A perennial theme, really works well here — exposes the "drain the swamp" hypocrisy and ties GOP Congress to Trump. https://t.co/jFXcPt4U1p
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 22, 2018
Great News https://t.co/pbjV8RTIxd
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 21, 2018
… The first planks of the “A Better Deal” platform, released last year, focused on the party’s economic agenda. Now, with questions about pay-to-play politics swirling around President Trump and his current and former aides, Democrats introduced new anti-corruption proposals Monday billed as “A Better Deal for Our Democracy.”
“Instead of delivering on his promise to drain the swamp, President Trump has become the swamp,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during a rollout event on the Capitol steps.
While the new agenda was only sketched out in broad terms Monday, it includes proposals that would eliminate loopholes that allow lobbyists and lawmakers to buy and sell influence without the public’s knowledge, allow big donors to influence the political process through unreported donations and to improve elections by eliminating partisan gerrymandering and implementing automatic voter registration.
The message, the Democrats said: Elect us in November to “clean up the chaos and corruption in Washington.”…
Several of the Democrats who spoke Monday attempted to connect the corruption allegations to a Republican governing agenda that has delivered outsize tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and dismantled financial and environmental regulations that aimed to protect average taxpayers.
Democrats are also preparing to highlight an apparent atmosphere of rule-bending, if not rule-breaking, in the Trump administration. Several Trump Cabinet members — including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, as well as former Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price and former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin — have been subject to official investigations of questionable spending on travel and other expenses….
My two cents to twitter outrage. Walk outside & talk to the people next door. Find common cause and work the issue. Then repeat. Stop hoping your every-four-years-vote is the best way to improve your life. There are no shortcuts. Work every day for the life you want every day
— Patrick Skinner (@SkinnerPm) May 21, 2018
And the cool thing is the more local you work the issue (I mean block by block) the more you find you aren’t unique or special. That so many people are working so hard every day to improve the lives of so many neighborhoods.
My role as local police is to help them. Full stop— Patrick Skinner (@SkinnerPm) May 21, 2018
Like a boss. pic.twitter.com/zy5GY37Vkt
— ערבי ותו לא! (@arbiv2lo) May 21, 2018
NotMax
Took an in-home mini-vacation from seething outrage over the past several days. Necessary.
OzarkHillbilly
I love that black cat in the last.
NotMax
Also realized it has been over 2½ days since last ate. Have been having black coffee, as usual, but that’s it. Not feeling hungry at all but forced myself to have a half an orange and a sandwich.
Maybe the stuff in the air from Kilauea is an appetite suppressant? :)
satby
@NotMax: wow, take care of yourself!
@OzarkHillbilly: black cats really are the best. Never had a single one that wasn’t awesome.
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
I have been trying to stay away from the seething outrage too but I carry my own self-contained supply so it has been a failure. Wish I could stop eating at least for a day or two but thats not happening either.
As for the Dems agenda: Thats great but we all ‘know’ the Dems have no agenda save, maybe, the anti-Trump. Just this morning I saw a political cartoon on the editorial cartoon sight http://editorialcartoonists.com/ showing two depressed donkeys with plummeting poll numbers admitting they have NO PLAN!!! That media theme is pretty well ingrained in the public imagination as of now. We are going to have to figure out how to break through that BS
OzarkHillbilly
………………..
……………………
……………….
MAGA.
satby
@Schlemazel: I hear you! I’m a stress eater, so the Drumpf admin is probably responsible for 10 lbs. I wonder if I unplugged my appetite would decrease. Probably.
At this point the “both sides” media has done it’s job well, no one trusts them, not even low info voters.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
@OzarkHillbilly:
Why do we suck so much? We have the most inspiring set of explicitly laid out ideals in the history of the world, but we just don’t seem willing to do any work to try to live up to them. Pisses me off no end.
Baud
Reaction to Trump and maybe others. ?
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/5/21/17376128/democrats-better-deal-democracy-midterm-2018
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ?!
gene108
Cat gif got me thinking of babies riding roombass.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Q6-8OGcd8
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRsstfoKQeo
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=69xQzoRMyQQ&t=13s
Viva BrisVegas
@OzarkHillbilly:
As a “good” Catholic, how did he limit himself to three? Using the super reliable rhythm method?
