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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Monday Morning Open Thread: Nope, Can’t Nobody There Play This Game

Monday Morning Open Thread: Nope, Can’t Nobody There Play This Game

by Anne Laurie|  July 24, 20174:37 am| 97 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Clown car, Decline and Fall

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(John Deering via GoComics.com).

"At this point, if there were a fire in the Senate, I'm not sure they could get the votes to pull the fire alarm." – @BarneyFrank on @CNBC

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) July 21, 2017

As a lifelong Democrat who grew up reading Finley Peter Dunne, I always assumed the Republican Party was doing its best to destroy our shared community. But I was never cynical enough to guess the GOP itself would end in the hands of a failed real estate developer shoving around a gang of nitwits and nihilists in a pathetic gated-community imitation of a cargo cult, where they build intricate non-working models of ‘legislation’ in the hopes that the kleptocrats will rain money and power down upon their upraised mouths in benevolent response. SAD!

Per the Washington Post:

Six months after seizing complete control of the federal government, the Republican Party stands divided as ever — plunged into a messy war among its factions that has escalated in recent weeks to crisis levels.

Frustrated lawmakers are increasingly sounding off at a White House awash in turmoil and struggling to accomplish its legislative goals. President Trump is scolding Republican senators over health care and even threatening electoral retribution. Congressional leaders are losing the confidence of their rank and file. And some major GOP donors are considering using their wealth to try to force out recalcitrant incumbents…

Winning control of both chambers and the White House has done little to fill in the deep and politically damaging ideological fault lines that plagued the GOP during Barack Obama’s presidency and ripped the party apart during the 2016 presidential primary. Now, Republicans have even more to lose.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans are increasingly concerned that Trump has shown no signs of being able to calm the party. What Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) called the “daily drama” at the White House flared again last week when Trump shook up his communications staff and told the New York Times that he regretted picking Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general.

“This week was supposed to be ‘Made in America Week’ and we were talking about Attorney General Jeff Sessions,” Dent grumbled in a telephone interview Thursday, citing White House messaging campaigns that were overshadowed by the controversies…

It’d be a lot more fun watching them drill holes in the lifeboat, if only the rest of us weren’t sharing it with them.

***********

Apart from staying #EverResistant, what’s on the agenda for the start of a new week?

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Previous Post: « Late Night Off-Off-Off-Broadway Open Thread: “Trumpism: To Seize the Production of Meaning”
Next Post: On The Road and In Your Backyard »

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  1. 1.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 24, 2017 at 4:49 am

    New attempt to pass Trumpcare this week. People like Andy Slavitt and Ben Wikler are alarmed, so we should be too.

    They’ll throw something (BCRA variation, House bill, whatever) up there on Tuesday for a Motion to Proceed, and if the MtP passes, it’ll be Amendment Deluge. Everyone will have been promised that their objections will be met by amendments (Rand Paul’s already been bought off by prospect of clean repeal vote), and amendments will be voted on without any clear idea of what’s in them, and certainly no CBO score. It’ll be fast, furious, and confusing as all hell. And ultimately they could get 50 votes where the moderates cave without even knowing what they’ve caved to.

    So we’ve got to be LOUD this week, especially because the right wing is fully engaged now, and pressing for repeal. If you’re in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, West Virginia, lean on your GOP Senators. If you’re in Maine, keep calling Collins to thank her for staying opposed.

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 4:56 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ?? ?

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 4:57 am

    @lowtechcyclist:
    Yes…we need to CALL CALL CALL

  4. 4.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 5:26 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 5:29 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Does that mean the Dems get to offer an amendment to strip any Medicaid cuts?

  6. 6.

    Felonius Monk

    July 24, 2017 at 5:31 am

    Good morning all. It is pouring here.

  7. 7.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 24, 2017 at 5:35 am

    Baud – the Dems get to offer all the amendments they want. But apparently how it works is, for each amendment, the sponsor gets one minute to make a speech, then it goes straight to a vote (10 minutes). Hopefully the Dems have their amendments all ready, since this was originally going to happen at the end of June. But basically it’s vote on MtP, then 20 hours of debate if the MtP passes, then Crazy Amendment Time.


