US Politics: Terminal America

[ThinkerX]

Comey to testify next week about being pressured by Trump.  Conservative posters on that article are attempting to argue such testimony would be perjury, and Comey broke the law by not immediately reporting the conversation.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-to-confirm-trump-pressured-him-on-flynn-investigation-cnn/ar-BBBJZWu

[Altherion]

28 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

Not sure what to make of this, d'you guys think this could be true?

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/policy-dose/articles/2017-05-30/republicans-raised-your-health-care-premiums-not-obamacare?src=usn_fb

Propaganda from the insurance industry. Note the author: "J. Mario Molina, M.D., is the former CEO of Molina Healthcare, one of the largest health insurance companies serving Medicaid and Marketplace programs." The premiums were already rising before last November.

[The Anti-Targ]

14 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Comey to testify next week about being pressured by Trump.  Conservative posters on that article are attempting to argue such testimony would be perjury, and Comey broke the law by not immediately reporting the conversation.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-to-confirm-trump-pressured-him-on-flynn-investigation-cnn/ar-BBBJZWu

Wait, he can't have broken the law by not reporting AND be committing perjury. It's one or the other. But I wonder what was his legal reporting obligation regarding verbal communications with the president?

[Fragile Bird]

50 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Wait, he can't have broken the law by not reporting AND be committing perjury. It's one or the other. But I wonder what was his legal reporting obligation regarding verbal communications with the president?

Comey testified earlier that no one from the Justice Department had pressured him with regard to the investigation.

Iirc, the question he answered was just that, about the Justice Department. Trump is not part of the Justice Department.

[Fragile Bird]

2 hours ago, ThinkerX said:

 Comey Covfefe to testify next week about being pressured by Trump.  Conservative posters on that article are attempting to argue such testimony would be perjury, and Comey  Covfefe broke the law by not immediately reporting the conversation.

 

Just realized that needed fixing....

[DMC]

8 hours ago, Altherion said:

He is the closest (albeit obviously imperfect) analog that I can find to Trump among all of the US Presidents.

So, to clarify, you supported the candidate that most closely resembles a president you readily emphasize committed genocide and trampled over the constitution out of the hope this spoon-fed billionaire was more likely to confront elites and top-down policymaking over his opponent with far more qualifications and record of capability in confronting powerful opponents to the interests of her constituents.

8 hours ago, Altherion said:

It's not a matter of failing to understand the difference -- it's one of believing that it should not exist.

So there should be no difference between a president and the executive branch that conducts essential and mostly apolitical services to the polity?  Your ideal is absolute control of an elected official over careerist civil servants whose commitment and abilities are scrutinized in a far more egalitarian manner than the whims of a national election?

8 hours ago, Altherion said:

Since those people often have the power to make decisions with very real ramifications for society, the federal bureaucracy becomes a bureaucracy in the original sense of the word thus replacing democracy for a substantial set of our interactions with government.

 These reeks of a boilerplate critique after reading Balzac - why is "bureaucracy in the original sense of the word" implicitly negative?  Bureaucracy is a necessary aspect of basic governance as well as any and all democracies - what is your proposed alternative? - and ours is accountable to not one but two branches of elected officials endowed with abilities to direct and manage it in order to reflect the will of the people.

9 hours ago, Altherion said:

Nothing good will come of this (especially with the security agencies) so it is preferable that the President have full control of the executive branch with the exception of perhaps temporary agents appointed by Congress for specific purposes.

So your contention is "nothing good" ever comes from bureaucracies?  That is a juvenile conception of government I have a hard time entertaining.  Moreover, the notion the president should have full control over the bureaucracy contradicts the fundamentals of constitutional design.  The power of the executive branch is embedded in our national character.  From Federalist 37 (Madison):  

Quote

Energy in government is essential to that security against external and internal danger, and to that prompt and salutary execution of the laws which enter into the very definition of good government.  Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society.

 

[Kalbear]

3 hours ago, Altherion said:

Propaganda from the insurance industry. Note the author: "J. Mario Molina, M.D., is the former CEO of Molina Healthcare, one of the largest health insurance companies serving Medicaid and Marketplace programs." The premiums were already rising before last November.

It's also simple math.

Premiums have to rise by about 20-30% if the CSRs aren't going to get paid out, because that's basically precisely the difference between the premiums and the CSR-helped premiums. 

And it is entirely Trump's choice to pay or not pay the CSRs - or in this cash, hem and haw about paying or not paying the CSRs. 