Or is it just possible he as big a hypocrite in this matter as in all other matters.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
As practicing Catholic, Ryan and his wife rarely have sex or they are, in contradiction to church teachings, using a lot of birth control.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
A little misleading, since there’s no way to monetize the value of racial privilege.
Central Planning
@OzarkHillbilly: I think the incels are on to something!
Just got back from the gym. My “libertarian” gym buddy, after hearing a news report about a kid that laced cookies with pot, said that pot edibles shouldn’t be legal because kids might eat them “because they taste good.” I gave him a hard time about how that comports with his libertarian ideals, and that he really did want a nanny state. He made up some bullshit answer about externalities and somehow wanted the edible manufacturer to be liable. I then pointed out that the same thing could be true for alcohol or guns. He really started digging in trying to defend the banning of edibles but not booze or guns. It was funny yet sad at the same time.
We finally got to the gym and did our exercises. He didn’t bring it up on the way home. I’ll take that as a tiny sliver of realization his position wasn’t consistent (or correct).
OzarkHillbilly
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): The Oligarchy knows that racism and sexism are very powerful drugs and how best to deploy them.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
What I love about the black cat is that s/he is clearly tormenting the other cat in a stare-down And just will not be deterred by technology.
I had the greatest black cat, Jean-Louis, who was so smart that he eventually figured out how to open the screen door himself to get in — he would stand on his hind legs, put his claws into the lower screen, shuffle backwards and open the door, than plunk down and scoot around the door into the house as it closed. I miss that kitteh.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
I have to disagree. White people have been monetizing racial privilege in America since 1607.
Schlemazel
@Viva BrisVegas:
Look at that face – his wife probably only had sex with him 3 times & the room just is not dark enough to contemplate a fourth
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
There was an overnight thread about him 2 stories downstairs. The Google Alert was triggered.
gene108
Shark-cat rides a roomba, bonus at the end
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PoiHAiDHgDs
OzarkHillbilly
The stupid, it hurts.
satby
@Viva BrisVegas: @gene108: @Schlemazel: American Catholics have been ignoring Church teaching on birth control for two generations. Even the bishops have let it go, though officially artificial birth control is still verboten.
Central Planning
@OzarkHillbilly: You need to find better websites to read.
Immanentize
@Central Planning: But but but
He WANTS booze and guns (and probably pOrN) but he doesn’t want edibles. Therefore libertairian for me but not for thee.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: why not, because they are hungry?
satby
@gene108: @gene108: those never get old!
Central Planning
@Immanentize: His inconsistency is amazing. He has been a recreational pot user for a while. He doesn’t do it all the time, so I can’t really understand his point of view. I bet you wouldn’t be surprised to find out he is also a devout christian and voted for dolt 45.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Then white people are rich beyond their wildest dreams.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: My Southern Baptist mother converted to Catholicism when she married my old man. When her oldest daughter had her first period she took her straight to the Doc and got her birth control. That was in the ’60s.
OzarkHillbilly
@Central Planning: The Guardian
@Immanentize: Hunger makes them go crazy.
Schlemazel
@satby:
I knew that but where is the fun in it? Better to think of Mrs. BEGS rejecting his awful self.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Rest in peace, Richard Goodwin
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
And so calm about it!
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
There are workarounds for such situations that have been practised for many centuries, but which Integration Minister Inger Støjberg clearly hasn’t troubled to inform himself about.
debbie
@Baud:
They should have to disclose them at the time they declare their candidacy. Save the voters some tiime.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: No, but I know I have received economic benefits due to my whiteness.
oatler.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/22/rudy-giuliani-opioid-epidemic-oxycontin-purdue-pharma
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Ignorance in defense of xenophobia in no vice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Second day in a row we’re getting light rain.
WereBear
@satby: Stress increases cortisol which increases appetite which increases… well, we all know where, it varies by person.
OzarkHillbilly
The Comedy Wildlife Photography awards .
Kay
But let’s not put this on Trump alone. They’re grown up professionals. They knew they worked for the scorpion. They’re telling themselves they’ll be able to hold onto their integrity and professionalism while serving Trump’s demands, that they’ll execute some ethical double back flip and “manage” this- walk a fine line, cleverly appear to cave but not actually cave, but they won’t.
