US Politics : And the Finer Art of Grumbling

[Martell Spy]

34 minutes ago, Nasty LongRider said:

However, with #CadetBoneSpurs constantly lying about how the tax cuts are the awesomest of the awesome, Jace should air her grievances about her current taxes far and wide and blame them on the tax cuts.  Less sophisticated folks, like #CadetBoneSpurs voters and others, will believe her and perhaps it strike fear into their tiny little hearts.  She should at least get some satisfaction for her trouble.  

Maybe work in the market drop. Apparently, alt-right trolls are calling it a false flag operation.

[LongRider]

4 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Maybe work in the market drop. Apparently, alt-right trolls are calling it a false flag operation.

Ohhhh, I like it!  False flag?  Hahahahahhahahahaha!  As Arya Stark might say "That's just stupid!"

[Paladin of Ice]

6 minutes ago, Nasty LongRider said:

Ohhhh, I like it!  False flag?  Hahahahahhahahahaha!  As Arya Stark might say "That's just stupid!"

Stupid is as stupid does, and few people do stupid better than right wing racists.

[S John]

9 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Maybe work in the market drop. Apparently, alt-right trolls are calling it a false flag operation.

Literally just read this exact quote from an alt-righter on another site:

"Something stinks... I smell a rat.

I'm hearing this was 'financial sabotage' by the globalist deep state within the fed reserve."

JFC.  For these folks there is literally no misfortune under the sun that cannot be explained by the deep state.  It's seriously dumbfounding.  I cannot believe that so many people can be this stupid.  I almost feel bad for saying that, but stupidity is what this is.  An inability to process the complexity of the world is the only thing that would make someone susceptible to such a simplistic interpretation of it - that everything goes back to the nefarious deep state - which in itself is kind of... imaginary, right?  There is absolutely no proof of some kind of cabal across the entire Federal government coordinating their efforts to.... I'm not sure what exactly but they're definitely out to get Trump! 

I have no doubt there are plenty of bad eggs in the Fed. Government, but good Lord this is just getting silly at this point.  And let me step away from the Fed being deep state conspirators for a second and talk about the FBI, the main recipient of deep state accusations of late.  Are. You. Shitting. Me.  The FBI is now considered a bastion of deep state liberals and socialists out to get Trump?  This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.  Do you know how straight-laced you have to be to get into the FBI?  For one thing you have to take a fucking polygraph which has anyone whose ever smoked weed or had unclean thoughts heading for the hills.  There's probably a couple liberals running around for sure, but I would bet every god damn penny I have that most of the FBI is composed of conservatives.  I've noticed lately they're shifting the narrative a little bit to not the whole FBI, but just the leadership, and the rank and file are good folks, etc, etc.  But even that kinda falls flat on its face when you realize that Comey, Mueller, Wray - Republicans - the latter actually appointed by Trump himself.  This whole conspiracy theory seriously fucking nuts. 

The scary part is, and someone alluded to this earlier in the thread with regard to the Pa. gerrymandering case, the true believers on the hard right - and they aren't difficult to find - have nurtured the narrative that American Democrats, liberals, and even many Republicans (RINOs) who aren't all aboard the crazy train hate America.  Literally hate it.  Obama hated America and wanted to destroy it.  Literally.  I think once you understand that about them it puts all of this in clearer focus.  It is not rhetoric, it is a sincerely held belief, stoked by people like Rush, Hannity, Levin, that the opposition party is not a political rival to compromise with, but an actual enemy, a domestic threat to the country.  This allows one to believe that all the criticism and scrutiny Trump gets is the result of liberals in the media, in congress, on the courts, and "deep state" liberal (globalist) holdovers within federal government agencies who (again, literally) hate America attempting to derail the agenda of this great man who loves America.  

[Zorral]

Actually, Arnold was rather despised by the British military and other power brokers -- because he was a traitor -- and because of the sort of fellow he was.

As in the nascent US, his obstinacy, uncontrollable temper, convictions he was never given the honors and admiration he deserved -- and thus his right to behave just as he pleased --  continued to embroil him in controversies and law suits, even after moving to Canada, where he managed to make a lot of money via various biz interests -- and accused of cheating in them.  The townspeople burned him in effigy in front of his own house in Canada.  He fought a bloodless duel with the Earl of Lauderdale, member of the House of Lords, who supposedly impugned Arnold's 'honor.'  He never received the honors and recognition from the Brits which he was sure were his due.

