There’s now way this would pass the Senate, so, yeah, I wish a motherfucker would vote for VoucherCare in the House:
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney—previously a House GOPer known for being a budget hawk—kept the door open for President Donald Trump approving of some kind of overhaul of Medicare or Social Security.
Referencing the proposal oft-floated by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to privatize Medicare by transforming it into what’s known as “premium support,” Mulvaney told CNBC’s John Harwood that his “guess is the House will do either that or something similar to that.”
Harwood brought up Trump’s campaign pledge not to touch Medicare and asked whether he would veto it.
“That’s not a really conducive way to sort of maintain a relationship between the executive and the administrative branch,” Mulvaney said. “Let them pass that and let’s talk about it.”
I realize they’ve passed stuff like through the House before without getting hammered, but if they think they can do it now, with a Republican president who might sign the thing, they’re in for a big fucking surprise.
pluky
Umm. Mr. Mulvaney, as you well should know, it’s the legislative branch. Administration is a function of the executive branch.
LAO
I would love to see Republicans face actual consequences for their shitty policies. I’m not holding my breath.
dmsilev
They couldn’t get “repeal Obamacare” even to a vote in the House (so far, anyway); privatizing Medicare would go over like a lead balloon. Doesn’t mean that they won’t try, of course.
LAO
@dmsilev: I think that they will try. Republicans have both houses of congress and the presidency, for at least 2 years. They will be pulling out all of their golden oldies. Of course, many won’t pass because Republicans remain an oppositional party as opposed to a governing party.
randy khan
Just because there’s some chance that a stupid bill like this would pass the Senate (say, under reconciliation) and be signed by the President, I really hope it never sees the light of day in the House. Still, I find myself smiling (can’t laugh out loud at the office) at the likely impact of serious consideration of such a bill on Republican fortunes. I think the optimum time for them to push for its enactment is July, 2018, or maybe August.
hovercraft
Mulvaney Lays GOP Budget Ideology Bare
by Martin Longman
April 12, 2017 3:14 PM
President Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney was unusually blunt during an interview on CNBC. As Jonathan Chait notes, Republicans usually make some effort to justify tax cuts for the wealthy, for example by denying that they will cause the deficit to grow. But Mulvaney is candid about not caring whether the deficit grows.
jl
I’ve seen reports of political gossip in news blurbs about the GOP House trainwreck on all fronts, that they are now blathering about various health care reform ideas to distract from the fact they might not even be able to pass a tax cut.
Which is fine with me, let them keep emitting politically suicidal blather. If it just a desperate attempt to disguise the fact that they cannot even execute the most basic job function of any self-respecting GOP reactionary nutcase, so much the better. Glad that Harwood is making point that any legislation that leads to cuts in real benefits would contradict an important Drumpf campaign promise, no matter what bafflegab branding is used by the House GOP swindlers. We need to make sure the news media divas keep doing so.
edmund dantes
It’s just bizarre he’s out there stating “I’m pulling one over on Trump” or “I’m planning on doing it”.
We know Trump gets a list of all the news articles that mention his name, and he scours them. So I’m not sure what Mulvaney thinks he gains here.
Other than Trump will oppose him simply to prove “Mulvaney can’t bullrush me”.
lollipopguild
@LAO: The GOP has become the “Let’s get rid of government” party, which works very well when you have no actual ability to get rid of anything. We will see how it plays out with the voters when the voters see medicare and Social Security going away.
TenguPhule
@lollipopguild: Which may be closer then you think since Trump is seriously floating the idea of axing mandatory SS and MC withholding taxes.
LAO
Well, this seems particularly delusional to me:
https://twitter.com/davidshepardson/status/852242508612501507
AxelFoley
Greatest tag EVER.
Jeffro
Remember they have to do something with Medicaid and Obamacare first in order to get their huge tax cuts passed ( because of the Byrd rule)
They could just pass ones that expire in 10 years but they’re going For the whole enchilada
hovercraft
@pluky:
“Should” being the operative word, these morons haven’t a clue about anything to do with government, they are ideologues who were elected on buzz words, and they believed their own bullshit. Voucherising SS and Medicare may still be their wet dream, but you think people revolted when they tried to take away Obamacare, which they all thought they hated, try touching these two and see what happens. All those Ryan fantasy budgets passed because everyone knew they would never become law, even Twitler’s not this dumb.
lollipopguild
@TenguPhule: I can see angry mobs in the streets killing members of the Repthug party if even 10% of trumps nonsense comes true.
mai naem mobile
If Mock Mulvaney tries to voucherize medicare or SS he’s going to need a bunch of security guards guarding his bed while he’s copulating with his wife,forget about the POTUS kind of SS protection while he’s out and about during the day.
catclub
@hovercraft:
He does not want the rubes to realize that SS and medicare are wealth transfer payments.
