U. S. Politics: A noun, a verb and no collusion.

[Tywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Mexal said:

Agreed. If NK agrees to denuclearize the Korean Penninsula then he deserves all the acclimation that comes with that. But until that happens, this is just a repeat of the two times this happened in the 2000s.

In other news, Israel makes a big announcement that Iran was hiding documents on their "secret" nuclear program like it's new information and Trump/Bolton/Pompeo will likely use this as a reason to get out of the deal. The problem is, we knew all of this already which is why we made the deal in the first place.

 

Sadly I agree. This stunt is entirely meant to send a message to Trump. Avert one war, start another. America, #%#@ Yeah! 

5 minutes ago, Yukle said:

Yes, and since Israel and Saudi Arabia get a blank cheque from the USA to do whatever they want, America will now find itself in its usual position of supporting warlords over republics.

Not that Iran is a nice place to live, or a fair place to live, but at the very least it is a republic, unlike Saudi Arabia.

One of the greatest tricks played on the American public is getting them to forget that 1953 happened. We acted like we're the aggrieved party in US-Iran relations, totally forgetting that we toppled their republic and installed a brutal dictator.

Oh well, gotta keep that oil flowing on the cheap. 

9 minutes ago, Yukle said:

However much Avenatti is being paid, it's worth it (and admittedly Stormy Daniels is crowdfunding her defence).

A new lawsuit against Trump, this one for defamation for his stupid decision to respond to their sketch of the thug who accosted Daniels. Avenatti is a bloody genius - he baits Trump again and again and the orange clown always falls for it.

They're opening front after front against him and he's continuing to spiral out of control, responding to things and incriminating himself further. That phone call to Fox lies at the feet of Avenatti, and it was beautiful to witness.

Go read his bio. He's handled a lot of major cases. He's no noob like Cohen et al.

Also, apparently he's a semi-professional race car driver on the side. 

[Bonnot OG]

15 minutes ago, Yukle said:

Yes, and since Israel and Saudi Arabia get a blank cheque from the USA to do whatever they want, America will now find itself in its usual position of supporting warlords over republics.

Not that Iran is a nice place to live, or a fair place to live, but at the very least it is a republic, unlike Saudi Arabia.

Well, the US has always supported shitty people. We help out 39 out of the 44 nations that are considered dictaroships. 

Also, wouldn't be the first time this country has orchestrated wars and overthrows in countries the government dislikes. Did it to Iran once before.Supported Iraq when they went to war with Iran.

Orchestrated a lot of overthrows in south america. Supported Apartheid South Africa, so it's not a total shocker we support an Apartheid state like Israel now.

[James Arryn]

9 minutes ago, Sword of Doom said:

Well, the US has always supported shitty people. We help out 39 out of the 44 nations that are considered dictaroships. 

Also, wouldn't be the first time this country has orchestrated wars and overthrows in countries the government dislikes. Did it to Iran once before.Supported Iraq when they went to war with Iran.

Orchestrated a lot of overthrows in south america. Supported Apartheid South Africa, so it's not a total shocker we support an Apartheid state like Israel now.

Hey, man. Do yo know how annoying long gas lines can get? Convenience comes with a price, and when the price is tons of non-American lives, history shows Americans are very willing to fork over. And then wait a bit, and then ‘they hate us for our freedom!’, those irrational fanatics.

 

[Yukle]

17 minutes ago, Sword of Doom said:

Well, the US has always supported shitty people. We help out 39 out of the 44 nations that are considered dictaroships. 
 

Although strangely enough, the USA itself is in the 5 whose governments they don't help.

[Yukle]

20 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Go read his bio. He's handled a lot of major cases. He's no noob like Cohen et al.

Also, apparently he's a semi-professional race car driver on the side. 

I wonder, has he done any other cases where he weaponised the media against his target so majestically? Or is just that when an actual lawyer, who argues for a living, takes on Trump it's shooting fish in barrel? Or, more accurately, blasting sushi with artillery?

[Tywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

Hey, man. Do yo know how annoying long gas lines can get? Convenience comes with a price, and when the price is tons of non-American lives, history shows Americans are very willing to fork over. And then wait a bit, and then ‘they hate us for our freedom!’, those irrational fanatics.

 

There's a great meme I saw but can't find. It basically goes "Scientists discovered there's oil on the moon" with a picture of the moon and then a close up of a staring eagle with "Looks like the moon needs some freedom."

We are horrible global pirates. 

[Tywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, Yukle said:

I wonder, has he done any other cases where he weaponised the media against his target so majestically? Or is just that when an actual lawyer, who argues for a living, takes on Trump it's shooting fish in barrel? Or, more accurately, blasting sushi with artillery?

Lolz. I don't know, but my guess is a bit a both. There's a reason why his lawyers don't want him going near Mueller. Avenatti  is a skilled lawyer and has largely done a flawless job, but I suspect Mueller is on a whole other level. If Lester Holt can get Trump to blurt out that Russia was on his mind when he fired Comey, imagine what Mueller is going to do to him. 

[DMC]

4 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Eh. Their primary agenda was the removal of big swaths of government oversight, regulation, and taxes. They've done splendidly towards that goal. Their goal was never to pass new laws, only to remove most of the old ones - and thanks to the CRA loophole, they've found a way to do that absurdly easily. 

 

[Martell Spy]

5 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Eh. Their primary agenda was the removal of big swaths of government oversight, regulation, and taxes. They've done splendidly towards that goal. Their goal was never to pass new laws, only to remove most of the old ones - and thanks to the CRA loophole, they've found a way to do that absurdly easily. 