[Martell Spy]

14 minutes ago, S John said:

Literally just read this exact quote from an alt-righter on another site:

"Something stinks... I smell a rat.

I'm hearing this was 'financial sabotage' by the globalist deep state within the fed reserve."

JFC.  For these folks there is literally no misfortune under the sun that cannot be explained by the deep state.  It's seriously dumbfounding.  I cannot believe that so many people can be this stupid.  I almost feel bad for saying that, but stupidity is what this is.  An inability to process the complexity of the world is the only thing that would make someone susceptible to such a simplistic interpretation of it - that everything goes back to the nefarious deep state - which in itself is kind of... imaginary, right?  There is absolutely no proof of some kind of cabal across the entire Federal government coordinating their efforts to.... I'm not sure what exactly but they're definitely out to get Trump! 

I have no doubt there are plenty of bad eggs in the Fed. Government, but good Lord this is just getting silly at this point.  And let me step away from the Fed being deep state conspirators for a second and talk about the FBI, the main recipient of deep state accusations of late.  Are. You. Shitting. Me.  The FBI is now considered a bastion of deep state liberals and socialists out to get Trump?  This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.  Do you know how straight-laced you have to be to get into the FBI?  For one thing you have to take a fucking polygraph which has anyone whose ever smoked weed or had unclean thoughts heading for the hills.  There's probably a couple liberals running around for sure, but I would bet every god damn penny I have that most of the FBI is composed of conservatives.  I've noticed lately they're shifting the narrative a little bit to not the whole FBI, but just the leadership, and the rank and file are good folks, etc, etc.  But even that kinda falls flat on its face when you realize that Comey, Mueller, Wray - Republicans - the latter actually appointed by Trump himself.  This whole conspiracy theory seriously fucking nuts. 

The scary part is, and someone alluded to this earlier in the thread with regard to the Pa. gerrymandering case, the true believers on the hard right - and they aren't difficult to find - have nurtured the narrative that American Democrats, liberals, and even many Republicans (RINOs) who aren't all aboard the crazy train hate America.  Literally hate it.  Obama hated America and wanted to destroy it.  Literally.  I think once you understand that about them it puts all of this in clearer focus.  It is not rhetoric, it is a sincerely held belief, stoked by people like Rush, Hannity, Levin, that the opposition party is not a political rival to compromise with, but an actual enemy, a domestic threat to the country.  This allows one to believe that all the criticism and scrutiny Trump gets is the result of liberals in the media, in congress, on the courts, and "deep state" liberal (globalist) holdovers within federal government agencies who (again, literally) hate America attempting to derail the agenda of this great man who loves America.  

It kind of makes sense if you think of the current Republican party as a Trump personality cult. It's no longer about RINOs or even really about policy. If you support Trump in all his endeavors, no longer how shady or unethical or even illegal, you are a loyal Republican. If not, you are excommunicated. It doesn't matter who you are your, what record you have, or what you have done for the party in the past.

At one point, Trump actually called one of the FBI officials a Democrat. I forgot which one, McCabe maybe, but he wasn't. one.

[Fragile Bird]

Do we know who originally hired Fusion GPS? I don't think so. How have they escaped scrutiny?

[Bonnot OG]

Trump supporters 6 months ago:
“There were no meetings with any Russians.”

Trump supporters 3 months ago: 
“They just forgot to report the meetings with Russians.”

Trump supporters last week: 
"There's no evidence of collusion with Russia!!"

Trump supporters 3 days ago: 
"Who cares if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia?"

Trump supporters yesterday: 
“It’s Obama’s fault for not stopping the meetings with Russians.”

Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow today: 
“It’s the Secret Service’s fault for not stopping the meeting with Russians.”

Trump supporters tomorrow: 
“Трамп собирается сделать Россию великой снова!” - ya'll qaeda

[Prince of the North]

15 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Do we know who originally hired Fusion GPS? I don't think so. How have they escaped scrutiny?

It was Paul Singer and the conservative Washington Free Beacon group who first started digging into Trump and other presidential hopefuls during the primary.  Fusion GPS was hired for this but the Steele Dossier came after they were no longer working for the Free Beacon folks.  But republicans certainly got the ball rolling, etc.