SiubhanDuinne
@LAO:
And to think it was only a few weeks ago that he called Mike Flynn at 3:00 am and asked him to explain whether a strong dollar or weak dollar was better for the economy. What a quick learner!
jl
@LAO: I don’t know whether Drumpf is delusional on the dollar exchange rate. He is ignorant. The most recent run-up in the value of the dollar has stalled since his inauguration, and most of the recent increase occurred in latter half of Obama’s second term. But, it was not as severe as in mid 80s late 90s and early 00s, particularly against countries that are responsible for a big chunk of increased imports to US.
Drumpf does remember a few things from Wharton. He knows how to calculate a risk adjusted discount rate, and looks like he remembers that there are pros and cons to a high dollar. He is not delusional when he emphasizes the psychological appeal of US dollar strong like bull. But I doubt half-remembered nuggets of econ and finance from his college days will produce sound policy.
Anyway, I predicted Drumpf policies would send dollar higher, and it is unclear now whether that will happen. It seems to be happening much more slowly than I thought.
hovercraft
@jl:
TPM had this up this morning.
The GOP’s Existential Crisis: If They Can’t Pass Tax Cuts, What Can They Do?
If any one goal exists that could motivate fractious Republican lawmakers to come together, it should be cutting taxes.
“It’s probably the one unifying issue all Republicans have,” said Bruce Bartlett, an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury Department official under George H.W. Bush.
But as Republicans turn their attentions from their failed health care overhaul to rewriting the tax code, the road ahead is anything but smooth. Even with control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, many political and fiscal obstacles could derail efforts to slash tax rates for the wealthy and corporations.
With deadlines looming for Congress to avert a government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, Washington’s insiders are airing doubts that Republicans can accomplish tax reform by their originally stated August deadline, if at all.
There is a reason, experts warn, that no comprehensive, permanent reform of the tax code has passed since 1986.
“It’s even more complicated than health care, and you have a lot more special interests who are going to be tugging at people’s strings to make they aren’t impacted negatively or that they benefit,” said Dan Scandling, who worked as a senior staffer for Republican lawmakers for nearly 25 years. “It’s going to be a slog.”
While the widespread conservative veneration of tax cuts and Republicans’ unified control of Washington should make the challenge simpler, a number of major hurdles stand in the way. ……………..
the ship of bipartisanship may have sailed. Completely excluded from the negotiations over the Obamacare repeal bill and pushed by a fired-up progressive base, Democrats will likely be in no mood for cooperation with Republicans and President Trump.
“Why would the Democrats even want to play?” Scandling asked. “The Republican House is on fire and they’re not going to come put it out. They’d love to see it burn to the ground.”
Bartlett agreed, adding that Democrats could base their future re-election campaigns on opposition to the GOP’s budget and tax proposals.
“Given that Trump has proposed these huge budget cuts to programs that help the poor, and now is going out there and saying they’re going to cut taxes for big corporations and the rich, I think Democrats will be salivating at the opportunity to play those sound clips,” he said.
This will be interesting, can they do anything????
catclub
So Trump’s federal hiring freeze lasted about 60 days. Can you say ‘not well thought out’?
hovercraft
@catclub:
He may not want them to know this, but I guarantee the likes of AARP and others will be more than happy to let them know that their SS checks and Medicare are just “wealth transfers” to these sociopaths. Hell even the democrats know how to spike this one.
jl
@hovercraft:
” This will be interesting, can they do anything???? ”
I hope mostly that they cannot, at least re their horrible policy ideas.
They need to keep the Weather Service, FEMA going, and to keep the nuclear arsenal from blowing or shooting off by accident, but I am assuming (mostly for my peace of mind) that those jobs have been detailed out to the Deep State.
TenguPhule
@hovercraft: If they simply limit it to 10 years, yes. It gets them out of the rules using the same scheme as the Bush Tax cuts did. That has the highest likelyhood of cobbling together a working agreement with the Freedumb caucus.
LAO
@jl: This sums up my feelings on the matter:
TenguPhule
@LAO: almost?
LAO
@catclub:
*looks into the future* This is a comment you will be repeating, quite often.
LAO
@TenguPhule: I took the “almost” as snark. Which made it even funnier to me.
West of the Cascades
@TenguPhule: Of course, the Bush tax cuts came when the country was running a surplus — not that the Republicans care, but cutting taxes for the rich when it requires either more borrowing (“aiiiieeee The Debt Ceiling”) or savage cuts to things the people like (“aiiiiieeeee Sesame Street!”) will make a non-negligible part of the voting public sit up and notice.
lollipopguild
@catclub: Can you say “Stupid is as stupid does?”
catclub
@TenguPhule: I don’t see why that is not their first choice. Getting even pieces of the Bush tax cuts dropped was very hard for the Obama admin. I (as GOP strategist) would take a ten year tax cut and try to extend it when the ten years are up.
