Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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

Innocent people do not delay justice.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Giving up is unforgivable.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Bark louder, little dog.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / Getting The Band Back Together / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Been A Long Week…

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Been A Long Week…

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Apart from hoping for a news respite, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    We just expanded our battlefield to target Speaker Paul Ryan in 2018, because no GOP seat should be safe next year — not even the Speaker’s Chair. pic.twitter.com/Slrj5jmDvf

    — DCCC

    WHY ISN’T THE DNC DOING THIS??? \Internet political consultants

  2. 2.

    Baud

    And the world moves on. The Hill

    Top officials from 11 countries said Friday that they had reached a deal on a trade agreement that does not involve the United States, according to a new report.

    The Associated Press reports that trade officials from 11 countries have reached an agreement on the “core elements” of the trade deal. Those 11 countries, plus the U.S., signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2016.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Don’t worry, the deal maker in chief is on it and soon he will have 11 separate deals with those countries where they will give us money just so they can bet on the roulette wheel known as the American economy. What could possibly go wrong?

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: In moderation… Apparently just referring to any form of g*m*ng is enough to set off FYWP. So to attempt again:

    @Baud: Don’t worry, the deal maker in chief is on it and soon he will have 11 separate deals with those countries where they will give us money just so they can b*t on the r**l*tt* wheel known as the American economy. What could possibly go wrong?

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Scott Dworkin‏ @funder

    3 different GOPers told me tonight that we should expect Stephen Miller to resign next week, possibly as early as tomorrow

    10:26 PM – 10 Nov 2017

    The New York Times identified Stephen Miller, now a senior Trump adviser, as the previously unnamed senior policy adviser mentioned in former Trump aide George Papadopoulos’ plea filing. (link)

    Laura Rozen‏ @lrozen

    Papadopoulos was in regular contact with top campaign officials, including Stephen Miller, according to interviews and campaign documents

    276 replies 1,179 retweets 2,337 likes

    So that’s why Mueller pulled Miller in this week – he’s up to his eyes in collusion.

    Of course everyone is involved in collusion. They only resign once it becomes public.

    And since Miller was Sessions’s top aide, hard to see how Sessions didn’t know.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    Trump agrees with Putin that Russia didn’t meddle in our elections.
    Hillary was to blame for poor relations with Russia
    Obama was to blame for poor relations with Philippines.
    Trump has the best foreign policy ever!

    twitter.com/DavidNakamura

  12. 12.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Trump seems to be holding a press availability.

  14. 14.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @satby: It depends on how you define liberal. Two of the biggest demagogues were Sanders and Warren. Warren repeated lied about the agreement being secret; even Sanders had to publicly say that wasn’t true (he was probably envious that he didn’t think of the lie first).

  18. 18.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Thread from David Nakamura starts here. I won’t torture you with it all this early in the morning.

  21. 21.

    bystander

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    ..it’s the biggest state entrance at the biggest state dinner they’ve ever had. By far. In China. He called it, ‘state plus.” In fact, he actually said, “state plus plus,” which is very interesting.”

    Xi quite obviously has children. He knows exactly how to speak to manbaby.

  23. 23.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Baud: yeah, Chris Hayes was naturally pushing it and when he had Sanders on for his weekly appearance he asked Sanders about it and Sanders said that was wrong, that everyone had access to it. Then he added that he wasn’t going to read it because he’s against trade deals.

    Modernity.

  30. 30.

    bystander

    I was just reading the thread about Jared Kushner. Jared is apparently so stupid and so arrogant that the lesson he learned from his Dad’s time in the Big House is Jared is much much smarter than Dad and will never be caught. Growing up with an ex-con for a father would have a sobering effect on most people, I would guess. But not our Jared.

    Can’t wait for the indictment.

  32. 32.

    AkaDad

    As a Conservative, I support Roy Moore because he understands that sex education shouldn’t be taught in schools. It should be taught at home.

  36. 36.