The idea that they need to pass some flashy thing is the wrong metric. They're doing a good job of dismantling the ACA's power by removing the mandate and then allowing non-health insurance to be sold as health insurance, they're removing regulations by a simple majority vote, they're choosing to deal with other regulations by not enforcing them or budgeting them out. None of these things require a whole lot of new laws, and thanks to the CRA system it means that they can NEVER pass those regulations again. 

Where is the 30 million being stripped of health insurance, then? I must admit though, if you set out to strip tens of millions of health insurance, it is probably a better thing for you to fail at it. There would likely be many more shootings at Congress.

However, we don't know the effect of repealing the mandate yet, since it goes into effect in 2019. Also, some states are considering putting in a state-level mandate. I suspect though undoing the Medicaid expansion and the throttling of Medicaid are where the real large numbers of uninsured being created came from.

 

[Martell Spy]

What Kim Jong Un Wants From Trump

The United States is playing North Korea’s game. Here’s why that’s dangerous.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/30/what-kim-jong-un-wants-from-trump-218115

Quote

 

Kim has more concrete goals that are evident in North Korea’s word and deed, and that happen to also propel North Korea toward the meta-goal of unification, but on terms favorable to the North. Kim has sought to 1) secure his rule against internal challengers, 2) achieve and demonstrate a reliable nuclear deterrent, 3) improve his people’s quality of life, and 4) elevate North Korea’s international standing as a nuclear state. Until very recently, his priority has been the first two goals. Having made significant progress on them, with his current charm offensive, Kim is now aiming to do the same for the latter two.

These four priorities, paired with the far-off ambitions of unification, are a logical response to the situation Kim inherited.

 

 

[karaddin]

5 hours ago, Mexal said:

Agreed. If NK agrees to denuclearize the Korean Penninsula then he deserves all the acclimation that comes with that. But until that happens, this is just a repeat of the two times this happened in the 2000s.

When the role he is playing is being so unpredictable and unstable that they feel the need to defuse the American threat before he decides to nuke their peninsula...I really don't think he deserves much credit. It would be a good outcome, but that doesn't make him laudable.

[Shryke]

9 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Sanders sells herself as a holier than thou daughter of a preacher while spending her days lying for a pathological liar who has most likely sexually assaulted multiple women and who more likely than not colluded on some levels with a hostile nation to become president.

I hope more people destroy her to her face like that.  She’ll get no sympathy from me.

I always find it funny when conservatives call liberals snowflakes who traffic in identity politics. Because it’s not like they’re super sensitive people who traffic in white and Christian identity politics.

Projection is the first and holiest commandment of the Right.

It's actually useful. Anything they accuse others of, you can be assured they have done themselves and just start looking for the evidence there of.

[Bonnot OG]

Trump deserves zero credit for anything. Giving him any credit normalizes him and his bigoted bullshit.

[Martell Spy]

Has Michael Cohen Already Flipped on Donald Trump?

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/has-michael-cohen-already-flipped-on-donald-trump.html

Quote

Multiple reports have indicated that President Trump and his allies fear that Michael Cohen may cooperate with federal investigators. But nothing has indicated this quite as directly as the latest cover of the National Enquirer. The tabloid weekly is not merely friendly to Trump but operated on his personal behalf. Its latest cover accuses Cohen of “Secrets & Lies,” a charge it would be hard to imagine a Trumpist organ orchestrating against a close Trump ally unless it had strong reason to suspect he was turning against his patron.

 

[DMC]

4 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

I suspect though undoing the Medicaid expansion and the throttling of Medicaid are where the real large numbers of uninsured being created came from.

Yup.  And that was gonna happen with or without a Democratic president.  I could, and actually did, post a state-by-state throttling of Obamacare.  Did it have much do to with the election?  Nope.  Was gonna happen either way.  Because red states are just dicks.  Here's how it was in 2015.  Thank it's got better?:

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-financing-how-does-it-work-and-what-are-the-implications/

[Fragile Bird]

My theory is that if something comes out of North Korea this time around, it does in fact have to do with Kim recognizing the US is being run by an asshole as big as he is and so some action has to occur.

So credit Trump with being a rocket man himself.

[DMC]

On 4/27/2018 at 4:15 PM, Kalbear said:

Even more bizarre, you are saying this is attributed to how people feel about the economy, when the massive value of that model is 99.6% based on the popularity of the POTUS. 

I won't point out how much this is statistically stupid, because I love you.

[Altherion]

6 hours ago, Yukle said:

Not that Iran is a nice place to live, or a fair place to live, but at the very least it is a republic, unlike Saudi Arabia.

It calls itself an Islamic Republic, but it's much more of the former than of the latter. It does have some democratic features (e.g. a parliament), but make no mistake: these are completely subordinate to the theocratic elements.

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, Altherion said:

It calls itself an Islamic Republic, but it's much more of the former than of the latter. It does have some democratic features (e.g. a parliament), but make no mistake: these are completely subordinate to the theocratic elements.

Stop trolling.  That's all you're doing.

[Yukle]

45 minutes ago, Altherion said:

It calls itself an Islamic Republic, but it's much more of the former than of the latter. It does have some democratic features (e.g. a parliament), but make no mistake: these are completely subordinate to the theocratic elements.

Yes, it's a republic with almost no democratic elements. Weirdly, they have had two referendums to change that and both failed. 

I don't think they've much to offer the world in terms of political theory, just that their terrible system is better than Saudi Arabia's utterly appalling system.