Trump's America, February 2017: Autocratic for the People

well, we're still alive. the discussion continues here.

just hope this thread isn't bugged!

we're capitalists, that's just the way it is

the one thing that rings in my mind above all else is this:

At an event in Newton, Iowa, NBC asked him whether there should be a database to track Muslims. “There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems,” he said.

Then, a reporter asked him how such a system would be different from Nazi Germany mandating the registration of Jews. “You tell me, you tell me. Why don’t you tell me,” Trump replied.

instead of foreswearing the comparison to hitler, he dared the journalist to make it. this is our president.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3hyESQVYAYyFsW.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3hyESOUcAIhJ0-.jpg

sorry hueg

Huge if true
True if huge?

was hoping this thread would be called "Excruciating Mnuchinae" tbh

Mnuchausen syndrome

trump has probably at least briefly considered just being his own press secretary. very annoying to have to let someone else get so much camera time.

i wouldn't rule out familiar-sounding new press secretary 'john barron' insisting on delivering his briefings from behind an on-stage curtain within the next couple of months

BREAKING: Senate committee approves Trump Treasury, Health nominees without Dems present after GOP changes panel's rules.

wait what???

Dude, where tf are you getting that? I can't find anything anywhere about that.

From the Associated Press twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP/status/826803331133734912

good thing dems have been so collegial, eh readers?

Also here: https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826801911420559365

Phil MattinglyVerified account
‏@Phil_Mattingly

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Senate Finance Republicans, via UC, suspend Committee rules and will vote on Mnuchin/Price without Democrats

see this is why Dems shouldn't filibuster Gorsuch oh wait

@SusannahLuthi
More sad news from the day: unconfirmed, but sources close to USAID say that Peace Corps likely to get eliminated altogether.

can we plz have open-carry on the Senate floor? i think it will soon be needed

xpost Fuuuuuck, was just thinking like yesterday that the Peace Corps is kinda antithetical to the iceberg the GOP is steering this country towards.

Phil D., I still am seeing this news literally nowhere beyond the links you posted.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/senate-finance-committee-advances-mnuchin-price-nominations-2017-02-01

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-nominees-idUSKBN15G4QJ

This is just like Turnip's EOs. You motherfuckers run the federal government now. You're going to get what you want. All the dems have in their corner is the ability to stall and inconvenience you but you can still follow proper procedure and get all the bullshit you want on the up-and-up. And yet you still opt to circumvent and do shit just however the fuck you want to do it.

We need to do whatever it takes to make these pieces of shit regret ever having entered government in the first place.

David Frum ‏@davidfrum 2m2 minutes ago

Trump just described Frederick Douglass as "someone who has done a terrific job that is being recognized by more and more people"

GTFO

Rules were made to be broken eh Mitch

Xp

hadn't seen this before

Customs agents at Dulles forced lawful permanent U.S. residents to give up their green cards this weekend, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Alexandria. Tareq Aqel Mohammed Aziz and Ammar Aqel Mohammed Aziz were flying from Yemen to the United States. Both had been granted immigrant visas because their father, who lives in Flint, Mich., is a U.S. citizen.

When they arrived at Dulles Saturday morning, the Aziz brothers were handcuffed and their immigration paperwork was seized, according to the complaint.

They were given documents to sign and allegedly told that if they did not, they would be removed from the United States and barred from coming back for five years. They were not allowed to see attorneys.

Under pressure, their attorneys said, they signed documents they did not understand, giving up their American visas, and agents stamped “cancelled” on those visas. Attorneys are asking for their visas to be returned, the forms they signed to be invalidated and for them to be returned to the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/01/30/trump-says-all-is-going-well-on-immigration-order-amid-questions-and-confusion/?utm_term=.46b3ce501ab8

http://www.reuters.com/article/rpb-adlertrump-idUSKBN15F276

good company to be in:

To state the obvious, Reuters is a global news organization that reports independently and fairly in more than 100 countries, including many in which the media is unwelcome and frequently under attack. I am perpetually proud of our work in places such as Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Thailand, China, Zimbabwe, and Russia, nations in which we sometimes encounter some combination of censorship, legal prosecution, visa denials, and even physical threats to our journalists. We respond to all of these by doing our best to protect our journalists, by recommitting ourselves to reporting fairly and honestly, by doggedly gathering hard-to-get information – and by remaining impartial. We write very rarely about ourselves and our troubles and very often about the issues that will make a difference in the businesses and lives of our readers and viewers.

We don’t know yet how sharp the Trump administration’s attacks will be over time or to what extent those attacks will be accompanied by legal restrictions on our news-gathering. But we do know that we must follow the same rules that govern our work anywhere, namely:

lol this Douglass guy is going places, amirite ?

Full transcript of the speech. The Douglass statement is one of the least dumb things in it.

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/826822342961745922

Is the idea that he will give us a forehead-slammingly awful soundbite of this sort every day of Black History Month? Xps

Happy All History Month!

wait for his Malcolm X take

''Frederick Doug - Douglass'' leaves me wondering what letter he'll end up dropping in after ''Malcolm.'' Cut him some slack though - it's only since the opening of the National Museum of African American History & Culture's big, beautiful new building that Americans have had any opportunity to learn or speak aloud the names of these obscure historical figures.

all 10 democrats boycotting scott pruitt confirmation hearing

Pelosi goes full Bruce Hornsby

"Well, thank you for your question, but I have to say — we're capitalists. That's just the way it is." — Nancy Pelosi tell us something we already knew.

https://twitter.com/jacobinmag/status/826784040179077120

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16427213_10154808560097597_888066914234902477_n.jpg?oh=7fd8215a2df0ffaec276d97a1c9f4b79&oe=59469419

JUST IN: Senate Judiciary Committee votes 11-9 to advance nomination for AG nominee Sessions.

I've been seeing that Pelosi quote around, what was the original question?

xp uuuuugh

it's in a CNN video clip above

That's basically the boss giving the employee of the month speech about someone they've never met before.

(Re Black History Month)

Grassley and Cornyn trying to yank Franken around, and Franken's not having it: https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/826824901797371905

don't quail when these nominees are confirmed, we knew this would happen. Dem opposition is not going to achieve these short-term victories, the task at hand is to unify and re-orient the party and getting them to vote as a bloc to oppose all this shit is v key to that, even if the immediate results are losses.

Full transcript of the speech. The Douglass statement is one of the least dumb things in it.

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/826822342961745922

― Lauren Schumer Donor (Phil D.), Wednesday, February 1, 2017 10:14 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm wracking my brain here: is there a word that's like 'hate' but that's maybe like 100x more powerful? Because that would be the word that best describes my feelings about this piece of shit. Just a completely worthless human being on every conceivable level.

Franken is the best

xp

11-9 vote, one repub defected?

Quick question: did Reagan often overtly display signs of dementia or was it pretty much kept under wraps? Were there documented instances of it popping up in public or on record?

didnt Ron Jr say he saw signs

Only public instance I can think of off the top of my head was during the first '84 debate with Mondale. He stumbled over an answer, there were a few seconds of silence, and he asked the moderator to repeat the question (Jesse Jackson did a bit on this when he hosted SNL). But at the time, no one in the media made a peep about it possibly being dementia-related.

During the Iran-Contra hearings, he just kept saying, "I don't recall." iirc, it wasn't until a year, or several years, later that anyone in the media went, oh hey, I bet that was Alzheimer's-related.

Colin Powell, Regan's last national security advisor, has admitted that Reagan was pretty "spooky" in 1988. Reagan appalled Gorby and his own staff when after signing the INF treaty and hearing a long discourse by Gorby he made a terrible tasteless joke that revealed he had neither heard nor understood a thing.

But at the time, no one in the media made a peep about it possibly being dementia-relate

They did - it was euphemistically called "the age issue"

and then there's stuff like he thought he liberated a concentration camp, when he never left the US during WW2

Right, I remember "the age issue" being a big thing in '84, and Reagan scoring points off Mondale in the next debate. But that was as far as anyone went with it.

I don't think there was anything apparent on the level of the full blown psychosis we've been seeing from Trump since day 1

seen on FB:

"Trump shouldn't be allowed to choose a justice in the last year of his presidency."

haha, stealing that

Beautiful.

That moment from yesterday when Turnip didn't seem to recognize Giuliani was...concerning.

lol yeah I'm stealin that

for people scared that cambridge analytica are unusually clever or good, they're not. everyone who works there is a total idiot just like the rest of us data scientists.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-01/trump-s-secret-sauce-is-just-more-ketchup

I believe Reagan asked one of his Cabinet, "How are things in your city, Mr Mayor?"

for people scared that cambridge analytica are unusually clever or good, they're not. everyone who works there is a total idiot just like the rest of us data scientists.

agreed, read that article everybody was sharing and was like "um no that's not how it works"

yeah I thought 'trump won because of data science' seemed like a particular stupid narrative, obv clinton sunk way more resources into this

the amount of misinformation and garbage on the left is sad to see, maybe we aren't smarter than the right after all, just less violently assholish.

not just resources but huuuuuuge expertise. true stars of my profession went to work for her last year. cambridge analytica has no one good that i know of, unless they are hiring out of GCHQ. they just happen to be the data science consultancy with the stomach to work for the GOP, which gives them a high profile.

xp the difference between nice dumb and mean dumb

the meanness is what gets me every time. makes me sad. it'd be one thing if repubs had some rock solid faith and foundation and they always stuck with it no matter what but they were generally forgiving and kind? so not the case. so mean and into punishment. that meanness has made this country a worse place to live. it really is out of some 19th century frontier justice dime novel. they haven't evolved a bit from the prairie days. still looking around every corner thinking injuns are gonna attack them.

from previous thread

Tombot curious what you think if something like 10% of the federal civil servant workforce attrits in the next 12 months

― slathered in cream and covered with stickers (silby), Tuesday, January 31, 2017

er, think would happen. how much of an un-fillable reduction in force would it take for absurdities to start breaking out

Just plain old normal attrition, on top of not having a budget, and not having any replacements for the vacated political leadership positions or the EOP (NSC, OMB etc) staff, will start causing serious issues inside of the beltway in about a month. Already daily business is having to be improvised since traditional routing processes involve various empty offices.

If real cracks start showing, like the insane lines at airports when TSA had a hiring shortfall not that long ago, they'll just turn it on with specific exemptions.

“I ask my Democratic colleagues: Will they take the blame for an EPA that is not fully informational?” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “God forbid we have an environmental crisis.”

lol @ this nonsense from the Environment and Public Works Committee.

the meanness is what gets me every time. makes me sad. it'd be one thing if repubs had some rock solid faith and foundation and they always stuck with it no matter what but they were generally forgiving and kind? so not the case. so mean and into punishment. that meanness has made this country a worse place to live. it really is out of some 19th century frontier justice dime novel. they haven't evolved a bit from the prairie days. still looking around every corner thinking injuns are gonna attack them.