Chris
@randy khan:
Exactly. The less progress they make on any front, the better. We can hope, and even have good odds, that the Senate would shoot down things like this, but ultimately I don’t trust any of them. The idea of “I hope conservatives let their freak flags fly so they’re punished for it” should’ve died in 2016.
JPL
@LAO: How do we measure delusional? There’s a lot of that going around these days.
rikyrah
@hovercraft:
The Evil One told you years ago…
DEFICITS DON’T MATTER.
hovercraft
@TenguPhule:
True, I remember the Bush cuts had to sunset, because of they used reconciliation to hide their true costs and to ram them through.
@LAO:
I’m assuming the qualifier is out of politeness?
rikyrah
@AxelFoley:
Thank you, Cedric the Entertainer…
LAO
@JPL: Not sure — but I know what I’ll be working on this afternoon! Maybe it should be based on the terror threat level and correlated to how utterly unrealistic the claim, cross referenced to how likely the republican rubes are to believe it. IDK. It’s a work in progress.
jl
@Chris: I agree too. Any bill that damages SS or Medicare, or even prepares the way for it, has to be very vigorously opposed. Opposition has to be absolutely implacable. I hope they just talk about it enough to create a storm of opposition and cause themselves serious political damage. The time to make a huge fuss is as soon as they start blathering about it in the media, or inside negotiations get leaked to press. There can be no quarter on this issue.
rikyrah
@GrandJury:
But one of the reasons why these elections are important.
There are reasons why these special elections are so important.
1. Democrats need to field candidates in every race
2. The Candidates get practice running
3. We will close the margin of victory in traditional GOP districts
4. Possibility of catching lightening and getting a victory
3 & 4 are important because of this number.
23
There are 23 GOP Congressmen where Hillary won their district.
The ZEGK doesn’t have a cushion to where he can lose 23 votes.
Scaring these 23 people is more important than the Freedom Caucus.
Without them, there’s no Trumpcare. The Freedom Caucus to the face of the opposition, but these folks were scared of voting for something so odious.
Never forget, Trumpcare is nothing but a tax cut bill masquerading as a healthcare plan. If they passed Trumpcare, then:
1. they could hide their sociopathy
2. they could go after more tax cuts under Reconciliation, thus not needing any Democratic votes
3. It would put a huge gash into Medicare, which will enable the ZEGK to get that much closer to his dream of Medicare vouchers.
Everyday that passes is one in our favor. Running out the clock matters a lot now. There are hard deadlines that they have to meet. The GOP’s inherent laziness in not actually wanting to work can work in our favor. Everyday that passes in 2017, brings us closer to 2018 and elections…and nobody likes to pass anything in an election year.
Big Jim Slade
Hey, a Richard Thompson song in the title!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKkhUkxvc4
aimai
Does anyone else worry that in the end, if they pass anything through both houses and put it in front of Trump, he is stupid enough to sign it? If its phrased right or the last person who talks to him convinces him of it? Regardless of anything that happens before or public displays of rage or how badly it will tank Trumps own popularity (such as it is?). I really worry that if they do something in the dead of night, while he is not paying attention, they will absolutely slap a bill down in front of him, tell him it was his own idea, and get it signed into law before anyone is the wiser (literally before anyone is the wiser).
TenguPhule
@catclub:
The Freedumb caucus has been refreshingly over the top on the latter and keeps moving the goal posts on their own team to keep from reaching an agreement.
rikyrah
@jl:
And, don’t allow ANY Democrat to think that they can do anything BUT oppose it.
PJ
Slightly OT: Cooksferry Queen, which Doug! quoted in the header, is on Richard Thompson’s Mock Tudor, his last great album, which came out 18 years ago. Has anyone else been disappointed with his records since then?
hovercraft
@catclub:
While they know they have a short term advantage and doing everything in their power to cement those advantages, Obama’s election proved that they don’t have a lock on control, and since this is the holy grail, they want it to be permanent. They’ll settle for 10 years if they have to, but they really want permanent. We all know how willing America is to actually pay for anything, they figure no one will ever be able to raise them back up.
I think they’re delusional, if/when the Randian utopia they’re trying to create comes to fruition, i think they’d be shocked at how fast people would become with 75% taxes on the few who still have money.
Yutsano
@jl:
It just crashed hardcore in trading today.
@catclub: Right in time for the Government Shutdown II: Electric Boogaloo!!!
Also: I’m in a pretty crappy mood today.
PJ
@aimai: We already know that he doesn’t read the executive orders put in front of him, so your scenario seems likely if Trump’s handlers are in favor of whatever is in the bill. Particularly if they give it to him on a Friday/Saturday, when Ivanka and Jared are absent.