    See this Ben Wikler tweetstorm for the details.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 5:43 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Thanks. Hope it doesn’t get that far.

  9. 9.

    Ruckus

    July 24, 2017 at 5:51 am

    Can’t sleep tonight so I’ve been thinking after Cheryl’s post about republicans looking for their humanity.
    Got my regular news from Kamala Harris a day or so ago. Been thinking about that. Kamala Harris and Rand Paul are co-sponsoring a bill about monetary bail, specifically how it harms poor people because it is the poor who end up staying in jail because they can’t post bond. It’s another situation like a poll tax, if you can’t afford it you can’t participate. How is it that Rand Paul has become a reasonable person? What is it that so many republicans have seemingly lost their minds? You always expect some outliers but half the congress, all of one side of the aisle? That’s some pretty strong kool aid that is.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus

    July 24, 2017 at 5:56 am

    @lowtechcyclist:
    And now I read your comment and see that Rand Paul has not become a reasonable person. Unless he knows absolutely that a clean repeal amendment would surly lose. I’m going to have to call Kamala’s office tomorrow to ask, if Rand is serious about the healthcare bill amendment how the hell can she work with him? Even on something this important.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:13 am

    WaPo

    Jared Kushner, President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, plans to detail four meetings he had with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and transition period — including one with a Russian lawyer set up by Donald Trump Jr. — but deny any improper contacts or collusion in testimony to Congress on Monday.

    Kushner describes his interactions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and other Russian officials as typical contacts in his role as the Trump campaign’s liaison to foreign governments, according to an 11-page prepared statement he plans to submit for the record, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 6:18 am

    @Ruckus:

    how the hell can she work with him?

    There are no pure souls in congress.

  13. 13.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 6:20 am

    This week marks the last chance to stop Fiscal Meltdown on the Debt Ceiling.

    After that, its over. There will literally not be enough time left due to the Senate’s Calendar fucking us all over.

    Treasury will have to break out the crazy options to prevent a default.

    And keep in mind, what they’re already doing right now is borderline sketchy to keep the bills paid on time.

  14. 14.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 24, 2017 at 6:20 am

    @Baud: The WaPo headline about that just popped up on my computer.

    OT: One thing I didn’t mention about my trip to Joshua Tree last night is that I almost ran over a coyote. Damn thing ran in front of my car chasing a small white animal when I was driving out.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 6:21 am

    @Baud: I wonder how many meetings he had with German officials? British? French? EU?

  16. 16.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 6:22 am

    @Ruckus:

    What is it that so many republicans have seemingly lost their minds?

    Why were so many Germans seduced by Adolph?

  17. 17.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:22 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: He really cares about adoptions.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 24, 2017 at 6:22 am

    @TenguPhule: Calm down, Trump will just issue a Trillion Dollar coin. Problem solved. He doesn’t get hung up on “legal issues” like that Kenyan did.

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 6:23 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good Morning,

    For a given definition of good that doesn’t seem to meet most standards in western democracies.

    But we must be civil for some reason to protect Republican Fee Fees.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:26 am

    Since the NYT is Schumer’s hometown paper, I’ll let this slide.

    On Monday we are announcing three new policies to advance our goals.

    Right now, there is nothing to stop vulture capitalists from egregiously raising the price of lifesaving drugs without justification. We’re going to fight for rules to stop prescription drug price gouging and demand that drug companies justify price increases to the public. And we’re going to push for empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for older Americans.

    Right now our antitrust laws are designed to allow huge corporations to merge, padding the pockets of investors but sending costs skyrocketing for everything from cable bills and airline tickets to food and health care. We are going to fight to allow regulators to break up big companies if they’re hurting consumers and to make it harder for companies to merge if it reduces competition.

    Right now millions of unemployed or underemployed people, particularly those without a college degree, could be brought back into the labor force or retrained to secure full-time, higher-paying work. We propose giving employers, particularly small businesses, a large tax credit to train workers for unfilled jobs. This will have particular resonance in smaller cities and rural areas, which have experienced an exodus of young people who aren’t trained for the jobs in those areas.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 6:30 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Trump will just issue a Trillion Dollar coin. Problem solved.

