Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Everybody saw this coming.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

This blog will pay for itself.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Let’s finish the job.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Trump Prepares to Pay Off His Donors

Open Thread: Trump Prepares to Pay Off His Donors

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The President-Asterisk may have a long history of cheating the people who work for him, but he’s not gonna stiff the people he works for…

Via Joy-Ann Reid, from the Daily Beast, “Trump Just Declared Open Season on Suckers“:

If the 2016 election was a national litmus test to see just how many suckers live in this country, the next round of President Trump’s executive orders are going to make sure those millions of suckers are taken for every last penny…

One of Trump’s two executive orders today calls for a review of Dodd-Frank Law, a rule that was put in place in the thick of the recession of the aughts. It was supposed to be the law that represented the lessons we’d learned from the 2008-2009 financial crash. Lessons, one would hope, that would have lasted more than the average run of a successful sitcom.

At Dodd-Frank’s inception, this country was experiencing the most dire financial crisis since the Great Depression. Overzealous financial institutions had created and traded billions in securities made of underlying assets-—mortgages and credit-related products—that were valued based on wildly quixotic assessments of consumer creditworthiness. It wasn’t until these credit-backed products had become major components of massive portfolios, like pensions and hedge funds, that anybody realized that they were essentially valueless. The markets took a nosedive, Bear Stearns went ass-up, Lehman was shuttered, Merrill was sold. The American taxpayer subsidized all of it…

Trump’s other Executive Order is more insidious, somehow, than “doing a number” (his words) on Dodd-Frank. The President is planning on ordering the Labor Department to roll back the Obama administration’s “fiduciary rule,” which was supposed to take effect this April.

The rule would have required brokers and agents who manage retirement accounts to provide advice to their clients based on what would be best for the clients, rather than what’s suitable. This means that if a broker is considering two suitable investment vehicles for clients, but one makes him a fat commission and the other doesn’t but has slightly better prospects for the consumer, there’s nothing stopping him from pushing the client in the direction of the one that earns the commission. As long as they’re both “suitable.” …

With the number of people reaching retirement age growing by the year, these two moves by Team Trump are troubling signs of what might be to come. Thanks to the fact that many Americans who are now approaching retirement age entered adulthood when it was possible for young people to buy homes, many of them have spent decades passively amassing wealth as the value of their homes swelled. Their retirement accounts have more than recovered from the market troughs of 2008 and 2009. They’ve got more money than they’ve ever had, which means they’re more vulnerable to be fleeced than they’ve ever been….

Reader Interactions

206Comments

  4. 4.

    Ksmiami

    Ha ha ha we tried to warn you middle America AKA suckers. To fellow balloon juicers, avoid investing in financial companies cuz a hard crash will come again. also never trust a financial “advisor” they know nothing and are trying to steal their clients’ money

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    @Yarrow: I don’t think ever that. We have an FDIC, and I don’t see even fucking Bannon-Trump taking that down. Makes it hard to take the market very seriously though, hmm?

    People will be hurt badly. If they’re Trump supporters, they brought this on themselves.

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    Related, since Executive Orders and all. This from Congressman Seth Moulton:

    “What I’ve heard from behind the scenes,’’ Moulton said during a telephone interview on Monday, is that Mattis and others who were left out of Trump’s decision-making loop on the immigration order are asking one another, “What will make you resign? What’s your red line?”

    What key people are going to be left out of decision-making on the financial Executive Order?

  8. 8.

    gvg

    Can he actually cancel a law with an executive order? It got the required votes in both houses and the Presidents signature. It’s a law not a regulation. We already know Trump doesn’t actually know how anything works nor do most of his minions. My understanding is EO’s just clarify how a law can be enforced or are rules for the federal departments the President heads. I don’t see how any President ever had the power to just change a law. If they did we wouldn’t have to bother with what Congress does. So, I think it probably amounts to showing off for his supporters??? Can anyone explain with more knowledge?

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    @Elizabelle:

    We have an FDIC, and I don’t see even fucking Bannon-Trump taking that down.

    During the 2016 campaign I remember hearing talk of them wanting to dismantle FDIC.

  12. 12.

    Millard Filmore

    @Yarrow:

    Is it time to get cash out of banks and hide it under mattresses?

    If enough people do that, some serious problems will crop up for the banks. Due to fractional banking, your withdrawal is magnified X10 as the banks have to pull back multiples of your money that they loaned out.

  13. 13.

    tobie

    @Ksmiami: Yup. They’re repealing the sections of Dodd-Frank that outline the fiduciary duties of financial advisors vis-a-vis investors. Now they can play off clients against the bank. It’s hard to believe this ever was legal and will be legal again.

  16. 16.

    ? Martin

    @gvg:

    Can he actually cancel a law with an executive order?

    Sort of. He can’t cancel it, but a policy is only as good as its implementation, and the executive controls the implementation. So he could simply stop enforcing it. It would be up to Congress to go after him for that, which its clear they are uninterested in doing.

  18. 18.

    tobie

    @gvg: Since I’m not a lawyer, I won’t try to answer your question directly but indirectly one can say that Trump has a compliant Congress that’s beholden to the same monied interests that he is. This is as much his as Paul Ryan’s wet dream.

  19. 19.

    catclub

    @Yarrow: @Yarrow:

    Is it time to get cash out of banks and hide it under mattresses?

    1) If that time ever comes, almost everyone will be too late.
    2) If that time ever comes, do you think they will honor your cash?

    3) I hope that time never comes.

  20. 20.

    Msb

    As to the Julia Ioffe tweet, surely nobody here was ever stupid enough to say there would be no difference between Hillary and Trump on cosines with big money?

  21. 21.

    mai naem mobile

    @schrodingers_cat: I want to know what Susan Sarandon had to say about this.

    BTW, this is one of the reasons Holder and Obama should have prosecuted some of the Bankstas instead of settling. Mofos need so be either hung by their heads or balls, or they need to spend several years in a maximum security prison with some hardened criminals.

  22. 22.

    catclub

    @tobie: Actually, the fiduciary rule was being implemented by the Labor Department, in its role regulating 401k programs that are set up by employers for employees. So not all a part of Dodd-Frank.

