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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / You are a magnet

You are a magnet

by DougJ|  March 1, 201810:40 pm| 90 Comments

This post is in: Election 2018

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This is what I immediately thought when I heard about the new tariffs on aluminum and steel:

one person close to WH tells me that PA-18 is on the president's mind as he thinks through tariffs. He's being told that his base in places like western PA wants to see more on trade, person said

— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 1, 2018

The special election there is very close — 2 or 3 points in recent polls in a district with a +11 R Cook PVI (which means that typically a Republican wins a Congressional race by 22 points). (I’m not raising money for it anymore because the Democratic candidate opposes gun control. I understand that’s a necessary position for this district and I hope he wins nevertheless.)

My guess is Trump goes nuts on the trade war to try to shore up his position with some blue collar workers and that the entire GOP apparatus decides they’ve always hated free trade.

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Previous Post: « NRAngst Open Thread: The Elephant in the House (And the Senate, Too)
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Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    Steeplejack

    March 1, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    Where is Zhena Gogolia? Rachel Maddow just proudly announced that she constructed tomorrow’s New York Times crossword puzzle (with the help of the editor, of course)!

  2. 2.

    efgoldman

    March 1, 2018 at 10:50 pm

    Of course asshole in chief has no idea of folllow on consequences (for anything). The market tanked immediately. Do you think he, or anyone in his circle, considered a connection? Hahahahaha

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    March 1, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @Steeplejack: Just finished that puzzle. Somewhat harder for me than the usual Friday puzzles (app said I was about thirty percent over my average time), but for the most part pretty fair in the clues etc.

  4. 4.

    West of the Cascades

    March 1, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    The GOP has always been at war with Eastasia.

  5. 5.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 10:54 pm

    (I’m not raising money for it anymore because the Democratic candidate opposes gun control. I understand that’s a necessary position for this district and I hope he wins nevertheless.)

    Bad reasoning there, IMHO.

    Obama and Clinton were against gay marriage, until they weren’t.

    As I’ve ranted here before: What matters is electing Democrats so that the Democratic party is in the hands of Democratic leaders. The leaders set the rules, determine what gets voted on, determines what amendments are allowed, and all the rest. A Democrat that says he’s opposed to gun control is still one less vote for the Trumpistic party that is ruining our government.

    I put my money where my mouth is and sent Lamb $100 yesterday. It’s late and probably won’t help much, but it might.

    I understand lots of people have red lines. I do too, but the way things stand now, not voting for the Democrat in my elections – and not doing what I can to help them win important races – is one of them.

    YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  6. 6.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    March 1, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    Three Republican groups have now invested more than $5 million in television and radio ads in the district. On Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee purchased another $500,000 in paid media, bringing the total it has spent to more than $2 million, Matt Gorman, NRCC communications director, told The Daily Beast. America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC has reportedly pumped another $1 million into the race. And a spokesperson for the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely linked to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), said it has invested $2.2 million on television to date. In addition to that, CLF has an active field program with 50 full-time door knockers in the district. A Democratic source tracking the recent spending estimated, based on FEC information, that Republican groups have added at least $1.6 million to their existing purchases in the past week alone.

    These types of investments are usually saved for the highest-profile of races. Sometimes, Senate contests won’t cost this much.

    Running Scared.

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 1, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    I’ve been wondering where he’ll be on tariffs in a week after the Mercers and whoever else goes to work on him, so we’ll have more chaos and more free-floating policy

  8. 8.

    joel hanes

    March 1, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    First there is a tariff
    Then there is no tariff
    Then there is

    Free-trade Jabba sheds its skin
    To find protectionist within

    First there is a tariff
    Then there is no tariff
    Then there is

  9. 9.

    gbbalto

    March 1, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    @Another Scott: Very well put! First get rid of the Repubs, THEN do the debating within the party.

    ETA: Will send money too

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    March 1, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    There is no way Trump did this bullshit with any inkling of PA-18 in mind. That is ridiculous.

  11. 11.

    gbbalto

    March 1, 2018 at 10:58 pm

    @joel hanes: Great!!!

  12. 12.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    March 1, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    First Georgia Repukes want to F-over the largest employer in their state, and Trump Don IL going Smoot-Hawley, near peak Wingnut?? Or will it end?

