests appeasement isn't a great election strategy.

I hate mayonnaise Nazis.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Democrats are going to need to approach the 2018 elections with "We tried to work together with Republicans and they still wouldn't adopt our cool ideas".

Really? Past precedent suggests that "block everything, own nothing, and run on 'kick the bums out'" gets results. You fight elections with the electorate you have, not the one you wish was there.

Compare: 8 years of Obama olive branches vs. results of 8 years of Republican obstruction.

Obstruction wins. Norms don't matter. Stand for something, and don't compromise it. 4 more years of white papers isn't going to win any more than Hilary's mountain of policy documents no one read or covered did.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

guys, why the fuck does he scotch tape his ties, anyway
posted by angrycat at 1:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's that peevish/fussy streak. The stupid end of the tie won't obey His Silent Will.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump is pretty much guaranteed to be a 1 term President.

People said the same thing about Bush. And it looked like it might be the case, too--until 9/11 happened.
posted by joedan at 1:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Metafilter: shrieking avatar of pure malice
posted by Tevin at 1:42 PM on January 24, 2017

guys, why the fuck does he scotch tape his ties, anyway

Because he sucks and is ridiculous.
posted by danielleh at 1:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [36 favorites]

Scotch tape!

He tapes the back of the tie to the front because he is a UNIFYING president.
posted by mochapickle at 1:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

guys, why the fuck does he scotch tape his ties, anyway

he's a secret dilbert
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:46 PM on January 24, 2017

Trump is pretty much guaranteed to be a 1 term President.

My money is on him being a 6 to 8 month president. At that point the title will be questionable as U.S. America won't still be extant by any current definition. He may well still be in charge. [fake, hopefullyfake,yejeffsletitbefake]
posted by Buntix at 1:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

NIH Bear has something to say.
posted by pxe2000 at 1:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm a pretty staunch defender of pragmatism and opposed to purity trolling, but I see no value in any Democrat voting to confirm any Trump nominee. Putting your personal stamp of approval on these jamokes isn't worth the infinitesimal chance that GOP voters reward you for your comity and good faith, norms that were eviscerated before the 115th Congress started and don't seem like they're coming back. Let the administration own the administration's failures.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

Spicer should upgrade to a gold lame suit. Dear Leader LIKES gold, right? What could be classier?
posted by rough ashlar at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

guys, why the fuck does he scotch tape his ties, anyway

So when you tie a tie, there's normally a little loop (the "keeper loop") on the back of the big end that holds the small end in place. Trump ties his ties so long that the small end is too high to actually fit into the loop. See this picture. So it would flap around unless he holds the two ends together somehow. He's chosen to use scotch tape for the job.

None of this would be necessary if he didn't tie his ties so ridiculously long.
posted by zachlipton at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

There's a horrifying science fiction story to be had in the Sean Spicer debacle: the aliens have taken over Trump's brain, controlling him through applications of his mind-altering orange tanner. Now his press secretary has been similarly controlled, forced to don the tanner and Trump businesswear. Next the party apparatchiks will be ordered into the tanning booth. Soon it will become a sign of allegiance to Dear Leader. Only the pasty-faced nerds, traveling under cover of darkness, remain free!
posted by Soliloquy at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump is pretty much guaranteed to

~~drop out of the race in a week.~~

~~lose all the primaries.~~

~~lose the race for delegates.~~

~~lose the nomination thanks to #NeverTrump.~~

~~moderate his positions as he pivots to the general election.~~

~~lose the election in a landslide because of his unacceptable views.~~

~~lose the election because of his unacceptable views.~~

~~moderate his positions as he pivots to the transition.~~

~~moderate his positions as he becomes changed by the presidency.~~

be a 1 term President.

Is this where we are now? Isn't it time to stop bargaining and fight for every inch?

posted by stopgap at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [110 favorites]

A guy who scotch tapes his improperly tied ties should not be critiquing how anyone else dresses.

Or who can't even tie his cheap-ass ties the right length or button his suit when he's standing.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Really? Past precedent suggests that "block everything, own nothing, and run on 'kick the bums out'" gets results.

What results? No appointments will be blocked no matter how Dems vote. The GOP had enough legislators that their obstruction actually worked. If you want anything approaching "results" from the Dems, they need to find a way to do something other than cast futile votes in opposition to the majority. And that comes from exploiting cracks in the GOP coalition... like their infrastructure bill does.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

So if Spicer goes, does Conway take his place? IIRC she's who he wanted anyways. Either that or Donnie says fuck it, I want to yell at the press myself so I'll do it.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:49 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm banking on "uses a terrorist attack to suspend the Constitution via executive order and declare martial law", myself
posted by Automocar at 1:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I mean, who would stop him, Congressional Republicans
posted by Automocar at 1:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

238-183:House passes ban on taxpayer funding of abortion & abortion coverage from subsidized Obamacare plans on near partyline vote, 3Ds Yes.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:52 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I mean, who would stop him, Congressional Republicans

dianne feinstein [hollow laughter]
posted by entropicamericana at 1:52 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

redsparkler: Things are crummy enough right now that I'm continually hoping for incompetence instead of malice. The fact that Rick Perry said he regretted calling for the elimination of the Energy Department was enough for me to cling to a scrap of hope that he wouldn't be the absolute worst possible person for the position, unlike some other nominees I can think of.

I have some terrible news for you, then. It appears that Rick Perry is unlikely to be confirmed for DoE . Along with Ryan Zinke for DoI. See, Zinke has gone against the party line of ending everything related to climate change, so he's no longer suitable for the position. Likewise--reading between the lines--Rick Perry's sudden reluctance to gut the DoE suggests that, well, he's just not destructive and insane enough.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is this where we are now? Isn't it time to stop bargaining and fight for every inch?

It's possibly time to recognise that when black swans appear they immediately start fucking like rabbits.

Giant fucking evil fucking swan-rabbits: who, in a population explosion quickly run out of their own to fuck in some sort of runaway mathematical mind-fuck and break the fifth wall and start fucking all of us. Repeatedly and unto fucking eternity.

Also time for an international not-an-actual-fucking-fascist solidarity movement.
posted by Buntix at 1:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

What results?

Democrats had 60 seats in 2009. Republicans broke democracy to oppose everything they and Obama wanted to do. They won back the House in 2010 off that obstruction, and the Senate in 2014. They got results not by playing nice with Democrats and offering reasoned policy improvement and alternatives, but opposing everything to the point of complete ridiculousness, and were rewarded every, single, time, despite every sane political observer droning on over how much it would hurt them in the electorate. It didn't. Obstruction wins. Compromise loses. Sound policy loses if that's what you're running on.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [43 favorites]

Progressives/Democrats run on getting things done. This is a central thesis of the left that government can make people's lives better.

In contrast Conservatives/Republicans run on the premise that government is fundamentally corrupt (with some possible exceptions like Defense and Law Enforcement) and that the private sector can always do a better job.

It's a lot easier to defend the status quo with obstructionism. Which is why the legislative filibuster is such an important tool for both parties. Could the Democrats just try to block vote against every nominee? Possibly but it weakens their position for future fights.

Fighting the overreach of the executive branch is primarily going to happen in the courts. Trump will pass a variety of executive orders and judges will block some and others will stick around until the next Democratic President and then be replaced. That and basically every career bureaucrat in most departments will go into obstructionism mode and all the incompetent figureheads at the Secretary level will get virtually nothing done.

Shit sucks but it's how the game is played. The real wild card is Trump who is very unpredictable and is acting atypical for a Republican administration (with the exception of Nixon under the precepts of the unitary executive). Currently it seems like he's more concerned with picking public fights with his critics and less concerned with governance.
posted by vuron at 2:00 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Thread on possible/likely Muslim Ban E.O. to come:: weds fun? presently being vetted at DHS: the EOs ending Syrian refugee program and a suspension of Muslim majority country visas

2. DHS was also asked to determine whether ending entire refugee program doable and favoring religious minorities in revamp.

3. Nothing definite but consistent with platform. Cruel and ineffective. That's the Trump doctrine. Terror level also just went up I suspect

4. These were all in the range of proposals but far enough along for me to know about.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

> Could the Democrats just try to block vote against every nominee? Possibly but it weakens their position for future fights.

When did GOP obstructionism now prevent them from obstructing later? When did voters tire of GOP obstructionism and throw them out? I used to think the exact same way you do, but I was wrong then, and you are wrong now. New shit has come to light, man. McConnell-ism works, and as much as I want my team to be the ones who do things the right way, I'm tired of having our assess kicked time and time again, with the horrifying results that we now see every day in the gory details of these threads.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Does Donnie not know double-sided tape exists?
posted by INFJ at 2:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Double-sided tape is more expensive than whatever tape he has in his knick-knack drawer.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

The twitter account for Badlands National Park has gone rogue in defiance of the Trump gag orders

Unfortunately, some social media manager is about to lose their job, but what a blaze of glory.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:10 PM on January 24, 2017 [73 favorites]

FWIW, the Badlands people are still tweeting in defiance of Trump's order.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:11 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

So if Spicer goes, does Conway take his place? IIRC she's who he wanted anyways. Either that or Donnie says fuck it, I want to yell at the press myself so I'll do it.

Conway might be given the go ahead but if it's looks and production values he's after I'm not sure she'll last long. I don't give a shit what she looks like but from his type of perspective she's been looking more harried and tired as time goes on. I don't think Donald likes older looking women all that much.

He's probably going to try to find someone 'youthful and his type of acceptable manly or youthful woman and his type blond'. (Ivanka type)

I also don't think that his complaints about Spicer are only based on his looks. Donald likes to be in control and in the spotlight. It wouldn't surprise me at all that he'll tell everyone to screw off and that he's the only one who can do it right.
posted by Jalliah at 2:13 PM on January 24, 2017

Does it matter either way which way Warren votes on Carson?

Yes?
posted by zutalors! at 2:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

@mcgregor_ewan Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise @piersmorgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch

FYI: Piers Morgan has posted at least 72 tweets about Ewan McGregor refusing to go on TV. He followed it up with boasting about how many followers he has. Of course, given how few re-tweets and favorites Piers has on any of his messages, I'm going to guess that most of his 5.4 million followers are fake.

What a sad sack of shit.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

WATCH: The only thing you need to watch about POTUS' voter fraud claims is this intro by @jaketapper -- please share far and wide.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

Progressives/Democrats run on getting things done. This is a central thesis of the left that government can make people's lives better.

Most Americans since the days of Reagan have adopted the doublethink that "less government is better" but that being personally affected by less government is terrible. "Heckuva job, Brownie" is what set the stage for the 2006 midterms. Think about how "passed without a single Republican vote" was waved around for the ACA, even though the bill was watered down to appease people like Olympia Snowe who voted against it anyway.

"We think you'll do a shit job" and "see, we told you so" are potent political weapons in any democracy.
posted by holgate at 2:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

FWIW, the Badlands people are still tweeting in defiance of Trump's order.

As someone who grew up in South Dakota, damn proud of you @BadlandsNPS!
posted by chris24 at 2:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

On SCOTUS, Sen McConnell hopes "our Democratic friends treat Trump's nominees same way we treated Clinton and Obama."

Sounds perfect. Filibuster for 4 years.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [73 favorites]

@BadlandsNPS: 'I'm your huckleberry'

[fake but fuck yeah]
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:17 PM on January 24, 2017

FWIW, the Badlands people are still tweeting in defiance of Trump's order.

That's great, but the National Park Service is not part of EPA. There was a temporary lock-down on NPS accounts over the weekend because one of them re-tweeted embarrassing photos of two separate inaugurations, but the lock-down was released on Monday I think.

That said, BadlandsNPS is likely to lose their twitter privileges pretty soon. The last thing the Voldemort administration wants is anyone within the government acknowledging the reality of global climate change.
posted by suelac at 2:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

In case anyone is interested in replicating the Tuesdays with Toomey model of protesting outside of your senator's office, they've just put out a guide.
posted by mcduff at 2:22 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Minor point, but regarding neckties and scotch tape: A millionaire like Trump can afford a tailor to move the freaking flap that holds in place the skinny hidden part of the tie. Just move it up a few inches. I'm 6'5" and that's what I do.
posted by Lyme Drop at 2:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's a lot easier to defend the status quo with obstructionism. Which is why the legislative filibuster is such an important tool for both parties. Could the Democrats just try to block vote against every nominee? Possibly but it weakens their position for future fights.

I really do appreciate your take on this and in a normal political situation I'd agree, but this isn't a normal situation and any gains they might get from playing that game are going to be set back by demoralizing and disillusioning progressives at a time when the biggest weapon the Democrats have is a massive groundswell of engaged activists ready to get to work. If the Democrats had this loud and angry base of support for the last 8 years and nurtured it we wouldn't be in this mess, they can't fuck this up.

Honestly as much as I don't want to give Bernie Bros the satisfaction the best move for establishment Dems is to line up behind the progressive wing. Quash that primary talk right now by saying that they hear and they understand and they're here to help, and back it up with action. They lose nothing and they gain a unified voice.
posted by jason_steakums at 2:25 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Badlands tweets are disappeared already.
posted by slipthought at 2:27 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Can we please, please reclaim "pro-life"?

I agree, but now we'd be pushing against about 4 decades of precedent. Even back then I wondered why the "pro-choice" groups allowed the opposition to call themselves that in the first place.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:27 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Trump is pretty much guaranteed to"
-be a two term president, because black swans of evil are winning on every point lately.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

This Tweet is no longer available
posted by Artw at 2:29 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I got a screenshot of all of them.
posted by Jalliah at 2:30 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

/wonders how long the internet will last.
posted by Artw at 2:31 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Utterly Insane how a government twitter acount tweeting facts about climate change is considered a rouge act of defiance against the new white house
posted by windbox at 2:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [60 favorites]

As someone who grew up in South Dakota, damn proud of you @BadlandsNPS!

Ditto! Gonna have to hit up the Badlands on my next trip home to Rapid, and find a donation box to throw some money into with those tweets printed out and attached. Of course apparently now I need to track down a screenshot of them...

In case anyone is interested in replicating the Tuesdays with Toomey model of protesting outside of your senator's office, they've just put out a guide.

This is great! Tuesdays with Toomey and Moral Mondays are absolutely the model for where to go next and I hope they start getting more national attention soon. If anyone here has any contacts with shows like the Daily Show, Full Frontal, Last Week Tonight and Colbert, PLEASE float a suggestion about getting Rev. Barber on for an interview, movements like this need more publicity.
posted by jason_steakums at 2:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

With all the problems in the White House they have time to crack down on a twitter account.

I guess I should be glad they have absolutely no grasp of prioritization.
posted by winna at 2:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

/wonders how long the internet will last.

China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal: Move means all cable and VPN services need prior government approval and comes as Beijing steps up censorship before power-reshuffle party congress
posted by Coventry at 2:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I got a screenshot of all of them.

Plz to open "@BadlandsNPS2" for the repostage.

Thx!
posted by petebest at 2:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Looks like Time, Esquire, CBS and a few other news agencies picked up on it before the purge.
posted by cmfletcher at 2:36 PM on January 24, 2017

Trump's scotch taped tie just screams "I thought of a 'nifty' way to fix this problem I have all by myself because I'm so smart and I've very proud of it" and no one around him has the guts to tell him its tacky and awful, not that he'd believe them if they did.
posted by DynamiteToast at 2:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

We don't know that the WH cracked down -- it's at least equally as likely that the tweeter just got cold feet because they were afraid of reprisals, or that a supervisor looking to protect themselves and/or their employees decided it was a bad idea to be subtweeting and undermining the head of state from within the state. That's the worst part about Trump's early posture -- the threats don't even have to be explicit to bully people into compliance.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

You know you haven't gotten shit done at work when you hit your favorite limit at 5:30pm on a Tuesday.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

And it needs to be repeated: American voters may have their high school civics understanding of separation of powers and checks-and-balances, but they mostly approach elections as if they're living in a parliamentary system. If shit's fucked up, they blame the people in charge, and don't punish obstruction from the party out of control. This was the case in 1994 (where Bob Dole led a campaign of fucking shit up and got rewarded for it) and was the case in 2010.

If you believe that shit decisions will have shit outcomes, you have to be willing to go on the record. I accept that appointments offer more limited opportunities than legislation and policy, but that doesn't stop you from saying "I have no confidence in your qualifications or ability to lead the department, so prove us wrong."
posted by holgate at 2:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I got a screenshot of all of them.

Plz to open "@BadlandsNPS2" for the repostage.

Thx!

Will do. Have to do it later, gotta run to class.
posted by Jalliah at 2:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

We don't know that the WH cracked down -- it's at least equally as likely that the tweeter just got cold feet because they were afraid of reprisals, or that a supervisor looking to protect themselves and/or their employees decided it was a bad idea to be subtweeting and undermining the head of state from within the state. That's the worst part about Trump's early posture -- the threats don't even have to be explicit to bully people into compliance.

That's a good point. I just assumed because of the sad tweet from the top-level account after they retweeted inauguration photos that the crackdown was coming straight from the top.
posted by winna at 2:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just got back from Senator Feinstein's office - well, the outside of her office, because we were not let in! Seven of my coworkers and I walked down and arrived at about 1:15. We had 21 letters and postcards to drop off, including 3 letters from MeFites. There was a separate rally that ended at 1 (which it appears some MeFites were at) - I talked to some stragglers and apparently they had 200 people and a bunch of speakers. I told the security guard we weren't with the rally, but he said the building was on lockdown and wouldn't let us drop off letters. So I am going to put them all in an envelope and mail them.

A coworker who couldn't make it linked me to these tweets saying not to "swarm your congressional office...stage sit-ins, show up, refuse to leave, be demanding," but that if you "show up and drop something off you're A-OK." I fear we got caught up in the office's reaction to the rally, but between this and the Pompeo vote I'm still pissed. Thankfully my coworker got some great photos of me talking to the security guard and then calling in and of all of us holding the letters and looking mad. So those are going up on social media.
posted by sunset in snow country at 2:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [36 favorites]

I bet the staffer at Badlands NPS probably had no idea those tweets were going to go viral, and between that and the likely crackdown from up the chain, they either voluntarily deleted, or were told to do so.

Nobody in a vulnerable agency like the Park Service really wants the attention of the White House right now...
posted by suelac at 2:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

With the freezes they are putting in place, it seems like the departments are being held hostage until they get the confirmations.

The Trump/Republican budget plan calls for $10 trillion in cuts over 10 years.

The freeze is probably better than the budget will be!
posted by srboisvert at 2:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

So those are going up on social media.

Make sure you tag your local TV stations and newspapers, and any local left leaning political action blogs if you have those. Amplify the message.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I have an idea, maybe a project: what about paper dolls of people, and on the back impacts our potential impacts of these law to place at buildings or to mail off?

Does that sounds like something people would do?
I think it is something I'm going to do.
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:52 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

he probably thinks the long tie makes him look slimmer, not stupider.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 2:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

On the @BadlandsNPS tweets: I just retweeted one of those about 90 minutes ago. As far as I'm aware, normally when you retweet something and a user deletes the tweet, the retweet still shows up but the retweeted item shows up as "this tweet is no longer available." Right now, my retweet is gone as though I'd never said it. I'm not a power Twitter user. Can someone confirm that this is abnormal Twitter functionality?
posted by deludingmyself at 2:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Update: I don't think I quoted the tweet, it's possible that's normal behavior for a retweet where you don't add your own commentary.
posted by deludingmyself at 2:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think the retweets of now deleted tweets disappear from your feed if all you did was retweet (as there would be nothing left to show). If you retweeted and wrote some message of your own in the RT box, then it would show your message with the "this tweet is no longer available" box underneath.
posted by zachlipton at 3:00 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Cartoon by Barry Deutsch: Our Choices
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Scientologists Voted For Trump
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Just got back from Senator Feinstein's office

Thank you so much for your work, sunset in snow country! I will be sure to call her offices, as well.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Just got back from Senator Feinstein's office - well, the outside of her office, because we were not let in!

representative democracy at work, folks

cynicism aside, appreciate the effort sunset in snow country. now let's primary the hell out of her.
posted by entropicamericana at 3:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

God the fuck dammit, I am out of favorites and also after four hours solid of organizing to try to improve the image of the Democratic Party out in rural and small-town Texas I am out of fucks, and then I saw byanyothername's excellent comment and I tried to come up with some more and ran out. Flagged as fantastic.

Anyway, well, the March showed us we have supporters out in all those rural spots you wouldn't expect, so fuck it all, I'm going to go out there and wear a progressive shirt and do something useful, and see if I can't make some inroads to at least buoy up enthusiasm and visible support for my rural Texan liberal friends. Especially the ones running for office.

_{ohgod I am going to fall over and pass out but I wiiiiin organizing today}
posted by sciatrix at 3:09 PM on January 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

I'm not giving any Dem Senators credit for nth-dimensional chess or comity when it comes to confirming the truly appalling nominees, and I think they should be aware of a subtle message they send to some of us when they confirm the appointees who performed horribly in their hearings.

Women and people of color have to watch DeVos, Carson, Perry and several of the others who were awful with regard to their answers and demeanor and know that if we performed similarly in a job interview we would have no chance of getting the job we were interviewing for. None.

I'm reminded of Dick Cheney's performance in a VP debate back in 2000, and how he sat with his arms folded across his chest, looking downward and speaking downward rather than looking the moderator or his opponent when responding to a question; after the debate a (conservative) news personality said that Cheney had projected gravitas. And I thought to myself, "What bullshit. Let me do that in an interview as an external hire or when I'm trying for a promotion at my current company, and I'd hear that I didn't project the confidence or openness necessary for the job."

Same thing here with these confirming votes from the Democratic senators. I would have to live in a world full of goddamn alternative facts to flub questions about my prospective job and my prospective company's role in the world the way some of Trump's nominees have and still walk away fully expecting that I'll land the job.

To me, the message Warren and Schumer and others are sending with their votes to confirm is "Mediocre white men, women who donate a lot of money, and unflappably loyal PoC can expect to fall upward. Good luck to the rest of y'all."
posted by lord_wolf at 3:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

Hahahahah, I'd send that "Our Choices" cartoon to my mother except I don't think she'd get it at all.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:15 PM on January 24, 2017

Oh, and also, apparently we got 122 folks down to the Capitol today to go and yell at Ted Cruz. They couldn't get in to see him either, but he did send a staffer out to listen. They're doing it again.