None of them have. The only people who haven’t been compromised are the people who got fired or quit. You can’t stay unless you’re corrupt. It’s a job requirement. If these two left would the replacements be worse? Yes. The hires just get worse and worse. But their leaving would send a message that what the Trump Administration is doing is wrong. They’ve lost the plot. The point of this isn’t to protect “the DOJ” or protect “the FBI”. Those are just collections of letters. The point of this is to protect the integrity of the work they do. The entity itself doesn’t matter without the work. It isn’t worth saving if it’s corrupt and compromised.
rikyrah
@Kay:
???
WereBear
@satby: And the trolls are out there; there was a three part series on Captain Awkward about a woman who wrote in trying to figure out a way she could gain access to birth control with Visibly Catholic husband and relatives. They had three, NFP gave them a fourth, and she was ready to have a breakdown.
And still she reports her inbox was clogged with cries of “sin” and that “NFP works you have to do it right” stuff.
Cheryl Rofer
News bulletin! I’m quoted in this CNN piece and will be interviewed by BBC at 8 am MDT. I don’t know yet if the BBC interview will be broadcast live.
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
Hot damn. You’re not just quoted. You’re featured.
Peale
@Cheryl Rofer: ooh. I know an actual thought leader now!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@NotMax: Forgetting to eat is a bad sign. You can’t live on outrage. Though god knows, Trump provides an endless supply.
Kay
@rikyrah:
The President is reviewing the investigation into the President. He “demanded” it- and they complied.
The next time you’re being investigated by law enforcement try “demanding” a private meeting to review the information they’ve collected. They’ll laugh in your face. This President is special. He not only gets treatment no ordinary citizen would ever get, he gets treatment no President has ever gotten. It’s fine, but I have to insist they stop pretending they’re “holding” some line or defending something. They’re defending nothing. They gave away everything worth defending. Next week he’ll “demand” more, because it works.
AntiCliche
Why the hell do the Democrats keep trying to come up with this stuff on their own? “Clean up the chaos and corruption in Washington” is not a slogan that will motivate a single LIV to go to the polls in November.
Hire a goddamn Madison Avenue marketing firm with some of that campaign money and do it right for once.
WereBear
@Cheryl Rofer: Congrats!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh wow. Go you!
Baud
@Kay:
As long as Melania doesn’t exchange pleasantries with Rosenstein on a tarmac, it’s all good.
Platonailedit
Didn’t raygun beat the dems’ strategy campaigning on sleaze factor of his regime? The dems need to tie down the traitor’s and his regime’s open corruption to the voters’ pocket book issues like how they are gutting their healthcare, their children’s education and healthcare, medicare, social security etc. Just saying twitler and his regime is corrupt ain’t gonna cut it. Break it down to the rubes.
Baud
@AntiCliche: That’s not their slogan. It’s a quote featured in the story, chosen by the journalist.
RSA
Jeez, NBC, get some professional editors.
Baud
@Platonailedit:
Jesus, why do you think this is the only thing they’ll talk about?
AntiCliche
@Platonailedit: this. Didn’t work against Dubya either. I’m getting a Bob Shrum vibe.
Baud
Dems should go Galt. Let all the geniuses in the room figure it out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: A STAR is born!
Baud
@AntiCliche: I don’t recognize your nym so I’ll assume you’re a troll. But for the sake of other readers, the article explains that this strategy did work for Dems in 2006.
Kay
@Baud:
Someone said on Twitter the more egregious it is the less real discussion there is of it- so we got 16 months of bullshit email coverage and not a word on the Trump investigation(s). I think that’s true. I’m on the local bar ethics board- we review complaints about lawyers. It’s really consistent, our behavior. If it’s a bogus claim there’s a lot of loud gossip and trash-talking but if it’s serious- if someone is really going to lose their ticket- it’s hushed and there’s a ton of concern about process and rigor.
If you were sitting in there and didn’t understand that dynamic you would pick the wrong cases as “big” and consistently follow the bullshit that doesn’t mean anything and will be dismissed.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
On the other hand, Shitgibbon and the Lickspittle Congress have been fucking the poor and middle class so much, the birth rate has gotta increase.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: Congrats!
