Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

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

Republicans in disarray!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The willow is too close to the house.

This blog will pay for itself.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Monday Morning Open Thread: Everybody PIVOT!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Everybody PIVOT!

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President Donald Trump, who became a reality television star with a show called “The Apprentice,” will spend a lot of time next week promoting a plan to expand apprenticeships to help companies find more skilled workers to fill jobs, the White House said.

It would be the second consecutive week in which the White House will make a push to show Trump is moving ahead on his top domestic priority – jobs – in spite of investigations into whether he had anything to do with possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election…

Next week will be “workforce development week” where the White House highlights plans to combat the skills gap. U.S. job openings surged to a record high in April with government data showing employers struggling to find workers with the right skills.

Trump’s plan has been in the works for months, led by his daughter Ivanka Trump, adviser Reed Cordish, and Trump’s secretaries of labor, education and commerce…

One thing that likely will not be in Trump’s plan: a surge in spending. The White House expects the private sector to take the lead.

A senior White House official said the federal government had allocated $16.7 billion to 43 job training programs in 13 agencies in fiscal 2017.

“It’s not a money question. There’s a lot of money out there being thrown at this,” the official said.

.

What’s on the agenda as we gear up for another week?

Reader Interactions

183Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Trump’s new jobs plan is to repeat an Obama announcement from last spring.

    I can’t believe the people who plagerized Michelle Obama’s speech would do this.

  4. 4.

    Ryan

    Maybe he could sign a few meaningless executive orders too. But maybe I am being unfair. He is new to presidenting after all.

  6. 6.

    Hal

    And Trump is taking credit for the economic gains under Obama. Now suddenly jobs data is not bullshit. How convenient.

  7. 7.

    bystander

    Talk about pivot, today’s Moanin’ Joe panel has decided that there is no collusion but if twitler isn’t careful his lying will get him an obstruction/perjury charge. Maybe.

    I like that Nicolle Wallace is the name of Vincent D’Onofrio’s archnemesis, a serial poisoner, on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

  8. 8.

    bystander

    Although the idea that twitler doesn’t want to go to London for fear he’ll face massive demos (including the moon-in) is mildly soothing. The idea that he can’t go back to Trump Tower for the same reason gives me hope.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    I am genuinely confused – this is the same money that was allotted last year and they’re presenting it as new?

    They’re redirecting money that was already being spent on this to something called “ApprenticeUSA”? Maybe?

    There’s already registered apprenticeships thru the US Dept of Labor. A company (or a company and a labor union) sets up apprenticeships and then qualifies to have them “registered” by following certain standards so the “credential” is recognized as meaning X hours of work, Y hours of classroom, etc. . That’s broadly what happens-
    there are industry-specific differences. What does ApprenticeUSA do? Just add a layer that wasn’t there before?

  10. 10.

    Mustang Bobby

    @bystander: And this is the guy who called James Comey a “coward.” He’s too fwightened to face British razzing? Granted, when the Brits do that they have no peer, but still, worrying about his fe-fe’s is just pathetic.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    I hope someone takes a hard look at this. I smell grifting. Look for layers the money has to pass thru- a contractor who “provides information” or “accepts applications” – someone between the federal apprentice programs that already exist and the federal funding.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    @Kay: tsk tsk tsk Such a skeptic. A name change can do wonders, for example, it can garner republican support. Voila!

  15. 15.

    eldorado

    if only there was a way for the free market to solve that issue of qualified workers. what to do, what to do…

  16. 16.

    Kay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    She’s reinventing government. She has to, really. She didn’t know anything about the government she inherited. Starting from scratch. In a way she’s an apprentice, except it took 5 minutes rather than the 5 years ordinary mortals require for “skilled” status.

  18. 18.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    I’m envisioning lots of free work and subminimum “training wages”.

    For the all-important resume filler and job experience, y’know.

    Interesting how the only people motivated by stratospheric pay are C Suite inhabitants and meritorious inheritors…

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    I suspect the Trumps will discredit the idea by turning it into a giant, tacky swindle. But the notion of expanding the use of apprenticeships and making it an alternative and/or supplement to college is a sound one, IMO. It seems to work well in Germany.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:

    I’m envisioning lots of free work and subminimum “training wages”.

    Some of them are really bad. There’s a machinist apprentice program here that pays 15 an hour after the training- they could make that as an ordinary “operator”. It looks to me (hard to tell, admittedly) like some kind of clearinghouse- an information site. That worries me because it’s a skim. You have to look for how many people or entities are collecting fees in the middle without adding any real value. That’s where the new private sector business opportunities crop up. DeVos is genuinely unqualified and so is Ivanka. They would be easy to scam.