    You think they’re actually competent enough to sell the process to everyone else without causing a panic?

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 6:32 am

    @Baud: He and Ivanka are thinking about it?

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 6:32 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    New attempt to pass Trumpcare this week.

    But we were told that any mention of Republicans doing this shit again was surrender and self-defeating and negative nancy and gloom pron….did I miss any?

  24. 24.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: What self-respecting baby would choose them?

  25. 25.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 6:42 am

    So Kushner has released a statement for the GOP Congress and Fox News to use absolving him from all and any issues related to Russia and his failure to correctly report on his security forms.
    They seem to be doing a good job on MJ tearing it apart and – so far – have not mentioned Hillary.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:48 am

    @TS:

    have not mentioned Hillary.

    That’s….amazing.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 6:51 am

    @Baud:

    This will have particular resonance in smaller cities and rural areas, which have experienced an exodus of young people who aren’t trained for the jobs in those areas.

    This is nonsense, though, Baud. Untrained people aren’t the people who leave. People with training and skills leave because there either aren’t jobs or the jobs don’t pay enough or they don’t want to live in rural areas. What is he talking about? What are the higher-skill jobs that are going unfilled in rural areas that will be affected by a tax credit?

    If they want to give tax credits to small businesses to cover their existing training costs they should just say so instead of rolling it into the “skills gap” theme they can’t let go of.

    One reason skilled young people leave is because they figure out they have less leverage in rural areas. If there’s only two employers who need your skills in a given area then you’re pretty much at the mercy of those employers- the employers know you can’t leave and work somewhere else without picking up and moving.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 6:55 am

    @Baud: Arabella, Theodore, and Joseph.

  29. 29.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 6:56 am

    @Baud:

    That’s….amazing.

    I am so shocked at this development

    …. but Joe seems to be missing in action – so perhaps things will change tomorrow.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:57 am

    @Kay: IMHO, Dems need to do better with small business owners, which by itself doesn’t fit within the new populism they want to portray. So what you saw was the spin.

    Apparently, this Better Deal thing will be rolled out over several months. So not everything today.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:58 am

    @TS: Yes, his absence explains it.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 6:59 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: are they adopted?

  33. 33.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 7:02 am

    @Baud: Interesting about the interactions with Sergey Kislyak, Kushner says Kislyak instigated all the contact – given that congress is unlikely to get Kislyak to provide testimony to Congress – a good guy to choose as the fall guy.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 7:03 am

    @Baud: Birth children, I do believe.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 7:04 am

    Rand Paul, one of the conservative senators who has helped to hold up Republican healthcare reform, on Sunday derided the current Senate bill as a “monstrosity” and a “porkfest” and said he would not vote for it to proceed to debate this week.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: So they didn’t choose. They were conscripted.

    @TS: I wonder what Kislyak thinks about that.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Haha. What happened? I thought he caved for a vote on his repeal only bill.

  38. 38.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    July 24, 2017 at 7:06 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    It’ll be solid gold,naturally, and it will later disappear into Ivanka’s purse.

  39. 39.

    satby

    July 24, 2017 at 7:07 am

    Good morning all (and especially @rikyrah: )

    I just realized that every morning as soon as the NPR news comes on I turn it off because it always starts with “President[dumbshit] …” . I can’t even remember in the last few weeks hearing NPR lead with a story that wasn’t about him or his corrupt family. It’s like the rest of the world ceased to exist. I’m sure they report on other events in passing, but I turn it off way before that. I’m so sick of the whole thing.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 7:08 am

    @TS: And he was just a willing dupe.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:08 am

    @Baud:

    This is the “opportunity” theme they ran on in 2010, 2014, and 2016. Obama’s “opportunity” theme was actually better because he didn’t leave it up to employers to control the whole thing. This is worse.