But, over here, we don't have prairies or injuns and yet we have the Tories...

It's like the Cro-Magnon/Neanderthal War never ended.

Apparently the administration has been contacting various EU countries about bilateral trade deals. Which of course they aren't allowed to make. Charitable interpretation is inexperience and understaffing but ffs

i think the admin should start with Multiplication Rock and its governmental spinoffs

[Simpsons parody here]

is there a word

not perhaps the 'hate x100 ' you requested, but you can do good work with "despise"

Grassley and Cornyn trying to yank Franken around, and Franken's not having it: https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/826824901797371905

this would be a good exhibit for explaining why congress never gets anything done

it would be like being in high school with people you hated for 20 or 30 years.

I object to that characterization, which is wholly unfair and unfounded, without those people you went to high school here to defend themselves, and I would like the record to reflect this.

xp i'll second that: the black history month speech transcript is despicable

Awesome, now they're taking Iran's bait.

the fact that trump's team clearly didn't give enough of a fuck to prepare some words for him to mark black history month is appalling

but not surprising i suppose

Ooh, Iran is officially put "on notice."

collins (R-ME) no on devos

This Skype press conference is an instant disaster.

next: Iran put on double-secret probation

The Skype question was s a total baldfaced pre-arranged propaganda set up move delivered by some TV reporter.

if you watch the Black History Month speech, he actually is reading prepared remarks though...

http://imgur.com/ATPXdB1

if you can tolerate left-wing snark, I quite liked this

of course it did miss the real reason why a bunch of people voted Trump which was "liberal tears", in which case you definitely got what you wanted

countdown to Kanye declaring that Trump doesn't care about black people oh wai

Press conference already somewhat contentious. Brought up Fredrick Douglass, even.

i didn't realize he had andrew jackson's portrait hanging right by his desk in the oval office

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2017/01/AP_17028587220740/lead_960.jpg?1485797819

if you watch the Black History Month speech, he actually is reading prepared remarks though...

i've only seen the transcript, so uh wtf that's even more appalling

I bet his fave AJ quote is "I have the guns."

The gist of the lead piece in the NYT Business section (Eduardo Porter) today is "Trump is doing the 'crazy-person strategy' badly."

xpost That's not a portrait of Andrew Jackson.
http://1428elm.com/files/2015/11/abgtlee2.jpg.png

Man, these Skype questions ...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/petraeus-congress-testimony-putin/index.html

how long before Trump contradicts himself and says he committed a crime "far worse than Hillary" (which IS true, but obv the opposite of what he said)

xxxp this was the exchange from the current press briefing that referenced Douglass. They haven't even reached Peak Idiot yet.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3mgCI1XAAE7iqK.jpg

I would not have guessed that this administration would be big Captain Hollywood Project boosters.

Murkowski and Collins now saying they'll vote "no" on Devos.

aaaaaaaaaaaaahaahaha what to that spicer transcript

The press is actually getting some good ones in here. This reporter just accused them of violated al 5 federal judges orders by deporting legal immigrants.

"In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/31/politics/hobby-lobby-executive-power-gorsuch-key-rulings/index.html

hurry and rule on these Muslim Ban cases!

someone who speaks more incoherently than dubya. did you ever think you'd see it in your lifetime? what were the odds that there even WAS such a person?

i always knew there were people dumber and less coherent than dubya, i just never imagined i'd see them elected leader of the free world

Murkowski and Collins now saying they'll vote "no" on Devos.

nice but we're not gonna get to 60

or do we just need to get to a majority I forget

having a hard time keeping all this shit straight

we need a majority

just a majority for cabinet appointments iirc, otherwise dems could block them still

ah right duh - so Murkowski + Collins + 46 Dems + 2 Ind = 50. One more needed to sink her...? Who can we pick off?

aaaaaaaaaaaaahaahaha what to that spicer transcript

― stein beck ii: the wrath of grapes (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, February 1, 2017 2:11 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's even funnier on video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwdv54w7Ag

this entire administration reminds me more and more of the time in 6th grade when I was supposed to read a book and participate in a discussion about it but I forgot to read it and had to pretend like I did

you'd think press sec would be one spot where they wd've held auditions

Friend of mine is executive editor at DefenseOne and is appalled at all this. Yesterday they were dragging Trump on taking credit for decreased costs in the F-35 program. His last two tweets today:

Kevin Baron ‏@DefenseBaron 6m6 minutes ago

Recap of Trump WH today:
Iran, tests a missile -- put on notice
Russia, attacking Ukraine, US elections -- *crickets*

Kevin Baron ‏@DefenseBaron 14m14 minutes ago

Flynn walks in, threatens Iran "we're putting you on notice," walks out. Every US troop in @CENTCOM right made a target, going "Wait, what?"

What the fuck is with this obsession with coal?

needs W Va and KY votes

whoa: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/collins-murkowski-to-vote-no-on-education-secretary-nominee/index.html?adkey=bn

Without Murkowski or Collins, DeVos would need the vote of Vice President Mike Pence to win approval if all Democrats voted against her.

I can only assume the phone calls they've been getting.

man, I wonder which way Pence is going to go

Kevin Baron ‏@DefenseBaron 1m1 minute ago

Spicer just named the Navy SEALs wife on national TV. You might want to send some force protection over there, @DeptofDefense. @CENTCOM

They both signposted this in their votes to move DeVos to the full Senate, especially Murkowski; her entire speech was a compelling, convincing argument about how DeVos was unqualified followed by a story about how she moved one of Obama's nominees out of committee and voted against him.

wait, all of the Navy SEALs have the same wife?

shh

seal team sex

Read that Navy SEALs train as a team by collectively carrying around a big log. Can only assume they share a wife, too.

http://wp.crschools.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/navytraining06.jpg

"Ugh, so what are you going to get Martha for mother's day"
"Urggh, maybe flowers, what about you?"

What the fuck is with this obsession with coal?

For decades the coal companies have been waging war against government regulation of any sort for the simple reason that compliance costs them money and they like money. This war required them to hire expert liars to create masses of propaganda and release it into the media stream, similarly to how the coal companies polluted all the watersheds in coal country.

The right wing media has, of course, been the major conduit for this propaganda. The audience for right wing media has been saturated with this shit for a long time ("America is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Energy independence is as simple as using more coal.") This shit has been folded into the Republican pro-business, anti-regulation dogmas that define True Republicans, as opposed to RINOs. Love for coal is just as much of a Republican virtue as love for fetuses and racial profiling.

also it's hard to get the blackface for your costume parties right without coal

i recommend a thin cut above the brow and then allowing your black soulless blood to seep over your face

Goddamn, this news about DeVos has ignited the smallest little flicker of hope in me. Still like 95% convinced she'll be appointed but that 5% will carry me for a little while.

doesn't the whole 'coal miner' narrative also serve as like a dog whistle to lure white working class voters not unlike 'closed factories'

america is the saudi arabia of natural gas which is both cleaner and doesnt kill the people in charge of extracting it. the massive boom in the dakotas has been a massive driver of growth but don't let anyone know actual facts.

It used to be that coal miners were known for being crushed by the coal companies, given dangerous and often fatal working conditions, meager pay, being forced into debt by being paid scrip redeemable only at the company store, their angry militancy against their soulless bosses, and dying of black lung. Now the industry is dying due to market forces and the miners are known for demanding that the government subsidize coal companies so they can get their shitty jobs back.

I say Democrats make a deal: We transition to an all-coal energy company, but every household has to has its own coal furnace and turbine located no less than 100ft from the house. And it has to vent into their childrens' bedrooms.

*all coal energy economy

https://thedailybanter.com/.image/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTM2NjQzNzA1Mzg2MjQ3Nzc3/rollingcoal.jpg

roll on, my friends

Tillerson confirmed. Fuck.

Yeah, I was sure he would be. Props to Collins and Murkowski, I watched the entire Devos committee hearing on CSPAN last night. Lamar Alexander is such a turd, kept beating the same talking point, complaining that Devos had been subjected to far more questioning than either of Obama's appointees. Hey, maybe that's because she's a far worse nominee.

Sounds like Toomey could be a dealbreaker?

Alec MacGillisVerified account ‏@AlecMacGillis 33m33 minutes ago
DeVos nomination apparently coming down to Toomey. Amount contributed to him directly by DeVos family: $53,400. (Not counting party funds.)

Well, we were close

A vote for DeVos is one of the more straightforward ways of signaling that you don't give a solitary fuck about the future of this country.

Tillerson confirmed, 56-43 vote.

Warner, Heitkamp, and Manchin were the dems who voted to confirm (Angus King also voted to confirm)

lamar's a longtime voucherhead and longtime spineless wonder. he came out for trump early.

@AP BREAKING: President Trump has left the White House on Marine One on an unannounced trip, White House has not disclosed his destination.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-enrique-pena-nieto-mexico-phone-call-humiliating-threatening-2017-2

You're implying he's manning the harpoons himself?

xp is that more fanfiction or...??? cuz if true holy shit

No it's true. No one knows where he went apparantly.

trump is going to yemen to personally get revenge for the SEAL who got killed

Sorry, missed you xp'd to dayo xp

xxpost A few hundred feet under the ocean, one hopes.

no no I mean the EPN story

though the President just disappearing is also very strange

probably just getting his wig touched up

he's gone to dover for the return of that marine's remains. please remain calm.

I understand that murders at sea are v difficult to prosecute

I do like to imagine he took off in a helicopter all on his own. He's never flown one before, of course, but he's very intelligent. Very good brain. He'll figure it out.

I'd additionally like to imagine someone goaded him into it by suggesting that it might be beyond him.

Dreams.

man see u

you know this is going to work right, like GOP base 'finally someone who RESPECTS the troops!'

oh Marine One's a helicopter? I was hoping it was some kind of awesome presidential submarine

over/under on him making public remarks while there and somehow blaming Obama?

presidential torpedo too much to hope for i guess

Me too Shakey :)

"We all know this guy voted for me, right? I mean he can't say anymore, but we know he did."

he'll def make reference to how many servicepeople voted for him

Threatening to invade Mexico. Threatening to fucking invade Mexico.

wish i knew how to post my photo giving the V-wave from the door of Nixon's Marine One

so he's not Jackson, he's... Polk? xp

<img>http://www.aero-news.net/images/content/general/2005/nixon-seaking-1105.jpg<;/img> except replace the <> with square braces thusly:

http://www.aero-news.net/images/content/general/2005/nixon-seaking-1105.jpg

Oh sorry, just realised you meant your photo, sorry.

my wife's from Mexico and she always said America should invade and take care of the narcos, maybe she'll finally get her wish

treating mexico as a failed state is nagl

We trained the worst of them at Fort Benning, so I'm not sure that's going to do much good.

oh yeah I'm sure it's really dumb, she just gets frustrated at the degree to which the cartels have ruined everything

unfortunately this was fake news http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/233053942-story

fake news on fox? wtf

i was hoping the copter destination was the French room at the end of 2001

https://i.imgur.com/LP9TluG.jpg

maybe there wouldn't be so many narcos if the USA didn't have an insatiable appetite for their product(s)

bingo

If we invaded and took over Mexico, that would solve the immigration problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wd_ZITiiKs

but of course...