TenguPhule
@hovercraft:
Actually, in that Randian utopia, they’re going to be what’s for dinner. Because we sure as hell will not have a working transportation network capable of feeding the urban sectors of the country.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Deficits only matter as a club to beat Democrats with. Republicans don’t give a shit about the actual deficit.
Percysowner
I’m sure people at the AARP are already planning the push back on the off chance that this gets introduced. I foresee my email filling up with how to stop any change to SS or Medicare and I’ll do whatever I can to help.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
Unless a democrat is president, and especially if he’s a blah man.
TenguPhule
@Yutsano: Quick, find out which sports teams jl is betting on.
Big Jim Slade
@PJ: Sweet Warrior has grown on me. Cabaret of Souls was fun to see performed with Harry Shearer narrating! The rest I like at least a bit, though not on the level of Mock Tudor, an average RT album still being better than most things out there…
lollipopguild
@hovercraft: If they ever got the Randian Utopia they would be spending all of their money on bodyguards for themselves and their families. The only way to try and get what they want is to destroy the country that they live in. America would be a living hell even for people with billions.
Yutsano
@TenguPhule: It could just be a temporary sink since the Hairy Yam opened its yaw today. I’m quite disappoint that the chocolate cake had its chance and failed us all.
hovercraft
If they go down this path, they better be prepared for a lot more of this.
AZ Lawmaker Booed For Lying About Health Care At Town Hall
Watch Arizona Representative Andy Biggs get raked over the coals for trying to sell constituents on high-risk pools, using some sloppy talking points and a lot of bluster.
ACA repeal is Biggs’ specialty, except that he actually doesn’t know much about the ACA, as he demonstrated to his constituents in a town hall meeting caught by AZ Central.
High-risk pools are the backbone of what they want to replace the ACA with, so that people unfortunate enough to have acne, pregnant women, and others suffering from chronic conditions can be cleansed from the general insurance pool.
His audience knew this, shouting, “That’s a lie!” and booing him in general. Nevertheless, he persisted. “It is embedded in Obamacare, but it hasn’t been used very much,” he claimed.
This is a specious claim. High-risk pools are not “embedded” in the ACA. There was a transition period between 2010 and 2014 when high-risk pools were beefed up with federal dollars as a stopgap measure so that people could have something before the ban on pre-existing conditions took hold.
Stopgaps are not “embedding,” but apparently Biggs has been given some talking points and is going to stick to them, no matter what.
Biggs finally laid down an ultimatum to them with regard to the Trumpcare bill on life support right now. “I do not like that bill because it does not keep a promise we made to repeal,” Biggs said. “It leaves the framework in place. Those of you who like Obamacare, this is your best alternative.”
PJ
@Big Jim Slade: There are always at least few good songs on each, but I find that I never go back to listening to any of the ones from this millenium. Just too many ok songs, or retreads of subjects he’s done before. He’s still amazing in concert, though.
Mary G
Wow, I wish they would too. Old people vote. A lot. And enough of us on Medicare nowadays had to suffer through the hell of HMO managed care to understand how much better Mcare is. I felt like I had hit the lottery when I qualified early. I went on a surgery binge for a couple of years to fix things I had put off because I couldn’t afford the 30% co-pays.
It’s such a stupid idea that I have trouble believing even this lot of Keystone Kops Kleptocrats are seriously planning to do it. Maybe Mulvaney is really speaking to rich people, like the Kochs, who fund the wingnut welfare program and are restless because their money was wasted?
MomSense
@aimai:
It’s on my loooong list of worries. I honestly don’t think he understands much of anything. Again, I’m stuck at my question about whether his incompetence will save us or destroy us.
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
Why? They are that stupid.
jl
@TenguPhule: Ha ha. Warriors.
The dollar, along with stocks, were on an upswing as Trump victory seemed more likely in since late September, and after the election. Gas has gone out of both markets, probably because people are now realizing that most of Trump promises that they liked are not going to happen or be seriously effed up because the whole administration is abysmally incompetent.
patrick II
@Mnemosyne:
They actually care about deficits — the more the better. Large deficits justify cutbacks in social programs and a less powerful government generally. The see the government as a competitor for power and weaken every chance they get, except for police and military to keep the peons in place.
p.a.
Tangental, but instructive. Not a big deal as an issue, but the loons only know how to go all-in. Compromise= defeat. Live and let live= treason.
Alex Rose @alexrosenews
North Carolina lawmakers file bill that would pull #UNC + #NCState from @theACC if #ACC boycotts the state again after #HB2 fallout. @myfox8
This is even before the ‘waah gay marriage is illegal’ bill was introduced, I believe.