AntiCliche
@Baud: substitute “A Better Deal”. Same problem as “Stronger Together”. Weak and comparative.
How about “The Deal”. Or “The Fair Deal”. We own The New Deal and The Great Society already. Why water it down with relative adjectives and indefinite articles?
Such Shrum.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: We need to just give up now because we never do anything right.
p.a.
@Baud: @OzarkHillbilly:
Possibly quantify would be a better word. Even then, a good estimate is to look at total wealth of white v minority families of = income. Wtot>Mtot by a lot. It’s a good back-of-envelope check on the generational value of white privelege/racism.
Amir Khalid
Najib spent five hours today at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission answering questions about US$10.5 mil in funds from a 1MDB subsidiary that wound up in his bank account (that happens to him a lot, the poor fellow) and will be back on Thursday for another session. Meanwhile in the Hew Hess Hay, the DOJ has told Reuters it will be happy to work with Malaysian authorities on the reopened 1MDB investigation.
Baud
@AntiCliche: The Fair Deal is taken. The Deal is just as weak as anything else, and actually sounds sinister.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
The problem is, that’s not an observation but a rule for a lot of people. Just like “both sides.”
Kay
@AntiCliche:
Democrats actually ran on this in 2006, to great success. Anti-corruption and a specific middle class platform. There was a real disconnect between what Democratic activists talked about (Bush, the Iraq War) and what the actual candidates talked about.
The media narrative was the same, too. The claim was they had “no ideas” and were just “anti-Bush” but that wasn’t true. Pelosi was actually ahead of the pack on college funding. She talked about it before it became conventional wisdom. They ran against corruption in Congress, said we needed a check on Bush in the legislative branch, which sort of made sense, given that it was a midterm.
SFAW
@Peale:
Well, you can CLAIM to know one, for all the good it will do you. Cheryl, on the other hand — now that she’s hit the big time — will be all “Balloon Juice? What’s that? Never heard of them, but they sound like a pack of viscous jackals.”
That being said: congrats to Cheryl!
JPL
The CNN article is quite good, and a simple explanation on what is happening. If the deal doesn’t include inspectors, then we will see just how weak our president is.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): There’s also these old writings called the Gospels that are pretty cool. Somebody should start a religion where they follow the moral teachings in those.
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
Shame there’s no photos or video of you. :)
Baud
@SFAW: She should forsake us. It’s the right thing to do.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: That happened to me too! Just the other day a $1.75 Mil showed up in my checking account!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That’s the part that rankles.
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yeah Cheryl ?
Kay
I think Cordray’s position on guns is gonna hurt him. He just isn’t where the Dem base is, and Democrats don’t win in Ohio unless they get huge base turnout. It’s middle aged and older women, too, the anti-gun people, and they vote and they also volunteer. He better hope to make up the difference among white rural men.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Well, it’s the commonsense thing to do anyway.
Cheryl Rofer
Okay. The Beeb interview is off. I can’t make Skype work. Yes, I am one of those technological types who have particular blind spots. Also, the kittehs are helping (not!), which makes everything more difficult.
Patricia Kayden
@OzarkHillbilly: I wish there was a way that Mueller could charge Ryan with corruption or whatever since he’s such a huge cheerleader for the Orange Bigot. Ryan knows dang well that his “Party of Life” doesn’t care about mothers or children or working class families. The message has been clear and that’s probably why women are choosing to have less children.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: Well, I hope the BBC can recover from this blow to their reputation.
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: Woohoo!! You’re moving on up.
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden:
Under the heading of “whatever” is aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime and if not during then after the fact.
raven
@Cheryl Rofer: Lookeee heah!
Peale
@Cheryl Rofer: aww. Sorry to hear that.
Kay
I’m having a party for my daughter’s school friends. They’re having a reunion here, in “the red room”, which is my living room. They loved that it was red when they were little girls. They became friends in 2nd grade and have stayed friends. Two out of eight ended up in NYC, which I think is a high number. Generally young people here go to Chicago if they go to a city. Also, somewhat interesting since the “low birth rate” thing is getting attention, none of them have children although three of 8 are married.
