Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

I was promised a recession.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

You can’t love your country only when you win.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

No Justins, No Peace

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

T R E 4 5 O N

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Second rate reporter says what?

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

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

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

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Job Opportunities

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Job Opportunities

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(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
.

On the other hand, twelve-year-old me might actually have made an effort to understand math, if I’d known jobs like “Planetary Protection Officer” were an option. From the Washington Post:

There’s a vacancy at NASA, and it may have one of the greatest job titles ever conceived: planetary protection officer.

It pays well, between $124,000 and $187,000 annually. You get to work with really smart people as part of the three- to five-year appointment but don’t have to manage anyone. And your work could stave off an alien invasion of Earth or, more important, protect other planets from us…

The job announcement is rather dense. But Catharine Conley, the NASA scientist who has been in this role for three years, has spoken candidly about its scope and responsibilities, telling Scientific American in 2014 that her focus is to ensure that the agency’s activity complies with a 50-year-old international treaty that set standards for preventing biological contamination outside of Earth and safeguarding the planet’s biosphere from any alien life….

***********

Apart from dreaming of close encounters (but not with Republicans), what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  2. 2.

    satby

    Good morning everyone!
    Enjoying classical music while sipping my first cup of coffee, the peaceful way I try to start every day. It’s dark out though, the days are shorter already. A month ago it would have already been getting light.

  6. 6.

    Lapassionara

    @satby: Right after the election, I spent my mornings listening to requiems. They seemed appropriate at the time. What are you listening to?

  8. 8.

    Baud

    Some good morning news from NPR

    President Trump hit a record low approval in a new poll from Quinnipiac University — only 33 percent of Americans now approve of the president (margin of error +/- 3.4 percentage points). Buried in that poll is one sign of where he’s losing that support: For the first time, the poll showed Trump with a negative net approval rating among white Americans without a college degree.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    and safeguarding the planet’s biosphere from any alien life….

    Forget about alien life, and start protecting the planets biosphere from humans.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    @Baud:
    Must have been a busy night for him. During his call to me he told me I was the best BJ commenter there ever was and how everyone loves my comments. “I know mixed reactions and there are no mixed reactions to your comments, everyone loves them. Your comments are YOOOOOGE!”

  15. 15.

    p.a.

    Just tell tRump we won, plant a statue of him somewhere in Afghanistan with one of those 24/7 solar, internet linked cameras like they use for eagle nests, and leave one of the WH tv’s linked to it.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: So when he said he had the greatest phone conversation in the history of presidential phone conversations last night, he wasn’t talking to you?

  24. 24.

    Central Planning

    @Shalimar: I thought trump said he had a plan to win that war, but he didn’t want to give it away during the debates

  25. 25.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Prebuis just leaked the greatest story – EVAH!

    ► Drumpf screaming insults at the generals

    ► Drumpf screaming he wants to fire generals he never met

    ► Drumpf screaming “WE’RE LOSING!” (video)

    ► Drumpt screaming at Mattis not to listen to officers but to waiters.

    ► Drumpf screaming why hasn’t the US has stolen Afghanistan’s natural resources.

    ► Drumpf comparing Afghanistan to a fancy restaurant in Manhattan.

    (link – Wooooooocooooonode Knew Afghanistan Would Be So Difficult?)

  29. 29.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Even the liberal Dmitry Medvedev:

    The US President’s signing of the package of new sanctions against Russia will have a few consequences. First, it ends hopes for improving our relations with the new US administration. Second, it is a declaration of a full-fledged economic war on Russia. Third, the Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way. This changes the power balance in US political circles.

    What does it mean for them? The US establishment fully outwitted Trump

    (link)

  39. 39.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is resisting the pleas of State Department officials to spend nearly $80 million allocated by Congress for fighting terrorist propaganda and Russian disinformation.

    ****

    At one point during the discussions, Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond suggested the money is unwelcome because any extra funding for programs to counter Russian media influence would anger Moscow, according to a former senior State Department official.

    (link)

    So they won’t combat ISIS or Al Qaeda because it’s linked to fighting Russian meddling in western elections and their PyschOps in Ukraine.

    Can you imagine the endless scandal if a Democrat did this.

  42. 42.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 2, 2017 – Trump Drops To New Low, Close To 2-1 Disapproval, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 71 Percent Say President Is Not

    President Donald Trump plunges to a new low as American voters disapprove 33 – 61 percent of the job he is doing, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. White men are divided 47 – 48 percent and Republicans approve 76 – 17 percent. White voters with no college degree, a key part of the president’s base, disapprove 43 – 50 percent.

    Today’s approval rating is down from a 40 – 55 percent disapproval in a June 29 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. This is President Trump’s lowest approval and highest disapproval number since he was inaugurated.

    American voters say 54 – 26 percent that they are embarrassed rather than proud to have Trump as president. Voters say 57 – 40 percent he is abusing the powers of his office and say 60 – 36 percent that he believes he is above the law.

