U.S. Politics NEXT!

[Larry of the Lawn]

7 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

What a sore loser man-baby.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/28/16818680/state-local-tax-deduction-income-payroll-trump-tax-reform-republican

This one weird trick lets blue states avoid Trump’s tax hike
It could give middle-class families a tax cut, too!

Yeah but the IRS has announced that unless your property was assessed in 2017 for 2018 you can't prepay for 2018.  They had a thing in it on NPR yesterday.  So apparently that loophole is closed

[Martell Spy]

Merkel’s Efforts to Teach Trump About Diplomacy Didn’t Go Well

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/merkels-efforts-to-teach-trump-diplomacy-didnt-go-well.html

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Seems generous:

 

 

13 hours ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Oh. My. God.  He's so fucking stupid.  And now he's made millions even stupider. 

From the climate change thread, because it needs to be here too:

 

Yes DP, he’s an absolute idiot. I feel like the only thing Mad Max got wrong is that they set it in Australia rather than the U.S.

[OldGimletEye]

Trump is a lying, dishonest, ignorant clown.

It looks like though Republicans might have finally found themselves a “true conservative”. One who they gleefully embraced, despite his racism, authoritarianism, and other crap.

Republicans are going to have a lot to answer for.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16742562/trump-no-populism

Quote

A lot of Donald Trump’s behavior over the course of 2017 has fit under the general heading of “shocking but not surprising.” From the continued attacks on the media to the constant lying to the simple unprofessionalism of so much official White House work product to the indulgence of casual racism, we’re getting the Trump we saw on the campaign trail.

But what’s flown under the radar is that there is plenty surprising about Trump’s conduct in office. In particular, on economic issues he’s governed a lot more like a hard-right conservative than a freewheeling populist.

 

[Paladin of Ice]

43 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

From the climate change thread, because it needs to be here too:

 

Yes DP, he’s an absolute idiot. I feel like the only thing Mad Max got wrong is that they set it in Australia rather than the U.S.

And the inevitable rebuttal from people who actually know about the climate: 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

30 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

Trump is a lying, dishonest, ignorant clown.

It looks like though Republicans might have finally found themselves a “true conservative”. One who they gleefully embraced, despite his racism, authoritarianism, and other crap.

Republicans are going to have a lot to answer for.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16742562/trump-no-populism

 

People used to jokingly say of Ted Cruz, that only in America could a Canadian born Latino rebrand himself as a white southern racist.

Well, only in American could a silver spoon born billionaire who spent his entire career screwing over working class people rebrand himself as a populist while running on a plutocratic platform.

[Fez]

48 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

From the climate change thread, because it needs to be here too:

 

Yes DP, he’s an absolute idiot. I feel like the only thing Mad Max got wrong is that they set it in Australia rather than the U.S.

This is also something where Trump is absolutely sitting in the mainstream of the Republican party though. He is a symptom, not a cause, in this one.

Sitting Republican senators have brought snowballs to the senate floor in past winters when there was snow on the ground in DC, as evidence that global warming is false.

[OldGimletEye]

23 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

People used to jokingly say of Ted Cruz, that only in America could a Canadian born Latino rebrand himself as a white southern racist.

Well, only in American could a silver spoon born billionaire who spent his entire career screwing over working class people rebrand himself as a populist while running on a plutocratic platform.

It’s almost as if Republicans said to themselves, “You know, Dubya was a big clown. But, let’s see if we can top ourselves next time and get ourselves an even bigger one.”

And they succeeded.

[Week]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

From the climate change thread, because it needs to be here too:

Yes DP, he’s an absolute idiot. I feel like the only thing Mad Max got wrong is that they set it in Australia rather than the U.S.

He's an idiot -- but this tweet was simply meant to inflame. He's a troll president. Half of what he says is just outrageous for the reaction and is fishing for this exact reaction. I've been extremely guilty of the outrage -- "look at this moronic/bigoted/etc. thing Trump said!" -- I wish we could just move on to the shaming instead of the histrionic outrage. (In general, not saying you)

[maarsen]

10 minutes ago, Week said:

He's an idiot -- but this tweet was simply meant to inflame. He's a troll president. Half of what he says is just outrageous for the reaction and is fishing for this exact reaction. I've been extremely guilty of the outrage -- "look at this moronic/bigoted/etc. thing Trump said!" -- I wish we could just move on to the shaming instead of the histrionic outrage. (In general, not saying you)

Just a quibble but I doubt Trump wrote that tweet. There was a complete lack of non sequiturs. Trumps style is badly written and garbled tweets.

[Kalbear]

Yeah, that was Dan Scavino. 