One of these weeks I hope I'll be able to go join them. (Today, not so much. But I signal boosted.)
posted by sciatrix at 3:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

(Started typing this comment 3 hours ago, got depressed by a comment refresh, walked away and forgot about it. But here it is in the comment window, so...)

I like Matt Levine's Money Stuff columns for Bloomberg. He's talking about pointless financial engineering that involves shuffling large amounts of money around, but his wry humor wins me over.

Today's column has a rather insightful section about "Regulations", which I'm summarizing as:
There are two kinds of regulations: custom regulations and bulk regulations.
A custom regulation is designed to accomplish a particular goal. (e.g., Trump's border tariffs.)
Bulk regulations ... don't have a purpose, really; they are just generic "red tape."
All regulations are custom regulations.
All discussion of "regulation" is about bulk regulations, which do not exist.

So Trump is going to cut "bulk" regulations by a lot - 75%! - but without specifics. But he is going to impose a lot of new regulations - border taxes, export restrictions - what about those?

"Those are of course important and burdensome new regulations, but they are custom regulations, and so they are not covered by Trump's promise to cut bulk regulations by 75%. It all makes perfect sense, but you have to have a theory.

In perhaps related news, Trump announced a hiring freeze for federal workers while he is in the middle of hiring thousands of people to staff his administration. That sounds weird, until you realize that Trump is freezing bulk hiring while continuing custom hiring.
posted by RedOrGreen at 3:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

I bet the staffer at Badlands NPS probably had no idea those tweets were going to go viral

I'd bet that they did. Those tweets were a deliberate act of defiance.

(This Twitter thread provides some more context on one of the non-climate-changey tweets.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Fuckin Ted Cruz sent a staffer out to listen and Feinstein couldn't be bothered.
posted by sunset in snow country at 3:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

the best move for establishment Dems is to line up behind the progressive wing.

So... follow the leads of Sanders and Warren and vote to confirm?
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Holy shit the NIH employee gag order. I just put my experiments on hold for the day and walked to the offices of every senior scientist I know personally, plus the associate dean of the graduate school, to share this news and implore them to pay attention and advocate if they're able. The combined effects of these policies (gag order on NIH employees speaking to public officials + expected funding cuts + a war on facts) are absolutely fucking chilling for trainees who plan on a future in U.S. science. NIH employees and NIH-funded scientists (along with NSF; I await the leak of their likely gag order as well) are America's research and development service corps. This. Is not. Okay.

*singing the song of the cynical scientist* We are so fuuuuuuuuuucked, so fuuuuuuucked. Like, it's at the point where last week I was talking to fucking journalists and historians about how we were scared about our careers and jobs and I'd mention I was a scientist and they would seriously fucking wince and go "so it's gonna be real scary for you then."

Motherfucker I am so angry and betrayed and I cannot even, with my science, my beloved career, my love of truth and figuring out experiments, because no one is fucking willing to pay me to do the job I have been encouraged to pursue since childhood because "we need more girls in STEM," and no one is willing to pay for truth about nature. So I'll laugh like a jackal, I guess, and do my best anyway, and burn my flame until they physically throw me out the door onto the uncertain welcome of the floor of industry because my whole generation is going to be thrown into the threshing machine and there's nothing I can do about it.

Fuck. Fuck. if the NSF doesn't have one I'll eat my own right eyeball. That's how certain I am now. Fuck.
posted by sciatrix at 3:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [60 favorites]

Does anybody know if there are any Tuesdays with Toomey type events in Harrisburg, PA?
posted by ThreeCatsBob at 3:31 PM on January 24, 2017

Why are the FBI and CIA taking so long on Russia. Please? Any time now.
posted by Brainy at 3:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump’s lie about illegal votes will have dangerous consequences: Sixteen states are already working on legislation to suppress voters this year.
posted by homunculus at 3:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Golden Gate Park is standing up now:

2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row. Check out this @NASA & @NOAA report: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-record-globally
posted by bluecore at 3:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

Alexandra Petri, WaPo: The true, correct story of what happened at Donald Trump’s inauguration

I apologize to Donald Trump. As Sean Spicer so wisely said at his first news conference on Monday (It was the first. The one that happened on Saturday did not happen at all, and I recognize that!), it is unfair to be so mean and negative all the time.

Here is the fair and unbiased story about the inauguration written in compliance with the Trump style guidelines that we should have been obeying all along.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

This is a really sensible common-sense guide for senior federal employees.

Sigh.
posted by suelac at 3:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

I'm honestly concerned about how much he's pushing on people. I know it's supposed to be shock and awe, but is awe really the emotion he's inspiring?
posted by Brainy at 3:40 PM on January 24, 2017

This Is Our Most Dangerously Retrograde Government in 150 Years

It's been fun to point and laugh at the new administration. It's been fun to mock Sean Spicer's obvious discomfort at the podium, and to sit in awe at the obvious infighting within the White House this early in the game. But, while we're doing that, slowly and steadily, an actual government has been forming, and it is the most dangerously retrograde government that our system has produced in at least the past 150 years. It is secretive and it is resistant to any empirical information that it does not want to hear. It is grotesquely anti-science. It seeks to roll back progressive achievements dating back to Teddy Roosevelt and it has the power to do so, even if it is in its own bungling way. And it really hasn't gotten rolling yet.

posted by homunculus at 3:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

Johnny Wallflower the style guidelines made me laugh out loud.
posted by INFJ at 3:45 PM on January 24, 2017

Exclusive: Trump expected to sign executive orders on immigration

President Donald Trump was expected to sign several executive orders restricting immigration on Thursday, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter.

Trump's orders were expected to involve restricting access to the United States for refugees and some visa holders from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, said the aides and experts, who asked not to be identified.

So that will be some fresh new horror to look forward to.
posted by zachlipton at 3:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yes! I and at least three other MeFites were at the rally in front of Feinstein's office in SF earlier today. There were easily 200 people, and we chanted and sang and collected our own letters for the senator.

An aide came down to speak to the crowd and just talked about how many e-mails he had gotten in the last 24 hours. So many e-mails! I can't use my Blackberry, ha ha! Gosh, please send more e-mails, the senator would love to go on the floor of the senate and talk about how she has received millions of supportive e-mails!

He then refused to answer any questions and walked off to a deafening chant of What about Pompeo?

Being directed to go home and write useless letters that would only be noticed for their bulk was discouraging and insulting. We showed up! Your office had better learn how to handle crowds, because we're going to keep showing up Senator Feinstein!
posted by books for weapons at 3:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [43 favorites]

The @NASAClimate account is joining the revolt.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [45 favorites]

Utterly Insane how a government twitter acount tweeting facts about climate change is considered a rouge act of defiance against the new white house

Rouge act of defiance
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

"Four more journalists get felony charges after covering inauguration unrest;
A documentary producer, a photojournalist, a live-streamer and a freelance reporter facing up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted." [The Guardian]

"'These charges are clearly inappropriate, and we are concerned that they could send a chilling message to journalists covering future protests,' said Carlos Lauría, the CPJ’s senior Americas program coordinator."
posted by slipthought at 3:54 PM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

Hoping that's just normal police demonstration fuckery and not a thing. It could become the model for a thing though.
posted by Artw at 3:58 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

So I'll laugh like a jackal, I guess, and do my best anyway, and burn my flame until they physically throw me out the door onto the uncertain welcome of the floor of industry because my whole generation is going to be thrown into the threshing machine and there's nothing I can do about it.

I nearly punched through the keyboard with the force of my favorite. I am a low-level ARS employee and the writing is on the goddamn wall. We are fucked.
posted by Ornate Rocksnail at 3:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Four more journalists get felony charges after covering inauguration unrest;

And who's gonna court watch these charges?
posted by rough ashlar at 3:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hoping that's just normal police demonstration fuckery and not a thing. It could become the model for a thing though.

Speaking of which, there's a bill being introduced in Minnesota that would allow state agencies to sue peaceful protesters for police overtime costs. The Minneapolis NAACP encourages you to call your state reps if you live in the state or attend tonight's hearing if you can.
posted by zachlipton at 4:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

Czech TV station: FBI agents are headed to Prague to talk to the Russian hacker Nikulina

Americans will not Nikulina interrogate ourselves. Questions puts him through the Czech police. They are interested in his possible accomplices and contacts and also about who phoned from the Czech Republic.

Complicated by both the US and Russia having submitted extradition requests back in October. Speculative if this person is related to DNC hacking activity (LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring, are mentioned)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

When bills are passed with bipartisan support, when nominees are approved with bipartisan support, the electorate assumes the party in charge is doing something right if they got some of the other party to go along with it. When nothing gets done, they assume the party in charge is ineffective. Cooperating only hurts you electorally.

Unless they come out with single payer, we should resist everything.

Dear AskMe,

My partner and I can't seem to get anything done together. They're kind of running the business we have together at the moment, but we have some very different ideas about how things should be done. Honestly, when I was in charge of some major projects, they undercut me at every moment. Pretty much everything we were able to produce was either a suboptimally put-together product that didn't work as well as it could have, or just never got finished at all.

Now they're in charge of some projects that I have major concerns about. It's not just that I think they're bad ideas -- I'm actually fairly certain that they will be actively harmful to people around us. I'm talking physical danger to the people who live and work near us, and Partner doesn't seem to GAF. In fact, I'm starting to suspect that might be their whole intent.

For reasons, I have to handle this myself. Should I cooperate with them and do whatever they want? Surely if the neighbors see me working on these projects, if things go horribly wrong (as I am virtually certain they will), the neighbors will assume I was just trying to mitigate problems, right?

posted by asu eht fo starcomed on January 24
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

The NIH, EPA, and USDA gag orders are fucking terrifying. Mostly I'm only seeing news about them, but I figure here is a place to ask a really important question: What can we do to fight back?
posted by WidgetAlley at 4:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

WaPo:

...There is no evidence that there was fraud at any significant scale at all.

Saying this, that there’s no evidence, is a hedge. We say it just in case somehow there emerges evidence that, indeed, hundreds of people registered to vote illegally and went to cast ballots. If we say it didn’t happen and then some evidence emerges, we are stuck. So we say “there’s no evidence” instead of “it didn’t happen.”

That’s on the scale of hundreds of votes. On the scale of millions of alleged fraudulent votes, though? It didn’t happen....
posted by mudpuppie at 4:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Protest Works - The Trump administration’s meltdown proves it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Why are the FBI and CIA taking so long on Russia. Please? Any time now.

WaPo: FBI Director James Comey to stay on in Trump administration

🤔
posted by Room 641-A at 4:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Meanwhile, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Budget and Management, signaled that he will not fall in line with Trump's views on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

It was all a scam, they're coming for Social Security too.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Reuters now has changed their story to say the immigration orders are coming tomorrow, not Thursday.
posted by zachlipton at 4:14 PM on January 24, 2017

I would say that I don't know why the attacks on scientists and the NIH's gag order broke me today and not all the other horrifying things that have happened to me and mine this past three months, but I think I have an idea.

Science is something they used to pretend they thought was valuable, and I thought maybe that might help keep me safe. It's not like I didn't know the price I paid for being openly queer; I thought being a scientist was something that made me a net positive, not a liability. No one ever told me we needed more queers or more women in America but they sure told me we needed more people in STEM and even in biology. And I thought... I was so hoping that this election year would make me feel like an administration or the American public would give a shit about my calling.

It hurts to realize you've been sold a pack of lies. It hurts to that you've traded five years of potential stability for ashes. It hurts to have your own fucking family tell you that the trade you made, five years to seven years of tight budgets and hard work for the promise of a good job in science somewhere, always came with no promises and so if you are angry that five years in the deal is suddenly off, it's your own damn fault.

I'm just. It hurts and I'm heartbroken, and inside me a small child wants to know why they lied.
posted by sciatrix at 4:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [82 favorites]

they'll lie about anything if it makes them even one single cent
posted by poffin boffin at 4:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

BadHombreLands NPS link isn't working for me, roomthreeseventeen.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:18 PM on January 24, 2017

like honestly are we one year away from bill nye drinking hemlock on CSPAN while muttering eppur si muove

yeah that's right i just conflated galileo and socrates, fight me
posted by poffin boffin at 4:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

They lie because they are liars, just as the point of having power is to use it. I'm sorry, FWIW.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I feel like I would have made that point more clearly, but they make a strong martini at the Seven Stars.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Regarding the Gag orders. It is horrible. I know. Canada has been through this. Yes this admin is worse and thing Harper didn't do but we did survive these gag orders. Scientists, crafty people that they are, did find ways around it and information still found it's way to the airwaves.

Guess I just wanted to say, it's bad but all is not lost.
posted by Jalliah at 4:22 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

WaPo: FBI Director James Comey to stay on in Trump administration

As far as '30 pieces of silver' style bribes go, just keeping your job is pretty weak sauce.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

There's apparently a second @BadIandsNPS account tweeting much less subtle things, claiming to be "schmofficial".
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

Especially when Clinton in all likelihood would've kept him on anyway, if for nothing else than to avoid a confirmation battle.

Comey didn't sell out for money or promises, he's a true believer that Trump is the Way the Truth and the Light. He got his man.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:25 PM on January 24, 2017

Chris Mathews has such an infrastructure boner guys

Trump's got him all excited about laying some American pipe
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:26 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a theory posited by Louise Mensch that Comey is a good guy. It's got a bit too many "what-if"s for me to fully comprehend though.
posted by Brainy at 4:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Looks like KellyAyn (alternative spelling) did punch someone.

According to senior Fox Business corespondent Charlie Gasparino, two men attending the exclusive Liberty Ball Friday night were fighting, when out of nowhere Conway stepped in and “began throwing some mean punches at one of the guys.”

Gasparino, who wrote about the scuffle on Facebook, said the incident lasted just a few minutes, and none of the participants were hurt, “except maybe the dude she smacked.”
posted by futz at 4:29 PM on January 24, 2017

How to Culture Jam a Populist in Four Easy Steps
posted by adamvasco at 4:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Protest Works

If there's the faintest of silver linings to a White House occupation that rose on spectacle and simulacrum, it's that it's more vulnerable to spectacle as a tool of opposition. Guy Debord may come in useful here.

The GOPers in Congress mostly won't give a shit, unless it occurs outside their offices or on their doorsteps. But they're not as inclined to gaze at CNN when they get bored.
posted by holgate at 4:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

WaPo: Meetings of activists planning to disrupt inauguration were infiltrated by conservative group

James Fucking O'Keefe is crowing about how he deserves respect now.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:33 PM on January 24, 2017

The EPA funding freeze and media gag order is exactly the kind of catastrophy us scientists feared. Their work matters, their jobs and families matter... Obviously THOSE jobs are not the ones he cares about. I work for another federal agency that Trump has promised to defund and I am applying to 2 industry grants because I am terrified that if I lose funding my family will be in deep trouble.

I don't even know what else to say. It's fucking devastating. I spent 4 years in college and then 6 years getting a Ph.D. and apparently now half of Americans, and what seems like the entire Trump administration, consider my research to be nothing more than my personal opinion, with no value of any kind. It's personally insulting, it makes me fear for the whole world, and it's just such a fucking blow to what I've spent my entire adult life dedicated to.
posted by Cygnet at 4:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [84 favorites]

Holy shit, Badlands has gone all in:

https://twitter.com/BadIandsNPS/status/824053128576323584
posted by bluecore at 4:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

If you're in U.S. science, MeMail me if you want to start a Slack together to discuss further.
posted by deludingmyself at 4:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Holy shit, Badlands has gone all in:

That's the parody account.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

@AltNatParkSer: Hello, we are the Alternative National Park Service Twitter Account activated in time of war and censorship to ensure fact-based education.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

Does anybody know if there are any Tuesdays with Toomey type events in Harrisburg, PA?

Yep. I believe they are coordinating with Indivisible Berks.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:41 PM on January 24, 2017

bluecore: that's BadIandsNPS, which is using one of the typical typography tricks of fake Twitter accounts. (It may not last long, because the original is a verified account, and impersonators of verified accounts that don't make it very clear they're parodies tend to get deleted.)
posted by holgate at 4:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

@AdamWeinstein I didn't go to Iraq for this horseshit
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

On the other hand, @GoldenGateNPS, verified account, really has gone all in:

“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [65 favorites]

I am someone who cries. Now it takes some doing insofar as it requires a REALLY sad story (movie or book) or someone being cruel to me or someone else in my presence, but I cry. Not ashamed at all. That said, if I cry it follows a serious situation and I typically do so privately.

Since Trump won I haven't cried and given the ensuing clusterfuck this has surprised me. When I read that Elisabeth Warren supported Ben Carson's nomination for HUD, I cried openly on public transportation.
posted by pipoquinha at 4:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

roomthreeseventeen: That's the parody account.

Ah crap. I didn't look closely at the name. I think some intern had said, "Fuck it!"
posted by bluecore at 4:46 PM on January 24, 2017

really has gone all in // Last Monday, for MLK Day.
posted by holgate at 4:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Deadspin: Send us proof of Ted Cruz playing basketball.

Ted Cruz: what do I win?
posted by guiseroom at 4:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Where's Ivanka's moderating influence been while her father's administration has been gagging scientists and scrubbing every mention of the words "climate change" from the entirety of the federal government?

We need to start seeing Ivanka as the Disinformation Ambassador to Liberal America, because that's the role she's played. Let's stop with the whole, 'She's there against her will' thing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:49 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Ted Cruz: what do I win?

He broke the 4th wall
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Deadspin: Send us proof of Ted Cruz playing basketball.

Ted Cruz: what do I win?

OK, Ted Cruz actually made me guffaw like a real human person would just there. Still hate the guy, but that was pretty funny.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

How to Culture Jam a Populist in Four Easy Steps

I hate that piece. I hate it because it's so bad about conflating potential allies and unwinnable enemies. I hate it because it leaves no room for diversity of tactics. I hate it because it doesn't allow for calling these beliefs out as bigotry in mixed groups (no, MeFi doesn't count) as a tactic for delegitimizing populism.

Mostly, though, I hate it because I just took a big personal risk reaching out and hoping to trade on twenty years of being a favorite grandchild to help keep myself and my partner safe enough to ask and I got abandoned on an unfamiliar street corner for my trouble, so I. I'm skeptical about humanization as a tactic all on its own right now. Even as I literally organize to get folks out on the ground helping rural counties with their municipal problems, I'm careful to modify my expectations.

Besides, we have strength in numbers. If we use it to normalize resistance, before the erosion and rot of a fascist regime of lies can set in and pick our allies off, we might be able to shame these toads right into the ground.
posted by sciatrix at 4:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [37 favorites]

really has gone all in // Last Monday, for MLK Day.

er, oops. Not quite as courageous.
posted by zachlipton at 4:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm just a jagoff ageing punker from the 80s. I'm not a tactician, I don't really know shit about deeper level politics. BUT I read between the lines the very first time I heard the phrase, "trickle down economics" after Reagan was elected. I KNEW there was a fucking coming and here we are.

If you can, subvert every-fucking-thing you can. Make flyers against the regime. Hold meetings. Make plans. Start clubs/groups. Invite me.

I've bullshitted about becoming politically active for decades...it wasn't until 9/11 and Bush Jr's very stupid/foolish/inadequate reaction/response that I really felt a fire under my ass. By then though, I was raising two toddlers and just didn't have it in me. The kids were my mission.

But now? I will be visiting my local party office. Not just to volunteer, but to discuss radical action.

All of us have to use every means available to us to put the word out that what is happening is UN-AMERICAN, wrong and uncivilized.

We have to inundate the entire country with home spun propaganda. Messages. Youtube, flyers, soap-box talks on street corners.

Yea, I'm a little fired up and I haven't even started drinking yet...give me an hour or so.

(The marches were awesome BTW, and I'm very thankful and proud of all of you participating in any way you can!)

(Also, I nominate CORTEX to be the guy to come up with the secret hand-shake and password.)
posted by snsranch at 4:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

(FYI - that is Duke player Grayson Allen in that picture Cruz shared. There has been a joke all year about how he looks like Cruz.)
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

I just laughed with Ted Cruz. This is the darkest timeline.
posted by cmfletcher at 4:54 PM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

Deadspin's response to Ted Cruz: "@tedcruz Go eat shit."
posted by zachlipton at 4:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Ted Cruz: what do I win?

@Deadspin
@tedcruz Go eat shit.
posted by chris24 at 4:56 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh, Deadspin. You ruined it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Ted Cruz: How about rats? I can eat any number of rats! [fake]
posted by contraption at 4:58 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I, er, can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel like Ted Cruz might have won that one.
posted by zachlipton at 4:58 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Ted Cruz: what do I win?

He broke the 4th wall

Surely you mean he oozed through his 4th outter membrane?
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I hate that piece. I hate it because it's so bad about conflating potential allies and unwinnable enemies. I hate it because it leaves no room for diversity of tactics. I hate it because it doesn't allow for calling these beliefs out as bigotry in mixed groups (no, MeFi doesn't count) as a tactic for delegitimizing populism.

I hate it because in Venezuela, Chavez voters were the majority (by a wide margin!), so of course the strategy has to be based on accommodating Chavez voters.

Not so here, where Trump voters are the minority. It's always good to be empathetic and to try to find shared values and to resist othering etc, but I don't think it's enough as a winning political strategy.
posted by notyou at 5:00 PM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

Sort of, zachlipton, but only sort of. Grayson Allen has a number of disciplinary challenges when he's on the court. Somewhat like Ted Cruz does when he's awake. One could argue that, from Cruz's vantage point, Allen has much to learn from the master.
posted by Silverstone at 5:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

i have been saving the second half of the final season of parks and rec for an emergency. i broke the proverbial glass tonight.

it helps
posted by entropicamericana at 5:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Is there some ASCII character trickery going on with the official and "schmofficial" Badlands NPS Twitter accounts? The URLs look to be the same for both.
posted by emelenjr at 5:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Okay, so participating in the march on Saturday gave me the first real hope I've felt in months. But in the days since then, that hope has rapidly dissipated as I've watched the truly appalling things that Trump has been doing, from the abortion gag order to the Dakota Access Pipeline to the election fraud claims etc - it's been a dark couple of days for me.