In a bit of procedural maneuvering, McConnell moved the vote on DeVos ahead of the vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general because they need his vote to save DeVos' nomination.

"Commander Spicer..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez9yCnwR6TM&feature=youtu.be

i don't know who lars larson is. so weird...that big screen.

Morbs for persidetn!

thx gr80

btw the guard at the Nixon Library said "I lived in New York until the Puerto Ricans ruined it" (true story)

it's what nixon would have wanted

Lars Larson is a repulsive Portland-area conservative radio guy, or at least he was for 20 years maybe he's moved up in the world

^^^ Clay is correct and he has not moved up

oh sorry that video didn't play. it was weird.

Yeah, Toomey's not gonna flip: http://www.phillyvoice.com/toomey-spokeswoman-devos-great-pick/

I see Channel 4 has a week's programmes dedicated to Fake News next week. & hadn't really come across the term before recently.
Will associate it with its populariser

Charlie Brooker had a fake news segment at the end of 2016 Wipe as well.

Flynn says Iran is "on notice" due to missile test

CENTCOM issues statement that it has received no instructions to change its operational posture

truly a golden age of peace and security we're living in

I think Flynn may be on notice: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-ask-pentagon-to-explain-russian-payment-to-flynn/2017/02/01/de5e5f0e-e816-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html

if there's one thing trump's white house cares deeply about it's potential violations of the emoluments clause

(and ties to russia)

As long as Trump and Flynn are making us preemptively safe, they can do whatever, I'm cool.

Remember what took down All Capone. Or Nixon, for that matter. It's the little things that count.

both taken down by strokes iirc

julian casablancas where are u in our hour of need

x^n post

Regarding coal lobbying efforts, Lindsey Graham was one of the few R's to ever make sensible noises about climate change and he was immediately targeted by the coal industry in a smear campaign. Also I don't know if they were actually involved in that particular assault, but the US Chamber of Commerce is also a big friend of coal and a leading source of disinformation on climate change.

http://time.com/4654658/trump-white-house-no-integrity/

xpost

Also don't know if I missed discussion of this, trying to keep up thread's flying fast here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/31/public-lands-sell-congress-bureau-management-chaffetz

Imo the immediate thing they can do with the most significant long-term consequences.

If they started out totally competent there would be no room for improvement. Give them some time!

The NPS thing is what enrages me the most. It's just SO POINTLESS to open public lands to destruction. Pure violence.

at Spicer's press conference this morning this morning they skyped in someone to ask him the stupidest question about that. something like "when oh when will the government return the land to the public and chop down all the trees so we don't spend $3 billion on fighting forest fires?"

build the wall, pave the parklands

from the AP story about Trump talking shit to EPN

The U.S. and Mexico conduct some $1.6 billion a day in cross-border trade, and cooperate on everything from migration to anti-drug enforcement to major environmental issues.

Trump tasked his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner - a real estate executive with no foreign policy experience - with managing the ongoing dispute, according to an administration official with knowledge of the call.

KUSH IS ON THE MOTHERFUCKER, GUYS CHILL

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-exclusiv-idUSKBN15G5VO

sounds about right. bannon truly believes islam is the great evil in the world.

Good thread title

he'll blame the first few terrorist attacks on our soil on Obama's policies, then he'll blame Congress when they keep happening, and when they all turn out to be US citizens he'll say "they were INSPIRED by ISIS even if not a PART of ISIS" and blame someone else for not eradicating them

trump alienating even close allies https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.6c85686ec363&tid=sm_tw

jfc that reads like parody

At one point Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — and that, “This was the worst call by far.”

“This is the worst deal ever,” Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.

If you put manure in a cauldron and boil it, it says the same things

"U.S. officials said that he used his calls with both Turnbull and Peña Nieto to mention his election win or the size of the crowd at his inauguration."

just demented...

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-federal-order-travel-ban-20170201-story.html

Flynn says Iran is "on notice" due to missile test

o shit is that a red line

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/31/steve-bannon-builds-a-new-node-of-power-in-the-trump-white-house.html

“We are at war with global jihadism,” he said. “The fact is, we know that ISIS has declared in English, in its publications, in its videos, ‘We will use the refugee streams and mass migrations to insert our jihadis into your cultures,’” he said, explaining the weekend executive order as a necessary evil to protect Americans from ISIS infiltration.
Gorka lamented that federal authorities vetting one of the San Bernardino attackers were prevented from examining her social media, which might have tipped them off to her views on militancy.

FYI dumb fuck the SB shooter's wife was Pakistani. Pakistan is not on the damn list.

Reminder: tomorrow is Groundhog Day, so be sure to wake up, read the news, get outraged, call your congresspeople, feel despondent. The next day? Same thing. Also the next day, and the one after that.

We should stop thinking that "little things" or big things will bring down Trump. He's not Nixon. For one, Nixon had a Democratic Congress whose majorities grew with each midterm election. No Dems in majority = no bringing down Trump.

that's kinda why I feel so fucked atm

i'm having a flood of many different kinds of unhealthy and outright bad thoughts a lot of the time. I guess I should take it to the general anxiety thread but I'm still taken aback, day by day, how much horrible news is coming forth every single day

i unloaded on my therapist who seemed generally worried with the condition I showed up in but felt a lot better after. basically gotta remember to live, fight, live, fight, and quit doing possible equations in your head all the time, cos it isn't gonna help matters if they come true.

i ain't worried of dying so much as I'm worried of NOT dying and having to duke it out with mutant rats

oooooooooooooooooooooooo....k

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/trump-prostate-drug-hair-harold-bornstein.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

https://twitter.com/aliceemross/status/826865016569749504

Alice Ross ‏@aliceemross
"All foreign born travelers who do not hold US Citizenship or Permanent residence should review their social media accounts and activity.."
"..w/ specific reference to opinions etc + should scrub phones, delete work related posts and generally clear FB, instagram, twitter etc"
"Upon entry to the US always be courteous and do not engage officers at the Border posts in political or Trump related discussion"

Think I'll give that a miss cheers. Glad I managed to visit the states from the UK a few years back before all this kicked off.

imo, the only thing that could "bring Trump down" would be a deep crash in his popularity, coupled with constant scandals, to the point where Republicans in Congress fear truly massive losses in the next election if they didn't repudiate him. Short of that kind of epochal Trump-led republican catastrophe, every step we can take in the direction of killing trump's popularity and miring him in his own shit will help to slow down the rush to the extreme right.

I do in my moments of optimism believe we are headed toward that, but of course fear the profound damage done before we get there

That Aussie WaPo article, what a lunatic.

So he's going to send troops to Chicago and then march from there into Mexico?

Here is how Trump plans to celebrate

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-exclusiv-idUSKBN15G5VO?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social Black History Month:

So, wait, back up - people are leaking that stuff, or that is just in the transcripts? Were the transcripts leaked or provided? They had to have been leaked, right, because why would the WH release transcripts that contradict their own account and make him look like a tool?

The content of the Australian and Mexico calls were both leaked iirc. A Spanish language publication had the transcript first.

Thats right, Trump staffers are leaking transcripts of confidential phone calls between world leaders. Tight ship he's running over there.

They hate him.

your terrible president made us leap to the defence of our terrible prime minister. this will not do.

We can confidently expect Trump to create a crack team of special investigators to address these White House leaks. They'll be called "the plumbers".

Bizarro Gazzarra, my nauseated applause for your new display name

So he's going to send troops to Chicago and then march from there into Mexico?

― PURE, BEAUTIFUL OIL (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, February 1, 2017 8:16 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I-35 baby...if they can brave all the construction.

Please no, traffic is bad enough as is

https://www.thenation.com/article/leaked-draft-of-trumps-religious-freedom-order-reveals-sweeping-plans-to-legalize-discrimination/

there's no way this could stand in court, right? I mean even Gorsuch would see this as exceeding the RFRA right?

I'd assume agreeing to green light it was part of his ticket to entry

i couldn't see that even passing a Scalia SCOTUS tho even if he were still alive. and Gorsuch is an Originalist.

if it sounds like i'm trying to talk myself off the ledge, i am

So much leaking.

Do we still considered that double entendre?

No, but he should probably see about getting a prescription for it - err, I mean, for hair growth.

i'm not a praying man but I can't tell you the things I wish in the name of Odin when I go to bed

i feel so conflicted abt Trump being a dick to Turnbull

on the one hand CHEERS TRUMPY
but on the other DONT COME THE RAW PRAWN WITH US YA ORANGE WANKER

ok that is totally the next thread's title

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/317282-dem-lawmaker-congress-should-consider-impeaching-trump-if-he

why do poor liberals delude themselves w/ this shit

lol Veg

This is why Castro said that, and good for him:

"Castro is rumored to be considering a campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his Senate seat in 2018"

Cruz's pathetic acquiescence to Trump makes him p much in the running for one of the worst people on the planet

at least be a cockfarmer with convictions

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-commando-idUSKBN15G5RX

U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.

One tiny little sliver of hopefulness: if Turnip is stupidly hellbent on EO-ing every agenda that he could've very likely worked with Congress to finesse into actual laws, the next pres will be able to overturn all of this shit on day one.

Too bad we won't ever have another president, I guess.

Can easily see Cruz's career being over. A man w out a purpose now.

DONT COME THE RAW PRAWN WITH US YA ORANGE WANKER

if ever he visits this will be our welcome banner

:D

holy shit at that military leak

that's one area Trump can't afford to lose. being tough on terror is p much all he's hanging his Presidency on atm (that and "deregulation"), so getting a bunch of civilians killed plus endangering SEALS is not likely to endear the military much to that wrinkly pelvis face

American military audience doesnt consider foreigners "civilians" tbh

Can easily see Cruz's career being over. A man w out a purpose now.

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, February 1, 2017 10:12 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Said before, sayin' again: No matter how big a laughingstock he becomes on the National Stage, he's still a Republican Senator from Texas, which is the equivalent of being set for life. Hopefully the Castro thing works out, but it'll be an uphill battle because 2018 is a midterm election, and Cruz will be running tandem for reelection with fellow Trump bootlickers Gov. Greg "Wheels" Abbott and his Lieutenant Dan Patrick.

