US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

interesting that the states with the most economic satisfaction are also the most delusional, i mean republican leaning

http://news.gallup.com/poll/226772/wyoming-north-dakota-utah-lead-economic-confidence.aspx?g_source=link_NEWSV9&g_medium=TOPIC&g_campaign=item_&g_content=Wyoming%2c%2520North%2520Dakota%2c%2520Utah%2520Lead%2520in%2520Economic%2520Confidence

"competitive" on that map means that a competition to see which party had the most voters affiliated with it would be competitive, not that elections are competitive in practice.

Right, I suspect that party affiliation in Texas may be more equal than you would expect. But Democrats tend to cluster in cities, so district-by-district elections are lopsided.

Plus gerrymandering

well, yeah, local elections, but even in statewide elections it's misleading to call those states "competitive" as you would based on a poll of likely voters. afaict that's a map of only those people who choose to affiliate/identify with a party. almost half of voters are either unaffiliated or tell pollsters they are independent. http://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx. so it's a pretty weird map, if i've understood it correctly.

it's weird how some southern states still have vestigial Democratic affiliation even though a Democrat could almost never win a statewide election there

More and more complicated...

New charges have been filed in Mueller's criminal case against Paul Manafort and aide Rick Gates, but the charges were put under seal by the court, obscuring the nature and import of the development, Politico reports. https://t.co/coelDZ9uwi

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 21, 2018

“ a reporter on her lawn asking her the modern day version of "are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"
― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Tuesday, February 20, 2018 9:50 PM (yesterday)

Hey maybe let’s not repeat the silly comparisons pushed exclusively by people arguing in bad faith.

no, i don't think that's a silly comparison. i'm not saying that anyone who questions anyone about a connection to russia is a mccarthyist, or that it is a widespread phenomenon. i'm saying that in the segment in question, given the circumstances, the reporter was acting like a mccarthyist.

The reporter's questions:

"but they were involved with you. did you know that?"
"but you guys were involved with Being Patriotic, right?"
"Being Patriotic was the group that helped to organize some of these activities that you posted on your own Facebook account."
"Those were Russians"
"That group was Russians"
[I didn't have anything to do with the Russians]
"Well apparently you did. Maybe you didn't know it, but you did."
[Those people with me were Trump supporters]
"And all apparently following the direction of groups that were associated with Russians who were actually infiltrated"
"But did you realize you were in communication electronically with Russians?"
"You were posting stuff on Facebook..."
"You were in charge of the Facebook account, right?"
"You were posting and reposting almost word for word the information that was coming out of this Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg."

Karl this is not McCarthyism, bum comp

it's pretty dispiriting though

I mean to say that it's not cool cuz you know "McCarthyism!" is one line of defense they're gonna make

alright, i can tell i'm going to lose this one so i'll stfu up. that was some great reporting

i really dislike being told not to express something just because it's being exploited in bad faith by ideologues on the other team, though.

pin number stfu up

yes, remember always never to say anything that sounds like something your ideological opponent might ever utter, at least if you want to stay in the graces of a Team Clinton/Biden/Schumer shill like Nerdstrom Poindexter.

KM kinda has a point. I didn't really understand what the CNN video was meant to achieve. Okay, you uncovered one of the ill-educated, low-info people who got suckered by Russian trolls. Did you honestly think that badgering her was going to make her see the light, or was it just an extended shaming session? Like, I don't know what result you're looking for when you grill a gullible yokel as if they're a shady elected official. She isn't dissembling, you're speaking two different languages.

She thinks you're literally accusing her of mingling with dudes in big fur hats with thick Russkie accents.

look it's not great reporting but this is what debriefing these dupes is gonna look like. what's the alternative?

anyway Karl sorry wasn't intending to muzzle you

She thinks you're literally accusing her of mingling with dudes in big fur hats with thick Russkie accents.

