US Politics, March 2018: Why do people leave the White House for good?

must have been the last portrait he passed

gotta stop eating those portraits mr president

speaking of "abolish ICE," ICE is detaining an arrested immigrant organizer friend.

they're asking the judge to refuse to allow her to post bond.

sign this letter, which will go to the judge considering whether or not to overrule ICE's request & grant her the bond for release.

https://action.mijente.net/petitions/release-immigrant-rights-activist-alejandra-pablos-from-detention

Here’s what we found: At least 187 Trump political appointees have been federal lobbyists, and despite President Trump’s campaign pledge to “drain the swamp,” many are now overseeing the industries they once lobbied on behalf of. We’ve also discovered ethics waivers that allow Trump staffers to work on subjects in which they have financial conflicts of interest. In addition, at least 254 appointees affiliated with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and at least 125 staffers from prominent conservative think tanks are now working in the federal government, many of whom are on teams to repeal Obama-era regulations.

Drilling down even further, at least 35 Trump political appointees worked for or consulted with groups affiliated with the the billionaire libertarian brothers Charles and David Koch, who also have a network of advocacy groups, nonprofits, private companies and political action committees. At least 25 Trump appointees came from the influential Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank founded in 1973, and at least two came from Heritage Action, its related political nonprofit. Heritage says the Trump administration, in just its first year, has enacted nearly two-thirds of its 334 policy recommendations. We also found — for the first time — dozens of special-government employees, or SGEs, who work as paid consultants or experts for federal agencies while keeping their day jobs in the private sector.

https://www.propublica.org/article/what-we-found-in-trump-administration-drained-swamp-hundreds-of-ex-lobbyists-and-washington-dc-insiders

Donald Trump is the worst of the 13 presidents who have served since the end of World War II, 41 percent of American voters say, followed by 21 percent who list Barack Obama and 10 percent who cite Richard Nixon, in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today.

George W Bush probably feels pretty proud about those numbers right now.

speaking of gwb he and rove were always talking about how they were emulating mcckinley

btw as he just rambled about "protecting our country" with tariffs, Yam included McKinley in a list of great presidents.

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, March 8, 2018 5:05 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/books/review/the-triumph-of-william-mckinley-by-karl-rove.html

I can think of a good way for Rove, Bush, and Trump to emulate McKinley

heard rove on npr the other day talking about how abolishing the electoral college would be an awful idea

McKinley's on an lot of lists of good presidents (by which I mean "had goals and achieved them," not whether the goals hurt people); I'm still biased toward Gore Vidal's portrait of him as a grinning benign cardinal type who always got what he wanted.

God: I’m bored. What if Watergate and the Lewinsky scandal were happening at the same time but — get this — this time, everyone’s dumb as shit

— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) March 8, 2018

Ha. otm.

JUST IN: Federal judge sets July 10 trial date for Manafort on tax and bank fraud charges pic.twitter.com/Kc0tomu3Jd

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) March 8, 2018

Three month countdown. All sorts of things could happen!

(In almost assuredly unreleated news:

BREAKING: UK police update total number of people treated as a result of former Russian spy's poisoning to roughly 21.

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 8, 2018

No connection at all.)

Truly someone enjoying his life choices.

Paul Manafort arrived at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia today to shouts of "traitor" and "you're selling America out to the Russians."

Manafort pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment in the special counsel's Russia probe. https://t.co/EA2vgQoqVW pic.twitter.com/1Sbwpyzqql

— ABC News (@ABC) March 8, 2018

And separately, pfft.

As Trump finishes announcing that his tariffs plan will be "very flexible" and allow him to add and drop countries, Gen. Mattis (who argued for national security exemptions) and Wilbur Ross (who pushed new tariffs) clinked water glasses pic.twitter.com/lDLjsFIqQz

— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) March 8, 2018

these motherfuckers

well i'm glad these decrepit fossils have unlocked their pinnacle moment of joy

is there audio? did anyone gasp or shout "you fuckers" at them?

how do we know they're drinking water

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXyb_F7VwAAbG4g.jpg:small

there she is

oh lord

needs to be deprived of moral hazard of ink so so much. did i type oxygen? i meant ink.

lmao

"Your father Herman is looking down on you," Trump tells a worker who gave brief remarks. "He's very proud."