American military audience doesnt consider foreigners "civilians" tbh

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, February 1, 2017 11:23 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i actually just said the same to my friend . they do consider SEALs valued lives tho, and he got one killed

NYT just picked up the story too. think we can bank on what Spicer will have to talk about tomorrow

Is there no hope to be had from latino turnout? I thought most of the big cities were p blue (or so my san antonian friend tells me)

Xp

https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/826981608817324034

Is there no hope to be had from latino turnout? I thought most of the big cities were p blue (or so my san antonian friend tells me)

Xp

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, February 1, 2017 10:30 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cities do lean blue, and clinton was respectable in tx this year compared to recent years, but it's a big gap to close. joaquin has enough name recognition and charisma to make a race of it, and at the very least it would require the rnc to pour resources into a tx senate race

GTFO, how could anyone - ANYONE! - be shocked at his behavior, demeanor, temperament, etc.? I can only imagine the shit WH staffers see and hear on a hourly basis.

xpost

So after this asshole is gone, or done his first or second term or whatever, what do they (legally) do with these asshole supporters who don't believe the news or any facts because, omg, they predicted Hillary would win and she didn't so everything is a lie forever?

Wait, Charles Manson recommended for parole? Shit, why couldn't this news have come out before the SC nominee, now they have to wait for the next opening.

XPS The big cities are Blue*--the problem is everywhere else. There is hope Re:The Latino vote, but they'll have to work through whatever suppression machinations thrown from Trump/Pence and the Abbott/Patrick goon squad.**

*For example, I'm in Houston, which can be quite conservative, but otoh look at our last four mayors: Two African-Americans (one currently serving his first term); a Lesbian; and a lefty White Guy who later lost a gubernatorial race to Rick Perry.

**Or what m bison said.

Damage control:

https://mobile.twitter.com/jamesmassola/status/826984334062084098

Jim AcostaVerified account
‏@Acosta
During call with Australian PM on refugees, Trump pulled phone away from ear and says he wants off call, which ends abruptly per source.

GTFO, how could anyone - ANYONE! - be shocked at his behavior, demeanor, temperament, etc.?

imo there was an underlying assumption of most campaign coverage (and among how many voters, i wonder!) which was 1) trump won't win so don't take him too serious and 2) even if he does, he's not going to really do what he said he would

But, like, who the fuck really thought that? I know some said that, but there are years of indictors to the contrary. It's just absolutely crazy that any of this shit is even happening.

even I thought the latter, although you have to be a complete inbred moron to vote for somebody because he "might NOT do the terrible things he promised"

Like, how far are his congressional enablers and apologists willing to go with this? War with Iran/China? Invading Mexico? They can't all be lunatics, just some of them.

Won't happen, but the best thing would be if a handful of the most sensible senators switched parties in protest.

have you met the GOP?

the only way they'd switch parties in protest is if Democrats promised to eliminate taxes for the 1% and the Republicans couldn't beat that offer

No one switches from a party in power to the party out of power wtf

worked in the Sneetches iirc

I said it would never happen and it would be hypothetical protest. There's some news story going around now about a Hawaii state rep switch parties in protest. Start small!

So this religious freedom shit being floated, does that mean, say, if I'm a conservative Muslim I can impose Sharia law in my community?

if I'm a conservative Muslim

found the problem with your sentence

When I'm a conservative Muslim, I should have said. This is after the Muslims take over.

Also, just as far as Trumpenfreude goes:

In a highly unusual turn of events for a sitting president, a federal judge in Florida on Wednesday ordered a golf resort owned by President Trump to pay $5.7 million for refusing to refund deposits to members who wanted to resign from the club.

In his ruling, the judge said that Mr. Trump, by sending a letter in late 2012 denying access to members who wanted to resign from the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter — a process that could take years — had set off a contract clause that should have resulted in an immediate refund of their membership fees. Instead, the money was withheld.

The decision is the first court judgment against a company owned by Mr. Trump since he became president last month, and underscores that while Mr. Trump has stepped away from the operations of his company, he is certain to remain dogged by legal controversies connected to his business.

Who will he sic on the judge tomorrow?

A Jeffords strikes me as extremely unlikely with the current GOP - there really aren't that many of those kind of Republicans left in office, and a single defector wouldn't flip the chamber so they can't extract any deals out of the other party (unless it was all really super coordinated). All they get is to become a powerless pariah, unless declaring oneself "independent" just plays really well in your state. Nonetheless I will not be surprised if people are sharing desperate "Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming" articles about this scenario by tomorrow noon.

Several anti-immigration ban rulings from federal judges now. What comes next if they're ignored?

Then you have a constitutional crisis iirc

xp dems in congress explode. media feeding frenzy. demonstrations increase. or so I would hope. mild tutting from a complacent republican leadership.

Trump is a constitutional crisis, in every sense.

Just to illustrate Trump's reach into Texas: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Abbott-cuts-funding-to-Travis-DA-over-immigration-10900246.php?gaeg

"Not a single dollar of the (Governor's) Criminal Justice Division grants are allocated to or administered by the Travis County Sheriff's Office," said state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin. "Instead, these resources are used to help veterans get back on their feet, support victims of family violence, reunite children with parents in recovery and reach our youth before they become involved with the criminal justice system in ways that will affect their entire lives."

So basically, follow us, or Fuck veterans, Fuck domestic violence victims, Fuck at-risk youth. And it's all the Democrats fault!

I mean yeah that's the point xp

If one or both of the NC Senators were somehow through the course of nature to die, the governor would be empowered to appoint their replacement. Both have almost full terms remaining.

You want it darker?

hey are we allowing impeachment hypotheticals on this thread? asking for a friend

reality is weird enough surely

i think i might be cracking a bit; watched the nightly talk shows and was sickened by the whiplash between eroding freedoms, utter devastation and chaos at the white house and hey did you hear the westminster dog show is allowing CATS, this crazy world let me tell ya.
I guess this is that "normalization" everyone was talking about. My gal told me she's refusing to look at the news or a phone or talk about it after she gets home from work and i'm beginning to wonder if the choices for the next four years are gonna be open fucking revolt or sticking my head in a bucket and pretending everything's okay. everyone in the city is in a constant low grade foul mood and it takes so little to start an argument with almost anyone. Seeing people yelling at each other on the subway far more. we all feel powerless and pissed. two weeks! not even!

what i've been trying (and failing) to do is designate one-two specific hours to focus on the latest, spend the rest of the day living life and ignoring it.

being worked up about it all day (outside of protest activity ie marching/calls/etc, which have proven v v productive) doesn't really make things better, just gives us the illusion of control where we have none and basically it's like you stop living. yet I know this and still can't stop myself, but getting better.

my body is involuntarily twitching/jerking. I haven't had that anxiety symptom in six years. no way am I going through four years of this. I haven't left the house other than to get food or go to an appointment all week and being cooped up alone is making it worse.

https://twitter.com/jasoninthehouse/status/827020474433544192

Apparently the Mail is *not OK* with Gorsuch having founded a school club hilariously called Fascism Forever

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4182852/amp/Trump-s-SCOTUS-pick-founded-club-called-Fascism-Forever.html

the daily mail, of course, has its own 'fascism forever' moments it will never live down

http://efp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hurrah-blackshirts2.jpg

Probably one of the Trump administration's goals is to overwhelm the opposition.

shock & awe (ultimately didn't work well in the long run in Iraq)

not gonna tell anyone they shouldn't be sickened or socially paralyzed, but we can't let the bastards win

good mourning!

to mutilate a short story title from Irvine Welsh, i think America is going to have to organize politically as psychic self-defense

More fuck boy tweets for shit stain. Unbelievable

So he wants to take federal funds from Berkeley because they didn't let milo speak? FFS this is insane

I said it would never happen and it would be hypothetical protest. There's some news story going around now about a Hawaii state rep switch parties in protest. Start small!

― Josh in Chicago

where i live an r on our city council just flipped to d. yeah, that's small, but man i will take it.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/white-house-spokespeople-will-no-longer-appear-on-cnn-because-it-doesnt-promote-trump-agenda/

25th Amendment etc

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/30/3-ways-to-get-rid-of-president-trump-before-2020-impeach-25th-amendment-coup/

this will all happen after the nuclear exchange that takes us megalopolis inmates out, natch

How do we feel about federal tax resistance? On the one hand, it feels icky because it's totally the kind of thing Trumpists would engage in if the tables were turned. On the other hand, fuck the federal government in the face and fuck contributing a solitary dime to their agenda.

I have now heard or read numerous pieces about the filibuster, and how the Democrats should keep their powder dry for what has been termed the real fight - like a truly nuts SC appointment. But not one of them has looked at at what happens when they do use the filibuster, and the GOP overrules it anyway. The whole power of the filibuster hinges on the reasonableness of the GOP, and given they have spent the last several years proving how unreasonable they are, what power is that?

So he wants to take federal funds from Berkeley because they didn't let milo speak? FFS this is insane

not tolerating nazis will not be tolerated under trump i guess

That reads like a fake palindrome.

fuck the federal government in the face and fuck contributing a solitary dime to their agenda.

ive felt this way for 30+ years of 'normal' but hey, prison

After he and his cabinet dressed in full Nazi regalia and publicly announced the end of democracy in America, 43% of those polled felt that we should still give the president a chance and see what he does because he's still learning on the job and they could swear that they saw a glimmer of maturity the other day, just wait, you'll see.

I know this has been theorized before (Donald Trump's Tweets Are Now Presidential Records) but if true then deleting/altering a tweet would technically be illegal. Not that the 'but...the emails!' hypocrites give a shit.

it would be the most poetic justice imaginable if trump got impeached for mishandling twitter but yeah it's never gonna happen

@AP BREAKING: US official: Trump remark about having military deal with `hombres' in Mexico was `lighthearted,' part of security talks.

Just a bit o' lighthearted war threats lets be cool ppl

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/ <~ daily wrap-up of all of trump's shenanigans for who can't keep up, and really, who can?

can't wait for the "lighthearted" death squads

The Associated PressVerified account
‏@AP

Follow
More
BREAKING: US official: Trump remark about having military deal with `hombres' in Mexico was `lighthearted,' part of security talks.

whoops sorry LBI

nbd dayo

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/554786186bb3f78f7d33ba2f-960/one-of-the-most-famous-scenes-in-goodfellas-is-based-on-something-that-actually-happened-to-joe-pesci.jpg

pictured left to right: trump, mexico

"U.S. officials said that he used his calls with both Turnbull and Peña Nieto to mention his election win or the size of the crowd at his inauguration."