BUT, today there was this bit of good news from Minnesota:

@ASlavitt This week, the Minnesota House passed a bill to allow health care to be "a la carte." As a sign of ACA replace, see what it looked like... [IMAGE]

@ASlavitt What happens when ppl find out that an amendment would allow these services excluded?

The phones lit up & it got pulled an hour ago.

@ASlavitt Lessons:
-know what "patient choice" means
-take away ACA benefits at your peril
-beware of hidden deals/amendments
-pick up the phone

@ASlavitt Great leadership from @LaurieHalverson, @MelisaFranzen & @reploeffler for safeguarding basic health care coverage.

Keep calling your reps, people (both local and national).

(also, hope will be the death of me)
posted by triggerfinger at 5:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [32 favorites]

I don't know if it was in a Metafilter thread or one of the endless thinkpieces I read after the election, but in those first few days, someone said to write down what you believe in, because it was about to be tested. The advice has served me well these past few months as I checked myself against the anti-diversity thinkpieces and the have-empathy-for-the-racists thinkpieces and the conservative Facebook comments I started to dip my toe into and other miscellaneous things that suddenly flooded into my filter bubble. But right now I feel like I'm really, really experiencing the moment that advice was given in anticipation of. Realizing that my Democratic senator was kind of a disappointment was a bit of a rude awakening but not really a surprise. But Elizabeth Warren supporting Ben Carson for HUD. I feel like I'm swimming, like everything is upside down.
posted by sunset in snow country at 5:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Our President is such a delicate little snowflake.
posted by guiseroom at 5:09 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Ted responded with an Anchorman gif. Who are we? What are we? What is happening?!
posted by Crystalinne at 5:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ted's hired a web-savvy social media intern.
posted by suelac at 5:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Ted Cruz's social media person gave me a funny and this day just got weird.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

@claudiakoerner (buzzfeed):

The National Park Service tells me those @BadlandsNPS tweets were from a former employee and the account was “compromised."

Includes a graphic with the following text:

"Several tweets posted on the Badlands National Park's Twitter account today were posted by a former employee who was not currently authorized to use the park's account. The park was not told to remove the tweets but chose to do so when they realized that their account had been compromised."
- National Park Service official
posted by erratic meatsack at 5:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

posted by a former employee who was not currently authorized to use the park's account

Cool story, dude. But I doubt it.
posted by suelac at 5:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

It's a hall of mirrors, all the way down.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:16 PM on January 24, 2017

It's a weird bad feeling to not implicitly trust something signed "- National Park Service official"
posted by theodolite at 5:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

It was 3 or 5 million former employees.
posted by valkane at 5:18 PM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

they're all fascists amirite?
posted by localhuman at 5:19 PM on January 24, 2017

Is there some ASCII character trickery going on with the official and "schmofficial" Badlands NPS Twitter accounts?

I had to paste it before I saw it, but the lowercase "l" became an uppercase "I".
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Two @BadlandsNPS accounts show up in the search results when typing "Badlands" into the search field. Account names are different, but the Twitter handles are the same.
posted by emelenjr at 5:21 PM on January 24, 2017

US sent $221 million to Palestinians in Obama's last hours

Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.

A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
posted by futz at 5:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

^ RVP is right. It's Badlands not BadIands.
posted by guiseroom at 5:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I remember when the Beatles broke up, and sobbing, because it just shouldn't happen.

Then I remember watching Richard Nixon resigning as President of the United States, and that was a huge deal. Then Ford took over, and he was good, then Carter, he was good, then a huge freakout when Reagan took over.

Reagan did a lot of bad things. Some of which was telling people that single women were bad and glomming onto welfare. He also did a lot of bad things before he got to be President, which is not usually spoke about.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 5:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

WaPo: Liberals press Democrats to thwart Trump nominations, but to little effect
posted by zachlipton at 5:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I laughed, but Ted Cruz didn't tweet that personally. His 4chan alt-right intern with an oil tycoon for a dad did. Deadspin gave the right response. Fuck Ted Cruz.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:30 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

I just got back from another rally outside the Oakland offices of Congresswoman Lee. It wasn't as organized as the rally in San Francisco outside of Senator Feinstein's office (I stuck around to talk to the organizers of the SF event, they were all veterans of social movements going back 40 years, this event was set up by a local teacher after the Sunday MoveOn call in a fit of passion) and we didn't really have anything specific to ask for or demonstrate against (Barbara Lee is pretty damn popular). We still got unequivocally shut out of the office, and very openly and heavily armed police stood watch the entire time we were assembled. A few staff members from the Congresswoman's office spoke in front of the group, they appreciated our turning out in support of the Congresswoman but didn't have much to say.

The group was about 75 strong, and we were all agitating for things to do. Nobody really knew how to use the energy, but everyone wanted to know how else they could get involved. People swapped details of a ton of other local meetups and groups that pretty much all started up within the last couple weeks. We've got the interest and the passion and only need a direction in which to point it!
posted by books for weapons at 5:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

I laughed, but Ted Cruz didn't tweet that personally

Oh for sure. Ted spends all his spare time hibernating in his alien space cocoon lest his human flesh bag become too dried out to appear "human".
posted by Crystalinne at 5:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Okay guys, it looks like Don Benton, the guy who screamed in my face and illegally voted from the convention floor, has been named to help with the transition team EPA turnover. Who in the media might want video of him illegally voting, or will they just not care like everything?
posted by corb at 5:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [77 favorites]

Corb, I'd try sending it to every possible outlet to see where it sticks at this point.
posted by erratic meatsack at 5:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Honestly no one's going to give a shit about the primary tactics at this point. You're wasting your time. Try Maddow.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:37 PM on January 24, 2017

Corb, I want to take you out to dinner at a great steakhouse. You've been so active, so full of info, so groovy. CORB/ANYONE 2024!
posted by vrakatar at 5:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

I've heard the WaPo will take info here
posted by cmfletcher at 5:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

About 7PM Tuesday night (possibly somewhat earlier) the Office of the Press Secretary posted this press release "For Immediate Release", but possibly a bit too immediate: President Trump Takes Action to Expedite Priority Enery and Infrastructure Projects

No, really. It's like that right now, about 1.5 hours later. Enery? Enery? Nuts, Ready to Eat?
posted by Evilspork at 5:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

After some initial denials, Ashley Feinberg is now admitting she got owned by Ted Cruz.
posted by zachlipton at 5:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Leak that sonofabitch. Try WaPo first, I would guess, and keep trying until you exhaust your ideas and who will care. Try a local paper, too.
posted by sciatrix at 5:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's a theory posited by Louise Mensch that Comey is a good guy. It's got a bit too many "what-if"s for me to fully comprehend though.

I still can't allow myself to hang my hopes on this stuff... but this is worth reading if you haven't. What-ifs and speculation, yes, and I'm taking it with a huge grain of salt, but it makes a lot of things click into place and makes me question a few things I haven't before.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pro Publica!
posted by triggerfinger at 5:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo Fact Checker: Trump’s unsupported claim he has ‘received awards on the environment’

“I’m a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment.”
— President Trump, remarks during a meeting with business leaders, Jan. 23

Are there any facts to support this claim to environmental fame?

-- The short answer is: No. Media outlets and environmental groups have tried to find evidence of this claim since 2011 but have come up short.

-- In fact, environmentalists have criticized many of Trump’s projects.

-- During the 2008 hearing, Trump said he didn’t read his environmental consultants’ advice because he didn’t need to. From the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the hearing:

“I would consider myself an environmentalist in the true sense of the word,” Mr. Trump said, a comment that drew so much laughter from the public gallery that the inquiry chairman had to call for order.

-- In 2010, environmentalists criticized Trump for chopping down more than 400 trees along the Potomac River during a renovation of his golf course in Loudoun County, Va.

The lies are endless. Endless. He lies about absolutely everything. He's a legend in his own mind.
posted by futz at 5:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

CORB/QUIDNUNC KID 2017 SPECIAL ELECTION!
posted by dis_integration at 5:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Corb, I want to take you out to dinner at a great steakhouse. You've been so active, so full of info, so groovy. CORB/ANYONE 2024!

Corb/McMuffin, of course!
posted by jason_steakums at 5:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I just keep thinking I can't have more rage and then somehow I can. I'll try and see if anyone cares but I guess it's also par for the course that Trump rewards his monsters.
posted by corb at 5:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Corb, the UK Guardian might be another option: https://www.theguardian.com/help/2016/sep/19/how-to-contact-the-guardian-securely
posted by runincircles at 5:56 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Jerry Brown today: "California is not turning back. Not now, not ever."

The smallish, quiet town I live in, this weekend: "The burglary and attempted arson at a Quiznos restaurant in [town] over the weekend is being investigated by police as a hate crime."

The liberal college town where I work, part 1: "Davis police received a report Sunday of swastikas being etched in the bathroom of a North Davis park."

The liberal college town where I work, part 2: "The Davis Police Department is investigating a vandalism incident, regarded as a hate crime, that occurred at the Davis Islamic Center early Sunday morning. Six windowpanes were smashed and strips of uncooked bacon were placed on an exterior door handle just after 3:45 a.m., Davis police said."

That's just one weekend in two small, predominately progressive towns in northern California. Scaling it up makes me weepy and nauseous.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:03 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

How To Leak to ProPublica: We are a team of investigative journalists devoted to exposing abuse of power. If you’ve got evidence showing powerful people doing the wrong thing, here’s how to let us know while protecting your identity.
posted by argonauta at 6:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

And, like, when the best case scenario possible is that all three crimes were committed by the same bigot, I mean....
posted by mudpuppie at 6:05 PM on January 24, 2017

Gillibrand isn't even that liberal. When she was representing upstate, she was fairly NRA-friendly.

She's been better on guns than Bernie Sanders for the last six years, and has an F from the NRA to his D-. She even has a good story to explain it. In the last campaign, nobody cared much about how his gun (or drone) opinions affected his progressive cred, and I know because I did my best to make them care. It was just understood that when you represent Vermont, you say what you have to say and nobody expects you to stand up too hard for principles that won't get you re-elected.

If liberals like her, they will say she is, in fact, that liberal. Her record is quite good. dare I hope the same standards will apply to her when she runs? No. no, I do not dare.
posted by queenofbithynia at 6:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm sure the ACLU would love to handle negotiations on any leaked material in exchange for legal advice and protection.
posted by Evilspork at 6:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I doubt you will read a more damming indictment of Trump's visit to the CIA than this from Robin Wright in The New Yorker, . Trump’s Vainglorious Affront To The C.I.A..
posted by vac2003 at 6:09 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Fucking Twitter.

Can someone link the supposed LouiseMensch article directly?! I CAN READ. Wtf is this it . . . No that's apparently her weltanschauung . . Unrelated thread . . Kind of related but not an article . . No . . No . AW C'MON! What is it just splattered across many threads? I'm assuming "Michael Cohen on a Russian plane, it would appear, around Christmas" has something to do with it?

I don't mind working, but this a fucked-up way to communicate. Jeebus.

And if anyone can be arsed, is there some other link to John Lewis getting cheered at the airport? Twitter Video Doesn't Work.

also, WhatsApp? Mmmmmmmmmmnnnno? Cause Facepals? Yeah I read these whole threads. For some reason.
posted by petebest at 6:12 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm sure the ACLU would love to handle...

Don't just favorite, DONATE
posted by cmfletcher at 6:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

petebest, I got you on the Louise Mensch article: https://patribotics.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/dear-mr-putin-lets-play-chess-louise-mensch-trump-russia/
posted by jason_steakums at 6:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump

Congratulations to @FoxNews for being number one in inauguration ratings. They were many times higher than FAKE NEWS @CNN - public is smart!

Does anybody know what he might have seen on CNN a couple minutes ago?
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

NY Mag does a quick, damning round-up of how DJT's aides are all leaking embarrassing stories about how he can't handle embarrassment.
posted by TwoStride at 6:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

Now we're going to get all the hot takes on "now that it's the President of the United States attacking CNN, it's different" from people who expected him to pivot. The central thesis of his campaign was "you knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in." He said it over and over again. Why would anybody think someone who made "people don't change who they are" the centerpiece of his campaign would possibly change who he is?
posted by zachlipton at 6:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

The "à la carte" health plan thing infuriates me because I know how it's the kind of thing that dumbfuck state legislators will adore and makes for a plausible political sale: "hurr durr I'm a young dude why does my plan cover maternity coverage?" or "I'm not crazy, why should I pay for something that covers mental health treatment?" Explaining the advantages of large risk pools and the consequences of adverse selection is hard.
posted by holgate at 6:25 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I was literally just thinking yesterday of compiling this exact kind of thing so I'm very glad to see that someone has already done it:

Great Moments In Roomfuls Of Men Legislating Women’s Bodies (with photos!)
posted by triggerfinger at 6:25 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

public is smart!

Guys I think Trump is a Pakled
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:27 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

A Ferengi, surely.
posted by EarBucket at 6:30 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm sure the ACLU would love to handle...

Don't just favorite, DONATE

As of Nov 9th 2016 they get $10/ month from me for the foreseeable future. I donate more when I can. We need to put our money where our mouth is. Venting on social media doesn't do jack shit.
posted by photoslob at 6:31 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

I've been calling Elizabeth Warren to thank her for standing up to the President every day. I'm heartbroken that I have to call tomorrow and yell at her about confirming Carson. (Has Nikki Haley been confirmed? I may have to complain about that, too.)
posted by pxe2000 at 6:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

oh good he's tweeting threats again

@realDonaldTrump: If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
posted by theodolite at 6:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

where the fuck are his handlers
posted by erratic meatsack at 6:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

i have been saving the second half of the final season of parks and rec for an emergency. i broke the proverbial glass tonight. it helps

...aaaand i just got to the one with michelle obama's cameo

now i'm depressed again
posted by entropicamericana at 6:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Gee that tweet just really confirms where the front lines are going to be.
posted by lineofsight at 6:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

That tweet gave me The Fear for the first time in days
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump

Big day planned on national security for tomorrow! Amoung many other things, we will build the wall.

Amoung
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

So the first thing Google finds is this article published today: CHICAGO MURDERS IN JANUARY 2017 ON PACE WITH SAME PERIOD IN 2016
posted by zachlipton at 6:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I fell asleep for about an hour earlier this evening and had a weird dream. Something like the Da Vinci code. In it was revealed:
Assange (Republican) = Assange (R) = Ass anger.
Assange (Russian) = Assange (Red) = Ass angered.
Assange (Libertarian) = Assange (L) = Ass angel.

(Yes, I do have dreams like this.)
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

So which cablenews channel was talking about Chicago?
posted by holgate at 6:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

The entire wall? In one day? That *would* be a big day!
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Just wanted to report back from a "Stop Trump's Swamp" protest that I attended today in CA-45, home of Republican Mimi Walters. I only even heard about the protest right here, on the green actually, thanks to rainbowbrite. My boss (enthusiastically) gave me permission to leave work early, my coworker made a great sign out of supplies we had on site, and off I went.

CA-45 is considered a 'safe red' seat, so it was pretty cool to see 75-100 people standing out front of the office building where Rep. Walters has her office. There were a handful of people who were sort-of-in-charge, but generally the crowd was self-managing. The building staff was trying to prevent us from getting in to see Mimi in groups of more than 5 at a time. At first we went along with it, but after it that first group was still in her office after ten minutes, we demanded to send up another group, of which I was part.

Her office was *more* than spacious enough to accomodate every single one of us. After the group spent some time speaking to the office director, specifically about the ACA, some of the veteran-protestor types began demanding to speak to her personally, that for years they've never seen her in person, because she won't hold town halls or announce her events. When the director refused to give any information about when our representative would be in the district, I suggested that the group would sit in until he got that information. I also went back downstairs, told the building security that all of us would be going upstairs, and directed the crowd to the elevators. Now it's a party!

50-60 of us were now standing in the office reception area and conference room. The director is visibly freaked out, the two younger staffers (young republicans straight out of central casting) ignoring us and texting. He repeatedly states that he has no idea when Ms. Walters will be available, that if we make a formal request maybe she'll get back to us, etc. "Make a formal request" was met with an unplanned, simultaneous "THIS IS THE FORMAL REQUEST" from the crowd. I make a call to the local paper, the OC Register.

The editor seemed very interested, spoke to me for about fifteen minutes about what was going on, why we were there, what we were trying to accomplish, who I was, etc. I also handed off my phone to the woman who organized the event on MoveOn, and she spoke with the paper for at least as long as I did. Meanwhile, the director and staffers are hiding in a back office frantically making phone calls. Are they actually going to follow through on our demands? No! Now the police are in the office.

Are things about to turn ugly? No, thankfully. The Irvine PD is mostly amused, informs the staffers that we're not violating any laws and are allowed to be there, but also asks the crowd to please disperse because the office is closing. I shook the director's hand, told him that I appreciated his time, that I appreciated he's a real person in addition to a political opponent, and that I'd see him real soon.

I took a few pictures, but I don't want to share people's faces without permission. I'm really, really excited because these 100 people showed up on the spot, mere hours after the event was even posted. They spent the next hour outside the office chatting, exchanging information, planning. Next week they'll be bringing friends. OC has a movement under way.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 6:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [156 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump: If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

I believe I've seen that movie. I think it starred Bruce Willis. "The Siege" or something?
posted by Hairy Lobster at 6:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have to imagine that it must suck being a Chicago resident, to have to deal with the fact that basically every time your city is brought up in the national discourse it's as the least subtle possible LOL BLACKS R THUGS WHO CAN'T GOVERN dogwhistle.

You have my sympathies.
posted by tocts at 6:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

You are awesome, BuddhaInABucket.
posted by zachlipton at 6:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Someone made him fix the "among".
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:41 PM on January 24, 2017

It's perhaps not a coincidence that Rahm Emanuel attacked Trump yesterday
posted by zachlipton at 6:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I hope de Blasio attacks Trump again soon. Maybe he can send "the feds" onto Fifth Avenue.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

So, is nobody else really creeped out that the un-subtle cretins don't want NIH officials corresponding with public officials? That seems really specific both in scope and for the target (NIH vs HHS).

My lab is super creeped out! Terrified, even. But after seeing the EPA and USDA gag orders earlier, and the grant freeze in the case of the former, we've all been expecting similar news from the NSF, NIH, DOE, etc. We're just worried the news won't stop at gag orders. The NIH grants seem a little less likely to be frozen, but some of the others, well...

The combined effects of these policies (gag order on NIH employees speaking to public officials + expected funding cuts + a war on facts) are absolutely fucking chilling for trainees who plan on a future in U.S. science.

Yeah, as I've said in previous threads, I'm looking for postdocs right now with an eye towards trying to remain in academic science, and man, I'm rethinking my list to favor non-American postdocs more and more. Under normal circumstances, I really wouldn't - switching countries is super stressful, there are entirely new lab/academic cultures to acclimate to and new grant systems to learn, it can be hard to get a long-term job as a foreigner, there's strong American representation in the subfield I'd like to make my career in (and in which I already have a bit of a reputation) - but I'm finding it increasingly hard to imagine that we'll be in a situation in 3-4 years where it'll be sane to be going out on the American academic job market. Science is too far from a well-paid and stable career as it is, and I'm not the only person considering trying to head abroad to be able to continue working in basic science. International scientists aren't going to want to come to a xenophobic country with volatile funding, either. The chilling effects these sorts of moves will have on science are super clear, and could easily result in some pretty major damage to both American science, and more broadly to America's preeminence in science.
posted by ubersturm at 6:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

I doubt you will read a more damming indictment of Trump's visit to the CIA than this from Robin Wright in The New Yorker

Yes! It is a great read & it brings up something that I was going to post about after a little more investigation. I keep seeing the media report that Trump said "Trust me, I'm like a smart person." at the CIA when in fact I thought he said "smart persona" which is much odder but infinitely more honest (or freudian). Assuming that he knows what persona means. The New Yorker also quotes him as saying persona.

In fact, every time I say I had an uncle who was a great professor at M.I.T. for thirty-five years, who did a fantastic job in so many different ways, academically—was an academic genius—and then they say, Is Donald Trump an intellectual? Trust me, I’m like a smart persona.”

Now if he didn't actually say persona, I have wasted a lot of energy...
posted by futz at 6:44 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm pretty sure that the Weiner's Circle alone could fend off Trump's troops.
posted by delfin at 6:45 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

@realDonaldTrump: If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

a) WTF.

b) I'm close to people who are working with the Sinai Urban Health Institute on the Gun Violence Research Collaborative. So if Trump really wants to stop the "carnage" I sure hope he directs federal funds towards that initiative.
posted by dis_integration at 6:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Soundtrack for these tough times
posted by porn in the woods at 6:50 PM on January 24, 2017

Thanks BuddhaInABucket! I'm in the same district and wanted to go today, but was not able to make it. Where should I go to stay informed and join in next time?
posted by Arbac at 6:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

What if this Half Onion In A Bag gained more followers than DJT?

@HalfOnionInABag:

Bet that would drive him crazy.

posted by snuffleupagus at 6:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I have to imagine that it must suck being a Chicago resident, to have to deal with the fact that basically every time your city is brought up in the national discourse it's as the least subtle possible LOL BLACKS R THUGS WHO CAN'T GOVERN dogwhistle.

It really, really does. And it does nothing to help with evidence-based strategies to deal with the problems that Chicago actually has (vs. all the apocalyptic "carnage" rhetoric.)
posted by ubersturm at 6:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Arbac and anyone else who needs info about our local protest, send me memail and I will get back to you when i get home.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 6:53 PM on January 24, 2017

So which cablenews channel was talking about Chicago?

Apparently O'Reilly mentioned it an hour ago.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:53 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's the graphic.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Now if he didn't actually say persona, I have wasted a lot of energy...

Judge for yourself :-) YouTube link
posted by vac2003 at 7:03 PM on January 24, 2017

Holy crap. What is this day five now and he's threatening to send the troops to an american city?
posted by octothorpe at 7:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

So ironically it's Trump who will declare martial law and send the feds in to take citizens' guns? What a world.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

He really is all of the spoilt little shits from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory rolled up into one old man.
posted by holgate at 7:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

Trump is coming for your guns. Congratulations.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

So ironically it's Trump who will declare martial law and send the feds in to take citizens' guns? What a world.