    Apprenticeships are old. They’ve been in operation for a hundred years. They could learn a lot by looking at existing ones that work, but they won’t, because no one wants to run anything- people like this always want to “invent” something. Regular work is too boring for them. It doesn’t utilize their genius :)

  23. 23.

    Baud

    The White House expects the private sector to take the lead.

    If the private sector were going to take the lead, wouldn’t they have taken the lead?

  29. 29.

    Kay

    This is my middle son’s apprenticeship. Electricians. He’s a 2nd year. It’s a 5 year program.

    It’s a program that is federal/state and then contractor and labor union. They get federal and state funding and a labor union provides the journeyman supervisors/instructors. Electrical contractors pay a share to receive the apprentices, who then work for the contractor. There’s also a “master” designation- that’s if you want to be an electrical contractor yourself. They license in states at the conclusion of the program. In Ohio they get a joint Ohio/Michigan license because the two states aligned their requirements.

  31. 31.

    bemused

    So tantrum-throwing toddler Trump gives Priebus order to clean up WH mess by July 4 or lose his job. He built a dysfunctional skeleton staff as it is, rife with incompetence, amorality and self-serving agendas. His lawyer tells staff they don’t need to lawyer up…yet. Who knows if he will actually fire some staff or if any of the staff decide to leave before it gets too hot to stay but at this rate the only people left by his side will be Ivanka, Jared, Eric and Donny Jr.

    Melania picked a fine time to move into the WH. I doubt she is thrilled.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Private sector always contributes to apprenticeships. That’s the idea. They pay a share and always have. That’s the price of admission to get the apprentice.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Vhh:

    Right, but these are regulated so they can get licensed at the end. They vary too much in quality without regulation. You could end up wasting 5 years and getting a worthless “credential”. The whole point of the thing is some entity is vouching that the apprenctice knows how to do X,Y and Z. That reduces risk for businesses who hire them- they don’t have to shuffle thru 5 duds to get one person who knows what to do.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Don’t forget that today, Trump’s expected to unveil his plans to gut the CFPB, the peoples’ last protection from the banks.

  38. 38.

    satby

    @bemused:

    Melania picked a fine time to move into the WH. I doubt she is thrilled.

    She put it off as long as she could. Bet the super-duper negotiator had to pay a sizable bonus for her to move and act like they can stand each other.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Sorry, no more than one smarty pants in a room allowed, and that’s me.

    @satby: Not to worry, you’ve had plenty of time to reload. As to where I was, where I couldn’t be found.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    So for everyone who is asking “why don’t we do apprenticeships” the answer is “we do, but could do more of them” and they’re not just automatically “good” or “the right thing to do”.

    One of the things that happens in public schools, for example, is lower income kids are “tracked” into workplace training and away from college. That’s one of the reasons we moved away from pushing them in that direction in 7th grade. It’s too young. They need the opportunity to go on a “college track” or you’re missing talented lower income kids. You have to watch for bias. You have to be careful and do it right and make sure you’re offering the whole gang the opportunity to follow an academic track if they so choose. Adults tend to start doing the choosing for them, and subjective evaluation introduces bias along class lines.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    Would it be too much to hope that the AGs’ suit against Trump for violating the Emoluments Clause won’t be dismissed immediately?

  49. 49.

    Immanentize

    @EBT: Wolfenstein has been around forever — Early 90’s? It pre-dates Doom. And the alt-right is just catching on that it is FPS about Nazis?

    OTOH, the creators picked a great moment for a new release. Ka-Ching!!

    ETA Fixed funny auto corrects.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @satby:

    I don’t think the coverage of Melania is fair. Maybe First Spouses shouldn’t have an unpaid job but they campaign for their spouses and so they’re considered in the mix. I don’t get why she was given a special exemption. I don’t buy the “but Barron” rationale. Hillary Clinton had a younger child and so did Michelle Obama. They tracked every move of those two. There were entire long, critical pieces about Michelle Obama’s choices in state dinners.

    They have to decide. Are First Ladies political actors or not? If “not” then it should be applied across the board.

  59. 59.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I don’t buy the “but Barron” rationale. Hillary Clinton had a younger child and so did Michelle Obama.

    And it was okay to slut-shame Malia and Sasha for their fashion choices. So, too bad, so sad to this kid.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @satby:

    I do! I remember the whole discussion about what Michelle Obama’s clothes cost. First there was the whole “she bought it at Target” thing and then we heard all about what dresses cost every year. They had a whole subset of gross pundits who focused on her bare arms.

    This is CNN:

    “Some people might call it periwinkle and it’s got this sort of jet bodice and everything, and I think it’s realy pretty. But a dress like that from Mrs. Herrera could potentially run up to almost $10,000.”
    Another guest on CNN last night thought the cost was about $12,000. “Well, by the way, I think that dress probably cost around $12,000. But that’s just my guess,” said Sally Quinn.