  26. 26.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Yarrow:

    I don’t know if it’s actually true, but I’ve often heard that gold isn’t bad if you buy it for the long (10+years) term as a hedge against inflation and if you don’t buy it at the height of a run.

    Of course I am not an investment professional and this advice is worth exactly what I’m charging for it.

  27. 27.

    Yarrow

    More Executive Order fun:

    When President Donald Trump issued his executive order on immigration last week, it was the travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries that dominated headlines—leaving hundreds of people in limbo, provoking airport protests, and raising questions about whether the U.S. was targeting religion in the guise of a new security rule.

    But immigration lawyers who have read the order carefully are now increasingly concerned that one of its provisions could have much wider repercussions, affecting literally every foreign visitor to America, from tourists to diplomats.

    The little-noticed section, appearing immediately after the travel ban, calls for the government to develop a “uniform screening standard and procedure” for all individuals seeking to enter the United States. As written, it appears to require all visitors to go through the same vetting measures, regardless of where they come from or how long they intend to stay.

    If interpreted as broadly as it’s written, “It would basically shut down tourism,” said Stephen Legomsky, the former chief counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Obama administration.

    Tourism? Pffft. Who needs it…

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    “Trump Just Declared Open Season on Suckers“

    Well, they voted for him, so he might as well pluck them.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    Holy crap, a quarter billion+ buys one hell of a parachute. Next person tells me teachers are overpaid (et tu DeVoss?) gets a hearty neck punch.

  31. 31.

    Millard Filmore

    @zhena gogolia: I put “Trump” “abolish” “FDIC” into google. Near the top of the replies is this:

    yournewswire.com/trump-meets-with-candidate-who-wants-to-abolish-the-fed/

    Not quite what you are looking for but close enough to show there are loonies waiting to pounce.

  33. 33.

    bupalos

    @Aleta:

    He’s explaining that he’s dismantling Dodd-Frank so his friends can get loans?

    No, “loans.”

    Oh wait, you’re right, he forgot the quotes!

  34. 34.

    chris

    @Yarrow: I go to the US every year to visit an elderly relative. Seriously rethinking at this point because they probably won’t let me in when they see Balloon Juice on my phone. (Not necessarily kidding.)

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    I wonder if Howard Stern is right and Trump doesn’t want the job. If so, he’s just going to loot as much of the Treasury as he can and leave behind a smoking ruin. If/when he does go down, I hope he takes everyone surrounding him, including his family, with him.

  38. 38.

    danielx

    @Yarrow:

    If I had it, I’d be burying gold in my back yard. It may be nuts, but at least it wouldn’t be stolen by politically-connected looters.

    Also, too, from the earlier musical thread – Bitch by Herbie Mann – Mick Taylor is pretty decent too on the track…..

  39. 39.

    Archon

    The suckers aren’t the righties, they knew what they were voting for, somebody to antagonize liberals and appeal to the white conservative id. That’s what they are getting. The real suckers (as always) are the “lefties” who inexplicably thought Trump would somehow be less hawkish on foreign matters and more attentive to workers and voted accordingly.

  41. 41.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Yarrow: Seriously, Trump never distinguishes between immigrants, visitors, green card holder, refugees, diplomats, or any of the other multiple categories. He see them all as potential “bad hombres” who are “illegal” until he says otherwise.

  42. 42.

    catclub

    @Yarrow:

    affecting literally every foreign visitor to America, from tourists to diplomats.

    The little-noticed section, appearing immediately after the travel ban, calls for the government to develop a “uniform screening standard and procedure” for all individuals seeking to enter the United States. As written, it appears to require all visitors to go through the same vetting measures, regardless of where they come from or how long they intend to stay.

    Why just Foreigners visiting? That says all individuals seeking to enter the US. That is every single person.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    That last tweet in the post is the biggest point of course: if Hillary blew up Dodd-Frank and said it was to benefit her rich friends? Holy cow there wouldn’t even be enough left to cremate.

  47. 47.

    Millard Filmore

    @chris:

    when they see Balloon Juice on my phone

    Get a “burner” phone, a cheap throw-away, and do a little innocent activity on it. Get a second facebook and do some fake work on it (not too fake, do some real personal history but not much else). If the inspector gets too inquisitive, maybe “This is what I am bringing across the border.” will work.

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    @chris: If you do decide to visit, you have to do the ESTA (?) waiver ahead of time. That’s new as of last year (April, maybe?). Also, too, get a burner phone before you come.

    More from the article:

    “What they are talking about doing has scared the shit out of my members, about the lack of guidance and lack of clarity,” said Ben Johnson, the head of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

    That’s pretty strong language.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @otmar:

    You’ve all seen the spoof from the Netherlands. Now the rest of the European late night shows are weighing in

    This is great. Hugely great.

  50. 50.

    catclub

    @Archon:

    Trump would somehow be less hawkish on foreign matters and more attentive to workers

    I just have to laugh/cry/pound my head on a wall. Trump will stand up for the little guy. oy.

  52. 52.

    Yarrow

    @danielx: Yeah, but if it gets that bad, it’ll be stolen by gangs who climb over your fence, hold you at gunpoint, and dig up your yard. Don’t rule out drone surveillance by our government to make sure you aren’t burying gold in your backyard.

  53. 53.

    Waynski

    @Yarrow:

    Is it time to get cash out of banks and hide it under mattresses?

    Not to give too much cred to Ron Paul’s gold add on this site, but actual physical gold is the most effective hedge against financial armageddon. Apologies, if someone mentioned this already.

  54. 54.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    @Yarrow: You know what else it could really screw up? Professional hockey, which involves a lot of travel between the US and Canada (23 teams in the US, 7 in Canada in the NHL), by people of a much wider range of nationalities than just Canadian and American. There’s currently a system in place to allow players to travel across the border for business purposes (the teams handle the necessary visas, which is probably done as soon as the season’s schedule is known), and foreign players for US teams have H1-B or the Canadian equivalent in visas–the AHL operates along the same lines. Expect to hear screaming from the league offices if something like that is applied there.