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yup. Donnie runs his mouth, and lies, and those words often don’t translate into actual policies. Let’s see what he actually signs.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    March 1, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    WTS, money is not going to win this race.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    March 1, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    @Mr Stagger Lee: I’m actually not sure I am too unhappy about GA R’s killing the jet fuel tax break. But let them own it.

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    March 1, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    @Corner Stone: Well, not with PA-18 specifically…probably more a combination of “what does my drool-cup base want?” coupled with “what can I do to stir things up?” coupled with “what’ll show ’em I meanz bidness?1??1!”

    I mean, who know with this loon? He’s about to be the only Trumpov admin official left in the WH – just him, himself, and him.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    @Another Scott: Grr. “… so that the House and Senate are in the hands of Democratic leaders…” of course.

    My kingdom for a Preview!!11

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    BruceFromOhio

    March 1, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    My guess is Trump goes nuts on the trade war to try to shore up his position with some blue collar workers and that the entire GOP apparatus decides they’ve always hated free trade.

    Its a little tricky these days to build the shit people will buy when there is a lack of the raw materials to do so, and when investors are forced to confront the dependence on shit labor in other countries. We’re in for some reckoning here folks.

  19. 19.

    BruceFromOhio

    March 1, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    @Corner Stone: You are correct, it won’t. But it helps.

  20. 20.

    Mike J

    March 1, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    Cook moved PA-18 from Lean-R to toss up in the past day or two.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 1, 2018 at 11:07 pm

    Donald is incapable of planning for the future. He exists only in the moment, and when he focuses on something, he ignores everything about it that will damage him beyond an immediate payoff.

  22. 22.

    Doug R

    March 1, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Another Scott:

    What matters is electing Democrats so that the Democratic party is in the hands of Democratic leaders. The leaders set the rules, determine what gets voted on, determines what amendments are allowed, and all the rest. A Democrat that says he’s opposed to gun control is still one less vote for the Trumpistic party that is ruining our government.

    Here’s a thought-maybe he’s exaggerating his position on guns to stay out of the NRA’s sights? And maybe he’s not quite woke yet-being a Democrat means he should be reasonable.

  23. 23.

    BruceFromOhio

    March 1, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Another Scott: Standing ovation. Thank you. This x 16 jillion.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Corner Stone: The press thinks that statements about $X of money being spent are objective, so they report the numbers. So that gets the GOP in the news. It’s a play for more press coverage, and a play to try to make Democrats think that they’re doomed.

    It’s lazy reporting, but it’s easy so that’s why reporters like it.

    As you say, money isn’t votes.

    AFAIK, few if any of the races since 1/20/2017 have been decided by money spent on TV ads.

    Candidates need enough money to run a decent campaign, but more than that doesn’t help in that particular race.

    Eyes on the prize.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Doug!

    March 1, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I’m still giving him money too but I know not everyone will and so I’m not putting up the thermometer. Emotions are running high about this and I want to be respectful.

  26. 26.

    Doug R

    March 1, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    From what I can gather, 16% of the steel the USA imports comes from Canada, as does 37% of the aluminum it imports.
    trump can f*ck the f*ck off.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    March 1, 2018 at 11:13 pm

    I’m not raising money for it anymore because the Democratic candidate opposes gun control.

    Nose. Cut. Spite. Face.

  28. 28.

    Doug R

    March 1, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Candidates need enough money to run a decent campaign, but more than that doesn’t help in that particular race.

    Eyes on the prize.

    You don’t have to match them dollar for dollar but you do need to get their attention every once in a while to knock the piss out of what ever BS argument they’re using. Like one in five or so.

  29. 29.

    joel hanes

    March 1, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    IMHO, money spent on organizing is money well spent.
    Money spent on last-minute ad campaigns likely is not.

    Give early.

  30. 30.

    gbbalto

    March 1, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    I tried donating to Lamb but was informed that my e-mail address “does not seem to be valid.” I cannot seem to contact his campaign any other way. I wonder how many $ he has failed to raise by using vile thwartware. I am unhappy.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @Doug!: Understood, but the phrasing was pretty bad. IMHO.

    We need to win every race we can. It’s important.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Mike J

    March 1, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    @Another Scott: I’m willing to give anybody a pass on any one vote except majority leader.

  33. 33.