    Is it petty? Yes. But it’s also standard. I’m just curious when the standard changed. Michelle Obama was a particular target of ire by the Right- they fucking savaged her for the exercise program and the nutrition focus- and of course their hatred of Clinton is legendary. Hillary Clinton’s hairdo was front page news.

    The Trumps sure are changing a lot of things. All these changes seem to benefit the Trumps. I notice.

  62. 62.

    satby

    @Lapassionara: it’s so hot and dry here I put the basin from one of my birdbaths into the ground for the critters to be able to get water. Last night my biggest dog Hershey blundered right into a bunch of baby bunnies that mom must have brought out from their den. Fortunately, he dropped the one he caught and it seems to have been uninjured, though scared almost to death. I hope so anyway, it was dark but by the time I got him inside and went back to check, they were all gone.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    @Mustang Bobby:
    The truth is..
    Ain’t no shade like upper crust British shade
    Hell, ain’t no shade like British shade, period, no matter what class.
    They would have ragged him from the moment he landed until he left.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I agree Barron should be off limits. I don’t care what the assholes said about Obama’s kids- there’s no reason to join them in the gutter.

    I’m not sure why Melania should be though. No other First Lady was. Maybe it’s a good new rule! But it is a new rule. It’s a new and special rule for the Trump family.

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    Just like always look who gets the contract when one of these GOP Governors decides that welfare recipients need to be drug tested.

  71. 71.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: I can tell you many, many people – the best people – are saying “Heh!”

  73. 73.

    satby

    @Kay: That’s where the racism and classism is just the most obvious. The media thought the Clintons were white trash that got above their station and we all know what the problem with the Obamas was. With the men they can cover it up as “policy differences”, but no such cover with the women who aren’t officially employed. So the racist and classist criticism just hangs out there, undisguised.

  75. 75.

    Shalimar

    @Kay: Also too remember the “Ashley Judd can’t run for Senate because everyone has seen her boobs” from a few years ago, from some of the same people who now describe Melania Trump as “classy”.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    In the city, Kay, they moved the apprentice training program from the heart of the city to the suburbs, so that non-Whites couldn’t get to them.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:

    And it was okay to slut-shame Malia and Sasha for their fashion choices. So, too bad, so sad to this kid.

    Must vehemently disagree. Children are off limits. Period. That they did it to Malia and Sasha makes them pig slime. I don’t care how low they go, I will not follow them there.

  78. 78.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    Interesting that rightwing hasn’t been outraged by Ivanka’s $51,000 flower jacket, not that I’m aware of anyway.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    But it’s also standard. I’m just curious when the standard changed.

    This is pure speculation on my part, but I’m going to go with Inauguration Day.

  80. 80.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @bystander: Nicole Wallace is a complete ditz and total disaster. always has been, always will be.

    I’m old enough to remember January of 2014 when she insisted Bridgegate would not derail Christie’s inevitable presidency.

    Then there was the time she insisted Dubya was blameless for Katrina because it was an act of god.

    Sad!

  81. 81.

    Immanentize

    @satby: one would think every citizen would have standing, but the courts require a specific injury — and I don’t think Trump properties getting more business will be enough without a quid pro quo.

    Taxpayer suits are generally not allowed (I have standing to sue the Army because I pay taxes) and most of us are not injured in a way courts recognize (physical injury or loss of money, mostly). So, standing would prevent almost everyone from suing under the emoluments clause.

    So then the issue becomes a political question — to be solved either at the ballot box, by Congressional action, or by impeachment.

  83. 83.

    ThresherK

    If I were Trump I’d continue reannouncing Obama programs.

    It’s obvious that anything Trump creates on his own is only good on a “my parents put my macaroni art on the fridge” scale.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    Did the band play Hello, I Must Be Going?

    Scott Pruitt Leaves G7 Climate Meeting More Than A Day Early
    The EPA administrator had time to eat prosciutto and make pasta though. Source

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    @satby: Don’t forget Amy Carter. Even though it was a much gentler time (???) People savaged her. It was the class thing there. Anyone remember Billy beer?

  87. 87.

    Yoda Dog

    Yea, it really bugs me when Barron gets brought up. We’re better than that.

    Melania joined in on the birther garbage and is, therefore, fair game as far as I’m concerned. And she might hate Trump for personal reasons but she’s been complicit with everything the entire time, nonetheless.

  88. 88.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Baud: Actually, the standard has never changed. The standard is, and has been for nearly forty years, that nitpicking of Democrats is allowed, but Republican malfeasance must reach world-historical proportions before it can be questioned, and even then only timidly.