    Really, it’s an excellent set-up for smuggling–chartered flights, and a lot of luggage that usually doesn’t get searched too thoroughly.

  57. 57.

    kindness

    Just remember, when the shooting Civil War starts, go after their Sugar Daddies first. Their media second. Don’t bother with the actual them. Once they have no money nor media they will be nothing.

  58. 58.

    Hal

    Someone let me know if I made a mistake on the following: There’s a promotional opportunity at the hospital I worked at that has been delayed due to employee shortages and such. In the meantime I’ve been taking on extra responsibilities and just generally being as involved as possible.

    I’ve done the job before at another hospital and I’m more than qualified. So today I emailed the director who would be in charge of filling the position and asked for an informal interview to discuss the job, my ideas, and any other expanded opportunities I could take on.

    And now I’m afraid I might have stepped over the line and maybe I should have just waited for everything to work itself out. But I’ve done that before and that’s what everyone else who’s interested in the position is doing right now. I just hope I was being proactive and not annoying.

  60. 60.

    danielx

    “We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can’t borrow money,” Mr. Trump said in the State Dining Room during his meeting with business leaders. “They just can’t get any money because the banks just won’t let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.”

    Who knows, perhaps more banks will loan to lord shortfingers himself again (perforce). It would be a huge help, since as far as I can make out his business strategy from day one has consisted of a) borrowing money and not paying it back and b) stiffing people doing work for him. As I understand it, of the so-called big banks, Deutsch Bank is the only one that will loan to the Trump Organization. If Donald’s friends with nice businesses are anything like him in his deadbeat tendencies, banks’ reluctance to loan to them has nothing to do with Dodd-Frank and everything to do with their inclination to pay back borrowed money.

  61. 61.

    Yarrow

    @catclub: From later in the article, it does specifically apply to foreign visitors:

    But little attention has focused on section four, which directs federal officials to implement a “uniform screening standard and procedure” as part of the “adjudication process for immigration benefits” for all individuals seeking to enter the United States. In immigration parlance, “immigration benefits” refers to any permission granted a foreign visitor, from full-scale refugee resettlement to a passport stamp for tourists visiting Disneyland. That wording is about as broad as it can get, lawyers said, and if taken literally would include every single foreigner coming to the United States. “[It] is basically everything,” said Dan Stein, the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that supports reducing immigration levels.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    @Archon:

    The suckers aren’t the righties, they knew what they were voting for, somebody to antagonize liberals

    What is this antagonize liberals shit? The only people I know who say stuff like this are white people who will be very comfortable if the shit comes down, because they are immune from the worst of what Trump might do. Or foolishly think that they will be immune.

    Republicans don’t give a rat’s ass about whether your feelings might be hurt. They want to see their agenda implemented, and also see themselves as the sole legitimate government of the United States.

  66. 66.

    Yarrow

    @1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet): I’d guess Major League Baseball will be affected similarly. So many non-American players. Going to be a big mess. If they haven’t spoken out yet they’re way behind. Spring training isn’t that far away.

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I’m going to Iceland in three weeks, should I bother coming back? Will they even let me in? One peek at my social media presence and it’s obvious where my loyalties lie.

    If you are an American citizen you’re probably okay so long as you haven’t visited any of the unapproved countries since 2011. If your travel companion(s) aren’t American citizens and/or have visited any unapproved countries you might want to reconsider.

    I will say I know people who are green card holders who have held off on all travel. They are from European countries and are white. Still afraid to leave the country because they fear they won’t be allowed back in. It’s terrifying.

  67. 67.

    Shalimar

    Next time before we bail out a single bank, all of the executives who made any decisions leading to the financial collapse have to commit suicide.

  70. 70.

    Yarrow

    @cain: Sorry, I’ve closed the tab. I’ll have to go look it up. I’d asked questions re: varying versions of Hinduism.

  75. 75.

    Peale

    @tobie: It actually wasn’t going into effect until April. So its been pulled. Yep. It took six years after the passage of the law to come up with rules on implementing it. Six years of comments and complaints and hearings to stop it. It never went into effect. So it technically changes nothing. At the same time, if you want to see the difference – the immigrants who were directly harmed were immediately harmed by his order. Do they get six years of lobbying about the effects of rule changes?

  76. 76.

    patroclus

    This EO is more like a press release than anything binding. The President only has limited authority over financial regulations because most of them are promulgated via the banking regulatory agencies (the Fed and the FDIC) rather than via the Treasury Department (the OCC). And the OCC really has jurisdiction only over national banks. Statutory changes, of course, have to go through Congress and regulatory changes have to be promulgated pursuant to the APA (notice in the Fed Reg, public comment etc…). EO’s can’t do that. So, until we actually see proposed regulatory changes in writing, the EO is meaningless (legally). So, this might as well be an open thread – the EO has no meaning.

  79. 79.

    Yarrow

    @Hal: It sounds fine, from what you’ve said. If you get the informal interview, go in prepared with what you’d do if you got the job, but also three things you could do now in the meantime because they aren’t allowed to fill the job. You’ll come across as more helpful that way. They’re probably frustrated because they aren’t allowed to fill the position.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @danielx:

    Also, too, from the earlier musical thread – Bitch by Herbie Mann – Mick Taylor is pretty decent too on the track…..

    A fun outtake of Gimme Shelter, featuring Mick Taylor

    And we will need shelter when this is all over.

  84. 84.

    Shalimar

    @Waynski: I don’t know about that. When civilization breaks down and we reach Fallout society, most of the gold is going to be in the hands of crazy asshole hoarders. I hope all the other survivors come up with an alternate currency.

  89. 89.

    Yarrow

    @Major Major Major Major: Before you joke too much, check and double check the entry rules for Iceland. With the recent crackdown by the Trump administration, other countries may retaliate. Brazil did that to American visitors a few years ago when we made Brazilians get a visa. They made Americans get a visa to visit. So keep an eye out.

  96. 96.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Aleta:

    He’s explaining that he’s dismantling Dodd-Frank so his friends can get loans?

