US Politics March 2019: “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled”

xps The Ethics & Public Policy Center is currently headed by Ed Whelan of Kavanaugh Zillow theory infamy. Great work, WaPo.

You'd think the fourth estate might've seen our current era as a prime opportunity to seize the moral high ground and aspire to something better but not so fucking much.

The WaPo editorial board wishes to keep its spotless record of defending free speech by giving a much-needed voice to the servile toadies of the rich and powerful.

“Veteran suicide is an incredible thing to watch” — @realDonaldTrump

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 5, 2019

wtf

Trump is def high on more than applause. He does rails of Adderall

The president does rails of Adderall.

weird how ppl in this thread keep reminding us of his only likable, relatable trait, aka his very likely frequent drug abuse

New @QuinnipiacPoll: 64% say Trump committed crimes before becoming president and 45% say Trump committed crimes while president

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) March 5, 2019

sure but how many of them will still vote for him

It's nice to see at least that much realism reflected in the general population.

He committed crimes because he's smart, duh.

Yeah, an important metric to measure now is how many people think it's cool having a criminal for a president.

weird how ppl in this thread keep reminding us of his only likable, relatable trait, aka his very likely frequent drug abuse

racist quas-fascist rapist despots are likeable if they are drug addicts?

his only likeable trait IMO was saying bloodsport was his favorite movie. i still think everyone would be better off if he was curbstomped.

no argument from me on that score

Likes Twisted Sister (although it was not reciprocated)

Hates Jeff Sessions

Mortal.

hardcore adderall abuse is not relatable (unless you work in media)

tbf Trump works mainly in media

tough words from a board that embraced "gucci gucci" with open arms

I only said "drug abuse" but sure I'll concede that specific trait is more niche (fwiw I have never done it myself)

Adderall is an evil substance imo

that's a bad o

I don’t fully feel that way i guess. I didn’t enjoy feeling dependent on it.

If it helps people then good for them—i wouldn’t want to disparage that

Yeah, an important metric to measure now is how many people think it's cool having a criminal for a president.

Well he didn't commit Crimes like minorities do, such as stealing a cigarette or attempting to cross a line on the map. He committed ""crimes"" like smart rich white guys do.

they weren't even real crimes, he was just being sarcastic

Fox News Quietly Ditched Trump-Loving Sheriff David Clarke

The one-time Fox News regular, who was previously considered for different senior posts in the Trump administration, was effectively “banned” last year by the network, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The decision was more sweeping than the “soft bans” that Fox has imposed on other guests or contributors, such as former White House official Sebastian Gorka, who was barred from Fox’s “hard news” programming but regularly appeared on opinion shows like Hannity.

And Fox News isn’t the only organization to apparently part ways with the demagogic lawman.

Two knowledgeable sources confirmed that Clarke is also no longer a senior adviser and spokesman for pro-Trump super PAC America First Action, where he landed in late 2017 after he resigned as sheriff and was repeatedly blocked from getting a position in the Trump administration. (For instance, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon wanted to hire Clarke as a White House official, primarily to make TV appearances and take on members of the media.)

...

It’s not totally clear why Fox News hasn’t welcomed Clarke back on its air in more than a year.

“His rhetoric became crazier and crazier and most shows refused to use him,” one source familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast.

Another Fox source suggested that it probably didn’t help that the loud-mouthed sheriff repeatedly bashed high-school-aged Parkland shooting victims—at one point accusing them of being funded by George Soros to “spew anti-gun talking points”—at the same time Fox News was attempting to tread lightly after its primetime star Laura Ingraham faced a massive ad boycott for mocking the students.

So the people running things at Fox, like producers - do these people recognize their hosts and guests as clowns and crazies?

remarkable that mocking the parkland victims and survivors is only one *possible* explanation and does not, by itself, seem like an open-and-shut reason for fox to cut him loose.

i dunno. you'd think they would have declared him to have crossed a line years ago.

seems more likely that clarke and/or gorka took a shit on the green room floor or something

xposts

remarkable that the president of the united states was the leading face of the birther movement, and still promotes the idea in the oval office

tough words from a board that embraced "gucci gucci" with open arms

― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 2:09 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was an excellent lol thank you dc

clarke is like those early nazis who were too crazy for hitler and goebbels etc. once the party had to get down to the business of running a country

like Julius Streicher

House Dems postpone vote rebuking Omar amid pressure from left

What a stupid situation. Dems get a little of power and spend it all getting derailed by this bullshit.

of course

I will keep on saying it because it seems increasingly likely: party's gonna split at some point in the not-too-distant future, probably once it slowly dawns on us that the wheezy rasp in the GOP's hate-filled respiration has developed into an unmistakable death rattle.

love a schism

I will keep on saying it because it seems increasingly likely: party's gonna split at some point in the not-too-distant future, probably once it slowly dawns on us that the wheezy rasp in the GOP's hate-filled respiration has developed into an unmistakable death rattle.

― Gary Ornmigh, Heywood's son (Old Lunch), Wednesday, March 6, 2019 4:00 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's way optimistic. people were saying this in 2015/16, look what happened. fascism is resilient.

people were saying this in 2015/162008

true!

2015/16 is better example given relevant events. But yeah people say it all the time

The survival of the GOP at this point depends largely on a life support system of cheatery and flim-flammery that is, admittedly, still pretty robust. The more power the dems gain and the more dems in power focus their attention on eg redistricting and voter rights legislation and campaign finance legislation, the less viable that life support system is going to become. Having a criminal for a president and a slew of GOP-ers who've hitched their wagon to him certainly doesn't hurt.

unless they just go full autocracy which they are clearly working toward

speaking of focusing att'n on eg voter rights legislation: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/6/1839953/-House-Oversight-Democrats-announce-investigation-into-Georgia-s-war-on-voting

evergreen

At one point, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a close Pelosi ally, pleaded with Democrats: “Everyone stop tweeting!” https://t.co/268pnsXAkm

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 6, 2019

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ay6he2/my_failed_selfie_attempt_with_the_president_of/

I cant find it now but there was an article (not sure if recent or old), re demographic change and saying that with increasing urbanization by some point in the future (2030? 2040? 2050?), 70% of the population will live in 15 states (and only 30 senators between them). I hadn't actually though about how internal migration would effect that quite so much before (not sure what the figures are now)