    I imagine US politics as a basketball game in which the refs have decided that as long as they call the same number of fouls against both teams, they’ve done their job. Since one team is the dirtiest pack of thugs since the 1978 Flyers, they have no choice but to call every ticky tack foul they can spot or imagine against the other team.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    Mediaite tells me that Ivanka was on Fox and Friends, and she just wasn’t prepared for the viciousness in DC. File this under, you can dish it out, but not take it.

    Melania is the first person, that has posed nude, to occupy her seat at the White House. Yeah, she’s fair game. Geez, Michelle pushed healthy eating and exercise for children, and was criticized.

  91. 91.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    I can’t believe the people who plagerized Michelle Obama’s speech would do this.

    Josh Marshall’s razor.

  92. 92.

    Van Buren

    Driving to work this morning, I see a corvette with a “Hillary for prison ” sticker. I think, hmm, usually just see those on pickups. I go by and written on window the following : Can’t we stop the Russia nonsense and focus on health care and the economy?
    I hadn’t realized that the media reporting on Russian stuff was preventing the government from carrying out other functions. I am appalled.

  93. 93.

    ThresherK

    @grillo: Please, DiFi, pull your head out of the Beltway’s anus long enough to realize that everyone who lurves them some Holy Joe Lieberman doesn’t matter.

    Blowmentum is my go-to “useless Democrat”. At his peak he was the Cleveland Browns’ draft brain-trust: Actively making about everything he touched worse, and a “replacement level Senator” would have been a huge improvement.

    However, I’m a lifelong Nutmegger, so can someone fill me in on DiFi? Is she a lost cause?

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I know the skilled trades haven’t done enough to allow access for minorities. Agreed. My son’s “entering class” of 25 had one black kid. One woman, too. She had a college degree and didn’t last. He said they gave her boring jobs- handing out tools, like that, so maybe that’s why she quit.

    They’re all different though, unions. I represent a lot of carpenters and that union here is heavily Latino. Ohio doesn’t have that big a Latino population so I’m not sure when that started or how they got in there but it’s no longer a “white” union.

    The JETC in Toledo is not in Toledo proper but it is easily accessible because it’s on a vocational high school/ community college campus. That community college is probably majority AA. I went there 25 years ago and it was easily a quarter AA. It’s probably 50% or better by now because more black kids go to college now than did 25 years ago. More PEOPLE go to college.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @grillo: @ThresherK:
    It’s a Hill article in which DiFi was questioned about what Comey said, she said the Committee might look into the “matter” matter but that should NOT be conflated with the Russia/Comey corruption investigation. So not as bad as the friggin Hill sound bite/click bait that has everyone wetting their pants.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: Good! I hope she’s rattled enough to take her ball and go home. It galls me every single day to know that this unqualified dilettante is making policy based on the ghost-written platitudes some anonymous person barfed up for her.

  99. 99.

    Morzer

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mccain-leadership-abroad-better-obama

    Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that “American leadership” on the global stage was better under President Barack Obama than it is under President Donald Trump, according to a Sunday report in The Guardian.

    The Guardian asked McCain, a critic of Obama’s foreign policy, if America’s standing in the world was better under Obama.

    “As far as American leadership is concerned, yes,” McCain replied.

  100. 100.

    efgoldman

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Children are off limits. Period.

    Adult children who choose to participate and speak out, however stupidly, are just as fair game as spice. In fact, with this first dysfunctional family, more so. All three of them.

  101. 101.

    ThresherK

    @Immanentize: Okay, that makes a bit more sense. Phew.

    I stand by my earned loathing about Joementum, and would like to see a Nate Silver type describe politicians in terms of “WAR” (wins above replacement-level player).

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: The Carpenters union in STL was working hard on minority recruitment in my last decade or so of working. Sadly, that outreach didn’t translate to the jobsite as well.

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I agree it was weak. She is of the current Democratic group that has to give up a mile before she’s willing to take back an inch. But it wasn’t what the Hill said it was.

  107. 107.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    C Suite inhabitors need more financial motivation to take that lead…

  110. 110.

    Immanentize

    Boud Bait:

    Dead tree NYT has “Dems in Disarray” article, front page, above the fold. It literally is subtitled
    “Party vs. Progressives”

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I don’t think the coverage of Melania is fair. Maybe First Spouses shouldn’t have an unpaid job but they campaign for their spouses and so they’re considered in the mix. I don’t get why she was given a special exemption.

    Because, she is White, Kay.
    And, coming after that national embarrassment, dual Ivy League degree having Michelle Obama…

    well, allowances had to be made.

    Lips pursed.

  115. 115.

    Tenar Arha

    @Betty Cracker: I think her and her husband are involved in the “cover up” (is it a cover up when it’s so blatant?) up to their necks. She may have spousal privilege, but as soon as she formalized her position in the WH…she involved herself in all the legal jeopardy.

  116. 116.

    Immanentize

    I am going to have my eyes checked and my teeth cleaned this week. I know I need new glasses….