Try dressing like this in Florida...

https://img.discogs.com/BMsUed-eFprYJ3oq4OrTxG_K91c=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/A-45080-1512026372-2546.jpeg.jpg

xpost nah, it's fine. i am hypersensitive to everything and trying to change that. i was just annoyed by the number of times i saw a version of that clip the other day, as if it did anything but demonstrate that an elderly trump supporter in florida is uninformed

best case scenario is her nephew tells her he saw her on tv and explains what the guy on her lawn meant

also fuck that lady

Given what he was saying yesterday...

https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/fmr-trump-aide-donald-trump-screws-everyone-1166089283533

Not surprised to see this happen:

Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg will be interviewed by the special counsel tomorrow morning in DC a person with knowledge of the interview confirms to me.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) February 21, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Xg7QUXiDA

Re: new charges against Manafort, it sounds a lot like Mueller seeking more leverage to turn him state's evidence. I still think Manafort is banking on getting the Arpaio red carpet out of the jailhouse door treatment. Why wouldn't he?

I don’t think the CNN interview is great reporting (pretty standard tv news thing though). It’s just not remotely “McCarthyism”, regardless of whether or not the right wing is going to us that term to describe it or not.

xpost Because there are also investigations pending in New York and Trump can't pardon him for state crimes?

This is extremely alarming: GOP Sen. Jim Risch says Trump is willing to start a "very, very brief" war with North Korea that will lead to "mass casualties the likes of which the planet has never seen. It will be of biblical proportions." https://t.co/zUYz1OLrFf pic.twitter.com/Y8i6G72yg1

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) February 21, 2018

It's of course still possible that Trump's bluffing and Risch's words about Trump starting a war that's “one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization” are part of the bluff. But that's still insanely dangerous. https://t.co/zUYz1OLrFf

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) February 21, 2018

“one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization....BUT”

jesus

is coming

It will be massive and catastrophic, but very brief, so kind of a wash, really.

^ solitary posts that singlehandedly describe the experience of being human

Radiation clouds would transverse the earth for months, so it would not be quite so brief as the advertisement promises.

a blast from the past

http://time.com/5003623/paul-manafort-mueller-indictment-ukraine-russia/

risch seemed to refer to his notes over and over during that (either that or he just really looks like to look at his stomach when addressing an audience). did he really need notes to say "the likes of which the planet has never seen. It will be of biblical proportions"? like those were the prepared words that he had to get exactly right?

xxxxp the dirac delta function of life

I didn't even recognize who the heck this guy was, now I see he's the other Idaho senator. Figures.

potayto, potahto

if the past is prologue maybe the north korea holocaust will kick off in september

The rollout of the strategy this week, they said, was planned long before President Bush's vacation in Texas last month. It was not hastily concocted, they insisted, after some prominent Republicans began to raise doubts about moving against Mr. Hussein and administration officials made contradictory statements about the need for weapons inspectors in Iraq.

The White House decided, they said, that even with the appearance of disarray it was still more advantageous to wait until after Labor Day to kick off their plan.

''From a marketing point of view,'' said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff who is coordinating the effort, ''you don't introduce new products in August.''

literal blast from the past

@SenToomey was asked about impeachment talk surrounding the PA Supreme Court on their gerrymandering decision. He calls it conversation that has to happen. pic.twitter.com/RAkRdQHVdX

— Sean Kitchen 🌹 (@RCPress_Sean) February 21, 2018

Enjoying the unfolding squashing of Manafort

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-asking-if-manafort-promised-banker-white-house-job-return-n849916

saw a few people point out on twitter that mortgage horsetrading is extra fishy because it not the behaviour of a man who doesn't need to draw a salary from the trump campaign (manafort supposedly worked for free).

Looks like the White House may have pre-screened the kids who got to talk to the President.

"We're going to do something about this horrible situation...We're going to get things done," Trump says to begin his meeting with Douglas students and others.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 21, 2018

He's sitting there getting yelled at, which is a nice sight.

Shot:

"It's school safety. It's not about gun laws right now. Let's fix the schools," says the grieving father, Andrew Pollack.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 21, 2018

Chaser:

pic.twitter.com/JM1olR8rF0

— RonaldRump (@Ronald__Rump) February 21, 2018

I believe the man's grief is as real as real as can be, but clearly he just wasn't pulled out of a hat. Emma Gonzales and David Hogg sure aren't in that room.

shot/chaser about a dead girl v good zing

It's not a shot/chaser about a dead girl, it's about this president once again stage managing everything to reflect his own greatness.