Since before I joined Balloon Juice, since the 2016 campaign, I’ve said that Donald Trump stinks as a negotiator.
Most of us have some experience negotiating. One of my mentors said that every encounter is a negotiation. Some of our valued commenters are lawyers, whose jobs are mostly negotiation. We’ve bought cars or rented apartments. There are some basics that you learn just by living, unless you’ve lived an utterly protected life.
This thread is by an Obama administration official. I know that Twitter threads can be hard to read, but this one has some good links and visuals. And it’s not too long.
https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/998867045503643648
https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/998867311154159618
https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/998867575328133120
https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/998867847957893120
https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/998872498484768769
Ella in New Mexico
The only good thing to come of this latest development? Doesn’t look like Donald will be getting the fucking Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.
JPL
Since it is apparent that North Korea wants the US to give the country money, in order to promise dismantling of nuclear facilities, I doubt that Trump will negotiate. He only caves when countries give him money.
Mike Furlan
But you missed the most important part.
Trump won the trade war with China.
The New York Times will have a headline saying that.
50% or more of the country will believe it.
Karl Rove explained it a long time ago. I hope most of you have already seen it.
“The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.’ […] ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do’.”
cleek
LOL
we elected Donald fucking Trump as President.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Listening to Pompeo talk about No Korea, it’s always “he wants a better economy for his people… American private enterprise will teach them to create wealth!”, it’s Iraq all over again, the idea that we would just take this country we know nothing about, and make a “terrarium” (IIRC that word was tossed around rightwing think tanks in ’02-’03) for Randian capitalism. It’s an even sillier idea in North Korea.
and one Korean expert, a woman who was born there and actually speaks the language and talks to people there and stuff, says that this, to Kim and his government, is as much a threat as “fire and fury”
karensky
Thanks for that, Cheryl.
rikyrah
DA PHUQ?
Those of you from Missouri forgot to add that the prosecutor is a Black woman…..
Yeah….it matters….
Roger Moore
@JPL:
Giving NK money shouldn’t be a huge problem for Trump, since it’s not his money. All that needs to happen is for him to find a way of siphoning some of it off or for NK to offer him a kickback and he’ll be perfectly happy.
lollipopguild
Trump and his people know nothing and understand nothing and believe that they are “In Charge” and that everyone else must “give” them whatever they want.
randy khan
One thing I’d add to that great Twitter thread is that it’s hard to negotiate with bad negotiators even when you want to reach an agreement.
Cheryl Rofer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes – Kim and his lieutenants have already said that they have no interest in any offer of economic aid. Which is fine, I guess, since the US explicitly isn’t offering any. Pompeo has said that once North Korea gives up nuclear weapons and accedes to the other 11 demands, the private sector will flock to the country to make it a Randian paradise.
rikyrah
Exclusive: U.S. Government Can’t Get Controversial Kaspersky Lab Software Off Its Networks
The law says American agencies must eliminate the use of Kaspersky Lab software by October. U.S. officials say that’s impossible—it’s embedded too deep in our infrastructure.
ANDREW DESIDERIO
KEVIN POULSEN
05.23.18 10:05 AM ET
Federal agencies are so far unable to comply with a law banning Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government networks by October, The Daily Beast has learned. Multiple divisions of the U.S. government are confronting the reality that code written by the Moscow-based security company is embedded deep within American infrastructure, in routers, firewalls, and other hardware—and nobody is certain how to get rid of it.
“It’s messy, and it’s going to take way longer than a year,” said one U.S. official. “Congress didn’t give anyone money to replace these devices, and the budget had no wiggle-room to begin with.”
At issue is a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) enacted last December that requires the government to fully purge itself of “any hardware, software, or services developed or provided, in whole or in part,” by Kaspersky Lab. The law was a dramatic expansion of an earlier DHS directive that only outlawed “Kaspersky-branded” products. Both measures came after months of saber rattling by the U.S., which has grown increasingly anxious about Kaspersky’s presence in federal networks in the wake of Russia’s 2016 election interference campaign.
rikyrah
Roseanne Has Completely Changed TV, Again. God Help Us.
As the ‘Roseanne’ revival airs a season finale tackling Trump-era issues, rival networks go into overdrive to copycat its success. The future is political, and frighteningly messy.
Kevin Fallon
KEVIN FALLON
05.22.18 8:30 PM ET
It’s been over 20 years and, for better or worse, Roseanne Barr is once again the most influential person in TV.
In the years since Roseanne was the top-rated comedy series of the ’90s, the comedian has evolved from pop culture provocateur to political menace. Once known for using the relatable Conner clan as a vehicle for pushing progressive boundaries on her show, Barr’s public persona in recent years has been defined by her peddling of alt-right conspiracy theories, her baiting and inflammatory social media presence, and a laundry list of offensive controversies.
That is, her public persona in recent years had been defined by that, until she traded in her tinfoil hat for a cultural lightning rod when ABC’s revival of Roseanne not only premiered to a media frenzy over how Barr’s politics would or wouldn’t be represented, but also became the most-watched new TV series in years.
The think-piece war waging over the responsibility (or lack thereof) of giving Barr a network TV platform, what the revival is tapping into in the zeitgeist, just how pro-Trump or political it is or isn’t, and Barr’s continued social media terrorizing has yet to reach a ceasefire. That makes this past week in the long Roseanne and Roseanne national nightmare—or, let’s face it, harsh reality—a particularly interesting one. The revival’s season is coming to a close as other networks officially announce their bids to capitalize on its success.
rikyrah
Cohen business partner’s plea deal seen as likely falling domino
Rachel Maddow reports on the plea deal by Michael Cohen’s business partner, Evgeny Freidman, in a case involving his taxi business that makes it likely he’ll help prosecutors in Cohen’s case, making him, in turn, more likely to make a deal to aid the investigation of Donald Trump.
Cheryl Rofer
@randy khan:
That’s a really good point. If Navarro and Mnuchin were fighting openly over the terms to offer, they probably would fight with each other over any counteroffer.
And so on.
gene108
@Roger Moore:
I’m old enough to remember the Republicans slagging Clinton for conceding too much by promising energy assistant to N. Korea as part of the 1994 Agreed Framework.
Now they are silent Trump promising actual cash assistance.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s amazing what happens when you take people with no clue about negotiation and statecraft and put them in charge of negotiation and statecraft while hollowing our the department of expertise.
Yarrow
Is there even going to be a NK summit?
@rikyrah:
I thought ‘Roseanne” was losing viewers every week as the season went on. Other networks promoting Trump-loving sitcoms is going to be a really dumb decision by fall.
gene108
@Mike Furlan:
Trump and right-wing media have created their own reality for his base. But Real Reality has a way of breaking into alternate realities, as seen by 2006.