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    @JPL: Good! I hope she’s rattled enough to take her ball and go home. It galls me every single day to know that this unqualified dilettante is making policy based on the ghost-written platitudes some anonymous person barfed up for her.

    TELL IT, BC

    TELL IT.

    She thinks she can flit around, pretending to make policy that affects actual lives and folks aren’t going to call her unqualified azz on the carpet?

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.

  118. 118.

    Tenar Arha

    @Immanentize: I can’t make myself click on the link. I try to restrict my hate reads. (Apparently it has no input from the actual base i.e. black women, so it’s just more white men signaling. Too infuriating on multiple levels with morning ☕️).

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    If Ossoff Loses, Forget About Impeaching Trump
    by D.R. Tucker
    June 12, 2017 5:00 AM

    Pressed during the second debate on whether she believes human activity is a cause of climate change, [Karen] Handel demurred, saying: “I am not a scientist.”

    [Jon] Ossoff shot back: “Well, neither of us are scientists. That’s why we have scientists. And 97 percent of scientists, as well as the military and the intelligence community, agree that climate change is a threat to our security and prosperity and that it’s driven in part by human activity.”

    But Trump’s presence looms over both of them.

    After Handel made it to the runoff, Trump came to Atlanta to raise $750,000 for her. “You better win,” he told her.

    “Trump looms over Georgia special election, a proxy battle for 2018,” Washington Post, June 10, 2017

    No wonder Trump said those words to Handel, the Republican contender in the June 20 special election to fill Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District seat, left vacant by Trump’s appointment of Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. If Handel wins, she will have effectively saved his presidency.

    If Jon Ossoff cannot take that seat away from the GOP (which has controlled it for 38 years), then no Republican member of the House or Senate anywhere in the country will be afraid of remaining deferential to Trump. A Handel win would mean that Republican voters are simply unwilling to switch sides under any circumstances, and will remain loyal to the GOP, no matter how corrupt or compromised the party is, simply to achieve partisan aims.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    @Tenar Arha:

    Apparently it has no input from the actual base i.e. black women, so it’s just more white men signaling. Too infuriating on multiple levels with morning ☕️).

    I know what you mean.

    I KNOW.

  121. 121.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tenar Arha: It would not surprise me if Kushner’s attempted shake-down of a Russian bank to bail out his distressed Fifth Avenue property in exchange for lifting sanctions brings this whole house of cards tumbling down. What poetic justice that would be.

  122. 122.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: The fact that he is in the race at all, is amazing. I’m repeating myself, but this is a sixty/forty district. She’s gone full trump, in order to get out the vote of the 35 percent that still support him. Whether he wins or loses, should not have anything to do with impeachment.

  123. 123.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mustang Bobby:

    And this is the guy who called James Comey a “coward.” He’s too fwightened to face British razzing? Granted, when the Brits do that they have no peer, but still, worrying about his fe-fe’s is just pathetic.

    Trump’s a bully, of course he’s a coward. Trump smacks Comey around because Comey isn’t fighting back directly.

  124. 124.

    bystander

    @satby:

    @OzarkHillbilly: @Baud: yeah, we missed you! People were asking where you were.

    But no ex-wives or FBI agents.

  127. 127.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah:

    A Handel win would mean that Republican voters are simply unwilling to switch sides under any circumstances, and will remain loyal to the GOP, no matter how corrupt or compromised the party is, simply to achieve partisan aims.

    SSDD.

  128. 128.

    glory b

    @Kay: I remember that the African American designer Tracy Reese announced on social media that Michelle wore one of the dresses from her line. The repubs mistakenly believed that Michelle announced herself that the cost of the dress was a few hundred dollars and accused her of lying and covering up spending much more than that.

    ‘Cause, you know, women of color can’t/shouldn’t have nice things.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    For Democrats to Succeed, Both Pragmatists and Progressives Must Work Together
    by David Atkins
    June 11, 2017 8:50 PM

    As the People’s Summit comes to a close in Chicago, the backlash from mainstream reporters is already coming in. Perhaps the best case in point comes in this New York Times piece by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, which posits a clash between party leaders who “want to win” in tough districts, and militant base progressives who “want it all.”

    As usual, the intramural battle on the left is being framed as one between intelligent pragmatists who want to win, and unrealistic ideologues who want to make themselves feel good.

    But this is an overly simplistic and deeply misleading way of thinking about the schism within the Democratic Party and the left more generally. There are reasonable and unreasonable people on both sides of these battle lines, and some people who straddle the divide depending on the circumstances. Most important, the Democratic Party will need to channel the energies, talents and priorities of both the populist and pragmatist wings to make gains going forward.