    President Trump is not levelheaded, say 71 – 26 percent of voters, his worst score on that character trait. Voter opinions of most other Trump qualities drop to new lows:

    62 – 34 percent that he is not honest;
    63 – 34 percent that he does not have good leadership skills;
    59 – 39 percent that he does not care about average Americans;
    58 – 39 percent that he is a strong person;
    55 – 42 percent that he is intelligent;
    63 – 34 percent that he does not share their values.

    “It’s hard to pick what is the most alarming number in the troubling trail of new lows for President Donald Trump,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

    “Profound embarrassment over his performance in office and deepening concern over his level-headedness have to raise the biggest red flags.

    “The daily drip drip of missteps and firings and discord are generating a tidal wave of bad polling numbers.

    “Is there a wall big enough to hold it back?”

    (link)

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    @Elizabelle:
    the does not preclude the possibility he is chemically impaired. His behaviour should make us want to look into that shady excuse of a doctor he used as a front

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: From the article:

    One official said Trump pointed to maps showing the Taliban gaining ground, and that Mattis responded to the president by saying the U.S. is losing because it doesn’t have the strategy it needs.

    It’s not the strategy that is lacking, it’s the dogdamn resources. Time and again the US gets involved in these idiocies pretending we can do it on the cheap and time after time the result is the same. We never should have invaded because we were never going to invest the necessary amounts to “win”, whatever the fuck that means. I said so then and I say so now.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    58 – 39 percent that he is a strong person;
    55 – 42 percent that he is intelligent;
    “It’s hard to pick what is the most alarming number in the troubling trail of new lows for President Donald Trump,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

    No it’s not, the 58% that he is strong and 55% that he is intelligent are very disturbing. He is an idiotic WATB and people think that is intelligent or strong? WASF.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: I misread the “strong” question. That’s his best trait in the poll.

    The “strong” response is probably due to his bullying, and the intelligent because he is a rich guy.

  52. 52.

    satby

    @Baud: so I tried to google it. Most sources implied enlisted supported Clinton and career or officer ranked members were Republican supporters falling in line as they always do. But most of the sources I found were pre-election or RWNJ sites.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    They polled on President McCain too:

    American voters give Arizona Sen. John McCain a 57 – 32 percent favorability rating, with a 74 – 18 percent positive score from Democrats and a 60 – 28 percent positive rating from independent voters. Republicans give McCain a negative 39 – 49 percent rating.

    Trump gets a negative 34 – 61 percent favorability rating, with a 79 – 17 percent positive score from Republicans. All other groups are negative, with white men at 47 – 48 percent.

    That Russian Thing

    The president “has attempted to derail or obstruct the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election,” American voters believe 58 – 37 percent.

    Voters believe 63 – 31 percent that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election. Republicans don’t believe it 61 – 30 percent, while every other group believes by wide margins that the Russians interfered.

    Republicans are crazy asses. I suspect you’re seeing the Fox News/rightwing sources misinformation bubble there, especially on “That Russian Thing.”

  55. 55.

    gene108

    @Shalimar:

    What I heard on one of the MSNBC programs last night (can’t remember which one) is the Trump is mad that the military has not paved the way for U.S. companies to gain exclusive mineral rights in Afghanistan. Basically, he doesn’t see the point of spending years in Afghanistan, if U.S. companies cannot economically profit.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Suspect the “strong” and “intelligent” responses indicate you’re dealing with delusional poll respondents. People still in thrall with the reality TV show aspects.

    Fits with the “Gingrich being a dumb guy’s idea of a smart guy” type of assessment.

    ETA: And the level of whining from Trump, and he still gets that “strong” rating? Surprising to me.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Not even that. Getting UBL should always have been a goal but that was like using an aircraft carrier to kill a hornet. The purpose of any action against Afghanistan after 9/11 should have been to make the Taliban pay for their complicity. What that action should have been I can not say because I do not know what all the options were, but invading was the equivalent of chaining ourselves to a 500 lb chunk of concrete. Now were stuck with either the Sisyphean task of turning Afghanistan into “victory” or the embarrassing alternative of cutting the chain to free ourselves of that burden.

    We won’t sufficiently fund the former, and we will avoid the latter as long as possible because that would require us to face the fact of what a paper tiger we really are.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We won’t sufficiently fund the former, and we will avoid the latter as long as possible because that would require us to face the fact of what a paper tiger we really are.

    Agree. And since American deaths there are relatively few, there’s no political pressure to end this quickly.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    BTW, remember that each new 1000 point milestone in the Dow is less impressive than the last, since the Dow is a proportional index.

  63. 63.

    satby

    @Elizabelle:

    And the level of whining from Trump, and he still gets that “strong” rating? Surprising to me.

    It shouldn’t. They (RWNJs) all whine: their churches are persecuted, minorities get free stuff they don’t, their taxes are too high, they have to be “politically correct” and can’t use racial slurs or say Merry Christmas. It’s all a ball of crazy grievance about everything, none of it actually based in reality. They see the fake president as strong because he gives voice to their “unfairly suppressed” views.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    The “strong” response is probably due to his bullying, and the intelligent because he is a rich guy.

    Yep, people are idiots. Thinking that getting your lawyers to bleed people dry makes you a tuff guy and being born rich makes one smart.