    TS

    I have no memory of prior presidents – Clinton/Bush/Obama attacking previous presidents or their election opponents in the way trump does every day. He’s an insecure little nothing. The Chinese and the Russians sure know how to press the right buttons.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    @TS: Trump is the only one that had the State plus, plus, plus visit. The former presidents must be so envious.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    Trump is who the GOP deserves. They’ve always thought they were the smartest guys and gals in the room, and now they’ve got the leader who believes the same thing.

    I cannot wait for the photo of Trump standing alone, waiting for a rush of countries wanting to negotiate individual deals and to forgive massive amounts of U.S. debt. There he’ll be, always looking for the door to open, always disappointed when it never does. Turns out Trump will be the Miss Havisham of the world.

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

  47. 47.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @debbie:

    I cannot wait for the photo of Trump standing alone, waiting for a rush of countries wanting to negotiate individual deals and to forgive massive amounts of U.S. debt. There he’ll be, always looking for the door to open, always disappointed when it never does.

    There was something on Twitter last night about this. Not a single bilateral deal out of this trip. That’s no surprise to anyone who knows anything about trade and the world. Haven’t seen it in a news article yet, though.

    It never occurred to the Great Negotiator that bilateral trade deals require two to negotiate.

  49. 49.

    magurakurin

    @debbie: Prime Minister Abe just straight up told him no bilateral deal, but he bought him an American beef hamburger after a round of golf, so Shitgibbon was happy. He’s a punk and he’s getting rolled by every world leader that cares to take a spin. The damage he is doing will take decades to repair.

  50. 50.

    debbie

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Mara Liasson is NPR’s version of a conservative reporter. After the first, failed attempt at healthcare, she said that it appeared that Trump couldn’t even negotiate with himself.

  51. 51.

    germy

    BREAKING: The New York Times appears to be reporting that George Papadopoulos helped write the April 2016 "Mayflower Speech," in which Trump offered Russia a "good deal" on sanctions, and did so *after* revealing himself to Trump as a Kremlin intermediary. t.co/a31iUuebd5— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 11, 2017

    And then he got coffee.

  52. 52.

    germy

    @debbie: Mara is so subtle. It’s almost subliminal the way she works her points into her reporting and commentary.

    It’s like those single-fram demon faces in the first Exorcist movie. You didn’t actually see them, but they were supposed to make you uneasy.

  56. 56.

    germy

    The friendship goes way back.

    (THREAD) BREAKING: According to an individual with firsthand knowledge of the judging of the 2002 Miss Universe pageant, Trump tried to rig the outcome of the international contest to award the prestigious “Miss Universe” title to Vladimir Putin’s then-mistress, Oxana Fedorova. pic.twitter.com/1mPjdL4Omj— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 10, 2017

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Good. Democrats have to take the House back if they can’t stop the massive tax cuts for the rich. Ryan said this week the minute those tax cuts for billionaires go in they’re starting the campaign to cut entitlements. Some bullshit Harvard study will come out on how we all have to tighten our belts, the Fix The Debt people will magically re-appear again and Social Security privatization will be on the table again.

    If they succeed on rigging the tax code for the rich they’re going after the largest and most expensive social programs- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Wall Street is probably salivating over finally getting their greedy paws on Social Security. They want that huge pot of money.

    They backed Trump to get these tax cuts- traded away any remaining shred of credibility and ethics. They’re going to demand a huge payoff.

    They have to take back the House.

  59. 59.

    JPL

    From Nakamura feed

    Another gem in Trump AF1 transcript is when he brings this up unprompted about Asia trip:
    Trump: Anybody that took the bet, pick up your money, okay?
    Q: What was the bet, again?
    Trump: Well a lot of people said it’s almost physically impossible for someone to go through 12 days.

  63. 63.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Kay: Ryan is so predictable. He’s like my old pull-cord string operated see-n-say except the only two things he can say are “Cut taxes” and “Cut entitlements”

  64. 64.