    How is giving employers a tax credit increasing employee leverage? Now they’ll be wholly dependent on their employer for everything, including their own “skills” which won’t really be “portable” because they won’t be able to switch jobs unless they move. They can’t let it go. They are absolutely convinced the problem with the economy is low quality employees.

    A few months ago, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, and Marlene Seltzer, the chief executive of Jobs for the Future, published an article in Politico titled “Closing the Skills Gap.” They began portentously: “Today, nearly 11 million Americans are unemployed. Yet, at the same time, 4 million jobs sit unfilled” — supposedly demonstrating “the gulf between the skills job seekers currently have and the skills employers need.”
    Meanwhile, multiple careful studies have found no support for claims that inadequate worker skills explain high unemployment.
    But the belief that America suffers from a severe “skills gap” is one of those things that everyone important knows must be true, because everyone they know says it’s true. It’s a prime example of a zombie idea — an idea that should have been killed by evidence, but refuses to die.

  42. 42.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 7:11 am

    @Baud: Doubt we’ll ever hear any truths or know what is true – but Kislyak may well have his say. I keep saying “I cannot believe” – but again I cannot believe the complete mess and disaster that is the current US administration. Trump is having a no media meeting today with “Victims of Obamacare” The mind boggles as to what he will report on this meeting.

  43. 43.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 24, 2017 at 7:12 am

    Again OT, I was just going though my shots from last night and noticed that my test shots(shots to get focus and framing while there still light) actually got a good shot of the Milky Way galactic center.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:12 am

    @Kay:

    Unfortunately, I think in a battle between local employers and Democrats who want to increase employee leverage, many employees will favor their employers over the Democrats.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    July 24, 2017 at 7:15 am

    @satby:

    Ah, that means you must have missed Erik Prince’s glorious plans to install a “Viceroy” and a private army in Afghanistan.

  46. 46.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 7:16 am

    Ahhhh – we just got a hit on Hillary Clinton on MJ via Schumer giving Trump an anti democrat tweet. Schumer blamed the dems because Trump is President. NEVER should this be said. How long has he been a politician? How could he be giving out such comments?

  47. 47.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:19 am

    @TS: Blaming Dems isn’t blaming Hillary. His NYT piece actually blames Senate Dems.

    ETA:. And accommodating Wilmerism requires a bit of self-flaggelation.

  48. 48.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    July 24, 2017 at 7:21 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Thats the merciful thing when their populations decline in an area – we see rabbits and foxes again, don’t hear their yips, and don’t see their carcasses on the road. They’re super smart, but not road wise at all.

  49. 49.

    chris

    July 24, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Heat wave is over. I woke up on the wrong side of the jetstream this morning, it was 11C(51F) at 7AM. Tempted to light a fire but no, it’s July godsdammit.

    In other news, Gallup says Trump’s support is at 39%. They also say that belief in young earth creationism is down to 38%. Hmm…. I wonder how close the overlap is.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:21 am

    @Baud:

    The whole “employee” paragraph is directed at employers. Imagine you’re standing at a rally and you hear this- Democrats plan to help by offering a tax credit – actual money- to your employer to hire someone younger and less skilled, at a lower wage. When unemployment is under 5% and scarcity was the only leverage existing employees had and it was working- wages were inching up.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @Kay: Consensus among Dems requires compromise. Besides I thought we were supposed to treat employees as still suffering and in need of jobs.

  52. 52.

    TS

    July 24, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @Baud:

    Blaming Dems isn’t blaming Hillary. His NYT piece actually blames Senate Dems.

    Sorry, I’m never clear enough – folks on MJ turned it into blaming Hillary (as, no doubt will others from the anti Hillary Brigade) – and I still think it is not a smart thing to be saying.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @TS:

    Whether it’s smart remains to be seen. We lost the rhetorical war when progressives and Republicans joined forces. We need a reset.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @Baud:
    That means that there were at least 8 meetings

  55. 55.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @Baud:

    Which would be fine if there were more employers than employees but that is not true. No one who has a job is thinking “I wonder what Democrats will do for the people who don’t work here – the people who move away but will, theoretically, no longer move away if this plan works?” No one thinks like this. No one says “well, I’m one of the employed and my wages haven’t gone up since 1999 but what about megatrends in economic theory? Who will address those?”