Yarrow
Does anyone know why or when Michael Avenatti protected his Twitter account?
catclub
@gene108: along with dumping the anti-missile treaty, the bush jr admin also reneged on the agreements Clinton had made to the North Koreans. Some would say that was on purpose to sabotage the relationship – and it worked!
rikyrah
I think that Clapper would lay hands on Dolt45 if they were in the same room.
……………..
James Clapper on Russia: ‘They swung the election to a Trump win’
Rachel Maddow shares a passage from former DNI James Clapper’s new book, “Facts and Fears,” in which he describes the effect of the massive Russian propaganda campaign in support of Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
Never understood why anybody ever bought a Kaspersky product. I always stayed miles away.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
He’s just shy?
catclub
@Yarrow: It might have to do with a $10M payment his (ex- his?) law firm is being sued for by another lawyer.
That payment turned to $10M when regular payments on a smaller amount failed to be sent. oopsy
rikyrah
Clapper: Russia eminently successful in the election of 2016
Former DNI James Clapper talks with Rachel Maddow about why he believes, given the closeness of the outcome and the targets Russia chose, that Russia was ultimately successful in its efforts to undermine the 2016 U.S. election.
catclub
@Yarrow: yep. I am that median viewer – watched the first one, then forgot about further episodes.
John Goodman was always the real heart of the show for me.
rikyrah
Clapper: Americans pay for Trump damage to society, institutions
Former DNI James Clapper talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump’s weak morals and willingness to inflict damage on American society and institutions have strained his respect for the Trump presidency and his role as commander in chief.
Jeffro
@rikyrah:
Well…remind me to mail him a bat, then. (Clapper, not Orange Crash)
rikyrah
Clapper: Dossier was not used for Intelligence assessment of 2016
Former DNI James Clapper, author of “Facts and Fears,” talks with Rachel Maddow about how the Intelligence Community regarded the Christopher Steele dossier and how to make Donald Trump aware of its existence even as part of it were verified.
Mike Furlan
@gene108: @gene108, We will see if there is a Wave, or an Ebb tide this fall.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@catclub: Goodman and Metcalfe were brilliant, and from what I’ve read/heard Sara Gilbert is great in the new version, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, especially after I saw the clip of her suggesting that kneeling NFL players hate god
the writers/producers who I don’t think are trumplings– Gilbert, Whitney Cummings– should have a lot to answer for.
rikyrah
White House excludes Democrats from key intelligence briefing
05/23/18 08:00 AM—UPDATED 05/23/18 08:06 AM
By Steve Benen
For many years, Congress has had something called the “Gang of Eight,” which receives highly sensitive intelligence briefings. As the name implies, the “gang” is a pretty small club, featuring the bipartisan leadership of the House, the bipartisan leadership of the Senate, the top two members of the House Intelligence Committee, and the top two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
These eight lawmakers have a unique responsibility to learn about some of the nation’s most important intelligence secrets, and because the gang is split evenly – four Republicans and four Democrats – everyone is assured that both parties have equal access to the same information.
With this in mind, when Donald Trump’s White House organized a new briefing for Congress on issues related to the Russia investigation, it stood to reason that the “Gang of Eight” would receive the highly classified information related to intelligence sources.
Those assumptions, we now know, were mistaken. Politico reported:
zhena gogolia
@cleek:
I usually banish thoughts of DJT from my sleep time. But this morning just after awakening, I had a cold, hard vision of the fact that that ridiculous buffoon on The Apprentice is now sitting in the White House. I retched.
rikyrah
For Trump, electing GOP candidates is less important than electing him
05/23/18 08:40 AM—UPDATED 05/23/18 08:54 AM
By Steve Benen
……………………………….
One of the president’s political goals, therefore, is to make the case to Republican voters that turning out in 2018 matters just as much as it did two years ago. Indeed, that was the message the president’s speechwriters explicitly included in Trump’s pitch to social conservatives last night.
Imagine their disappointment when the president rejected the argument moments after making it.
JPL
OT Bald Eagle fights with a fox over a bunny..
washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/05/23/watch-a-fox-fight-a-bald-eagle-in-midair/?utm_term=.c…
I’ve bookmarked this to view at times when I am distressed over the assholes policies.
MattF
One thing I’d add to that excellent list: Be honest. People I’ve negotiated with appreciate that I tell them what I actually think and want. You’ll still get the ‘I have to talk to my manager’ from the salesperson, but, also, you’ll get that discount.
ETA: And I’ll add, explicitly, there’s no chance of honesty happening in TrumpWorld.
rikyrah
Giuliani says Russia’s stolen materials were ‘like a gift’ to Trump
05/23/18 09:20 AM—UPDATED 05/23/18 09:23 AM
By Steve Benen
………………………
All of which brings us to the latest HuffPost report on the former mayor’s evolving defense.
So let me get this straight. Russia stole Democratic materials to put Trump in power; Trump solicited and welcomed the Russian assistance, and according to Giuliani, this may or may not be evidence of collusion.
Either way, we’re not supposed to care, because according to the president’s lawyer, the president merely took advantage of “a gift” from a foreign adversary that attacked our election.
The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake did a nice job documenting the ever-changing nature of the Trump World argument, from the initial bogus talking point – the campaign never had any communications with Russian officials – to the latest rhetoric from Giuliani.
Mike in NC
@Yarrow: They brought back Tim Allen. There’s a new “Magnum PI” but without Tom Selleck. Maybe he’ll have a Trump bumper sticker on his convertible.
Before we know it some idiot network will reboot “Amos & Andy”.
Yarrow
@catclub: Ah, thanks. I hadn’t heard about that. That would make sense I guess.
rikyrah
Missing an opportunity to lead, Ryan enables the GOP’s worst instincts
05/23/18 10:55 AM—UPDATED 05/23/18 11:02 AM
By Steve Benen
At a Capitol Hill press event yesterday, a reporter asked House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) if he has any concerns about Donald Trump’s efforts to politicize the Justice Department. The congressman’s answer left little doubt that Ryan is siding with the president.
……………………………..
If House Republicans were serious about “conducting oversight of the executive branch,” they wouldn’t be ignoring dozens of serious scandals surrounding the Trump White House. As Jon Chait explained yesterday, “[O]versight of the Executive branch is not an activity that interests Ryan. His goal is closer to the opposite. Ryan and [House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin] Nunes are conducting oversight over the Department of Justice precisely because, while part of the Executive branch, it is independent of it. The independence is precisely the thing that troubles Ryan and Nunes, and which they aim to quash, thereby increasing the power of the president.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I woke up the morning after the election literally, if very briefly, wondering if it was all a bad dream; after a year and a half, I still sometimes have that brief flash in my mind, ‘that didn’t really happen, did it?”