    Trump can’t get loans from American banks because he’s such a lousy credit risk, remember?

  98. 98.

    StringOnAStick

    My husband and I are headed to Central America bright and early tomorrow, on a trip we purchased before the election. We’re both blonde and native born, but politically active. I refuse to be scared out of a vacation,and I hate to admit it does tickle at the back of my mind a tiny bit.

  101. 101.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Ksmiami:

    Yeah, if we had a Mad Max style societal collapse, gold would be pretty useless in the long term.
    In that scenario, I’d recommend a good .22LR pistol & rifle combo (w/several bricks of ammo) for small game hunting, along with the usual Doomsday Prepper stuff.

    I was thinking of gold as more of a hedge against a Great Recession-type downturn, not civilization itself going the way of the dodo.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Hal:
    I used to be able to say that you didn’t get anything you don’t ask for, including getting fucked. That is no longer valid as of Jan 20.
    OK now on to better uses of our time, apply, bother, ask, even annoy. You don’t, someone else will. Being the better person seems so out of touch right now.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    So the DoD insisted on releasing a video proving that the botched raid in Yemen DID SO provide useful intelligence. Unfortunately, the video they released is from a different raid 9 years ago.

    Nice job, Navy SEALs. First the Trump flag, and now fake videos. You guys sure are doing a good job of wrecking your own reputations.

  105. 105.

    Shalimar

    @Yarrow: Wilmer’s questionable tie to Russia was chief advisor Tad Devine, who was Manafort’s partner in the Ukrainian adventure. No one was suggesting a month ago that Wilmer himself was a Russian puppet, though that may be changing now.

  106. 106.

    Mike R

    I worked with a couple of preppers that saw the country in imminent danger of collapsing. One asked what seemed that best thing to start stock piling. Ammunition was the answer. Prepper one said he had about 8000 rds stashed. His fellow prepper said it is a good start but 40 to 50 thousand would be about enough. So there you go from the crazy side of the tracks.

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @burnspbesq:

    There are reports that a former Prime Minister of Norway was detained at Dulles earlier today and questioned for an hour about a 2014 trip to Iran.

    First they came for the former Prime Ministers of Norway, and I said nothing, because I was not a former Prime Minister of Norway….

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    Speaking of the Bowling Green Massacre, I see that Dennis Leary has noticed his resemblance to Kellyanne Lying Shit-Ass. They do have a bit of the same features.

    Please, FSM, may Dennis take on impersonating her. Don’t want to see any more sketches where she’s a put-upon White House aide. That woman is weapons grade filthy in her own right. She’s concocting massacres, on live TV interviews.

    Dennis Leary and Alec Baldwin, start your engines.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Don’t underestimate the “suck it, libtards!” vote. Making the right people angry is a huge part of tribal appeal.

    Nonsense. This is nothing more than the smug egotism of some (not all) liberals. People like this see politics as a game, and, as I noted before, are often isolated from the worst effects of what the GOP may do.

    People like this also like to bloviate about the need for liberals to find the right narrative. At worst, you have people like little Freddie DeBoer (who used to post here), who also hated poor people, and saw liberalism as a way to force them to behave the way that he thought that they should. And so, he opposed conservatives only because they wanted to deprive him of his rightful place as liberal philosopher king.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @StringOnAStick:

    Heck, I’m a natural born US citizen and I’m a little nervous about my upcoming trip to Disneyworld.

    But if they block me or make me miss my plane, I will put them on the phone with the Devil Woman and they can explain to a genuine narcissist why they decided to ruin her plans. ?

  111. 111.

    Ruckus

    @Shalimar:
    an alternate currency
    I purpose chickens. When there’s no money something to eat is always welcome. Even if you hate chicken.

  112. 112.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Yarrow: That’s a wildly different situation. Perhaps most importantly because making that change, in that way, was illegal. Nobody, especially a country whose citizens weren’t affected, is going to do a similarly illegal act in retaliation. Or at least I’d be extremely surprised.

    Especially, again, Schengen.

    @Brachiator: I know somebody who says he voted for Trump because suck it, libtards. But you tell yourself whatever you want.

  115. 115.

    les

    @schrodingers_cat:

    What does Putin have over him [Bernie]? I have a feeling that he is multi-millionaire, that’s why we never saw his tax returns.

    I don’t think anything, necessarily. Bernie’s just a shouty old fart with a couple of catch phrases and no significant accomplishments in his life. As the Only Honest Man, he can work with anybody–just wants to stay in the news.

  117. 117.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Yarrow:

    So basically, Cancun, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will become the international business and academic conference hubs of North America. US students and business figures will have to obtain passports to go to venues within their academic or business interests when they would have previously gotten to merely drive or take a short hop to a domestic destination, making everything more costly for them.

    All so that shitheel WWC voters in the rust belt, Appalachia and the South (who never imagine going more than 20 miles from home anyway, and never want to go anywhere) don’t have to think about foreign people being on US soil.

  118. 118.

    Yarrow

    @Shalimar: I’m not sure who “no one” was, but at some point during the primary I started having questions. I saw others with the same questions.

  120. 120.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Waynski:

    Actually, the most effective hedges against Armageddon are firearms and ammo (to get more supplies), whiskey and smokes for trading, and a couple of weeks worth of canned goods to sustain you as you go on your robbery spree.

  121. 121.

    schrodingers_cat

    Shimmie Shake from the upcoming Rangoon. Song is in English. A love triangle set in WWII from Vishal Bharadwaj of the Shakespeare trilogy fame.
    The female lead is loosely based on a popular silent movie star and played by Kangana Ranaut, a totally different character than the Delhi behenji she played in Queen.

  123. 123.

    jl

    Apologies in advance, since surely another commenter has already pointed this out about Enrich’s Twitter response to Trump’s claim that his cronies can’t get loans.

    “This is almost certainly not true. Dodd-Frank doesn’t stop banks from lending to strong businesses.”

    Well OK then… ‘strong’ businesses, That is the problem

  127. 127.

    jl

    But, propos to the Trumpists for remaking the word so that they can be brave truth tellers in both policy and financial industry.