    Rural NY is exactly like Michigan but with hills and it’s HUGE. You can’t even excuse Schumer based on region. His own state has these problems.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @rikyrah: And collusion.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @Kay:
    Tell the truth Kay.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:34 am

    @Kay:

    Which would be fine if there were more employers than employees

    There are. Because unfortunately employees often vote their employers’ interests rather than their own.

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 7:35 am

    Kay,
    One of the Democrats on that phucking Voter Fraud commission was on Rev. Al.on Sunday. Please check back in this thread. I will find the link to the video when I get to work.
    Let’s just say…Rev. Al is better than me, cause I would have cursed his azz out. He was ridiculous ? ?

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 7:38 am

    @Kay: It’s group think. They have come to a consensus and they don’t have to think about it anymore.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @rikyrah:

    This happens every cycle. They go with the “opportunity” caucus. If you’re saying the same thing as Jamie Dimon you need to examine who it is you are talking to.

    There is some group of Democratic consultants who are madly in love with this and they won’t let it go no matter how many times it loses. It’s true that the “skills gap” is a zombie idea. Republicans in Congress grounded their whole education plan on it. It’s a theory! There are lots of competing theories! It’s not “fact”. I know why they love it. They love it because it explains stagnant wages in a way that doesn’t implicate 1. them or 2. employers.

  62. 62.

    satby

    July 24, 2017 at 7:40 am

    @Baud:

    particularly those without a college degree, could be brought back into the labor force or retrained to secure full-time, higher-paying work. We propose giving employers, particularly small businesses, a large tax credit to train workers for unfilled jobs.

    I interpreted that portion to be aimed more for the people who don’t have the means to go to college being able to get entry level jobs that aren’t fast food / store stock type jobs. The mania of requiring college degrees for every kind of job has got to go, lots of good jobs don’t require college degrees at all, just specific OTJ training.
    I don’t have a college degree, though I do have a masters level certification in one area. We used to be able to have entry level jobs where people could then advance by adding more skills and experience that weren’t trade jobs. IT was once like that. I’m not against college degrees, but the majority of people aren’t attending for any other reason than to get a higher paying job, and a lot of jobs don’t really require degrees. We should stop pretending they do.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:43 am

    GMA: Road rage is on the rise. Interesting.

  64. 64.

    gene108

    July 24, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @Kay:

    What else can Democrats propose that has a chance of passing, in the near future? The list Baud posted looks like something they can do without control of the White House.

    The tax credit strategy is flawed, because if employers do not have a need to hire giving them tax credits will not spur hiring. Even with tax credits, a new employee is still a cost to the company.

    And if they did have a need to hire someone, finding someone who does not have the needed skills, who can learn on the job is not guaranteed and thus still a potential sunk cost to the employer, until they find the right person.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @satby: It’s pretty vague. I don’t know.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @rikyrah:

    I will. There are now 7 state lawsuits- suing based on state election law. That’s probably a rich vein to mine.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 7:52 am

    @gene108:

    They’re not going to get any of that done with GOP control. I thought the point was “vote for Democrats”? They haven’t been “bold” enough so they come up with an employer tax credit? It’s worse than their usual reliance on the Earned Income Tax Credit. No one is voting on this. No one comes out for a tax credit for training.

    I get flyers to hire people with my to-go coffee at McDonalds. The employee shortage is good for wages. Democrats will level the playing field created by 5% unemployment back toward employers? That’s The Plan? 6 months and this is the best they can do?

  68. 68.

    Lurking Canadian

    July 24, 2017 at 7:53 am

    @Kay: Actually it doesn’t even explain the stagnant wages. If there were really a “skills gap”, the people who DO have the skills would be in high demand and able to write their own ticket in terms of salary, benefits, working conditions and so on.

    There is one obvious example of a “skills gap” in the modern economy. The supply of people who can hit a major league curveball into the upper deck falls significantly short of the demand for such workers. As a result, the people who have those skills are handsomely compensated.

    Evidence for similar competition for the services of welders and pipe fitters is harder to find.

