Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

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i know this is not the party line on this but...all this guy seems to be calling for is spin. which, ok, if you're a linguist (as this guy is) and not a journalist, i can see why that would be attractive

I don't think so; spin operates at a more superficial level than the deeper idea architecture

His response seems more an effort to change how your bog-standard reporter reports this stuff, to change it from the lazy-ass received wisdom practitces they get from their colleagues

THE SKURJ OF FAKE NEWS. (kingfish), Thursday, 8 December 2016 17:22 (seven years ago) link

a thought from overseas: Americans abroad are frequently thought of by locals as big and bumbling, rich but undiscerning, easily taken advantage of, in short, marks. "Not all Americans abroad": but enough. They're easy money.

the US president-elect and his advisors all seem to be tangled in various foreign intrigues presumably in order to get rich quick. With Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Taiwan, etc. Are they marks too? does the US government become a mark?

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 8 December 2016 17:59 (seven years ago) link

Throwing the entire preamble about expats out as being goofy and a little offensive, you are OTM on the second part hoo boy and how.

Three Word Username, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:19 (seven years ago) link

Trump is sitting pretty now because he's indisputably King Con of the US but I can see him (and by extension us) getting played pretty hard by confidence men of other nations, yep.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:20 (seven years ago) link

i thought the preamble was common knowledge or at least a very widely held view

xpost

Karl Malone, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:21 (seven years ago) link

The aforementioned liberal civil servants should become well versed in intentional incompetence and foot-dragging. Maybe just by doing a bad job they can keep Trump from doing a worse job.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:22 (seven years ago) link

they've been doing it since January 1981

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:23 (seven years ago) link

the problem is that incompetence and foot-dragging in the federal government is the goal of the trump administration, and really just republicans in general. their vision is realized by federal employees doing less, not by them doing more.

Karl Malone, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:24 (seven years ago) link

xpost

Karl Malone, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:24 (seven years ago) link

it's not like january 21 is going to be filled with grand sweeping initiatives in every little program office across all the federal agencies. most feds are mired in the day-to-day slog of implementing statutes that are decades old and long forgotten by nearly everyone that isn't directly working on them. trump's cronies won't infiltrate all these offices and give them orders to go murder innocent people. they'll just sit in the basement with the lights off like the guy in Office Space, hoping that they'll continue to get a minimally viable budget. or they'll just be asked to produce fact sheets. and then revise those fact sheets. and then update the website. redesigning the website takes YEARS.

the truly vile shit isn't implemented at the lowly staff level, it comes from a combo of endless meaningless timewasting directives to occupy the vast majority of feds on one hand, and the intentional surgical wrecking of more prominent policy shops (e.g., climate change regulations) on the other.

Karl Malone, Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:33 (seven years ago) link

Karl otm

troops in djibouti (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 8 December 2016 19:35 (seven years ago) link

ive got to assume alot of the spy agencies out there have a decent sized file on trump already..

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, 8 December 2016 19:44 (seven years ago) link

remember Russia has a sex tape of him with underaged prostitutes

frogbs, Thursday, 8 December 2016 19:48 (seven years ago) link

i do wonder what kind of things might come up once people start breaking NDAs but sitting around waiting for that to happen was ultimately a waste of time during the election

I've read Ta-nehisi Coates. (marcos), Thursday, 8 December 2016 19:52 (seven years ago) link

no fucking way you can enforce an nda once the transition begins. theyre government employees now where they want to be or not.

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, 8 December 2016 20:01 (seven years ago) link

opportunity dumps any day now

(•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 8 December 2016 20:04 (seven years ago) link

The aforementioned liberal civil servants should become well versed in intentional incompetence and foot-dragging. Maybe just by doing a bad job they can keep Trump from doing a worse job.

― Josh in Chicago

i'm assuming the declassified '44 oss sabotage manual has gotten around pretty thoroughly by now, right?

