Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

Everybody saw this coming.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Infrastructure week. at last.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

After roe, women are no longer free.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: A Win, If We Can Keep It!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: A Win, If We Can Keep It!

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(Jeff Danziger’s website)
.

Read Dave’s latest post, if you haven’t already.

The Washington Post has some more detail on McConnell’s latest dodge.

One can never underestimate the steely resolve of a gang of GOPers intent on making other people suffer, even if it requires shooting themselves in a sensitive area. But then again, Mitch McConnell is perceived as being responsible for this latest Repub fustercluck — and neither he nor the guy squatting in the Oval Office seem to have a vast stock of either good will or fear built up to bring the defectors back.
***********

Apart from a huge sigh of relief (and a strengthened resolve not to take your eyes off these bastids), what’s on the agenda for the day?


.
Fox News reporter speaks up, in case you’re wondering:

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  4. 4.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Even the liberal Chris Christe:

    ABC News @ABC

    Chris Christie on Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian attorney: “It’s probably against the law”

    78 replies 99 retweets 138 likes

  7. 7.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Winnie the Pooh censored in China after President Xi Jinping comparisons

    The BBC reports that authorities in China have blocked online images comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping with Winnie the Pooh.

    Beloved book and animated cartoon character Winnie the Pooh is being censored in China, according to BBC News.

    The Chinese name for Winnie the Pooh (Little Bear Winnie) is being blocked on Chinese social media sites because bloggers have been comparing the plump bear to China’s President Xi Jinping, the BBC reports.

    Meanwhile, they’re comparing Obama to Tigger. (photo) Too funny!

  8. 8.

    chris

    Yay! Well done, Americans! All those phone calls, letters and emails paid off. Activism works, don’t stop now.

    (Also, yer preznit has left the Iran deal in place. Against his better judgement of course.)

    So much winning!

  13. 13.

    Kay

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
    @realDonaldTrump
    We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare – and nobody can do that like me. We will save $’s and have much better healthcare!

  14. 14.

    bystander

    Just listening to Steve Ratner showing how 57% of economists are more pessimistic about the economy currently. Followed by lamenting how Hillary was just not able to show she was a leadery leader with real leadership skills who set out some real policy. Why she insisted on talking about her keen emails, I’ll never know.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    The Atlantic

    The House is mad at the Senate. The Senate is mad at the House. Various factions in the House and Senate are mad at each other or mad at their leaders.

    Republican lawmakers have yet to turn on President Trump in any meaningful way. But they’re starting to turn on each other.

    ……

    A House Republican staffer described the fractious mood on Capitol Hill as “Republican-on-Republican violence.” As for why lawmakers don’t train their ire on the real root of their problems, the staffer shrugged: “Maybe it’s just easier to attack people without 13 million Twitter followers.”

  18. 18.

    Keith P.

    Redstate’s reaction seems to be “AWESOME! The repeal-only option is what we should have done from the start!” So does pure repeal have a chance? I would expect it to lose even more moderates.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    Krugman notes that, according to Politico, Trump and Congressional Republicans took it for granted that repealing Ocare would be easy-peasy, done by President’s Day, end of February. Krug says their error is mostly due to The Bubble, but there’s also the degree of breathtaking cynicism, including the apparent assumption that Democrats have been just faking it all along.

    But, you see, Democrats were not faking it. I guess it’s a sort of corollary to Cleek’s Law– conservatives assume that liberals are obeying the inverse of the Law. However, that’s not actually true.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    @bystander:

    who set out some real policy

    Why do they say this? It’s such a huge lie. Hillary Clinton is a health care expert. She knows more about it than any of them, and she talked about it constantly.

    I know they all hate her but pretending she didn’t talk about policy is just a blatant lie. The fact is political media ignored health care. I think I watched all the debates. They didn’t ask about health care.

  27. 27.

    aarrgghh

    Every Trump voter should be repeatedly told their vote for Trump was squandered by the GOP, who had no interest in advancing Trump’s agenda

    as if there was ever any agenda — besides putin’s — that trump could advance, even if he wanted to. (“who knew [insert issue here] could be so complicated?”)

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @Kay: There was a health care question in the Ken Bone debate.

    ETA: in fact, I think it was Bone’s question.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @chris:

    (Also, yer preznit has left the Iran deal in place. Against his better judgement of course.)

    No one cares but Trump’s education agenda is dead too. The House bill has nothing he wanted, with the exception (oddly) of cutting money for teacher education. That’s before it even gets to the Senate- they’ll put the teacher ed money back in. This is WITH a GOP majority in Congress and IN his first year. If he can’t do it now when can he do it?