    Step 1: repeal fiduciary requirement
    Step 2: replace fake Ponzi scheme of Social Security ( which is a ‘fake’ Ponzi scheme because it is not a Ponzi scheme) with real financial industry Ponzi schemes
    Step 3: Profit!

    Not really getting rid of ethics, just redefining the world to fit new ones. You need an alternative world to fit alternative facts.

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    @Shalimar:

    I have questions because he refused to release his tax returns while using the things he found in Hillary’s tax returns against her. Why did he need to hide them? Isn’t it a little strange that both of her opponents refused to release the same information she did?

  129. 129.

    Villago Delenda Est

    These guys want to be featured in a revolution, with them riding in tumbrels to their just desserts.

    That’s all I can figure about this.

  130. 130.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I know somebody who says he voted for Trump because suck it, libtards.

    I’m sure you do. This only says that there are levels of conservative idiocy. So what?

    Why do you think this kind of infantile BS is important? Do you think that conservatives don’t really want to hurt women, they just want to make you feel bad as a liberal? Really?

  131. 131.

    NeenerNeener

    @otmar: That’s got to leave a mark. The whole world is mocking him after only 2 weeks. Didn’t Obama already have a Nobel Peace Prize at this point? Trump is a slacker!

  132. 132.

    Major Major Major Major

    @MomSense: For work, obviously. I also like living somewhere where the sun rises in December.

    @Brachiator: I guess I’m completely missing whatever point you’re trying to make. I thought you were saying that it isn’t a motivation and all, and the only people who say it’s a motivation are (insert what you were saying above). And I was saying it is part of the motivation. And then you chewed me out. Or at least strongly implied that I’m like Freddie, who’s loathsome.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    Does anyone know if Trump served on any corporate boards? I have never heard of his involvement with a non-Trump organization.

    Doesn’t that say a lot about corporate America’s opinion of Trump’s acuity?

  136. 136.

    Emerald

    @otmar:

    That is hilarious. If you watch the whole thing, the Denmark one comes on next. Might be the whole string of them, but I didn’t stick with it that long.

    That is a keeper!

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    And then you chewed me out. Or at least strongly implied that I’m like Freddie, who’s loathsome.

    Absolutely did not intend this. No way, no how. And I apologize profusely if I gave this impression.

  138. 138.

    Corner Stone

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    So basically, Cancun, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will become the international business and academic conference hubs of North America.

    Until something concrete actually happens, nothing in Canada will replace virtually any host city in the US.

  139. 139.

    Corner Stone

    @Elizabelle: Trump knows nothing about business. Not that that’s a precursor to having a board seat. But most companies would probably be concerned he would take their insider information and use it against them for his own profit.
    Plus, Trump just does not have the mentality or stamina to sit through any other company meeting that he is not controlling.

  140. 140.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Corner Stone: Agreed, one has to go via border check points to go to either Canada or Mexico. So no go for people on visas. They can go of course but they won’t be able to return. One could cross the border and return even with an expired visa if one’s underlying status was valid, in the innocent times before the fall of 2001.

  142. 142.

    les

    @Mnemosyne:

    I have questions because he [Bernie] refused to release his tax returns while using the things he found in Hillary’s tax returns against her. Why did he need to hide them?

    My guess: he’s richer than he wants people to believe; his wife is a scam artist; and they’re too cheap to have them well prepared. He’d have people asking, if you have that much money, why do the two of you dress like shit?

  144. 144.

    debbie

    Trump’s plans for Dodd-Frank are an implicit invitation to Wall Street to try and bankrupt the county a second time. I hope the Dems can fight against this.

  145. 145.

    Baud

    No way. Trump didn’t take Wall Street money and is already rich so he’s not beholden to special interest. You liberals lie.

  147. 147.

    Applejinx

    @Shalimar:

    Wilmer’s questionable tie to Russia was chief advisor Tad Devine, who was Manafort’s partner in the Ukrainian adventure. No one was suggesting a month ago that Wilmer himself was a Russian puppet, though that may be changing now.

    The only reason it’s changing now is a contingent of Balloon Juicers are goddamn ridiculous children.

    Bernie Sanders would say the same thing now he has been saying all along about millionaires and billionaires, and this activity on the part of Trump only underscores how relevant that warning was and is.

    There is NO reason to assume Hillary would have done what Trump’s doing, because intelligent ruthless rich people don’t have to wreck the goddamn joint to make bank. It doesn’t matter how ruthless Hillary is or isn’t, she would not be doing this because she would not need to.

    Recognizing how ridiculously corrupt super-rich people are is not itself a fault. Getting used as a stalking horse by Russian spies is a fault, and I liked Bernie Sanders better when he was saying ‘we don’t want to hear about your emails!’ and playing the honorable message-bearer, back in the NH primary. This doesn’t mean I stopped liking him, just that I liked him better before he got that ‘I could win this!’ vibe, and before he did nothing to control his people in Nevada. Of course Clinton cheated, so what? It’s politics, there is no such thing as cheating, and she was supposed to beat Trump and wasn’t going to do that by being a naif.

    I’m sure Bernie is at least a millionaire: look what his job’s been. There is nobody in government who is not completely owned by big money, and his wife doubtless required money for myriad things, and he wouldn’t know much about the problem if he wasn’t part of it. One never rages so hard as when one rages at faults that one shares. I’m sure guilt drives part of his obsession with the hyper-wealthy in government. Console yourself that to THEM he is still a pauper, with probably somewhere around one measly million. They don’t understand what it is like to live with only a little over a million dollars.

    Anybody wanna bet that House and Senate Democrats mysteriously don’t oppose Trump taking point for stripping all the regulations, because they too can cash in on the sabotage of our country? They have to be thinking about exit strategies too.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    CNN/ORC 44/53, CBS 40/48 & Gallup 43/52 polls agree:
    Trump most unpopular new president in history of modern polling.

    I love that because I know it bugs the hell out of them.

    They’re planning on yelling at us until we surrender and like them. It’s weirdly aggressive- feels like stalking.