While there is almost certainly nothing more to this that a compensatory compulsion to talk about the size of his election, I do wonder if it's also a strategy to lead with an enormous lie, establish dominance etc.

i suspect it's simply because it's a painful psychological scab he can't keep picking at, he's incapable of thinking about more than one thing at a time, and he verbalises every thought which crosses his mind

(also he's suffering from dementia)

As if they don't see the same pictures, numbers, reports, etc. It would be like Trump claiming over the phone that he's 10 feet tall.

Apparently led off the National Prayer Breakfast by asking attendees to pray for Schwarzenegger's "Celebrity Apprentice" ratings. <---- not a joke

no it is a big fucking joke

it must be a joke, cuz I'm laughin'

I keep trying to put myself into the mindset of the congressional GOP, specifically those who you know are starting to get nervous. Trying to imagine any equivalent situation where a powerful person, ostensibly operating in my favor at the moment, is clearly unhinged enough for that dynamic to shift out of my favor on a dime, where I'm functioning at the mercy of someone who's shown very little loyalty or consistency or hesitation about throwing pretty much anyone under the bus and whose sanity seems to be visibly eroding. And just...letting that shit play out. And even encouraging it. Do they honestly think there's a long-term benefit for them here? Assuming we manage to right this ship after a lot of pain and suffering, many of the fuckers who publicly stood behind Turnip are gonna be done. I have to think a lot of them must honestly believe these are the end times. Or they're just incapable of thinking more than a few years into the future.

As if they don't see the same pictures, numbers, reports, etc. It would be like Trump claiming over the phone that he's 10 feet tall.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, February 2, 2017 8:14 AM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If I were a rogue WH staffer who had his ear, I'd be constantly filling his head with flattering but wildly untrue things like that which you know he'd start disseminating as established fact.

xp gerrymandering's a helluva drug

If Weights and Measures Division doesn't adjust their understanding of how big a foot is - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

I keep trying to put myself into the mindset of the congressional GOP, specifically those who you know are starting to get nervous.

tbh i think we are overestimating the number of congressional GOP members who are actually getting nervous. seems like most of them are completely fine w/ everything that's happening

esp when their districts are mostly in support of trump too

there are far more cheerleaders than cautious trump skeptics in the GOP

could change when his awful immigration policies start fucking with business though

I've been feeling more and more that the business community is going to be instrumental in bringing this administration down. This shit isn't going to favor them for long.

if he really starts enacting tariffs and pulling H1B's I can imagine a lot of the Republican party's donor base would get particularly pissed

H1bs no. There's cross parry consensus they need to change. There's two draft bills, one by a democrat and one joint Rep/dem.

they do - but Trump's proposal of lifting the minimum to $130k is particularly nuts. almost no one with an H1B here makes that much.

The insidious synergy of his policies and his supporters is maddening. Podunk towns full of white people support him, because he has promised to make them safe from brown people. Trump does stupid stuff that affects brown people, podunk towns stays safe, because they were never in danger to begin with. He can't do that with jobs, though, so I wonder how long they give him before they recognize jobs are not coming back. I'd say ... 8 years.

Donald Trump vows to 'totally destroy' Johnson Amendment that stops churches funding political parties

That's a dem congresswoman from CA's proposal iirc and the fact that only a small fraction of h1bs make that salary is precisely the problem with the program, goes the cross party wisdom.

There will be no pushback at all on h1b changes of this kind from SV. They are already paying there or thereabouts: http://h1bdata.info/topcompanies.php.

news so horrifying i can't even bring myself to half-ass a 'trump destroys johnson' joke out of it xp

Donald Trump vows to 'totally destroy' Johnson Amendment that stops churches funding political parties America.

At this point, I don't understand why Turnip is taking on these targets one at a time. Why not just issue one blanket tabula rasa EO undoing every decision we've made since the pilgrims landed?

EO: America is now great.

Pretty convinced by that twitter thread that says he was so antagonistic to Turnbull because he didn't understand Australian Liberal party is the right-wing one.

Theory backed up by multiple comments from US saying "Trump doesn't need to play nice with Liberals" on BBC story today.

Trump's Razor strikes again

Arnie's response: https://twitter.com/schwarzenegger/status/827169996866347008

I hope all these people clamoring for the repeal of the Johnson Amendment are excited about seeing the ACLU and Planned Parenthood directly endorsing and working for candidates.

it's pretty shitty of australians to try and confuse trump by not conforming to his perception of the political spectrum tbh xxp

The Donald Trump administration is preparing to enshrine specific religious beliefs in executive policy—including that premarital sex is wrong, that marriage "is or should be recognised" as between a man and a woman, that life begins at conception and that the words "male and female" refer to "immutable biological sex" assigned at birth.

Donald Trump reportedly planning executive order declaring pre-marital sex, same-sex marriage and abortion to be wrong

OTM

https://i.redditmedia.com/EZmsB5ytd9fGhwljUMSFju7cd4b9jJ8wteCgCJS53ZA.png

is schwarzenegger offering everyone in the USA a casper mattress?

http://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Trump-update-Protest-at-UC-Berkeley-prompts-10902945.php

Imo yiannapolous had a right to speak. Black bloc also had the right to tell him to stfu. That's America.

Yiannapolous has a right to speak. UC Berkeley is not obliged to provide him with an outlet.

the end result here was a fantastic news cycle for the alt-right. these guys were just looking for a reaction and they got one. you don't 'win' when milo fails to give a speech to 5 berkeley college republicans, you win when people stop caring about him.

man i hate the fucking black bloc

yiannapolous obv a piece of human trash but ugh black bloc is the f'ing worst

Half convinced Black Bloc are an alt-right faction themselves. Practically doing those fuckers' job for them.

how is that a fantastic news cycle

Does Yiannapolous even have anything to say apart from getting in fights with campus protesters about his right to speak?

nope dude is a total empty vessel

also this kind of shit is indefensible

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/milo-yiannopoulos-harassed-a-trans-student-at-uw-milwaukee.html

my wife was up late watching the riot news come in and says she saw video of the black bloccers beating the shit out of someone with a pole... i have not seen any ref to that in any of this mornings stories have you guys?

nothing other than 'lol i'm so provocative', no xps

how is that a fantastic news cycle

Well, instead of talking to 200 assholes, he got coverage on all networks, and a slot on Tucker Carlson.

fucking up an easy and longstanding alliance w/ australia, threatening to invade mexico, all kinds of other shit said to/about other nations...... is it too optimistic to think that these alliances/relationships can be easily restored as soon as trump is gone? they have to realize he's an ignorant buffoon and doesn't actually represent the really diplomatic interests of the US, right? right???????

really

how is that a fantastic news cycle

'violent leftists in berkeley prevent conservatives from speaking' is exactly what fox news wants to be reporting on instead of donald trump's fuck ups.

why does this Nazi dress like Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg in the "Dick in a Box" video

it is literally the morning after it happened, it is not a news cycle

take some deep breaths

Donald Trump reportedly planning executive order declaring pre-marital sex, same-sex marriage and abortion to be wrong

This orders ... what then?

fox news is basically state tv at this point who gives a shit

they're not news, they're propaganda

No argument there iatee. Black bloc took the bait.

Xp

yes, and the end result was berkeley fed the propaganda machine a bunch of great footage

This orders ... what then?

full sharia law iirc

xp who/what determines the 'real' diplomatic interests of the US then?

anyone who watches fox can get fucked

that is not an exec order, it's a papal encyclical

it's also a rumor

why are we spending time on shit he hasn't done yet

I've mentioned it before, but my aunt who works in the justice department said all the horrible, draconian, conservative shit under Ashcroft vanished or reverted almost immediately the second he was gone. So nuts and bolts stuff pretty flexible, built to bend. It's as easy to end some organization's tax exempt status as it is to grant it ... short favorable legally-securing high court shit, which no doubt is in the works.

xpost because so far there is absolutely no reason to think things he has said out loud will not come to pass? Because so far everything he has done has been something he said he would do?

with all the outrage going around--there's plenty of it--not sure why we should be focusing in on EO's he hasn't signed yet and that are total rumor, and a bunch of headlines that will pass in a day or so

xp who/what determines the 'real' diplomatic interests of the US then?

― ciderpress, Thursday, February 2, 2017 10:49 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the "deep state"?

In more important news, I really want Trump's doctor to get his own reality show. I mean, other than the one we are all in, of course.

It's not a "total rumor," it's a leak.

corporations? xxp

do you think these right wing fuckers don't have a fucking hard drive full of this horrible shit

they're passing it around to get a feel with what they can get away with

they'd be slapped with way more lawsuits than even the Muslim ban

'Mr. President, beyond the Muslim ban and the institutionalization of Sharia law, what other overt concessions do you plan to make to ISIS?'

I don't think Fox news coverage is a good reason not to forcibly disrupt Nazi events.

yeah I mean

the flipside is Fox News reporting "look at how peaceful this Nazi's event was, isn't it great that we can hear and learn from both sides in this country" which uh

this poor little well dressed man who called leslie jones a gorilla

and frankly god bless the black bloc if they're going to keep punching these fuckers

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3q45vAWEAAL4oL.jpg

milo giving a speech isn't a nazi event, it's an internet troll celebrity tour

allow me to rephrase: fuck your concern for optics

'I want to minimize the amount of successful racist propaganda that gets on network tv' = 'concern for optics'

and frankly god bless the black bloc if they're going to keep punching these fuckers

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, February 2, 2017 8:22 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'I want to minimize the amount of successful racist propaganda that gets on network tv' = 'concern for optics'

― iatee, Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:24 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not even on the front page of fox news right now. it's a picture of milo and it's small

milo giving a speech isn't a nazi event, it's an internet troll celebrity tour

― iatee, Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:22 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's both

the morons who fall for 'successful' racist propaganda are unlikely to ever vote for your fave mewling centrist Democrats

managing dissent in order to "look good" on far right state propaganda tv is idiocy and madness imo

^^^^^these last two posts

and frankly god bless the black bloc if they're going to keep punching these fuckers

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:22 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^

allow me to rephrase: fuck your concern for optics

― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:23 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^^^^

black bloc is basically a bunch of 22 year old white dudes w/ masks on who think "direct action" is smashing windows and setting fires. i do think there is a spectrum of legitimacy re: violent protests but the black bloc is not very defensible. ime they make protests alienating and unsafe for anyone who is not them and they deliberately feed off of tension w/ cops. i lived in DC from 2002-2008 and went to almost every protest and march during that time, i had a lot of friends in the black bloc at that time, and imo they mostly suck and they don't really have any positive presence. they have an extremely restrictive idea of what "direct action" and "activism" means and it is not an inclusive or positive vibe

we'll just call it a lose-lose

ie American leftism of the last 50 years

that one EO above would never survive the legal process - EStablishment clause violation since it doesn't protect all religions beliefs

I wouldn't be surprised if they're writing dummy EOs on purpose to root out leaks

it's not 'look good', it's don't go out of your way to provide them with fresh material. this is not just fox news, this is currently a story on the front page of the nytimes. it is taking the place of real news. obv it barely matters since we have current events coming out of a firehose at the moment, but it matters for the future. if all an alt-right asshole has to do to get on the frontpage of the nytimes is head to berkeley to 'give a speech', they're gonna keep doing it. press a button, get a 'liberals light trashcans on fire' story on demand.