FlipYrWhig
@Baud: EVERYONE ON THE LEFT WHO DOES MARKETING SUCKS AT SLOGANS AND STRATEGIES THEY SHOULD USE… my far worse and vaguer idea?
The wonders of the Internet: everyone can think everyone but themselves is stupid.
Peale
@Kay: I guess you could start to play the role of the fussbudget aunt and start asking when they are planning to have children…for research purposes only, mind you. But I don’t think you’re really cut out for that part. You’ll have to hire someone. The Midwest still has fussbudgets, don’t they? They did when I lived there.
MomSense
@NotMax:
Be careful!!!
@OzarkHillbilly:
Black cats are the bestest cats. I had one who charmed his way into my life by finding me during my lunch breaks and helpfully sharing my sandwiches – especially the potato chips. He would get in my car with me so I brought him home. He was the greatest. He followed me around and went on walks around the neighborhood like a dog except perfectly behaved and off leash.
WereBear
@Patricia Kayden: It is a factor. However, birth rates are down in most developed countries, as women have the choice to limit their families, or not embark upon that path at all.
MomSense
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
Avarice. Lust for power. Envy. Cruelty. Mob mentality. Arrogance. Same old reasons human beings have always suffered. Democracy is in many ways going against some of the strongest impulses of our human nature. This is why we have never been able to fully realize it, why the gains are so slow, and why we are always having to defend every advance we achieve.
Peale
@WereBear: birth rates are down in almost all countries. Sure, in non-oecd countries the rates may be triple what they are in oecd countries, but those are still 1/2 what they were 20 years ago. And the decline in the past decade is noteworthy.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Kay:
Even the liberal Maggie Haberman admits her paper and the rest of the corporate media have a double standard.
Peale
@FlipYrWhig: then there’s me, who hates slogans, and chants, and collective forced cheering. You can’t reach me…and because I’m 100% immune, you’ll never win. Bwahhahaha!
Denali
Don’t forsake us, Cheryl.
Baud
@Peale:
All of the Dems’ proposals go down both the media and the blogging memory hole.
Kay
@Peale:
I don’t ask. My daughter in law told me a long story about how her step mother keeps asking her when she’s having children and my sense was she was letting me know not to do it. I wouldn’t have anyway. It’s a bad question. My husband might though. He’ll ask anyone anything. I take no responsibility for what he says :)
Platonailedit
Now it’s South Korean leader’s turn to babysit the tantrum thrower.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Oh, it’s fucking outrageous what he’s doing and all this elaborate tap dancing to make everything a “nothingburger” gets on my nerves.
We’re fine. They don’t have to sugar coat everything. I’ll go about my day whether Donald Trump is once again obstructing justice or not.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I never ask when ours are going to have children but I never pass up an opportunity to remind them that one is not enough.
Belafon
But why are Democrats only running against Trump? Why don’t they have their own ideas? /////////
Yes, that’s a thing. And it annoys the hell out of me. Democrats have plenty of ideas, and Trump opposed them. Therefor, when they run on their platform they are running against Trump. But they also have to be the party to stand up to Trump.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
Is he under house arrest or in prison?
Leto
@Kay: Maddow’s show last night was all about this. As she was doing her thing, I kept thinking about how you’ve been warning us to how our “protections” have been failing. That it everything is being corrupted, not just now, but moving forward. They’re redrawing the lines so that in the future they’ll be able to cite precedents here (“Look, the President/Congress is able to review DOJ/FBI material/documents pertaining to the investigation of their campaigns. The Trump precedent was set.” – future lawyer). They’re so short sighted in their quest for immediate power that they don’t understand how this is going to play out later. How this might be used against THEM later, or if someone even worse to come (don’t count it out) will take it even further. That the GOP “respects the rule of law’ should be a joke for generations to come.
@Cheryl Rofer: Congratulations!
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Hey, MAGAt — Imagine if the FTFNYT (and YOU, quisling!) had treated Clinton as something other than a target to be “taken down.” Imagine if you (plural) had reported on her policy proposals/platform. Imagine if you had reported on Shitgibbon’s criminal dealings.