    Aleta

    Another gem in Trump AF1 transcript is when he brings this up unprompted about Asia trip:
    Trump: Anybody that took the bet, pick up your money, okay?
    Q: What was the bet, again?
    Trump: Well a lot of people said it’s almost physically impossible for someone to go through 12 days.

    btw, on AF1 BO never did questions on the record.
    That must be why this session happened? Or he was bored and worked up. Anyway, now we know he reads a lot of documents; very little TV; + Moore who?

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    @GregB:
    As I understand, he’ll have to order Rod Rosenstein to do it, sack Rosenstein for refusing, sack Rosenstein’s replacement for refusing, sack Rosenstein’s replacement’s replacement for refusing, and so on, rage-tweeting about DoJ’s insubordination all the while, until he finds a willing person.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Lurking Canadian:

    Imagine being him- a sanctimonius, scolding moralist with intellectual pretensions who “lowered himself” to back this sleazy, low quality, incompetent administration. He’ll need to be compensated for that. He thinks he sacrificed.

  76. 76.

    p.a.

    @Amir Khalid: This could be a good question for
    betting pools. When. How made public (twitter is the chalk). How many steps until they find someone willing. And would that person have come from Heritage, Fed Society, Family Values…

  80. 80.

    GregB

    Trump’s childish mind just saw MbS cashier the top tier of Saudi Arabia.

    Putin told him, go ahead and do it. Don’t be a wimp.

    He’s badmouthing the top tier of US intelligence while on foreign soil.

    He’s broadcasting the shit out of it.

    Plus the noose is tightening.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    I was curious if Moore would have had to register as a sex offender in Alabama- it’s not unimaginable- “importuning” is a real thing. Normal, not-powerful people get prosecuted for it and Alabama has an absolutely draconian registration system.

    We just had a 25 year old male teacher who was also the cheerleading coach lose his job and they brought charges (pending- I don’t know if he’ll be convicted) because he contacted two of his students and asked them to meet him at a park. The meeting never occurred. The younger girl told her father and he contacted the parents of the other girl. This is a BFD – it’s basically zero tolerance. Anyhow, Alabama’s law seems to be written with “12 years old” as the cut off for the most serious sanctions but I bet they’re bringing lesser charges for people in positions of authority- teachers, preachers, assistant prosecutors…..

    Here’s the Ohio law:

    (1) No person shall solicit another, not the spouse of the offender, to engage in sexual conduct with the offender, when the offender is eighteen years of age or older and four or more years older than the other person, and the other person is thirteen years of age or older but less than sixteen years of age, whether or not the offender knows the age of the other person.

    You’d then get into why he was soliciting her- for what, specifically.

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    @germy: He apparently did, reading more of the thread. But I too think that Mueller is safe (as I explained earlier, my thinking is that he would have tried to fire him after the Manafort/Gates indictments if he were going to do so).

    Miller, on the other hand, seems to be dead man walking.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    JMG

    We know the Republicans, based on the Moore thing, will say and do nothing if Trump fires Mueller or indeed if he has Obama and Clinton arrested. They are perfectly happy to be the ruling party in a dictatorship. But Trump is also gutless, so he might not fire Mueller because he can’t take the heat. BTW, I doubt Putin told him to do so. Putin’s pretty smart.

  87. 87.

    dogwood

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    The majority of commenters here strongly opposed the TPP. The increasingly populist activists made that position a litmus test for candidates and Clinton was bullied into reversing her position. They seemed to believe that Trump pulling out of the TPP meant that it was dead. If we’re not in it, it doesn’t exist. It will go on just fine as an 11 nation partnership rather than a 12 nation deal. It was a foreign policy mistake to quit the deal. But it’s not surprising that folks like Sanders and Warren lead the charge; they have never shown any interest or expertise in foreign policy, which is pretty common among populists on the left and the right.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    Donnie’s “hair” looks especially ridiculous in his Veteran’s Day twitter clip today.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    @Aleta: It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t asked what documents. Of course, the answer would be all of them.