Just the citizens he doesn't like the look of. As Twitter just reminded me: Donald Trump’s Crime Policies Might Hit Minorities Harder, Experts Say (article from September)
posted by zachlipton at 7:07 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The President of the United States literally just threatened to turn the 3rd largest city in the nation into a police state.

Read that as many times as you have to until it sets in.
posted by porn in the woods at 7:11 PM on January 24, 2017 [73 favorites]

Hugs to all the scientists in the room, and everyone else.
posted by Artw at 7:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

The Whitehouse is a sieve.

Report: Trump Complains Negative Press Means He Can't 'Enjoy' White House

President Donald Trump thinks that unfavorable media coverage of his first weekend in office has not allowed him to "enjoy" the White House, according to a Tuesday report by the Associated Press.

Trump believed that the media would cover him more favorably after he was inaugurated, according to an Associated Press report citing two anonymous sources close to the President, but instead believes it has worsened.

The President said that the negative press has not allowed him to "enjoy" the White House on his first weekend in office, according to an anonymous source who spoke with him also cited in the report.
posted by Jalliah at 7:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

There's no question that this is politically motivated, and I wonder what the police unions might think of it, though they might play along if they think such a stunt improves their position (and Chicago's union endorsed Trump, too)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:13 PM on January 24, 2017

Daily Beast: President Trump is expected to sign a number of executive orders on Wednesday which would restrict immigration from Syria and six other Middle Eastern or African countries, according to a number of people briefed on the matter in a Reuters report.

Another one of the orders will reportedly block visas from being issued to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump's purported restrictions may also include a temporary ban on admitting refugees from countries until the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security can increase the intensity of vetting.

Additionally, The New York Times reported on Tuesday night that it is Trump's intention to sign an executive order on Wednesday which would direct federal funds to be shifted towards building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

(and I doubt the plan is "martial law" but something that allows him to declare victory and embarrass the mayor)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

And not that Mefites need this reminder, but it's a good one for people who think we are overreacting: martial law based on yearly murder rate has never, ever, happened before.
posted by corb at 7:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

It's morbid and grim but: we should probably start familiarizing ourselves with the likelihood that very soon there will be a terrible incident of mass US civilian bloodshed at the hands of the regime. It's just as likely to be due to incompetence as malice, but he is setting himself up for direct confrontations on several fronts and his blundering authoritarianism will inevitably lead to disaster somewhere.

That'll be the time for mass action and mobilization as never seen in the modern era, I reckon.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

More leakage.

The first days inside Trump’s White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot

A look into the hours before Spicer was sent out for his first press briefing. Plus power struggles galore.
posted by futz at 7:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Another one of the orders will reportedly block visas from being issued to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Good thing we've never had any terrorists from Saudi Arabia or they'd be on there too
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [46 favorites]

Thank you for the link to the Louise Mensch post as mentioned above, jason_steakums.

It's quite the read. For those with time and interest, check it out. The TL;DR version is inevitably a disservice, but here it is:

Snowden, recruited by Russia, steals NSA warez and "tricks" like using "stolen credentials" and spirited them away to Russia, with some going to China somehow. This is the weakest part of the story for me, probably because she calls him an "IT idiot" who basically ran a smash-and-grab for Moscow.

Then Russia turns some agents in NYPD and NY FBI. They launder billions through Trump, all common knowledge. Trump runs for POTUS, Manafort shows up with a cash-bulging suitcase, and the Russian hacking sideshow Alfa Bank (memba them? "Oh we were spamming one IP in Russia! Silly us!" Never sat right for me) coordinates the Weiner laptop leaks. By triggering emails to appear on it; to from/to Huma to/from Hilz, via malware. They got Weiner's pw from his sexting. K.

Now they throw in the NY FBI they've got by playing them against Comey knowing he'll either have to announce it and - what happened would happen - or have it leak and ??? Comey's the good guy of the story, btw, the author grew up idolizing Schwarzenneger and Maggie Thatcher, so, YMMV.

Comey's been running down the story since summer and has most of the pieces but needs a smoking gun to start a raid of Trump's Traitors. These are the FISA warrants, which he doesn't get. Until he bags the hacker who infected Wiener's computer and then FISA lets him tap Trump's phone. Now it's all nice-and-legal-like. Evidence piles up, and yes Michael "says who" Cohen was in Prague, taking private Russian jets that don't get tracked (FBI moles, rite?)

It's pretty well put together with the plausible sidestory that Rude Guiliani backed out of the SoS nom because the net is coming down (he's Trumps link to kompromatted NY FBI). Oh yes and there is a pee tape, Virginia.
posted by petebest at 7:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

No way the "States' rights!" Republicans will allow that!
posted by kirkaracha at 7:21 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

This is all without whatever the first inevitable crisis that isn't self created happens.
posted by Artw at 7:22 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/24/president-trump-takes-action-expedite-priority-enery-and-infrastructure

i'm enery the eighth i am, enery the eighth i am i am
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 7:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

President Trump Takes Action to Expedite Priority Enery and Infrastructure Projects

"President Trump directed the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with all relevant executive departments and agencies, to develop a plan..."

Yeah, we don't actually have a Secretary of Commerce right now.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:25 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

(Has Nikki Haley been confirmed? I may have to complain about that, too.)

Haley was confirmed 96-4.
Warren was not one of the 4 Dems voting against.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:26 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Trump's purported restrictions may also include a temporary ban on admitting refugees from countries until the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security can increase the intensity of vetting.

So they will announce a review to determine which refugees are potentially threatening; and this review will never be completed because everybody in the entire universe is a potential threat but they don't want to come out and say "no more refugees ever".

Incidentally, tourists to the USA from Australia are required to fill out a six-page form that includes questions about previous names, parents' names, parents' citizenship (I think), any other citizenships as well as where and how acquired, addresses in Australia and the USA, and a bunch of other stuff like social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) The form says that it's estimated to take 23 minutes to complete, and there's a charge of $14 as I recall. Oh, and when you enter they take your fingerprints - both hands - and photos, maybe some retinal thing too.

This is for what is allegedly visa free entry from one of the USA's allies. Australians entering on business and other visas need to visit a US embassy or consulate with multiple levels of security and be prepared for a two-hour wait in a room without chairs. I can't imagine what impositions are put on people coming from, say, Indonesia. The USA is becoming an island fortress, bit by bit, and I really don't think you're any safer.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:27 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

‏@gabrielsherman: Trump's public endorsement of Fox News over cable news rivals is something I've never seen before. He's acknowledging Fox is now state TV.
posted by argonauta at 7:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Another one of the orders will reportedly block visas from being issued to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Hey Iraq. Sorry we invaded your country for like a decade and fucked up a lot of stuff. So now if we can make absolutely sure none of y'all get anywhere near us, even though it was next to impossible to get a visa from Iraq before, that would be great. Good luck with all that.
posted by zachlipton at 7:29 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

@mightybattlecat
The year is 2017. America is a tire fire. The resistance is led by Teen Vogue, Badlands National Park, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
posted by chris24 at 7:29 PM on January 24, 2017 [149 favorites]

Trump's public endorsement of Fox News over cable news rivals is something I've never seen before. He's acknowledging Fox is now state TV.

FOX has been state TV before during the entire Bush administration. That part was predictable.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:31 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

We need the Feds to free Chicago from the carnage inflicted by rogue private email servers.
posted by delfin at 7:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Honestly I thought they'd wait til the next terrorism incident before the refugee halt. Now what frightening shit are they going to do in response to it?
posted by Artw at 7:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump is an idiot who has absolutely no clue as to what a President can and can't do and apparently he's surrounded by sycophants who are too scared to inform him. The base that apparently thinks Chicago is a third world slum might like his tough talk but it's all complete nonsense.

He's apparently just going to sit around watching Fox News and tweeting and outsource his Presidency other than signing whatever stupid shit his aides think up.

Based upon how increasingly erratic his tweets have become I'm fairly convinced that he's likely to be replaced based upon medical reasons because we've gone beyond the power of positive thinking bullshit he's used to all the way to Nixonian level paranoia which is no doubt stoked by some of his aides. He's never been the most rational adult but the rate of decline over the last year seems indicative of failing faculties.
posted by vuron at 7:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

This afternoon on my sanity walk up in the hills with my dog, I thought back to the conventions and how Trump's was so slapdash toss it together at the last minute and Hillary's was like the honor roll spent the last six months on it, and so on to where we are and Trump is still just barely competent, anyone can see that, and it hit me. (Thanks dog running off for a sec.) It's like those late night product pitches or those really long snail mail get rich quick real estate come-ons, or the websites that work the same. So much scrolling. The shoddiness and scamminess is meant to drive off anybody who would waste the call center's time. He definitely knows his audience.

Both of them.
posted by notyou at 7:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

FOX has been state TV before during the entire Bush administration. That part was predictable

Like so many of these things, they're not supposed to just openly do it.
posted by Artw at 7:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Any bets on who might do it?

@MarkHarrisNYC
One day an interviewer will look Trump in the eye, on camera, and say, "You're lying." That person will be an American hero.
posted by chris24 at 7:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

Also we already have FBI and ATF in Chicago, tracking down guns imported mostly from Pence's state.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:38 PM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

I have a question: what's the timeline for when we'll start to get a sense of who is planning to run in the midterm elections? Like, when we talk about primarying candidates from the left, or running opposition candidates even in districts where people usually run unopposed, when will that start to happen?
posted by pretentious illiterate at 7:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

CHITOWN HEAT RESIST.
posted by vrakatar at 7:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

What's the likelihood of Trump's entire "cabinet", such as it is at this point, and/or staff being replaced if he's removed from office in some way, say if he were impeached, or removed via Article 25? Is there any precedent for the wholesale removal of appointees, or would Pence just assume the Presidency and be free to keep or dismiss people as he pleases?
posted by mollweide at 7:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hey Iraq. Sorry we invaded your country for like a decade and fucked up a lot of stuff. So now if we can make absolutely sure none of y'all get anywhere near us, even though it was next to impossible to get a visa from Iraq before, that would be great. Good luck with all that.

I caught the last but of Maddow when I got home. She said tomorrow they're going to have some report about how his get the oil talk has already caused problems for the troops that are still there. I have heard that his oil talk spread like wildfire through Iraq and have read few responses from Iraq's (not good) but had forgotten about the troops that are still there and how this sort of talk would put them in more danger.

He has no clue.
posted by Jalliah at 7:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

The Chicago tweet is just Trump turning the page; now we won't talk about voter fraud or alt facts. He just piles this shit up and eveybody dances along.
posted by valkane at 7:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Like, when we talk about primarying candidates from the left, or running opposition candidates even in districts where people usually run unopposed, when will that start to happen?

Publicly? This time next year. Check your state's primary calendars, they're usually April-ish, and candidates will start announcing 2-4 months out depending on how well funded they are. Unofficially? It's happening now. Fundraising and jockeying for position started as soon as the election was over. If you're thinking about running, or know someone who might, now is the time to start running in the shadow primary.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Based upon how increasingly erratic his tweets have become I'm fairly convinced that he's likely to be replaced based upon medical reasons

Hey now, this guy said that Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

Sure, he may be wrong but the same doctor later said, "If something happens to him, then it happens to him," Bornstein told STAT News. "It's like all the rest of us, no? That's why we have a vice president and a speaker of the House and a whole line of people. They can just keep dying."

This guy is a Very Famous Doctor, it's all cool bro.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the climate change page from its website, two agency employees told Reuters, the latest move by the newly minted leadership to erase ex-President Barack Obama's climate change initiatives.

The employees were notified by EPA officials on Tuesday that the administration had instructed EPA's communications team to remove the website's climate change page, which contains links to scientific global warming research, as well as detailed data on emissions. The page could go down as early as Wednesday, the sources said.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:46 PM on January 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Erg, how do you archive a website from afar. Asking for a friend.
posted by notyou at 7:49 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Chicago tweet is just Trump turning the page; now we won't talk about voter fraud or alt facts. He just piles this shit up and eveybody dances along.

No it's not. He's a reactionary. This is how his brain works. We have confirmation and are getting more day after to day that he reacts to what he sees or hears. It looks like distraction because it happens so often. He has no control and just blurgs because something pisses him off and his aides can't control him.
posted by Jalliah at 7:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

Any bets on who might do it?

@MarkHarrisNYC
One day an interviewer will look Trump in the eye, on camera, and say, "You're lying." That person will be an American hero.

a hundred quatloos on Katy Tur
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:50 PM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

Cali is an open primary, Gotanda, as noted above. It'll be a runoff between DiFi and whomever other D. That's when the call for help should go out.
posted by notyou at 7:51 PM on January 24, 2017

Erg, how do you archive a website from afar. Asking for a friend.

https://www.httrack.com/
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I finally have a use for the old laptop! (Install debian, then httrack, then buy some storage somewhere.)
posted by notyou at 7:55 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Who is ordering the science crackdown? And why? It doesn't feel like a DJT thing, and Pruitt isn't in charge yet.
posted by theodolite at 7:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's quite the read. For those with time and interest, check it out. The TL;DR version is inevitably a disservice, but here it is:

Heh, your TL;DR was pretty much my initial reaction. The whole thing screams at me to discount it at first, but apparently this author did in fact get the scoop on the FISA warrant before anyone else, so that gets me taking a bit more of a look at the other stuff, and then for everything that seems iffy, there's something that catches my eye - yeah, the description of the alleged Snowden plot seems weak, but not implausible - "stolen credentials" isn't exactly a groundbreaking technique (woah woah if you steal a password you can access an account?) but it's not like that's all he ran off with and Russia wouldn't be interested in all of it. That FSB/Quito/Assange thing needs looking into because if so, wow. The hacker from Prague stuff seems like a mix of plausible things and weird leaps of logic - why send a code to put emails on the computer when you could just get one of the alleged moles in the FBI to do it in person? But the guy from Prague does make sense as the hacker that got the whole Weiner leak going (I'm sorry, I can't resist). And the timeline of events around Comey's weird as shit behavior does actually make some kind of sense in the context of closed/ongoing investigations. And there really has been a lot of shady Russian intelligence/mob/oligarch (really all the same with as much as the lines blur) activity in New York with plenty of documented bad actors in Trump's orbit. Idk, could all be bullshit, and I'm seriously making the effort to view it as likely bullshit first, but things keep nagging at me.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

What's the likelihood of Trump's entire "cabinet", such as it is at this point, and/or staff being replaced if he's removed from office in some way

I actually doubt it would change much. All of the Heritage Foundation picks would stay. I'm guessing it's more Pence's cabinet than Trump's anyway.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

No it's not. He's a reactionary. This is how his brain works. We have confirmation and are getting more day after to day that he reacts to what he sees or hears. It looks like distraction because it happens so often. He has no control and just blurgs because something pisses him off and his aides can't control him.

Yeah I definitely agree on this, with one addition: he's not a distraction but he's surrounded by people who are experts at capitalizing on his inadvertent distractions. I'd imagine there's a lot of "hey boss, did you see this shit CNN's saying?" going around.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:59 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Just posted all over Reddit about the EPA site to ask people who can to archive it. Also tweeted to the a couple of places.
posted by Jalliah at 8:00 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Okay, Janet Napolitano, 59, should run for Feinstein's seat in 2018 and President in 2020. (She has been battling cancer but I think successfully). She is a two term governor of Arizona, Secretary of Homeland Security, along with a few other credits to her name.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:00 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Who is ordering the science crackdown?

Really? The standard Republican line has become, "climate change isn't real". Period. Trump called it a plot by the Chinese. It's a core plank of the Republican platform.

Next to tax cuts and abortion restrictions, it's the next biggest thing every Republican agrees on.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Cali is an open primary, Gotanda, as noted above. It'll be a runoff between DiFi and whomever other D. That's when the call for help should go out.

Thats by no means guaranteed. If Feinstein runs again and no significantly funded D alternative runs, its quite plausible that the remaining D vote would be split enough to let an R candidate come in second (especially if they coalesce around a single plausible R). Of course, Feinstein would easily defeat the Republican in the fall, but there's no guarantee it would be D v D. It happened in 2016 partially because there was no incumbent D and partially because the R vote was split as well.

If people really want an alternative Democrat candidate, there needs to be a specific individual promoted heavily so that the vote only splits between Feinstein and that candidate. Feinstein will get a significant number of votes, so you have to siphon off enough D votes and hope the Republicans split their vote as well.
posted by thefoxgod at 8:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Re EPA website: He's ordering the removal of public data sets.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

If you want to push the Democrats to pursue a more obstructionist/progressive position then look at districts where the Democrats are safe in regards to the general election but that enough money could make a difference for a primary. Don't target blue dogs unless they are in safe districts that should be represented by someone more liberal (there aren't a ton of these anymore).

Look around at the best and brightest on the JV team especially younger PoC and women. Representation matters and sometimes it's enough to fire up support among underrepresented groups.

Realize that Senate races in most blue states are incredibly expensive affairs and incumbents have massive financial advantages. Sometimes just the threat of credible primary challenger is enough to force some politicians to take a more dynamic role.

Start registering voters now while Trump is making everyone angry, get lawsuits started challengin voter ID laws. Challenge fake news on social media. Start collecting anecdotes about how policy X is absolutely critical, etc and work to create counter narratives.

Look for cracks in the Republican caucus, typically this is going to be over discretionary spending because a lot of Republicans are dependent on various government funds to support their district.
posted by vuron at 8:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm guessing it's more Pence's cabinet than Trump's anyway.

idk? i don't feel like pence would have chosen such obviously unqualified cretins when there are literally hundreds of qualified republican utterly soulless venal shitlicking politicians available.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:02 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Re EPA website: He's ordering the removal of public data sets.

Man, data.gov is toast.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:02 PM on January 24, 2017

Yeah I definitely agree on this, with one addition: he's not a distraction but he's surrounded by people who are experts at capitalizing on his inadvertent distractions. I'd imagine there's a lot of "hey boss, did you see this shit CNN's saying?" going around.

Yep agree on this. I just think we need to leave behind the idea that any distraction strategy is coming from him.
posted by Jalliah at 8:02 PM on January 24, 2017

Justinian: "There is no strategy there."

I'm pretty sure Daniel Dale -- the Toronto Star reporter who previously covered Rob Ford and is now covering Trump -- tweeted something basically to that effect based on his experience with the Rob Ford administration. Every time it seems like they're doing something tricky to achieve some kind strategic advantage, it turns out... nope, it's just unhinged bozos doing unhinged bozo stuff. That's basically how I feel about the Twitter stuff. Just random nonsense. The cabinet picks on the other hand... Sessions? Pruitt? De Vos? Too much deliberate malevolence to be by chance (especially Sessions). I see the grim hand of Bannon (maybe also Ailes?) at work here.
posted by mhum at 8:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Rep. Gosar (R-AZ) introduces bill to block HUD from building, maintaining, providing geospatial info on racial disparities in housing access

Worst case scenarios are all now the betting favorite. They're going to contaminate every aspect of objective government data.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [37 favorites]

Another way to plug in: Head to the Scientists' March on Washington site. They've got a flood of newcomers and they are asking for help.
posted by perspicio at 8:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

The 2020 Census is also going to be Trumpian. It determines redistricting.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Re EPA website: He's ordering the removal of public data sets.

Unfortunately, climate isn't like IRS audits: weather keeps happening even if you destroy the documentation.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

idk? i don't feel like pence would have chosen such obviously unqualified cretins when there are literally hundreds of qualified republican utterly soulless venal shitlicking politicians available.

Yeah. Pence would realize that, with Pence in office, the role of obviously unqualified cretin has already been filled.
posted by Justinian at 8:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

They're in the very very early stages of organizing, but the Scientists' March on Washington is being proposed and looking for volunteers.
posted by zachlipton at 8:05 PM on January 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Alfa Bank (memba them? "Oh we were spamming one IP in Russia! Silly us!" Never sat right for me)

My gut sense on that was that the published story had too many holes -- the IPs were an email blast firm, doing email blasts, I wish it were otherwise -- but it was published because the Alfa Bank connection had clearly been circulated elsewhere in the Steele dossier, and there wasn't enough in the journalistic sphere of knowledge to pin down a connection, so Slate went with the crumbs they had.
posted by holgate at 8:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

They're in the very very early stages of organizing, but the Scientists' March on Washington is being proposed and looking for volunteers.

What do we want?
– Rigorously-tested theories!
When do we want them?
– After peer review!
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

I've wondered what the lefty version of InfoWars would look like and I guess it's the Louise Mensch article that's being thrown around
posted by reluctant early bird at 8:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Netherlands 'counters' Trump with international abortion fund

The Dutch Government is planning to launch an international fund to finance access to birth control and abortion in developing countries, in order to fill the gap left after the Trump administration announced it would no longer fund any overseas aid organisations which discussed abortion.

“Banning abortions does not result in fewer abortions,” Dutch Trade and Development Minister Lilianne Ploumen said in a statement.

“It leads to more irresponsible practices in back rooms and more maternal deaths.”

The World Health Organisation estimates that 22 million women experience unsafe abortions every year, the vast majority of whom are in developing countries.

A 2008 report from the organisation estimated that nearly 50,000 women die from complications in such procedures annually.

Minister Ploumen said that the Trump administration's decision risked undermining recent advances in women's health.

"We must not let this happen," she said.
posted by Jalliah at 8:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [49 favorites]

If the marching scientists need hats, we knitters are on it
posted by antinomia at 8:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

Silver with 60s style atoms?
posted by Artw at 8:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I did see a group of scientists marching in lab coats at the women's march in SF last weekend. Everyone looks better and more authoritative in a lab coat, not just people actually working in labs. It works for doctors, pharmacists, school uniforms in certain countries, and also evil mad scientists. So I'm officially in favor of any protest that involves lots of lab coats.
posted by zachlipton at 8:15 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Keep in mind that the 2020 census takes a significant amount of time to process. Yeah there are some aspects of data gathering that could be used to undercount various populations but it would be impossible to somehow get every census taker to be involved in a grand conspiracy to generate false census data.

Reapportionment will be the first phase and it's quite likely that a macro-level we'll see increased migration towards the Desert Southwest and parts of the Atlantic Coast and South. Many of these areas are becoming increasingly Democratic leaning.