Quote

We already knew that it was Republicans who first hired Fusion GPS, the firm behind the now infamous dossier that claimed close ties between Donald Trump and the Russian government. But now we know that Republican group was the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website that is largely funded by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer. Turns out the Washington Free Beacon hired Fusion GPS in 2015 to dig up information about several Republican presidential hopefuls, including Trump.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

7 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

It just seems to me that you do not negotiate with the Republican Party. You don't compromise with it.

Then we need a new system, yesterday.  I believe Shryke has pointed out in the past that the American system of government is designed to force compromise.  It doesn’t function well with major ideologically focused political parties.

[DMC]

7 hours ago, denstorebog said:

Anyone following the PA redistricting case? It has gone completely off the rails now, as Republicans are now floating the idea of impeaching the Democrat-led Supreme Court.

It should be noted that thus far this has only been advocated by one Rep. - Cris Dush - and he's been calling for impeachment since the Court's original order a couple weeks ago (Jan. 22).  BUT, the fact this hit the national wire last night after Dush's memo and the GOP leadership still has not commented on it suggests they just may be considering it.  And yeah, if a gerrymandered-Republican majority impeaches judges due to their decision preventing partisan gerrymandering, that deserves all the outrage.

 

[Guest]

Chief-of-Staff and purported "grown-up in the room" John Kelly calls the majority of Dreamers too lazy to get off their ass to sign up for DACA protections.

“There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million,” Kelly said, per WaPo. “The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.”

For some reason, I don't think the "grown-up in the room" appellation quite fits Kelly. Maybe we should replace it with "birds of a feather".

[Mexal]

11 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

It should be noted that thus far this has only been advocated by one Rep. - Cris Dush - and he's been calling for impeachment since the Court's original order a couple weeks ago (Jan. 22).  BUT, the fact this hit the national wire last night after Dush's memo and the GOP leadership still has not commented on it suggests they just may be considering it.  And yeah, if a gerrymandered-Republican majority impeaches judges due to their decision preventing partisan gerrymandering, that deserves all the outrage.

 

I read a thread on twitter last night that puts a lot of this in context. Basically, Republicans have been trying this shit for awhile. And it never goes through.

 

[Mexal]

8 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

Chief-of-Staff and purported "grown-up in the room" John Kelly calls the majority of Dreamers too lazy to get off their ass to sign up for DACA protections.

For some reason, I don't think the "grown-up in the room" appellation quite fits Kelly. Maybe we should replace it with "birds of a feather".

Kelly has been like this for as long as he's been in the administration. He's very much against immigration and isn't afraid to let his opinion known. When there was a bi-partisan deal on the table for the Dreamers, Kelly, along with Miller, killed it.

[James Arryn]

9 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

Chief-of-Staff and purported "grown-up in the room" John Kelly calls the majority of Dreamers too lazy to get off their ass to sign up for DACA protections.

 

 

For some reason, I don't think the "grown-up in the room" appellation quite fits Kelly. Maybe we should replace it with "birds of a feather".

He’s doing the ‘people say’ thing. So rather than him rubbing off on Trump, it would appear to be rather going the other way.

[Fragile Bird]

Just to assuage the concerns people have had about the largest one day point drop in the DJIA's history, that drop was only #99 percentage wise. 

I am old enough to have lived through Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, a day that lives in infamy. The market dropped 508 points. But that was 22.62%.

To put that in perspective, the market opened yesterday at 25,520. A 22.62% drop would mean a loss of 5,773 points!

Imagine how we felt! (Not me, really, I hadn't started serious savings yet).

The previous largest single day drop percentage wise occurred on Oct. 28, 1929, 12.82%. But it did drop 11.73% the next day as well. On the 30th the market rose 12.34%, as bargain hunters moved in. However, that market breakdown lasted until WW 2. Those markets made repeated attempts at recovery, and then made repeated falls. If you take a look at the list of highest increases and decreases, you'll notice many dates from the 1930s. There are famous stories about rich people who were smart enough to be out of the market before the '29 crash, when the Dow fell to 230, only to lose everything in the subsequent crashes, particularly 1932, when the market dropped to 41. 

The market today has been wild, opening down more than 560 points, up more than 360 points as bargain hunters moved in. Currently the market is up, after all three majors were down again.