    DeVos is reduced to hiring wack job far Right lawyers to tweak executive functions.

  31. 31.

    TriassicSands

    @Keith P.:

    I would expect it to lose even more moderates.

    and

    The problem is there aren’t really any moderates. Of the four senators who came out against the BCRA, three of them thought the bill was too generous. Only Collins thought it needed to do more. The so-called moderates who might oppose the bill are all busy weighing their own political liability, not worrying abt harming the American people. The last several decades have taught Republican office holders that as long as they say the right things they can screw their constituents with impunity. There’s a lot of security in having stupid/ignorant constituents.

  33. 33.

    chris

    @Baud: I think it’s called John Bolton, who has an opinion piece in the Hill. More rubble, less trouble!

  35. 35.

    TriassicSands

    @Amusing Ourselves to Death:

    We are not going to win this. It was over in November. This is what Americans want and we are going to get it good and hard

    It’s much worse than an uphill battle, but giving up is not an option. What the “Americans” want can change. We have to make sure that we make the reasons why they should want to change as clear and hard to ignore as possible.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I forgot about him but ONE and not even from a moderator? They didn’t think health care was important. Hillary Clinton thinks health care is important.

    I saw an interview with Clinton when she was Sec of State – they asked her about Obamacare. She was a great advocate- really engaged- and she wasn’t even supposed to be part of that or talk about it. I mean come on. They can slag on Clinton all they want but this idea she wasn’t substantive enough is just a lie. They wanted to cover her emails. That was a decision. A bad decision but one they made.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    The first thing Schumer and his leadership need to do is stand up and call bullshit on McConnell’s statement about Dems not being serious about healthcare reform. They need to fight to ensure all of the blame on all of this mess rests solely with the GOP.

  40. 40.

    bystander

    @Baud: As Bill points out, Ratner was an economic advisor to Obama.

    @Kay: Sure Hillary had policies, but we all preferred peeking at her emails and reading the emails the Russians stole and then fed to Andrea Mitchell to find -surprise! – no instances of pay-for-play.

    Who’s Ken Bone?

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @Kay: She was both not substantive and too wonkish, Kay. It depends on your mood and the particular group of haters who are in your audience.

  42. 42.

    eclare

    I want to thank everyone here for their kind words and encouragement yesterday regarding my mom’s health problems. They helped a lot. I came home for a few hours in the afternoon, and when I went back, her color was better, and she was off of oxygen. Hopefully after a few days of medication adjustments and some rest she’ll be able to go home.

    And yes, I will be calling Corker’s and Alexander’s offices today, although it will hard not to say to Alexander’s staffperson BWA HA HA!

  47. 47.

    TriassicSands

    @aarrgghh:

    Oh, there’s a Trump agenda all right. It’s all about enriching the family. And it’s doing quite well with the absence of any ethics oversight. Trump doesn’t care if the US is a third world hell hole when he leaves office as long as he’s a lot richer than he was the day he was sworn in. Since that’s what he cares about, there is every reason to believe he will be a very successful president. The wreckage he leaves behind is just collateral damage in a worthy cause.

  49. 49.

    chris

    @debbie: Don’t know which ad blocker you’re using, but usually you can turn it off for one page and read an article.

  50. 50.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Kay: They don’t mean she didn’t do it. They mean she didn’t do it to their satisfaction. Which tends to mean “she should have talked about policy in such a way that it made people with misgivings about her feel happy and reassured and maybe even excited.” The fact that policy talk by any presidential candidate has never done this appears not to effect Clinton critics.

  51. 51.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: At this point, who the hell is he even lying to? I assume his base will support him no matter what he does and we all know that he knows as much about healthcare as my Boxer dogs do. He’s just along for the ride as Congressional Republicans fulfill their fantasy of destroying President Obama’s legacy.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    McConnell could bring up Repeal Only and require a 60 vote margin. That way every Republican can cast a free vote knowing the Dems will block it.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @gene108:

    It’s just a bunch of brags- ONE BILLION for this or that. He got none of it.

    Obama actually got almost 4 billion from Congress for his specific executive branch ed agenda. He got a lot more but that was technically stimulus and it went mostly to supporting schools who would have gotten killed in the state budget aftermath of the financial crash, so I don’t count that.

    Congress didn’t really have any choice after the crash – schools have to be open or all hell would break loose. It would be immediate and catastrophic. Schools have real budgets. They’re open because they have X guaranteed for the next quarter- real money.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    I suppose holding off “repeal and replace” for two years is the best way to ensure the ACA remains in effect, but the chaos is going to be horrible.