After reapportionment you have redistricting which is where Republican State Legislators do all their damage. The redistricting fight is won and lost in the state legislatures, governor's mansions and courts. If possible push your state to adopt non-partisan redistricting legislation now.
posted by vuron at 8:16 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Please peace band all shrink rays and gamma beam projectors.
posted by Artw at 8:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

My gut sense on that was that the published story had too many holes -- the IPs were an email blast firm, doing email blasts, I wish it were otherwise -- but it was published because the Alfa Bank connection had clearly been circulated elsewhere in the Steele dossier, and there wasn't enough in the journalistic sphere of knowledge to pin down a connection, so Slate went with the crumbs they had.

It's the part where the server was taken down, set up with a new host, and Alfa connected to it tout suite that feels really off to me. I haven't seen any explanation that convinces me that's not hinky. Plus the NYT public editor strongly hinted recently that there was a story there that they only backtracked on due to pressure.

Also if I ran some ridiculous plot like this that needed backdoor communication and had this huge commercial enterprise with attendant marketing infrastructure that Trump has? An email marketing server would look like such a good cover.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

So I'm officially in favor of any protest that involves lots of lab coats.

I would do this if I weren't concerned about being mistaken for a brown Doogie Howser.

and the whole not-actually-a-scientist-thing
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:17 PM on January 24, 2017

It's morbid and grim but: we should probably start familiarizing ourselves with the likelihood that very soon there will be a terrible incident of mass US civilian bloodshed at the hands of the regime.

This gets back to the late 60s and early 70s -- which were politically formative for the reactionary boomers who are having their last hoorah right now -- but since I didn't live through it, I've had to read up on Kent State and the general sense of the wheels coming off during the Nixon years. Except that the trajectory now -- with cops who act like they're occupying forces, and have all the military surplus hardware from a decade of foreign conflict -- is essentially a declaration of war on black urban America.

If that happens, DC itself -- the city that people live in, not the sub-city of federal government -- is going to fucking ignite, and all bets are off.
posted by holgate at 8:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

LOL - from the WaPo article on Trump's Saturday meltdown (italics mine):

One suggested that Conway’s office on the second floor of the West Wing, as opposed to one closer to the Oval Office, was a sign of her diminished standing. Though Conway took over the workspace previously occupied by Valerie Jarrett, who had been Obama’s closest adviser, the confidant dismissively predicted that Trump would rarely climb a flight of stairs.
posted by Mchelly at 8:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

I really liked this: Be like Daphnis [via]
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:22 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm pretty sure Daniel Dale -- the Toronto Star reporter who previously covered Rob Ford and is now covering Trump -- tweeted something basically to that effect based on his experience with the Rob Ford administration. Every time it seems like they're doing something tricky to achieve some kind strategic advantage, it turns out... nope, it's just unhinged bozos doing unhinged bozo stuff. That's basically how I feel about the Twitter stuff. Just random nonsense. The cabinet picks on the other hand... Sessions? Pruitt? De Vos? Too much deliberate malevolence to be by chance (especially Sessions). I see the grim hand of Bannon (maybe also Ailes?) at work here.

Speaking of Daniel Dale. He just tweeted about the Chicago tweet and suggested it's related to Rahm calling him out today.

tweet Genuinely looking forward to Spicer's attempts to explain this tomorrow.

Abc story linked in the tweet. Trump Threatens to 'Send in the Feds' Because of Chicago 'Carnage'

It was not immediately clear what prompted Trump's Tuesday night tweet, but Emanuel criticized the president and his continued focus on the size of his inaugural crowd.

"This is unsolicited advice: You didn't get elected to debate the crowd size at your inaugural," Emanuel said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement Tuesday night: "As the Mayor said just a few hours ago, the Chicago Police Department is more than willing to work with the federal government to build on our partnerships with DOJ, FBI, DEA and ATF and boost federal prosecution rates for gun crimes in Chicago."

On Tuesday, Emanuel told WTTW that "there’s a lot that federal government can do" and "I’ve been very specific about this."
posted by Jalliah at 8:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

So I'm officially in favor of any protest that involves lots of lab coats.

I dunno, you probably don't want me wearing my preferred lab coat to protest. It's covered with my name in the blurry, angry sharpie that comes from metaphorically pissing all over the only damn lab coat that fit my hips so the undergrads don't steal it, plus unidentifiable stains all over the cuffs from only being washed every six to eight weeks.

....possibly other scientists keep cleaner lab coats?
posted by sciatrix at 8:26 PM on January 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

tivalasvegas they say you don't have to be a scientist to march, just someone who respects the scientific method. And I love the lab coat idea.
posted by antinomia at 8:27 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Plus the NYT public editor strongly hinted recently that there was a story there that they only backtracked on due to pressure.

I hadn't seen that, and it's the first thing Liz Spayd has written that doesn't make me pine for Margaret Sullivan. I still think the server stuff was a wild goose chase, or at best a low-level lead in the investigation that had leaked from sigint people, but nobody could pin it down. Lichtblau and Myers are top-tier natsec reporters who certainly knew what Steele had reported back then, and had access to other mutterings, but if there was, for instance, a laundering operation through the Russian expat pension payments system, with Alfa as a facilitator, it wouldn't have gone through that route. It would have been through standard bundled bank-to-bank transfers on secure channels between bank servers.
posted by holgate at 8:28 PM on January 24, 2017

still the doogie howser issue tho
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:29 PM on January 24, 2017

@smotus
What’s the maximal level of violent crime a city can have before being occupied by the US military? Asking for a democracy.
posted by chris24 at 8:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [46 favorites]

Realistically, though, I could probably buy myself a new lab coat for marching purposes. I am a scientist. And they only cost like $20-30 even if you, like me, require fitted coats in order to avoid the dreaded sausage phenomenon.

Hm.

I'm not traveling again any time soon, though. Too damn fucking tired.
posted by sciatrix at 8:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

If possible push your state to adopt non-partisan redistricting legislation now.

Not going to happen with the current crowd. Find people to run for state legislative districts. You can do it on the (relative) cheap. The DNC chair election is going to count on this, but don't wait. If you have Bubba Bubbason III (R) as your six-term state legislator, he's on watch as of right now.
posted by holgate at 8:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

VoteVets is not happy about the federal hiring freeze. Veterans make up 31% of the federal workforce, and because of hiring preferences, a federal hiring freeze screws over vets who are leaving the service and looking for civilian work. And nobody has said that the VA is exempt from the freeze, which would mean they can't hire more staff to provide medical care, despite all those promises about fixing the VA.
posted by zachlipton at 8:35 PM on January 24, 2017 [75 favorites]

I can't interpret the Trump administration's actions in the last few days as anything but total disdain for the citizens they are supposed to be serving.
posted by piyushnz at 8:36 PM on January 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

I've wondered what the lefty version of InfoWars would look like and I guess it's the Louise Mensch article that's being thrown around

She's a conservative and she actually worked for a Murdoch publication while doing some of this work. Breitbart went after her like crazy when she started digging on this though. I feel really weird because I don't want to seem like I'm defending this article as fact or something to hang hopes on, and I'd like to be clear that I'm not - it raises a lot of alarm bells for me and I'm being very actively mindful of my biases here. But I do think it's... idk, not worth believing, but worth reading? Either she had a source on the FISA warrant before anyone, or (imo more likely) others had that source and decided against publishing it but she's got no filter, both of which make for interesting reading when things are leaking all over the place and reality is turning out to be unbelievably fucked up.

Lichtblau and Myers are top-tier natsec reporters who certainly knew what Steele had reported back then, and had access to other mutterings, but if there was, for instance, a laundering operation through the Russian expat pension payments system, with Alfa as a facilitator, it wouldn't have gone through that route. It would have been through standard bundled bank-to-bank transfers on secure channels between bank servers.

Idk, I'm leaning towards, if there was communication on that server it's more likely related to the Wikileaks and Anthony Weiner stuff - the other weird thing about the Alfa story is that Spectrum Health was the other party flagged in the communications, which is owned by the DeVos family, and then you see things like that link in Mensch's story's mention of DeVos' brother Eric Prince where he's on Breitbart hyping up the Comey Letter stuff to this ridiculous level just days before the election about impending arrests and the content of the emails based on "insider knowledge of the investigation".
posted by jason_steakums at 8:39 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

@smotus
What’s the maximal level of violent crime a city can have before being occupied by the US military? Asking for a democracy.

1.5 Chicago's + 1 alternative fact.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is me, upon reading the news for the next 2-8 years
posted by lalochezia at 8:41 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

What’s the maximal level of violent crime a city can have before being occupied by the US military?

Someday, I think a "fun" project would be identifying fringe ideas in right wing publications which ended up becoming reality. I remember reading the National Review sometime in 1986 or 87 where someone proposed Reagan send in the army and occupy cities during the crime wave. Even as a teenager who hadn't figured out his politics yet, I knew that was some incredibly scary bullshit.
posted by honestcoyote at 8:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's morbid and grim but: we should probably start familiarizing ourselves with the likelihood that very soon there will be a terrible incident of mass US civilian bloodshed at the hands of the regime.

This was my thought as soon as he ordered the DAP and Keystone pipelines to be built. Do you think Donald is going to let a bunch of Native Americans defy him?

It's a bit strange to be glad to see a few more people edging their way toward becoming appropriately scared shitless. Perhaps if more of us get to the point of taking this growing horror as seriously as it has been since November fucking 8th, there may be enough organization and preparedness to mitigate/ameriorate/stave off some of the worst effects of the cascade of catastrophes an obviously sociopathic cadre is very busily cooking up.

I'm really glad for all the political organizing and action. I'm politically active myself. But y'all better also spare a little thought for how you will continue that noble work if you find yourself without vital goods and services. If that's still too far-fetched to worry about, well, by all means please keep up the good work you are already doing, but I look forward to the day when you show up wearing your brown pants.
posted by perspicio at 8:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

A very small part of me wants to be fair and say "well maybe this is how Republicans felt at the start of Obama's term." But let's look at Obama's early executive orders. He instituted new ethics rules (something Trump also promised to do on day 1 but didn't), helped ensure Presidential records would be preserved, ordered people to stop torturing, and set in motion a process toward closing Guantanamo (and look how well that turned out).

In contrast, Trump has, just to name a few examples, (and in addition to the quite bad but vaguely within the realm of stuff a President I strongly disagree with might do like the global gag rule and even perhaps the Obamacare order) sent his press secretary out to yell at the press because his crowds weren't large enough, used the CIA memorial wall for his own self-aggrandizement, and threatened to "send in the feds" to one of the largest cities in the country. He's about to ban citizens of several entire countries from visiting. And all the while, his entire staff has been leaking to the press constantly trying to backstab each other. This is not normal.
posted by zachlipton at 8:47 PM on January 24, 2017 [57 favorites]

Most of us here have been openly worrying about nuclear apocalypse for over a year, we can do without the prepper shaming, thanks.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:48 PM on January 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Meanwhile, states ask for help after recent tornados.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:51 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

@CNNPR is correcting the record on POTUS's estimate of Fox vs. FAKENEWSCNN viewership. (Yet another thing that's not normal.)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:54 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Re: Chicago. It's also a sanctuary city, putting it on tomorrow's agenda:

Trump to sign executive orders enabling construction of proposed border wall and targeting sanctuary cities [WaPo]

If you're curious what this might mean, here's an explainer: How sanctuary cities work and what might happen to them under Trump [WaPo]. The main sanction is anticipated to be federal justics grant cuts, but -- as the article points out -- that's unlikely to influence large jurisdicions. Instead,

Cutting funding isn’t the only way for the Trump administration to get places with sanctuary policies to help with deportation. Vaughan said another option is seeking an injunction in federal court to block specific policies, especially in jurisdictions that “will not cooperate in any way with ICE.” She said the worst offenders are Cook County, Ill., (home to Chicago), ...

So there's another excuse for federal meddling with Chicago. They could scratch their "ungovernable blacks" and "terrorist foreigners" itches in a single shot.
posted by Westringia F. at 9:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

just someone who respects the scientific method

Do they accept disciples of Feyerabend?
posted by Coventry at 9:04 PM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

What the hell. I barely ever watch cable so never see commercials. Parents are away so I'm staying in there half of the house and watching the tv.
Just saw a Dodge Durango ad.
"There's a place in America that you can can almost see Russia"
*cars zoom around through snows and trees*
" That means there is a place in Russia that they can hear America."

WTF?
posted by Jalliah at 9:06 PM on January 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

So I actually read the "Presidential Memo" (which IIRC is not the same as an executive order) on DAPL. And the language is... weird. The Army Corps of Engineers is ordered to:

review and approve in an expedited manner, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, and with such conditions as are necessary or appropriate, requests for approvals to construct and operate the DAPL ...

Ordering someone to review and approve is kind of contradictory. If you've been ordered to approve something, there's no point in reviewing it.

It's also legally questionable. Federal agency decisions have to comply with a standard of being not arbitrary and capricious -- that's what the courts look at. And I'm pretty damned sure that a presidential order to approve is practically the definition of arbitrary and capricious.

What is POTUS but capricious? He is the very definition of capricious.

So when (not if) this gets litigated, the courts are going to look very closely at this, and are likely to kick it back. And then the GOP will get the Administrative Procedures Act repealed, and then we'll really be in the swamp.
posted by suelac at 9:08 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

If the marching scientists need hats, we knitters are on it.

My brightest hope right now is that in the next century there's an American history textbook that says something like:

The greatest threat to American democracy, and to the country's very survival, came in 2017 with the illegitimate election of "President" Donald J. Trump. Before the Trump administration could weather its first month, the American people were so incensed by its egregious violations of their constitutional and inalienable rights, and by the clownishly childish behavior of their "President," that American citizens and immigrants alike took to the streets in unprecedented numbers. Among the most active groups in the resistance were scientists whose decades of advancements, and future decades of potentially promising research, were threatened by the administration's across-the-board defunding of the sciences, implementation of Federal agency gag orders, and wholesale silencing of regulatory bodies. Those scientists' collective, vociferous protests were fundamental in ousting the Trump administration, and their efforts were aided to an incalculable extent by a coalition of dedicated knitters. Here are some examples of the protest hats they knitted."

posted by mudpuppie at 9:10 PM on January 24, 2017 [70 favorites]

Look around at the best and brightest on the JV team especially younger PoC and women. Representation matters and sometimes it's enough to fire up support among underrepresented groups.

Everybody hates Ted Cruz, what would it take to get a Castro brother elected to the Senate in Texas? Back when we still had optimism, before our souls were crushed (I'm talking to you, November 8th) people kept talking about how Texas demographics are changing.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

The primary sources for what Trump said he would do on Day One* are:

Donald J. Trump Delivers Groundbreaking Contract for the American Voter in Gettysburg, October 22, 2016
A Message from President-Elect Donald J. Trump, November 21, 2016

* You might think "Day One" is the day the president takes office, but apparently Donald Trump thinks presidents get weekends off and said Monday, January 23, would be his Day One. We'll call that Day One Observed. Spoiler: he didn't do most of the things he said he would do regardless of when you decide Day One is.

I made a (crappy, incomplete) website and Facebook page to see what he said he would do on Day One and whether or not he did them.
"'Don’t do what Donny Don’t does.' [sigh] They could make this clearer."

Of course, just because he didn't do something when he said he would doesn't mean he won't do it later.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Funny thing I just read. "I am not criticizing Trump it's just Alternative Praise"
posted by Jalliah at 9:14 PM on January 24, 2017 [43 favorites]

Meanwhile, states ask for help after recent tornados.

Like I suggested upthread, "heckuva job, Brownie" had an effect, even on people who might not have given much of a shit about the destruction of African-American life and property and the displacement of communities.

Right now, the governors are apologising for inaction, enabling the demented narcissist, and talking about "government red tape". But "acts of God" -- and south Georgia is a god-fearing place, I've spent time there -- are different from social or cultural stuff. When the wind blows your house down, you expect someone in charge to do something selfless to help, especially if you voted for someone you think of as a saviour who promised to look after you. And they'll remember it.
posted by holgate at 9:17 PM on January 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Most of us here have been openly worrying about nuclear apocalypse for over a year, we can do without the prepper shaming, thanks.

Not sure about 'most' but hope you're right and in any event, point taken. I communicate poorly sometimes, especially under stress; I apologize.
posted by perspicio at 9:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

What the hell. I barely ever watch cable so never see commercials. Parents are away so I'm staying in there half of the house and watching the tv.
Just saw a Dodge Durango ad.
"There's a place in America that you can can almost see Russia"
*cars zoom around through snows and trees*
" That means there is a place in Russia that they can hear America."

"If you buy this SUV you'll be hated for blocks around."
posted by jaduncan at 9:20 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

A project for those of a grim mentality might be to see whether the more obviously erratic twitterations coincide with hours commonly associated with sundowning.
posted by holgate at 9:32 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I doubt you will read a more damming indictment of Trump's visit to the CIA than this from Robin Wright in The New Yorker, . Trump’s Vainglorious Affront To The C.I.A..

Apparently as proof, the President noted that he had set an “all-time record” in Time magazine cover stories. “Like, if Tom Brady is on the cover, it’s one time, because he won the Super Bowl or something, right?” he told the intelligence officials. “I’ve been on it for fifteen times this year. I don’t think that’s a record that can ever be broken.” Time told Politico’s Playbook that it had published eleven Trump covers—and had done fifty-five cover stories about Richard Nixon.

And he's bragging about this year's Time Meltdown and Total Meltdown covers.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:33 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Standing Rock Sioux pledge to fight executive order: 'We can't back down now'

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters are vowing to resist Donald Trump’s executive order to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline with legal action, civil disobedience and a return to the “water protector” encampments.

“President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process,” said Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault, who called Trump’s action “politically motivated”.

“Creating a second Flint does not make America great again,” he added.
posted by Jalliah at 9:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [48 favorites]

Whatever shit happens with "The Stupid Fucking Wall", it will also involve the Tohono O’odham in Arizona, whose treaty rights span the border. And CNN has also done some good new reporting on the ambivalence of those in Texas who actually live on the border. Turns out that the landscape was there before people drew lines on it.
posted by holgate at 10:01 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here Is 11 Minutes of Real Stand-Up Comedy From Kellyanne Conway

Her material is not great—she makes fun of a Jewish-sounding name and gives a long lead-up to a joke about child abuse—but she does have one good bit, about “pundettes.” “Someone who goes on TV constantly,” she says, “and just says the same thing over and over and over and over again, but never wears the same thing twice.” Sounds awfully familiar.

posted by kirkaracha at 10:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

A Nationwide Ban On Abortions After A Month And A Half Was Introduced In Congress.

(╯°□°)╯ ︵ ┻━┻
posted by fragmede at 10:23 PM on January 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

Many references to his office phones being turned off, his voicemail being full and never emptied and people getting locked out when they show up in person to deliver letters. This is some Tea Party Tactics realness that is happening. Stay the course.

The group that went to Ted Cruz's office in Houston today had the doors locked against them and the cops were called to escort them from the building. Unfortunately it hasn't made the media, although people are writing letters to the paper.
posted by threeturtles at 10:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Here's a report, it's apparently blowing up on Twitter.
posted by threeturtles at 10:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mefi's Adopted Own Evan McMullin has come out swinging with Stand Up Republic. (Warning: ad contains a lot of Reagan but watch it anyway because it's baller.)
posted by corb at 10:29 PM on January 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Many news stories in the last month that scientists have been working furiously to download all the data that they can before it was scrubbed by the Anti-Intelligentsia. I am glad that they had the foresight to do so.

Guys, this is crazy that we are having discussions like this. I know that all of you know this too but it is still straight up fucking crazy. Feds might be ordered into Chicago? Gag orders on all of our sçientific communities, Spicer blatently lying to the world from the White House briefing room. The confirmation hearings and all the lying and obfuscation. Nothing new there until you find out that there might be a "shadow cabinet" that will be the "handler" of folks like Price, DeVos, Tillerson, Mnuchin.

What is true? We all know the casualness of trump's lies. There are so many lies that as a reporter you must get tired and bleary eyed from looking up in the trees as well as down on the ground for trip wires.

Trump assembles a shadow Cabinet (linked above). The Politico article suggests that it really doesn't matter who wins confirmation because they will have a handler/overseer.

-- The White House is deploying a network of advisers to the top of federal agencies as a direct line to stay on top of Cabinet officials.

-- The White House is installing senior aides atop major federal agencies to shadow the administration's Cabinet secretaries, creating a direct line with loyalists who can monitor and shape White House goals across the federal bureaucracy.

The aides chosen by the White House — given the title of senior adviser in each agency — have already been responsible for hiring at some departments and crafting the blueprint of Trump policy before the Cabinet members win Senate confirmation to take office. They have worked with congressional aides, lobbyists and others seeking influence in the new administration.

The arrangement, described by four people involved in the transition planning, appears designed to help the White House maintain control over its priorities despite pledging to give Cabinet secretaries unusual autonomy. Having senior advisers reporting to both the agency chiefs and the White House could spur early tensions and create conflicts with that pledge of autonomy.

-- “There will be tentacles from the White House to these agencies. … The effort is to demonstrate that all points lead back to certain people,” such as Donald Trump’s son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, or chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Another person involved in the transition said Trump's team wanted a "real strong line at the agencies to have someone monitoring and directing what they're doing."

-- The jobs have rattled Obama administration political appointees, who have been surprised at young campaign hands having such authority at federal agencies. The advisers at each agency will not face Senate approval, like more than 1,200 other federal government positions, including deputy secretaries and administrators.

If true, this is micromanagement on steroids, stifling science in every aspect, muzzling progress and undermining the passion and devotion for curiosity and truth. Fuck them at every opportunity. Paint then as zealots fron the dark ages. Why are they scared of science we should ask. Afraid that the truth will hurt their bottom line? Their stock portfolios? If the answer is no, press them to explain why they are against it. Are they willing to risk their grandchildren's future. Press them. What else can it be other than personal gain? Kickbacks? Lobbyist cash. They are terrified of science. Despicable cowards.
posted by futz at 10:42 PM on January 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Mefi's Adopted Own Evan McMullin has come out swinging with Stand Up Republic. (Warning: ad contains a lot of Reagan but watch it anyway because it's baller.)