  67. 67.

    bystander

    @Baud:

    @satby: Nah. It’s ok. Like the president, I am lying.

    As long as the voices in your head are those of living people, it can’t be a lie.

  69. 69.

    gene108

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    we will avoid the latter as long as possible because that would require us to face the fact of what a paper tiger we really are.

    The US is a long way from being a paper tiger militarily. We are not involved in the types of convential wars our military has been designed to fight.

    We are trying to referee a multi sided civil war in the Middle East, and a civil war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is funded by Pakistan, so they are not going away and have little reason to negotiate a peace settlement with the Afghanistan government.

    And the fact we keep electing Republicans as President, who will and have fucked up everything they touch, we keep digging a hole after we have sort of filled it back in.

  70. 70.

    Elizabelle

    OT. In non-Trump craziness, one of my fave stories this week was about a Dallas newlywed couple from hell (she being a “lifestyle and beauty blogger”) who defamed their wedding photographer, via social media and emails, right up to setting up a ridiculously one-sided news segment on the local NBC station. Photog sued; jury returned a $1 million verdict against the bridezilla and groom.

    I hope they are made to pay every penny. Horrible people. Stupid too; lots of email evidence that worked against them.

    They trashed their wedding photographer over a $125 fee, so a jury told them to pay her $1 million

    ….“Wedding photographer holds couple’s pictures hostage,” blared the Daily Mail a few days later.

    The Moldovans’ [couple’s] sympathizers descended on photographer Andrea Polito’s review pages, calling her a scam artist, or worse.

    Her reputation was ruined, her business dried up and she closed her studio.

    And then the story changed.

    Polito sued the Moldovans, claiming all they ever had to do to get their glossies was fill out a form, choose options for their wedding album and pay a small charge they had long known about.

    The photographer showed the court emails in which she and her employees tried to appease the couple — even as the Moldovans were calling reporters, whipping up a furor on social media and plugging their newfound fame to fans of Neely Moldovan’s beauty blog, Polito said.

    On Friday, a jury in Dallas decided that the tale of the ransomed wedding photos was not heartbreaking, and not even true.

    In fact, the jurors concluded, the accusations amounted to malicious defamation, for which the Moldovans should pay the photographer more than $1 million in damages.

    Moldova (!) might want its good name back, too.

  71. 71.

    gene108

    @NotMax:

    And while he’s at it, Dolt 45 can make Jared a five star general.

    Jared would only agree, if Ivanka can design the uniform. He’d probably look for a way to incorporate a nifty navy blue blazer and khaki pants into the look. Maybe some tasseled loafers too.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    The more I hear about Stephen Miller’s press conference, the angrier I get. I didn’t know until this morning that his grandparents emigrated from Belarus. I wish someone had the cohones to point out to Miller that his grandparents would have failed the test he’s proposing, and as a result, he wouldn’t have grown up to be the American exemplar he pictures himself to be.

    Or maybe I misjudge the grandparents. Maybe the grandparents wanted to move to a more horrible country than their homeland. Yeah, that must be it.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @satby: Yup. Paranoids in Depends.

    Enjoy what must be your third cuppa coffee by now. I am still hoping to nap a bit, but maybe should just get up and put on the coffee pot …

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Yep, people don’t care when it’s not their son or daughter. All the money we are dumping into that comedy of errors, the things we could do with that.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax: Truly. Bridezilla’s blog is down, and they are laughingstocks. Regrettably, they have already spawned.

    I wish the photographer could go after the NBC affiliate next. They had a duty to investigate more before running the segment; they did some catch up a few days/weeks later, but the damage to the photographer was done.

    Photographer (who is actually model gorgeous IRL, unlike bridezilla) preferred not to go on camera herself, and I wonder if that might have backfired on her, because the email letter she sent may not have been as compelling to the NBC affiliate. It’s likely the TV news story that really spiked her business.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    @gene108:

    ..We are trying to referee a multi sided civil war in the Middle East, and a civil war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is funded by Pakistan. ..

    And Pakistan pays them in US dollars they get from us.

  82. 82.

    germy

    Facebook Zuck wants to be president.

    Can't think of more hilariously stupid choice for mogul of a data company to hire than Benenson. Also makes me less worried he'll be POTUS— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 2, 2017

    emptywheel‏
    @emptywheel

    I take that back.

    Zuck could have hired Mark Penn. But aside from Penn, Benenson is the most hilariously stupid possible.

  83. 83.

    Iowa Old Lady

    In random news, a friend in Oklahoma City tells me they had four earthquakes yesterday, the last one strong enough to knock the pictures off the wall.

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108:

    The US is a long way from being a paper tiger militarily.

    The US is a paper tiger. Our military forces against the Taliban aren’t even measured in the same increments. But they are running circles around our vaunted Army/Air Force/Navy/Marines. It’s not because our military is not up to the task, it’s because we refuse to spend the necessary capital. We keep trying to sew the damaged fabric of that country back together pretending that the needle and thread of another 6500 troops would finally do the job when what we need to do is get some new fabric (change the views of the populace by investing tons of money on infrastructure and education etc etc dragging them into the 21st century).