Mnemosyne
@patrick II:
I don’t think we disagree — in your scenario, they also want to use the deficit as a club to get their way, not as an actual economic reality that needs to be dealt with.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
I freely admit that I don’t know much about sportsball, but doesn’t that mean that those schools will lose millions of dollars on stuff like broadcasting rights?
jl
@jl: And just to be clear, if anyone wants to go to FRED St Lousi and check me, I am most concerned about dollar exchange rate against emerging economies that have been responsible for most of the increase in imports to US, not broad exchange rate or major world currencies.
Which may seem odd since Trump was all “America First’ right, and we were going to stomp down on imports and put America back to work again. But many Trump promises were very friendly to US financial institutions that want a strong dollar for overseas asset accumulation. So I think investors thought the former was all talk and real action would happen on the latter. Now it is becoming clear that the Trump Gang is going to mess up pretty much everything, probably, other than ordering the military around to blow stuff up, or threaten to.
Big Jim Slade
@PJ: Yeah, seeing him live is great! Hey, Balloon Juicers! If you haven’t checked out a Richard Thompson concert – give him a try! http://www.richardthompson-music.com/tour-dates/
I saw him last year perform an acoustic set, then an electric trio set (with a woman on vocals making it a quartet for a couple songs). For some of his between-song banter while doing the solo set, he said something along the lines of this gig of opening for himself might be his big break! And he said we could later go out and brag that we had gone out to hear sea shanties (lucky us!) and then performed an entertaining one. Also, too, later, he rocked, of course.
dmsilev
@p.a.: Fascinating question: What’s more important to NC residents, hating gay people or basketball?
Villago Delenda Est
@pluky: My first reaction right there. This guy has demonstrated his inability to comprehend the Constitution. He should resign immediately, and self exile himself to Nome.
patrick II
@hovercraft:
Start a war
Start a trade war
Withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change.
Remove banking regulations.
Remove worker safety regulation
Remove child labor laws
Make the government a personal profit machine for friends and family.
Increase racial tension
a. increase racial tension solely because to serve as a political tactic.
b.increase racial tension because many of them are actual racists.
Encourage fascist police techniques
Allow insecticides that are poisonous to children’s brains
Sow confusion among our friends while encouraging our enemies
By poor example, lower moral, truth telling, and ethical codes for the entire country.
Make our citizens, and especially our children, dumber by lowering level of dialogue and respect for truth and science.
There’s more.
Bill E Pilgrim
It was the sketch about Bannon as the Grim Reaper bossing Donald around, he apparently got a glimpse of it.
Okay so everyone online should just repeat “Well but Trump can’t actually fire Steve Bannon, because Bannon is the one really in charge”, until Trump hears it somewhere.
randy khan
@aimai:
I don’t worry about it – I’m convinced of it. He wants “wins,” and will sign pretty much anything. (The FCC privacy rule Congressional Review Act signing is an example of that – there was no upside at all to it other than pleasing ideologues in the Republican Party, and he did it proudly.)
Miss Bianca
@Big Jim Slade:
QFT
Kay
I said a while ago that the Trump Revolutionary Brigade seemed soft and coddled – not at all like “revolutionaries” because that implies some personal risk and all of them are swaddled in soft piles of money. Even I didn’t think they’d be this babyish. Like giant babies. DeVos is spending a million dollars A MONTH on security. This is in response to like 6 middle aged women carrying signs in front of elementary schools. Maybe it’s like what people say about wild animals- “they’re more scared of you than you are of them”
Patricia Kayden
@LAO:
Thank God for small favors. If Republicans had their act together, we would be beyond screwed.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: @dmsilev:
$ could be made up by another conference, say B1G (Big 10), but that begs the question what major conference (read big money conference) wouldn’t mind the discrimination? Is the Big East all Catholic? Maybe they wouldn’t mind ?
Don’t know about the populace, but I would be pleasantly surprised if the athletic admins, coaches, etc had the balls to stand up for equal rights. Usually not in their DNA. Would love to know the athletes’ opinions.
LurkerNoLonger
@hovercraft:
They can get elected. After that, nope.
Kay
I started telling everyone I could that Trump would privatize Social Security about a week after he was elected. Now I’ll do what he does- “see? I was RIGHT!”
It’s a safe bet. They cannot stand the fact that there is a big pile of money that no one has skimmed yet. It’s like their “cut” is sitting on the table and we won’t let them get at it.
Patricia Kayden
@Mary G:
But I assume that Republicans are savvy enough to promise Seniors that any changes to entitlement programs would not hit them but would be implemented to hit future Seniors. Kind of a perfect “I got mine. Screw the rest of you” scenario.
jl
@Patricia Kayden: They only just now realize the consequences of living in a BS nonsense world for last 8 years. Or maybe not, I shouldn’t pretend to be able to read their minds. But even if they don’t, the results are the same in terms of doing anything constructive.
jl
@Kay: Their Wall St. funders remind them every day about all that money, just sitting their, getting wasted on the ‘lesser’ people. Actually, it is gigantic Mississippi and Amazon combined of money flowing from workers to retirees, and the finance grifters are so angry that they can’t get a huge cut of it.