  55. 55.

    Ian G.

    Moran’s defection is interesting. I wonder if he’s reading the tea leaves back home, where Brownback’s brutal austerity program has been defenestrated. I wonder if he’s being told he’s toast if he’s going to pull a similar stunt on Kansas from the federal level.

  57. 57.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    McConnell will blame anything and everything he can on Democrats. He justified not having a vote on Garland on Joe Biden.

    Democrats need their own news channel, newspapers, and radio stations. That’s the only way to get the message out nowadays, because the media has been hell bent on ignoring Democrats for as long as I can remember.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    I used to say this with respect:
    Hillary is a grown up Tracy Flick. Might not be the most charismatic, but, she knew her shyt-COLD.
    The type of knowledge that could allow folks to sleep at night, knowing that the country would be in competent hands.

  59. 59.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Amusing Ourselves to Death: If Republicans knew how to govern, I’d agree with you. So far there is zero evidence that they are capable of passing laws which is why Trump has been in office for 6 months with zero legislative accomplishments. Can Republicans keep mucking it up for the next year and a half until they’re replaced in the Senate? Yep. I think so. The only thing they’re good at is obstructing Democratic Presidents.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @gene108:

    Democrats need their own news channel, newspapers, and radio stations.

    They would just end up bashing Democrats too.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    @Ian G.:
    He tried to be slick, by holding town halls in the remote parts of the State, but those pro Obamacare forces went to him and got in his azz.

  63. 63.

    MattF

    @Ian G.: This is looming in the not-so-distant future with raising the debt ceiling. I can see how a shutdown of Federal services plus (essentially) defaulting on US bonds and notes will unite rich and poor against wingnut policies. Kansas may turn out to be the canary in the coal mine.

  66. 66.

    MattF

    @TriassicSands: The politics is pretty straightforward. Moderates have to avoid being labelled as ‘no better than Democrats’ and conservatives can hold to ‘repeal Obamacare’ and not alienate the Fox fans. Wondering what any of them ‘really’ thinks is just idle speculation.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    The Economist

    Her speeches are mostly wonkish and dull, workaday constructions of a politician who appears to view human progress as a series of nudging policy improvements. Mr Obama’s vision is not dissimilar; but where the president elevates it with magical rhetoric, Mrs Clinton’s performance is so hammy as to annoy. “She sucks the life out of a room,” groans a member of her husband’s separate (and in fact rival) adoring coterie.

  68. 68.

    bemused

    Anyone know of a handy, concise article/chart comparing how Dems vs GOP operated crafting healthcare bills? Not hard to find all info in various articles but the convenience of someone laying it all out in one link would be great. Not surprising but still mind-boggling that everything they accused Dems of doing before ACA passed the amoral GOP has done 100fold.

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    @FlipYrWhig: @Kay:
    And sadly, too many of the Obama people seem invested in rehashing 2008 and winning again by pointing out Hillary was an inferior loser unlike Obama. Even though she got more votes than he did in 2012 (I think that’s right). It is sad to see that need to keep defeating her.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Trump’s education agenda won’t be dead until Betsy DeVos is kicked to the curb.

    Right but it’s executive/administrative action – “we’ll publicly oppose civil rights because civil rights are political correctness” – it’s mostly signalling to the base. DeVos never ran shit. She was a far Right political activist who happened to have a ton of money so bought what she wanted from the Michigan legislature. They should have kept her as a donor/lobbyist. She’s almost uniquely unsuited to that job, which is all about persuasion since the federal government only contributes about 10% to schools (depending) and doesn’t have that much real statutory clout over them.

    She said “I’m not here to make friends” (which is what people who can’t persuade anyone else always say at work) – that’s 100% wrong. She IS there to make friends. Schools don’t have to listen to her on MOST issues. She has to persuade them.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:

    That way every Republican can cast a free vote knowing the Dems will block it.

    Like they did for umpteen times in the last seven years.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    They’re just so lame, Congress:

    The House Education and the Workforce Committee announced Friday that Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel series ‘Dirty Jobs” and the CNN show “Somebody’s Got To Do It,” will testify before the committee on Tuesday.
    The hearing, the committee said, will focus on strengthening career technical education programs.

    They take testimony from a reality tv show host rather than someone who actually does these jobs or went thru trades training? Do they want to be considered a joke? They’re making us all dumber. This is who they SEEK OUT when they have 4 hours to conduct a hearing. Who compiles these witness lists? The whole thing is TIME. There are endless witnesses one could call. They’ll never lack testimony. What they run out of is time. Why was he a priority?