    But we won’t, because that would cost more money than we have any intention of spending, and there is every bit the chance that it wouldn’t work anyway. It’s a fool’s errand, always was.

  86. 86.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    Considering Trump’s mother was born and raised in Scotland, Trump has first cousin’s in Scotland (who seem to not want to have anything to do with him), and his paternal grandfather immigrated from Germany, Miller is just copying his boss’s hypocrisy on the matter of immigration.

    Obama’s family, on his mother’s side, has been in the U.S. longer than anyone in Trump’s family, with each having one immigrant parent, yet Obama is considered the “foreigner”.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108:

    And the fact we keep electing Republicans as President, who will and have fucked up everything they touch, we keep digging a hole after we have sort of filled it back in.

    Also, can’t blame this fuck up on Republicans alone. DEMs were every bit as complicit and it was Obama who said that Afghanistan was the right war, as tho 9/11 justified shooting ourselves in the face.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: But I think we could have killed OBL and gotten ourselves out, having made the point. Instead, W and Cheney lied us into Iraq too.

    Democrats were expecting a shorter and more targeted action in Afghanistan. That is true. No one expected this thing to drag on longer than WW2 or Viet Nam.

    (Honestly, several probably did foresee that, and warn. Graveyard of Empires, and all. But I don’t hold Democrats equally complicit.)

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: I read that earlier this week. What a pair of assholes. I hope the notoriety of the case can help the photographer build her business back up, but that’s hard to do.

  94. 94.

    germy

    @Baud: A spokesperson for the USDA told CNN, “Dr. Clovis is a proud conservative and a proud American. All of his reporting either on the air or in writing over the course of his career has been based on solid research and data. He is after all an academic.”

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: Agreed — we should have declared victory and gone home after waxing OBL. I’ve read that the Russians are now funding the Taliban, which is a supreme irony. If Trump had any sense, which he obviously doesn’t, he’d get us the hell out of there. As it is, we’ll have to wait for President Gillibrand or Harris to extract us.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: I get that “race traitor” is a common phrase among white supremacists, but what is a “race trader?”

  97. 97.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    we’ll have to wait for President Gillibrand or Harris to extract us.

    The usual suspects will show up here to explain to us why both those ladies are tools of 1) Wall Street 2) The military-industrial complex or 3) The Clintons.

  98. 98.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    I get that “race traitor” is a common phrase among white supremacists, but what is a “race trader?”

    At first I thought it was a typo. But apparently it is a thing?

  99. 99.

    Kay

    The new theme is “Trump has a sense of humor”. His super funny lines include jokes about police beating handcuffed arrestees. That’s why they help them into the back of the police car- because they’re handcuffed and it’s hard to get into a car with your hands tied behind your back.

    This is what “custody” means, and they are in custody:

    “the protective care or guardianship of someone or something”

    When you take away someone’s ability to look after themselves by restraining them, you become responsible for what happens to that person. This is hundreds of years old- the jailers duty to the imprisoned. It isn’t a new and “liberal” idea. It’s the same idea that undergirds custodians of children- they have an enhanced duty because their charges can’t take care of themselves.

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Shalimar: Fire the “Loser” and replace him with the Wonder Kid who can solve all problems known to man, Jared Kushner. He’s about to solve the hundreds year conflict between Jews and Palestinians so he could go in and resolve the Afghanistan conflict as well.

  103. 103.

    Patricia Kayden

    @germy: Nice to see that Trump has so many White Supremacists to choose from to fill key federal government positions. Great to know that our tax dollars go towards paying for White racists. But Clinton used an unauthorized email server so it’s all good.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle:

    But I think we could have killed OBL and gotten ourselves out,

    It doesn’t work that way. To get UBL via invasion required us to do exactly what we did: Remove the Taliban from power. As soon as we did that, we were then responsible for the country, we could not just turn around and let it fall into chaos.

    Of course, we didn’t even get UBL at Tora Bora because, get this, we were too cheap to deploy the US troops necessary and used Northern Alliance forces as the blockers to trap him there. You know what they say about Afghans: They can’t be bought, but they are for rent.

  106. 106.

    tokyo expat

    @debbie: I read Alexandra Petri’s WaPo OpEd this morning on the Press Conference and I thought it was something out of the Onion. But then I read a straight news article that excerpted the same material. These people have no filters. Do they even know what’s coming out of their mouths?

    I met up with two colleagues today, one British and one Canadian. My British colleague said she found Trump “amusing.” She said she had always thought Americans were “sensible.” My Canadian colleague agreed. We are so screwed.

  108. 108.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay:

    The new theme is “Trump has a sense of humor”.

    Trump is a joke but his sense of humor is severely lacking. He can’t even laugh at himself which is a big giveaway. If “joking” about brutalizing suspects is okay with Conservatives, they should have shut their mouths about Kathy Griffin’s bloody head joke. They can’t have it both ways.