    El Caganer

    March 1, 2018 at 11:19 pm

    Fucking magnets….

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 11:21 pm

    @gbbalto: Weird. I don’t think I’ve had problems with ActBlue before.

    Maybe try this one?

    Good luck.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    mad citizen

    March 1, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    The Fightin’ 18th! Gosh I miss Stephen Colbert’s 435/434-part (read the wiki to find why he dropped a district–I just learned it) series, Better Know a District. A classic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Know_a_District

  36. 36.

    danielx

    March 1, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Kind of a tossup between immediate gratification and impulse control disorder, ain’t it now?

  37. 37.

    gbbalto

    March 1, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @Another Scott: Nope, same same bullshit. Thanks – At least I know that it is ActBlue’s fault. My e-mail address is the string of letters and numbers that I was originally given by Verizon and to which I had to revert after their “help” zorched my much more straightforward address. I’ll try contacting ActBlue.

  38. 38.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 1, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @Mike J: I think you mean Speaker.

  39. 39.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    March 1, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    I’m waiting for someone to make a court case of the tariffs. Using an obscure Cold War law, and justifying tariffs in the name of National Security? Room for judicial review there?

  40. 40.

    Mike J

    March 1, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: In the house, yes, that is what I meant.

  41. 41.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 1, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    First Georgia Repukes want to F-over the largest employer in their state, and Trump Don IL going Smoot-Hawley, near peak Wingnut?? Or will it end?

    Georgia just removed itself from the short list for Amazon’s new headquarters. Way to go, gun nuts.

  42. 42.

    efgoldman

    March 1, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Way to go, gun nuts

    Back from STL?

  43. 43.

    danielx

    March 1, 2018 at 11:43 pm

    Speaking of poor impulse control….do not know if somebody has already noted this.

    Texas Wesleyan baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat wins the much coveted Douche Canoe of the Day award.

    I mean, even Texans should think this is a pretty rotten thing to do to a kid. Has this man never seen or heard of the viral concept? Ne’er mind, I’m sure there’s an opening for him at Liberty U or Oral Roberts.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    March 1, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @mad citizen:

    We were not regular viewers, but somehow we managed to watch the night he profiled our district at the time, which is still represented by Adam Schiff. Schiff was a really good sport about the whole thing, and seemed to be a fan.

  45. 45.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 1, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @efgoldman: no, using a different phone now. Actually had a productive day of bargaining—I forgot that was possible!

  46. 46.

    Doug!

    March 1, 2018 at 11:45 pm

    @joel hanes:

    Yeah, that too

  47. 47.

    Another Scott

    March 1, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    @gbbalto: They should respond pretty quickly. Once I accidentally, somehow, donated 10x the amount I intended. They responded pretty quickly to my cry for help! Fortunately!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    efgoldman

    March 1, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Actually had a productive day of bargaining

    Fun day beating down the workers?

  49. 49.

    gbbalto

    March 1, 2018 at 11:52 pm

    @Another Scott: Thanks – good to know – hope they have humans at the phone no.

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    March 1, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Isn’t your closet shelf of pickled balls about full by now?

  51. 51.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 1, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @efgoldman: @Corner Stone: most of these clowns will get a pay increase, if the morons who run their union learn to take yes for an answer!

  52. 52.

    jonas

    March 1, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    Didn’t the GWB administration pull exactly the same shit back in 04 or 06? Slap some tariffs on steel or coal or something to get votes in Penn and Ohio? Forget if it worked or not.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 1, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    Norm Eisen @ NormEisen
    Whoa!: “Hicks has been secretly keeping…a ‘diary of her White House work, and her interactions w/Trump.’” If true, belongs to USG not her, must be preserved in WH under Pres Recds Act, raises issues about her handling of classified & WILL be subpoenaed.

    source appears to be the Daily Mail, so FWIW, but even if the rumor is out there, I suspect young Ms Hicks just brought another five figures of legal bills down on her well-coiffed noggin

  54. 54.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 1, 2018 at 11:56 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Burner phone to stay ahead of the Union Thugs?

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    March 1, 2018 at 11:57 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I used to fuck a corporate side employment lawyer. I know better.

  56. 56.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    March 2, 2018 at 12:03 am

    My guess is Trump goes nuts on the trade war to try to shore up his position with some blue collar workers and that the entire GOP apparatus decides they’ve always hated free trade.