  150. 150.

    les

    @Major Major Major Major:

    he’s obviously a millionayuh and probably doesn’t give a lot to charity. Not a big deal really, I thought, but his continued stonewalling on it made me more suspicious each week.

    Yeah, it made me wonder too. But at the end of the day, I figured the two of ’em just aren’t ready for the big time; and the returns would show a couple of small minded grifters.

  151. 151.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Elizabelle: Hmm, your link at comment #128 broke something. The link goes to a dead page, and the reply button also goes to that same link.

  153. 153.

    dm

    @schrodingers_cat: He hasn’t mentioned it on Twitter yet. He appears to be talking about: Trump’s immigration crap, decrying Trump’s idea of allowing churches to do political endorsements, and calling on Republicans to reject Betsy DeVos, too.

  155. 155.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay:

    That’s the psychology behind Pence showing up at Hamilton and expecting them to welcome him with bouquets. They want to s–t on people AND have them love them.

  156. 156.

    Chet Murthy

    @Millard Filmore: Pres. Fillmore, I’d go further: do not carry any of your usual devices across the US border. If you do, factory-reset them.

    Create and use a completely different set of IDs (mail, social media, etc).

    B/c they can and will image your devices completely. I think you should assume you’re giving up access to -all- data on the devices (and passwords), as well as in all accounts connected to those devices.

    I don’t have a good answer for financial accounts; when I go overseas next, I’ll have to figure that out. But it’s clear to me that I’ll be buying a second phone and laptop, just to take with me overseas.

  157. 157.

    Shalimar

    @les: That is my guess too. Tax returns are documents you submit to the government. If Sanders really was on the Russian payroll, is it going to be obvious to anyone from looking at his tax returns? There are going to be seemingly benign speaking fees and such from untraceable organizations.

  160. 160.

    Turgidson

    Ah ha, so all those chants at Hair Furor’s rallies that, I could have sworn, sounded like “LOCK HER UP!!” were actually, “DEREGULATE WALL STREET.”

    I’m not sure how I made that mistake. But obviously this is an issue of great importance to Trump’s White Working Class base. It’s inconceivable that he was just bullshitting them for their votes. Unpossible.

  162. 162.

    Applejinx

    @les: No, they’re really not. Vermont is small enough for them, and there’s no reason to think Bernie will cease to vote with the Democrats: if anything, he is trying to find places to drive a wedge between Trump and the Republicans. Since Trump is a nut-job run by Russians, you can’t assume he will do things to make the Republicans stronger. It could be worth it looking for ways to get Trump to take actions that undermine known Republican plans and agendas.

    If you know or have some reason to know that Trump is not even on the side of America, it’s a dangerous but possibly worthwhile game to look for ways to cause injuries to the Republicans (or their long-announced plans). Bernie has nothing to lose. He can’t run again: jesus, can you imagine the wrath of the Clintonistas if he tried? And he’s too old, was already too old, ALL the candidates were far too old.

    I will continue to hope that Bernie finds some way to fuck over the Republicans using Trump’s madness and desire to impress the crowds. It looks increasingly unlikely, just depends on how treacherous Trump perceives the Republicans to be.

    He is not one of them. He’s run by Russia. When he called Putin, they turned off the recordings, so I hear.

  163. 163.

    Morzer

    @Mnemosyne:

    Please, stop this. We need everyone working together to fight Trump. Peddling conspiracy theories about Bernie isn’t getting us anywhere. Clinton lost because she ran a poor campaign, didn’t get the vote out and Comey applied the final blow. Leave it there, move on and realize that you need the Bernie people for the future.

  166. 166.

    Peale

    On the plus side, very few people will be rushing the streets over tier 1 capital requirements

  167. 167.

    Shalimar

    @Applejinx: I was a big Bernie Sanders fan before 2016 began, and I still voted for him in the Florida primary though I was already weary of his campaign’s constant negative tone. I blame most of that on Devine and Weaver since most of the egregious stuff came from either them or random supporters online and not Bernie himself.

    I don’t have anything against Bernie now, except that he is not a Democrat so I don’t give a damn about what he thinks the party should do. I still generally agree with him on most issues, just as I always have.

  169. 169.

    Debbie1

    @schrodingers_cat: Um, I know. He probably said: “I would be proud to work with president Tr*mp. He accomplished a great deal by winning.” Or something to that effect.

    Why does Jared Kushner always look predatory?

  170. 170.

    hovercraft

    @Mnemosyne:

    the video they released is from a different raid 9 years ago.

    I know that he’s not so good with the cyber, but jaysus christ on a cracker, doesn’t he know that the rest of us are? I know to the rubes he can do no wrong, and his word is gospel, but really a nine year old video? Their strategy for the next four years, if they make it that long is lie, lie, lie, and then lie about their lying? Wow you’d think they’d be more subtle about it. A daily drumbeat about them lying about something will take it’s toll, pretty soon even those idiots in the middle will associate his name with liar.

  171. 171.

    Cacti

    @Shalimar:

    I blame most of that on Devine and Weaver since most of the most egregious stuff came from either them or random supporters online and not Bernie himself.

    Given Devine’s connections with Russia, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took a payoff to sow maximum discord in the Dem primaries.

  172. 172.

    Morzer

    @Debbie1:

    Why does Jared Kushner always look predatory?

    Because JarJar is a spoiled little rich brat trying to look all tough and manly.

  175. 175.

    Applejinx

    @Morzer: Nah, let her. It’s venting, and it’s harmless because there’s nothing Bernie can do other than vote with Dems at this point, and yell at Trump.

    I agree with you, even about needing the Bernistas, but there’s a big difference between ranting about purging the Bernie people, and wanting to know what the hell was up with Bernie’s taxes. Hell, I’d like to know that too.

    I’m betting he too is a millionaire (by a small margin) and that his investments and activities are dumb, and associated with furthering his wife’s career (such as it is). I don’t buy for a moment he’s directly a Russian spy, but I would bet he was getting urged to fight harder: back in the beginning he had no intention at all of screwing with Hillary, but an entire campaign’s worth of whispering and goading got to him. That and all those stadiums and huge, messianic rallies.