  109. 109.

    bemused

    @Elizabelle:

    Ugh, the reek of entitlement from that couple. I hope they at least have to pay Polito revenue she lost plus legal expenses and stress. They’re bullies, Mr and Mrs Scut Farkus.

  110. 110.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: Apparently Stephen Miller was raised by liberal Democrats so it’s interesting how he fell off the train and became a belligerent White Supremacist. One thing I can give Trump credit for is finding the scummiest people to work in his administration. He’s a magnet for the bottom dwellers that we normally would never hear of.

  112. 112.

    bemused

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I recently saw somewhere a USGS one minute animation of increase of earthquakes in OK and surrounding states 2004-2016. Terrifying. Bad enough living in tornado alley and size and intensity o tornadoes growing and now uptick in earthquakes. None of this is normal!

  113. 113.

    gene108

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We keep trying to sew the damaged fabric of that country back together pretending that the needle and thread of another 6500 troops would finally do the job when what we need to do is get some new fabric (change the views of the populace by investing tons of money on infrastructure and education etc etc dragging them into the 21st century).

    The problems in Afghanistan are more complicated than just money. Part of the problem we have in rebuilding Afghanistan is the Bush, Jr White House was very ideologically driven, with regards to free markets solve everything.

    We did not objectively look at how to recreate the government of Afghanistan. At best we ignored them, while Bush & Co plotted to topple Saddam.

    We never put the intellectual capital that needed to be provided to create effective government institutions there.

    We diverted those resources to Iraq.

    From figuring out how to build industries there that benefit the people to weening farmers off of growing opium* for war lords and the Taliban, we did not invest enough non-monetary capital in the beginning, when it would have done the most good.

    * Heroin use in Iran, Pakistan, and then India, Central Asia, Russia and Europe spiked sharply 10 years ago as cheap heroin from Afghanistan flooded those countries. I sometimes wonder how much of our current heroin problem is due to the cheap heroin from Afghanistan finally making it across the oceans to our country.

  114. 114.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    Grrr.

    The difference between how Obama and Trump are treated, with regards to their “Americanness” is also exhibit infinity of white privilege.

    If you are white, you are automatically American.

  116. 116.

    Shalimar

    @Central Planning: Trump had a secret plan to defeat ISIS in Syria/Iraq. I can’t recall him making any references to Afghanistan during the campaign. It might have been a shock for him to take office and find out we were still at war there.

  117. 117.

    A Ghost To Most

    Rump is a symptom; “conservatism” is the disease:

    As Paul Krugman argues in his Monday column, “the Republican health care debacle was the culmination of a process of intellectual and moral deterioration that began four decades ago, at the very dawn of modern movement conservatism—that is, during the very era anti-Trump conservatives now point to as the golden age of conservative thought.”

    It all started back in 1970, Krugman continues, when Irving Kristol, a political commentator and the “godfather of neoconservatism,” endorsed supply-side economics, “the claim,” according to Krugman, “refuted by all available evidence and experience, that tax cuts pay for themselves by boosting economic growth.” Fellow conservatives ate it up, grateful to have a palatable explanation for taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

    Krugman notes that Kristol was downright gleeful about his deception, “[conceding] to having had a ‘cavalier attitude toward the budget deficit,’ because it was all about creating a Republican majority—so ‘political effectiveness was the priority, not the accounting deficiencies of government.’”

    This flagrant disregard for the truth about the economy ultimately set the stage for the GOP’s lies about the Affordable Care Act, and again today during its quest for repeal. In 2009 Republicans raged against Obamacare for not covering enough people while shutting down all discussion of universal healthcare. Remember when they made giant out-of-pocket costs the cornerstone of their policy? Well, Republicans have conveniently forgotten that, as they shout about the act’s high deductibles. Caught in their own lies, the GOP needs to create even more to try to destroy Obamacare.

    The issue, as Krugman sees it, is “once you accept the principle that it’s O.K. to lie if it helps you win elections, it gets ever harder to limit the extent of the lying—or even to remember what it’s like to seek the truth.”

    rawstory

  118. 118.

    Shalimar

    @rikyrah: That sounds like classic Trump too, always protecting the people worth more money than him (in this case Betsy DeVos; I don’t think the Chinese pay Prince enough for him to still be a billionaire).

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    @gene108:

    Heroin use in Iran, Pakistan, and then India, Central Asia, Russia and Europe spiked sharply 10 years ago as cheap heroin from Afghanistan flooded those countries. I sometimes wonder how much of our current heroin problem is due to the cheap heroin from Afghanistan finally making it across the oceans to our country.

    Same as it ever was. When we announced we were going into Afghanistan, I knew this would happen. You can go back to the Anglo-Afghan Wars and see the spike in opiod use/addiction.

  120. 120.

    oldgold

    Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
    ·
    5m
    “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can’t even give us HCare!”

    Two things you traitorous fool:
    1) They have been much worse in the past. I don’t think school children are currently practicing hiding under their desks.
    2) It is not the fault of Congress. You and your buddy Putin are responsible.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108:

    The problems in Afghanistan are more complicated than just money.

    Yes, hence my “and there is every bit the chance that it wouldn’t work anyway. It’s a fool’s errand, always was.”