    In case, it hasn’t been said yet,

    “We have always been at war with Eastasia.”

    ETA:@West of the Cascades:
    Damn it, you beat me to it

  57. 57.

    efgoldman

    March 2, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    if the morons who run their union learn to take yes for an answer!

    What is it about modern unions and RWNJ state governments that they just love throwing jobs away? They don’t know basic arithmetic? (Wait, I know the answer). I hate giveaway tax breaks as much as the next (Dem) guy, but when companies have or offer to open a major operation (the rail car company in Snotty Walker’s Wisconsin, Delta and Amazon in GA) how can the state piss that away?

  58. 58.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I can neither confirm nor deny that allegation

    @Corner Stone: we have models that prove it! Well, “prove” might be a bit strong….

  59. 59.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:08 am

    @efgoldman: I don’t get it. Especially with unions in such decline, I’m stunned that they fight us when we try to send new jobs to their bargaining unit.

    I often feel like they’re negotiating the 1978 contract while we are trying to adapt and survive in a rapidly changing business climate. It’s frustrating—I don’t want to see unions die.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    March 2, 2018 at 12:10 am

    @jonas:
    I confess, I’m still not clear on how this tariff increase thing is supposed to work. If der Scheißgibbon raises import duties on steel from Canada, how does that steer business to American steelmakers that closed down decades ago?

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    1. Tariff increased
    2. ???
    3. Profit!

  62. 62.

    mainmata

    March 2, 2018 at 12:14 am

    @Steeplejack: I’ve been doing it now but it doesn’t seem to be terribly Maddowish. On the Pittsburgh suburbs by election, someone should tell Pres. Dumbass that Pittsburgh (and its eastern suburbs) haven’t been aluminum and steel producers for decades. (I grew up there.)

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    March 2, 2018 at 12:15 am

    @Amir Khalid: They say that the US already makes 90% of its steel. So I don’t get it either.

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    March 2, 2018 at 12:16 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I’m stunned that they fight us when we try to send new jobs to their bargaining unit.

    Around 1970 I was assistant manager of a trucking terminal in Albany NY (not as good as it sounds – it meant I ran the 300am shift on the open loading dock, in below zero weather). The Teamsters local business agent never left the 1930s. Fun times.

    I often feel like they’re negotiating the 1978 contract

    I’m old enough to remember the newspaper and transit strikes in NYC around that time. It was clear even to bleeding hearts like my uncle (who lived in Queens) and me that both institutions were in serious trouble. The unions wouldn’t give an inch. NYC papers started dying well before the intartoobz.

  65. 65.

    Aleta

    March 2, 2018 at 12:16 am

    @Steve in the ATL:
    4. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 12:18 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    It’s frustrating—I don’t want to see unions die.

    You personally may not, because that’s how you make your money. But your employers do. Because then they can leverage all against all and suppress wages as they fire at will for no cause.
    90% of all the productivity gains over the last 30+ years have gone to C-level executives and institutional investors. The people fighting to get/keep a living wage for their members have had to tier off newcomers because the companies refuse to share any profits with them. Don’t act like it’s a beneficial move to send new jobs to some bargaining unit. They are paid less well, they hate paying dues because they have no understanding of what has been fought for in their names and your employers divide and conquer to keep turmoil and strife relevant.

  67. 67.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 12:20 am

    There *will* be a revolution in this country again, shortly. It will be against the Pinkerton’s and people that deny a person who works for a living an actual wage. Automation is eating jobs right up the chain, and pretty soon AI will replace some high paying white collar jobs. Status quo will end, but it will not end well.

  68. 68.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:23 am

    @efgoldman: I was talking to my seat mate on the flight here. He was a former union electrician turned project manager. His company had to spend almost $2M to build a room for a temporary generator because the outdoor place where it was located was the union steward’s preferred parking spot. That’s the type of shit that has to stop. Go back to useful things like getting us weekends off.

  69. 69.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:24 am

    @Aleta: you should be on the union’s bargaining team!

  70. 70.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:26 am

    @Corner Stone: Universal basic income. Now.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 12:26 am

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ve met or read a lot of these “guys”. They almost never tell the truth or exist in the real world. There’s one who used to do contract electrical work for schools in CA. He complained all the time about how bad all the union restrictions were. But guess what? He now owns a nursery in Hawaii. Guess that gig didn’t work out too bad for him.