I may disagree with McMullin and Finn on a lot of policy but I hope he succeeds in this. A big part of the struggle Democrats are facing right now is that we can't get the Republicans' house in order and pull the GOP back to sanity, that's on them. At the end of the day there are states and districts out of the Democrats' reach for now and if McMullin and Finn can replace the current batch with Republicans who will at least uphold civilization and argue in good faith I'm all for it, and after we chase out the fascists together we can fight each other tooth and nail on policy in reasoned debates and fair elections later. After we all share a celebratory drink together.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:52 PM on January 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

Reading up on various martial law issues in the wake of the Chicago tweet I came across a ~75-page military academic paper from 2008, "Insurrection Act Restored: States Likely to Maintain Authority Over National Guard in Domestic Emergencies", that thoroughly covers topics related to domestic deployment of federally-controlled military. (The title refers to the revocation of a temporary expansion of powers under Bush, which had been enacted due to part of the clusterfuck during Katrina described in the introduction here.)
posted by XMLicious at 11:13 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Seriously though it's his second fucking day and he's already threatening a major city with martial law for no reason. He's not recapitulating Hitler, he's following some evil dictator playbook he saw in a Marvel movie

He's trying to seem like he is doing something.

Fine.

This is a good time to bring up the down in the weeds technical capabilities of the surveillance state and ask "Is the plan to deploy (whatever) FedGov has used in private?" Then THANK him for bringing the facial recognition and profiling software from Afghanistan or stingray to the public viewing/public review.

Let the deep state people who want to keep stingray et al buried and parallel reconstruction enjoy a bit of sunlight.
posted by rough ashlar at 11:18 PM on January 24, 2017

The "shadow Cabinet" shit is malignant. Malignant like cancer. It is "running the government like the Family Business" shit. It will not hold, because there will not be enough political appointees in the respective departments, the egos of the Senate-appointed nominees will eventually kick in, and the career people will walk briskly to the exits.

That's not to say that it won't resolve in a situation where the government is run out of the Shite House with no congressional oversight, because the elected GOP is sufficiently craven. But we'll see it happening. Maybe it will be too late by then. Maybe it's already too late. But the facade will be gone.
posted by holgate at 11:24 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

A Nationwide Ban On Abortions After A Month And A Half Was Introduced In Congress.

(╯°□°)╯ ︵ ┻━┻

Oh of fucking course that's Steve fucking King. I'm here in his district and I'm itching to get a chance to vote in someone else, but he won 61.2% to 38.6% last year and most of his elections hover around that split, we need all the help we can get. I think I'm going to reach out to the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa since they're the ones doing Moral Mondays work here, but they don't have a presence in this district. Tactically there needs to be an approach from the church angle and some progressive agitation among the blue collar and farming crowd to start making a real dent, angry Sioux City liberals like myself can only do so much. We need strong progressive figures with the credibility to speak to the churchgoing and rural working crowd and right now it honestly feels like we don't have anyone capable of standing up and making those inroads around here. Failing that maybe McMullin can at least send someone sane our way, King is saturated in Trumpstink and I fear that he's just the right kind of crazy that he'd give Trump ideas.

The one thing that gives me hope is his total incompetence summed up in this line from his Wikipedia page: "In August 2015, King was named the least effective member of Congress by InsideGov due to his persistent failures to get legislation out of committee."
posted by jason_steakums at 11:28 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just a reminder: The EPA was created and WORKED to stop a constitutional amendment to protect the environment.

Ya all might wanna visit the old folks home, talk with the people who were at the forefront of making that an amendment back in the day and start such amendment machinery back up.

Hasn't been an amendment for decades. Perhaps Trump's purpose is to get some amendments through?
posted by rough ashlar at 11:30 PM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Steve 'Racist' King, inheritor of the Tom Tancredo Cup for Most Obviously Racist Member of Congress, can die in a fucking spontaneous racist combustion incident for all I'm concerned.

He's a fucking idiot and a fucking abject racist, and yes, it appears that his colleagues are somewhat embarrassed by that. But he feels empowered by bigotpresident. Get fucking situationist. Get people to wave big ol' dixieflags outside his office, since he has dixieflag on his desk. Get the people waving them to wear confederate uniforms. Do it on Memorial Day at the Civil War graveyards in Iowa that honour the Union dead. Basically spend the next year and a bit promoting him as the dixiest southern redneck in Iowa, y'all, and see whether his constituents really want to be seen as dixieflag rednecks. Leave no terrible southern white person stereotype unused. And if they do still vote for him, get the fuck out.
posted by holgate at 11:37 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

with cops who act like they're occupying forces

You all should track Sheriff Clarke VS the white 24 year old from the run-down Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee. These people want clicks and are the cast-offs of the old AV Club. And will notice people have noticed and will devote effort to covering the lawsuit.

Enjoy!
posted by rough ashlar at 11:40 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Really, make sure that his local visits have an honour guard that looks like Alabama lost-cause cosplay. Make him live his fucking dream until it becomes a nightmare.
posted by holgate at 11:40 PM on January 24, 2017

You all should track Sheriff Clarke

The man from fucking Wisconsin who wears a fucking cowboy hat. And a stupid fucking cowboy hat, at that. Show up to his shit in cowboy hats and chaps. Out-cosplay them. Reclaim the fucking spectacle.
posted by holgate at 11:43 PM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and nothing was true… The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.

Post–World War II research by Hannah Arendt on Nazi propaganda provides a good perspective on why Trump's constant lying is so dangerous to society and damaging to individuals.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:52 PM on January 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

holgate, as cathartic as that would be, I promise you it would cause people to double down on King here. The reason I feel like there's nobody here to promote a liberal alternative is because the few who do give it a shot do not get support from the party - here's a defeated Dem State Senator from North Dakota talking about the problems they're facing and while I'm definitely giving this guy a lot of side eye over some of his positions (I'm not easily trusting of any North Dakota politician's motives on oil in light of DAPL), the problem is real.

And as for "And if they do still vote for him, get the fuck out," I've actually been wanting to GTFO of here for quite some time while circumstances have kept me cooling my heels here, but jesus at this point I'm starting to think I need to balance my desire to leave with the need here for every last bit of support for progressive ideas.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:58 PM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Times of Israel:

US said to reassure Palestinians embassy move is off the table
Ramallah ‘relieved’ after Trump administration officials tell them there are no plans to fulfill campaign promise, pan-Arab daily reports

The embassy move is not on the agenda at the moment, an unnamed Palestinian source was quoted as saying Wednesday in the London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

posted by XMLicious at 12:22 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

as cathartic as that would be, I promise you it would cause people to double down on King here.

I think, in politics, it is important for all sides to be clear what they're dealing with. If it means that the descendants of Union soldiers in northwestern Iowa now consider themselves dixieflaggers by proxy, then provide them the opportunity to go full fucking dixieflag and judge them accordingly.
posted by holgate at 12:36 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

US said to reassure Palestinians embassy move is off the table

So once again, they're just telling everyone what they think they want to hear at any given moment, with no regard for statements that are logically inconsistent with each other.
posted by zachlipton at 12:43 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

>And as for "And if they do still vote for him, get the fuck out," I've actually been wanting to GTFO of here for quite some time while circumstances have kept me cooling my heels here, but jesus at this point I'm starting to think I need to balance my desire to leave with the need here for every last bit of support for progressive ideas.

I GTFO at Shrub2.0. The invasion of Iraq, started over a blatant lie, was enough for me. I had even signed up for the army, but got out before basic training once that hit. There were other factors too, but the disillusionment of that, even at the cost of losing my college degree, was enough.

When you leave, what happens is that as you build a life somewhere else, people hear your accent, see your passport, and ask your story. And then, they look you square in the eye and say, "Why didn't you stay and fight, then?" On top of that, you know all that infuriating ignorance and stupidity in America? The same level of that exists in the rest of the world, often without the benefit of a free press. Everyone you meet, if they're not the type to stereotype based on nationality or passport (no, I'm not an English teacher!), will ask - WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE????? Every. damn. day. for the rest of your life.

I still don't have an answer, but this is 2017, and I'm looking hard for how a politically active diaspora can be relevant. That's on top of the fear I feel for my industry, business, and life. I'm a translator in Beijing, in the cultural field. Guess who they'll draft for propaganda if there's a trade war, or God forbid hot war? Both the Chinese and American values of "they". If you decide to GTFO, be ready, because America follows you.
posted by saysthis at 12:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [41 favorites]

But there's been something this whole election has made clear to me - a good portion of the "other reasons" I GTFO were ennui and angst over small town America. The people who were making me miserable then were Trump voters, Republicans, and all their cognitive dissonance. I'm from the first case study in this article. I was also a new arrival, but from a liberal enclave, and I had the "right" skin color. New arrivals because Republican budget cuts put mom out of a job, and that hellhole was the only place we could find another. They demoralized me once. They stole my god damn childhood. It's been liberating for me to see the opposition harden into something tangible this time, to see the marches, to see the victories and states make stands against it.. I won't let them demoralize me again.

Whether or not you GTFO, I think the fight is the same, and I think opting out altogether is a very, very difficult option. It's also an option you have to live with.
posted by saysthis at 1:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

How anyone can look at Trump and how we've seen him behave and think his tweets are some sort of 14 dimensional chutes and ladders rather than the deranged tantrums of a narcissistic man-boy is beyond me. There is no strategy there.

I agree that Trump has no strategic skills - he is too stupid, too uninformed and most importantly, has an extremely poor impulse control - but there are people hell-bent on riding his wounded ego like a Dune sandworm. And they are going about it strategically.

I'd bet anything that right now, Bannon is carefully poking at the injury that losing the popular vote was. Trump's narcissistic personality disorder makes him extremely prone to scapegoating, paranoia and delusions of conspiracy, and Bannon, as a skilled sociopath, knows where he wants to steer those impulses. The lie about illegal voting is, as has been stated plenty of times in these threads, a necessary one to justify the measures the Trump regime is going to take.
posted by sively at 2:11 AM on January 25, 2017 [23 favorites]

That Louise Mensch blog post is hard to read, for several reasons. But I agree with those of you who say there is something about it that haunts.
It does make sense of a lot of strange stuff, even if you sort away some of the most hyperbolic claims.
For one, I think the NY Crime FBI had the mails all the time, and were just waiting to let go of them strategically (or maybe waiting for orders) - no need for malware there. That means there might something else interesting about that guy they arrested, though.
I've been thinking for the last couple of weeks that the Obama administration was scrambling to get something done before Friday, and it seems they didn't manage to. Like everyone else, I thought Comey was obstructing it, but what if he wasn't? It does make more sense that Comey is a patriot - even though he is a Republican and hates the Clintons, he just doesn't seem like a person who would actively support Trump like that. Intelligence people usually have quite strong feelings about types like Trump, who are all chummy with mobsters and leaders in hostile nations.
One silly, gossipy thing: to me, that in video of Trump air kissing and hugging Comey, Comey did not look comfortable, and Trump looked demonstrative in a way I couldn't put my finger on.
More importantly: the intelligence briefing drama fits with this narrative. I mean, obviously Dems are and should be angry with Comey for stealing the election, but they can be that in public, in broad daylight. There doesn't need to be a closed door drama. The Republicans are just waiting, and as Robert Reich wrote: getting as much of the evil stuff done now, so they can blame Trump for it. (They will want him out within this year, so it doesn't interfere with the midterms). That might also explain why the Democrats are so cavalier about the nominations. They know something far bigger is coming on, and they are trying to be strategic about that - whatever it may be.
Trump himself is a fool. But there are people in his background who are not. Remember that Forbes interview with Kushner? I still think the Russians got lucky, rather than that they planned the whole thing years ago, but I also more and more believe that they were deeper into the process than most people imagine.
I wonder if team Trump think they can get out of this somehow without blame, or they are just trying to reap as much as possible before they get on the plane and out. I'd be taking the threat to Chicago very seriously, if I were American. #1: it's the Obama's home town, and Trump has a personal grudge against Obama. #2: soon he will be needing a YUGE distraction.

(I was wondering about what on earth Trump thought he was doing at the CIA, and then someone posted the video of President Obama visiting the CIA - well, there you go: Trump wanted that applause to happen to him, it looks so nice and warm. Good thing his staff had thought about bringing claqueurs, or we might have gotten a full Prince John).
posted by mumimor at 2:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

I've wondered what the lefty version of InfoWars would look like and I guess it's the Louise Mensch article that's being thrown around

Louise Mensch is an ex-Tory member of parliament who has been using her Twitter account to systematically attack & shame anyone left of Margaret Thatcher. Once a novelist, I'd now call her a professional troll (with close ties to Murdoch). Beware.
posted by kariebookish at 2:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

Yes, among the reasons it is hard to read the article is that she is clearly a right-wing troll, a bad writer, melodramatic and self-aggrandizing. Not nice, in other words.

But you know, stopped clocks and all..
posted by mumimor at 3:00 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Lowest point of my online life was when she liked one of my tweets (about Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson having a pleasant voice).

More seriously, after Mensch claimed that Jo Cox's murder was not politically charged but just a case of mental health care failure, I think it is fair to say she has an agenda.

/derail over
posted by kariebookish at 3:05 AM on January 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

I was on a high post Women's March and Spicer Saturday Special, and it's not like I rationally was like *we won* but I was happy and obsessively tuned into the news. I don't know, maybe I waiting for my next hit along the lines of the Richard Spencer punching video.

Now I am back to fucking pissed and so sad for my country and SO ANGRY at every single person who voted for that joke of a man or didn't vote.

Remember when Michelle Obama got all that shit about saying that she was proud of her country? During the Obama years, I was proud of this country. I was proud of HRC's campaign.

I was a child of the Reagan years, and I lawyered for a while, and I used to hate the idea that we had to worship the principles upon which this country was based. I was always *but slavery* fuck the founding fathers.

But this administration is pushing principles of Enlightenment out of the window. This is like some fucking medieval shit. Who, amongst our founding fathers, would not not be utterly appalled by this administration?

This is setting the clock back further than 300 years in some respects, apologies to Chris Rock.
posted by angrycat at 3:07 AM on January 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

but, seriously, stopped clocks and all. Despicable people are sometimes right.

The saddest thing about this whole story (and by that I mean the last eight months or so of American History) is that the 'good guys' do not seem to be winning.

Tell me Comey's a good guy and he's setting up a super-duper case against Trump? Tantalizing, but come on.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:09 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

This feels too cynical and I don't want to believe the world is this way, but I keep thinking that the Democrats have standards and so are susceptible to even the appearance of impropriety, while Republicans have none and are thus able to be as actually improper as they want without suffering any consequences, because all they care about is getting and keeping power. Republicans are using words like tools, and Democrats are using words like words.

But then I am reminded that if we had a true democracy, or even a fairer and freer election scheme, things would be different and we'd be drawing different conclusions. I keep telling myself not to overlearn the lessons of this election.

I am struggling. Yesterday felt like a firehose of bad news. I am overwhelmed. How can it be that Republicans are happy to accept that their leaders are literally silencing scientists? How can it be that nothing is beyond the pale? I felt this way after Sandy Hook, but that was one event, and this is on every front. Shutting down our refugee programs? Freezing science grants? Threatening to send fucking federal forces to fucking Chicago? I literally don't understand what the fuck Republican voters are fucking thinking.

I need to step away. Will I though.
posted by prefpara at 3:43 AM on January 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Did nobody think there would be a backlash after Saturday's marches?

This is no time to give in.
posted by tel3path at 3:52 AM on January 25, 2017 [36 favorites]

So once again, they're just telling everyone what they think they want to hear at any given moment, with no regard for statements that are logically inconsistent with each other.

Or they said it. Meant it. And someone with a brain ran in and managed to talk them down.
posted by Jalliah at 4:02 AM on January 25, 2017

Ikea has better cabinets ...
posted by oheso at 4:05 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

The House once again attempts to force an anti-abortion agenda on DC:

House Republicans pass bill that would block D.C. funding for abortion

House Republicans on Tuesday passed a bill, by a vote of 238 to 183, that would prevent the District from using local tax dollars to subsidize abortion services for low-income women.

Eleanor Holmes Norton is quick to point out that this bill gets introduced every year at this time yet has never once made it into law, and appears confident that this is just the latest iteration of the stunt.

Personally, I'm a bit less optimistic, given the Republican majority in the Senate, the loose-cannon Republican in the Oval, and the fact that while this was happening, House Dems looked the other way:

When the GOP announced the bill last week, Democrats vowed to fight it and decried federal interference with a local issue. But on the House floor, just three Democratic members of Congress [Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.)] — and the District’s non-voting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton — stood up on behalf of the city.

posted by Westringia F. at 4:09 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump Tweets:

I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and....

even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 4:16 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

And Ikea's cabinets kill children only occasionally and by accident, not on a grand scale and as a matter of deliberate policy.

:(
posted by tel3path at 4:17 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump just tweeted that he'll be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud. Illegal voters and dead voters.

Anyone watching Morning Joe? We they just talking about the fraud thing?
posted by Jalliah at 4:17 AM on January 25, 2017

So...he's going to ask for an investigation and then he won't listen to the actual findings. Fucker.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:22 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

He's reacting to this: CNN’s Jake Tapper goes off on Trump over false voter fraud claim
posted by mumimor at 4:23 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

He's reacting to this: CNN’s Jake Tapper goes off on Trump over false voter fraud claim yt

Would Tapper thing be on in at this time of day though? Would Joe have covered Tapper? The leakers said he usually watches Morning Joe and Fox and Friends at this time of day.
posted by Jalliah at 4:26 AM on January 25, 2017

As always: what, specifically, is this going to be distracting from, today?
posted by progosk at 4:28 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

We can start deciding who we want to oppose people like Cruz and announce it loudly and often rather than wait for the party apparatus to decide for us.

All the talk I've heard has been around Julian and Joaquin Castro. Julian has said he's not running, Joaquin has not committed one way or another.
posted by threeturtles at 4:28 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I doubt it was just Tapper. I heard lots of pundits saying the same sort of thing yesterday. That if such a fraud happened then why no investigation.

Regardless, looks like he is doubling down and is not going to let this go.
posted by Jalliah at 4:29 AM on January 25, 2017

So Trump uses his own lies about voter fraud as cover for "strengthening up" voting procedures, which is presumably an unsubtle code for expanded voter suppression and disenfranchisement. Because given the precarity of their win this time, the only way Republicans can remain in power is by hardening and entrenching the systematic mechanisms of oppression they've been working so hard to perfect. This administration is white fragility personified.
posted by informavore at 4:32 AM on January 25, 2017 [30 favorites]

I think someone showed him the Tapper clip. Now he is president, he can't do the rallies in the same way, and he can't be openly racist in the same way. So there needs to be something else.
posted by mumimor at 4:35 AM on January 25, 2017

o Trump uses his own lies about voter fraud as cover for "strengthening up" voting procedures, which is presumably an unsubtle code for expanded voter suppression and disenfranchisement. Because given the precarity of their win this time, the only way Republicans can remain in power is by hardening and entrenching the systematic mechanisms of oppression they've been working so hard to perfect. This administration is white fragility personified.

Of course those around him will try to use his obsession to their advantage. This is just a given.
posted by Jalliah at 4:36 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

The false claims about voter fraud really frighten me. And since a Trump administration peddles exclusively propaganda and BS, the threat of an investigation only scares me more. What kind of fake evidence will they cobble together, and how will they use it to justify enacting voting restrictions that entrench illiberal minority control of our supposed democracy?
posted by prefpara at 4:42 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump just tweeted that he'll be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud. Illegal voters and dead voters.

Have a great day Mr. Spicer.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:44 AM on January 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

So. Most nights I will put a movie on in the background while messing around the on interweb. Movies that I've seen a lot and am familiar with. Last night I put on V for Vendetta without thinking about how that might fuck with my brain right now...

Dominic: So do you know what's going to happen?

Finch: No. It was a feeling. But I can guess. With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty. And then, Sutler will be forced do the only thing he knows how to do.
.....

We're on like day 6 and he's already talking about sending the feds to Chicago.

He's fucking unhinged. It's not the executive orders that are scaring me (they do scare me but they weren't unexpected) it's the the thing where all his moves are backed by disordered thinking that largely involves, "fuck it, build a wall, keep people out, kill kill kill."
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:47 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Affluent Trump backers speak out: 'I'm hoping for some amazing things'

Jo Jarvis explores: How to explain Donald Trump’s ascendancy? If you follow the standard election analysis, his victory was largely spurred by the financial pain and fears of poor and rural Americans. But if you look closer, Trump voters are more financially secure than a lot of us thought.

As a recent immigrant to the US, I’ve been fascinated by Trump’s incredible rise. But it’s the motivations of well-off Trump backers which fascinate me the most. I’d heard much about the working class or dwindling middle class credited with bringing the real estate mogul victory. But what about those who described themselves as affluent?

TLDR: It's the racism
posted by mumimor at 4:49 AM on January 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

First, we saw Trump keeping people on their toes by always giving them something outrageous to react to. You can't win the game when you're stuck playing the defence.

The Tapper clip is a nice proof that the other side can play that game, too. I hope we'll see more of this. Keep him riled up, keep him reacting and distracted.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Does anyone have information/ideas/links on how concerned citizens can fight back against the gag order on the EPA and other government scientists?
posted by the turtle's teeth at 4:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Have a great day Mr. Spicer.

He has an easy out on the Chicago tweet. Will see if he manages to figure it out.

Easy out: The feds did not mean martial law, Donald just meant help from federal agency etc etc.

Buts that's supposing Donald will let him use that.
posted by Jalliah at 4:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

"The false claims about voter fraud really frighten me."

I'm not so sure it's not lose-lose for him. If significant fraud is "found", it de-legitimizes the process that got him elected - and his presidency. If none is found, he looks like a fool/liar/sore winner.
posted by klarck at 4:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Oh and the March is a great example of distraction, too.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:54 AM on January 25, 2017

Voting "fraud" was obviously going to be their top priority. They're still at a demographic disadvange despite the racist electoral college "win", the only way they can keep power is by negating that disadvantage.

And they have no intention of ever giving up power to a Democrat again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

First, we saw Trump keeping people on their toes by always giving them something outrageous to react to. You can't win the game when you're stuck playing the defence.