I have been tempted to go bargain hunting, but I think more volatility lies ahead. This feels like a correction, and we have not hit 10%.

Oh geez, back to up more than 330 points! Momentum may take it higher before the close.

eta: meant to post two nerdy links, one with Dow history, one with interesting charts. Oh, and good charts from Yardeni.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_daily_changes_in_the_Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/marketindexes.html

https://www.yardeni.com/pub/yardenichartbookdaily.pdf

[DMC]

16 minutes ago, Mexal said:

Kelly has been like this for as long as he's been in the administration. He's very much against immigration and isn't afraid to let his opinion known. When there was a bi-partisan deal on the table for the Dreamers, Kelly, along with Miller, killed it.

Yeah people seem to forget he was Homeland Security Secretary until August.  And in doing so he presided over the travel ban and made it clear he was one of the most aggressive (and effective) anti-immigration members of the entire administration.

[Martell Spy]

Quote

 

The key phrase here is the last one, “menace to American conservatism.” It is distinct from, say, a menace to the republic. Non-conservatives may have read into conservative anti-Trumpism a set of shared, small-d democratic concerns. But the major fear that stalked the right was the specter of higher marginal tax rates and bipartisan health-care legislation. To the extent that conservatives raised concerns about Trump’s ignorance and authoritarianism, it was harnessed to his lack of ideological commitment. Conservatives could imagine Trump as an American Perón, catering to the masses with a populist agenda while sidelining the conservative elite.

What did not especially trouble them was the prospect of Trump as an American Pinochet. (Augusto Pinochet was the Chilean general who overthrew a democratically elected socialist government and implemented free-market policies, with the advice and enthusiastic support of American conservatives.) And while Trump has proven every bit as ignorant and instinctively authoritarian as his worst enemies feared, he has vanquished nearly all right-wing doubts about his ideological bona fides (or, at least, his malleability to the same end).

 

Conservatives and the Cult of Trump

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/conservatives-and-the-cult-of-trump.html

[Shryke]

4 hours ago, Paladin of Ice said:

An overview of the small, daily, non-sensationalist ways that this admin is horrible and is doing horrible thing to the country.

When Congress first let CHIP expire, it also allowed funding to expire for a network of 2,000 community health centers that were visited for primary care over 26 million times in 2016. When CHIP was funded again, the health centers weren't, and they've now gone over 4 months since that funding lapsed. And if you're wondering what the cost to fund these center would be, 7.4 billion would cover them all for 2 years. By comparison, 18 billion is estimated for the first stage of a potential border wall, and it's estimated that 1.5 TRILLION in revenue will be lost due the corporate tax cuts form the the tax bill alone.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose mission is to "create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination" is rapidly turning into a shitshow thanks to having a neurosurgeon as its head. It's looking to copy Trump's Medicaid plans and add work requirements to its conditions, and also to raise the rent rate people have to pay in subsidized homes. Lastly, Ben Carson has gotten his son significantly involved in HUD despite him not officially working there, and it appears Carson Jr. is using the opportunity as a way to enrich himself.

MIck Mulvaney has completely stripped the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's fair lending department (which oversees and enact penalties against lenders who discriminate against borrowers) of its powers. He's also reportedly pulling back on looking into the Equifax hack. (Y'know, the security breach that involved the personal information of every American of working age and older, and then the company waited 6 weeks before telling anybody? No biggie, shit happens.)

Speaking of shady lenders, payday lenders appear to have won concessions from the administration, and are paying it back by having its events hosted at Trump properties. (Details below to save you a NYT click.)

Yay for open political corruption!

And lastly, political appointees inside the Department of Labor spiked a report showing that bosses skimmed billions of dollars from workers who gets tips.

The Trump administration, underneath the democracy-destroying blusterfuck of Trump and the Republican party, is quietly being exactly what everyone expected it to right after he won: one of the most openly and systematically corrupt administrations in US history. Even the Bush years weren't this bad by a long shot. Gotta go back like 100 years to find comparable shit.

[lokisnow]

10 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

Net worth not Taxes 

ah. so you are ignorant of the fact that wealthy people (billionaires) earn 99.999% of their income as capital gains.

If Trump is a billionaire, his annual capital gains tax bill would indicate his net worth.

this is very basic math.