[Altherion]

10 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

So, to clarify, you supported the candidate that most closely resembles a president you readily emphasize committed genocide and trampled over the constitution out of the hope this spoon-fed billionaire was more likely to confront elites and top-down policymaking over his opponent with far more qualifications and record of capability in confronting powerful opponents to the interests of her constituents.

I would qualify that with a caveat: her true constituents are not so much the voters as the donors. These constitute a significant fraction of the above-mentioned elite so she was not likely to confront them. Aside from that, you are more or less correct.

14 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

So there should be no difference between a president and the executive branch that conducts essential and mostly apolitical services to the polity?  Your ideal is absolute control of an elected official over careerist civil servants whose commitment and abilities are scrutinized in a far more egalitarian manner than the whims of a national election?

Both from personal experience and from literature (e.g. The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills), I do not believe that the careerist civil servants warrant the faith that you seem to have in them. The elected officials are likewise far from flawless, but at least they are easier to remove. So yes, I do insist that elected officials have control over the bureaucrats.

35 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

These reeks of a boilerplate critique after reading Balzac - why is "bureaucracy in the original sense of the word" implicitly negative?  Bureaucracy is a necessary aspect of basic governance as well as any and all democracies - what is your proposed alternative? - and ours is accountable to not one but two branches of elected officials endowed with abilities to direct and manage it in order to reflect the will of the people.

There are many works detailing why bureaucracy is in general not a good thing -- Weber and those who came after him (e.g. C.W. Mills above) point it out or if you prefer fiction you can see it in Dickens' Little Dorrit or, more extremely, Kafka's The Trial. Briefly, it is dehumanizing, it is cancer-like in its growth and it has difficulty processing anything non-standard.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no alternative to it; that's why it is tolerated at all. However, we can keep it on a very short leash by giving elected officials control.

1 hour ago, dmc515 said:

So your contention is "nothing good" ever comes from bureaucracies?

No, my contention is that nothing good will come of it in our situation. Obviously, there are systems where bureaucracy is a great improvement on what was there before.

1 hour ago, dmc515 said:

Moreover, the notion the president should have full control over the bureaucracy contradicts the fundamentals of constitutional design.

The Constitution clearly lists the President as the head of the executive branch and gives him broad powers over it. There are aspects of the bureaucracy which are controlled by Congress and the President has no control over those, but for the rest, I'm pretty sure that he is ultimately in charge. I'm not sure what that Madison quote has to do with the issue.

[denstorebog]

48 minutes ago, Altherion said:

if you prefer fiction you can see it in Dickens' Little Dorrit or, more extremely, Kafka's The Trial. Briefly, it is dehumanizing, it is cancer-like in its growth and it has difficulty processing anything non-standard.

Yes, also, in our attempt to understand the realities of the bureaucratic state through fiction, let's not forget Christian Bale's Equilibrium. A vote for Hillary would basically have been a vote for getting pistol whipped in the face, and you don't want to get pistol whipped in the face by the deep state, do you?

[Kalbear]

Just now, denstorebog said:

Yes, also, in our attempt to understand the realities of the bureaucratic state through fiction, let's not forget Christian Bale's Equilibrium. A vote for Hillary would basically have been a vote for getting pistol whipped in the face, and you don't want to get pistol whipped in the face by the deep state, do you?

If I want to get whipped by Christian Bale who should I vote for

asking for a friend

[LongRider]

JeeBus H. Covfefe America, really, really?

Quote

A section of the National Museum of African American History and Culture was temporarily shut down on Wednesday after a noose was found on the floor of the exhibition, the Smithsonian said.

U.S. Park Police arrived on the scene after the noose was discovered and removed it, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The exhibition was reopened within three hours.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/335856-police-investigating-noose-found-in-african-american-history

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

11 hours ago, Altherion said:

Propaganda from the insurance industry. Note the author: "J. Mario Molina, M.D., is the former CEO of Molina Healthcare, one of the largest health insurance companies serving Medicaid and Marketplace programs." The premiums were already rising before last November.

Um, you do realize the article is about how Republicans have been undermining the ACA since it's passing, right? Example:

Quote

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, was among the first to land a blow. In 2014, he proudly led a successful effort to cut funding for the "risk corridors" program. Rubio called the payments made from these funds a "bailout" for insurers, but in fact the program was an integral backstop to help control premiums as insurance companies in the marketplaces adjusted to the new population they were covering. The consequence of that ploy to score political points was that some insurers left the marketplace, and many Americans' premiums went up.