  69. 69.

    gene108

    July 24, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @TS:

    Message discipline is something I truly admire about Republicans.

    You can get a dozen Republicans in front of the cameras and they will all say the exact same thing.

    Get a dozen Democrats in front of the cameras and they’ll all say whatever pops into their head at that moment.

    I really do not know how to get Democrats to stick to a script for their public utterances.

  70. 70.

    satby

    July 24, 2017 at 8:00 am

    @Baud: well, I hear the low wage workers around me talk about opportunities all the time. None have the means to go to college without racking up loans that will be burdensome, some came out of lousy schools very poorly prepared for college, the jobs around are predominantly service jobs where advancement consists of getting on a store management team. Lots of people can’t or don’t want to go to college and our society seems willing to consign them to the scrapheap for that. We’re wasting a lot of potential there, an attempt to restart a concept of OTJ training for different kinds of jobs would be welcomed by many. Granted the wording is vague so my interpretation is probably wrong, but a different path to good jobs would be very welcome to lots of folks.

  71. 71.

    NorthLeft12

    July 24, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Kay:

    One reason skilled young people leave is because they figure out they have less leverage in rural areas.

    I’m not sure those young people you speak of exactly understand that, but they do see how limited their options are for employment, housing, and everything else. In some cases they may have already seen what happens when a local industry shuts down or just changes owners…..the employees get totally screwed, then have to move if they want to work or advance. So, they move now to larger areas where they do have options.
    Personally, I think this is a big part of the reason that rural areas fear and hate urban areas. They are basically in competition for their children.

  72. 72.

    bystander

    July 24, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @Baud:

    GMA: Road rage is on the rise. Interesting.

    Caused by watching Moanin’ Joe, no doubt. I caught that “blame Hillary” hit based on nothing Schumer actually said. AMJoy is the only morning MSNBC program I can watch routinely.

    We vcr’d some Wim Wenders movie from TCM overnight, Until the End of the World. Oddly I’ll be rooting for the end.

  73. 73.

    Cheryl Rofer

    July 24, 2017 at 8:05 am

    Jared Kushner’s statement.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @bystander: Hating Hillary will be a crutch for a lot of people for a long time.

  75. 75.

    NorthLeft12

    July 24, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @Lurking Canadian: One of the reasons that you don’t see a jump in wages for those “in demand” skills is the use of foreign temporary workers. Our glorious job creators will do anything they can before they jack up the pay levels to entice workers to move to their area. They would sooner whine to the government and then bring in temps. They don’t believe in long term planning [sounds socialist to me] to train new workers to replace or augment existing work forces.
    The vaunted business leaders are [mostly] too busy squeezing every last dime out for a short term gain.

  76. 76.

    satby

    July 24, 2017 at 8:11 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    Personally, I think this is a big part of the reason that rural areas fear and hate urban areas. They are basically in competition for their children.

    This is absolutely true for the rural area I lived in. The big manufacturers left or reduced workforce to nearly nothing and kids who went to college had no work options to come home to. The young families around me were either farmers, mechanics, or building trades or worked at stores and gas stations. If they didn’t mind a commute they could drive to a job at the regional hospital. But those jobs were limited. Kids left and never moved back. After people died, if the houses didn’t sell they just were abandoned.

  77. 77.

    gene108

    July 24, 2017 at 8:15 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    That’s a problem we have in America, with the TN visa. We have a fuck ton of Canadians flooding our job market in search of good paying jobs. And we make it super easy for them to come here, as opposed other types of work visas.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    They do great on housing. Cheap housing is the main draw. They sometimes come back because they can’t afford a house in cities and suburbs.

    The one nice thing that happened with the financial crash here is a bunch of good houses went to auction and young people bought them at really good prices. There were winners. Not a lot but some.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @gene108:

    gene, you said this years ago on this site and it’s true. Democrats don’t really have a coherent economic theory anymore.