  77. 77.

    janelle

    @Immanentize: Obama got roughly 62,000 more votes in 2012 than Clinton got in 2016. I’m not an Obama supporter with an anti-Clinton agenda (I enthusiastically voted for both of them when they were the nominees), just setting the facts straight.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    They could pair that up with testimony from Chuck Norris about strengthening our military. Two birds, one stone.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I find her kind of fascinating. IMO, one of the things you learn about “privilege” as you work over decades is there are people who have to answer questions and people who don’t. DeVos is in the latter category. She seems to assume people have an obligation to read her mind. That’s a REAL class indicator. Lower status people assume they will have to defend everything they do. Explain, justify, prepare for hostile response and demands to SHOW YOUR WORK. She doesn’t even address anything- it’s almost regal.

    It took me 20 years to figure out that I don’t have to answer every question- that some questions are about asserting power to make the person respond. She was born knowing it. That’s a class thing.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Mike Rowe’s whole political shtick is to give anti-worker policies blue-collar cred, because coddling workers is disrespectful to them, or something like that. Republicans love the guy.

  83. 83.

    Oldgold

    From Josh Green’s new biography on Steve Bannon:

    Bannon raged at Paul Ryan as a “limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a Petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.”

    I think this is the only thing I have ever agreed with Steve Bannon on.

  84. 84.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Oooh, look at the funny trolls! I always follow advice to quit just after a big win, don’t you?

  86. 86.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Oldgold:

    Bannon raged at Paul Ryan as a “limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a Petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.”

    Bwahahahaha! That made my day, despite the source. Repubs in disarry?

    ETA: In case it wasn’t clear, by “source” I mean the Trump Whisperer aka Rasputin, not esteemed commenter Oldgold.

  88. 88.

    bystander

    @Baud:

    @Kay: She was both not substantive and too wonkish, Kay. It depends on your mood and the particular group of haters who are in your audience.

    You forgot “overprepared”. Hillary could never distinguish that fine line between being prepared and over prepared. Nobody likes a smarty pants knowitall. But who knows that better than you?

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @TriassicSands:

    The problem is there aren’t really any moderates. Of the four senators who came out against the BCRA, three of them thought the bill was too generous. Only Collins thought it needed to do more. The so-called moderates who might oppose the bill are all busy weighing their own political liability, not worrying abt harming the American people. The last several decades have taught Republican office holders that as long as they say the right things they can screw their constituents with impunity. There’s a lot of security in having stupid/ignorant constituents.

    Every word you wrote is true. I cannot think of a single Republican that I would call a statesman. Not one. What a sad state of affairs.

  91. 91.

    satby

    I was up and out by 6:30 to bring foster cat Smokey to get neutered today. He’s finally going to be ready for adoption by next week! Considering the conditions he came from, he’s an amazingly good boy.

  94. 94.

    bystander

    @Kay:

    This is who they SEEK OUT when they have 4 hours to conduct a hearing.

    Later this week David Caruso and Mark Harmon will be guests to discuss law enforcement. After the success Richard Chamberlain had testifying on healthcare, repubs are anxious for another PR victory.

  95. 95.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    Considering the conditions he came from, he’s an amazingly good boy.

    Which makes him so much better than the barbarian in the White House, who had every advantage and yet doesn’t come close to being a good human.

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: This isn’t new and probably isn’t worth getting too upset about. We know the GOP isn’t about optimizing policy for the best outcomes for the USA. They’re about constructing memes that enable them to reward the 0.01% and rile up the lizard brains of their supporters.

    I haven’t paid attention to Rowe’s politics, and I’ve only seen his “Dirty Jobs” show a couple of times, but I thought it was interesting in more than a “OMG, Yuck!” sense.

    Yes, someone should watch the hearing for us, and the Democrats on the panel should be willing to challenge him if he only spouts Teabagger nonsense. But outrage fatigue is a real thing.

    Pace yourself, Kay! :-)

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    Applause for the Democrats, sticking together to bring this horrible “Republicans only” bill down. Got to think they slowed the process and gummed up the progress, even while citizen demonstrations are getting also deserved praise. Media big on ignoring Democrats, but that does not mean they were not deadly effective behind the scenes.

    I wonder if some of the Republicans trusted their Democratic colleagues’ instincts more than the hellbent (hopefully hell-bound) GOP leadership. The GOP Senators escaped a vote on this. So far.