    Part of the problem we have in rebuilding Afghanistan is the Bush, Jr White House was very ideologically driven, with regards to free markets solve everything.

    Yes.

    We did not objectively look at how to recreate the government of Afghanistan. At best we ignored them, while Bush & Co plotted to topple Saddam.

    Yes.

    We never put the intellectual capital that needed to be provided to create effective government institutions there.

    Yes.

    We diverted those resources to Iraq.

    Yes.

    From figuring out how to build industries there that benefit the people to weening farmers off of growing opium* for war lords and the Taliban, we did not invest enough non-monetary capital in the beginning, when it would have done the most good.

    and Yes. but I feel the need to point out that this non monetary capitol you speak of? It costs money too. especially when fighting a war from 8,000 miles away. Every single one of those criticisms of Bush and Co could also be leveled at Obama and co tho to lesser extents. In Obama’s defense, he was handed an impossible mess, but he didn’t do anything more than try to maintain the status quo because again, we do not have the will to do what is necessary there, if we are even capable of figuring out what that is.

    And I have serious doubts that we or anyone else is capable of figuring it out. Always have had those doubts. Invading was a stupid thing to do.

  122. 122.

    gene108

    @germy:

    To be fair, Gillibrand is in bed Wall Street, as her husband is a New York based venture capitalist.

    He’s also British. I am sure that will be used against her.

    One thing Hillary had going for her is Bill was President. In no way could she overshadow her husband.

    There’s a strong implicit bias in society against men sacrificing their careers to support their wife’s ambitions. This makes men seem weak. Conversely, it is assumed women will do this for their husbands and not doing so is a blot against the wife.

    The amount of crap the would be First Gentleman will take will exceed the shit Hillary had to put up with in 1992, when she was given shit for daring to have a career outside of her husband’s polical ambitions and not being solely the good political wife/prop.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @gene108:

    It is really blatant. Can you imagine if Michelle Obama had been born in another country? There would have been ENDLESS discussion. Everything the Obama’s did was analyzed under this “one of us?” measure. They had to so carefully stay within the lines.

    Trump is a fucking oddball. He’s a weirdo and he surrounds himself with this bizarre collection of weirdos and he’s just assumed to be in the club. That’s freedom, what he has. It’s just handed to some people and withheld from others.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    He’s just commenting on the state of affairs at this point. He’s a Morning Joe guest with a really big microphone.

  125. 125.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Forget about alien life, and start protecting the planets biosphere from humans.

    Great idea! Only problem with that is that the T budget eliminates all of NASA’s climate monitoring programs. Funds instead go to putting “American boots on Mars.” Another white male dominance display. SMH.

  126. 126.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    I knew it would bug the hell out of him that Congress disallowed his preference for Putin. It IS humiliating.

    I bet he gets madder and madder as time goes on and it festers. He’ll be lashing out here shortly! Someone must pay!

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: It’s almost like Medvedev chose his words carefully…ones he knew would get under Trumpov’s skin the most: “humiliating” “total weakness” “fully outwitted”. Good thing Trumpov doesn’t reveal his innermost thoughts publicly (and in private 1-on-1 conversations with, say, Vladimir Putin)

  128. 128.

    Immanentize

    @oldgold: that happens to be exactly what Medvedev said when taunting Trump for being weak.

    ETA well except the health care part.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle:

    I suspect you’re seeing the Fox News/rightwing sources misinformation bubble there, especially on “That Russian Thing.”

    Yup. Fox is there primarily to try and keep the GOP’s floor at 40% of voters. I’d have to say they’ve been doing a pretty good job, but even their ‘dam’ is showing cracks…

  130. 130.

    MomSense

    @gene108:

    The amount of crap the would be First Gentleman will take will exceed the shit Hillary had to put up with in 1992, when she was given shit for daring to have a career outside of her husband’s polical ambitions and not being solely the good political wife/prop.

    She got so much shit for having a career, a more impressive one than her husband in many ways, and yet I cannot tell you how many supposed progressive women felt she hadn’t achieved anything on her own and was somehow a bad feminist because she was leveraging her husband’s accomplishments for her presidential aspiration.

  132. 132.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    I think it is just assumed Melania is there as arm candy. It doesn’t matter where she is from or even if she lives with her husband.

    But if you think Hillary Clinton gave white men economic anxiety, imagine a woman candidate, whose husband had to quit his day job to help his wife run for President. The economic anxiety would just be overwhelming.

    Keep in mind Hillary Clinton, in 1992, and Michelle Obama, in 2008, and Heidi Cruz, in 2016, were/are women with successful private sector careers, who put those on hold so hubby can run for President.

    I just can’t picture the media giving a man the same benefit of the doubt these women were given that supporting their spouse’s Presidential run is the expected thing to do.

    Trump is a fucking oddball.

    He is beyond odd. He does not do things normal people do,like laugh and smile. Ther is something seriously wrong with him.

    He’s a weirdo and he surrounds himself with this bizarre collection of weirdos and he’s just assumed to be in the club. That’s freedom, what he has.