I'm familiar with black bloc from UK protesting and while I don't share their particular approach I've come to think they're a necessary radical element. Depends which windows are smashed ofc (in the student protests of 2011 here the Treasury windows were smashed, and last year the windows of one of the worst estate agents in the city - I condemn neither), but my concern for property damage is low compared to the issues and dangers being protested about.

I would suggest that tension with cops is a pre-existing toxicity beneath most issues that inspire street protest and the black bloc is not responsible for creating it.

https://www.thenation.com/article/if-you-appreciated-seeing-neo-nazi-richard-spencer-get-punched-thank-the-black-bloc/

btw i don't give a fuck about spencer or yiannapolous getting punched they are both scum but i do think it is unwise to dismiss discussions of tactics and strategy in a protest as a "concern for optics"

allow me to rephrase: fuck your concern for optics

― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:23 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTMFM

Sheriff David Clark got a free pass/actually was cheered on by alt-right fuckos for saying theo nly way he would reach out to liberals was to "grab them by the throat", so idgaf about going high or avoiding negative news cycles at this point.

also these dapper Nazis have been getting front pages regardless of how politely the left behaves

I'm familiar with black bloc from UK protesting and while I don't share their particular approach I've come to think they're a necessary radical element.

I forget who wrote it, but there was a quick note making the FB round recently about how nazi skinheads only stopped propagating en masse at punk shows when people started getting physical with them and making them feel unsafe and unwelcome. Placards and slogans are not going to accomplish that.

Unless there was a Nazi disguised as the windows of MLK Student Union, 'punching these fuckers' has missed its mark a bit. Like, it's possible to think both "Milo should be met with hostility wherever he goes" and "some of the shit that happened is fucked up".

Federal employees worried that President Donald Trump will gut their agencies are creating new email addresses, signing up for encrypted messaging apps and looking for other, protected ways to push back against the new administration’s agenda.

Whether inside the Environmental Protection Agency, within the Foreign Service, on the edges of the Labor Department or beyond, employees are using new technology as well as more old-fashioned approaches — such as private face-to-face meetings — to organize letters, talk strategy, or contact media outlets and other groups to express their dissent.

The goal is to get their message across while not violating any rules covering workplace communications, which can be monitored by the government and could potentially get them fired.

At the EPA, a small group of career employees — numbering less than a dozen so far — are using an encrypted messaging app to discuss what to do if Trump’s political appointees undermine their agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment, flout the law, or delete valuable scientific data that the agency has been collecting for years, sources told POLITICO.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/federal-workers-signal-app-234510

Always Be Punching Nazis

if all an alt-right asshole has to do to get on the frontpage of the nytimes is head to berkeley to 'give a speech', they're gonna keep doing it.

do you know how many assholes have appeared on the front page of the NYT? look at one from 30 years ago and see if you know all their names

also if you think it's not a good response to disrupt* this asshole's events, you are part of the problem

*wide definition here of disrupt, obviously. some are more effective than others

yea no shit

black bloc are not effective imo

Unless there was a Nazi disguised as the windows of MLK Student Union, 'punching these fuckers' has missed its mark a bit.

Radio Raheem is murdered; Sal’s Pizzeria is destroyed. Spike Lee has been clever enough to make us sympathize with Sal, to like him and his pizzeria, so that it is not an easy target but a shocking one. And Lee twists the story once again, making the instrument of Sal’s downfall not a “negative” character but the one we like the most, and identify with: Mookie, the delivery man played by Lee himself. The woman who found the movie a call to violence was most disturbed, I suspect, because it was Mookie who threw the trash can—Mookie, who the movie led her to like and trust. How could he do such a thing to Sal?

The answer to that question is right there on the screen, but was elusive for some viewers, who recoiled from the damage done to Sal’s property but hardly seemed to notice, or remember, that the events were set in motion by the death of a young black man at the hands of the police. Among the many devastating effects of Lee’s film, certainly the most subtle and effective is the way it leads some viewers (not racist, but thoughtless or inattentive or imbued with the unexamined values of our society) to realize that they have valued a pizzeria over a human life.

https://i.imgur.com/4tfX1jW.jpg

Always Be Punching Nazis

Coffee's for Nazi punchers only

xp Thank you, I have never before considered the implications of that crucial scene in my favourite movie.

also if you think it's not a good response to disrupt* this asshole's events, you are part of the problem

*wide definition here of disrupt, obviously. some are more effective than others

we did not 'disrupt his event'. we *made* his event. does anyone honestly think he is disappointed w/ the way things went down? so sad he couldn't read his speech to 20 fat white guys in BCR and instead got to be a national tv story?

McCain looking to become 'available' if a coup happens...meanwhile

@fieldofvision
Tonight we projected Josh Begley's "Best of Luck with the Wall" on the Customs & Border Protection headquarters in D.C.

https://twitter.com/fieldofvision/status/826976869673205761

https://fieldofvision.org/best-of-luck-with-the-wall

"ignore Milo and no one will report on him and only 20 people will turn up" is not how things have worked for him over the past couple of years

"black bloc convincing people to be anarchist anti-capitalists by smashing starbucks windows and wearing dumb bandanas" is not how things have worked for them over the past couple years

they don't get that if they want us all to be that aggro, we need a bit of cof first

I felt before that there might be some contextual difference between Mookie, grieving over the death of his friend, throwing the can through the window of Sal's, and Whitey McAnarchist breaking the windows of the MLK Student Union at Berkeley, but now I see clearly.

like i realize there are a bunch of dumb assholes whose only response to any protest or uprising is "KEEP IT PEACEFUL JEEZ REMEMBER WHAT YOUR HEREO MLK SAID????" but there is thoughtful ways of disruption and protest and imo the black bloc (with the exception of punching spencer in the face) are not very good at it

ah there's the exception

i thought the popular interp was that Mookie threw the can so no one else would be killed

xxp

i'm not saying i agree with black bloc and what they did

i agree his events should be disrupted

McCain called Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Joe Hockey

Huh, I've not seen that reading.

Also yeah I am not suggesting "MLK means keep it peaceful"!

again, 'his events being disrupted' are his events.

went to a rally on campus recently, in response to an attempt by a (non-traditional) student to start a "pro-white" student group. so, a kind of mini-version of the milo thing. the rally went fine. i haven't seen any press about it yet. some DREAMers spoke and it was quite moving. i was also happy that a larger than usual number of undergrads seemed to show up out of curiosity and then stick around.

one thing though. right next to me in the crowd were a bunch of folks wearing military-fatigue balaclavas and with hunting knives strapped to their waists. they bore patches reading something like "anti-racist brigade." they weren't agents provocateurs, but they weren't friendly, either. before i noticed the knife, i nodded hello to one of them and they just glared at me. they were definitely in a group, standing close to one another, not really responding to what the various rally speakers were saying. they seemed to have shown up hoping to bust some nazi jaws (or slice some nazi torsos, i guess). i shed no tears for nazis, but i do wonder what the benefit of this sort of thing is.

"to realize that they have valued a pizzeria over a human life."

i haven't seen that movie in a long time, but to be fair, pizza -vs- humanity kind of a tough call...

https://static.simpsonswiki.com/images/thumb/f/fd/Andy.png/250px-Andy.png

i mean if i had to live without one or the other...

xpost

i'm not really one to wring my hands about this stuff. i just thought about it a little more than usual b/c i was standing right next to them. i was glad they didn't actually find any nazis to slice, because i worried i'd be caught in the middle of the melée.

Escalating Black Bloc activities is the quickest route to turning public opinion against the idea of resistance in favor of its suppression. Not to mention the fact that it discourages the ordinary people who are just starting to participate. I don't see the upside at the moment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/trump-prostate-drug-hair-harold-bornstein.html

The disclosure that Mr. Trump uses a prostate-related drug to maintain growth of his scalp hair, which has not been publicly known, appears to solve a riddle of why Mr. Trump has a very low level of prostate specific antigen, or PSA, a marker for prostate cancer. Mr. Trump takes a small dose of the drug, finasteride, which lowers PSA levels. Finasteride is marketed as Propecia to treat male-pattern baldness.

Dr. Bornstein said he also took finasteride and credited it for helping maintain his own shoulder-length hair and Mr. Trump’s hair. “He has all his hair,” Dr. Bornstein said. “I have all my hair.”

mystery solved

they seemed to have shown up hoping to bust some nazi jaws (or slice some nazi torsos, i guess). i shed no tears for nazis, but i do wonder what the benefit of this sort of thing is.

You answered your own question. The benefit is, Nazis get punched/knifed.

'violent leftists in berkeley prevent conservatives from speaking' is exactly what fox news wants to be reporting on instead of donald trump's fuck ups.

haha yes because otherwise fox would have devoted twelve hours to explicating each and every one of trump's fuckups in damning detail. rolling my eyes. if my college was giving milo a lecture hall and a microphone i'd be protesting too, guy is a scumbag and the fact that still other institutions will give him a bigger platform is not an argument against protesting him.

exactly what kind of hateful and shitty acts does someone have to commit where it would be acceptable to you for students to think "i dislike my tuition dollars going to give this guy a microphone," even if the only people in the room are "some frat guys"? if i had to pick some characters in this story to look down upon, it would not be the students protesting the harassment-inciting nazi shitbag.

I'm still stuck on Joe Hockey

that might just be the greatest name ever

You answered your own question. The benefit is, Nazis get punched/knifed.

there was a p good tweet something like "The alt-right's new strategy is to get their asses kicked and then whine about it on social media."

it sounds like a fake twitter name

black bloc people should start state militias if they want to scare people. and really old grannies should be throwing bricks through windows. that would freak people out. and make more of an impact.

xp if they cared about their tuition dollars they wouldn't be smashing up the windows at the student center

from what i recall about my peers at cal though i seriously doubt those black bloc people are students

anyway i think old lunch is OTM upthread

Escalating Black Bloc activities is the quickest route to turning public opinion against the idea of resistance in favor of its suppression. Not to mention the fact that it discourages the ordinary people who are just starting to participate. I don't see the upside at the moment.

yeah this was maybe like 20% max cal students, most of them are just east bay residents who come out for any opportunity to smash something 4 politics

wish these dudes would at least be willing to travel and smash things outside of cities that vote 90% democrat

i just feel like we go through this conversation with every protest and it comes down to accepting the fox news narrative where the five loud obnoxious black bloc types stand in for the entire protest. remember how the anti-inauguration protests were just a mayhemic riot of chaos and destruction? if you watched fox, probably. it's the choice of certain media outlets to cover it this way rather than "As is typical at major protests, a much smaller number of loud radical individuals committed individual acts of peripheral vandalism" or whatever. Confusing this with Berkeley students not wanting their school to give Milo a platform is precisely the elision Fox wants.