  100. 100.

    germy

    Just saw Mayor Pete Buttigieg on CBS this morning. Impressive young man. They peppered him with “what’s wrong with the democrat party?” and “Do you agree with Donald Trump?” questions, but he handled them deftly.

    In their introduction, they suggested he could be a rising star; possible governor, possible president someday.

  101. 101.

    Chris

    @Amusing Ourselves to Death:

    Americans have no idea what the fuck they want, and when you give them something they might have said they want, are as likely as not to throw an immediate tantrum about how it’s not what they wanted after all. It’s sad, but true. That’s caused any number of problems for Democratic initiatives in the past, but it can also cause plenty for Republicans.

  102. 102.

    MattF

    @Elizabelle: Republicans had to trust Democrats because they were (and are) the only sources of actual facts about healthcare. Y’know, ‘facts’ as in ‘facts’.

    ETA: Note, btw, the portrait over McCain’s hospital bed.

  104. 104.

    JMG

    McConnell’s spite vote on repeal only puts his caucus in a tremendous bind. Both a yes and a no vote are guaranteed to alienate people pols need to be re-elected, either donors and the right-wing noise brigade or actual voters.

  105. 105.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: I really do suspect that goes on behind the scenes.

    I wonder if we might see a wave of GOP retirements before 2018. Some of them may be as sick of their FoxWorld/TrumpLand voters as we are.

  108. 108.

    eclare

    @germy: I saw him on Seth Meyers, I think. He came across as capable, good sense of humor, I think he’ll start to get more press.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    @satby:

    Good morning! The trolls are out, which as @schrodingers_cat: says is a sign that they’re desperate to demoralize the resistance. Kinda funny how sad and obvious it is.

    Nothing but truth this morning, satby :)

  111. 111.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    Comes through to me on my smarty pants phone without a problem. Dallas paper. A very good piece that lays it all out, in my opinion.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    @satby:

    I was up and out by 6:30 to bring foster cat Smokey to get neutered today. He’s finally going to be ready for adoption by next week! Considering the conditions he came from, he’s an amazingly good boy

    You are good people, satby :)

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    @germy:

    Just saw Mayor Pete Buttigieg on CBS this morning. Impressive young man. They peppered him with “what’s wrong with the democrat party?” and “Do you agree with Donald Trump?” questions, but he handled them deftly.

    He became mayor at 30?

    Wow

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    When Republicans Tell the Truth About Their Health Care Bill
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    July 17, 2017 3:03 PM

    ……………………………

    One way to answer that question is to take a look at what happens when Republicans actually tell the truth about their intentions with this bill. HHS Sec. Tom Price did that recently in this exchange with Jonathan Karl of ABC News.

    KARL: There’s no doubt there’s significant problems with the current system. But if you look at the Republican plan to modify it and replace it, more than 10 medical groups are against it. Thirty-two cancer organizations oppose it. And on Thursday, in a rare joint statement by the biggest insurance companies in the country, called the Cruz Amendment unworkable in any form and warned it would lead to, quote, “widespread terminations of coverage.” So, Dr. Price, why this wall of opposition?

    PRICE: It’s really perplexing, especially from the insurance companies, because all they have to do is dust off how they did business before Obamacare.

    What Price is suggesting is that all insurance companies have to do is go back to the days when they denied coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. That goes against what Trump and most Republicans in Congress promised when they talked about their plans to repeal Obamacare. The ban on denying people coverage for pre-existing conditions is something they have repeatedly promised to keep. Tom Price just told the truth. The current bill reneges on that promise.

    But Britt Hume went even further than that on Fox News.

    The triumph of Obamacare is this coverage for pre-existing conditions, which basically defeats the whole idea of insurance. Which is, for example, in the automobile insurance market, if you could wait until you had a wreck and then buy insurance and have the repairs covered, that’s comparable to what we’re doing here. ..

    The idea of insurance is that you purchase it to guard against risks and things that may occur in the future. It’s not that you purchase the coverage after you are already sick. Once that idea is gone, Obamacare essential remains.

    In a way, Hume gets it: “Once that idea is gone [guaranteeing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions], Obamacare essential remains.” That is precisely why Republicans are having such a hard time coming up with an alternative. They promised to keep the regulation about coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, but can’t do that without keeping major portions of Obamacare in place.

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    @eclare:

    Glad to hear she is doing a little better. Having just gone through something similar, I will say that the recovery is slow so pace yourself and try to get some rest whenever you can.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    Putin to Dolt45: Bytch, gimme my stuff back.

    ……………………………………..

