US Politics November 2017

Alfred man your phone knows what's what, don't correct it.

fucking phone should work for The Plum Line.

ok on second thought, here:

https://i.imgur.com/NvyEy4X.jpg

on the fence but not to offend
cut, cut, cut cut

the blatant lies from sarah sanders today* in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary remind me of the first few days of the administration when spicer was a entity and he was clearly lying about the stupid inauguration crowd estimate size. i remember following along and being kind of stunned that they would lie so plainly and blankly. heavy orwellian vibes. it's a shame everyone's computer monitors are pretty crisp these days, because this era of footage deserves the retrofuture dystopian CRT monitor look

*trump: "We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughingstock. And no wonder so much of this stuff takes place. And I think I can speak for plenty of other countries, too, that are in the same situation."

Acosta: he called the US Justice system a 'joke and a laughingstock' during his comments
Sanders: that's not what he said. he said that process, that process has people calling us a joke and calling us a laughingstock.

that's not what he said. i mean, one one level this is all so fucking stupid, but on another, that's not what he said and it's insulting to be lied to like that

spicer was a new entity

my typos are out of control today, sry

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/trump-russia-charges.html

don't worry guys, at least Trump is feelin' good

He also pushed back against a report published Monday night by The Washington Post, which the president said described him as “angry at everybody.”

“I’m actually not angry at anybody,” Mr. Trump told The Times.

and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad.

— wint (@dril) December 29, 2014

"Pointing to the indictment of his former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, the president said, “And even if you look at that, there’s not even a mention of Trump in there.”

“It has nothing to do with us,” Mr. Trump said."

i feel like this points to why he got so obsessively enraged with comey after he found out that he might be subject to investigation. because he felt like comey had promised him that he would NOT be under investigation. he seemed particularly betrayed by the idea that comey had lied to him about that. but doesn't it seem so plausible that maybe comey said "you are not under investigation...at this time.", to which trump replied "so you're saying i'm not under investigation?", then Comey said "...at this time", and then trump nodded and thought "ha...got him!"? he just kind of doesn't get things

that's not what he said. i mean, one one level this is all so fucking stupid, but on another, that's not what he said and it's insulting to be lied to like that

that what's so irritating about this administration; they lie about the dumbest things on the planet, and even when confronted with concrete evidence of their dishonesty they just stare at you and say "how DARE you question the President of the United States of America like that?"... it's definitely Orwellian, but in the dumbest possible way

Huckster-Sanders is a fine analog to Ron Ziegler (Nixon's p.s.) in this respect

During the campaign he told us that someone who was under investigation by the FBI isn't fit to be president. Like 14 times.

now's a little late to be concerned about appearing to be a hypocrite based on things you said during the campaign

this is 100% him not liking negative press coverage and probably 0% him actually caring about his staff potentially committing treason

it's definitely Orwellian, but in the dumbest possible way

which is reassuring in a strange way, their utter incompetence blunts the fascistic attitude. I remember being legitimately freaked out by that first Spicer press conference - but it quickly became clear how silly they all were/are. makes things easier to deal with for sure.

i feel like this points to why he got so obsessively enraged with comey after he found out that he might be subject to investigation. because he felt like comey had promised him that he would NOT be under investigation. he seemed particularly betrayed by the idea that comey had lied to him about that. but doesn't it seem so plausible that maybe comey said "you are not under investigation...at this time.", to which trump replied "so you're saying i'm not under investigation?", then Comey said "...at this time", and then trump nodded and thought "ha...got him!"? he just kind of doesn't get things

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, November 1, 2017 4:36 PM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, it's like someone being told that they aren't under arrest for a particular crime and thinking that they now have immunity from ever being arrested again. Because double jeopardy and I plead the fifth! Sad!

I don't find it reassuring, this gives future politicians the green light to continue the same behavior after Trump and team are long gone.

xp

if trump were born a working class man, the last thing we'd ever heard from him would be him whining "but i asked him if he was a cop and he said he wasn't! if you ask a cop if they're a cop they have to tell you the truth, it's in the consti-*policecar door slams*

xp yeah it's still horrible but it's relatively reassuring opposed to a competent fascist administration. but the longterm implications are obviously dire, yeah

it is kind of amusing that we live under a fascist regime whose only goal is making Trump look like the bestest most smartest President ever

a fascist regime whose only goal is making Trump look like the bestest most smartest President ever

Well, tbf, it also wants to wholly subvert or corrupt the departments of Justice, State, Interior, Education, HHS, HUD, Energy, & the EPA.