    Let’s examine the populist left. First, the establishment wing must be able to grant that many of the populist left’s premises have proven themselves over time. Clinton’s own SuperPAC did the research and discovered that the Obama-Trump switchers who made the difference in the election were driven by economic anxiety and a loss of faith in the Democratic Party to resolve their concerns. Sanders remains the most popular politician in America. And Jeremy Corbyn’s success in Britain shows that an invigorated populist left can indeed succeed despite the dire predictions of all the so-called serious people.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    A Populist Needs to Be Popular To Survive. Trump Isn’t.
    by David Atkins
    June 11, 2017 6:21 AM

    A few days ago our own Martin Longman made a good case for why Donald Trump might well be impeached by his own party: put simply, Trump has become a such swelling liability to the GOP from both a public relations and legislative standpoint that they can’t live with him any more than they can live without him. Republicans bear no particularly love or loyalty for Trump: he’s only useful to them as long as he’s, well, useful.

    Time seems to have flown this year, but it’s already mid-June 2017. The 2018 midterms will be upon us before we know it, and so far the only thing Republicans really have to show from Trump is a Supreme Court justice–and that was really Mitch McConnell’s doing, anyway.

    So why not toss Trump overboard in favor of Pence, Hatch or Ryan? Well, in large part because it’s hard to say how many Republicans might go down with Trump, and because the intra-party damage from splitting into the Trump prosecutor and Trump defender factions might be irreparable. Primary battles would rage across the land.

    But from another angle, all Trump really has to back him up are his legions of supporters. Trump ran as an anti-establishment populist with no friends in Washington. Without “the people”–or at least, his people–Trump has nothing.

    So when polls show former FBI Director James Comey as 20 points more trustworthy than Trump in the central conflict that may determine his fate, that’s a big deal. When his approval rating is crating down to 38% just six months into his presidency, that’s a major problem.

    Trump has no loyalty from his staff, no love from Congress, no respect from the bureaucracy or the military, no alliances in foreign policy. The best the Republican Party can say about him is that he creates a nice distraction while they try to pass unpopular bills, but so far the legislative agenda has been stuck in the mire.

  134. 134.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I agree. The idea that Republicans will pursue less corrupt means and results because Ossoff wins is un-possible for most of them (all R house members?)

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    Senate Republicans inch closer to far-right health care overhaul
    06/12/17 08:30 AM
    By Steve Benen

    About a week ago, health care advocates had reason to feel optimism. Senate Republicans publicly conceded that their efforts to craft their own health care blueprint weren’t going especially well.

    Asked if there will be a Senate-passed version of the GOP health care plan by the end of the year, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) conceded, “I don’t think there will be. I just don’t think we can put it together among ourselves.” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) added that he believed it’s “unlikely” a Republican bill would pass.

    But while those comments offered hope to health care proponents, as the week progressed, the winds began to shift direction. Vox’s report on Friday afternoon is consistent with everything I’ve heard about the state of the debate.

    Behind closed doors, the Senate is drawing closer to passing a health care bill that looks a lot like the widely disliked version that cleared the House.

    Any agreement currently on the table would almost certainly result in millions fewer Americans having health coverage, including low-income workers on Medicaid. It could roll back some Obamacare protections for people with pre-existing health conditions.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    Trump faces ‘put up or shut up’ moment over possible secret tapes
    06/12/17 09:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump didn’t just accuse James Comey of lying to the public the president also argued his new nemesis lied to Congress while under oath. That’s no small charge: when a sitting president effectively says the former director of the FBI committed perjury, it requires some follow-up.

    More specifically, it requires that president to back up those allegations in some meaningful way. In this case, that means Trump could deliver his own sworn testimony, which the president has said he’s prepared to do. On CBS News’ “Face the Nation” yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “I would like to invite the president to testify before the Senate. I think we could work out a way it could be dignified, public, with questions, with [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell.”

    Trump could also, meanwhile, turn over White House recordings of the president’s conversations – if they exist. Asked about the possibility of such tapes, Trump told reporters on Friday, “Well, I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future.” What that means is anybody’s guess. (A day earlier, a White House spokesperson, asked if such recordings have been made, replied, “I have no idea.”)

    Congress is starting to take the possibility of such tapes quite seriously. Politico reported:

    Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee are asking the White House to produce any tapes that might exist of President Donald Trump’s conversations with ousted FBI director James Comey.

    Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lawmakers leading the investigation, asked White House counsel Don McGahn on Friday to confirm whether any tapes exist, and if so, to produce them for the committee by June 23.

  138. 138.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Old Sanskrit proverb.
    A crow’s curse doesn’t kill a cow.

    I like that! Will file in my mental card catalogue. Yes, I’m old…and I miss the physical elements of sight, smell, and touch that card catalogues afforded.

  139. 139.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @schrodingers_cat:

    If Ossoff wins we can expect a spate of articles telling us how this doesn’t mean anything beyond that one district.