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Thursday, 8 December 2016 20:06 (seven years ago) link

Yes but it's always worth another block quote or three

El Tomboto, Thursday, 8 December 2016 20:12 (seven years ago) link

the thing that fascinates me about that manual is that to me it seems like a dual propaganda purpose, that it was written under the assumption that it would be confiscated and read and that doing so would further spread paranoia. leaders of the regime would start suspecting anybody who advocated for due diligence or quality control as possible saboteurs. you start cracking down on people you think are "foot-draggers" and all of a sudden your bombs start blowing up in the faces of your soldiers.

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Thursday, 8 December 2016 20:19 (seven years ago) link

colbert did a pizzagate segment last night

the youtube landed today. it has 6,650 comments

goole, Thursday, 8 December 2016 22:01 (seven years ago) link

i don't want to imagine the shit that would be found in that comment section .

(•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 8 December 2016 22:03 (seven years ago) link

It's not very imaginative

El Tomboto, Thursday, 8 December 2016 22:13 (seven years ago) link

glad to see Colbert getting more righteous tbh

Nhex, Friday, 9 December 2016 01:21 (seven years ago) link

Imagine running a wildly profitable fast food chain. Every morning your dozens of franchises open up run smoothly; workers come in, keep things neat, provide quality customer service, keep the profits rolling in. Imagine this system allows you to become a multi millionaire.

Now imagine lobbying in order to repeal overtime pay provisions for these same employees, so that they can work 50, 60 hours a week without getting time and a half. Imagine penning an op ed for the walll street journal against any minimum wage increase, even though most of your franchises are in california, which has a high cost of living.

Imagine championing automation as a way to save money by putting your workers out of a job -- the same workers whose labor allows you to be a millionaire. Imagine making smug jokes on camera about how they machines are never rude and don't talk back and things to that effect.

Now imagine being named secretary of labor by a president elect who ran on a "populist" message.

Treeship, Friday, 9 December 2016 04:45 (seven years ago) link

This is too grotesque to even comprehend. Feels like Trump is going out of his way to spit in the faces of the working class people who voted for him. His appointees have long track records of trying to destroy these voters' livelihoods.

Treeship, Friday, 9 December 2016 04:47 (seven years ago) link

duh

sleeve, Friday, 9 December 2016 04:53 (seven years ago) link

time honored tradition going back to Reagan or maybe Nixon

sleeve, Friday, 9 December 2016 04:54 (seven years ago) link

now imagine none of trumps supporters actually giving a fuck about how this guy is terrible for them or why. they have no interest in lifting their heads out of their echo chambers, and no interest in ever considering that they might be wrong.

Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 9 December 2016 05:02 (seven years ago) link

Also remember that a lot of Trump's voters -- most -- aren't working class. A lot of them live in the suburbs and when they go to fast-food restaurants it's to eat, not to clock in. They're people like the guy I heard today -- a guy who works in a profession that prides itself on being blue-collar, but still has health benefits and a pension -- talking dismissively about people who "think you should get paid 15 bucks an hour to flip burgers."

birthday party, cheesecake, jelly beans, boom (tipsy mothra), Friday, 9 December 2016 05:09 (seven years ago) link

Now imagine that everything you imagined is real! Especially the flying piranha demons

Karl Malone, Friday, 9 December 2016 05:42 (seven years ago) link

That's true tipsy, but a good amount of trump's supporters still seemed to be under the impression that he's stick up for ordinary people against entrenched interests. The head of carl's jr is an enemy of ordinary people.

Treeship, Friday, 9 December 2016 13:19 (seven years ago) link

*he'd

Treeship, Friday, 9 December 2016 13:19 (seven years ago) link

Republican voters do not recognize fast food workers, or minimum-wage employees in general, as ''ordinary people'' though.

walk back to the halftime long, billy lynn, billy lynn (Doctor Casino), Friday, 9 December 2016 13:23 (seven years ago) link

LOL what First Amendment?

The Lincoln Memorial has been the site for many of the United States’ most historic rallies, from the civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960s to the Million Man March in 1995. However, for the thousands of women planning to march on Washington following Donald Trump’s inauguration, the D.C, landmark won’t be available for rallying.