    Quick Takes: Putin Wants Trump to Pay Up
    A roundup of news that caught my eye today.

    by Nancy LeTourneau
    July 17, 2017 6:05 PM

    * In many ways, Putin has gotten exactly what he wanted from a Trump presidency: chaos and a weakened Western alliance. But he clearly wants those compounds back that Obama shut down in response to Russia’s meddling in our election.

    The Kremlin on Monday said Washington must unconditionally restore its access to diplomatic compounds in the United States ahead of high-level talks on the issue.

    Russia is angry that Washington is still barring its diplomats from using two compounds in the states of New York and Maryland after then president Barack Obama in December ordered the ban on access in response to suspected Russian meddling in the US election.

    “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to place conditions on the return of diplomatic property, we consider that it must be returned without any conditions and talking,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s Buddy Aras Agalarov in the Steele Dossier
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    July 18, 2017 8:00 AM

    ………………………..

    Obviously the Trump’s and the Agalarov’s know each other and Goldstone is comfortable referring to them by their first names. That’s because Aras, the father, was responsible for talking the Trump’s into bringing the Miss Universe Pageant to Russia in 2013. Agalarov is one of those oligarchs Russia has become known for in recent years and has been referred to as “the Russian Trump.” His son, Emin, is a would-be pop star.

    What we see from this email is that Aras and Emin have been involved in the Russian government’s support for Trump’s candidacy. It was a meeting between the top Russian prosecutor and Aras that led to the meeting with the members of Trump’s campaign team in order to provide them with documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton.

    Now, take a look at what is stated in the Steele dossier.

    …………….

    There is no proof that “Source D” is Aras Agalarov. But obviously he is the one responsible for bringing Trump to Moscow in 2013 for the pageant. The date of June 2016 jumps off the page as the month Aras initiated a meeting between the Trump campaign team and Russian operatives for the purpose of feeding them valuable intelligence on his opponent.

  128. 128.

    Quinerly

    A lot of great pieces on http://www.memeorandum.com this AM. Cruise over there and check out the last 8 hours of postings. I’ve been reading pieces since 5:00AM. Gotta get moving. Poco is already packed for our trip. I’m not. Have a great day!

  129. 129.

    MattF

    OT. Interesting NYT item about how investors are (once again) getting screwed by the financial industry.

    I’ll just note that it’s probably an unfixable situation– money + knowledge + power is all on the side of Wall Street. And besides, stockbrokers have a hard life and deserve a break.

  130. 130.

    Chris

    @Quinerly:
    @rikyrah:

    I got done not long ago with a book about the history of the KGB in the Third World during the Cold War… which only further convinced me that 2016 and aftermath was right up the Russians’ alley, and Putin’s especially. The book is candid that the KGB had its limitations – in its ability to understand foreign countries and predict events, in its ability to control events, in its ability to understand its own political system. But one of the things that comes up over and over and over in the book is the KGB’s love of manipulating foreign politics by either leaking damaging information or, better yet, manufacturing realistic enough forgeries of what appear to be damaging documents, in order to sow discord between allies, or within a government. (Of course, Wikileaks is a truthy purveyor of integrity and so we needn’t worry about that here, but…)

    Another fun fact, incidentally, is that while the KGB had mixed successes in infiltrating Western governments, it had a lot more success in infiltrating the private sector. Including those parts of it that were linked to the government and to the development of sensitive technology, the kind the USSR might want to copy for itself. At a time when privatizing and outsourcing everything, even in the defense and intelligence sectors, is increasingly the worship-word of the West, that, again, is clearly no cause for concern.

  131. 131.

    Grung_e_Gene

    @Matt McIrvin: as a push back against theStem and Mike Rowe blue collar jobs scam I’ve always replied: A human beings worth isn’t measured by his trade skills, i.e. how much excess labor value he can produce for the vulture capitalist class. Besides Traitor Trump doesn’t pay carpenters or working class workers.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @MattF:

    The problem is there’s nowhere else to put your money if you’re an ordinary “saver”. It’s real estate or Wall Street. I’d like to protest how horrible they are but where else am I supposed to put savings other than a mutual fund? Under my mattress?

    They have us trapped :)

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s just so surface and trendy. They just noticed skilled trades? I read this piece the other day on how skilled trades training “tops out” early in wages compared to general college education. Duh. That is LITERALLY the phrase they use, the tradespeople. They say they “topped out” at such-and-such. Christ. It is THEIR PAYCHECK. They know they top out! They’re aware!