    White male privilege in action.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    I live in an area that went 70% for Trump and can I just say to my fellow white people that of all the problems we have with a lack of educational attainment “affirmative action” is like number 2 million down the list?

    If you think you didn’t all get into the University of Michigan because of black people may I respectfully suggest that this is both misguided and doesn’t address your real problems? You have to finish high school to apply to college. Let’s work on that before going to “the tiny number of affirmative action admits to a university I would never get into anyway?”

    Let’s fix our own communities and stop blaming black people.

  134. 134.

    Matt McIrvin

    @O. Felix Culpa: Their budget also increases the funding for robotic Solar System exploration, maybe the one Trump administration policy I approve of. But at the expense of all the Earth science stuff, it seems unconscionable to celebrate it.

  135. 135.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: When I was in college in the 1980s, the belief that white people were having a hard time getting into college because of affirmative action (and that any black student with half-decent grades would surely get a free-ride scholarship) was omnipresent. It’s a white article of faith at this point, beyond the reach of evidence.

  136. 136.

    Wapiti

    @Baud: This. Once the Rangers and SF and all drove the Al Qaeda forces out, back in ~2002, we should have left Afghanistan.

    Whether Trump fires the current commander there or not, I don’t think Trump has a winning strategy. I don’t think the generals have a winning strategy. I don’t think there is a winning strategy.

  138. 138.

    Jeffro

    Btw did y’all know Trumpov is going on his first vacation since he was inaugurated? It’s true: the AP says so.

    Guess where he’s going? No, seriously. HIS OWN GOLF COURSE!1!!

    From the end of the article:

    Presidents travel with the equivalent of a mini-White House made up of advisers, other aides and security, and they must be prepared to deal with a crisis at all hours and from wherever they are. But chronic stress affects the body’s ability to resist infection, maintain vital functions and avoid injuries, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, then a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, wrote in a 2010 paper on the website of Psychology Today subtitled “why presidents (and all of us) need vacations.”

    Stressed out people are more likely to get sick, have accidents, sleep poorly, be more irritable and less fun to be around. Whitebourne wrote that vacations break the “stress cycle.”

    “Perhaps it’s good that someone as important as our president is showing that he believes it’s beneficial to take a break from the office, get out and enjoy the outdoors in a little bit of a break in mindset and, we would hope, be able to go back to work refreshed and renewed and do a better job,” Whitbourne, who currently teaches at the university’s Boston campus, told the AP in a telephone interview. “I think that’s the theory of vacations.”

    Yes, a guy who already golfs every 3.8 days definitely needs to refresh and renew himself…OMFG…

    If you have a free moment (and just to keep those phone-dialing fingers in shape for the next crazy bill that comes down the pike), why not call the AP and tell them to fuck off and die? AP HQ is 1 212.621.1500.

  140. 140.

    Wapiti

    @Kay: I had an African-American (AA) guy working for me when I was in the Army (about 1999). He asked if perhaps it was time to get rid of affirmative action. He was seriously good at his job; a better officer than I was, for certain. From his perspective, his accomplishments had a taint. My reply then was that affirmative action is still needed in the government, because that’s the way we set the example for the rest of the country. We are 14% AA. When we get to 14 AA Senators and 14% of the CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies being AA, then we know that affirmative action has worked.

  142. 142.

    Tenar Arha

    @debbie: As a fellow Jewish person, for me he’s literally a walking talking shanda fur die goyim calling someone a globalist as an insult, because that scheisse was started by Stalin and used against Jewish people ever since. The Anne Frank Center even points out how bad he is here.

  143. 143.

    Chris

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s not even that we won’t sufficiently fund them (though certainly we won’t), it’s that we don’t even know how to rebuild societies anymore. The Reaganite bug has infested enough of the U.S. government that our idea of reconstruction is to drown the government in the bathtub and wait for the Free Market Fairy to do its work. Successfully rebuilding the country would mean acknowledging that this is not and has never been how functioning developed societies are made, and since we can’t even acknowledge that at home, we’re not about to do it over there.

  144. 144.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin: No words. Except: “ugh.”

    @Wapiti: I agree with your take on it. And can see your Army colleague having to put up with folks who couldn’t see his talents and fitness for his skin color.

    I always wondered if Harry S Truman’s approval rating soared in later years because it was low partly because he integrated the Armed Services. (Could have been war fatigue too.)

  145. 145.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Another target for the administration’s wrecking ball:

    It’s beyond clear now: President Trump is intent on wrecking the nuclear deal with Iran.

    Last month, his administration certified Tehran’s compliance with the accord, an arms control agreement Iran inked with the United States and other world powers after months of negotiations. Both U.S. allies and international inspectors agree Iran is abiding by the terms of the deal, which put strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear program and allows for a tough regime of inspections.

    But Trump signed off on Iran’s compliance with profound reluctance, and he has since signaled that when Iran’s certification comes up again — as it will every 90 days, per a mandate from Congress — he intends to declare Iran not in compliance, possibly even if there is evidence to the contrary.