    If you want Russian spies, look to the White House.

  176. 176.

    dm

    @Debbie1: This is the kind of bullshit that people flung at Al Gore in 2000, and it pisses me off. Read the article and don’t just swallow the tendentious summary of the click-bait headline.

    He said: “I would be happy to work with Trump if he wants to cut back on pharmaceutical companies ripping off Americans, like he said he wanted to.” Okay?

    That’s looking for a wedge to drive between Trump and the Republicans. That’s looking for a way to remind people Trump conned that Trump is breaking yet another promise.

    (Not going to defend the no-tax-return stuff. Go ahead and kvetch about that.)

  177. 177.

    chris

    @schrodingers_cat: When I were a lad… I used to cross the border with my baptismal certificate which was a flimsy piece of paper with the priest’s handwriting on it. By the time I was 18 it was in pieces held together with scotch tape but it still worked. We’re still bitching here about having to have a passport.

  180. 180.

    Applejinx

    @dm: Exactly. It’s driving wedges, or trying to. Bait to get Trump to fuck over the Republicans’ agenda, which is very much a possibility. Unfortunately, it ain’t working and Trump is only doing stuff to fuck over the country (and the economy!) while still playing to Republican fantasies.

    The smart money knows Trump is wrecking the joint, but too many Republicans believe their own granny-starving, racist ideals. They think if only they can be complete monsters, everything will run great. Corporate America mostly knows that’s crap, but they’re out of the loop on some of it, so this Dodd-Frank thing is a bone thrown to them. “Pretend I’m not wrecking the joint, and you can get some sweet jackpots and flee to New Zealand ahead of the bombs!”

  181. 181.

    Shalimar

    @Cacti: Devine was a major advisor for Gore and Kerry. There were op-eds when Sanders hired him about how lucky Bernie was to talk such an insider into running his campaign. My assumption from very circumstantial evidence is that Putin paid Devine to seek Sanders out and run the campaign, to create maximum chaos with the American election. Trump winning was an afterthought, not even a plan B, which is why Manafort joined the Trump campaign so late.

  183. 183.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Applejinx:

    It doesn’t matter how ruthless Hillary is or isn’t, she would not be doing this because she would not need to.

    Get a fucking grip, man. Hillary would not do this because she would not WANT to.

    Of course Clinton cheated, so what?

    Good fucking god. She did not cheat. The long time Democrat beat the long time non-Democrat in the Democratic primary. Hardly a surprise. Not to mention her qualifications were a thousand times better than his. Enough of this Fox/Breitbart/Hannity/Limbaugh bullshit.

  184. 184.

    Shalimar

    @Applejinx: That was on Devine’s way up the ladder, before he became an advisor in foreign elections. I’m not suggesting he was always corrupt.

    Manafort basically disappeared from American elections in the 1980s to focus on the more lucrative foreign grifts, and Devine joined Manafort after Kerry lost.

  185. 185.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Applejinx: Given that I think Bernie was led around pretty easily by starfuckers and possibly Russians, by playing to his ego (particularly after the rallies started and he was Bigger Than Jesus), IMO, I’ve always thought he would be co-optable by a cabal of shrewd right-wingers on (hear me out) a Keynesian infrastructure package. For the low price of a couple billion dollars, the GOP could cause a major rift in the left-v-liberal alliance by getting the populists on board, give a big boost to the economy, make TrumpWorks a massively popular program, the commercials practically write themselves. Once they’ve passed this, Trump can go on his victory tour, cutting ribbons at projects and stuff, while the GOP does their actual looting, pillaging, and bombing agenda. Sets them up nicely in 2018 and 2020 too.

    They are, fortunately, not very smart.

  189. 189.

    dm

    @Major Major Major Major: I think a problem with this theory is that running against Bernie made Hillary a stronger candidate by removing the air of inevitability, by making her emphasize her own liberal positions (and maybe by pulling her a little further to the left), by putting some air in the Democratic primaries so there were debates and Democratic ideas got at least a little press coverage (and so the sanity among Democrats was a visible contrast to the clown-show among the Republicans).

    Hillary was immensely qualified for holding the office, but as she stated at the start of her speech at the convention, she wasn’t the best at running for office. I think, without the practice she got in the primaries, she would have been less prepared for the general election.

  190. 190.

    Applejinx

    @Major Major Major Major: You could very well be right.

    But since when are the right-wingers going to push for a Keynesian infrastructure package? Moot point, ain’t happening. I’ll concede that it would be bait which would interest Bernie. (In my home town we’ve had a bridge out for years. We really need a Keynesian infrastructure package…)

    @Steve in the ATL:

    The Clinton foundation raised two BILLION dollars between Bill leaving office and now, all without wrongdoing.

    Nobody raises two billion dollars without understanding every detail of how to do it, and what might (Dodd-Frank) stand in the way, and who would want it removed or retained. Nobody raises two billion dollars by being overly precious about stuff like that, it’s literally how things are done. Hillary Clinton is quite above any consideration of ‘wanting banking regulations’, she could buy and sell banks, much unlike Donald Trump.

    She would not be gutting financial regulations (in the current environment) because she would not need to, and because it wouldn’t play well to parts of the base. I don’t believe your suggestion that she’s got some ‘want’ for such regulation. That would be, famously, Elizabeth Warren (and Bernie). Hillary wouldn’t be deregulating because it’s out of fashion and because she wouldn’t need to, she would manage fine without further deregulation (much like the smartest banks).

    Your suggestion that she’s some kind of financial regulation fancier is lost on me. Of course she doesn’t want to. She’s talked tough to the banks and told ’em ‘you have to behave otherwise I would have to regulate you’, in essence. She wants them to be decent damn citizens and not to HAVE to regulate them. Warren and Sanders just plain hate ’em and don’t trust them an inch, and they’re the ones who actively want regulation as a positive good. Not Clinton, to her it’s more of a punishment to get ’em to behave.

  191. 191.