According to The Guardian, the National Park Service, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, has blocked access to the landmark by filing a “massive omnibus blocking permit.” This will bar protesters from most of the National Mall, Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument, and of course, the Lincoln Memorial for days and weeks before, during, and after the inauguration, which will take place on Jan. 20, 2017.

The Women’s March on Washington was organized for January 21, the day following the inauguration and was set to be held at the Lincoln Memorial. According to a Facebook event, over 136,000 people are due to attend. Now, with the blocking of access to many of the spaces commonly used to protest, participants will have to find space elsewhere—no easy feat considering how few public spaces to gather will be free during the time period surrounding the inauguration.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said in a press conference for the Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, said that she’s worked on court battles for protest access on inauguration before, but this instance is “extremely unique” in that it banned access to public land (which Answer Coalition’s press release notes, are “historic spaces for dissent”) for protesters days after the inauguration.

“It hasn’t come up in any way previously, where you’ve had a groundswell of people trying to have access on the Saturday, January 21, and thousands of people want to come, and the government is saying we won’t give you a permit,” she said. “What they’ve done is take all of these spaces out of action.”

Mark Litters, a Park Service spokesman, told The Guardian that the blocked-off spaces are “construction zones, effectively.”

and this section is called boner (Phil D.), Friday, 9 December 2016 13:36 (seven years ago) link

mark litters of the park service? c'mon that can't be a real person, it's too perfect

Rush Limbaugh and Lou Reed doing sex with your parents (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 9 December 2016 13:38 (seven years ago) link

That's fucking disgusting. But, well, if y'all are looking to quell lawful demonstration, I suppose there are other kinds of demonstration we could start engaging in.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 December 2016 13:55 (seven years ago) link

trump needs a safe space

maura, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:00 (seven years ago) link

Literally true.

Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 9 December 2016 14:03 (seven years ago) link

People (Treeship, lots of people IRL, etc) should stop painting this straw man Trump supporter who believes in this fanciful intersection on the political Venn diagram that we can all agree upon.

El Tomboto, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:05 (seven years ago) link

Like this morning my friend was thinking out loud how surely Trump's base would be at least a little bit underwhelmed by his decision to stay on as an executive producer for a reality television show, and then realized no, of course not, they don't fucking care. Save yourself the round trip! The answer is always no, they don't care.

El Tomboto, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:13 (seven years ago) link

I've been watching the Leah Remini Scientology show, and the parallels between that shit and this Trumpist/alt-right shit underscores my long-held and increasingly-strong belief that we're basically handing the reins over to a cult leader.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 December 2016 14:20 (seven years ago) link

(I'm sure you history and political theory buffs will be able to frame that in a broader context of fascism and demagoguery throughout history, but I'm less smart than you.)

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 December 2016 14:23 (seven years ago) link

exec producer is often a no-showup job i think

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 9 December 2016 14:26 (seven years ago) link

....

El Tomboto, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:28 (seven years ago) link

Yeah it's congruent with his fundamental beliefs about getting paid.

Andrew Farrell, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:29 (seven years ago) link

I don't think this is a huge deal but of course he's on the record saying that he would absolutely give it up because he lies about literally everything

frogbs, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:32 (seven years ago) link

The backhandedness of that Putin quote posted here some days ago was kinda delicious. Boldface mine:

“Trump was a businessman and an entrepreneur,” Putin said in the interview, which also touched on international affairs, including the war in Syria. “Now he’s a government official, now he’s the head of the United States of America, one of the leading countries of the world, one of the world’s leading economies, one of the world’s leading military states. To the extent that he was able to achieve success in business, this shows that he’s a smart person. And if he’s a smart person, that means that he will totally and quite quickly understand the different level of his responsibility. We presume that he will act based on this position.”

anatol_merklich, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:35 (seven years ago) link

http://www.politicsnc.com/an-open-letter-to-america-from-north-carolina/

An open letter to America from North Carolina
December 7, 2016 | by Thomas Mills | Editor's Blog | 103 Comments

Dear America,

North Carolina here. You’re in for a rough ride for the next few years. We should know.