    @GregB: Mueller better act quickly, because he’ll be fired before Xmas.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Kinda hard to believe this profile is in the STL Post Disgrace: From Ferguson protester to state legislator, Bruce Franks Jr. says he will never stop fighting

    In 1991, Forest Park Southeast was a neighborhood reeling. Although smack-dab in the middle of the city, poverty, violence and neglect isolated it from the rest of St. Louis, including the adjacent Central West End, a generous spread of mansions and boutiques.

    The 4300 block of Gibson Avenue was among the more troublesome stretches, flush with guns, heroin and cocaine dealers. A beat cop at the time called Gibson a “premier street” for violent crime. It’s where a scrawny Bruce Franks Jr. was living at age 6 with his family, including his 9-year-old brother, Christopher Harris.

    In June of that year, Christopher was on a neighbor’s porch talking about a trip he had taken the previous day. A man approached with a gun and the neighbor grabbed Christopher, using him as a shield. The boy was shot in the back and died. Police said the shooting was a dispute between drug dealers.

    Today, Forest Park Southeast has transformed into one of the most desirable areas in the city. It has been rebranded as the Grove, the name of the popular entertainment strip along Manchester Avenue that runs through the middle of the neighborhood.

    In the mid/late 80’s I worked for a guy who lived in the 44/4500 block. In between jobs we’d work on his house and I thought he was insane for living there because it was all that and worse. Did not think that neighborhood would ever turn around.

    In addition to his five children, Franks has two stepsons, 23 and 19. Two young black men, north of 6 feet tall. He worries about their future. After the death of Brown, followed two months later by the fatal police shooting of VonDeritt Myers, also 18, Franks can’t help but think about the what-ifs. His younger brother, Rodney, whom Franks refers to as his best friend, has run afoul of the law several times. He spent a dozen years behind bars, including a conviction for assault on a police officer and, most recently, for being a felon in possession of a gun. Rodney has been out of prison since April, and Franks is helping him find his way.
    …..
    While it was Brown’s death that started Franks down the “stop killing us” crusade, it was the shooting death of Myers that made him a regular street protester. Myers was killed a few miles from Franks’ home and with that case began an unlikely relationship with then-Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce.

    Seven months after Myers was killed, Joyce announced charges would not be filed against the white police officer. Her decision was detailed in a lengthy report. Franks went to meet with Joyce.

    He showed up with a copy of the report, “all highlighted, dog-eared and with sticky notes, asking me questions about it,” Joyce said. “I was impressed because it was a 51-page report and I believe Bruce was the only person who read it.”

    In Stephen R. Covey’s self-help book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” he says to “seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Franks seems to have taken that message to heart, Joyce said.

    “Bruce is someone who listens to the perspectives of others and is not afraid it will weaken him or weaken his resolve,” Joyce said. “As a result, I think he is able to accomplish some things that other activists could not.”

    Joyce said during her talks with Franks — the two remained in regular contact through the end of her final term last year — an “aha” moment occurred when she told Franks about a south St. Louis gas station, at Interstate 55 and Arsenal Street.

    “It’s where all the police hang out, and I’ve told my stepchildren: ‘Late at night when you’ve been partying and if you are running out of gas, don’t stop anywhere other than 55 and Arsenal because you’ll be safe there,” Joyce said. “When I relayed that story to Bruce, his advice to people was exactly the opposite. ‘Anywhere but Arsenal,’ he said. ‘Police are there and you won’t be safe.’ The safest place for my children is the least safe for his children, he perceives. It’s troubling but a stark example of very different experiences people have in this city.”

  94. 94.

    ET

    I today’s Washington Post.

    Front page above the fold headline Moore does not rule out that he dated teen girls
    Style section Non Sequitur: Dana after being informed that the Constitution says all men are created equal (responds “whatever” when corrected) has another curveball thrown at her – most of the founding fathers were slave owners to which she responds “GAH! THEN WHY ARE WE STILL LISTENING TO THEM”

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl Rofer: I thought it was strange that Donnie used the exact same description as their previous conversation where Donnie said Vlad denied it.