Baud
@Mike in NC: I thought the new Magnum was Latino.
Jay C
Mr. Ilenberg’s comments re diplomatic negotiations are entirely correct, of course: the main problem I see is that he is analyzing the Trump Administration’s “diplomatic” efforts as if they have any other aim outside of generating good “ratings” for Donald Trump personally, and positive (i.e. laudatory/adulatory) media coverage. Again, for himself.
Success or failure of any of these initiatives is virtually irrelevant: Trump will take all the credit for any successes, failure will ALWAYS be someone else’s fault….
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I couldn’t sleep that night.
Peale
I like the headline indicating that there should be a “victory” in these trade negotiations. LOL. When I heard the news this weekend that there was some kind of breakthrough that saved the Soybean Farmers! I just about spit up. These negotiations weren’t supposed to be about soybeans. The Chinese buy plenty of soybeans now. And they have been buying increasing amounts of energy products. Basically they were proclaiming “victory” for getting China to continue to do what it already has been doing, without even any “agreement” that has any force. This whole thing was not necessary.
Mary G
I shared this link to a picture that is supposed to be all over Chinese social media showing the difference in composition of the teams in 2018 vs. 2001 already, but it’s striking:
twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/998932355527139328?s=19
jonas
@catclub:
Avenatti’s supposed to be a pretty sharp guy. How do you screw up something like that? Did he not read the fine print?
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
North Korea is already a Randian paradise — for its royal family. They’re the only people who count over there.
Baud
@Mary G: 1901.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Unless the King decides to kill you.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Me either. I was shaking all night, and my dear now-departed cat Louis kept me company.
Baud
@zhena gogolia: I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. There may come a time when you all will just have to leave me behind.
Yarrow
@Amir Khalid: OT, I haven’t caught up with you in some other threads but want to thank you for posting about what’s happening in Malaysia from your perspective. That story about the chocolates that you posted this morning was hilarious.
dmsilev
@Yarrow:
Possibly not. There’s already backpedalling, from Trump and others, about how the date might change and we’ll see and so on.
Barbara
@rikyrah: Ryan has avoided every opportunity to lead that has ever been given to him. He is not a leader. He is a craven conformist who is mostly doing what other people, I assume donors, tell him to or otherwise acting in such a way to make it possible to make their wishes come true.
People are fond of quoting Edmund Burke that “the only think necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” without actually understanding that it applies to themselves, not just other people. Maybe the do nothings are not actually good, that certainly would be my opinion on Ryan, but the point is that you cannot maintain your “difference” from an evil people while standing back much less actively enabling them. Ryan can’t be gone soon enough from public life.
Emma
@Mike Furlan: Yes and they succeeded so well in the Middle East that they’re trying it again. The rest of the world lives in reality and they’re not going to tolerate the b.s.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Not just that night, two months after that my sleep was fitful.
Yarrow
@Baud: I couldn’t sleep at all that night either. Not one minute of sleep.
Redshift
Since no one’s said it yet: WASF.
El Caganer
@Peale: So much winning! scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2147296/china-orders-farmers-grow-more-soybeans-despite-deal-buy…
Yarrow
@Barbara: Paul Ryan is a traitor. He is leading in the “I’m compromised by Russia” manner of so many of his colleagues.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I would argue NK is the logical out come of Ryandian capitalism.
JPL
@Baud: My DIL was in NYC on a business trip, and she had appointments the following day. Everywhere she went, it was like a wake. She’ll never get over that feeling.
Radiumgirl
One problem with living in a fantasyland in which your sycophants assure you that you are the toughest, coolest, smartest, most capable, most effective, MOST AMAZING PRESIDENT EVER!!! Is that you are utterly unprepared for the real world that doesn’t fall in line to lick your boots. Trump’s base doesn’t understand any of this, of course, because they’re driven by xenophobia and racism. To them, the Chinese are just a bunch of backward yellow people and Trump will grind them into powder under his feet. Except he won’t be able to — and he’ll blame the Democrats for his failures. His base will believe him and the grift will grind on.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Radiumgirl: I was just thinking that. For MAGAts, trump won his trade war, and cancelling the summit he proposed will just prove how tough he is
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
Giuliani’s a lawyer, and he doesn’t know that it’s not okay to receive stolen goods. SMH.
Keith P.
We’re going to wind up with a bag of glass beads when all is said and done.
MattF
@Barbara: I think Paul Krugman ‘got’ Ryan early on: Ryan is a con artist. For example, Ryan could have stopped Nunes easily, but chose not to. You’ll get that ‘Who, me?’ innocent look from Ryan, but it’s a pose. The media fell for it.
MattF
@Keith P.: And, perhaps, that bridge over the East River.
Amir Khalid
@Yarrow:
I have a feeling there’s more hilarity to come, as Najib keeps pleading for sympathy and getting something very different.
Jeffro
@Radiumgirl: hmm…it’s almost like…”reality has a way of asserting itself “…
Yarrow
@Amir Khalid: Please keep us informed! It’s fun to have a local source for all the tidbits we might miss otherwise.
Gin & Tonic
Auntie Beeb is reporting that Michael Cohen took $400k from the gov’t of Ukraine to arrange a meeting with Trump. Without a FARA filing, that’s some pretty deep shit he’s in.
Peale
Ah, so I see he has backed away from his “Trade Deal” that was blustered this weekend. So everything back to the way it was, which suits China just fine, BTW.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
I’d really like to believe that Trump will end up that way too.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
No, we can’t do without you.
The Other Chuck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Eugene Kaspersky has a long and well-respected reputation among security professionals, and I would trust his integrity more than any damn US corporation.
I’ll still admit to the fact that a Moscow-based company is not a great vendor to be using right now, but not every last Russkie has always been our enemy.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Gawd these people are monumentally stupid, the North Koreans can just go to Seoul, it’s 25 miles from the DMZ.
jonas
@rikyrah:
So…I guess the whole “it was a DNC inside job” is no longer operable? Thanks, Rudy!!
H.E.Wolf
@Mike Furlan:
Hello, seemingly-new pessimistic commenter! What are you doing to help create and enlarge the Wave in your local area? Lots of us here are doing volunteer work to get out the Democratic vote in our communities, and we’d love to have you join in and lend a hand. Let us know what you’re contributing so we can cheer you on; and keep us posted thereafter…..
The Other Chuck
@rikyrah:
According to Giuliani, it may or may not be according to Giuliani. It’s the cognitive dissonance defense. Why not, it works on cult followers, and that’s the only type he’s talking to now.
MattF
@The Other Chuck: That fine line between ‘I’m disagreeing with myself’ and ‘I’m not making any sense’.
rikyrah
NFL’s national anthem policy: Players on field must stand, show ‘respect’
Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY Published 12:25 p.m. ET May 23, 2018
Amid repeated protests during the playing of the national anthem over the past two seasons, the NFL on Wednesday passed a revised policy that mandates players and team personnel present on the sideline “shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.”