All evidence, when put together, does not lead to the conclusion that this is Trump doing this on purpose to keep people on their toes.
posted by Jalliah at 4:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

He always has an easy out since he's an unhinged liar-liar-pants-on-fire.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:57 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I hope the first question is why Trump is watching Fox News at 8pm, and why he doesn't have anything better to do with his life.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:57 AM on January 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

Sounds like there are still some adults around somewhere.

Agriculture Department Lifts Clampdown On Its Science Division

The US Department of Agriculture rescinded an order stopping scientists and other employees at its main research division from publishing documents meant to explain science to the public.
In an email sent to scientists on Tuesday evening and obtained by BuzzFeed News, Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the department’s science arm, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), told researchers that the original order should not have been issued and “is hereby rescinded.”
Earlier that day, the department fought off public backlash after ARS issued the notice to workers.
posted by Jalliah at 5:00 AM on January 25, 2017 [53 favorites]

Jalliah: All evidence, when put together, does not lead to the conclusion that this is Trump doing this on purpose to keep people on their toes.

Fair enough. But if that's the effect, the intention or lack thereof doesn't really matter much.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:01 AM on January 25, 2017

Easy out: The feds did not mean martial law, Donald just meant help from federal agency etc etc.

'Feds' usually means the FBI in the TV cop talk DJT was imitating with his Sipowicz impression.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:03 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm not so sure it's not lose-lose for him. If significant fraud is "found", it de-legitimizes the process that got him elected - and his presidency. If none is found, he looks like a fool/liar/sore winner.

What prevents them from just saying "In key states where Hillary Clinton won, our investigation found massive rates of fraud. We will not be taking questions ok bye now."
posted by windbox at 5:03 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also a good way to feed Comey a busy-making shit sandwich.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:04 AM on January 25, 2017

The voter fraud thing is bullshit. There are voter id laws in 30ish states. Five million dead people did not rock the vote.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 5:04 AM on January 25, 2017

What prevents them from just saying "In key states where Hillary Clinton won, our investigation found massive rates of fraud. We will not be taking questions ok bye now."

State governments.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:05 AM on January 25, 2017

PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) is an "alternative parody account of how a mature, more presidential Trump should tweet." It rewrites Trump's tweets as if he were a sane person. The original Trump tweet is always quoted so you can just follow the parody account in lieu of following the real Trump. You just know Trump obsesses over every follower he loses.
posted by guiseroom at 5:07 AM on January 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

What prevents them from just saying "In key states where Hillary Clinton won, our investigation found massive rates of fraud. We will not be taking questions ok bye now."

The GOP better hope there's no Republican House or Senate seats in those states or state and local races that Republicans won. It's not like people get a different ballot for prez vs. other races. Maybe there were 5 million fraudulent votes (there weren't). Maybe those fake voters voted for Trump and other Republicans. You can't tell who a particular voter voted for. 5 million fraudulent votes would call into question every 2016 race from president to dog catcher.
posted by melissasaurus at 5:09 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

'The investigation has concluded that there was no rampant voter fraud. Our democracy is strong! Voter ID laws working! We will continue to make it even stronger to ensure there never is voter fraud in 2020 and beyond! Keep America Great!' fake
posted by ian1977 at 5:09 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

"State governments."

Indeed. Republican-controlled state governments with Republican SOS's.
posted by klarck at 5:13 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Finding all that voter fraud in the states that Trump carried doesn't support the desired narrative (explaining away the popular vote margin).
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:16 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

President Trump will sign executive orders this afternoon related to immigration at the Department of Homeland Security
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:24 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Voter fraud in states Trump won is a plot by Hillary to discredit him! Lock her up! [fake]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 5:25 AM on January 25, 2017

Oh my God, the USDA. I need to know, is it the USDA choosing to fight or did outcry make the feds dial back the pressure?
posted by sciatrix at 5:28 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think everyone calling for an investigation into voter fraud is naive about what that would really look like, but I don't know what else to say. That's obviously the right response in a sane world but...
posted by prefpara at 5:31 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yeah, I would expect the voter fraud investigation to deal in the realm of alternative facts, not fact facts. They'd make sure to find stuff, like people being registered in two places even if they only voted in one, and that would be justification for massive, targeted voter suppression.

I feel like a lot of people still can't quite see what we're dealing with here.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:38 AM on January 25, 2017 [35 favorites]

Somehow the whole voter-fraud red herring will be twisted in such a way as to promote a national set of standards for voter eligibility and access, which many Democrats and others have been calling for. Unfortunately, in the hands of this administration and congress, those national standards may end up looking a lot less like Oregon's or California's and a lot more like North Carolina's. (On preview, what ArbitraryAndCapricious just said.)
posted by hangashore at 5:40 AM on January 25, 2017

like people being registered in two places even if they only voted in one

IIRC, this includes Steve Bannon.

(I agree that the "investigation" is a bullshit smokescreen for the voter suppression they were going to push forward with anyway)
posted by melissasaurus at 5:41 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Oh my God, the USDA. I need to know, is it the USDA choosing to fight or did outcry make the feds dial back the pressure?

The article is interesting because it looks like it was sent by the chief of staff and the acting deputy director wasn't aware of it. So one scenario is that they made up a story that sounds good and in a sense are throwing the chief of staff under the bus.
My take is that because there is no actual boss at the USDA that some Trump minion showed up, told the chief of staff what was up and told her what to send. Then all hell broke lose when the higher officials found out what was happening and they spent yesterday telling the Trump admin to go to hell. The outcry helped out a lot because it backed them up.
posted by Jalliah at 5:42 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Imagine being such a narcissist that you'd question the legitimacy of an election you technically won just because you lost the popular vote to a woman.

Now imagine being a potato.
posted by guiseroom at 5:45 AM on January 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

This voter suppression stuff is exactly the kind of creeping fascism that the allegedly vast network of NeverTrumpers keep on telling us they'd denounce. Now is not the time to be having quiet organizing meetings or whatever it is they claim they're doing, now is the time for protest.

Or maybe they're cool with it? After all, a lot of them seemed pretty jazzed about Shelby v. Holder, and at best said nothing and worst parroted pro-suppression talking points over the last decade.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:45 AM on January 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

The article is interesting because it looks like it was sent by the chief of staff and the acting deputy director wasn't aware of it. So one scenario is that they made up a story that sounds good and in a sense are throwing the chief of staff under the bus.
My take is that because there is no actual boss at the USDA that some Trump minion showed up, told the chief of staff what was up and told her what to send. Then all hell broke lose when the higher officials found out what was happening and they spent yesterday telling the Trump admin to go to hell. The outcry helped out a lot because it backed them up.

I hope the interns at my senators and congressman enjoy the sputtering voicemails I left about the gag on government agencies being the theft of information we paid for with our tax dollars, then.
posted by winna at 5:46 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

The NYT is doing surprisingly well on some recent BS:

"Standing by his false allegations of extensive voter fraud, President Trump promises a “major investigation.”

"Mr. Trump doubled down Wednesday on his fraudulent assertion that millions of illegal immigrants gave Hillary Clinton her 2.8 million-ballot victory in the popular vote, . . ."
posted by stonepharisee at 5:50 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

My USDA scenario is of course entirely speculation based on the information in the article and experience in offices where some dude comes in, purposely goes around the chain of command and gets the person who has no choice to do something and then the other bosses find out and big office political chaos ensues.
posted by Jalliah at 5:53 AM on January 25, 2017

Under pressure from the White House, intelligence communities pulled together a dossier of evidence that Iraq had WMDs, enough to justify sending the U.S. to war. Don't think for one second that the FBI can't come up with enough voter oddities to "justify" further restricting voting rights and even a wave of deportations.
posted by sacre_bleu at 5:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

false allegations

fraudulent assertion

Still weasel-wording. No respect-kernel for you.
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

NPR did a whole segment this morning congratulating themselves for not using the word "lie" because the dictionary says "intent to deceive" and that is unknowable.
posted by theodolite at 5:58 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

I can almost guarantee that any investigation into voter fraud will have the involvement professional shitbag Hans von Spakovsky.
posted by PenDevil at 5:58 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Those aren't weasel words. Those words describe the exact scenario. What are you after, just using, 'lie', for everything?
posted by Jalliah at 5:58 AM on January 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

There is deliberate, systemic voting fraud going on in the United States, at every level, in every election! And I'm glad we have a government that's finally taking it seriously!

It's called "gerrymandering", Mr. Trump, and it's concentrating liberals into highly active districts where they all talk to each other about how much they disrespect you.

It's fraud, Mr. Trump, all these districts where there are no liberals, or that are so heavily conservative Republicans are guaranteed to win. Those districts need more liberals, Mr. Trump.

In fact, you know what would stick it to those liberals? Redraw those things so the numbers of liberals and conservatives are evenly matched in every district. And then, allow voting by mail, and a day off work so all your supporters, who love you so much, can all come out and show you their love.

Do it, Mr. Trump. Kill voting fraud once and for all. KILL IT, MR. TRUMP.
posted by saysthis at 6:02 AM on January 25, 2017 [30 favorites]

"False allegations" and "fraudulent assertion" lend Trump a more erudite and considered aura than he deserves. He doesn't falsely allege or fraudulently assert, he fucking lies and makes shit up.
posted by Etrigan at 6:03 AM on January 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Julian Assange
Hans von Spakovsky
Rex Tillerson

My head is going to explode from all of these unbelievable villain names from some pulp spy novel.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:06 AM on January 25, 2017 [31 favorites]

Just saw probably the best retort to those who say "where was the march for the suffering of women in Islamic countries."

"You mean the same women you want to ban from seeking asylum here? Your fake concern is as pathetic as you are."
posted by chris24 at 6:06 AM on January 25, 2017 [58 favorites]

"You mean the same women you want to ban from seeking asylum here? Your fake concern is as pathetic as you are."

Somebody add "advocates for bicycling safety" to the Resistance List next to "National Park Service social media people".
posted by Etrigan at 6:10 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

It's Robbie Burns day. His poem still has relevance perhaps more this year.

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to Victorie!

Now's the day, and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour;
See approach proud Edward's power-
Chains and Slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a Slave?
Let him turn and flee!

Wha, for Scotland's King and Law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Free-man stand, or Free-man fa',
Let him on wi' me!

By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your Sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!

Lay the proud Usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!-
Let us Do or Die!
posted by Jalliah at 6:11 AM on January 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

So I'm awake and ready for what will go down in history books as a national day of shame; The wall and the immigration bans.
posted by Talez at 6:16 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately, climate isn't like IRS audits: weather keeps happening even if you destroy the documentation.

The point isn't to stop it from happening. The point is to argue that nothing is changing.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:17 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

> like people being registered in two places even if they only voted in one

IIRC, this includes Steve Bannon.

Also Rachel Maddow cited the New York Post saying that K. T. McFarland, former Fox News contributor, now Deputy National Security Advisor, was registered to vote in two different places in New York and voted in both of them. (Presumably not in the same election or that would have been mentioned, but being registered in two places is a felony in NY.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:23 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Do we know yet if the CDC is also under a gag order?
posted by INFJ at 6:25 AM on January 25, 2017

@costareports: A Trump adviser tells me this AM that Pres. Trump has been talking privately about launching a voter fraud investigation for weeks

This sounds less like an intentional distraction and more like an unhealthy obsession.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

NPR did a whole segment this morning congratulating themselves for not using the word "lie" because the dictionary says "intent to deceive" and that is unknowable.

i want to believe this is [fake] but i know in my heart it is [real] because npr is FUCKING WORTHLESS
posted by entropicamericana at 6:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

if someone could take it by the horns, the debate that is,

It is almost like the people who could do such are afraid they will be out-manuvered by Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer and Kelly Conway.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:28 AM on January 25, 2017

I see we're still in bizarro world...

@BillKristol
Trump inaugural: "we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., & giving it back to you, the People."
Trump tonight: "send in the Feds."

And Jennifer Rubin's twitter is a steady stream of anti-Trump (and even Cruz) stuff in this vein...

‏@JRubinBlogger
Trumpa true reactionary — wants to return to a bygone era http://wpo.st/ry0U2 that era is as imaginary as illegals who voted for HRC
posted by chris24 at 6:31 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Maybe we can start making actions conditional to evidence.

Democrats should say that they will support a wall with Mexico and voter fraud crackdown once it has been proven that 3 to 5 million illegal aliens voted for Hillary. Anything else would be acting based on delusions.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:36 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Proven by whom, and to what standard? No.

Democrats should not offer to do stupid, racist, xenophobic and anti-democratic things even as a "gambit". That's just playing zero-dimensional chess.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:38 AM on January 25, 2017 [42 favorites]

So I'm awake and ready for what will go down in history books as a national day of shame; The wall and the immigration bans.

I feel like there's some punchy rhetorical potential to this. As an actual thing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:38 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

President Snowflake
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:39 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Democrats should be shouting from the rooftops that the extent of voter fraud insinuated by Trump would render his election unlawful and that he calls for new elections.
posted by PenDevil at 6:39 AM on January 25, 2017 [57 favorites]

I've wondered what the lefty version of InfoWars would look like and I guess it's the Louise Mensch article that's being thrown around

It would only be the lefty version of InfoWars if we automatically assumed it was true and spent all day creating and distributing memes about it. Instead we're starting from a place of skepticism and doubt and working from there.
posted by diogenes at 6:41 AM on January 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

Five million dead people did not rock the vote.

Stronger brujería, coming right up.
posted by otenba at 6:42 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

I have felt, since the election, that Trump will be bad but there was a good chance he would be "bad" in the sense that he would be mostly focusing on taking as much as he could to line his pockets and just say "whatever" to all the most harmful things he's promised. That was my dim hope, but it got me through.

Since Friday, he's proved that he's only interesting in stoking his own ego and he will use the rights of Americans for his fuel.

All the worst-case scenarios for me are coming true: gag orders, outrageous propaganda, lies about voter fraud (that will be used to legitimize voter suppression), impending trade wars, and a congress that is all too willing to comply.

My more-realistic hope was that the DNC would stand up to President Trump. That they would tenaciously remind the American public of the dangers present and resist the President at every possible turn. But, and I shouldn't have been so naive, they have all but deserted us.

I know this all probably sounds dramatic. It feels surreal to write because I generally believe that DNC leaders have to do things that I don't like for the sake of continuing the fight at a later time. But they're not even putting up a fight. They're not even trying.

I'm going to keep organizing. I'm going to keep calling. I'm going to oppose the leadership in my district to the best of my ability. But I will do it in the name of Civil Rights for everyone. I'll do it in the name of MLKJR, I'll do it in the name of Margaret Sanger, and I'll do it in the name of Cesar Chavez. But, for now, I don't think I can do it in the name of the DNC.
posted by Tevin at 6:46 AM on January 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

@NPRinskeep
Wow. AP reports Trump's false claims as a sign of a mental "fixation;" aides strain to stop him watching so much TV.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/61415760238042f2ad7bc38acc2f468c/trumps-bridge-building-eclipsed-false-voter-fraud-claim
posted by chris24 at 6:46 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

NPR did a whole segment this morning congratulating themselves for not using the word "lie" because the dictionary says "intent to deceive" and that is unknowable.

i want to believe this is [fake] but i know in my heart it is [real] because npr is FUCKING WORTHLESS

[Real] NPR: NPR And The Word 'Liar': Intent Is Key Article and 5-minute audio segment.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:49 AM on January 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

I turned off NPR a year ago. I can't decide if they slowly got worse over time, or if events simply exposed how deep their desire for equivalency really runs.
posted by diogenes at 6:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

sciatrix

Sent you a MeMail
posted by Ornate Rocksnail at 6:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

If scientists marching want knitted hats, may I suggest The Resist Hat. In a different color, maybe. I may have to make myself a cat ears hat with the resist on it. A friend made one in black that is very nice.
posted by threeturtles at 6:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Donald Trump is already trying to muzzle leakers — but government employees have broad free speech rights

The first thing Lobel emphasized to me was that Trump cannot legally force federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. That said, the government does enjoy some rights to muzzle employees — but, she noted, strong legal limits exist on how much silence the executive branch can require. Government employees enjoy broader rights to speak out than Trump traditionally prefers when it comes to those who work with him.

“They’re civil servants and they’re bound by the rules of keeping confidential information and not exposing government secrets to the public, but that is all balanced by the right to speech,” Lobel explained.

Even though the Supreme Court found in 2006 that government employees can be barred from sharing work-related information with the general public, “all the justices agree there’s a violation of your First Amendment rights if it’s a matter of public concern and if you’re speaking externally” in public venues, Lobel noted.

Basically, the rule of thumb is this: A public employee is allowed to speak publicly or share information with the media, if that information is not considered a government secret or classified information.

There is a “legitimate interest of the public,” Lobel said, in knowing about “corruption or wrongdoing or impropriety” inside the government.

posted by chris24 at 6:57 AM on January 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

And Ikea's cabinets kill children only occasionally and by accident, not on a grand scale and as a matter of deliberate policy.

"Mom, can I have a cookie? Mom, can I have a cookie? Mom, can I have a cookie? Mom, can I have a cookie?"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:00 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

I turned off NPR a year ago. I can't decide if they slowly got worse over time, or if events simply exposed how deep their desire for equivalency really runs.

More the latter, I think. Their news operations are anchored in Washington D.C..
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:01 AM on January 25, 2017

@DavidWright_CNN
WH press sec. Sean Spicer analogized '"alternative facts" to getting "two different weather reports" -- on Hannity last night: [transcript]
posted by chris24 at 7:01 AM on January 25, 2017

I feel like sometimes people forget that Trump spent like 6 years screaming about Obama's fake birth certificate. In other words, he loves a good--and completely untrue--conspiracy theory and is perfectly willing to hang onto it for years. So, he's going to be screaming about fraudulent voters until he's finally chased out of office*. With him, it's not a deliberate misdirection. It's just, chillingly, the only thing he can hold in his tiny mind at the moment to rationalize why people don't actually love him. How the media chases it, well... I just read a good letter saying that the media should refuse to cover his tweets AT ALL; force him to have a press conference like a real fucking professional and stop catering to his narcissistic tantrums spit out at 3am.

*please please please let that be soon
posted by TwoStride at 7:04 AM on January 25, 2017 [23 favorites]

Donald Trump is already trying to muzzle leakers — but government employees have broad free speech rights

I wonder what would happen if all the people who Trump has nondisclosure agreements with came forward and started talking at once. Of course he'd sue. But imagine the optics of the president suing individual beauty pageant contestants and laborers. I imagine there are people willing to shoulder the legal fees for them.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:05 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

I doubt you will read a more damming indictment of Trump's visit to the CIA than this from Robin Wright in The New Yorker

Great article.

Here are a few words from the agents who were there: appalled, horrible, ugly, inappropriate, offensive, anguished.

"What self-centered, irrational decision process got him to this travesty?"

"I can’t imagine a worse Day One scenario."
posted by diogenes at 7:06 AM on January 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

WH press sec. Sean Spicer analogized '"alternative facts" to getting "two different weather reports"

But those are predictions, not facts! Nobody seriously disagrees about what weather actually occurred! Gah!
posted by jedicus at 7:10 AM on January 25, 2017 [30 favorites]

@ChristinaWilkie, Huffington Post via Twitter: "White House just put out positive news coverage of the president, starting w a tweet from @jonkarl. Don't recall ever seeing a WH do this."
posted by slipthought at 7:14 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump is going after Chicago because he can't let go of Obama roasting him. So if he "makes" Obama's former haunt "pay" for it he thinks he'll be happy.

He's really not that hard to figure out.
posted by yoga at 7:17 AM on January 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

AP reports Trump's false claims as a sign of a mental "fixation;" aides strain to stop him watching so much TV.

Some Trump allies say Trump is justified in using his platform to defend his standing. They point to Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis' pre-inauguration statement that he did not see Trump as a legitimate president, as well as U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that Russia meddled in the election in order to help Trump win.

John Lewis: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, his opinion, man.
Reports of Russia meddling in the election: Russia meddled in the election.

After relishing in Friday's inaugural festivities, the new president grew increasingly upset the next day by what he felt was "biased" media coverage of women's marches across the globe protesting his election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Trump was particularly enraged with CNN, which he thought was "gloating" by continually running photos of the women's march alongside the smaller crowds that attended his inauguration the day before, according to this person, one of several White House aides and associates who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Friday's inauguration drew a big crowd to DC. Saturday's march drew a big crowd to DC. It's natural to compare the sizes of the crowds.

His inauguration is one of a recurring series, and it's natural to compare one inauguration of a new president with the last inauguration of a new president.

Saturday's march also had sister marches all over the world, on every continent. That's unusual and is naturally going to inspire more news coverage than an inauguration that's basically the same as the ones we have every four years.

He's just incapable of accepting coming in second in the popular vote and second in inauguration crowd size.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:18 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump is holed up in the White House peeing into mason jars, obsessively watching TV news and responding to it in real time on Twitter.
posted by guiseroom at 7:18 AM on January 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

Global watchdog rules that the U.S. is not a full democracy anymore.
posted by scalefree at 7:20 AM on January 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

You know the voter fraud thing, if someone could take it by the horns, the debate that is, and like above, turn it into "Let's finally get rid of gerrymandering! Yeah! And we need a real, like maybe a law! To protect citizens' right to vote!" and twist him into confronting all the insane shit they've pulled to disenfranchise voters...
*sigh*
optimism. it's a hell of a drug. Every time I think I've escaped, it pulls me back in...
posted by From Bklyn at 10:22 PM on January 25 [4 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

if someone could take it by the horns, the debate that is,

It is almost like the people who could do such are afraid they will be out-manuvered by Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer and Kelly Conway.
posted by rough ashlar at 10:28 PM on January 25 [+] [!]

You mean the very people who are whispering lies into Trump's ear? There was a time when people loved Trump, remember? Remember back when Obama was President, and Trump had every Real American rallied behind him to challenge the Kenyan who wormed his way into the White House?

Why do they hate him now? Why doesn't America love him? He's so successful, so powerful, so tremendous, he has the best people...and yet, the media, and the people, and the world...why don't they love him?