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    !NEWS! Mitch McConnell to bring up a vote on straight repeal with a two-year trigger. ???????? https://t.co/2PCE9X8wyK
    — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017

    McConnell says his GOP health care bill `will not be successful.’ He’ll bring a repeal now, replace later vote to floor soon. pic.twitter.com/JX5C1bFTig
    — Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) July 18, 2017

    If you didn’t like phasing out the Medicaid expansion starting in 2020, why would you like nuking it entirely in 2020?
    — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017

    Handy chart. The one in the middle, with 59M uninsured, is the score of the bill McConnell plans to vote on. ? https://t.co/NcVV46RwWi
    — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017

    The new Senate strategy of #RepealAndDelay will be scored w/ 10 million more in coverage losses than other bills – https://t.co/090lbBeRMQ pic.twitter.com/M13EtWL9k3
    — Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) July 18, 2017

  144. 144.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Thanks-but I think the more important thing is the lawsuits. Trump’s voter fraud commission is going to be sued A LOT.

    They basically waved a red flag in front of a huge cadre of election lawyers – voting rights people are like 99.9% lawyers :)

    You can’t swing a cat in a voting rights get-together without hitting 4 lawyers. It’s boring and procedural and nit-picky. It doesn’t lend itself to slogans and lies. This is just the federal lawsuits. There’s almost endless state law to sue on too.

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    The Republican health care gambit falls apart
    07/18/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    ………………………….

    This is a story with a lot of moving parts, so let’s unpack the developments with some Q&A.

    So, the Republican crusade is dead?

    Sort of. The legislation Mitch McConnell unveiled last week clearly doesn’t have the votes to pass and GOP leaders don’t believe they’re in a position to twist a few arms and change a few minds. That legislation, at least for now, is dead.

    Now what?

    McConnell is now planning to hold a vote – “in the coming days,” according to a written statement from his office – on what’s known as “repeal and delay.” This entails repealing the Affordable Care Act now and creating a two-year window in which Congress would work on a Republican alternative.

    This sounds familiar.

    That’s because it was the original Republican plan after last year’s elections. GOP leaders settled on “repeal and delay” as the quickest and easiest way to achieve their political goals.

    So why didn’t it pass?

    Largely because Donald Trump and his White House team rejected the approach, insisting that Congress kill “Obamacare” and replace it with a Republican model simultaneously.

    If implemented, how bad would “repeal and delay” be?

    We don’t have to speculate: As regular readers may recall, the CBO found back in January that this approach would cause premiums to spike and would take health coverage from 32 million Americans over the next decade.

    That sounds horrible. How worried should I be about this passing?

    Not very. There’s no reason to believe this bill can get 50 votes. The less conservative Republican senators will almost certainly balk, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said last week this tack is “a non-starter.”

    So why is this McConnell’s new plan?

    A couple of reasons. First, the White House hasn’t given him much of a choice. Donald Trump and Mike Pence have both publicly pushed this approach – despite the White House saying the opposite earlier in the year – and the president reiterated his support for this plan overnight. McConnell isn’t in a position to blow off the wishes of his own party’s White House.

    Second, Senate Republicans voted to pass this same plan in 2015, when they knew it’d face a presidential veto. McConnell will effectively turn to his members and say, “Well, you voted for it two years ago, so you should vote for it again now.”

    So McConnell thinks it has a chance of success?

    Not really. By all accounts, he wants to go through the motions, prove that he did his due diligence, and move on. Members who voted for this in 2015 knew there’d be no consequences for their actions, making it a hollow political exercise. This time, it would count – and the harm to Americans would be real.

  147. 147.

    Kay

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
    @realDonaldTrump
    Follow
    More
    The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!

    The President is lying again because he knows he failed miserably despite EVERY procedural advantage. The soft bigotry of low expectations again. It’s sad. He should work harder.

  148. 148.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    But they can’t do the tax cuts for rich people unless they gut Medicaid. Such a dilemma! I bet the donors are PLENTY MAD.

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    Trump wonders ‘why legislators don’t seem to listen to him’
    07/18/17 09:24 AM
    By Steve Benen

    …………………………………

    Circling back to our coverage from several months ago, Trump won an improbable election victory in part based on his ability to persuade voters that he has a unique talen. “Deals are my art form,” the Republican bragged. “Other people paint beautifully or write poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”

    The evidence to back up the boast was elusive – no one has ever been able to prove that Trump actually excels in negotiations or deal-making – but he kept talking about his expertise as a guy who knows, perhaps better than anyone in the world, how to seal a deal.