Patricia Kayden
@aimai: Well, Trump has signed at least one Executive Order without being fully briefed on it so he may be prone to sign whatever is slapped in front of him.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
Would the NCAA just let them jump conferences like that?
I’m in entertainment, and I’m thinking about the contracts that UNC probably has with TV networks based on their conference membership. If UNC switches conferences, all of those contracts are back up for negotiation, and UNC will be in a very bad position to do that renegotiation, because the NCAA is going to be pissed and will not negotiate on their behalf.
I’m not sure that the NC legislature realizes that they are meddling with Big Entertainment, and Big Entertainment’s lawyers don’t fuck around.
Jeffro
@Kay: yuuuuup
Kay
It seems like Trump lied about what the Chinese president said. Imagine being one of these people who have to talk to him and then read whatever insane bullshit he makes up. If you conducted that meeting assuming he was a normal person you would have to re-think the whole thing, but you would know for next time.
Maybe there will be just one meeting with each. Once they read this shit any further meetings are a waste of time.
Jeffro
@Kay: any pile bigger than a $20 bill, yup
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah:
This is the key. You can’t win seats, if you don’t run candidates. I understand that the DCCC has limited resources but they need to do a better job of contesting seats — even in deeply red states. Trump is a messy President and who knows how soon he’ll be forced out of office.
Gelfling 545
@GrandJury: Trump has yet to think once. I don’t think a second think is in the picture
LurkerNoLonger
@Kay: These guys are soft. When was the last time “the left” tried to assassinate anyone? Reagan was shot by a guy who thought it would make Jodi Foster like him.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay:
Does he ever NOT lie? We cannot believe a word he says.
jl
Krugman’s twitter says that Trump is publically promising the wreck Obamacare to pressure Dems to negotiate with him on another round of repeal and replace.
I guess that will work out just fine for Trump and the GOP.
Someone told Trump that the money is just not there for big tax cuts for the filthy rich and corporations unless they can wreck the ACA first.
hueyplong
Put UNC on NCAA death penalty as they deserve. Problem solved.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay, you can’t blame this on Dolt45.
It’s been the entire lot of sociopaths wet dream to dismantle the American Social Safety Net.
They’ve wanted to destroy the New Deal, for forever.
He’s just like them, but this actually can’t be blamed solely on him.
Once again, I will point out , for those in the bleacher seats, who said ‘ but, who would be crazy enough to do that?’
They’ve created plans about it. Told you that they would do it.
and, the only one saving your asses all this time were Democrats.
YES…THE GOP IS THAT PHUCKING EVIL.
I get tired of people who don’t want to believe it.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne:
The NCAA, oddly enough, has no say in what conference a team is in and no say in any television contracts other than the ones for NCAA championships, so it really wouldn’t have any power to keep UNC and NC State in the ACC.
Having not read the bill, I can’t be sure, but the press reports seem to indicate it applies only to the ACC, so if they went to, say, the B1G (and I could see a bidding war between the B1G and the SEC for them), it’s entirely possible that it wouldn’t solve the problem (not to mention that the B1G wouldn’t be likely to hold any big ticket events in North Carolina for a while – the sites for the basketball tournaments and the football conference championship game are set for the next several years, as I recall).
The BEast does not seem a likely destination because it’s now a non-football conference.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: The NC legislature is not aware of a great many things.
jl
@rikyrah: You are right. I mean, Eisenhower realized the reactionary GOPers were crazy enough to try it. That is one of the reasons he ran as a GOPer: to stop them. That was quite a few years ago, wasn’t it? Abolishing the New Deal and going back to 1875 has been the reactionary GOP’s obsession ever since, well, ever since the New Deal.
Edit: I should have said ‘going back to 1878, since still had some sinister Reconstruction race leveling and too many people voting gong on in 1875. They want to hit that sweet spot.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: NCAA seems to take a hands-off approach, if indeed they have any legal say. The conference situation is IMHO a mess compared to the stable situation I grew up with. But change is pretty much up to the schools and conferences involved. Each conf has its own rules on members leaving or joining, including probationary periods where a school/team competes but can not win a championship.
TMI here.
Yarrow
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Perhaps a better tactic is to start using #PresidentKushner and talking about how Jared is really bossing Donald around. An SNL skit wouldn’t hurt anything. A bit more infighting in the administration would be great. Maybe Ivanka could be telling Jared what to do and he tells Donald what to do.
Also helpful would be to undercut Pence. The Republicans are hoping to keep him out of all this stuff so that he can be the trustworthy savior who steps in to save the day. Maybe portray him as really dumb (not too hard), knowing more than we think he knows, or telling Trump what to do would be helpful.