Someone is hurting you, Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, you let snakes into your den. You have to show them, Mr. Trump, you have to show the snakes, and you have to give the American people the chance to love you.

Do it, Mr. Trump. Let them love you. Fight voting fraud by leveling the playing field so they can prove how much they love you, and show these snakes who really runs things around here. Put your supporters in an electoral cage match against liberals, no holds barred, level starting points. You will win, and this time, no one will stop you, and America will bow before you.

Do it, Mr. Trump.
posted by saysthis at 7:21 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Republicans literally elected a crazy old man yelling at the TV.
posted by chris24 at 7:21 AM on January 25, 2017 [91 favorites]

But those are predictions, not facts!

If we're talking about predicting the weather, we're talking about modeling and probability, and we are necessarily not actually talking about 'facts' -- we're talking about confidence and chance.

Look at you eggheads with your fancy words!
posted by diogenes at 7:22 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump is going after Chicago because he can't let go of Obama roasting him.

And because the Mayor lit into him the day before.
posted by Etrigan at 7:22 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

I feel like if it were called the general vote or something rather than the popular vote he might not feel so injured by it.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 7:24 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

I would like to state the obvious: believing that there are 3-5 million illegal aliens who voted for your opponent is not just a delusion, it comes from a delusional mind. We need to tag Trump with the disease that he has. It is way beyond narcissism. He was narcissistic twenty years ago, but much more coherent.

So, how do we state that Trump is mentally ill without stigmatizing mental illness?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:24 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Focus on treating the mental illness.
posted by INFJ at 7:26 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I feel like if it were called the general vote or something rather than the popular vote he might not feel so injured by it.

No, I'm perfectly fine with continuing to note that President Trump lost the popular vote. Felt the same way when Bush lost it also.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:26 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

So what would happen if federal employees like those at the USDA and EPA just flat-out ignored the gag orders Trump has imposed? Just continued tweeting and sharing information as they normally would? I imagine some folks would get fired, but you have to figure at least some of those folks are on the way out the door anyway. Between this administration's determination to cripple their agencies and Congress' reinstatement of the Holman Rule, a lot of these folks have very little to lose. Plus I would think those that are fired for standing up to Trump in support of their agency's missions are likely to be reinstated once Trump is out.

Maybe I'm just unusually fighty but if I worked for USDA or EPA or NPS, I'd seriously consider just taking my manager aside and saying, look, I'm going to go ahead and keep doing what I was hired to do, let's just not talk about this on the record so you can maintain plausible deniability when the 3am tweets start. And then either Trump notices or he doesn't, and if he notices either he chooses to make an example of you or he doesn't, and if he chooses to make an example of you, either his staff and all the layers of management between them and you fully support him or they don't, and worst case scenario you take a little time off until conditions are safe for you to go back to work. (Though of course 'worst case scenario' assumes you can survive a period of unemployment, so folks with families or without a safety net will probably want to sit this fight out.)
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 7:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sometimes you can watch two different stations and get two different weather reports. It doesn't mean the station was lying to you

We just had two different weather reports. One was right and one was wrong.

Mr. Trump said that though he had been “hit by a couple of drops” of rain as he began his address on Inauguration Day, the sky soon cleared. “And the truth is, it stopped immediately, and then became sunny,” he said. “And I walked off, and it poured after I left. It poured.”

The truth is that it began to rain lightly almost exactly as Mr. Trump began to speak and continued to do so throughout his remarks, which lasted about 18 minutes, and after he finished.

posted by kirkaracha at 7:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [31 favorites]

The USDA gag order has already been lifted
posted by Jalliah at 7:28 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

No, I'm perfectly fine with continuing to note that President Trump lost the popular vote. Felt the same way when Bush lost it also.

Sorry I wasn't more clear, I wasn't suggesting we try to manage his reaction, only trying to make a point (in a sea of evidence) of the lack of nuance in how his brain works.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 7:31 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's also natural for there to be a bigger crowd at the inauguration of the first black president in American history over old white guy Mark 45, especially if the black guy won the popular vote and the white guy lost the popular vote.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:32 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

believing that there are 3-5 million illegal aliens who voted for your opponent is not just a delusion, it comes from a delusional mind.

And it's equally scary that he can't appreciate how problematic (for him) this claim is. He really seems incapable of simultaneously holding a thought and considering it's implications. Or maybe he's just incapable of considering implications in general.
posted by diogenes at 7:32 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

And I walked off, and it poured after I left. It poured.”

That is some serious God-complex shit right there, yo.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:33 AM on January 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

Stating the obvious: Building Trump's wall: For Texans, it's complicated
Rather typically, two of the people criticizing the wall here are Trump supporters, one is even a Mexican American. So many people voted for him in spite of what he actually says.
posted by mumimor at 7:34 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Good morning, rogues.

@DeptofDefense

From refugee to #Marine. @USMC Cpl Ali J. Mohammed takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:34 AM on January 25, 2017 [43 favorites]

Trump is going after Chicago because he can't let go of Obama roasting him.

And because the Mayor lit into him the day before.

And because we shut. Him. Down. When he tried to throw a rally here.
posted by Windigo at 7:41 AM on January 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

piyushnz: I can't interpret the Trump administration's actions in the last few days as anything but total disdain for the citizens they are supposed to be serving.

But isn't that the ultimate Republican Way? Need help? You have bootstraps, don't you? Then start pulling yourself up! Businesses first, people second, but only after businesses have gorged themselves. With GOP control of the white house and Congress, they're giddy with the potentials.

But _rump is a new kind of awful, given that he has no fucking clue about how anything actually works, and he is petty and vindictive at any perceived slight. So any constituents who might now offend The Angry Orange will feel his wrath.

(FYI: we still have bootstraps - they're shoe laces.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:42 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

So, how do we state that Trump is mentally ill without stigmatizing mental illness?

Focus on treating the mental illness.

The first problem is, of course, to get Trump and his enablers to _acknowledge_ that there is an illness to be treated.

The next problem is to view the illness as disqualifying for the office of the Presidency, instead of being a QUALIFICATION in their eyes. In true Zaphod Beeblebrox style, I have witnessed two Presidents in my life where the executive was more of a distraction than a rational force, an entertainer drawing the attention of the crowd while the machine behind him did tons of dirty work. And both of those Presidents got reelected.

Trump is merely being much more indiscreet about why he's really there -- to slash any regulation, any protection, any legislation, any person and any organization that stands between multi-billionaires and unfettered profit.
posted by delfin at 7:48 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

That is some serious God-complex shit right there, yo.

I'm starting to think this is true in a literal way. He has moments when he thinks he's god.
posted by scalefree at 7:48 AM on January 25, 2017

He has moments when he thinks he's god.

And then he remembers that God has responsibilities, and he shudders and goes back to thinking he's even better.
posted by Etrigan at 7:51 AM on January 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Donald Trump says millions voted illegally. That's dreadful. We must call for a new election. Oh man, I would love if Sean Spicer had to answer a question about new elections every day.
posted by TwoStride at 7:51 AM on January 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

NYT: Trump Poised to Lift Ban on C.I.A. ‘Black Site’ Prisons
posted by gatorae at 7:52 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

He has moments when he thinks he's god.

Well, yeah. He has a severe, untreated personality disorder.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:52 AM on January 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

White House draft order calls for review on use of CIA ‘black site’ prisons overseas

An executive order drafted by the Trump administration calls for a policy review that could authorize the CIA to reopen “black site” prisons overseas and potentially restart an interrogation program that was dismantled in 2009 after using methods widely condemned as torture.

A copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post would revoke former president Barack Obama’s decision to end the CIA program and reinstate a 2007 order issued by President George W. Bush that allowed a modified version of the “rendition and interrogation” operation to continue

evil doers.
posted by futz at 7:52 AM on January 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

Well I guess that's one way to get the intelligence community back on side?
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:53 AM on January 25, 2017

Why Trump's Staff is Lying by Tyler Cowen for Bloomberg

Very insightful.
posted by chavenet at 7:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Someone who makes his coin from "The Internet", likes Trump and now doesn't like this choice for the FCC The Intranet part makes sense might keep The Blue as not needing to be licensed.

A second attribute of Internet licensing is that it will likely provide exemptions for Intranet uses which are equivalent to short-range radio uses. Definition of an Intranet is that it is a “Browser based network for a specific audience, not open to the public.”

posted by rough ashlar at 7:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

A government that tortures is evil and those in power who promote torture deserve whatever comes to them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:55 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

FYI: we still have bootstraps - they're shoe laces
Actually they're straps on boots.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:55 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

These Odd Couple reboots are getting out of hand:

Robby Mook And Corey Lewandowski Team Up For Paid Speeches

Unless there's a dunk tank, and the tank is full of piranhas or boiling oil, who would pay to watch these losers?
posted by tonycpsu at 7:56 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Let's hope Congress doesn't get any ideas from its sister assembly: Russia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to decriminalize domestic violence.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:58 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Good morning, rogues.

@DeptofDefense

From refugee to #Marine. @USMC Cpl Ali J. Mohammed takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out

So basically the military and the parks service are going to be where the resistance lives?
posted by corb at 7:59 AM on January 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

Ranger up, indeed.
posted by Etrigan at 8:01 AM on January 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

Robby Mook And Corey Lewandowski Team Up For Paid Speeches

Fuck Robby Mook. He failed and now is normalizing fascism for a paycheck. Good to know his beliefs are as deep as his election analyses.
posted by chris24 at 8:01 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

chavenet: Why Trump's Staff is Lying by Tyler Cowen for Bloomberg

Very insightful.

Good points, but I think it's missing the over-arching reason: distract people from real issues. Yes, let's talk about the weather and crowd sizes for half an hour. Oh what, we're out of time to talk about your actual policies and executive orders that have not been made public? Sorry, we'll be back tomorrow. Don't forget the time we moved the MLK, Jr. bust!
posted by filthy light thief at 8:01 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Why Trump's Staff is Lying by Tyler Cowen for Bloomberg

but tyler we can't really know their intent— *throws npr mug against the wall*
posted by entropicamericana at 8:03 AM on January 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

Also, from Kendal Unruh (Republican, Free The Delegates)

I miss the good ole days, when we could blame any President for all our problems and complain all day about what he was doing, without the entire nation suffering payback.

posted by corb at 8:04 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

Well I guess that's one way to get the intelligence community back on side?

Literally nobody I know who is employed in that kind of area wants to turn back the clock to widespread torture. Most people in the agencies concerned didn't want to do it in the first place, and then a long period of blowback and very little actionable intelligence resulted. Even the most stupid of children don't like to put their hands in the fire that much, interrogators aren't actually torturers, and the US has got somewhat better at COIN. Good quality intelligence work is more sophisticated and subtle than mere sadism, because the brutalised inspire more resistance.

Does that mean it won't happen? No, but I'm quite sure it'll be for political leadership dick size fantasies if it does.
posted by jaduncan at 8:04 AM on January 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself

Psychometrics , big data and the Trump and Brexit campaigns. I thought living in a cyberpunk future would be cool. Nope.....nope.
posted by zabuni at 8:05 AM on January 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

Good points, but I think it's missing the over-arching reason: distract people from real issues.

That's a very plausible explanation for their motivation. I just don't think it's true. I don't think there is any strategy of distraction at work here, just Trump's minions frantically trying to please their boss who happens to be a narcissist with no filter on his mouth. There's no strategy to what he says & they're just giving their best impression of the nobles at the naked emperor's court.
posted by scalefree at 8:10 AM on January 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

this choice for the FCC The Intranet part makes sense might keep The Blue as not needing to be licensed.

Can you expand on this? I didn't really follow.
posted by Coventry at 8:14 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

zabuni: Psychometrics , big data and the Trump and Brexit campaigns. I thought living in a cyberpunk future would be cool. Nope.....nope.

If anyone needs some practical hints, aimed at normal users, not techies: here's my blog Cybersecurity for the Trumped. Sorry for the repost.
posted by Too-Ticky at 8:15 AM on January 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

I am also on Team No Strategy. I think that there are people in Trump's inner circle who are using his very predictable reactions to events to encourage distraction, but that's not him. He's just pure id, lashing out immediately when he feels injury. The only people with any control over strategery are those who are strategically letting it happen. I think they will find, however, that eventually they too will lose control of him, and they will realize (too late) that any semblance of control they ever had over the situation was an illusion. I just hope this realization doesn't happen as the ICBMs are being fired.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:16 AM on January 25, 2017 [48 favorites]

Intentions aside, the effect is very real. A bill to ban abortion after a heartbeat can be heard (which is, on average, at 6 weeks. Six! This is before most women even know they're pregnant) has been introduced to a very very red Congress, but here we are, literally taking about the weather.
posted by fragmede at 8:17 AM on January 25, 2017 [44 favorites]

That's a very plausible explanation for their motivation. I just don't think it's true. I don't think there is any strategy of distraction at work here, just Trump's minions frantically trying to please their boss who happens to be a narcissist with no filter on his mouth. There's no strategy to what he says & they're just giving their best impression of the nobles at the naked emperor's court.

I think the strategy part kicks in when they try to figure out how they can spin it to their own ends. It's reactionary strategy. So his voter fraud obsession and demands for an investigation get spun into voter suppression, in this case something they're all over anyway.
posted by Jalliah at 8:19 AM on January 25, 2017

Can you expand on this? I didn't really follow.

It's a bunch of nonsense pontification from a Trumpist blogger about Net Neutrality under Pai by way of discussion of some obscure 2002 proposal. 'Urbansurvivalist' tortures an analogy to somebody's obsolete proposed rules for certain local wireless networks and/or licensure of internet traffic beyond the LAN or private WAN. It's not that clear.

And even so rough ashlar gets its meaning entirely backwards. MeFi is not an Intranet closed to the public. It's a publicly accessible website on the commercial internet.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:23 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Hey, good morning fellow bunker-mates. Just a note to say, please, everyone, remember your daily mantra:

This is not normal. We did not choose this. This is not normal. All of us are victims here. This is not normal.

I find it more important every day.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:25 AM on January 25, 2017 [60 favorites]

The only people with any control over strategery are those who are strategically letting it happen.

Right now that's the entire Republican Party. They all know he's got 10 pounds of crazy in a 5 pound bag & that's being generous to the bag. I've read tweet after tweet of quotes by anonymous congressmen admitting as much. But as long as they keep getting their long-awaited plunder they're willing to overlook whatever absurdities his narcissism drives him to perform. There will come a point where he does something really dangerous that blows up on him & then the knives will come out & President Pence will take his place. Until then though, they're too busy holding their pockets open to do much else.
posted by scalefree at 8:26 AM on January 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

"I'm important" - A Bad Lip Reading of Trump's Inauguration Day
posted by valetta at 8:26 AM on January 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

If anyone else is a crossword fanatic, Ben Tausig, of the wonderful American Values Club (formerly the AV Club crosswords (which are, IMHO, outshining the NTYs puzzles lately) released a puzzle today called "Of the Free World." It has clues like "Org that received $15 million in donations in November 2016 (compared to $28,000 in November 2012)," "Channel recently derided as 'fake' (just before a Breitbart reporter was called on)," "Health statute based on a Heritage Foundation proposal," and "Putin's response to 'Is it OK if we fight Assad, continue sanctions against Russia, or remain in NATO?" (the last one is "NYET," btw). These are mixed in with mostly standard clues, so you're not being beaten over the head with a very big stick.

I know that doing a crossword puzzle is far from a political act, but damn did it feel good to do it.

You can download the puzzle for free, without a subscription, here.
and read Tausig's statement about the puzzle here.
posted by bibliowench at 8:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

Thanks to Trump, Scientists Are Planning to Run For Office
And they’ve got help.

For American science, the next four years look to be challenging. The newly inaugurated President Trump, and many of his Cabinet picks, have repeatedly cast doubt upon the reality of human-made climate change, questioned the repeatedly proven safety of vaccines. Since the inauguration, the administration has already frozen grants and contracts by the Environmental Protection Agency and gagged researchers at the US Department of Agriculture. Many scientists are asking themselves: What can I do?

And the answer from a newly formed group called 314 Action is: Get elected.

The organization, named after the first three digits of pi, is a political action committee that was created to support scientists in running for office. It’s the science version of Emily’s List, which focuses on pro-choice female candidates, or VoteVets, which backs war veterans. “A lot of scientists traditionally feel that science is above politics but we’re seeing that politics is not above getting involved in science,” says founder Shaughnessy Naughton. “We’re losing, and the only way to stop that is to get more people with scientific backgrounds at the table.”

314 Action
posted by Jalliah at 8:27 AM on January 25, 2017 [68 favorites]

"The White House is installing senior aides atop major federal agencies to shadow the administration's Cabinet secretaries, creating a direct line with loyalists who can monitor and shape White House goals across the federal bureaucracy."
posted by bluecore at 8:29 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Political officers. Hm. I wonder who gave them that idea.
posted by Etrigan at 8:31 AM on January 25, 2017 [31 favorites]

It's a core plank of the Republican platform.

a whole lotta people would love to core some republican plank.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:32 AM on January 25, 2017

a whole lotta people would love to core some republican plank.

That's the weirdest sexual metaphor ever.
posted by diogenes at 8:34 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

"I'm important" - A Bad Lip Reading of Trump's Inauguration Day

Oh wow I needed that. That's a good lip reading. lol
posted by Jalliah at 8:35 AM on January 25, 2017

@danpfeiffer
Here's where we are: Trump is deeply disturbed, his aides enable him, and the US government now makes policy to alleviate his insecurities
posted by chris24 at 8:37 AM on January 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

i want to believe this is [fake] but i know in my heart it is [real] because npr is FUCKING WORTHLESS

I've been off NPR for months and made the mistake of turning it on while on my way to jury duty this morning. I heard the promo for the NYT vs NPR lying piece and immediately started yelling at my radio and turned it the fuck off. Useless assholes.
posted by photoslob at 8:38 AM on January 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

So basically the military and the parks service are going to be where the resistance lives?

Don't forget Teen Vogue and Merriam-Webster dictionary!
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 8:39 AM on January 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

I think the strategy part kicks in when they try to figure out how they can spin it to their own ends. It's reactionary strategy. So his voter fraud obsession and demands for an investigation get spun into voter suppression, in this case something they're all over anyway.

Sure there's always opportunists waiting for their chance to forward some personal agenda. That's politics. That's where the real fighting is, in not letting some weird obsession of Trump's turn into a full blown erosion of democracy.
posted by scalefree at 8:41 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

@loudlysilent
2017 Rebel Alliance
Red Leader: Teen Vogue
Blue Leader: Merriam-Webster
Gold Leader: National Parks
posted by chris24 at 8:41 AM on January 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

I've been playing this game today:

Newly Pliant Reporting
No Particular Responsibilities
National Public Relations
No Pledge Reasons
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:43 AM on January 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

"I'm important" - A Bad Lip Reading of Trump's Inauguration Day

Oh wow I needed that. That's a good lip reading. lol

I agree. I think that's one of the best of the series, and good lord, could we all use a laugh.
posted by bibliowench at 8:44 AM on January 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here's where we are: Trump is deeply disturbed, his aides enable him, and the US government now makes policy to alleviate his insecurities

They're building a house of cards that's guaranteed to collapse in time. The two main questions are when will it collapse & what action will they take to depose him: impeachment, 25th Amendment or the other way.
posted by scalefree at 8:46 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

The two main questions are when will it collapse & what action will they take to depose him: impeachment, 25th Amendment or the other way.

Question 3: How many of us will he take down with him before he goes?
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:47 AM on January 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

Newly Pliant Reporting
No Particular Responsibilities
National Public Relations
No Pledge Reasons

I haven't listened in a while, but during the Bush II years, The SubGenius Hour of Slack ran jumbled, dada-esque re-edits of NPR broadcasts where the spoken word "NPR" was always shortened to just "PR", e.g. "This is PR News." or "You're listening to PR!" I might have to start up again, now that we have a new False Dobbs in the White House.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:51 AM on January 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

Eponypropriate.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:52 AM on January 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Peter Thiel Gains New Zealand Citizenship as Tech Elites Prep for Doomsday

Rats are fleeing as the ship starts to sink.
posted by scalefree at 8:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [32 favorites]

Dems: Trump voter fraud 'fantasy' a distraction from Russian help

Now there's a pivot. Well done.
posted by scalefree at 8:55 AM on January 25, 2017 [39 favorites]

Trump's draft executive order to reopen CIA black sites gets the year of the 9/11 attacks incorrect.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:58 AM on January 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

So basically the military and the parks service are going to be where the resistance lives?

In my experience with those serving in both our parks and our military, many are very passionate, principled people, with a strong sense of service and duty. (Many are yahoos, but many of all people are yahoos.) So, yeah, I can't say I'm surprised that's where the resistance lives.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:01 AM on January 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

Of course it happened on 9/11/2011. That's why it's Obama's fault! I bet Rudy drafted this.
posted by TwoStride at 9:01 AM on January 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

Greenpeace really killing it this week. A bunch of protesters from Greenpeace climbed a huge crane in Washington D.C. in protest of Donald Trump.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:02 AM on January 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

Fuck Peter Thiel. Wasn't he talking about running for governor of CA two seconds ago? Glad to know he's so invested in the state he wants to lead. Fucking rat bastard.
posted by sunset in snow country at 9:03 AM on January 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

From The Atlantic's Citylab: Donald Trump's Bulldozer Budget (Jan. 23, 2017) Trump staffers are reportedly building a budget proposal with major cuts to federal agencies and programs. These are the ones that could hit cities the hardest.
- A nice single-page article that lists possible cuts to a number of agencies and programs, but remember that nothing is certain until it's done.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:05 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fuck Peter Thiel.

Gotta diversify. One foot in Sacramento, one foot in Christchurch.
posted by scalefree at 9:06 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

McCain warns Trump: 'We are not bringing back torture'

Oh, I get it now. NeverTrump's resistance is going to take on such a toothless form of denial that it will only serve as another source of alt-facts for the regime. Headline from 2 months from now: McCain warns Trump: 'we have not brought back torture.' 6 months from now: McCain warns Trump: 'you will not build yourself a giant mechanized exoskeleton'
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:06 AM on January 25, 2017 [52 favorites]

William Gibson @GreatDismal: "Surprise at the sheer velocity of the onset of fascism is the result of regarding it as

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