Just a few years ago, we were the moderately progressive state known for great beaches, mountain vistas, a world-class university system, and a welcoming environment. Then, in 2012, Republicans took control of both houses of the legislature, the Governor’s Mansion and the Supreme Court. (Sound familiar?) Now, we’re known for HB2, voter suppression laws, and extreme gerrymandering.

The Republicans in Congress are about to get brutal. Everything you think they wouldn’t dare do, they will do. They will strike quickly and broadly. By the time you understand the breadth of their destruction, they’ll be rolling and you’ll be trying to figure out how to respond.

Nothing is sacred. Expect attacks on the social safety net, including Social Security and Medicare. The third rail of American politics now has a short in it. The social contract that we built in the New Deal and Great Society is in tatters.

These aren’t Ronald Reagan Republicans. They’re Cal Coolidge folks. We’re going back to the Roaring Twenties, complete with Robber Barons and massive income inequality.

They’ll flatten the tax rate and shift the burden from the wealthy to the middle class. They’ll cut corporate taxes to almost nothing and eliminate protections that keep workers out of poverty in tough economic times.

Deregulation will be the cry of the day. Forget climate change. They’ll trade hurricanes and droughts for gas and oil profits in a New York minute. Unregulated financial industries will make bankers even richer while costing you more in fees, penalties, and interest.

Proposed social legislation will send tremors through organizations that defend women’s health, equality, and social justice. Various religious freedom bills will defend the rights of socially conservative Christians to discriminate against LGBT people. The rights of fetuses will supersede those of the adults who created them.

Expect an all-out assault on public education. They’ll force some sort of voucher program on public schools across the nation. Religious schools will get a bunch of tax dollars while poor schools will get the shaft. Privatization of our public education system is the end game here.

They’ll try to protect their gains by disenfranchising voters who disagree with them. Look for federal legislation to make voting more difficult, especially for people of color and young folks. They’ll force states to bend to their will on voting restrictions.

Oh, you thought they believe in limited government? How quaint.

No, they want power. And they’ll do what it takes to keep it. The only Amendment that counts for much anymore is the second one.

If you want a hint of what they’ll do, look at the various components of their base. Everybody will get something.

The free-marketeers will get their supply-side tax cuts and deregulation that increases environmental destruction while stripping away workers’ rights. The social conservatives will get restrictions on abortions and anti-LGBT legislation. The populists will get a crackdown on undocumented immigrants that pushes the Fourth Amendment to the breaking point.

Sure, some of their overreach will fail. In North Carolina, two guys tried to institute a state religion. Another one submitted a bill to mint our own currency. They just made us a laughingstock. They won’t be able to kill the Federal Reserve System, though somebody like Louie Gohmert will certainly suggest it.

So, what can you do? Well, you can organize. Look at the Moral Monday protests that energized the base in North Carolina. Build a campaign infrastructure that recruits candidates and supports them. And sue. Much of their legislation will be unconstitutional. Even if the GOP controls the Supreme Court, judicial consciences will come into play. A few judges will surprise you.

Be loud. They’ve empowered racists and they’ll look the other way at religious intolerance. Call them out and shame them. Our Muslim brothers and sisters will likely have an especially difficult time. Stand with them. The world needs to know that there are still people in America who won’t abide bigotry.

And, hey, if all that fails, we’re probably only six or eight years away from another economic collapse. That’s what’s happened the last two times the GOP controlled all three branches of government. Their policies caused the Great Depression in 1929 and the Great Recession in 2008. Lack of oversight and regulation encourages unsustainable corruption and greed.

After that, if you’ve held off authoritarianism, you can elect a responsible government that believes in mitigating the impact of economic hardship on the most vulnerable people in a capitalist society, protects the environment from the most egregious polluters, and stands up for the rights of minorities.

But for now, buckle up. It’s gonna be a rough ride. Welcome to the fray.

Sincerely,

North Carolina

El Tomboto, Friday, 9 December 2016 14:35 (seven years ago) link


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