    And then Trump decided he’d strike a deal on overhauling the American health care system. Given a chance to prove just how adept he is as a world-class negotiator and deal-maker, the Republican flunked the test spectaculalry. What emerged was a picture of a president who didn’t understand the issue, didn’t care to do his homework, showed no interest in policy or substantive details, wouldn’t help sell his preferred plan to the public, and couldn’t engage in meaningful negotiations because he simply didn’t know what he was talking about.

    As the health care fight unfolded, Trump was at different times passive and impatient, ignorant and demanding. In the president’s mind, to lead on the issue meant barking vague orders to a separate branch of government, and then sitting back, waiting for a bill he wouldn’t read or understand to arrive in the Oval Office.

    The president told TV preacher Pat Robertson last week, “I am sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me…. I’m sitting waiting for that bill to come to my desk.”

    Rolling up his sleeves, opening some briefing books, and trying to do real, substantive work apparently never occurred to him.

  150. 150.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    Yes! I need a break. In the beginnings of converting my lower level stone walk out area into a rental unit…possibly an Air BnB. It’s about 1000 square ft…putting in full kitchen and open living/sleeping space. We are doing it in stages and I’m more or less the general. Can take the time now from work and from this. Going for it! Poco can practice everything he has learned in school…strutting his stuff on Bogue Banks. Thanks for the well wishes.

  151. 151.

    The Moar You Know

    PRICE: It’s really perplexing, especially from the insurance companies, because all they have to do is dust off how they did business before Obamacare.

    @rikyrah: And therefore return to pre-Obamacare levels of profit. Does anyone think they won’t fight that to the death?

    Enjoy watching the insurers donate every last dime to the Democratic Party next election, dumbshit. Also +1 for continuing to remind the public that it’s OBAMA’S health care act and the GOP has nothing to do with it. Thank God these people are so incompetent.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    I don’t know how to break this to Trump voters but the President’s plan on NAFTA is bullshit. It’s exactly the same as every other President of both parties – he vows to enforce existing contract terms. EVERYONE says that and has for 20 years. It’s what Clinton I and II ran on, and Bush I AND II and Obama.

    They elected BushBushClintonClintonObama on trade.

  159. 159.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @eclare:
    1. I’m glad your mother is doing better.
    2. Mock the people in Alexander’s office. Remind them he used to stand for good government, back in the day when he replaced Ray Blanton–lo, how he is fallen from the light! (As Marlowe put it, Lucifer was an angel once, and most dearly loved of God…)

  160. 160.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Ian G.: I think he is. Even Kansans like having health insurance. There are a lot of people in Kansas who are now thinking about the actual effect of certain cherished Republican pipedreams policies, and not liking what they’ve seen. Paved roads, functioning schools, businesses not fleeing the state because of the lack of paved roads and functioning schools, enough funding to keep I-70 open in the winter, having a working state mental health system where your schizophrenic aunt can go to get her condition stabilized instead of wandering the cornfields in a state of extreme agitation…it’s amazing how much better government can make your life.

  162. 162.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:
    Congressmen are proud, and Senators in particular view themselves as kings, each one with the power to bring the government to a standstill. They did not like having an arrogant moron order them around like servants.

    @Kay:
    I know trade is a big issue for you, Kay, but poll studies have shown that Trump voters actually do not care about it at all, and change their minds on the issue at a whim. As long as he’s bashing minorities, he can flip-flop all he likes about NAFTA.

  168. 168.

    eclare

    @rikyrah: I know, why do you shoot someone in their pajamas? Anyway, just reinforces the message to never, ever call the police.

  169. 169.

    Chris

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Insofar as they understand “trade,” they understand it the same way they do everything else – as “take shiny goodies from Good Deserving Me, give shiny goodies to Bad Lazy Unwhites. Sad!”

  170. 170.

    eclare

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): Damn, called before I saw this. Went with the “how could you destroy 1/6 of the American economy?” and “this would have devastating impacts on rural hospitals and nursing homes”. We all know people having the right to health insurance as decent human beings doesn’t work, so I went with the bizness aspect.

  172. 172.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @rikyrah: My mother is involved in a program that provides kitted or crocheted baby stuff to a local hospital–she started when she moved to Kansas City in the early 1990s. I’m not sure how many she’s done, but there’s a woman who has done 2000+ pairs of booties.

  173. 173.

    rikyrah

    @eclare:

    These stories are ALWAYS bullshyt, but this doesn’t even have the usual ‘Cop-ese’ explanation. I haven’t read any that makes any kind of sense….for the people who always look for one. Even those people don’t have anything that they can use in defense.

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