    Yep, and I will again be able to say, “SSDD>”

  140. 140.

    Wyatt Derp

    http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/05/26/wheres-the-right-wing-outrage-over-melania-trump-posing-in-a-thong-with-a-gun-video/”

    In case you were wondering how concerned the right is with the classiness of our first lady.

    I gave up on relying on shame or hypocrisy to sway RWNJ opinions years ago, which is why we can’t rely on Repubs following the same rules they impose on us. What used to accepted as tradition, such as the President isn’t an obvious crook or the Senate should not steal Supreme Court seats, now needs to be codified.

  141. 141.

    satby

    @rikyrah: every time I see an article stating that Wilmer is the most popular politician in the country, I quit reading. Because I doubt that he is, it’s just lazy journalism. Especially At the rate he’s continuing to lose former fans.

  142. 142.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    One thing that likely will not be in Trump’s plan: a surge in spending. The White House expects the private sector to take the lead.

    So like his infrastructure program, all BS.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    Ratings for Comey hearing reflect broader civic awakening
    06/12/17 09:30 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump takes great pride in generating large television audiences, which is why he has yet another reason to be angry with James Comey right now. The New York Times reported:

    It was the testimony of a once-obscure former law enforcement official. Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. At 10 in the morning. On a workday. Not your usual ratings gold.

    No matter. Roughly 19.5 million Americans tuned in on Thursday to watch James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, unspool the tale of his awkward, unsettling and, at times, ethically questionable encounters with President Trump.

    That is about the same number of people who watched Game 2 of this week’s N.B.A. finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    Note, that 19.5 million figure is a low estimate. It doesn’t account for people who watched on PBS or C-SPAN, those who attended viewing parties, or those who tuned in online.

    And given the fact that the hearing was at 10 a.m. (ET) on a weekday – a time when millions of Americans were already at work – it’s likely that the online audience was considerable.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s Comey claims contradicted by president’s own son
    06/12/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 06/12/17 08:05 AM
    By Steve Benen

    At a White House press conference last month, a reporter asked Donald Trump, “Did you at any time urge former FBI Director James Comey in any way, shape, or form to close or to back down the investigation into Michael Flynn?” Trump replied, “No. No. Next question.”

    Comey, we now know, testified under oath that the president did talk to the then-FBI director about the Flynn case, encouraged him to back off the former White House National Security Advisor, and in the process, added weight to the allegations that the president may have obstructed justice.

    By all accounts, there were two people in the Oval Office at the time, creating a “he said, he said” dynamic – at least at first blush. We obviously have Comey’s version of events, bolstered by a contemporaneous memo he prepared at the time. He also shared the details of his interactions with the president with FBI leaders at the time.

    But about Trump’s denials? According to one of the president’s adult sons, who helps run Trump’s business and who plays a prominent role in promoting Trump’s political interests, Comey’s version of events may be the accurate one. The Washington Post reported over the weekend:

    Soon after former FBI director James B. Comey testified that President Trump told him that he “hoped” the FBI would drop its investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the president’s personal lawyer flatly denied that accusation and said Trump “never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone.”

    But Donald Trump Jr. – the president’s eldest son – seemed to confirm Comey’s version of events in a Saturday interview on Fox News as he tried to emphasize the fact that his father did not directly order Comey to stop investigating Flynn.

  147. 147.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: You see, this drives me crazy. Corbyn did not actually “win.” Indeed he lost by any standard (popular votes, the equivalent of electoral seats) by a larger margin than Clinton. His success is that Labour increased its share of the vote, as well as made gains in Parliament seats. Conservatives also increased their share of the vote but lost seats (because of voting for their equivalent of third party candidates). And Tories are still more in charge than Labour. Getting the youth vote out is no mean feat, but look at what had to happen before they paid attention: a cataclysmic economic challenge to their future and a clear view from across the pond of what a real “country first” demagogue looks like. Maybe if Clinton had run after Trump had a five month trial run as president she also would have won. But nobody will convince me that Sanders would have done better than Trump in November of 2016 when the election was actually held. And this is all without admitting or factoring in Russia and its shenanigans not to mention voter suppression. Reading the NYT article on the election in the context of British political rules (which is quite illuminating) I come away being skeptical that Labour will ever command a real majority under Corbyn.

  152. 152.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I think that if there is a hungry journalist aching for a Pulitzer, investigating the full Russian involvement (social media, use of hacks, direct funding,etc.) in Sander’s campaign would hit paydirt.

    We know Russia hacked the election,. We know their goal was to weaken Clinton. We know that the Russian game was afoot by 2015 before Trump was even a real thing….

  153. 153.

    Aleta

    @JPL: Viciousness like “if elected I will prosecute” and “lock her up?” Or viciousness like welcoming “victims of illegals” to the WH and bellowing “(dark skinned people) are rapists?” Or viciousness like assaulting and harassing women?