 

Also, you should have to start paying fines for using the word "propaganda," especially considering you often use in incorrectly. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Eurocommie friends, can you comment on how Trump's visit is being reported on back home? The WH is saying that it was great, and the press here has largely said it was a net positive trip, but I was listening to a few German and French reports this morning and they were saying it was seen as a disaster from Europe's point of view. 

[OldGimletEye]

11 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

We're going to be doing all the winning (in our not so far off global dystopian future)! 

Well, yes I guess I can understand Trump’s more “transactional” style of foreign policy. I mean he’s the guy that wrote “The Art of Deal”. And if there is one thing we know about Trump he’s a bidness guy. And you’d expect that guy to be representin’ The Party O’ Bidness.

With his slick businessman and corporate image, and deal makin’ abilities,  all he’s got to do is throw in a few power point presentations, and the USA will be all set.

Foreign sort of peoples be warned! 

The Trumpsters got an offer you can’t refuse. And after he’s done with his dealmakin’ and schmoozin’,  the USA will be like that asshole that owned all the good properties in Monopoly, while the only thing you had were those two cheap fuckers right past “GO”.

LOL, Okay, not so much. More like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLnqBR--44s

 

[Fez]

Guess who's gotten themselves a fancy new superPAC? That's right, Uncle Joe Biden has.

And I know this because I just got an introductory email from it (so they clearly have access to either email lists from either Organizing for America, the DNC, the Clinton campaign, or the 2012 Obama campaign); its called American Possibilities and this was the full text of the email:

Quote

 

America has always thought big.

It's stamped into our DNA.

We're the people who built the Hoover Dam and the Transcontinental Railroad, landed a man on the moon, cured polio, built the internet, and sequenced the human genome. And yes -- soon we will be the people who will find a cure for cancer.

That's why the negativity, the pettiness, the small-mindedness of our politics drives me crazy.

It's not who we are.

The history of this nation is one of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

And that's who we still are.

It's time for big dreams and American possibilities.

If that's what you believe -- and if you're ready to help elect folks who believe that, and to support groups and causes that embody that spirit -- then I'm asking you to join me today:

https://www.americanpossibilities.org

See you out there.

- Joe

 

He's running (assuming his health stays good).

[IheartIheartTesla]

No offense to Uncle Joe, but that prospect does not enthuse me at all. But the bench is also remarkably sparse, so maybe this is as good as it gets.

In other news, it looks like we might bail out of the Paris Accords. I wonder if it is unpatriotic for me to hope other nations consider sanctioning us for doing so.

[The guy from the Vale]

18 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Eurocommie friends, can you comment on how Trump's visit is being reported on back home? The WH is saying that it was great, and the press here has largely said it was a net positive trip, but I was listening to a few German and French reports this morning and they were saying it was seen as a disaster from Europe's point of view. 

Eh... for a net positive, you need at least some positive to begin with, which... wasn't the case. Basically, Trump was seen as not caring about NATO except as a protection racket, blowing up the G7 talks by being unwilling to even the most basic commitments, and generally pissing off everybody with his rudeness.

 Merkel's comments on beibg unable to rely on the US any longer didn't come from a vacuum, and considering her usual style, they were remarkably direct.

[Jaxom 1974]

I get every reason for why Uncle Joe didn't run in 2016, though I do wish he had.

I do believe, with health and medicine what they are these days, that age need not be the impediment it once was.

If this isn't an intention to run though, it's certainly a salvo in shaping the conversation and tone of the next race.

[Mindwalker]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Eurocommie friends, can you comment on how Trump's visit is being reported on back home? The WH is saying that it was great, and the press here has largely said it was a net positive trip, but I was listening to a few German and French reports this morning and they were saying it was seen as a disaster from Europe's point of view. 

From my understanding (according to reports), he was pushy and very unfriendly during the NATO summit. (He also got what he wanted without giving anything - which I blame more on Merkel et al than on him - , then insulted "The Germans"...) He's also expected to distance himself from the climate treaty (or has he already?). It has also been suggested (in talk shows and such) that DT is trying to deflect attention from Russia etc. I'm sure the satire/ political parody shows will have a field day with him, but then they always do and it's hard to top reality...

 

ETA: Or what @theguyfromtheVale said.

[Maithanet]

The Democrats need young voters and picking a man in his seventies would be foolish.  I really hope Biden, Sanders and Clinton all stay out of the 2020 race.