This is all bound to continue under more competent leadership in the future, and we will be thankful because we won't be contending with constant threats of nuclear war and insufficiently masked white supremacy.

we will be thankful because we won't be contending with constant threats of... insufficiently masked white supremacy.

true for limited values of "we"

did anyone watch the techie grilling?

"Can you please explain the difference between a bot and a troll?" -- a real sentence asked by a real congressman

— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) November 1, 2017

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNklvOXXkAEXtdN.jpg:small

"Hello darkness, my old friend..."

Incredible photo

https://carboncostume.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Killer-BOB.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8ClF26pN3Uw/maxresdefault.jpg

would totally bookmark a thread of photos of trump sidekicks realising they have made a huge mistake, while trump rages in the foreground (preferably out of focus)

http://www.trbimg.com/img-583e41c3/turbine/ct-donald-trump-secretary-of-state-mitt-romney-20161129

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/president-donald-trump-paul-ryan-gop.jpg?quality=85

yeah that's the fuckin stuff

https://i.imgur.com/Ie5Q3my.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZCF4Y63.jpg

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/the-wall-street-journal-editorial-board-coverage-of-mueller/amp

But of course

New from us: Michael Flynn Followed Five Russian Troll Accounts, Pushed Their Messages in Days Before the Electionhttps://t.co/GlpDIX7n6w

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 2, 2017

Game 7 is a snoozer. You should read about Betsy DeVos adjusting from impactful outsider to ineffectual bureaucrat. https://t.co/IhoXdcG2n5 pic.twitter.com/ugdEeAsUa2

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) November 2, 2017

also what is going on with this tax plan?

They’re gonna revive the secret-bill strategy, but for raising your taxes to finance enormous tax cuts for the rich. https://t.co/Jk4KZDHM9J pic.twitter.com/9DOCfyFphv

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 1, 2017

I'm starting to get the feeling these people may not have our best interests at heart

Who knows exactly what is up with the tax cut shit - no one has seen anything - but it seems at least as confused. confusing and challenging as ACA repeal. They've got their slim margin to begin with, but there already appears to be several in the GOP with issues and concerns they want addressed. Some states want property tax deduction, some don't. Trump wants permanent corporate tax reduction, others think it should be gradually phased out. Trump floated ACA repeal as part of it, others said no. And so on. And that's before it's even released and dissected, not just from Dems but from everyone. Add to that Cohn saying he wants it by Friday, before Trump leaves for Asia, not to mention that they have 10 days before Thanksgiving break to juggle objections, constituencies, push-back and who knows what the fuck Trump will say about it, and it seems like a real uphill battle.

Which isn't to say it won't pass, but at least as much as the ACA repeal many in the GOP seems to recognize this as a total shit-burger that no one wants to eat.

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2017/10/RTS1HUT5/lead_960.jpg?1509481097

What if there were just one brave republican that was brave enough to eat the shitburger

what is going on with this tax plan?

The Republicans passed massive tax cuts for the rich in 2001 under GW Bush and when those cuts were set to expire during Obama's first term, they just ran around screaming "the Democrats want to raise income taxes" to anyone stupid enough to listen. It worked.

They learned a valuable lesson which they are all set to apply again to anew round of massive tax cuts for the rich.

The Politico article mentions in passing some of the real damage DeVos is doing:

Already since taking office, DeVos’ department has deregulated the for-profit college industry that was targeted by Obama for its abuses and lack of accountability; revised the rule for defrauded students to gain loan forgiveness; attempted to consolidate all student loans under one servicing company, a plan she later abandoned; and, most notably, rescinded the Obama-era guidance on Title IX as it pertained to sexual assault cases on campus.

at 8:00am our fucking president is screaming "death penalty" over the internet . i hate this so much

luv2tweet about ongoing legal proceedings

Can't wait till "Do you follow Donald Trump on Twitter?" becomes a question defense attorneys ask to disqualify jurors. ("Do you watch Fox News?" already should be.)

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/sam-clovis-department-of-agriculture/index.html

As for the 400 lb guy in Jersey

https://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecutors-consider-bringing-charges-in-dnc-hacking-case-1509618203

Re: Clovis, is says a lot that it takes possible collusion with a foreign power to derail his nom for chief scientist of the department of agriculture, and not the fact that he lacks any scientific background.