Mnemosyne
@randy khan:
Right, but who televises the games now, and are those contracts based on which conference they’re in?
Gelfling 545
@Kay: From a comment over at TPM, “I imagine it’s a bit like holding a business lunch with a pelican.”
Gelfling 545
@Patricia Kayden: Yet locally they can’t even fnd somebody to oppose Chris godhelpus Collins.
lollipopguild
@jl: I really think that the GOP wants to take us back to 1850.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: Major conferences contract with the networks.
James E Powell
If they are ever going to do it, now would be the time. They’ve got all three branches of the federal government, a completely powerless Democratic opposition, and a press/media who are determined to “both sides” every issue until it ceases to be an issue.
They also have the added advantage of a president who is a freak show; the press/media and the public will not pay much attention to major policy changes when the tabloid stories are so much more entertaining.
And to top it off, about 45% of the country will stand by Trump and the Republicans no matter what they do because they hate everyone who is in opposition, especially their smart ass in-laws and know-it-all former spouses.
We may be forced to redo the 20th century.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Classic Trump, try to open negotiations with a thinly veiled threat of extortion, then wonder why nobody intelligent wants to make a deal with him.
JPL
Ossoff is on MSNBC . You can stream it here
http://www.livenewschat.eu/politics/
les
@p.a.:
If NC, NC State are not in NCAA, they’re not in any conference. They’re playing…I don’t know who. Club teams? The Fightin’ Yogas?
les
@les: Oops, read the original wrong. Fuckin’ NC republicans–it’s the NCAA, not the ACC, that’s costing the state money.
p.a.
@les: I believe the law said withdrawal from ACC because of the boycott, not NCAA. If they hope to be independents good effing luck: outside of UNC hoops they’d starve. They’re not Notre Dame (still independent in football I believe)
D58826
@Gelfling 545: No 550AD. Before the rise of Islam. One way to beat them.
In the meantime Der Fuhrer keeps running his mouth
Assad and Putin are rational actors who recognize a blowhard when they see one. I don’t think I would want to make the same bet on North Korea’s
President Kim Jong-un
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-on-north-korea-threats-we-are-sending-an-armada/ar-BBzLlXu?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
TenguPhule
@James E Powell:
This time when Sherman burns Atlanta, the Republicans don’t get to leave their houses first.
TenguPhule
@D58826:
Which means Trump screwed the pooch and the carrier battle group may be as good as sunk.
Chris
@lollipopguild:
Conservatives are being perfectly sincere when they say they want to take us back to the way we were under the founding fathers. It’s just not widely appreciated how utterly horrific that outcome would be, as a return to a slaveholding republic for propertied white men and no one else, that might’ve been the best thing around in those days but would suck hairy ass by any modern standards. Because we’re taught to view the founding fathers who created that republic as prophets and demigods, and to consider everything we have to be due to their benevolent vision, and not the work of, you know, the many, many, many politicians and activists who came after them and improved on what they built instead of just sitting on their asses waxing lyrical about how awesome and perfect they were.
Yarrow
@D58826: Just trying to imagine how things will go if nuclear weapons are used. By NK or us. Will that get praised by the group of toadies that calls itself the media? I mean, if anyone is alive here to comment.
p.a.
@TenguPhule: WTF is the reaction in South Korea? Aren’t they concerned that tRump’s belligerence will put them in the crosshairs?
ETA: I assume they are used to the Northern nitwits shows of force and take them with several grains of salt.
James E Powell
@p.a.:
Unless they find out one of their unpaid revenue generators swapped some junk for tattoos or something equally heinous.
Roger Moore
@GrandJury:
Thinking once is more than they usually manage.
trnc
So it’s gotten to the point where dumbasses in the administration are so dumbassey now that they don’t know the the executive branch IS the administrative branch.
p.a.
@Roger Moore: It’ll just indicate to them the need to ramp up vote suppression even more.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne:
Except for the most high-profile events – the basketball tournaments (men’s and women’s), the college football championship, the baseball and softball College World Series, and the like – the TV contracts are controlled by the conferences (major exception: Notre Dame controls its own TV contract for football, IIRC). The football championship actually is controlled by the major conferences as a group – it’s not an official NCAA event.
Yarrow
@p.a.: Isn’t the South Korean government in a bit of chaos right now?
A Ghost to Most
@Roger Moore:
And on those occasions, the thought usually revolves around one of two questions:
1 how can I get that money?
2 who can I shit on?
D58826
@p.a.: South Korea has been telling Der Fuhrer to cool his jets. At this point it is Seoul that will be reduced to rubble via conventional artillery and not a US target being hit by a nuke.