The revision allows players who would not wish to stand to remain in the locker room. Also under the revision, each franchise will have the power to issue their own policies, which could include fines for players protesting the anthem, under the conduct detrimental provision of the league’s personal conduct policy.
The league also now has the power to fine any franchise that has personnel that does not stand or “show respect” while present on the sideline for the anthem.
Bostondreams
Reading the tweets responding to that thread, it’s just insane. ‘This is just what we need, Trump is breaking the system, we need that, you loser.’
Jeez.
Cacti
Trump should change his name to Dunning J. Kruger.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: IANAL, but a “gift” to an election campaign from foreign sources is illegal.
Waratah
Thank you for this Cheryl. I know we have been working on China to try to adjust the trade balances for a long time. Do you think China really needs us?
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Saw that. Insane.
I think the teams should stay in the locker room until after the anthem, in solidarity with those who would take a knee.
I’d like to think that in between absurd and cowardly decisions like this, and promoting a sport that causes traumatic brain injury, the NFL has just hit the skids.
It’s going to get where people cannot support it any longer.
We’d be a better country if people took governing as seriously as their ridiculous sports. USA has too many who never fucking grew up.
lollipopguild
@Jeffro: Um “reality what a concept!”
The Other Chuck
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No one will ever point this out except to also say Buddhist Temple bothsides blahblah… Hell they don’t even need the truth anymore, they just screech “Clinton Foundation” and run.
All praise to the emperor’s new fucking clothes.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Ugh. I am disappointed with my employer. ?
JPL
uhoh
bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44215656
I wonder what cut Trump received.
Barbara
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, I predict that the word “like” in what Giuliani said is going to be doing a lot of hard work in the coming days. “Like a gift,” not actually a gift!
Chris
@Bostondreams:
“Hey! It’s not a system. It’s a country. We are talking about people. A whole country full of people, sitting at home alone, scared to death in their houses. So if you’re done with your little nostalgia moment, maybe you can think a little and help me catch these guys?”
Yes, Internet trolls just made me quote Die Hard In Name Only. Don’t judge me.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: That’s awful. Players should stay in the locker room until all the dumbassery before the game is done. Come out when the game is ready to start. National anthem, flyovers, whatever. Just stay in the locker room until right before game time.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I said this yesterday, but although IANAL, I am astounded that a former federal prosecutor would claim that receiving stolen goods isn’t a crime. Really?!?!
rikyrah
@MattF:
Krugman always had his number.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@rikyrah:
Seriously? Roseanne‘s ratings have been plummeting ever since the premier.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: I guess players can stay in the locker room.
Cheryl Rofer
@Peale: The soybean thing was a “win” because China had threatened to stop buying soybeans from the US.
After the US had started the trade war, of course.
Practically all the difficulties the US is having internationally are from Trump’s actions. For a couple more examples, we were concerned about North Korea’s progress with nukes, but there was no immediate danger of war. We had an agreement that was keeping Iran from making nukes. Now that’s shaky. All Trump-caused.
rikyrah
@Gin & Tonic:
And, it is the Brits who told on him.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Other Chuck: That Buddhist Temple is one of the places on my list of things to photograph here in LA.
rikyrah
@Peale:
The strategic targeting of the Chinese was quite impressive.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: You’ll be getting a visit from a mouse tonight.
rikyrah
Obama center plan approved by Chicago City Council
POSTED 6:45 AM, MAY 23, 2018,
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS, UPDATED AT 11:52AM, MAY 23, 2018
CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council has approved the Obama Presidential Center in a park on the city’s South Side.
The council voted overwhelmingly to approve the $500 million project.
The project remains under federal review because the site, Jackson Park, is on the National Register of Historic Places. However, City Council is a major step forward.
Last week, the Chicago Plan Commission approved the proposal to build on the site selected by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. The council’s zoning committee did the same on Tuesday.
The proposal has won widespread support in Chicago, but it has also been met with resistance from critics who oppose putting the center into a historic and popular park.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Barbara:
Sort of like…”I’m like really really rich”?
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HAH A AH HA
Pete Souza, the former Obama W.H. photographer, has announced that he’s publishing a new book called “SHADE: A Tale of Two Presidents.” pic.twitter.com/wF0oHVEebZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 23, 2018
Cheryl Rofer
@Waratah: Yes, China needs us as a customer and for many things like soybeans. The trade balances are a complicated thing, and IANA economist, so I can’t go much beyond saying that trying to get them all to zero, or, more unlikely, in positive territory for the US is a fool’s errand. They are not the balance sheet that Trump thinks they are.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@rikyrah: Oh good god. So much for free speech.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Cheryl Rofer: It’s been reported that Trump doesn’t know how to read a balance sheet.
trollhattan
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: +
Assuming by “plummeting” you mean “slipping slightly into second place against the season finale of the previous #1″ then plummeting it is.
Hits like “Roseanne” and “Big Bang” have value far beyond their direct viewership for the positive impact they have on the shows that precede and follow them. The actual words emanating from their yaps is less important than viewer eyeballs and of course, we know that networks will try anything that sells. Which makes the whole RW jihad against the “left coast Hollywood elite” such a silly conceit. Is Roseanne cashing her checks? Come see the oppression!
Jeffro
@rikyrah: great…my RWNJ brother was ahead of his time, telling me for the past year that maybe, maaaaybe Trumpov “just happened to benefit”. Never mind that he and his team SOLICITED the illegal “benefit” and used it to their illegal advantage and never, of course, bothered to report any of this to the FBI.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Nice. Souza functioned as an unofficial cabinet member who plugged us into the Obama White House in a very personal way. Who is Trump’s photographer? How many hundreds of pages is his/her NDA?
Jeffro
@rikyrah: If a player on each side kneels, don’t the penalties cancel each other out?
Yarrow
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Are there legal decisions related to this new policy? Seems like if the NFL can mandate their players “stand and show respect” for the national anthem it’ll be pretty easy for any employer to mandate the same thing. I expect lawsuits.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Congress may object.
Even Republican Senators will have a hard time voting for foreign aid to an enemy.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: OT: aren’t you up near Sacramento? I’ve been thinking about driving up there to photograph the State Capitol.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
I thought Pompeo’s job was to avoid driving North Korea into a violent response?
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Nobody could have predicted….oh wait.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: If there’s a peace treaty, they’re not an enemy anymore.
