US Politics November 2017

and that’s why phish fans vote democrat

Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on “mike” saying bad things about your favorite President. He’ll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is “toast.”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

Where do you begin with this one

jeff flake said bad things about eisenhower?

Never occurred to me how much the "extra" twitter characters would offer our "President" in the way of quotation "marks" !

Jeff Flakey... Al Frankenstein... christ I'm waiting for trump to tweet NO U or YO MAMA SO FAT at someone.

that was basically his approach to kim jong-un fyi

Someone needs to alert Melania of this cyberbully, stat.

Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

lol he's still on this

classy

well it hits upon his two favorite black people tropes (ungrateful + criminals) so I suspect he'll be on it for a while

Also they're good at sports.

There are not two more media figures that deserve each other than Trump and LaVar Ball.

It's one of the more peculiar bits of genius Trump's pulled off--He's this "famous for 'being famous'" guy who's really connected with his base by dissing and feuding with genuinely talented people.

and LaVar Ball too

Definitely a nexus of horsexxxt when those two tango, hopefully they go all in.

I read Dave Weigel of the Washington Post tweet that not a single Democratic Senator was on the talk show circuit Sunday (and thus only Republicans got to talk about the tax bills)

I’ve been told all my life the Sunday talk shows exist but i have never ever seen one; I don’t think I know anyone who has.

They exist mainly to provide pull-quotes for news articles and sound bites for television news. Also, to fulfill public service programming in time slots that wouldn't sell ads anyway. As I understand it only political junkies ever watch them.

Political Junkies who are--if the non-PSA commercials are to be believed--also in the market for prescription and/OTC drugs with side effects including vomiting, diahrrea, constipation, blurry vision, suicidal thoughts, and errections lasting more than four hours.

eh, aren't the ads all about how Archer Daniels Midland is saving the world, etc?

Definitely a nexus of horsexxxt when those two tango, hopefully they go all in.

I misread this very badly

haha

also in the market for prescription and/OTC drugs with side effects including vomiting, diahrrea, constipation, blurry vision, suicidal thoughts, and errections lasting more than four hours.

coincidentally also the side effects of watching Sunday political talk shows

my dad and i would yell at each other about Reagan in the '80s when the Sunday shows were on, and my mom would literally run in and turn the TV off.

good times

http://images.rcp.realclearpolitics.com/329890_5_.jpg

pbs fridays -- shields and (boo!) brooks -- is where it's at

ok *now* I think Franken could be in real trouble: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/11/20/he-put-his-hand-full-fledged-on-my-rear-why-al-franken-is-in-a-lot-more-trouble-now/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fix-franken-1040am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.263c95b22692

but we'll see

Keystone XL pipeline is a go, kinda

gross

I'm honestly surprised something like this didn't surface sooner

https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/sources-mcmaster-mocked-trumps-intelligence-in-a-private

But these new details reveal that the subject matter of McMaster’s dinner with Catz, which sources tell BuzzFeed News took place on July 18 at the Washington, D.C., restaurant Tosca, ranged far from geopolitics. Indeed, three of the sources said that McMaster disparaged multiple members of the administration to Catz, including Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, and President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. Of Kushner, one source told BuzzFeed News, McMaster said he had no business being in the White House and should not be involved in national security issues.

Of Kushner, one source told BuzzFeed News, McMaster said he had no business being in the White House and should not be involved in national security issues.

what's sad is that this isn't even remotely controversial to anyone outside of the trump family.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-values-that-values-voters-care-about-most-are-policies-not-character-traits/

this seems like something that should be obvious but maybe isn't

Oh this is a crazy deep dive

https://www.gq.com/story/inside-rand-pauls-neighborhood-fight

Like most everyone else in the Rivergreen development, Goodwin told me, Boucher pays in the ballpark of $150 a month for professional landscaping, while Paul insists on maintaining his yard himself. Goodwin said that part of what nagged at Boucher was the difference in grass length between his lawn and that of his libertarian neighbor's. "He had his yard sitting at a beautiful two-and-a-half, three inches thick, where Rand cuts it to the nub," Goodwin said.

Also at issue, according to Goodwin, is Paul's tendency to mow outward at the edge of his property, spraying his clippings into Boucher's yard. Boucher, he said, has asked Paul to instead mow inward when near the boundary line, and even sought help from the Rivergreen Homeowners Association but has gotten no relief.

Elsewhere in the White House

As if we needed more evidence that trickle-down economics are a scam. https://t.co/GvagiFRRiM pic.twitter.com/qrOvhyNXCS

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) November 20, 2017

Wouldn't the principled libertarian perspective be that, just as Paul's right to fling his fists stops at the end of his neighbor's nose, his right to spew his grass clippings hither and thither stops at the sacred line dividing their properties?

And libertarians are nothing if not consistent in exercising their logically-airtight principles.

hahahahaha that excerpt Ned posted

This strikes me as a stretch. A few people said Catz said that McMaster said this. Everyone in actual attendance denies it was said and Catz denies telling anyone it was. https://t.co/x5csfh18gV

— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) November 20, 2017

would love if some anti-mcmaster bannon holdover (or, even better, kushner) leaked an untrue story whose details show that the source thinks trump is stupid

learning that RP is apparently a good tipper disturbs me in that I no longer completely hate him

A viable story in national politics hinges on grass length? Okay. Whatevs.

If the blades are short, you must report. If the clippings blow out, it's time to shout.

Has anyone made the joke yet that the Rand Paul fight gave new meaning to the term “petty bourgeois”?

Atlas Mowed

honestly now that the severity of the injuries and assault is clearer I don't find the story funny anymore. the descriptions in the GQ piece are savage

it's still funny

given the amount of actual physical suffering on the part of the populace that this dude is responsible for, I consider it karma

The next paragraph after the ones I quoted:

Goodwin recalled picking up Boucher, a devout Catholic, at his home after church one Sunday afternoon several years ago. Boucher had confronted Paul about his yard-maintenance practices a few minutes before Goodwin's arrival, to no avail, and Goodwin saw Boucher grow agitated as they both watched Paul blow grass onto his lawn. "I've asked him and I've asked him and I've asked him," Goodwin recalls Boucher fuming. "How long can you sit there taking someone plucking a hair out of your nose?" Goodwin asked. "How long could you take that before losing your temper?"

How long has this been going on, indeed.

two bad neighbors

Meantime, this guy

http://ijr.com/2017/11/1020133-exclusive-30-sources-expose-sexually-explicit-evidence-harassment-ohio-gop-rep-wes-goodman/

Per another comment: "Best bit is when someone texted Goodman about his room # so they could close his bar tab, but he misunderstood and wrote back with the number and a ;)"

President Donald Trump said Sunday a final decision would come this week on whether to maintain a ban on importing elephant hunting trophies from two African countries, indicating he was leaning toward keeping the Obama-era rules in place.

"Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal," Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday night.

...
Criticism from allies who have big platforms on the right clearly moved the needle. Conservative radio host Michael Savage, who is very popular with the Trump base, and Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, who recently published a pro-Trump book, both spoke out against getting rid of the Obama-era policy. - Washington Post

So Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham care about elephants? Kinda surprised (figured elephants were dispensable to them) Maybe cuz the animal is a symbol of the Republican party...