You're kind of the only person here making that confusion though DC - no-one is saying "there shouldn't have been protests".

black bloc arent the same ppl as student protestors, they just show up to existing protest events and go aggressive, then the media narrative becomes 'violent protest' even if 99% of the protestors were peaceful

This seems like a parallel to gays who tried to keep S&M floats out of Pride parades for years, because clips of whips and leather would be the majority of TV news footage.

it would be a better parallel if they started violently whipping strangers

xpost yeah 1500 (!) people showed up to protest. if the "five loud obnoxious black bloc types" hadn't been there the story could have turned out totally differently. i bet they could have even figured out a way to shout him down / keep him out of the building that didn't involve smashing windows.

Also not just Fox: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2017/feb/02/milo-yiannopoulos-talk-cancelled-berkeley-protests-video

people watching fox news are gonna hate any protesters on the news. news footage showing people standing up to nazis is good left propaganda. it makes people want to stand up to nazis!

violent post-basketball game riots never stopped anyone from going to basketball games.

Less than 2 weeks into Donald Trump's tenure as President, 40% of voters already want to impeach him. That's up from 35% of voters who wanted to impeach him a week ago. Only 48% of voters say that they would be opposed to Trump's impeachment.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2017/02/after-2-weeks-voters-yearn-for-obama.html

not being concerned about the optics of your protest is the weirdest idea to me

protests are *nothing but optics*

i think in the end: it's not a big deal. as a news story. it will be gone in.....yeah, it's probably already gone.

black bloc arent the same ppl as student protestors, they just show up to existing protest events and go aggressive, then the media narrative becomes 'violent protest' even if 99% of the protestors were peaceful

― ciderpress, Thursday, February 2, 2017 5:18 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and again - I don't share black bloc's approach myself but isn't the massive fucking problem here the media's active desire to frame protests as violent, abnormal, improper events rather than their peripheral violence?

And it's not as if protests where shit doesn't get smashed are reported on much more respectfully - if not black bloc the media will demonise what the protesters are wearing, whether their signs have swear words etc etc

will that be equally effective?

And it's not as if protests where shit doesn't get smashed are reported on much more respectfully - if not black bloc the media will demonise what the protesters are wearing, whether their signs have swear words etc etc

women's march was reported very respectfully, and was probably the largest protest in american history

lol @ McConnell's 17/55 approval split

just ban male protesters honestly not the worst idea

people watching fox news are gonna hate any protesters on the news. news footage showing people standing up to nazis is good left propaganda. it makes people want to stand up to nazis!

violent post-basketball game riots never stopped anyone from going to basketball games.

yep

just ban male protesters honestly not the worst idea

― iatee, Thursday, February 2, 2017 5:26 PM (seven seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh right because women can't set things on fire and throw fireworks/molotov cocktails

also: if trump doesn't like what you did and whines about it on twitter? you are probably doing the right thing.

i kind of feel like we don't need to worry about how protests are portrayed on Fox News (that's a foregone conclusion) but how they might be portrayed on other, not as obviously partisan, outlets.

i def. feel like the UC berkeley thing is different than the thing where a handful of black bloc folks smash windows during the inauguration and that becomes the story .in fact, that didn't really become the story. i thought that was actually a case of the media largely doing their job -- keeping the focus on the larger acts of peaceful protest (and the fact that so few attended the official inauguration) rather than the scattered acts of destruction. so i'm not actually convinced that the media (outside of fox, breitbart, etc etc etc) has an "active desire to frame protests as violent."

in the UC berkeley case you have a relatively small rally (compared to the women's marches etc.) in which there was a fairly significant, photogenic act of property destruction. so it becomes much easier to assimilate the narrative of the protest to "leftists throw riot". that said, i'm not sure i've even seen the word "riot" on the MSM headlines.

all that said, the block bloc is not going to listen to any of us, of course. are their tactics for keeping rallies peaceful (by which i simply mean non-violent) that either weren't employed or were poorly employed at the berkeley rally?

wish these dudes would at least be willing to travel and smash things outside of cities that vote 90% democrat

most cities (even in red states!) vote democratic. maybe not 90%.but there aren't a ton of cities over 100,000 people that are truly red. maybe they can smash shit in provo, utah?

er, are THERE tactics

I don't care about what fox news says about the protests, I care about what people who would otherwise go to a protest but don't because the black bloc does stupid shit think

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/foreign-policy-insider-no-readout-of-trump-putin-call-because-white-house-turned-off-recording/

smash shit in rural walmarts imo

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/dhs-inspector-general-trump-travel-ban-review/index.html

it's not like people have to worry too much about violent protesters. most protesters are way too scared of the government to throw a brick.

jeez how about just don't smash shit up? i know it's cathartic but maybe just ... don't?

should i take it to the "uncool conservative beliefs" thread?

It would be a shame if these "events" were interrupted by fire alarms, wouldn't it?

I lay bricks in protest.

Last demonstration i made a sturdy shithouse

esp when their districts are mostly in support of trump too

the election was months ago. time for some new polling data.

I would wager a big chunk of Rust Belt Trump voters are already regretting.

Pray for the Dow to keep dropping

any word on whether the CBP and Federal Marshals are actually submitting to the court orders enjoining the enforcement of the E.O.?

this seems like the most important thing to me -- whether the exec branch will actually submit to the judicial branch. if not, we've already lost our democracy.

If nobody in the press briefing brings up Yemen this morning...

Kinda feel like a good general dictum for self-regulation is: the extent to which your IRL activities mirror your GTA indulgences is the extent to which you might be doing it wrong. There are plenty of righteous arguments for actions that are ultimately self-defeating.

well, look, the benefit is we haven't directly discussed Trump all morning!

yeah no kidding, I'm surprised we haven't seen more of that story. "Idiot President orders bad counterterrorism raid because he doesn't go to intelligence briefings" seems like a big deal

the fact that the military is calling him out is nuts too. we're 2 weeks in.

i've already ready stuff about CBP agents pulling aside black and brown people of other nationalities (trinidadian, etc.), asking them about trump, etc. and even a few cases of people holding U.S. passports being pulled aside. so not only were some CBP agents not submitting to the judicial order, some of them are going far beyond the E.O. -- "working toward the Führer," essentially.

If nobody in the press briefing brings up Yemen this morning...

they did already, several times.

thanks for confirming. i wasn't watching

i wasn't watching, either (self care etc.) but i read about it.

any word on whether the CBP and Federal Marshals are actually submitting to the court orders enjoining the enforcement of the E.O.?

this seems like the most important thing to me -- whether the exec branch will actually submit to the judicial branch. if not, we've already lost our democracy.

― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, February 2, 2017 12:40 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

CBP claims they are complying, obviously though there were several documented instances (too many to be a cleverly crafted lie) where members of CBP didn't. the question is whether it was individual defiance of the law or whether Trump or another member of exec branch told them to ignore the order. Naturally they stated to the press that Trump didn't tell them to ignore it (who would admit that?) but I suspect even Trump isn't dumb enough to try and pull this shit NOW. he doesn't have enough of his own people settled into the government to defy the Constitution for him, and now has pissed off several within the military.

I will admit this is the news item that caused me to lose the most sleep because open defiance of the law would lead to a free-for-all. I'm fairly convinced the GOP is going to let him do whatever to a fault, but I have to think open defiance, a suggestion that he was above them too, might be a step too far for even those spineless shitbags.

there are enough examples of where CBP did comply to where I'm, for the moment, going to assume it was rogue disobedience. the story from the other day that dayo shared that I asked about doesn't seem to have been confirmed and may have been bad intel.

so what does this mean for refugees who had been approved to come here from iraq, syria, etc.? can they come now pending an actual court victory by the DoJ defending the E.O.? (that is, presuming CBP complies w/ the court order.)

relevant: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/aclu-attorney-fighting-travel-ban-taking-government-back-to-court/

donate to the ACLU everybody

also I'm sure ILX will be glad to know that on today's walk to school w my daughter we discussed the ethical arguments for/against punching nazis

mostly because she saw all the headlines about the riot in Berkeley

just show her The Blues Brothers

proud to have been an ACLU member and contributor for the last 15 years.

I have to think open defiance, a suggestion that he was above them too, might be a step too far for even those spineless shitbags.

i honestly think that for most of those reps in gerrymandered districts (where they only thing they really have to fear is a primary challenge), there is no such thing as a step too far. they will be on board with everything up to and including genocide if their "base" likewise is for it.

Iran’s leader said it was not the first time an “inexperienced person has threatened” his country.

lol ya burnt

all this talk of nazis makes me want to post the fall's "who makes the nazis?" but actually the lyrics to that song are not really apropos at all. :(

i honestly think that for most of those reps in gerrymandered districts (where they only thing they really have to fear is a primary challenge), there is no such thing as a step too far. they will be on board with everything up to and including genocide if their "base" likewise is for it.

yeah, these people want a king. sadly. if only they'd had decent high school civics courses.

amateurist I can think of plenty of other anti-nazi songs if you need some

Relevant: http://consequenceofsound.net/2017/01/tim-heidecker-wrote-a-song-about-richard-spencer-getting-punched-in-the-face-listen/

how bout this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MkRuV0aCcI

xpost

i know, i just like that fall song.

omfg https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/827213809634783232

Fox is reporting that DHS Secretary Kelly said parts of Trump's border wall will be transparent. http://bit.ly/2km02lC

next they'll be telling us that the texas border portion of the wall will be a moat

Why don't they just create a forcefield? Or a dome, like in Under The Dome?

instead of transparent how about invisible or even better, imaginary?

Maybe a single-file line of telekinetics who can repel foreigners with the power of their minds. You gotta think outside the box.

polling appears to suggest that trump's "floor" is dismayingly sturdy even after all this. sadly i think it's going to have to be the economy, stupid, but it's going to take some time, time for him/bannon/miller to destroy more stuff.

that should not be a surprise. this is what his base wanted.