LAO
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Sage Rosenfelds, the retired journeyman quarterback, has been killing it on twitter:
TenguPhule
@Mike in NC:
They’re bringing back Murphy Brown. It seems our nation is destined to collapse amid a return of every goddamn sitcom from the 80s.
rp
@trollhattan: I haven’t looked at the TV ratings in years — my god! NO ONE is watching these shows.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Magnum’s mustache refused to accept the new terms and will not be shown in the reboot.
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
Worse, former prosecutor.
TenguPhule
@Keith P.:
Worse, those beads will be lease to own.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Or put another way, Mueller’s shop is air tight. No leaks about something he certainly knew months ago.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@trollhattan:
It has been consistently losing viewers all season-long, week-to-week. I don’t think that bodes well for its future, if the trend continues. I predict it will limp along most of its second season and then get cancelled after the second season finale.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
IOKIYAR.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
You could lose the practically and it would still be just as true.
Immanentize
@Yarrow: The players are unionized. AFL-CIO. The league cannot just make new rules without concessions….
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Corrected.
I recall the reports last year that Trump can’t read anything that doesn’t have his name prominently displayed in it.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
But do the Republicans know this?
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Guilty as charged.
rikyrah
@LAO:
love these tweets
Jay
@jonas:
A lot of “high profile” small boutique law firms, have a cash flow issue, of feast and famine.
trollhattan
NFL has “solved” the anthem issue in a way sure to piss everybody off–“stay in the locker room if you wish but no kneeling.” Winning!
JPL
@rikyrah: How is it that Cohen is allowed to walk the streets of NYC. The other large part of the story is that the Ukraine investigation into Manafort was dropped after the Trump meeting.
germy
Okay, here’s something I didn’t know about Stacey Abrams:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I may have questions for you in the near future. My last time up there was about 40 years ago.
Kay
The DOJ agreed to a briefing that excludes all but the President’s loyal supporters. I think I’d like to exclude myself from paying for the FBI and the DOJ since they clearly believe they don’t serve me. These people are making choices. They’re plenty powerful! They can insist on terms that protect their own integrity and are perceived as fair, but they choose not to do that.
They chose to be subservient, spineless tools of this clown. At every single decision point they chose the easy route.
Peale
@TenguPhule: No one is signing a “peace treaty” with the US unless the Senate votes on it, since our word is worthless. Its not like other countries don’t have these “experts” whose job it is to read up on our political process. And I do like how the US just assumes that by doing business with us after a peace treaty, some new president won’t decide to try for regime change anyway. All the countries except the US that sent forces to Libya had Oil interests they were trying to protect. Heck, even China didn’t send troops, but acquiesced to the campaign from the security council. Like any of amount to trade matters to small countries when the Major Belligerent Powers decide its time to intervene.
J R in WV
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Bought? As in paid for? Nope! Free download on a desktop years ago, thought better of it later on, now on Linux rather than Windows.
trollhattan
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Wish you were right but that’s not how these things work. You can’t slap a ruler on a graph and continue the slope until your pencil runs off the paper. They surely shed some of the early curious viewers who decided the show wasn’t their thing, but have also cemented a reliable baseline viewership that will stick with it. That’s probably where they are now and it will be on the air as long as she (and to an extent, John Goodman) wants.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: Check out Cole’s anthem rant on the twitter sidebar. Pure gold.
jonas
@TenguPhule: politics.theonion.com/u-s-dept-of-retro-warns-we-may-be-running-out-of-pas-1819564513
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The coffee’s better now. :-)
germy
I used to enjoy reading Michael Avenatti’s tweets, but today I visit and I see he’s gone protected.
The attack dogs are out and aided by the corporate media they’re trying to take him down.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
But that would require them to take professional risks with their career.
And as we’ve seen time and time again, they’re not willing to uphold their oaths of office. They’ve decided on IGMFY.
Their route to Hell is more scenic then Nunes and friends, but I expect they’ll reach the exact same destination eventually.
Cheryl Rofer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Details, details!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Let me put it this way, the last time I saw the Capitol the older part was gutted. The last time I was in the older part of the building was Jerry Brown’s first year in office.
ETA: I don’t drink coffee.
L85NJGT
@rikyrah:
Call: I’m gonna fuck you real good here.
Response: MAGA!
donnah
@rikyrah:
I hope Pete Souza is telling the truth! I got his book about Obama for Christmas and looked at every single page. When I feel overwhelmed, (and that happens a lot) I get it out and review happier times with a President I admired.
The differences between Trump and Obama are unlimited and and it seems like a hundred years since Trump took office.
randy khan
@Yarrow:
Outside of questions about what the union agreement says, the NFL almost certainly can do this. It’s a private organization and can police the speech of its employees during their work hours. (This is parallel to Google firing the guy who wrote the dumb thing about how women can’t code, also entirely within its rights.)
germy
TenguPhule
We now have the official Trump excuse for not showing Democrats the intelligence.
I can’t even.
TenguPhule
And this is why I thought Democrats going along on this was a bad idea.
Everything Trump approves of should be a red flag that something is seriously wrong.
LAO
@rikyrah: Rosenfelds “rant” has continued unabated, his latest.
Kay
@TenguPhule:
She’s sad that she has a reputation for lying constantly. I saw it in an interview. Very sad.
Not that she’ll stop lying or anything, but be assured she feels bad about it.
Peale
@Cheryl Rofer: I just wonder how long they are going to play this game and how long the BASE will go along with it, thinking he cares or has won.
Trump: We will begin bombing Iceland Tomorrow to take it back from Terrorists!
Iceland: If you do that, we’re going to release a whole bunch of sulfur gas into the air whenever Air Force One flies over.
Trump: O.K. we won’t do that.
Iceland: O.K. we won’t retaliate.
Press: Iceland Backs Down from Threats! Win! Victory!
Peale
@TenguPhule: Meh. Why request it? Just ask Australia what he’s talking about on his phone when he brags about his latest Win!
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Zounds, Jerry 1.0!
The total capitol overhaul was considered a success at the time and surely helped the building avoid further decay. Today there is no scaffolding and they do a decent job keeping the blinding white exterior clean, so you don’t see a lot of schmutz in photos. They’re actually considering removing the boxy east side offices that were slapped on the building, making that face pretty uninspiring. The West face is the most photogenic. Interior is open to the public daily, 9-5.
TenguPhule
A relationship gone wrong. A jealous rage. A glass of acid to the face. Injuries so bad the victim chose euthanasia after 15 months.
The whole thing is gut wrenching.
trollhattan
@TenguPhule:
“Democrats forgot to say ‘Simon says’ so their bad.”
TenguPhule
@Kay: I don’t know what’s worse. That Huckbee lies so blatantly these days to the media’s face or that they keep sitting there and just taking it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Just a reminder:
John Kelly ain’t shyt.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Yup, summer of 1975; Jerry had hair! The interior was a bit dark and dingy. Madame was up there on a road trip with a friend and took some pics of the inside, it was much different.