[Zorral]

What the orange monster is, deep down, is a Mary Sue fan ficcer, re-writing reality endlessly to make himself in his own mind, the hero of everything, the center of the world, and beloved of all.  Like a lotta fan ficcers of this ilk they really can't tell the difference between what they massage in their own heads and the real world outside.

http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/black-mirror-recap-season-4-uss-callister.html

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Paladin of Ice said:

And the inevitable rebuttal from people who actually know about the climate: 

 

Republican response: God hates those godless Canadians!

1 hour ago, Fez said:

This is also something where Trump is absolutely sitting in the mainstream of the Republican party though. He is a symptom, not a cause, in this one.

Sitting Republican senators have brought snowballs to the senate floor in past winters when there was snow on the ground in DC, as evidence that global warming is false.

Trump is a step further towards crazy town than your standard Republican. Has he ever walked back his “climate change is a hoax created by Ghina” quote?  

1 hour ago, OldGimletEye said:

It’s almost as if Republicans said to themselves, “You know, Dubya was a big clown. But, let’s see if we can top ourselves next time and get ourselves an even bigger one.”

And they succeeded.

Yeah, I remember back in 2008 when Republican big wigs said they can’t ever risk nominating someone like Bush again. I guess they meant they needed to find someone even dumber. They succeeded. Bigly!

1 hour ago, Week said:

He's an idiot -- but this tweet was simply meant to inflame. He's a troll president. Half of what he says is just outrageous for the reaction and is fishing for this exact reaction. I've been extremely guilty of the outrage -- "look at this moronic/bigoted/etc. thing Trump said!" -- I wish we could just move on to the shaming instead of the histrionic outrage. (In general, not saying you)

I know he’s a troll, I’ve been saying it since the primaries. And while this tweet might have been intended to outrage liberals and get attention, I also think it’s what he really believes. He’s not just an idiot. He’s an ignorant clown who thinks he is brilliant, and that’s the worst kind of idiot.

Also, you can’t shame a person who doesn’t actually feel shame.

[Which Tyler]

4 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

Trump is a lying, dishonest, ignorant clown.

It looks like though Republicans might have finally found themselves a “true conservative”. One who they gleefully embraced, despite his racism, authoritarianism, and other crap.

Dear the USA

We're not upset, we're just... disappointed.

I mean really, we thought you knew better.

Yours, sincerely.

The Rest of the World

[OldGimletEye]

Richard Nixon calls Trump and says, “Hey, dude, could I get my playbook back?”.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16826152/trump-police-immigration-blue-lives-matter

Quote

In 2017, that’s what happened to law enforcement — or rather, to a particular vision of law enforcement, in which rank-and-file officers are an embattled group standing up for their rights, and “public safety” means deferring to the interests of those officers.

The assimilation of law-enforcement politics into the American culture war has been a few years in the making. 2017 was the year that the cult of the culture-warrior cop took the reins of the federal government — thanks to a president whose most consistent theme was the restoration of social order.

 

You know, I was just saying to myself the other day, “I can’t find a lawyer to write my will for 5 bucks. And I can’t find a doctor to do cosmetic surgery for a couple of bucks. OMG, I think there’s a skills gap!”

Your libertarian overlords say, “Good help is so hard to find!”

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/washington-post-presents-more-evidence-of-skills-gap-troubling-employers

Quote

The Washington Post ran an article telling readers that employers are finding it difficilt to attract qualified workers. As the piece says:

"Firms that save money from the tax cuts may simply be unable to find more workers to hire at the price they are willing to pay."

This is really the core of the problem. There is apparently a huge skills gap among employers at firms across they country. They apparently don't understand basic market principles. If they want to hire more workers then they have to offer higher wages.

This is CEO Business Clowntable Stuff. It's pretty sorry.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Which Tyler said:

Dear the USA

We're not upset, we're just... disappointed.

I mean really, we thought you knew better.

Yours, sincerely.

The Rest of the World

Dear Rest of the World,

We were drunk. Our bad.

Love,

Merika

[OldGimletEye]

23 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Dear Rest of the World,

We were drunk. Our bad.

Love,

Merika

I was going to write something like

Dear Rest of The World,

It's true we have lots of buffoons running around. And these buffoons even have their own party, aka "The Republican Party".

Not everyone on of us is a buffoon, or at least we try to make an effort not to be buffoons, which is at least better than the buffoons in the buffoonish party, who don't make one iota of an effort to stop being buffoons.

Please give us a little more time to deal with our buffoon problem.

Best,

'Murica

[Which Tyler]

I thought someone was going to blame the breakdown of your parents' marriage 220 years ago

[GAROVORKIN]

A new year will soon be upon us. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I'm surprised there hasn't been more chatter here about Trump's crazy interview with the New York Times. Here's a solid fact check of it:

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/29/574504669/fact-check-trumps-new-york-times-interview-on-russia-taxes-health-care-and-more

I think this is the most important part:

Quote

Justice Department

Purview over Justice Department: "What I've done is, I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department. But for purposes of hopefully thinking I'm going to be treated fairly, I've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter."