    TheHill:

    President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not discuss alleged election meddling on Saturday, despite Trump saying they did, according to Putin’s office.

    “No,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov told CNN when asked, “as far as you know, did the two leaders discuss meddling?”

    At best, Trump is Sundowning.

    He’s brain damaged and incompetent (in the technical sense).

    How long do we have to continue to endure him? :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    germy

    @dogwood:

    But it’s not surprising that folks like Sanders and Warren lead the charge; they have never shown any interest or expertise in foreign policy, which is pretty common among populists on the left and the right.

    Good points. I’ve always suspected Jill Stein was so proud of her trip to Russia because she thought it made her look like a serious person on the international stage.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @dogwood:

    Portraying fair traders as anti-trade deals isn’t fair. There’s not a requirement to immediately support any trade deal they come up with, and that’s how trade evolved- any criticism was portrayed as “anti-trade” or “far Left”

    Some of these labor people are trade experts. They know more about these deals than the vast majority of the country. They can go on and on about “rules of origin” and how labor unionists are treated in Vietnam and what happened after South American made promises on labor rights (surprise! They never followed thru!)

    Free traders did it to themselves. They refused to admit that the labor and environmental parts of these deals were not being enforced and they dismissed every cost as unimportant whining. Warren was right about her specific objections to that deal but the Obama Administration refused to even debate it.

    They should be truthful with people about these deals. There’s no real enforcement because trade sanctions are an act of war and no one ever pulls the trigger. Instead they hold endless hearings – years and years and years- and the offending countries know this so they don’t comply. Tell them the truth. Tell them the sanctions are an empty threat and the “guarantees”
    aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on and everyone involved knows it. They can be free traders. That’s a legit position. What they can’t be are people who pretend these deals have any teeth as far as labor and environmental, because they don’t.

  98. 98.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    A Black Lives Matter activist whose protest photo went viral last year won a seat on the Charlotte City Council on Tuesday.

    According to WBTV, Democratic candidate Braxton Winston received the second-highest number of votes in Charlotte’s Tuesday elections for at-large seats on the council.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    One of my cousins lives in Alabama with his family. Among other things, they hide from their neighbors that he is Jewish. This among other reasons is why it’s safe to say Alabama operates on a different basis than Ohio. Alabama still exists in the Antebellum.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    @dogwood:

    Obama did the same thing Bush I and Clinton did- he set it up as “my trade deal or no trade”- that is not now and never was the choice. None of those labor leaders were advocating “pulling up a drawbridge” when they met with him and he knew it. It doesn’t make sense for them to “pull up a drawbridge”- parts are sourced from all over the world and they work for multi-nationals. Ford isn’t a “US company”- Ford is a multinational.

    They were lobbying for a real, working system to enforce the terms of the agreements. That’s permissible. We SHOULD ask why Canada and Australia treat their working people better than we do- this nonsense about the US as the “gold standard” is just baloney. We DON’T have the highest labor and safety and consumer quality standards. If they’re pegging it to the US that’s not the “gold standard”.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Right, but as far as public sentiment I wonder if people in Alabama really think a 32 year old man soliciting a 14 year old girl is okay. The cheer coach was such a big deal I heard about it before they picked him up. People at the courthouse were asking other people if they had kids in the cheerleading program. This is before he was even arrested.

    The older girl in this instance appeared to be responding favorably to these texts he was sending- she was 16. That mattered not at all. No one said “oh, well, she brought this on!” NO ONE, and this county went 70% Trump.

  105. 105.

    dogwood

    @Kay:
    I know all of your objections. My point is that the decision to leave the deal doesn’t void the deal for the other 11 nations. We didn’t accomplish anything. And plenty of people in reliably blue states like Washington and Oregon were essentially told that a good deal for them wasn’t important.