I don't expect his support to ever drop below 35% tbh

cognitive dissonance of no-information voters etc.

there's a certain group for whom the very things that alienate the majority will only make them circle the wagons. hence the floor.

unfortunately the floor is coextensive with registered republicans in many gerrymandered districts, which means that these fascists have inordinate power over our democracy.

just as the founders intended

"won't someone plz protect the rights of the poor violent racists"

Maybe we can civil war on them

Worked before

looks like ol' shaved Garfield is gonna take care of that whole primarying the Repubs thing for ya:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/trump-world-including-steve-bannon-is-already-looking-at-the?utm_term=.dazRbNeKw

maybe this has all been a giant Koch Bros. false flag after all.

“The days of [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell picking Republican nominees in Senate races are over,” Bannon has told the donors, according to sources familiar with the meetings. He also mentioned the US Chamber of Commerce as declining in influence, according to one of those sources.

poor lapturtle

Fox is reporting that DHS Secretary Kelly said parts of Trump's border wall will be transparent.

This is 100% because some guy with a mansion near the border called Trump worried about his view getting ruined

lol let's just not build a wall and tell Trump it's transparent.

Problem solved.

Fox is reporting that DHS Secretary Kelly said parts of Trump's border wall will be transparent.

unlike his business dealings and numerous conflicts of interest!

i'll be here all week.

let's not build a wall and tell him only Mexicans can see/feel it

xp

https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/visa-holder-banned-us-executive-order-return-los-angeles-after-federal-court-action

Wait a second Spicer says Trump was not in the WH situation room during the Yemen operation. What? Who was?

the blancmange covered in pubes

http://media1.giphy.com/media/3oriOaLBINGcizAdJm/giphy.gif

Oh god. I've been reduced to this.

Invisible Trump wall keepin' out the riff raff:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/262/full/1378188425_1.png

what would Trump's approval rating ceiling look like? given how inept and vindictive he's been I can't see him ever making any overtures to the left, which means it's gonna sit at 35-40% the entire way

his ceiling is clearly a majority - which he has never had and will never get

It's an invisible ceiling to match the invisible wall.

Trump has changed Black History Month to African-American History Month. Even though all black people aren't from Africa and all people from Africa aren't black.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/trump-names-february-african-american-history--month/1733832/

@ggreenwald
So Saudis savage Yemen for 2 years straight. Houthis attack a Saudi ship. And this becomes "Iran is attacking Our Naval Vessel"?

generally in favor of Nazis getting punched. but!

I don't care about what fox news says about the protests, I care about what people who would otherwise go to a protest but don't because the black bloc does stupid shit think

^^this is totally otm. the women's march and the spontaneous airport protests with old ladies and kids and entire families and other normals coming out en masse is hugely powerful. call it optics or whatever you want but those ppl aren't going to show up where there's a good chance someone on their team gets inadvertently injured

massive peaceful protests are good

nazis getting owned is also good

I don't think the latter is really that huge a threat to the former

or purposefully injured by opposition protestors for that matter, the chance of which is undoubtedly enhanced the black bloc shit

xpost

nazis getting owned is also good

agreed but i kinda suspect Milo got exactly what he wanted, so who really got "owned" here? idk

Twitter posts about attorney re: contempt of court filings:

https://twitter.com/DamonSilvers

when I heard he was doing this tour a few weeks ago this whole cancellation + riot already seemed like a foregone conclusion to me. it's like everyone involved knew what their roles and goals were and they were all accomplished - everybody wins! Yiannopolous gets his victim talking points, Black Bloc gets their cathartic violence, ppl in the middle predominantly disgusted w both sides. I don't think the event really moves any significant numbers into either camp, this basically reinforces a static situation.

xpost Dude has a point. When I told an attorney friend after it happened, her first words were "wait, they got a judge to rule on a Saturday night!?"

Because it's the USA, protesters are going to be shot dead eventually. Shooting unarmed protesters didn't do Nixon any harm at the ballot box, of course.

agreed but i kinda suspect Milo got exactly what he wanted, so who really got "owned" here? idk

this is why punching is preferable to mere shutdowns, anything less than actual inflicted violence just eggs them on

xpost -- yeah if I've learned nothing else from Law and Order: SVU it's that judges fucking hate getting bothered when they're off the clock.

I do think that is going to happen, and that will be a turning point.

Shooting unarmed protesters didn't do Nixon any harm at the ballot box, of course.

I don't think this is true and is an oversimplified reading of the '72 election. Kent State did matter, maybe not directly re: Nixon's re-election but it did.

Trump has changed Black History Month to African-American History Month. Even though all black people aren't from Africa and all people from Africa aren't black.

Was it not officially called that already in the US?

Just looking at Wikipedia: "Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America..."

as Alfred has pointed out elsewhere, Nixon had to contend wt huge Dem congressional majorities throughout his tenure.

xp

You know there's no guarantee people aren't going to get injured at peaceful protests, too. These first few have gone well but Trump is going to let law enforcement off the leash eventually and, well

http://uwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pepper-spray.Jasna-Hodzic-703x450.jpg

that's nothing

Silvers' tweets are somewhat reassuring cos he does outline that the courts did send marshalls who did follow the order in a few cases, and in some where it was being framed that marshalls "balked" at a court order it was actually because it was not directed to them and not open defiance.

dude has 42 lawsuits outstanding right now. Obama only had 11 at this point and the great majority of them was "LOL U KANT BE PRESIDENT KENYA"

iirc that's university police pepper spraying students, I would say the real danger at protests is considerably higher - ie a mass shooting (probably not carried out by authorities)

xp

Trump doing standard issue but in reality kind of ludicrous things that other presidents have done -- i.e. speaking at a "national prayer breakfast" -- and making them look dumb by virtue of, um, it's Trump doing them might be one nice side effect.

xp I'd say the changes of an act of mass violence by a Trump supporter, and Trump and the DOJ/DHS signalling that local authorities are free to go ham on protestors, are about equal. And a lot of these local law enforcement people would love to do just that.

I'm not sure which local law enforcement agencies are eager to have open warfare w the populace tbh - NY? LA? SF/Oakland? Seattle? Portland? Chicago? Like, I don't think those PDs are holding back just cuz they're waiting for word from the Cheeto

Especially if these protests continue to be nonviolent and filled w grannies + families as they have been (and, frankly, I expect them to continue to be)

Reuters reports today that the new administration will revamp the “Countering Violent Extremism” program to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States. It cites unnamed sources.

ugh

Still super weird to me that Trump talked shit to or about just about every country but Russia.

their piss tastes the best, tbf

white supremacist groups gonna be emperor bannon's shock troops

Meanwhile, in who gives a shit about Breitbart news,

According to a database from grassroots campaign group Sleeping Giants, a total of 818 companies have pledged to remove Breitbart from their media plan so far.

it's beyond fucking strange he treats Russia better than our closest allies .

Oh, look, and now he is explicitly loosening sanctions against Russia: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cyber_gl1.pdf

But how would the Countering Islamic Extremism program target college students then?

it's beyond fucking strange he treats Russia better than our closest allies .

is it really, though

it's beyond fucking strange he treats Russia better than our closest allies .

strange or....totally fucking predictable?

huh, didn't realize the reason the contents of the talk with Putin were not leaked was because they reportedly turned off the recorder!?

Russia is our closest ally now

Russia is US now

it's ok the couldnt hear the whispered sweet nothings anyways xxp

See how you like being someone else's poodle for a change.

It's beyond fucking strange he treats Russia better than the country of which he is the president.

Can anyone recommend a site with a good, quick daily rundown of federal government activities plus, y'know, outrageous shit like question-free press conferences full of lies? Like, I know where to go for fleshed-out news on this stuff but it would be super helpful if there was a stripped-down, bulleted list somewhere that summarized everything that happened in a given day. Politico's 45 blog is about the closest thing I've found to what I'm thinking of but I'm looking for something with even more concision, if possible.

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/

@fieldofvision
Tonight we projected Josh Begley's "Best of Luck with the Wall" on the Customs & Border Protection headquarters in D.C.

https://twitter.com/fieldofvision/status/826976869673205761

https://fieldofvision.org/best-of-luck-with-the-wall

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 February 2017 16:57 (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

beyond hundreds of xposts at this point but thanks for posting this morbs - i'd never seen it before and it's really powerful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/02/donald-trump-gave-a-doozy-of-a-speech-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast/?utm_term=.c952d886642e

did you think he gives a shit about this country?

xxxp

Mentioned it on another thread, but I think Erik Prince is going to come out of the shadows with a visible role in all of this (beyond being DeVos's brother). Especially as Trump "cracks down" to Chicago et al.

the rambling of madman at that prayer breakfast , he is fucked in the head .

"I don't care about what fox news says about the protests, I care about what people who would otherwise go to a protest but don't because the black bloc does stupid shit think"

yeah i'm assuming that none of us here are black bloc people ourselves, right? if so, we don't actually have any power over them or any way to stop them from doing what they're doing. if people who would otherwise go out to protest and oppose trump decide to stay silent because they're afraid somebody might think they're black bloc, that's not a reason, that's an excuse. if a person is more afraid of five numbnuts in masks than they are of a police state handcuffing five year olds for being muslim, i have a hard time taking their "i would go to a protest, but..." protestations seriously.

i mean, you don't want to take your five year old to an event that might be violent, sure, i understand that, but people who are only going to resist as long as they can ensure nothing bad is going happens to them aren't people we are ever going to be able to count on.

we need a real life Jaime Lannister to put this Mad King down

it'll totally be Kushner

on protests my fear of the police far, far outweighs any fear I have of the black bloc

what about police posing as black bloc

(not being entirely facetious btw)

yes I have encountered that tactic :(

i think that accusations of "false flag" activity are a powerful political tool

who was president when all those Occupy sites got razed oh so peacefully again

that was an NYC thing i believe

and has nothing to do with who was president

b/c NYC police have jurisdiction over NYC shit

there were other cities extra extra from 2012

was unaware of NYPD shooting NYC protestors after being given the go-ahead by Obama, thx for the reminder way to stay focused as always doc.

remind me again how many Occupy protestors were shot tho

flashback for waterboy:

Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy

As Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the PCJF, put it, the documents show that from the start, the FBI – though it acknowledges Occupy movement as being, in fact, a peaceful organization – nonetheless designated OWS repeatedly as a "terrorist threat":

"FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) … reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat … The PCJF has obtained heavily redacted documents showing that FBI offices and agents around the country were in high gear conducting surveillance against the movement even as early as August 2011, a month prior to the establishment of the OWS encampment in Zuccotti Park and other Occupy actions around the country."

Verheyden-Hilliard points out the close partnering of banks, the New York Stock Exchange and at least one local Federal Reserve with the FBI and DHS, and calls it "police-statism":

"This production [of documents], which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI's surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement … These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America."