FOAD, traitor. You helped bring him into office. You should have thought about this shit before you trashed Hillary eight ways from Sunday.
rikyrah
French Open is punishing Serena Williams for having a baby
Nancy Armour
Serena Williams is being punished for having a baby.
That’s the only way to see the decision not to give her a seed for the French Open, her first major tournament since giving birth to daughter Olympia in September. French Tennis Federation officials told The Associated Press on Monday that they would award seeds based on rankings and, because Williams is currently No. 453, well, she’s out of luck.
That logic might be understandable had Williams spent the last 16 months on sabbatical, focusing on some other endeavor. But she didn’t. She had a baby, a physically grueling experience made even more so by complications that left her bedridden for six weeks.
To not recognize that that should warrant an exception, be it for Williams or any new mother, is both outdated and mean-spirited. Not to mention short-sighted on the part of French Open officials, who risk seeing one of the world’s most popular athletes make an early exit from her first major since she had her daughter because she’ll face top competition right away.
But the larger, inexcusable point is the discriminatory way in which motherhood is viewed by both tournament organizers and the WTA. The idea that players should have to choose between having a family and having a career is as antiquated as wooden rackets.
WTA rules grant players returning from injuries and maternity leave a “special ranking,” which preserves entry into tournaments but not seeding. Players have previously not favored using special rankings for seedings, the WTA told the AP, though it didn’t say why
Just One More Canuck
@OzarkHillbilly: Nigerian prince?
SFAW
@Belafon:
Because most of the voters they’re trying to flip can’t spell “CAT” if you spot them the “C” and the “A”? And the MSM is doing precious little to explain Dem positions to the electorate. [Yes, I know you were being sarcastic.]
Jeffro
@Belafon: Run against Trumpov as a symbol of the corruption and rot that is the entire GOP. Remind everyone that There Is Only One Trump Scandal
Lather, rinse, repeat. Reclaim our country from the corruption and stupidity that flows from Trump on down.
rikyrah
Trump toys with abuse of office in beef against Washington Post
Rachel Maddow revisits the history of Richard Nixon trying to use the IRS to audit his personal political enemies and notes the parallels with Donald Trump’s attempt to punish Amazon with higher postal rates because of his personal disdain for The Washington Post.
May.18.2018
rikyrah
Trump risks presidency using his power to pursue personal animus
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, compares Donald Trump’s reported use of the Postal Service to attack the owner of The Washington Post to Nixon’s effort to use the IRS against his personal enemies.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
On the (possible) plus side: if Serena is on form, I think it would be a nice “fuck you” to the French Open poobahs were the # 453 seed win the title, followed by her rejecting the cup/plate (or whatever it is they award the winner).
rikyrah
FBI used informant after multiple Trump camp Russia contacts
The New York Times reports that the FBI used an informant to investigate members of the Donald Trump campaign after their contacts with Russian intelligence. Adam Goldman, national security reporter for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: Even better paragraph from the same article:
We have to keep it simple: Trumpistas have the “Deep State” to explain everything away. We should be talking about the GOP’s “Deep Corruption”, led by Trumpov and enabled by the GOP Congress.
SFAW
@rikyrah: @rikyrah:
Well, thank FSM that the
InvertebrateSpeaker of the House will defend the Constitution by initiating impeachment against Shitgibbon, and the SenateMajor TraitorMajority Leader will make sure there are votes to convict.OzarkHillbilly
@Just One More Canuck: UAE prince.
rikyrah
Trump undercuts women’s health in kowtow to social conservatives
Nancy Northup, president of The Center for Reproductive Rights, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump’s effort to score political points with social conservatives by imposing new regulations on Title X.
rikyrah
Is Rosenstein allowing Trump to compromise the DoJ with requests?