  72. 72.

    mainmata

    March 2, 2018 at 12:31 am

    @Amir Khalid: I’m not a trade expert but I don’t think the tariff can be made to apply to Canada (or Mexico) because of NAFTA. You know, that “free trade” agreement? To the extent it applies to other countries, it just makes manufacturing costs here that much more expensive and depending upon the steel/aluminum component of the final end product may make a particular American manufacturer slightly or significantly less competitive.

    But stupid is as stupid does.

  73. 73.

    efgoldman

    March 2, 2018 at 12:34 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Universal basic income. Now.

    Sure.
    Se the Dems take both houses and the WH. And it manages to get thru the courts. And the assholes will vote 6482376r75993665 times to repeal it, as they did with the ACA. And then one day they get power again, and please gaia, they’re not completely buckfuck crazy this time (I am not hopeful). Here comes repeal and replace, or whatever.
    These are the wackos who are trying to steal two sacrosanct programs, social security and medicare.

  74. 74.

    efgoldman

    March 2, 2018 at 12:35 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I’ve met or read a lot of these “guys”.

    Anecdata is worth the paper it’s printed on.

  75. 75.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:36 am

    @Corner Stone:

    You personally may not, because that’s how you make your money.

    No, I can make money doing other things, such as employment law. I hate the power imbalance and I hate that almost all the gains have gone to the C-suite.

    The jobs we sent to this bargaining unit were good jobs that paid the same as the current ones were making. Fighting us on it was a stupid, stupid power play by a union exec. The level below her knew that and begged her to stop but she wouldn’t. They realized that we are not going to be inclined to send any more jobs to them ever again. But her ego was more important than the health and success of her union and her members. That’s the kind of shit that makes people hate unions. Now she’s talking strike and I actually laughed at her. Her members will never agree to strike because (1) there is no reason to and (2) they know damn well we will just replace them.

  76. 76.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:38 am

    @efgoldman: I’m not saying it can be done now, only that it needs to be! Along with Medicare for all, repeal of the second amendment, hanging for treason of the entire republican leadership, etc.

  77. 77.

    smike

    March 2, 2018 at 12:42 am

    @Steve in the ATL:
    1. Tariff increased
    2. ???
    3. Profit!
    4. Wait… what just happened?!!?
    5. Obama’s Kenyan Steel conspiracy!!1!11!1!!
    6. Lock him up! Lock him up!

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 12:43 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    The jobs we sent to this bargaining unit were good jobs that paid the same as the current ones were making. Fighting us on it was a stupid, stupid power play by a union exec. The level below her knew that and begged her to stop but she wouldn’t. They realized that we are not going to be inclined to send any more jobs to them ever again. But her ego was more important than the health and success of her union and her members. That’s the kind of shit that makes people hate unions. Now she’s talking strike and I actually laughed at her. Her members will never agree to strike because (1) there is no reason to and (2) they know damn well we will just replace them.

    I have seen this scenario play out a hundred times. The new jobs never pay what the current tiers pay. The union negotiators *generally* understand the imbalance of power and don’t let ego get in the way. That’s not universal but it’s a majority. There is something in the negotiations that kills future bargaining power or strength of unity. Agree today to only fight a rear guard action next time.
    People hate unions because they have been whitewashed into a position where they do not understand what a union is or does for them. There is a reason for that. I wonder what it is?

  79. 79.

    tobie

    March 2, 2018 at 12:46 am

    The Washington Post has a somewhat confusing story up about the Inspector General’s report on the FBI’s handling of all things Clinton. Evidently IG Horowitz is set to release a report that will say that Andrew McCabe improperly disclosed info regarding the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation in Oct 2016 and that he misled investigators about what he was doing, though even the Post doesn’t know how he misled them and the only hint they give is that he pushed back against the Obama Justice Dept’s questions about why the FBI was investigating the Clinton Foundation. Clouds of suspicion, vague reporting, etc….this is all so familiar.

  80. 80.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 2, 2018 at 12:47 am

    @Corner Stone: as noted supra, these jobs pay exactly what the current jobs pay. Same type of work, same working conditions. No concessions of any kind. It was literally (as in the actual meaning of literally) 100% beneficial for this union.