    Major Major Major Major

    @dm: You’re right except that this has nothing to do with my theory, which rests on the observable fact that he is easily led by starfuckers and his own ego (and possibly Russians).

    @Applejinx: Like I said, it would be shrewd politics. That doesn’t make it plausible, since too many GOP’ers actually believe their own bullshit nowadays.

    ETA: I also said ‘hear me out’! :P

  194. 194.

    Corner Stone

    @Applejinx:

    Of course Clinton cheated, so what?

    Of all the garbage time nonsense you have laboriously typed here, over and over. And over and over and over and over and at length.
    Somehow like your pure insight should enlighten all the rest of us here.
    STFU for god’s fucking sake. Just shut the fucking fuck up and go the fucking fuck away.
    Jesus Fucking Christ.

  195. 195.

    Applejinx

    @Corner Stone: Love you too, old-timer.

    Because politics is so pristine, isn’t it? Nobody ever tries for advantage unless they’re Republicans.

    Of course, I saw firsthand how hard Clinton tried to win New Hampshire.

    Maybe you’re right.

  197. 197.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, trying ONE MORE TIME.

    @Elizabelle:

    Does anyone know if Trump served on any corporate boards? I have never heard of his involvement with a non-Trump organization.

    Well, Elizabelle, that’s an interesting question with, to my mind, a thought-provoking answer.

    Here, from the Bloomberg profile of DJT:

    Board Memberships
    Chairman and President
    The Trump Organization LLC

    Chairman
    Trump Atlantic City Associates

    Other Affiliations:

    Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
    Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings, L.P.
    Trump Atlantic City Associates
    Trump’s Castle Funding Inc.
    Trump Entertainment Resorts Funding, Inc.
    University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School
    Trump Casino Holdings, LLC
    Sobe Life LLC
    The Sapir Organization, LLC

    All pretty self-explanatory except for the last two.

    Sobe Life LLC publishes magazines on quarterly and bi-monthly basis. It offers ‘Trump World’ magazine that includes articles focusing on luxury items, travel, fine dining, entertainment, and insights into the apprentice and its contestants. The company also offers custom publishing services to companies, as well as receives barter credits and maintains accounts with barter companies who place advertising in the company’s publications in exchange for goods and services.

    and

    The Sapir Organization, LLC operates as a real estate holding and development company. It operates commercial and residential spaces in Manhattan. The company also develops residential condominiums, luxury hotel condominiums.

    I wanted to know more:

    Founder Tamir Sapir (birth name Temur Sepiashvili; 1946/1947 – September 26, 2014) was an American businessman and investor from the former Soviet republic of Georgia who made millions bartering fertilizer and oil with the Soviets in the 1980s; he took most of his money and put it into New York real-estate. He was included in The 400 Richest Americans List of September 2008 (#246), with a net worth of $1.9 billion. In March 2010, he ranked 721st on Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.

    So. With the exception of U of Pa-Wharton School, the only non-obviously-Trump entity DJT has, or had, any kind of significant affiliation with is the Sapir Organization, whose late founder was from Soviet Georgia and who made his fortune “bartering fertiliser and oil with the Soviets.”

    Nowhere does it say that DJT served on Sapir’s board, so doesn’t really answer your question, but it’s pretty interesting that every other firm or organisation on Bloomberg’s list is or was Trump-owned. It may be a big innocent nothing, but personally I’d like to know a little more about that relationship.

    (Note: I tried to post this earlier and the entire long comment disappeared into the ether. I have gone back in, tidied up the weird formatting, and got rid of all the Cyrillic and Georgian characters. Hope that does the trick and it posts properly this time.)

  200. 200.

    mainmata

    @gvg: President cannot overturn a law with an EO; that’s absurd. Neither the SCOTUS actually though they can rule on its Constitutionality. S/he, as President, can clarify/add to the law with orders but even those are not regulations, which come from the agencies involved. EOs provide an explicit and complementary regulatory/policy dimension. How effective they are depends upon how they are drafted. The Trump EOs are either “proclamatory” (bullshit), subject to judicial review or legal but liable to serious political blowback.

  201. 201.

    SteveKnNKY

    The mysogonist BernieBro’s can all lemming off a cliff. HRC equals the orange menace my ass. Bernie is a multi-millionaire via his wife and her connection to him and his multiple re-election campaigns. 22 months til midterms. Registered to vote. Understand what it takes to vote. Mcturtle and Ryan will let America fall to keep their perceived power.
    Best switch to low fee, low risk index funds.

  203. 203.

    J R in WV

    @A Ghost to Most:

    So after you converted your investments into cash, what did you do with that money?

    I want to get out of money-markets and stocks, but I’m hazy on what to do with that cash from those sales. So any ideas are welcome!

  204. 204.

    J R in WV

    @Applejinx:

    Of course Clinton cheated, so what? It’s politics

    Right there is why virtually everyone on Balloon-Juice thinks so little of you. This is despicable nonsense about a person with better ethics than you, who has done more for the country than you have or ever will do.

    Shut up about Hillary Clinton, you piece of unthinking crap. Your nonsense helped Trump get elected, you and the rest of the Bernistas.

    Snaders isn’t a Russian spy? How fucking naive are you? No one suggested he could be a spy, he doesn’t know anything Russia doesn’t already know. Being an agent means supporting decisions or taking actions that benefit the group you are an agent of. Like calling a political candidate a tool of investment banks, a cheater in elections, etc.

    Please shut up and go away, far, far away!

  205. 205.

    No One You Know

    @Morzer:

    I’m fed up with people who blame Clinton for “a poor campaign” as if saying so made that true.

    We were a poor electorate. And we are suffering for a loud minority, because supporting the worst of us was profitable.

    I am fed up with bored voters who want to be entertained by political processes featuring misogynistic purity ponies from both sides of the spectrum.

    Join forces? Not when women are getting second-class treatment from “bros.” Clinton WON the popular vote.

  206. 206.

    TenguPhule

    @J R in WV: 6 months of food and water, basic first aid and other supplies for an emergency.

    Essentially, ensure you could survive if your area lost power and/or civil order for weeks or months.

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