TenguPhule
Surrender Monkey Surrenders.
trollhattan
ACLU says what needs to be said.
Chris
@Peale:
Conservatives: WHY DOES LIBERAL MEDIA HATE TRUMP WAAAAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAH
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
If she were here, she would have just shot him. You know it. I know it. With her legally purchased firearm.
Chris
@TenguPhule:
You know, I’ve done enough vague cryptic meaningless bullshitting in my life to recognize it when I see it, and, well…
GregB
The Twitter is saying that Papadopolous is prepared for his sentencing.
That and the BBC dropping the Cohen/Ukraine bribery news tells me things are about to get even hotter.
El Caganer
@Kay: Rosenstein said, “Here I stand.” Apparently he’s on some sort of conveyor belt that just keeps moving….
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
I’m not so sure. The amount of planning she did makes me think she still would have used acid just to disfigure him.
Chris
@Kay:
Incorrect. She does not feel bad about it. She feels bad that other people notice it and talk about it.
trollhattan
Stay classy, Southern Baptists.
TenguPhule
@El Caganer:
Where would you like your internets delivered?
Peale
@TenguPhule: Again, China doesn’t currently have a trade agreement in place with the US. Its a member of the WTO and the agreement is with that body. I think Trump thought he could pull the same thing he did with NAFTA and threaten to pull out of the agreement altogether if he didn’t get his way. Why would China even bother to negotiate with the US if any agreement we reach will just be revoked by the US immediately after it is signed?
LAO
Apparently, Trump has begun his anti-immigrant screed in Long Island:
ETA: I’m not the biggest fan of Long Island — but blood stained killing fields seems like an overreach.
JPL
@GregB: If true, it’s quid pro quo, missiles for dropping the investigation into Manafort .
CBS is saying that Cohen is denying the BBC report, but as you know his word is good as shit.
Of course, the republicans will open a hearing anytime.
LAO
What a total piece of shit.
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Trump cannot block Twitter critics without violating 1st Amendment, judge rules
Posted 12:59 PM, May 23, 2018, by Associated Press
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York says President Donald Trump violates the First Amendment by blocking critics on Twitter for political speech.
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan issued the written decision Wednesday.
In ruling, she said no government official — including the president — is above the law.
The case was brought last July by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and seven individuals blocked by Trump after criticizing the Republican president.
After a hearing this year, the judge had suggested that Trump mute rather than block some of his critics. At the time, a Justice Department attorney agreed that muting would enable Trump to avoid a tweet he doesn’t want to read.
trollhattan
@LAO:
They need a wall to keep MS-13 out of the Hamptons.
MS-13 sounds like an MPAA movie rating.
LAO
@LAO: This is where we are as a nation, I’m sick.
ruemara
@TenguPhule: Murphy Brown is a million miles away from Amos & Andy.
@LAO: Jesus, this fucking racist & his church of divine hatred. God, I cannot stand these people & I fear it will take more horror for moderate whites & the media to comprehend exactly what this nation is devolving into.
rikyrah
Angela Bassett and Thandie Newton Discuss Being Black and What’s Considered Sexy in Hollywood
Yesha Callahan
Today 11:23am
Angela Bassett and Thandie Newton are gracing the cover of the Hollywood Reporter’s June issue, along with Claire Foy (The Crown), Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Deuce), Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve). The actresses participated in THR’s annual Drama Actress Roundtable and discussed everything from on-screen nudity (male and female), learning to say no and Hollywood’s better-late-than-never push for gender pay parity.
Bassett, who is currently appearing on Fox’s 9-1-1, made some particularly interesting comments when it came to being sexualized on television and movies. Gyllenhaal had mentioned how sexiness seems to be a prerequisite when it comes to women, and made mention of her role on The Deuce as a porn actress and sex worker.
“I don’t know if you all feel this way, but it has felt like a prerequisite that, yes, you can be smart and powerful and all these things, but you also have to throw a little sexiness in there. And I don’t know if it’s going to stay that way, but it certainly has been that way for most of my career,” Gyllenhaal said.
As most of the women on the panel agreed with her, Bassett had a different take when Gyllenhaal asked haven’t all women been asked to use their sexuality: “Mmmm, no, not really.” (There was laughter.) “I’ve not been asked to use my sexuality in my career.”
Gyllenhaal seemed shocked as she asked, “Really?”
“Not as a black woman, no,” Bassett said.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Which of the quattro Rudys will agree with this ruling?
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Fucking asshole owners and league. I would hope that those who stand would emulate Tommie Smith and John Carlos, but they’d probably get fined for that.
One hopes that the next CBA between the NFLPA and the owners rectifies this fascistic situation.
Kay
@El Caganer:
Rosenstein said, “Here I stand’
Well, he is standing there. There’s photos and things so I know that. Maybe he’ll stand while he conducts the private Donald Trump legal defense team meeting.
JPL
Ukraine is denying the story. It’s a blatant effort to hurt relations between Ukraine and US.
TenguPhule
@LAO:
Somebody better check how many Pizza parlors Trump owns.
ruemara
@rikyrah: Because seeing black women as sexy (if they are not very lightly shaded with features that conform to the white standards) is so goddamn new it still has shrink wrap on it. Seeing black women as sexualized tropes or asexual spiritual nurturers is far more the norm.
Sexy = desirable, worthy of romance, beautiful, unattainable.
Sexualized = sexually voracious, indiscriminate, laughably horny, a grotesquerie .
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: People who know Ukraine well are not terribly surprised.
LAO
Oh yeah, I’m confident this guy is going to do the right thing:
TenguPhule
@LAO:
The alien in the Trump suit ate Rosenstein’s brains.
Kay
So are Democrats actually barred from the DOJ/Trump legal defense meeting or is this more one-sided “norms” BS?
Can’t they file something or use of their 5000 arcane rules? They could say they represent tens of millions of people, which has the benefit of being true.
Sometimes when I need something and don’t have a rule I just file “Motion”- “blah blah blah, give me this..” you’d be amazed how often it works :)
trollhattan
@LAO:
They’re tripling and quadrupling down on the whole “animal” thing. Trump just throws it out there, gets smacked and suddenly it’s fucking policy.
Chet Murthy
@The Other Chuck: *cough* clearly you haven’t been keeping up with the news on FSB officers working there. Or, erm, maybe you have, b/c they’re your colleagues, Boris?
Corner Stone
@ruemara: I am not sure I fully understand Ms. Bassett’s answer. I have seen her work in several films and at times ISTR she was smoking the screen up.
trollhattan
@Kay:
Pruitt will see this as a green light to keep Dems away from EPA. They’re probably collecting employee voter registration data as I type.