    Trump’s insistence on scrapping the deal seems mostly born out of a desire to dismantle the work of his predecessor, who staked his foreign policy legacy on the deal with Iran. But there is precedent for this — and not a great one: in 2001, when President George W. Bush came to power, he reexamined the diplomatic framework President Bill Clinton had built to contain North Korea’s budding nuclear threat.

    “Then as now, a neophyte president was determined to chart a new course in foreign policy to distinguish himself from his predecessor,” wrote Amir Handjani of the Atlantic Council. “At the time, the Bush administration claimed to have evidence of a covert uranium enrichment program, which would have violated the deal. Rather than building an international coalition to force Pyongyang to strictly adhere to the terms of the Agreed Framework, the Bush administration chose to abandon diplomacy.”

    It didn’t work. In 2006, North Korea fired its first nuclear weapon. Now the world — and Trump — faces an all-the-more dangerous predicament in Northeast Asia.

  146. 146.

    Iowa Old Lady

    VATICAN CITY — Two close associates of Pope Francis have accused American Catholic ultraconservatives of making an alliance of “hate” with evangelical Christians to back President Trump, further alienating a group already out of the Vatican’s good graces….

    It is not clear if the article, appearing in La Civiltà Cattolica, received the pope’s direct blessing, but it was extraordinary coming from a journal that carries the Holy See’s seal of approval. There has apparently been no reprimand from the pope, who is not shy about disciplining dissenters, and La Civiltà Cattolica’s editor has promoted the article nearly every day since it was published in July.

    Link

  147. 147.

    satby

    @Chris: we don’t know how to rebuild societies because it would mean that the Republicans would have to admit that our own needs serious rebuilding. Our society is living proof their theories about almost everything are wrong.

  150. 150.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Chris: This is true, unfortunately. If this country tried to put an astronaut on the moon or build highways or create a vaccine for polio, we couldn’t do it. Morans hate smart people and these days the morans are in charge of everything.

  154. 154.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Jeffro:

    We’ll need to beat on Congress like all heck in order to preserve this.

    Yes. The problem (and likely strategy) is that the administration has so many targets, it’s exhausting even to think about fighting them all. But we can’t let up. Must keep on calling and doing whatever it takes to roll this evil tide back.

  156. 156.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady: Bring it on, Pope Francis.

    The rightwing leadership of the US Catholic Church is rancid. On purpose. John Paul II and Benedict Ratzinger did this. Which is why they couldn’t canonize JP2 fast enough. And threw in John 23, as appeasement.

    From the NY Times article:

    The authors, writing in a Vatican-vetted journal, singled out Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, as a “supporter of an apocalyptic geopolitics” that has stymied action against climate change and exploited fears of migrants and Muslims with calls for “walls and purifying deportations.”

    The article warns that conservative American Catholics have strayed dangerously into the deepening political polarization in the United States. The writers even declare that the worldview of American evangelical and hard-line Catholics, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, is “not too far apart’’ from jihadists.

    …. Since the 2013 election of Pope Francis, conservatives have worried that he has given short shrift to the social issues that have animated them, among them abortion and same-sex marriage. [Because Jesus was all about that. Harped on it constantly.] They have sat through his warnings to steer clear of politics. They have watched warily as Francis has installed pastors in his image while sidelining conservative leaders.

    … Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University and a contributor to liberal Catholic journals, said the Civiltà Cattolica article would “be remembered in church history as one of the most important to understand the Vatican of Francis and the United States and American Catholicism.”

    American Catholicism, he argued, echoing the article’s thesis, “has become different than mainstream European Catholicism and mainstream Latin American Catholicism,” and has fallen “into the hands of the religious right.”

    … Personnel decisions in the Catholic hierarchy are crucial to Francis’ effort to make the church more inclusive, particularly in the United States.

    Earlier in the article (which is worth a click):

    Not long after Francis’ election, Vatican ambassadors briefed the pontiff about various situations around the world and suggested that he be especially careful when appointing bishops and cardinals in the United States.

    “I know that already,” the pope interrupted, according to a high-ranking Vatican official familiar with the details of the conversation, who asked that his name not be used while discussing internal Vatican deliberations. “That’s where the opposition is coming from.”

  158. 158.

    Gelfling 545

    @satby: we are extraordinarily fortunate here in WNY to have WNED – a 24/7 classical station with fine programming and knowledgeable program hosts coming up on its 40th year on air. Now, of course, they stream online worldwide at WNED.org as well. They accompany me through my day.( I’m looking for a decent wireless outdoor speaker that wont cost a fortune so I can listen more easily in the garden.) Well worth the twice a year fund raisers and yes, I am a member. Playing some Puccini now.

  159. 159.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: I recommend Puccini’s music for the runup to lovemaking. IOW –

    – wait for it –

    Turandot is foreplay.

    =;^p

  161. 161.

    Chris

    @Elizabelle:

    Frankly, good for them. I’m fucking exhausted with a Catholic Church that acts as an arm of the GOP and gives its preferred party’s politicians a pass on every single un-Catholic thing they do.

  162. 162.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @germy: Clovis is a self-confessed traitor to the only race on this planet: the human race. He desperately needs to DIAF.

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