    Republicans are wrong and Democrats don’t have one. Obama was really good as far as communicating with people. He’s the only one who can pull off “opportunity”. That’s rare. It’s just not true that there are thousands of Obama’s waiting to run for office. If they don’t have a really talented person up front they need a better product.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    July 24, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    A big part of the reason there are fewer small businesses is because there are more chains. In a rural area you could open a restaurant with a small investment because you weren’t competing with Panera. The same is true for retail and even services. We have national landscaping companies here. There are national window washing companies.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    July 24, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Kay: I couldn’t begin to describe a coherent economic theory that I believe would capture a majority of voters.

    @Kay: Are franchises considered small businesses?

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 24, 2017 at 8:34 am

    @Kay:

    In a rural area you could open a restaurant with a small investment because you weren’t competing with Panera.

    Can’t say about other places but around here, if you aren’t local? The *locals* won’t patronize. Seen it time and again.

    **definition of local: Bred and buttered. In other words, born there, raised there, gonna die there.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 8:42 am

    Kay,

    for you:

    PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton 7/23/17
    Voter Fraud: Myth vs. Reality
    Join Rev. Al Sharpton as he sits down with David Dunn and Todd Cox to discuss Trump’s voter fraud committee and get the facts straight on the issue.

    http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/voter-fraud-myth-vs-reality-1006864963896

  84. 84.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 8:46 am

    More for you, Kay:

    More Than 380,000 Georgia Voters Receive ‘Purge Notice’
    Jul 21, 2017, 3:35pm Regina Willis
    “Being an inactive voter does not mean I am off the voter rolls, but it is the first step to taking me off. And I’ve had enough of that.”

    More than 380,000 Georgia voters received a “purge notice” from their local board of elections under the direction of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Rewire has learned through an open records request.

    The ACLU sent a letter earlier this month to Secretary of State Brian Kemp and to the chairperson of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections alleging that these notices, when sent to voters who moved within the same county, violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The letter requested more information about the notices that were sent out and officially informed the named officials of their intent to sue if corrective actions are not taken.

    Fulton County resident Stacey Hopkins received an official piece of mail on July 3 informing her that, “If you do not return the attached card within 30 days, you will be moved to an inactive [voter] status.”

    “I opened the notice, it was on July 3 right before Independence Day,” Hopkins told Rewire in a July 14 phone interview. “And I opened it and I read the first line and to be honest the first thing my mind said was, ‘This is bull.’ Because of the work that I’ve done doing voter registration in the state and being a part of a coalition of voter empowerment and civic engagement groups, I immediately recognized it for what it was.”

  85. 85.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 24, 2017 at 9:02 am

    @NorthLeft12: Agreed — IMHO that sounds more than anything like a plan to combat “brain drain.”

  86. 86.

    Wapiti

    July 24, 2017 at 9:04 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I wonder how many meetings he had with German officials? British? French? EU?

    Spot on, OzarkHillbilly. That gets right to the meat of the matter.

    If Kamala Harris asks that question, some male Republican senator will interrupt her so Kushner doesn’t have to answer.

  87. 87.

    Wapiti

    July 24, 2017 at 9:07 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Calm down, Trump will just issue a Trillion Dollar coin.

    So if Trump issues the trillion dollar coin, how many hours pass before it ends up in Putin’s hands?

  88. 88.

    chris

    July 24, 2017 at 9:08 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Same here. I’ve lived here nearly 20 years but I’ll always be a CFA–Come From Away. I still get, “Who might you be and who was your father?”

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:08 am

    Trump presses troops for political help in lobbying Congress
    07/24/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump headlined an event over the weekend, commissioning the USS Gerald Ford, which wouldn’t have been especially notable, were it not for one important aspect of his remarks. As the Huffington Post noted:

    Trump urged the crowd of about 6,500 people, including uniformed naval officers, to call Congress and ask lawmakers to pass the budget, in which he seeks an additional $54 billion for defense spending in 2018.

    “I don’t mind getting a little hand, so call that congressman and call that senator and make sure you get it,” he told the crowd, before plugging another item on his agenda. “And by the way, you can also call those senators to make sure you get health care.”