NPR's Carrie Johnson: The president is the ultimate boss of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other Justice Department leaders. But norms and guidelines enforced widely after the Watergate fiasco have meant that only a few people inside the White House may contact only a few people at the Justice Department. Those policies are supposed to insulate prosecutors and FBI investigators from political interference. DOJ law enforcement decisions, such as whether to bring criminal charges, are supposed to operate independent of political decision-making. But several times in 2017, President Trump himself or someone in his White House has reportedly reached out to FBI or DOJ officials about particular matters. And the president's lawyers maintain he has the ultimate authority over federal investigations, whether or not it is wise to use it.

Loyalty and the attorney general: "I don't want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him. When you look at the I.R.S. scandal, when you look at the guns for whatever, when you look at all of the tremendous, ah, real problems they had, not made-up problems like Russian collusion, these were real problems. When you look at the things that they did, and Holder protected the president. And I have great respect for that, I'll be honest, I have great respect for that."

NPR's Johnson: While former Attorney General Eric Holder once declared himself President Obama's "wing man" and called the president a friend, he also maintained that the Justice Department's law enforcement duties operated independent of the White House. Prosecutors did decline to bring charges over the IRS scandal in the Obama years, to the dismay of Republican lawmakers. As for the ATF gun-running scandal known as "Fast and Furious," it prompted a shake-up at the ATF and a congressional contempt citation for Holder. But no evidence emerged that either the White House or Obama had a role in that failed operation

Only an autocrat would say the first part.......

ETA:

Here's a really good opinion piece about the interview:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16829806/trump-interview-new-york-times

ETA to the ETA:

These two quotes are absolutely amazing in incredibly stupid they are. From Trump:

 

Quote

I know more about the big bills. … Than any president that’s ever been in office. Whether it’s health care and taxes. Especially taxes. And if I didn’t, I couldn’t have persuaded a hundred. … You ask Mark Meadows [inaudible]. … I couldn’t have persuaded a hundred congressmen to go along with the bill. The first bill, you know, that was ultimately, shockingly rejected ... I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most. And if I didn’t, I couldn’t have talked all these people into doing ultimately only to be rejected.

Author's response:

Quote

In psychology, there’s an idea known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. It refers to research by David Dunning and Justin Kruger that found the least competent people often believe they are the most competent because they “lack the very expertise needed to recognize how badly they’re doing.” This dynamic helps explain comments like the one Trump makes here.

Over the course of reporting on the Trump White House, I have spoken to people who brief Trump and people who have been briefed by him. I’ve talked to policy experts who have sat in the Oval Office explaining their ideas to the president and to members of Congress who have listened to the president sell his ideas to them. I’ve talked to both Democrats and Republicans who have occupied these roles. In all cases, their judgment of Trump is identical: He is not just notably uninformed but also notably difficult to inform — his attention span is thin, he hears what he wants to hear, he wanders off topic, he has trouble following complex arguments. Trump has trouble following his briefings or even correctly repeating what he has heard.

This is all perfectly evident if you listen to Trump discuss policy in public even momentarily. 

Second Trump quote:
 

Quote

We’re going to win another four years for a lot of reasons, most importantly because our country is starting to do well again and we’re being respected again. But another reason that I’m going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. Without me, The New York Times will indeed be not the failing New York Times, but the failed New York Times. So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, “Please, please, don’t lose Donald Trump.”

Author's response:

Quote

What is one even to say about this? Is it a joke? If so, why is Trump taking this opportunity to make it? Is it an attack on the media? Is it Trump finding another way to compliment himself, to give himself credit for the media’s success?

Imagine how we would react to literally any other president speaking like this. Trump has bludgeoned us into becoming accustomed to these kinds of comments but that, too, is worrying.

This is the president of the United States speaking to the New York Times. His comments are, by turns, incoherent, incorrect, conspiratorial, delusional, self-aggrandizing, and underinformed. This is not a partisan judgment — indeed, the interview is rarely coherent or specific enough to classify the points Trump makes on a recognizable left-right spectrum. As has been true since he entered American politics, Trump is interested in Trump — over the course of the interview, he mentions his Electoral College strategy seven times, in each case using it to underscore his political savvy and to suggest that he could easily have won the popular vote if he had tried.

I am not a medical professional, and I will not pretend to know what is truly happening here. It’s become a common conversation topic in Washington to muse on whether the president is suffering from some form of cognitive decline or psychological malady. I don’t think those hypotheses are necessary or meaningful. Whatever the cause, it is plainly obvious from Trump’s words that this is not a man fit to be president, that he is not well or capable in some fundamental way. That is an uncomfortable thing to say, and so many prefer not to say it, but Trump does not occupy a job where such deficiencies can be safely ignored.

I said right after the election that many people who used to be close to Trump thought that the job could cause him to have a mental breakdown.

They were right.