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 12:50 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Oh, supra? Then I guess I will stop talking about it.

  82. 82.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 2, 2018 at 12:51 am

    @tobie: If they could only get at those deleted emails on Hillary’s private email server in her basement, it’d all make sense.

  83. 83.

    efgoldman

    March 2, 2018 at 12:54 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    these jobs pay exactly what the current jobs pay.

    You won’t convince him. He doesn’t believe anything any management negotiator says.
    If this were a jury trial, he’d be the guy what hangs it.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    March 2, 2018 at 1:01 am

    Why would I?

  85. 85.

    tobie

    March 2, 2018 at 1:16 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Historians years from now will wonder at the hours spent on such a trivial story when the country was attacked by a hostile power that installed its own puppet. But even the Clinton Foundation must be investigated to death. Fuck Horowitz for buckling under the pressure. I’m so sick of goody-two-shoes Democrats right now. The fate of the Republic hangs in the balance and these weak-kneed figures just want to show how much they stand for principle by stabbing their own.

    Okay…got that off my chest.

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    March 2, 2018 at 1:21 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    You guys may be seeing this all wrong. Conservatives are against FREE trade. Someone somewhere has to pay to trade. The other guys, our own citizens, makes no difference, someone must pay to trade. Someone is making money off a trade and they aren’t getting a cut? Tariff! It isn’t a TAX on their income so it’s OK.
    Notice that there are a number of issues and problems if one looks casually at things this way, that long term the effects are quite often opposite of the desired effect……..But then conservatives rarely look forward, after all looking at the good old days, wearing shit covered glasses from having their heads up their asses is part of their modus operandi.

  87. 87.

    Another Scott

    March 2, 2018 at 9:53 am

    @Another Scott: Note added in proof – TheHill:

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is moving to banking reform legislation — not gun control or other responses to the high school shooting in Florida — next week in the Senate.

    McConnell has filed a motion to have a procedural vote Tuesday on legislation sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). After that, McConnell hopes to move to legislation addressing sex trafficking, according to GOP sources.

    Legislation addressing the Florida high school shooting, the subject of contentious conversations between President Trump and GOP lawmakers at a White House meeting televised live on cable news Wednesday, will wait.

    […]

    He’s hoping that the press will get distracted by some new Trump outrage so that they won’t have to vote on any gun legislation. And since he’s the Majority Leader, he determines what the Senate considers.

    We have to vote them out, even if that means voting for Democrats that we disagree with on some important issues.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  88. 88.

    Stan

    March 2, 2018 at 11:19 am

    @mainmata:

    On the Pittsburgh suburbs by election, someone should tell Pres. Dumbass that Pittsburgh (and its eastern suburbs) haven’t been aluminum and steel producers for decades. (I grew up there.)

    That’s right, and….they don’t want to become steel producers again! That seems very clear every time I’m in the burgh.

  89. 89.

    Matt

    March 2, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    his base in places like western PA wants to see more on trade

    Administration hoping “moron trade policy” is close enough.

  90. 90.

    Aleta

    March 2, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    @Aleta: A correction to the 90% number (above) I’d seen or misremembered.

    Seen today:

    Scott Lincicome
    ‏@scottlincicome

    Scott Lincicome (He was responding to T’s tweet )
    The US steel industry produced 90 million tons of steel last year (up 5%) and had 72.5% of the US market.

    tim mullaney
    ‏@timmullaney
    Replying to @scottlincicome
    and 3.1% unemployment. BTW, only 39K steel jobs are in production. the industry’s clerks, truck drivers and finance types could work in any industry.

    Location of numbers and charts:
    Primary Metal Manufacturing:. The site includes “Employment by Occupation.”

    At the link, I noticed that the Oct 17 unemployment rate (for this sector or whatever it’s called) was 1.7%. In Jan 18 it was 3.1%.

    My impression is that campaigning Rs like to use numbers like they do Bible verses — as absolute truths, if the ones they pick can be used to support their greed. I don’t know if a difference in the rate of <1.5 is significant at all. But I wonder if they're afraid of this (the 1.7 going to 3.1) and want to look like they are turning things around. Or they hope by hook or by crook to put out a different number by summer/fall.

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