LAO
@trollhattan: The stupid, it burns:
zhena gogolia
@Corner Stone:
The one about “How [can’t remember the name] got her groove back”? Pretty hot. Taye Diggs, just sayin’.
ETA: Stella
Shana
@rikyrah: As did Charlie Pierce who named Ryan the Zombie Eyed Granny Starver, or ZEGS for short.
JPL
@Gin & Tonic: twitter.com/renato_mariotti has a similar theory. Country just trying to save itself by getting on Trump’s good side.
GregB
It is hard to wrap my head around the nightmarish path this nation is embarked upon.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
Example # 10,374 that there is no such thing as A Just God. Were there, Jethrene would have been a grease spot, due to her shameless lying.
Corner Stone
@El Caganer:
Yeah, they all have this fake ass “Honorable Man” bullshit patter they try out. They are manifestly prisoners of their own bloated ego and sense of self. Stop preening and just do your damned job.
And although I am glad Comey was fired, and wish Obama had done it in Summer 2016, I can totally see the furrowed brow Rosenstein had to grudgingly adopt as his ego forced him to write the memo that led to Comey’s firing. I am sure it was with a terribly heavy heart, but his Honorable Man demanded it.
Timurid
@JPL:
The NFL just did the same thing,
The really scary thing here is all of these well connected and reasonably intelligent people deciding that Trump’s got this thing won and that all they can do now is seek his favor.
JPL
@LAO: It would be nice if the executive branch had congressional oversight.
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: They got the Javelins they wanted. Just sayin’
Mary G
@trollhattan: EPA is turning Politico away from the summit today. Is it just me that notices it’s mostly the female reporters?
LAO
@JPL: Agreed — we’re just 2 wild eyed dreamers at this point.
The Other Chuck
@Chet Murthy: Yeah Komrade, you got me. Fucking idiot.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Timurid:
Cowardly pansies is all they are. It’s Donald Fucking Trump. The man is a bumbling fucking moron who probably also has some form of early-onset dementia. Have a goddamn spine and stand up to this asshole!
Corner Stone
@The Other Chuck: I didn’t really understand your assertion in the original comment, either.
JPL
@LAO:
twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/998667778285596672
I guess gun control doesn’t excite his base.
Kay
I myself would like to hear about these. Sewage scandal! The Trump bribery probe.
Corner Stone
@Timurid:
IMO, the NFL did what it always wanted to, without giving the Trump angle too much investment. I think 31 of the 32 owners are white men? Obviously all very wealthy. They hate that they have to generously give so much of their profits to labor. What Bob McNair (Texans) said about “inmates” was pretty spot on for how they all feel, IMO.
Peale
@LAO: They just ignore the presence of actual families whenever it suits them. Anyway, good to know that Guatemala and Salvador will be sent a Trump Invoice for having a gang problem. MS 13 will just change its name to MS 13.1 and wallah – problem solved.
Corner Stone
@zhena gogolia: AB had limited screen time in Boyz n the Hood but I also found her to be sexy in that role. Maybe I just have a thing for her.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m getting news alerts that tell me Jared Kushner’s security clearance has been reinstated. Thank FSM, now he can go back to fixing government and bringing about peace in the Middle East and whatever the fuck else is in his portfolio.
LAO
The sound that you heard, was my head bouncing off my desk.
Jeffro
In all seriousness, why don’t prospective “kneelers” in the NFL just say that they intend to wear sunglasses, or hang their heads, or something equally impossible to stop during the anthem to protest? Just change it each season. Good luck banning that, NFL owners.
Timurid
@Corner Stone:
But they’re also in the entertainment business, and they have many fans on both sides of the issue. They also had a very obvious way to dodge the problem entirely… play the anthem before the players leave the locker room (as they had done in the past). The owners making a terrible business decision that could have been avoided with no effort and no expense tells me that an external force is in play.
Eljai
WTF?
Corner Stone
Cohen is melting down over Evgeny Friedman flipping on him. Now claiming (per MSNBC) that he and Friedman were never business partners in taxis or anything else. I have a feeling Cohen is about to get the Full Watusi.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
I dunno…with that kind of rage…I think she would have stalked him, shot him, and tried to get away with it, due to planning.
rikyrah
@trollhattan:
They have Attorney General White Citizens Council and Stephen Miller designing immigration policy.
Animals – is just the new word. Their POLICY has been actively treating non-Whites as if they were from the time of January 20, 2017.
Mary G
@Kay: Missing Manhattan sewage? Did someone steal shit?
Googled: ew…Alternet article: The Teflon Don and the Tale of the Missing Sewage
How Trump bypassed New York City laws to build a development that dumped tons of sewage into the Hudson River.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Hadn’t noticed it was women. Just knew it was the press. Thanks for noticing.
Elizabelle
@Eljai: I am wondering what kind of security clearance. Maybe it’s still training wheels type, but “permanent.”
How strange, though.
Jack the Second
@Jeffro: Or that this year they’re protesting by not kneeling.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: Everyone in Trumpland will steal shit if it ain’t nailed down.
MomSense
So the DOJ caved to the White House and Nunes and now Kushner gets his security clearance. Feels like more institutions are failing.
ruemara
@Eljai: There’s been a lot of appointments at key agencies. This was inevitable.
rikyrah
The DEMS who voted for the Dodd-Frank roll back should know that the GOPers will only vote for you if you have a (R) after your name…they will not be voting for GOP-LITE… #JusSayin t.co/CfSNSROSSx
— Pretty Foot (@PrettyFootWoman) May 23, 2018
rikyrah
Women – including lots of women of color – are taking center stage in the coming midterms. This will be a huge test for a resistance that has been driven by women’s shock, outrage and organizing post-2016 election. t.co/GH74J7OAeA
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 23, 2018
LAO
Any dog people here, looking for a good laugh today, this is best thread:
Mary G
Disgusting. ACLU has gotten hold of a bunch of documents about the Customs and Border Patrol’s child abuse:
So much winning!
? Martin
BTW, all the lessons for how Trump screwed up is why the TPP was handled the way it was. By keeping certain categories of things secret, it gives them negotiating space. Once word gets out that jade-encrusted tie clips won’t have their tariff lowered, the the tie clip and manufacturing lobbies spin up, the NYT does their public-interest piece on the fate of some hard working, salt of the earth small business owner in Waukesha County, and a third of the country decries this great injustice that in all likelihood only affects one person.
One of the great benefits of free trade is that government gets out of the business of having to decide which of us get screwed in a trade deal. That doesn’t mean people won’t get screwed, but the pressures are a lot easier to see and are much less arbitrary. I mean, the tariff on foreign made trucks was put in place to fuck over Germany for putting a tarriff on US chickens. Pretty sure the jobs protected in truck plants didn’t have a lot of overlap with the chicken farmers. How much has US farmers invested in expanding soybean production for Trump to just toss those plans on a fire.