Rachel Maddow looks at the many concessions the Department of Justice has made to Donald Trump and his supporters in Congress as they try to undermine the investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign. Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, joins to discuss whether Rod Rosenstein has a strategy.
rikyrah
Another Trump Tower meeting, another foreign offer to help Trump
Rachel Maddow outlines what is known about a newly revealed meeting at Trump Tower at which an emissary for UAE and Saudi Arabia pitched Donald Trump Jr. on help for his father’s campaign, including a social media manipulation campaign.
rikyrah
Trump Tower meeting starts new Trump relationship with UAE, Saudi
David Kirkpatrick, international correspondent for The New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happened at a Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., UAE/Saudi Arabia emissary George Nader, Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, and Israeli social media marketer Joel Zamel.
rikyrah
Trump, GOP destroy U.S. credibility with covert sources
Rep. Jim Himes talks with Rachel Maddow about the damage Donald Trump and his Republican supporters are doing to the credibility of U.S. intelligence and the integrity of the Department of Justice with their effort to undermine the investigation of Trump.
SFAW
@Jeffro:
But what about the Dem policies!!!!!!!!!! And their e-mails!!!!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I can’t follow Haberman’s tweet. The syntax is totally screwed even for twitter.
Barbara
@Peale: From a cultural perspective, lots of younger people are more likely to fuel a dynamic and creative society, but from a policy perspective, decline in birth rate results in old people having more influence in cheating the young out of their share of the pie, e.g., education, at the same time they plan to depend on the young to help fund their retirement.
The pattern in European countries should make it obvious that supporting families is necessary to keep the birth rate stable. France, which has supported families with children for a long time, has a higher birth rate than Italy and Spain, where child rearing is a much more private activity and, to boot, male stereotypes don’t contribute to the care and maintenance of children. Women react by not procreating nearly as much. It’s even more pronounced in Japan.
Barbara
@Kay: According to Miss Manners the only appropriate question about procreation is asking someone if they have children. One never inquires whether someone is going to have children. As she would say, you ask that one, and one of these days someone is going to burst into tears and tell you how she’s been trying for a decade and been to every specialist under the sun, and so on. It’s not only rude, it’s unkind.
Gelfling 545
@OzarkHillbilly: Nonsense. Ryan’s Catholic. He should have several more ( though the less he reproduces, the better for all). Surely he’s remaining celibate, though, and not flaunting the Church’s teaching on birth control.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Barbara: I have only one child because it was just too hard to have more and still do the other things I wanted to do.
Gelfling 545
@AntiCliche: How about you run and show us how it’s done. Or just quiet yourself and help GOTV.
way2blue
Sigh. I hate the ‘Better Deal’ formulation as it explicitly frames Democratic themes based on Republican ones. Rather than simply stating ‘We offer a Fair Deal’. Which can be defined in contrast or not, for any specific issue. And would hopefully resonate with a wide swath of Americans as it doesn’t particularly divide people based on ethnicity, economic situation, educational achievement… (Passively expecting voters to grok that Republications are way worse than Democrats has been tried before. Democrats need to boldly state their own priorities and back them up with why they should matter to everyone… )
Gelfling 545
@Platonailedit: “One of his officials said he would “likely tell President Trump what to expect and what not to expect from Kim”, Yonhap news agency reported.”
While Trump entertains him by showing his electoral college maps. Telling Trump anything seems pretty futile.
mali muso
@Barbara: Amen to this one. Remembering how this question felt when I had just come through two back-to-back miscarriages and then months upon months of negative pregnancy tests each cycle. And now that we have our wonderful daughter and it feels like our little family is complete and we’re past the infant stage (sleeping through the night!), I have to deal with well-meaning questions about when we’re going to have a second baby.
rikyrah
The Saudi/UAE puzzle piece makes it clear: The 2016 election was stolen, and U.S policy auctioned off to the countries that made it happen, with $$$ for the Trump/Kushners families and assorted mistresses. Unraveling a scandal 10X bigger than Watergate: https://t.co/1wDotWsTgy
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) May 20, 2018
rikyrah
Powerful analysis from @JRubinBlogger: “We’ve never had a president actively seek to undermine our intelligence community to protect himself.” (I’m quoted in this piece re: whether Trump’s conduct might qualify as impeachable.) https://t.co/Fs6imalaAA
— Joshua Matz (@JoshuaMatz8) May 21, 2018
rikyrah
We must not allow the GOP Congress to drag us back to the same lack of oversight that ignited the 2008 financial crisis. I join @RepMaxineWaters in urging Members to vote against the Dodd-Frank Rollback bill on the House floor tomorrow. https://t.co/LN2roT91Nw
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) May 22, 2018
catclub
@Central Planning:
Devout christians (claimed) who are actually devoted to Ayn Rand are pretty much self-refuting.
catclub
@rikyrah: Ignoring when Netanyahu and Israel tried to do the same thing in 2012 was the original sin. in 2016 everybody got in on it.
chris
@Jeffro: “TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!”