  154. 154.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Immanentize: He is still being funded by Russians is my hunch. Whether he has plausible deniability or is directly involved I have no idea. His actions since T’s election has been to weaken the Democratic party and its institutions.

  156. 156.

    chopper

    wait, trump took someone else’s thing and slapped his name on it? say it ain’t so.

  157. 157.

    rikyrah

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @Immanentize: He is still being funded by Russians is my hunch. Whether he has plausible deniability or is directly involved I have no idea. His actions since T’s election has been to weaken the Democratic party and its institutions

    Come sit by me.

  158. 158.

    JGabriel

    President Donald Trump, who became a reality television star with a show called “The Apprentice,” will spend a lot of time next week promoting a plan to expand apprenticeships to help companies find more skilled workers to fill jobs, the White House said.

    Shorter: Trump plans to add jobs by making people work for free.

  165. 165.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: Thank you, Kay, for pointing out the obvious hypocrisy with how family members of Presidents are treated. If they’re related to a Democratic President, we get no holds barred coverage. If they’re related to a Republican President, it’s all “will anyone please think of the children?”

    **eyes rolling**

  166. 166.

    Aleta

    I bet this apprentice program will be tied to giving $ to favored businesses (Learn to invest using government loans, at Kushner Shady Slum Lords) and to replacing organized workforces with low-wage unprotected workers. (They are right now replacing the post office’s intricate well-timed transport operation with one company nationwide to manage several regional companies, who will (from a distance) hire local contractors on very short term contracts. A Koch Bros dream since 1980.) And I bet the company that administers this apprentice program will make a killing.

  167. 167.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: I’m right there with you. When does the First Family do anything which doesn’t result in kickback funds for them? They even skim from their charities for children with cancer for goodness sake!

  169. 169.

    D58826

    What we have come to – My trumpist cousin has posted aa link on FB that yesterday was AN HISTORIC DAY. Why – Malenaia and Barron moved into the WH. Just like every other first family for the past 200 years or so. I guess it is historic since it only took 6 months to do it.

  170. 170.

    Aleta

    @JGabriel: Apprentice at our nation’s best air traffic control towers! You’ll then be qualified to enroll in the fast track certification course at DJTJr University; financing provided!

  171. 171.

    D58826

    @Kay: And along with this Delta and Bank of America are cancelling their support for a theater company production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar set in the 21st century and a Trump look-alike is Julius Caesar. The right wing is in an uproar. On the other hand Twitter had a link to a glowing review in a conservative magazine about the 2012 version with an Obama look-alike as Julius Caesar. The reviewer thought it was an especially powerful touch to have Brutus played by a black actor as well.

  172. 172.

    Aleta

    @JGabriel: Apprentice at our nation’s biggest air traffic control towers! You’ll then be qualified to enroll in the fast track certification course at online DJTJr University; easy financing provided!

  174. 174.

    D58826

    @rikyrah: Another Twitter link, to politico I think, that the Russians are using active measures to try and subvert/co-op veterans and active duty military. In the meantime (to beat yesterday’s dead Trump hairpiece) the GOP in Congress and the right in general are ramping up the smearing of Comey and Mueller. They want to shut this whole thing down as quickly as possible in order to get their ‘back to the 17th century’ agenda passed.
    I hope one of Der Fuhrer’s apprenticeship programs is learning how to speak Russian, as we will be needing it.

  178. 178.

    D58826

    Oh well repost a shorter version:
    1. saw on politico that the Russians are using the same techniques that the did in the election to try and subvert/compromise active duty and retired military. GOP doesn’t care
    2. Hopefully one of the apprenticeship programs that Der Fuhrer is going to announce will involve learning how to speak Russian

  179. 179.

    Mike in DC

    Sessions will testify publicly tomorrow. The only suspense is whether he denies the Mayflower Hotel meeting with Kislyak. Though he will get asked about the extent of his recusal, and any memos or guidance he issued.
    I’m sure the Special Counsel will watch with interest.

  181. 181.

    Quinerly

    Is anyone else watching this televised cabinet meeting? They are going around the room, with each cabinet member praising and thanking Trump. It’s bizarre. I don’t recall anything like this before.

  182. 182.

    ruemara

    @rikyrah: Most of Atkins’ basic precepts are disproven bullshit. No economic anxiety, just racial anxiety. Nomial democrats at best. Sanders is popular in online polls. Corbyn didn’t win diddly squat. In fact, the coalition government with DUP could be more like our own situation than with an outright Tory win. IOW, Sanders and his ilk can pound sand. I listened to them lie like dogs all People’s Summit, deride the Resistance and still spout nonsense about the Russian collusion being a unlikely. Fuck them all.

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