    As a Washington Post report added, Trump’s brief appeal “created a potentially awkward tableau at a commissioning event intended to be ceremonial – a commander in chief offering political remarks, and what could even be construed as an order, to the naval officers he commands.”

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:15 am

    Donald Trump boasts he ‘has the complete power to pardon’
    07/24/17 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Late last week, the Washington Post added an alarming twist to Donald Trump’s intensifying Russia scandal, reporting that the president has asked White House aides “about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe.” Over the weekend, Trump didn’t explicitly confirm the story, but he made clear that the subject is very much on his mind.

    Via Twitter, the president insisted on Saturday that “all agree” an American president “has the complete power to pardon.”

    Evidently, the conversations he had about the subject led to answers Trump liked.

    But there’s apparently still some disagreement within Trump World about the nature of these discussions. For example, Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s outside legal team, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos yesterday:

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:17 am

    And, the KKKeebler Elf still hasn’t resigned.
    Uh huh
    Uh huh.

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
    WaPo: Intel intercepts show Sessions, Kislyak talked Trump Russia
    Rachel Maddow reports on another batch of breaking news stories, including a Washington Post report that intelligence indicates that when Jeff Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Kislyak they talked about the Trump campaign and Russia-related matters

  92. 92.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:18 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
    Can Trump sabotage the Trump Russia probe?
    Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Obama, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happens to the Trump Russia investigation if Donald Trump tries to go after Robert Mueller or the investigation itself.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:19 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
    How far can Trump take his pardon power?
    Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Obama, talks with Rachel Maddow about whether Donald Trump would have to announce if he has pardoned someone and whether a pardon could be seen as an obstruction of justice.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:20 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
    Trump team grasping for ways to undercut Mueller Russia probe
    Walter Dellinger, former assistant attorney general and acting solicitor general, talks with Rachel Maddow about some of the excuses the Donald Trump team is trying out in search of a pretext for firing Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Trump Russia probe.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    July 24, 2017 at 9:21 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/21/17
    Trump makes ethics office more accommodating
    Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump’s selection of a more permissive leader of the Office of Government Ethics and notes not only did the new leader approve Jared Kushner’s amended disclosure forms, but he released them at 7pm on a Friday instead of when they were signed.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    July 24, 2017 at 1:10 pm

    @Kay:

    That’s The Plan? 6 months and this is the best they can do?

    Tell me again how we’re expected to win in 2018 with these great ideals on display.

  97. 97.

    J R in WV

    July 24, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    @Kay:

    The business wizards tell us:

    “Today, nearly 11 million Americans are unemployed. Yet, at the same time, 4 million jobs sit unfilled”…

    To me this is a standing proof that the employers seeking 4 million employees are not offering a market-based wage for these important jobs. Or else, perhaps, the jobs aren’t important. Either way, education and training will only make people more valuable in the labor marketplace, and less likely to accept below-market wages than they are today.

    Supply and demand works both ways. If you aren’t offering a wage that the people you seek to hire find acceptable, you won’t get people accepting your job offers.

    I worked for WV state government during the Joe Manchin administration, which changed personnel rules pretty substantially, especially around wages and hiring. We had a good budget for personnel, and had managed to build a good software development team. Not just by offering higher than usual wages but also by using modern tools and techniques and doing interesting work.

    Then one day soon after Manchin took office we were told a mandatory part of a job interview was to ask applicants the minimum wage they would accept for the job, if offered. Then, after we went through gathering applications and making appointments and interviewing and checking references, and, and, then we (I always used a team to interview and select staff) would sit together and review the applicants, talk about strengths and weaknesses, and pick our best candidate, and send the package to the state personnel office.

    Regardless of our budget and requirements, the governor’s personnel office would give us a maximum salary offer thousands of dollars less than the applicant’s minimum acceptable salary! This made hiring acceptable software nerds impossible. I was so, so tempted to show the better applicants a post-it note asking them to hi-ball when asked about salary requirements… but always thought better of it.

    That’s our Senator Joe Manchin for you… make quality hiring impossible in order to keep head count low. Cutting off West Virginia’s nose to spite our faces. Thanks, Joe. Probably still their stupid policy!

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