  106. 106.

    Ian G.

    Open thread, so question for you academics out there on Armistice Day: Is there any good tool for researching World War I casualties from outside the US, specifically Austria-Hungary? I’ve long suspected that I have a great-great uncle who died in that war fighting for Austria-Hungary, but I don’t know where to look for such details. I only know his name and that he lived from 1892-1917. I also would rather not have to learn German, fly to Vienna, and dig through old imperial records to find out (I mean, if I’m taking the time and spending the money to go to Vienna, I’m spending my time in more fun ways than that).

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    There are a LOT of these stories. Last year we had one involving a teacher’s aide. She was related to one of the girls involved.

    So this teacher’s aide takes her niece and a friend of her niece to her house after school. This is WITH permission from their parents. The girls go thru the women’s drawers in the aide’s bedroom and find sexual aides- these were described in the newspaper but you get the idea. The women feels she has to explain to the girls so does so, perhaps in too much detail, that was sort of bizarre, but she didn’t even show them to them! They found them. This was soliciting a minor.

  109. 109.

    p.a.

    @Kay: +1. All the ‘fair labor’, ‘environmental protection’ clauses (if any) in trade agreements haven’t been worth the ink used.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @dogwood:

    The immediate benefit of the deal would go to ag interests. No one wanted to talk about that because it’s not “21st century jobs” but we have open borders on agricultural products and other countries do not- they don’t let our ag products in.

    But that wasn’t sexy enough for free traders and those aren’t high skills jobs so they used the same vague rhetoric they have relied on for 30 years. I’m not asking for a lot from these people. I’m simply asking that they explain these deals in terms that are SOMEWHAT close to reality;.

    Thirty years of exaggerating benefits, discounting costs and making promises they can’t keep came back and bit them in the ass. It was possible to sell that deal on the terms. They didn’t even try. Instead they rolled out the same speeches and the same think tanks and the same “studies” people have been hearing for 30 years. John Kerry WILDLY exaggerated the job gains and not a soul in the Democratic Party was gonna call him on it until Warren did.

  112. 112.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Aside from educators being held to a different standard than legislators, overreaction is the new normal where kids are involved. Hell, it worked for the Salem Witch Trials, why not now?

  113. 113.

    Kathleen

    @dogwood: My thoughts about TPP were 1) in today’s global economy you must enter into trade agreements and 2) the person I would most trust to negotiate those would be President Obama (I would also trust Hillary). Who else would have the intelligence and commitment to human rights? I read that Sanders condemned it without reading it.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Kathleen: Yup.

    Obama’s White House had some good web pages about what was in the agreement and how it was different (and better) than previous ones, but too many people regarded it as “more of the same”.

    I believe that Krugman and Dean Baker (and others) made the point that – economically – it wasn’t a big deal because tariffs are already so low on most products. And (as Baker noted) many industries (pharmaceuticals, intellectual property (movies, some electronics companies) would have made out very well under it. But mainly it was a political agreement to try to keep the US from being squeezed out of the fastest growing (and most populous) region of the planet as China continues to grow, and to help guide development in a way that improved environmental, social, and worker protections compared to what would exist without it.

    It’s a lost opportunity, IMO.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    MomSense

    @dogwood:

    I found it very frustrating especially that supporting TPP was somehow characterized as being against good paying manufacturing jobs.

  118. 118.

    Ian G.

    @MattF:

    It wouldn’t surprise me if they have no idea how many died in the war. I feel like the war dead estimate for the Empire recently changed on Wikipedia from around 900k to over a million.

    @Another Scott:

    Thanks! I’ll take a look.

  119. 119.

    laura

    @Kay: the TISA -trade in services agreement was the more egregious deal, though a companion to TPP. The ratchet turned hard in one direction alone in privatising public services was and still is objectionable. Fairness in trade is orders of magnitude different than “free” trade or no trade.

  120. 120.