"He's still alive," the worker says.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 8, 2018

hey herman

https://i.imgur.com/ned6wDW.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8tzXFagaso

One fucking unreviewed study, christ

I got Mad Online about that study yesterday because it was clearly going to serve no purpose other than to provide ammo for local officials who would rather let the junkies die. Of course McCardle doesn’t say we should stop distributing Narcan, she’s just promoting the idea that it’s not worthwhile.

Also, McCardle suggests that people who repeatedly OD should be involuntarily detained, I thought she was a libertarian.

is this finally the move that gets the GOP pissed at Trump?

Flake threatening legislation to reverse the tariffs. yeah good luck buddy.

You can never assume that the results of one study, however well done, are correct. But these results look pretty robust.

citation needed

makes sense. if it's bad for their portfolios, and/or the bottom lines of their donors – they will get the fuck off their asses.

xpost

"Steel is steel. You don't have steel, you don't have a country."

Father of Parkland victim slams NRA videos:

"If this was put out by a terrorist organization, we would be raising the terror threat level in this country. Why are we letting this lobby have anything to do with DC? I don't understand it!" https://t.co/voYy9BhnvV pic.twitter.com/6fXW7qxVJx

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 7, 2018

And the much lighter note:

MEET THE ROCKET DOCKET: Manafort faces July trial in VA, ahead of DC trial set for Sept. Manafort's atty said he was envisioning a Nov. trial in VA. Judge retorted: 'U need to go back to the optometrist.' https://t.co/K9z15iI5yv

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) March 8, 2018

I'm imagining the judge typing it into their phone and holding it up to Manafort's lawyer's face

I thought of this immediately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPAY2LsKVEw

Key influence on US Steel policy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz2DknROaI8

is there audio? did anyone gasp or shout "you fuckers" at them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VrvhUU7Kok

so trump has agreed to meet kim jong un, "by May".

South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong (pictured above), said from the White House lawn Thursday that he had delivered a message to President Donald Trump, from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: Kim, Chung said, was “committed to denuclearization” and would like to meet the President.

Trump, Chung said after meeting with him, had agreed to meet Kim “by May.”

“I told President Trump that in our meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he’s committed to denuclearization,” Chung said. “Kim pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests.”

Chung continued: “He understands that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue. And he expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible.”

forgive me if i'm pessimistic about this, but if you were kim jong un, wouldn't you have all the motivation to antagonize trump during the meeting and aggressively raise north korea's demands? that way, either a) trump capitulates because he wants to be seen as a dealmaker, or b) denuclearization negotiations break down, with everyone freaking out about a possible military reaction from trump?

i guess the other possibility is for north korea to agree to a deal of some sort, and then do something to nullify it a month later (again).

i am seriously sort of already frightened for my life. might be a good weekend to go camping in the middle of nowhere.

North Korea has been seeking a summit with an American president for more than twenty years. It has literally been a top foreign policy goal of Pyongyang since Kim Jong Il invited Bill Clinton. (1/3)

— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) March 9, 2018

or trump could finally do something right?

i do think that's a possibility too! but i get uneasy rolling the dice when there's a 20% chance of complete disaster unfolding

and i don't know how any sort of negotiation involving trump himself can be called anything but rolling the dice on this. he is legendarily dumb, brash, impulsive.

I am 100% in favor of a summit that benefits north korea that doesn't end in a nuclear holocaust for anybody

a holocaust would suck imo

http://youtu.be/X_gwnFSFzv0

Our guy is probably going to get a polonium milkshake

nuclear warfare means Liverpool won't win the Premiership

reminds me of the summit between Rufus T Firefly and Ambassador Trentino