Or would that be plagiarism?
catclub
@Peale:
yet the world population keeps going past 7 Billion
Yarrow
@Jeffro:
I’m okay calling it treason.
@chris:
Sounds good to me.
I think reclaiming patriotism and having it mean what it’s supposed to mean is a great way to rebrand Democrats.
bemused
@OzarkHillbilly:
Easy peasy if you’re Paul Ryan who can afford raising three kids and send them to the best, most expensive colleges, no pesky student loans debt for his kids. He could have afforded to have done more than his part and had twice as many kids. Not a very devout catholic nor patriot.
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
Not so far. But the general sense here, based on what’s already known, is that Najib is guilty AF, and will be arrested sooner or later. The MACC’s initial investigation in 2015 got nowhere because the MACC reports to the PM i.e. it reported to Najib. And “recuse” is not a word in Najib’s vocabulary. Whereas now Dr Mahathir is PM and he’s not going to stifle the investigation. Najib is finally being treated as a suspect — the travel ban is because he’s an obvious flight risk.
SFAW
@chris:
What about “TICK TOCK, MOTHERFUCKERS” ? It’s not a policy statement, but … (Although I see Yarrow was OK with your suggestion.)
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
Absolutely correct!!!
ONE.TRUMP.SCANDAL!
chris
@Yarrow: The slogan was the only thing the TeaParty got right. Steal it!
Amir Khalid
@Gelfling 545:
This discussion makes me think of a Matt McGinn song that Pete Seeger used to do.
Citizen Alan
Honestly, why isn’t “democrars: we’re not stupid crooked traitors” a perfectly viable campaign slogan at this point.
bemused
@Barbara:
Kali Holloway wrote a good piece in Alternet “Compared to Rest of World Americans are Prudish, Delusional and Selfish Religious Nuts: Study”. Reality check research on American culture: fetishizes violence and squeamish about sex, notion of hard work as primary predictor of life success, believing first amendment gives Americans right to use hate speech, etc. Do as I say, not as I pretend to do. I think Holloway is right on saying America’s national character is a textbook study in narcissisitic tendencies coupled with crushing insecurity issues.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
I suspect that the people complaining about this strategy are too young to remember the 2006 election.
Neldob
Democrats- better for everyone. Reality based, fiscally responsible, pro-family. The real patriots. Hmmm. It’s a start. The ‘a better deal’ is just pathetic.
chris
Low birthrate? Not a surprise.
Cost of prenatal care and delivery: 30 to 45000 dollars. If all goes well. In a country where 50% or more don’t make that much in a year.
Shana
@Immanentize: Great story. Our cat destroyed the lower corner of the sliding screen door for our patio door. I replaced the screen with “Pet Resistant” screening. The cat still manages to pull the screening out when she tries to open the screen door to get back in the house but at least it doesn’t tear the material and I can put it back in place with the tool for anchoring the gasket into the door frame.
MomSense
@SFAW:
How about it’s either the voting booth or pitchforks, motherfuckers.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@NotMax: A vacation from your problems?
wenchacha
@RSA: Somebody’s slip was Freudian.
SgrAstar
@NotMax: ooooo, don’t do that. Please take care of yourself!
lurker dean
@NotMax: whoa, you need some lau lau or poke, stat! kidding aside, please don’t forget to eat!
sukabi
@NotMax: filling up on glass particles (laze) can’t be good for you.?
Take care of yourself.
kd bart
@FlipYrWhig: Here’s the campaign they should run if every voter was me.
SFAW
@MomSense:
I agree with the sentiment, but will the bumper sticker fit on anything smaller than an 18-wheeler?
The Lodger
@AntiCliche: We had a Fair Deal. Apparently it didn’t stick in people’s memories:
(Wikipedia) The Fair Deal was an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953.
(I didn’t read to the end before posting this, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else has made this point.)