    Suzanne

    @Baud:

    Yep, Xi feels that Trump is his bitch.

    Bingo.
    Wise words I once read: “Flattery is as important a machine as the lever”.
    Dampnut is being played like a fiddle.

  121. 121.

    dogwood

    @Kathleen:
    Laughing about Trump not being able to negotiate individual agreements with Pacific Rim nations is great fun, but no President is going to be able to do it. We don’t get to negotiate individual agreements with the EU nations either.

  122. 122.

    dogwood

    @Another Scott:
    According to Elizabeth Warren it was all a big secret. Bernie says it wasn’t a secret; he just did t read it. One of the populist icons is lying. The winner in all of this is China.

  123. 123.

    Kathleen

    @dogwood: I’m probably being naive, but I really thought best shot at decent (not perfect) trade bill of that magnitude was PBO. Just simple logic to me.

  125. 125.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    No, Ol’ Roy believes it should be taught by the old creepy dude at the courthouse.

    Please, Moore just prefers a more hands on approach to Sex Education with teens.

  127. 127.

    b

    I am posting this so people see it.

    I am the person adopting the last of NewDealFarmGrrl’s kitten that needs to get from Minnesota to Maryland. The company that transported Walter quoted me $1455 to transport the kitten. We have one volunteer that could fly her. I am also checking to see if we have enough people willing to drive (and keep overnight as necessary, since this will be impossible to do in one day).

    Right now we have:
    Tissue Thin Pseudonym would get kitten to Madison.
    Satby can maybe help from WI (hopefully near Madison) to Indiana/Ohio with a pet rescue relay??
    Manyakitty can help with Ohio.
    I could pick up the kitten from Pittsburgh, PA or Morgantown, WV. I probably could get to the Ohio border area.

    Need Satby to determine how much of the WI to Ohio could be covered by the pet rescue, and what part of Ohio Manyakitty can cover.

    Any volunteers for help with transporting?

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @b: It’s great that you’re adopting her! But I’d urge you to re-examine your options again. Is there any way she could be fostered (either by NDFG or someone else) the additional X weeks necessary so that she can fly? As stressful as flying can be, being cooped up in a car for 10+ hours, handed off between multiple strangers, etc., etc., is stressful as well. And coordinating the driving and handoff among so many helpful jackals will be difficult even under the best of circumstances. As freaky as the weather has been the last few years, who knows what that will be like. :-(

    I can’t help with the driving, but will kick in for the transportation, etc., costs.

    Good luck!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    James E. Powell

    @dogwood:

    Populists are usually nationalists and quite often ethnic nationalists. They wear their ignorance of foreign policy and foreign anything as a badge of honor. The voters who support them are in complete accord.

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    @MattF:

    That was an excellent column by Jennifer Rubin. My only gripe is at the end where she describes her ideal replacement for the Defunct Right-wing monster the Republicans have become:

    …those who favor reform conservatism; responsible internationalism; free trade and robust immigration; tolerance and the rule of law; and market economics with an ample safety net. I don’t have the answer. I only know it cannot be the GOP.

    She has with the exception of insisting that reform be conservatism perfectly described the Democratic Party. Her conservatism in America won’t ever accept “responsible internationalism” nor “free trade and robust immigration”; conservatism probably can’t accept “tolerance… [nor] an ample safety net!”

    Republicans have fought any vestiges of a safety net since 1932 when FDR began to implement Social Security and Unemployment insurance. Since then they have also opposed (with violence and misuse of the law and judicial systems!) integration and fairness towards persons of color, different nationality, or non-standard sexuality.

    So Ms Rubin has a way to go in her halting search for political enlightenment. She had best not forget that Bannon, Miller, Richard Spencer and the rest of the American nazis and fascists hate Jews as much as (more than?) they hate people of color.

    Do you guys think I make more sense in the early part of the day, when no alcohol is involved in my ranting? I begin to suspect so. Damn it!! Not now when good strong drink is all that stands between me and Monkey Trump.!!!

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