El Caganer
@Eljai: I guess it’s official. We’re a banana republic without even getting the bananas…..as my WV grandfather would call it, “a sad sitcheation.”
Kay
@Mary G:
Those sound like interesting stories, right? So it’s not “clicks” or “markets” or “what people want to read”. The Russia story is amazing. This odd collection of corrupt authoritarian states captured the US GOP! That’s pretty interesting, I would say.
? Martin
@rikyrah:
Good. Maybe this will end our run of at-best mediocre white men calling all the shots. Put some people in charge that know what life on the ground is actually like.
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
Remember, Security Clearances are NOT granted by the FBI. They are granted by the WHITE HOUSE.
Kushner could have ALWAYS had a Security Clearance. It was never up to the FBI. They can only forward their recommendations.
The question is WHY NOW?
John Kelly trying to save himself and make peace with Javanka, so he pushes forth the Security Clearance?
? Martin
@Timurid:
That’s kind of the secret to getting ahead – play the game according to the rules currently in effect. If laws are out and graft is in, then you do graft. Unfortunately, the people that do this are exactly the ones who have the power to return us to laws, but that would mean losing the opportunity…
Kay
@rikyrah:
I’m hopeful but (white) women have let me down in elections more times than I care to count. It’s the Year of the Woman every 5 years. They don’t come thru.
Eljai
@ruemara: I fear you are right. I was hoping he had his clearance restored on the condition that he wear a wire.
rikyrah
@Eljai:
I am critical of the DOJ about a lot of things, but not this.
Because, I will repeat,
IT WAS NEVER UP TO THEM IF KUSHNER GOT A SECURITY CLEARANCE.
THE WHITE HOUSE GIVES OUT SECURITY CLEARANCES.
Now, if you get back to me that the FBI has totally changed what they wrote in their report about Kushner, then I can be disgusted.
But, for now, this is on the WHITE HOUSE, because they are the only ones with the power to actually grant Security Clearances.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I don’t count on them either. We just gotta find folks who don’t usually vote in mid-term elections.
rikyrah
I will remind folks that Jared got his 1.2 billion for 666 Park Avenue…..
so, now, the White House thinks he’s in the clear?
JPL
@Eljai: He happened to have an interview with Mueller that lasted six or seven hours a few days ago.
Mary G
@LAO: This is gold. Chunk, Lucy and Greyson – I’m still giggling.
Also, one NFL co-owner not a total asshole:
LAO
@Mary G: Good to see (even though I despise the Jets).
This was my favorite from the thread:
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
And they’ll pry out the nails and steal those too.
Aleta
Details about the deal and the stupidity are here.
Trump thrives on conflict and playing people off each other.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
it would be uncivil to mention pikes.
JPL
@LAO: lol This comment made me feel guilty just sayin
Gravenstone
@SFAW: I’d love to see everyone on both sidelines kneel. But I’d settle for everyone doing a cup check in unison. Respect this, bitchez.
TenguPhule
@Aleta: The right hand and left hand are in a fight to the death to see which one gets shoved up the ass.
Peale
@Mary G: LOL. The other Johnson I believe is all in for Trump. I think he’s an ambassador. Fun Family Times at the J&J Trust Fund Meetings are coming soon.
JPL
@JPL: NPR is saying that Jared’s interview was 7 to 8 hours. Not one of them could last as long as Hillary did during the House Intelligence interview.
stinger
@LAO:
And his answer is to isolate all incoming children from their parents and warehouse them in barracks? Yeah, that’ll nip the gang ties problem right in the bud.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
I would also say that “sexy” implies a certain amount of agency and choice — being sexy gives a woman (some) power over the men who are attracted to her. Traditionally, Black women have not granted that power to say no that, say, Marilyn Monroe or Ava Gardner would have.
LAO
@JPL: I hate to admit it, but I often call Maggie — “my little fatty” cause she’s a chunky little thing,
LAO
@stinger: I had the exact same thought. It depressed me.
Mary G
@LAO:
trollhattan
@JPL:
Loved her response: “I called him ‘Zippy.'”
LAO
@Mary G: pet twitter is the best twitter.
stinger
@LAO: They intentionally create the very conditions they deplore. I suppose barracks management will be privatized, too.
TenguPhule
@stinger:
Step 2 of Trump’s cunning plan involves showers…..
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
I loved that last photo of the tweeter’s dogs. They were obviously thinking, BEST WALK EVER! When can we go see our new friend Chunk again?
LAO
@stinger: I hadn’t even though of that. Now, I’m more depressed.
Aleta
@LAO: Same speech:
“It’s almost like a war where you’re getting rid of somebody who’s occupying your nation.”
This is exactly how he’s promoting his anti-immigration platform. To get people to support a war, we dehumanize the other side. Make them monsters; say they don’t care about life or women or children. The Vietnamese, the Arabs, the Muslims.
tobie
@rikyrah: My blood is boiling about the bank repeal vote. Chuck Schumer has been a disaster as Senate minority leader. He could have stopped Haspel…but he didn’t. Now he’s let 16 Democratic Senators vote to roll back Dodd-Frank, one of the signature achievements of the last Democratic administration. He clearly doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of the base or even the members of his caucus. Put someone like Durbin or Wyden in charge. Either would do a better job than Schumer.
Jeffro
@Mary G:
Oh my god…I just felt the knee-jerk urge to buy…a Jets jersey(!) Life takes you funny places sometimes…
(maybe I’ll just donate the equivalent amount to the ACLU instead?)
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@tobie: Seconded – I’m not happy with Chuck about his vocal support for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem either. But we probably won’t get new leadership in the Senate.
Citizen Alan
@trollhattan:
It’s gone from total viewers of over 27 million down to 19.5 as of mid-April (with continuing losses forecast for more recent episodes). It’s a hit show, but it’s lost a bit of the “mega-hit” status of its debut. I haven’t watched it (I never cared for the original, and I have no intention of wasting my time on a pro-Trump show), but my impression is that the character of Roseanne is being pitched as a 21st Century female Archie Bunker, i.e. an aging bigot who constantly struggles with the results of her own bigotries. I remember reading how dismayed Carroll O’Connor was to learn just how many people loved Archie Bunker for “telling it like it is” and agreeing fully with his views.
J R in WV
@LAO:
We wait to name our rescue pets, so we have a chance to know them before assigning an completely inappropriate name, like Angel for a really evil cat…
So one of our more recently adopted cats was really tiny when Wife rescued her from a nearby culvert/bramble patch. But she gained weight really fast, a LOT. So her name is Punkin, for the round squash vegetable. She’s not really overweight now, lots of loose fur from the weight loss. But she’s still Punkin!