He still hasn’t learned that just because he could browbeat some tradesmen working on his casino he can’t pull the same stunt with a nation-state, esp. one as prickly about it’s ‘saving face’ as N. Korea.
les
@p.a.:
Yeah; but the NCAA boycott, “reluctantly” lifted after they sorta backed down on bathrooms, is what hurts the state. Conference money goes to schools, mainly athletic departments. Good for the state, but NCAA tournament stuff goes to cities and states–arena rentals, hotels, blah blah blah. If the schools aren’t in a conference, or if the marriage bill is enough to piss off NCAA again, they lose bigly.
D58826
oops in moderation. Must have said a forbidden word
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow:
Yes, I believe they’re having new elections since their President was impeached and is facing criminal charges.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m jealous.
Mnemosyne
Heh. Apparently Andrea Mitchell got scolded in Russia for not being deferential to Rex Tillerson. Enjoy your Hillary-free life, Andrea! This is what you wanted, so no whining about it now.
Ksmiami
@jl: Two words: Risk Premium. The Trump presidency is so unpredictable and chaotic that it will be difficult for the economy to maintain any sort of upward trajectory. Markets are just now figuring it out
Svensker
@Big Jim Slade:
Yup.
I’d been singing the Mulvaney song, too, for the last few days. But then I’ve been on a real RT kick lately. Also, listening to Eliza Carthy, particularly her singing with RT’s son — they should do that more often. Great voices together. Link did not show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnpAXTu3liE
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’d bet my retirement account he learned the word ‘armada’ in the last week, from a presentation from one of his military advisers
germy
@Mnemosyne: “In Russia, Foreign Minister questions journalist”
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope no one tells him about Hannibal.
Baud
@germy: Heh.
D58826
Oh and Der Fuehrer has just announced that NATO isn’t obsolete after all but he is considering not paying the ins. companies under Obamacare to force the D’s to negotiate. Prof K’s reaction was ‘make my day’
Baud
@D58826: Agree with K.
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Better check the TCM movie listings and see if there was a movie about the Spanish Armada on in the past week or so.
Cermet
Just amazing how china played the orange fart cloud; he publicly announces that they are not currency manipulators and he gets his patients and trade marks. Even nicer, china used a very big stick on north korea about any further nuke tests – (they will cut off all oil shipments – that would threaten their fat leader’s survival so he will take that very seriously.) All in all, they did what they needed to get what they needed. While the small handed idiot did the right things, for all the wrong reasons, at least we will not be in a lose/lose trade war anytime soon.
Dolly Llama
@p.a.: SEC! SEC! SEC!
Yarrow
@Ksmiami:
If markets are just now figuring out that Trump is a wildcard then they are dumber than I thought. Markets are emotional and jump at any whisper of something, good or bad. But this is just dumb. Trump has always been toxic. He’s been in NYC for decades. Did none of those highly compensated NYC-based traders take a look at how he operates in their own city?
I really want something to change our country’s worship of “businessmen” and CEOs. They are held up on some pedestal as if they can run and fix everything. Their inflated salaries are ridiculous. Perhaps the disaster that is Trump the Businessman will put a dent in that worship. I know, windmills, tilting.
amk
japa21
@D58826: Recent polling has shown the public will look at any problems with Obamacare s being the responsibility of the GOP and will not hold the Dems at fault. This is such an obvious sabotage that there is no way he would get away with it.
japa21
@amk: Reading that article, it shows the total inadequacy of the Grate one. At least he grates on my nerves. Then to have China say that Trump basically lied about what he said occurred during his talk with Xi is a slap in the face. Of course Trump will never realize just how naive he is.
I would love to have a member of the press, at one of Spicer’s briefings ask Sean “Does the President realize how most of his tweets make him look like a petulant, pathetic 6 year old?”
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Gods, I envy South Korea.
debbie
@amk:
Someone’s trying to cover their already very large butt…
TenguPhule
@p.a.:
My understanding is they’re already on constant high alert and the Japanese just contributed a few destroyers to the fleet under their new defense doctrine which permits assisting allies in defensive situations.
TenguPhule
@D58826: Obviously Trump didn’t see what happened to the last armada.
debbie
@Cermet:
Also, as soon as Xi left, China made some very derogatory remarks about Trump’s foreign policy.
debbie
@D58826:
Absolutely, bring it on. What bonehead put that idea in Trump’s head?
Miss Bianca
@Svensker: hey, thanks for the link – I have an Eliza Carthy double CD set that I just found again that I bought years ago – hadn’t even unwrapped it – guess I’ll have to dive into it!
Big Jim Slade
@Svensker: Thanks for the link – I don’t know Eliza Carthy very well, but for Teddy I’m a fan of A Piece of What You Need…
xenophile23
Thanks for the earworm, Doug. It comes up every time I see that schmuck’s name – but hey, it’s a GOOD earworm, right? A great rave-up opener for a great album. This Mick in no way deserves it. ;-)
DougJ
@PJ:
Yes
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud:
FTFY!